Hontiveros has introduced last-minute changes to the measure in an effort to bring more clarity to it and to address the concerns raised by certain sectors. She is confident that she will gain the majority support of her colleagues in the Senate in passing the bill that, she says, has been the target of “deliberate” misinformation and disinformation by those opposed to it.

Health Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo recently described the numbers concerning teenage pregnancy in the Philippines as “nakakabahala” (disturbing). CoverStory.ph sought out Hontiveros to answer questions on the measure that seeks to address what is now deemed a national and social emergency. 

You have amended the original Senate Bill No.1979 in response to criticisms raised. The amendments concern the nature of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE); allowing minors under 16 years old access to sexual and reproductive health services only with the parent or guardian’s consent; and a guarantee of parental authority and religious freedom in the measure. How would you describe these amendments, and do you think they address the questions and doubts raised by the groups opposed to the bill?  

Sen. Risa Hontiveros (SRH): These are amendments that make the provisions in the earlier version even clearer. For example, the substitute bill takes out the phrase “guided by international standards” in relation to CSE—a fundamental objection raised against the bill—so that it will no longer be interpreted or weaponized to mean that CSE will only follow international guidelines, which was not true in the first place. CSE in the Philippines will always conform to the cultures and context of the Philippines. 

The common reason of the seven senators who withdrew their signatures from the committee report had to do with the backlash generated by the bill. Do you think that was a good enough reason for rejecting the measure? 

SRH: They are entitled to their considerations for withdrawing their signatures, but I trust that they read the substitute bill.

But with the last-minute changes in the substitute bill, do you think it can be saved? 

SRH: It has provisions from Senate President Francis Escudero himself, taking into account various apprehensions of our colleagues, so I am hopeful that the measure can still be steered to passage so long as we go through the proper legislative process. 

Should senators also help in educating the public about SB 1979?  

SRH: Yes, I do hope all of us throw our weight behind fighting the misinformation and disinformation about the measure not only because it might muddle our debates in the plenary, but also for the sake of the Filipino public. 

Have you received any feedback on the amended measure from the senators who withdrew their signatures? Has anyone changed their mind? 

SRH: Not yet.

Have you spoken to Senate President Escudero about the substitute bill?  

SRH: Yes. The Senate President’s suggestions were included in the substitute bill before I even filed it. 

In the letter to the Senate President of four of the senators who withdrew their signatures, they stated the need for “further dialogues with stakeholders” on “objectionable portions of the bill.” Also, it was reported that former chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno is urging the Senate to either return the bill to the committee for more hearings or conduct an inquiry into it. Is there a need for new committee hearings or even a Senate inquiry to tackle the bill, as they are now suggesting? Or is it better for the Senate to return to the plenary interpellations and amendments on the measure?  

SRH: This matter is already in plenary. The bill is now in its second reading and it has already been interpellated by the Minority and Majority Leaders.

In fact, the substitute bill was already part of the agenda of our Senate session last Monday (Jan. 27).  Any clarifications or objections by other senators should be expressed in plenary through questions or other proposed amendments. 

Congress is scheduled to take a break starting Feb. 8 for the election campaign. With suggestions for the bill to undergo new hearings or even an inquiry—although it is now on second reading—is there still time for it to be passed during the 19th Congress? Will you meet with the senators to explain the amendments to the substitute bill?  

SRH: If the Senate has the political will to prioritize this law so desperately needed to curb the rising cases of teen pregnancy, then the Senate should make time before the campaign season. We also still have a couple of sessions—albeit short—even after the elections, so I’m hopeful that there is still a chance to push this bill into law.

Do you think there was a misreading or overreading of the substitute bill by the groups opposed to it? For one, those opposed voiced alarm over the possibility that the CSE to be adopted would be using European standards. 

SRH: It seems there was a deliberate campaign to misinform the public. There is nothing in the bill that says what they claim. There will never be a possibility for CSE just mindlessly using European or other international standards because our CSE—as deemed constitutional through the RPRH (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health) Law passed over a decade ago—will always be cognizant of Filipino culture and values. 

Was the original bill too vague and open to misinterpretation and, hence, amendments needed to be introduced to bring more clarity?  

SRH: Along with numerous child rights advocates, civil society organizations, teachers, and fellow parents, I stand by the original bill. It has always been clear—not vague—that our CSE should be accurate, age- and development-appropriate, and culturally sensitive. The amendments were introduced to give even more clarity and address the genuine concerns of my colleagues and some sectors. 

How important is the bill in arresting the problem of teenage pregnancy? 

SRH: The bill, through various preventive measures stipulated in the measure, will oblige the government to direct our attention and resources to addressing this crisis. Teen pregnancy is an ongoing national and social emergency. Like in any emergency, it is crucial that we act urgently; otherwise, we will fail to protect and support adolescents, particularly women and girls, who will bear the brunt of early pregnancy. This affects not just their future but the collective future of our country. 

Apart from educating young students and their parents about responsible sexual and reproductive health through stronger legislation, how can the government curb the rise of teenage pregnancy in the country?  

SRH: Access to reproductive health and services is crucial. Whether we like it or not, the data show us that there are sexually active adolescents, who should not be deprived of reproductive health services and information that can help them protect their health. 

What do you think of the statement of President Marcos that he will first read the amendments to the substitute bill, especially after his public opposition to the original bill resulted in the withdrawal of the signatures of his Senate allies from the committee report? 

SRH: I hope the President does read the substitute bill so he is clarified about any misinterpretations or false information that may have reached his office. 

Will you appeal to him to give the measure a chance? 

SRH: I already made a statement saying that I am open to amendments so we can pass this measure into law. 

You seem to have an ally in the President’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, who was quoted as saying that it would be premature for her to withdraw her signature to the committee report when the bill is still under plenary interpellations and amendments. Will you seek her help in easing the fears of those opposed to the measure?  

SRH: I do appreciate that Senator Marcos has not withdrawn her signature from the committee report. While I will not impose on her the responsibility to help ease the fears of those opposed to the measure, I will not be surprised if she does so on her own platforms. 

Should the measure be placed on the back burner, what are the chances of such a bill being filed again in the Senate, especially when there will be a new composition in the chamber after the May elections?

SRH: As with any other measure, we follow the legislative process. If it is part of the agenda, it should be open to interpellation and/or amendments. If this does not pass in the 19th Congress, as author, I will file it again. It’s too early to talk about chances when we don’t know who our new colleagues will be. But with the substitute bill as it is right now, I am positive that it will gain majority support. 

Read more: Risa, Leni show the way

The post Sen. Risa Hontiveros: ‘Teen pregnancy is an ongoing national and social emergency’ appeared first on CoverStory.

But for Hontiveros’ efforts the upper chamber would have been in complete thrall to Duterte and his allies—a setting for an old boys’ club cockily chuckling at one another while the ex-president swore steadily at everyone’s mother and performed his characteristic repetitive ramble, with his train of thought constantly derailing. Her perseverance in interpellation got him to make “bombshell” admissions that are seen to help in the filing of formal charges against him and in the investigation of the International Criminal Court, before which he is accused of crimes against humanity. 

Hontiveros had requested that the inquiry be conducted by the Senate committee of the whole, but it was ultimately the blue ribbon committee that took up the task. With the blue ribbon chair, Sen. Pia Cayetano, busy seeing to her reelection, it fell to a subcommittee led by Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III to do the honors. Which is just as well, the attentive observer may have noted, personal ties being what they are. Despite her professed advocacy for women’s rights and in the face of public criticism of Duterte’s sexist, misogynistic ways, Cayetano has declared love for him at least once in his presidency. 

Not that Duterte was lacking in defenders at the Monday hearing. Senators Bato dela Rosa and Bong Go, his lieutenants implicated in the “reward system” that purportedly animated the war on drugs, had disdained calls for them to inhibit and sat easy in their skins during the proceedings. In a confusion of roles tolerated by Mr. Chair—the son and namesake of the late esteemed former Senate president Nene Pimentel who, back in the day, was a stalwart of the anti-Marcos resistance—Dela Rosa was loudly defensive in the many times he was given the floor: at one point, incredibly, accusing Fr. Flaviano Villanueva of Project Paghilom of making propaganda, and, in tender exchanges with Duterte, generally denying the disclosures made by witnesses at the inquiry of the House of Representatives’ quad committee into EJKs in the drug war.

Early on, Hontiveros cut Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s attempt to make light of the hearing, calling it what it was: “no laughing matter.” Estrada tried anew in his interpellation of Duterte—indicating an apparent effort to frame the proceedings and the past administration’s “kill, kill, kill” theme as a “joke”—and her protesting voice was again heard. She would not let it pass. 

And she would not let up on Duterte even if he and his coterie cockily enjoyed the perks of being on home grounds. She would not agree to being dragged with him to hell—his amplification of what looks to be the former first family’s motto. She would not concede the floor to his rant.

Appreciation for Hontiveros’ unyielding stance is widespread, and includes statements from some of her peers in the legislature as well as online messages from former senators Panfilo Lacson and Antonio Trillanes IV.

* * *

Elsewhere, the photograph posted online of Leni Robredo in waist-level floodwaters helping deliver drinking water and other relief goods from her Angat Buhay Foundation to stricken folks in Naga City lays firm ground for making comparisons. The temptation to do so was recently triggered by the astonishing demonstrations of entitlement and bizarre behavior by Robredo’s successor to the vice presidency and further provoked by Severe Tropical Storm “Kristine,” which inflicted tremendous suffering on many Filipinos who still await rescue and assistance. 

Going to great lengths to help those in need is not a novel undertaking for Robredo. As vice president during the Covid-19 pandemic that dramatically changed life as Filipinos knew it, she was untiring in aiding those at the peripheries—commuters, jeepney and tricycle drivers, healthcare workers, the like—despite then President Duterte’s categorical ban on her very presence. 

The projects undertaken by the Office of the Vice President when Covid-19 was ravaging the country and the rest of the world focused on the welfare of the public, especially the frontliners who, despite their exceedingly important role in fighting the virus, received lackluster, occasionally even hostile, attention from the administration. These projects are well remembered because they serve as templates for current ones: among others, the “Bayanihan e-Konsulta” or free medical consultations, the production of personal protective equipment, the “Vaccine Express” or the immunization of essential workers in cooperation with local government units, and the dorms and free shuttle services provided healthcare workers to and from their work places.

It’s true, as someone recently remarked, that these projects were remarkable for being efficiently managed on the OVP’s modest budget—the highest being P900 million in 2021—and for drawing volunteers inspired by Robredo’s leadership and example. 

Here is where comparisons can be made between past and present occupants of the second highest position of the land. As vice president estranged from Malacanang, Robredo ran her office with the intelligence, dignity and probity it deserved and without need to make extraordinary claims to special funds and security that the incumbent deemed imperative. 

The break between Robredo and Duterte was a situation of his making. He barred her from the Cabinet, emboldening his then spokesman to lie through his teeth that she was a mere ornament (“palamuti”) in the administration. To refresh the collective memory, this was how the order for Robredo not to set foot in the Palace was formulated by then Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. late in 2016, according to the then OVP spokesman Barry Gutierrez: “Gd afternoon Madam Vice President. Mayor Rody Duterte thru Bong Go asked me to relay to you his instruction for you to desist from attending all Cabinet mtngs starting This Monday Dec. 5 2pm. Ty.” No official explanation was ever given.

Yet this willful act of isolation did not drive Robredo to snide idleness marked by, for example, online “politician-with-nothing-to-lose” posts of dancing with her house help. Her absence at the Palace may have been decreed, but she showed up for her constituents and sought for them financial and other donations whenever necessary. That no controversy marred the use of the OVP’s budget—the proposal for which Robredo herself presented at House budget deliberations—is on record. 

No confidential and/or intel funds were demanded, and given, for that OVP to function well. It received from the Commission on Audit the highest audit rating for two consecutive years. 

* * * 

The spasm in the body politic that was the filing of certificates of candidacy for the 2025 elections has eased. The Commission on Elections is yet to complete its task of producing a final list of those eligible to run. But the general picture is even now quite clear—a breathtaking mural of the continuing desire for power and the shamelessness that buoys it to ever higher levels.  

As usual but now to an alarming degree, much of the hopefuls are using popularity, notoriety, unlimited resources and connections to get at the plum. Political clans wield a stranglehold on power as though it were a birthright, yet they want more, more!

Surely this is unacceptable. Why does Vilma Santos think her sons are God’s gift to the good people of Batangas, and why does her husband, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto—who, until the Supreme Court stopped it, presided over the turnover of some of the unspent PhilHealth funds to the treasury—agree? Why does Cynthia Villar think her daughter should occupy her soon-to-be-vacated seat at the Senate when her son is already there, and why does the paterfamilias, the multibillionaire Manny Villar, think so, too? 

Who do faded movie stars and TV hosts think they are and what on earth will they bring to the Senate table? Why are the Tulfo siblings yearning to get elected to public office en masse? What do Red-taggers and cult leaders charged with sex crimes have to show? Etc. 

Risa Hontiveros and Leni Robredo represent the kind of leaders so direly needed by this country, which now faces another chance to begin to make things better.

Read more: Leni Robredo’s political life goes full circle

The post Risa, Leni show the way appeared first on CoverStory.

Duterte said three former Davao police chiefs had led the so-called “Duterte Death Squad (DDS)” and that he had encouraged police to prod suspects to resist and to ultimately kill them.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros said these twin admissions by Duterte were “bombshells.” 

“It looks like what we’re investigating now was the instrument used for the war on drugs that resulted in extrajudicial killings,” Hontiveros said during the first hearing of the Senate subcommittee’s inquiry into Duterte’s war on drugs. 

“You’re correct, ma’am. You are really right,” Duterte replied, adding that it is he who should be investigated, and not the “kawawa” (pitiful) police. 

Hearing Duterte’s admissions, former senator Leila de Lima commented that “inducing or prodding people directly or indirectly” to commit a crime is not part of the duty of an executive official.

Duterte said he should be taken to court for it.  

It was the first time the former president appeared in a congressional hearing to defend his bloody campaign against drugs. He chose to testify in the Senate and to skip the invitation of the House of Representatives’ quad committee that has heard several witnesses alleging he had ordered the killing of drug suspects in police operations in exchange for rewards.

His allies, Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, have likewise ignored the summonses of the House special panel looking into the connections among the illegal drug trade, illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators, and extrajudicial killings during the drug war.

Go was special assistant to the president and Dela Rosa the Philippine National Police chief when the drug war was launched. They were also alleged by witnesses in the House inquiry to have ordered the killing of drug suspects and rewarded the police for the deed. Both senators have denied this.

‘Mandate’

“My mandate as president of the republic was to protect the country and the Filipino people. Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do, and whether you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” Duterte said in his opening statement to the Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III.

Speaking in a mix of English and Filipino and constantly cussing, Duterte repeatedly said he was taking “full responsibility” for the drug war that at one point he described as “not perfect.”

“For all its successes and shortcomings, I and I alone take full legal responsibility for all the actions of the police pursuant to my order. I should be held responsible, and I should be the one jailed and not the police who were just following orders,” he said.

Hontiveros based her queries to Duterte on that statement and ended up clashing with him.

She cited the case of the 17-year-old Kian de los Santos who was killed in a drug operation and asked him if he was taking responsibility for it.

Said Duterte: “I was referring to the policy of what the police did.”

Hontiveros then asked if he was taking full responsibility for the outcome of this policy. and he replied in the negative.

When she asked if he was assuming responsibility for the killing of 20-year-old Carl Anthony Nunez, which was a case of mistaken identity, Duterte said: “Guilt is personal, you just cannot pass it on.”

‘Semantics’

Hontiveros countered by citing Duterte’s statements in 2020 and 2021 that he would assume responsibility for any death in the drug war. He said he was taking responsibility for the drug war and that the court will not accept a specific crime.

“You are trying to pin me down,” Duterte said, raising his voice. “Don’t pin me down on semantics.”

The exchange prompted Pimentel to suspend the hearing. Duterte then asked if he could go to the restroom.

At the resumption of the hearing, Duterte told Hontiveros that he was just “excited” because it was his first appearance in the Senate and that the incident “has nothing to do with you or my character.”

“If you’re offended by my demeanor, let me change gear and I will try do it with moderation,” he said, adding that the senators could complete their questioning even if it took until the next day because he could not afford plane travel to Manila from Davao all the time.

It was Hontiveros who sought to clarify Duterte’s statement that he had his own death squad when he was mayor of Davao City. He made the admission when he said his former police chiefs knew that many criminals were killed as the crime rate rose in the city, and its economy bloomed thereafter.

“I can make a confession now if you want. Talagang yinayari ko … I have a death squad,” Duterte said.

He said it had seven members who were not part of the police force. He described them as “gangsters” that he would order to kill criminals and threaten to kill if they disobeyed him.

“So why sacrifice the police?” Duterte said, lamenting that it was the families of policemen who suffered if they got suspended from work. “And that’s why I protect them. If it’s in fulfillment of duty, I would die for them. But if they make abuses, I would be the one to kill them.”

Pimentel asked Duterte to make it clear if he had a death squad, and the ex-president said “it was not a death squad.”

“But the people in Davao know that I am there and if a heinous crime is committed and they do not have anyone to turn to, I am the one [they can turn to],” he said.

Hontiveros asked Duterte about the identities of the seven members of his hit squad and to describe its structure.

“My death squad, ma’am, of course it’s organized. Hanggang dyan lang (That’s all),” he said.

When Hontiveros prodded him on the setup, Duterte said it was to “fight crimes.”

She said she was asking about the seven members. He said they were all dead and he could not remember their names. He also denied having paid them, describing them as “very rich in Davao” and who “wanted to kill criminals because they want Davao to be safe.”

Hontiveros asked if the team included a certain Colonel Macasaet. Duterte said the person was dead and that she need not ask about the history.

‘There were killings’

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada asked Duterte if he thought his drug war was a success. Duterte said that as president, he warned drug lords and suspects to stop the illegal drug trade or they may end up being killed if they were caught.

“So there were killings. But it was not state-sponsored killings. There was never an official order to the police and military and agents of government to kill,” Duterte said, adding that he had never made such an order to PNP chief Dela Rosa.

What he told his students when he was teaching law at the PNP Academy, he said, was that when they arrest a suspect and the suspect resists, they need to overcome the suspect’s resistance. 

To Estrada, Duterte dismissed as just “stories” reports that he had told his PNP chiefs to kill drug suspects and that there was a DDS (Davao Death Squad).

Still, he described those present who became his police chiefs in Davao City—Dela Rosa, Vicente Danao and Catalino Cuy—as “commanders of the death squad.” But he denied giving them orders to bind and “assassinate” criminals.

“What I told them is, let’s be frank, encourage the criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns, encourage them to fight, so that they can be killed and this could end the problem,” he said.

Asked by Pimentel if they mind being described by Duterte as heads of the death squad, both Dela Rosa and Danao said the ex-president was joking.

“In my three-year stint as city director, the former president did not order me to kill suspects,” Danao said.

Asked by Pimentel if there was a danger that policemen misinterpreted Duterte’s order, Cuy said the latter never made such an order. 

Hontiveros told Duterte that people were shocked that police had orders to kill suspects. He said this only happened when the suspects “fight” the police.

Duterte said police chiefs come from the Philippine Military Academy and are not foolish to obey illegal orders. He said that while he tried to do so, he was told that suspects should just be jailed.

Hontiveros said it was “very incorrect” for Duterte to say he had encouraged his police chiefs to prod suspects to fight the police.  

He said this was her view and that he knew his job as mayor and president. To which Hontiveros said: “Thank you for putting it on record, sir.”

Duterte said he would do it all over again if he would return as mayor, prompting certain people in the gallery to applaud. Pimentel warned that anyone engaging in such behavior again would be “excluded.”

‘Liar’

On Estrada’s questioning, Duterte called retired police colonel Royina Garma a “liar” as he denied her testimony to the House quad committee that he phoned her in May 2016 to help him find a police official with ties to Iglesia ni Cristo to organize a national task force to replicate the Davao war on drugs.

“I don’t remember calling her … I hate to say this, Garma is lying,” he said of one of his trusted police aides. “Why will I zero in with an INC member? For what reason?”

He said it was a “mystery” to him why Garma  should say that of him. “Until now I cannot fathom … It’s a lie or [she is] making up stories. I don’t know what she’s driving at,” he said.

Duterte also said he could not create such a police task force as he did not have authority to do so.

On Garma’s testimony that she had recommended then Col. Edilberto Leonardo to form and lead the task force, and who had set up a “reward system” in the drug war, Duterte wondered why he would pay the police when it was their job to go after drug suspects.

He said that if there was such a reward fund, he would have just pocketed it.

Also at the hearing, Duterte said a subordination of perjury complaint could be filed against Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, cochair of the House quad committee, after Col. Hector Grijaldo of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Group claimed that the congressman had tried to force him to issue an affidavit corroborating Garma’s allegation on the reward system.

Grijaldo testified that Fernandez talked to him on the sidelines of the House panel’s latest hearing last week. He said Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, also a co-chair of the House panel, was present. Both congressmen have denied forcing anyone to issue such an affidavit.

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In an interview with CoverStory, Pimentel raised the need for the President to “designate” an anti-Pogo czar so that there will be “someone in charge” and to institute “command responsibility” in the job of banishing the gaming hubs from the country.

Asked if he had anyone in mind for the job, he said it should be “someone like Sen. Risa Hontiveros or Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.” He described the two lawmakers as “genuinely and seriously against Pogo, are willing to devote time and energy to the ‘cause,’ and do not easily give up.”

Hontiveros chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality which is currently investigating illegal Pogos in the country. She and Gatchalian are reported to have received threats on their lives for their ongoing inquiry. 

During his third State of the Nation Address last month, Mr. Marcos ordered authorities to wind down the operations of Pogo hubs in the country by the end of the year, saying that “their operations have ventured into illicit areas farthest from gaming, such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder.”

“The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop,” he said, eliciting a standing ovation from members of Congress and other government officials.

Pagcor 

In charge of enforcing the presidential directive is the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chaired by Alejandro Tengco. Earlier, Tengco said there were only 42 legal Pogos—rebranded as “internet gaming licensees (IGLs)”—that his office would shut down by the end of the year.

Pimentel had threatened to push for Pagcor’s abolition if it fails to comply with Mr. Marcos’ directive on Pogos. But he told CoverStory: “So far, all indicators show that Pagcor will comply with the President’s very clear and categorical directive and order.”

“Should the direction of the wind change all of a sudden, then I will be ready to call out such disobedience and disrespect coming from the underlings of the President,” he said, adding they have “no right and power to undermine the decision” of Mr. Marcos.

Told that government agencies led by the Department of Justice recently met to coordinate efforts to enforce the Pogo ban policy, the opposition senator said this was a “good start” and that there was now “clarity on how to address” the ban. This also “puts an end to all doubts on whether Pogos should be allowed in the country,” he said.

“As for the government response, so far so good,” he added, and reiterated his support for the administration on this effort.

To ensure that the ban is put firmly in place, Pimentel said, the government should “pay attention to the details” and “coordinate its actions” apart from assigning an anti-Pogo czar for command responsibility. He also said it would be “wise” for Congress to come up with legislation “which gives the ban a permanent character.”

“Such legislation should [penalize] the establishment of Pogos as well as associated acts. We should also address numerous loopholes in our existing laws, like strengthening our laws governing the delayed registration of births, among others,” he said.

There are now two bills in the Senate seeking to repeal the law taxing Pogos in an effort to outlaw the gambling hubs. Sen. Joel Villanueva filed a measure shortly after the President announced the ban on the gaming hubs; Gatchalian filed the same bill as early as May because of the increasing number of Pogo-related crimes.

Alice Guo

Asked how the government could respond to doubts that the ban would be enforced given the way Pogos have supposedly entrenched themselves under the sponsorship of local officials, as now being alleged against Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, Pimentel said he was “sure” the ban would be carried out “with political will, discipline in the bureaucracy, and clear spheres of responsibilities.”

“The Office of the President should be ready to sanction and punish those who disobey the policy, including local government officials,” he said. 

Guo, who has a standing arrest warrant for skipping the Senate hearings, is being investigated for her alleged links to Zun Yuan Technology, the raided Pogo hub in Bamban. 

The mayor’s Filipino citizenship has been questioned in the Senate inquiry, with the National Bureau of Investigation saying that her fingerprints matched that of Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who entered the country in 2003. The mayor’s birth was registered only in 2013, or 17 years after she was supposedly born in 1986.

Harry Roque

On the revelations that have emerged from the ongoing Senate inquiry, including the possible Pogo links of Harry Roque, the spokesperson of then President Rodrigo Duterte, Pimentel said he “applaud[s]” Hontiveros for the “hard work” in investigating Pogos. He also said he was “eagerly awaiting” the release of the committee report and added that its findings “must be used to guide future actions.”

“Atty. Harry Roque is a competent lawyer; he can defend himself and explain why his name is cropping up,” Pimentel said. 

Roque and 11 other “persons of interest” in the Pogo hub in Porac, Pampanga, are now under an immigration lookout bulletin order.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered the Bureau of Immigration to monitor the itineraries, travel, and whereabouts of Roque and the 11 other persons in relation to the cases against illegal Pogo incorporators and corporate officers of Lucky South 99 and Whirlwind Corp.

In a statement to the media, Roque said the immigration lookout order issued against him was “plain harassment” and a “political witch hunt intended to silence me as a critic of this administration.”

He said he has no reason to leave the country and will face his accusers and answer allegations against him.

Roque said the only pieces of evidence authorities had on him was his accompanying Katherine Cassandra Li Ong to Pagcor’s Tengco for “rescheduling of arrears payment” and “an uncorroborated organizational chart” which named him as in charge of legal matters. He had “no participation in preparing” the chart, he said, adding: “Neither did I consent to my name’s inclusion.”

Read more: Scholars should be activists, and vice versa

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Published by San Anselmo Press and edited by Asunción David Maramba, the book features profiles of the former senator Leila de Lima by Rosario A. Garcellano, the former vice president Leni Robredo by Ed Garcia, the journalist Maria Ressa by Dulce Festin-Baybay, Sen. Risa Hontiveros by Rafael A.S.G. Ongpin, the former associate justice of the Supreme Court Conchita Carpio Morales by Maria Olivia H. Tripon, and the activist nun Sr. Mary John Mananzan by Neni Sta. Romana Cruz. There is a closing essay by Vergel O. Santos.

The book will be launched on April 26, 2-5 p.m., at the AIM Conference Center, Room 2-5 JV del Rosario, fourth floor (Benavidez corner Trasierra Streets, Legaspi Village, Makati City).

“Six Filipino Women for Justice” is the fourth and last of a series on “heroes, heroines and heroic personages” among the 15 books authored or edited by the multiawarded Maramba, a retired college professor and newspaper columnist. In her foreword, she describes the subjects as “shar[ing] a sterling record of resistance to excesses and inadequacies of national leadership.” 

As indeed narrated by the authors, the lives of De Lima, Robredo, Ressa, Hontiveros, Carpio Morales and Mananzan demonstrate the necessity of a clear understanding of the terrain, a sharp recognition of injustice both blatant and covert, and the urgency of pushing back against it with strength, perseverance and hope.

“This book had been percolating in the back of my head, triggered by Leila de Lima’s unbelievable jailing,” Maramba writes. “Obviously, it had to be put on hold for years because of a President’s penchant for shooting the messenger, but probably to his chagrin, unable to kill the message.”

For inquiries, contact [email protected].

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The Senate can do “no less” than adopt the House of Representatives’ realignment of P1.23-billion in confidential funds in the proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said on Wednesday. 

“The House has taken the first step institutionally. So I think we in the Senate can do no less because we actually started this process last year,” the senator told CoverStory.ph in an interview via Zoom.

In an unprecedented move on secret funds, the House committee on appropriations excised P500 million from the Office of Vice President Sara Duterte and another P150 million from the Department of Education, which Duterte heads in a concurrent capacity; P300 million from the Department of Information and Communications; and P50 million each from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Hontiveros said she was holding on to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri’s statement to review the proposed budget and “take a similar parallel action to the House of allocating confidential funds where they properly belong.”

She said she and her colleague in the minority, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, would be the first to propose the amendments reallocating the confidential funds to agencies with a “timely role” in defending the West Philippine Sea from China. 

Hopeful 

“I am really hopeful that the Senate will also stand our ground and actually sustain the efforts that we have been making,” she said. 

Of the confidential funds, P300 million was moved to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, P200 million to the National Security Council, P200 million to the Philippine Coast Guard, and P381.8 million to the Department of Transportation. 

“I think the five [agencies] already listed by the House small committee are good candidates to be included in the Senate list [of amendments],” Hontiveros said. “And of course, just to set the power of a good example, too, top of the list should really be the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd).”

Any realigned fund should go to “social protection” agencies such as the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, of Health and of Education, she added. 

While lauded by many, the House panel’s fund realignment elicited rants from Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who called Congress “the most rotten institution” in the country and accused Speaker Martin Romualdez of orchestrating attacks against his daughter.

The Vice President and the Speaker are perceived to be contenders for the presidency in 2028. 

On Oct. 10, the House committee announced amendments totaling P194 billion, including the realigned funds. 

The P1.23 billion is a fourth of the P4.864-billion original allocation for confidential funds. Interestingly, the House committee left the P5.277 billion budget for intelligence funds untouched. In total, the government sought P10.14 billion in confidential and intelligence funds for 2024.

During this year’s deliberations on the 2024 national budget, the OVP’s P125-million confidential funds in 2022 came under scrutiny. The Commission on Audit (COA) said the Vice President spent the surveillance money in 11 days, not 19 days as earlier claimed by some lawmakers. 

Pimentel’s proposal

Pimentel has gone so far as to propose that the Office of the President’s (OP) P2.25-billion confidential funds be slashed and P2.31-billion intelligence funds for 2024 be totally scrapped. 

But given that the Senate committee on finance had endorsed the OP’s budget, Pimentel may raise the matter only during the period of amendments. 

The committee chair, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, earlier indicated reservations to Pimentel’s proposal to cut the President’s CIF.

“He is the President; do we want to cripple him even after he said he needs this amount?” Angara said. 

Pimentel did not respond to CoverStory’s requests for comment.

But Hontiveros said: “Well, certainly, any and all confidential and intelligence funds, even of the highest office of government, are subject to congressional review, as the Senate President already mentioned.”

In last year’s congressional deliberations on the 2023 national budget, Hontiveros managed to get the Senate to realign portions of the DepEd’s confidential funds, but this was reversed at the bicameral conference committee deliberations with the House.  

Hontiveros acknowledged that intelligence funds have “a more limited scope” in terms of audit. But she said agencies, state firms and local government units must submit an audit report of their intelligence funds “sealed in an envelope” either to the President, Senate President, House Speaker, COA chair, or heads of institutions. 

“Some form of audit is still to be done even on intelligence funds,” she said. 

To help the COA, Hontiveros said, lawmakers should study whether to impose stricter appropriation and auditing rules on confidential and intelligence funds. 

Compared with intelligence funds, the release, use and reporting of confidential funds are covered only by circulars and executive issuances, she said, adding:  

“And we as Congress, as the one holding the power of the purse, I think we can only improve legislation and then improve the appropriation process and, hopefully, help the Commission on Audit improve the auditing process if we look further into this.”

‘Is there a mandate?’

Amid reports that in the past some local government units had been allotted huge amounts of confidential funds to maintain law and order, Hontiveros pushed for setting a threshold for the grant of such funds.  

“It can’t be a free-floating amount,” she said. 

“In the end, the same principles must apply to such funds, whatever office they are lodged in. Is there a mandate? Is there expertise? What are the levers of accountability that can and must be exercised?” she added.

ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro had earlier called on the COA to investigate Davao City’s spending of P2.6-billion confidential funds from 2016 to 2022, when Sara Duterte was its mayor.

See: When public money is spent confidentially

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