Press statement of Senator Loren Legarda

On Earth Hour

I urge all Filipinos to observe Earth Hour 365 days a year to help preserve Mother Nature, fight global warming and leave a better world for future generations. Imagine what can be achieved if each person will be creative in undertaking a personal Earth Hour each day.

A personal Earth Hour can take the form of one hour less of TV viewing time, air-conditioning use or one hour chopped off from the long hours spent in front of the computer chatting, blogging or surfing the internet. Motorists can reduce by one hour each day their use of vehicles by walking, taking mass transport systems or by car-pooling.

A yearly Earth Hour observed by all nations is a good start. But we must take it a step farther, make it more than a symbolic gesture to save the environment and save energy. After all, Mother Earth is all we have, thus we must cherish, appreciate and work for her preservation. On Pacquiao - ABS CBN rift

Manny Pacquiao must be allowed to concentrate on his upcoming big fight against Ricky Hatton. While he and ABS-CBN have already exchange bitter accusations in the past few days, I think all parties must, to borrow a boxing parlance, hold their punches at least until after the Pacquiao-Hatton fight.

There's a win-win situation here and I believe both ABS-CBN and Pacquiao can find that solution. I am quite positive that everything will be water under the bridge once Pacquiao wins because his victories have a unifying effect on Filipinos.

On kidnapping of 2 boys in Taguig

The kidnapping of the two school boys in Taguig last week was very disturbing because the abductors posed as police officers and manned a police checkpoint in broad daylight in order to commit the crime. Both the police and military must come up with measures that would minimize, if not altogether stop, the illegal use of their uniforms.

The police and military uniforms must have genuine identifying marks made known to the people so that their illegal use can be easily counterchecked.

Instead of fending off criticisms about alleged ineptness, the Taguig police must buckle down to work to arrest the kidnappers. Kidnapping, just like all crimes, must not be allowed to go unpunished, more so when they are undertaken in a manner that veritably mocked our police force.