Senator Chiz Escudero in the Usapang OFW Leaders Forum

To conclude my coverage of the Usapang OFW Leaders Forum, I’ll be summarizing the points of the Presidential aspirants who were there and allow me as well to share my personal insights on their answers and statements. Let’s start things off with Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. As a general observation, Senator Chiz was very eloquent, charming, and intelligent with his answers. His replies had the perfect balance of humor, wit, and logic. He’s definitely a smooth talker and that’s probably the reason why he’s connecting so well with the youth of today.

Here’s a quick summary of all the major points that he raised which I was able to take note of. Please keep in mind that these aren’t direct quotes. These are just paraphrased based on my notes during the entire event.

The major problem of the country is CORRUPTION. It takes away more than P200 BILLION pesos of the national budget annually. Eradicate corruption and you will push this country to greater heights. What we need is a President who can just do two simple things: follow the law and implement it. If he or she can inspire us along the way, then that’s a bonus.

Agree with Senator Escudero 100% about what the President should do. It seems like it’s so hard to find someone who can just follow and implement the law. It’s also rare to find someone that can inspire this nation so that we can believe again in the greatness of our race.

Corruption has damaged this country so much to the point that we’ve lost hope. It’s sad to see that people find corruption NORMAL. Did you know that our conviction rate of corruption cases is just around 20% and it actually used to be just around 10%? This sends the wrong signal. It shows that our justice system is weak and that it can easily be taken advantage of.

Why are people like Joc-joc Bolante, Garci, and other infamous corrupt officials roaming the streets as free men? The President should make anti-corruption efforts a priority. Instead of being so protective of their cabinet, the executive office should make sure that those who have sinned are properly punished.

OFW’s send more than 15 BILLION US dollars every year to the Philippines. That gets infused to our economy but you really have to ask yourself how much of that 15 BILLION is lost to corruption.

As a country that relies so much on OFWs, the Philippine government should be the driving force in promoting migrant worker rights. The Philippines should take the lead in talking to other countries to establish bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements that will ensure protection of Filipino workers overseas. The government should be proactive in dealing with problems and not reactive.

Now this is something that never crossed my mind but made a lot of sense. Did you guys know that a third of all of the staff running ships all over the world are Filipino? And yet we’ve never really made efforts to make sure that the rights of our seamen are properly secured and promoted. If our government keeps on pimping our human resources, they should also make it a point that Filipinos abroad are protected.

No more to embassies and politicians doing last minute pleas and emergency pull-outs. We should have international agreements in place that will make sure Filipinas that get abused in Saudi are sent home and that the men who abuse them are sanctioned. We should have self-defense agreements so that Filipinos who protect themselves from being sodomized are properly sent back home without having to get jailed for retaliating.

I loved it with Senator Escudero said that our government only knows how to treat dead heroes and not living ones (since OFW’s are often referred to as the new heroes or “bagong bayani”).

Government should apologize to OFW’s for coming up short in providing protection, service, and benefits.

I found it refreshing to hear a politician sincerely apologize. You almost always just hear politicians give motherhood statements and self-praising replies. Humility is a scarce, but an essential trait for Filipino leaders.

Personally I think Senator Escudero put up a strong performance during the forum. Like what I said above, he had the right mix of humor, wit, and logic. He wasn’t boring and in fact he was entertaining at several parts of the event. In terms of general platform and belief, Senator Chiz has always been consistent with his anti-corruption stance. It’s good to see that he still hasn’t given up on that.

Before I end let me share one question that I would like to ask, not just to him but also to all other Presidential aspirants who attended.

Of all the programs and plans you mentioned, couldn’t you have done all of that as Senators? Do you really have to be President before you push for OFW rights? As legislators, can you pass laws that will actually move for bi-lateral and multi-lateral agreements to be made?

I’ll probably ask those questions in the next blogger event with a politician that I’m a part of. Would love to hear an answer for that one.

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