SPT LOREN LEGARDA:
(0:00:00) We recognize Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano for his privileged speech.
SP ALAN PETER CAYETANO:
(0:00:07) Thank you, Madam President. Dear colleagues, the book of James talks about faith. And the book of James basically tells us that faith without action is dead. So, importante po ang faith…
(0:00:30) Pero importante po ay kumilos tayo ayon sa ating pananampalataya. Everyone has faith. Some people have faith in money, some people have faith in relationships, some people have faith in power. But of course, I’m talking about the faith in God, the faith in our country, and the faith in each other.
(0:00:54) So, Madam President, this leadership change is an opportunity for the Senate to take the lead in areas where the ordinary Filipino feel neglected. Without pointing fingers or no condemnation for any other leader or any other Congress in the past, let me talk about how I feel [and the] people feel at this point in time.
(0:01:24) I do believe that despite our algorithms in our social media and despite the news, most people are not talking about politics. Yes, they’re talking about whether they like President Marcos, VP Sara or all the other contenders whenever there are surveys in the news. Pinaguusapan sinong pambato nila sa 2028. But I would say that these are more politicians and political junkies. Most of our people are just trying to have a comfortable life, and more than that, just trying to exist. Yung personal safety lang, makapag-aral yung anak, madala sa hospital, or may gamot man lang kung may sakit, how to make ends meet, paano siguraduhin na kung part-time yung trabaho, magkasya, pag hindi part-time yung trabaho, siguraduhin na hindi magsara yung kompanya o yung maliit na negosyo.
(0:02:26) People are thinking about the future of the country, but the reality is we act as individuals and as families and as communities before we act as a nation. Madaming umaasa sa leadership change na ‘to sa pagdating ng direksyon ng ating bansa. So we can keep talking about Senator Bato. And 100%, I will always owe him for risking his liberty, and after siya habulin kahapon, risking his safety and his life, risking his quality time with his family, risking the many, many things that he can do for being here today. No one can say where he’ll be going in the next few days, the next few weeks. I really hope we all realize that the Constitution is the highest law of the land. Me, I follow the Bible, then the Constitution.
(0:03:18) Walang anumang bansa ang inuuna ang international court sa kanilang sariling konstitusyon. Kahit anong treaty po, sabi po sa Pangilinan v. Cayetano Supreme Court case na kapag kayong treaty o nilalaman nito o implementation nito, I’m paraphrasing, is unconstitutional, ang masusunod yung Constitution, hindi po yung batas.
(0:03:42) So putting that aside, like everyone else, I am tempted to talk about politics or to talk about Senator Bato. When we talk about corruption, partly it is about politics because the mishandling of the flood control scam, and when I say mishandling, I’m talking in general, whether you talk about the ICC, whether you talk about the whole of government, whether you talk about the DPWH, whether you talk about the Blue Ribbon Committee, even myself, even my participation in any of this investigation or non-participation. Nila-lahat ko na.
(0:04:26) We all mishandled it for many reasons. We didn’t start with the truth. We didn’t start with sino ang most guilty, ano ba talaga ang ghost, ano po ang hindi, etc. But the point is, Mr. President, Madam President, napakalaki ng issue na to in terms of amount and in terms of time and saan nailagay. To give you a perspective, 50 billion lang ang budget ng DPWH in the last year of President GMA. But I think last year, 2025, kung na-release lahat, I think 2024 lumampas ng 1 trillion sa pesos sa DPWH alone.
(0:05:04) Pero hindi totoo na lahat ng flood control ay ghost. At hindi totoo na binulsa ang buong 1 trillion pesos o binulsa ang buong 350 billion. Pero yun ang tumatak. And the problem is any Tom, Dick, and Harry na barangay captain, konsehal, mayor, congressman, even senators, administration [or] opposition, pag meron kang isang contractor dun sa lugar na yun na kasama sa listahan, ang target hindi the truth eh.
(0:05:35) Ang target, dumihan yung kalaban. So I remember from the start of my career yung nagsasabi sa akin, pag naglabang kayo sa putikan, lahat kayo mapuputikan. You cannot get in the mud to fight someone and then siguro si Bato, mukha ni Mr. Clean. But for the rest of us, when we’re in the mud, ‘di ba? The reality is madudumihan tayo. And the problem there, the context that I want to say is that during a crisis, we have a global crisis. Energy crisis, crisis of inflation, crisis of faith in government, crisis in international law with what the US, Iran, Iran and its allies, US and Israel are doing. The rule of law is being debated all around the world.
(0:06:21) Even Europe, the oldest allies of the US, many of the principles is being thrown out of the window every day. So there are several crises ongoing. Kung titignan lang natin from a political lens yung corruption, sabihin natin political lang yan, partially true. Maraming gumamit ng flood control para tirahin lang yung kalaban. At the proper time siguro pa we’ll go to that but I don’t want this to be a political speech.
(0:06:52) But look at it from a social, economic, and moral lens. From an economic lens, we did not only mishandle the investigation, but what to do when we found out of all this corruption. So government spending is so important to our GDP and productivity of our country, nag-slow down ‘to. Until today po, hindi masyadong nagre-release ang DBM at nahihirapan pa rin ang DPWH at yung ibang ahensya na mag-bid.
(0:07:23) Maraming dahilan yan. Ito problema, dalawa haharapin natin. Tag-ulan, so malamang maraming baha na darating. And wala naman nagbago eh since the flood control scam eh. So malamang marami tayong baha. God forbid, sana hindi.
(0:07:40) But ang problema towards the end of the year, opposite naman ang problema. Meron daw po tayong Super El Nino. So sobrang init at walang tubig, apektado naman ang ating agriculture. I hope all the predictions about the calamity and the state of our economy, will be wrong. I hope it would be very-very much rosy. But if you look at the GDP projection for example, since the last quarter last year, 50% off eh. So kapag sinabing 5%, 2.5%. Kapag sinabing 6%, 3% lang. Ang layo.
(0:08:21) And the GDP might look like a highfalutin economic term and I’d rather use presyo, trabaho, kita. Masyado ba mataas ang presyo na hindi natin mabili yung dapat nating bilin? Maliit ba masyado ang kita na hindi pa rin natin pwedeng bilhin yung gusto natin bilhin kahit mababa ang presyo? And trabaho. May trabaho ba ang tao?
(0:08:45) And not only trabaho na kumikita ang tao, but trabaho ba na may dignidad? So from an economic lens, corruption affects our everyday problems. And I think during the times that we talk about big scandals in our country, corruption scandals, suddenly, hindi lang presyo, trabaho, at kita, hindi lang PTK, may isa pang K or C, if English ang gagamitin natin, corruption.
(0:09:11) So right now, I feel that on the mind of every mother, of every father, of every lolo [and] lola, is the basics, health, education, pagkain, kuryente. Of course, sa mga highly urbanized, it’s the internet.
(0:09:30) Food prices are steadily rising. Unfortunately, it seems that the 7% inflation rate is here to stay. Hindi mawawala yun. So just put it simply, kung kumikita ka ng 100 pesos in the year, 93 pesos lang ang halaga ng pera mo kasi 7% yung inflation. I mean, you can argue with me about the math pero simple yan lang natin. If you have 1,000 pesos, 930 na lang yan. If you have 10,000 pesos, 9,300.
(0:10:00) So hindi masyado tumataas ang minimum wage at ang sahod sa ating bansa. Pero yung presyo ng bilihin, at least 7%. Yun ang problema natin sa food prices. Bakit po? Hindi naman po lahat sa inflation rate ay food prices, although most of it is food prices. So food is rising even higher than 7%. We are an archipelago where we lack fish.
(0:10:24) Hindi tayo makapag pangisda. I mean, I know Senator Panglinan spoke much about this and many other senators in the past but that’s a reality now. Hindi natin makalimutan yung mga ka-age ko na ang isang kampanya po ni Madam President Cory Aquino noon is magkano ang presyo ng galunggong at that time in 1986. And short time after that or sometime after that, nag-i-import na tayo ng galunggong.
(0:10:53) Ngayon po, eh luxury na po ang galunggong. In fact, nung araw sabi sa amin, may asin ka lang o remember yung kwento ng aming dating vice mayor, may kapitbahay siya na may mga shell ng kohol. So gagataan nila yun at libre pa naman ang kangkong nung araw. Pagkatapos nila gataan at kainin yun, ibibilad nila yung shell.
(0:11:14) Bakit po? Kasi pag hiniram ng kapitbahay yung shell, gagataan ulit dahil ang kailangan mo lang ay yung gata at yung kangkong tapos yun ang ulam sa kain. But we know in the last 10 years, pati kanin naging luxury na. Kaya nga may makikita kang pamilya ng 4, 5, 6, 7 isang noodles na hati-hati na.
(0:11:36) Of course, we did not ignore that. We have passed many laws making sure that we fortify even the noodles. We have kahapon, Senator Tulfo, yung AICS law. We have many interventions. But this crisis that we are facing, hindi natin ramdam kaagad dito sa Senate kasi air condition, kasi kahit papano, mataas ang sweldo. Ang unang nakaramdam neto, mga tricycle driver, jeepney driver, yung mga naka-diesel.
(0:12:04) Pero nabigyan isang beses ng ayuda, that doesn’t mean okay na sila. Kasi pababa nang pababa yung kanilang kita. More than 70 days after February 28, the economic slowdown is now affecting our investment level. Even the sentiment, nagdadahan-dahan na. And even yung mga sigurado, katulad halimbawa ng mga pharmaceuticals, medyo wala eh, kailangan mo talaga bumili ng gamot kung may sakit ka.
(0:12:31) But most of our medicine is important. And even those that are generic and are produced in the Philippines, to get them through Metro Manila with the traffic and the logistic costs have doubled. Not to mention if you have to bring it to Masbate, you have to bring it to Aklan, to Catanduanes, to Romblon. The logistics in Mindanao or even Batanes is incredible because again apektado itong lahat. The prices of gas was expected to go back to normal during the first few days of the crisis.
(0:13:08) Unfortunately, tinamaan yung critical infrastructure. So halimbawa po sa Qatar at Bahrain, nung tinamaan po ang natural gas, ang sub-product or yung by-product ng natural gas is urea or yung pangunahing ingredient or ginagamit na fertilizer. So tatlo kaagad yung tama. Bakit? Europe uses liquefied gas or natural gas for heating.
(0:13:34) So tumaas ang presyo ng diesel dahil yun ang kapalit. Tapos doon tinamaan yung production ng yung mismong planta ng urea, tumaas ngayon yung presyo ng fertilizer.
(0:13:47) India, who has the best processing plants or is one of the best in supplies to us and to Asia, ang problema, they have more than 1.4 billion people. And they also use heating gas. They also use diesel. They also use urea. And they are the first to say, we will not export rice. We will not export fertilizer unless our needs are there. So I thank the Vietnamese government for continuing to help us by the supply of rice.
(0:14:19) In a recent survey, only 10% of people believe that government, so hindi lang po ito, hindi lang ito Office of President, Vice President, Senate, House, local governments, although ang tingin ko kung magsa-survey tayo, mas mabango ang mga local governments kasi sila ang frontline. Only 10% of people believe that we are actually addressing the high prices of even the basic goods.
(0:14:46) 90% says that inflation wages, 95% says that all of these are serious issues. 75% says that corruption has increased in the last 12 months. Not only that we’re not addressing it properly.
(0:15:04) So once we think that corruption is a way of life, I will go. So I went to the political, talking about the economic. I will now go to the social and the spiritual. Once we start believing na hindi natin ito kaya, once na naniwala tayong bahala na, once na sinabi natin hindi, hindi natin matatanggal yan, it’s our soul that gets damaged.
(0:15:27) we start believing that values can be changed. We start believing that, yeah, konting corruption, okay na rin yan, etc. Economically, there are empirical facts that some nations, certain level of corruptions did not affect their corruption. The corruption did not affect their economics, but it did affect their soul. And eventually, it affected not only their economics, but there being one nation.
(0:15:57) In the group I’ve been with in the last few years, which is Transforming the Nation, one of the teachings is that there are seven spheres or seven mountains of culture. Family, church, government, business, education, health, and media. Media is both the artistry and also the journalism.
(0:16:21) Ang sabi po dun kasi, if you want real change, and let me go back to the Bible, the first thing the Lord Jesus said, and I’m addressing myself to Christians, and Brother Robin and anyone from a different religion can of course also relate or paralyze what I’ve been saying here. But in the Christian faith, ang unang sinabi ni Lord Jesus, repent, which means change your mind, magbago, magsorry, magbago, because the kingdom of heaven is near.
(0:16:51) At ang kasunod po dito as a priority, when the apostles saw miracles after miracles, they saw the Lord Jesus healing people, producing bread, producing fish when there was none. Pero they were going on a journey.
(0:17:06) And they were looking at each other. Wala namang Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s nung araw. Wala rin naman dun mga kotse or EVs or trains. So they were looking at each other and thinking, saan tayo kukuha ng pagkain? Saan tayo matutulog? The Lord Jesus looked at them and said, seek first the kingdom and my righteousness. But He didn’t stop there. And everything else shall be added to you.
(0:17:26) So my point of view is that there is a value system. There’s a heavenly value system. There’s an earthly value system. In the earthly value system, we value power, we value money, we value popularity, we value the GDP, etc. In the heavenly, they value people.
(0:17:50) That’s why in the Christian faith, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever shall believe shall be saved and shall not perish. So why? Because God loved the imperfect man so much. So what’s my point?
(0:18:04) If family and church and media come together at sinabing, oh, sobra na itong scam ng ating, I was gonna say fertilizer scam but that was 20 years ago, flood control scam.
(0:18:21) And they have a MOA. Nag-MOA ang DPWH, nag-MOA ang Congress, ang BICAM, ang Executive Department, ang DBM, church leaders from the Muslim community, the Roman Catholic community, Evangelical community, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Seventh Day Advent, lahat nandun nagpirmahan. That will have some effect. But if the media, for example, movies, are saying, okay lang naman magdakaw, basta’t konti.
(0:18:49) Or iba na yung nakakalamang. O itong anak ko, medyo hindi ganun kagaling sa school pero magaling mangopya. Kaya honor siya. Or let’s say in health. Kung sasabihin sa kanya na…
(0:19:02) Alam mo, hindi ka gagaling kung wala tong gamot na to. Pero de bale na, nakawin na lang natin kasi korup din naman ang gobyerno. My point is, Madam President, family, the church, government, business, education, health, and media have to work together to address all of these issues. And let me close by a quote from a manual I read. Anyadike po, ang pangalan po, ang last name nung gumawa.
(0:19:29) Sabi niya, nung naging Christian daw ang Africa, lalong naging corrupt. And in her country, she was saying that nung dumami ang Christians, dumami ang corruption, sumama ang politika, much as we are experiencing now, nawalan daw siya ng gana, nawalan siya ng pag-asa, nag-pray daw siya. Sabi niya, Lord, ayoko na sa politika, ayoko na sa public, ayoko na sa gobyerno.
(0:20:00) Walang pag-asa itong bansa namin. In one of her meditations daw, the Lord told her, ang problema, you want a political solution for a spiritual problem. You want an economic solution for a spiritual problem. You want a socio-economic political problem, a solution for a spiritual problem. So Madam President, I stand here today humbled by the task that you put on my shoulders, pledging to serve not only the 13 who voted to put me in place here in the Senate, but for the 24, but to serve first God and serve our people.
(0:20:44) I asked this August chamber, baguhin natin direksyon natin. May mga iba, wala tayong choice. So pagdating ng articles of impeachment, forthwith, we will act upon it. This leadership change is not about the impeachment, all of us here will be on trial and we will all do our best and we have to be impartial. Okay, that’s clear. Having said that, paano natin isasabay ang problema ng corruption? And having said that, pag corruption, mahilig tayo magturo sa mga kasama natin. Maybe it’s necessary kung guilty talaga.
(0:21:21) Maybe it was done for political purposes. Saka na natin pag-usapan yun. But we have to find a way to investigate and change the corruption system in our country without burning the whole house down. I mean kung may anay sa bahay, tanggalin yung anay. Kung may mga daga sa bahay, hulihin ang daga o tanggalin sa bahay. Hindi mo susunugin ang buong bahay.
(0:21:50) But thirdly, Madam President, the economics. Kapit sa patalim ang maraming Pilipino. There are many things we can do. For example, we have had a lot of laws for agricultural modernization. But we need a productivity law for agriculture. Palaki nang palaki ang ating population, pero yung productivity natin nagpla-plateau eh. Tapos lalo ngayon na may Super El Niño. Sabi nila ang fiscal space natin maliit.
(0:22:21) Yes, kasi nga, during the six years or five years ng Aquino, maganda yung ekonomiya. Until the pandemic, three, three and a half years ng Duterte, maganda yung ekonomiya. But since then, we have borrowed heavily. So yung debt to GDP natin medyo mabigat na. And then yung credit ratings natin apektado na. But still, Fidel Ramos was in a worst case.
(0:22:46) And he was able to say 10% savings at ilipat yung 10% na yun sa mga priorities. Korea at one point in time had so much faith in their leaders that they sold personal-owned jewelry to pay their national debt and to rise up. Japan was devastated by two nuclear atomic bombs. But look at Japan now. So Madam President, I’m here to stand today to say, let’s list down our priorities together with the minority. Ano yung lima, pito, sampo na pinaka-importanting batas? So I’m meeting with the LEDAC people tomorrow, kasi may LEDAC sa Tuesday. And hopefully, any member of this Senate, submit to the Secretariat by tonight or tomorrow, ano yung priority. But ang akin lang ipapakiusap sa inyo, wag muna yung personal advocacy kahit maganda.
(0:23:27) Ano yung game changers na mababago ang direksyon ng ating bansa? Many of our bills are important. Many of our bills have been pending for 50 years. Many of our bills are controversial. But I am sure there are 3, 4, 5, or maybe 7 or 10 bills in agriculture, in health, in education, in finances of this beloved country that we can do para pag sinabi, tara, trabaho na tayo. Hindi trabahong politika.
(0:24:15) Hindi trabahong tirahan, hindi trabahong bato-bato sa langit pag dumating sa Senado, sino magagalit? Hindi po. Trabahong tapos na yun eh. Tapos na Monday, tapos na kahapon. I’d like to take this opportunity. Ang CIDG po nagsabi today, kung tama yung news report, they will respect our having custody of Senator Bato. So, hindi na siya isu-subpoena. But with the permission of Senator Bato, if they want to investigate the EJK, they can come here and they can interview you. None of us are above the law. I’d like to thank Secretary Remulla for the assurance that we will follow the law, the NBI. Sinabi iba dati, iba ngayon. So again, Madam President, yes, we will have to sometimes mention or go to the political aspects.
(0:25:07) I want to honor Senator Pia for saying yesterday, pwede ba ituloy ang hearing? So my good friend, nag-hello ako sa likod, I didn’t know she’ll be here, Waya, the farmers could have had their hearings. Senator Erwin, ang daming pending sa kanya, I was assuring him, pag wala naman objections sa floor, lahat ng dapat isponsor, isponsor na. But I haven’t consulted all 13 of my colleagues yet because we didn’t have time a while ago. I also wanted to honor one of our colleagues who stood up during the break, Senator Win Gatchalian, and did a good job sa PROTECT hearing. I also believe that talagang itatayo naman ng executive yung UPLIFT.
(0:25:54) But tingin ko napabilis at napataas yung UPLIFT dahil sa PROTECT. So at the proper time majority leader, if there’s no objection from everyone, I would ask if today we can ask him to continue as chairman of PROTECT. Because precisely everything I’ve said today, maybe except the spiritual side, but he’s…
(0:26:16) Win is also a brother in Christ. And regardless of our religion, you know, the spiritual side is always there when we love our neighbors. So Madam President, dear colleagues, thank you for this opportunity to give me this opportunity to express what really is in my heart and mind. So may God bless the Philippines and God bless us all as we humble ourselves before the Lord and God.
SPT LOREN LEGARDA:
(0:26:40) Thank you very much, Senate President Alan Cayetano.
