Related Links

Volunteer A Philippines That Works:

Join the people's campaign
Donate
Invest in our nation's future
Undecided?
Let us help you decide
» Photo Gallery
Economic Vision And Platform » Internet TV
Officers and members of the Makati Business Club, Your Excellencies of the » Speeches
diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen, my friends and countrymen.
» Press Statements
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to address you. I trust
your asking me first is not based on alphabetical order, or based on age, but » Campaign Materials
perhaps, based on who you think will most likely win the coming election.
» Tindahan Ni Noynoy
As managers, you recognize that one of the necessary skills of an effective
» Join A Group
manager is time management. Is it possible that you have invited me to
determine if there is still a necessity to spend time with the others?
» Yellow Army Badge
Baka naman inuna niyo ako upang malaman kung sapat na ako at hindi na
kailangang pansinin yung iba?
Stay Connected
I think we are all aware of the problems facing our country. We share the
same statistics. We probably even share the same conclusions about the Leave your email to receive our
need for better governance. To rehash all of these problems at this forum Newsletters, get notified about site
would be a waste of your time. But what we have now is an opportunity for developments, and keep up to date
you to get to know me, to find out the advocacies that I champion, the on the latest news about Noynoy,
perspective and philosophies I bring to the equation and some of my the elections, and the issues that
proposed solutions to give an insight into my inner persona. face the nation.

Levity aside, the political exercise that we will engage in this May is a crucial Email Address:
one. It will be, as it is for every fledgling democracy, a test of the strength of
our political institutions. The peaceful transition of power has become a
symbol of political maturity across the world, with many still failing to achieve
the credibility that is the cornerstone of a genuine political mandate. With the
electoral scandals that have stalled our democratic progress as of late, it is
not a test that we can afford to fail.

We have an administration whose mandate is clouded in doubt and

overshadowed by allegations of fraud because it refused every opportunity
to clear the air and be held to account. Its choices have limited its decision-
making to seeking ways to ensure day-to-day political survival and
self-interest. We must now become a government committed to
accountability. A government that works with the people in achieving
long-term change.

We must make the shift from bare economic survival to robust economic
growth. We must make the change from treading water to keep afloat, to
reaching that promised shore where we can all stand tall as healthy, happy,
educated and responsible fellow citizens.

But why does transformation seem like such an impossible dream?

Isa sa mga tema ng ating kalaban, yung “ang pagbabago, madaling sabihin
yan pero mahirap gawin,” is probably echoed by a lot of Filipinos. The
oft-repeated question is, why can’t we advance? Why can’t we progress?
What is it in us that limits or prohibits our growth as a people and as a
country?

All of you are aware that most of the contenders have had years, possibly
even decades, of preparation for this electoral exercise. I had no such
ambitions to run in the 2010 elections but I responded to the people’s
clamor. I am but the face of what we believe is the overwhelming demand of
our people to repudiate everything wrong in the current administration.

Given that I only announced my decision to seek the presidency on

September 9, and I only came to that decision the day before, I have not had
material time comparable to our opponents. What is perplexing is that
viewing the same problems, and having access to the same data for the
most part, we believe the solutions have been there all along, and
necessitate only clear political will to execute. But most of our opponents
seem to indicate the contrary opinion that there is very little that we can do
to change the situation. One has to wonder: did they overstudy the problem,
or are they committed to preserving the status quo?

If the leader is not convinced that change is not only necessary, but
extremely possible, how does he lead us to the promised land?

What is it that we want to change?

We want to repair the damage that has been wrought on our democratic
institutions by those who have sought to manipulate them for their own
selfish ends.

We want to improve the situation of our people, who have suffered years of
neglect because of a self-absorbed leadership obsessed with political
survival.

They are poor. Many of them are homeless. Each year, we add some 2.5
million mouths to feed to our already hungry population. Of these new
additions, one third were the result of unplanned pregnancies. We have a
growing underclass that statistics tell us have given up looking for work. A
permanent underclass that includes the five million of our countrymen that
are illiterate, which means their opportunities in life will always be limited to
living hand-to-mouth.

We want to give our young the opportunity and means to improve their lot in
life.

It can only begin if our children and their parents are assured that money
spent on education is money well spent. Unfortunately, students are at the
mercy of our decrepit education system that allows double shifting,
erroneous textbooks and substandard nursing schools to exist. No less than
DepEd officials admitted that students in Grade 1 take three subjects in one
class period. We have a procurement program so heedless of the need for
excellence that it doesn’t care if it produces a textbook series riddled with
500 factual errors. For every hundred kids that start grade school with the
hope of achieving their dreams, only fourteen will graduate from college and
possess a tangible means to materially improve their lives.

To my mind, the crucial, lacking element in all these is a government

committed to a transformation: from a society overwhelmingly poor to one
overwhelmingly middle class. In every developed, progressive, prosperous
democracy, it is the middle class that is the biggest class. Government, for
one, has failed to make the conceptual leap from patronage to development.
Efforts at feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing basic care to the
sick, and offering a quality education aren’t only the people’s rights; they are
the essential tools for individual self-improvement.
In 1998, when I first campaigned for office, one lady bluntly told me that
regardless of who is elected, things would remain the same for her.

What did she mean?

That she was poor to begin with; that she would remain poor, and in fact,
she would be lucky if she didn’t end up poorer, after the candidates leave
office.
This brings up the question at the forefront of the minds of our countrymen
still undecided on whom to vote for, and pursued by my critics. If this is a
time that calls for national transformation, am I qualified to be that
transformative leader? Having answered the call of duty, can I ask you or
anyone to entrust me with your vote, on faith alone? Never having sought
the presidency, I preferred to do my duty and not seek the limelight. Now
that I have been thrust in the limelight, it is only fair to answer the question:
before you tell us what we can do, what have you done?

I have always believed that the job of an effective legislator goes beyond
merely proposing laws, for what are laws but written agreements entered
into by members of society on how to harmonize their mutual relations? In
fact, I do not believe that we suffer from the problem of too few laws. One of
my proposed measures was the recodification of laws, in response to an
appeal from the legal community to put some order into our laws, their
amendments and those that have been repealed, because even our lawyers
are at times confused.

Consider the recent controversy over who gets to appoint the next Chief
Justice. We maintain that there are no ifs and buts in Article 7 Section 15 of
the Constitution where it states that the current President cannot appoint
anybody within two months prior to a presidential election up to the end of
her term. An exemption exists, but it applies only for positions in the
Executive Department. Yet you have two retired justices arguing exactly the
opposite. How can former justices of the Supreme Court be so seemingly
confused, when the fact is that the provision regarding presidential
appointments is stated clearly in the law?

Our problem is the lack of political will to faithfully implement the many
world-class laws that our legislature has passed. A preference for ambiguity
even when times call for clarity, leads to artificial controversies. Insecure or
overly ambitious leaders need to create a climate of doubt, because it’s in
the grey areas that its ambitions thrive.

It is in addressing this problem that I focused on the fiscalizing aspect of a

legislator’s job – on Congress’ oversight and investigative functions.

Consider intelligence funds. In the proposed 2010 budget, a total of 1.4

billion was allocated to confidential and intelligence funds.

Woodrow Wilson once wrote that oversight is always preferable to

investigation, which is like putting out a fire instead of preventing one. We
proposed that if the Executive wants orderly transactions, at least a few
members of Congress should be privy to all of the details to determine if
they were spent properly. However, this proposal was dismissed out of hand
without even a single hearing for the reason that they undermined the
Executive’s privileges.

And yes, the investigations were a vital part of my functions, too. I don’t think
anyone will begrudge me my efforts in this regard. From Hello Garci and the
impeachments, to NBN-ZTE and the fertilizer scam, I did my duty at the
forefront of these issues.

The original design of the NBN-ZTE project required a BOT agreement

between government and the supplier, not a government loan. But during
the NBN-ZTE hearings, we learned that the project was entered into
through a government loan despite instructions to the contrary from no less
than the President herself. The cost of the intended government loan was
P40 billion, (in which P16 billion was for the backbone and P24 billion was
for the CyberEd project.) Jun Lozada belied this when he cited P5 billion as
the actual cost of the entire project. Ito yung sinasabi niyang kalakaran ng
gobyerno, kung saan sa sobrang laki ng patong, bubukol na.

SCTEx took around 8 years to construct before it finally opened. Projects of

this scale normally require two years to complete. Furthermore, when
SCTEx finally became operational, it was found that the central hub, which
was Clark, did not have an exit, excluding Clark from the Subic Clark Tarlac
expressway itself. How can one justify these kinds of delays where
opportunities are lost, costs have escalated and the people’s burdens,
instead of being reduced, end up being compounded?

My active role in these congressional hearings has put me at odds with the
administration. In 2005, it cost me my post as Deputy Speaker. It continues
to put me at odds with the coalition of self-interest that currently holds
power. It puts me at odds with other candidates for the presidency.

To lead transformation, you cannot be part of the problem. As I said when I

accepted the people’s draft, the job of chief executive is about the efficient
allocation of resources. If you have hogged those resources for yourself, if
you have lied, cheated, and stolen to gain power, how can you be trusted to
lead the transformation our country needs?

Going back on the issue of appointing a Chief Justice prior to the

forthcoming elections. If we are to transform the country, it begins with doing
what we can, now, to limit the damage and give our people a fighting chance
to rebuild our damaged institutions. The Constitution imposes a blanket
prohibition with few exceptions concerning midnight appointments. A
candidate cannot ask for the people’s mandate, pledging to improve the
situation tomorrow, if he becomes complicit in worsening the situation today.

Hindi naman mahirap gawin ang tama. Alam naman ng lahat yan eh. Wala
namang magic, wala namang sikreto. Pero bakit pilit pa ring ginagawa ang
mali?

There is a widespread perception that success in the business milieu can

almost be directly correlated to your closeness to the powers-that-be.
Because of this, some players in the industry are forced to focus their
activities on maintaining relationships in order to retain the favors that they
receive in exchange for cultivating that relationship. This has fostered the
wrong kind of competitiveness. While it may work, locally, for now, it has not
enabled these players to become competitive in the world market, where the
rules of the game do not take special relationships into consideration.

We will encourage free and fair competition in a level playing field. One not
need be a crony in order to succeed in the field of business. More
importantly, government will not compete with business. Nor will government
use its regulatory powers to extort, intimidate and harass.

p>We will transform our systems to foster service to the public instead of
making citizens jump through hoops. We will streamline the approval
process, not only for setting up new businesses but also in the regular
day-to-day transactions with government, such as the payment of taxes. We
will do this on a national as well as the local level.

In 2010, our next President will inherit a continually bloating deficit. As of

November 2009, the deficit of the national government already reached
P272.5 billion, or 4.1% of GDP.

In addressing the looming fiscal crisis, good governance and the drive
against corruption are critical components in our strategy. We will refrain
from imposing new taxes or increasing tax rates.

I strongly believe that we can collect more taxes at the BIR and higher duties
at Customs if we become more serious in curbing and punishing tax evasion
and smuggling. The BIR’s collection dropped by 5.5%, while that of Customs
declined by 16.6%. This is the first time in recent history that absolute
revenues have actually declined.

Our initial focus then will be to capture a good part of the revenue leaks
caused by smuggling and evasion. In this effort, we will not be starting from
zero. Be assured that those smugglers and evaders are not faceless and
unknown entities. The ideas to improve tax administration and to control
smuggling have been there for some time and some programs have been
initiated in the past. One of these successful programs was the RATE or
Run After Tax Evaders. In fact, some of the people at the Department of
Finance and the BIR who have tried to implement reforms before are with us
now, and together with reform-minded career executives, we intend to put
their commitment and talents to good use under my administration.

My vision is to transform our country into one where we have lower tax rates
enjoyed by all, rather than have some enjoy absolute tax exemptions while
we burden the rest of the economy with very high tax rates. I believe that
markets are better than government in spotting where the growth
opportunities are, and, with universal low tax rates, we will encourage
entrepreneurs and enterprises to invest and create jobs in any industry. We
will, therefore, pursue the rationalization of fiscal incentives early in my
administration.

There is a lot of room for our revenue base to grow. Our tax effort has gone
down from 17% at its peak to a worrisome 13% today. If we can only bring
this back even to just the 15% level, that will translate to P150 billion in
additional revenues, which would make a significant dent in cutting our
deficit.

My budget team estimates that for 2009 alone, around P280 billion of our
national budget was lost to corruption. If we take the years 2002 to 2009 the
total estimates exceed one trillion. Estimates vary, but everyone agrees that
the numbers are huge.

If we agree that change is necessary, how can a Presidential aspirant,

whose own financial and political ethics are questionable, be effective in
leading transformation as the head of the bureaucracy? How can a leader,
who is benefiting from the status quo, be able to restore a civic sense and
pride in our citizenry? The leader, who has used public office for private
gain, will always be the most committed enemy of change.

Rich or poor alike, we have a tangible experience of the sorry state of public
infrastructure at present: traffic, which eats up time, which as the saying
goes, is money. Railways are built at bloated cost; urban transport is
constructed, but not enough trains are on track. Our people are the first to
experience the effect of something that works and conversely, something
that is badly done because bad intentions handicapped the project from the
start.

It is time that our infrastructure agencies and LGUs transform into

cooperative ventures with the private sector by bringing forth an agreed
public infrastructure program, based on a cohesive plan that optimizes the
value of the entire network. In our conversations with members of the private
sector, there has been a lot of positive feedback about possibly working with
government on this endeavor.

To transform infrastructure projects from sources of waste and scandal into

examples of cooperation and efficiency, we will set objective criteria for
different types of projects and develop a scorecard that will assess various
projects against benchmarks transparent to the public.

Initially we want our infrastructure program to transform from being the

means to enrich a few, to being labor-intensive and biased for employment
as a means to pump-prime the economy.

When I read about countries that have invested in their agriculture sectors
and succeeded, it always pains me to find that these countries – Vietnam
and Thailand, to name just a couple – had started by sending their experts
to be educated in the Philippines. It seems that we cannot implement among
ourselves the lessons we successfully imparted to experts from elsewhere.
This will have to change. We must be able to harness our homegrown talent
in order to further our local industries.

When we change administrations, there must be a complete review of all the

programs in the Department of Agriculture. We can do a lot for our farmers
given the present budget of the Department if we eliminate the leaks and
focus on the efficient use of resources. For example, we must stop eating up
millions in mere administrative costs as in the case of NABCOR, which
 charged our government P60 million because it served as a useless conduit
to regional offices. We will also support efforts such as supply chain
management that minimizes losses, creates jobs, consults with
stakeholders, and capitalizes on our competitive advantage.

Our core belief is that the current approach to governance and power must
change. That is why our terms of reference always begin with the present
government, what it has done, and how different our institutions and our
nation must be six years from June 30, 2010.

In a small-scale operation it is easy for everyone involved to visualize that

entity as the combination of their collective efforts. As opposed to, say, when
you are a bigger firm, and there is the management side and there is the
labor side. In Tagalog, it’s even more dramatic. Kayo at kami, sa halip na
tayo.

We must find a unity that transcends the divisions of today, based on a

shared commitment to transforming our country into one that works: One
where traffic flows well, garbage is collected efficiently, crimes are solved,
justice is served, and our kids are educated properly. It works in the sense
that you do not have to flee the country to move up in the world, improve
your lot in life, and rise to the highest level your personal merits can
achieve.

We are a nation of sacrifice, of diligence, dedication and, idealism, because

we are a people imbued with compassion even when we have officials who
lie, cheat, and steal. Our faith teaches us that we are our brother’s keeper.
Our logic should tell us that in taking care of others, their growth equals our
own.

In the movie “Invictus,” Nelson Mandela says, “In order to rebuild our nation,
we must exceed our own expectations.” It requires us to insist, always, that
we are not a nation of crooks, of thieves, of murderers who get off scot-free
and where justice is won by the highest bidder.

In May, you will be asked to make a choice. Will you choose transformation
and change or will you choose to uphold the status quo?

We have already made our choice. Ours is a journey towards

transformation. I ask you today to join us in this journey now.

Thank you.

Pages Links and Affiliates Follow Noynoy

» THE TRUTH ABOUT NOYNOY » MAR ROXAS » FACEBOOK
» SHORT BIO » LP SENATE SLATE » TWITTER
» WHAT OTHERS SAY » PEOPLE POWER VOLUNTEER CENTER » FRIENDSTER
» CREDENTIALS » PNOY PINAY » YOUTUBE
» LEGISLATIVE RECORD » 9NOYNOY » MULTIPLY
» NEWS & COMMENTARIES » CHANGE POLITICS MOVEMENT » FLICKR
» NOY BLOGS » NOYPI-AKO » TUMBLR
» OUR COMMON CREDO » TULOY PNOY
» MAR ROXAS » YOUTH FOR NOY
» SLAMAT LORRRD » REPORMAR
» PLATFORM » NOYNOY AQUINO FOR PRESIDENT MOVEMENT
» ACTION PLANS » PIPOL POWER
» ISSUES » YELLOW AND HONEST
» PHOTO GALLERY » US-PINOYS FOR NOYNOY-MAR
» INTERNET TV » NOYNOY AKO
» SPEECHES » GIMME5 FOR NOY
» PRESS STATEMENTS » TSINOY FOR NOY
» CAMPAIGN MATERIALS
» TINDAHAN NI NOYNOY
» NOY WATCH
» NOY WEBCOMICS
» JOIN A GROUP
» YELLOW ARMY BADGE
» VOLUNTEER
» DONATE
» UNDECIDED
» ANNOUNCEMENTS
» CONTACT US