Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
On the enactment of the condonation of housing loan penalties and eight other reform bills
[Delivered at the Ceremonial Hall, Malacañang, February 13, 1998]
Nine new steps
to empowerment
THESE SIGNING CEREMONIES signify our determination to give the Philippine State the legal means with which to improve its people’s lives. The significance of these new measures must be viewed not only in terms of the number of their immediate beneficiaries but in terms of the eventual spread of these benefits to the majority of our people.
Social justice lies at the core of R.A.8501 “. . . to rescue the national shelter program by condoning the penalties on all outstanding/delinquent housing loan accounts with any of the Government institutions and agencies involved in the national shelter program.” This law also amends the charter of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), popularly known as the Pag-ibig Fund.
Condoned by this law are penalties on housing loans from the HDMF, the Government Service Insurance System, the Social Security System, the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, and the National Housing Authority. To avail himself of this condonation, the borrower must comply with the condition that the loan’s principal and interests be restructured and paid within the prescribed period.
Since penalties on defaulting loans and mortgages reach 36 percent yearly, they are a heavy burden on those who borrowed for housing purposes. This law frees borrowers—who belong mostly to the lower- and middle-income brackets—from the burden of added payments and so increases their purchasing power for other necessities. R.A. 8501 also increases the inflow into these Government financing agencies of funds that may further be used to build more socialized housing units. Thus we find in this new law a “win-win” solution for both borrowers and lenders, while helping Government resolve our housing backlog.
Enhancing the Philippine jewelry industry
R.A. 8502, for its part, speeds up the development of the jewelry-making industry by rationalizing the taxes for its foreign-sourced inputs. The effects of this law are many. First, it should boost our jewelry-making industry, which could not grow steadily because of an unfriendly policy environment. This new law will enable our craftsmen to display to the world the latent artistry of our people. Philippine-made jewelry should now have a competitive advantage in the global market; jewelry exports have proved to be one of our export winners.
To further ensure that the potential of our jewelry-making industry is realized, this law also provides for programs to upgrade the technologies, skills and marketing strategies required of jewelry makers and distributors. Given this law, we hope the jewelry making industry will soon be a major source of foreign earnings.
Improvements in public health and safety
The main purpose of R.A. 8503 and 8504 is to improve public health by enabling our experts to acquire more knowledge of diseases and their effective control. The first law creates the National Institute of Health (NIH) at the University of the Philippines in Manila. It is to be the country’s leading institution for health research and will serve as the nucleus for a network of medical research institutions.
The choice of U.P. Manila for the NIH is important in that the State university is acknowledged to be the Philippines’ center of academic excellence. The NIH will aim not only to excel in health research as an academic exercise. It should also save lives by finding new ways of preventing or curing disease and disability.
Health care and disease prevention are also the goal of R.A. 8504, which calls for the comprehensive monitoring, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS. The dreaded human immunodeficiency virus which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome has been a plague to many places in the world. This law fulfills our promise at the 4th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific—held here last October—to support the campaign against HIV/AIDS. This law also creates a coordinated nationwide information and educational campaign and a comprehensive monitoring system—all of which will be led by the National AIDS Council.
Easing the plight of rape victims is the intent of R.A. 8505. A companion measure of R.A. 8353—the Antirape Law enacted in September of last year—R.A. 8505 authorizes the establishment of a rape crisis center in every province. The law will try to restore stability to a rape victim’s life through legal, medical and psychological counseling help offered at these crisis centers.
We have lost many lives and limbs not to disease but to accidents—among the most common of which are those that involve right-hand-drive vehicles. R.A. 8506 now prohibits the registration and operation of right-hand-drive vehicles. The law empowers the Land Transportation Office to phase out right-hand-drive vehicles within three months from the effectivity of R.A. 8506.
New centers of growth
Today we also create three more centers of growth: one within Metro Manila and two in the provinces. R.A. 8507 converts the highly urbanized municipality of Parañaque into a full-fledged city. R.A. 8508 transforms the town of Antipolo in Rizal province into a component city bearing the same name. R.A. 8509 converts San Fernando in La Union province also into a component city.
To the residents of these three new cities, we offer our congratulations and our hope that they will match this change of status with their individual resolve to work harder to sustain social progress and economic growth.
We have taken nine more steps toward fulfilling our national vision of empowering the Filipino people. We have provided measures that are biased for the disadvantaged groups because we would like them to gain better opportunities to improve themselves. Yet we must also make clear to our people that these measures—no matter how well-meaning—will not be able to bring about the desired results without their full cooperation; and unless those mandated to carry them out are faithful to their sworn duties.