Chiz Escudero

I would like to express my hope that the prohibition against campaigning in military camps applies to the administration as well as the opposition.

Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, had announced all military camps, including the Philippine Military Academy, are off-limits to all candidates.

According to the AFP chief, the ban extends to posters and other election paraphernalia.

I welcome the announcement, although the law is already clear on the matter. I only hope the military leadership strictly enforces it.

Under Section 261 of the Omnibus Election Code the AFP and the Philippine National Police cannot engage in partisan political activities, except to vote.

The military and the police should be loyal not to any political party but to the Constitution and the electoral process. They should not allow themselves be used by those who wish to undermine both.

A number of ranking military officials were implicated in the alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential election. In the controversial “Hello Garci” tape, which surfaced after the election, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo supposedly ordered then Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to cheat in her favor.

I am grateful to all those who joined my friendster network and I truly appreciate the effort and support of my new friends who gave their testimonials, comments and messages in my three (3) friendster accounts.

I would like to thank all those who joined me in my chat last Feb 13, thru the Yehey.com brewing point which launched the beginning of my campaign as a senatorial candidate.

I am taking advantage of the wonders of information technology in my campaign. I chose to launch my senatorial bid online to show the new, innovative, youthful, and ingenious way of campaigning given our meager resources.

Using the Internet as venue, I have conferred with members of the press, including those outside Metro Manila, and overseas Filipino workers in the United States, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

I was glad to be able to explain my platform of government thru cyberspace.

The Internet is the best way to reach people inside and outside the country and share ideas with them in real time. Through this technology, I hope to hear what is on their minds. I am ready to answer questions they raise and explain my stand on issues relevant to my candidacy.

The program complements the launching of my official website, www.chizescudero.com.

My website, which registered 46,340 hits on the first week, contains my platform of government, my accomplishments as a congressman for nine consecutive years, and other information about me.

The www.chizescudero.com serves as venue for young people to express their thoughts with me. The more than 3,000 registered members of Team Chiz (as of today), which the website hosts, have already posted almost 5,000 articles.

Those who want to volunteer for my campaign can do so through the Say Chiz Registration link on my website. At least some 5,000 supporters have already registered at Say Chiz which.

Most want to help distribute campaign posters and other election paraphernalia, volunteer their skills to the campaign. Others simply hope to use the Internet to help me win in the election.

Pictures, wallpapers, screensavers, ringtones, posters and my TV ad may also be downloaded from www.chizescudero.com.

The government should stay away from the money-lending business, as it lacks the experience and skill to run such a program.

This is a reaction to announcements that local governments are now lending money to their constituents supposedly to finance food stalls, sari-sari stores, and other livelihood programs.

I am all for extending credit to the poor, but experience tells us that allowing politicians to determine who will and will not get a loan is a prescription to disaster. The money simply finds its way into the pocket of politicians or their supporters. The names of the poor are only used in the scheme.

The problem arose with the issuance by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of Executive Order 558 which repealed E.O. 138. It allows the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and other government agencies to engage in micro-lending, a program that gives the poor access to credit without collateral and at a very low interest rate.

But that is already being handled by rural banks and, through their microfinance window, by commercial banks.

During his short-lived presidency, Joseph Estrada issued E.O. 138 precisely to get micro-lending out of the hands of government agencies. The executive order provided that funds intended for lending to the poor should be coursed through the rural banks and people’s cooperatives.

The government, on the strength of E.O. 558, has taken over micro-lending activities.

Now instead of cooperatives extending credit, DSWD and other government agencies, through the intercession of politicians, are dispensing what could only be described as dole-outs. I fear the dissipation of the P20 Billion Small Guarantee Fund. It is the fund, made available by international financial institutions, that the government is tapping for lending.

Even if DSWD does dispense the money to the really poor, it is ill-prepared to evaluate the credit worthiness of borrowers and the viability of the projects being applied for financing.

E.O. 558 was issued, curiously enough, in time for the 2007 mid-term election.

Finance Secretary Gary Tevez has not been consulted. He does not understand the sudden change. Neither do I, unless the fund purportedly intended to help the poor is diverted to favor politicians belonging to the party in power.

Under E.O. 138, micro-lending has been a successful program. The numbers speak for themselves. The repayment rate of loans coursed through rural banks and cooperatives is 91 percent. It is a measly 62 percent when the money is lent directly to borrowers by the government.

The borrowers simply regard the loan as dole-out.

I deplore the sorry plight of barangay health workers, who I have learned get only a minuscule amount for their services.

After I have spoken before the 9th Barangay Health Congress in Laoac, Pangasinan, I vow to do something about what I call the indifference of the national leadership to the welfare and well-being of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

This government boasts of high tax collections and billions of dollars in savings from interest payment because of the strong peso, but what purpose does all that serve if the masses of the people remain dirt-poor?

In an informal talk with leaders of the Barangay Health Association of Urdaneta, I was shocked to learn that each of the 1,800 members is receiving only P200 to P350 a month.

The present government is anti-poor. And that orientation, is illustrated by the burden of taxation it has imposed on the poor.

The Revised Value Added Tax (VAT) of 12 percent was adopted purportedly to improve economic growth, but what it did was to increase the misery of the people. The cost of basic necessities has gone up, while income has remained stagnant.

And the old have not been spared. Because of VAT their discount on food and medicine has been reduced from 20 percent to only 8 percent.

Only the rich benefit from the much ballyhooed economic improvement. Because of the strong peso, big businessmen pay less for their imports, but they don’t pass on the savings to the consumers.

I denounce the Department of Environment and Natural Resourcs (DENR) for its decision to allow Lafayette Philippines to resume operation on Rapu Rapu Island in Albay.

It is unfortunate that DENR has given this Australian-controlled firm the green light to extract gold ores on the island over the objections of residents, who live in fear of cyanide poisoning.

In October 2005, Lafayette was directed by the government to suspend its operation after its dam that held the cyanide laced wastewater overflowed twice and contaminated rivers and waterways downstream. A dangerous chemical, cyanide is used in gold processing.

The two accidents occurred after only three months of operation. Apparently, Lafayette takes its environmental responsibilities very lightly. I can therefore understand the people’s concerns.

I would not be mollified. An independent fact-finding commission, headed by Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon, had recommended the permanent shutdown of the firm.

The Bastes Commission was created by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo following widespread condemnation of the spillage and fear of environmental degradation.

What’s the use of creating an investigating body if the government won’t heed its recommendations? As regards to claims of compliance as basis for the reopening, no independent body had made the appraisal to determine their validity or falsity.

Defend Patrimony!, a nationwide movement that calls for an amendment of the Mining Act of 1995, said DENR and Lafayette refused to allow any independent fact-finding mission into the mining site to authenticate compliance for the duration of the two test runs.

Until its operation was suspended, Lafayette Philippines was producing an average of 2,500 ounces of gold a month. Aside from Lafayette of Australia, LG International Corp. of South Korea and Korea Resources Corp., which is government owned, make up the main stockholders of the firm.

I hail the decision of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights to investigate the killings of political activists, journalists, and lawyers in the.

It is high time that an independent, highly respected international organization looked into the problem and shamed the Arroyo administration into compliance with the at least seven treaties on human rights to which it is a signatory and as newly appointed member of the UN Human Rights Council.

We in the political opposition don’t want to prejudge the result of the investigation, but the Melo Commission in its recent report blamed most of the killings and disappearances on the police and the military. We maintain that the inability of this administration to extend protection to its citizens proves its illegitimacy.

According to Karapatan, a total of 830 political activists, human rights workers, trade union members, lawyers and judges have been killed so far. A report of the United Kingdom-based Amnesty International, the killings, mostly carried out by unidentified men who shoot the victims before escaping on a motorcycle, have very rarely led to the arrest and prosecution.

To this day, the killings continue. As a result, Japan, Australia, England and countries in the European Union are reluctant to extend economic aid to the Philippines. We demand that the administration stop the human rights violations. It is not only human lives that are at stake but also democracy itself.

I cast  my support to the growing bipartisan clamor for alternative energy supply. Although I hailed President Arroyo for signing Republic Act (RA) 9637 or the Biofuels Act, I am expressing my concerns that there may not be enough raw materials to support production of ethanol and biodiesel required by the transport sector. For this reason, I am urging the government to develop additional acreage devoted to sugarcane and coconut   

With the compulsory use of biofuels blended with diesel and gasoline fuels, we need to produce more coconuts and sugarcane to meet the demand for bio-diesel and ethanol. We have to expand our plantations for sugarcane and coconut to ensure steady supply of these products.

To meet the demand for bio-diesel, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) estimates the country needs to develop some 122,000 new hectares of coconut plantations to produce some 70,000 metric tones of coco-diesel.

We have no problem as far as producing sugar and coconut is concerned. The country has been exporting these products and their by-products but with the demand for bio-diesel and ethanol expected to increase upon the implementation of the Biofuels Act, we might face scarcity of supply of sugarcane and coconut as biofuel sources.

Walang choice ang Comelec na piliin kung anong batas lang ang ipapatupad nila . . .  kung ano ang hindi nila ipapatupad at kung kelan nila gustong ipatupad yon. Maliwanag sa batas, dapat i-implement yung automation law sa election ng 2007 in at least two pilot areas in Luzon, 2 pilot areas in the visayas and 2 pilot areas in Mindanao. Yung budget hindi nila dapat katakutan kasi locally funded yung budget. Pangalawa hindi lang naman yon ang itinatalaga ng automated election law. May mga pagbabagong itinatalaga din dun na pwede naman nilang gawin halimabawa yung pagkakaroon ng 30 kopya ng election returns. Isang paraan sana yan para maiwasan ang dayaan. Imbes na 7 kopya lang yan, na kung wala kang partido, wala kang kopya. Kung 30 kopya yan, halos lahat ng tumatakbo kasama na ang ibat ibang ahensya ng media magkaroon ng kopya. Magkakaroon din ng kanya-kanyang quick count at hindi yung iilan lang ang may kopya ng election returns. Kung kandidato ka, popular at malakas ka, makukuha mo ang nomination ng karamihan ng partido na entitled sa kopya ng ER. So yung kalaban mo wala na. Para sa akin maganda na ang proposal na yan, sana mapatupad yun man lang, hindi man yung automated election, yun man lang mapatupad sa election ito.

Tatakbo ako sa ilalim ng opposition, nasa panig at mananatili ako sa oposisyon. Nag-file ako sa ilalim ng partido ng Nationalist People’s Coalition, ang partido na kinabilangan ko simula pa nang pumasok ako sa pulitika noong 1998. Kabilang ako sa hanay ng oposisyon at mananatili ako sa hanay ng oposisyon din.

Sa kabila ng mga kuwento na nag-aalisan ang mga miyembro ng oposisyon, nais kong manguna sa pagsasabing mananatili ako sa oposisyon at hindi ako aalis sa oposisyon. Yung panliligaw ng kabilang panig, palagi naman siguro nandon iyon. Ang sagot ko, sa oposisyon ako tatakbo at sa oposisyon ako mananatili at inaasahan ko na ang suportang ibinigay ng partido ko noon mananatili pa rin hanggang ngayon.

On appointment of Comelec commissioners…

At the very least kailangang mag-appoint ng isang oposisyon sa Comelec upang sa gayon ay makita at matiyak na magkaroon ng isang malinis na halalan sa pamamagitan ng pagkakaroon ng commissioner na magmumula sa o inappoint o nominated ng oposisyon, hindi naman nangangahulugan na papanig siya sa oposisyon.