CEBU, Philippines - A week after the president vetoed the Magna Carta for the Poor calling it “mission impossible,†Cebuana principal author at the Lower House finally broke her silence.
In a statement sent to The FREEMAN, Cebu City Representative Rachel “Cutie†del Mar said she deplores the veto on what would have been a landmark law.
“The Magna Carta has set aside a concrete framework for the administration’s program for the poor; it would have been a strong signal that the government is seriously addressing concerns of those who have less in life, not with posturing or rhetoric but with a specific law,†she said.
While she may be dismayed over the veto of the President, she stressed great hope for a similar one in the coming Congress.
“Yet the veto has led to what we believe is a firm commitment of the President to support a substitute bill in the next Congress. We look forward to it, incorporating therein the phrase ‘progressive realization,’ etc., to clear any misunderstanding about the bill,†the lawmaker who belongs to the same political party as the President’s clarified.
Civil society is equally disheartened over the decision of the president to scrap the Magna Carta for the Poor.
“P-Noy veto exposes his administration’s bias against the poor sections of the population rather than recognize the rights of the poor and put itself to task to concretely address poverty, PNoy is content with piecemeal bandaid shortcuts such as the conditional cash transfer. He vetoes a pro-poor legislation dismissing it as unrealistic while ensuring unhampered entry of business interests into the country with tax holidays and incentives,†former Sanlakas Cebu chairman lawyer Aaron Pedrosa told The FREEMAN.
He added that this has further made the poor to remain as they are while taking care of private business investors’ interests.
“The poor continue to be deprived in life and in law, whole big businesses get presidential treatment. The magna carta for the poor should be enacted. Nakaya gani nato magpautang sa ubang nasud, di na nuon maatiman ang mga kabus nato?,†Pedrosa continued.
Central Visayas Fisherfolk Development Center (FIDEC) stressed how the president’s actions deprived the poor from achieving the elusive dream of owning a house.
“Sa pag-veto niya sa bill, iyang gihikawan og katungod ug gahum ang mga pobreng nga makatagamtam og igong panimalay, pagkaon ug uban pang batakang serbisyo nga angay unta ihatag sa gobyerno. Nagpaila lang siya sa iyang elitist ug haciendero nga background nga wala magtan-aw ug dili ka-relate sa mga pangindahay sa mga pobre,†FIDEC executive director Owen Migraso told The FREEMAN. (FREEMAN)