A day after the vice presidential debate at the University of Santo Tomas last April 10, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano joined INQUIRER.net for its third Facebook Live interview.
READ: Candidate — Alan Cayetano
Cayetano, running mate of the controversial Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, generated a lot of interest during the debate when he hit fellow candidate Senator Bongbong Marcos for his family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth.
The former congressman of Taguig has been trading barbs with the late dictator’s son, who is the current frontrunner in the vice presidential race. Duterte earlier said he would turn over the presidency to Marcos if he is not able to resolve rampant criminality in the country.
READ: Cayetano asks Marcos: Where were you during corruption hearings?
In this interview with INQUIRER.net Editor in Chief John Nery and Chief of Reporters Kristine Sabillo last April 11, Cayetano shared his thoughts on Duterte, their vow to fight criminality in six months and his opposition of Marcos.
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
John Nery: Good afternoon and welcome to INQ & A. Our guest today is Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Alan Peter Caetano. I am John Nery, the Editor in chief of Inquirer.net and it is my happy task to serve as host for the next hour or so. Sharing hosting duties with me is Inquirer.net’s Chief of Reporters, Tine Sabillo. Senator Alan Peter Caetano is the running mate of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, for VP of the Philippines.
Senator, welcome to our—welcome to INQ.net, and to our cozy little set.
Alan Cayetano: Good afternoon, Tine and John, sa lahat ng mga nandito and all over the world at a maayong udtu sa kanilang mga tanan sa mga taga Visayas at Mindanao.
JN: Thank you, we are live at Facebook, on Periscope. We are live on Youtube, on the Inquirer news channel, we are also live on INQUIRER.net itself the most leading news website. We are also present in the ChatApps space. We have live updates on Viber, on Kakao, FireChat, on WeChat, and we are on air online. We are also covered by Radio Inquirer, by the PDI, by INQUIRER.net and by Inquirer Bandera. Last but not least, we are also live on Twitter, follow us @Inquirer.net and @Team_Inquirer.
Senator, just a couple of words about the format. It’s very simple, we have 3 rounds of questions, each round lasts about 18 to-19 minutes. The first half of each round will consist of 5, 6, 7, 8 questions from our various audiences. And the second half of each round, we will have our own follow-up questions, and at the end of the third round, we’d like to ask…
AC: Will I still be alive after two rounds?
JN: Oh you survived the 3-hour debate last night, I’m sure you will
AC: Only with God’s grace.
JN: And then at the end of that sir, we’d like to ask you to leave us with a closing statement and word to our audience. You will see us every now and then, checking our phones. We are in fact listening very intently to our guest of honor but this is the way, we receive, we read and raise the questions and comments you are sending online, on Facebook, so please bear with us.
Alright, senator, the first question actually it’s a comment from Twitter from @MehMaybe he says, about your performance yesterday. Sen Caetano, does it really have a plan, political will, isn’t a plan. How do you respond to that?
READ: Cayetano: It starts with political will
AC: What we’re saying is that we do have a plan. We have a powerpoint keynote presentations. Many of these will also be cross-referenced with NEDA plans, JICA transport plan. What I meant during the campaign and what we’ve been all saying all throughout the country is that all politicians have a plan. Non-politicians because of the internet, information revolution, you can get your phone now, I-Google niyo, “how to fix traffic in Metro Manila. “You’ll have maybe 5 plans that cost a couple tens of millions already there.
Mindanao is an example, Mindanao railways system 2010, 200 kilometers, P76 billion, was already on NEDA’s table. Now you need a feasibility study next. Yhey use the Japanese and Korean consultants. 2012 Phase 1, was ready for implementation until now hindi bini-bid that’s why Mayor Duterte and I are emphasizing all the plans are there but who will have the political will to implement the plan.
Now what is one thing stopping the others? Vested interests. That’s why I use the verse Matthew (6:24), “That you can serve two masters, you’ll love one and hate the other, you cannot serve God and money.” The reality is, in anything that we deal with, we will be delayed a little bit because of the internet. Okay, in terms of gross revenues, a couple hundred billion pesos in terms of profit just between the two big Telco, P50 billion how come you cannot even make a call? Many people in their house, the place of work, pag nagco-commute, a lot of times hindi mo pwedeng ilabas sa jeep, sa bus baka manakaw. For the times na ilalabas mo wala kang signal and even may signal ka, bakit mahal at mabagal ang internet. If we switch to, or have fast internet, you don’t have to make calls and you don’t have to pay per minute or get the unli promos anymore because you use Viber or WhatsApp or whatever application over the internet so all the plans are there.
I’ve talked to former NTC Commission. I’ve talked to people abroad, I had the privilege to go to Israel a couple of years ago and they’re way up there. I went to Silicon Valley, in my first term as congressman because we thought we’re gonna put up one in Taguig, I mean an IT zone and long story short, political will, the telcos like the other big business man in regular country nag-aaalaga ng politician yan. Anong hinihingi nila dati? Equal, level playing field. lang Later on, pwedeng akin yung NTC Commissioner and then pwede ba akin yung bandwidth na ganito. So if you look at South Korea, and Singapore for example, na napakabilis nung internet.
What do they have in common and the other countries? Yung regulatory system nila, intact e. Tayo nagreregulate sa kanila, e sila din e. So I’m not saying it’s all their fault. If you look at what the World Bank representative to the country said a couple of years ago, 40 families run 75 percent of the gross domestic product. And baka these 40 families, baka nag-aaway minsan, let’s say sa railways. Sabihin nung isang real estate giant, dito niyo ilagay yung terminal, sabi nung isa dito, nadedelay nang husto.
This was Hongkong. Nandito sa gitna yung terminal and yung may-ari ng Mall, yung MTR, ‘di ko binalikad a , MTR talaga sa HongKong, MRT dito. If you look at the, say, Elements Mall, Elements talaga, at tignan mo dyan at ano ang may ari ng real estate kasama ng rail way. Now if you want to bid it out…it’s the separate company, ‘di ba. Para hindi yung interest mo sa mall mo o dyan, o sa cubao mapunta yan, o sa whatever, o sa Novaliches o whatever na. So that’s one of the problems.
In the country, that is why can we focus on say, political will because in the end I could have given the best performance of my life last night in terms of platforms because I, among the people on the stage ako ang pinakamatagal sa gobyerno from councilor to senator and have gone through those facts and figures.
What I’ve realized in my 20 years in politics is that kung gusto mong gawin, at walang haharang sa’yo, magagawa mo. But even if you know everything in your head and when I’m about to do it…this is the infrastructure need for faster internet, then kelangan sa bandwidth, hanggang ganito lang karaming users, ‘di ‘yon pwedeng i-over…And then suddeny, may tatapik sa likod ko, “Op Alan, ako pumondo ng kampanya mo.” O tapos e tinigilan ko siya, “Op. Op. Op, Congress is stopping me. Sila ang pumundo dun. Op! Op! Op! The court is stopping you. Ako nga ang nag-appoint sa judge na ‘yon. Kaya ko inappoint dahil sinabi ng Telco na ‘yon, not blaming anything. What I’m saying is like that, in any industry now in the country and that has to change.
JN: Senator, we will have time later to ask follow up questions about regulatory political will and the directions to Elements Mall. But right now, Tine has question.
Kristine Sabillo: Thank you Senator, for joining us this afternoon. Actually, after a very exciting debate last night…so I have a question here from Roni Bongocan, from Facebook. One of the most prominent platform or campaign promises you have with Mayor Duterte is that you will solve criminality within six months upon being elected. So Roni is asking how will you eradicate, how exactly you will do it in six months?
AC: First of all I am really happy that we people are asking how I’m excited, I mean the voters and I’m really shocked why opponents are just saying it can’t be done and why our opponents not giving their own plan.
To many Filipino families especially mga pamilya ng mga OFW, urgent concern ang peace and order. Why? Everyone lives in a world, subdivision, security guards, 24/7, and CCTV’s and everything, I mean the Ayala Alabang, Forbes Parks, Dasmariñas Villages, are what? One percent less of our community in the Philippines. So yun. 50 percent of Metro Manila fear that, papasukin sila ng drug related, alak, adik, or magnanakaw, or nang mang re-rape sa bahay nila. 52 percent of that is that their daughter or wife is not yet at home at night na baka maging biktima sila ng crime. So even if walang mangyari, just living in crime, that chaos na may mentality na may gulo shouldn’t that all show us that this is an urgent matter and that all of us should have a plan?
But of all the candidates — Poe, Escudero, Leni and Mar, of course, Binay and Honasan — wala silang anti-crime plan. Wala silang anti-corruption plan. It’s the generic matter of statements that we will solve. They don’t have a time frame. They don’t have a target. So let me go to the question, how would you do it? It’s not like building a train, or building a road that you need a year, 2 years, 3 years because it starts with political will.
Criminals, and this is from criminal schools all over the world…It’s not the penalty. It’s the certainty that you will be caught and you will be punished. So there’s been a lot of experiments. Dun sa mga municipality, cities, nag-jaywalk, tapos hinuli ka agad. Wala nang nag ja-jaywalking. You go to Subic, let’s say Ayala Alabang.
People follow the law because, huhulihin ka kaagad sa traffic laws. ‘Di ba ganun din sa mga local govt’s na hindi papayag na nagloloko-loko na mag pay ng tax? One week lang sa una pa lang in-audit kaagad o sinabihan mga kompanya. Within 3 months nagbabayad na sila ng tama e. So first thing is the political will, second thing is that the experience on how to do it because different e. Drugs and jueteng and petty crimes happen differently. But for example, if you talk to someone, like an architect like Palafox, one of our leading urban planners and extraordinary in the country, he’ll give you statistics for exactly now but it’s quite a big percent of crime goes away just by lighting a street, just by having lighted areas.
If you look at the Davao experience, what made did the Mayor do? First is that CCTV is everywhere. Second he built up their 911 because it’s not only a matter of catching the criminal, it’s about the police being visible, being there and it’s a matter also if you have emergencies, you feeling safe, is not only feeling safe away from crime e, pwede ring maaksidente ka, may mangyari, di ba may well-equipped rescue ka dyan. Why 911? That’s what people know. So Mayor Duterte could not even get the 3 letter, the three numbers 911. He had to personally talk to telcos and threaten them. Pabirong patotoo na, “if you don’t give it to me, I don’t know if your towers will remain standing.” Some people question it but you know a lot of towers around the country are put up by bribery, by these people saying, “Sige we’ll pay you this month.” Kaya nga mas mahal din ang telco, May mga problem pa rin ang telco, with corruption until the barangay level.
Okay, so how did Mayor actually do it? Got the policemen and…guys they won’t believe we’re serious unless you catch them and if they fight back and they get away they won’t believe we can do it. So sabi nila , “Mayor what’s your instructions?” “Catch them but if they fight back and any threat to your life, shoot them.”
And by the way, I don’t know, if that was the rule 30 years ago, but in Europe and the US now that is the rule. But if the NBI, the local terrorists group, tell a police, a suspected criminal because you don’t know di ba sa nangyari sa Abu Sayyaff, di mo alam kung MILF, MNLF group or is it a terrorist group or a kidnap or ransom group, and see one guy in the street you might even be an innocent guy, when you see the guy on the street you might say, “Put your hands up or fold to the ground. Let me see your hands.” You don’t shoot them right away but if they reach for their pockets and attempt to do something else, like a bomb or a knife, you are allowed to use force already. So that’s the difference between Mayor Duterte and the others. Let’s go to Taguig quickly, in the last 9 months, we’ve caught the local police and God bless them, has caught the top 10, last 9 to 15 months in the top 10 in the list of drugs. But what are the problems they are facing? One, may tatawag na taga NCRPO, taga southern, taga korte or taga ganito. Two, if walang media dun right away, etc, kung sinu-sinong nakikiusap. Three, tine-threaten pa yung ibang mga police, idedemote sila. Four, pagdating sa fiscals office, now it’s much better, but in the past ang bilis maka-bail so there had to be an alliance between the judges, the city hall the fiscals na there had to be some kind of usapang lalake, usapang babae na dapat everyone pledge na walang ayusan ‘to and these are the problems everyone’s been dealing with. And there’s the problem with leadership meaning pag sinabi nung Mayor tinawag lahat ng heneral alam ko kung sino ang marumi sa inyo, mag-resign na kayo and there are systematic changes, that’s why we are promising double in pay of the police.
Right now police make 14800 a month and they don’t get their pay in their first 3 months. That’s government service. Ang cost of is living in Metro Manila is 30 to 50 thousand. So every month so ang pulis kulang ng 15000 every month. Saan niya kukunin yun? So ang daling sabihing wag kang corrupt ka, pero gutom ang pamilya mo hindi makapag-aral anak mo. So question, yung iba ang platform nila “no increase.” We will not get rid of corruption unless we increase the pay and make enough to feed their family. Yung iba naman “itaas lahat.” Hindi kayang itaas lahat, 1.7 million government workers, pag sinabay sabay mong itaas lahat,politically lahat matutuwa sayo. There is no cascading; there is no domino effect in change. That’s why kami, law enforcers muna ang uunahin namin, NBI, law, police, physical, maybe later the judges, the military because part of the military, their intelligence will be used against drugs which President Arroyo declared as a national security threat.
Remember a lot of products that are either brought in, smuggled, sometimes buong laboratoryo ay smuggled in, so there is a plan and in fact we’re putting up a deal as much as possible, kasi part of the plan ayaw mo namang malaman ng criminal. But I’ll give you an example, the proper use of intelligence funds, there are billions of intelligence funds but everyone is quiet about it. We’re all guilty about it in the national government but are put into pockets or sa kung anu-anong gastos. In Davao City, the Mayor uses it, may nagbabalot dyan, may tricycle driver. Pag may bagong mukha, bagong tao, sinusundan ng CCTV yan e. May strategy yan on how you get it. In Taguig, it takes my wife, six years. She only used the intelligence funds once. Five years, she’s fed up with excuses and it won’t be used for that. So there has to be a way the president can meet that to meet the highly urbanized mayor kasi most of the drugs are also in the highly urbanized area, nandun ang pera. So there’s a strategic way. It’s like a dominos. Once you hit one and you’re lined up right away, it falls. And not only that, you hit a bigger one, to fall. The most important domino.
The first step is the political will that they know that you’re serious. And everyone understands whether it’s a criminal o hindi, that when Mayor Duterte says shoot to kill, mangyayri. Kaya dalawang grupo sa Pilipinas e, one group who firmly believes na magagawa mo pero ang tanong, “Mayor will you do it under the bounds of the law?” and the other group, “Mayor magagawa mo ba? E kung magagawa mo naman, mag martial law ka.” That’s the Enrile line. I believe in the constitution, I believe in the human rights, and I believe there’s a way to do it that will satisfy the constitution but again let me end where I started. Where is the Binay-Honasan plan? Where is the Poe-Escudero plan? Where is the Mar-Leni plan? Because we have Davao and we have Taguig. We have our public record and we are physically explaining and saying in words, 6 months and this is what we will do. So halimbawa, pagtaas ng sweldo ng pulis, are the other teams also gonna do that?
JN: We’ll get to that Senator. The next question comes from Twitter again. It’s a comment actually, I’d like you to react to this, “A three-six months guarantee, is not a plan or a program”.
AC: Yes, we never said it was a plan or a program. What we said, is that…
JN: But is it realistic?
AC: Yes, feel safe to suppress crime that you can walk on the streets, because nga ang kriminal, nakatingin lang yan e. John and ano, Tine, if we have all 12 children, it’s a full house, but let me take my family as an example. My mom just love us to death, but she spoiled us, I mean in the sense that if she says don’t fight we wouldn’t listen to her, hindi naman niya kami papagalitan. You know we’ll just hug her and rub her feet and bring her hot tea. She’s a teacher so she loves children, and my dad on the other hand, pag sinabi niyang “asan si Alan?” nanginginig na ako e, so I was asking if he’s gonna do anything bad. So noon, when my dad says, don’t eat in this room, no one eats in this room. In the house, no one drinks, no one smokes, we don’t drink we don’t smoke kasi we know that of we’re gonna get it if he does it. I tried once and I got smacked around when he saw me having Andy Player in my car and I didn’t even drink it yet. And I never, never akong umulit. Ganun sa crime e, and all the science will point to that so is there a plan, yes, but this is not like an infrastructure master plan.
The plan is simple, character, leadership, political will. Tell the criminals that you will either be in jail and it won’t be a five-star Muntinlupa. It will be in jail that you will suffer or you will have a rehab program but you’re gonna be in jail. Or two, if you fight you’re gonna be in the cemetery. If you stop you’re okay. And all sciences of criminology will be there: spending time with you on CCTVs, spending on crime labs.
I’ve worked on crime labs for the last ten years, some of the crime labs around the country is my quiet way of helping the PNP, putting up the pay of the police is crucial because if the police is corrupt and they’re part of the crime, I don’t know if you heard this, there is a convention daw all over the world and nagyayabang mga Amerikano because in the US, we have 911, in 10 minutes of any crime, the police is there. Sabi ng Hapon, because of our Koban system, we have tourist police everywhere. It’s easy to communicate and internet is fast and everything so within three minutes we’re there. So sabi ng PNP e talo kayo sa Pilipinas, kami habang nandun yung crime, nandun na kami. So sabi ng audience, “How can you be where the crime is?” Sa amin rin yung mga kriminal e.
In reality, in syndicated crimes, sa sindikato may isa o dalawang pulis na kasama and 90, 95, 98 percent of the police force hates this but wala silang magawa e. Because from bottom to top may racket. Ganun din sa politiko, from councilor to president. We are a racket society di ba na we are hypocritical about being paid well but ginagawan mo ng paraan. So what we’re saying is that the Duterte-Caetano team has the political will to tell criminals, “In the Philippines crime does not pay.” Right now crime does pay, corruption does pay, smuggling, we have all the equipment there. You don’t need a plan, you just have to tell the guy in the Customs, “Every single one of you that does not stop, alis kayo, di kayo aalis, we’ll put you in jail.” So you go to any barangay captain, we went to Pasay they know who the drug pushers are, so why do you need a plan to get the drug pushers, kilala naman e, there’s no political will.
JN: Again we will have a chance of asking another question.
AC: I hope I just gave you a semblance of what we’re gonna do.
KS: This is a question from Ronnie Bungocan as well. I know you already explained that a suspected criminal would fight back. The law enforcers would have instructions to deal with that. He is asking, “Will you condone extra judicial killings?”
AC: No, never. You have to distinguish between rallies talking and saying patay yan, with the actual instructions and in the sober discussions, so Mayor Duterte has made very clear instructions, one, always in the bounds of the constitution, never extra judicial killing. Nakita mo yun suspected bigla mong baril, pinaluhod mo. Pastor, pari, kagalit mo, sabihin mo may droga yan habang nagpi-preach pero pag punta sa kwarto niya babarilin mo. Well in fact the most used operation in Davao is buy-bust or the actual exchange of drugs. Dun nagkakahulihan except for kidnapping where sinusundan either yung pera o kung pinapunta ka na nung kidnapper. That’s why they’re saying, one of the comments is bakit yung retail ang nahuhuli niyo at hindi yung wholesale. Remember he’s a Mayor. When he becomes president, if he becomes president, the Lord gives him that and the people support him, he will be both in wholesale with the drug lords, and the how do I put it, drug bishops and drug couriers, etc. But it’s easier from his point of view and from a Mayor’s point of view to just go after each and every one selling it.
Question is killing per se murder? Is killing per se extra judicial killing? The Bible says do not kill. The original translation is do not murder. That’s why soldiers when they are fighting and they see someone in combat, it’s not murder. That’s why the police pag sila binabaril they shoot back, that’s not murder, that’s self-defense, or that’s law enforcement. So what the Mayor’s saying is that they don’t have any gun, so why shoot them, ba’t hulihin mo? But many of those in drugs, dalawa ang problema e, ang gaganda ng mga baril nila, number two, user din sila e. When you’re a user especially pag medyo adik na, and you’re into drugs, feeling mo invincible ka e, kaya kaya yung iba, tamaan na once, sumusugod pa rin sila. Sobrang ano yung adrenaline nila tsaka nung drugs in your system and remember, 30 years or 20 years na as Mayor or just two terms in different capacity, how many groups have investigated you? Now, if talking loudly is a crime, you’d be guilty. They’ve investigated, how many investigations, kakampi man yan o kalaban, even Sec, Leila de Lima has been on its trail. No cases filed. Not even solid evidence so it’s really… and you go to Davao, you ask the people of Davao they’re happy. It’s not about the climate of fear, it’s the climate of respect and the climate of being safe.
We’ve never said, ‘zero crime’. Kunyari di ba, I get your ballpen here from INQ.net, technically ninakaw ko or I jaywalk pero what I’m saying is that like Singapore, you tell your children dun ka sa sine 2 in the morning, punta ka ng Mcdo 24 hours, 3 in the morning, you feel safe. No, you’re actually safe. That’s the standard in Davao but people keep throwing statistics like Sen. Trillanes without explaining the statistics. Davao is 3 times bigger than the whole Metro Manila ganun kalaki and in those yung nasa FB, that’s 5 years of crime and then number 3, hindi pinapakita dun kung yung mga patay ay patay dahil sila ang mga criminal. But you watch the news, whatever channel, the first 15 to 20 minutes are all crime. The reality is while Mayor Duterte is only the one who uses bloody, patay, some of the other people, conservative groups, conservative provinces, parang ganyan, the reality is anyone you elect maraming patay. Ang question lang, whether yung inosente na pinatay, yung kapitbahay mo na ni-rape, yung pulis ang patay o yung criminal ang patay. We’re not going to be—no president will succeed kung wild, wild west tayo. Yung peace and order not only includes na walang kriminal, it’s also that there is a sense of law. Kahit na patay lahat ng mga criminal pero feeling mo wala kang rights e di balik tayo sa martial law and our constitution doesn’t allow that.
JN: Senator, we will get back to that, I wanted to ask you about the UN special repertoire that had findings on the Davao death squad.
Question by Kennedey Feria on Facebook, this is about your campaign. Why did you come up with posters and tarps weeks before Mayor Digong announced his presidential bid? Did you have an inkling? Or were you trying to convince him or what?
AC: 100 percent I can tell you, fate. You know, there were several groups asking me to be their vice president, then later on they shifted to asking me to be their senate president or be in the senate and then be their speaker kung anong offer, ‘no, cabinet. He was always saying where can I be most effective, and when I decided I will run for vice president and really try to redefine the role of vice president, you know, I went to Davao and declared that I am running and that evening I talked to Mayor Duterte he told me he’s not running. I told him, “Mayor, if you run, I’ll support you. If you run with a different running mate, I’ll support you quietly, you don’t have to support me back. But, if you pick me, I will do my best, ‘no?”
And… until the last minute I thought he was going to file, ‘no? But he didn’t file and it was really a walk of fate, why did we put up the posters, why did the supporters? I have a hundred and eighty groups all over the country that we have a project together ‘yung anti-5-6, microfinance; palengke, vendors, tricycle driver, jeepney drivers. I think I’m one of the few senators who have a project in areas that [has] calamity. More than 15,000 houses had burned down in Metro Manila from January 1 to today alone, and usually, it’s only the local government that helps them. Kung meron mang national, bigas lang. No rehab program, no livelihood program, the CCT doesn’t- the 4Ps doesn’t even kick in automatically then if lose they everything, and to all the areas I’ve been with, I have support eh. And… you know, I have, of course, I have some business community and everything, they are the one who push, they said, “Alan, you make good match. Alan, one way to encourage him but also get your numbers up is to get that.” That was the story there. That’s why… in fact, when he did announced that he was going to run, many of us were on the same party of Atty. Fred Lim, and we couldn’t even believe that he already did it, because he had two interviews the same night. The first interview he didn’t say it. The second interview, we were already eating and tired from of flight from Iloilo to Cavite but you know it’s there.
KS: This is a related question from Honey Princess Vanessa from Facebook, can you campaign without using the name of Digong?
AC: Yeah. I’ve been a councilor, a vice mayor, 3 terms congressman and also my second term as the senate. I have my own public record. If you attend our rallies, some of them are live streamed. Unfortunately, the TV doesn’t cover huge rallies that we have, maybe because it’s later at night, I don’t know why. And you would hear the platform to say having said that we’re a tandem, we’re the only group that really believes in each other, the other tandems, seen on the debate last night some were timid. I didn’t hear Chiz talked much about Grace. I didn’t hear Leni talked about Mar, mentioning once or twice, but my question is, why don’t they talk much more about their running mates?
READ: Dependent on Duterte? Cayetano says he can stand on own merits
You know, in the different format of the debate all of us vice presidents would sound as if we can solve the problems of the Philippines but we’re not running for the president eh. We’re running for vice president. And that’s why even the Duterte group has asked me, we have agreed, that we will talk about the tandem, even Mayor Duterte always says win or lose with Alan, vote for him because he knows that he’ll need all the support his platform is extraordinary, and he’s an ordinary man, but he has an extraordinary political will. So, it’s like saying that, you found the perfect CEO, ikaw ang vice president, you found the perfect editor in chief of Inquirer. I’m one of the editors, but never I’ll talk about my editor in chief. Bakit ko naman ikakahiya, if he’s the best guy for the job? Does he have faults? Of course, I mean, I’ve been here, with Tita Letty, it’s a little bit sentimental, my first time in here without her. I got band up a little up with his platforms, about his cursing, etcetera, but that’s the nature of discussion. John, you’ve not always been supportive of my hearings, but I’ve learn from your articles, sometimes you like it, sometimes you don’t. But that’s democracy at work eh, just because may negative kay Digong, or just because others want to support him not me, that doesn’t mean I don’t talk about him. But the question is do I have something to show? That’s why last night I try to contrast myself and ask them. Some of you were in some hearings, whether it’s anti-graft hearings, like the Binays and the Enrile, yung pork barrel scam, fertilizer scam. But some of them were issues like SSS, like Coco Levi. Congressman Leni couldn’t talk much about the SSS kasi siya sincere siya. But her party, if the president’s talking about SSS, we cannot give P2000, they stop finding solutions. Senator Chiz and Senator Poe cannot talk about recovering the funds of the coconut farmers, because may mga tao sa likod. Kidapawan, four vice presidentiables called for the hearing, I’m the only one who went, what did the other three do, instead of talking Kidapawan? Some were settled, some people were trying to hit me why I was at the hearing. Eh, apat nga kaming nagpatawad gutom ang mga tao. What did the Liberal Party do? They called a meeting and they stopped talking about it. So, can I campaign on my own merits? I shouldn’t even run if I cannot. But should I be timid or shy about talking about Mayor Duterte? He’s the one running for president, you can have the best vice-president, kung lousy nag president mo, you can’t have anything done.
JN: We’re running a bit long, so we’re going to ask one follow up question each, my fellow question has to do with mentioning that Mayor Duterte has his faults, you ask congressman Leni Robredo the last time – top three criticisms of the Aquino administration – in your case, can you give us top 3 faults of Mayor Digong?
AC: Can I answer not basing from my personal view but from the public’s view? Cursing, as cavalier about womanizing and also talking about patay,patay. But in all three, may we explain that this is his personal style. This is, for example cursing, he is not cursing the person and the generation of father and my grandfather, that’s how they curse. If you look into their Facebook now yung S word, or BS, or others words is cursing on this generation, the PI was the cursing of other generation. I don’t curse, I try not to. We’re also human, diba? But he does…womanizing. He’s separated from his wife. He admits that this is his lifestyle in the past, he’s 70 and it’s a different now. That patay-patay, he explains that and so he speaks, criminals speak, that’s why police is at that level’s peak, he will respect the law.
KS: Something related to that, I watched you campaign since 2013, and I noticed that you always quote the bible, for example, during your rallies, or even during the debate. I was surprised when you decided to run with Mayor Duterte. How do you reconcile that image pa lang. How is it different on how you speak, for example, the way he is?
AC: When I was much younger, my lolo ko, and lola were in their 80’s. German na American siya. We didn’t know that my grandmother was a closet Christian, and then of course, pagpunta niya dito, Katoliko sa radio lahat. She enjoyed going to Church, but new sa kanya. You know when I was watching the TV, it was the time that John Jimmy Swaggart…Hindi ba tayo magsing-edad? He really hit hard, “You are a sinner.” Ganyan. And then there was this other yung ano Hubbard Family, if you remember, he was like the lolo Santa Claus, that you always look for, diba na, so loving. Hug people. “God loves you, no matter what you do.” So I ask my mom, not looking at a religion, sect. Sabi niya, “The reality is some people need to be slapped in the face to realize that they are doing a mistake. And some people they’ve been slapped their whole life and they need to be hugged. That’s why, you have two kinds of evangelists and that’s what I saw in Mayor Duterte.
We have the same core values. He has a deep believe in God. He does not boast about it, but years ago, when I was investigated, he was in my sister’s office, and he clearly saw it, “Alam mo, Alan, Senator, how I keep Davao safe is between me and God. Now, what is between me and Davao City and my constituents is that I’m true to them, and I keep them safe.” Why did he have to say between me and God? There’s a lot of stories behind, but I don’t want to kasi mahaba. In his heart, he knows why we are here on earth eh. What we’re supposed to do. Put it this way, pwede namang magsama sa isang simbahan ang Opus Dei and Jesuit eh. They believe in the same God. Yung isa conservative, yung isa mejo liberal. I’m not saying na pareho kami ng belief Mayor Duterte. I’m not saying that I’m a better Chrisitian, but that’s not for us to judge core values and how we want to save the country. Nagkakaisa kami and I’m comfortable with that.
JN: Thank you. That’s an image to conjure with. Mayor Digong as the Jimmy Swaggart of politics. Let’s move on to the second round. Let’s cut down the number of questions from the audience, but I’d like to thank 9,000 live viewers on Facebook. Senator, we’re breaking the record here. At this point in time, there are 9,000. But over that there are tens of thousands. 9,000 from Facebook, also 2,500 from online.
AC: And if we have better internet connectivity nationwide, mas marami pa ‘yan, that’s the usual complain by everyone.
JN: My question has to do with Mayor Duterte and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Sabi niya nilabanan niya si Arroyo, and that’s a fact. Pero bakit siya payag na palayain siya kung si Duterte ay manalo? Nasa ano ang pinaglaban niya? This is from Baby Bony thru Facebook. Babaliwalain na lang ba niya ito?
AC: Hindi po. Hindi ako umaatras sa kahit na anong prinsipyo, hindi ko po kinakain ang prinsipyo ko. Corruption is corruption. again why am I comfortable, in the two instances that Mayor Duterte was mentioned, it was Bong Revilla, and then it was GMA. He was asked questions directly, and si Mayor is not the politically right type of politician that will see to the question and see how it will come out to people. He just answered it directly and tinanong siya ni Bong Revilla, if the evidence is weak, should he be out on bail, eh. If the evidence is strong, and the case is punishable by reclusion perpetua or higher, no bail. So pag weak, pakawalan mo. But since it’s a Napoles-Bong Revilla ano, it came out a long way. Gano’n din kay Jim eh.
Sir, the present cases against GMA now, and even the staunchest against the Anti-GMA critics, all of us were together. We criticized in 2010, 2011, 2012. Look into the records. Google niyo. In criticizing the government, bakit yung mga strong cases – Hello Garci, fertilizer scam, etc. Hindi niyo kinaso kay PGMA? Ang kinaso niyo yung mahina. Yung PCSO kasi intelligence fund. Bubuksan yan ng COA kasi that’s the law. And it can be used for certain things. I don’t want to forego or weaken the case pero. He was just saying, sa kaso na yan, mapapakawalan. But I was in many events, hearing na, hindi nareport, where he said, hindi ako makikialam sa kaso, yan ay nasa Ombudsman at nasa korte. Let them do it, but give them justice. Huwag matagal huwag ganyan. That’s why I’m comfortable. At one point in time, he was even asking eh, “Would Alan be a good DOJ?” Ako nagsasabing ayoko nung mga ganong position gusto sa platform.
Let me ask you a question, if she was bent on releasing some people, why even think of Alan or a staunch critic being in the DOJ. Ako, John at Tine, I’m confident that there, he will do the right thing. And I can make a commitment to you now. That’s an ongoing commitment, pagmali mali, pagtama tama. We’re not going to compromise on that. Having said that many supporters of GMA are the backbone of the Bongbong (Marcos) campaign. And some of them are the one throwing that to me. Di ba bumaliktad ka? Pero kung titignan mo, I don’t mind with the anti or Liberal Party kasi it’s a fair question to me. But, some of them, sa Facebook that trinace, kasi you can press on it, diba? You’ll see their account nakataas kamay si Bongbong, Bongbong for Vice, tapos sila ang nagki-criticize sakin about GMA. Eh, sila nga ang magkakasama. Remember, Governor Imee, when she was congressman, the last minute sa impeachment nawala. And ang usap-usapan nga sa Congress they made a deal with GMA to not impeach her because there are so many cases regarding the Marcos wealth still with PCGG and at the court.
KS: Last night you stood out, during the debate, especially yung confrontations niyo with Senator Marcos. A lot of people, his supporters, didn’t like that, but there are also some people who took notice of what you did. This question is from Enrico’s Mac from Facebook. He was asking, “ang tanong ko lang kay Cayetano, kailangan ba talagang mang-away ka para thumbs up ang buhay ng mamamayan?”
AC: Yes, because, why is it that every voter will say “gusto ko ipaglaban mo ‘ko?” Pero ayaw nila, pag parang palaaway ka. Pero, for me, okay lang na palaaway ka. Things won’t change unless you fight. Something, somewhat. But you have to look at two things, tama bang pinaglalaban at sino yung pinaglalaban. If I went up against Bong Bong Marcos, because he was innocent, and I just want to be the vice president mali yon. If I went up against Bong Bong ‘cause it’s the first time I am to with anyone, sa graft and corruption, if I wanna win, mali yon. But I went up against Erap. I went up against Arroyo. I went up against Enrile. I went up against FG (first gentlemen Arroyo). I went up against the fertilizer scam, swine scam, ZTE-NBN. might haven’t been perfect I’m still learning, the gift-giving in Malacañang, and even the SAF 44.
Do you think I gain anything from fighting people? You know, ‘yung threat sa buhay namin not being able to go where we want. I won’t go to the threats and details and everything. You know my low rates in some areas is because, yung kingpins ng areang yon ay nakalaban ko. Enrile has big following in Cagayan area. Despite na sinuka na ang Marcos, nilunok ulet, sinuka ulet, ngayon nilunok ulet. Ngayon si Bongbong Marcos na yun. That helps him. But me, Pampanga, the Pinedas are so close to the Arroyos. Why would they go for me? Nagulat lang ako, I thought they could for Bongbong pero but they went for Mar-Leni. But those are the things I give up for fighting for people. Rather na magpa-cute na lang ako don, to tell some good or bad stories, I can do that. But I cannot change the country in that way. That’s why I haven’t changed styles because my second goal is getting elected.
The first goal is always to change the country. So if I get elected, but it’s a different Alan, and Alan who won’t fight for you, Alan who won’t tell those to shape up, if not they’re gonna lose their licenses, and we’re gonna get the bigger ones to come. If I can’t tell the DOTC guys, you know. Maraming huli-dap sa Pilipinas, hindi lang sa pulis, kahit sa senate. Pwde kang mag-ingay ng konte paareglo ka, you get part of the contract, tahimik kana. I could have done all my life that and it would have benefited me. Aside from not being able to live by myself because you know as a Christian you have to choose who you serve. I won’t get the job done.
That’s why nga I was attracted to Mayor Duterte. Kasi hindi beholden. As I said, diamond in the rough. But people focus on the rough rather than diamond. And I understand kasi iba nag thinking ng Tagalog sa Bisaya, pati dito sa Metro Manila. For people who, halimbawa, people are here in Metro. You don’t have to be that rough. But if you were in Davao, 30 years ago, na linggo-linggo may Alsa Masa, companies, police and military will be killed left and right. Kung anto-communist ka, bibigyan ka ng baril, no questions asked. Komunista naman would sometimes some would kill people. It’s a different perspective.
JN: A question from Edwin Roxas from facebook, mas mabilis pa bang paraan para maresolba ang kabagalan ng internet sa bansa?
ALAN: Yes. Not to put all together sa Telcos, for example magtatayo ng towers, grabe ang corruption niyan eh. From the barangay going up. But that shouldn’t also be an excuse, so what happens from the bottom to the top panay corrupt. Pati sa pagdistribute ng – we used to bid out sa…when we started sa 2G then 3G, we used to bid it out, then we took out. Ngayon halos NTC na lang ang maga-allot diyan. And then pagnag-allot, Smart bought Sun. Under the franchise there should be a congressional approval. Pati yun, huwag na daw. Just by having someone sincere, at the presidency then yung NTC, to be fair naman sa NTC, kahit tinalaga ng telco ang NTC, pero alam niya na ang bossing niya hindi yung president, kundi siya. Kasi I don’t judge people eh. Halimbawa nilagay ng Smart, ang Globe ang kanilang CEO. Pero sinabi nung presidente, ngayon tao ang boss mo, hindi sila. Pero kung halimbawa, pinenalize niya, sa atin walang penalty, look at the Bangladesh 81 million, sa US nangyayari yun. Pero grabe nag-penalty ng bangko, billion dollars, 300 billion dollars. So sa telco sa America, minsan nangyayari yan. Pero grabe ang fines. Sa atin wala eh, kase magsyota eh, magsyota and pulitiko at tsaka founder eh.
We have to change that model. It’s not easy but we’ll get there. And to be fair, the oligarchs, they just want a level plain field. Halimbawa, sa train, just to connect, with faster internet and the IT, sa train, kung mag-aaway kasi sa admin na ito, nandito sa kanya, tapos dito, dito. Paano na to sasagutin ng gobyerno? We’ll connect you but yung babagsakan, gubyerno may-ari, dito kikita. papayag naman ang mga yan eh. But no one really is standing just to say na, “I won’t take your money guys.” And I am a witness. I’ve seen, I’ve heard a lot. People giving Mayor Duterte so much money, I don’t want to be with them.
KS: There are a couple of people asking on Twitter and on Facebook on the crime rate in Taguig. They said you always talk about Davao. What’s it like?
AC: We’re one of the fastest growing central business districts. In Maharlika village, we are very proud of our Muslim Village. A long time ago, pahatid ka sa taxi, hindi ka dadalhin dun. Now the roads are wide and the parks, right in front of mosques. It’s a beautiful place.
The Ayala group invested in FTI. They’ve bought land for P36,500. They sold out at 220,000 per square, three years to pay and I think people will pay that much. What we’re saying despite NCRPO and Southern police being in Taguig there are still problems like drugs. Every time na may huhulihin may pumapalit agad. So if you look, we don’t have legal or illegal gambling in Taguig. That was one of my wife’s advocacy. Pati sabungan, wala kami nun. Nag aapply nung bingo, nung lotto. We’re not judging but we’d rather let you do it somewhere else and the first time, first week yung wife ko kala siguro babae, bata kasi galing siya ng probinsiya on Bicol or in Bulacan, they had like 15 video kareras. Hindi nila inexpect, my wife came over right before nila sunugin, nakabuhos na yung gasolina. She opened it walang laman. Sobrang pahiya ng chief of police. They had to go around at nahuli. My brother was barangay captain and he started pinpointing places. May dumating na colonel. I don’t blame him for being corrupt, I blame him for being a little kulang-kulang dito (points at his head). Isipin mo ang sinabi sa administrator, Pakisabi kay kapitan, kay colonel yang mga video karera. Sabi ko nga nung kinuwento ng brother ko, sabi ko, ang corruption ay normal talaga yan, hindi man lang nagresearch yung colonel na kapatid nung brother-in-law nung mayor yung kapitan and yung mayor was anti-jueteng.
Our value system has been turned upside down, we have to fix it. Example lang diyan, you walk kung saan ang mga bahay ng mga heneral, militar o mga pulis. Pag nakita mo maliit na bahay tapos heneral, sasabihin ba ng mga bata o teenager, yan ay mabait, yan ay matino? Hindi. Sasabihin nilang ang hina naman nun. So on one side, all Filipinos galit na galit sa corruption kaya kami nahihirapan all of this province from corruption. Our value system: let’s join the police, maging congressman tayo para kumita. Let’s join this so we can do that diba? That’s why nga simplicity is like what the campaign of the Congresswoman Leni also picks up people because nga of the greed in public service. Again I go back to political will, how do we change all of this.
JN: Senator, let me try to connect the first two rounds with the following follow-up questions. You talked about regulatory car catcher. You also talked about the racket society. You talked about even in the senate, you paint a very bleak portrait of Philippine society and yet you yourself is a product of that same system of government. You spent 20 years in the government service. How did you stay clean, how will people believe you when you yourself came through that system?
AC: The first part is easy to answer, how did I stay clean? Prayer. Simply by God’s grace talaga always finding a way to do the right thing. The second part, how would people believe me. Look at my track record. We were the favorite of President Erap. Kami yung bright boys nung time na yun, we got any project or what we want but I joined the impeachment because the evidence I saw was wrong, set a bad example. GMA, my dad and the family was one of the closest. SI FG was my ninong sa kasal but when they couldn’t answer Hello Garci, when the fertilizer scam came in, when they saw them paying off through projects yung mga kasamahan ko sa Congress, I couldn’t take it.
Enrile was my dad’s mentor, I could’ve kept quiet yung kalokohan na mangyayari sa Congress, I couldn’t take it. SAF44, as I’ve said, I could’ve attended, eto tama, eto mali, I didn’t have to go all out but people in Visayas and Luzon didn’t know the other part of the MILF, the other part of the rebellion. Everyone was just thinking it’s just bandits — Abu Sayyaf and the idealistic Moro rebels. Ganun naman talaga but they didn’t see the people in the middle. Those who made gun-running, smuggling a business, manufacturing guns and— so that’s my guarantee.
Am I perfect? No. Am I a product of the system? Yes. That’s why nga sinasabi nila, halimbawa coco farmers, who failed them? I said, us. Part rin ako ng senado, so pag nagfail yung senado, part rin ako sa nagfail except that what I can say is I keep trying. Im not saying loko lahat yan and ako okay. Ang sinasabi ko ko lahat tayo naging loko sa sistemang ito. Ang titignan kami sa vice presidentiables, yung isa hawak sa leeg. It shows sin taxes. Danding at Lucio Tan yung sinunod. Sa Coco Levy fund, si Congresswoman Leni, very sincere, very trustworthy. But look her plans sa connectivity, sa telcos. She said government must lay the infrastructure. That would cost at least a hundred billion but maybe about 200 billion. Kanina sa show sa ABS, I was saying I’ll accompany Congresswoman Leni sa PGH or sa Vicente Sotto. Gabi pa lang pumipila na ang tao from all over. They have the best best doctors in those two hospitals. They have the best equipment. Bakit hindi pa rin kaya? You have Philhealth. P100 billion ang binayaran ng Philhealth for 2015. So if you spend P750 billion for infrastracture and ang kikita lang naman is Globe and Smart. Why not get them to invest and pay for it?
I could lay out a whole strategic plan. Singapore actually has a book how they became a smart city. Beijing and IBM they smart city concepts. The manual is there guys. The Political will is there. Guys you’re making a lot of money. Let’s work together in getting this, wag mo nang kunin yung 100 bilyon na pwede kong gamitin para sa hospital at sa education ng mga bata.
KS: We just hit the 1-hour mark. And there are still a lot of questions. This one is from Nestor Corrales, our reporter covering the Duterte-Cayetano campaign. Do you think it will work in your favor the go-after Bongbong Marcos strategy and how would you assess your performance and the performance of the other candidates. And there were also yes or no questions and there were candidates who hesitated with their answers.
AC: Yeah. Napansin ko lang later on na nangongpya sila e. Kasi ako, I already know my stance so talaga inaano ko…Halimbawa dun sa LGBT community nakita ko nung tinanong ako nagtaas kagad. Yung iba nakatingin muna. The problem is yes or no lang so hindi namin naco- communicate. Like for example ako, well, if you ask that question I will go to that but to answer you directly but para hindi ako ma-awkward I waved to crowd and shook Chiz’s hand and waved to the crowd. Pero pinuntahan ako ni Bongbong. Naka-smile so kala ko sport lang, issue sa issue so kinamayan ko. Nagulat ako bigla ako binulungan, “It won’t work.” Gumanun siya. Ganito, “It won’t work. It won’t work.” So, binitaw ang kamay, hinabol ko. Sabi ko, “Who says it’s about that?,” and Nestor with all due respect, that same thing answer with you, if you think it’s just a strategy, you don’t know me that well. I would have gone like that whether I’m running or not, just given the opportunity, in the Senate there was never an opportunity to talk about Marcos wealth. If you look, if you Google, or you look at the files, I’ve talked about the Marcos’ regime all throughout my career. I’ve talked about how Singapore grew because Lee Kuan Yew was a tough leader, a strong leader. But he was never corrupt and he never, you know, affected the basic constitutional rights. So let me stop there but, how do I…
READ: Marcos to Cayetano: Criticizing me won’t work
JN: You could have also gone after Chiz, you could have been after Leni, but you spent more time…
AC: Well because the issue was corruption, and human rights. But for example kay Senator Chiz, if they have allowed me to speak, medyo, to be fair, sa dalawang hosts, andami ko nang beses nagsalita if they let me speak on the sin taxes, I was gonna say that sinong bobolahin ni Bongbong tsaka ni Chiz na, “I-tax natin ang mga eroplano, itax natin ang…” Malaki nang tax ng mga ‘yon. ‘Di ba ang pinaguusapan natin na 20 years hindi natin in-adjust yung taxes sa alak at tsaka sigarilyo na ang apektadong deretso talaga, ang kumikita dyan, dalawang tao — Lucio Tan and Danding Cojuangco, at least during that time. So if we would have gone there, we would framed them that way. Now kay Cong. Leni, I’m not going after her because you know she’s new, she’s inspiring, she’s trustworthy. But it’s the company that she keeps. So if you look, read between the lines saying, how can you stop jueteng, if the number one in jueteng is your supporter? How can you fix the airport when you cannot even tell Sec. Abaya, “You are wrong?”
Kung isa isahin ko nangyari: LTO, sticker, plaka, yong lisensya, tapos nanakaw pa yong plaka na nasa Customs, and then sa MRT, LRT. Everyone knows that it’s excuses. Ang tagal tagal ng MRT, LRT hindi nasisira yan, hindi naano, but during their administration, sa airport, remember noon, nasira yong aircon, tapos mag-hoholidays pa. Kaya grabe. Tapos sobra yung traffic ngayon. APEC was the best chance to use Clark, they didn’t do it. And then ngayon nung nag brown out, inexcusable, anong sabi nila, it’s not enough reason to fire Abaya, no. You know…
JN: so you’re saying that if you had more time, or if the questions were more pointed, you would have…
AC: If it was on those issues… I actually did, but not to that. And she didn’t debate back e. ‘Di ba? If she said, if she answered about Abaya, I don’t know if she agrees with me but…kasi yun naman ang challenge niya, ‘di ba. How does she get elected and gets to do what she wants but in the mean time these people electing her are the people who are the problem of the country.
JN: Okay. Senator, I hope you don’t mind if we run overtime.
AC: Sure.
JN: We’re gonna have 10 more minutes.
AC: I’m okay if everyone’s okay.
JN: Right now we have 12,700 live viewers and then 3,000 online. So thank you to everyone. Keep your questions coming. Senator, I have a question here, from @TheQueen on twitter. “Senator Cayetano, what are your, I guess she is an education student, as an education student what are your plans for us, the future teachers?”
AC: I’ll try to go to this very quickly. It’s okay I’ll speak a little bit fast? The Constitution guarantees both access and quality. And the World Bank has a study that the single most important factor in education is the teacher. Okay? So every time we make educational reforms, nahuhuli yong teacher. Because at the time I was the chairman of the committee on education, there were 550,000 public school teachers. Now there’s 750,000 and there are more private schools now. When you say private schools, to many they will think of St. Augustine, La Salle, Ateneo, Xavier, ‘di ba? But there are many many more private schools na mas maliliit with good names pero mas maliliit. Their teachers now are paid less than public school teacher, so every time na itaas mo yong sweldo ng public school teacher, umaangal din sila ‘cause yong private school, because they cannot keep up by keep putting up tuition and lumilipat naman sa public school yung student nila. And the public school naman umaangal dumadami ang kanilang estudyante that’s why the voucher or GATSPE nationwide works but mababa na ngayon and we have a counterpart in Taguig.
We put students in private school, give the private school 10,000 then the student 5,000. So, first point, teachers have to be given a primary consideration. Training, their pay, they have to make a living that will pay for their family. If not they will go to different jobs. A lot of good english teachers have joined call centers. They might have gone abroad, di ba? For BPO’s, They might have gone abroad. You know teachers, it’s not really a profession. It’s really a calling. These people love to teach but they have to take care of their family. So in the city of Taguig, we have a 50 to 80,000 peso scholarship for teachers, for masteral, as long as they do their thesis on how to improve Taguig’s education.
Taguig City pays for their ano, ano. We’re working on couple more programs. One of the programs is scholarship sa anak nila although we give it to everyone naman. So we have, so this is how we fix the Taguig’s education. We used to be number 13 in Metro Manila in terms of the National Achievement Test. In the third year, we were in the middle, and in the last two years we were number one. First, we took care of people not leaving the school, not dropping out. How did we do that? Give free uniforms, dalawang pang ibaba or palda or pantalon, tatlong pantaas, bags, shoes, health kit, you name it, whatever they need, notebooks, kasama lahat yon. Why? Because education is free but andaming binabayaran. Test paper, notebook, etc. this builds up to many middle class. Upper class people, you won’t see that but graduation, toga, gastos lahat yan no, so lahat yan ngayon, sagot ng city of Taguig. Even the togas, even the JS Prom. Some would say, kailangan ba ng JS Prom? But, it’s their first time to wear barong, first time to have this ano, why should the private school people enjoy something like that and you could never. In business you have a lot of cocktails. Any way we provide, the city provides all of that. And we got a computer-assisted learning from Singapore. It’s a different school, so you get two diplomas in Taguig. You’ll be assessed in the first year high school of what kind of computer learning you have ‘til the fourth year. You’ll be guided. Parang K-12 na kami actually sa computers. And then when you graduate, you have a 10,000 peso voucher just to enrol whether TESDA, SUC’s or private school. If it is a priority school, you get a P50,000, like UP. So we still have 5 to 10 students in UP.
Now, we have 400 students in UP. Ano yon, P50,000. No question yon, actually, we have 401, but yong isa pamangkin ko, so she doesnt get the P50,000. We have a lot of teachers programs, from their health. Aside from the teachers pala, the students, they get free eye and ear check up. We found out John and Tine no, I didn’t know this before, but when i became the Chairman on Committee of Education, 8 to 12 percent pala ng bata may diperensya. Whatever it is, from the very minuscule of near-sighted or the very curable or not repairable or mayroon kang intervention na pwedeng gawin to the more permanent na may problema then kelangan mo na ng special education. But ganun pala kabigat. For example, there were grade 5, grade 6 students na ang talagang tingin, the first year we did the eye program and the ear program, sabi ng teachers, ano, “Sir, napapahiya kami na akala namin mahina yong bata, yun pala ‘di niya kita yong blackboard.” Kase when you were a child, ‘di ba akala mo ganun yong eyesight. ‘di ba, ‘di naman gaya ngayon na parang lumalabong mata.
JN: ganun din naman yong rason ko nung nag-aaral ako.
AC: Well, ako, rason ko yon, but sa totoo lang, I should have been more diligent. So to answer directly, we should put the teacher front and center but we also need to understand na sabay sabay yong demands. But let me leave you with this though. Have you ever seen any Filipino parent telling you, “Anak, huwag ka munangn mag-aral, pag mayaman na tayo, saka ka mag-aral?” Di ba baliktad? Kasi usually, “Kuya, ate, ikaw muna mag-aral para yong mga kapatid mo, pagka graduate mo.” Why is it in Filipino education, baliktad? We don’t put the money until yumaman tayo. So baliktad.
More money on education then yayaman tayo. That’s why I have a problem with K-12 from the start. My personal thought is to improve the quality before adding 2 years no. But now, it’s there na and let me tell this to the public, it’s not being talked about because there are a lot of hardcore supporters of K-12 and a lot of hard core unsupporters or those who are critical. Why I used the word unsupporters or critical because they are not against the program itself. Dalawang grupo eh: against the program itself, yong isa, for the program but they don’t think we can do it right away. We’re in for a crisis because classrooms are not ready, and we’re gonna have a massive amount of drop outs because people are really poor in some areas. But politicians are not talking about this because, again, for leadership.
JN: Senator, one more, one last question from social.
KS: We have record views from Facebook right now and a lot of them watching are Filipinos from other countries as well. So maybe you could answer briefly. This is from Ben Baredo from Facebook, “What is your plan for the OFW’s?”
AC: OFW welfare and taking care of you while you are there is always important. But what’s more important is creating jobs here, so that you can come home, and the Duterte-Cayetano tandem is the only one with program of Federalism. If you would have me back, or if you’d allow me, I’ll send you a flash drive (on Federalism). Federalism you know in the US, Brazil, Malaysia, will come in 2 to 3 years kasi constitutional change pa yan, but the economic federalism, building heart centers, lung centers, kidney transplant institutions, in Visayas, Mindanao, in Southern and Northern Luzon, building the Mindanao railway, building the nautical highway in the Visayas, moving out departments. We wanna put the Department of Tourism in Cebu, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture in Mindanao, the DOTC in Clark. By the way this will also help the connectivity. Kasi pag nandyan, lahat ng secretary nagmumura sa telco na hindi kami ma-connect dito. Sometimes you need to force the issue, ‘di ba? Like a child na hindi marunong mag commute. So ako, iniwan ako ng dad ko sa UPLB, para matuto ako talaga na walang kotse, walang ano. I really learned a lot when I was there.
JN: And you drunk Andy Player?
AC: That was before. Lambanog na pagdating dun. Pero ano, medyo marunong na akong sumunod sa tatay ko noon. But going back, so OFW’s, your welfare, making life easy for you. Number two, providing the jobs here. And I think were the only group that’s working on a plan a 10 to 15 year plan of all of you who want to come home. May uuwian kayo.
Why are we the only group talking about that? Because the reality is, you are the heroes, through your money, your remittances, our economy is doing well. There are about 3, 4 reasons lang, why our economy is doing well and always the OFW money. So many politicians and economists are afraid that if you all come home, our economy might sink. But baliktad. If we build it then you can come back. Of course if you wanna be an expat, at dream niyo yan, pero kailangan mong iwanan ang pamilya mo because you cannot get a job with a commensurate pay and benefits here. But what I meant by welfare, just to add, alam mo right now, pagka undesirable, drug lord, scammers, magnanakaw, may come in and out of the immigration eh. Pero pagka OFW, lahat na ng pahirap nandyan eh. I mean, why do you always have to get a permit every time you’re leaving if you’re an OFW? Can’t we have some kind of secure ID or pwede sa cellphone na? That every time you pass the immigration, iganon mo lang tapos, pasok ka na? You know, there’s so many hassles that were doing to OFW. But what’s very touching John and Tine is several OFW’s came to Davao, Christmas time. And i spent a lot of time there during November, December, January. Ang sabi nila, “Mayor (Duterte), kami na bahala sa sarili namin at sa trabaho. Just make sure, our children are safe in the Philippines.” So I think I’ll also go back to providing peace and order for you here. That’s why its urgent for us. That’s why yesterday I said, you know, I don’t know what will happen in six months, but we’ll die trying. We will really go against these druglords and syndicates.
JN: Senator, we only have a few minutes left, if you can favor us with a short answers, i have three quick questions from the debate yesterday. Number 1, when you were asked whether you have plans to run for president after you become vice president…
AC: “Or”
JN: You put an “or,” and I thought that, that reinforced your perception that sometimes you are a very good rationalizer.
AC: Yes.
JN: You can defend either side of an issue. But why is it like that when you, originally, were planning for president?
AC: That’s right. But you know, the Duterte campaign changed me a lot. I really see that change can happen right away. Siguro if I run for President now, and became, I think I’ll be a good president but I don’t think I’ll be able to give that kind of change, that kind of passion, that kind of, parang naka blinder si Mayor Duterte na parang “Eto ang pagbabagong gusto ko, eto ang gusto ko sa kriminal.”
Sa corruption, I use to think the way Chiz thinks eh. It’s a process, but now, stop, stop. So that’s why I put “or” because I don’t plan to run for president now. I’m not even thinking of 2022. But I’m am only 45 e. So what if I run when I’m 65? Baka ipakita ng CNN, “wala kang plano.”
JN: okay, second question, again with the Yes or No answers, you saw Bongbong mistakenly answer “yes” to the question, “Have you ever committed corrupt activity?” and then realizing his mistake, he changed. Did you see that happen?
AC: I saw it sa Facebook na. But for the critics of Bongbong, who said that there’s no single ounce of honesty or decency in his bones, you’re wrong. Because his right hand wanted to “amin” na yes they were into corruption. Nag yes eh, kaya lang the rest of his body and his mind, binaliktad kagad. I mean, to be fair to everyone, everyone knows that limpak limpak ng cases ng corruption. He knows that there’s a COA report against him for putting money in the Napoles. So why didn’t he just say yes then ask to explain.
JN: and then, last question from the debate, I wonder if you saw Vice President Binay ‘booing’ Sen. Trillanes.
AC:I didn’t but I saw it in the…I saw it in the Facebook again. But if you know, they let me speak on that, ano, I was gonna say nga, sa Telco, halimbawa, I was gonna say, this favorite candidate here by one telco, will he be able to tell them to ‘pukpukin’ na ayusin to, but I didnt see it. But you know, I guess, we’re all human, so naapektuhan.
I saw a lot of people ‘booing’ and ‘yeying.’ In fact yung maraming naka dilaw…until they saw me and gave me a hug. You never know e. Remember. I reinforced my message yesterday that it’s all about Marcos, Cojuangco, Aquino. 50 years yan ha. 20 years of Marcos, then President Cory, and then after President Cory, it was all about the Marcos, Cojuangcos, and then PNoy came back, then now Marcos. You know if Marcos wins, what happens? Tingin mo yong mga Corista tsaka mga dilaw titigil? So its just the same cycle e. So when do we get out of this Marcos, there’s a lot of Aquinoses, a lot of Marcoses, kamag-anak that are friends ah, and are good people, just saying, as in national paradigm. Dalawang pamilya lang ba ang pagpipilian natin?
JN: Tine?
KS: The SWS survey that came out this morning shows that Duterte is leading but a lot can still happen in the next few weeks, what happens if you win vice president and someone else wins the presidency? How would you work with the likes of Roxas for example or Poe or…
AC: Binay… I’ll respect the mandate. If they do well, and given an assignment, I’ll do it. But if they’re corrupt, I’ll go against them.
JN: Thank you. Unfortunately, time is up. We’d like to ask Senator Cayetano, if he would like to give us a closing statement.
AC: Two quick points. Number 1. definition of Einstein of stupidity. The Bible tells us never to call anyone stupid but, and there’s no buts there. What’s the definition of Einstein of stupidity? Keep doing the same thing, expecting different result. So mga kababayan, gusto niyo ba nang pagbabago sa ating bansa? Do you wanna change the Philippines? If yes, then we have to change the system, and we have to have someone that’s willing to change. If not, it’s empty promises.
Number 2, no one has gone wrong praying. So if you’re not sure, or even if you’re sure with who you want, whats wrong with saying a prayer? And you know, just asking the Lord, to renew, to change our country, and to lead you, to pick the best candidates. So thank you very much Inquirer and all the affiliated groups and the social media platforms that you have used today.
JN: Sir, as a token of our appreciation, here is a ‘Guyito,’ our Inquirer group mascot. He comes with questions also. We would like to thank Senator Alan Cayetano for giving us time with him. We would like to thank our many, our multiple audiences on Facebook, on Twitter, on Viber, on various chat apps. This has been INQ & A. Thank you and good afternoon.