Keynote speech at Go Negosyo’s 5^th Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit held on 1 March 2013 at the World Trade Center, Pasay City

I am happy to join you in this initial celebration of March as International Women’s Month.  According to the Philippine Commission on Women, the theme for the 2013 Women’s Month celebration is – “Kababaihan: Gabay sa Pagtutulak ng Tuwid na Daan.”

My speech will deal with three topics: the gender gap between men and women; the plight of female entrepreneurs; and the proliferation of political dynasties.

THE GENDER GAP

I presume that you have invited me, as a lawyer, to determine whether the Philippines has complied with the provisions for gender equality, under both international law and Philippine constitutional law.

On the one hand, international law on women’s rights is found in a growing number of treaties among states.  The most basic of these treaties, to which the Philippines is a party, is known as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, aka CEDAW.  It provides that all states-parties shall eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country.  International law gives to women, on equal terms with men, certain specific rights, including the right to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government (CEDAW, Article 7).

On the other hand, Philippine constitutional law provides the state policy that: “The state recognizes the role of women in nation building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men.”  (Article 2, Section 14).  In other words, both under international law and under Philippine constitutional law, women should be treated with equal protection under the law, exactly in the same way as men.  In our Constitution, this provision is called the Equal Protection Clause.

The United Nations has declared certain Millennium Development Goals.  One of the goals is to promote gender equality and to empower women.  But according to the National Statistical Coordination Board, in the last 2010 elections, only 21.4 percent of those elected were women.  Thus, if the goal is that 50 percent of public officials should be women, we shall be unable to achieve this goal by the deadline, which is 2015.

In numerical terms alone, there is still a wide gender gap between the sexes.  Numerically, half of our high government officials should be women, and half should be men.  And yet the division between the sexes is highly disproportionate in favor of men.  There have been fifteen Philippine presidents, of which only two have been women.  Therefore, in order to correct the numerical mistake of the past, the logic of gender equality dictates that we should elect six more women as Philippine presidents, until we obtain the same number of female presidents as male presidents.  Under this logic, we should elect a woman president in 2016.

In the Philippine Senate, in the outgoing 15^th Congress, of 24 senators, only three of us are women.  Therefore, in the coming May elections, we should vote for at least six qualified female candidates, so that eventually we should have 12 male and 12 female senators at the same time.

The Civil Service Commission has issued a memorandum circular setting a target of 50-50 representation of women and men in executive positions.  And yet in 2011, the Civil Service Commission reached the following conclusion:  “In the recent years, the trend was that women occupy only less than one-third of third level positions in the government; more than one-third in government-owned and controlled corporations; less than 20 percent in local government units; and more than one-third in the judiciary.  Overall, the proportionate share is 1:2 in favor of men holding top posts in the government.”

 Why the Gap Remains

The conclusion is inevitable that the political participation of women in the Philippines is limited.  This limitation is caused by the following factors:

1. The government and the political parties themselves have failed to provide information to women about candidates, party political platforms, and voting procedures.  Often in the rural areas, women fail to exercise the right to vote because of their illiteracy, their lack of knowledge and understanding of political systems, or of the impact that political initiatives and policies will have upon their lives.  Because of their lack of knowledge, women sometimes fail to register to vote.

2. Women, unlike men, have two sets of responsibilities: one in the home, and one at the workplace.  Thus, women do not have enough time to follow electoral campaigns.

3. A lack of support for female candidates by the electorate.

In addition to these factors that discriminate against women, the political parties themselves have failed to provide an equality of balance between men and women in the organization of the party.  In many of these parties, women are not granted equal participation in party activities.  In practice, women should have an equal opportunity to serve as party officials and to be nominated as candidates for election.  This can be done by providing information, as well as financial and other resources.

To close the gender gap, I humbly propose that our government should impose quotas or temporary special measures to increase women’s political participation by the following methods:

1. Recruiting, financially assisting, and training women candidates.

2. Amending electoral procedures.

3. Developing campaigns directed at equal participation.

4.Setting numerical goals and quotas, and targeting women for appointment to public positions.

This kind of quota system for women has already been implemented successfully in countries such as South Africa, India, Finland, Argentina, and France.  In the same manner, we should impose laws to accelerate women’s equal participation in political life.  We should ensure that the representation of women reflects the full diversity of the population, particularly indigenous women and Muslim women.

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS

 Unemployed Filipino Women and Poverty

 According to the SWS Survey, the incidence of joblessness for women is much higher than that for men.  As of August 2012 where there were 29.4 percent jobless Filipinos, 42.5 percent were women and only 19.3 percent were men.  On top of this, according to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) Philippines, there were 13.9 million Filipinos who are single parents and with only a few exceptions, the mother is the one taking the responsibility of raising the child.

There is overwhelming evidence that women, particularly single mothers, suffer the most in terms of unemployment and poverty.  While providing women with more jobs will certainly be a big help, there are other solutions to alleviate the plight of women to afford them a brighter future, and that is through the entrepreneurship option.

 Entrepreneurship Options for Filipino Women

 To lift Filipino women out of poverty we must first analyze their typical profile.  Most of them would be out of a job, without a completed college education, no capital to start a business, and most would have the responsibility of taking care of young children.  With such daunting odds, is the dream of a better life for our underprivileged Filipino women an impossible dream?  Perhaps, in spite of such odds, there is still hope that something can be done with the right policies in place, and the availability of some financial aid.

As budding entrepreneurs, our poor Filipino women would face a number of limitations, namely: lack of training and skills, little or no capital available, and the need to stay at home to take care of their young children or be able to avail of the services of a day care center that they can trust and afford.

What then would be typical businesses that they can go into with such limitations?  First is that we should consider what would be the primary capital that our Filipino women have, and that is really their time and talent.  With that, they can do subcontract work where the raw materials and other equipment are provided to them and all they need to do is put it all together to come up with a finished or semi-finished product.  This seems like an excellent proposition where they can work from their homes and not need to have any capital expenditure to earn a living.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, because under current labor regulations, this is classified as labor-only contracting, which is no longer allowed.  The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) considers this as an employer-employee relationship, with the worker considered as an employee of the company giving the business.  The result is that companies refrain from going into these kinds of arrangements, depriving those in need with the opportunity to make an honest living.

Not only that, the local government units also require our aspiring Filipino woman entrepreneur to secure a mayor’s permit and comply with all the necessary documents needed and pay all sorts of fees and charges.  Most certainly, for underprivileged women this is a most daunting task.  To comply with all the bureaucratic red tape and to come up with even more money to pay the fees and charges for the permits is definitely the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

If we truly want to help out our poor Filipino women who may want to have a small business or do some labor-only contract work from their homes, they should be exempt from securing any permits from the local or national government.  They should also be exempt from the prohibition of labor-only contracting.  If the government is willing to appropriate P44.25 billion for the Pantawid Pamilya Program, then it should be willing to forego whatever fees and taxes it could collect from these aspiring poor entrepreneurs, who want to have a better life and do not want to be a burden to anyone.

I have to acknowledge that although we are on the path, we are far from closing the gender gap.  The Geneva-based World Economic Forum conducted a 2011 Global Gender Gap ranking.  There were four categories that determined the gender gap.  These are:

1. Educational attainment.
2. Health and survival
3. Economic participation and opportunity
4. Political empowerment.

In the first category of educational attainment, the Philippines was among the countries that were listed in the first rank, meaning that the number of females who attended elementary to college education is about the same as that of males.  In the second category of health and survival, the Philippines was also placed in the first rank.  This means that in the Philippines, women and men have more or less the same life expectancy, which is affected by various factors such as disease, malnutrition, and violence.

But in the third category of economic participation and opportunity, the Philippines ranked only No. 15 because of evident gaps between men and women in terms of work participation, remuneration, and advancement opportunities.  Go Negosyo knows that there remains significant hurdles in getting access to finance, markets, and training and in leading companies where there is still an anomalous “glass ceiling.”  The term “glass ceiling” refers to the fact that women are not allowed to hold the highest positions in certain business corporations.

And in the fourth category of political empowerment, the Philippines was ranked No.16, because of the disproportionate women-to-men ratio in government positions.

POLITICAL DYNASTIES

Women in Politics

In politics, women suffer a burden not suffered by men.  This is because only women get pregnant.  Until our civilization produces the technology to transfer the burden of pregnancy to men, there is nothing we can do about it.  Women political leaders simply have to embrace and bridge the dichotomy between running the government and running a household.  But women should educate men to share in household duties.  There are some men who are noneducable, in which case, I strongly suggest that you should simply get rid of your husband and get a more cooperative spouse.

Our government has had women presidents and now we have a woman chief justice.  But Congress has never had a female Senate President, or a female Speaker.  That is because so far, the greater majority in both chambers of Congress has always been men.  Possibly, this is one reason why there is so much corruption in Congress.

Even in the executive branch, there is an attitude problem.  Certain cabinet positions seem to be reserved for men, such as the “muscular” departments of agriculture, energy, trade and industry.  By contrast, certain cabinet positions seem to be reserved for women, such as the DSWD.  We hope that in the next cabinet revamp, President PNoy will take more heed of the example set by his mother, President Cory, and appoint more women cabinet members.

Dynasties are Unconstitutional

The Philippine Constitution prohibits political dynasties.  The Constitution provides: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.” (Article 2, Section 26.) Our Constitution was ratified in 1987.  It is now 26 years since we ratified the Constitution.  But during this entire time of more than a decade, Congress has failed to comply with its constitutional duty to pass a law defining and prohibiting political dynasties.

In the Senate, I am the only senator to have filed an anti-dynasty bill.  I filed the bill in 2005.  It was only last year, 2012, or eight years later, that the bill attracted media attention.

World Capital of Political Dynasties

Today, the Philippines is now conceivably the world capital of political dynasties.  Why do politicians want to build or perpetuate dynasties?  Why do young people aspire to be politicians, instead of lawyers or doctors or other respected professionals?  People are driven to politics, mainly because of the urge to power; and politicians are driven to dynasties, mainly because of the urge to profit or in some cases, to plunder.  For most professions, to succeed it is necessary to obtain a university diploma, pass a government examination, and acquire years of backbreaking practice.  But in politics, virtually no qualifications are required, except possibly the epidermis of a pachyderm, meaning the sensibilities of a carabao.

No wonder dynasts are called “stationary bandits.”  They are the equivalent of Mafia crime families.  Members of dynasties are gluttons for power and privilege.  They constitute political monopolies and combinations in restraint of opportunities for others.

178 Political Dynasties

The result of 26 years of deliberate inaction by legislators is that based on the 2010 elections, today there are 178 dominant political dynasties.  At the House of Representatives, 74 percent or 170 representatives belong to political families.  In the Senate, 80 percent or 18 of the current 23 senators are members of political families.  In the party-list system, 91 percent or 52 seats are held by millionaires and multimillionaires.

The Philippines has 80 provinces.  Of these, 94 percent, meaning 73 out of 80, have political dynasties.  In every province, there are at least two political families.

The Constitution regards political dynasties as evil, because in effect they constitute a monopoly of political power inside a democracy, the Constitution of which explicitly provides that every qualified Filipino should have an equal opportunity for public service.

And yet, political dynasties who have ruled for more than 30 years include 6 families.  Political dynasties who have ruled for more than 20 years include at least 61 families.  Political dynasties who have ruled 12 to 18 years include 53 political families.

Political dynasty is anathema in a democracy, because in one geographical area, one family controls power, corruption, the military, the police, and illegal activities such as illegal gambling, drug smuggling, gun smuggling, and smuggling of various other objects banned by law.  In this manner, political dynasties have become invulnerable and constitute an open defiance of our Constitution, thus blatantly undermining the rule of law.

 Anti-Dynasty Bill

 Admittedly, it is very difficult and complicated to provide a definition of political dynasty.  But we can define political dynasty by specifying the situation.  This is what I did in my Senate Bill No. 2649.  The bill imposes a prohibition on relatives within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity.  On the local level, this bill prohibits such relatives from running for public office at the same time, within the same province.  On the national level, such relatives cannot occupy the same office, immediately after the term of office of the incumbent elective official.

There is no law – as yet – that prohibits political dynasties.  Therefore, according to the perverted reasoning of those who profit by this system, political dynasties are not yet illegal.  However, they are unconstitutional.  Is there such a creature that is unconstitutional but also legal?  That creature is an oxymoron!  Does this mean that our august legislators have the power to nullify a constitutional prohibition, simply by refusing to enact a law implementing the constitutional mandate?  That is a no-brainer.  Do we want to reward lawmakers who refuse to make laws, or should we punish them?  The only conclusion is that if political dynasties qualify as legal by default, still political dynasties remain immoral.  You can make exceptions, but if you want to make an exception, it should be based on extraordinary merit.  Do not vote for members of political dynasties!

There is so much that is wrong with this country, starting with the attitude of some that they are sacrosanct and should be exempted from public scrutiny.  There are some who use public funds for private purposes, and then demonize those who denounce the practice.  All of these crooks took an oath when they began office that they would support and defend the Constitution.  The Constitution prohibits political dynasties.  And yet they continue to defy the Constitution.

Therefore, I call on the female entrepreneurs of Go Negosyo: Prove that there is a women’s vote, and that there is an anti-dynasty vote!  Uphold the basic principles of our democracy – the principle of the rule of law, and the principle of equality between men and women.  We are taking a journey through a very dark forest.

But we are guided by the words of the poet:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the faithful lightning of His terrible swift sword;

His truth is marching on.

Speech delivered at the UP Manila on 12 February 2013, at the symposium sponsored by the University Student Council

I have such a high opinion of the Student Council of the University of thePhilippines, my own alma mater, that I will have to beg your indulgence in addressing myself to two topics of national importance: the Tubbataha disaster; and weaponizing social media for the ongoing political campaign.

The Tubbataha Disaster

The Tubbataha Reef in Philippine territory has been proclaimed a UN World Heritage Site.  It is home to a spectacular, breathtaking panorama of marine life consisting of:

• 600 species of fish
• 360 species of corals
• 11 species of sharks
• 13 species of dolphins and whales, and
• 100 species of birds and sea turtles

This magical spot within Philippine territory is governed by R.A. No. 10067, or the Tubbataha Reef Park Act of 2009.

Last month, on January 17, the USS Guardian, a US Navy minesweeper passed by this marine sanctuary.  It is said that park rangers radioed the ship with the advice that it was nearing the Reef.  However, the ship captain allegedly insisted that the park rangers should instead raise their complaint with the US embassy.

According to the official statement of the Tubbataha Management Office, the US ship did not have a permit to enter the park, which is a marine protected area.  It was also found that the vessel did not inform the marine park rangers of its presence and situation.  When the rangers informed the Americans of their violations and announced the intention of the rangers to board the vessels, the radio contact was unanswered and the boarding protocol was aborted, specially since the Filipinos saw the Americans taking positions armed with weapons.

Under Philippine law, the American ship violated the provisions on unauthorized entry, damages to the Reef, nonpayment of conservation fees, destroying and disturbing resources, and obstruction of law-enforcement officers.

The American vessel directly caused environmental disaster over an area of some 4,000 square meters, which is the size of 10 basketball courts.  Under Philippine law, the US Navy has the duty to pay a fine of $300, or some P12,000 per square meter, plus another $300 per square meter for rehabilitation efforts.

The American crew were transferred to support vessels.  But the warship, which is 68 meters long, is still there.  Under the US Navy salvage operation plan, the ship will eventually be broken down into pieces and taken away.  But while it is there, it will continue to destroy marine life.

It was an unspeakable crime to inflict such damage on the Reef.  The only defense of the Americans is that they allegedly used a faulty map that misplaced the location of the Reef.  In other words, the Americans seem to admit that they were sloppy with their map, and that they were arrogant with the Filipino park rangers whose advice they disregarded.

On February 4, the American ambassador reiterated regrets over the incident and assured our foreign affairs secretary that the United States will provide appropriate compensation.  However, as a student of international law, I find that the statement issued by the US ambassador is disturbing, and amounts to doublespeak.  The statement calls the Tubbataha event an “accident.”  The word “accident” implies that the act of the US ship involved no negligence or fault.  Furthermore, the US government has offered other forms of assistance.  Thus, in my view, the statement issued by the US embassy makes American compensation and other activities look like foreign assistance, for which we Filipinos are expected to be grateful!

In other words, I am concerned that the American offer of compensation is made to appear, not as a dictate of legal obligation under international law, but as an indulgence in American magnanimity.  If the Philippine government resorts to the legal process to demand compensation, on record the Americans could have evaded any admission of guilt.  Instead, the Americans could oppose any complaint in an international law tribunal, by raising the defense of sovereign immunity from suit.

Allow me to make a simple analysis of the international law dimensions of the Tubbataha event.  There is no question that Tubbataha is part of Philippine territory, protected not only by Philippine law, but also by the UN declaration that it is a World Heritage Site.  When the American warship ran aground in the Reef, the US government committed what international law calls an “internationally wrongful act.”  As such, the Tubbataha event is a violation of the international law codified under the topic of “Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts” issued by the International Law Commission.

Under this topic, the Tubbataha event is covered by at least two articles.  Under Article 1: “Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international responsibility of that State.”

Under Article 2: “There is an internationally wrongful act of a State when conduct consisting of an action or omission: (a) Is attributable to the State under international law; and (b) Constitutes a breach of an international obligation of the State.”  Therefore, as provided by the International Law Commission, under the principle of attribution, the conduct of the officials and personnel of the USS Guardian is considered as an act of the US government under international law, and consequently, the US government bears responsibility.

The International Law Commission is one authority.  Let me state another authority: Sir Ian Brownlie, Oxford professor emeritus of public international law.  The latest seventh edition of his famous book, Principles of Public International Law, was published in 2008.  By 2009, Prof. Brownlie had passed away and the eighth edition of his book was issued by Professor James Crawford in 2012.

According to Brownlie: “In principle, an act or omission which is on its face a breach of legal obligation gives rise to responsibility in international law. . . The practice of states and jurisprudence of arbitral tribunals and the International Court have followed the theory of objective responsibility as a general principle.”  What this means is that under the principle of objective responsibility, a breach of international obligation occurs by result alone, even in the absence of negligence or fault.

Let me go on to my third authority, the time-honored decision in the 1927 case of Chorzow Factory.  In its decision, the Permanent Court of International Justice said: “It is a principle of international law that the breach of an international engagement involves an obligation to make reparation in an adequate form.  Reparation therefore is the indispensable complement of a failure to apply a convention. . . . It is a principle of international law . . . that any breach of an engagement involves an obligation to make reparation.”

Finally, let me cite one more authority: the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement, Article 2 on “Respect for Law.”  Article 2 provides: “It is the duty of the US personnel to respect the laws of the Republic of the Philippines . . . The government of the United States shall take all measures within its authority to ensure that this is done.”

In sum, international law is clear that whether or not there was negligence or fault on the part of the US warship, under the principle of state responsibility, the US government is responsible for the partial destruction of Tubbataha Reef, which some say will need 250 years to be fully restored.  Under the principle of objective responsibility, the basic test is whether there has been a breach of international obligation.  The US has accepted that it has committed such a breach.  Therefore, the US government should stop referring to the Tubbataha event as an “accident.”  Instead, the Tubattaha event should be called a “breach of international obligation.”

Weaponizing Social Media

The campaign period has begun.  All kinds of characters want to run for public office.  We, the 52 million Filipino voters, are bored with their antics.  We are aghast at their resumes.  Some of them are not even high school graduates.  They resort to all kinds of cheap gimmickry, hoping to provide entertainment for free.  They should not be called candidates; they should be called clowns.

In the Philippines, politics is dominated by two kinds of clowns: rich clowns; and poor clowns hoping to become rich.  Fortunately, we are at the cusp of a new ominous wave of change in the political beach.   This wave is called the social media.  In the Philippines, nobody knows how to control or manage social media.  Rich clowns used to bribe press and broadcast journalists so that they could gain added illegal advantage over their competitors.  But now, the rich clowns are beginning to discover that it is not possible to bribe the leaders, much less, all the netizens in cyberspace.

If the first Edsa revolution was a “Xerox revolution”, and if Edsa 2 was a “text revolution”, then the next revolution against political corruption should be called the “Net revolution”.

The ideal UP student always gives the world a shock.  I ask each one of you to give the mindless political candidates a shock, by demoting TV, which used to be the king of political advertising, and instead elevating as political campaign weapons the tablet and the smart phone.

In terms of social network use, the Philippines is ranked among the top countries.  This could be the precursor of the participatory democracy of the future.  Facebook is the premier social media service in the world.  Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service.  YouTube provides a forum for the distribution of video content, particularly eyewitness features of political protests.  Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are the so-called big three social media services.  These services enable large numbers of people to be easily and inexpensively contacted via a variety of services.

Social media lowers traditional socio-economic barriers to commanding the spotlight.  The power of the rich politicians becomes more porous and the political warlords have less control.  It has been said that text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the Internet have given rise to a reservoir of political energy.  Digital technologies enforce the formation and activities of civil society groups: mobs, movements, and civil society organizations.

Challenge to UP Students

The ideal UP student is not interesting per se.  What is interesting is what the ideal student does with his life after graduation from UP.  As a rule, any UP graduate will always be characterized by academic excellence and by the courage to take social justice to the next level.  If you are to serve your nation, I am here to testify that it will be a rough, contentious, and spirit-crushing journey.

But as a true UP graduate, I insist that I have a role to perform.  This role is to stand as one of gazillion bricks in the cathedral of governance.  No one will remember me if I suddenly drop dead tomorrow.  But generations after you and me, would be able to put behind them the culture of corruption, and build a new shining nation with leaders who are neither dazzled by the material world, nor confused about their purpose in life.

Hence, I have risen from my sickbed to issue you this challenge: For God’s sake, save this country.  Use social media during this three-month campaign period to ensure that our people shall be led to choose deserving national leaders.  Allow me to make some recommendations on how to weaponize social media against the corrupt, the clueless, and the clowns.  I am paraphrasing from an article in the Net issued by Craft Media Digital and written by Brian Donahue.

• Weaponize social media during the campaign by providing content that not only informs, but also entertains and motivates.  You need to develop skills in creative design, emotionally riveting visuals, and content that inspires action.  We can not weaponize by simply issuing a statement, a newsletter, or a Facebook post.  We need to enlist the work of more graphic designers, creative writers, videographers, and musicians.
• Weaponize social media during the campaign by embracing targeted messaging strategies.  You cannot rely on single-issue national messaging.  You have to send custom messages to specific audiences online.  It is said that in today’s digital age, data is the most precious commodity.  Hook up with math students in the Diliman campus.  Ask our math scholars to build algorithms for matching data.  This will develop demographic models that will help you to identify valuable voter behavior.  For example, refer to Facebook OpenGraph.
• Weaponize social media during the political campaign by delivering content so engaging that individual netizens will be motivated to share it.  I see in the current campaign that the most egregious error of the candidates is that they treat social media as if it were TV or radio, where they simply transfer information to the masses.  The strength of the web is information sharing among social netizens.
• Weaponize social media in the political campaign by accepting that the future of political warfare will take place online.  For example, a comparative database that provides information on each candidate’s age, residence, highest academic degree, and highest professional achievement, would be a sufficient counterbalance to the tendency of the low middle-class voter to sell his vote or to vote for the cute personality.

Social media should be used as a showcase for intangible movement or energy, and a medium of information to motivate people to vote for or against a particular candidate.

Conclusion

I share one unbreakable linkage with you.  At one time I was your age and like all UP students, I wanted to change the world.  Maybe I have.  But the world also changed  me.  Now I am old enough to have seen the world and have all my illusions shattered.  Am I disillusioned?  No, because as the poet said:

      Though much is taken, much abides; and though

      We are not now that strength which in old days

      Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

      One equal temper of heroic hearts,

      Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

      To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

-o0o-

Speech at the Charter Change Symposium sponsored by the Social Sciences Society of Centro Escolar University, 11 January 2013

An important part of the menu of reflections society must occasionally undertake concerns the need to re-evaluate the basic terms of our social contract codified in our Constitution.  This meditation on social foundations assumes greater importance given that about half of our population today and, to be sure, the overwhelming members of the audience today – did not have the opportunity to ratify the current Constitution when it was submitted to the people in 1987.

The term of art used by constitutional law scholars to refer to the binding force of a constitution ratified long ago is “the dead hand of the past,” a supposed understanding which influences the way current society applies and calibrates the language of the constitution.  In more formal language, we use the term “precommitment” or the idea that the constitution, as an embodiment of the wisdom of the ages, should serve to control the unruly thoughts of the members of the current generation by setting limits to what they can and cannot do.  But while we recognize the wisdom of our founding parents who drafted the constitution in 1986, we should also realize that their vision was constrained by their environment at the time they wrote the document, and that because they were not prophets what they created was a blueprint for a constitutional government, not an encyclopedia of how society should operate.  This also means that those of us who exist in the here and now have the advantage of having seen the Constitution as it has operated in the last two and half decades and are now eminently positioned to reflect on how this charter can respond better to the challenges of a globalized community.  Let me give you some ideas to think about as we assess the relationship between the Constitution, on one hand, and political and economic progress, on the other.

1. We should shorten the Constitution.  Ours is a constitution that is both noisy and verbose.  It is full of too many grand statements that are the trademark of political speeches.  A progressive constitution is one that focuses on political structures and actual mechanisms that operationalize those political structures.  We must have a constitution that is both lean and meaningful.
2. The Constitution must have a working mechanism for initiative and referendum. This is a very important mechanism because initiative and referendum are constitutional processes that allow the people to continually update the constitution and force the hand of the legislature.  Laws that are difficult to pass such as the Political Dynasty Law and the FOI Law can become realities with the proper use of initiative and referendum.  These twin mechanisms also allow the citizens to directly participate in legislation, which is good because it makes our democracy more participatory.
3. We should look at the possibility of regionalizing both the Senate and the party-list system.  This should respond to the problem of underrepresentation of certain regions of the country in the legislature. This might even undermine the power of nationally-popular public figures with little qualifications for important public offices to get elected.  Regionalizing the party list might also encourage local political organizations to bring their agenda before a national forum.
4. We should professionalize important local and national offices by imposing academic qualifications.  If we require members of local and national bureaucracies to be degree holders, there is no reason why we should not do the same for mayors, governors, congress people, senators, and presidents.  If we want global competitiveness, we should require our leaders to be, at the very least, formally educated.  This is because education is a powerful constraint against narrow parochialism and a gateway to ideas that can change communities.  The best place to impose this requirement is in the Constitution.
5. We should limit the corrupting power of pork barrel in the Constitution.  In my view, the pork barrel system has had the effect of inflating the cost of public office, distracting legislators from their real work, and unduly empowering the executive department, to the detriment of the public and the principle of separation of powers.  We should place mechanisms in the Constitution to ensure pork barrel (1) does not line the pockets of politicians, and (2) does not become a discretionary fund that can be dangled by the President to promote transactional politics. 
6. We should think of the possibility of removing from the President the power to appoint members of the judiciary.  Colonialism and inertia are the only reasons why we give the President the power to appoint – and therefore politicize – judges.  This just does not make any sense.  Instead of just making the Judicial and Bar Council a recommending agency, why not give it the power to appoint?  Couple this reform with some measures to ensure the independence of the JBC and we might actually have a better shot at improving the judiciary.
7. We should find a balance between the nationalist provisions of our Constitution and the demands of a global economy.  We should ask: Are these nationalist provisions for the benefit of the ordinary Filipinos or the economic elite?  To what extent do these restrictions actually help promote our economy or even our culture?  Which areas of economic life should we subject to the operations of the market economy and which should we protect for the benefit of future generations of Filipinos?  Finally, which areas of the economy are best left to policymaking by Congress and which should be pre-committed through the Constitution? I think these questions are preliminary considerations to a rational and effective approach to the economic provisions of the Constitution.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago’s speech at the Far Eastern University Central Student Organization lecture series on 22 November 2012

Let me summarize the problem with Philippine elections:  Of the 50 million voters who will troop to the polls in May next year, the greater majority are not intelligent, they are not educated for voting, and the candidates they choose are not educated for serving.  This problem is the result of the fact that our Constitution provides that no literacy requirement shall be imposed on voters.  Furthermore, although the Constitution provides that a senator should be literate in that he should be able to read and write, the same Constitution does not require any educational attainment on the part of any candidate.

As I shall show a few minutes later, this is all very strange.  Under the Police Act, no person can be appointed a policeman, unless he has a college degree.  But any person can become president, vice-president, senator, or congressman of the country even without a college degree!

The Concept of Representation

Most of what I have to say is based on the classic book, Modern Politics and Government, by Ball and Peters, 7^th edition, published in 2005.

The Philippines is called a representative democracy.  But what does each candidate really represent?

Our political system observes two basic concepts of representation:

1. That sovereignty resides with the people and therefore the government is responsible to the people; and
2.  That the will of the majority is more important than that of a minority.

In fact, our Constitution provides as a basic principle that “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”  But who are “the people?”  They are some 50 million voters in our country who comply with the requirement that they are at least 18 years old, and have resided in the Philippines for at least one year.  But I believe emphatically that the criteria of age and residence are no longer enough in the 21^st century.

Our Constitution provides for a system for free public education up to high school level.  Thus, at the outset there is no reason why the criteria for suffrage should not include at least a high school education.  If a person is a borderline moron, why should his vote equal the vote of a college graduate?

The Constitution further provides for a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies and other incentives.  If this is the case, then a truly intelligent and hardworking person will be able to find a way to finish college.  But again, as I noted earlier, the Constitution does not require candidates for public office to possess any educational attainment.  If a policeman needs to have a college degree, why shouldn’t we impose the same requirement on senators and congressmen?

The Liberal Democratic Theory of Representation

 The essential principles of a liberal democratic theory of representation which the Philippines claims to observe, are the following:

First Principle:  The importance of the individual’s rights, specially his property, and the necessity of limiting the powers of government to protect those rights.

Second Principle:  The principle of rationalism, under which it is argued that humans are creatures of reason.  It is argued that humans are able to identify their own interests and their own opinions, and are aware of the wider claims of the community.  Therefore, according to this argument, the individual will use his vote in an intelligent fashion, and is consequently entitled to share in the selection of representatives.

Really?  This argument would be correct, if the voter and the voted are educated.  But in our country, the masses tend to vote for the people whom they most often see either in movies or on TV.  They apply only a visual test to candidates.  If the candidate often plays the role of champion of the poor, then the uneducated poor will vote him to office for this reason only.  Thus, they are voting for actors.  Accordingly, when some of these TV and film personalities win in the elections, they continue their acting in the legislature.

Some of them are acting as senators or congressmen, merely relying on their legislative staff to feed them with the proper things to say during the sessions of Congress.  In effect therefore, they are little better than talking dummies.  And in addition, I worry that they might be more susceptible to the pressures exerted by lobby groups and other interest groups funded by the rich.

I agree with Thomas Jefferson that there should be a clear emphasis on the importance of an educated majority, as a prerequisite for Philippine representative government.

Third Principle:  Sovereignty of the people, which is expressed through universal suffrage.   The implicit goal of our electoral system is: “One person, one vote, one value.”  Again, I emphasize that this principle is observed in an educated society.  But if, as in the case of our country, the majority of the voters are not educated, then there is no reason why one vote should be equal to another vote.  Not all votes are equal.

As a politician for the past 15 years, I have grown increasingly anxious about what I perceive to be mob democracy.  I support the suggestion of the great writer John Stuart Mill that we should limit the vote to the literate; and that we should increase the vote of the people with certain superior qualities.  I am very anxious about the uneducated majority in the Philippines.

The Function of Elections

All over the world, elections are a means of choosing representatives.  In the 1980s and the 1990s, there was a general increase in electoral choice.  But while elections allow voter participation, this participation is distorted by lack of education among the voter and the voted.  Elections are also distorted because under our system, the successful candidate might be the choice of only a minority.  This was what happened when the people and I were robbed of the presidency in 1992.  The person who claimed that he won the presidential election was admittedly only a plurality president.

Another distortion is the control of political parties over the procedure by which candidates should be officially presented to the electorate.  As you know, I challenged this system by running under my own independent People’s Reform Party in 1992, and I succeeded.

The most notorious distortion of the people’s choice is electoral corruption.  There are still scientific doubts on the accuracy of the voting machines that we started to use in the last elections.  But the most important problem is vote-buying.  Rich candidates buy, and the uneducated masses are willing to sell, their votes.  Rich candidates can afford to start campaigning earlier than poor candidates, particularly through the medium of television, where one thirty-second spot alone can cost over P300,000.

If you really think about it, election is an opportunity for TV companies to make money at the expense of our democracy.  For, our Constitution provides as a state policy that: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunity for public service.”  Is there equal access to public service for the rich and the poor?  Don’t make me laugh.

To be able to institutionalize an open democratic system, the Philippines needs to establish norms of fairness and equal access in elections.  Hence, the present problem of electoral corruption is crucial to our democracy.

What Does a Voter Vote For?

In countries with an educated majority, normally a two-party system will develop.  One party, called the left, advocates that government should be very active by interfering in almost every aspect of society, including the regulation of the private sector.  The other party, called the right, advocates that as much as possible, government should merely provide social services, but should not interfere with the private sector.  In our country, there is no ideological distinction between parties.  In our country, political parties are merely groups of self-interested individuals pooling their resources so that they can attract political contributors and thus win in the elections.  They are not committed to any particular national policy.

As part of the educated community, you should be aware of the theory of rational choice, which was first developed in the extremely influential 1957 book, An Economic Theory of Democracy, by Anthony Downs.  He said that in the political marketplace, a voter will cast his or her vote for the party that is most likely – given the information available – to serve the ends of the voter.  Social position or party loyalty are less important factors than the rational search for the party or candidate that will serve the individual interest – often defined in economic terms – of each voter.

I agree with rational choice theory.  In the Philippines, the voter chooses the candidate who will serve the voter’s ends.  But, unfortunately, the ends sought by the uneducated voter are usually: money in exchange for his vote; and an appointment in the civil service, so that he can have a job.  The uneducated majority are merely seeking their selfish individual interest, particularly in economic terms.

Role of Mass Media

In our democracy, the principal source of political information is the mass media, specially TV.  Newspapers used to be the chief source of political information, and some newspaper columnists grew arrogant, abusive, and corrupt.  But now with the growth of TV and internet, the importance of newspapers has declined.

Today, in political advertising, TV takes the major share.  This means that a candidate with little money will most likely lose to a candidate with big political contributors that will allow him to buy as many TV ads as possible.  One bad effect of this development is that TV provides less political information than newspapers.  According to Ball and Peters: “TV emphasizes personalities and images to the detriment of informed political analysis.”  Thus, on TV we see candidates singing, dancing, and looking comical in their desperate attempt to appeal to the TV audience.  The voter who watches TV obtains no clue about the candidate’s character and qualifications.

TV has become preeminent in the dissemination of public information.  But it has also become more open to political interference on the part of the government.  What is the effect of the media on political attitude and voting behavior?  Ball and Peters give this answer: “The media may reinforce pre-existing opinion when they exist, but can shape opinion when there are not already firmly held values.”

I now come to my favorite topic – the internet.  In Philippine elections, consumption of political information from the internet is now increasing rapidly.  But the internet presents several problems to the political system, as follows:

1. The internet represents “narrowcasting” rather than broadcasting.  I refer to the phenomenon that each political group accepts only information that supports its own views.
2. The information contained on the internet is unmediated and not reviewed by professionals.  Thus, it happens that internet sources lack objectivity or accuracy.

The problem with elections is that Filipino voters, if they are uneducated, are often swayed by the personal appeal of a candidate.  Public opinion is often shaped by conscious efforts of political elites and the media.  It is a myth that Philippine voters make rational choices of candidates.  Often, the uneducated voter is merely expressing support for the system, or merely expressing emotional attachments to certain symbols.

For this reason, I invite the FEU Central Student Organization to start a social media campaign to encourage smart voting among the uneducated.  You could call this campaign “smart vote” and give a score of Yes or No to each candidate as political issues develop.  You could insist that candidates should have a record of academic and professional excellence, as well as a record of moral positions on national policy issues.  For example, you should campaign so that voters will say Yes to candidates who favor the bills that I have filed, such as the RH bill, sin tax bill, Magna Carta for internet freedom bill, and freedom of information bill.  Conversely, you should campaign so that voters will say No to epal candidates, political dynasties, and premature campaigning.

Unfortunately, there is no scientific test for the most important criterion of all: honesty.  What we really need in a corrupt country are honest leaders – with character borne out of higher education – will not steal the people’s money; will personally study national policy issues; if necessary, refuse to compromise; and will remain stubbornly noble and idealistic.  In short, we need a person with the courage of his convictions.  I am depending on you to provide this kind of leadership in the future, characterized by honesty, competence, and efficiency.

First of a two-part keynote speech at the inter-university conference on business economics at the Adamson University Theatre on 6 October 2012.

CYBERCRIME LAW IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL 

The prefix “cyber” relates to the culture of computers, information technology, the internet, and virtual reality.  The term “cybercrime” refers to criminal activities carried out by means of computers or the internet.

Just like any other human activity, the internet carries with it new avenues of illegal behavior.  The internet makes it easier to commit certain crimes, such as dissemination of pornography, copyright infringement, and defamation.  The internet also gives rise to crimes exclusive to the internet, such as computer hacking and misuse.  And the internet can make certain crimes complicated, because they could be illegal in some countries, but not in others.

Computer misuse was dramatically demonstrated in 2000, when a Filipino hacker attacked and destroyed data in 45 million computers.  He created a virus that the media called the “Love Bug,” because it used the subject line “I love you” in the emails that carried it.  The estimated cost in damages was $10 billion.  The Filipino was never punished, because the Philippines at that time had no law criminalizing computer misuse.

Accordingly, in 2001, the Council of Europe drafted the Cybercrime Convention in Budapest.  The Philippines is not yet a party to this treaty.  If we become a party, the Philippines would be duty-bound to adopt a Cybercrime Prevention Act.  But the Philippine Congress has already anticipated future global pressure to end computer abuse.

In the United States, there are several laws to protect the public from computer misuse, notably the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. 1030) and the 1996 Telecommunications Act (Sec. 230).  Although the U.S. considers internet gambling to be illegal, this year three bills were filed to legalize internet gambling in America.

As economics and business students, you are already aware that cybercrime works to prejudice ecommerce.  Companies with online operations are subject to credit card fraud, identity theft, phishing, and intellectual property crimes.  Cybercriminals continue to negatively impact e-commerce.

In short, in today’s world, cybercrime prevention is a necessity.  This is why I was active during the interpellation and amendment periods of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.  Unfortunately, I was absent because of hypertension, during the voting period.

In my humble opinion, the law as presently worded is unconstitutional.

In our Constitution, freedom of speech occupies a preferred position.    In his immortal argument for a “marketplace of ideas,” the great Justice Holmes wrote: “They may come to believe . . . that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas – that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market . . . .”

In fact, the constitutional provision, on the surface, sounds absolute: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech.”  I humbly submit that while the general rule is that a law is presumed to be constitutional, there is an exception when the law limits free speech.  In that case, the law is presumed to be either neutral, or presumed to be unconstitutional.  Because it limits free speech, the Cybercrime Act begins with a presumption of unconstitutionality.

The Cybercrime Act is a law that dangerously limits the growth of the marketplace of ideas.  Therefore, it is presumed to be unconstitutional.  But in addition, the law is unconstitutional, because it uses language that is overbroad, and language that is too vague.  In other words, it violates the overbreadth doctrine and the void for vagueness doctrine in constitutional law.

The overbreadth doctrine holds that if a law is so broadly written that it deters free expression, then the Supreme Court will strike it down in its face, because of its chilling effect.  The vagueness doctrine refers to a law that provides a punishment without specifying what conduct is punishable, and therefore the law is void because it violates due process.

Among the provisions of the Cybercrime Act that are too broad or too vague are:

            Sec. 4, para 4.  It makes libel a cybercrime, if committed online;

            Sec. 5.  It punishes any person who aids or abets the commission of any cybercrime, even if it is only through Facebook or Twitter;

          Sec. 6.  It adopts the entire Penal Code, if the crime is committed by the use of information technology, but the penalty shall be one degree higher;

            Sec. 7.  It makes the same crime punishable, both under the Penal Code and the Cybercrime Act;

         Sec. 19.  It authorizes the Department of Justice to issue an order to restrict access to computer data which is found to be prima facie in violation of the new law.  Sec. 19 is called “the takedown clause.”

For these reasons, I humbly predict that the Supreme Court will strike down the Cybercrime Act as unconstitutional.  Otherwise, it will be a black, black day for freedom of speech.

-o0o- 

Keynote speech by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, Doctor of Juridical Science, Master of Arts in Religious Studies (cand.) at the program sponsored by the Catholics for Reproductive Health, on15 September 2012, at the UP College of Social Work and Community Development

REASON ONE

The Catholic Church Does Not Consider

Anti-RH Teaching as Infallible

Theology consists of critical reflection on faith.  St. Anselm of Canterbury gave to us the classic definition of theology as: “Faith seeking understanding.”  But theology is the result not only of faith, but also of certain normative rules which fall into two categories: doctrines and dogmas.  Doctrines consist of beliefs or teachings which receive the official approval of the Church.

But by contrast, dogmas, which literally mean “what is right,” are doctrines that are taught definitively and promulgated with the highest solemnity.  In other words, dogmas are the definitive rules of faith.  If you reject a dogma, you become a heretic.  Parenthetically, it is very strange that our Church has failed to enumerate what are the Catholic dogmas.

A teaching which is dogma is infallible; but a teaching which is mere doctrine is not infallible.  A doctrine can change over time.  Thus, the 1973 Mysterium Ecclesiae, a declaration issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states: “The expressions of revelation are historically conditioned, and therefore the meaning is not always self-evident to those in some other historical setting.  The meaning in dogmatic language may change from one historical period to another.  The truth itself may be expressed incompletely.”

In his classic bestseller, the 1994 revised edition of the book entitled Catholicism, Richard P. McBrien of the University of Notre Dame, said: “The Church has never explicitly claimed to such infallibility on a moral question.”  The RH issue is a moral question.  The Catholic Church has never claimed that any pronouncement on the RH issue is infallible.

And in the 1996 book Christ Among Us, Anthony Wilhelm said that on the question of contraception: “The large majority of theologians agree that no question of infallibility is involved.”

REASON TWO

The Catholic Enjoys Freedom of Conscience

Every Catholic, like any citizen, enjoys freedom of conscience.  In fact, modern theology now recognizes the primacy of conscience over mere doctrines formulated by certain clerics.  In 1965, Pope Paul 6 issued an encyclical letter entitled Dignitatis Humanae, also known as Declaration on Religious Freedom.  The Pope wrote: “Man perceives and acknowledges the imperatives of the divine law through the mediation of conscience.  In all his activity, a man is bound to follow his conscience in order that he may come to God, the end and purpose of living.  It follows that he is not to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his conscience.”

In 1967, the same Pope Paul 6 issued another encyclical entitled Populorum Progreso, also known as “On the Development of Peoples.”  The Pope said: “It is for the parish to decide, with full knowledge of the matter, on the number of their children . . . in all these they must follow the demands of their own conscience.”

The 1971 statement by the US Sacred Congregation for the Clergy states: “Conscience is invulnerable and no person is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his (or her) conscience.”

Years later, in 1993, Pope John Paul 2 issued his encyclical entitled  Veritatis Splendor, also known as Splendor of Truth.  The Pope said:  “The authority of the Church, when she pronounces on moral questions, in no way undermines the freedom of conscience of Christians.  The Church puts herself always and only in the service of conscience.”

And in 1996, in the book Christ Among Us, which I have already cited, Anthony Wilhelm wrote that some “500 American theologians, in concert with many theologians throughout the world, asserted that for grave reasons Catholics may follow their conscience this matter even though the Pope has spoken.”

Quoting Andrew Greeley, both a priest and socialist, Wilhelm reached the following conclusion: “It is a clear teaching that, while erroneous decisions might be made in following one’s conscience, one who has tried to inform one’s conscience must then follow it.”

REASON THREE

RH Observes the “Preferential Option for the Poor,”

Under Liberation Theology

Liberation theology is the theory which interprets liberation from social, political, and economic oppression as an anticipation of eschatological or post-death salvation. The following are the basic principles of liberation theology:

• It is the Church and not merely the Catholic hierarchy, which is a sacrament.

• By Church, we mean the whole People of God, not just the hierarchy.

• The whole People of God participates in the mission of Christ, and not just in the mission of the Catholic hierarchy.

• The mission of the Church includes service to those in need, and, parenthetically, service to the women of the poor.  The mission of the Church is not limited to the preaching of the gospel or the celebration of the sacraments.

In his 1988 book, A Theory of Liberation, Gustavo Gutierrez wrote that the preferential option for the poor is central in liberation theology.  He advocated giving “preference to the poorest and most needy sectors.”  He reminded Catholics of the statement made by Pope John Paul 23 just before the opening of Vatican 2 that the Church is called upon to be a church of the poor.  Gutierrez said: “Let me say only that we have here two aspects of the church’s life that are both demanding and inseparable: universality and preference for the poor.”

REASON FOUR

RH is Part of Today’s Sense of the Faithful,

Also Known as Sensus Fidelium

Literally, sensus fidelium means “the sense of the faithful.”  It refers to doctrinal truth recognized by the whole body of the faithful.  In theology,  the sense of the faithful belongs to the individual believer within the community of the faithful.  In other words, God teaches us not only through the priests and the bishops, but also through the laity, to whom God gives understanding of the faith.

In opposing the RH bill, certain members of the Catholic religious fail to listen effectively to the sense of the faithful.  The Catholic clergy have a moral duty to take into consideration the experiences and consciousness of the laity.  The religious should descend from the pulpit and consult with parishioners on RH.  Today we find some of the male religious issuing their orders and directives from the pulpit, or in other words using the bully pulpit.  Some of them manage only to appeal to blind faith, instead of participating in a consultative process with the Catholic laity, particularly the poor and the underprivileged.

REASON FIVE

Surveys Showing Catholic Support for RH is

“A Sign of the Times”

The majority of Filipinos are Catholics.  A nationwide survey therefore serves as a basis for assuming that the results of the survey reflect the thinking of Catholics.  At the most recent survey conducted last August 2011 by the Social Weather Stations, the results produced “Yes” answers to the following questions:

• “The choice of a family planning method is a personal choice of couples, and no one should interfere with it.” – Yes, 82%

• “If a couple wants to plan its family, it would be able to get information from government on all legal methods.”  – Yes, 73%

• The government should fund all means of family planning, be it natural or artificial means.” –  Yes, 68%

In other countries like the Philippines, which are predominantly Catholic, many are using family planning programs, including contraception, using public funding.  Some of these countries and the percentage of Catholic for each are as follows:

• Italy, 97% Catholic

• Poland, 94%

• Paraguay, 90%

• Portugal, 90%

• Ecuador, 90%

• Argentina, 89%

• Spain, 88%

This explains why that in these Catholic countries, the population growth rate is very low, hovering between .02 to .05% population growth rate.  By contrast, the Philippines, without an RH law, has a population growth rate of 2.01%.

REASON SIX

Since God is Love, RH is Proof of Love for the Poor

And Therefore is Proof of Love for God

The Catholic concept of God as love, is diametrically opposed to the fact that everyday, 15 Filipino mothers die from pregnancy and childbirth complications.  When I last read my Bible, I came across the passage describing Jesus surrounded by disciples.  As students, they decided to raise this question with Jesus, who acted as their teacher: “Master, what is the greatest law of all?” and Jesus answered: “The first law is that you should love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul.  And the second law is that you should love your neighbor as yourself.”

In the Catholic Church, what has happened to the concept of love as the moral force of the universe?  The Catholic religious, particularly the clerics, insist quite loudly that we should all obey the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae, also known as “On the Regulation of Birth,” issued by Pope Paul 6.  This encyclical was the result of a Special Papal Commission established by Pope John 23 and concluded during the term of Pope Paul 6.

The Papal Commission was split into two.  The majority proposed that contraception should no longer be condemned.  By contrast, the minority proposed that the Pope should continue to condemn contraception.  Perversely, Pope Paul 6 decided to adopt the minority view.

Unfortunately, the Pope rejected the majority view supporting artificial contraception, based on the following arguments:

• The teaching of the Catholic Church evolves over time.

• The problem with some of the religious is that they view the conjugal act as an isolated reality.  But today, under the principle of totality, the conjugal act is viewed in the broader context of human love, family life, education, etc.

The majority opinion specifically stated that instead of viewing sex as a mere physical act designed to perpetuate the human race, instead: “In some cases intercourse can be required as a manifestation of self-giving love.”

I very humbly submit that in their blind allegiance to the encyclical Humane Vitae and ignoring that it embodies the minority opinion of the Special Papal Commission, the Catholic religious in this country, particularly the priests and bishops, continue the obsolete notion that the Church is an authoritarian structure.  The Filipino Catholic religious should now accept that they do not constitute the Church.  Instead, the Church is primarily constituted by the whole people of God.   The Filipino Catholic religious should engage all members of the Church in dialogues.

Filipino Catholics should now insist that priests and bishops in our country are no longer a special caste in Philippine society.  The Catholic Church does not consist of the priests and bishops alone.  Instead, the Church consists of the whole faith community.

I very humbly submit that since the priest is no longer a special person in Catholic theology, many Filipino priests are suffering from a sense of confusion about RH.

REASON SEVEN

Anti-RH is Cruelty to the Poor

On the RH issue, the Church hierarchy insists upon what it chooses to call morality, as if they have exclusive jurisdiction over morality.  In the name of morality, the Church strongly opposes RH, thus inflicting upon the poor people undeserved and unnecessary suffering.  In this aspect, the Church appears to be the opponent of progress and of improvement that would otherwise diminish suffering in the world.  The Church chooses to label as morality a certain set of rules of conduct, which have nothing to do with human happiness.

Does the Church love and care for the Filipino poor?  They are miserable, because among other reasons, they have so many children.  Without reproductive knowledge and information, the poor are just condemned to a vicious cycle of poverty, from generation to generation.

I very humbly submit that in its methodology, the Catholic religious is unconsciously basing our religion on fear.  Bertrand Russell, the famous writer and philosopher, and also one of the great heretics in morals and religion, has attacked religion with this passage which applies squarely to the campaign against RH: “Religion is partly the terror of the unknown and . . . partly the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes.  Fear is the basis of the whole thing – fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death.”  And he urged his readers as follows: “Conquer the world by intelligence, and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it . . . A good world needs knowledge, candidness, and courage.”

REASON EIGHT

The RH Bill is Over Ten Years Old; It is Cowardly

to Keep Postponing the Decision

It appears that in Congress, the first precursor to the RH bill was filed in 2001.  The bill is now 11 years old.  If the present efforts to delay the bill by means of a filibuster in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, then this will be proof that legislators are afraid of the Catholic vote.  We do not even know whether there is such a thing as a Catholic vote.  But any reasonable person would immediately reach the conclusion that some of our legislators refuse to face the facts squarely.  Perhaps they think that if they are anti-RH, they will automatically go to heaven; while the pro-RH legislators will automatically go to hell.  I repeat my belief that there is no hell; but if there is, there is nobody there because God is everlasting love.

Speech at the symposium sponsored by the Graduate School Student Council of the EARIST State College, Manila, on 8 September 2012.

In the past, under the law, it was an election offense for a candidate to engage in premature campaigning, meaning to say, electioneering conducted before the official campaign period.  However, in the highly controversial 2009 case of Penera v. Comelec, the Supreme Court, by a split vote of 8-7, ruled in effect that the offense of premature campaigning has already been repealed by the new Poll Automation Law.

Based on that notorious case, some senatoriables have already started taking out campaign advertising in the traditional media, meaning TV, radio, and print.  These early campaigners are not violating the law, but it appears that they are violating the sensibilities of Filipino voters, and creating a backlash of condemnation.

The ordinary voter is beginning to raise questions.  The first question is why these early campaigners are so rich that they can afford to take out expensive media advertisements ahead of all other candidates.  It is scandalously expensive to pay for media advertising.

The 2012 TV rates at prime time, meaning 6:00-11:00 p.m., can cost as much as P340,000 for 30 seconds.  The radio rates in Metro Manila for AM stations can cost as much as over P26,000 for 30 seconds.  And the present rates for a full page for the Sunday issue can cost as much as nearly P350,000 in full color, and some P194,000 for black and white.

These are the rates for a single advertisement alone.  Imagine how much the total cost is if the candidate takes out several advertisements a day.  For example, if a candidate takes out just three TV advertisements in one day, the candidate would be spending about P1 million a day.  This is shocking, in a society where politicians love to recite how high the poverty level is, and how their hearts are bleeding for the Filipino poor.

The first question is why these candidates have so much money to spend on premature media advertising.  The second question is how they are going to recover their humongous campaign expenses. Unless the candidate is a billionaire, he can recover his money invested in infomercials, only by stealing from public funds, if he is elected.  If the candidate is the head of a government agency and his campaign advertisement takes the form of an infomercial for the agency, the related question is whether it is the government agency, using public funds, which is paying for the premature campaign.

In 2009, I filed a resolution directing the Senate Committee on Public Accountability to investigate the source of funding of alleged TV infomercials featuring cabinet members and other public officials to determine their criminal liability for premature campaigning.  Subsequently, I delivered a privilege speech entitled “Palace should stop illegal cabinet infomercials.”  I specified by name about 10 persons heading government agencies that were listed by the Commission on Audit as having used public funds of some P118 million to pay for their premature campaigns.  I sent a copy of my privilege speech to the Ombudsman, the Comelec, and the Secretary of Justice.  Nothing happened.  Today, I continue my campaign against premature electioneering.

Why a premature campaign is no longer a crime is the result of a legal technicality, the effect of which is to give law a bad name.

This is how the law became a monster.  The Election Code, Section 80, provides “that it is unlawful for any person . . . to engage in an election campaign or partisan political activity, except during the campaign period.”  In other words, a person could campaign, only during the official campaign period. For example, for elections that will be held on 13 May 2013, the Comelec has issued a resolution that sets the campaign period as beginning on 12 February 2013.  Logically, no candidate should campaign before February 12 next year.

However, the same Election Code, in Section 79 (a) defines a candidate as any person who has filed a certificate of candidacy.  Therefore, if you have not yet filed a certificate of candidacy, then you are not yet a candidate.  For example, for next year’s elections, the deadline for submission of certificates of candidacy is this October 5.  However, the campaign period will begin only on February 12 next year.  Since it is not yet campaign period, the senatoriables appearing in media advertisements are not yet considered as candidates and hence, they can already start to campaign!  This is preposterous, ridiculous, and ludicrous!

The result of this tortured legislative language and the split Supreme Court ruling is absurd.  Any candidate can now advertise himself at any time, before the official campaign period, thus effectively lifting the ban on premature campaigns.

Therefore, to protect the public interest in fair elections, I shall file a bill to amend the Election Code by abolishing a certain provision.  I am referring to R.A. No. 9369, also known as the Poll Automation Law, Section 13 which provides “that any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period for which he filed his certificate of candidacy.”  The bill will reverse the decision in the case of Penera v. Comelec.  Further, the bill would give the Comelec the power to define what constitutes electioneering or partisan political activity, meaning, any activity that is designed to promote the election or defeat of any candidate.

In addition, my bill shall require persons seeking to run for public office to file a certain certificate before the deadline for the filing of the certificate of candidacy.  This document shall be called “Certificate of Intention to Run for Public Office,” or “CIRPO”.  It will be mandatory to file the CIRPO, otherwise the person will be declared ineligible to file a certificate of candidacy.  Once a person files his certificate, then he falls under all the legal prohibitions against premature campaigns.

The CIRPO bill shall provide that any person who has filed the CIRPO shall not engage in any of the following activities:

• Endorse any product or service, whether or not he accepts a fee;
• Accept any employment in any media outfit as a news anchor, writer, or regular talent;
• Buy any print, radio, or TV space to advertise himself or any product or service; and
• Engage in any activity that the Comelec considers as premature campaigning.

Under the present unfortunate situation, it is now legal to engage in premature campaigns.  But not all that is legal is ethical.  What kind of senator will a person become, if he uses public funds to advertise himself, by purporting to advertise his agency?  What kind of Senate will we have if it is dominated only by the rich who can afford to spend hundreds of millions on traditional media advertising?

I appeal to all the students of state colleges and universities, such as the EARIST, to express as a voter your disapproval of premature campaigns.  Use social media, particularly Twitter, Facebook, and your blogs.  Tell the senatoriables that their premature campaigns impact negatively public perceptions of their intellectual honesty and their commitment to the democratic principle of equality of opportunity under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.  In the social media, you might also add that if the election process is distorted or corrupted, part of the reason is the corporate greed of traditional media that will certainly earn a cash bonanza from this wretched loophole in the law.

Over 3,000 nurses gave Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago a standing ovation when she declared that she will not resign from the Senate until she is called to duty in the International Criminal Court.

“I was elected in 2010 for a six-year term.  I am duty-bound to serve as long as I can.  The ICC itself advised me not to resign until I am called to The Hague,” she said.

Santiago was keynote speaker at the opening ceremonies of the two-day annual national convention of the Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines (ORNAP), held last July 7, at the Manila Hotel Fiesta Pavilion.

Santiago being mobbed by nurses after her speech at the opening ceremonies of the two-day annual national convention of the Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines (ORNAP), last July 7, at the Manila Hotel Fiesta Pavilion.

After her speech, Santiago tried to leave the ballroom, but she was mobbed by the hysterical crowd, and had to hold on to a security guard in order to keep her balance.

At a press conference, Santiago said that the developing alignment of political forces between the administration party led by President Benigno Aquino III, and the opposition party led by former President Joseph Estrada, “is totally predictable.”

She said that the reason for the shifting of political parties among candidates is the lack of an ideological or philosophical distinction between parties.

“We should have a two-party system which should give the Filipino voter a choice between conservatives and liberals on the role of government in society,” she said.

The senator said that the choice should be include on the one hand, a conservative party that will concentrate only on peace and order, and allow the free market to operate.

She said on the other hand, that a liberal party should advocate a more active role for government in society, including the economy.

“Normally, the result is that the rich gravitate to a conservative party, while the middle and lower classes gravitate to a liberal party,” she said.

The standing ovation for Santiago was a second, after the first ovation given to her at a ballet performance.

“I am happily surprised at this ovation.  I think the Filipinos are expressing their appreciation and wishing me well in my career abroad,” she said, in trying to explain the phenomenon.

In her speech [below], Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago pushed for the passage of two nursing bills she filed in the Senate.

Senate Bill No. 1565, also known as “An Act Limiting the Consecutive Hours of Work by Nurses,” and Senate Bill No. 1589, also known as the “Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act,” seek to solve the flight of nurses to other countries and to address the current faculty shortage in nursing, respectively.

 “In both the previous and present Congress, I have filed at least two bills with respect to the nursing profession. The first is S.B. No. 1565, which provides that a nurse should not be required to remain on duty for a period longer than eight consecutive hours, or 40 hours in a seven-day work week. The second is S.B. No 1589, which mandates the Department of Health to encourage programs that will engage the cooperation of private institutions in raising the level of nursing education,” Santiago explained.

 According to the senator, the first bill also provides that a nurse should not be required to work more than her regularly scheduled work hours except in cases of health care disasters, a declaration of emergency in the region, or an emergency determined by the hospital. The second bill, meanwhile, proposes the creation of five pilot programs to provide scholarships to qualified nurses in pursuit of an advanced degree, with the goal of becoming faculty members.  It also seeks to provide grants to partnerships between nursing schools and hospitals to fund release time for qualified nurse-employees.

“Nursing has been one of the fastest rising professions in our country. Due to the increase in opportunities to work abroad, nursing graduates have steadily increased over the past few years. Our nursing education system, therefore, is hard pressed to catch up with the demand,” the senator said.

 Santiago noted that unlike in the United States, all registered nurses in the Philippines should have a bachelor’s degree pursuant to the Philippine Nursing Act of 2008. This example is now being followed in the United States, under the U.S. “RN to BSN” program.

 “We can proudly say that in nursing, Filipino nurses hold a decided educational advantage over American nurses.  Filipino nurses serve as role models to their American counterparts. However, the U.S. is catching up. It is therefore imperative that our nurses pursue further studies in order to acquire more knowledge that will improve the nursing profession here in the Philippines,” Santiago said.

 The senator added that in the United States, nurses with bachelor’s degrees will become the largest segment of the profession and one of the best paid. Santiago laments, however, that her two bills have yet to be acted upon.

 “My two bills have not been acted upon. If the nursing community thinks they are worthwhile, then they could pass a resolution, write a letter, or visit the chair of the Senate health committee, urging that these bills be given priority,” the senator said.

 Santiago said that she is willing to co-sponsor these bills and defend them on the Senate floor during the debates.#

TWO NURSING BILLS

Keynote speech at the annual convention of the Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines [ORNAP] on 7 July 2012, at the Manila Hotel Fiesta Pavilion

Perioperative Nursing

 The term “perioperative” pertains to the period extending from the time of hospitalization for surgery, to the time of discharge.  In other words, the term means the nursing care given before, during, and after surgery.  The prefix “peri” comes from the Greek word peri, which means around.  Thus, when we use the prefix “peri,” we mean near or around the surgery.

Your annual convention and scientific meeting, of which this is No. 38, is intended to help achieve the objective to promote the highest professional standards of perioperative nursing practice for the optimum care of patients.  The continuous goal of perioperative nursing is to furnish excellence in taking care of the patients – in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases.

Operating room nursing is the oldest specialty on record, dating back to 1875.  Nursing is unique in the operating room: it ensures a specialty service, emphasizing the need for continuous individual care, specific to the patient.  Thus, the operating room is a specialized high-quality area of nursing. It is entirely possible that a perioperative nurse could become the first assistant to the surgeon, on a level with the resident, intern, or physician’s assistant.  If you are the first assistant you would assist in retracting, hemostasis, suturing, and any other task required by the surgeon to facilitate speed, while maintaining quality during the procedure.

But ordinarily, the perioperative nurse performs two major roles: as circulator, and as scrub nurse.  The circulator is a perioperative nurse who manages the nursing care of a patient during surgery.  The circulator observes for breaches in surgical asepsis, and coordinates the needs of the circulating team.  A scrub nurse is a perioperative nurse who works directly with the surgeon, in the sterile field.  The scrub nurse passes instruments, sponges, and other items needed during the procedure.

In the United States, there is a high premium for perioperative nurses, because you are considered specialty nurses.  By 2006 standards, you could probably earn over $83,000 annually at that time; and certainly more, by this time.

Philippines Ahead of US

Under the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, only the holder of a bachelor’s degree in nursing is allowed to take the nursing licensure examination.  Thus, in the Philippines, all registered nurses are holders of a bachelor’s degree.  This example is now being followed in the United States, under the U.S. “RN to BSN” program.  Therefore we can proudly say that in nursing, Filipino nurses hold a decided educational advantage over American nurses.  Filipino nurses serve as role models to your American counterparts.

But the U.S. is catching up.  Today, in the United States, there is a surge in enrolment in nursing courses at four-year colleges.  More than 600 schools in the U.S. have opened so-called “RN to BSN” programs.  These are people who are already registered nurses, but want to earn bachelor’s degrees.  According to the American Association of Colleges of Nurses, fueled by the growth in online courses, enrolment this year 2012 is almost 90,000.  The nurses with bachelor’s degrees will become the largest segment of the profession and one of the best paid.

In the U.S., an added incentive for hospitals to hire nurses with baccalaureate degrees is a project of the American Nurses Association.  The ANA awards the so-called “magnet designation” to about 400 hospitals.  The ANA awards magnet status, depending, among others, on the nursing staff’s level of education.  In 2008, the U.S. federal government survey showed that the U.S. had 3 million registered nurses.  But half or 1.5 million registered nurses already had a bachelor’s or master’s degree in nursing.

In 2010, the U.S. Institute of Medicine called for raising the proportion to the total number of registered nurses to 80% with the bachelor’s or master’s degrees for 2020.  Even if a bachelor’s program has stiff requirements, American nurses consider it as second career.  In the U.S., the typical starting age is around 30 years old.  American nurses are emulating the Philippine system, because of your influence on serious treatment decisions.

Nursing Bills

In both the previous and the present Congress, I have filed at least two bills with respect to the nursing profession.  The first bill limits the consecutive hours of work by nurses.  The second bill is known as the Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act.

I filed the first bill, because the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued reports that in 2001, some 13,500 Filipino nurses went overseas, but only some 4,400 students passed the nursing board examination.  The statistics show that the Philippines is steadily losing nurses, and therefore we have to solve the problem of the flight of nurses to other countries.  My bill focuses on the factor of the hours of work.

Under my bill, a nurse should not be required to remain on duty for a period longer than eight consecutive hours, or 40 hours in a seven-day work week.  Further, a nurse should not be required to work more than her regularly scheduled work hours.

The bill allows exceptions in cases of health care disasters, a declaration of emergency in the region, or an emergency determined by the hospital.  If there is an emergency, the hospital should make a good-faith effort to have overtime covered on a voluntary basis, including calling per diems, agency nurses, assigning floats, or requesting an additional day off work from off-duty employees.   The bill does not prohibit a nurse from voluntarily working overtime.

Under my second bill known as the Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act, I took note of the current faculty shortage in nursing.  This bill mandates the Department of Health to encourage programs that will engage the cooperation of private institutions, not only in producing better nursing faculty, but also in raising the level of nursing education.  The purpose of the bill is to create five pilot programs to provide scholarships to qualified nurses in pursuit of an advanced degree, with the goal of becoming faculty members.  It also seeks to provide grants to partnerships between nursing schools and hospitals to fund release time for qualified nurse-employees.  Thus, the nurse-employee can earn a salary while obtaining an advanced degree in nursing, with the goal of becoming nurse faculty.

Under my bill, the Health Secretary, on a competitive basis, may award grants to partnerships composed of a nursing school and a hospital.  The grant shall be awarded for a period of three to five years.  In awarding grants, the health secretary shall consider the following factors: geographical distribution; rural and urban areas; range and type of institution; and prior experience or exceptional programs.  My bill includes the proper appropriation from the National Treasury.

My two bills have not been acted upon.  If you think they are worthwhile, you could either pass a resolution, write a letter, or visit the chair of the Senate health committee, urging that these bills should be given priority.  This means that the bills should be scheduled for a public hearing, where ORNAP would be entitled to participate.  The committee chair should then issue a committee report recommending that the bills should be passed.  This will be followed by her sponsorship speech during the Senate plenary session.  If you request it, I could be co-sponsor, so that I could help to defend the bills during the floor debates.

The bills are identified as follows:

1. Senate Bill No. 1565, “An Act limiting the consecutive hours of work by nurses;” and
2. SBN 1589, “An Act to create a pilot program to increase the number of graduate educated nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurse,” with the short title of “Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act.”

Conclusion

Florence Nightingale, English nurse and medical reformer, said that the very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm.  She also said that nursing should put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.  Finally, she said that a nurse deserves a better definition than simply being devoted and obedient.

This is presumably why the poet Henry Wordsworth Longfellow wrote of Florence Nightingale:

                        A lady with a lamp

                        Shall stand

                        In the great history of the land,

                        A noble type of good,

                        Heroic womanhood.

-o0o-

Speech at the induction of officers of the Credit Management Association of the Philippines, Inc., on 28 June 2012, at Shangri-la Makati Hotel.

Today, there is an economic crisis in Europe, because certain members of the European Union – namely, Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal – are bankrupt.  These bankrupt countries have two choices.  The first choice is to exit from the European Union, and possibly cause the downfall of the EU.  The second choice is to apply for loans from the International Monetary Fund, and accept such conditionalities as: reducing public spending, increasing collection of taxes, liberalizing their international economic relations, and even improving other areas of government.

            The IMF said that it will raise $456B for loans to those European countries.  As part of the European Union program, the IMF chair has requested the Philippines to lend money to its pool of funds.

The IMF request for a loan has been granted by the Aquino administration, and has stirred a controversy over two issues, which I will answer summarily:

1. Is the loan constitutional, since it was granted without congressional participation?  Answer: Under the Constitution, there is no legal obstacle to the loan.
2. Is it wise to issue the loan, considering our Third World status?   Answer: Questions of wisdom in foreign policy should be addressed to President Aquino when, as the country’s lone spokesperson in foreign affairs, he is privy to confidential information that is not available to Congress.

Questions of legality have been raised, because the loan was granted without information to, or the advice of Congress, particularly the Senate which share the foreign policy power with the President.  Such questions have no legal basis.  The Constitution provides that the President may contract foreign loans on behalf of our republic.  (Constitution, Art. 7, Sec. 20).  The only limitation on the President’s power is that he should have the prior concurrence of the Monetary Board, and that his power is subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.

At present, there is no such law that requires the President to consult Congress or the Senate.  If the Senate wishes to participate in the foreign loan process, then it should pass a bill to that effect.

Further, the Constitution provides that the Central Bank shall function as the central monetary authority (Constitution, Art. 12, Sec. 20).  Accordingly, the Central Bank Act provides that the Monetary Board may authorize the Bangko Sentral to grant loans to and receive loans from foreign banks and other foreign or international entities, both public and private.  (R.A. No. 7653, Chap. 4, Art. 2, Sec. 75).

Perhaps the controversy over the Philippine loan to the IMF springs more from the trauma that the Philippines suffered during our country’s own foreign debt crisis in the 1980s.  The IMF provided bailout funds to our country, but it demanded painful structural adjustments, such as budgetary cutbacks, trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization.  It is said that those structural adjustments dislocated irreversibly the economy of the Philippines.

One of the IMF’s conditions for the rescue loan that it extended to the Philippines was the Automatic Appropriations Law.  This law mandates that among budgetary expenditures, debt servicing should have priority allocation.  Thus, the Philippines has allocated 20 to 25% of our national budget to debt servicing.

Although the IMF has provided relief for states facing financial crises, it needs to be emphasized that the IMF needs to walk a fine line.  On the one hand, IMF should encourage the provision of funding that will be beneficial for both the borrower and the lender.  On the other hand, the IMF should avoid moral hazard, meaning a government that has fallen into a financial crisis and has been bailed out of the crisis is likely to behave more recklessly, adopting inappropriate policies and over-borrowing.  This is the so-called “moral hazard dilemma.”

At the beginning of 2000, some analysts already demonstrated that the IMF patterns of lending respond to the geopolitical interests of the United States, its dominant member.  According to Professor Lisa Martin of Harvard, the “public choice” school has studied the IMF as a self-interested organization attempting to assert itself in the face of constant political demands from its powerful member states.  We Filipinos must be aware that through the exercise of authority that is perceived as legitimate, specially because it has the veneer of science, the IMF and the World Bank may in fact be able to pursue agendas that have little relationship to the interest of either major donors or borrowers.

Having issued this cautionary note about the IMF, let me proceed to the most important question of all:  Instead of lending money for European countries, why don’t we use the money to help the poor in our own country?  The answer is that we cannot do so.  Under the new Central Bank Act, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is mandated to maintain international reserves adequate to meet any foreseeable net demands for foreign currencies.  (R.A. No. 7653, Sec. 65).  Our country’s international reserves are invested in accordance with the investment guideline that only investment-grade and highly-rated financial instruments of non-residents should qualify.

There is a difference between national government money and BSP money.  National government money comes from tax and non-tax revenues.  BSP money comes from investment income, supervisory fees, and miscellaneous income.  BSP international reserves form part of its total assets.

Gross national reserves or GIR are external assets that are available to and controlled by monetary authorities and Central Bank.  These are comprised of monetary gold, foreign exchange assets, and other claims in foreign currencies.  The GIR are held primarily for precautionary reasons.  These reserves serve as a contingency buffer when there is insufficient domestic foreign exchange supply, or when there is a foreign exchange shortage during market stresses.

The corollary question is: Why is the BSP lending to the IMF, when over 38% of the Philippine population are living below the poverty line?  The answer is that it is the national government and not the BSP which is directly responsible for addressing poverty with resources coming from the budget.  Furthermore, when the Philippines lends to the IMF, our loan indirectly supports the poor, particularly the OFWs.

When we grant the loan to the IMF, the BSP level of international reserves will remain the same.  Only the computation of the reserves will change.  To allay the fears of our people, let me emphasize that: There is no impact whatsoever on budget allocation of the national government.  Under the law, the BSP can freely convert any of the assets in its international reserves into other assets.  Lending to the IMF is just one form of BSP investment using its reserves.

The IMF will pay interest on its loan from the Philippines at the SDR interest rate, which at present is about .12%.

Another common question is why we are not using our international reserves to either pay off the debts of our national government, or to fund more infrastructure projects of the government.  Again, the answer is the legal provision that our international reserves follow an investment guideline mandating that only investment-grade and highly-rated financial instruments of non-residents should qualify. Therefore, the BSP cannot lend part of its reserves to the national government to retire Philippine public debt, and the law prohibits the BSP from engaging in development banking or finance.

There should be no anxiety that if we need the money we are lending to solve a problem in the balance of payments, we might not be able to get our money back in time.  As long as the problem arises from the balance of payments, the IMF will return our loan.

]]> http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/?feed=rss2&p=729 2 http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/?p=722&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=media-advisory http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/?p=722#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2012 03:17:31 +0000 Admin http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/?p=722 Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago will be the inducting officer and guest speaker of the 1st General Membership & Induction Meeting of the Credit Management Association of the Philippines, Inc. tomorrow, Thursday, 28 June 2012, at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel Quezon Ballroom, Ayala Center, Makati City. The program will start at 12:30 p.m.]]>

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago will be the inducting officer and guest speaker of the 1^st General Membership & Induction Meeting of the Credit Management Association of the Philippines, Inc. tomorrow, Thursday, 28 June 2012, at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel Quezon Ballroom, Ayala Center, Makati City. The program will start at 12:30 p.m.