An excerpt from President Gloria Arroyo's Address to the Nation on April 15, 2010, following the veto of a proposed 4 trillion peso budget by Senate President Miriam Santiago. Had the budget passed, it's entirely possible that disasters, like the Kamuning Station fire that killed over 500 people in 2012, could have been avoided, or at least, mitigated."You call this budget too much, how dare you veto my proposed budget and tell me that we cannot fund this budget, Madame Senate President Miriam Santiago. This 4 Trillion peso budget I'm asking, is needed to develop our country, build the infrastructure and to enact and fund initiatives that are lacking. Only because last year we wonky had 1.5 Trillion. What?!
You say like Mr President Noli De Castro, we can't fund that because it's too high and we can't collect that much revenue.
I already told you that these would be mainly financed by the Japanese, Chinese, and local investors, China had already pledged that they would fund whatever project we will do if we asked for funding as long as we pay them back. We already secured huge grants and especially very low interest soft loans from China.
You complained on the 4 Trillion peso plan to radically expand and improve the Metro system in Metro Manila to be completed by the mid late 2010s. You complained about my tax reforms as I did alot of tax cuts, you complained about my demanded education spending this year technically a huge radical increase, you complained about my huge subsidies and bailouts plan for Filipino owned business. You complained about my huge subsidies, bailouts and aid to the Telco companies even though our internet is the slowest here in the region. You complained about my pro mining and logging stance.
Come on, our economy rapidly at 8% booming not only growing and population is already growing rapidly now at 2010, we have to enact and start building and others these now rather than later."
"Why do you build, knowing destruction is inevitable? Why do you yearn to live, knowing all things must die? Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once you do? Life. Dreams. Hope. Where do they come from? Where do they go? Such meaningless things..."