A government power big enough to give you everything you want is a government big

enough to take from you everything you have

To this debates panel of adjudicators, to the members of the opposing side, to my teammates, a
powerful morning/afternoon.
Before going into the summary of the arguments of the negative side, I would like first to expose
the palpable blunders committed by the Affirmative side.
(insert rebuttal hear)
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Let me sum up the arguments of the Negative side. The first and second negative speakers
have already proved to you that there is no need to grant President Duterte this emergency
powers. There is NO NECESSITY to grant this since we already have existing laws which
identically gives the President to resort to alternative modes of procurement specifically Rule
XVI, sections 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 and 53 of RA 9184. Further, the President is constitutionally
allowed to reorganize and abolish offices as held in the case of Malaria Employees vs.
Executive Secretary. With this, the President does not need this emergency powers but can
directly issue an Executive Order reiterating powers granted to him by the said laws. This can
expedite more in addressing the problem of traffic in Metro Manila since Executive Order does
not have to undergo the exhaustive process of passing a bill in the Congress. We all have the
opportunity to solve the problem, what we need is only political will to do so without the need of
emergency powers. It is NOT BENEFICIAL since granting this power is prone to abuses and
corruption as what this country experienced when the Congress vested emergency powers with
Ramos. Let it be emphasized that the same set up will be adopted: expediting procurement and
engaging into public private partnerships (PPP). Transparency was defeated that time and cost
of electricity had drastically risen, which we shoulder the burden. This is the thing that we must
be warned of. We will shoulder the increase of cost of transportation should be opt to resort to
PPP and transparency and accountability is at stake when public bidding is suspended. Mind
you people, this is for the length of two long years!
Lastly, this is impossible to be granted considering that the provisions of the proposed bill is
unconstitutional. It does not satisfy the requirements of a valid delegation of powers since no
emergency exists and it is not specific. It also defeats the security of tenure granted by the
Section 2, paragraph 2 Article IX-B of the Constitution. It is further an apparent violation of
separation of powers since it illegally usurps the exclusive power of the judiciary to amend its
own rules.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must not turn blind with the foregoing facts which the negative side
has based on laws, jurisprudence and reliable data and not on mere speculations, conjectures
and assumptions. We must not let the Constitution be put into mockery. Let us not let history
repeat itself to our prejudice. We must not grant President Duterte emergency powers to
address the traffic in Metro Manila. What we need is to act now with all laws that we have. What
we need is stricter implementation and not an unlawful and disadvantageous legislation. With
this, Ladies and Gentlemen, we claim victory over this debate. Thank you.