Senate focused on country’s rise

We wish to thank Mr. Elfren Cruz for his encouraging insights regarding the Senate in his Oct. 9 column “Drilon Senate: Beyond Blue Ribbon.” We much appreciate the fact that he shares the Senate leadership’s concern for laying the groundwork where our nation’s economic progress and shared development would spring from.

We assure everyone that amid the many responsibilities of the Senate, its members remain most committed to its mandate of crafting laws that will uplift the Filipino way of life. Like Mr. Cruz, Senate President Frank Drilon believes that the country has to be fully prepared for upcoming challenges and opportunities, such as the integration of Southeast Asian markets under the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.

The Senate acknowledges the importance of proposed measures on fiscal rationalization, modernization of the Bureau of Customs, Cabotage Law and other economic reforms as being vital to the country’s rise as an energetic economic player in the region. As Drilon vowed, the senators will not hesitate to work longer and to hold a special session next year in order to pass these measures on time, which is crucial if the Philippines is to invite more investments and create meaningful jobs and financial opportunities for Filipinos.

Drilon has said that the only way for the Senate to restore its credibility as an institution is to work to “improve the life of our countrymen.” It is a paradigm that has proven true, as signaled by the 16-point upswing in the public satisfaction ratings of the Senate as recorded by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in the third quarter of the year. Mr. Cruz and the rest of the nation then can trust the senators of the 16th Congress to work on laying the legal foundation of policies which, as Mr. Cruz hopes, will “make the Philippines the next economic miracle of Asia.” — SAMMY SANTOS, Senate Print Media Director