Lacson, Sotto visit Iloilo; seek local leaders’ support

 Lacson, Sotto visit Iloilo; seek local leaders’ support

Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Senate President Vicente Sotto III along with Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez meets with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas at the Iloilo City Hall (Photo courtesy of Office of the City Mayor)

ILOILO CITY—Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Thursday began wooing Ilonggo leaders and voters two weeks before the filing of candidacy for the May 2022 elections.

Lacson and Sotto who have announced their plan to run for president and vice president, respectively, visited the offices of Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. before holding press conferences.

They were accompanied by former House Speaker and Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez who is supporting their candidacies.

“I have to be frank and honest. We really came here to get the support of Mayor Jerry Treñas for the candidacy of Senator Ping and Senator Sotto…,” Alvarez, who was ousted as Speaker after having a falling out with the President, said.

Alvarez is president of the Partido Reporma, which is fielding Lacson and Sotto for the top two posts in next year’s national and local elections.

“We made a mistake in 2016. We must choose real leaders who can address our country’s problems,” Alvarez, who was one of Duterte’s staunchest allies, said.

Lacson and Sotto also took turns criticizing policies of the Duterte administration including the campaign on illegal drugs and response to the COVID-pandemic.

Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police, cited as a “major flaw” the practice of announcing drug personalities in the drug list or “order of battle” of law enforcement agencies.

“You don’t announce it prematurely,” adding that these should only be used for intelligence-gathering purposes.

Lacson said there is an apparent “disconnect” between the policies of the national government on the pandemic and the needs of local government units.

Sotto stood pat on the Senate’s investigation on alleged irregularities in the purchase of medical equipment by the national government.

The President came in third in Iloilo province in the 2016 presidential elections next to former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Sen. Grace Poe.

After he assumed office, he repeatedly launched tirades against Iloilo City as “most shabulized” and “bedrock” of illegal drugs.

But the news organization Vera Files had cited data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency that Iloilo City ranked 51st in the 2016 list of drug-affected barangays among cities and provinces. Iloilo province was ranked 79th.

Davao City, where the President served as mayor for 22 years, was ranked 20th in the country.

With Gov Toto Defensor in Iloilo

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SEN PING LACSON LIVE ON DZMM TELERADYO

SEN PING LACSON LIVE ON DZMM TELERADYO

 

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SEN PING LACSON ON DZMM "LIVE INTERVIEW"

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SEN PING LACSON LIVE ON RADYO 5

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LACSON-SOTTO SUPPORTED BY THE FEDERATION OF 17 VILLAGES IN LAS PIÑAS CITY

Mark Valbuena President of the Federation of 17 Villages in Las Piñas City support the LACSON-SOTTO Tandem for 2022!

The man in white Mark Valbuena is the Federation President of 17 villages in Las Piñas City.

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MGA DRIVER AT TINDERA, KAY PING LACSON NA!

MGA DRIVER AT TINDERA, KAY PING LACSON NA!

 

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Co-Sponsorship Speech: Committee Report 270 (Conversion of a Municipality into a Component City)

 

Co-Sponsorship Speech: Committee Report 270

 (Conversion of a Municipality into a Component City)

Mr. President, fellow members of this august chamber, I have the honor to co-sponsor Committee Report No. 270 -- a proposed bill that will allow our municipalities to sustain economic viability by attaining cityhood through an exemption from the requirements for city conversion and at the same time, ensure fiscal equity among our existing cities with the adoption of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) portability.

Mr. President, the principles of creating a sovereign state are simple: the population must be numerous enough to preserve a political entity; its land large enough to sufficiently provide for its people.

Testament to this are the small states such as Monaco, the island state of Naura, Tuvalu, and San Marino — none of them having a land area bigger than 25 square kilometers and population of over 35,000, yet all of them have attained the status as independent states.

The City of Rome, named the smallest city in the world, covers only 1,285 square kilometers but it has kept its glory and grandeur being a powerful economic force of Italy. In fact, it accounts for 6.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

Mr. President, we take stock of these prospects for change. We can accord the same regard to our municipalities which thrive to generate their local income at a level comparable or even outperforming the fiscal competence of some cities.

The demographics of municipalities as a requisite to cityhood tend to put some of our municipalities at a disadvantage: simply because they have fewer people and smaller lands make it impossible for them to attain cityhood. Hence, the bill proposes a logical exemption to the general rule for the conversion to cityhood for municipalities that generate a local income of P400 million, without the restrictive requirement of the size of its land area or population.

In the same way, the bill ensures that all our 146 cities as of date will not be burdened by the addition of the converted municipalities to their roster. To cushion the impact of this conversion to the IRAs of existing cities, an IRA portability provision is included where the municipality concerned will bring with it its IRA’s share to the League for three years after the effectivity of this proposal.

Mr. President, by opening the doors to cityhood for qualified municipalities, we allow the local governments to fully operationalize their functions, we address the inequity in national resources, we provide a greater number of our people the effectual impact of being a city -- better delivery of public services and a fair share of our progress.

To this end, it is the honor and privilege of this Representation to co-sponsor this Committee Report.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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Lacson: How Did Pharmally Corner Almost P12B in Contracts for Medical Supplies?

September 13, 2021

Lacson: How Did Pharmally Corner Almost P12B in Contracts for Medical Supplies?

Despite starting up with a little over P600,000, how did Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. corner nearly P12 billion in contracts from the government for medical supplies to address the COVID-19 pandemic?

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson asked this Monday as he noted the amount is a huge chunk of the P42 billion that the Department of Health transferred to the Department of Budget and Management's Procurement Service (PS-DBM) to procure the items.

He told Pharmally chairman Huang Tzu Yen and director Linconn Ong to submit to the committee official records showing how many contracts Pharmally bagged, and how much were involved.

"Just make sure you base your figures on official records," he said, even as Ong cited "records" showing Pharmally may have gotten some P11 billion.

Citing figures from the Government Procurement Policy Board, Lacson said Pharmally was awarded at least seven contracts amounting to P8,625,496,016. "If we add the computations of Senators Franklin Drilon and Richard Gordon, it could reach P12 billion," he said.

Earlier, Lacson said the initial information he got indicates only 50,000 face masks would be supplied by the Sitaldas company and 100 million pieces by the Ferrer-owned EMS, though only 25 million pieces were received.

A big part of Pharmally's contract involved P3.82 billion for two million sets of personal protective equipment (PPEs) that Pharmally bought for P1,150 per set and sold at P1,910 for a profit of P760/set - or a total of at least P1.5 billion.

"Kaya kailangan tingnan kung na-defraud ba ang government or taxpayer sa pakikipag-deal ng PS-DBM (We should see if the government or the taxpayer was defrauded by the dealings of PS-DBM)," he said in an interview on DZBB radio.

Lacson, in pushing for an accounting of the P42-billion transfer from DOH to PS-DBM, also noted a large part involves loans that will have to be paid by future generations of Filipinos.

"Babayaran yan ng mga kaapu-apuhan. Di ba dapat tingnan natin kung maayos ang paggastos ng pera ng bayan (The loans will be paid by our grandchildren. Are we not duty-bound to at least make sure the public funds are spent properly)?" he said.

Meanwhile, Lacson lamented the government's favoring of imported supplies when local suppliers had been willing to address the requirement for medical supplies.

"Kaya lumaki ang issue kasama na rin yan. Bakit pabor na pabor sa importer samantalang may namumuhunan na rito (One reason why this issue grew so big is that why is the government favoring importers when local entrepreneurs are willing to produce the needed supplies)?" he said.

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LACSON-SOTTO SUPPORTERS OF BRGY 167, LLANO RD., CALOOCAN CITY

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