Nagsagawa ng imbestigasyon ang Senate committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality kaugnay sa raid ng mga awtoridad sa isang Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators o POGO building sa Pasay City na ginagamit umano sa mga ilegal na gawain.
Ang estado ng imbestigasyon ng Senado tungkol sa POGO at ilang isyu sa bansa, sasagutin ni Senator Risa Hontiveros sa #TheMangahasInterviews
Ang estado ng imbestigasyon ng Senado tungkol sa POGO at ilang isyu sa bansa, sasagutin ni Senator Risa Hontiveros sa #TheMangahasInterviews
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:05 Good day to all of you.
00:07 We are here today for the Mangahas Interviews.
00:10 We will talk about the POGO, budget, and other investigations from the lead investigator of the Senate, Senator Risa Ontiveros,
00:23 one of two opposition senators. Good day, Senator Risa.
00:28 Good day to you too, Ms. Malou, and to all of the Mangahas Interviews.
00:34 Senator Risa, you didn't ask me, she is a proud activist.
00:38 She was a member of the first term and won again in 2022, one of the 12 who ran and won as a senator.
00:48 She is the chairperson of the Committee on Women, Health, Family Relations, and Gender Equality of the Senate.
00:56 She passed a lot of laws, 25 for women, senior citizens, and solo parents.
01:04 Good day, Senator Risa. Let's talk about the POGO.
01:09 What is happening? You have an expose on fake documents, birth certificates, and passports.
01:17 What is the situation? Why is this happening?
01:20 Well, it's really a question that we cannot finish asking.
01:26 Within three years, you know Ms. Malou, the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality started investigating the POGO in 2019.
01:41 So it's been four years already.
01:43 Starting with the POGO-related prostitution issue, it went through illegal recruitment and detention,
01:50 then it went through our huge expose on the pastillia scam, and lastly, the topic of human trafficking.
02:01 This is also where our latest discovery was found. Can you believe that to continue victimizing women who are victims of inbound trafficking,
02:17 different nationalities will enter the Philippines,
02:21 meaning half of the full dark cycle of human trafficking because we were the first to expose the outbound human trafficking of Filipinos.
02:30 Now, these POGO hubs are also human trafficking hubs, human trafficking centers, and one of their items is so that they cannot enter the country,
02:45 because most of the employees are Chinese, but there are other agendas that can stay here and mislead the Filipinos,
02:55 and benefit from our social services and social protection.
02:59 They are able to get either real IDs from the BIR, from PhilHealth, they can buy them.
03:13 Can you imagine the birth certificates of our Filipinos so that they can buy our passports?
03:24 If these documents are not real but they are obtained through fraudulent means, they can get fake documents.
03:34 We should also ask, is POGO the be-all and end-all, including the abuse of important documents for our Filipinos because this is an issue of our government?
03:49 But is this in line with other agendas like the entry to our country, the entry to our national security?
04:01 But Senator Riza, you said that there are syndicates here, or rather government officials, national or local, because there are agencies that issue these documents.
04:13 But some preliminary certifications will come from the local.
04:18 What do you see so far? Is the syndicate local to national?
04:25 Well, we have been investigating the accountability of the leaders and the government, for example, in the Bureau of Immigration,
04:33 because many of them were implicated in the outbound human trafficking syndicate of our Filipinos.
04:44 Is this also inbound? Is there a connection? Is this the past of the pastille syndicate within the BI or is this a mutation of the syndicate?
04:57 We also asked in the last hearing so far of the Senate Committee on Women, the resource persons from the BIR, from PhilHealth, what is happening?
05:09 How are they able to get, imagine Ms. Malua, Iyacat turned over to us, piles of those IDs, tied with rubber bands.
05:19 So many of these were obtained.
05:22 A resource person said that the Chinese employees of POGO did not appear in person to apply for these IDs.
05:36 But their employer is listed as a person or a company that represents many of these employees.
05:53 It's different for us Filipinos when we apply for these IDs, we apply personally, online only if not in person.
06:03 So we can ask the national leaderships of various agencies who has accountability for this and you're right Ms. Malua, even the local government.
06:14 In fact, we also asked the barangay where the last raid of Iyacat and other member agencies was located in Pasay City
06:27 and we really asked the local governments of the barangay to ensure that there are no such people who did not apply for POGO because they are legit license holders from the PAGCOR.
06:41 But how are these crimes done?
06:43 There is human trafficking, there is prostitution.
06:47 Here in SmartWeb, we saw torture chambers, aquariums that are really considered as commodities by women because they are the victims of human trafficking and prostitution.
07:03 Senator Riza, do you have an indicative number of people or POGO personnel who obtained these documents?
07:11 And where can we find them because they might be concentrated here in Metro Manila?
07:18 Well, at first we thought they were concentrated because most of the first raids and rescues of Iyacat and other agencies like Presidential Anti-Organized Crime,
07:30 the Women and Children Units of the Philippine National Police, the Anti-Cybercrime Units of the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation,
07:39 are mostly here in NCR but in the past few months, we noticed that there were raids in Clark and Palita of Iyacat,
07:50 and there are a lot of people who are investigating and following the trail of POGO operations.
08:00 There is an expansion where they can be seen in other provinces and cities like Cebu, Iloilo, and Palita in the north of our country.
08:13 Until POGO, they are already in a mess. They have no good intentions, there are a lot of social costs and evils.
08:20 But do they have other agendas? Why are they located in those areas and others are located near airports?
08:31 They are buying lands that only Filipinos should own. So we need to continue to monitor and investigate.
08:44 If necessary, especially for our women and children, we need to conduct raids to rescue them.
08:52 There is a rumor that the spies of the Chinese are involved.
08:57 That's it because it also came out in the news, concerns about the so-called sleeper cells or sleeper agents.
09:06 Now that our relationship with China is really difficult, in the West Philippine Sea, in the talk of our national grid,
09:16 and in the telecoms, if there are such theories or conspiracy theories, if it is not yet investigated,
09:25 but I know it is being investigated, it should be monitored because it is not a joke that in the sea and land,
09:36 other countries are entering that are not our friends anymore. They have other national interests that are against our national interests.
09:48 And who else will guard the national interests of the Philippines if not us Filipinos?
09:54 Senator Rizal, aside from corruption, prostitution, human trafficking, etc. that you are saying are the social evils of POGO,
10:02 it seems that you have also discovered that the WISC does not pay for some of these.
10:07 You have a smear campaign in the PAG-COR that a company is not able to pay 2 billion pesos in the BIR tax.
10:16 And this has been called for a long time by the Senate and our various committees.
10:22 In the last Congress, the Senate Committee on Labor investigated the illegally employed foreigners, mostly Chinese.
10:32 This is the investigation of the Senate Committee on Women, it has been three years, almost four years.
10:38 And the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs also conducted an investigation.
10:45 This is what was published in the first committee report on our investigations on POGO that calls for the suspension of POGO
10:56 because it illegally employs, it causes a lot of social ills especially to our women and children,
11:05 and the WISC has a huge debt to our government.
11:11 Our investigations have been wrong. It is not true that a huge portion of our gross domestic product comes from POGO.
11:21 That is not true and if we count it in a cost-benefit analysis,
11:27 the amount of costs and evils that POGO brings to us, especially social costs, will wipe out their huge benefit of not moving in terms of money that is being invested by the industry in our economy.
11:46 Do you have the baseline data? For example, how many POGO operators were given a license or approval or permit by the PAG-COR to operate in the Philippines?
11:58 How many people were admitted? What is the scope of their operation in terms of revenue or sales?
12:05 Do we have that kind of baseline data to guide the country?
12:09 We should monitor and update the PAG-COR first because it issues licenses to legitimate POGOs.
12:20 However, it seems like most of them are unaccounted for because according to the study of Dr. Alvin Camba,
12:27 our countryman but based abroad and studying POGOs from China to Cambodia to the Philippines and other countries,
12:37 there are many legitimate POGOs under the PAG-COR because they have a license.
12:44 There are many of them and they are being investigated.
12:49 Depending on the company, there can be thousands of other corporate entities hidden under the PAG-COR and most of them are being used for the crimes.
13:01 So, the data of the PAG-COR should be updated and the data of the Bureau of Immigration should be updated
13:07 because when we were investigating the pastilla scam in one hearing,
13:13 they said that within a few years, there were millions of Chinese employees who were admitted.
13:21 I'll get back to you on the exact figure but the vivid image is that within a few millions, there are more than the population of Quezon City.
13:34 So, it's shocking.
13:36 And then on how much money they were admitted, again I'll get back to you on that exact figure
13:46 because that's what our government economic managers should be monitoring but it was proven in the investigation of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs
13:57 that it will not exceed, it will not be equal to when we monetize the social cost plus their big debt to the government in the economy.
14:10 So, the government units are not required to have a business permit before you have an operation or if you have a BIR, tax registration,
14:22 the PAG-COR will not coordinate with the local government units and for that matter, the business owners, building owners, etc.
14:33 I think that's a big gap Ms. Malou even when it comes to who owns the buildings where POGO operates,
14:45 which is a human trafficking hub and human trafficking center.
14:49 And there are other violations not only in the law but also in the human rights of the victims, the survivors of the employees.
14:58 There is a building of Smart Web in Pasay.
15:03 Wow! You will be surprised Ms. Malou how big and wide it is.
15:08 On the roof of their fifth level, there are small container vans that are repurposed,
15:18 made into a room for prostituted women.
15:22 How did it get there on the roof? Was it airlifted? Were the cranes lifted?
15:31 Did the barangay not notice that?
15:34 Even after the hearing, there are people who are still complaining to us, the neighbors of Smart Web,
15:40 asking about the role of the local government there.
15:46 About the company that supports or funds the work of some members or volunteers of the local government or barangay there.
16:03 So that is something that should be investigated.
16:07 If there are container vans or things that are in there, even the customs should be alerted.
16:15 There are a lot of things Ms. Malou.
16:17 We saw a self-contained building, the Smart Web, there are restaurants, shabu-shabu, barbershops.
16:28 And speaking of customs, there are groceries inside.
16:32 The products are all sold out, food, houseware imported from China.
16:38 So how did it get in?
16:41 Did it go through the right channels or customs? Did it pay taxes?
16:46 The people are asking because there are politicians who are like a type of criminal.
16:54 Are you aware of such issues?
16:58 There is no evidence about that yet.
17:01 But if there are questions that should be asked in the barangay,
17:06 if there are questions that should be asked to the national government agencies,
17:11 maybe there should be questions to our politicians.
17:14 If there is a whistleblower or evidence like that, our Senate committees will be forced to weigh it.
17:25 And for that matter, even our police.
17:29 Because you can also see if there are unusual incidents or flow of human and people and goods in the area.
17:40 And that is a painful angle but a real angle that came out of our various investigations in the Senate where our resource persons are the Philippine National Police.
17:54 I remember when we investigated the killing of Jemboy Baltazar in Navotas.
18:01 We also asked the PNP about the wide range of human trafficking in different parts of our country.
18:09 Even here in Pogo, another angle that we asked the PNP was if the protocols in raids are strictly followed.
18:18 Because there are also complaints that the following of these protocols is not strictly followed.
18:26 So as the PNP is our most law enforcement agency in the country,
18:33 they are the most responsible institution for public safety, they also need to respond.
18:40 So far, they are responding to these investigations to complete and correct our committee report, findings and recommendations.
18:51 What was sad was that in one raid, not necessarily the star web,
18:56 but all the people in the office were caught in the police station.
19:04 There was a live stream that came out and the police apologized.
19:11 But it seems like no one was there because who would be the one to point it out?
19:16 Were they the customers, the operators, the syndicates behind it?
19:24 How would they know who is guilty?
19:27 Well, all of the above, Ms. Malu, were the ones who were looking for our investigations and our law enforcement authorities.
19:37 And the correct prosecution of people, who are the suspects, who have accountability and should be prosecuted,
19:49 should be conducted in a trial and if convicted, should be punished.
19:54 That is the result of the correct execution of the mandate of each agency.
19:59 So if the PNP is included and the NBI is included, the case build-up,
20:04 the proper and effective execution of raids,
20:09 the arrest of the suspects who are being followed and so on and so forth.
20:15 If the truth will be revealed, if accountability will be proven and if justice will be proven for the victims and survivors,
20:30 it should start from the first step.
20:33 You said that the protocol is sometimes not followed, but the most critical is the custody of evidence.
20:40 Who is holding the evidence, whether it is computers or the actual raid photos or the testimonies of the people you talked to?
20:50 Who has the custody of the evidence?
20:53 More often than not, Ms. Malu, the member agency of IACAT is the leader in a particular raid.
21:02 Whether it is the PNP, NBI, PAOC or particularly the Women and Children's Unit of the Law Enforcement Agency.
21:14 In your hearing, you have a plan to pass a law.
21:21 What do you think is the solution from the part of the Congress for these issues?
21:27 Well, we will pass at least one last hearing based on the request of Sen. Sherwin in our last hearing
21:37 so that we can directly ask the owners and officers of the smartweb that was caught in the raid in Pasay City.
21:46 After that, we will finally start writing our committee report.
21:52 Top of mind Ms. Maluna, because our investigations are in aid of legislation.
21:58 What I see as the most possible thing to amend and update is the expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.
22:08 And in this direction, in the last hearing, there were good recommendations issued by IACAT for our part.
22:21 For example, the inclusion of the definition of terms, the trafficking hub or trafficking center
22:31 and the expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and several other recommendations.
22:38 If your investigations and reports are okay, our problem is the results when it comes back to the executive branch.
22:48 Like what you mentioned, multiple national and local government agencies, of course the Philippine National Police.
22:56 Do you have a plan that they are fond of the whole of government approach?
23:03 It looks like not only social evils but also there might be a national security angle in these POGO issues.
23:11 What do you think? It seems like there is no clear movement in the PAGPOR, what will it do?
23:17 Or to the agencies that have been able to get the documents or the real documents for the Philippine PECs.
23:24 Well, at least I am living with hope that IACAT, the Interagency Council Against Trafficking,
23:37 will not be caught, and also the possible national security implications of POGO.
23:43 They have been active alongside our Senate Committee Investigations that raid POGO companies, rescue human trafficking victim survivors.
23:59 And in the report that they submitted to us in the last hearing, their approach to the issues is a bit comprehensive.
24:09 They identified trends across the last five or six raids that they carried out.
24:16 They told us the challenges they faced in the operation.
24:21 They are part of the executive of these raids and crackdowns on POGO operations.
24:28 And they already have recommendations that they are facing us.
24:32 So compared to three years ago when our Senate Committee on Women started these investigations,
24:39 I can see now, especially through IACAT and their member agencies,
24:46 I can see now that they are more cautious in catching up with the mutating POGO operations,
24:55 not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.
24:58 So hopefully, Ms. Maluno, when we release our committee report,
25:03 they will not start back to square one in appreciating the findings and implementing our recommendations.
25:14 Senator Risa, let's be clear, the Chinese government does not support POGO.
25:19 Yes.
25:20 They do not have a pass-pass to these operations.
25:24 However, if Chinese citizens are involved, their nationals,
25:28 they will have an interest in this POGO issue or even the issue of sleepers or spies
25:35 that are said to be possible as a route but certainly the Chinese government officially does not like POGOs.
25:44 How do you balance that in your explanation?
25:46 Because people might think it's one and the same banana.
25:50 Well, it's true that POGO in China is a banana.
25:55 It spread to countries like Cambodia.
25:59 It's a banana.
26:01 Even the Chinese POGO companies that were in Cambodia before came to us.
26:10 Dr. Alvin Kamba has an interesting angle that he told us that the rich in China,
26:18 their excess wealth was found as an exit route and exit plan because their government is too tight against POGO.
26:28 And this is where they invest.
26:31 If it's true, if the national security angle is proven,
26:40 the Chinese government and their rich citizens will have another intersection
26:48 on the other side of undermining our national security here in the Philippines.
26:56 So this is a global phenomenon, a regional phenomenon here in Asia but also a global phenomenon.
27:03 Crypto scams that are used by human trafficking victims have a name in the West.
27:12 They call it big butchering because usually the people who are later on asked for investment in cryptocurrency scams
27:26 are usually white people from the Canary Islands.
27:30 So this is a global problem.
27:33 Let's go to your other investigations.
27:36 Socorro, what are the status?
27:38 How did you notice these issues?
27:41 It seems like you are getting more exposés.
27:44 Thank you to the mayor of Socorro and their municipal social welfare and development office
27:53 for being the first to come to my office in the Senate and to report and to condemn the terrible actions of cult leaders
28:06 against their own children, their families, and their communities.
28:14 So Ms. Maluno, Sen. Aguila, Mayor Galanida, other leaders of Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc.
28:24 and the other ones initiated by the judge of the warrant of arrest,
28:30 if their guilt can be proven in court, they should be held accountable.
28:38 One of the issues you have is the pastillas scam, the customs, and the different acts there.
28:52 How do you go to your office, to your office, aside from being a fool,
28:57 that you are the one who has the most to talk about and to blame?
29:01 Well, either they email first or write, or call, or most often they physically go to the office.
29:11 I remember even the first big investigation we talked about against the pastillas scam,
29:20 some of the victim survivors or whistleblowers there really found a way to physically go to my office as in walk-in
29:29 because they followed the investigation and they have something to say in the office.
29:37 So from Socorro to Pogo related crimes and others,
29:45 Ms. Maluy, there is no shortage of people who want to speak the truth
29:51 or want to seek justice for the crime where they became victims and survived.
29:58 And for that, the Senate, to file a resolution, to investigate and in aid of legislation,
30:08 the truth and justice should be given.
30:13 But are you sure that it's not a prank or maybe it's set up by your feeds?
30:20 Well, it's really done by due diligence, my legislative team, who really works.
30:28 There is no perfect institution in the office where it is impossible to become a victim of a prank.
30:39 That's why it's important that we do our homework before we file a resolution and start an investigation.
30:49 And so far, what we have discussed so far is that because it has reached this far and it has yielded results,
31:01 that's also because, like what we discussed with law enforcement agencies earlier,
31:07 that when a strong case yields results, our offices in the Senate are also like that
31:14 because we started our work in the first step of fixing it.
31:20 You are just one of the two opposition senators.
31:23 Are you not thinking of referring to other committees or other senators?
31:28 Because it seems like not all of them are that active.
31:31 Our senators, you are 24 and you are two pieces of the opposition.
31:36 Why is it not the majority that is the first in such investigations?
31:40 Well, in fairness to our colleagues in the majority, for example, the first one to conduct an investigation against POGO
31:48 was the Senate Committee on Labor, whose majority senator is the president and in fact, the majority leader now.
31:59 Even the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs is now chaired by a majority senator.
32:08 Even our investigation on Socorro was secondarily referred to our Senate Committee on Women
32:15 but primarily to the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Dangerous Drugs whose majority senator is also Sen. Doroy.
32:25 The Chair of Economic Affairs is Sen. Sherwin.
32:28 So it is good if all of our committees are the ones to investigate on the resolutions that are needed.
32:39 We went to the Senate this week and discussed the 2024 budget, the status and when it can be passed.
32:48 Well, proceeding according to schedule, Ms. Malou, and I'm very confident that before December 31,
32:57 the President will sign the General Appropriations Act or National Budget.
33:03 For us, especially in the minority, it is important that we do this, not only timely but also in a timely manner.
33:12 We really followed the timeline. If we want to work in a timely manner on the investigations and resolutions,
33:19 we need to do it now in the year of the budget and especially now that 2024 is coming,
33:26 it is important that the content is correct and we can pass it in a timely manner
33:31 because it should bring solutions to the most serious developmental challenges that have been in our country for a long time
33:40 and fiscal challenges that are increasing and tightening up now in 2023-2024.
33:46 So what is the status of the confidential and intelligence funds?
33:50 Will it be recovered, removed or restored in the BICAM?
33:55 That is our plan, our minority leader Sen Coco.
34:00 Last year, we took issue from the minority of race and last year,
34:06 the entire Senate amended the amendment that the confidential funds of the Department of Education should be transferred to the MOOE.
34:22 But when it came to the BICAM Committee, it was not approved.
34:28 The good development this year Ms. Malou, because of the Senate's advocacy,
34:35 we received support from the House of Representatives.
34:40 In fact, they positioned that the confidential funds and intelligence funds of some civilian agencies
34:52 that do not have national defense or public safety mandate or expertise will be transferred to those agencies
35:02 and even to the armed and uniformed services that are facing China in the West Philippine Sea.
35:09 So my hope and our hope for the minority is that if we pass such amendments,
35:19 it will be carried to the BICAM Committee even from the House of Representatives.
35:25 We will not let that go.
35:27 Confidential and intelligence funds and even in the interpellation,
35:31 I already gave notice that when it comes to amendments,
35:34 I will also pass as an amendment that the contingent funds of the Office of the President
35:40 cannot be transferred to the confidential and intelligence funds of other offices like the Office of the Vice President.
35:48 But before Vice President Sara announced that she does not want her confidential and intelligence funds,
35:55 some senators positioned that there is no reason for the Vice President to refuse to give confidential and intelligence funds
36:05 until the Vice President said that she does not want it.
36:09 What is the situation? Will the pro-Duterte senators continue their statement that they will include it even if the Vice President says that she does not want it?
36:22 It is possible. We are still in the period of interpellations.
36:27 When it comes to the period of amendments, of course, the field is open for any of our senators to pass amendments,
36:37 proposed amendments on particular issues, especially the burning issue of confidential and intelligence funds in one direction or another.
36:45 What I can assure you is that we in the minority will be consistent in that and we will really try to get the support of everyone or most of our majority
37:01 to include it in the Senate version so that we can also fight the house's strong buy-cam.
37:09 And when we get or we form the Senate, the majority of the senators will bring that up to the buy-cam.
37:23 And I hope, I hope that our counterparts in the House will also sustain the position that they have already issued by all their parties.
37:33 They said that the previous action against confidential and intelligence funds is no longer possible.
37:39 Is the buy-cam meeting open or closed door? Because it seems like it is a secret chamber of buy-cam.
37:49 So how can we know who took the position, removed it, returned it, reduced it, etc.?
37:55 I remember last year, the media was there at least in the opening and closing of the buy-cam process.
38:07 And it is open to any member whether from us in the Senate or our counterparts in the House.
38:14 If someone moves, for example, the entire buy-cam meeting will be open to the media and the public.
38:22 I don't think there's a ban on that. So let's see if someone will motion that and if someone will advocate that from the public.
38:34 That's our concern. It seems like the consensus in the Senate or the House is different.
38:40 When it comes to buy-cam, there are some unusual events but it's not clear because it's not said who moved for or against.
38:49 It's just that you're giving a kind of photo-op in the opening and closing.
38:55 That's how it was last year. But as I mentioned, the budget reform advocates groups we see are not empty.
39:06 They have advocacy groups with different priorities year on year.
39:15 We're just in the middle of November, there's still one and a half year until the budget process is completed.
39:25 If the public has a strong opinion, like what we saw in the hot attention they gave,
39:36 especially in the confidential and intelligence funds,
39:40 we will be able to do it if the civil society does not do something and if we don't listen to the buy-cam.
39:48 What President Duterte and other people said is that it's wrapped in politics between the four frontrunners of the 2028 elections,
39:58 Vice President Sara and if ever Speaker Martin Romualdez,
40:03 the president of the United Nations, is not happy with the confidential funds.
40:10 That's why the DepEd and OVP fund was pulled from the confidential and intelligence funds
40:17 because Speaker Martin Romualdez doesn't want the PDP Laban members to join the United Nations.
40:26 What is your observation on this? Is there a political play? Is there a shadow play?
40:32 Duterte said that the budget process is wrapped in politics.
40:38 Look who's talking if we remember his administration's six years.
40:46 In his words, he was so surprised that people observed that it's too early,
40:55 it's only been a year and a half in their administration and he's already checking if there are dynamics
41:04 in their highest officials or groups within the administration.
41:12 Well, it's up to Duterte and his observations and attacks on various groups or individuals.
41:23 For me and for us in Minoria, confidential and intelligence funds are a very important issue.
41:32 More than politics, accountability, being more transparent and accountable in the whole budget process.
41:40 In our homes, in our families, we also budget.
41:46 The budget is limited and in the country, the fiscal space is tight.
41:53 It's only right to admit where the government's precious funds of taxpayers were spent last year
42:03 and now given our situation in the coming year 2024,
42:08 we can allocate properly to address the economic issues of every Filipino family,
42:20 we can recover from COVID, we can revitalize our poor economy
42:27 and ensure the protection of national interest in the West Philippine Sea and the whole archipelago.
42:34 Duterte said that it's just politics, but that's a very sharp and shallow analysis.
42:40 President BBM, in his State of the Nation Address, listed 20 priority legislation.
42:50 Speaker Martin said that he can do it, that he can pass it before Christmas.
42:56 What is the status of the Senate?
42:58 Can you really give a gift to President BBM for Christmas? 20 bills.
43:05 Wow, I only wish for some of those priority legislation, although the priority legislation is not yet complete.
43:14 There are some that we want to ban in the minority.
43:18 We have priority legislation that we think is important and can help people, not only you.
43:24 But in terms of time, I wish because we are still finishing the budget.
43:32 That 20 priority legislation was put ahead by Maharlika.
43:37 It's very problematic until now. I don't know how we can do that.
43:44 Your magic?
43:45 Well, I hope we use the right magic and prioritize those that will benefit people.
43:55 We will just delay or I wish to remove some of the priority legislation that we want to ban in the Senate of minority.
44:03 And we should add more priority legislation that is a real priority of our citizens.
44:10 What do you think are the two that should be passed or there is a reasonable basis?
44:17 Well, if I remember correctly, the military and uniformed personnel pension reforms were prioritized.
44:27 That is very important both for our retired and active duty citizens in the armed forces
44:36 and for our government economic managers, the sustainability of the government's fund.
44:45 I hope we can give that earlier attention.
44:51 The land use act?
44:54 Oh, that is a long time ago. We have been prioritizing that for decades.
44:59 E-commerce law, e-commerce tax?
45:03 Those are important. There are some that are important that we should have given attention to last year
45:12 so that it would be more realistic to promise that during Christmas or New Year,
45:17 we will pass or it will be close to being passed.
45:20 In your position and the opposition, your committee and my senator, what would you like to prioritize up front in the Senate?
45:29 It seems like you have been doing SOGIEX for a long time.
45:34 Yes, that is my priority.
45:37 What are the two that should be passed?
45:40 Well, of course, the many economic bills post-pandemic, post-recession,
45:48 like the Gig Economy Workers' Rights and Welfare Bill or at least the Magna Carta of Seafarers.
46:00 Those are really the bills for the private sector.
46:07 For our farmers, it is really hard to implement the Rice Tarification Law.
46:14 They are also waiting for the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Economic Sabotage Bill to become law and others.
46:25 That is the proposal of Lolo and Lola?
46:28 That is also my priority bill. It is like Lolo and Lola's bill because it is a universal social pension.
46:35 Now that Senator Laila has come out, what do you think is the impact on the opposition?
46:41 Do you think we have a better chance, bigger, in 2025 or 2028?
46:47 Of course, and thank God, Laila is now free.
46:51 We all knew that they would come and after six years of imprisonment,
47:01 her spirit remains unbowed.
47:05 And Laila's spirit will surely infuse strength and positivity to all of us in the opposition.
47:18 It will surely help that she is now close to becoming free and that will surely inspire us in the opposition.
47:33 Now that she is free, you have a video of you two hugging.
47:36 What was your reaction? It seems like your embrace was long.
47:44 Of course, you did it Laila.
47:48 And what you did is a huge vindication to you and to the whole opposition.
47:55 Moving forward, this will bring more and more strength and goodness,
48:04 not just for us in the opposition but for our entire country.
48:09 On that note, we are the ones who should be thanking and keep the exposés coming.
48:14 Since there are so many of you, it seems like we need to investigate these issues.
48:21 Thank you very much Senator Risa Ontiveros. Have a good day and keep safe.
48:27 Take care as well Ms. Malou.
48:29 [Music]
48:51 (electronic music)