Recovery, accountability should be the next admin's top priority - De Lima

Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima maintained that the primary focus of the next administration should be recovery and accountability.

De Lima, who is seeking reelection under the Robredo-Pangilinan ticket, said the nation cannot move forward without seeking accountability from the current government for the State-sponsored killings, abuses, and plunder of wealth.

"Recovery and accountability are the keywords for governance going forward. Our country needs legislation that would encourage investments in our country, allow our businesses to recover, employ our workforce, and at the bottomline, put food on the tables of Filipino families," she said.

"At the core of this effort is good governance committed to the overarching principles of human rights and the rule of law. This means extracting accountability from Duterte and his officials responsible for the mismanagement and plunder of public funds and the murder of thousands of poor Filipinos tagged as drug offenders," she added.

Reports of alleged corruption ran rampant under the present administration, particularly amid the pandemic. One such issue was the alleged conspiracy between top government officials and executives of Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp.

Congressional hearings revealed that Pharmally has bagged over P10 billion worth of government contracts, including the purchase of allegedly overpriced, expired, or useless medical supplies for COVID-19.

Since Duterte was elected in 2016, more than 20,000 suspected drug peddlers have been brutally killed.

The lady Senator from Bicol stressed there are still a lot to fix in the government, which will only be possible with good and clean governance.

"Maraming krisis na ang pinagdaanan ng ating bansa, at marami pang dapat itama sa pamahalaan," she said.

"Obligasyon ng gobyerno na maglingkod at hindi paglingkuran. Kaya panahon nang ibalik ang pamamahala sa mga pinunong handa at subok na sa paglilingkod, yung hindi gagamitin ang posisyon para kumapit sa kapangyarihan, kundi para itaas ang kalidad ng pamumuhay ng bawat mamamayan. Isang pamahalaan na pinapalakas ang boses ng taumbayan at pinakikinggan ito," she added.

De Lima recently bared her five-point legislative agenda labeled as "5 Securities 4 Filipinos" or "Limang Kasiguruhan para sa Filipino'', namely: (1) Civil and Political Security through Good Governance, Human Rights and Rule of Law, (2) Food Security; (3) Health Security; (4) Economic Security; and (5) National Security.