Transcript of Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel
with Senate President Franklin Drilon

Q: Marami pong napaguusapan sa Senado. One of them is the Bangsamoro Basic Law. Anung problema duon? Kailangan ba simulan pa ng House yan?

SPFMD: Ang problema wala pa sa amin yung batas. Kailangan muna tapusin yung proposed law ng executive branch. From what I understand naguusap na ang Transition Commission which is composed of the government panel and the representatives of the MILF to come up with a draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is to be submitted by the President as an administration measure.

This is where I understand where the snag is taking place. From my information, the government and the MILF gave themselves 10 days from August 1 to which they would finalize the draft version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law which they will submit to Congress. The deadline was supposed to be yesterday, and they were supposed to submit to the Congress this week the proposed law, but obviously they haven't come yet to an agreement. So we are still waiting for the administration draft.

Ang tanong, kaya pa bang tapusin ito? Unang una po, aming hinihiling sa Malacanang at sa MILF na sa lalong madaling panahon ay isumite na sa Kongreso ang proposed basic law ng Bangsamoro dahil habang lalong tumatagal ay lalong nahihirapan ang Kongreso upang ipasa ito. Assuming na the MILF and the Transition Commission working on the final draft can come up with a final version of the law by the end of the month, we will work double time, and I think the first quarter of next year is a reasonable time period enough for us to pass the law by then, so that it can be ratified by 2015, and have the elections take place in May 2016, and have the new Bangsamoro Juridical Entity in place by July 1 of 2016.

The schedule is a little tight, but we will work on it. It is because non-passage of this law is not an option. Kailangan po magawa natin ito para po sa kapayapaan sa Mindanao. Peace and security is a basic foundation upon which progress can be achieved, and poverty can then be addressed in Mindanao. The international community has been unselfish in assisting us in having this agreement signed - Japan, Great Britain, Turkey and the United States- they have been very enthusiastic and supportive of this peace process. So we can not afford to fail here.

The issue of course is that the Bangsamoro Basic Law must fall within the four corners of the Constitution. Hindi po pwede na lumabas sa Saligang Batas ang anumang panukalang batas na aming ipapasa sa Senado. The basic law will be referred in the Senate to the Senate Committee on Local Government headed by Sen. Bongbong Marcos, jointly with the Senate Committee on Peace and National Unification headed by Sen. TG Guingona. Sen. Marcos has assured me that he will give it priority, that should possible constitutional issues emerge, we will resolve it in favor of its constitutionality. In the end, any doubt on the constitutionality of the basic law will be brought to the Supreme Court, so it is there that the real debate will take place regarding constitutional issues that will be raised while working on the basic law.

Sana po maibigay sa Kongreso at sa Senado ang proposed basic law by the end of August, para po magkaroon kami ng sapat na panahon para talakayin at para po bago matapos ang taon o first quarter of the next year, amin na pong matapos itong panukalang batas.

Q: Are you already considering the 2015 budget o nasa House pa?

SPFMD: Wala pa po sa amin. Start of the budget process will be in August 19 and when the Budget Coordinating Committee- composed of the Budget Secretary, the Secretary of Finance and the Central Bank - will appear before the Senate Committee on Finance in August 19 in the morning.

Q: Maraming pumupuna duon sa P500 billion lump sum appropriations. Anyway you look at it masyadong pong malaki yan.

SPFMD: Ay hindi ko pa po alam ang breakdown niyang P500 billion nay an, assuming that it is P500 billion. But the usual na kasama diyan sa Special Purpose Fund - na tinatawag nyong lump sum appropriations - kasama po diyan yung Calamity Fund - eh sinasabi po nila kailangan disaggregated daw. Payag po kami - basta sabihin niyo kung ilang bagyo ang dadating sa bansa. Yung pong contingent fund, talagang by its nature - contingent nga - mahirap naman po i- disaggregate ito.

Yung Miscellaneous Benefits Fund, ito po yung mga budget na nakalaan for vacancies na hindi po nafifill-up. Hindi po namin alam kung alam let's say, kung ilan pulis ang ihihire, dahil nag we are trying to raise the 1:5 ratio for policemen under the law. Now nakalaan po iyan sa Miscellaneous Benefits Fund, yung mga retirement, pag nagresign ang isang empleyado ng pamahalaan, he or she is entitled to some benefits. So all of these things at this stage you could not predict with a certain level of accuracy. Kasama po diyan yung mga funds na by their very nature, it is hard to disaggregate.

However, we are open to suggestions as to how to disaggregate this. Kaya nga po pagdating ng budget sa Senado, we will be glad to receive to receive comments from the public to how to disaggregate these special purpose funds.

Q: Yung P500 billion lumpsum, ang laking temptasyon niyan to be used anywhere, kung walang identification yan.

SPFMD: Kaya nga po ang sinasabi namin Neal, we are willing to listen as to how to identify items in the Special Purpose Funds. Very open naman ito, wala naman kaming tinatago diyan. Under the principle of transparency in the national budget, we are willing to listen. Let us be realistic though, with the level of how much we can disaggregate.

Q: Pero hindi pa iyan ang trabaho ng Budget Department, to identify items? SPFMD: That is why we have budget hearings in the Congress and the Senate so people can express their views. There is so much reaction on the special purpose funds. How do we disaggregate this? This is a transparent process. Nandiyan naman ang media. Pagdating po ng hearing sa Senado, and media nandoon palagi. Handa po kami making.

Q: Ngayon lang tayo nagkaroon ng lumpsum funds na P500 billion.

SPFMD: Ay hindi po. I am not prepared to concede that it is that much. Halimbawa Neal, nuong 2013, hindi ko na alam kung magkano yung calamity fund noon, but we were scrambling back then kung saan kukuha ng pondo for the rehabilitation. We handed over the unutilized pork barrel allocations in 2013, then realigned to the calamity fund. The nature of these funds is that it is extremely difficult how to predict when and how much will be used, or how much will be needed. Yes, these can be subject to abuse - they were abused by previous administrations. We are willing to listen as to how to disaggregate this.

Q: I understand the Freedom of Information Bill pasado na sa inyo.

SPFMD: Noong Marso pa po, pasado na sa Senado na ang Freedom of Information Bill, at ngayon po ay nasa House of Representatives.

Q: Ano pa ba ang mga urgent bills na pending sa Senado?

SPFMD: They include yung mga naisponsor sa Senado last week. Yung inisponsor ni Sen. Bam Aquino na Fair Competition Act. Dahilan po sa ang business environment natin ngayon, halos hawak ng iilang grupo o pamilya. Kaya pos a aming tingin, mas lalago an gating ekonomiya kung mabuksan ito sa fair competition. This has been an item that has been pending in the last few Congresses, and we will try to pass it this time.

The Senate Committee under Sen. Sonny Angara is also looking to review tax rates, because for example, the maximum set for bonuses subject to withholding tax is P 30, 000 as a limit. This limit before withholding tax could be required was set two decades ago. We intend to raise it to P70,000 before withholding tax could be required. Of course, they will still be subject to income tax, but I can stand correction on whether that this is the direction that we are going at.

We are also reviewing in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means the rate for income taxes. We want to make it more equitable. Right now, milyonaryo ka man o new entries in the workforce - halimbawa yung mga nasa call center - they are starting at about around P 250,000 gross income annually. Aming po talagang titingnan ito how you can make it more equitable.

Yung rationalization of fiscal incentives, amin ding titingan, on whether this is subject to abuse in terms of the availing of tax privileges, that is now being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

Q: Yung savings, you are going to redefine savings. Hindi ba tumingin ka lang sa diksyunaryo nanduon na iyon?

SPFMD: I wish it was that simple. First of all , savings is defined by law. Yaan po Constitutional yan. Savings are defined under the General Appropriations Act.

In our system, the Supreme Court interpreted what Congress meant by savings, because the definition of savings is found in the law. The members of the legislature felt that the Supreme Court misread the intention of Congress in defining the term savings. So Congress will redefine the term savings both by special law and in the General Appropriations Act. The savings today is defined in the Revised Administrative Code and the General Appropriations Act, and therefore it is in the prerogative of Congress whether to define the term savings. The Supreme Court merely interprets what the Congress enacts. They do not engage themselves in what they call judicial legislation. And therefore, we examine again is consistent with the intention of Congress.

The misconception is that since the Supreme Court defined what they understood savings to be na hindi mapapalitan yan since sinabi ng Korte Suprema. Ay hindi po ganyan. Dahilan halimbawa, hindi mo pwedeng gamitin ang savings hanggang Disyembre, ngunit pagdating Disyember ay halos 30 araw ang natitira bago po ninyo magamit because the budget ends by December 31. So the publication, the period required for bidding will already go beyond the one year.

Just a classic example: the Department of Health, medicine for hospitals will be bid out. For the purposes of explanation, let say P10 million worth of medicine, pinabid out. Eh ang nanalo, ang lowest bidder, ay P 7 .5 million. So you have left a two and half a million peso authorized for medicine. Question: Do you have to wait until December you can bid out that medicine for the poor? Logic tells you that you should not. Alam mo na may appropriation, alam mo na may P7.5 million na nabid, natira ang P2.5 million, logic dictates at least by the middle of the year, you should be able to determine whether you can use those amounts for the same purpose.This is authorized under the Constitution. The Constitution authorizes the President, the Chief Justice, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House and the head of the constitutional bodies to realign savings, to augment other items.

So this is not something that came out of the blue. In the previous administration they had savings, in the time of Cory they had the so-called reserve control account, where in the start of the year, for the P100 million reserved for this item, only P75 million will be released, and the P2.5 million will be impounded and realigned to some other project. This practice has been happening since the new Constitution was enacted, since this is authorized under the Constitution. So it is a redefinition of the implementing loose laws that we are going to do by redefining the term savings. Q: Bakit kailangan pang gawain yan? Why can't the DBM say exactly how much?

SPFMD: Neal, when you start talking about the budget today, you will talk about the expenditure in August of 2015. Mahirap ipredict ang mga pangangailangan ng tao by August of next year, because you are working on the authority to spend public funds for next year today. That is the nature of the work. Hindi mo naman mapredict with a certain degree of accuracy yan. That is why they say," This is the authority to spend�" The budget is nothing more than an authority to spend public funds as authorized by Congress. Now the authority certainly, we are trying to predict. That is why the Constitution itself allows the head of the departments to augment items in the budget from their savings.

The Constitution allows a certain degree of flexibility because you cannot have a situation where you cannot move anymore and the Supreme Court recognizes that degree of flexibility. Bantayan lang po that the funds are used for the purpose for which it was intended at hindi po mapuputa sa ibang bagay, sa mga pekeng organisasyon.

Q: Yung sinasabi ng Supreme Court na cross border, hindi ba kailangan yung savings, doon din sa departamento na nakapag-ipon niyan?

SPFMD: Tama po yan. Nakalagay po sa ating Saligang Batas, augment items within their department. Kaya po yun tinatawag na cross-border, yun pong sinabi ng Korte Suprema, hindi po pwede. But, again, the implementing regulation, which is the Revised Administrative Code of 1987, which implemented the 1987 budget, was so broad, that all the previous administrations utilized this flexibility. Sometimes, halimbawa, alam naman natin na yung Comelec, for example, kulang ang pera para sa halalan. Kung hihingi ngayon ng additional budget, kung minsan, Mayo na ang halalan, nagsara na yung Kongreso, nag-adjournna, kailangan ng additional funds. Saan po kukunin ito? Humihingi po sa Executive, and this has happened several times.

Now, because of all the previous interpretations on the so-called cross-border transfers, the Executive Branch assisted the Comelec in order to allow the election to take place. Now, this has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The intention was good, and in the present administration followed the interpretations done by the old administrations, the Supreme Court said, effective now, hindi na pwede yan, so, that practice will be stopped.

Q: Hindi ba yung mga transfers na ginagawa ngayon, that is in effect a usurpation of the power of Congress to appropriate?

SPFMD: Hindi po, dahil sa ating Saligang Batas at pinapayagan po ang Executive. Ang Executive, ang Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, ang Presidente ng Senado, Speaker of the House, the head of the Constitutional agencies, who precisely realigns savings to augment existing items.

Q: Realign them within the department? SPFMD: Within the departments but the implementation before, with the Revised Administrative Code, it would clearly indicate that this was interpreted in a manner as to provide flexibility as necessary, as when the Comelec does not have enough funds to conduct an election.

Q: Yung hinihinging supplementary budget ng Presidente sa power, magkano ba yun at para saan?

SPFMD: Wala pong supplementary budget na hinihingi. There is none that we know of, I am not aware of any supplementary budget being asked for power. Honestly, I am not aware and I have not been informed that there is a request for supplementary budgets for the Energy Department.

Q: Supposedly it is for the continuation of projects under the DAPwhich has been banned by the Supreme Court.

SPFMD: When you say that the DAP has been banned by the Supreme Court, hindi po pwedeng nasa Saligang Batas po ang kapangyarihan to realign, and this is what the DAP is all about, realignment of savings, so the Supreme Court could not have banned the DAP. What it did was to say, for example, the savings could have been determined at the end of the year. Again, going back, we are not aware that there is a proposal for a supplementary budget for the energy sector.

Q: On the priority bills

SPFMD: Every month I sit down with Speaker Belmonte in a meeting to thresh out what bills we should give priority to. At this stage, we have outlined what these bills are, and we will be working on them. These are the priority measures that I have mentioned earlier.

Q: What are these bills?

SPFMD: Yung FOI, nasa House na po yan, yun pong fair competition bill, yung rationalization of fiscal incentives, yung review of the tax rates for individual tax payers, yun po ang ilan sa mga priority measures that we have defined in our legislative agenda.

Q: On calls for a second term for President Aquino

SPFMD: Alam ninyo po, ang panawagang magkaroon ng bagong term ang Pangulo at ma-extend ang term limits, sa pagka-alam ko, the President is averse to any Constitutional amendment. In this proposal, while I find the social media to be very active in this issue, this is a matter which will be addressed to our political leader, the President, and the President, we all know, is averse to any amendment to the Constitution, so I don't see this proposal in social media getting very far. Yung pag-amyenda ng Saligang Batas sa lahat ng naririnig ko sa Palasyo, ayaw naman ng Pangulo. Also, no more time. It will derail us from the debates on the other priority items.

Q: On VP Binay being a guest candidate of LP

SPFMD: Wala po kaming pinag-uusapang ganoon.

Q: On a Binay-Roxas tandem

SPFMD: Hindi po namin talaga pinag-uusapan yan. From my personal knowledge, alam ko hindi po galing sa akin. Hindi po naming pinag-usapan yan sa aming mga caucus.

Q: On the proposed P2.6 trillion budget for 2015 having a shortfall of P500 million plus

SPFMD: If I am not mistaken, within 2% of GDP, because that is the standard that we follow. The budget deficit is approximately 2% of the gross domestic product. As far as I know, there is a deficit in the budget which is limited to 2% of the GDP, and which is necessary in order that we can spur growth in the economy because public sector spending constitutes about 18-20% of our gross domestic product.

Q: Why is there a deficit?

SPFMD: There is a budget deficit because if you are able to spend that is authorized you would need to borrow that amount equivalent to the deficit. This is an authorization, the budget, P2.6 trillion, is an authorization to spend. If all the agencies under government will be able to spend all that authority, there will be a deficit. There could be savings if the authorization is not all utilized, and the authorization, the amount of money that will be dispersed is in accordance with the bureaucracy to spend this money, for the purpose for which it was intended.

Q: Isn't it the power of Congress to look over the budget? Congress can reduce the deficit if the pork barrel lump sums are taken out.

SPFMD: There are no pork barrel lump sums. Certainly, it is within the power of Congress to review and reduce. The limitation of the Constitution is that you cannot increase the budget, but certainly, Congress, in the exercise of its power over the purse, can reduce the budget.

Q: Is it true that it is already line-item budgeting for each department?

SPFMD: Yes, there is line-item budgeting. The National Expenditure Program, will indicate to you the specific budget of expenditure and sources of funds. The BESF, which is an accompanying document to the budget, will indicate to you what the specific projects under the proposed budget are.

Q: What is the Senate doing to improve the foreign direct investment to the Philippines?

SPFMD: When an investor would look at our country, they would look at first, the infrastructure, number two, the stability of the policies, number three the environment, security issue. All of these things come into play when somebody decides to invest. As a matter of policy this administration would want to liberalize their entry into the country within the four corners of the Constitution. Just last month, we lifted the restriction on the number of foreign banks that comes in to the country. We lifted the restriction on the limits on the number of foreign banks, instead of saying that only X number of foreign banks can come into the country, we provided that the number of foreign banks that can come into the country will be limited by the size of the banking industry so that if I recall correctly, the foreign banks can own up to 30% of the banking assets in the banking industry. As a matter of environment, we want to push the lifting of restrictions on entry of foreign enterprises, within the limits of the Constitution.

That is why also, the proposed amendment that is in the House of Representatives on the amendment to the Constitution is to insert the phrase "as may be provided by law on those restrictive provisions in the Constitution. The amendment will allow Congress to review the economic provisions insofar as it restricts investments in nationalized industries in order to further the policy of opening up our economy to foreign investments. In fact, just to emphasize, the Constitutional amendment will not outrightly change the policy, the Constitutional amendment will simply allow the legislature to review. That's correct because the Constitution right now does not allow us the flexibility in so far as the as nationalized industry is concerned.

Q: In infrastructure, what is the program of the gov't?

SPFMD: The budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways will be increased. I think the program is to bring it up to about P500 billion by 2016, if I recall correctly here. I'm just trying to estimate from memory, what it is all about but the plan is to keep on increasing our infrastructure appropriation because we have to catch up and you can see, under the leadership of Sec. Babes Singson, one of the most efficient departments in terms of being able to accelerate the programs, is Babes Singson.

Q: How about programs in the budget regarding social services?

SPFMD: The budget for social services is, I think, the biggest in years. Social services meaning the Department of Health, the Department of Education, DSWD, PhilHealth, etc. The budget for social services , out of the P2.6 trillion, the budget for social services is P1 trillion for the Department of Education, for the Department of Health, for the DSWD, for the PhilHealth. So, ito po ang para sa diretso sa mga mahihirap.

Halimbawa, doon po sa conditional cash transfer o pantawid pamilya Pilipino program ay mahigit po sa anim na put limang bilyong piso ang nakalaan para sa mahigit na apat na milyong pamilya Pilipino na siyang bibigyan monthly help, doon pa sa mahihirap, 'yung po sa atin Department of Education, 'yung mga nasisira, 31,000 classrooms is budgeted for in order to catch up with the classroom shortage, including the repair of 9,000 classrooms, including those which were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda.

Doon po sa Department of Health, because of the Sin Tax that we passed, then there are enough funds for our universal health programs. For 2013 for example, the collection for cigarette Sin tax or excise tax on cigarettes amounted to about P41 billion, P10 billion more than the prediction of P31 billion, and all of these will be used for our health sector, including P35 billion for our PhilHealth program which will enroll about 15 million poor Filipinos in our PhilHealth. So, there is enough budget for the social services which I have mentioned is about P1 trillion.

Q: On the ban of monopoly industries

SPFMD: This is in the implementation of the ban on the monopolies. And, right now, our anti-trust legislation is only found in one paragraph of the Revised Penal Code. Monopolies and combination's in restraint of trades. Kaya po iyong sinasabi natin iyong si David Bangayan, sa nababasa ko sa diyaryo doon lang siya sasampahan ng kaso nn the minor provisions of the revised penal code. So, what we are doing fair competition act, is coming up with a fair competition act which will encourage competition and dismantle and prevent monopolies because our requirement is controlled by just a few families in our country. And, by opening up our economy to competition, we believe we can expand faster our economy. I repeat, the gross domestic of this country, in other words the value of the services and products within the economy, only 20% is because of public spending, we want to reduce that in order to allow private sectors to be the engine of growth in our economy.

Q: On government programs next year regarding job generation and employment

SPFMD: The program in this country is for inclusive growth. So that the growth of the country can be filtered down and generate more jobs. We know that job generation is critical, that is why we are having this fair competition act in order to generate more economic employment and generate employment. We are providing more funds for infrastructure, for housing because of the multiplier effect on the economy and job generations. We are conscious to generate more jobs in our economy because ultimately that is what will count.

Q: On the passage of fair competition law

SPFMD: Ang kasunduan namin ni Speaker Belmonte ay ipapasa naming ang fair competition law in both houses of the congress. Ang Sintax law ay hindi gumalaw sa Kongreso. Ganoon din ang Graphic Health Warning Act, ilang Kongreso din ay hindi naipapasa. Under the leadership of President Noynoy Aquino and good governance, we are able to pass these laws notwithstanding the strong lobbies. The RH law was passed. When I worked on this Sin Tax law, I won the vote in the Senate by one vote.

So as far as the fair competition law is concerned, Speaker Belmonte and I are of the belief that we need it and will push this in this Congress. That is the best that we can say at this point.

Q: On the infrastructure projects of PNoy

SPFMD: There will be an effort to double time. Whether or not it is finished, I am not in the position to say.

Q: On the foreign investments in our country and the power rates

SPFMD: Well, the investment will go where they feel can make money taking into account everything including power. The power rating is an issue because the supply is very limited. Alam mo we can never repeal the law of supply and demand or amend it. If those in power sector feel that the power supply is inadequate, the tendency is to increase the prices because the demand is there. But, that is where we encourage the private sectors to come in, in the power sector to generate more electricity.

Q: On the power rates and supply of our neighboring countries in the ASEAN

SPFMD: For example, in Indonesia, merong subsidy. In fact the gasoline in Indonesia is so low because of the subsidy. We believe that our policy is better for not subsidizing power rates. It is a question of government policy. Our neighboring countries believe that, for example, subsidizing their electricity will generate better growth.

Q: On Philippine government subsidizing electricity to attract investors

SPFMD: I am not prepared to say that subsidizing businessman in terms of power will necessarily generate greater economic activity. It might just add to the bottom line of the businessmen and increase his profit, but not necessarily generate more employment. So, subsidizing and manufacturing through subsidy in the power rates would necessarily equate to more employment. They are other ways of increasing the contribution of the manufacturing sector in our economy, but certainly I cannot accept that subsidizing power rates will necessarily achieve the purpose of increasing the contribution of the manufacturing sector in our economy.

Q: Then why are our country's neighbors subsidizing their power rates?

SPFMD: Well, Indonesia is an oil producing country. We are not in the same situation. I think we are fared better than Cambodia or Vietnam in terms of our economy. Though, I am no expert on power so I cannot respond to that in much detail.

Q: On the SWS survey that the Aquino administration is on record low in terms of net satisfaction rating

SPFMD: Why don't we compare the Aquino administration satisfaction rating which by the way is in the vicinity of 58 percent which is more than a majority of our population? Compare it to where the previous administration was at the stage of their administration and you will see that the Aquino Administration much very much better.

But just in response to their question, I would have to give this to the involvement of a number of our Senators in and numbers of Congress in this so-called PDAF Scandal in the issue on the DAP which is has not been received well by our people.

But I am confident that this survey is focused on a particular period in this case the July Survey. I am confident that the administration will recover from this 58 percent and increase the net satisfaction level of this administration.

Q: Sir, you said it's hard to disaggregate lump-sum funds in the budget but Senator Escudero says some of the lump sum funds still could be disaggregated, like that of the local government support funds so is that still possible?

SPFMD: Yes. It is possible, the government if I recall correctly is the fund on which will respond to the technology and information needs of the different departments. Yes it could be disaggregated. You can now locate it to a certain department which has needs. Ang problema lang kasi kung minsan hindi rin masabi ng mga ibat ibang ahensya kung anong kailangan nila and sometimes this would drag on the following year, so yes it can be done. I am not saying that it cannot be done, there are only certain aspects of the so-called special purpose fund which defies disaggregation but certainly, you can improve ways in order that we can disaggregate it and make it more transparent.

You talk about local government support fund, now again ang mga humihingi ay nanggagaling sa mga local na mga alkalde at gobernador lalapit at hindi po naisama yung ganitong klaseng proyekto lalalpit kaya ito po ay naggagaling sa mga LGU's. Ngayon, ang sa akin po noon pa sinasabi ko, let's have a matching fund in other words, kung gusto mo talagang gawin tong isang proyekto from the local government, notwithstanding your era, then let's see okay so if you feel that this project is necessary, let's have a matching fund, manggagaling sa inyo, manggagaling sa gobyerno national. But again I am not saying that it cannot be disaggregated - yes by all means it can be disaggregated.

Q: Comment on some LP members jumping to other parties

SPFMD: That is an isolated thing - Sa Bicol lang po yan. Having said that, what is important is that we should reform our political party system here. Dito po sa atin, it's more personality oriented rather than political party oriented, allowing specific policy of block form that a party would be presenting to the people kaya yung political party reform act isa po sa mga panulakang batas na dapat nating itulak ngunit sa ngayon po ang sambayanan o ang taong bayan ay hindi po handa sa mga panukalang kailangan nating tulungan ang mga political parties para lumakas so that it will become less personality oriented and more policy based political party system. That is a situation that loan us firewall but questions like ano pong gagawin antin? Sa akin po it's difficult to respond to every specific situation, ang sa akin mas mabuti that let us lay the ground work for the reform of our political party system.

Q: Possibility of the return of the two party system

SPFMD: Sa palagay ko ay di pwede yan sa ating Saligang Batas, I am answering that on the basis of I am sitting here. I don't think the Constitution as presently worded will allow going back to the two party system. I think instead we should develop a system wherein all parties must define what their stand are, as far as policies and government programs are concerned.