Press Release
February 15, 2006

MAR: GAINS OF PEOPLE POWER HAVE NOT BEEN REALIZED
DUE TO LACK OF GOVERNANCE

Sen. Mar Roxas yesterday lamented that the country has not benefited fully from the gains of People Power because its leaders have forgotten their commitment to good governance and failed to embrace traditional values in running the country.

We feel dispirited and lost. The people we put in government to do the job of governance are so busy trying to keep their jobs that they forget to do the job, said Roxas in a speech before student-participants at the 8th National Ayala Young Leaders Conference.

Roxas encouraged young Filipinos to uphold the traditional values of integrity, credibility, accountability, courage, fortitude, and vision as they are the future leaders of the nation, saying a government cannot succeed without practicing these values.

We are about to celebrate the EDSA anniversary in a few days. Let us remember what People Power was all aboutvalues and governance, he said. These are the values that will make our country rise up and redeem its fullest potential.

Roxas drew parallelisms between the government that neglects governance and values in running its affairs and the private sector that upholds and embraces traditional values in meeting the needs of the consuming public.

He said the government has been rocked with endless controversies and scandals because it failed to practice governance and values. He said millions of pesos were lost in the fertilizer scandal, the overpricing of automated election machines, the unexplained use of the P30 billion Marcos wealth that is supposed to be given to human rights victims, and the failure to monitor the performances of pre-need companies in fulfilling their obligations to their planholders.

Against this backdrop, People Power seems so far away now. We have squandered so many opportunities and now, other Asian economies have left us very far behind, he said.

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