Legislator to business leaders: “No progress if there is no peace in Mindanao”

By Robert E. Roperos

Monday 6th of August 2012

BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 6 (PIA) -- “There would be no progress if there is no peace in Mindanao,” said Senator Teofisto Guingona III in his speech during the 21st Mindanao Business Conference held recently here.

Guingona said that to foster peace, we must foster trust, and to foster trust, we must have good governance.

Guingona further said good governance is achieved through transparency, accountability, and people’s participation. He also called on the participants for help and challenged both the business sector and the government.

Guingona urged participants to help the government establish a transparent government by pushing the government to continue its commendable track of transparency where national policies for investment and trade are fair, sustainable and inclusive.

The young senator said Mindanao must be allowed to flourish in an economic environment, with available and accessible information.

As a legislator, he said he will do his part by pushing for the passage of the Freedom of Information bill.

As a member of the business sector, he said he is confident the sector knows fully well what they can do to build a transparent government.

Guingona also urged participants to help government build and maintain an accountable government. He said back in the Senate, they are doing their best to pin down crooks and send them to jail. He added they are drafting stronger and more effective laws against money laundering and terrorists.

He challenged the business sector in Mindanao to come forward and assert their right to an accountable government, and should not cower in fear and hide behind the perception that everyone in Mindanao will cheat in elections and bribe institutions to do business.

“It’s a big job and that’s precisely why I’m here before you today because I believe that Mindanao and its people have the potential to address this challenge,” Guingona said.

Guingona called on business tycoons and leaders to help government ensure that people participation in government and governance will be the standard operating practice.

For the first time in the history of the country, organizations are allowed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to participate in the budget process, he said. Guingona added he is currently sponsoring a bill that will allow business groups to participate in the budget hearings of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Guingona appealed to participants to participate in nation-building, saying the people cannot be swayed into the belief that the status of Mindanao can be segmentized, that some regions can operate in isolation of others and that there is such a thing as the “peaceful Mindanao” and the “dangerous Mindanao.”

Guingona said if all Filipinos work together to make this government work through transparency, accountability, and people’s participation, peace in Mindanao will be achieved. “With peace, we will finally attain a more inclusive, progressive, and greener Mindanao,” Guingona said. (RER-PIA 13-Caraga)