Press Release
November 28, 2022

TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS WITH KAREN DAVILA ON ANC HEADSTART
November 28, 2022

Q: Let's start our discussion off with increased military presence in the Philippines following the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris. Do you share the same fears as the former military official on more sites being built in the Philippines through EDCA. What are your thoughts?

SRH: Well as someone who went through the movement in the late 80s and early 90s for the Senate eventually to vote no to the renewal rp-us bases agreement, syempre mapapaisip din ako dito sa manifestation ngayon ng enhanced defense cooperation agreement or EDCA I was glad as a woman na bumisita si US Vice President Kamala Harris, isang kapwa lider-kababaihan and I appreciate the expression of support of any nation, USA man yon o iba pa upholding our victory at The Hague yung ruling ng tribunal na yon para sa Pilipinas at laban sa Tsina especially regarding the tensions particularly at the West Philippine Sea bukod pa sa yong South China Sea. Kaya bukas ako sa ganyang mga joint military exercises sa karagatan especially as they show support for our country, for the Philippine Navy, for the Coast Guard pati para sa BFAR pero medyo ibang usapin yung magtatayo ng sites sila on our land at yun yung limang ibinalita nyo na nga kanina. Iba pa po yun at it also recalls what the president recently said though in relation to China in particular, in our mind, di nila susuko ni isang pulgada ng teritoryo ng Pilipinas.

I share these thoughts with you, in the context of my dream of an independent and interdependent foreign policy especially with ASEAN or like-minded countries in the ASEAN and then regional and global formation like the quad, na lahat with mutual respect for the Philippines will help us in resolving the tensions and preventing open conflict sa ating karagatan. Ayokong maiipit tayo sa pagpili sa dating colonial master at sa bagong gustong maging regional or global as it were, colonial master dito sa ating bansa.

Q: Now following that visit I know that the Makabayan bloc also opposes the 1-2-3 agreement between the Philippines and the US that provides the legal basis for US exports of nuclear equipment and material to the Philippines. As we know,. the president is open to studying nuclear energy. Do you share the same stand as the makabayan bloc or is Sen Risa Hontiveros open to nuclear energy?

SRH: Parang ang daming throwback tayong napapag-usapan. naging aktibista ako first and foremost because of the peace issue. Highschool ako, teenager nagbuo kami ng Nuclear Disarmament group sa St Scho Manila working against then Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the then nuclear-powered and nuclear arms bearing planes and ships na dumadaong at lumalapag sa noo'y US military and naval bases dito sa Pilipinas at ngayon lalo na't umunlad na yung renewable energy pati dito sa ating energy mix, I continue to believe that we have much better, safer and cheaper and renewable energy sources compared to the prospects of opening a nuclear energy program here in the Philippines mapadaan man yan sa isang revived Bataan Nuclear Power Plant o kahit yung sinasabi nilang modular nuclear reactors. Eh kahit sa mga diumanong modular na yan, sabi nila mas maliit, sabi nila ngayon ang nuclear energy daw ay malinis , mas ligtas daw but just recently we had Fukushima, we had before 3-mile island, there was also Chernobyl and until now, even those nuclear energy advocates cannot as in hindi kayang sagutin yung tanong na paanong ligtas na iso-store yung radioactive nuclear waste. Yung half lives nung mga radioactive wastes na yan will outlive our generation, will outlive our children's generation at kahit yung mga advocates ng nuclear energy hindi pa rin nila ma-resolve yang issue na yan.

Q: So is it fair to say that you are against nuclear power as a whole considering that you have western countries that source most of their energy from nuclear, the US for example, France being second and it;'s the cheapest form of energy today.

SRH: It's cheapest for them in dollars or euro terms pero pag kinwenta natin yung environmental and health hazards and other socio-economic aspects, more hidden aspects of nuclear energy, hindi siya value for money para sa kanila at lalo na para sa atin and not to mention the fact that we have much better even in peso terms renewable energy alternatives, solar, wind, tidal and small medium hydro biomass for which we don't have to import the raw materials. Wala naman tayong endemic stores nung mga nuclear minerals na kakailangin for the generation of nuclear energy, then we would have to import those minerals, so mas mahal. and then pag nagkaroon na tayo ng radioactive wastes ay magiging magnet pa yan sa mga ikinakatakot na mga diumanong nuclear terrorist who are trying to gather all such radioactive materials from different countries all around the world for their development of nuclear weapons eh gusto na nga nating papalayo sa dati na ngang panganib ng nuclear conflict or even war. Why would the Philippines add to that deadly raw material?

Q: Energy is a whole topic and it's a whole show together but let's move on a few days back. You actually bared, now this is quite alarming, you bared fake job ads and the trafficking of Filipino workers to Myanmar. Let's talk about that. You spoke, is that correct with 12 OFWs?

SRH: Yes. 12 OFWs led by alias Rita who were rescued by local and international NGOs based in Myanmar and Thailand and with the help of our Department of Foreign Affairs in the Thailand side and now here in the Philippines, our labor agencies, OWWA, DMW, Rita and her 11 companions had been recruited through Facebook, online job ads promised work as call center agents or data encoders in Thailand. Si Rita, in particular, was contacted by a woman using the name Len whose Facebook account, by the way, a few days ago was still active. Len instructed Rita at malamang yung labing-isa pa how to get out of the country and how to smoothly get past immigration. Len and her colleagues provided Rita and her kasamas with all the proper travel documents pero pinagpanggap lang silang magtuturista sa Thailand. Aba pagdating sa Thailand, they were taken on a bewildering 7-8 hour ride.

Q: So they were kidnapped.

SRH: Actually, yun yung nangyari. They were kidnapped against their will because ang will nila was to take legitimate jobs in Thailand. Wow, they ended up in Myanmar in this place called Shwe Kokko Special Economic Zone also known as scam city. Scam city kasi kilala itong safe haven for online gambling and fraud operators na usually members ng Chinese mafia. While there, they were forced to engage in a cryptocurrency scam, befriending and drawing into romantic relationships targeted foreign clients who once nakuha na nila yung kumpyansa ng mga taong ito, they would draw into crypto currency investment schemes pretending --

Q: And fake? Fake yung crypto schemes? Fake yun itself?

SRH: Fake mismo. Pati yung identity nila bilang mga mid- or high-level business persons or entrepreneurs who became successful because of these cryptocurrency investments they would draw in their intended victims into fake cryptocurrency financing schemes as well and eventually steal on behalf of their Chinese mafia syndicate employers, steal the money of these investors.

Q: Senator, would you have any idea how widespread it is? For example, how many Filipinos have fallen prey to this? How many Filipinos are working I guess in that particular town in Myanmar, acting as these crypto callers?

SRH: That's a good term, crypto callers. Yung isang sama ng loob nga ni Rita who was being groomed as a recruiter of other Filipino human trafficking and scamming victims, sama ng loob nya, she learned that before her, there were two other Filipinos na inireklamo rin itong si Len. And yet, umabot pa kay Rita at yung mga kabatch nya kumbaga na mga crypto callers na nabiktima rin sila, and even when they finally got safely home, ang sumbong nina Rita there are at least 31 other Filipinos in their same former predicament, trafficked, forced to work as scammers until terrible mental health pressure because of the pretense they have to engage in. At yung mga banta sa kanila, terrible threats at yung iba sa kanila including among the 31 na naiwan doon alam nila Rita, sinasaktan. We only know of those 31 others. Hindi pa natin alam yan ang pinaiimbestiga ko sa ating mga awtoridad and thanks to our DMW, sabi nila nag-iimbestiga na sila. We don't know how many Filipinos are in this predicament. Sabi pa nila Rita dahil nabisto nila itong Thailand to Myanmar corridor for trafficking victims turned crypto callers ay naghahanap na connect daw yung kanilang Chinese syndicate bosses ng connect daw sa ating Bureau of Immigration at yung iba raw na mga biktima nila ng trafficking ay idinadaan na sa Malaysia. This syndicate is trying to keep one or several steps of the game of our authroriries. They are evolcing like another virus in able tpo continue these operations.

Q: And when you bared this in the Senate, is it right that they weren't actually given their salaries even as crypto callers, they weren't treated properly. What exactly is the extent of abuse?

SRH: The abuse, yes, until now even this batch who were able to be rescued, may utang pa sa kanilang sweldo yung mga dating bosses nila. They were forced to work at least 12 or more hours a day at kapag hindi sila makaproduce ng scamming victims --

Q: Parang may quota. May quota yan eh.

SRH: May quota sila and if they couldn't deliver on their quota, oh wow, lalo na among the 31 left behind, alam nila Rita sinasaktan and all of them who were not able to deliver on their quotas were subject to stress, threatened to be made to do 1,000 push ups na magbuhat ng galong-galong tubig, to be hit by electric rods, and even to be stabbed until they died sabi nina Rita pati silang mga babae binabantaan na their corpses daw would just be left somewhere out in the open when they died. Really really very very abusive working conditions.

Q: I spoke with Sec Toots Ople last week and she thanked you for this expose but what can the government do. Let's talk about long-term planning. Number one, the problem is the recruitment is on Facebook. Number 2, you can go as tourist in Thailand or Malaysia. But what about the Myanmar government? In terms of government to government agreements with this what is the role of the Myanmar government?

SRH: That's a very good point. Tayo at ang Myanmar parehong mga myembro sa ASEAN and I already did make a call sa DFA among other government agencies. Muli, salamat sa DFA sa tulong nila noong nakatawid na si Rita sa Thailand side ulit sinalubong sila ng ating DFA doon. DFA could open up this subject of discussion with their Myanmar counterparts. Speaking of Facebook, thanks also to Facebook when they read the news and saw our news and the social media posts about what happened kina RIta. They communicated with my office and asked for the information about these Facebook pages. The pages Filipinos in Myanmar, Filipinos in Thailand, and POGO secret files and they said they would take action on this. Nanawagan din ako sa ibang mga platforms, that Rita said have been used. WhatsApp, Telegram even dating and professional apps like Linkedin. And of course, our authorities, Bureau of Immigration, they would really look out for this. Because dumadaan sa kanila eh, palabas at paloob. So they are also a line of defense for our nationals.

Q: Because what's difficult in this situation is the laws are clear. The anti-trafficking laws, we all know it's illegal. And yet you have Filipinos of course wanting a better life that they would do it outside the purview of the POEA. Yun yung malungkot.

SRH: Yes, and who doesn't want a better life? In fact, hindi lang step one, kundi step zero natin is to really provide more decent jobs dito sa Pilipinas lalo na ngayong patapos nang pandemya where so many of our kababayan were hit with un- and underemployment at nasa gitna pa tayo ng resesyon where yung mga recent surveys showed that it's really inflation, prices and jobs. Jobs, jobs top of mind talaga ng mga Pilipino. And then once lumabas tayo ng bansa, talagang kailangang siguruhin, lalong-lalo na ng ating gubyerno, na legit tayong lumalabas, at ligtas tayo habang nasa ibang mga bansa at kung we are abroad for work, that we are well-represented and protected by our government, even while abroad.

Q: And in the same breath, the timing considering that number 1, the Department of Migrant Workers is a new department, and number 2, magkano na po ang budget ng DMW?

SRH: I can get back to you on how much we budgeted, kumbaga binyag na budget ng DMW. Yes, it's a new department and I really hope that over the next few years, hangga't umabot tayo sa sitwasyon na we have enough decent jobs here in the Philippines at pwedeng tignan yung sunset provision ng DMW na it will well and faithfully serve yung ating mga OFWs, tulad dito sa kasong ito. Sina Sec. Toots really have stepped up for Rita and her companions.

Q: The budget is now at 17 billion pesos, 4 billion going to the office of the secretary, and 11.8 billion to the OWWA. Given the problems that Sec. Toots Ople will be facing and this is one of them, does this actually help empower the DMW?

SRH: It gets them off to a running start. Siyempre sa susunod pang limang taon nitong administrasyon ay DMW would have to get back to us in Congress how well did they spend the initial budget at sumapat ba ito at malamang sasabihin nila hindi, and how can we better support them in terms of next year's budget and so on. So magiging work in progress yan.

Q: Naka-bicam na po ba?

SRH: Nagbibicam na po.

Q: A big shift in the budget, let's talk about this, it was quite controversial. But you actually moved to excise all of the DepEd's confidential funds. Why did you do that and why was it important for you to do that?

SRH: It was important not actually to excise, but to transplant the DepEd confidential budget to the DepEd MOOE. Yung item nila para sa mga programa nila. For two reasons: una, hindi naman mandate ng DepEd gumawa ng mga confidential or for that matter, intelligence, operations, lalo na nasa gitna tayo ng education crisis and DepEd itself also needs more funds para sa kanilang mga programa to address this crisis, to address learning poverty, to address the longstanding issues and needed reforms pagkatapos ng shift natin sa K-12, lalo na't palabas palang tayo sa pandemic, at nasa gitna pa tayo ng resesyon.

And it was important to do that para mas maging accountable yung paggastos ng pondo nila. Ang confidential funds kasi are not subject to regular audit by the Commission on Audit, kaya importante para mapigilan ang graft and corruption na mas kaunting confidential funds lalo na sa mga civilian agencies na wala namang kinalaman sa intelligence work for example. At importanteng i-shift.. I was able to move P120 million, 80% of the 150 million originally requested by DepEd for its confidential funds to one of its MOOE programs on healthy learning institutions.

Salamat muli kay Finance Committee Chair Angara at Minority Leader ko, Koko Pimentel, at lahat ng mga kasama namin sa Majority who supported this move.

Q: The senate really acted on this one, considering the request of DepEd for confi funds was P150 million. It's now down to P30 million.

SRH: It is, down to 20% of what they had requested, na para sa akin dapat walang ganong item.

Q: The Senate took a stand.

SRH: We did take a stand and additionally, sinuportahan din ng buong Senado yung iba pa naming mga amyenda ni Minority Leader Senator Koko. We got a general provision that all agencies with confidential and intelligence funds should draw up a workplan for the use of these funds, at obligado din silang, at the tailend, to submit quarterly reports to both Houses of Congress, kung paano nila ginastos ang mga confidential at intelligence funds na ito.

Q: We've seen the confidential funds of the office of the president grow through the years. I remember it started at 500 million pesos. Do you remember that senator? It just started to grow, and it's now at 5 billion.

SRH: I think you're right. Something like that.

Q: Noticeably, more and more government agencies were appealing for confidential funds so the Senate actually realigned the confidential funds agencies were requesting -- DFA, DOJ, DSWD, Executive offices, the Ombudsman. But what does this mean exactly to the culture of actually wanting confidential funds in your budget? Parang nawiwili senator.

SRH: That's a really important observation. Kasi kahit tignan mo yung mga budget ng ibang mga bansa, o ibang mga gubyerno sa mundo, not everybody has confidential and intelligence funds, or not everybody has CIFs to this magnitude or at least proportion of their budgets. At kahit tignan natin siguro yung budget history natin dito sa Pilipinas.

Apparently, this practice of having confidential and intelligence funds, kahit sa mga civilian agencies ha, would date back to a particular presidential decree, I forget the exact number right now, so isa rin itong legasiya ng batas-militar, ng diktadura, and it is something now embedded, if I'm not mistaken, in our administrative code, so interesante, at palagay ko, importante pag-aralan namin sa Senado o Kongreso, are there also budget reforms we can introduce by way of legislation. Yung amendment sa administrative code man yun or sa iba pa para kahit sa households natin, wala naman tayong confidential funds.

Q: What alarmed me when I was reading it, why is it that these civilian agencies think that they can now ask for confidential funds?

SRH: Yun yung bahagi ng sinabi mong nawili na yata kami sa gubyerno, and maybe it's not a healthy habit that we've developed over the decades. And maybe it's healthier, sana yung nagawa naming pag-realign ng 120 M from DepEd confi to DepEd programs, sa healthy learning institutions, baka it's a step in the right direction to surface more of the government funds. After all, ang government funds ay taxpayers funds. To surface more of them in the annual budget para subject sa regular COA auditing at subject din sa regular citizen examination to make more honest brokers of us in government over time, na dahil alam naming iaaudit ang budget na ibinigay sa amin ng taxpayers, mamamayan, at ng Kongreso, na we will be more transparent and accountable at maikwekwenta namin yun every year sa COA na maipagmamalaki namin at hindi ikahihiya.

Of course, ibang usapin yung intelligence funds ng mga ahensya tulad, the professionals, na talagang may kinalaman, for example, sa National Defense o yung Armed Forces o yung National Police. But even they, dito sa Pilipinas, and I think lalo na sa ibang mga bansa, may longstanding practices kung paano or at least paano dapat maging accountable para sa pondong iyon.

Q: Speaking of accountability, Cong. Paul Daza exposed a particular issue of the DICT downloading budget that was allotted for broadband, downloaded to other agencies for them to help the DICT. So I think 1 billion was downloaded to the MMDA, a few other hundred millions to other agencies and it's supposed to help the DICT with its broadband. Is that allowed by law in terms of disbursing the budget?

SRH: I thank Rep. Daza for pointing that out, so ngayon, Congress's oversight function, dahil nasa amin ang power of the purse, proper na ifollow-up namin yung observation niya by asking were these moneys downloaded by DICT within its budgeted for programs, within its line item budget? May line ba sila to download to other agencies for their ICT programs.

Q: Can that be done? We're all familiar with the supreme court decision on the DAP. But then, does this fall under that because that was part of our discussion. Can you actually download to another agency? That's what the DOH did to .. Yung pinasa mo yung trabaho to another agency, pwede ba yun?

SRH: Ipinasa sa PS-DBM ... Thank you for reminding me of that. Para sa akin, live issue parin yung Pharmally, even in connection with human trafficking we were talking about earlier. Yung ginawa ng DOH sa PS-DBM that has really come under strong and justified fire and we have a lot of not just reforms, but justice to be done still. Ito namang DICT to other agencies, in principle, majujustify lamang siya if DICT has a line item in its budget appropriated by Congress, na spend for the ICT programs of other agencies na humihingi ng tulong ng DICT.

Q: All the senators agree that healthworkers deserve a pay increase pero ang tanong, saan ito, is it even possible? In the deliberations, they want a minimum monthly pay of 33,000, tama ba ito? Saan kukunin ang pondo?

SRH: Yun yung magiging trabaho ng Kongreso parin, ka-partner sa DOH, because that was passed into law, so entitlement nila sa ilalim ng batas, pero sa gitna nitong masikip na fiscal space, kailangang magkutkot kami sa budget nasaan posibleng mayroong undisbursed funds ng DOH, saan sila may savings in terms of compensation for healthcare workers, lalo na nung mga unang taon ng pandemya, so what is owed is due and trabaho ngayon ng DOH ibayad yun sa mga healthcare workers sa public sector at sana mag-oversight din sila sa kalagayan ng ating mga healthcare workers sa private sector at sa ating mga LGUs, at continuing obligation din ng Kongreso hanapan yun ng pondo, because we're not just talking of year 2022, may mga utang pa sa kanila from 2021 at least.

News Latest News Feed