Liberal Party senatorial bet Teofisto “TG” Guingona III rallied the people yesterday to support all the winners in the May 9 national and local elections as a first step towards unifying Team Philippines.

“Whoever will win, we have to start unifying our people. Although it will not be easy, we have to put our house in order, work, and help heal the wounds,” Guingona said during a roundtable discussion with Manila Bulletin’s (MB) editors at MB’s head office in Intramuros, Manila.

He said every Filipino should pitch in after the political fever dies down towards “Team Philippines,” an idea he got from former President Fidel V. Ramos.

Guingona said the May 9 elections is very crucial as the new president is set to appoint 10 new associate justices of the Supreme Court. “Are we going to be a government of men or a government of laws?”

In his bid for re-election, Guingona said he will continue his anti-corruption crusade, address the problems in the country’s healthcare system, work towards the attainment of final and lasting peace, and put dignity in the living condition of the people.

“As early as my high school days, the rebellion of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has been [hounding the Philippines]. Now, I’m a senator already and the problem about them is still there,” Guingona said.

He stressed that final peace talks must take place to achieve lasting peace. He added that Mindanao has always been the “whipping boy” when it comes to atrocities brought about by rebellious groups.

“Having final and lasting peace enables us to shift…if you’ll look at the map of the Philippines, what do you see? More land or more water?” Guingona asked rhetorically. “So [it’s a] no-brainer, we should have a bigger Navy and Air Force than our Army. But, what we have is the opposite.”

According to Guingona, 80 percent of the country’s Armed Forces are comprised of the Army, while only 20 percent represents the Navy.

“Because we have the rebellion, [we] need a large Army to counter [it],” Guingona said.

Once lasting peace is in place, resources can be freed up and we can make a paradigm shift “toward having a large Navy and Air Force.”

“And right now, with the superpower right off the shores of Palawan and Pangasinan, I think it’s imperative that we do the paradigm shift in our Armed Forces, which we cannot do that until we have peace,” Guingona said.

Poverty being the root cause of most rebellions, Guingona said: “I think the problem with poverty is we have to look for inclusive growth. There has to be more inclusive projects like the bottom-up budgeting.”

“Those who live in the community are the ones who know what the problems are and the best solutions to them, and not a person sitting in an air-conditioned office in Metro Manila.

Healthcare reforms

Aware that several places in the Philippines, especially the remotest ones, have yet to have their own healthcare centers, Guingona said the implementation of healthcare reforms still remains a big challenge for him.

“There is this Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), yet why do we lack doctors, nurses, hospital buildings, and equipment; it just started, I think it’s just one or two years old [in existence],” he said.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Mark Anthony O. Sarino

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