Politicians From Manila

"While today no foreign invaders threaten our sovereignty, there's another front that is on the line - our economy. Like a pandemic plague, worldwide recession now engulfs all nations. If stable, prosperous democracies are floundering in its wake, what more of developing countries such as ours?"

"We need then to pull together, like the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and take stock of the situation. For, today is not business as usual. The times demand that we set aside personal agendas for the urgent task at hand: that of leading our people in overcoming the difficult times in the days ahead."

"Let the sacrifices of our heroes serve as an example and inspire us to come together, and teach us that our personal interests and well-being should always give way to the collective good of the Filipino people and the betterment of the country we all love."

"The right-of-reply issue has nothing to do with fearing media nor with the 2010 elections. Rather, it has everything to do with imposing unnecessary restraints on media."

"This is not the first attempt to pass a right-of-reply bill in the Senate. A similar bill was filed in the pre-martial law chamber but did not prosper."

"Then as now, the position of Eddie Monteclaro, president of the National Press Club at that time, remains relevant."

"He said: "The right of reply is better than realized through editorial discretion and voluntary acts rather than through forcible dictation through state machinery which infringes upon a basic freedom.""

"I have had my share of criticism and continue to be pilloried, at times, by the media. When one is on the side of truth, however, one does not need to fear media."

"We cannot legislate responsibility. Self-regulation is the best option. I have crossed the line; I stand on the side of press freedom."

"A former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Harold Mc Millan, once said, "It is not the things that one did in one's life that one regrets, but rather the opportunities missed.""

"If we, the Filipino people, were to view the last 60 years, they may be termed as the decades of missed opportunities."

"After the 2nd World War, the Philippines had the second highest per capita GDP in Asia. Today, we have one of the lowest."

"During the 50's, the Philippines had one of the highest standards of education in Asia. Many of our neighbors sent their sons and daughters to study at our institutions of learning."

"Today, we are ranked so poorly in achievement scores. The average high school graduate in Japan has a better knowledge of science and mathematics than the average Filipino college graduate."

"During the 60's, the Philippines produced enough food to feed her people. Today, we are the biggest importer of rice in Asia."

"During the 60's and early 70"s, the Philippines had one of the lowest electricity rates in Asia. Today, we have the highest."

"Prior to martial law, we had only around a million Filipino immigrants to foreign countries. Today, estimates reach nine million Filipinos who have voted with their feet."

"The question we all must ponder is - what is wrong with us?"

"Why does our march down the road to development seem to be a pattern of 3 steps forward, 2 steps back?"

"Today, we have been asked to present to you our "socio-economic-peace program" for the next six years."

"My friends, there have been dozens of economic programs these past 60 years. I myself have seen so many Medium Term Development Programs prepared by very capable men and women from government, academe and the private sector."

"So what I will present to you this afternoon will not be anything new or novel to you. What might be different is the approach or the priority given to some sectors or programs."

"Let us agree on our common goal. As public servants, we serve the highest interests of our people. Primarily, we seek to eliminate poverty and improve the quality of life of every Filipino."

"In a market economy, this means striving for higher family income, a highly educated and/or trainable workforce, better health care, affordable food and housing and peaceful communities."

"The intermediate goal is the creation of millions of new jobs and livelihood opportunities. This would necessitate being able to successfully attract much greater amounts of direct investments, especially foreign investments."

"To succeed in enticing investors, we submit that whoever becomes President should focus on 6 areas of priority:"

"First, on my list would be Good Governance. We must repair our house. Many of our institutions have been severely weakened. The trust and faith in the fairness of such critical institutions as the Comelec, the Dept. of Justice, the AFP-ISAPH, the PNP, the Sandigan aside from the chronically corrupt Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue."

"We must have a stable policy environment. No more ATRAS - ABANTE."

"We must enforce the laws and enforce them speedily. People will obey and follow our laws if there is certainty of punishment."

"We must enlist the best and the brightest to serve in government, and pay them a salary equivalent to what they would earn in the private sector."

"We must follow the principle of subsidiarity -- devolving authority to the lowest level of government which can handle the problem. Regions and provinces, cities and municipalities are tired of waiting for Imperial Manila to act on their problems."

"As soon as the national government can afford, a larger percentage of the Internal Revenue allotment should be given to local government units. It is presently 20%. By devolving added responsibilities, this could eventually go to 60%. This would speed up the development of the countryside."

"Such budget deficits are unsustainable. We must put a stop to smuggling - estimated by foreign institutions to be as much as $10 billion (as P480 billion) a year. The uncollected VAT alone would be over P50 billion."

"Third, we must invest in our youth and in our future."

"There is a Chinese Proverb, which says, if you plan for one year, plant rice. If you plan for ten years, plant trees. If you plan for 100 years, plant people."

"It is accepted fact that the world has been moving from an economy of goods to an economy of knowledge. And knowledge is the single most important resource to any advanced society."

"We must give our children the equal opportunity to develop their minds and bodies to the fullest. We will continue, even expand, the conditional cash transfers (or CCT's) to the poorest families so that their children will have the means to get to school and the nutrition to support a healthy brain - and body. We must cut down drastically that 34% drop-out rate in primary grades."

"The higher the knowledge and skills of our workforce, the higher their earning power. Whether they decide to remain here or go abroad, the economy will benefit because of their remittances."

"Government must provide the hardware - classrooms, desks, chairs, and the software - books, teacher retraining."

"The reported backlog of 40,000 classrooms is unjustifiable. At a cost of P500,000 per classroom, it would cost only P20 billion to build everything. That's only one year's income of PAGCOR. I am incredulous how the future of millions of Filipino children has been irretrievably lost because of the insatiable greed of those in power."

"In California, the entire net income of its grant California Lotto has been exclusively earmarked for its schools."

"We should align government subsidies to private and public colleges with courses that meet the demands of the market. Like engineering and computer sciences."

"McKinsey and Company has a new study that shows that the persistent gap in academic achievement between children in the United States and their counterparts in other countries deprived the U.S. economy of as much as $2.3 trillion in economic output in 2008 alone. Can we imagine how much that academic gap has cost us in potential income?"

"Fourth, we must be self sufficient in producing our basic food staples such as rice and corn and fish."

"Agriculture development is an activity very close to my heart because my father, now congressman Sonny Escudero, served as Secretary of Agriculture under 2 presidents."

"While the average Malaysian or Thai household spends only 34% of its income on food."

"By lowering their expenditure on food, we would be awarding every family with an increase in disposable income, and mitigate labor demands for wage increases."

"Let us be reminded that the poorest families belong to the agricultural sector. 40% of our labor force is directly dependent on agriculture. Another 20% are indirectly dependent."

"Increasing research and development budget to 5 percent of the agricultural production (GVA=P1.17trillion) would bring about better varieties and more efficient farming methods which would increase yields and give the farmer higher incomes even while farmgate prices go down to benefit the consumer."

"We should try to make seamless the transport of agricultural products from Mindanao to the Visayas and NCR; from the Cordilleras and the Cagayan Valley to Manila. From farms to bagsakans or markets or seaports."