Contact Details

Rm. N-411, House of Representatives, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63 2 931 5497, +63 2 931 5001 local 7370

Press Statements

President Duterte’s rhetoric has worsened from recklessness to culpability, from accusations to confession of guilt.

His having compared himself to Hitler, who caused the slaughter of six million Jews during World War II, is a virtual confession that the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers and addicts since the start of his term almost 100 days ago, have been instigated, encouraged and condoned by him.

Duterte has justified the elimination without due process of suspected criminals as a parallel to Hitler’s extermination of the Holocaust victims.

The parallelism denotes commonality of commission of mass murders even as it demeans the sacrifices of the Jews who were a persecuted people.

There is no need for proof on Duterte’s culpability because his public admission of Hitler-like killings is clear evidence against him.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN

Press Statements

The signing today, 26 September 2016, of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Centenarians Act of 2016 (R.A. No. 10868) with President Rodrigo Duterte as keynote speaker hopefully assures the full implementation of the law.

The implementation of the Centenarians Act is a welcome development as it pays homage to life and longevity even as a growing culture of violence and death besets the country.

It also honors aging senior citizens who have served their families, communities and country for the longest period of time.

Press Statements

PRESS STATEMENT
Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
1st District, Albay
0916-6406731
22 September 2016

Rep. Edcel C. Lagman of the First District of Albay has assured that adequate water supply will come to Sto. Domingo, Albay in the short and long term, particularly to the 13 barangays which are virtually waterless due to the drying up springs.

Lagman has discussed the problem with Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo who committed that she would immediately send logistical support to Sto. Domingo together with the necessary supply of bottled drinking water.

Lagman and Taguiwalo also plan the construction of a new municipal water system for Sto. Domingo, which project will be a joint undertaking by DSWD, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA).

Meanwhile, Lagman has solicited sufficient supply of bottled water from private sector donors.

Tabaco City Mayor Krisel L. Luistro will also have the city’s fire trucks deliver water to the affected barangays with a total of 5,142 households or 23,140 residents.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN

Press Statements

PRESS STATEMENT
Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
1st District, Albay
0916-6406731
22 September 2016

The plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to revive the Philippine Constabulary (PC) and merge with it the Philippine National Police (PNP) is a vestige of martial law even as it is unconstitutional.

Duterte said recently that this plan would significantly improve the country's war against illegal drugs and its campaign against urban terrorism and extremist groups.

He also said that the PNP will form part of the resurrected PC to boost the fight against criminality and the drug menace.

It must be recalled that the late President Ferdinand Marcos extensively used the PC as the police force in implementing martial law by arresting, detaining and torturing the victims of atrocities during the martial law regime as well as the take over of private establishments and media outlets.

Numerous abuses during martial law were blamed on the PC. Critics of the late dictator compared the PC to the Gestapo, the secret state police of Nazi Germany.

To beef up the PC, Marcos merged with it the Integrated National Police (INP) so much so that the two institutional agents of martial law were known as the “PC-INP”.

The plan is also a violation of Section 6, Article XVI of the Constitution which mandates: “The State shall establish and maintain one police force, which shall be national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered and controlled by a national police commission.”

After martial law, the PC was disbanded and its remaining officers and men were allowed to join the Philippine National Police which was created under Republic Act 6975.

The machinery of a militarized police must be consigned to the dark era of the past.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN

TV Appearances and Interviews

IT HAS been 44 years since the declaration of Martial Law, but Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman still remembers September 21, 1972 and the atrocities that followed.

Lagman, whose brother Hermon disappeared during martial rule and was never found, said the anniversary of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ Proclamation 1081 should not be celebrated.

But it should not be forgotten, either.

“We mark this date so that we will be reminded of the atrocities and plunder during Martial Law. This should never happen again,” Lagman said in an interview.

Read more: manilatimes.net