Trillanes, still among the most productive senators
amid Makati corruption investigation

Senator Antonio "Sonny" F. Trillanes IV remains to be one of the most productive senators in the Senate despite criticism on the time and effort spent on the investigation of the overpriced Makati carpark building.

As of the latest tally of the Senate, he ranks first based on the total number of bills principally sponsored and third on the total number of bills, resolutions and committee reports filed. Among these measures which have been passed by the Senate on third and final reading, and which he principally sponsored are the resolution increasing the subsistence allowance of the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other uniformed personnel, the bill increasing the burial assistance for the dependents of military veterans, and the bill prohibiting chemical weapons.

"This record disproves the allegations that we in the Senate are failing to perform our law-making mandate due to the Makati Building probe. In fact, there are many hearings which are concurrently being conducted by other committees, aside from our regular Plenary sessions, wherein we deliberate measures to be passed into law," Trillanes explained.

Trillanes further explained that: "Contrary to the allegations that the investigation on the Makati carpark building is being conducted in aid demolition, and not in aid legislation, I have submitted a list of proposed measures which we came up with in light of the findings of this investigation, to wit:

1. Removal/Abolition of the resident auditor system in the national government and local government units, to be replaced with the adoption of a raffle system for the periodic rotation of assignment/reshuffling of auditors, in order to avoid over familiarization, fraternization and collusion; and to preserve the independence of state auditors;

2. Inclusion of the actual measurement of the total floor area of a government building project as part of the requirements for formal acceptance and/or technical audit process being conducted by the Commission on Audit (COA);

3. Adoption of Davis Langdon and Seah (DLS) Construction Cost Handbook and/or other acceptable industry standards by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), COA, and procuring agencies as the basis for agency estimates and as standard reference material for all government infrastructure projects; and

4. Video recording of all government procurement procedures and/or activities, as espoused by Senate Bill No. 477, entitled AN ACT ENHANCING THE TRANSPARENCY OF THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS BY MANDATING THE VIDEO RECORDING OF ALL PROCUREMENT RELATED CONFERENCES, THEREBY AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NUMBERED 9184, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT REFORM ACT OF 2003, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF, AND FOR OTHER RELATED PURPOSES.

Since the beginning of his senatorial stint, Trillanes has filed a total of 1,032 bills and resolutions, 42 of which were enacted into law, including: AFP Modernization Law; Archipelagic Baselines Law; Universal Healthcare Law; Immediate Release of Retirement Benefits of Government Employees; Salary Standardization Law 3; PAG-IBIG Fund Law; Magna Carta for Disabled Persons; Expanded Senior Citizens Act; and Anti-Bullying Act.