But even as he expressed this assessment, he also took note of the massive vote buying, PCOS machines glitches and the incidents of election-relatedviolence.

“The conduct of the elections I think was generally positive, maganda naman ang patakbo. Of course lagi naman may instances ng political violence pa rin. May mga question pa rin na lumabas dito sa PCOS, syempre it’s been questioned by many,” he said.

However, the senator said he is worried about the trend that emerged in the elections, in particular the massive vote buying that occurred in many areas.

Marcos suggested a thorough study of the issue and the formulation of a process to prevent it from happening again in the future elections.

“Ang lakas ng bilihan ng boto. At saka in some instances nagtatayo ng tolda sa presinto mismo. ‘Tapos bago makaboto yung tao idadaan muna sa tent nila tapos memagic na nangyayari doon. And that is very worrisome because dati naman kahit may vote buying hindi ganyan kagarapal,” Marcos noted.

He believed that cheaters resorted to vote buying because the PCOS machines are seen to be accurate and are not susceptible to traditional methods of manipulation to influence the result fo the election.

“‘Yun ang mga kelangan nating pag-isipan when we are talking about modifying the process, improving the process,” Marcos stressed.

He added: “But we have to see what the general picture is. As far as the process is concerned, I think that (it’s positive) overall.”

This developed after Sulu mayors and barangay officials, led by Gov. Abdusakur M. Tan and Rep. Tupay T. Loong (1st District), threw their backing to the proposal of Marcos, chair of the Senate Select Oversight Committee on the Local Government Code of 1991, during a public consultation held in Sulu last Tuesday (May 21).

The officials one by one expressed their support to the planned benefits package, which Marcos intends to file as a bill in the Senate in the forthcoming 16th Congress.

Assistant Secretary Sharifa Pearlsia Ali-Dans of the Department of Interior and Local Government-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao also welcomed the proposal.

To enable the resource persons and guests to participate meaningfully in the discussions, Marcos conducted a Powerpoint presentation explaining the proposed additional benefits for the barangay officials and workers, and day care and health volunteer workers.

Under his proposal, a lump sum retirement pay equivalent to one year honorarium will be given to brgy. chairmen, kagawads, secretary, treasurer, tanods, members of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, health and day care volunteer workers, provided they are at least 60 years of age with a minimum of 9 years in service at the time of retirement.

The beneficiaries will also be entitled to additional honoraria, Christmas bonuses, and hazard pays.

The mayors and barangay officials who attended the consultation agreed with Marcos that the proposed benefits are long overdue.

Also tackled during the consultation was Marcos’ proposal to reset the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and barangay elections originally set for October this year to either 2015 and increase the term of barangay and SK officials from the current 3 years to 5 years, which also drew widespread support from the Sulu local officials and residents.

The public consultation will be conducted at the Sulu Provincial Capitol in Jolo where mayors and barangay officials, tanods, members of the Lupong Tagapamayapa, and day care and health volunteer workers are expected to attend.

In particular, Marcos will discuss the provisions of House Bill 6567, which he intends to re-file in the forthcoming 16th Congress. As chair of the local government, Marcos had sponsored the bill in the Senate but it only got as far as approval in the second reading.

The proposal seeks to provide benefits for barangay officials and volunteer workers that include retirement pay, which is a lump sum equivalent to one year honorarium, and additional monetary and non-monetary benefits on top of the existing benefits they are already receiving.

Marcos said it is important to consult the target beneficiaries and have their inputs as part of the reference in justifying the bill on the Senate floor during the debates on the bill.

“Napakaimportante sa ‘kin ang boses ng intended beneficiaries pati na rin ang ibang stakeholders at ang makukuha nating pananaw hinggil dito ang siya nating iparating sa ating mga kasamahan sa Senado kaya ko ginagawa ang ganitong public consultations. At sa nakaraang public consultation na ginawa ko sa iba’t-ibang lugar, malinaw ang malawak na suporta sa aking isinusulong na panukala,” he pointed out.

Marcos, chair of the Senate Select Committee on the Local Government Code of the Philippines of 1991, said it is time to give recognition to barangay volunteer workers as indispensable element of the bureaucracy in the delivery of public service and reward them for unselfish dedication in the performance of their duty.

“Mahalaga sa kin na hindi lamang kilalanin natin ang trabaho ng mga barangay worker. Kailangan bigyan natin sila ng kaunting suporta not only in monetary terms but also in non-monetary terms. Ipipila na namin iyang bill na ‘yan pagbukas ng Kongreso at ipaglalaban ko ‘yan hanggang maging batas,” Marcos said.

The donation was formalized today (May 15, 2013) with the signing of the Deed of Donation by Drs. Mariano Blancia, Cristeta Cocjin and Renato Sison, representing the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau, and PCSO general manager Ferdinand Rojas, with Marcos affixing his signature to the document as witness.

The simple signing ceremony was conducted at the PCSO GM’s office at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Pasay City.

After the signing, Marcos received in behalf of the Senate the symbolic key of the new ambulance from GM Rojas.

Marcos said that with the new ambulance, the senators, Senate officials and employees are now assured of a ready and reliable ambulance to bring patients, when needed, to a medical facility or hospital outside the Senate.

The ambulance would also be used to transport to the nearest medical center any guest invited to the Senate proceeding or visitors to the Upper Chamber experiencing medical emergency.

The senator had sought the help of the PCSO after he learned that the ambulance (KIA-Besta) the Senate is currently using is already 18 years in service since the PCSO had donated it in 1995.

Marcos had endorsed the letter of Blancia to Rojas requesting a new ambulance. To facilitate the processing of the request, the senator assigned a member of his staff to coordinate with the PCSO and the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau.

Marcos arrived at around 7:30 am at Mariano Marcos Memorial Elementary School located at Barangay Valdez, Batac City together with his mother, reelectionist Rep. Imelda Marcos (2nd Districts, Ilocos Norte), and sister Irene Marcos-Araneta. They are registered at Brgy. Lacub, Precinct No. 36-A.

The senator finished inserting his ballot in PCOS machine at 7:41am, followed by Irene and their mother. The senator’s elder sister, reelectionist Gov. Imee Marcos, arrived minutes later.

The senator had joined campaign sorties of the “One Ilocos Norte” team of the governor and called on his province mates to give her a new mandate, including her entire ticket— from vice governor down to the last councilor.

During the sorties, he pointed out that by electing into office the entire “One Ilocos Norte” slate, the people of the province are assured of continued implementation of the governor’s programs that have resulted to the steady advance of progress and development of Ilocos Norte.

The senator aired this call following the massive blackout that hit Metro Manila and a large part of Luzon Wednesday after six power plants, with a combined output of 3,700 megawatts, all shut down.

Marcos expressed concern over the adverse effect of inadequate supply of electricity on the country’s economy and the quality of life of the people.

“This is part of the problem why the poverty rates have been shown to have not improved. This is because the government has made no public investments in basic infrastructure, which we need for the economy to be more equitable,” Marcos said.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) earlier reported that the poverty level in the country in the first half of 2012 remained statistically unchanged since 2006: at 27.9 percent from 28.6 percent in the same period in 2009, and 28.8 percent in 2006.

“No economy can grow without the corresponding growth in power supply. This has been historically shown by every economy in the world since the beginning of electricity,” Marcos added.

Marcos said the government should adopt a strategic long-term plan to address the ongoing power crisis in Mindanao and the power supply needs of the entire country as well by building more power plants.

“Kailangan nang magbuo ng strategic plan at sabihin na talagang bibigyan na ng pansin hindi lamang kung ano yung kakulangan ngayon kundi kung ano ang kakailanganin in the next 10 years in the next 15 years, in the next 20 years,” Marcos stressed.

He noted that several years ago there were already obvious signs of the looming power crisis in Mindanao and yet the government scrambled only into action after the problem has blown in its face.

“This is symptomatic of what an economist described as the ‘paralysis of decision-making’ in the government,” Marcos said.

The May 6-8 training seminar was aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of the senator’s 34-member staff in key areas of governance not only for self-development but also towards better delivery of public service.

Lecturers in the three-day training seminars were leading authorities in their respective fields.

On the first day, the morning session was focused on “Filipino Culture” and “Filipino Ideology” discussed by Professor Gabriel Lopez. In the afternoon session, the participants received lectures on “Personal Efficacy” given by Delia Lojo, and “Public Relations” with Virginia Aldea as facilitator.

On the second day, Professor Benjamin Diokno discussed the subject of “Macroeconomics” and other related topics. On the third and last session day, Dr. Lloyd Bautista gave a lecture on “Governance” followed by Alan Cajes who discussed “Re-entry Action Plan.”

The training seminar was the first of its kind held in the Senate and it could serve as a possible template for similar training programs for the staff of other senators and various Senate offices.

Even as this developed, Marcos vowed to press for the enactment of the proposed measure in the coming 16th Congress either by filing in the Senate a similar version of House Bill 6567, which was not enacted into law in the current 15th Congress.

He noted that HB 6567, which had sought to provide all brgy. officials, brgy. tanods, members of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, and brgy. health and day care workers a lump sum retirement pay equivalent to one-year honorarium, expressly provided for a funding source.

Marcos, who sponsored HB 6567 in the Senate as chair of the Senate local government committee, pointed out that under the bill one percent from the 60 percent Internal Revenue Allotment share of the national government would be transferred to the 40 percent share of local government units (LGUs). This means the IRA sharing will become 41 percent for the LGUs and 59 percent for the national government.

“The reason that the 41 percent- the one percent of IRA – is a very important part of the bill dahil kung titingnan ninyo ang mga bills, both House bills and Senate bills, lahat ng nagbibigay ng benepisyo sa mga barangay officials, sa mga benefits para sa mga barangay workers, wala silang revenue measure kung saan mangagaling ang pondo…Ang proposal namin dito sa bill na ito ay kumuha ng one percent doon sa National Internal Revenue na collection,” he explained.

Marcos said this formula is the essence of Section 2 of HB 6567, which seeks to create a Barangay Retirement Fund from the additional one percent IRA share for LGUs.

As a component of data gathering activities in connection with the proposed measure, Marcos conducted public consultation meetings with barangay officials and volunteer workers.

In the meetings he conducted consecutively in Gen. Santos City; Paoay, Ilocos Norte; and Cotabato City, the participants expressed support for the measure.

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. said on Wednesday that the problem of poverty under the administration of President Noynoy Aquino was essentially the same problem during the term of his predecessor, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The problem is the same during the GMA administration when the growth rate of the economy was strong, the beneficiaries of that growth were only large corporations and rich investors, not ordinary Filipino citizens,” he said.

Marcos said that poverty condition is caused by the inequitable distribution of wealth, which was also the situation during the Arroyo administration.

“The problem (during GMA) was inequitable distribution of wealth and that is the same problem that we have now. We see that there is strong growth but there is terrible distribution of wealth, hence the continuing poverty rate,” Marcos said.

While he didn’t question the 2012 growth figures, he reminded the government that the true measurement of progress is gauged by the improving lives of the Filipinos.

“My point is that the NEDA findings that the poverty (situation) did not improve, has been something that I had suspected from going around the country and talking to people and looking at their condition,” Marcos said.

The senator said the poverty level as measured by National Statistical Coordination Board, an attached agency of the National Economic Development Authority, should serve as a wake-up call for the government to implement an honest to goodness poverty alleviation programs such as investment in basic services, transportation, and infrastructure.

Kinikilala ko bilang bayani ang manggagawang Pilipino kahanay ng mga bayaning Pilipino na dinadakila sa ating kasaysayan.

Sa mga malalaki at maliliit na larangan kung saan ipinupunla at pinayayabong ang kaunlaran ng bansa, matatagpuan ang Pilipinong manggagawa: sa pagawaan, industriya, transportasyon, komunikasyon, pangisdaan at kahit sa bukirin hanggang sa mga maliliit na paghahayupan tulad ng babuyan at manukan.

Gamit ang masipag na bisig, dedikasyon, at talino, pinapanday at hinuhubog ng sektor ng manggagawa ang ating kinabukasan.

Sa bawat pagsisikhay ay katuparan ng pangarap para sa kanilang pamilya. At ang bawat katuparang ito ay hakbang tungo sa progreso.

Kung ang milyun-milyong mangagawang Pilipino ay sabay-sabay na ihahakbang ang kanilang bawat tagumpay, kakapit-bisig ang ibang sektor ng lipunan, mas mabilis nating mararating ang ating minimithing kaunlaran.

Kaya’t sa manggagawang Pilipino, kaisa ninyo ako sa lahat ng inyong mga pangarap. Kasama ninyo ako sa inyong pagsisikap. Magkaiba man ang ating nilalakaran- ako bilang lingkod ng bayan at kayo bilang alagad ng paggawa- iisa ang ating mithiin: Makitang ang bawat pamilyang Pilipino ay namumuhay nang marangal, maunlad, at matiwasay.