Training Workshop for National and Local Governments in Southeast Asia and South Asia on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

I am pleased to be part of this Training Workshop for National and Local Governments in Southeast Asia and South Asia on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.
ICLEI is a laudable organization of local governments. It is a trailblazer in its effort to make environmental sustainability a central part of the development process. And allow me to congratulate you for successfully organizing this important initiative.
National and local leaders across the globe increasingly realize that developments practices have not been […]

Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas 4th National Executive Board Meeting and 2nd General Assembly

Liga ng mga Barangay sa Pilipinas
4th National Executive Board Meeting and 2nd General Assembly
Heritage Hotel, Roxas Blvd., Malate, Manila
9 February 2012
Allow me to thank you for inviting me to deliver a message for this important assembly.
As national and local government leaders, we have the moral responsibility to usher and achieve genuine development for the country and our communities. But as leaders closest to the people, much is expected from barangay officials because you have […]

An Act Amending Articles 363 and 364 of Act No. 3815, Otherwise Known as the Revised Penal Code

Our reputation is an aspect of our lives that we continuously seek to protect, as public perception about us undeniably extends to our loved ones and our families. To extremists, a good name is regarded as more important than life itself, since the former leaves an imprint that lasts beyond the latter.

Building Back a Better Mindanao

Forty-five days after Mindanao bore tropical storm Sendong’s whiplash of death and destruction, we witness severely affected cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan pick up and rebuild the pieces of their people’s shattered lives.

For days, if not weeks, headlines screamed the cold statistics on the dead and the missing and the confluence of factors that led to the unspeakable disaster.

“Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT)”

I have the honor to seek approval of Senate Resolution No. 664, entitled “Resolution Concurring in the Accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” prepared and submitted by the Committee on Foreign Relations on 12 December 2011 per its Committee Report No. 92.
Torture is a violation of human rights and human dignity. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘No one shall be […]