Full Text: Inqanda With Senator Ralph Recto

Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto weighed in on the administration's controversial drug war, the national budget and proposals to shift to a federal form of government during an hour-long INQandA interview on September 13.

The senator is the weekly show's 8th guest since it started in July.

INQandA is hosted by INQUIRER.net Editor in Chief John Nery and Chief of Reporters Kristine Sabillo. It is broadcast live on INQ 990 Television (Digital Terrestrial Television), Radyo Inquirer 990AM, and INQUIRER.net's Facebook Page every Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m.

Below is the full transcript of the interview with Recto:

John Nery, INQUIRER.net Editor in Chief: INQandA, the Inquirer question and answer program comes to you every Tuesday. And every week we sit down with a leading newsmaker to discuss the issues of the day. We are brought to you by inquirer.net. We are carried live on Radyo Inquirer 990, also live on Facebook. We are also carried on the various Inquirer social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and the different chat apps, including Line and Kakao.

My name is John Nery, I'm editor in chief of Inquirer.net, and it is a pleasure to host yet another program of INQandA. With me is my co-host, Ms. Kristine Sabillo, chief of reporters of Inquirer.net.

Kristine Sabillo: Thank you John, and thank you to everyone who is watching right now on Facebook and on the website. So before we introduce you to our special guest tonight, we have three things you might not know about him. So we got a reliable source to give us a bit of trivia about our resource speaker tonight.

So number one, this is something you often see in his profile, he's the youngest elected member of the House of Representative during the 9th Congress. He was also the youngest senator at the 12th Congress at the age of 37. Number two is he plays the piano. And the third one is, this is very interesting, he did not call for a press conference in six years, in 2010 to 2016. Ladies and gentlemen, Senator Ralph Recto.

Senator Ralph Recto: Thank you for having me. Salamat!

Nery: Thank you, senator, for making time for us. How interesting, no press conferences and yet you were re-elected in 2016.

Recto: I think it should be by merit eh unless they have something to ask you. I'm not in a habit of calling for press conferences to promote myself, basically. So, like I said, I don't think I'm a newsmaker as you mentioned earlier. If I were, then a lot of media would always be knocking at my door, right?

Nery: Well, we're knocking on your door and we'd like to ask the first question, if you don't mind. Your most recent press statement was about Mary Jane Veloso. What is your take in the case?

ON MARY JANE VELOSO

Recto: Well, basically, ang pagkaalam ko diyan, posibleng inosente na ginamit lang as a drug courier na hindi niya alam. She seems to be an OFW, wanted to be a maid in Indonesia at may illegal recruiter-kung hindi ako nagkakamali-at yung illegal recruiter ata yung naglagay ng drugs doon sa kaniyang maleta at nahuli sa Indonesia. 'Yun ang pagkakaalam ko, so dapat tulungan ng ating pamahalaan. Lahat ng OFWs, 'no? At lalo na in this case, laban sa droga nga. Mas mabuting buhay siya para maituro niya kung sino yung mga sindikatong involved sa droga kasama yung mga illegal recruiter.

Sabillo: Senator, there's been a lot of talk and a lot of controversies surrounding President Duterte supposedly told the Indonesian president. The latest is that he just told Jokowi that they should just follow their laws, and they didn't actually discuss in detail. Do you think the president should have given a stronger appeal for Veloso?

Recto: I think it's incumbent on our president na humingi ng clemency din palagay ko kay Mary Jane Veloso bilang isang Pilipino. Like I said, magagamit din nila ang kaniyang testimoniya dito sa problema laban sa droga.

Nery: What do you think happened? So President Jokowi had a different understanding of their meeting and the Palace says no, the president didn't give the 'go-ahead' or the green light for the execution.

Recto: What I can say is hirap na hirap siguro yung presidential spokesperson at si Martin Andanar na ipaliwanag ang mga bagay-bagay na ito. So you will always have news items every day.

Nery: How can we resolve this? So keeping the welfare of Mary Jane in mind. What do you think should Philippine government do to resolve this issue?

Recto: Well, like I said, that's precisely why we issued a press release today, 'no? Sinasabi ni Mary Jane, biktima siya dito. She's probably a victim here by an illegal recruiter na ginamit ng drug syndicate, so on and so forth. Magagamit natin ang kaniyang testimonya. If at all better, I think nahuli na yung illegal recruiter dito. There's a case already filed in Philippine courts. I think the reason why she hasn't been executed in the first place was because the Philippine government was successful in the past, informing the Indonesian government that she will be used as a witness in these cases here. So she hasn't been executed precisely because of that. So I think that's the most important, urgent issue today. So we follow that up as well. Maybe we should send our lawyers there and find out what can she testify on, if at all, magagamit ba sa mga cases natin here.

Nery: And to impress upon the Indonesian government that she's still needed for the case here.

Recto: That's precisely why we issued the press release here.

Sabillo: Do you think, senator, that the President is also careful because of his strong stance against drugs that he doesn't want to seem sympathetic, maybe, of a case like that. It's such a complicated case.

Recto: We understand where he's coming from here, 'no? But there's no justifiable reason for the President to say na, assuming he did say it or allegedly what they say, na puwede nang patayin 'yan or whatever, whatever that was. That's the point. There's no justifiable reason to my mind, at least.

ON SENATE DYNAMICS

Nery: Senator, on July 25 you were elected the Senate Minority Leader. What is the role of the Senate minority in the Duterte era?

Recto: To provide contrast. To provide contrast and to provide an alternative point of view, basically. Today, we had a first vote on the first bill on the postponing the barangay elections.

Nery: That's right and you voted no?

Recto: I voted no.

Nery: But before you explain that, I was there when you were elected and you gave your acceptance speech and you talked about the role of minority is both to stand your ground on certain things but also to see common ground.

Recto: Correct, correct, tama 'yun. We're not here naman para pahirapan ang administrasiyon. In fact, ang dapat sumuporta tayo sa mga polisiya na sa tingin natin makakatulong, 'no? But we also have to provide some alternative insights and some contrast as well. There are many points of view and I think the role of the minority is to provide an alternative point of view in some instances. In some instances naman suportahan natin yung programa.

Nery: And you had a lengthy speech explaining your no-vote against the postponement of the barangay and SK elections. Can you talk more about that?

ON POSTPONEMENT OF BARANGAY AND SK ELECTIONS

Recto: Well, number one, ang sinasabi nila i-postpone natin yung barangay elections para makatipid. Hindi totoong makakatipid tayo. Because we're just postponing the expenses for next year. In fact mas tataas pa yung expenses next year dahil uulitin yung ginawa ulit this year. Halimbawa, registration of voters. Diba? So dadagdag pa yung gastos. That's number one.

So number two, I don't think it's right for politicians to extend terms of other politicians. Can you imagine if we were discussing extending terms of mayors, governors, congressmen and senators. Siguro kagabi napanood ko yung 'Train to Busan' with my wife. So siguro maraming mga pupunta sa kongreso, sabihin 'wag niyong gawin 'yan. Ito, dahil barangay elections, parang barangay elections lang naman 'yan, SK elections lang naman 'yan kaya postpone na natin yan, 'di ba? Parang 'di tama. Remember the Constitution also says that what is unique in Filipino form of government is the barangay system, including the participation of young people in the SK. We just passed the law in SK reform at nangako tayo magkakahalalan. Ngayon sinasabi natin 'di gagawin yung pinangako natin na magkaroon ng halalan sa SK. At maliwanag yung term of office na three years lang for barangay officials. That is the contract with the people when the people voted for them. Ngayon babawiin natin, hindi tama 'yun.

Pangatlo, sabi nila nakakaantala daw ito sa war on drugs. To me, the contrary, it will be better because the issue of corruption, crime and drugs will be fought in center of this election. If they're saying that 13 thousand or 14 thousand barangays are affected with drugs and 92 percent of barangays in Metro Manila are infected with drugs, all the more you should have elections. Para yung taumbayan makapili to kick them out of office, there will be candidates running on the platform of the anti-drug campaign. It's front and center today. And for those who fought drugs naman, the barangay officials, what better way than to to reelect them into office. Of course yung sabi nila yung PNP hindi raw makaka-focus sa anti-drug campaign. Like I said, to the contrary, mas mabuti na yung PNP nasa lahat ng barangay as it is during elections, embedded inthe barangay nang sa ganoon, mapagpapatuloy nila yung Tokhang program nila sa mga barangay. So all the more magagamit nila yung anti-war on drugs or yung war on drugs in this case.

And they always use the reason also na magkaka-underspending daw ang gobyerno because there is a law. Well, apparently if you read the newspapers, they're saying parang presidential elections yan na hindi ka puwede mag-public works project, you cannot appoint people for the duration of the campaign. 45 days. Eh hindi naman yun ang nakasulat sa batas pagdating sa barangay. 10 days...