Press statement of Senator Loren Legarda

ON ELECTIONS

The Commission on Elections should do everything in its power to assure fair, clean, honest and orderly elections in 2010. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is right in warning that a revolution could take place if the people sense that the May 2010 elections would again be influenced by fraud.

A revolution almost took place after the 2004 presidential elections when the people believed that the opposition candidates, Fernando Poe Jr. for president and myself for vice president, were cheated at the polls. This was manifested through legitimate rallies expressing the people's grievance over the fraud-marred 2004 elections.

The government should ensure measures for clean elections so as not to provoke the will of the people.

ON SWINE FLU EMERGENCY

The government should consider declaring a state of emergency in localities where the swine flu is prevalent. With already one death and many more cases reported, the government must undertake all measures to contain and eliminate the epidemic.

We reiterate that the government should take steps to stock up in anti-flu medicines and vaccines. It should also stop the speculation in the prices of the anti-flu vaccines and medicines to their steep increase in prices, taking advantage of the rising demand due to the epidemic and pandemic.

With the declaration of state of emergencies in localities where the swine flu is prevalent, the government can take adequate steps to prevent their further spread.

ON FINANCIAL CRISIS

With the global financial crisis resulting in a worldwide recession, affecting especially export income, our government should encourage the production of local commodities to meet the needs of our people. Our constitution enshrines self-reliance as a cornerstone of economic growth. This principle has been boosted by the global economic crisis, whereby both imports and exports are declining worldwide.

We should boost our production of rice, meat and poultry, and strengthen our processing capacity to process these products for the internal market, to reduce our reliance of imported food. We should do this as well for the production of manufactured products that can be produced at home to reduce our import expenses and our deficit.

This does not mean that we should totally ignore international trade, but it is always better to bargain from a strong position of self-reliance, rather than one of weakness and dependence.