Statement of Sen. Mar Roxas on President Arroyo's admission of flawed NBN Deal

“This is the President’s second public ‘mea culpa’ after a major scandal of public interest, which in this instance is the ZTE-NBN deal. In the first instance, the ‘Hello Garci’ wiretapping incident that points to alleged fraud in the 2004 presidential polls, she said, ‘I am sorry’.

“But after saying so, she put out orders that limited freedom of expression and of the press, that compromised and denigrated the independence of Congress, and sent a chilling effect to all.

“Bakit tayo ngayon maniniwala na pagkatapos ng pag-amin ng Pangulo ay magkakaroon ng hustisya? Na hindi na mauulit ang mga ganitong anomalya?

“How can we believe in the sincerity of the President to set things right in the face of E.O. 464, the Lozada abduction and harassment clearly intended to impede truth and justice?

“How can we believe in the sincerity and motives of the President if she is using our diplomatic relations with China as an excuse for not preventing a crime against the Filipino people?

“If the President is indeed sincere in her latest admission of fault, then she should immediately lift E.O. 464; order the NEDA Director-General to submit to the Senate all NEDA-ICC documents in relation to the NBN; and other actions that respect the people’s right to free expression and to information.

“Without these actions, the status quo remains, and the people’s crusade for truth will snowball.”

Sunday, February 24, 2008 | posted in , , , , , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

Another blogger voter has decided to support Mar Roxas in 2010

As I was surfing the blogosphere, another blogger (Silver Lining Blog) voter has finally decided to support and vote Senator Mar Roxas if ever he runs for President in the upcoming 2010 Presidential elections. Here's the excerpt of the blog post entitled I’ve Found My President!:

It is final and executory. I am voting for Mar Roxas in the 2010 Presidential elections.

Prior to yesterday’s convocation, I have no plans of participating in the second presidential elections of my life, for two reasons: 1) the COMELEC would always find a way to cheat with the cheaters, and 2) the ever-cunning Arroyo camp would somehow find a way to hold on to its power.

I was, in the simplest sense, hopeless and apathetic. My plan was to join a volunteer camp in South Africa in 2010 and perhaps die of malaria in there, just as what had happened to my foster brother’s friend. I could not see a point in living for my dear old rotting country. My ever-idealistic friends have lost their idealism and even my father, the one who always taught me of being critical of the government in a positive way, has resigned to the fact that the current administration will do everything just to keep in power and has even told me to just do nothing because nothing will change anyway.

Read more...

Saturday, February 23, 2008 | posted in , , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

Sen. Roxas visits Dumaguete, Bacolod cities

Senator Mar Roxas visited Dumaguete City and Bacolod City prior to the weekend, holding talks with various sectors on issues that matter to the people and discussing with them his advocacies to put people first.

Arriving in Dumaguete City on Thursday morning, the senator, known as “Mr. Palengke,” went to the Dumaguete City Public Market, checking on prices of basic goods and ensuring that wet market facilities were up to standard.

In both cities, he held a dialogue with tricycle and pedicab drivers to discuss the effect of the high prices of fuel, medicines and their other needs, and on his proposals to address these by suspending the 12% value-added tax on oil and through the Quality Affordable Medicines Bill, among other advocacies.
“Sa panahon ngayon na napakataas ng presyo ng petrolyo sa mundo, na talagang nakakaapekto sa presyo ng lahat ng bilihin, napapanahon nang tanggalin o i-suspinde ang VAT sa langis,” he said.

“At dahil ang ating mga traysikel at pedicab drivers ay laging nasa kalsada, nabibilad sa araw o nababasa ng ulan, at lagi pang nakakalanghap ng usok, talagang nakabanta lagi sa kanila ang sakit. Para sa kapakanan nila at ng iba pang mga tao, nararapat nang ipasa ang Affordable Medicines Bill,” he added.
Meanwhile, also in Dumaguete City, the Liberal Party President went to Silliman University, one of the most renowned academic institutions in Asia, to speak before its students on law and development.
“In our recent times, we see a disconnect in how, instead of being beneficiaries of the law, people feel victims of the law. Because in reality, those sworn to uphold the law are themselves breaking the law,” he said.

“Take a look, for example, at what has happened in this ZTE-NBN scandal. The procurement laws that require bidding were bypassed, and so we have an overpriced contract for something we don’t really need. Then comes the abduction of Jun Lozada and the syncrhonized cover-up afterwards. What does it show us, but a government not upholding the law?” he said.

“If we are to heal our country, we are in need of leaders who will not only safeguard the law, but make sure that these laws reflect values of an evolving society, not to stagnate it for vested interests,” he stressed.

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Roxas to DFA: Act swiftly to seek justice on rape case in Japan

Senator Mar Roxas called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to “act swiftly” in ascertaining the facts behind a reported rape incident involving a United States Army serviceman and a Filipina victim.
“Ensure protection of and assistance to the reported Filipina victim, and see that speedy justice is served,” he urged.
The Liberal Party President noted that not too long ago, in November 2005, the Philippine government encountered serious controversy over the custody of now convicted rapist US Marine Daniel Smith, to the dismay of the victim’s family and the public.
“If legal difficulties arose in a rape committed in Philippine soil, we should learn our lesson and be better prepared in protecting our own national in a foreign country, in a foreign court, under foreign laws,” Roxas said.
It was reported that the latest rape incident was committed in Okinawa sometime in the middle of February, and that the city’s police were seeking an arrest warrant for the US soldier who allegedly committed the crime.

Roxas said the Philippine government should also double-check information on the incident provided by the US government, which may be over zealously shielding one of its soldiers from the reach of justice.
“We have seen that happen here, and our DFA should be able to discern whether we’re being offered a sanitized version of events,” he said.

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Roxas pushes ZERO VAT ON OIL to ease consumer price increases

After the price of crude oil closed above $100 a barrel for the first time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Sen. Mar Roxas urged Congress to summon enough political will to suspend the value-added tax (VAT) on oil and petroleum products.

Roxas said the proposed suspension of the 12% VAT on oil, as proposed in Senate Bill No. 1962, would in a big way help ease inflation, which rose to a 15-month high of 4.9 percent in January, as consumer prices surged across all commodity groups.
“Wala tayong pagdududa na itong pagtaas ng presyo ng krudo ay magdudulot ng pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin. Kaya dapat nang i-suspinde ang VAT sa langis para pigilan ang pag-akyat pa ng mga presyo ng bilihin,” Roxas said.

“The suspension of the VAT on oil will definitely help restrain consumer price increases going forward, and extend direct and material relief to our people, particularly those getting fixed wages," said Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade.
Roxas said that suspending the VAT now is the best safety net in these times of high prices of goods, coupled with escalating political tensions amid fresh accusations of massive corruption in the botched National Broadband Network project.
“Let’s take advantage now of the ‘goodness of heart’ of some people in Malacañang. But instead of P500,000 per witness, why don’t they give a break to the people worth P4 per liter of diesel or P65 per 11-kilo tank of LPG?” he quipped.
Crude oil prices soared amid persistent concern as to whether production can keep up with rising global demand. The price closed at $100.01 on the Nymex on Tuesday – the first-ever close above the $100-a-barrel mark.

Earlier, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that the country's inflation surged to 4.9 percent in January. This was more than two percentage points higher than the 2.8 percent average inflation in 2007. Furthermore, the prices of rice, corn, cereal, dairy products, eggs, fish and fruits all went up sharply in January.
“Hindi lang transportasyon ang apektado dito. Ang mga magsasaka at mangingisda natin ay biktima rin ng abot-langit na presyo ng petrolyo, na ginagamit nila sa kanilang mga bangka at sa irigasyon,” Roxas said.

"Our proposal to temporarily lift the VAT on oil is a fair, sensible and practical way for us to provide direct relief to ordinary Filipinos. We will be helping not only small food producers, but also plain consumers," he said.

Thursday, February 21, 2008 | posted in , , , , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

Breakthrough in Bicam of Affordable Medicines Bill: 90% done

Senator Mar Roxas, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade, today announced the bicameral conference committee on the Quality Affordable Medicines Bill has had a breakthrough in discussions, resulting in roughly 90% of the bill already agreed on.

After the four-hour bicam committee meeting on Tuesday night, and after four “pre-bicam” meetings prior to this, representatives of both the House and Senate have also arrived at a consensus on drug price regulation.
“Halos nobenta porsyento ay magkasundo o magkaparehas, o malapit na malapit nang magkasundo kaya ito’y isinantabi na at okey na, subject to style na lang,” he said, referring to provisions that seek to strengthen competition in the pharmaceutical industry, including amendments to the Intellectual Property Code to allow parallel importation, strengthening the Bureau of Food and Drug, amending the Pharmacy Law, among other provisions.

“Doon naman sa drug price regulation, tinatanggap namin na dapat magkaroon ng regulasyon sa mga pagkakataon na ang market system ay hindi gumagana nang maayos,” he said, noting that the technical staff of the senators and congressmen are now drafting the wording of this provision.
On how the provisions on drug price regulation of the Senate and House versions were married, Roxas explained: “Ang kapangyarihan na napakaloob at nalista doon sa House version, ibibigay sa Secretary of Health, para nasa kanya na ang awtoridad na mag-regulate lalong-lalo na kapag malaki ang agwat sa presyo ng mga gamot dito sa atin kumpara doon sa ibang bansa.”

Roxas said the only remaining provision for the bicameral committee to thresh out was on amendments to the Generics Law that would only allow generic names of drugs—and not any brand name—to be written on the prescription.

He noted while the House members wanted a “generics-only” provision that would prohibit doctors from writing brand names in prescriptions, Senators fear this may merely shift the selection of brands from the doctor to the rugstore.
“Naghahanap talaga kami ng mekanismo para maitulay ang dalawang posisyon. Ang pinakamahalaga rito ay magkakaroon ng malayang pagpili ng gamot ang mga pasyente,” Roxas said.

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Transcript of press briefing with Senator Mar Roxas on quality affordable medicines

MAR: The bicam panel, now at 10 o’clock agreed to suspend for the evening and to resume again at a later time. Marami ang napag-usapan, we started at 6 o’clock. Over the last four hours, we tackled the various provisions of the two bills. As I said, halos nobenta porsyento ay magkasundo o magkaparehas, o malapit na malapit nang magkasundo kaya ito’y isinatabi na at okey na, subject to style na lang.

Doon naman sa regulation, mukhang nagkaroon ng mga paglapit ng mga posisyon. Tanggap naming lahat na kadalasan, yung market system ay hindi maayos ang pagtrabaho dito sa ating bansa, na nagkakaroon ng monopoly o oligopoly. Masyadong concentrated yung powers ng distribution o sa marketing. Kaya tinanggap na dapat magkaroon ng regulasyon sa mga pagkakataon that the market system is not working. This regulation will be a powerful regulation, at napakaloob ito sa Department of Health, sa Secretary of Health at sa Pangulo. Iyan ang proposal na sa kasalukuyan ay on the table.

Doon naman sa generics provision, malayo pa rin talaga ang mga posisyon, and there were some proposals and counterproposals that are on the table, at iyan ang pag-iisipan over the next several days.

Q: So what was resolved?

MAR: Doon sa regulation, malapit na malapit na, and we’re going to draft up the language now, at sa palagay ko, hindi na masyado magiging problema ang price regulation. I think one remaining aspect will be the generics only provision, iyon na lang talaga ang malayo pa ang mga posisyon.

Sa regulation, ang powers na napakaloob at nalista doon sa House version, ibibigay sa Secretary of Health at saka sa Department of Health para nasa kanila na ang kapangyarihan para mag-regulate lalong-lalo na ‘pag malaki ang agwat sa presyo ng mga gamot dito sa atin kung ikumpara doon sa ibang bansa.

Q: We were told that you proposed that for the generics provision, the doctor can provide five different brand names for the patient to choose from.

MAR: Isa iyan, naghahanap kami ng mechanisms para maitulay ang dalawang posisyon. Palagay ko ang pinakamahalaga rito ay magkaroon ng choice yung ating mga pasyente, yung ating mga mamimili, at isang pamamaraan dito ay ang generics only, at yung choice, napakaloob doon sa kanilang konsultasyon hindi sa kanilang doktor pero doon sa kanilang parmasyutika o kaya sa salesgirl.

Para sa Senado, baka mas maganda na yung choice ay napakaloob sa reseta mismo na ang doktor ay magsasabi na ‘ito yung limang gamot na maaaring okey sa iyo, at pagdala nito ng pasyente sa parmasyutika, malalaman niya ngayon yung presyo ng iba’t ibang mga gamot, mabibigyan siya ngayon ng choice kung ano yung price point kung saan siya komportable, na makakasiguro siya na ang lahat ng gamot na ito ay nagmula sa kanyang doktor at hindi doon sa salesgirl lamang. Hindi pa ito tanggap, ito ay isang proposal na inoffer ng Senate, hindi pa naman ito tinatanggap ng House. Nagpapakita ito na naghahanap talaga kami ng mekanismo para maitulay ang mga posisyon.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 | posted in , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

Who do you think is the next president?

Here's a great answer that I found in the Filipino Opinion on Life and Living Blog which I think also deserves a great read (I made some edits on typographical errors):

Answer: I think Senator Mar Roxas would be the next president since he has been very good in his performance since then. He has been one of the best choices of the masses as what we call him, ("Mr. Palengke"). He is also doing his job in a way that he would be recognized by the people because of his excellency yet, he does not do it with a destructive effect and sound to the masses. He is silent yet has a big impact to the people especially the masses. He does not show any bias to those government officials who are now involve in trouble with the Philippine government. He is also able to balance his political and even the entertainment life. He does not use his position as a senator to involve those conflicts among government heads, rather he is making his own ways of pursuing his job and missions despite the troubles in the Philippines nowadays. In this way, he is already gaining more support from the people and also he is winning the sympathy and the attention of the people.
Click here to read more about the article.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 | posted in , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

Bottom-line of Lozada testimony is rotten procurement

Senator Mar Roxas said the testimony of Engr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada has shed more light into the botched deal of the government with ZTE Corp. of China for a National Broadband Network (NBN), and has stressed the need to reform the rotten procurement system of the government.

“Lalong lumalalalim at lumalawak ang larawan na pinapakita ni Engr. Jun Lozada tungkol sa kabulukan sa sistema ng procurement ng ating pamahalaan,” he said.

“Iyan naman ang dapat i-focus ng Senado, kung papaano natin aayusin ang procurement ng ating bansa, para ang pera natin ay hindi naman masayang. Inuutang natin ito, kinokolekta natin sa buwis ang pambayad nito, kaya dapat namang mapunta ito sa tama na mga proyekto na priority natin,” he stressed.

Roxas pointed out that after Lozada’s testimony, it is imperative now for the Senate to get the testimony of former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Romulo Neri “to say exactly what he knows, in the interest of the truth and public interest.” Neri has since evaded the Senate probe by invoking executive privilege.
“It’s now up to Sec. Neri to refute or deny these allegations. What’s important here is that Sec. Neri has sought refuge from the Courts, and this is why we in the Senate are very aggressively pursuing this case, for the Supreme order Sec. Neri to come here and to say exactly what he knows,” he said.

“Romy, ikaw ang nakakaalam nito, you can set the nation free by telling us what you know about this. Come, and do your job here,” he added.
The Liberal Party President pointed out that the crux of the NBN controversy is how the government’s policy in pursuing the NBN project changed overnight—from doing it through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement with the private sector; to borrowing $330 million to finance it—and the crucial role that NEDA played in this case. Roxas and fellow Liberal Sen. Benigno Aquino III filed a case with the high court to reveal the NEDA-Investment Coordinating Committee (ICC) documents on the NBN deal, which could shed light on this issue.

“I’m more interested in finding out how did the NEDA-ICC, for example, change its stance? Originally, it was meant to have been ‘no loan, no government guarantee, private sector, and not government as principal customer.’ And out of the blue, overnight, naging ‘loan, government project, may government guarantee, and government would be the principal customer.’ Papaano nangyari iyan?” he said.

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Roxas condemns "gestapo" tactics of threatening biz community

Senator Mar Roxas condemned the “Gestapo” tactics of the administration in threatening the business community and other professional circles that are vocal in their support of Senate witness Jun Lozada and the overall quest of the truth behind the ZTE-NBN mess.

Roxas issued the statement amid revelations of the Makati Business Club (MBC) that a Cabinet official threatened to unleash the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on anti-administration members.

“The BIR was created to make sure that taxation becomes a tool for social and economic development, not as a Damocles’ Sword hovering over detractors of the administration,” he added.
The senator said he was outraged by the reported threat of the unnamed Cabinet official because it shows gross disrespect for the people's sacrifices in paying heavy taxes on goods and services such as the EVAT.

“Para bang kung kakampi ka ng administrasyon, puwede kang hindi magbayad ng tax. Pero kung magsasalita ka laban sa administrasyon, humanda ka dahil pakakawalan namin ang BIR para habulin kayo. Ang net effect nito, ang laging naiipit sa ganito – ay ‘yung mga maliliit na manggagawa na walang kawala sa BIR dahil salary deduction ang kita nila buwan-buwan,” Roxas stressed. “The people are tired of all these Gestapo tactics: EO 464, CPR, the use of surveillance and threats, excessive shows of force, abductions and extra-judicial killings, and the continued abuse of government power for political gain or survival. Let the Constitution prevail,” Roxas said.
The LP president called on the people to be vigilant against further use of Gestapo tactics by the administration. “When our basic rights and freedom as a people are at stake, we must rise as one in fighting for these ideals,” Roxas said.

Friday, February 15, 2008 | posted in , , , , , | 0 comments [ More ]

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