MANILA STANDARD
25 March 1998
Filed by Ralph Remigio

Liberal Party VP candidate Serge Osmena said that the San Roque multi-purpose dam project in Pangasinan was grossly overpriced by P17.4 billion pesos and branded it as the "scam of the century."

Opposition senatorial candidate Mike Romero urged the management and employees of the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) to settle their labor dispute at the soonest time possible to avert a strike that could leave half a million Metro Manila commuters stranded. This appeal was raised in lieu of the ongoing talks between management and the employees which seems to be heading for a deadlock. The workers are pushing for an across-the-board wage increase of P5,500 and P4,000 for the first and second years of the CBA when the management could only commit a salary increase of between P650 and P750.

Raul Roco said that both Lakas and LAMMP are "depreciating the presidency and the way they are telling the truth about each other shows that their standard-bearers should be disqualified as unfit for leadership… If either candidate steps into the presidency now, they will not be able to redeem the credibility of the presidency." He also said that since the public has no choice but to believe what LAMMP and Lakas are saying about each other, this means that both their candidates are unfit to lead this country. He said the political machinations between the two parties are taking their toll on the presidency as in institution.

Guingona (Lakas senatorial candidate) urged the Senate to attend to the immediate passage of the Anti-Racketeering Bill wherein the money and properties of suspects in syndicated offenses would be frozen until the resolutions of their cases. He specifically cited the case of suspected drug lord Alfredo Tiongco who, before fleeing to Hong Kong, closed his bank accounts and sent his money abroad. He said, "Illegal businesses, like drug trafficking, thrive on profit, and this bill will help prevent criminals from hiding and using illegally acquired profit,. It will therefore weaken the illegal drug operations. The bill will not only have an impact on the drive against drug trafficking but will also affect other forms of syndicated criminal activities."

Rene De Villa won in a survey conducted among 1.2 million active Internet users in the country, the Citizens for De Villa for President Movement disclosed. Alredo Lim placed second and Raul Roco landed on third spot.

Lakas senatorial candidate Rolando Andaya vows to work for a new round of salary increases for public school sector workers. He plans to raise the lowest pay in government from P4,000/month to P10,000 and increase the salary of public school teachers from P8,605 to P16,000 per month.

Lito Osmena (PROMDI) said job generation would be his top priority to bring back the thousands of workers who were displaced due to the retrenchment programs implemented by industries hit hardest by the currency crunch. "If we can only duplicate the success of Cebu in different parts of the country, the peso would be stronger than the dollar and the currency rate would be pegged at a normal rate," he said.

Angara (LAMMP) is pushing for more government and privately funded scholarship programs that will prevent millions of schoolchildren from leaving dropping out of their classes. He urged fellow lawmakers to invest a hefty portion of pbllic funds entrusted to them on scholarship grants that will bankroll the education of bright but poor young Filipinos.

Macapagal-Arroyo (Lakas) called for the continuation of programs to provide greater protection for Filipino nationals abroad. She vowed to continue concluding bilateral and multilateral labor and social security arrangements for the protection and welfare of overseas Filipinos.