“There may be good and valid reasons for this move by the BSP to allow just anyone to buy $30 million from local banks and to ‘invest’ the same abroad without needing approval anymore from the BSP,” said Loren.

“But anyone can see how this relaxation of rules may be used by unscrupulous individuals, whether belonging to the private or public sector, to hide ill-gotten wealth abroad under the guise of investing,” said Loren.

Under the new rule, banks and non-banks, as well as their clients, need only to seek BSP approval for investments over $30 million.

Loren said that with a new administration coming in, some people who may have made a killing in government contracts under the outgoing administration may take advantage of the new BSP rule.

“Money laundering, despite our having already passed an anti-money laundering law, remains a serious concern here,” she added.

Loren, who had chaired the Senate Economic Affairs Committee, also pointed out that the relaxation of the rules may induce “capital flight” at a time when the Philippines should be enticing foreign investors to invest in the country.

“Diversifying investment opportunities for local businessmen should be balanced with our country’s own need for investments,” she said.

SOURCE: http://63.247.82.66/~lorenleg/news_039_loren_airs_money_laundering_concern.php

Valenzuela City Rep. Rex Gatchalian, NPC spokesman, referred to text messages being circulated by anonymous sources claiming that Senator Legarda had filed a bill seeking to reduce the salaries of public school teachers and military personnel.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Gatchalian said. “On the contrary, Senator Legarda had filed a bill precisely seeking to increase the salaries and upgrade the positions of teachers and she also co-authored a resolution seeking the same for uniformed military personnel and civilian employees of the Department of National Defense.”

Gatchalian said that Loren had filed Senate Bill No. 1611, titled “An Act Upgrading the Minimum Salary Grade Level of Teachers from Salary Grade 10 to 19.”

He also disclosed that Loren was also one of the authors and co-signors of Senate Resolution No. 26, entitled “Joint Resolution Authorizing the President of the Philippines to modify the position classification system of civilian personnel and the base pay schedule of the military and uniformed personnel in the government, and to implement the same initially effective July 1, 2009, and for other purposes.”

“This is on the record and is known to everybody who has followed up Loren’s activities in the Senate,” said Gatchalian. “Apparently those who are disseminating this manifestly false information are desperate that Senator Legarda is bound to win the vice presidential race. This disinformation is a disservice to our electorate who deserve to be told the truth.”

Gatchalian said that in budget deliberations,Loren had always moved for the increase in salaries and benefits of government employees, especially teachers and health workers, as well as military personnel, to uplift their living standards in view of the continuing rise in cost of living expenses.

Gatchalian pointed out that Loren had special concern for members of the military, having herself obtained a degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines, graduating at the top of her class. She is now a reserve officer in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

“Senator Legarda has always demonstrated her compassion and concern for the rank-and-file employees of government, including civilian, military and police, teachers and health workers, because she believes that they are usually overworked and underpaid, considering the continuing rise in the cost of living,” said Gatchalian.

“In her two terms in the Senate, Loren has filed bills and supported legislation that would improve the economic security and future of our public servants, and ensure for them a decent standard of living,” Gatchalian added. “She also supported and pushed for larger appropriations in the budget for increase of salaries and benefits for government employees and officials.”

SOURCE: http://63.247.82.66/~lorenleg/news_038_NPC_condemns_black_propaganda_vs_loren.php

Loren issued the statement in reaction to the Radio Frequency ID (RFID) program of the Land Transportation Office (LTO) which the agency started implementing last January 4.

Among other things, the LTO’s RFID project is intended to ensure full compliance by motorists with the provisions of the Clean Air Act pertaining to the smoke emission testing of vehicles being registered in the country.

“It is a well known problem that a number of motor vehicles had not really been tested for compliance with our smoke emission standards. The proliferation of fake certificate of compliance attests to this,” said Loren.

“Thus, if this RFID project of the LTO would ensure that all vehicles using our roads had been smoke-emission tested, then, I am for it,” added Loren, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change.

“We must get smoke-belching vehicles off our roads now,” she stressed.

The United Nations Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster-Risk Reduction Champion for the Asia-Pacific Region, Loren is a co-author of the Clean Air Act, as well as the principal author of many other landmark environmental laws like the Solid Waste Management Act and the Climate Change Act.

The LTO’s RFID project entails the tagging of all registered vehicles with scanner-readable stickers that contain relevant information whether a vehicle had been properly registered, smoke-emission tested and whether or not alerts had been issued against it by the authorities for traffic violations or involvement in the commission of crimes.

The emission of carbon and other greenhouse gasses into the air is being blamed by scientists for the elevation of global temperature, which in turn results to climate change.

Among other weather disturbances, climate change results to more severe droughts and more powerful typhoons, similar to the devastating typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Santi which inundated the Philippines late last year.

Only properly maintained vehicles are able to pass the smoke-emission tests required by the LTO for their registration. Fixers had been known to provide with fake compliance certificates the owners of vehicles who had failed to pass smoke testing.

With the RFID tagging, the LTO would immediately know whether a vehicle had been carbon tested or not.

Source: http://63.247.82.66/~lorenleg/news_048_Unified_effort_for_cleaner_air_needed.php

The senator said that while the Commission of Elections is supposed to receive a total budget of between P110 million for voters’ education, less than P35 million is reported to have been released so far to the poll body by the Department of Budget and Management.

“If the Comelec is operating on a meager budget for voters’ education, then it is highly likely that voters will not be sufficiently informed on the mechanics of voting. The result would be total confusion on Election Day, which in turn would lead to a failure of elections,” Loren said.

Loren warned that if the government is deliberately withholding funds for voters’ education, “it may be doing so for a hidden political agenda, which is to declare a failure of elections that could allow it to remain in power beyond its mandated term, through emergency rule backed by the military.”

A failure of elections, Loren said, is “certain to result in political unrest that could even lead to a military take-over and the death of democracy in the country.”

Loren said she is “worried over the seemingly slow pace of voters’ education with a mere four months to go before the actual voting.”

The snail-paced voters’ education campaign, Loren said, “could be part of a sinister plot to make the May elections fail, and thereby keep the incumbent administration in power.”

Loren said that the Comelec should already be waging a pro-active campaign in tri-media to explain to the electorate the features of the automated election.

“While I can understand that the automated system is new and the Comelec is familiarizing itself with how to proceed with it on a nationwide scale, I find it rather odd that it seems to be taking its own sweet time in explaining the system to voters,” Loren said.

The senator said that the Comelec should by now be deploying personnel and resources to the provinces, especially in far-flung areas, to educate voters on the automated system of elections.

SOURCE: http://63.247.82.66/~lorenleg/news_051_failure_of_election.php

Should the House insist on convening the con-ass on that day, there could be violent reactions from the masses of protesters, and bedlam and disorder could result. I appeal to the House to reconsider their resolution convening a constituent assembly in order to sooth the tensions in the country and also allow Congress to concentrate on urgent matters, like the economy and unemployment, the war in Mindanao and the coming elections.

SOURCE: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

The illustration not only vividly captured the genesis of the Philippine flag. It showed the weavers in elaborate Philippine ternos, proud baro’t saya for a proud people, which at that point were struggling to shake off centuries of colonial rule for the breathtaking dawn of liberation.
I often replay that treasured moment in my mind, first focusing on our flag being sewn and the obvious pride of the terno-clad women making history.

The association of the Philippine terno “crafted out of our tropical fabric” with epoch-making events in our life as a nation is one of the reasons why I am fascinated with tropical fabrics even in this age of polyester. This is not mere sentimentality. It is our duty to always remember our great and noble acts.

In addition, tropical fabrics bring to mind a sense of cultural pride. The painstaking process of creating beautiful fabric — woven with exquisite designs and unique patterns — from plant fibers, handed down and preserved through generations is a wonderful craft, which we can call our very own in the ASEAN region. It should be our dream, our vision, our goal, to sustain this tradition that shows our people’s creativity and craftsmanship.

It is in this sense that I believe that the tropical fabrics industry in the entire ASEAN region has great potentials in the world market. However, between where we are now and where we want to be in the world market, is a long way to go. A lot of work needs to be done.

An oft-cited problem of the Philippine fabric industry is our inability to achieve critical mass in the production of raw materials. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, I shall urge the Department of Agriculture to undertake measures to strengthen the market for fiber crops so that hectarage devoted to its cultivation can be expanded.

The Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI), an agency of the Department of Science and Technology, is already implementing R&D programs in natural fabrics, natural dyes, and the silk industry to blend with natural fabrics such as abaca, banana, pineapple with silk. These programs should be strengthened.

In consultations and meetings that I conducted with stakeholders of this industry, I came to know that there is a gap between the buyers and the producers there is a need to improve the market to bring these two players together. The loomweavers, the artists who labor on the crafting of these beautiful pieces, had lamented on the lack of capital and equipment. Most of them reside in rural areas; they have small means in acquiring looms that will help them meet the demand of their customers. And how will they be able to retain customers if they cannot meet these demands?

We should therefore promote foreign investments and linkages in the industry to achieve scale economies, establish a reliable supply of materials and adopt modern high technology machinery for greater productivity. And the important part we should ensure that the textile producers benefit directly from these.

Further, government should provide the public goods in terms of farm to market roads, market information, and R&D. Programs geared towards the development of this industry should be in place such as skills training, financial assistance, and promotions showcasing our products in other parts of the world.

The Philippines has enacted the Tropical Fabrics Act in 2004, which I authored, prescribing the use of Philippine tropical fabrics purchased from local sources for uniforms of public officials and employees and for purposes which require the use of fabrics in government offices and functions. This could be one of the policies that the other ASEAN member countries can adopt, if they have not done so already. There is also much that the private sector can do to help catalyze market exchange and industrial development. Taking reasonable risks and investing in production capacities for products with high market potential is one of them.

My sense is that tropical fabrics can sell in the haute couture shops in Europe and North America. If Cuba can sell the summer clothing for men that was patterned after the Philippine barong tagalog, there is no reason why we can’t mass produce and mass market a more practical version of the barong for the North American market. Just imagine another possibility: women’s clothing and accessories fashioned out of our tropical fibers gloriously placed on the racks of big-name retailers in the prime fashion markets overseas.

This is not daydreaming. We can market clothing and accessories made of our tropical fibers once we put in place the total infrastructure for it- from the agriculture component of mass producing tropical fibers to the development of modern weaving, embroidering and dyeing facilities. We have a niche product. There is a demand for it.

The possibilities are endless. Such a feat would even be more successful if our plans and programs for tropical fabrics get the adequate financial and technical support from our respective governments. Meanwhile, what you, textile enthusiasts from civil society, can do is even more significant.

This symposium, the 2nd ASEAN Textile Symposium, is an outstanding activity that will help increase the value of our respective textile products.Sharing methods, technologies, innovative ideas and values all these will preserve and enhance the ASEAN region’s heritage. I am very pleased that such an initiative is being undertaken and I wish that we have many more in the future to keep our tropical fabrics industry alive.

More than being mere products, tropical fabrics are an art. The Philippines as a nation, and the ASEAN as a region need to keep this art thriving as a better alternative to polyester and synthetic materials.

And so I hope that together, we can cobble together a program of close coordination between government and organized business so that the wealth of human and natural resources of this country can be harnessed to carve for ourselves a niche in the world market. Not only that, by embarking on this worthy endeavour, we are creating domestic market opportunities and generating jobs that will give our people a better life and a prosperous future.

It’s a vision worth working for. Good day!

SOURCE: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

The incident demonstrates that this administration has no respect for the constitutional rights of its citizens, especially in the exercise of freedom of speech and assembly.

But how long could this go on until the people lose their patience as they did in the people power uprising of 1986?

SOURCE: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph

Although the authorities said they do not know the authors of the bombing and the bomb plants, they also denied that the suspicious occurrences were the result of a destabilization plot. It is however suspicious that such bombings and attempted bombings are occurring during a state of high political tension, as it has happened in the past.

This has thrown the public into a higher state of tension. It would help if the administration itself should defuse the political tensions arising from its own acts of commission or omission, such as pushing through the cha-cha and keeping secret its political plans for 2010.

SOURCE: http://www.lorenlegarda.com.ph