Ban online gambling, modernize the country’s forensic investigation system, and enact the KALINGA Act.
These are the three actions Manila Second District Representative Rolando “CRV” Valeriano hopes President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will push in his upcoming State of the Nation Address.
“Simple ang sukatan. Mas ligtas ba ang pamilya? Mas mabilis at maaasahan ba ang hustisya? Handa ba ang gobyerno na tumulong kapag may krisis? These are the concerns I hope the President will address,” the legislator said.
The lawmaker’s first appeal is for the government to stop all forms of online gambling and permanently remove gambling links from electronic wallets, mobile payment applications, and other digital platforms.
He is the author of House Bill 1455, which seeks to prohibit online cockfighting and other forms of online gambling.
“Online gambling enters homes, reaches minors, and makes it dangerously easy to lose money intended for food, tuition, medicine, rent, and utility bills.”
“Hindi dapat maging casino ang cellphone ng bawat Pilipino. Online gambling enters homes, reaches minors, and makes it dangerously easy to lose money intended for food, tuition, medicine, rent, and utility bills,” Valeriano emphasized.
He stressed that licensed gambling, if allowed to continue, must be confined to strictly regulated physical venues.
“Operators and celebrity endorsers earn billions while ordinary families are buried in debt. Government revenue cannot justify the destruction of Filipino families,” Valeriano said.
His second SONA wish is the modernization and professionalization of forensic investigations.
As Chair of the House Committee on Public Order and Safety, Valeriano is pushing for an independent forensic sciences authority and a national forensic service bureau to improve crime laboratories, evidence collection, professional training, accreditation, and scientific investigation.
“Hindi dapat nakakalaya ang guilty dahil mahina ang ebidensiya. Hindi rin dapat napagbibintangan ang inosente dahil palpak o minadali ang imbestigasyon,” he stressed.
“Modern crimes require modern forensic capabilities.”
“Criminal cases must be built on science, facts, and credible evidence. Modern crimes require modern forensic capabilities,” Valeriano added.
His third appeal is for the enactment of the House-approved KALINGA Act, which establishes a permanent national response framework for fuel-driven inflation, energy supply disruptions, and similar economic emergencies.
Valeriano is among the authors of the measure, which provides for targeted assistance, subsidies, vouchers, credit relief, tax relief, and other interventions for workers, commuters, transport operators, farmers, fisherfolk, MSMEs, and vulnerable households.
“Kapag may krisis, hindi dapat saka pa lamang mag-iisip ang gobyerno kung sino ang tutulungan, saan kukunin ang pondo, at paano ipamamahagi ang ayuda,” he said.
“Kailangan nakaabang na ang sistema. Relief must be fast, targeted, transparent, and ready before families and businesses are pushed deeper into hardship,” Valeriano added.
He said the three priorities are connected by one objective: protecting ordinary Filipinos from threats to their safety, livelihood, and future.
“Protect families from online gambling. Give victims credible investigations and justice. Make the government ready to respond when prices and economic pressures suddenly rise,” Valeriano stressed.
“Iyan ang mga kongkretong aksyon na nais nating marinig at makita sa SONA,” he concluded.
