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Speech of the Hon.

Feliciano Belmonte
Jr.
At Presentation of SDG Legislative
Agenda
November 23, 2015
Hon. Teodorico Haresco Jr., Chairperson of the
Special Committee on Millennium Development
Goals, Distinguished Colleagues, Representatives
and friends from the United Nations and civil
society groups, esteemed guests, good afternoon
to all of you.
It is my privilege to be your Keynote Speaker in
this important occasion the presentation of a
Proposed
Sustainable
Development
Goals
Legislative Agenda for the 17th Congress.
I initially thought that I had read your invitation
incorrectly because of the reference to the 17 th
Congress. We are still in the 16th Congress, I said
to myself, and we have not closed our books yet,
in a manner of speaking. Moreover, many of the
proposed measures identified in the Proposed
Sustainable
Development
Goals
Legislative
Agenda are the same priority measures that we
are working on in this 16th Congress. I am not
about to give up yet on the passage of these
measures, we are still doing our best to pass into
law many of these measures which can change
and improve the lives of our people.
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Nonetheless,
let me commend the forward
thinking of my colleague, the Honorable Ted
Haresco, for getting the ball rolling and supporting
the development of a Legislative Agenda catering
particularly to the Sustainable Development Goals
or SDGs. The advent of a new legislative agenda
that will help determine the future of sustainable
development in the Philippines is most welcome.
The Sustainable Development Goals are wide in
scope, encompassing poverty, hunger, health,
education,
institutional
development,
infrastructure, life below water and on land,
climate action, and so much more. The total
eradication of poverty, by itself, is a given goal for
any generation in any country.
Indeed, Congress will play a more significant role
in translating plans into actions and achieving
these Sustainable Development Goals. Many of
the needed interventions in support of SDGs need
to be translated into national legislation, and you
have started this work already.
Moreover, budgetary resources need to be
allocated, especially for supporting the SDGs.
Development-oriented policies should be drawn
through participatory processes, and regular
progress reports on our work on this post-2015
agenda have to be monitored and reviewed.
Definitely, the exercise of the oversight role of
Congress will be critical.
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Then, too, there is much work for the Executive


Branch, which will implement the plans and
programs that will fulfill SDGs. This is why each
and every presidentiable today is expected to be
able to articulate the necessary strategies and
actions on each of these goals. This competency is
non-negotiable.
The adoption of a new paradigm may be necessary
in dealing with poverty, reducing inequalities
within countries, and advancing human rights in
an era fraught with new development challenges
and within a post-crisis economic and political
context.
The Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs were
largely successful in showing how nations could
cooperate in pursuing agreed-upon objectives and
realigning resources to meet concrete, time-bound,
and measurable priority targets. Truly, in many
respects, the Asia-Pacific region has been leading
the way in MDG achievements. Thanks to robust
economic growth, the region as a whole has
already surpassed the goal to reduce by half the
proportion of people living in extreme poverty.
It has been opined that sustainable development is
now at a crossroads and the overall cycle of
increasing consumption and production is no
longer sustainable. Economic growth alone is no
longer considered a panacea to the global ills of
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our age.
What is now being promoted is a
different approach one which focuses on wellbeing in all its dimensions.
SDGs are important in transforming the present
model of donor-driven aid into a universally
applicable,
meaningfully
sustainable,
and
accountable agenda for all.
The realization that growth per se does not
automatically lead to improved social outcomes is
important. Formulating the right policies is and
will never be enough. Implementing these policies
successfully within ones own unique country
context is critical.
The creation of more jobs and opportunities for
people, especially in developing countries, is a key
measure of inclusive growth.
Continuing
investments in education, health, and social
protection, in the overall development of human
capital, remains essential.
Add to these concerns the challenges embodied in
SDGs that are related to the care of women,
developing sustainable sources of energy,
reducing inequality within and among countries,
addressing climate change, and promoting more
peaceful societies, and we can see that no rhetoric
will get things done.

What we need is a responsive, appropriate, and


sensible Legislative Agenda that will represent a
program of action allowing us to achieve not
merely sustainable or inclusive growth, but
sustainable AND inclusive growth.
Beyond the Agenda, we need to enable our
institution, the House of Representatives,
to
function more effectively and respond to new
challenges.
In the House of Representatives, we have been
instituting key reforms to enhance our efficiency of
our operations. We have vigorously pursued the
wider use of information technology to make
Congress more transparent and to allow closer
engagement between our policymakers and their
constituents. But there is much more that can be
done.
Especially in preparation for parliamentary work in
support of SDGs, the following actions are being
considered:

Review of our committee structures and all


related processes to help ensure the successful
mainstreaming of the new goals.

Providing greater support to oversight


activities especially with respect to national plans.


Conducting more stakeholder consultations on
sustainable development.

Further strengthening our internal capacities


as an institution.

Promoting wider public awareness of the


Sustainable Development Goals, and encouraging
greater public participation in affairs of the House.
Consensus building within Congress will become
more imperative, commanding new strategies and
methodologies. People from all constituencies
have to be engaged.
We should define our
relationship with civil society in unambiguous
terms. We should give due and continuing
attention to the vulnerable sectors of society.
I believe that as Members of Congress, the key to
our success in contributing significantly to the
achievement of the SDGs, is having a shared
commitment to help each other strengthen our
institution, and promote wider cooperation with
other agencies and institutions.
Properly
mainstreaming SDGs in all levels of decisionmaking is an added mandate. The mandate is
huge, the mandate is non-negotiable, and the
proposed Legislative Agenda is the critical first
step in this direction.
Thank you very much to all who contributed to the
crafting of the Agenda. In solidarity and in full
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cooperation, let us move as one institution towards


the full implementation of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat!

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