Press Release
March 31, 2009

Loren to government: Make RP 'safe place to live in'

Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday urged top government officials to give priority to the worsening peace and order problem, such as kidnapping and murders, instead of "moving heaven and earth" to amend the Constitution and going on foreign trips.

"It makes no sense to waste our time in endless pursuit of changing the constitution when most of our countrymen are either saddled by poverty and anxiety due to the rising number of violent crimes," said Loren.

"I really don't see any reason why the administration and its House allies should be hell-bent in pursuing charter change when we must first attend to life-threatening problems such as the rising incidents of kidnap for ransom and extra-judicial killings," said Legarda.

"The kidnap gangs are sticking the dirty finger up the nose of the administration as if to say 'we're not scared,' while the government is posturing as if everything is under control," Loren averred.

Loren also noted that the President is planning to go on a series of trips after the Holy Week, including a side trip to Dubai where she is reportedly expected to make business calls.

"While there is nothing wrong with the President going on officials trips, say, to invite prospective foreign businessmen to do business here, but first things first," she said.

Loren acknowledged the need to invite foreign businessmen to do business here so the country could immediately recover lost grounds in its battered economy, but she stressed that the peace and order situation must first be addressed or the "they (foreign businessmen) won't come here at all."

"Trips and more trips make the president more of a publicity-hound rather than a fighter for the safety, security and happiness of our harassed citizenry," she explained.

Loren made the statement following the report of rising incidents of kidnap for ransom as revealed by Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order.

According to the report, a total of 40 kidnap-for-ransom incidents were recorded nationwide from January to March this year.

"This is alarming," Loren said. "It gives a strong message to foreign investors that our country is not a CONDUCIVE PLACE FOR business."

Worse, Loren said, the country today is burning with anger coupled with anxiety over the escalation of violent crime and non-stop kidnapping.

What's lamentable, according to Loren, is that the government and its allies seem to have no concern at all, as shown by their "being too preoccupied with less-priority things like cha-cha."

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