Press Release
March 12, 2008

ON THE LATEST SURVEY RANKING PHILIPPINES NO. 1 IN CORRUPTION IN ASIA; IT CANNOT BE POLITICS AS USUAL

With Malacañang brushing off the latest survey results revealing RP as d most corrupt country in Asia, Senate Majority Leader and Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan today called on Malacañang to "stop turning a blind eye on reality."

"There is nothing in that survey that we don't already know. We can't deny the fact that corruption has reached monstrous proportions and eaten the Philippines." Kiko said.

"They say in any illness, the first step to recovery is admitting there's a problem. If Malacañang continues to paint a rosy picture of d situation for its selfish convenience, we will never move out of this predicament. Kumbaga sa nagmamaneho, naliligaw na,ayaw pang huminto at magtanong ng direksyon,"Kiko added.

"This goes for all our national leaders regardless of political inclination. The national leadership has collectively failed us because it has not offered the people an alternative. We must look for political leadership that will focus on new methods, new approaches, and new paradigms. We must work towards public sector private sector partnerships for good governance. This is the challenge to citizens as well who are tired of politics as usual the politics of greed, corruption, patronage and the politics of convenience. Our proposal to create a Joint Judiciary Executive Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council (JELACC) will deliver justice in the most expeditious manner possible. Only when we punish more and punish swiftly will there be genuine respect for the rule of law. We must find a way to reduce the average case life from 6 years to say 2 to 3 years in the next 5 to 7 years. Ensuring the swift disposition of cases will strike fear in the hearts of would be criminals that in fact cases are resolved and the guilty punished. Let's not deny what this latest survey is: an embarrassing wake up call that we all need to address. We need to move away from politics as usual. It's time we put our people first," Kiko ended.

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