Press Release
May 16, 2009

Press Statement of Senator Loren Legarda

On true cha-cha intent

The administration had finally admitted the lack of material time to amend the Constitution before next year's election. Many see this admission as a mere face-saving excuse to drop cha-cha as a means to stay in power past 2010.

No doubt, the Senate's refusal to have anything to do with the flawed constituent assembly being pushed by some in the House of Representatives had something to do with this development. Come to think of it, the frequent referencing of the 2010 elections by administration proponents of cha-cha betrays the true motive behind it -- term extension.

With cha-cha out the window, the next play seems to be to invent reasons not to push through with the polls next year, possibly through a declaration to be made by Comelec of the failure of the poll automation bidding and its lack of preparations to revert to manual elections.

On book importation levy

The Department of Finance and the Bureau of Customs cannot circumvent the provisions of the Florence Convention, to which the Philippines was a signatory, especially those that encourage nations not to tax the importation of books.

Over and above the purported misreading by the DOF of the convention leading to its imposition of levy on imported books, the government must recognize the reason why the importation of books should not be weighed down by levies -- because books inform and enlighten people, thereby empowering them. An empowered and enlightened people make for an empowered nation.

We should not deny or restrict our people's access to books by coming up with regulations that may increase government revenues a bit, but would do harm to us as a people intellectually in the long run.

On safety of navy whistle-blower

It is in the interest of the government to ensure the safety of Navy Lt. Nancy Gadian if it is keen in getting to the bottom of her accusation that some officials in the military made money from the 2007 RP-US Balikatan exercise.

The charges brought against her, including alleged desertion, must be treated separately and are, in fact, of secondary importance compared to the very serious revelation she had made. As it is, her lawyer argued that she had not gone absent without leave but had resigned, precisely out of fear for her life. The Senate must take a heightened interest in this matter.

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