News Roundup 25 August 2022
Aug 25, 2022 • 5 min Read
Constitution Framer Monsod: Don’t blame Charter for country’s ills | PHILSTAR.COM – One of the Framers of the 1987 Constitution said Thursday it is illogical to blame the Charter for the ills plaguing the country and argued that the fundamental law of the land “is not the problem, [but] is part of the solution.” Speaking during a Senate hearing on Charter change, lawyer Christian Monsod said the problems that the country faces were not borne out of the Constitution but because of the failure to implement its provisions. “I would argue instead that we have largely failed in human development not because of the Constitution, but because we haven’t implemented it, especially its provisions on social justice and human rights and local autonomy,” Monsod told the Senate panel on constitutional amendments and revision of codes. He said Framers of the Constitution drafted it in the context of “gross inequalities and mass poverty” and to introduce “radical changes” to what he called a feudalistic and dynastic political system. But some of those pushing for changes to the Constitution appeared to have not been convinced by Monsod as they argued that it is time to introduce tweaks to the fundamental law to bring about change in society. “‘Pag binago po natin ang ating Saligang Batas at gumawa tayo ng mas maayos na istraktura, mas makakagawa po tayo ng tama at angkop at mas epektibo ng solusyon sa ating problema,” said Ding Generoso, spokesperson of the consultative committee formed by former President Rodrigo Duterte to amend the Constitution. (If we change our Constitution and we create better structures, we will be able to create right, suitable and more effective solutions to our problems.) Monsod, however, said he believes that proponents of Charter change are “barking up the wrong tree.” He stressed that change must come from the bottom, particularly the barangays which are citizens’ first point of contact with the government. “It’s a long distance run of commitment and endurance. But until we get a new generation of leaders who come from the poor, there will be no real change in this country,” he said.
Palace confident National ID printing, distribution on track | PHILSTAR.COM – The government is optimistic that it can achieve its goal of printing 30.1 million national ID cards and generating 19.9 million digital IDs this year. Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has transferred to the Philippine Postal Corp. some 17.6 million physical national ID cards for delivery to the residences of applicants as of August 23. Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan has reported to Malacañang that in the last 11 days, the daily average of physical cards produced at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ printing facilities is 103,000 per day, higher than PSA’s daily target. PSA is attached to the National Economic and Development Authority, which is headed by Balisacan. “The Philippine Statistics Authority is confident that it could meet the year-end target of 30.1 million printed national identification cards and the 19.9 million digital ID cards which are printable,” a statement issued by the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) last Wednesday read. The OPS statement quoted Balisacan as saying that PSA is making “considerable progress” to hit the end-year target of 30.1 million physical ID cards, which is 58% of the overall target. He noted that the government aims to issue 50 million IDs by yearend, 30.1 million of which are physical IDs and the rest are digital printable IDs.
Rodriguez admits asking SRA to draft import order | INQUIRER.NET – Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez on Tuesday revealed that it was him who asked the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) to draft an order for the proposed importation of 300,000 metric tons (MT) of sugar, but he faulted resigned Agriculture Undersecretary Leocadio Sebastian for supposedly signing the import order arbitrarily in behalf of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. without the latter’s approval. As the finger-pointing in the botched sugar import controversy involving the unauthorized issuance of Sugar Order (SO) No. 4 approving the importation moved to the Senate, opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros found Rodriguez’s admission “puzzling” since Malacañang had already washed its hands off the order’s issuance. At the hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, Rodriguez said he in fact “confronted” Sebastian about the matter after the former agriculture official attended a meeting at the Palace on Aug. 10 — or two days after the SRA issued the controversial importation order. Sebastian, however, was adamant that he had authority to sign the document based on a memorandum that Rodriguez himself issued on July 15 designating Sebastian as ex-officio member of the SRA representing Marcos, who has appointed himself concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) that automatically makes him chair of the SRA board. In a similar hearing at the House of Representatives earlier, Sebastian had argued that he acted on SO 4 based on a July 15, 2022, memorandum from the Office of the Executive Secretary that allegedly gave him the authority to sign contracts for the DA, and that his resignation was merely out of “delicadeza.” He cited meetings on Aug. 1 and 4 that included the president, Rodriguez, then SRA Administrator Hermenegildo Serafica, and resigned Sugar Board member Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama wherein they agreed to draft a sugar import program for transmittal to the President. “That gave me the inclination or that gave me the feeling that there is an urgency of this matter that we need to act as soon as possible,” Sebastian told the lawmakers.
