Drilon: Manifestation regarding GOCC allowances
Sep 1st
(Addressing the Honorable Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate President)
Mr. President, as the chamber is aware, the committee on finance has been conducting hearings on the compensation of GOCCs and the reason why I’m standing up today is to urgently request the President to suspend the allowances of the board of directors of the GOCCs because as we talk now, as we are talking today, these abuses continue unabated and unless the President immediately orders the suspension of these obscene allowances, public interest will continue to suffer. I am therefore proposing Mr. President that the Senate passes a resolution, subject to style, More >
Welcome, Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi, to the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats
Jul 8th
I welcome the entry of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), a prestigious organization of liberal political leaders in the Asia.
In a meeting in Manila recently, on the occasion of the conference “Asian Liberal Parties in Power: Getting There, Remaining There” held on June 28-29 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati, the CALD Executive Committee (Execom) made a decision to bestow an honorary individual membership title to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate and one of Asia’s most revered icons of democracy.
As a former CALD chairman, I am hopeful that the entry of Daw Aung More >
Celebrating Generations of Filipino Liberal Struggle for Freedom and Democracy: The Life and Times of Jovito R. Salonga
Jul 1st
(A TRIBUTE TO A FILIPINO LIBERAL: Delivered on June 28, 2010 at the Dusit Hotel, Makati during at tribute to Former Senate President and Liberal Party leader Jovito Salonga given by the Liberals in the Philippines on the occasion of his 90th birthday)
I would like to extend my warm welcome to all of you most especially to our international visitors from the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, the Liberal International and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
You come here during a most historic occasion. After more than a half a century, we will be inaugurating, two days from now, the next More >
Can President-Elect Noynoy Aquino revoke GMA’s midnight appointments?
Jun 12th
Can President Noynoy Aquino invoke the constitutional prohibition against “midnight appointments” if he eventually decides to invalidate the more than 170 appointments made by outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when he assumes the presidency at noon of June 30, 2010?
The recent statement of Aquino spokesperson Edwin Lacierda that the Aquino camp finds both malice and bad faith in Arroyo’s rash of appointments since “it intends to stifle the next administration” appears to be laying the legal groundwork for such revocation.
But can Arroyo’s appointments be considered midnight appointments even if they were made or dated before the two-month prohibitory period stated More >
Alternative education can address illiteracy
May 4th
Fifteen million illiterates in the last six years. I am gravely concerned how illiteracy has grown over the years.
Government must strengthen the country’s alternative educational programs to address the growing number of illiterate Filipinos which has reached 15 million in the last six years.
According to the Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), which is done every five years to determine literacy rate in the country, of this total number, 11 million Filipinos do not have functional literacy and four million do not have basic literacy.
Whatever the reasons why our fellow Filipinos are not able get education must be More >
No pork barrel to recoup campaign expenses
May 3rd
I call on my fellow candidates to make a commitment not to use their pork barrel to recoup their campaign expenses, but rather to allocate these funds to projects that truly benefit the country.
With the candidates’ exorbitant spending in what I described as the most expensive election in Philippine history, legislators who are successfully elected must assure the people that their countrywide development funds, more commonly known as “pork barrel,” would not be used to reimburse their campaign expenses.
Our candidates, as well as the present members of Congress, should be mindful of the fact that while a senator or a More >
Invest here. Your country needs your business.
May 3rd
Filipinos who are also holders of dual citizenship will be accorded a more level playing field under an Aquino administration in the event that they decide to put up businesses in the Philippines instead of working abroad.
Under an LP administration, overseas Filipinos who want to settle down and invest businesses here will find it easier to transact business in a graft-free and reform-oriented government. No longer will they have to contend with the usual graft and corruption and red tape.
Under Aquino’s platform of transparency and good governance, more investment possibilities will be offered to overseas Filipinos holding dual citizenship.
Filipinos who More >
Our workers deserve wage increases
Apr 30th
Why does the the Arroyo administration remain indifferent to the plight of Filipino workers? Majority of them continue to suffer from the ill-effects of a mismanaged economy, yet Malacanang seems more concerned in defending its midnight appointments involving individuals close to the President.
Labor day will be another sad day for the Filipino worker. As a former Labor Secretary in the Cory Aquino Administration, I am alarmed at our current situation where millions of workers remain underemployed or are forced to find jobs in others countries because of the lack of employment opportunities at home. Traditionally, government grants wage benefits or outight salary hikes More >
Case dismissed!
Apr 27th
I welcome the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision dismissing the disqualification case against me.
In a nine-page resolution on Monday, the poll body ruled that there is no constitutional provision barring me from running in the May 10 senatorial elections. The poll body cited the Socrates case wherein the Supreme Court said that a three-year hiatus was “sufficient” in order to successfully “hurdle” the two-term limit.
I have always maintained that the law was on our side and this case was merely one of the many harassment suits filed by the Arroyo administration against opposition figures like me.
The disqualification case More >
Please encourage our OFWs to vote
Apr 26th
I call on the country’s foreign service officers abroad to intensify their efforts to encourage eligible Overseas Filipinos Workers to vote and exercise their right of suffrage during the May 10 elections.
There is still enough time for Philippine embassy officials abroad to step up the overseas voters information campaign to improve on the sixteen percent (16%) voter turnout in the 2007 elections.
Officials and personnel of the Commission on Elections, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Labor and Employment and other government offices based in Philippine embassies abroard can very well promote absentee voting among OFWs.
Just to refresh your More >
