JOURNAL NO. 31
Monday, November 5, 2007
CALL TO ORDER
At 4:00 p.m., Speaker Jose C. De Venecia called the session to order.
NATIONAL ANTHEM AND PRAYER
Pursuant to Section 71, Rule XI of the Rules of the House, the House Chorale led the singing of
the National Anthem and thereafter, Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya delivered the following
invocation:
Let us always remember that we are in the holy presence of God.
Our most gracious heavenly Father, we come before You today in reverence of Your holiness.
We acknowledge Your Father as a source of all strength and wisdom.
Apart from You, we are mindful of our nothing-ness. We therefore beseech Your great grace
and kindness upon us, Lord, so that we may be worthy of the vocation You have called us to
do. Today, we humbly ask You to grant us wisdom in discerning the important issues that
concern and shape our nation. We ask for Your blessings upon the Members of this Chamber
so that collectively, we may truly represent the welfare of our nation.
We look to You for guidance, Lord; we seek Your counsel. You know what is best for us. We
pray that work in this Chamber will reflect Your will upon our nation. We pray that through the
many issues and concerns that we will tackle, You will grant us the discernment to prioritize
and focus on those that truly matter to our people. We pray that we can transcend politics and
personal interests. May we pursue our job with the awareness that we are entrusted with the
position of privilege to look after and pro-mote the well being of our people. Let us be reminded, Lord, that our job as Representatives, is a higher calling for it demands competence,
integrity and personal sacrifice in order that we may fully discharge our mandate. For this we
pray that we partake of Your strength and wisdom.
Thank You, Lord, for the assurance of Your love and mercy. Look upon us with favor and may
all our efforts be pleasing to You. We give You back all the glory and honor and we pray this in
Your most Holy Name.
Amen.
SUSPENSION OF SESSION
Thereafter, on motion of Rep. Arthur D. Defensor Sr., the Chair suspended the session.
It was 4:04 p.m.
RESUMPTION OF SESSION
At 4:10 p.m., the session was resumed.
ROLL CALL
Upon resumption of session and on motion of Rep. Defensor (A.), the Chair directed the
Secretary General to call the Roll and the following Members were present:
Abante
Abaya
Ablan
Agbayani
Aggabao
Agyao
Akbar
Alcala
Alfelor
Almario
Alvarez (A.)
Alvarez (G.)
Amante
Amatong
Angara
Angping
Antonino-Custodio
Apostol
Aquino
Arbison
Arenas
Arnaiz
Arroyo (D.)
Arroyo (I.)
Asilo
Bagatsing
Barzaga
Bautista
Belmonte
Beltran
Biazon
Bichara
Binay
Biron
Briones
Cabilao
Cagas
Cajes
Cari
Castro
Cayetano
Celeste
Chatto
Chavez
Chipeco
Chong
Chungalao
Climaco
Codilla
Coquilla
Coscolluela
Crisologo
Cruz-Gonzales
Cua (G.)
Cua (J.)
Cuenco
Dangwa
Datumanong
Daza
De Guzman
De Venecia
Defensor (A.)
Defensor (M.)
Del Mar
Del Rosario
Diaz
Dilangalen
Dominguez
Domogan
Duavit
Dumpit
Durano
Dy
Ecleo
Emano
Enverga
Ermita-Buhain
Escudero
Estrella (C.)
Estrella (R.)
Fabian
Fernandez
Ferrer
Fuentebella
Garay
Garcia, Pablo John F.
Garcia, Pablo P.
Garcia (V.)
Garin
Gatchalian
Go
Golez
Gonzales (A.)
Gonzales (N.)
Gullas
Hofer
Hontiveros-Baraquel
Ilagan
Jaafar
Jala
Jikiri
Joson
Labadlabad
Lacson
Lagbas
Lagdameo
Lagman
Lapus
Lazatin
Lim
Lopez
Macapagal Arroyo (M.)
Madrona
Malapitan
Mandanas
Mangudadatu
Marañon
Marcos
Matugas
Maza
Mendoza
Mercado
Miraflores
Nava
Noel
Olaño
Ong
Ortega
Pablo
Padilla
Pancho
Pancrudo
Piamonte
Pichay
Pingoy
Prieto-Teodoro
Puentevella
Puno
Ramiro
Remulla
Reyes (C.)
Reyes (V.)
Rodriguez
Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga
Roman
Romarate
Romualdez
Romulo
Roxas
Salvacion
San Luis
Santiago (J.)
Santiago (N.)
Seachon-Lanete
Silverio
Singson (E.)
Singson (R.)
Solis
Suarez
Susano
Sy-Alvarado
Syjuco
Taliño-Mendoza
Teodoro
Teves
Tieng
Tupas
Umali (A.)
Umali (C.)
Ungab
Uy, Reynaldo
Uy, Rolando
Vargas
Velarde
Villafuerte
Villar
Villarosa
Violago
Yap
Yu
Zialcita
Zubiri
With 182 Members present, the Chair declared the presence of a quorum. (See Appendix I)
The following Members appeared before/and or after the Roll Call:
Arago
Asilo
Bondoc
Bulut
Casiño
Castelo-Daza
Cerilles
Clarete
Cojuangco
Dayanghirang
Diasnes
Dimaporo
Dueñas
Fua
Gatlabayan
Gonzales (R.)
Guingona
Gunigundo
Jalosjos
Jalosjos-Carreon
Kho
Ledesma
Magsaysay
Mamba
Mitra
Nicolas
Ocampo
Sy-Limkaichong
Tan
Valencia
Villanueva
Zamora
At this juncture, the Speaker relinquished the Chair to Deputy Speaker Arnulfo P. Fuentebella.
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY
OF REP. ESCUDERO
Upon recognition by the Chair, Rep. Escudero asked on the significance of being provided a
copy of the Manila Bulletin for the first time in 14 years of membership in the House of
Representatives, and what the reporters of other newspaper dailies would be saying. He also
asked whether the House is al-ready part owner of said newspaper.
Whereupon, the Chair also inquired from the Of-fice of the Secretary General on the reason for
the distribution of the newspapers and thereafter begged the indulgence of Rep. Escudero that
a response would be given at a later time.
Thereafter, the Chair recognized Rep. Luis R. Villafuerte for a manifestation.
MANIFESTATION OF REP. VILLAFUERTE
Rep. Villafuerte stated that he would have ventured to answer the questions of Rep. Escudero
but that since he is not the Majority Leader, he desisted from doing so.
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY
OF REP. ESCUDERO
(Continuation)
With regard to his second parliamentary inquiry, Rep. Escudero stated that during the twoweek de-bate on the budget, the sponsorship speech on the Cheaper Medicine Act by Rep.
Antonio C. Alvarez was entertained. He said that during that time, he made an explicit request
which was duly noted and approved by the Chair, that a copy of said speech be provided the
Members because nowhere in said speech was there an argument that would assure a cheap
medicine. He said that up to the present, they have not yet been given a copy of the speech.
In reply, Rep. Defensor (A.) stated that the Secretariat may have probably overlooked the
House commitment to furnish a copy of said speech. He thereafter gave assurance that a copy
would be given Rep. Escudero not later than four o’clock in the afternoon of the following day.
Rep. Defensor (A.) then stated that there are quite a number of scheduled sponsorship
speeches to be delivered that afternoon after the Privilege Hour and that Rep. Escudero would
have the pleasure of interpellating the Sponsor when the time for the Cheaper Medicine Bill is
taken up.
At this point, the Chair asked Rep. Escudero whether he was amenable to have his copy of the
speech not later than four o’clock in the afternoon of the following day to which the latter
replied in the affirmative and added that his request is for all the Members and not only for
him.
In closing, Rep. Escudero expressed hope that a sensible reply would be given to his initial
inquiry. He then requested that copies of all the newspapers, broadsheets and tabloids be
distributed to all House Members so that they would not be accused of being biased only for
one newspaper.
Rep. Defensor (A.) requested thereafter the Secretary General to give a sensible reply to Rep.
Escudero’s initial inquiry so that the House would not be constrained to furnish every Member
a copy of the day’s issue of all national dailies.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GUESTS
Thereafter, Rep. Defensor (A.) acknowledged the presence in the Session Hall of the following
guests of Rep. Edgar S. San Luis: Mayors Acero of Siniloan, Rondilla of Luisiana, Cadayona of
Paete, Quiat of Pila, Martinez of Pakil, Ocumular of Famy, Adao of Kalayaan, Manza of Pangil,
Cuento of Sta. Maria, Esguerra of Cavinti and Fader of Mabitac; and Doctors Levy Cabanilla
and Acer Javier of UP Los Baños.
REFERENCE OF BUSINESS
Thereupon, on motion of Rep. Defensor (A.), the Body proceeded to the Reference of
Business.
Upon direction of the Chair, the Secretary General read on First Reading the titles of the
following Bills and Resolutions, including the Messages from the President and
Communications, which were referred to the appropriate Committees as hereunder indicated:
BILLS ON FIRST READING
House Bill No. 2872, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SEVENTY-SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTY,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991, IN ORDER TO REGULATE
THE OPERATION OF MOTORCYCLE TAXIS, INCLUDING HABAL-HABALS, IN THE COUNTRY”
By Representative Garcia (P.)
TO THE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
House Bill No. 2873, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING SECTIONS 4 OF PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 968, AS AMENDED,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE PROBATION LAW OF 1976”
By Representative Garcia (P.)
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2874, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED SIXTY-NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE COOPERATIVE CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES”
By Representative Garcia (P.)
TO THE COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVES DEVELOPMENT
House Bill No. 2875, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING A PROVIDENT PERSONAL SAVINGS PLAN, KNOWN AS THE PERSONAL
EQUITY AND RETIREMENT ACCOUNT (‘PERA’) ”
By Representative Teodoro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AF-FAIRS
House Bill No. 2876, entitled:
“AN ACT DEFINING THE OFFENSES AND ABUSES AGAINST THE NATIONAL HEALTH
INSURANCE PROGRAM (NHIP) AND PROVIDING PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS THEREFOR,
AMEND-ING FOR THE PURPOSE ARTICLE X OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7875 OTHERWISE KNOWN
AS THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE ACT OF 1995 AS AMENDED BY RA 9241 AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Teodoro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
House Bill No. 2877, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING HANDICRAFT AND COTTAGE INDUSTRY TRAINING CENTERS IN THE
MUNICIPALITIES OF SAN REMEGIO, TABUELAN, TABO-GON, AND IN THE CITY OF BOGO,
PROVINCE OF CEBU AND APPROPRI-ATING FUNDS THEREFOR”
By Representative Salimbangon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND INDUSTRY AND THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2878, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING AGRICULTURAL TRAINING CENTERS FOR FARMERS AND FISHERMEN
IN THE MUNICIPALITIES OF STA. FE, MADRIDEJOS, AND BANTAYAN, ALL IN THE ISLAND OF
BANTAYAN, PROVINCE OF CEBU AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR”
By Representative Salimbangon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FOOD AND THE COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2879, entitled:
“AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE UPGRADE AND MODERNIZATION AS WELL AS INCREASING THE
BED CAPACITY OF SEVERO VERALLO MEMORIAL DIS-TRICT HOSPITAL AT TAYTAYAN, CITY OF
BOGO, PROVINCE OF CEBU, FROM 50 TO 100 BED CAPACITY AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR”
By Representative Salimbangon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIA-TIONS
House Bill No. 2880, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING AN EDUCATION TRUST FUND FOR GRANTEES OF GSIS AND SSS
MEMBERS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Escudero
TO THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISES AND PRIVATIZATION
House Bill No. 2881, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DE-CREE NO. 1185, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE FIRE
CODE OF THE PHILIP-PINES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Escudero
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY
House Bill No. 2882, entitled:
“AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A MORE RE-SPONSIVE CIVIL REGISTRATION SYS-TEM”
By Representative Escudero
TO THE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOV-ERNMENT
House Bill No. 2883, entitled:
“AN ACT INSTITUTIONALIZING AND STRENGTHENING FOSTER CARE FOR QUALIFIED
CHILDREN, APPROPRIAT-ING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Escudero
TO THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SER-VICES
House Bill No. 2884, entitled:
“AN ACT PROMOTING INTERNET SAFETY FOR CHILDREN, AND PROTECTING THEM FROM
HARMFUL INTERNET MATERIALS, AND FOR OTHER PUR-POSES”
By Representative Cajayon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFOR-MATION
House Bill No. 2885, entitled:
“AN ACT CURBING THE PRACTICE OF IM-POSING UNFUNDED MANDATES ON LOCAL
GOVERNMENT UNITS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
House Bill No. 2886, entitled:
“AN ACT REGULATING PAWNSHOP ES-TABLISHMENTS AND OPERATIONS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BANKS AND FI-NANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
House Bill No. 2887, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6975 ALSO KNOWN AS THE DEPART-MENT OF
INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT OF 1990, SEC-TIONS 30, 32 AND 33 ON
QUALIFICA-TIONS OF PERSONNEL APPOINTED TO THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE,
BUREAU OF JAIL MANAGEMENT AND PENOLOGY AND BUREAU OF FIRE PROTECTION”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY
House Bill No. 2888, entitled:
“AN ACT PENALIZING REFUSAL TO EN-ROLL STUDENTS, RELEASE CARDS AND OTHER
DOCUMENTS FOR CLEARANCE PURPOSES, IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR FAILURE TO PAY MISCELLANEOUS AND OTHER FEES”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCA-TION AND CULTURE
House Bill No. 2889, entitled:
“AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR A NATIONAL FOLIC ACID EDUCATION PROGRAM TO PREVENT
BIRTH DEFECTS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
House Bill No. 2890, entitled:
“AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE IMPACT OF FILIPINO CULTURE
ON THE YOUTH”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION AND THE COM-MITTEE ON YOUTH
AND SPORTS DE-VELOPMENT
House Bill No. 2891, entitled:
“AN ACT TO BAN EXPERIMENTS ON THE CLONING OF HUMAN BEINGS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE
House Bill No. 2892, entitled:
“AN ACT TO ENSURE THAT OLDER OR DISABLED PERSONS ARE PROTECTED FROM
INSTITUTIONAL, COMMUNITY, AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEX-UAL ASSAULT AND TO
IMPROVE OUTREACH EFFORTS AND OTHER SERVICES AVAILABLE TO OLDER OR DISABLED
PERSONS VICTIMIZED BY SUCH VIOLENCE”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SER-VICES
House Bill No. 2893, entitled:
“AN ACT GRANTING WOMEN EQUAL OP-PORTUNITY TO ATHLETIC SCHOLAR-SHIP AND TO
PRIZES OF SPORTS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN
House Bill No. 2894, entitled:
“AN ACT IMPROVING AND STRENGTHEN-ING THE RECRUITMENT AND TRAIN-ING OF FILIPINO
TEACHERS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCA-TION AND CULTURE
House Bill No. 2895, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7877, ALSO KNOWN AS THE ANTI-SEXUAL
HARASSMENT ACT OF 1995, SECTION 3 ON THE DEFINITION OF WORK, EDUCATION OR
TRAINING-RELATED SEXUAL HARASSMENT”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2896, entitled:
“AN ACT REQUIRING INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION TO DISCLOSE PARTICIPATION
AND PROGRAM SUP-PORT EXPENDITURES IN COLLEGE ATHLETIC PROGRAMS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
House Bill No. 2897, entitled:
“AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION AND THE COM-MITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2898, entitled:
“AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE LABELING OF IMPORTED MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND IN-DUSTRY
House Bill No. 2899, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 6506, ALSO KNOWN AS ‘AN ACT CRE-ATING THE
BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR CRIMINOLOGISTS IN THE PHILIP-PINES,’ SECTION 23 AND 24 ON
CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINOLO-GISTS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ORDER AND SAFETY
House Bill No. 2900, entitled:
“AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR AN INTERIM CENSUS OF FILIPINOS RESIDING ABROAD AND TO
REQUIRE THAT SUCH INDIVIDUALS BE INCLUDED IN REGULAR CENSUSES”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON POPULATION AND FAMILY RELATIONS
House Bill No. 2901, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 209, ALSO KNOWN AS THE FAM-ILY CODE,
ARTICLE 73, ON THE CHARGE AGAINST THE COMMUNITY PROPERTY OF AN OBLIGATION OF A
SPOUSE WHO PRACTICES A PROFES-SION”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2902, entitled:
“AN ACT TO ESTABLISH CRIMINAL LI-ABILITY FOR UNLAWFUL DISCRIMI-NATION BASED ON
DISPARATE TREATMENT”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EM-PLOYMENT
House Bill No. 2903, entitled:
“AN ACT TO REQUIRE HOSPITALS TO ES-TABLISH AND IMPLEMENT SECURITY PROCEDURES
TO REDUCE THE LIKE-LIHOOD OF INFANT PATIENT ABDUC-TION AND BABY SWITCHING,
INCLUD-ING PROCEDURES FOR IDENTIFYING ALL INFANT PATIENTS IN THE HOSPI-TAL IN A
MANNER THAT ENSURES IT WILL BE EVIDENT IF INFANTS ARE MISSING FROM THE
HOSPITAL”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
House Bill No. 2904, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7394, ALSO KNOWN AS THE ‘CON-SUMER ACT OF
THE PHILIPPINES,’ ARTICLE 77, ON LABELS OF CON-SUMER PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED BY
FILIPINO-OWNED ENTERPRISES”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND IN-DUSTRY
House Bill No. 2905, entitled:
“AN ACT TO COMBAT THE CRIME OF IN-TERNATIONAL TRAFFICKING AND TO PROTECT THE
RIGHTS OF VICTIMS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION AND THE COM-MITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2906, entitled:
“AN ACT AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 386, ALSO KNOWN AS THE CIVIL CODE, ARTICLE
867”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2907, entitled:
“AN ACT REQUIRING THE USE OF PHILIP-PINE MADE MATERIALS IN CON-TRACTS FOR PUBLIC
WORKS AND PROVIDING FOR THE BLACKLISTING OF CONTRACTORS VIOLATING SUCH
REQUIREMENT”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS
House Bill No. 2908, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING A COMPREHEN-SIVE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR TEACHERS OF
CHILDREN WITH HANDICAP”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE EDUCATION AND WELFARE OF SPE-CIAL PERSONS
House Bill No. 2909, entitled:
“AN ACT TO PROVIDE COMPUTER INNO-VATIVE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS TO ELEMENTARY
AND SECONDARY TEACHERS”
By Representatives Santiago (N.), Chavez, Estrella (R.) and Valdez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCA-TION AND CULTURE
House Bill No. 2910, entitled:
“AN ACT DECLARING THE CULMINATION OF MUSLIM ANNUAL HAJJ A NA-TIONAL HOLIDAY
FOR THE OBSER-VANCE OF EIDUL ADHA, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 26,
CHAPTER 7 OF EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 292, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE ADMINISTRATIVE
CODE OF 1987, AS AMENDED, AND FOR OTHER PUR-POSES”
By Representative Dimaporo
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2911, entitled:
“AN ACT CONVERTING THE PROVINCIAL ROAD, WHICH STRETCHES FROM THE MUNICIPALITY
OF BONIFACIO TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF DON VICTORIANO, ALL IN THE PROVINCE OF
MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL, INTO A NATIONAL ROAD AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR”
By Representative Ramiro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS AND THE COMMIT-TEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2912, entitled:
“AN ACT TO INCLUDE THE CITIES OF OZAMIZ AND TANGUB, ALL IN THE PROVINCE OF
MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL, AS SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7916 AS AMENDED OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ‘THE SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE
ACT OF 1995’ ”
By Representative Ramiro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AF-FAIRS, THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND INDUSTRY,
THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS AND THE COM-MITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2913, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL IN BARANGAY TABID, OZAMIZ CITY,
PROVINCE OF MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL TO BE KNOWN AS THE TABID NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR”
By Representative Ramiro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCA-TION AND CULTURE AND THE COM-MITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2914, entitled:
“AN ACT ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL IN BARANGAY GALA, OZAMIZ CITY,
PROVINCE OF MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL TO BE KNOWN AS GALA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL AND
AP-PROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR”
By Representative Ramiro
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BASIC EDUCA-TION AND CULTURE AND THE COM-MITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS
House Bill No. 2915, entitled:
“AN ACT PROVIDING SAFETY FOR TAXI PASSENGERS AND FOR OTHER PUR-POSES”
By Representative Cajayon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTA-TION
House Bill No. 2916, entitled:
“AN ACT REPEALING LETTER OF IN-STRUCTIONS NO. 1264 OF PRESIDENT FERDINAND E.
MARCOS SIGNED ON JULY 31, 1982 BANNING THE IMPOR-TATION, MANUFACTURE,
DISTRIBU-TION, SALE AND DISPLAY OF CER-TAIN TYPES OF TOY FIREARMS AND
EXPLOSIVES”
By Representative Biazon
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2917, entitled:
“AN ACT DECLARING PARTS OF THE IS-LANDS OF SIARGAO AND BUCAS GRANDE AS A
PROTECTED AREA UN-DER THE CATEGORY OF PROTECTED LANDSCAPES AND SEASCAPES”
By Representative Matugas
TO THE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RE-SOURCES
House Bill No. 2918, entitled:
“ISANG BATAS NA NAGSUSUSOG SA SEK. 4 NG BATAS REPUBLIKA 8049 PARA IPAGBAWAL
ANG MGA FRATERNITY, SORORITY AT KATULAD NA OR-GANISASYONG NAGSASAGAWA NG
HAZING”
(“AN ACT AMENDING SEC. 4 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8049 SO AS TO BAN FRATER-NITIES,
SORORITIES AND SIMILAR ORGANIZATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN ENGAGED IN HAZING”)
By Representative Joson
TO THE COMMITTEE ON REVISION OF LAWS
House Bill No. 2919, entitled:
“AN ACT GRANTING CIVIL SERVICE ELI-GIBILITY TO GOVERNORS, VICE GOV-ERNORS,
MAYORS, VICE MAYORS AND THE MEMBERS OF ALL THE SANGGUNIANG BAYAN, PANGLUNGSOD AND PANGLALAWIGAN WHO HAVE RENDERED A TOTAL OF FIVE YEARS OF EFFICIENT
SERVICE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Romarate
TO THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL SERVICE AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION
House Bill No. 2920, entitled:
“AN ACT GRANTING CIVIL SERVICE ELI-GIBILITY UNDER CERTAIN CONDI-TIONS TO ALL
GOVERNMENT WORK-ERS AND EMPLOYEES HOLDING PER-MANENT, PROVISIONAL, TEMPORARY, CASUAL, CONTRACTUAL OR CO-TERMINOUS APPOINTMENTS WHO HAVE
CONTINUOUSLY RENDERED A TOTAL OF FIFTEEN YEARS IN GOV-ERNMENT SERVICE, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES”
By Representative Gonzalez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON CIVIL SERVICE AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION
RESOLUTIONS
House Resolution No. 279, entitled:
“A RESOLUTION CALLING ON THE PHIL-IPPINE GOVERNMENT AND ENJOIN-ING THE OTHER
MEMBER STATES OF THE ASEAN TO DENOUNCE THE MILI-TARY CRACKDOWN ON HUMAN
RIGHTS GROUPS AND PRO-DEMOCRACY FORCES IN BURMA AND TO EXERT UTMOST
INFLUENCE TO COMPEL THE MILITARY REGIME TO CONVENE THE TRI-PARTITE DIA-LOGUE
BETWEEN THE RULING STATE PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (SPCD), THE NATIONAL
GOVERN-MENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA (NGUB) AND THE ETHNIC NATION-ALITIES;
RELEASE ALL POLITICAL DETAINEES INCLUDING DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI; RECOGNIZE THE
VIC-TORY OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY (NLD) IN THE 1990 GENERAL
ELECTIONS IN BURMA”
By Representative Cuenco
TO THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AF-FAIRS
House Resolution No. 280, entitled:
“RESOLUTION HONORING RAFAEL ‘PAENG’ NEPOMUCENO FOR LANDING 1ST PLACE AT THE
RECENTLY CON-CLUDED COLUMBIA 300-SOUTH PA-CIFIC CLASSIC (SPC) BOWLING TOURNAMENT HELD IN MELBOURNE AUS-TRALIA LAST SEPTEMBER 14-16, 2007”
By Representative Bondoc
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
House Resolution No. 281, entitled:
“A RESOLUTION URGING THE GOVERN-MENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHIL-IPPINES,
SPECIFICALLY THE HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT COOR-DINATING COUNCIL AND ITS
AT-TACHED AGENCIES AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, TO BUILD, DEVELOP AND
CONSTRUCT ONE MILLION HOUSING UNITS FOR A FIVE-YEAR PERIOD IN ORDER TO LESSEN
THE HOUSING BACKLOG IN THE COUN-TRY”
By Representative Valencia
TO THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
House Resolution No. 282, entitled:
“RESOLUTION POSTHUMOUSLY COM-MENDING CONRADO S. DAYRIT JR., M.D. FOR HIS 45YEARS OF UNTIRING AND COURAGEOUS EFFORTS IN RE-SEARCH ON AND ADVOCACY OF COCONUT OIL AS ANTIDOTE TO AIDS AND AIDS VIRUS”
By Representative Alcala
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
House Resolution No. 283, entitled:
“RESOLUTION CALLING FOR REFORMS IN THE RULES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE-SENTATIVES
TO IMPROVE THE AT-TENDANCE OF MEMBERS AT EVERY PLENARY SESSION AND FOR THIS
PURPOSE IMPOSE SANCTIONS AGAINST THE VIOLATION THEREOF”
By Representative Rodriguez
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
House Resolution No. 284, entitled:
“A RESOLUTION COMMENDING MR. JOHHNY T. UY FOR HIS ACHIEVE-MENTS IN THE FIELDS
OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS”
By Representative Mitra
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
House Resolution No. 285, entitled:
“A RESOLUTION CONGRATULATING MS. MARY GRACE TAN FOR GARNERING THE GOLD
MEDAL IN THE ‘EUROPEAN INTERCONTINENTAL HANDGUN CHAMPIONSHIP’ LAST SEPTEMBER
17 TO 22, 2007 IN CHEVAL BLANC, FRANCE”
By Representative Mitra
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
House Resolution No. 286, entitled:
“RESOLUTION EXPRESSING THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES’ SUPPORT FOR THE GLOBAL
STAND UP CAMPAIGN AGAINST POVERTY”
By Representative Enverga
TO THE COMMITTEE ON POVERTY ALLE-VIATION
ADDITIONAL COAUTHORS
With the permission of the Body, the following Members were made coauthors of the Bills and
Resolutions hereunder indicated:
Rep. Proceso J. Alcala for House Bill No. 2661;
Rep. Ma. Amelita C. Villarosa for House Bills No. 2804 and 2805;
Rep. Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel for House Bill No. 1955;
Rep. Carmelo F. Lazatin for House Bills No. 49, 63 and2328;
Rep. Mary Mitzi “Mitch” L. Cajayon for House Bill No. 998;
Rep. Cinchona C. Cruz-Gonzales for House Bills No. 997, 998 and 999 and House Resolutions
No. 33, 34, 47 and 65;
Rep. Pablo P. Garcia for House Bill No. 1607;
Rep. Salvador H. Escudero III for House Bills No. 420, 421, 440, 441 523, 564, 617, 665, 666,
1152 and 1153;
Reps Niel “Jun Jun” C. Tupas Jr., Teodoro A. Casino, Crispin B. Beltran, Ferdinand R. Marcos
Jr., Ma. Amelita C. Villarosa, Glenn A. Chong, Teodulo M. Coquilla, Victor Francisco C. Ortega,
Joseph Gilbert F. Violago, Jeffrey “Jeff” P. Ferrer, Giorgidi B. Aggabao, Lorenzo R. Tañada III,
Belma A. Cabi-lao, Thelma Z. Almario, Victor J. Yu, Candido P. Pancrudo Jr., Elpidio F. Barzaga
Jr., Angelito C. Gatlabayan, Ma. Victoria R. Sy-Alvarado, Leonila V. Chavez, Eduardo Nonato N.
Joson, Rizalina L. Seachon-Lanete, Ronald V. Singson, Marc Douglas C. Cagas IV, Del R. De
Guzman, Florencio Gabriel “Bem” G. Noel, Isidro T. Ungab, Rommel C. Ama-tong, Florencio C.
Garay, Benhur L. Salimbangon, Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara,
Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, Darlene R. An-tonino-Custodio, Abdulla D. Dimaporo, Carlo Oliver D.
Diasnes, Alfonso V. Umali Jr., Florencio L. Var-gas, Rufus B. Rodriguez, Albert S. Garcia,
Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III, Justin Marc SB. Chipeco, Rozano Rufino B. Biazon, Ronaldo B.
Zamora, Danilo P. Lagbas, Bernardo F. Piñol Jr., Simeon A. Datuma-nong, Arthur “Dodo” Y.
Pingoy Jr., Faysah R.P.M. Dumarpa, Eufrocino M. Codilla Sr., Wilfrido Mark M. Enverga, Pryde
Henry A. Teves, Andres “Andy” D. Salvacion Jr., Rosendo “Dodoy” S. Labadlabad, Nicanor M.
Briones, Mariano U. Piamonte Jr., Erwin L. Chiongbian, Yevgeny Vincente B. Emano, Jose S.
Aquino II, Nur G. Jaafar, Guillermo A. Romarate Jr., Mark Llandro L. Mendoza, Conrado M.
Estrella III, Ma Theresa B. Bonoan-David, Dan Fernandez, Flor-encio T. Miraflores, Narciso R.
Bravo Jr., Antonio V. Cuenco, Orlando B. Fua, Matias V. Defensor Jr. for House Resolution No.
278; and
Rep. Carmencita O. Reyes for House Resolution No. 153.
MESSAGES FROM THE PRESIDENT
MALACAÑANG
MANILA
October 9, 2007
HON. JOSE C. DE VENECIA, JR.
Speaker
House of Representatives
Quezon City
Dear Speaker De Venecia:
Pursuant to the provisions of Article VI, Section 26 (2) of the 1987 Constitution, I hereby
certify to the necessity of the immediate enactment of House Bill No. 2844, under Committee
Report No. 3, enti-tled:
“AN ACT PROVIDING FOR CHEAPER MEDICINES AND FOR OTHER PUR-POSES,”
to address the public emergency arising from the ur-gent need to amend certain provisions of
the Intellec-tual Property Code of the Philippines in order to pro-tect public health by creating
an environment that will lower the prices of, as well as ensure open and adequate access to,
drugs and medicines particularly by the poor and underprivileged who can hardly af-ford to
purchase patented drugs and medicines be-cause of exorbitant and prohibitive prices.
Best wishes.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
cc: HON. MANUEL B. VILLAR, JR.
Senate President
Philippine Senate
Pasay City
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
MALACAÑANG
MANILA
October 9, 2007
HON. JOSE C. DE VENECIA, JR.
Speaker
House of Representatives
Quezon City
Dear Speaker De Venecia:
Pursuant to the provisions of Article VI, Section 26 (2) of the 1987 Constitution, I hereby
certify to the necessity of the immediate enactment of House Bill No. 2845, under Committee
Report No. 4, enti-tled:
“AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN THE UNIVER-SITY OF THE PHILIPPINES AS THE PREMIER STATE
UNIVERSITY,”
to address the urgent need to update and revise the University of the Philippines’ 96-year old
charter to ensure its institutional flexibility and fiscal auton-omy to effectively perform its
function as a national university with distinct leadership in higher educa-tion and as the
foremost graduate university on re-search and public service.
Best wishes.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
cc: HON. MANUEL B. VILLAR, JR.
Senate President
Philippine Senate
Pasay City
TO THE COMMITTEE ON RULES
COMMUNICATIONS
Letter dated September 21, 2007 of Juan De Zuñiga Jr., Assistant Governor and General
Counsel, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, furnishing the House of Representatives with certified
copies of BSP Circular No. 581, Series of 2007 dated Sep-tember 14, 2007 and BSP Circular
No. 582, Se-ries of 2007 dated September 17, 2007
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BANKS AND FI-NANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
Letter dated September 27, 2007 of Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., Governor, Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas, submitting the House of Representa-tives a copy of the Report on Economic and Financial Developments in the Philippines, Second Quarter of 2007
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BANKS AND FI-NANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
Letter dated October 2, 2007 of Juan De Zuñiga Jr., Assistant Governor and General Counsel,
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, furnishing the House of Representatives with a certified copy of
BSP Circular No. 583, Series of 2007 dated September 24, 2007
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BANKS AND FI-NANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
Letter dated October 3, 2007 of Amando M. Tetangco, Jr., Governor, Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas, submitting the House of Representa-tives a Report on outstanding Philippine External
Debt as of June 30, 2007
TO THE COMMITTEE ON BANKS AND FI-NANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
2006 Annual Report of the Science Education Insti-tute
TO THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Annual Accomplishment Report of the National In-telligence Coordinating Agency for January
to December 2006 and January to June 2007
TO THE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL DE-FENSE AND SECURITY
THE PRIVILEGE HOUR
It being a Monday, on motion of Rep. Remulla, there being no objection, the Chair declared a
Privi-lege Hour.
On motion of Rep. Remulla, the Chair then rec-ognized Rep. Ma. Victoria R. Sy-Alvarado to
avail of the Privilege Hour.
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. SY-ALVARADO
It is my honor and privilege to speak before you this afternoon to hopefully be an instrument
in en-couraging everyone to recognize our rich history and contributions of our forebears.
Being the Representative of the First District of Bulacan, I am proud to remind each and every
Fili-pino in this hall of the historical significance of the Barasoain Church and the need to
imbibe and strengthen the sense of nationalism of the present and future generations.
The Barasoain Church, located in the historic City of Malolos in the noble province of Bulacan,
is one of the most important religious and historical landmarks in the Philippines. Here, three
important episodes in our history transpired: first, the conven-ing of the First Philippine
Congress on September 15, 1898; second, the drafting of the Malolos Consti-tution starting
September 29, 1898 until January 21, 1999; and third, the inauguration of the First Phil-ippine
Republic on January 23, 1899.
The Malolos Congress was the same Congress that on September 29, 1898; ratified the
Declaration of Independence on June 12 of that year in Kawit, Cavite by General Emilio
Aguinaldo. Without the Malolos Congress, there would be no historical ba-sis for the June 12
celebration of our Independence Day as advocated by then Pres. Diosdado Macapa-gal to
correct, as he insisted, a grave and unforgiv-able error in our nation’s history. We would be
nothing more than a country without dignity because our independence would have been a
grant, an act of generosity by our imperialist master, and not a priceless prize of our collective
courage and deter-mination and bravery to shape and win our own fu-ture and claim our
rightful place under the sun. Without the Malolos Congress sitting in Barasoain, Aguinaldo
would not have been our first Philippine President but only a dictator whose heroic and breathtaking exploits would have gone down the annals of history as a mere military adventurism
be-reft of any sense of nationhood and political direc-tions. All we would be following were
dead stars that falsely shone in 1907 with the convening of the American-sponsored First
Philippine Assembly and faded into oblivion and ignominy on the 4th of July in 1946. Without
Barasoain, Philippine history would have taken a different turn and Filipinos would have been a
race lost in the labyrinthic maze of American “benevolence.” Instead of being a proud people,
we would have been creeping sub-humans begging for freedom, justice and independence.
These events count among the proudest moments in the lives of Filipinos and in our history. In
all these momentous events, the Barasoain Church was the silent force that stood ground and
witnessed the Filipinos triumph and win hard-earned freedom and democracy.
The Barasoain Church symbolizes and repre-sents the intense desire and collective fervor of
every Filipino to stand ground and unite behind the free-dom they have found 11 decades ago.
At the turn of the 20th century, a new chapter has commenced and initiated in the history of
Asia and Africa: the his-tory of a moth taking flight with the eagles of the much powerful,
highly developed and influential na-tions of the world, flaunting and brandishing her
democracy and independence under a government ruled by law and a constitution borne out
of lessons of a long struggle and baptized with the fires of revo-lution.
The Barasoain Church is the aggregate of the Filipinos’ collective objectives and aspirations. It
is a reminder of the unity of the Filipino people in the midst of division, cynicism and
adversities in our country. During the time of our ancestors, the Bara-soain Church was the
pinnacle of our being Filipino – the threshold of better years to come for Asia, Af-rica and the
whole world. It was the life and hope of races fighting for a more dignified existence in the
midst of crippling slavery and servitude. It was the source of strength for the oppressed,
yearning for the light, freedom and democracy. The Barasoain Church was the symbol of light
in a country full of darkness, the light that guided thousands of our forebears in the fight for
freedom and democracy originated from the belfry or ciborium of the Bara-soain Church.
Being a historical landmark -- a reminder of the Filipinos’ hardships and triumphs, a symbol of
our ancestors’ courage and faith -- by Presidential De-cree No. 260, the Barasoain Church was
proclaimed as a National Shrine by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos on August 1, 1973.
Further, in recognition of all these historical episodes, the Barasoain Church was immortalized
in Philippine currency – the P10 bill – and in postage stamps and many other things that
remind us of our proud history and the battles that our ancestors won. In fact, the President of
the Republic of the Philippines, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, chose to be sworn in as President at
the Barasoain Church.
There are a thousand other reasons why the Ba-rasoain Church must be etched in the hearts
and minds of every Filipino. Without the historical events that transpired inside the Barasoain
Church, the freedom and democracy we are now proud of would not have been here for us to
cherish and the future generations to benefit. With these, I strongly believe that it is
incumbent upon this present gov-ernment which evolved from the government that was born
in Malolos, to immortalize the Church of Barasoain.
A few years ago, the image of the edifice of the Barasoain Church was imprinted on the P10
bill back to back with the faces of our heroes, Apolinario Mabini and Andres Bonifacio. Sadly,
however, the withdrawal from existence of some of our denomina-tions eventually brought the
gradual disappearance of the P5 and P10 bills. The constant historical re-minders symbolized
by the mansion of Emilio Agui-naldo in Kawit, Cavite and the Barasoain Church in Malolos,
Bulacan slowly went out of circulation. Consequently, the Filipino sentiment and zeal like-wise
faded. It would be such a waste if Filipinos of the present and future generations would not
get the chance to see the image of this historical church and be reminded of its significant
contribution to Philip-pine history.
It is my humble belief that it is high time for us to review our policies and realize the necessity
to maintain the essence of momentous and historical things, symbols and events that we do
not want to drag to existence, for the sake of our nation and the future generations. The
Barasoain Church is one of these edifices that we would want to preserve. The color of the
future could only have its intensity and hues depending on how much the present and the past
are valued. I challenge you, my colleagues and my fellow Filipinos, to relive the noble
memories of the Barasoain Church and this could only be made possible if the face of this
historical edifice will again be imprinted on our existing currencies. In this manner, we will
have an enlightened apprecia-tion of our nationhood and tread the right path to progress and
prosperity.
Ang mga Tagalog po ay may kasabihan na lumaganap na rin sa iba pang mga lipi ng galing
kapuluan. “Ang hindi raw lumingon sa pinang-galingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.”
Di iilang beses na natin pong napatunayan ang katoto-hanan at katalinuhan ng salawikaing
iyan. Lingunin po natin ang galing pinagbuhatan at paglingon natin ay matatanaw natin ang
Simbahan ng Barasoain, kung saan sa loob nito ay ating matatagpuan ang mga dakilang
kaisipang humubog at gumuhit sa at-ing kinabukasan kahapon, na tinatamasa natin ngayon.
Idambana po natin sila sa ating mga puso. Ikintal po natin sila sa ating mga noo. Higit sa lahat, itatak po natin sila sa ating mga salaping papel na siyang sagisag ng galing soberanyang
kanilang ipinakipaglaban upang sa habang panahon ay manatiling nakalimbag ang kanilang
mga alaala at gunita at kanilang walang pag-iimbot na pagpa-pakasakit at hindi
mapapantayang kabayanihan na inaalay nila sa minamahal nating Inang Bayan.
REFERRAL OF SPEECH
On motion of Rep. Remulla, there being no ob-jection, the Body referred Rep. Sy-Alvarado’s
speech to the appropriate Committee.
On motion of Rep. Remulla, the Chair thereafter recognized Rep. Edgar M. Chatto to avail of
the Privilege Hour.
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. CHATTO
I rise to appropriately honor a man who served the country well during his presidency.
Yesterday, November 4, 2007, we commemorated the 111th birth anniversary of the late
Pres. Carlos Polistico Garcia. This milestone was celebrated in the Prov-ince of Bohol where he
comes from and at the Libin-gan ng mga Bayani here in Manila.
Eleven years ago, Republic Act No. 8224, which seeks to honor and perpetuate the memory of
the late Pres. Carlos Polistico Garcia, was approved on No-vember 6, 1996. This mandates
that Circumferential Road No. 5 or C-5 in Metro Manila be renamed in his honor.
President Garcia, a Boholano educator, lawyer, poet, debator, orator, sportsman and
parliamentar-ian, statesman and patriot, served with distinction as Congressman, Senator,
Vice President, and fourth President of the Philippine Republic. He was also elected as the first
President of the 1971 Constitu-tional Convention. The Carlos P. Garcia Founda-tion appealed
to the appropriate government agen-cies earlier, including the Metro Manila Develoment
Authority (MMDA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways DPWH), to expedite the
instal-lation of hanging billboards across the two lanes in strategic places to guide the
motorists that C-5 is now Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Avenue. While this ad-ministrative process
was previously engaged, the name of President Garcia still does not appear at the C-5 area
since the approval of RA No. 8224, I re-peat, 11 years ago. Official documents handling our
very own General Appropriations Act carries the name C-5 and not CPG Avenue. To instill
public awareness as to the mandate of this law, it is impera-tive that markers and signages
bearing the name of the late President Garcia be installed in conspicuous places along this
major thoroughfare which services thousands of commuters everyday.
As a result of the utter disregard and non-implementation of RA 8224, attempts were made to
rename C-5 by some lawmakers who were not aware of the existing law; and to include House
Bill No. 3654 authored by then Rep. Miguel Zubiri and some counterpart measures also by
Senators in the Senate. And lately, even in this present Congress another colleague of ours
again, because of lack of informa-tion maybe, was able to file another bill, House Bill No.
1139.
Recently, the Philippine Nurses Monitor, a magazine for and about nurses, launched a cyber
campaign to pay tribute to Philippine nurses by re-naming the existing C-5 road to Philippine
Nurses Parkway, as a tribute to the contributions of Filipino nurses in the social and economic
alleviation of Fili-pinos. While we support individuals and groups to honor distinguished
Filipinos in their respective fields of endeavor, it is necessary that the name of President
Garcia, the foremost advocate of the “Filipino First” policy, be treated as the radiant symbol of
Filipinism by implementing RA 8224.
It is in this regard that this Representation, to-gether with the Representatives of the two
other dis-tricts in the province of Bohol, my colleagues in the Central Visayas Region, and
hopefully with the sup-port of the rest of the membership of this House, are filing a House
Resolution directing the DPWH, MMDA, and other concerned agencies to immedi-ately
implement RA 8224. Likewise, we hope that through this measure, all government offices will
likewise strictly comply with RA 8224 by requiring that all documents, letters and the like
emanating therefrom which make reference to C-5 in Metro Manila, indicate the name of this
road as Pres. Car-los P. Garcia Avenue. And that if the same indicate the former, the
corresponding corrections should be made to reflect on the records the name of the latter.
I thank you for this opportunity and I would like also to appeal to my colleagues to give
support to this initiative if only to appropriately honor a man who served well this nation.
At this point, the Chair recognized Rep. Antonio V. Cuenco.
REMARKS OF REP. CUENCO
Rep. Cuenco remarked that Rep. Chatto’s speech extolled the virtues of one of the best
Visayan legis-lators and Presidents that the country ever had and that Cebuanos loved
President Garcia dearly because he married a Cebuana. He congratulated his col-league for
standing up to see to it that the appropriate accolade and honor be given to President Garcia.
He also expressed support for his suggestion to ask the DPWH to immediately implement the
law which mandates that the C-5 highway be renamed after the late President.
INTERPELLATION OF
REP. HONTIVEROS-BARAQUEL
The Chair then recognized Rep. Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, upon Rep. Remulla’s
motion, who inquired whether President Garcia was the first Philippine President to articulate
the vision and strat-egy of “Filipino First”.
Replying in the affirmative, Rep. Chatto pointed out that the late President was a man who
had a vi-sion of a strong Filipino nation anchored on an econ-omy based on Filipinos who
protected their own in-terests and supported their own resources and prod-ucts. He added
that the baseline of his policy was about Filipinos as a nation and Filipino first in what-ever
arena – whether economic, social or political.
Rep. Hontiveros-Baraquel took note of the fact that President Garcia was the first President to
for-mulate and champion the strategy of import substitu-tion and was one among the first
generation of Fili-pinos who dreamt of industrialization, thus giving very concrete policy and
program support to Filipino industrialists and entrepreneurs and to parts of what might now be
called the modernizing elite or nation-alistic industrialists.
Rep. Chatto affirmed his colleague’s statements. He opined that President Garcia’s policy of
import substitution was still within the context of global diplomacy and while the country tried
to trade with foreign countries, was consistent with his desire to protect Filipino products and
thus, the interest of his countrymen.
Thereupon, Rep. Hontiveros-Baraquel inquired whether President Garcia was the first to
envision the “Filipino First” policy and to put forth such strategies as import substitution at a
time before in-ternational credit institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) told developing countries like the Philippines that it did not have the
same right to dream similar dreams of industrialization as those of the developed countries in
the First World. She pointed out that such admo-nition was nipped in the bud and prevented
from be-ing fully explored, the dream of the late President and of generations of leaders. She
opined that im-portant elements of the dream could still be revived in the critique of neoglobalization as well as in the continuing dream of an independent, productive and solid local
economy in the global economy.
Rep. Chatto said that in spite of the fact that many developments had since threatened
President Garcia’s “Filipino First” policy, the same remained and had been in fact resurrected
from time to time as the government tried to balance national interest vis a vis globalization
and other emerging principles.
In closing her interpellation, Rep. Hontiveros-Baraquel thanked her colleague for resurrecting
a dead vision and reminding the Body that what Presi-dent Garcia and his generation of
industrialists had dreamt of in their time remained a living memory and inspiration to continue
to both critique and pro-pose alternatives as regards the economic develop-ment of the
country.
MANIFESTATION OF REP. AMANTE
At this point, Rep. Edelmiro A. Amante mani-fested his desire to interpellate Rep. Chatto.
How-ever, upon the Chair’s request, he gave way to Rep. Roilo S. Golez.
REMARKS OF REP. GOLEZ
Upon recognition by the Chair, Rep. Golez said that he had been an admirer of President
Garcia since his elementary days for his nationalism and states-manship especially when he
accepted his defeat in the 1961 election against then Vice President Dios-dado Macapagal. He
added that when he had the opportunity of meeting the late President in person when he was
president of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, in view of the fact that he himself had
married a Boholana, his strong and positive impres-sions of the late statesman were
reinforced.
Rep. Golez then expressed support for the privi-lege speech of Rep. Chatto and joined him in
his de-sire to give the late President the recognition and honor he properly deserved, through
the renaming of the C-5 highway.
INTERPELLATION OF REP. AMANTE
Upon recognition by the Chair, Rep. Amante first inquired whether one of President Garcia’s
foremost advocacies was a parliamentary or federal system of government.
Rep. Chatto replied that his readings of the Presi-dent’s works and policies would confirm the
same.
Rep. Amante informed the Body that the Presi-dent had advocated a parliamentary system
because it would mean a quicker response to the problems of a country composed of many
islands. He recalled that the former had once told him that if the country adopted a federal
system, Bohol would become a stalwart of beauty in Asia, Cebu would become the epitome of
economic strength, and Agusan would become a fountain of water that would quench the
physical and spiritual thirst of a people faced with poverty.
Rep. Chatto said that during the Garcia Admini-stration, there was already a very keen
sentiment to-wards giving more autonomy to the different parts of the country so as to
stimulate their growth.
Rep. Amante subsequently recalled that Presi-dent Garcia had told him that when he would
one day be part of a federal government, he should re-member that 1) the crying conscience
of the people is that poverty must be wiped out so that they would become a beautiful sunrise
that would wipe out the darkness of the country; and 2) unlike in a presiden-tial form of
government, there would be no quarrels among legislators because under a Parliament, it is
the best who are elected and it is the best who will give no less than their best to serve the
people. He said that he was saddened by current news reports that only one percent of
Filipinos own one-half per-cent of the resources, the treasures and the money of this country.
Rep. Chatto said that he shared Rep. Amante’s sentiments and that it was fortunate that Rep.
Amante was present to remind the Body of the same. It was not surprising that President
Garcia had a very big heart for the poor, he remarked, because he came from a poor village
and from a family of teachers.
He added that the former President also rose from the ranks in a small village called Sitio Luya in the Town of Talibon to be a teacher himself and to study law in a college outside of Bohol
before even-tually entering the political arena. He further said that President Garcia’s
exposure to the impoverished lives of neighbors and friends provided him the very strong
foundations of the policies on which he was able to stand when he rose from the ranks of a
pro-vincial to national official and then to the highest position in the land. He averred that the
principles being espoused by Rep. Amante, including the very famous “Filipino First” Policy,
were anchored on such grounds.
Rep. Amante hoped that the ideas of President Garcia would inspire his colleagues, believing
that in unity, the Members would be able to cast away the dark clouds hovering over the
country. This, as he noted that dissension among their leaders do not al-leviate the sufferings
of the people. In closing, he remarked that the name “Garcia” is in consonance to gracia,
meaning, “grace, and said that the Philip-pines will only be redeemed by grace if the people
will labor to pray and pray as they labor.
REMARKS OF REP. CHATTO
After thanking the Members who had paid atten-tion to his privilege speech, Rep. Chatto
remarked that on August 28, 1958, the National Economic Council in its Resolution No. 204,
officially promul-gated Garcia’s “Filipino First” Policy calling for the promulgation of guidelines
giving preferential treat-ment to Filipinos. He said that under the Resolution, qualified citizens
who apply for foreign exchange allocations and who establish commercial or indus-trial
enterprises were given preference over non-Filipinos and in the area of joint ventures, capital
should be at least 60% Filipino-owned. He also men-tioned that in the field of education, the
late Presi-dent Garcia took the initiative to prod Philippine educators to re-orient the country’s
educational sys-tem by adopting the school curricula that were more responsive to the
people’s needs.
Thereupon, Rep. Chatto again thanked his col-leagues for supporting his advocacy. He also
hoped that they would provide a better place for the late President in the memories of the
people.
QUERY OF REP. AMANTE
Upon a query of Rep. Amante, Rep. Chatto as-sured the latter that he would be made a
coauthor of the Resolution, which Rep. Chatto would be spon-soring.
REFERRAL OF REP. CHATTO’S
PRIVILEGE SPEECH
There being no other interpellations, on motion of Rep. Velarde, there being no objection, the
Body referred the privilege speech of Rep. Chatto, includ-ing all interpellations thereon, to the
appropriate committee.
QUERY FROM THE CHAIR
At this juncture, the Chair inquired whether there were other Members who wished to avail
themselves of the Privilege Hour.
Rep. Velarde replied in the affirmative thereto.
SUSPENSION OF SESSION
Thereafter, the Chair motu proprio suspended the session at 5:23 p.m.
RESUMPTION OF SESSION
At 5:27 p.m., the session was resumed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GUESTS
Whereupon, Rep. Velarde acknowledged the presence in the Session Hall of the following
guests of Rep. Bienvenido M. Abante Jr.: Baptist bishops, pastors and members of the Bible
Mode led by Bishop Ruben Abante, Bishop Joey Sauco and Bishop Primo Tabanda, as well as
Barangay Chair-persons Anthony Santos and Irene Billo, all from the Sixth District of Manila.
On further motion of Rep. Velarde, the Chair recognized Rep. Abante who delivered the
following privilege speech.
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. ABANTE
Magandang hapon po sa aking mga kasama dito sa House of Representatives. The title of my
speech, Mr. Speaker, is “A Wake Up Call, A Clarion Call, An Urgent Call: Stop the Culture of
Corruption.”
I am reminded of the “Grandeur That Was Rome.” Let us learn from history. “Corruption in the
government marked the degeneracy of the Roman empire. Officials seized the opportunity of
lucrative graft, with businessmen scrambling selfishly for profitable government contracts to
the extent of fab-ricating false documents and false accounts of events, and when the matter
reached the Senate, it took no action because it did not wish to make ene-mies of the
capitalist.” The Senate had shown that it had no intention of initiating needed domestic reforms. And while the old Roman army loyal to the State, the new army created by then consul
Gaius Marius who came to power identified their own in-terest with those of their
commanders, hence their loyalty to the State was no longer paramount. Anti-Roman
sentiments caused by corrupt governors, tax collectors and moneylenders emboldened
ambitious neighboring leaders to declare war against Rome. Julius Caesar came to power and
during the six-month period before his death, in his desire to SAVE the republic, he initiated
far-reaching reforms even if he knew that in so doing he would, as he did, incur the enmity of
many, that on the Ides (fifteenth) of March 44 B.C., a group of conspirators, led by the very
man he had PARDONED, stabbed him to death in the Senate. What a supreme sacrifice for the
sake of his country and countrymen! (www.historyguide.com)
I stand before you today to make louder the call to moral uprightness and propriety in society,
and for servant-leaders of Philippine society to live by example by being paragons of honesty
and integrity and champions of good governance.
The subject I am referring to is the societal problem, if not disease, called CORRUPTION. I do
not know if you share my view that corruption is the greatest obstacle to peace and order; the
greatest hindrance to progress; the single cause of poverty in our land; the only reason why
government loses its credibility, integrity and authority to govern. Take a look at these data
from the Office of the Ombuds-man:
“The study conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that
the government lost P25 billion in official corruption. Recently, it was reported that no less
than the World Bank has confirmed that more than 20% of the national budget is lost due to
this malady. This would run at present to the tune of about P130 billion a year.”
From the 3rd Enterprise Survey on Corruption, a joint undertaking of the Social Weather
Station and the Makati Business Club in 2002-2003, more execu-tives believed corruption was
wrong, since 55% of the respondents believed that corruption hurt na-tional development,
compared with 32% in 2001 and 44% in 2000. In 2002-2003, some 45% believed cor-ruption
was wrong because it was immoral, lower than 49% in 2001 but slightly higher than 41% in
2000.
The picture of the country’s fight against corrup-tion becomes even bleaker if we are to trace
the per-ception of corruption in the country, beginning in 1998:
1. In 1998, RP was #55 among 85 “least cor-rupt countries.”
2. In 1999, RP was #54 among 99 “least cor-rupt countries.”
3. In 2000, RP was #69 among 90 “least cor-rupt countries.”
4. In 2001, RP was #65 among 91 “least cor-rupt countries.”
5. In 2002, RP was #77 among 102 “least corrupt countries.”
6. In 2003, RP was #99 among 133 “least corrupt countries.”
7. In 2004, RP was #102 among 145 “least corrupt countries.”
8. In 2005, RP was #117 among 158 “least corrupt countries.”
9. In 2006, RP was #121 among 163 “least corrupt countries.”
10. In 2007, RP was #131 among 179 “least corrupt countries.”
(Source: www.transparency.org. Transparency International or T.I. is a Berlin-based global
non-governmental organization leading the fight against corruption.)
Study the figures carefully. It becomes evident that the approaches we have so far applied in
fight-ing corruption have done little to stem the tide of corruption.
Corruption in government has created and con-tinues to create political and economic
instability, It has inspired, and continues to inspire, political in-trigues which inevitably put off
foreign investors. Should this moral phenomenon continue, our be-loved Philippines would be
left behind in the South-east Asian region. According to the data available at the Presidential
Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC), the top seven perceived most corrupt agencies of the
government on the basis of the number of personnel charged with graft and corruption are the
Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR),
Philippine National Po-lice (PNP), Land Transportation Office (LTO), De-partment of Public
Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Department of Education (DepEd).
Our country needs investment, but how could we encourage investors under an umbrella of
corrup-tion? I honesty believe that local and foreign inves-tors will pour in their heavy
investments under an atmosphere of confidence which could only be built if the government
shows a no-nonsense drive against corruption, building up credibility and integrity in
governance.
Drastic positive and determined action should be done to stop, or at least minimize, this
problem of society, and we must act NOW! I subscribe to the call for moral reform. But this
reform must start from ourselves before we could validly and legiti-mately talk about it, much
less ask others to reform. Let us be sensitive enough to see and feel the anxie-ties and fears
of our countrymen on the true state of our nation. We keep on talking of economic gains, that
we are on the right track to economic stability, but we seem not to pay real attention to the
issue of corruption. It saddens me to hear from Juan dela Cruz that he is just being misled.
Some may argue that the strong economic resur-gence that the country is presently
experiencing makes the issue of addressing the problem of corrup-tion relatively unimportant.
I am confident, however, that members of this Assembly well understand the artificiality of
such an argument, knowing that hav-ing our country remain to be one of the countries
perceived as very corrupt has very serious and pro-found implications on its long-term
economic pros-pects. Likewise, the continued perception of corrup-tion serves as a good
indicator of the existence and depth of actual corruption and that the existence of actual
corruption threatens to make whatever eco-nomic strides that this nation was able to take of
lit-tle or no effect over the short-term.
A more insidious effect of official corruption is the erosion of the people’s confidence in
institutions of law and order, and the despair it generates in so-ciety in general for the future
prospects of our be-loved country. Corruption is a social malady that threatens to engulf the
Philippines in a tailspin of public apathy and moral bankruptcy.
The nation is tired. Beyond the personal and of-ten petty pursuits of power and wealth, which
occupy the minds of many government leaders, let us always keep in mind:
1. the millions of Filipinos who remain hungry, who would only need a job, not dole-outs, so
that he can feed himself and his family, and maintain a healthy self-respect;
2. the thousands of women who are forced to endure harsh working conditions abroad and the
pain of being separated from their loved ones just so they can help support their families; and
3. the millions of Filipino children who are having a hard time studying because of the poor
conditions and inadequate facilities of their schools.
I believe that it is but appropriate that our peo-ple expect from us: honesty, integrity, ethics
and mo-rality or a well-developed sense for what is right and wrong, good and evil. This is
moral fortitude.
My dear colleagues, the world will not wait for us to change. Forces beyond our control
converge and conspire to make the world a harder place to live in. As economists relate, the
poor CPI rating that our country continues to receive deprives us of opportunities that should
have resulted to more jobs received locally. Having more Filipinos stay in the country means
having less and less broken families. Less broken families, as Steve Levitt convincingly points
out in his book “Freakonomics,” is one of the most effective crime prevention strategies. Less
crime translates to a greater national stability. Greater national stability leads to more
investments, which in turn leads to more jobs locally, ultimately resulting to faster Philippine
progress.
In this aspect, Filipinos who stay in the country are the greater heroes – patriots who stand
for moral responsibility in society. I will, in another privilege speech, expose and deplore the
pathetic conditions of many of our overseas Filipino workers abused, harassed and
discriminated upon.
Let us take a serious look into the call of the re-ligious sector, like the Roman Catholic Church,
the Jesus is Lord Church, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), the
Philippines for Jesus Movement, and other religious groups to the national leadership to
“respond to the clamor of transparency and to address the nation on the vari-ous scandals
involving the administration” and PCEC’s expression of dismay at what it calls “the culture of
corruption in the government” while the majority of the Filipinos are still living in poverty,
according to The Philippine Daily Inquirer, October 25, 2007.
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned and grieved as I hear and read news of corruption
involving or tending to involve government leaders. Our nation has earned the identity of
being the only Christian nation in Asia, yet it has now become a byword in corruption. I dread
to think that because of the seeming culture of corruption in our country, by rea-son of which
the sense of shame is being lost, and the moral and spiritual fibers of society continue to disintegrate uncontrollably, we are now moving irre-versibly towards the path of Divine
Judgment.
The fight against corruption is a fight for moral uprightness and integrity. It is a fight that
begins in the hearts and mind of each and every one of us, leaders and members of Philippine
society alike. It is a fight that demands more from elected leaders because the position we
occupy makes us by default paragons of virtue.
I come before you with no pretensions of being sinless or righteous. I come before you not
only as a Member of the House of Representatives, but more importantly a Minister of the
Gospel who is duty-bound to remind you, fellow Members, that the au-thority we exercise is
given and is ordained of God. It is a gift that comes laden with responsibility: as the Word of
God says, “for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom
men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48, KJV).
People who have been given this privilege of au-thority and exercise it prudently, in awe and
rever-ence of the Almighty and His words, have no cause for fear but can look forward to
blessings. Like the godly man in the first Psalm, this leader shall be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
I love my country. I know, deep in your hearts, each and every one of us here in this historical
hall does, too.
THE REAL CAUSE
I salute the Honorable Speaker of this august Chamber for his courage and humility of publicly
admitting, in furtherance of his call for a moral revolution, that he is not without sin. How I
wish others would follow. While there could be as many causes of corruption as there are
institutions to cor-rupt, problems to be solved, and wants to be satis-fied, and while it is said
that the primary causes are the lust for power and influence, and vices, yet let us learn to
accept the reality that love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), and one of these
evils is no other than corruption. Let us learn from the Holy Writ which says in modern
translation: “Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds
the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous” (Deuteron-omy 16:19, NIV).
Let us be true to our commitment to be fair, im-partial and honest with our conduct and
affairs.
The Hope
With all these corruption-laden scandals hound-ing our coworkers in government, there is
however, hope. And the real hope is in the very Almighty God whose aid we implored under
the Preamble of our Fundamental Law who said “If my people who are called by my name
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14,
KJV). Let us do the exhortation that “suppli-cations, prayers, intercession, and giving of
thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Saviour” (1 Timo-thy 2:1-3, KJV).
The Call
The Bible Believers League for Morality and Democracy, alarmed by the string of controversies
that continue to rock the nation, the nature, extent, and place of occurrence of which is
unparalleled in our history, has in a Manifesto encouraged the President, Vice President,
Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Jus-tice of the
Supreme Court to meet and discuss ways of leading the fight against corruption. May I humbly ask the President to lead this clarion call.
Let us work now for meaningful moral and spiri-tual changes in our government. I ask the
Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to act expeditiously and im-partially especially on graft and
corruption cases involving high government officials, asserting its independence as a
constitutional Body.
According to OMB’s own records, “the prosecu-tion of offenders did not serve as an effective
deter-rent. The conviction rate of the Office of the Special Prosecutor at the Sandiganbayan
(the Anti-Graft Court) was a dismal six percent (6%). Put differ-ently, this means that a highranking government official accused of graft and corruption has a 94% chance of walking scotfree.”
Let sentence be executed speedily, for even the Scriptures tells us that: “Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully
set in them to do evil” (Ecc. 8:11, KJV).
I exhort everyone: Let us henceforth commit to be always conscious of the fact that the
position we occupy is a sacred trust. From this vantage point, let us go on to serve our
countrymen with all honesty and integrity always.
Time is running out!
I ask the President to convene an Anti-Corruption Summit. This is a gargantuan task that
needs the vigilant, collaborative effort of all the sec-tors of our society: Call on the religious
sector, the academe, business, legal luminaries, the youth and all the rest of civil society to
take part. Former Om-budsman Simeon V. Marcelo said, and I quote:
“The fight against corruption begins with the humility to recognize that it is a daunting task.
Alone, the government cannot wage a successful war against it. Government needs
desperately the help of other sectors of society. The fight against corruption also begins with
the realization that, in this fight, one cannot be lukewarm or stand on neutral ground. One is
either part of the solution, or a part of the problem.”
The Corruption Prevention Policy of the Office of the Ombudsman – that is, nipping corruption
in the bud – should be totally supported. With a minus-cule allocation of only 0.065% of the
national budget, they can certainly do much more with in-creased allocation to be able to have
more well-trained and competent personnel handling critical cases of corruption.
Finally, let us show our resolve to search for the truth no matter how heavy and painful the
price may be, instead of hiding or seeking shelter from the altar of technicalities and from the
multitude of human reasons. Let us not be parties to the suppression of truth for selfpreservation and aggrandizement, for no matter how we conceal the truth, the same shall be
known, “for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be
known” in Matthew 10:26; Luke 12:2.
I end this privilege accorded me today with a quote from former President of the United States
John F. Kennedy, which I feel is a fitting charge for all of us:
“With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us
go forth and lead the land we love, asking God’s bless-ings and His help, but knowing that
here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.”
May God have mercy upon our beloved nation!
INTERPELLATION OF REP. REMULLA
Upon recognition by the Chair, Rep. Jesus Crispin C. Remulla recalled that earlier Rep. Abante
had mentioned in his privilege speech that there is an upsurge of corruption in the Philippines
which started in 1998 and has risen tremendously in a 10-year period.
Rep. Abante replied that the data was taken from the Transparency International which is a
Berlin-based global nongovernmental organization leading the fight against corruption.
On whether the level of corruption refers only to the higher government level or down to the
barangay level, Rep. Abante replied that the level of corrup-tion is all over--from the highest
position in Mala-cañang to the lowest kagawad in each barangay.
With the observation of the Transparency Inter-national, Rep. Remulla inquired whether
corruption is institutional and is already embedded in the Fili-pino culture or whether there is
something that could be done to change that culture that pervades in agen-cies such as the
BI, the BOC, the BIR, the LTO and the DepEd.
Citing the statement he had heard from another political leader during the Marcos era that
corruption has been embedded in the country and also from the Transparency International’s
point of view that the country is getting worse, Rep. Abante however ex-pressed belief that
there is still hope for the country.
Considering that the point of reference made was the Marcos era, Rep. Remulla inquired
whether cor-ruption could also be attributed to the time of the governor general of the
Spaniards who ruled the Philippines for so long and in so doing has already become part of the
country’s culture.
Rep. Abante pointed out that it is even way back as early as the time of the Roman empire
which was more than 2,000 years ago.
Adverting to another kind of corruption which is politics, Rep. Remulla inquired whether those
who run for office can claim that they follow the P3 per voter rule on spending during
elections.
Rep. Abante replied that he does not think that there is anybody that can claim that.
On whether one form of corruption is to not abide by this rule, Rep. Abante replied that it
could be considered as corruption when one does not fol-low the law.
On whether this means that if there are people who are willing to be corrupted, there will be
people who will corrupt them, Rep. Abante replied that some laws that lead one to corruption
have to be amended and changed and cited as an example, the law on election spending per
voter.
On whether Rep. Abante would consider Con-gress as part of the problem or the solution, Rep.
Abante replied that the Members are, in a way, part of the problem and also can be a good
part of the solution.
Rep. Remulla asked in what way are they part of the problem.
Rep. Abante replied that since they are all politi-cians and that according to Rep. Remulla that
almost no politician spends only P3 per voter as such it can already be considered a form of
corruption thus, he said that they are also part of the problem. He said that he does not view
corruption only in the Execu-tive or other public officials because the Members ought to
examine themselves in this regard. In fact, he added that even the Speaker had admitted that
he is not without sin.
On whether he would agree that corruption is rampant even in the richest countries in the
world including the United States of America, Rep. Abante replied in the affirmative. However,
he emphasized that he was referring to his own country, the Philip-pines.
As to whether this can be considered a failure of the judicial system or the institutions which
the peo-ple before them had raised, Rep. Abante replied that all of these factors have to be
considered and could have attributed to corruption. He pointed out that it is part of the failure
of the judicial system and part of what they have inherited from the Spaniards and the
Americans. He underscored that everything is put in a lump sum.
Rep. Remulla inquired whether Rep. Abante would agree with him that discretion is really one
big part of the problem of corruption in this country. He cited for instance that if somebody is
given the dis-cretion to decide on a certain problem and has left it unsolved or hanging
without any given period of time to resolve it, then such would lead to corrup-tion.
Rep. Abante sought clarification on whether Rep. Remulla was referring to discretion as the
power to choose.
To illustrate his point, Rep. Remulla informed Rep. Abante that he has worked with the
Presidential Management Staff (PMS) in Malacañang during the tenure of former President
Estrada and they were given roughly five days within which to act with dis-patch on
documents received by the PMS. He then asked whether this is the same practice being presently adopted in other government offices.
Rep. Abante replied that this could be the case; however, this would not still change the fact
that cor-ruption is still ongoing in some government offices, he stated.
On the need to implement more stringent meas-ures against perpetrators of graft and
corruption in government, Rep. Abante stated that this was pre-cisely the reason why he had
requested the President to convene a top-level anti-corruption summit with the Vice President,
the Senate President, the Speaker of the House and the Chief Justice, including other
concerned sectors of the society to address the preva-lence of corruption in the country. He
claimed that this would be a positive step towards curbing corrup-tion not only in the public
sector but also in the pri-vate business establishments.
Rep. Remulla however disagreed with the need for an anti-corruption summit, citing that this
would only be “all talk and no action” as can be gleaned from the past experiences of
government. Further, he does not think that any other anti-corruption summit will make a
difference, he added.
Thereafter, he enumerated several salient points that has contributed to the prevalence of
corruption in the country, to wit:
1) failure in the judicial system; and
2) failure to follow up on the audit report of the Commission on Audit submitted to the Of-fice
of the Ombudsman, the Office of the President, and to Congress.
Rep. Remulla subsequently thanked Rep. Abante for his speech on corruption and expressed
hope that Congress could do something about this, specifically by addressing the root cause of
the problem.
As a rejoinder, Rep. Abante commented that it would be better if public officials would opt for
a moral revolution rather than communicate using the barrel of a gun.
Rep. Felix R. Alfelor Jr. then sought the recogni-tion of the Chair to interpellate Rep. Abante.
SUSPENSION OF SESSION
However, on motion of Rep. Garin, the Chair suspended the session at 6:06 p.m.
RESUMPTION OF SESSION
At 6:08 p.m., the session was resumed.
Upon resumption of session, Rep. Alfelor yielded his turn to interpellate to a Member of the
Minority, Rep. Salvador H. Escudero III.
INTERPELLATION OF REP. ESCUDERO
Rep. Escudero initially expressed his agreement with Rep. Abante’s advocacies and
recommenda-tions, particularly the notion that the fight against corruption should start with
the Members them-selves. He inquired whether Rep. Abante was present in a meeting at
Malacañang on October 11, 2007 and whether the latter had received a “gift” from some-body
in the Palace.
Rep. Abante replied in the affirmative. He like-wise affirmed that receiving such “gift” was
appro-priate.
Rep. Escudero thereafter asked why some of the recipients alleged that such act is not proper.
Rep. Abante replied that this was the opinion of some of the recipients. He however argued
that if his acceptance of such gift from Malacañang would be equivalent to asking for his favor
and support, then this would be tantamount to bribery. He clarified that he does not consider
it as a bribe when he received that “gift.”
Rep. Escudero expressed his apprehension that this was the interpretation of Rep. Abante on
the matter because if this were the case, then each Fili-pino would have every reason to ask
about where the country is heading. He stated that he was expecting that Rep. Abante would
be one of those who would question the very act of offering such “gifts” to the Members and
other elected government officials. He stated that propriety dictates that Malacañang should
not have even offered such gift to Rep. Abante and to the governor of Pampanga because it
reeks of graft and corruption.
Nonetheless, Rep. Escudero maintained that if this is Rep. Abante’s point of view on the
matter, then he has to be concerned about the dismal situa-tion in the Philippines.
In his rejoinder, Rep. Abante clarified that he was not offered a gift and that he was not
expecting one coming from Malacañang except to have a breakfast with the President along
with some other Members. As things stand now, he stated that he was now being judged for
being honest and for being truthful. He underscored that it is his duty to be hon-est and
truthful.
Subsequently, on motion of Rep. Garin, the Chair recognized Rep. Alfelor for his interpellation.
INTERPELLATION OF REP. ALFELOR
Rep. Alfelor initially inquired whether it is the contention of Rep. Abante that corruption is ingrained or a natural characteristic in the Filipino per-sona.
Rep. Abante replied that he would like to believe that it is not. However, he conceded that
when the subject of debate is about the “culture of corruption” then it already denotes that
corruption is already in-grained in the Filipino character.
He further clarified that corruption only becomes natural because man has the nature of sin;
that it is ingrained in the Filipino character can be attributed to the fact that for hundreds of
years, corruption has been with the Filipino culture ever since.
Rep. Alfelor however cited that if corruption is ingrained in the Filipino character or persona
then there is no solution to this problem. He however opined that corruption is “situational”;
for example: corruption is rampant in developing countries where there are less alternatives
and a rarity in well devel-oped countries where there are more goods satisfying fewer needs.
As he cited that corruption is brought about by environment and not an inherent character of a
per-son, Rep. Alfelor asked whether being a Roman Catholic country like the Philippines
accounts for the country’s rise in corruption.
With regard to the first query, Rep. Abante ex-plained that while he also agrees that the
Philippines has a high prevalence of corruption because it is in its developing stage, he has
strong reservations that a well-developed country would have fewer incidence of corruption. A
case in point, he said, is the United States of America where at present, Vice-President Dick
Cheney and nine Congressmen have been sus-pected of engaging in corruption. He
underscored that corruption can never be situational because this happens everywhere where
money and greed are in-volved.
Anent the second query, Rep. Abante stated that he is not in the best position to say whether
Roman Catholicism has contributed to the rise of corruption in the country inasmuch as he is
not a Roman Catho-lic himself. Notwithstanding this however, he claimed that corruption could
be lessened in a Chris-tian country.
In response thereto, Rep. Alfelor maintained that Roman Catholicism contributes to corruption
in the country because of its many prohibitions and be-cause the Roman Catholics have a very
high sense of what is right and wrong, to which Rep. Abante stated that this is a revelation to
him.
Nonetheless, Rep. Alfelor cited that corruption is only generally perceived to be prevalent in
the Phil-ippines when in truth, it is not. He pointed out that the gift that has been given to the
Members and other elected officials can only be considered as “help” from Malacañang for the
forthcoming barangay elec-tions and not to be considered as an incentive to de-rail the
impeachment complaint against the Presi-dent.
In this case, he stressed that the fund given to him is not really for the sake of impeachment,
but precisely intended for the forthcoming election which is very normal because the President
is the head of the LAKAS and KAMPI coalition. More-over, all those who were present are
members of the political coalition. He added that the members of the Minority were not given
because they are not mem-bers of the ruling coalition. In this case, there is nothing immoral
in the actuation of the President, because this is part and parcel of the political proc-ess.
However, he pointed out that the problem is that, some people always consider it as
corruption.
Agreeing therewith, Rep. Abante stated that sometimes, some people pay for being honest
and those who lied, don’t pay.
Thereupon, Rep. Alfelor stated that he would not agree with Rep. Abante’s statement that
corruption is ingrained, as though it is part and parcel of some-body’s persona. In this regard,
he asked whether once a human being is born, he is already corrupt. Thereafter, he said a
person who became a nun after graduating in college is subject to lesser temptation and as
such, corruption could not be said as in-grained in the person’s persona, but only a part and
parcel of development, depending on the country.
Rep. Abante disagreed therewith and explained that he was just differentiating between the
use of the words “natural” and “ingrained” wherein, the former is always a part of a person as
being corrupt, because human beings have the nature of sin. How-ever, he pointed out that
when he used the word “in-grained,” he was not referring to it as ingrained in a person, but to
the system and that there should be a change in the system in order to take away that ingrained corrupt system.
At this point, Rep. Alfelor inquired whether Rep. Abante was referring to the country’s
presidential system of government considering that many coun-tries have the same form of
governance, but are not corrupt. Stating that corruption is more on the situa-tion and often
comes in variety, he said that corrup-tion is a perception of the beholder and that a lot of
people have considered that the amount being given to them prior to the election is not
immoral consider-ing that this is being done by every President, except that nobody has ever
squealed about it. Because, he added that they considered it as part and parcel of the system
and nobody can judge that the system is cor-rupt in this situation. He added that, unlike in
other countries where most of the people are above middle class, there is no need for a
candidate to buy them and so, there is no vote buying in other countries.
Rep. Alfelor, however, pointed out that the situa-tion is different in the case of the Philippines
wherein, vote buying is already part and parcel of the system, because the perception of the
voters is that they do not want to go out of their house if they do not receive any gift, unless
they are connected to a candidate either by affinity or consanguinity. Stating that most of the
country’s system had been adopted from western culture, he stressed that this is one of the
reasons why Filipinos considered themselves as damaged culture because they do not have a
culture of their own, but something that has been taken out from other countries and
sometimes, many of them are out of context.
Rep. Abante answered that regardless of whether corruption is considered a perception or not,
Filipi-nos should be sensitive to any perception, more par-ticularly if the bad perception comes
from interna-tional groups. He added that if there is a perception, then there is a reality going
on in this country.
At this point, Rep. Alfelor asked if Rep. Abante would agree that the perception of the Roman
Catho-lic Church is different from that of the Muslim which nurtured Islam. In this regard, he
explained that some things may not be considered as corruption in a Mus-lim community, but
may be considered as corruption by Christians due to their sense of what is right and wrong
which differs from the cultures of other coun-tries, like the allowing of multiple marriages in
Islam which is not allowed in Christian community. There-after, he pointed out that basically,
Filipinos are not corrupt and that this kind of perception is only a product of the influence of
other cultures and that they should not judge their actions on the basis of what is right or
wrong in other countries. He added that if that is the way of doing things in the Philip-pines,
then it must be right. Moreover. he pointed out that he always believed that the majority still
rules even in the case of right and wrong and that they should not follow the dictate of the
few, who, some-times think that they are pure and untainted.
INTERPELLATION OF REP. GUNIGUNDO
Upon recognition by the Chair, Rep. Magtanggol T. Gunigundo thanked Rep. Abante for
bringing to the attention of the Body the issue of corruption and asked whether the latter
would agree that corruption is not endemic to the Philippines, meaning, corrup-tion can only
be found in the Philippines and not in other countries.
Rep. Abante replied in the negative and pointed out that almost all nations with political
system have forms of corruption.
As to whether he was aware of the Hong Kong experience on how the former British colony
was able to combat corruption, Rep. Abante replied in the affirmative and stressed that even
the anti-corruption czar from Hong Kong was sent to the Philippines to act as the country’s
Deputy Ombudsman’s consultant on anti-corruption campaign.
Thereafter, Rep. Gunigundo informed the Body that in the 1970s, Hong Kong was a very
corrupt col-ony wherein, almost all government personnel can be bribed just like the case of
the Hong Kong chief of police, who was involved in a high profile scandal involving ill-gotten
wealth. He added that in order to escape prosecution, the latter flew to the United Kingdom
which has resulted to public demonstration and uproar in the streets of Hong Kong asking the
governor general for the expatriation of the chief of police. In this case, the governor general
immedi-ately ordered the extradition of the latter and then created the Independent
Commission Against Cor-ruption or ICAC in 1974. Thereafter, he added that the chief of police
was expatriated and eventually faced prosecution, while on the other hand, the ICAC started
investigating all the members of the Hong Kong police force. Instead of the people
demonstrat-ing on the streets, he stressed that it was the entire police force that marched
down the main streets demonstrating that, if the ICAC would investigate all the police force,
no one would be left because all of them are guilty of graft and corruption. In this re-gard, he
said that the governor general had declared an amnesty and ordered all the members of the
Hong Kong police force to declare all their ill-gotten wealth and pay the corresponding taxes.
When the period of amnesty had lapsed, Rep. Gunigundo stressed that the ICAC had started
to in-vestigate all suspected members of the police force that are guilty of ill-gotten gain
which, gave the ICAC a wonderful track record in its battle against graft and corruption. He
then asked if the Hong Kong strategy can also work in the Philippines.
Agreeing therewith, Rep. Abante opined that in order to curb graft and corruption, the
government should try all methods in this regard.
In ending his interpellation, Rep. Gunigundo thanked Rep. Abante for answering his questions.
REFERRAL OF REP. ABANTE’S SPEECH
Thereupon, on motion of Rep. Garin, there being no objection, the Body referred the speech of
Rep. Abante including interpellation thereon to the appro-priate Committee.
Subsequently, on motion of Rep. Garin, the Chair recognized Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez to
deliver his privilege speech.
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. RODRIGUEZ
Distinguished colleagues, I rise today to present to this august Body the state of the book
publishing industry, its challenges and what lies ahead for the industry. The state of the
publishing industry during the Martial Law years, the distribution and purity of books used in
public schools were under the Instruc-tional Materials Council and its own Instructional
Materials Development Corporation. The govern-ment then adopted the single adoption
method, wherein one title per subject or area was used na-tionwide. Thus, an existence of
monopoly.
The Philippine Educational Publishers Associa-tion (PEPA) took an active stand in affirming its
po-sition against the monopoly of the old Philippine government in publishing and supplying
textbooks to the country’s elementary and secondary public schools. The government’s
practice of monopoly in publishing and distributing textbooks had spawned massive graft and
corruption in the then Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) resulting to the
recurring annual shortage of textbooks, and the breakdown of their quality and standards.
Con-sequently, the quality of Philippine education had been greatly affected to the detriment
of the Filipino students.
Thus, during the Ninth Congress, the Blue Rib-bon Committee had investigated the
Instructional Materials Development Corporation and Instruc-tional Materials Council and
found out massive cor-ruption in said agencies and discovered the rotten volume of books in
warehouses amounting to mil-lions of pesos to the disadvantage of public school students.
Based on the findings of the Blue Ribbon Committee headed by then Senator Bobby Tañada,
the monopoly has caused gross inefficiency and monumental loss to the government which
resulted in the loss of more than P300,000,000 committed by said corporation.
Mr. Speaker, based on the said report, Congress then entertained the bill calling for the
privatization of the book publishing industry. And on June 7, 1995, Congress has enacted
Republic Act No. 8047, otherwise known as the Book Publishing Industry Development Act.
This law provides for the privati-zation of the book publishing industry, particularly in the
development and publication of textbook for use in public schools. Furthermore, this law was
passed precisely to abolish the government monop-oly of the public textbook market under
the Instruc-tional Materials Corporation.
The enactment of Republic Act No. 8047 mani-fests the government’s strong recognition of the
vital role of books in the economic and social growth of the country. The law sets forth the
commitment of the natural leadership, through the National Book De-velopment Board (NBDB)
to create an environment conducive to book development primarily through the formulation
and implementation of a National Book Policy and a corresponding development plan. RA No.
8047 mandated the formulation and imple-mentation of a National Book Policy (whose formulation was approved through Executive Order No. 119 on July 17, 1999) and the National Book
Devel-opment Plan. RA 8047 paved the way for the crea-tion of an NBDB, which will carry out
and imple-ment the policies, purposes and objectives provided for in the law. NBDB finally
paved the way for the DECS to open the textbook program to the private publishers. Many
changes and policies were laid down by NBDB and the private sector was enthusias-tic and
actively participated in its program.
Since then, based on 2004 statistics, book pub-lishers in the country of varying capabilities
but with textbook publishing as the mainstay have grown, reaching 104 book publishers: 42
book printers; 16 book importers; and retail bookseller/supplier, 36 wholesale
bookseller/supplier, 51, and importer of nonprint information materials,4. Life is a marathon
run, not a meter dash, so goes the saying that is true to the Philippine government publishing
industry’s saga. While finally RA 8047 was signed into law hopefully to catapult the local book
publishing in-dustry to greater heights, its implementation, how-ever, still needs to be
realized.
Except at the outset, through Secretary Ricardo C. Gloria, the succeeding department
secretaries did not strictly follow the provisions of RA 8047 alleg-edly because of World Bank’s
contrary stipulations on loan contracts that the same must firstly be satis-fied before a loan
could be processed and released. The association, however, maintains that multiple adoption
under a competitive atmosphere is the very essence of book publishing development under RA
8047.
Contrary to RA 8047, the Department of Educa-tion adopted the single adoption scheme
wherein a single title per grade or year level would be used from grades one to six and from
first year to fourth year in the entire country. It is premised on the con-sideration that
expenditures would be minimized re-sulting into greater savings, therefore violating the
multiple group adoption policy that was adopted by RA 8047.
One issue that was raised was the proliferation of graft and corruption in all levels and in
various agencies and institutions directly or indirectly in-volved in the purchase/provision of
textbooks to the country’s public schools in both elementary and sec-ondary levels.
Then Education Undersecretary for Administra-tion and Finance Antonio Valdes, revealed that
the Department set textbook procurement guidelines which were more stringent than those of
the World Bank’s, particular of which was the adoption of in-ventory checks that put an end to
ghost or underde-liveries. He further revealed that said package of reforms in the
procurement system had been insti-tuted even before that infamous P3 million bribery
attempt (referred by the media as the Maslog Scam) that rocked Malacañang during President
Estrada’s term. Involved was Esteem Enterprises, a textbook publishing firm that used to
enjoy a reputation of being a credible book supplier until then.
PEPA, the Philippine Education Parents Asso-ciation and various associations nevertheless appealed to the Department of Education to empower its school principals and parent-teacher
associations in the procurement of textbooks for grade school and high school students. The
reason that such practice would end the big-time corruption is because princi-pals empowered
as end-users would be allowed to choose the books that they want to use. The associa-tion
claimed this should be more beneficial to school children because the purchase of books would
now be based on quality and affordability, rather than the alleged under-the-table
transactions.
PEPA declared that if this scenario would be addressed, there would be an increase in the
number of affordable and quality books. In the first National Conference of Book Societies in
Cebu, Atty. Domi-nador Buhain, the PEPA President, reported that unscrupulous officials would
presumptively get sub-stantial discounts or kickbacks from large textbook contracts with the
Department of Education. To avert the frequent occurrences of anomalous trans-actions, the
following solutions were proposed:
1. Empowerment of school officials, school principals, in collaboration with the con-cerned
parent-teacher associations;
2. Full privatization of the textbooks pro-curement program in both elementary and high
schools;
3. Adoption of uniform discounting exclu-sively for the benefit of bookstores while maintaining
retail prices;
4. Institutionalization of ethical standards among players or stake holders; and
5. The full exercise of the regulatory power of the National Book Development Board so as to
provide the “check and balance” mechanism in the procurement system and break the
syndicate/monopoly in the granting of books.
Twelve years have passed after the passage of the said law, there are still allegations that
monop-oly on the bureaucracy of public textbook still exists in different forms.
For the information of my other colleagues, based on available records since 1999 up to 2004,
the bulk of the bid awards for Textbook-Teacher’s Manual’s printing, had been persistently
given to the Vibal Group of Bidders (V-GROUP). In the SEMP2 Status of Suppliers, a lion’s
share of the 75.96% or P2.65 billion of the P3.5 billion budget of textbook has been awarded
to the V-Group or the Vibal Group of bidders to the prejudice of other qualified suppliers who
impart, divide among themselves, the remaining 24.04%. So how can we therefore have the
private book publishing industry develop when only one group will control 75% of all the
textbook needs of our elementary and public high schools?
Moreover, the Vibal Group is composed of Vibal Publishing Incorporated, SD Publishing, LG &
M Publication and JTW as local partners and Watana Phanit, and Alkem as their foreign
partners – six publications having the same interlocking ownership and interest.
The articles of incorporation of Vibal Publish-ing, SD Publication and LG & M Publication would
reveal that these publishers have interlocking direc-tors, officers and majority stockholders.
In the said scenario, each company of the Vibal Group bids for and against each other “to
create the appearance of competition: and in collusion with each other “establishes artificial
and noncompetitive bid prices depriving the borrower, DepEd, the bene-fits of free and open
market. These are grounds for disqualification for clear violation of the Procure-ment Act and
Bidding Guidelines. However, despite the antecedent violations, the companies of the V-Group
have never been disqualified anent the obvi-ous ground for their ineligibility.
On January 31, 2006, the Joint PS-DepEd, a TWG, has finally called and recommended for the
disqualification of V-Group, particularly Vibal, SD Publishing, LG & M and Watana Phanit as
bidders for the SEMP2 and SEDIP-02-05-TX & TM based on the following grounds: Vibal
Publishing for conflict of interest and violation of manual procedure for the procurement of
goods and services, LG & M, SD and Watana also for conflict of interest.
Due to the aforementioned circumstances, the Joint PS-DepEd TWG recommendation was concurred by Assistant Secretary Camilo Miguel M. Montesa on February 15, 2006. On February
28, 2006, the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC) resolved the call for
disqualification, thereby disqualifying Vibal Publishing and Watana Phanit for conflict of
interest.
In addition, the law was clear that in Republic Act No. 9184, otherwise known as the
Government Procurement Act, particularly in Section 65(b-2), it provides that: “When a bidder
maliciously submits different bids through two or more persons, corpora-tions or partnerships,
or any other business entity in which he has interest to create the appearance of competition
does not in fact exist so as to be ad-judged as the winning bidder, then such bidder will be
disqualified and will be liable criminally.”
EXTENSION OF THE PRIVILEGE HOUR
At this point, on motion of Rep. Remulla, there being no objection, the Body extended the
Privilege Hour to three minutes.
PRIVILEGE SPEECH OF REP. RODRIGUEZ
(Continuation)
The present state of the industry as we see here now shows that there are a lot of things to be
done and that challenges are also quite overwhelming. In addition, there is an imperative
need to reform the current system through legislation.
After studying the state of the book publishing industry, this Representation has filed the
following bills to address the problems besetting the industry:
First, this Representation has filed House Bill No. 1947, entitled: “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND MECHANISMS FOR THE CREATION, OPERATION, ADMINISTRATION AND COORDINATION OF THE PHIL-IPPINE BOOK PUBLISHING INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT CENTER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE ‘BOOK CITY’” - the need to have a book city
for our country so that we can have a book publishing indus-try robust with a home, with full
support from the government and – “CREATING FOR THE PUR-POSE, THE BOOK PUBLISHING
ENTERPRISE ZONE AUTHORITY (BPEZA) AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”
Another bill filed by this Representation on the Book Publishing Industry is House Bill No.
1948, entitled: “AN ACT CREATING A NATIONAL BOOK DEVELOPMENT TRUST FUND TO SUP-
PORT FILIPINO AUTHORSHIP.”
To write a book, you need to have support, be-cause the author will have to go on sabbatical,
the author has to get researchers, the author has to get encoders, and all of these things.
There is a need to have a trust fund to support Filipino authorship in elementary and high
school book-writing.
Third, this Representation has filed House Bill No. 1949, entitled: “AN ACT DECLARING IT
UNLAWFUL TO ILLEGALLY REPRODUCE COPYRIGHTED BOOKS AND PRINTED MATERI-ALS
THROUGH PHOTOCOPYING, DUPLICAT-ING, PRINTING OR SIMILAR MEANS WITHOUT THE
WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE COPY-RIGHTED OWNER WHETHER THE PUBLISHER OR THE
AUTHOR OR BOTH AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE RA 8293 OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CODE.”
Now, this humble Representation is an author of some books and in class, I can see my
students them-selves bringing xerox copies of my own book.
Fourth, House Bill No. 1950, entitled: “AN ACT ADOPTING A RETAIL PRICE MAINTENANCE AND
UNIFORM DISCOUNTING SCHEME IN BOOK TRADE WITH THE END IN VIEW OF EN-SURING
AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE, AND QUALITY-LADEN TEXTBOOKS AND OTHER RE-LATED
EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS TO BE USED BY PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.”
The cutthroat competition has made it non-economically viable for the private publishers because of the cutthroat competition. We hope that there should be a retail price mechanism
scheme.
The fifth bill that was filed by this Representa-tion is House Bill No. 1951, entitled: “AN ACT
EX-PANDING THE PURPOSES AND APPLICATION OF THE SPECIAL EDUCATION FUND (SEF),
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 272 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7160, OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.”
And finally, House Bill No. 1952, entitled: “AN ACT MANDATING THE EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM AND THE CONSEQUENT PREPARA-TION OF TEXTBOOKS AND RELATED MATERI-ALS
SHOULD HAVE CONTINUITY AND STABIL-ITY, AND THAT THE SAME SHOULD NOT BE
AFFECTED FOR A PERIOD OF AT LEAST SIX (6) YEARS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE R.A.
NO. 8047, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE BOOK PUB-LISHING INDUSTRY ACT.”
Finally, I call on this Committee on Basic Edu-cation, Culture and Arts, to investigate the
imple-mentation or nonimplementation of RA 8047, par-ticularly that of the National Book
Development Board and the violations being perpetrated by the Department of Education. It is
our hope that through an investigation by the proper bodies of this august assembly, we will
be able to look into the root cause why even up to now the Book Publishing In-dustry,
Republic Act No. 8047 has not been fully im-plemented such that book publishing in this
country has not reached a level like other countries where they are robust and strong and
provides our public, elementary, and high schools, the sufficient books that are needed and
which are also pedagogically sound in its content.
I urge this Chamber and my colleagues to help the publishing industry in its process of
metamor-phosing itself into a newer makeup, a more respon-sive purpose and a more
dynamic constitutional ag-gressiveness in reclaiming its duly important role in the realization
of the common desire to achieve na-tional economic progress and regain this nation’s
international pride.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, honorable Majority Leader.
SUSPENSION OF SESSION
The Chair motu proprio suspended the session at 6:54 p.m.
RESUMPTION OF SESSION
At 6:54 p.m., the session was resumed.
REFERRAL OF SPEECH OF
REP. RODRIGUEZ
Since no one has given his/her intention to inter-pellate Rep. Rodriguez, on motion of Rep.
Remulla, there being no objection, the former’s speech was referred to the appropriate
committee.
Thereafter, Rep. Remulla reminded Rep. Rodri-guez that if there is already a pending bill that
is re-ferred to the appropriate committees, the same should not be a subject of any speech in
the future. He noted that many of their colleagues are not aware of the Rule that once
something is already referred to a committee, then the same should not be a subject of any
speeches in the House.
TERMINATION OF THE PRIVILEGE HOUR
Thereupon, on motion of Rep. Remulla, there be-ing no objection, the Body terminated the
Privilege Hour.
ADJOURNMENT OF SESSION
Thereafter, on motion of Rep. Remulla, there be-ing no objection, the Chair declared the
session ad-journed until four o’clock in the afternoon of Tues-day, November 6, 2007.
It was 6:55 p.m.
----------------------------------I hereby certify to the correctness of the forego-ing
(Sgd.) ROBERTO P. NAZARENO
Secretary general