STATEMENT OF SENATOR FRANCIS "KIKO" PANGILINAN ON THE LIBERAL PARTY SLATE FOR 2013 AND ON THE NEED FOR CONTINUITY IN POLICY AND REFORMS

For genuine change to happen, continuity and consistency in policy reforms on corruption and poverty alleviation are key. We need at least a decade and a half of such continuity and consistency if we are to truly reach developed-nation status in the year 2030, or less than 20 years from now.

No nation in the world has moved from developing-nation status to developed-nation status without consistency in policy for at least a decade and a half. South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand are examples of economies that were transformed because of at least 15 to 20 years of consistency and relentlessness in implementing a set of national policies for reform and development.

Thus, the LP, together with other like-minded political parties, groups, and individuals must be able to consolidate the gains of the May 2010 elections and forge ahead. The Aquino administration must, in the 2013 elections, ensure that the constituency for reforms and good governance is mobilized once again to ensure critical support in following through on its reform efforts. Thus must naturally reflect itself in the alliances it intends to build and the candidates it chooses to field.

How we win in 2013 and the alliances we forge will determine how we will govern. It definitely cannot be politics as usual, or that we simply subscribe to the tenet "politics is addition" because if this is true then why is it that other nations have moved forward while we remain lagging behind?

We must think outside the box. We must be willing to do things differently if we truly wish to see the transformation of our nation during our lifetimes. Now is the time to do it with the right partners and with the right people who share a common vision for genuine change.