PRESIDENT BENIGNO SIMEON AQUINO III
Malacañang Palace
Compound J. P. Laurel St., San Miguel, Manila City
Dear Mr. President:
Allow me to first congratulate the administration in its implementation of anti-poverty and anti-graft and corruption measures. The administration’s efforts to fulfill the promises it made to the Filipino people is truly laudable.
However, as is the problem of developing economies, the masses are consistently beset by economic difficulties.
Since we deepened the national economy’s integration to the global production line, millions of Filipinos have been victimized by the ups- and downturns of the global market. The people continue to suffer the skyrocketing prices of fuel and the often-fluctuating prices of basic food commodities, and the scarcity of permanent employment and adequate wages.
It is important to implement short-term programs that would alleviate the burden of ordinary Filipino people. It is likewise imperative to put into motion medium-term and longer-term programs that would lead the country to self-sustainability.
Allow me to propose policies that would deal with the nation’s top three concerns: inflation, wages, and jobs.
Inquirer Opinion / Letters To The Editor
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view/20110210-319440/Akbayan-was-not-a-CPP-breakaway-group
Akbayan was not a CPP breakaway group
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: February 10, 2011
THIS IS a reaction to the articles titled “Satur wary of Aquino’s appointment of rival” (Inquirer, 1/23/11) and “Akbayan head, shooting pal is Aquino’s political adviser.” (Inquirer, 1/21/11) Both stated that Akbayan broke away from the local communist movement and did so because of ideological differences with CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) founder Jose Maria Sison.
It is disconcerting that while one news article mentions Ocampo’s call to be “conscious of the dynamics within the left,” both articles did not display an awareness of the plurality that has characterized the Philippine political Left.
Preliminary Statement of Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello
Committee on Foreign Affairs Hearing, House of Representatives, Feb 21, 2012
I would like, first of all, to express my gratitude to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Alfrancis Bichara, for calling this series of hearings and the Committee Secretary Millet Apostol for arranging it.
Need for Transparency in Foreign Policy
Transparency has been one of the watchwords of this administration in its battle to root out corruption. It is a goal that I, as a member of the administration coalition, fervently agree with. Thus, it is with some disappointment that I must say that I still have to see the campaign for transparency extend to the realm of foreign relations, especially when it comes to our relations with the United States.
Congress is very much in the situation of the ordinary citizen these days when it comes to our relations with the United States. We know very little about what is going on. And this is not because we are preoccupied with the impeachment process, but because the Executive is sharing so little with us. And with so little information being passed on to us, many of us are beginning to feel incompetent when it comes to the formation of our country’s foreign policy, which is one of our constitutional obligations. We are not even in a position of being able to exercise our duty of providing a critical counterweight to executive decisions so that the interests of the people and the country are truly served. We are, in short, being taken for granted.
By Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello
Published by the Philippine Daily Inquirer
February 20th, 2012
A comment I made to the Inquirer (Feb 17, 2012) urging the administration to initiate moves to confiscate Chief Justice Renato Corona’s undeclared wealth prompted a number of comments, one of which was from a reader who asked if that would not be prejudging the result of the impeachment process and thus subverting it.
The Facts
But before I answer, a few facts are in order. And when it comes to the case of the Filipino people versus Corona, contra factum non esse disputandum, as the Romans put it: one cannot argue against the facts. It is clear by now that Corona deliberately concealed the magnitude of his wealth from the citizenry. He did not declare two of seven properties and grossly undervalued the rest. The difference between Corona’s claim of P18,436,980 for his declared properties and their actual acquisition cost of P47,047,731 —as revealed by documents presented at the trial—is a whopping P28,054,951.
Moreover, in his 2010 SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth), Corona declared a cash balance in five bank accounts of P3,500,000, but evidence presented at the trial showed a total of P31,752,623. This meant a yawning discrepancy of P28,252,623.
Adding up the missing P28 million+ in undeclared property and P28 million+ in undeclared income yields P56 million+. And this sum does not include the unknown sum in Corona’s dollar accounts, the subpoena for which the Supreme Court has issued a TRO, which the majority in the Senate have voted to respect.
Corona is not only a peso millionaire but a dollar millionaire, with his net worth coming to at least $1.4 million at the current rate of exchange. He may not be a Henry Sy or Lucio Tan, but this amount places him among the less than one twentieth of one per cent of Filipinos who are dollar millionaires, indeed of the minuscule number of dollar millionaires worldwide. This is not the financial profile of a senior civil servant that derives his income principally from his government salary but that of a Filipino CEO or a man of inherited wealth.
Group says people successful in revealing truth behind bank records
Akbayan Party today reiterated its call to Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona to resign from his post saying that his guilt is already “clear and obvious.”
According to Akbayan spokesperson Risa Hontiveros, the basis of Article 2 alone of the impeachment complaint has already been proven that Corona is unfit to hold the office of Chief Justice.
“Sapat na ang nadinig at nakita ng mamamayan sa impeachment trial. The evidence that has been presented unmistakably showed that Corona has failed repeatedly in submitting accurate, truthful, and timely SALNs (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth). It is as clear as day. This is an important victory for the people,” Hontiveros said.
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