Press Release
July 26, 2007

ROXAS: 'SANA ITO ANG MANGYARI'

Citing the need to repair public institutions, Senator Mar Roxas expressed the need for the administration to address the real and pressing needs of the people, which he said the President should have discussed in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.

"Ang aking hinahandog ang SOPA - State of the Palengke Address. O di kaya naman ay isang ' SANA ' - Sana ito ang mangyari sa ating bansa," Roxas said before members of Kilosbayan and Bantay Katarungan on Thursday afternoon at Lyceum University in Intramuros, Manila . "Ang agenda ng pangulo ay hindi dapat lumalayo sa agenda ng palengke."

Also present in the event were former Senate Presidents Jovito Salonga, the Kilosbayan Chairman Emeritus, and Franklin Drilon, who are also officers of the Liberal Party.

Three days after the President committed infrastructure projects amounting to P1 trillion of taxpayers' money, Roxas said, "we continue to decipher what it all means in terms of a national framework for collective action."

"Her plan is cast in a physical infrastructure that strives to bring the nation together through networks of ports, airports, bridges and roads. But may I ask, even if we had all the infrastructure in the world, who will bring together our political, social and economic institutions to save the nation from poverty, fragmentation and conflict?" Roxas said.

As an example of the degradation of institutions, Roxas cited the recently passed Human Security Act that he said "can end up terrorizing the citizens themselves, given the country's weak intelligence and law enforcement." He also noted the "ambitious fiscal targets and underperforming revenue agencies Rather than whip them into shape, government looks the other way and plans to sell its prime assets."

And in the Senate, he lamented how "the convoluted political arrangements where once again the people's will is being thwarted."

Roxas said his proposed measures "will open the doors of dialogue between the institutions of government and between government and between government and the people, for the good of all."

Roxas announced his plan to establish by law a congressional oversight committee over national security and intelligence affairs.

An oversight committee, he said, "is one way to arrest the perceptive emergence of a national security state that threatens to overwhelm our democratic traditions." Roxas proposed a 12-person bipartisan oversight committee from both legislative chambers, to be accorded full access to all intelligence information within the Executive branch, and having proper subpoena powers.

The committee shall advise the President and Commander-In-Chief on matters involving:

- the appropriations and deployment of national security and intelligence resources;

- ideological and doctrinal issues;

- rules of engagement against the enemies of the state; and

- orders of battle drawn up by the Armed Forces of the Philippines .

He said the absence of any implementing rules and regulations for the Human Security Act further prompted such a measure to be taken. "It is time for Congress, wielding the powers at its disposal, to come to the aid of the Executive in the command and control of rogue military units abetted at various levels of the uniformed services," Roxas said.

Also highlighted by Roxas was the need for transparency in the bureaucracy. "The first principle of institution building is transparency and accountability. Therefore, I believe that the best way to make our republic whole and enable the unity of our institutions is to accord the people the freedom of access to official information," he said.

Roxas has already filed Senate Bill No. 109, dubbed the "Free Information Act," requiring government agencies to respond to all written request for information of public interest. In connection with this, he urged the government to provide details on the controversial signed contract with China's ZTE, its plans to bid its assets in the power sector and other large corporations, as well as the Radstock-PNCC deal wherein the government recognizes a debt that was never in the books.

Lastly, he said real social reforms that bridge the gap between rich and poor had to be prioritized. "Apart from repairing our republican institutions comes the task of repairing human lives and keeping families whole," Roxas said.

Roxas has sought through SB 102 to earmark 30% of all VAT proceeds for health and education purposes. "We want a national development plan prioritizing better brains and bodies - better, more competitive and productive Filipinos - that can rise above the humblest beginnings on merit instead of patronage," he said.

He also asked Kilosbayan to support the passage of SB 101, which seeks to provide Filipinos access to quality, affordable medicines through amendments to the Intellectual Property Code.

Roxas said Filipinos must be accorded "the same access to affordable medicines as an Indian, Thai or any other sick person in many countries around the world. Kailangang mas abot-kaya ang presyo ng gamot dito sa Pilipinas katulad ng mura ngunit dekalidad na gamot na nabibili ng Indian, Thai, Pakistani, Hapon at iba pang mga lahi sa kanilang bansa," he said.

Other measures he called for the passage include SB 103, to exempt minimum wage earners from paying income tax, and SB 105, establishing a pre-need code.

"The state of the nation is precariously weak because our institutions are weak. But they can be stronger, if our people's voice is stronger. But for the people's voice to gain strength, it must first of all be heard," Roxas said.

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