Contact Details

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

Press Release

 

           The members of the House Minority are sponsoring the 10-day fund raising art exhibit of the Japan-inspired works of multi-talented Filipino artist Manuel D. Baldemor from 16 to 26 May 2011 at the North Wing Lobby of the House of Representatives.

           Minority Leader Edcel C. Lagman explained that the exhibit aims to “help contribute meaningfully to the relief efforts in Japan after it was devastated by the earthquake-tsunami twin tragedies in March.”

           Lagman disclosed that “Mr. Baldemor has committed 50% of the proceeds of the sales of his rare paintings inspired by the Japanese springtime landscape to the Japanese Red Cross.”

           Minister Motohiko Kato, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan representing the Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe, and Mr. Shuji Takatori, Director of the Japan Foundation in Manila, were the guests of honor at the opening ceremonies of the art exhibit led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr.

           Baldemor is noted for his versatility in various media. He is not only a renowned painter but is also a highly talented sculptor, printmaker, writer and book illustrator. He has held a record of over 100 one-man shows in museums and galleries in the Philippines and around the world in countries such as the United States, Spain, Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, Israel and Egypt, to name a few.

          He is considered an exceedingly prolific and productive visual arts artist and is one of the most highly-regarded contemporary Filipino painters today.

 

 

Press Statements

  

          The ruling of the Sandiganbayan (Second Division) upholding the validity of the Garcia plea bargain agreement was not actually a blow to the Aquino administration’s anti-corruption campaign but a stern chastisement against the President and his allies for attempting to influence the decision of the anti-graft court.

           Since the inception of the Aquino administration, the President and his men have consistently demeaned judicial authority and sought to influence, if not supplant, judicial action with public opinion and propaganda.

           It is to the credit of the judiciary that it has preserved and asserted its independence against the encroachments and forays of the Executive.

           In defending the independence and integrity of the Sandiganbayan, the justices of the anti-graft court declared: “from the altered and baseless comments on the true facts and circumstances of the plea bargaining agreement, public opinion snowballed. While the court is used to be at the center of conflicting interest, and to be the object of criticism from losing parties, we have never seen such distortions and prevarications of facts from people who are expected to be sentinels of the rule of law.”

           The aforequoted disquisition appears to be a tirade against the President who went out of his way to galvanize public opinion against the plea bargaining agreement and also against the now-resigned Ombudsman and special prosecutors.

           The Sandiganbayan did not spare Heidi Mendoza whose testimony and proffered fraud audit were found to be weak, defective and insufficient to warrant conviction of Garcia for plunder.

           The Solicitor General was likewise denied personality to intervene in the case which was under the control of the special prosecutors of the Office of the Ombudsman.

Press Statements

 

LAGMAN: JUSTICE ASSURED IN

THE ‘VACUUM’ OF NEUTRALITY

  

          President Aquino got it all wrong when he attacked the Sandiganbayan for approving the Garcia plea bargaining agreement “in a vacuum”.

           The President is oblivious of the ideal norm that a judge or jurist must formulate his decision in a “vacuum”, unperturbed by the mob, uninfluenced by public opinion, insulated from “recommendations” of extrajudicial fora and free from partisan intruders.

           This “vacuum” is the judicious environ the magistrates should “live in” to assure the cold neutrality of an impartial judge.

           The President erroneously wants the judiciary to subscribe and surrender to public opinion which could be manipulated and managed by interest and pressure groups.

           Justice should neither be a commodity in the market of popularity nor a victim in a propaganda rampage.

           Justice is forged in an independent furnace wherein issues and cases are adjudicated based on competent and admissible facts and pertinent laws.

           Both the executive and legislative branches must respect and preserve the independence of the judiciary for the rule of law to prevail.

                                                       

 

                                                                    

 

Press Statements

 

It is Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda who is shooting his mouth off. Consider the following:

  •  After more than 10 months in office, the Aquino administration has not initiated nor started any prosecution before the Department of Justice and the courts of any errant public official for graft and corruption.
  •   The Aquino administration’s campaign on “good governance and less corruption” is limited to drumbeating and sloganeering.
  •  Even the Truth Commission which was created with much braggadocio was scuttled by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional and the decision had not been reconsidered.
  •  The Aquino administration has nothing concrete to show that it has improved on the record of governance and anti-corruption efforts of the previous Arroyo administration.
  •  Secretary Lacierda has failed and continues to fail to controvert the finding of the Hongkong-based Political and Economic Consultancy, Ltd. (PERC) that the Philippines’ corruption rating worsened to 8.9 from 8.25 in a scale of one to 10 in a survey covering the period from November 2010 to February 2011 in the incumbency of President Aquino.
  •  I serve no one except the sovereign people who elected me for six terms now, unlike Secretary Lacierda who serves at the pleasure of President Aquino and did not even have to pass the scrutiny of the people’s representatives in the Commission on Appointments.
  •  
  •  As Presidential spokesman, he has to speak well of the President even in the face of incontrovertible adverse facts, otherwise he may be jobless the following day.

Press Statements
  • Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
  • Tel No. 4155455
  • Mobile No. 0918-9120137
  • 03 May 2011

 

              The continuing downward trend of the people’s rating of the Aquino administration’s over-all performance is a judgment of the President’s failure to deliver on his promises of more jobs and less corruption.

             The inordinate predisposition of President Aquino in blaming previous administrations for their alleged mistakes, instead of finding solutions to current problems cannot detract the discerning public.

             Lackadaisical performance jives well with the law of gravity.

             The “good” net rating of +46, with 18% of respondents dissatisfied,  is a grudging concession of voters trying to justify or rationalize their having voted for Aquino.

            It is a psychological protection of their choice despite failed expectations.

            Even the centerpiece agenda of President Aquino on eradication of corruption scored only a “moderate” +14 which means the people are not convinced of the resoluteness of his advocacy which is presently in the periphery of sloganeering and propaganda.