Press Release
March 26, 2009

Press Statement of Senator Loren Legarda

On Cha-cha revival

The House amending the constitution without Senate concurrence is unconstitutional, immoral and unconscionable. Proponents of charter change must heed the will of our countrymen, 42 percent of whom opposed cha-cha in a Pulse Asia survey last month, against the 33 percent who were in favor.

This on-again, off-again effort by the House to ram cha-cha down our throats is getting to be tiring. People are already asking "what part of 'No'" when it comes to cha-cha is difficult to understand for its proponents. Cha-cha will not succeed because it is an ill-conceived effort to extend the term of the outgoing administration beyond 2010.

On Ombudsman's raps vs DPWH execs

The charges filed by the Ombudsman against the 14 former and current officials of the DPWH over alleged anomalous biddings for World Bank-funded road projects is most welcome. Some may say that the filing of charges may be a knee-jerk reaction to the World Bank report exposing the alleged anomalies, but I personally would like to give the Office of the Ombudsman the benefit of the doubt.

To me, it is better for our investigating and prosecuting bodies to spend more time collecting pieces of evidence that would lead to the conviction of wrongdoers, than to haphazardly just file cases because of perceived public pressure. Prosecuting those engaged in graft and corruption - both bribe-giver and taker - is important because such anomalous activities waste taxpayers' money, endanger the public because of substandard projects, while generally undermining the people's faith on government.

On RP imports continuing to drop

The 34.5% drop to P3.27 billion of the country's imports last January signifies depressed consumer spending among Filipinos, especially when it comes to luxury imported items. It is a natural consequence of the global economic downturn as people tend to save more and to spend only on bare essentials.

The drop in the import volume may also signify our countrymen's newfound preference for Filipino products, which should be the case if we are to spur the growth of local manufacturing industries and help create more jobs. But a cause for alarm is the drop in our importation of components and devices used by the electronics (down 40 percent) and semiconductor (down 43.3 percent) industries, which means that the international demand for electronic products assembled in the Philippines is also going down.

News Latest News Feed