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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

A comfortable life for all

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Last Monday, the President delivered his second State of the Nation Address with the theme, “A comfortable life for all.” Most Filipinos would agree that a comfortable life means living in a progressive, safe, and peaceful country and having adequate access to basic necessities such as food, housing, health, and education.

A comfortable life means living in a drug-free community. The President’s war against illegal drugs during his first term resulted in the arrest of 81,986 drug suspects and more than a million drug users who have surrendered and taken an oath that they would abstain from drug use. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency reported a reduction of 26.45 percent in the total drug market of 4.7 million drug users in the country. However, with an approved budget of only P957 million in 2016, it remains a challenge for PDEA to combat a hundred billion-peso drug industry. Assuming that there are 2 million illegal drug users with an average daily consumption worth P200, the illegal drug industry will earn approximately P144 billion a year. This amount can buy you the protection of the police, prosecutors, judges, all the way to the highest echelons of power in government. Therefore, to suppress this industry and to be more effective in fulfilling its role, the agency needs sufficient funds for intelligence and operations. Together with the Minority, I will ensure that PDEA has the necessary funding it needs to finally eliminate the drug menace.

I believe that an effective drug war should also deal with the social and economic facets that contribute to the proliferation of drug use. For instance, the Philippine National Police reported 1,308,078 drug users who have surrendered. They may not be able to find gainful employment given their police record. Our unemployment rate for 2016 is recorded at 5.7 percent, while the latest poverty rate is recorded at 22.5 percent. Hence, while it is understandable that illegal drug use is an urgent and important problem to address, we must pursue measures that will deal with other issues of national interest such as hunger, poverty, and unemployment.

President Duterte mentioned that the lowest-bid policy on government projects promotes corruption. This happens when fly-by-night operators propose low bids to blackmail legitimate businesses. I have long been advocating for the amendment of the Procurement Law. While this law has good intentions, the general sentiment on the ground is that it lacks basis on practical experience. Last year, I filed a bill to amend the Government Procurement Reform Act, which is currently pending in the House Committee on Appropriations. I hope that this Congress would prioritize passing this bill to soon address the problems in government procurement.

The President stated that he ordered the Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to accept Mighty Corporation’s offer of tax liability settlement amounting to P25 billion, which he said may be used for the rehabilitation of Ormoc City and Marawi City. Mighty Corporation’s tax evasion coincided with the BIR’s and the BOC’s consistent incompetence in missing their collection targets during the previous administration.

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Given this, I see the need to investigate how Mighty Corporation was able to evade taxes and penalize the government officials involved. I also look forward to DOF Secretary Sonny Dominguez’s fulfillment of his promise to implement the Lateral Attrition Law, a law that rewards and penalizes tax collectors based on their performance.

The President’s 2017 Sona and its vision should be measured and compared by the proposed 2018 National Expenditure Program. Our job now in the Congress is to make sure that the National Policy enunciated by the President can be effectively implemented through the budget, which he proposed. For the next few months, we will deliberate on the 2018 national budget. Expect that we will scrutinize, interpellate, and object if necessary, should we deem the President’s proposed budget is not aligned with the nation’s best interests.

A comfortable life is a peaceful life. While this Sona had a fighting tone, the fact that the President faced the leftist protesters after his speech is a sign that maybe the peace process with the Left may still have a chance of being rekindled. We encourage all concerned to go back to the negotiating table with sincere hearts so that we will finally achieve lasting peace in our nation.

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