Transcript of Ambush Interview of Senate President
Juan Ponce Enrile after SONA

Q: Sir, ano po ang assessment ninyo sa state of the nation address ng Pangulo?

SP Alam mo dito sa ating bayan, lahat ay pinagtatalunan, dinedebate. May pros and cons yan. To be fair, I think the President, sinasabi niya sa bayan yung kanyang mga ginawa, at ganun din ang mga dapat gagawin pa. Kung ano ang dapat gagawin ng mga susunod sa kanya. Sa aking paningin, at least, may mga katotohanan naman ang mga sinasabi nya. Kahit mga katotohanan dito sa bansa natin ay dinedebate na. Marami ring hindi sumasang-ayon pero sa aking paningin ay meron naman siya talagang nagawa sa bayan.

Q: Sir, sabi po ng Pangulo, kailangan daw po ng additional sin tax?

SP Yun ay dapat pagusapan sa parte ng Department of Finance. Sa aking paningin ay hindi pwedeng mangyari yun eh. Sapagkat pinagsasama nila ang konsepto ng specific tax at ad valorem tax. Eh binago nga natin yung dating sistema ng pagbubuwis ng mga sin taxes, na sa ad valorem ginawa naming specific. Ngayon, gusto nilang pagsamahin yung specific at ad valorem. Ini-index nila yung specific tax sa value ng produkto. Eh hindi ganun yung specific tax eh. Ang specific tax is based on volume, on quantity, a certain quality of certain products. Not on the value of the product.

Q: So mahaba pa pong debate ito?

SP Malaking usapin yan. Pangalawa, eh palagay ko yung kanilang estimate na kikitain ng gobyerno, pag ginawa nila yung formula na iniisip nila, ay masyadong optimistic. Kaya sinasabihan ko yung mga taga DOF na pag-aralan nila muli ang kanilang pini-prisintang panukalang batas para taasan kuno ang mga buwis sa mga sin taxes. At saka isa pa, ang napansin ko dun, yung mga mabababang sigarilyo, napakalaki ng rate of increase ng taxes. Samantalang yung mga mamahalin na ginagamit ng mga mayayaman ay maliliit o narereduce pa nga ang tax. Maaring sabihin na anti-poor yung kanilang panukalang batas. So kailangan yun, they have to restudy the whole thing.

Q: Sir, may mga pumupuna, matindi raw yung mga banat ni Pangulong Arroyo sa kanyang mga kritiko.

SP Aba'y syempre lang yun. Kung binabanatan ka, di babanatan mo rin yung bumabanat sa iyo. Ganyan lang sa politika eh. Pero sa tingin ko, wala namang personalan yan.

Q: May assurance na ba that she's stepping down on June 30, 2010?

SP Ang assurance d'yan ay Saligang Batas eh. Ang Saligang Batas na hindi napalitan, ayaw ma't gusto ng nanungkulan na manatili, eh yung Saligang Batas ang maghahari n'yan.

Q: What can you say to the observation that she never expressed the desire to extend her term.

SP Well I will take her word for it. I think she's telling what the law says. Her term of office will end at noon of June 30, 2010, six years following her election as president. Unless the Constitution is changed to give her another term, she cannot run for the same office. Nor can she stay in that office any second after noon of June 30, 2010.

Q: Do you take that as an assurance from Arroyo to the public to step down?

SP It is not an assurance from her. It is a mandate, a command by the Constitution and the Filipino people.

Q: Sir, 10 being the highest, 9 yung naging rating ni Senator Santiago sa performance ni GMA. Kayo sir, how will you asses PGMA's presidency?

SP Well, it is very difficult to assess the performance of the president in her time. There are pluses and there are minuses. By and large, I would say that in terms of accomplishments, she has accomplished a lot. She said the depreciation rate is down to 1.5%, I understand, I am not an economist but I go by the figures of our statisticians, at least the impact of the global financial crisis on us is not as much as the most modern and strongest economies--supposedly the United States, Japan, England, Germany, and so on. And thus far, our economy is moving forward, the rate of exchange between the foreign currencies and the peso has been stable. It has not see-sawed up and down, it is not a roller coaster. Our stock market has been on a steady movement and as far as interest rates are concerned, equally stable. The amount of joblessness has not worsened just like the other more modern and stronger economies.

Of course, as I said in my speech this morning, this is not the end of the problem. Because, while our economic and finance managers say that we grew during the second quarter of the year, the experts here and abroad, both local and international institutions, predict that the global financial crisis will worsen before it gets any better. I think it's best that we assume that to be true, and prepare for it.

Q: Yung message, yung lahat ng mga promises, were you satisfied or disappointed?

SP As far as I'm concerned, when she talks about the nautical highway, the infrastructure that she has done, like airports and our road system, even the communication system in the country, the amount of effort to refurbish our agricultural sector, all of these, including our educational system, I think it's true. That has been the center of effort on the part of this administration.

Q: Aling part dun yung medyo hindi totoo?

SP The peace and order situation in the country has not been controlled. The enforcement of the laws could have been better.

Q: Sir, yung fight against corruption?

SP The problem of venalities in government could have been better handled.

Q: On the bill, Sir, GMA has prodded Congress to work on the priority measure such as the DICT, the BSP charter, yung mga sin taxes.

SP We will work on that. We will see to it that the laws that we are going to pass will indeed attain the goals that sought to be attained. We are not just going to accept the proposals at face value. We have to scrutinize, analyze, relate them to reality and examine them very carefully, whether indeed, the conclusions presented to us, are true to fact.

Q: So yung speech sir, tulad ng tax, in favor po ba kayo dun?

SP I am against any additional burden on the people. We have to be more innovative in finding the ways and means, as I said this morning, to raise the income of government without unduly burdening the people with due taxes. And if, we have to enforce taxes, then we have to select the sector that must be taxed.

Q: I noticed that Arroyo made no mention of the fight against corruption, but corruption seems to be a big problem.

SP Well, that's correct. But I think it is given that all of us must see to it that corruption must be stopped. Or at least minimized, or at least eradicated.

Q: Did the government achieve something in the fight against corruption? Or has it achieved nothing?

SP That area of governance has not been touched very much.

Q: Sir, yung EPIRA (inaudible)... Pinagmamadali po ba yung pag-amend ng EPIRA?

SP To be fair to the administration, they are in favor of the amendments that I have introduced. Only that it has to be worked out here in the House.

Q: Wala pa po bang gustong mag-author ng amendments ng EPIRA sa House?

SP Dapat yung sa Committee on Energy.

Q: As expected Sir, binanggit yung sa Telcos.

SP Well, talagang kailangan yun eh. We are going to enact a law to strengthen the National Telecommunications Commission.