While it is true that we are recipients of certain aids from the US government and without making excuses for the misgivings of our law enforcement, … - Francis Escudero

Such budget deficits are unsustainable. We must put a stop to smuggling - estimated by foreign institutions to be as much as $10 billion (as P480 billion) a year. The uncollected VAT alone would be over P50 billion.

Indeed Mr. President, it’s either walking the tightrope or plunging to the depths of national despair, eroding the recent credit rating gains that have won us praises in the eyes of the international community.

I urge the Commission on Elections to ditch its plan to use a combination of manual and computerized elections next year and exert all efforts instead to ensure that the 2016 national polls will still be fully automated. Returning to manual polls is a cause for serious concern due to its dangerous implications on the country’s electoral process and a step backwards after having fully automated the elections previously. The proposed "hybrid polls" raises the chilling prospect of a wide-scale electoral cheating similar to what happened during the 2004 presidential elections and brings back memories of "Hello Garci."