Loren discuses poverty issues

Poverty
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report of 2009 estimates that from 50 million to 90 million people will slide to extreme poverty at less than $1.25 a day in 2009 because of the global economic crisis. Among them will be millions of Filipinos who will face hunger and deprivation due to unemployment and lower incomes.
To alleviate hunger, the government must initiate a sustained and massive food production drive, engaging provincial, municipal and barangay governments to provide for food sufficiency and reduce our dependence on food imports. It is known that we have many idle lands which remain uncultivated and which could be put to good use producing staple crops.
We have also inland water resources that could be harnessed to produce cultured fish, while our fishermen should be aided by the government to become more productive through technical and material aid. Livestock raising should also be intensified. We should mobilize all our God-given resources to save our people from hunger.

LOREN LEGARDA

Loren on cheaper medicine act

CHEAPER MEDICINE ACT

The government must exercise political will to fully implement the purposes and provisions of the Cheaper Medicines Act. While the drug corporations have submitted a list of the medicines they propose should be covered by the law, the government must not necessarily be governed by such list, but should decide in the greater interest of the consumers, who are ill and mostly poor.
We should not allow the drug companies to interpret the law for us, because they would do so in their own favor. For so long they have exploited our people by charging excessive prices for their medicines sold in this country, even while they are priced much lower in other countries. The President must go ahead with the executive order setting the maximum prices for such medicines as determined by the law.
Medicines are essential items necessary for life itself. While the drug companies are entitled profit, including reserves for research, they should be reasonable and not exploitative.

LOREN LEGARDA

Loren on CHA-CHA Survey

CHA-CHA Survey
Malacañang cannot just ignore the results of the survey conducted by the SWS showing that 70 percent of adult Filipinos are against charter change that would allow President Arroyo to continue in power after 2010.
The question posed by the survey firm was clear enough. It asked the respondents whether they are for or against a charter amendment that would allow President Arroyo to cling to power.
They are firmly against it. In addition, 55% believed that the President is behind the move to amend the Constitution to prolong her hold on government. Instead of denying the accuracy and validity of the survey results, Malacañang should face the issue squarely and answer frankly whether or not the people’s suspicions are correct.
Posing like a Sphinx is not what is expected by the people of their governor in a democratic society. What they want is transparency, honesty and truth.

LOREN DISCUSES ABOUT DRUGS

Drug Menace
The kidnap and rape of a daughter of a government agent against illegal drugs shows that the drug syndicates are becoming bolder and bolder. Because of the billions of pesos they are raking from their illegal drug trade, the syndicates have also poisoned the political system by backing up candidates for public office who would later serve as their protectors in high office. Sometimes illegal drug traders themselves run for public office.
The government must smash the drug syndicates. But the fact that they are getting bolder, and penetrating politics and the government bureaucracy, proves the ineptness and perhaps connivance of some top officials in the government in this pernicious trade. If the present administration cannot stop the illegal drug trade, we must elect a new administration that is determined and capable of stopping it. We must save our children and future generations from illegal drugs.

LOREN LEGARDA

Spare the trees,Loren

Spare the trees
The Department of Public Works and Highways should spare the venerable old trees along MacArthur Highway which the artists are trying to save. Engineering ingenuity can devise means by which the traffic problem could be solved without devastating the environment.
A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 pounds a year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support two human beings. Trees also reduce the greenhouse effect by shading our homes and office buildings. This reduces air conditioning needs up to 30%, thereby reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity. This combination of CO2 removal from the atmosphere, carbon storage in wood, and the cooling effect makes trees a very efficient tool in fighting the greenhouse effect.
Thus trees absorb the carbon dioxide emitted by cars speeding along the highway. They protect the lungs of thousands of humans and residents along the highway from ailments coming from the atmosphere. They also protect the world against climate change devastation. We must spare the trees.

Loren Keynotes “Gross National Happiness” Conference

Loren Keynotes “Gross National Happiness” Conference
Senator Loren Legarda left for Thimpu, Bhutan yesterday to address the Bhutan National Sensitization Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction, in her capacity as United Nations (UN) Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for the Asia Pacific Region.
Loren was invited by Bhutan Home and Cultural Affairs Minister Lyonpo Minjur Dorji and the royal government of Bhutan.
Before leaving for Bhutan, Loren said that climate change has become the biggest challenge to mankind, with its devastating effects that include extreme droughts and flooding, decimation of species and very strong weather disturbances like super typhoons.
In 2008 alone, 321 disasters had been recorded, killing about a quarter of a million people and affecting 200 million more, she said, adding that they also resulted to $180 billion worth of economic losses.
Loren is chair and founder of the Luntiang Pilipinas (Green Philippines) movement which, through its many volunteers from the private and public sectors, have already planted over two million trees nationwide.
Climate change is blamed on global warming, which, in turn, is due mainly to increased greenhouse gas emissions by man. One way of decreasing said emissions is to plant more and more trees.
Loren is expected to share to the Bhutan delegates the Philippine experience in dealing with climate change, including her efforts to push for the adoption of climate change measures and disaster-risk reduction in government’s program of actions and policies.
The senator is either an author, co-author or sponsor of landmark environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Solid Waste Management Act and the declaration of several bio-diverse areas in the Philippines as sanctuaries protected by law.

Loren questions plan to stop use of thermal scanners

Loren questions plan to stop use of thermal scanners
BHUTAN (May 26) – Senator Loren Legarda questioned today the plan to stop the use of thermal scanners in the country’s international airports on account of their alleged ineffectiveness in detecting A(H1N1)flu infection.
“The thermal scanners are already in place and operational in our airports, so I don’t see the point of stopping their use in detecting possible A(H1N1) viral infection of inbound passengers,” said Loren.
Loren is here in Bhutan to address a climate change conference in her capacity as UN Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction for Asia Pacific.
“While the Department of Health may be correct that thermal scanners may not detect A(H1N1) flu carriers during the virus’ incubation period, the scanners can nonetheless detect full-blown virus cases as manifested by the carriers running a fever,” she said.
“We have already invested in the scanners and the training of the personnel who use them. The said equipment would go to waste if they would not be used. More importantly, we would be removing one check valve in the fight against the virus.”
She added that the use of the scanners complement other measures in place against the spread of the virus, including the purchase by the DOH of A(H1N1) testing kits to verify the result of tests conducted abroad on specimens sent them by the Philippine government.
“The more layers, the more ways we try to contain the spread of this virus, the better. The use of the thermal scanners also gives our people peace of mind knowing that the government is acting against the spread of the disease right on our gateways.”

Loren bats for creation of Climate change commission in RP

Loren bats for creation of Climate change commission in RP
Thimpu, Bhutan (May 28, 2009) — Senator Loren Legarda yesterday batted for the creation of a Climate Change Commission in the Philippines as a first step toward addressing the impacts of climate change.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, Loren pushed for the passage of a bill by the Philippine congress creating the commission in an interview at the sidelines of an international conference held here on global climate change adaptation.
“The Philippines is well on the right track as far addressing climate change-induced problems are concerned,” said Legarda.
She came to address the international conference on climate change in this tiny kingdom in the Eastern hemisphere in her capacity as Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation for the Asia-Pacific, a task bestowed on her by the United Nations International Strategy For Disaster Risk Reduction Secretariat.
Loren said Senate Bill No. 2583, otherwise known as the The Climate Change Act of 2009, incorporates her Committee’s amendments as well as the individual amendments of Senators Miriam Santiago and Pia Cayetano.
In addition to mainstreaming climate change in various phases of policy formulation and development planning, Loren added the bill highlights the synergy between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction as well as the importance of adopting a gender-sensitive outlook in addressing climate change in general.
The commission will be headed by no less than the President of the Philippines serving as its chairman, with the secretaries of different government agencies, the Presidents of the League of Cities, Municipalities and Barangay and the representatives from the academe, business sector, NGOs and civil society serving as ex-officio members.
The Commission is tasked to ensure the mainstreaming of climate change and disaster risk reduction into development plans and programs at all levels. It will also coordinate and synchronize climate change programs of national government agencies.
The commission will also formulate a Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change and exercise policy oversight to ensure that the goals set are attained. It will strengthen Local Government Units to effectively address climate change issues; among others.
The commission may also recommend legislation, policies, strategies, programs on and appropriations for climate change adaptation; review and recommend the approval of major development investments in climate-sensitive sectors; create an enabling environment for the design of relevant and appropriate risk-sharing and risk-transfer instruments; create an enabling environment for the promotion of linkages between and encourage broader multi-stakeholder participation in climate change mitigation and adaptation; and formulate strategies on Green House Gas mitigation.
To aid the Commission in the discharge of its duties, a Climate Change Office shall serve as its secretariat which will be headed by an Executive Director.
The Framework Strategy and Program on Climate Change shall serve as the basis for planning, research and development, extension and monitoring of climate change activities, Loren said.

LOREN discuses the importance of Competitiveness

Competitiveness
Our country’s ranking in global competitiveness has sunk deeper from 40th to 43rd place among 57 countries. According to the 2009 World Competitiveness Yearbook, the Philippines fared worse among all four factors of competitiveness, namely, economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. It is now lagging behind ASEAN nations Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
For the sake of our people, the government should stop bragging about its successful development efforts. Instead it should review its policies and performance and take immediate action to correct them. Of importance is infrastructure, which according to world economists, is the reason why we have failed to attract more direct foreign investments. Government inefficiency should be eliminated so that business and the people should have more confidence to engage in development activities.
Relying on spin doctors to prettify government performance will be self-defeating.

LOREN LEGARDA

LOREN DISCUSES PHILIPPINE FOREST

Ladies and gentlemen, officers and members of the Society of Filipino Foresters, Incorporated, my partners in
environmental protection, a pleasant day to all of you.

Across the years, Philippine forests continuously declined in physical and environmental terms. Forest land area alarmingly went down from 36.3 percent or more than one-third of the country’s land area in 1970 to 18 percent in 2001. Evidently, most of our country’s once rich forests are now gone.

This is tragic because forests are indispensable in the overall ecological balance of the world by acting as a home for biodiversity and by protecting vital water and soil resources. Also, forests serve as major carbon sinks that absorb great quantities of carbon dioxide that otherwise would add to the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and rapid climate change.

Recent events have shown us the grim scenario of climate change impact. The intense and record-high rainfall by Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi, as well as the consequent fatalities and damages have shown us that the price we pay for denuding our forests and abusing the environment is well beyond our means.

It is therefore an imperative for us to do everything in our power to protect the forests left for our children and for humanity. It is an uphill climb but we must gather courage. We must pool in our knowledge, our skills, our commitment, and our passion. Essentially, we could find the know-how, the skills, and the passion among our foresters.

Our foresters are the ones who are literally “on the ground” in protecting our forests from abuse and misuse. They are the foot soldiers. They are our forests’ caretakers. And incident to their vocation, foresters are also our partners in reducing poverty in the rural areas. Indeed, many are already rising to the challenge, and our gathering here today is a testament to this.

Let me reiterate that forest protection, like environmental protection, is not its own end. As always, the strong environmental thrust of my advocacy is part of my larger plan and vision of eradicating poverty in the grassroots. Taking care of our forests not only responds to climate change and other environmental concerns but also deals with persistent local poverty because forests are a vital part of the development in the rural areas. I envision every part of the country, every nook and cranny, to be planted with trees so as to be eventually capable of developing to their fullest potential.

The recently passed Climate Change Act gives a window of opportunity for us to respond to the challenges of climate change in a comprehensive manner. As the principal author and sponsor of the law, I set out to give more stakeholders and communities greater responsibility and opportunity to initiate programs in their respective areas of responsibility that are aligned to the national and global goal of sustainable development.

This legislation mandates the creation of a Climate Change Commission which will create an enabling environment for multi-stakeholder participation. Moreover, it will provide technical and financial support to local research and development programs and projects in vulnerable communities. Financial packages for climate change related projects will be provided by government financial institutions.

Given the global condition of the environment, foresters are becoming more important in the future. Rest assured that my advocacy of tree-growing and rejuvenating our forests has not been a case of missing the foresters for the trees. You have my ears in matters of environmental protection and so feel free to tell me your concerns. We will find ways to address them.

In conclusion, I wish you success in your convention this year. As I read your theme, “Sustainable Forests: Key to Climate Change Adaptation and Biodiversity Conservation," I am gladdened because it is aligned with my advocacy of environmental protection and sustainable development. It is aligned with our efforts in finding the best ways to put forests to work for the benefit of the poor in rural communities and in the world. It is aligned with our efforts in making forests adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. Forests make the world safe for habitation and you, foresters, are instrumental for making this world a better place.

LOREN PUSHES CREATION OF REGULATORY BODY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING

Senator Loren Legarda pushed today for the creation of a government agency that would license and regulate the professional practice of environmental planning in the country, including those of foreign planners who are contracted for work in the Philippines.

Loren stressed that environmental planning in the establishment of communities and in the construction of public and private structures like buildings, roads and houses has taken an added importance in view of the deleterious effects of climate change already being felt worldwide.

“Typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi opened the eyes of people on their relations with the environment – that while we must minimize our activities that harm the environment, we must also adapt to the world we live, minimizing the risks posed on us by natural calamities,” said Loren.

“People are now aware how some communities had been built on fault lines, on veritable water basins that go underwater during heavy rains, on paths traversed by floods,” she added.

The senator said she envisions the creation by legislation of a Professional Regulatory Board of Environmental Planning, which will also be tasked to ensure the continuing education of environmental planners.

She said foreign environmental planners may be allowed to work in the Philippines, but on the condition that their own countries must also be open to hiring Filipino environmental planners.

A vice presidential candidate in this year’s elections, Loren said that it is good that environmental planning is now being taken into account in the establishment of residential and business communities so they can be integrated into the environment.

She explained that communities and human structures should be complementary with nature, in that communities must not degrade the environment while people must be relocated away from geographically hazardous areas like near volcanoes, fault lines, water basins and mountainsides.

Loren said that Presidential Decree 1308, the law that regulates the profession of environmental planning, has already been overtaken by time and does not apply to foreign environmental planners who come in and out of the country.

“We know little of whether those foreign planners are qualified, thus the need for a body that would strictly regulate the profession,” said the chair of the Senate Climate Change Committee.

Loren is also the United Nations Disaster-Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation champion for the Asia-Pacific Region, in which capacity she asked governments and fellow legislators to unite for the environment during the recent Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.

“Right now, the liability of foreign environmental planners is limited only to their clients, even if their haphazard work has far-reaching consequences to the environment and to the people,” added Loren.

She pointed out that with people becoming more environmentally conscious, the scope of work of environmental planners will be broadened to include adapting to climate change, socio-economic concerns, public administration and the needs of the marginalized sectors.

“Environmental planning must also include subdivision planning, environmental investigation, disaster prevention, mitigation and response,” said Loren.

Loren discuses socio-economic affairs

Today’s state of socio-economic affairs should not be business-as-usual. It is high time for the world to slow down this contemporary development practices.
It is high time to re-think development - and for a more holistic development philosophy to emerge and to prevail.
- the kind of development that transcends economic capital measures such as GDP;
- the kind of development that has regard for social, cultural and natural capital of countries;
- the kind of development that is not only sustainable but also adaptable;
- the kind of development that does not create new risks and promotes resilient investments;
- the kind of development that is founded on sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, ecosystems protection, cultural resilience, and good governance.
Now is the time for all of us to unite on all these challenges, and to transcend territorial boundaries, political persuasions, and institutional affiliations.
If only we keep an open mind, an open heart, and a genuine passion for good governance, I believe we can make an important difference for our people especially the poor, for our society, and for the world.
The time to make that difference is now.
Humanity’s future depends upon us.
Let us be the change we seek.
Thank you and Mabuhay!

LOREN LEGARDA

LOREN: The challenge in development is undeniably clear

The challenge in development is undeniably clear.
Through the centuries since the industrial revolution, Mother Earth has been at the mercy of human’s insatiable desires for material wealth and economic progress. Yet our ways of thinking and pursuing development have depleted our social, cultural and natural wealth. Sadly, we must admit, our so-called development has made the poor more vulnerable, has placed some cultures at risk of extinction, and has pushed ecosystems services like fisheries beyond repair.
Contemporary development practices have been irresponsible since they have allowed disaster risks to grow, to spread, and to prevail until today. Urban poverty, weak governance, ecosystems decline, vulnerable rural livelihoods, turbo-charged by climate change have altogether created enormous risks in our cities and communities and have put the poor in greater peril.These risks will constantly challenge our human capacity to cope, imperil all development gains, and keep the Millennium Development Goals elusive.
The “slumdog millionaire” reality that has bedeviled many developing countries is a wakeup call for all. We are in a vicious cycle of economic boom and bust, with the peoples and environment at the receiving end of a failing model of economic development. This has entrapped the poor and the vulnerable, and has corrupted societies. We cannot continue using Mother Earth as collateral in our economic games of chance.

LOREN LEGARDA

Loren, change to make an enduring difference

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
So much remains to be done to usher our desired change and to make an enduring difference in building the resilience of nations and communities.
The predominance of risks in our societies calls for urgent policy reforms. We need new policies that build local capacity beyond disaster response capability; new policies that link disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mainstream them into development action and formal education; new policies that reduce and not worsen existing vulnerabilities and risks; new policies that make reducing risk a prerequisite for development funding; new policies that ensure the resilience of our development investments; new policies that are backed by scientific studies and empirical proofs; new policies that are sensitive to indigenous knowledge systems; new policies that promote gender sensitivity and equality; new policies that uphold fairness and equity especially for the poor and disadvantaged.
There is no more appropriate time to show political will, good governance, and exemplary leadership than these trying times. Indeed, these times call for a new breed of leaders – leaders of integrity and responsibility, leaders of wisdom and compassion, leaders of conscience and conviction, leaders who are truly committed to eradicating poverty and uplifting humanity.

LOREN LEGARDA

Unchanged growth goal by gov’t, Loren

Unchanged growth goal by gov’t
“The government can make all kinds of rosy proclamations. But at the end of the day, it must grapple with the core issues like joblessness, hunger, poverty, health care and education.
“What we want to know is how the government intends to generate jobs for the many skilled Filipino workers who are losing their jobs here and abroad, to reduce poverty and hunger and what measures are being done to reduce inflation.
“Anyone can set goals, but the more important thing is to show how one intends to meet such objectives.”

LOREN LEGARDA

Mounting Scrap-VFA calls, Loren

Mounting Scrap-VFA calls
“As one of the five senators who voted in 1998 against the Visiting Forces Agreement, I feel vindicated in my position that it is one-sided in favor of the US and that it compromises our sovereignty.
“For the sake of our national interest and self-respect as a nation, our government should now take this occasion to abrogate the agreement that is a humiliation to all of us Filipinos who are not treated equally even in our own homeland. At the same time, the VFA is contrary to the provisions of our Constitution prohibiting the permanent basing of foreign troops in our country.
“Unless our country stands up for our right of equality in international relations, we Filipinos shall be second-class citizens even in our land, and well shall not progress.”

LOREN LEGARDA

Loren Legarda focuses on micro enterprises

Focus on small, medium industries sought
Senator Loren Legarda urged the government to focus on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to spur growth and create jobs in the face of the continuing global economic downturn.
“Whether or not we fear the current slowdown in global economy, the important thing is for the government to have focus on worthwhile endeavor,” Legarda said.
The chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, Legarda said the government must encourage small and medium industries that produce basic necessities, with emphasis on food production.
“We just don’t realize the big role the informal sector plays each time the economy’s growth goes dipping,” Legarda pointed out. “These industries save the day for many breadwinners.”
Legarda also encouraged the government to be more active in its livelihood programs to help those who may be laid off domestically and abroad.
Legarda explained that farming, planting and livestock raising are some of the backyard businesses awaiting the Filipinos, especially in the provinces.
A law pushed by Legarda, this MSME Law, seeks to harmonize all government activities providing livelihood and skills training for Filipinos.
“With this law, efficiency in delivering such services and programs to their intended beneficiaries, the poorest of the poor, would be ensured,” said Legarda, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice and Rural Development.
There may be a need to refocus the people’s thinking that the jobs are to be had in the metropolis and urban areas, when focus should be on agriculture now more than ever, Legarda said.
“What we need is for us to go back to the basics,” said Legarda, adding that the Filipinos should have prudence in spending.
The Filipinos’ mindset, according to Legarda, is to mistake wants for needs which causes problem in managing their meager resources.
“The people should have financial literacy to determine needs from wants,” she said.
With still no sign of relief seen in the world financial distress, Legarda said the government must also effect belt-tightening measures by allocating its scarce budget to livelihood programs, agriculture, health care and education.
“For example, this is not a time for government to spend on junkets abroad,” she said.

Loren: Climate change an issue that cannot be taken for granted

Loren: Climate change an issue that cannot be taken for granted
Senator Loren Legarda yesterday said the Philippines must show its seriousness in tackling climate change to mitigate its potential risks which are awesome to contemplate.
“In an ideal world, in the perfect hierarchy of issues that should animate the globe, climate change should be at the top of public policy concerns,” Legarda told participants in the National Conference and Training Needs Assessment on Forests and Climate Change held at Crown Plaza Hotel in Ortigas, Pasig City .
“It is an issue larger than national poverty because the brutal manifestations of climate change impoverish not jus communities and countries but the entire planet,” she said, citing the Nargis incident in Myanmar wherein its rice deltas have been transformed into vast watery graveyards.
According to Legarda, the country should pay attention to climate change, saying “it is an issue more important than wars and famines, financial meltdowns, the collapse of those iconic houses of finance and the clash of civilizations.”
“What is at stake in the climate change discussion is the very survival of peoples across the globe, regardless of race or creed, the survival of the human race itself,” she warned.
Legarda, prime advocate of restoring the Philippines’ once verdant landscape by batting for the planting of two billion trees under her Luntiang Pilipinas project, was keynote speaker in the event organized by Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative which was a joint program of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Experts agree that the pace of climate change is tremendous; leaving the people, especially those in areas that are more vulnerable to calamity, little time to act.
“For what’s the sense of discussing growth in a world teetering on extinction?” she asked. “It is a matter of life-and-death on an epic scale, and sadly, it is not at the top of policy concerns here and elsewhere.”
“In our country, as in the rest of the world, policy shits from one headline to another. The crisis of the day, not the terrible scourge of the planet, is the one that gets priority attention, although transient and fleeting,” she lamented.
She nevertheless made it clear that the attention to climate change is given attention, as manifested by the proposed bill on climate change now waiting for approval in the senate.
Legarda, the chair of the Senate Sub-Committee on Climate Change, revealed the Committee Report No. 9 entitled An Act Mainstreaming Climate Change in Government Policy Formulations, Creating for this Purpose the Climate Change Commission.
Legarda also effected a symbolic turn-over of seedling from her Luntiang Pilipinas to ELTI and World Agroforestry Center (International Centre for Research in Agroforestry) which was also one of the organizers of yesterday’s event aimed at achieving five goals.
Key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007, the role of forests in climate change mitigation and recent research were presented during the daylong conference attended by noted speakers, namely Drs. Rex Cruz, Rodel Lasco, Rey Guarin, Ralph Strebel, Prof. Xiaoquan Zhang (Chinese Academy of Forestry), Mai Jian (Program Manager for Climate Change, The nature Conservancy, China).
Dr. Cruz delved on the Contribution of Forestry to Climate Change and Impact of Climate Change on Forests, Dr. Lasco tackled the Mitigation Opportunities and Constraints in CDM and voluntary markets while Guarin discussed Carbon markets from the business perspective.
Guarin is a Senior Emmission Broker, TFS Green, while Strebel is a senior counsel on Carbon Conservation.

Produce C-5 documents, Loren tells Ebdane

Produce C-5 documents, Loren tells Ebdane
Sen. Loren Legarda today asked Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane to shed light on allegations raised concerning the C-5 road project by providing documentary evidence.
Specifically, Legarda sought from Ebdane during the Senate Finance Committee hearing chaired by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile the program of works to be funded by the alleged double allocation, worth P200 million each.
Enrile limited the scope of his committee’s hearing to financial concerns and to determine if additional allocation was indeed “inserted” for the project.
Legarda also asked Ebdane to produce the list of lands that may be affected by the C-5 Road Project and who will stand to benefit from it.
Reports have it that Senate President Manuel Villar is among those who stand to benefit from payments to be made to private land owners, whose properties either were gobbled up by the road project or whose rights of way were compromised.
The C-5 road extension project aims to link Coastal Road to Cavite.
Some lawmakers had said that additional allocations for government projects per se are not illegal, but only if they had been tainted by conflict of interest as in the purported issue being raised against Villar.
Villar was said to be responsible for the second allocation.
Enrile said that other Senate committees may take over from where his committee would leave off, with Senator Panfilo Lacson commenting that the matter may be elevated to the Senate Ethics Committee if so warranted.

Loren backs protection of suspects’ rights

Loren backs protection of suspects’ rights
Sen. Loren Legarda said today that the rights of the accused in criminal cases must be protected at all times in keeping with the constitutional presumption of their innocence until proven guilty.
“I, therefore, fully support the move of newly installed Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Versoza to ban the prevalent practice of presenting apprehended suspects in criminal cases to the public and media,” Legarda said.
According to the senator, members of media themselves got firsthand understanding of the “very humiliating experience” when some of them were arrested, handcuffed and “processed” by the police following the Manila Pen siege.
“By presenting suspects to media, the accused become public spectacles and the subject of ridicule. I am happy that the PNP leadership has finally made the banning of this practice a policy,” Legarda added.
She said that other law enforcement agencies, like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), must also adopt the policy which is already approved by Malacanang.
Nonetheless, Legarda said that the ban should not in any way hamper the role of media to inform the public, including those relating to crime and the names of those arrested.
She said that the public presentation of suspects is altogether different from the conduct of a police line-up, which affords witnesses the opportunity to identify suspects.
“The first serves only the vanity of arresting officers, while the latter – the police lineup – serves the end of justice,” Legarda said, who asked the new PNP chief to spearhead the attraction of idealistic youths to join the police force.
“By recruiting the best among our youths, the PNP will fully attain its objective to have in place a truly professional, result-oriented police force,” she said.

Legarda said the skills training and knowledge acquisition of policemen must be continuous to update them on the latest tools and techniques in crime prevention and solution.

“Our country’s policeman-to-population ratio is not ideal, thus police visibility, which is a deterrent to crime, suffers,” she said.
“Thus, budget permitting, we must increase our police force, train them well and arm them with the tools that would act as force-multiplier in their effectiveness as law enforcers.”

LOREN ACKNOWLEDGES MOTHER LILY’S UNDYING SUPPORT

Loren acknowledges Mother Lily’s undying support for the entertainment industry
In line with the celebration of her 30th year in public service, Senator Loren Legarda held a press conference today at the Imperial Palace Suites in Quezon City.
In the said event, Loren dedicated much of her time acknowledging Mother Lily Montverde’s contribution to the Philippine movie industry stating that Mother Lily is a woman that should be emulated not only because of her contributions to the entertainment industry but because of her ability to never lose hope.
To further show my gratification to Mother Lily for giving life to this dying industry in a time when other producers chose to abandon it, I have filed Senate Resolution (SRN 676), which has been adopted by the Senate last October 9, saluting her magnanimity of doing everything in her power to bring joy and entertainment to the Filipino viewers, Legarda stressed.
Legarda also thanked Mother Lily for being the propagator of avant-garde cinema in the country, even before the advent of digital cinema. She cited internationally recognized films such as Manila by Night and Sister Stella L. Are as the beautiful product of Mother Lily’s risk of diverting from the monotonous flavor of the entertainment industry.
Legarda concluded by saying that Mother Lily’s contributions to this industry have reached the zenith of selfless service to the Filipino viewers. The entertainment industry would be lifeless without her, because she has been its mother for more than 4 decades. I look forward to the next 40 years of her undying support for Filipino artistry.
Senator Legarda, an icon of the entertainment industry herself, willingly shared the limelight with another admirable woman, in the person of Mother Lily Monteverde.