Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Jamby Madrigal Platform
Reclaim and Regain the Wealth, Sovereignty and Dignity of the Filipino People and Nation: A Vision of Genuine Change for Filipinos
By Senator Jamby Madrigal
We dedicate ourselves to a Philippine society made prosperous, progressive and pro-environment by the genuine industrialization and sovereignty of the Filipino nation and people, and by the equitable empowerment and socially just liberation from poverty of the Filipino especially of the poor and disempowered. We commit ourselves to a genuine people’s nationalism: a
We are not mere reformers, or agents of reforms that merely perpetuate the “free trade” system led by foreign capitalists only to favor a new set of Filipino cronies.. We are innovators for social justice and advocates of economic policies that benefit the majority instead of a economic and political oligarchy. We pledge to fight to realize the goals of the following New Vision for the Filipino Nation:
1. Genuine, pro-Filipino industrialization and nationalist economy: to attain genuine, pro-Filipino industrialization by developing core Filipino-controlled industries from machinery and R $ D to herbal medicine, principally for Filipino consumers, full and deep processing of local raw materials, including coconut, abaca and gold, protection of Filipino production against importation and smuggling, and prioritization of government budget for genuine industrialization.
2. Fair and equitable trade and debt: to ensure fair and just prices for Philippine exports, including coconut, banana, abaca and labor exports, now undervalued by foreign business cartels, regain national income lost from unfair trade, develop fair trade ties with countries and people’s organizations, capping debt payments, repudiating onerous debt, and demanding and exacting reparations and restitutions for previous unfair trade and onerous debt.
3. Local people’s control and anti-monopoly-cartel policy: to dismantle various foreign and local business monopolies and cartels, including petroleum, power, drugs and rice, promote and protect people’s cooperatives and alliances to replace exploitative cartels, reverse “free market” policies imposed by the IMF, WB, WTO and ADB and replace them with the pro-Filipino policies of people’s price and economic control, pro-Filipino government leadership and Filipinization of the economy.
4. Genuine agrarian reform: to work with progressive people’s organizations for a genuine agrarian reform program that truly liberates the peasants from poverty and feudalism, to stop landgrabbing and conversion to non-food uses of peasant lands, to ensure adequate farmgate prices and farm pay, and to freely distribute to peasant-tiller cooperatives and associations haciendas previously diverted from land reform.
5. Genuine, adequate pro-Filipino protection and rehabilitation of the environment: to bring about the genuine, adequate pro-Filipino protection and rehabilitation of the environment by:
a) stopping destructive logging and large-scale mining, factory, trawl, blast and cyanide fishing, conversion of mangrove forests, industrial pollution of rivers and water bodies, maintenance of landfills and waste dumpsites, the importation of toxic wastes, acidification and poisoning of the soil with synthetic agrichemicals, the spread of GMO farming, further global warming through coal-and-oil-fired power plants, and continued promotion of non-biodegradable materials and fossil fuels;
b) prosecuting and imprisoning especially the major deforesters, polluters and their political-military collaborators and protectors;
c) demanding and exacting reparations from foreign countries and businesses for the massive and wanton deforestation and environmental plunder of the country and toxic despoliation of the former
d) promoting organic farming, zero-waste management, R & D and public, pro-Filipino funding of wind, solar and other renewable energy, and people’s environmental awareness and activism.
6. Fair, equitable and nationalist treatment and empowerment of overseas Filipino workers and migrants, and adequate living standards for all Filipinos: To seek and achieve the fair, equitable and nationalist equitable and nationalist treatment of overseas Filipino workers and migrants by:
a) Fighting inadequate pay, discriminatory employment requirements, inhumane and abusive work conditions, and racist culture and anti-immigrant scapegoating;
b) Working with progressive migrant organizations for agreements, contracts and regulation that ensure adequate non-discriminatory pay, humane working conditions, adequate job security and organizing rights, for protecting undocumented migrants and political refugees against restrictions and persecution, and for ensuring adequate Philippine-based jobs through genuine, pro-Filipino industrialization, and;
c) Helping migrants return to their Filipino roots and national identity, and regain their national dignity.
And, to seek and achieve adequate living standards for all Filipinos through adequate minimum wages and wage hikes, farmgate price support, regularization of work contracts and other social justice measures.
7. Truly nationalist, pro-Filipino, and pro-people government: to uphold a pro-Filipino leadership and civil service dedicated to the goals of genuine people’s nationalism, to the championing of the Filipino’s genuine sovereignty and freedom foreign control and local repression, to ending the dictation of government policy by the I IMF, WB, WTO and ADB, to the repeal of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), the Mining Act, the Oil Deregulation Law, the EVAT Law,
Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) and other anti-Filipino laws, to prioritizing public funding for nationalist education, preventive, nutrition-based health care and R & D, and to opposing the removal of nationalist and protectionist provisions in the Philippine Constitution.
8. Truly nationalist, independent and pro-human-rights Philippine security and peace: To foster a truly nationalist, independent and pro-human-rights security and peace by:
a) fighting for an Armed Forces of the
b) keeping the territory of the Philippines free from foreign military intrusion and nuclear weapons, stopping the interference of foreign military forces in the Philippines, and repealing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) and the Military Assistance Pact;
c) relentlessly prosecuting human rights violators, including masterminds and perpetrators of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of unarmed activists, abusive dislocation of communities and harassment of journalists, and
d) supporting sincere negotiations with the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF) based on social justice, national sovereignty and genuine reforms.
9. Selfless government service free from corruption, patronage, conflict of interest and profiteering from government office: To achieve selfless public service free of corruption, patronage, conflict of interest and profiteering from government office, by relentlessly exposing, prosecuting and punishing big-time “big fish” grafters, bribe-takers and influence-peddlers and adequately protecting whistle-blowers and anti-corruption “watchdogs”.
.
10. Genuine equality, empowerment and dignity of women: Strive to attain genuine equality, participation and protection of women in all areas of life in the tradition of Gabriela Silang through nationalism-enlightened and informed involvement in government and people’s organizations, and ending patriarchal practices and beliefs including work and pay discrimination, abuse of spouses, sexual harassment and rape.
We commit ourselves to the monumental but necessary tasks that lie before us and to the sectors of Philippine society who most need and want genuine change.
To the workers, we pledge to:
1.. Promote a decent and humane standard of living among workers by supporting adequate increases in wages, including a nationwide PHP` 125 daily hike in wages across-the-board.
2. Protect workers’ job security by upholding regularization of work tenure, banning the IMF-dictated practice of “job flexibility”, contractualization and agency hiring, and heavily punishing its perpetrators!
3. Support adequate safety nets to workers against the scourge of globalization by fighting for policies providing adequate unemployment insurance and higher severance pay to employees retrenched.
4. Safeguard national sovereignty and job security by scrapping the IMF-WB policy of privatization of government corporations, services and assets such as Napocor and reversing this process through buying back and re-nationalizing Petron and other privatized institutions.
5. Defend civil rights and civilian supremacy, including the workers’ right to free expression and assembly and organizing unions in the face of union-busting by imposing heavy penalties on companies, directors and top officials, government and military personnel engaged in dismissal and harassing unionists, quelling protest actions, and intimidating worker communities through military outposts and troop presence in factories.
To the farmers, farm workers and rural women:
1. Support the enactment and implementation of a genuine agrarian reform law and program that frees farmers and farm workers from the burden of land amortization payments in the interest of just income redistribution and their liberation from feudal poverty, and that works to dismantle agricultural trading-lending monopolies, cartels and oligarchies through adequate government price support and control, and cooperatives truly empowering the grassroot rural producers.
2. Work with progressive rural organizations in seeking a pro-Filipino fair and just trade policy free from IMF, WB and WTO dictation that includes fair and just farmgate and export agricultural prices, fair compensation for farm workers, affordable prices of farm inputs, such as fertilizers and irrigation and a stop to the WTO policy of rice and vegetable importation, together with smuggling, to protect Filipino rice and vegetable farmers.
3. Pursue the fight for a genuine, pro-Filipino industrialization program that will fully process Philippine agricultural raw materials, such as coconut, principally for Filipino consumers, and supply the affordable, high-productivity goods and services, including organic fertilizers, renewable energy, irrigation and other infrastructure, in support of farm production.
4. Defend and restore the productivity, health, safety and well-being of farmers and farm workers by fighting deforestation, large-scale mining and air pollution from fossil fuels and its resulting siltation, extreme weather and destruction of lives and crops through massive flooding, by punishing and exacting reparations from its major foreign and local beneficiaries and perpetrators.
5. Defend against foreign investors and their local collaborators the protectionist and nationalist provisions in the Philippine Constitution reserving to Filipino citizens the right to own land, including agricultural land.
To the fisherfolk, we pledge to:
1. Protect the livelihood and income of small fisherfolk from displacement by foreign and local oligarchic business projects, including the demolition by the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) of fishing communities in
2. Safeguard the productivity and income of fisherfolk and their fishing grounds against the pollution and siltation by industrial, mining and logging companies.
3. Uphold the sovereignty, and exclusive fishing rights for their economic benefit of Filipino fisherfolk and the rest of the Filipino people over Philippine fisheries and territorial waters against the encroachment and poaching of Japanese, Chinese and other foreign factory, trawl and other fishers, and work towards the abrogation of anti-fisherfolk and anti-Filipino agreements such as JPEPA.
4. Promote fair trade in tuna and other Philippine fishery products through higher, fair export prices, local price support for the catch and produce of Filipino fisherfolk and just, affordable and Filipino-controlled prices of fishery inputs such as gasoline.
5. Support the pro-Filipino claim on territorial waters on the basis of the archipelagic doctrine against moves by
To the teachers, we pledge to:
1. Uphold an adequate public education budget by canceling and rechanneling government foreign debt service and unfair trade payments of at least PHP 160 billion per year for the construction of classrooms and other facilities.
2. Raise the monthly salaries of public school teachers by PHP 9,000 to Salary Grade 13, to be implemented in 3 years, or by PHP 3,000 immeidately.
3. Establish a bank or zero-interest lending fund specially for teachers.
4. Enhance the occupational health and well-being of teachers by reducing the student-teacher ratio, enacting and regulations work standards that disallow work overload.
5. To push for the enactment of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.
6. To promote deeper and more thorough nationalist education and attitudes, especially on nationalist economics, and also through the primary use of the Filipino language as medium of instruction.
To the government employees, we pledge to fight to:
1. Raise monthly salaries of government employees immediately by PHP 3,000.
2. Implement immediately and retroactively the salary increase provisions of R.A. 7305 or Magna Carta for Public Health Workers.
3. Do away with salary discrimination against LGU employees by repealing provisions of EO 811, giving local legislative assemblies the power to set salary rate for LGU personnel
4. Extend adequate GSIS grants rather than loans to victims of natural and man-made disasters.
5. Revoke all IMF-dictated government policies to lay-off government employees, including E.O. 366, abolishing 30% of government positions and destroying 420,000 government jobs.!
To the youth and students, we pledge to:
1. Support their struggle for education and an educational system that is not only accessible and affordable to the great majority of the Filipino people, but that also serves to enlighten them in nationalism and a spirit of selfless service to the people and country.
2. To promote educational democracy and end the school profit-orientation dictated by the IMF and WB by doubling the public education budget, removing the rationale for tuition fees in state colleges and universities and enabling the poor to enroll..
3. Push for the production of textbooks on nationalist topics and their distribution to students at subsidized rates.
4. To work for the raising of the DOST budget to over PHP 75 billion, or at least one per cent of the country’s GDP as recommended by UNESCO to boost country’s productivity and promote high-productivity instead of low-productivity call center jobs for college graduates,
To the transport sector, we pledge to:
1. Fight for affordable fuel prices by cracking down on overpricing by the petroleum cartel, instituting price control and anti-trust regulation, and re-nationalizing Petron.
2. To support transport worker health and safety and fight global warming by pushing for a major shift to environmentally-friendly fuels or energy in transport.
3. Stop the extortion of “tong” by police and traffic officers from public transport drivers and severely punish the perpetrators.
4. To push for the development of Filipino-controlled transport input industries, including energy and comprehensive automotive equipment manufacturing, not merely assembly
To the women, we pledge to:
1. Fight to protect Filipino women not only against the general ravages of globalization, poverty, underdevelopment and repression but also those specifically victimizing them, such as job and pay discrimination, sexual harassment, abuse and violence by spouses, parents , fiancés and foreign employers, rape, sexual trafficking and the desperate scramble for hazardous jobs overseas.
2. To address their special needs such as longer maternity leaves, breastfeeding facilities and breaks, day-care centers,
3. To work for the incorporation of women’s and children’s in the school system and media
To the urban poor, we pledge to:
1. Support their call for a genuine moratorium on demolition of informal settler communities.
2. Work for more adequate public housing that is more affordable and located near their workplaces.
3. Fight for Filipino-controlled industrialization of the economy to absorb urban poor Filipinos in jobs that are stable, adequately-paying and based in the
We pledge to fight for these goals. Join the fight to reclaim and regain the wealth, sovereignty and dignity of the Filipino people and nation! Join the fight for the genuine change the Filipino people and nation need and deserve! Ibalik ang yaman, paghahari at dangal ng sambayanang Pilipino!
Senator Madrigal expose on Senator Villar C-5 Scam Part 2
PRIVILIGE SPEECH
SENATOR M.A. MADRIGAL
24 September 2008
Mr. President:
The founding generation of this chamber, the first senators of our country, took their integrity seriously. So seriously that in the year 1933, two of the founding fathers of the party to which our distinguished colleague from Taguig, and indeed, the president of the this chamber, both belong, clashed in this chamber. They were party-mates, and admittedly rivals, but both operated on the principle that party was secondary to loyalty to country.
And so it was that when his devotion to independence was questioned, Senate President pro tempore Sergio Osmena delivered a privilege speech that lasted three days, detailing every political decision he’d made since he was Speaker in 1907. And when his personal integrity was questioned, Senate President Quezon descended from the rostrum to deliver a privilege speech that lasted two days in which he detailed his professional life, and made a full disclosure of every single property and asset he’d ever owned and earned.
Times, indeed, have changed, not only because today’s nationwide coverage through radio and ANC would make 3 and 2 day speeches impossible; but also because the leaders of today would rather run than fight, would prefer to hide, instead of fully disclosing the truth.
I must bring up the past because for a chamber like this one, we have the benefit of the example and precedents established by the past presidents and members of this Senate.
These things didn’t happen so long ago, as to be beyond living memory.
In 1933, when Osmena spent three days to explain to the people his public career, and when Quezon took two days to detail the story of his life and the particulars of his personal finances, our venerable colleague from Cagayan was nine years old. Our equally venerable colleague from Camarines Sur was six years old. Back then, in 1933, Quezon could proclaim before the senate and the public, that “Real estate business can have no possible incompatibility with my duties as president of the senate or senator,” and he was right –at the time.
But the times have changed. If 1933 was also a time so long ago that it was five months before our distinguished colleague from Cagayan de Oro City was even born, a full year before our distinguished colleague from Aurora was born, too, thirteen years before our current Senate President was born, and a quarter century before I saw the light of day, it was also a time before the rules changed. They are much stricter now, in reaction to our people’s disappointment with their martial law leaders.
For those of us born long after 1933, let the words of our venerable colleague from Camarines Sur enlighten us. I’ve noted he was a strapping lad of six in 1933, but he has placed before us the proper perspective to consider the time that has elapsed between the Manuel who was Senate President in 1933 and the Manuel who is unfortunately Senate President in 2008, both Nacionalistas.
Last week, fortunately rescued from possible oblivion in the House archives, you and I Mr. President, together with our colleagues and the Filipino people, had our memory refreshed concerning a speech delivered by then-representative Joker Arroyo, concerning the business practices and ethics of then Speaker Manuel Villar Jr.
On August 17, 1988, then-representative Arroyo pointed out two sections of Article VI of our present Constitution, and explained that they were innovations in our charter, based on our tragic martial law experience as a nation. They were not in the Jones Law, in the 1935 or 1973 Constitutions, but they are in the 1987 Constitution.
I am submitting these as part of these remarks, Mr. President, but let me point out they are being flashed on the screen, now, for your reference:
(Slide 1)
Art. VI, Section 12. All Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall, upon assumption of office, make a full disclosure of their financial and business interests. They shall notify the House concerned of a potential conflict of interest that may arise from the filing of a proposed legislation of which they are authors.
Concerning Section 12, then Congressman Arroyo pointed out that then Speaker Villar never made such a disclosure, and never made any such notifications.
As for this:
(Slide 2)
Art. VI, Section 14. No Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may personally appear as counsel before any court of justice or before the Electoral Tribunals, or quasi-judicial and other administrative bodies. Neither shall he, directly or indirectly, be interested financially in any contract with, or in any franchise or special privilege granted by the Government, or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality thereof, including any government-owned or controlled corporation, or its subsidiary, during his term of office. He shall not intervene in any matter before any office of the Government for his pecuniary benefit or where he may be called upon to act on account of his office.
Concerning Section 14, then Congressman Arroyo said of then Speaker Villar, that he had violated this provision, repeatedly, and indubitably.
Everyone in this chamber and the country knows that our venerable colleagues from Camarines Sur and Cagayan clashed repeatedly during martial law, and the lesson of that era was never to make an allegation not borne out by the facts. Then-congressman Arroyo bristled with facts, and one will suffice to illustrate how powerful his arguments were.
Speaker Villar, said Congressman Arroyo, controlled the Capitol Bank, of which Mrs. Villar was the Chief Executive Officer. The Capitol Bank received loans, financial accommodations and guarantees from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from 1992 to 1998 while he was a Representative. That was constitutionally forbidden.
Despite repeated interpollations, his congressional colleagues could not dispute this and other facts. Such as, then Speaker Villar’s companies were developing or have developed 5,950 hectares or almost 60,000,000 square meters of CARP Lands into residential subdivisions without the appropriate DAR issuances that would authorize such lands to be used for residential purposes. A traducement, according to then Congressman Arroyo, of the constitutionally directed CARP Law.
The members of the House should also have been made aware of how the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp.’s (NHMFC) Unified Home Lending Program (UHLP) “fast-tracked” payments for houses built by companies owned by our presiding officer during the Ramos years, and how the 12 billion pesos earned from these “fast-tracked” housing payments facilitated, in turn, the purchase of properties along Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, more commonly known as C-5.
To be sure, our venerable colleague from Camarines Sur has made the remarkable transformation from the congressman who thundered we cannot have a nation run by a thief, to being the paladin in this chamber of a president who stole the presidency. If he could make that transformation it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he could attack Speaker Villar and then become a champion of Senate President Villar.
But the point made by then congressman Arroyo, though lost in the mists of time and the haze brought on by the cozy political relationship he has since established with former Speaker Villar, remain the same.
That point is, that during our term of office, it is unlawful for any of us to author any law or resolution that would benefit or favor us financially. This prohibition applies to every legislator, even to the extent of prohibiting merely recommending, and not even authoring, the enactment of any such financially-beneficial law.
Could it be that since the People’s Dragon breathed fire on then Speaker Villar, by the time he became Senate President Villar, some sort of change had taken place?
No, Mr. President. Ang maling klaseng sipag at tiyaga na tinira ni kongresista Arroyo ay nakikita pa rin natin kahit ayaw na itong bigyan pansin ni senador Arroyo.
Capitol Bank is gone, Mr. President, and the names of the real estate ventures that earned the presiding officer of this chamber a fortune, have changed too. But let us look at just one corporation, to see how certain names have not changed, and how the behavior of those who bear those names hasn’t changed, either.
Mr. President, before you on the screen you will see a chart, which the outlines the corporate structure of Britanny Corporation: a company surely familiar to our presiding officer.
As per the GENERAL INFORMATION SHEET (GIS) submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the year 2008 (filed on April 17 2008), Brittany Corporation is 99.96% owned by VISTA LAND & LANDSCAPES, INC.
As per the 2007 GIS submitted to the SEC on 9 July 2007, VISTA LAND’s stockholders included the following:
i. FINE PROPERTIES, INC. (67.2% ownership)
As per the 2007 GIS submitted to the SEC on 4 June 2007, Fine Properties’ stockholders included the following:
MANUEL B. VILLAR, JR. (51.02% ownership)
CYNTHIA A. VILLAR (48.86% ownership)
MANUEL PAOLO A. VILLAR (0.02% ownership)
ii. ADELFA PROPERTIES, INC. (12.2% ownership)
As per the 2007 GIS submitted to the SEC on 20 February 2007, Adelfa Properties’ stockholders included the following:
MANUEL B. VILLAR, JR. (52% ownership)
CYNTHIA A. VILLAR (48% ownership)
Now you may be curious, Mr. President, though not as curious as the rest of the country surely is, as to what, exactly, Brittany Corporation has to do with anything.
Britanny Corporation has two on-going development projects by the name of Portofino South and La Marea. These projects are located in proximity to infrastructure developments that bear discussing in detail, Mr. President.
Let us review a cardinal principle of real estate development: it’s all about location, location, location. What makes for a good location? Among other things, proximity to major thoroughfares.
Mr. President, let me show you an official map, showing the plans of the national government, for the improvement of connections between the major arteries of Metro Manila.
Let me call your attention to the portion of the map on the lower left.
And let us focus on this area, to give you, Mr. President, and our people, a closer look at the infrastructure being built in this area.
Mr. President, it is in this area, and it these projects, that have caused our presiding officer such embarrassment, because of this project, which I am showing you now:
Having been enumerated, not once, but twice, in the General Appropriations Act or National Budget for 2008. Our venerable colleague from Cagayan says one of these enumerations was inserted upon your initiative, Mr. President. And so far, the public focus has been on the same project being mentioned twice in the budget.
But it seems to me, Mr. President, that at the heart of any possibility of wrongdoing lies the question of motive.
Why would the Senate President be so interested in this project?
Location, location, location.
Consider this, Mr. President, which I submit for the record: a press release, dated December 1, 2007, taking credit for the C-5 Merville Access Road.
Entitled “Villar leads inauguration of major highway,” in the press release, the Senate President took credit for the P68 Million newly constructed C5- Merville Access Road. The press release stated:
“The 6.10 km road is designed to decongest the main service road networks such as the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), EDSA, Pres.Quirino, MIAA Road networks and Roxas Blvd. It starts from SLEX west service road passes through MIAA Property, RSG Subdivision and Kaingin Road towards Multi-National Avenue and ultimately traverses SM, AMVEL towards Sucat Road in Paranaque City.”
“Villar is also responsible for the Las Pinas-Muntinlupa-Laguna-Cavite (LPMLC) link road, more popularly known as Daang Hari, and the Zapote-Molino Link Road which greatly eased traffic in Cavite.”
On September 9 of this year, the Senate President met members of the press and all of us, Mr. President, can see for ourselves what he said:
[play video]
Ibang ang bira ng ng bira sa bumubulong, sabay ngiti, ng “Hala Bira!” habang kinakalikot niya ang badjet.
Ginoong Presidente, ang pagaabala ng isang kinatawan sa isa, dalawa, tatlo o kahit ilang proyekto na makakabigay ng ginhawa sa kaniyang pangpinansyal na interes, ay kontra sa saligang batas ilanpamang mamayan sa labas ng kaniyang kompaniya ang makikinabang dito.
Malinaw na ang mga tinutukoy na imprastraktura sa lugar na ito, ay magdadala ng ginhawa sa mga nakitira sa lugar na iyan. Ngunit, maambonan din ang mga proyektong personal ng mga korporasyon na pag-aari ng magasawang Villar, na sila’y parehong mga kinatawan ng lehislatura.
Sa salitang ginawang pamoso ni Pipol’s Dragon, Ginoong Presidente, bad ‘yan. Hala, lagot ka.
You see, Mr. President, the Senate President has never been coy, never shy, certainly never a joker, about taking credit for public works in what he considers his political turf.
He has taken credit, repeatedly, publicly, for personally making possible infrastructure projects located in proximity to his existing and planned real estate developments, developments that contribute to his colossal wealth. This was prohibited in 1998 and remains prohibited in 2008, it was prohibited when he was Speaker and it remains prohibited when he is now Senate President.
Now I can imagine my distinguished colleague from Taguig leaping to his feat, quoting the Bible chapter and verse, then insisting well, it is only for politics and it’s for the public good, but certainly not for financial gain.
He would be doing so as a loyal party man but with as much disregard for the truth as his party chief. In separate interviews before media, the head of the Nacionalistas, our presiding officer, always said that, in cases involving government right of way, the companies which he owns do not get paid. They just donate the property.
This is not true, Mr. President.
In the Masterlist of Road Right of Way claims dated April 30, 2008 submitted by the DPWH to the Senate Legislative Budget Research Management Office (LBRMO) signed by one Carmelita Aranda (Engineer II) and Florendo Flores, Jr (Engineer IV). Vista Verde South has an outstanding claim for right of way compensation with the DPWH-Region IV A in the amount of P1,064,800.00 for the Molino Blvd., Nog Maambog Sector Phase II. Even if this were the exception it certainly invalidates what the Senate President claims is the rule when it comes to his companies.
All of us, including the two past and the incumbent senate presidents in our chamber, know full well that the Senate looks to the past because it ensures we do not stumble, but maintain our bearings, in the present as we navigate the difficult path of public service.
Public Office is a public trust. We the representatives of the people pay a real price for getting elected to public office. The Constitution imposes on us certain constraints that we must follow to the letter.
The founding generation of the senate jealously, and zealously, defended their honor on the sound principle that public office is a public trust. They did so because they took pride not just in being elected leaders, but because they took pride in being self-made men.
The self-made man, Mr. President, is a man worthy of our admiration, emulation, and respect. This chamber has counted many self-made made among its ranks, including my own grandfather Vicente Madrigal, the personification of industry and dedication.
Ihinalal siya dahil nakita ng taong bayan na siya ay masipag, na siya ay matiyaga; at dahil doon, ihinalal siya dalawang beses sa senado.
Tutoo naman na noon hanggang ngayon, ang sipag at tiyaga ay ginagalang ng ating mga kababayan dahil sa ating kultura, ang tao na may sipag at tiyaga ay dapat ring may dangal at isang salita. Kung inahon niya ang kaniyang sarili mula sa kahirapan, hindi dapat nitong sabihin na tinalikuran niya ang katapatan sa kaniyang pinanggalingan, o nalimot na niya ang kahalagaan ng integridad sa lahat ng kaniyang gawain.
Tutoo naman na dapat natin kilalanin ang may abilidad. Tutoo naman na dapat natin paghangaan ang nagkapakita ng kapangahasan. Heto ang tinatawag ng mga kababayan nating Cebuano na isang taong “adelantado.” Ngunit dapat din nating alamin na iba po ang umasenso dahil sa sarili niyang kapasidad, sa yumaman dahil sa pagiging wa-is at abusado. Ang ganitong klaseng tao ay walang dangal, at walang ituturo sa kanino man dahil wala siyang prinsipyo; higit sa lahat, ang taong ganito ay hindi dapat iluklok sa mataas na puwesto kundi dapat isuka ng sambayanan.
Mr. President, possessing a great fortune is not a crime; indeed, it is a praiseworthy achievement. But it is condemnable if one’s enrichment has come because of holding public office and in defiance of the Constitutionally-ordained limitations on the commercial activities of public servants.
We have here, a situation where a public official maintained commercial interests that profit every which way –directly and indirectly- from public infrastructure built from public funds, upon the admitted intervention of that official. That intervention, that mixing of private gain with public business, is so obviously chronic as to be pathological. Speaker Villar is no different from Senate President Villar except for being several billion pesos the richer from the manipulation of public laws for private gain.
Mr. President, the traditions of this chamber shows the way forward. The way forward requires an investigation, and for that purpose I have the honor of doing for you, what you would not do for yourself. That is, for this chamber to investigate these projects and all the other projects you have been involved with, so that you may have a chance to vindicate yourself, if that is at all possible.
For in 1998 as in 2008, you had the chance to give a full accounting to your peers and our our people, but you would not do it then, and you seem disinclined to do it now. But X marks the spot, Mr. President. Location, location, location has enriched you but it has damned you, before our Constitution, before your colleagues, and before our people.
We cannot have a nation run by a thief? We cannot have a senate run by a man who subordinates his being a lawmaker to passing laws meant to line his pockets.
