Press Statement of Senator Loren Legarda

On self-quarantine request by DOH to Pacquiao

As it is but a request by the Department of Health for Manny Pacquiao to stay in Los Angeles for a self-imposed quarantine, the decision rests solely on him whether or not to stay in Los Angeles or to come home to the Philippines.

There's no need for cabinet officials to trade barbs over the matter because it only exposes the administration's lack of definitive policies on how to deal with the possibility of people coming to the Philippines from abroad while possibly being stricken with the swine flu virus.

At the end of the day, the issue has nothing to do with victory parades being missed but of the Constitutionally guaranteed right of every Filipino to travel. Nonetheless, there should always be a balance between individual rights and the government mandate to ensure the safety and health of the general population.

On storm 'Emong' hitting the country

I urge the National Disaster Coordinating Council, as well as all government agencies concerned, to immediately relocate residents from geo-hazardous areas that lie in the path of typhoon "Emong."

Let us not allow landslides and floods to result to preventable loss of lives among our countrymen because timely intervention by government can bring them to safety. Some of the dead from storm "Dante" have yet to be buried yet we face another potentially disastrous natural calamity in "Emong."

We must not be caught flat-footed this time as these geo-hazardous areas have already been identified. Government inaction on temporarily relocating residents away from them is unjustifiable.

On possible failure of automated poll bidding

 The Commission on Election has no choice but to strictly enforce the bidding rules on the automation of the 2010 elections. Just the same, a failure of the bidding process will be seen by many, justified or not, as being part of a grand design by the administration to still use the manual tabulation of ballots.

Of course, the Comelec will maintain its independence from Malacañang but people have a mind of their own to draw their own conclusions on how the bidding is progressing, with the weeding out of all but two of the bidders.

As we all know from experience, poll cheaters have already perfected their craft when it comes to manual counting of votes, thus no one can blame our people if they would insist on an automated poll for next year. A negotiated contract for poll automation following a failure of the bidding process is being considered by Comelec, but it remains to be seen whether that would be acceptable to our already cynical countrymen.