Chiz Escudero

I urge the voters to consider national and local issues in casting their ballots on May 14.

When you cast your ballots on May 14, vote for the national candidates on the basis of the issues concerning national affairs, and when voting for local candidates, take into consideration the local issues.

Voters should consider the background and performance of candidates in judging their qualifications for public office. At the same time I welcome the Social Weather Stations survey showing that most Filipinos would vote according to their conscience. But I call for “citizens’ power” to ensure that the votes are correctly counted and reported.

Ultimately the fate of our country will be decided by Filipino voters, provided of course that the elections are reflective of their will.

With the latest number of election-related violent incidents pegged at 82 since January 14, I also appeal to all mid-term election candidates and their supporters to employ sobriety in all their dealings in relation to upcoming May polls.

Mainit nang dati ang panahon, sana wag nang painitin pa ang labanan. Anuman ang ating gagawin, hindi natin dapat dinadamay ang katawan at sakitan ng kapwa. Ang eleksyon pwede po nating bawiin sa mga darating pang halalan, tatlong taon makalipas ang araw na ito. Pero ang buhay kapag binawi at kinitil natin, kailan man ay hindi na po natin maibabalik.

I also hail the volunteers of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and other non-government organizations “to get out and guard against fraud and violence.”

The country is in good hands when thousands of volunteers, made up of housewives, employees from the government and private sector, members of religious organizations and civic associations, farmers and workers get involved.

One of the issues facing the country is that of the “survival of democracy as a strong foundation for national unity and progress.”

No country in the modern world achieves progress and high living standards unless it embraces democracy as a form of government.

A strong political opposition that adheres to constitutional processes and principles and performs its duty of checking the abuses, ineptitude, neglect and corruption in government is necessary for the maintenance of democracy.

It is important that every voter should vote according to his or her conscience, guided only by considering the best interest of the country and the community.

I urge everyone to keep calm and unite amid allegations that a fellow senatorial candidate from the Genuine Opposition (GO) slate has junked some names in her sample ballots.

I  call on the GO candidates to unite especially during the last two weeks of campaign and to continue campaigning for the slate in our stronghold by flaunting our acronym PLAN Co REVOLT. 

Minsan nga kalaban pa ang gumagawa ng mga issues para pag-away-awayin yung magkakakampi kaya mahalaga siguro wag lumukso agad at katulad ng panawagan namin sa mga panahong ito na huling dalawang linggo ng kampanya, lalung-lalo na pag mainit ang panahon, ay konting cool lang ho at hinahon. Hindi ho kailangan ang init ng ulo sa mga panahong ito.

More of this kind of issues and allegations against us will come out as the Election Day looms.

Di ko na rin po alam kung totoo yan o hindi at kung dapat bang patulan o hindi. Pero para sakin ho ang paniniwala ko pa rin dyan PLAN Co REVOLT kami: Pimentel, Lacson, Alan Cayetano, Noynoy Aquino, Coseteng, Roco, Escudero, Villar, Osmeña, Legarda, at Trillanes. At yun pa rin po ang aming dadalhin sa aming kandidatura at pag-iikot at sa sarili kong distrito rin sa unang distrito ng Sorsogon.

In my own sample ballots, I would have the 11 GO candidates names printed.

Yung isang pwesto dun e malamang ang ilalagay po namin ay si Senator Honasan dahil bakante naman po yun at taga-Sorsogon at kapwa Bicolano ko po. Yan po ang pinag-uusapan namin sa aming lalawigan.

The word “revolt” in our acronym was meant to seek immediate change and not rebellion. We are using our acronym particularly in individual campaigns as each GO candidate’s way of carrying the whole slate in our respective provinces and stronghold and not as a tool to destroy the country as President Arroyo has criticized of the rivals of the administration candidates.

Again, PLAN CO REVOLT para sa mga kandidato namin sa Genuine Opposition. Ibig sabihin nito, madaliang pagbabago laban sa katiwalian.

The survey results should not be the cause of squabble among my fellow candidates and let the May 14 elections be the basis of who will win.

Ang parati kong sinasabi di dapat mapikon o magalit dahil sa survey. Hindi rin dapat siguro magyabang at maging kampante dahil sa survey. Gawin natin kung anong dapat nating gawin at yung ginagawa natin mula noong magsimula tayong mangampanya. Hindi na dapat pag-awayan ang survey at pagtaluhan. Dapat siguro tingnan na lang natin sa May 14. Yun naman ang pagababatayan ng sinumang mananalo at ipoproklama.

I am calling for a strict implementation of labor laws. Workers, including security guards whose rights are being violated, are not peons but partners of capital in the great experiment to build a just and compassionate society.

The government and civil society should array themselves on the side of workers in their continuing struggle to win validation of their right to bargain collectively for living salaries and wages and other benefits.

But capital must take the initiative. Today’s minimum wage is far below the poverty line, and that there is an urgent need to address the problem. Manufacturers can afford to pay the right compensation, as long as their workforce is productive on the factory floor. However, there is need to revisit VAT and other oppressive taxes, which, coupled with the high cost of electricity, make the firms uncompetitive.

Peter F. Drucker, the American management expert, said the primary purpose of a corporation is to produce goods and provide services. Profit is essential only in so far as it enables the corporation to carry out its responsibility to the nation and, in the case of multinationals, to the whole world.

I acknowledge that a balance must be struck between the rights of labor and the need of capital to recover its investments. But the workers are generally on the losing side in the negotiation held supposedly to reconcile their interests with those of management.

It is for this reason that laws have been passed to protect workers, including security guards whose rights are being violated, whether temporary, permanent, or contractual.

Almost a hundred years ago, Henry Ford raised the minimum daily wage of workers in his car assembly line from $2.34 to $5, a revolutionary concept that did not sit well with commerce and industry at the time.

But to the industrialist, paying workers more would enable them to afford the cars they themselves were producing, and that ultimately would redound to the benefit of the company.

It is said that a corporation does well by doing good. And doing good means looking after the interests of its workers and of the community where it operates and of the nation in general, with regard to health and education, law and order, and the environment.

I am dismissing the argument that the corporation must be left alone to do what it does best, and that is producing goods or providing services. A group is as much a part of society as an individual, and that as such it cannot operate in a vacuum.

I advise the government to aim at total zero-waste management instead of a lackadaisical approach to the problem of garbage disposal.

The viability of total zero-waste management has already been amply demonstrated. All the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has to do is expand the program.

The record of the DENR’s National Solid Waste Management Commission shows 1,714 material recovery facilities (MRFs) are already operating successfully, servicing  1,921 barangays. But there are about 41,945 barangays, and most have yet to follow suit.

It’s about time we do something serious about the problem. We are running out of dumpsites to accommodate the tons of garbage we generate everyday. And open dumps are an inefficient way to dispose of the trash.

The solution to the problem has already identified and prescribed with the approval of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

But we fail to implement the full force of the law. It’s ironic that the law was the first signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but so far only a few local government units observe its provisions.

The law mandates every barangay or cluster of barangays to put up its own MRFs, where garbage segregation, recycling and composting of biodegradable wastes are made.

The traditional way of garbage disposition is environmentally unsafe. Waste material leaches and pollutes our ground and surface water, not to mention the foul smell.

MRFs do not require huge amount of money to implement. But local government units do need a lot of time and patience to persuade their constituency to support the program.

I ask the party in power to uphold the sanctity of the ballot and respect the right of the people to elect their representatives to the legislative body.

The best legacy the administration can leave behind is clean and honest elections. On the other hand, attempts to manipulate the electoral process, "as developments in the past few days seem to indicate, would ultimately result in the death of democracy and widespread chaos." 

One such signs is the report that the military is taking a direct hand in the campaign under the pretext of voter education. The participation of the armed services, besides being totally unnecessary to achieve the intended purpose, could easily work to intimidate the people.

I appeal for calm and sobriety, as peace is a prerequisite to the conduct of an honest and credible election. The voice of the people must be heard above the din.

It is only during elections when the ordinary worker carries the same weight as that of the corporate CEO or, indeed, the president of his country. However, the powerful stack the cards against him.

The great masses of the people are vulnerable to the machination of those who hold the levers of power. And perhaps we in the opposition will have to accept the bitter fact, at least until the people, in God’s own time, are redeemed from the shackles of poverty and ignorance. 

But we will not tolerate it if the administration, having failed to influence their choices in the campaign, shifts gears to thwart their will at the polls.

John Locke said legitimate state authority is derived from the consent of the governed.

All freedoms—of assembly, of worship, of the press—proceed from the freedom to choose those who will govern the country. Once you deny the people that freedom, democracy deteriorates into tyranny.

I express my full support to the main plank of One-Cebu Movement, vowing to uphold the territorial integrity of the province.

I assure Governor Gwendolyn F. Garcia that I would oppose any attempt to break up Cebu.

I  support the aspirations of the people of the province and, for that matter, of the whole country for peace and economic growth. Subdividing the province does not serve that purpose.

My full support and unwavering commitment is for what I see as good, right, proper, and just and for the best interest of the people.

I am of the firm belief that the administration and opposition should not debate nor argue when it comes to poverty alleviation, the delivery alleviation, the delivery of basic services and economic development.

I support the release of P400-million fund for the repair and rehabilitation of 19 state colleges and universities all over the country despite concerns about its timing.

There is a pressing need to repair and rehabilitate the schools way ahead of the rainy season when typhoons come in full force. It was precisely the series of typhoons and, in the case of certain towns of Bicol, volcanic eruption that wrought havoc on the school buildings. 

For some schools, I fear their structural integrity may have been compromised.

Some quarters claimed the release, coming as it did a few weeks before hotly contested national and local elections, is intended to salvage the deteriorating image of the administration and earn electoral support for its candidates.

But the safety and convenience of the students and teachers cannot wait until after the elections. The prohibition on the release of public funds during elections does not apply.

Let the administration take all credit as long as the money goes for the intended purpose. Anyway, the electorate is fully aware that the funds are drawn from taxes paid by the people.

The bulk of the fund—P276.4 million—is going to be used for the repair of Bicol University, Catanduanes State College, Sorsogon State College, Partido State University, Camarines Sur Polytechnic College, Camarines State Agricultural College, Camarines Norte State Colle, and Masbate [Mandaon] School of Arts & Trades. 

The fund is part of the Calamity Assistance and Rehabilitation Effort (CARE) under the 2007 national budget.   Aside from Bicol, the other regions and the amount allocated for repair and rehabilitation of schools in them are Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon), P106.9 million; and Southern Tagalog, P16 million.

I urge the government to make preservation of the coral reefs a multinational struggle, as all countries have a stake on the outcome.

The country has done its part, but the protection of the sea around it is something it cannot do alone. It needs to tap foreign governments and multinational corporations for funds and universities and research organizations for their technical expertise.

The coral reefs happen to fall under our stewardship, but every country has equal interest in its continued well-being.

Experts have determined that tropical seas serve as cradle of bio-diversity, and that marine animals originate from them, spreading outward to the temperate oceans and on to the poles.

And the Philippines is the center of this most productive place on Earth. Destruction of the center will result in the world’s ocean becoming a lifeless watery grave.

Kaustuv Roy, associate professor of biology at the University of California in San Diego, pointed out that the destruction of the center will affect the biological diversity in the temperate areas at high latitudes.

The Serengetti Park of Tanzania is sustained by foreign grants and aids. The millions of wildebeest and impalas, zebras and giraffes, and other mammals would have vanished long time ago if the country had been left to its own devices.  It just could not stop poachers with its meager resources.

Like Tanzania, the Philippines could ask the Global Environment Facility for grants and soft loans to hire personnel and purchase boats and equipment necessary to protect the coral reefs.

The strait between Batangas and Mindoro, which contains the largest concentration of marine life in the world—1,736 species in a 10-kilometer by 10-kilometer stretch—is of equal importance, if not more so, as a world heritage.

The same holds true with the sea off the coast of Palawan. The Armed Forces of the Philippines has settled one of the bigger islands in the area, but Chinese fishermen regularly exploit that part of the country with their destructive fishing methods remain unabated.

The government ought to identify ecologically sensitive coral reefs and declare them a marine sanctuary. But other countries should contribute funds to establish a program designed to protect them.

Eco-tourism should be made the country’s main attraction, because such a program could result in two things: protection of the environment and creation of livelihood.

The country abounds with natural beauties, but they remain relatively unknown to the outside world. The best way to protect them is to give local inhabitants a stake on them, as people who derive livelihood from nature are more likely to take the initiative to protect and conserve it.

I agree with the suggestion that the Department of Tourism (DoT) rationalize eco-tourism activities. But care must be taken to ensure that people who initially provided the services when tourists first discovered what the town had to offer are not left out in the scramble for a share of tourist receipts.

The government could perhaps form the small cottage owners into a cooperative for the purpose of building hotels and other establishments that would cater to a large number of tourists.

Local governments could take a lesson from the experience of Donsol, Sorsogon, which progressed from a sixth- to third-class municipality in eight years, because of the pod of whale sharks [butanding in the local dialect] converging in the bay.

The spectacle draws a continuous stream of tourists both foreign and local. Now the town is offering another attraction. As it turned out, the river that leads to the bay is lined with trees that erupt with thousands, even millions of fireflies at nightfall.

It was my father, Salvador Escudero III, who as secretary of Agriculture signed Fisheries Administrative Order 193 in March 1998, making it unlawful to catch whale sharks and manta rays.

I acknowledge that tourists coming in droves could strain the capacity of the local government to provide sanitation and other services. Thus I suggest that the tourism department look closely into the matter and put the necessary program in place.

The mere presence of man creates a negative effect on the environment. It is our responsibility to keep the disturbance to the barest minimum.

DOT is projecting more than three million tourists will visit the country this year. Record shows more half a million foreigners visited the country in the first two months of the year, with   East Asia—Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong—and the United States accounting for close to 80 percent of the total.

I am suggesting a bipartisan approach to prepare the country for the disaster that seems inevitable in the wake of the global warming phenomenon.

The administration and the opposition should consider a moratorium on logging and the passage of more stringent measures to protect the sea and inland waters

I may be wrong, but perhaps it is time to consider removing forest exploitation from the commerce of man. There is something disturbing about the idea of a single individual or corporation deriving profits from what is by right owned collectively by all citizens of the country.

I admit the proposal is a drastic departure from the common practice, but man is facing an erratic weather pattern that could very well spell his extinction. Extraordinary problems call for extraordinary solutions.

The government must keep the seas around in pristine condition as the linchpin of its environment protection program. Appropriate measures must be considered as existing laws dealing with the problem are much too lenient or seldom enforced.

Of all crimes against the environment, the rape of the sea is the most insidious. From the air, you can readily see the trees being felled in the forest. Nobody realizes the destruction taking place at the bottom of the sea until it is too late.

Of equal importance is the need for the government to conduct an educational campaign in coastal communities, as the inhabitants must be told that the steady decline of their fish catch over the years can be traced to the degradation of the coral reefs.

We do not have the vast expanse of grasslands to support cattle ranching, unlike the United States, Brazil and Argentina, and Australia. We are entirely dependent on marine products for our protein requirements. It is tragic indeed if we fail to conserve the resource that has sustained our people since they first settled these islands.

As regards mining and other extractive industries, the government should make sure that pertinent laws are implemented.

I will hold DENR (Department of Environment & Natural Resources) responsible for the degradation of the environment in areas threatened by the presence of mining companies.

I had earlier denounced DENR for allowing Lafayette Philippines to resume operation on Rapu Rapu Island in Albay at the time the firm twice allowed cyanide laced wastewater to overflow its reservoir resulting in the poisoning of rivers and waterways downstream.