Is this his legacy?

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon said today President Aquino will be remembered in history as someone who remained true to his mandate of good governance.

"What we have achieved today can be credited to the basic premise of good governance," Drilon said as Congress prepared to resume its third regular session next week with President Aquino delivering his last State-of-the-Nation Address on Monday, July 27.

Drilon pointed out that President Aquino had maintained a productive relationship with Congress in the past five years.

Drilon said reform laws which for years had languished in the legislative mill were passed during the Aquino administration. Among these are the Fair Competition Act and the amendments to the Cabotage Law, which the President signed recently.

Other laws that Drilon said had been finally passed by Congress after being placed in the backburner for many years included those pertaining to Reproductive Health, sin taxes, reform of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) and the entry of more foreign banks into country.

"These measures are really consistent with and in support of the reform agenda of the President so that whoever sits in Malacañang after 2016 should

continue the policies that are already in place," Drilon said.

The Senate leader said he expects  the President to tell Congress and the people in his SONA what he would do in his last year in office to preserve whatever gains were made during the past five years.

"Particularly, I would like to hear the President outline what he intends to do in order to improve basic government services like the MRT. I would like to hear what the President will say in order to hasten government spending because of the specter of underspending which harms our economy," Drilon said.

Drilon said he had already met with the leadership of the House of Representatives to monitor their legislative agenda.

"We have agreed that we will give the highest priority to six measures. These are the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the 2016 National Budget, the creation of the Department of Information, Communication and Technology, the amendments to the built-operate-and-transfer law to strengthen our private-public partnership, the modernization of PAG-ASA modernization, and the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill," the Senate leader said.

Apart from these, Drilon said, there are about 15 other measures which the legislature will consider "but we don’t want to raise expectations as we have only six months to work on the six priority bills and the 15 other measures which we have agreed to monitor." –End-

                        

An endorsement is a reasonable expectation?

Senate President Franklin Drilon said today that President Benigno Aquino III is likely to endorse Interior Secretary Mar Roxas as the Liberal Party's presidential candidate in the 2016 elections. "People are expecting the President to endorse Secretary Mar Roxas and I think it’s a belief entertained by many sectors. Given all the circumstances, I think it is a reasonable expectation," Drilon said.

Drilon said the President would make the announcement of his endorsement of Roxas before July 31, after the State of the Nation address (SONA) on July 27.       Drilon said that after Secretary Roxas declares his intention to run as the LP standard-bearer, he should already leave his post as it "becomes untenable for him to continue holding the post as Secretary of Interior and Local Government."

The Senate leader said the endorsement of Roxas as LP presidential candidate took some time as President wanted to consolidate the coalition that brought him to power in 2010.  "I think it is a process that the President wanted to go through. He wanted to establish certain principles to continue the coalition we have had in the last five years," Drilon said.

      

"The first principle is that this administration had undertaken a lot of reforms. Two, the reforms must be continued by the next administration. Three, the alliance or group that the President would campaign for should assure him and the public that the reforms would continue," Drilon explained.

"Four, let’s face it, in politics, you have to have groups supporting your candidates, and there is nothing wrong, and certainly it is needed, that the President talk to his coalition partners to make sure that  they are in the fold when he endorses the candidate," he added.

Drilon said the LP vice-presidential candidate "must be somebody whom he (Roxas) could trust and be able to work with. It’s his choice at this point." Asked whether he is being considered as LP vice-presidential candidate, Drilon said: "That doesn’t any political sense. Why? Because Mar and I belong to the same group – to Region VI, both Hiligaynon. In fact we belong to the same island."

 "It doesn’t make any political sense for Mar to say, 'Frank come on, let’s run together.' I would like to think  he is looking at other people," he said.

Drilon said the LP will have a complete slate, from the President down to  the last councilor of the last fifth-class municipality. On the LP senatorial slate, Drilon said there  are six incumbent senators up for re-election, while four former senators would like to go back and present themselves to the people.

Apart from these, he said, some from the executive branch and from Congress who believe they have enough exposure also want to give a run for the Senate a try. Drilon said those who have signified their intention to run for senator include Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, TIEZA general manager Mark Lapid and MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino.

Drilon said that it is only Secretary Roxas who has expressed his intent to run for president, "so there is no sense in having a convention anymore." Drilon pointed out that since President Aquino has a very high trust rating, his endorsement of Roxas as the LP presidential candidate would "have a very strong value" during the campaign. 

–End-

Can he solve the MRT woes?

Senate President Franklin M. Drilon has urged President Aquino to crack the whip on underperforming officials to improve the delivery of services to the people. The Senate leader cited the case of the public transport system where the riding public must endure everyday glitches in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT-3).

Drilon said the Aquino administration should accelerate public spending in the remainder of its term as underspending has pulled down the country’s economic gains.     

“We must be more efficient in spending. The gross domestic product (GDP) has been affected by underspending. What we should realize is government spending is crucial to achieving overall economic growth because 20% of the economy depends on government spending,” he pointed out. 

The Senate leader said the government should come up with solutions to the problems of the public transport system. 

“I would like to see in the last year of the President some firm executive action on transport services. Let’s face it, the MRT-3 is a disappointment,” he said.

“I feel the frustration of our people and so the improvement of services in this area is really critical,” Drilon said.

The Metro Manila-based mass transit line has been suffering from various problems, capped off by a train accident last August 14 that left 38 passengers injured.  On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the operations at the MRT were disrupted due to technical glitches.  

“So I would like to hear—and I’m sure the public wants to hear—what the administration is going to do, even in the remaining short term, to alleviate the situation of the commuting public,” he said.

While Drilon expressed disappointment over the state of the transport system, he does not support calls for the resignation of the officials involved: “No, we don’t have to go into that. Let’s provide more attention, closer supervision and monitoring.”

“What is necessary is strong executive action. Spend what needs to be spent, and do what must be done, for the sake of our people. After all, the MRT and other rail systems are in essence a public service” Drilon said. -End-