Tuesday, January 13, 2009

1 M bond for candidates

Nuisance candidates Peter Cayetano and Fernando Po may think twice before casting their lot in the forthcoming elections in 2010.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is planning to impose a P1-million “campaign bond” to get rid of so-called nuisance candidates in the scheduled computerized elections.

“We are still looking at ways to do it, but we are toying with the idea of putting up a P1-million bond for those aspiring for national positions so we could easily purge our list of candidates,” Comelec Chairman Jose Melo disclosed.

Melo said there is a need for the Comelec to purge the list of candidates because it is costing the poll body a huge sum of money in the printing of ballots containing a long list of aspirants, including nuisance bets.
He said under the current regulations, almost any Filipino can comply with the existing requirements and file their candidacy for various national and local positions.

Melo noted that there are people who just file their certificates of candidacy just so they can see their names in the list of candidates while others do it to “break down” votes of well-known aspirants.

Comelec records showed that a certain Fernando Po has been consistently filing his certificate of candidacy every senatorial election for more than a decade, but usually he is removed from the list for being a nuisance bet.

A namesake of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano also filed his certificate of candidacy in the 2007 senatorial elections. He was eventually disqualified.

Melo said the Comelec hopes to purge not only the list of voters but also the list of candidates for national elections.

“Those who have the capacity to mount a national (campaign) must also be able to put a P1 million bond,” Melo said, adding the Comelec may also require the same for local candidates.

Melo added that the Comelec is also considering coming out with a resolution that would forfeit the P1 million in favor of the poll body for those national candidates who would not be able to obtain at least two percent of the votes.

Aside from national candidates, Melo said, the Comelec also intends to purge the participants in the party-list elections.

“The participants in the party-list elections have gotten out of hand, any small group just claims to be marginalized and run in the polls,” Melo pointed out.

Melo said there are over a hundred party-list groups in the Comelec list.

“This is just a side issue, but we will have to look into this,” Melo said.

Sen. Loren Legarda welcomed the plan of the Comelec to put up a P1-million bond for national candidates to deter nuisance candidates.

“It’s okay to make sure that there are no nuisance candidates. But what we must focus on is automation so we can prevent massive fraud as in the past,” Legarda said.

Legarda said poll automation would also discourage vote-buying.

As this developed, Sen. Richard Gordon said he expects Congress to act immediately on the supplemental budget for the automation of the May 2010 elections as soon as its members return from Christmas break on Jan. 19.

Gordon said the Department of Budget and Management had finally submitted P11.9-billion supplemental budget request for poll automation to the House committee on appropriations.

“Malacañang and the Comelec have finally done their part in the submission of the budget proposal. Now it is Congress’ turn to act with dispatch on the supplemental budget for the 2010 automated elections,” he said.

(This Comelec idea may disqualify me to run for president - in case this ruling is passed.. Comment - This idea will not only curtail our rights to suffrage or for any Filipino to run in office. All Filipinos of the right age can run for any office in the land, but not all good Filipinos with good intentions to fix the country can afford to put up 1 M because the COMELEC says so. If the COMELEC has the right automation to count the ballots, no matter how many nuisance candidates put their names on the ballot, the real elected officials will come out. It's not the number of nuisance candidates that matter. It's how they make a good program on the computer that will eliminate the nuisance candidates from making the poll ineffective). Independent candidates here are severely discriminated. Hay naku, will any smarter Filipino heads the COMELEC, please - before they start counting the ballots again.

'Fix-cal' problem? Pay them more

By Artemio Dumlao, Philstar

BAGUIO CITY – Sen. Francis Pangilinan is urging Malacañang to immediately increase the pay of prosecutors or fiscals to reduce their vulnerability to bribes.

The senator said the government must push for the implementation of the salary standardization of government workers in order to discourage bribery and corruption in government.

“The important role of government prosecutors in the fight against criminality and lawlessness has been the main reason for the commission of bribery and corruption,” Pangilinan said.

According to the National Prosecution Service, an estimated 30 percent vacancy rate, or over 400 prosecutor positions, are vacant due to low compensation.

It is also reported that a janitor at the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) is paid more than a first level prosecutor at the DOJ.

“Government prosecutors are underpaid and overworked. Unless we raise the salaries of the prosecutors, bribery and corruption will continue to thrive in government. Keeping our prosecutors honest with their low pay is to prepare them for sainthood,” Pangilinan added.

Meanwhile, Speaker Prospero Nograles commended Marine Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino, chief of the Special Enforcement Service of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) “for working with the system to correct its flaws.”

In line with this, Nograles has reportedly directed the House Oversight Committee on Drugs to probe the so-called “Alabang Boys” drug case.

He has recommended a full-blown review of the operational coordination between the DOJ and the country’s law enforcement agencies, especially those involved in the anti-drug campaign, Gil Bugaoisan, public relations officer of Nograles, said.

The Speaker also recommended that Marcelino be given full protection to ensure his safety during the course of the congressional inquiry.

“Major Marcelino is a rare breed of soldier. Unlike others who choose to attack and destroy the government on the basis of some allegations, he decided to work with the system in order to correct what is wrong with our government institutions,” he said.

Nograles insists that the people need not go out on the streets to join rallies or take over hotels and threaten to bring down the government to correct the flaws in government.

“We can work hand in hand with our government institutions to correct some of its flaws,” he said.

Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara seconded Nograles’ position, pointing out that the “Alabang Boys” controversy shows that public vigilance is the best security that laws are enforced without fear or favor.

“The government is not perfect and therefore we need the public to exercise continuing vigilance over our law enforcement and judicial agencies to make sure that criminal elements and lawbreakers do not escape prosecution and just punishment,” Angara said.

Nograles said the DOJ and law enforcement agencies need to establish more viable operational partnerships. “They should be complementing each other in combating the menace of narcotics trafficking,” he said.
While the bribery issue on the “Alabang Boys” controversy may be hard to establish without any money trail, Nograles believes that the circumstances leading to the dismissal of the case by the prosecution are highly questionable.

Scrooge of Congress? Joker retains title (This one's for the record-ERS)

By Christina Mendez, Philstar

For 17 straight years, Sen. Joker Arroyo has remained the undisputed “Scrooge of Congress” for being the thriftiest, most frugal, tight-fisted, penny-pinching lawmaker.

The officially published Itemized List of Expenses of each senator for 2007 as audited by Commission on Audit (COA) showed that Arroyo had the lowest expenses for incumbent senators who served the full 12 months.

COA statistics showed that the senator incurred expenses of P12,293,084.06.

Only Sen. Manuel Villar came close, spending P12,442,323.98. Villar was ousted last November following speculations that he may have used his previous position as Senate President to pursue his presidential plans.
The COA report showed actors-turned-senators were the biggest spenders. Sen. Bong Revilla was on top with P15,889,626.66 followed by President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada with P15,449,229.69. Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan’s expenses amounted to P15,271,305.21 while Sen. Lito Lapid spent P15,103,242.15.
Pangilinan is the only non show-biz personality among the top four biggest spenders, although he is married to actress and mega star Sharon Cuneta.

When reached for comment by The STAR, Arroyo said he hopes to encourage his colleagues to be frugal in spending the people’s money. “I sacrificed for that. I deprived myself a few million pesos. I want to impress on my colleagues that we should try to be thrifty,” he said.

However, the senator expressed surprise when he learned that the newcomers in the Senate spent an average of P7 million for the first six months alone.

Seven senators who were elected in the May 2007 elections served only for six months in 2007 and therefore, their expenses should have only been half that of senators who served 12 months.
“Yet, their expenses are a revelation,” Arroyo said.

Records showed that it was detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who had spent the most among the newcomers.
Trillanes is barred from attending session and cannot perform his duties as senator because he is in a military stockade.

For six months from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, he spent P8,167,433.95, COA records showed.

Analysis on that data showed that if you double that amount to simulate a 12-month service, the former Oakwood mutineer would be spending P16,334,867.90, thereby making him the biggest spending legislator ever in the Senate.

The six other newly elected senators had a median expense from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2007 of P7,602,386.00 or the equivalent of P15,204,830.00 for a full year.

That places them in the high-spenders’ list.

In ascending order, their expenditures are: Sen. Noynoy Aquino, P7,233,950.09; Juan Miguel Zubiri, P7,486,542.34; Alan Peter Cayetano, P7,490,153.03; Loren Legarda, P7,511,829.43; Francis Escudero, P7,782,864.79; and Gringo Honasan, P8,109,000.39.

Meanwhile, the mid-range spenders who spent P13.5 million to P15 million in ascending order, from the lowest to the highest, were Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel, Edgardo Angara, Mar Roxas, Pia Cayetano, Jamby Madrigal, Panfilo Lacson, Richard Gordon, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Rodolfo Biazon, and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Records revealed that Pimentel spent P13,452,506.50; Angara, P13,579,151.74; Roxas, P13,810,176.81; Pia Cayetano, P13,916,309.50; Madrigal, P14,305,778.16, Lacson, P14,456,161.38;
Gordon, P14,491,565.44; Santiago, P14,806,163.63; Biazon, P14,895,189.42 and Enrile, P14,993,705.40.
Arroyo’s frugality with legislative monies started in the House of Representatives where he had no staff, except for a driver and a utility man, doing his work as congressman all by himself, including making his own phone calls. He carried this work ethic to the Senate when he was elected in 2001 and had a skeletal staff of three.

Arroyo is also proud of his perfect attendance record for 17 years. It’s like not being absent from class even once from Grade 1 until you graduate from college, he said.

Since Arroyo joined the government in 1986 as Executive Secretary up to the present, he has never traveled on government money.

Arroyo chose not to chair any committee in the present 14th Congress although he was offered two prize committees.

In the 12th and 13th Congresses, he chaired the Blue Ribbon Committee, the Public Services Committee, and the Justice and Human Rights Committee and has always prepared a committee report or at least a disposition report for every referral to any committee he chairs.

Arroyo has no media officer, writes his own press statements, discusses only issues he considers important and avoids subjects that he feels are inanities, but occasionally drops by the media office after everyone has filed his story and enjoys bantering with media.

Reporters who covered Arroyo in the legislative beats know that he writes his own press releases by hand, and even faxes them to reporters. Arroyo keeps a small phonebook where he writes the contact numbers of media and political personalities.

'Arroyo allies in House have P20-B pork'

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—Allies of President Macapagal-Arroyo in the House of Representatives have built up a large pork barrel by diverting close to P20 billion in proposed spending this year from debt service and agrarian reform to increase allocations for public works, local governments and Congress, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday.

“Some congressmen are obviously more concerned with winning in 2010 than ensuring the economy’s survival this year,” Lacson told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II confirmed the dubious diversions.

“This is evidently a blatant attempt to raise funds for the Cha-cha (Charter change) and the elections. It is clear that the economy is the least of the President’s priority. She is bent on staying in power forever,” Roxas said.

Pork barrel finances the pet projects of legislators. Though the money is not directly released to senators and members of the House, pork barrel is believed to be a major source of kickbacks for lawmakers. The kickbacks come from contractors who bag the projects.

Lacson, a member of the bicameral conference committee, said the House version of the P1.415-trillion proposed budget for 2009 slashed P14.776 billion from debt service, P3.5 billion from miscellaneous personnel fund, and P1.3 billion from the Department of Agrarian Reform.

Public works

The cutbacks, totaling P19.576 billion, were allocated for the regional infrastructure projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (P8.178 billion), additional spending money for local government units (P3.36 billion) and additional pork barrel for Congress (P1.46 billion).

A cutback of P6.578 billion has yet to be accounted for as this was most likely “inserted” in the 2009 budget.
The bicameral committee, tasked with reconciling the House and Senate versions of the proposed budget, is expected to resume its discussions with the resumption of sessions next week.

Bigger budget deficit

By cutting the proposed allocation for debt service, the House will be forcing government to borrow more, resulting in a bigger budget deficit, the member of the bicameral committee said.

The Arroyo administration has been urged to refocus the 2009 budget to make it more responsive to the country’s economic slowdown amid lower remittances from Filipino overseas workers and export earnings due to the deepening global recession.

Lacson said the members of the House wanted to redirect the funds to expense items controlled or influenced by them and local government officials to boost their political stock ahead of the 2010 elections.

Sweetener for Cha-cha

The senator said the fund diversion could be used as “sweeteners” to induce more lawmakers into supporting Charter change moves in the House.

Ms Arroyo’s allies in the House are pushing for a constituent assembly as a mode of amending the Constitution, which critics claim would extend the term of the President and other elected officials.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said that allocating more money for regional projects of the public works department and the pork barrel of local government executives and House members showed that the proposed 2009 General Appropriations Act was an “election budget.”

“These funds should have been realigned to education, health, housing and social services,” Casiño said in a text message.

Earlier, senators were accused of making P20 billion in total insertions in the proposed 2009 budget that would benefit their pet projects.

Supplemental budget

House Speaker Prospero Nograles has pushed for the swift approval of the proposed P11.3-billion supplemental budget to ensure the automation of elections next year.

The budget covers the P1.3-billion budget for the preparations of the Commission on Elections and other government agencies, and P9.559 billion for the acquisition and deployment of poll counting machines.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Same Names, Same Politics, Same Poverty

Posted under 2010 Elections, Governance, PDI, 12/23/08

Last Wednesday, I had the chance to meet with Yoly Ong, the President of Campaigns and Grey, one of the country’s top advertising companies. During our meeting, she showed me the latest Pulse Asia Survey which showed who were the top candidates for the 2010 Senatorial Elections and I was no longer surprised to see familiar family names dominating the survey and that most of the people who belonged to the Top 20 were either incumbents, former senators and their family members.

Although I expected this would be the case given that majority of our country still votes based on popularity, I was saddened with the thought that if we continue to elect many of these same politicians then naturally, we can expect the same kind of service that we have been getting these past 20 years.

Looking back at the past 20 years since the EDSA Revolution, millions of Filipinos continue to live with less than 100 pesos a day while many of these prominent government leaders continue to live lavish lifestyles. Yesterday, the Social Weather Station (SWS) released a survey wherein almost 25 percent of Filipinos or almost 20 million Filipinos have grown hungry these past months. Yes, I agree with the argument that not all of them are perpetuators of graft and corruption and that there are still those who continue to do a good job but I’d like to believe that it may be time for us to start looking for new faces which will bring new values, new politics and new ideas in our resolve to finally put an end to the poverty cycle in our country.

Also in the news these past weeks are pronouncements of deposed former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada that he is still interested in running for the Presidency despite being convicted already of plunder.

On the other side of the fence, we have our current President and her minions in the House of Representatives trying their best to perpetuate her reign beyond 2010. At the rate things are it would be sad if we would be left only with two choices in the 2010 national elections, a deposed former President or the anointed one of our very unpopular incumbent President.

The challenge for us is to go beyond our apathy and indifference to politics since if we continue to choose not to be active in looking for morally upright, effective and God-fearing leaders for our country, we will always be left to choose between who is the lesser evil. I think the Filipino deserves more than the kind of service that many of our current government leaders our giving. We have seen in Naga City through the leadership of multi-awarded Mayor Jesse Robredo that if you elect a good leader then the people can expect good governance which will translate into better delivery of basic services. Now, Naga City has been transformed from being a sleepy third class municipality to the premiere city of the Bicol Region.

Yet, amid all these problems in our country, there are still rays of hope such as the recently launched Movement for Good Governance (MGG) which aims to gather 10 million votes for a Presidential candidate that will represent the values of effective, principled and ethical leadership. This group led by civil society leaders such as former Finance Undersecretary Dr. Milwida Guevara and Ayala Foundation’s Bill Luz face a daunting task ahead but if every Filipino will join them then at least we can all hope that maybe 2010 will be the year where genuine change can finally reign in our country.

Merry Christmas to all! May the year 2009 be a more prosperous year to all of us!
For more information about MGG, you can send an email to mguevara@synergeia.org.ph.
Help promote Good Governance in our country by sending free Kaya Natin! Christmas and New Year E-cards at http://www.yehey.com/ecards/ .

Harvey S. Keh is Director for Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship at the Ateneo de Manila University-School of Government.