Set aside petty politics, JDV urges national leaders

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. urged the country’s leaders yesterday to set aside petty politics and work on reforms that could propel the country to a new level of economic growth.

"The heroism required of us is to set aside petty politics, the politics of hate and destruction, and to rally behind a common agenda created by the nation’s political, business, religious, and civil society leaders so we can overtake Malaysia and Thailand in the next 10 years," he said.

De Venecia led the flag-raising ceremonies at Rizal Park in Manila. He was joined by Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon, Mayor Lito Atienza, and top officials of the Armed forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

The Luneta rites were held simultaneously with similar ceremonies presided over by President Arroyo in Lamitan, Basilan and by Senate President Franklin Drilon in Kawit, Cavite.

De Venecia said just recently, politics reared its ugly head when opposition senators embarked on a power play that derailed the approval by Congress of urgent economic measures.

He said these measures included the Special Purpose Asset Vehicles (SPAV) bill that would make it easy for the banking system to dispose of an estimated P270 billion in non-performing loans and other assets, and the grant of a 50-year franchise to the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).

Transco was organized by the National Power Corp. to own its power transmission lines.

De Venecia said these two measures alone could bring in new investments of up to $9 billion or about P450 billion, an amount that is more than half of this year’s national budget.

But because of the ugly power play in the Senate, these investment inflows would now be delayed by at least three months, he said.

"We could even lose them if we do not put our act together," he added.

At the same time, the Speaker called for measures to eliminate corruption in the bureaucracy, particularly in the implementation of vital public works projects, including roads, airports and irrigation systems.

He said the World Bank and other international agencies rank Philippine bureaucrats as among the most corrupt public servants all over the world.

An estimated P20 billion of the budget is lost to corruption yearly, he said. – Jess Diaz