Senator Rodolfo G Biazon Press Conference

Senate Press Office

On AFP COS Esperon as Secretary of National Defense - we consider this at this point a rumor in the absence of a confirmation from credible authorities, if indeed it will be Gen Esperon who will be Sec of Defense there will be a lot of questions to be asked... is this a form of an extension because there was a failure to realize the objective of his extension... which was to finish the insurgency in this country... has this been done? Has this been achieved? So if there was such a failure, maybe the reason for him to be appointed as top gun of the defense dept is to continue his work... is this the case...????

I hope they think twice about this because sleeping issues could be resurrected when he faces the Commission on Appointments like the GARCI issue, the extrajudicial killings, mayuga report... needed investigation to determine what ISAFP has done relative to the use of wire tapping equipment, the issue of the procurement of 12 helicopters reduced to 6 , stopped by DND sec teodoro... an issue ordered to be investigated by sec teodoro... what will happen to this... i salute sec teodoro for stopping the procurement and conducting an investigation..so what is this all about... what will happen to that procurement, what will happen to the investigation of that procurement..these are issues that will be raised definitely...

I think Sec Teodoro is doing excellently in the department - I notice how he interacts with soldiers and the way he is studying everything and putting in certain policy decisions.. to me the one so noticeable is what he did with the alleged anomalous procurement of 12 helicopters..he stopped the procurement and he is conducting an investigation on who may be made liable.

On Federalism - his signing Pimentel Resolution - he is for public debate but will still decide if he will oppose or support federalism:

Yes there are 16 senators who have signed... but I would like to make a clarification, some of those who signed do not necessarily support or oppose the proposal for a shift to that form of government - federalism..in my instance, I signed that resolution with a statement that this is now the time to put up this issue to a public debate so that there will be an understanding by our people what federalism is all about...we need to go now into a debate to understand this major political move in our country...o less that the very structure of government is being proposed to be changed..there are many questions to be asked... what level of autonomy or independence are we willing to grant the states that will compose the republic..how do we constitute the different states... should it be along linguistic lines, geographical lines... economic status etc... because one major concern for me is if we immediately shift to a federal form of government we need to study very well a transition period that we need... I am afraid if the shift sudden and depending on the degree of autonomy we are going to assign the federal state on the issue of taxation, deployment of resources, exploitation of our natural resources and national security and defense..I am afraid that the depressed regions will be at a disadvantage...I am talking of depressed regions to include the cordillera, ARMM, region 8 eastern visayas, region 5 bicol region, region 6 western visayas... because if the central govt authority to shift resources from one region to another is removed... what will happen to these depressed regions.. will the investors invest in those regions without intervention from the central government?... if I am an investor..I am going to invest where economic infrastructures are available which are airports, ports, banking system, stable and qualified labor force which means the educational centers in the country.. it is about time for us to put up this issue to a debate..my signature on that resolution is towards that objective. I have yet to determine whether to support the proposal or oppose the proposal... I would like that to be clarified...the end thank you.