Moving on

Moving on

MOVING on” or “let’s move on” is the catch-phrase of the season.

The phrase has dripped from the mouth of politicians, columnists, editorial writers, broadcast journalists, Palace officials, the President and everyone wishing to sweep a nightmare away.

We are advised to move on after the resolution of a big political scandal, a messy business scam, an ugly congressional investigation or an unsuccessful attempt to destabilize the government.

It means that Filipinos should keep moving, get the nightmare behind them and just push on. Get a life, please!

We should move on after the trial of President Estrada, which consumed us for more than six years. We heard that advice after the nursing exam scandal, the May 14 election anomalies, the military boo-boos in Sulu, the attempts at government destabilization and poor government response to natural disasters.

Manfully, we collected ourselves, shook off the scary headlines and the TV news, and told ourselves we were flexible and strong, and that we have survived.

Filipinos, after all, are a forgiving and a forgetful people. We have a short memory for national troubles, sensational crimes and man-size scandals. We have a very high threshold for patience and leniency.

OK, we promise to move on. We close the book on the Estrada case. It’s time to resume our normal life. We have other important things to do.

Besides, look at the bright side. The peso is strong. OFW deployment will hit one million in less than a year. Remittances are up 16% in seven months.

S&P has reaffirmed its “BB+B” (plus or minus) for foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings on the Philippines, meaning the outlook is stable. Employment has risen as of July. Foreign investments are pouring in. Our ‘economic fundamentals’ are very strong.

Of course there are other worries on the horizon. The government has a hard time selling the national broadband network project. The Department of Education’s cyber-education program smells like a fake diploma. The Commission on Higher Education has discovered a suspicious P500-million campus-based call-center project on its backyard. The customs bureau and the BIR have not met their collection targets. It’s 2007 but we have not automated the voting system. We need to address the long-playing MILF secessionism and the NPA insurgency that are hindering development in the regions.

But what the heck—let’s move on.

Let’s book that trip to Macau next week. Order the Wagyu beef from TriNoMa. Let’s wake up late today, Sunday, and pretend nothing bad happened. Join the barkada for gin and coke. Rent the new Angel Locsin DVD. Take the family to Luneta. We will move on. We will not be defeated by the system. We will help the nation survive.

Gross national joy

IT would not be a bad idea if President Arroyo creates a National Commission on National Happiness to determine the level of our well-being and satisfaction.

The thought came to mind after reading that the World Database of Happiness, which lists 95 countries, has determined that Denmark (with a rating of 8.2), Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and Finland, all with high per capita income, are the “happiest” countries.

But wealth is not only the gauge of the Database, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Institute and the Cambridge Institute of Well-Being, all doing research on what makes races and nations happy. Their yardsticks include education, nutrition, freedom from fear and violence, gender equality, mental health and having choices.

The United States makes it to the top 15 with a 7.4 index rating. In the middle range are the Philippines (6.4), Indonesia (6.2) and Iran (6). At the bottom are Tanzania (3.2), Zimbabwe (3.3) and Moldova (3.5).

The small kingdom of Bhutan said goodbye to gross national product a long time ago and said Bhutans should aspire to Gross National Happiness. Bhutan’s idea of collective happiness is based on equitable development, environmental conservation, cultural heritage and good government.

Today think tanks and research institutes are working on development models for methods to find out what makes peoples happy and why.

Filipinos are generally a happy people. Our sense of humor does not fail us even during national tragedies. Martial law and the Aquino assassination inspired many jokes, some still circulating today. OFW jokes about life in the US, Japan and the Middle East are plentiful. The only people who do not appreciate humor—especially jokes at their expense—are government officials.

We have a popular observation about Filipinos: Mababaw ang kaligayan (easy to please). We make do with the basics: three meals a day. A roof over one’s head. A good job. Family and friends. We are a hospitable people. We make friends easily. Pakikisama (the ability to get along) and utang na loob (returning a favor) are national virtues.

But the Presidential Commission on National Happiness could raise our level of well-being. It could look into quality-of-life issues, such as having clean air and water, less public noise, building more parks, making traffic more tolerable, building an efficient public-transportation system, insuring prompt trash collection, making medicine cheaper and making the neighborhood safer for children.

If we cannot become a First-World country, we could at least expand our national smile.

Traffic mismanagement

Traffic mismanagement

Malfunctioning traffic lights, theft of copper wires, the use of jumpers to steal electricity — all these things have been trotted out as reasons for the traffic jams that have been plaguing motorists at all hours of the day especially on the northbound lane of Roxas Boulevard for several weeks now. How about incompetence and traffic mismanagement? These factors no one will cite.

The traffic slowdown started at around the time that the ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were held in Manila, when some bright guys must have fiddled with the traffic lights to ensure smooth traffic flow for ASEAN participants emerging from the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex. Now traffic jams have become a daily nightmare from the Vito Cruz intersection all the way to Rizal Park, affecting traffic flow up to the Redemptorist church in Baclaran, Parañaque. The traffic snarls are occurring even as Manila’s Baywalk has been cleared of restaurants and parking along the boulevard has been banned.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to deal with the reasons for the gridlock that have been cited by those tasked to manage traffic in one of the busiest thoroughfares in Metro Manila. But officials of the Manila city government, the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Manila police are all scratching their heads and pointing to each other as the one responsible for untangling the mess.

Traffic managers have often blamed the continually increasing vehicular density in Metro Manila for traffic jams. But this is where management skills come into play. There are traffic schemes to ease gridlocks. And if traffic cops do their jobs well and do not accept bribes, bus and jeepney drivers cannot turn three lanes of a four-lane thoroughfare into a virtual terminal. If a computer glitch that wreaks havoc on one traffic light cannot be fixed for months, that’s the human factor at play. But working traffic lights and smooth traffic flow cannot be a priority for government officials who can part traffic with their blinkers, sirens and security escorts. Motorists will just have to get used to traffic gridlocks. There is no cure for human incompetence and neglect.

Automation can only worsen election fraud

Automation can only worsen election fraud

Pending before the Commission on Elections are bids from private contractors to automate voting. Exasperated by the slow counting of ballots—along with the cheating that accompanies the process—many Filipinos are clamoring for electoral reform. Automation is now seen as the panacea to the stubborn disease of election fraud.

Some Filipinos, however, warn that automating the vote count can only make things worse. One of them is Roberto Verzola, ironically an information technology expert.

Verzola is described as a pioneer in the local desktop computing and Internet scene. In 1982 he built the first Filipino computer. In 1991 he set up the first online systems at both chambers of Congress. Later he was awarded by industry the title of “Father of Philippine Email.”

Yet, it is because Verzola is an IT icon that he knows only too well how automation could make election cheating easier. Verzola is not just an engineer; he is also a convener of the election watchdog Halalalang Marangal, which monitored irregularities in the last polls.

Verzola writes in an online article: “The misfocused objective of ‘minimizing human intervention’ will result in fewer instead of more witnesses when fraud does occur making it easier for cheats to cover up their crime once they break the system.”

In many proposals to automate elections the public will not be able to witness the vote count. They will only be shown the totals after the automated canvass is done. The result: loss of transparency.

Flawed assumptions

The automation proposals are based on what Verzola calls flawed assumptions:

• Automation eliminates human intervention. “It will not,” says Verzola. “Automation can only reduce, but never eliminate, human intervention. Automated systems will always have points of human intervention…”

Vezola points out: “Reducing human intervention can actually work in favor of the cheats, who will now need to recruit fewer accomplices and deal with fewer potential witnesses to the fraud.”

• Automation minimizes if not eliminates cheating. “It can do no such thing,” says Verzola. “If they work as intended, automated machines can only: a) speed things up, and b) follow more faithfully the instructions of those who program them. If they are reprogrammed to cheat, the machines will follow the new instructions just as faithfully and quickly.”

• Safeguards can prevent cheats from manipulating an automated system. “This is an illusion,” says Verzola. “Cheats can master automation technologies as well as anybody else. Sooner or later they will be able to identify the system’s weak points and break it.”

• The main cause of cheating is the slow manual count. “This confuses the symptom for the disease,” Verzola writes. “Obviously, cures based on wrong diagnoses will probably be wrong too.”

Actually, counting at the precincts is not slow. For the most part, it is over within several hours. Moreover, the precinct count is the most transparent part of the whole process.

“Here, like the audience in a basketball game, the public can see each vote counted and the candidates’ score updated, vote by vote,” Verzola says. “Cheating that occurs at this level often involves brazen, in-your-face kind of acts that no machine can stop and no cheat can hide.”

Maximize transparency

Verzola is not entirely against election automation, however. What he does propose is “not to minimize human intervention but to maximize transparency, or the ability of interested third-parties and the public in general to double-check and audit the system.”

He points out a proposal to use digital imaging technologies to make more copies of election returns at the precinct level. “The more copies of the ERs circulate the more difficult for cheats to cover-up their crime.”

A systems expert has suggested LCD projectors at the municipal level. “Projecting ERs on a big screen enables more people in the audience to audit the ongoing canvass,” Verzola says.

In last May’s midterm elections, Halalang Marangal conducted a “citizen’s tally,” which asked nonpartisan volunteer precinct watchers to use cell phones to text the results to the watchdog’s databases.

“Once they adopt ‘maximizing transparency’ rather than ‘minimizing human intervention’ as objective, technical experts can no doubt come up with even better schemes,” Verzola says.

“Unfortunately,” Verzola says, “the attention of Congress has been focused on hardware-intensive proposals that will not only waste our scarce resources automating the most transparent portion of the whole electoral process but may even make it easier for future cheats to cover up their manipulation of the results.”

Besides—although Verzola did not say so—hardware-intensive options, which cost billions of pesos, to automate elections are where the proverbial killing could be made. Wink, wink.

From a badge of shame to 30,000 homes

From a badge of shame to 30,000 homes

The press reported several days ago the Supreme Court decision declaring as valid the government’s 1993 contract with R-II Builders Inc. to turn the notorious Smokey Mountain dump into a low-cost housing and commercial area.

Smokey Mountain was the huge mound of garbage in the Balut area of Manila’s Tondo district. After years of dumping the garbage of Manila and neighboring cities and municipalities on it, the mound became so big it resembled a hill or a small mountain. Methane from decaying organic materials seeped up and the garbage deep within the hillocks began to burn. Smoke from this burning trash hovered like a dark cloud over the hundreds of scavengers gathering recyclable materials among the garbage. Sold to junk shops, they gave the poorest of the poor a meager income.

Newspaper photographs and television footage of the men, women and children poking and raking sticks on huge piles of smoldering trash were vividly etched in the minds of Filipinos and people around the world. It gave the outside world a graphic view of poverty, Philippine-style: gaunt human beings bent over mounds of trash, smoke swirling around them. It was like a mountain on fire, not unlike Moses’ Mt. Sinai with the burning bush. Hence, the name Smokey Mountain.

Smokey Mountain became a tourist spot. Tourists actually came to the Philippines to see this mound of smoldering trash that became so big it resembled a miniature mountain.

While it attracted foreigners, Smokey Mountain became a badge of shame for the Philippines, epitomizing the poverty, the powerlessness and despair of those struggling to keep body and soul together in a harsh urban environment. It became so shameful that President Corazon Aquino decided to wipe it off the face of the earth. She had the idea of turning this mound of trash, this badge of shame into a housing project for the thousands of scavengers who scraped a living out of it.

In 1992, she ordered the National Housing Authority (NHA) to enter into a joint-venture agreement with R-II Builders of Reghis Romero II to construct 30 buildings to house over 30,000 families in the area. The agreement stipulated that there would be no budget outlay from the government. R-II was to spend for the entire project. As compensation, R-II was to own 79 hectares of foreshore lands it would reclaim. The area was later increased to 229 hectares.

As the project would cost billions of pesos, R-II entered into an asset pool arrangement with a number of government financial institutions. In exchange for Smokey Mountain Participation Certificates, the Social Security System, Land Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank, Home Guarantee Corp., HGC Provident Fund, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and other financial institutions pooled assets totaling P3 billion to bankroll the project. These institutions later earned handsome profits from the certificates.

Still, the project ran out of money. In 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo released P480 million to continue the project, on the condition that the contract with R-II would be cancelled. The original contract was terminated on Aug. 27, 2003. But the government promised to pay R-II P250 million to be taken from the P480 million fund to settle partially the expenses the developer had incurred.

In 2004, former Solicitor General Frank Chavez filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to declare the original contract null and void. He raised a number of issues: that neither the NHA nor R-II may validly reclaim foreshore lands as these are inalienable public lands which are beyond the commerce of man; that there was never any declaration that the said lands were no longer needed for public use; that the developer could not acquire the lands because there was never any law authorizing the sale; that there was never any public bidding of the lands; and that R-II Builders, as a private corporation, was expressly prohibited by the Constitution to acquire lands of the public domain.

Last Aug. 13, the Supreme Court dismissed Chavez’s petition and upheld the validity of the government contract with R-II. One by one, the Court demolished his arguments.

It said the NHA has the power to reclaim lands and transfer these to its private partner without public bidding.

It rejected Chavez’s claim that only the Public Estates Authority (PEA) could reclaim submerged lands, saying Executive Order 525 creating the PEA did not say this power was exclusive.

The second condition, the PEA’s endorsement, was also present because its general manager was a member of the executive committee tasked to supervise the project’s implementation.

The Court also junked Chavez’s claim that the reclaimed lands were given by the NHA to R-II through a negotiated contract and not by public bidding as the law requires. It noted that R-II had won the right to become the NHA’s partner for the project through public bidding.

It said that the lands that the NHA transferred to R-II were not lands of the public domain, the sale of which requires public bidding, and that the NHA was empowered to transfer properties it acquired to other parties, hence there was no need for a law to authorize the sale of reclaimed lands. It added the lands reclaimed for the Smokey Mountain project have been declared alienable and disposable by three presidential proclamations.

Debunking Chavez’s claim that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) did not authorize the NHA and R-II to reclaim lands, the Court said the authority to do so came from the President, who has power over the DENR.

With the decision, R-II’s project to construct homes for 30,000 Smokey Mountain families can now go full blast.

Uncontrolled development

Uncontrolled development

Owners of business establishments in Boracay have welcomed a moratorium on new construction on the world-renowned island resort. Now foreign investors are said to be setting their sights on an island in Romblon for tourism development similar to Boracay. Elsewhere in the Philippines, new tourist destinations are also being developed.

The story of Boracay should provide valuable lessons in uncontrolled development. The island resort grew into a top tourist draw with no planning and little regulation, and it shows. With Boracay’s forest cover depleted and resorts, restaurants and nightspots jumbled together cheek by jowl on the island, authorities are scrambling to stop overdevelopment, which is straining the island’s resources and posing a threat to the environment.

It’s not just Boracay that can use some regulation. Even the highlands overlooking Taal volcano are becoming overdeveloped, depleting the vegetable and flower farms that have long been part of the area’s charm. Authorities must bear these lessons in mind as new tourist destinations are developed. Among the emerging tourist spots are the areas around the Albay Gulf where visitors can watch whale sharks and dolphins, and surfing areas in the coastal regions of La Union and Ilocos.

The irony is that amid overdevelopment, top tourist destinations lack facilities and skilled workers to provide quality services to visitors. Both the national and local governments are unable to provide the most basic of visitors’ needs: public toilet facilities that are spacious, clean and with piped water and toilet paper. Many of the nation’s tour guides can also use better training.

Older tourist destinations, meanwhile, are being neglected. The rice terraces of Banaue continue to deteriorate. For several decades there has been little improvement in access to the site either by land or by air. The country’s tourism infrastructure is inadequate not just in the Cordilleras but also in many other areas, except in destinations such as Boracay where the private sector has taken the lead in development. The danger in this case, as we have seen, is overdevelopment.

The right to know

The right to know

In approving any project involving public funds, there are three considerations: the country must need the project, taxpayers must be able to afford it, and the deal must offer the best value for money.

Alongside these considerations, transparency is a key requirement. Whether the project is financed through a loan from a foreign government, in which case public bidding is not required, or was awarded through bidding, the public has a right to know details about the deal, especially the conditions attached to it. Foreign loans, no matter how seemingly easy the terms, are not always in the best interest of the recipient, and must be closely scrutinized because taxpayers’ money will be used for repayment.

These matters must be addressed as the government reviews the national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp. Several months after the original document for the project, which was signed by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Chinese authorities in the presence of President Arroyo, was lost in China, different government officials have different versions of what was signed. Was it a contract, signed during a campaign period in violation of election laws? Was it a mere financial agreement? The government says what was signed has been reconstituted, but the reconstituted version has yet to be made public.

The Department of Justice has so far upheld one aspect of the deal: there was no need for a public bidding, the DOJ said in a legal opinion, because the whopping $329 million for the project – double the price tag of a similar broadband service proffered by another interested party – is supposed to be provided by Beijing in the form of a soft loan. Amid criticism that the nation does not need the broadband service, the Department of Finance is said to be reviewing the deal. The case has been brought to the Supreme Court and Congress is poised to conduct an investigation.

Such troubles could have been avoided if the government had been transparent about its plans. Whether it’s an interconnected broadband service for all government offices, a cyber education project, poll automation, an airport terminal or rice importation, the nation has a right to know if public funds are being spent judiciously. If the considerations enumerated above cannot be met, the deal is rotten and must be discarded.

Mindanao roads

Mindanao roads

EVER since the bridge over the Polangui River was fixed in Maramag about three years ago, the traffic between Davao and Cagayan de Oro has multiplied several times. Some sections like that between Malaybalay and Valencia resemble Manila streets in traffic at certain hours. It has also turned this highway into a killer road in which no week passes without an accident, mostly heavy trucks going at a speed too fast to negotiate the many sharp turns and motorcycles taking unwarranted risks. The highway is no longer wide enough for the number of its users, which promises to increase by the day. Mindanaoans are jealous when they see the wide highways of Central Luzon. On the other hand what warms my heart are the huge 18 wheelers constantly increasing in numbers signaling that trade is going on between the two cities. This is a breakthrough since previously the big city centers of Mindanao all faced the sea and were enclaves with no land connection with each other. Mindanao was not one economy. The buying power and the manufacturing potential were limited to the two or three million inhabitants of each enclave instead of the whole 30 million of Mindanao. Good highways between the enclaves e.g., Surigao, Butuan, Iligan, Zamboanga City, Ipil, Cotabato City, and General Santos, will make the island of Mindanao one market. Rather than having to ship and import goods to Cebu and Manila and other ports of Visayas and Luzon. It will have a viable market on its own.

More roads are planned and need to be built soon. One of them the east west highway between Tagum and Iligan passing through Valencia and Marawi has been started with test cement patches in San Fernando but seemingly abandoned. The Liloy to Ipil road built by the Army brought safety to the area. More of these roads have to be built. The Philippines-Japan Friendship highway south of Butuan is almost completely repaired. Although well built in the 70s its foundations collapsed. It ran through a forested area and when the huge roots of the forest trees rotted in 30 years, the cement slabs cracked.

There is talk of a railway on the coast between Iligan and Cagayan de Oro. This is welcome but the coasts are sufficiently served by ships. Needed is a railway system that cuts across the island from north to south and east to west. Railroads are better than roads to carry heavy goods over long distances. We really do not have bulk material except grain. The mineral that we extract are mostly metals that do not require bulk handling. Besides roads the international airport in Lagindingan, Misamis Oriental to service Northern Mindanao to be started soon.

Melting in the rain

Melting in the rain

After the floods and consequent traffic jams, another problem inevitably follows: potholes. After just two days of rainfall that was not even heavy enough to raise the water in Angat Dam above the critical level, roads in Metro Manila are again disintegrating. Potholes can be found even in the areas that were quickly repaved for the ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations less than two weeks ago.

Either road-building technology is retrogressing, or certain individuals are getting rich from substandard public works projects undertaken by fly-by-night contractors. Filipinos still remember the durability of the original smooth asphalt pavement of Roxas Boulevard, which survived several decades of typhoons and floods with little need for repair. Such top-quality roads can still be seen — but no longer in the Philippines.

In other countries that put a premium on efficiency, governments see to it that their citizens are guaranteed a smooth drive on good roads. Not so in this country, where even the capital region is a patchwork of asphalt and concrete — a testament to the arbitrary manner in which road projects are selected and implemented. Bad roads not only are unsightly but also slow down traffic and speed up the deterioration of vehicle tires and engines.

The substandard quality can be due to sheer inefficiency. Or it can be due to corruption, with the quality of road projects suffering because a huge chunk of funds allocated for public works goes to private pockets. In all surveys, the Department of Public Works and Highways is consistently ranked as one of the most corrupt government agencies. The congressional pork barrel system is also to blame, with the executive branch unable to implement a long-term, coordinated approach to road building because about 250 lawmakers, many with personal interests in mind, have a say in decision-making. These lawmakers can also force the DPWH to allow their favored contractors to undertake public works projects even if the contractors do not meet the required qualifications.

Whoever is at fault, taxpayers must start demanding accountability in road projects. Authorities should identify the contractor and the official who approved the construction or repair of roads that melt in a downpour. If a lawmaker foisted the contractor on the DPWH, the lawmaker must also be identified. Once the culprits have been singled out, criminal and administrative charges must be filed for the waste of public funds.

Not just global warming

Not just global warming

Storm “Chedeng” is expected to enter the country today, bringing much-needed rain, according to weather forecasters. The question is whether the rain will fall over areas now stricken by drought in Central Luzon and the northern regions. Yesterday the governor of Cagayan placed the province under a state of calamity. This means the entire Cagayan Valley, which accounts for 40 percent of the country’s rice production, is now under a calamity state because of the drought.

Blame global warming; weather around the planet has been bizarre this year. Farmers in this tropical archipelago worry more often about torrential rains and floods than long dry spells. But blame poor agricultural infrastructure as well. Droughts are not rare even in this country that serves as the welcome mat for typhoons hitting Southeast Asia. This is supposed to be the wet season, and southern Luzon has been experiencing downpours almost daily. But the rainfall cannot be contained in catchments and diverted to areas where water is needed. Another problem: irrigation systems in the farming areas of Luzon are inadequate and ill-suited for emergency situations.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the National Irrigation Administration gets an annual budget of P200 million – an amount that is insufficient for the repair and maintenance of irrigation facilities nationwide. The budget has been increased, but by the time the needed funding is released, the weather is likely to have changed and there would be other agricultural priorities. And by the time the results of additional funds are felt, the drought would have done its worst.

It’s too late for any infusion of irrigation funds to save this season’s crops. But after seeing the consequences of the ongoing drought, the government should learn enough to be prepared for the next dry spell. World weather patterns are changing dramatically, and the country is likely to see more devastating droughts in the coming years. The government will have to invest in improved water resource management and irrigation facilities if it wants to prevent more agricultural disasters.

‘SANA’ – State of Palengke Address

‘SANA’ – State of Palengke Address

THREE days after President Arroyo delivered her State-of-the-Nation Address, we continue to try and decipher from her remarks what it all meant in terms of a national framework for collective action.

Valid hopes have been raised by our national leadership. But despair continues to fester among our people.

Yes, there is payback for some, but the multitude remains left out, disconnected from the nominal accomplishments enumerated by the President.

Noong Lunes, napakinggan natin ang SONA. Ngayon naman aking hinahandog po sa inyo ang "SANA"… sana mangyari na sa ating bansa. O kung ayaw niyo ang SANA, siguro ang SOPA – State of the Palengke Address.

Ang agenda ng Pangulo at ng pamunuhan ay dapat hindi lumayo sa agenda ng palengke.

Ang huntahan sa kanto, sa sari-sari store, sa karinderya, sa bawat tahanan ay dapat dalhin sa pambansang entablado kung saan malayang makakalahok at mapapakinggan ang hinagpis, ang pangarap at panukala ng bawat Pilipino.

For it is in the true lives of real people struggling with their everyday problems that the true state of the nation is found — where Filipino values and dreams are hoped for and expressed every day.

Our country is buffeted by large, pervasive jetstreams of change that affect the whole world.

We are part of a global community that shares the effects of global warming and unpredictable weather patterns; terrorism; energy shortages; pandemics; unregulated movements of capital in turbulent financial markets.

To combat these afflictions, the world is aggregating and consolidating; sadly we here in our country are atomizing. Ibig sabihin, tayo watak-watak, ang buong mundo, nagco-consolidate, nag-u-unify.

Our institutions and their occupants are inadequately equipped in terms of values, knowledge and the moral will to meet the increasing tempo of global change and transformation.

We need a crash course to revamp and fortify our institutions; build character in our leaders and bureaucrats, regulators, state and community actors.

We must break out of our parochial views, and embrace the brave new world as one nation founded on strong and robust institutions.

And we can start by rejecting the worn-out dialogue that is engaged in by politicians and pundits, and engage in the dialogue of the people with an authentic sense of civic duty.

Let each dialogue begin and end with the people’s interests as the driving force.

This dialogue should include:

1.) How with each day that passes, we witness a debilitation of the freedom from want and the freedom from fear that we are all entitled to expect.

The financial economy is different from the real economy. Incomes are diminishing, stomachs are aching, opportunities are found wanting.

Wall Street is different from the main street, just as Ayala Avenue is different from J.P. Rizal St.

The stock market is different from the palengke where food and other items are sachet-fied to make them more affordable. Kung dati-rati por kilo ngayon mas tingi-tingi na lamang.

Lumalalim ang mga hinanakit sa ating lipunan dahil sa di makatarungang pagkawala at pagkapatay ng ating kababayan, at malawakang korapsyon.

2.) This dialogue should also address how we must come together, to repair the derangement in our republican institutions.

Kailangan tayong magkaisa upang ituwid ang kahibangan sa ating mga institusyon.

The President’s vision, as stated in her SONA, is for the Philippines to join modernity, or what she refers to as the first world twenty years from today.

Her plan is cast in physical infrastructure terms, striving to bring the nation together through a network of ports, airports, bridges and roads, assuming that simply building the connectors that the country will then come together. That is different as timber, plywood, hollow block, steel bar – building a house – which does not automatically make it a home.

I ask, even if we had all the infrastructure in the world, who or what will bring together our political, social and economic institutions to save the nation from poverty, fragmentation and conflict?

Even in the hallowed halls of the Senate, what I see are convoluted political arrangements where once again the people’s will is being thwarted.

The Senate Presidency and the committee leadership is now in the hands of a coalition even as in the last elections, clearly our people ordained the opposition to lead and direct the agenda of the Senate.

Let me say, as an aside, that I am and shall continue to be in the opposition. I am faithful to the mandate of the Liberal Party. I shall do my part to serve the people. As it was when you elected me, so shall it be today and everyday.

Indeed, the dividing line between any third and first world nation is drawn on the comparative strength and quality of their institutions.

The dividing line between any third and first world nation is drawn on the relevance of their institutions to the lives of the common people, on the force of principle in their politics, in the integrity and cohesion of their democratic organs of power.

Institution building is in the fullest sense of the word—nation building; and the quality and consistency of governance is the ultimate measure of what makes a country first world and modern.

Our political institutions, regrettably, the great powers of this republic, are not only in a state of weakness or disrepair but are in blatant disarray.

We have an anti-terror law that, given our weak record for law enforcement and intelligence, as well as a poor record for human rights, can end up terrorizing the citizens themselves.

We have ambitious fiscal targets but underperforming revenue agencies. Rather than whip them into shape, government instead plans to sell more of our national assets.

The public agenda has been usurped by personal and partisan ends.

We are heading for the dark abyss of endless bickering and fragmentation even as we bask in the seeming illusion of normalcy.

I am here to propose a solution, or at least the beginnings of a solution— to the increasing divide as between the people and their government.

Everyone, first of all, ought to focus on the power of collective responsibility guided by our common faith. Ang panawagan nang matagal na hindi nadidinig; subalit makabuluhan pa rin lalo na ngayon – ay Pilipinas muna bago ang sarili.

I call upon President Arroyo to make the nation whole by a committed, relentless leadership to repair the derangement of our institutions:

To remove the climate of fear and to heal the nation with justice.

To bring to every household the prosperity only indicated by the economic statistics.

The first principle of institution building is transparency and accountability. I believe that the best way to make our republic whole and enable the effective working of our institutions is to accord the people the freedom of access to official information.

We want to demolish the barriers that keep people out of governmental affairs, dismantle the culture of official secrecy and banish the belief that the man on the street is not enlightened enough to participate in government decision making.

The people must not only be the governed but themselves be the governors of the nation.

In the Free Information Act which we propose, government functionaries must respond to all written requests for information, unless proper justification is given on the basis of privacy, national security or diplomatic imperative. And even then, upon official notification, there will be recourse for the inquisitive to find out exactly why their request has been denied.

Harsh penalties shall be levied against government functionaries who knowingly and unjustly refuse to provide this information.

Our history is replete with events and contracts that would benefit from greater transparency, all of which have served to make Juan de la Cruz view his government with distrust and disdain.

The ZTE Contract, conceived, negotiated and consummated outside the normal process that govern such contracts;

The privatization of the electric power sector and numerous biddings, cancellations, failure of bids and all of these other contracts pertinent thereto;

The Radstock-PNCC deal where details reveal how government to its detriment unilaterally recognized a debt that was never on the books, and so on and so forth.

These are part of a rogue’s gallery of questionable transactions that brings the government further away from the people, making the people look upon their government with such disgust.

Just the other day, the Finance secretary indicated more sales of prime government assets.

Hilingin din natin ang detalyadong plano ukol sa pagbenta ng mga ari-arian ng sambayanan para lamang mapagtakpan ang kakulangan sa performance ng BIR at BOC. Hindi sila nakapagkolekta, ibebenta ang ating ari-arian at matapos pagbenta nito, kung saan na tayo pupulutin, sa kangkungan na lang.

The second principle of institution building is oversight by the people’s representatives.

Of immediate concern is government’s preoccupation with security and intelligence matters proceeding from the implementation of the Human Security Act, albeit without its IRR.

I was one of the very few who voted against the passage of this Human Security Act.

We propose the establishment of a bipartisan oversight committee from the legislature, sworn to confidentiality under sanctions, so that they can be given full access to all intelligence information, so that all the activities under this Human Security Act can then be monitored and can be guided by the actions of the people’s representatives. These representatives should be able to shape policy and advise the President and Commander in Chief on matters involving:

The appropriation and deployment of national security and intelligence resources.

Ideological and doctrinal issues; as well as the rules of engagement against the enemies of the state, and

Orders of battle drawn up by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

We feel that this oversight on intelligence committee would be much better off than the National Security Council which operates more like a debating club and only discusses that which the executive provides to it. It does not have its own ability to figure out what the real information is, it only debates what it is spoonfed to it.

Our proposal is intended to reinforce the stated commitment of the President Arroyo to arrest the assault on civil liberties.

And just much as there ought to be public oversight in the security and intelligence activities of the government, our government’s regulatory oversight over dishonest practices by unscrupulous elements in the business community likewise must be made more robust.

We need stronger action against those who swindle the consumers’ hard-earned money; those responsible for pyramiding and Ponzi schemes; those who fool the public in order to make some money.

These oversight functions in financial matters can be extended to other matters as well:

The CHED could be more proactive in shutting down non-performing schools and diploma mills.

The SEC could be more rigorous in regulating the pre-need companies. Thousands of students and parents, many probably who are in this very room, suffered greatly because of dishonest and fraudulent educational plans, the companies unable to redeem the promises that they made when they first sold these plans.

The BFAD, the Bureau of Food and Drugs, could be more consistent in its effort against substandard medicines and food items.

We need oversight in the full sense of the word without impairing the separation of powers.

The measures I propose will open the doors of dialogue between the institutions of government and between government and the people, for the good of all.

Our dialogue with the people must begin with an earnest dialogue of leaders.

The era of gridlock must give way to the era of authentic nation-building.

And we can only heal the nation by healing the despair.

Maghihilom lamang ang mga sugat ng bayan kung mapapawi ang pighati sa puso, damdamin, at isip ng bawat Pilipino.

By healing despair we can proceed to the essentials that make lives better for every Filipino.

Apart from repairing our republican institutions comes the task of repairing human lives and keeping families whole.

We want a national development plan focusing on better brains and bodies – better, more competitive and productive Filipinos – that can rise above the humblest beginnings on merit instead of patronage or palakasan.

We need huge and broad investments in health and education to carry Filipinos across the digital highway, above the poverty threshold, into the more competitive global markets.

The EVAT ought to be converted to a people’s fund earmarked as a special account in the national treasury separate from the general fund.

This EVAT, coming from all of your and your parents; sacrifices amounts to about P80 billion every year. This is the result of your sacrifice, and there must be a firewall between these funds and the hands of discretion and patronage.

Let us truly put our money where our mouths are. Our most valuable resource is our people, all of you.

Thus, we propose that half of this amount, half of the Php80 billion should go to education, to close the resource gaps in teachers’ training, in the number of teachers and salaries, classrooms and school buildings, as well as to purchase textbooks and funds for scholarships, and the balance to go to public health.

We are for better public clinics and hospitals, continuous training of medical personnel, and reduced malnutrition among mothers and their children.

These basic requirements, other societies take for granted. They’re looked upon as realities in each of their societies. We must summon the political will to align ourselves, our institutions, our laws and our resources to our own development realities.

On another front, those who work in the country, specifically minimum wage earners, must be given relief from their daily financial burden including having to pay the EVAT.

To ease the burden on millions of minimum wage earners, we propose exempting the minimum wage from any income tax. The aggregate "lost collection" for this sector is small compared to the massive relief it would bring to the number of families and to the family budget.

Tax exemption for minimum wage earners is a concrete measure for social payback. Elevating the social payback of the economy also means collecting the right taxes and exorcising the conspiracy of tax thieves from both the government and private business.

We have pointed out the derangement in our institutions and the need to assert common values in order to build strong institutions and keep our country together.

I now propose two more urgent steps to create a more hospitable condition for development to happen.

First, let us resume peace talks with the National Democratic Front without any conditions from both sides.

I urge the government to withdraw the condition attendant to a ceasefire, and the NDF to withdraw the condition attendant to their being tagged as a terrorist organization.

Second, Senator Sonny Trillanes ought to take his seat in the Senate, without prejudice to the handling of his case.

This would be a solid step to ease the restiveness in the soldiery, depoliticize the uniformed ranks and advance political stability.

About 12 million people, knowing that he was charged for his crimes, knowingly voted for him. They want him to bring their voice to the Senate, and we must respect this.

More than just a litany of infrastructure projects just as we’ve heard last Monday, we need strategic steps to pull the rug from under the small hurts, the petty fights and misgivings that serve to disunite us.

Let us open the table for new ideas to move forward.

Kung hindi lahat kasali sa tunay na dayalogo, at kung hindi magtatapat ang pamahalaan sa sambayanan, paano malulutas ang mga problema ng ating bansa? Buksan natin ang pinto natin at hayaang sumibol ang mga bagong panukala at kaisipan. Makinig tayo sa taong bayan, hindi lamang doon sa may kapangyarihan.

I have presented three steps for winning our future:

1. The repair of our broken institutions through transparency and accountability.

2. The harnessing and safeguarding of our resources to deliver economic gains to the home of every Filipino family.

3. And the creation of hospitable conditions for development and peace.

This conceptual framework for national development is our best hope for economic freedom, political stability and first world modernity.

Maraming maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

Roadblocks

Roadblocks

If only for the tedious recitation of politicians’ names and the infrastructure projects they have requested, the unabashed display of patronage politics has become the most remembered aspect of President Arroyo’s recent State of the Nation Address. Since then the annual report to the nation continues to draw reactions, a number of them from unbiased quarters whose observations the administration would do well to remember.

Share prices dropped when Fitch Ratings voiced the biggest concern: with a budget deficit that is expected to be much larger than projected for the year, how did the administration intend to finance the President’s so-called “legacy projects”?

The other major concern has been voiced even by pro-administration politicians: the projects in the pipeline provide opportunities for corruption, which can result in overpriced and substandard finished products or more white elephants. The country has enough roads and bridges to nowhere. Controversy can taint even foreign-funded projects, such as the broadband contract with a Chinese company. Certain quarters have also expressed concern about the qualifications of contractors who will be awarded legacy projects proposed by lawmakers under the congressional pork barrel.

These are valid concerns that the administration cannot ignore. Among the projects mentioned by the President were new or larger airports. But the country cannot even open a new airport terminal, which is now rotting away from disuse at the NAIA.

Corruption is also one of the biggest roadblocks in taming the deficit. The Office of the Ombudsman has made some progress in going after the corrupt in the largest fund-generating bureaus, Customs and internal revenue. But it will take time and many more indictments as well as political will to clean up the two bureaus that have consistently topped all surveys on the most corrupt government agencies. Competing with the two bureaus for the lowest rungs in transparency ratings is the Department of Public Works and Highways, which will be tasked to undertake many of the projects mentioned in the President’s legacy list.

Critics of the SONA point out that instead of a roadmap to 2010, President Arroyo had merely presented a map of roads in the archipelago — a lesson in Philippine geography. If the President wants to achieve her legacy, there are heavy roadblocks that she must get out of the way.

A sober look at the property boom

A sober look at the property boom

It's in bad taste to revel in one’s success just when your neighbor is down in the dumps.

But in the case of the Philippines’ newfound property boom, the party simply cannot wait. After all, it took the country nearly a decade to shake off the debris from a financial crisis that left many real estate projects unfinished and sent huge amounts of capital down the drain.

So while we should keep an eye on the United States’ sub prime market debacle, we shouldn’t lose sight of the potential of the local property sector. Those living abroad sure aren’t taking their time and watching the boom from a distance. In fact, a growing number of Filipinos living outside the country, including overseas contract workers, are plowing their savings into the local housing industry.

A look into the books of blue-chip property firms like Megaworld would indicate that the bulk of their growth is due to real estate sales, and only to a smaller extent on the business process outsourcing craze.

This is why a number of property developers have set up marketing units abroad, to benefit from the renewed interest in the Philippine real estate sector. This interest is only partly due to risk aversion, as investors shy away from the troubled US market and seek safe havens abroad.

A greater part of the attraction of the local property sector is the country’s sound economic fundamentals. This is economese for low interest rates, easing inflation, a strong currency, and improving government finances. The Philippine real estate sector in particular is reaping the benefits of a low interest-rate regime, thanks largely to easing inflation.

Before the government’s bungling of its first-half fiscal position, benchmark rates as measured by the yields on risk-free government bills and bonds, had sunk to historic lows. This was after consumer prices rose to their slowest in years, with inflation back in the low single-digits.

Combine that with strong remittance inflows and you have the makings of a strong domestic economy supported by robust consumer spending.

Dollar inflows boost the country’s foreign-exchange hoard, which in turn helps bring down inflation and with it interest rates.

Property companies are the first to benefit from sliding interest rates, as this makes bank borrowing cheaper. Indeed, a growing number of lenders are offering long-term housing loans with fixed interest rates. State housing agencies likewise plan to cut their loan charges.

It is a good time to buy a house or condo, or refinance an existing loan, using other people’s money.

This is why the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ recent reduction in its overnight borrowing rate is welcome news. In so far as it discourages banks from leaving their excess funds with the BSP, the monetary loosening prods them to increase lending to the public.

With easier access to bank lending, which is still the main source of credit in this country, the pace of economic activity quickens, creating more jobs, and hopefully better-paying ones. Moreover, Filipinos, especially those benefiting from remittances, can leverage on these flows and borrow money for consumption or income-generating activities.

Having said the above, the recent retreat in the US stock market, which has reverberated across Asia, should be viewed with concern not because of any direct impact it has on the Philippine economy and its job- and income-generating capacity. But because an erosion of consumer confidence in the world’s largest economy would take its toll in terms of spending on all things the US imports, including the

Philippines’ digital signal processors, wiring harnesses, garments, and electronics components among other items that find their way on the shelves of Wal-Marts and Sears stores across America.

Of course, a feeling that they are worse off than before would cause Americans, including Fil-Americans, to cut back on non-essential expenditures, which include that nice vacation lodge along the Batangas coastline or on a hilltop in scenic Tagaytay.

Its not just about sustaining confidence in the Philippines, but also keeping foreigners’ and overseas Filipinos’ confidence in their future economic condition. And that is one important reason why we should prevent the revelry from deluding us into complacency. Our neighbor’s woes may yet befall us.

This trick of naming roads, etc., after VIPs

This trick of naming roads, etc., after VIPs

NAMING GAME: They say that one way of ensuring government support for a project, especially big ticket infrastructure, is to name it after somebody dear to the President. I don’t know if the trick works, but I won’t be surprised if it does.

In my province, for instance, local politicians pulled a scoop when they named Clark Field, the former home base of the US 13th Air Force, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.

If you were President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, would you allow a major airport named after your dear father go the way of ordinary weather-beaten infrastructure standing as monuments to government neglect?

But what rules are there, if any, governing the naming of public structures after notable persons, dead or alive?

* * *

DIVISIVE: Reader Jorge B. Navarra, a Butuanon, has written the National Historical Institute to ask if the renaming of the “2nd Magsaysay Bridge” in their city as “Diosdado Macapagal Bridge” complied with NHI requirements as prescribed by law.

Navarra reported: “This multibillion-peso bridge project spans the Agusan river about three kilometers upriver from the old Magsaysay Bridge in downtown Butuan. It was temporarily called 2nd Magsaysay Bridge.

“When it was inaugurated before the May 14 elections, its name was 2nd Magsaysay Bridge. The people of Butuan knew that a permanent name would be given in due time.

“Not a few Butuanons wanted ‘Butuan Bridge’ to identify this landmark with Butuan and inculcate pride of place among its citizens. This was a monumental project for Butuanons and naming it Butuan Bridge will inspire unity. This name will avoid the divisiveness caused by naming public structures after politicians, their relatives and their benefactors.”

* * *

RECOMMENDATORY: Navarra recalled that during the Butuan visit of President Arroyo last July 10, the bridge suddenly sprouted signs identifying it as “President Diosdado Macapagal Bridge.”

Then the President was reported on TV, radio and the newspapers to have accepted the resolution of the Butuan City Sangguniang Panglungsod giving the Macapagal name to it.

Did the Butuan City Sangguniang Panglungsod officially confer this name to the bridge? “If it did,” Navarra said, “was this not done in violation of the Local Government Code?”

He noted that Section 13 provides that local governments can exercise authority only over structures owned by them. It so happened that the Butuan bridge is funded by a national government loan from Japan’s ODA-granting agency.

If the Butuan Sanggunian passed a resolution endorsing to the President or to Congress the naming of the new bridge, Navarra said, this resolution is merely recommendatory.

* * *

CONSULTATION: The Macapagal name cannot as yet be adopted, he added, yet it has been placed on signs at the structure, carried in media and used by bureaucrats in referring to it.

Until a presidential proclamation is issued or a law is enacted naming the bridge, its project name “2nd Magsaysay Bridge” remains. The preparing of the proclamation or passing of a law must involve public consultations, Navarra said.

“We have no issue with the credentials of the persons being honored by naming public structures after them,” he said. “We are questioning the practice of naming highways, bridges, buildings, airports, etc., after persons using procedures that do not conform to the law.”

* * *

WHERE’S MONEY?: Sen. Mar Roxas is pressing Malacañang to tell the people where it would get the billions needed to fund the ambitious infrastructure program that President Arroyo outlined in her last State of the Nation Address.

This makes sense, because it is easy to draw up a wish list of supposed projects and wave it before an expectant population — and another thing to produced the money to make the wish come true.

Roxas said the President mentioned only these fund sources: P1 trillion from state revenues, with tax reforms, and orders to the BIR and Customs to meet their collection targets, P300 billion from government corporations, and more billions from state financial institutions, private sector investments, local government equity, and foreign loans and grants.

But after you add up the money, he said, there is still a big deficiency.

* * *

MASINLOC SOLD: The government announced the sale, finally, of the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales.

This is significant because Masinloc is the most valuable among the power-generating plants of the National Power Corp. and has been the subject of questioned attempts to sell it to favored bidders.

The Singaporean-led consortium Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. won the auction after submitting a $930-million bid. It will be asked to pay 20 percent of that price up front after the official transfer of the plant.

The MPPC is affiliated with Singapore’s AES Transpower Pte. Ltd., an investment holding and service company for entities involved in generating, accumulating and trading electricity.

Losing bidders included big names: Masinloc Consolidated Power Inc. (which bid $588 million), Masinloc Holdco Inc. ($606 million), Anglo Cayman Energy Development Co. Ltd. ($650 million); First Gen Luzon Power Corp. ($710 million).

* * *

BID CANCELLED: The first round of Masinloc bidding in 2004 failed because the only buyer, the supposed winner, would not pay the required deposit until it is assured of signing a firm supply contract with a generator or distributor.

In that bidding in 2004, YNN Pacific Consortium offered $560 million. But it failed to deliver the 40-percent up-front payment of $270 million.

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management which oversaw the bidding forfeited YNN’s performance bond of $14 million in July 2006.

Another major transfer of power assets months ago was of Mirant — the biggest independent power producer — selling its assets in the country to a consortium of Tokyo Electric Power and Marubeni Corp.

What's Davao City's share of GMA's legacy?

What's Davao City's share of GMA's legacy?

JUST BY being an engineer does not a good city engineer makes. Like with the big named hospitals in the country which are managed or administered by non-doctors the city engineer's office needs a macro-manager, one who sees beyond the math and physics of infra projects which are the concerns of the engineers.

A city engineer is one who should assist the chief executive in determining what and where the infrastructure projects are needed most and how will these benefit the constituency. He is a manager not the doer. In short, he does not need to be an engineer. Of course, the ideal thing is to have an engineer heads the city engineer's office for as long as that engineer knows the rudiments of management.

The CEO is not akin to a private construction firm. The CEO is part of a unique political setup that involves the nuances of politics, planners and public interests.

I am putting my two cents worth of idea on this subject because since the exit of Jun Evasco (who is now mayor of Maribojoc, Bohol) as head of the CEO, no one has yet been appointed to his post. An ideal candidate to the post would have been Mario Luis Jacinto who heads the City Planning and Development Office. Jacinto is an engineer too. But Louie, I heard, has begged off for health reasons.

Celso Gempesaw appears to be a man Mayor Duterte has great trust on. Problem is the mayor does not want to remove him from TMC (Traffic Management Center) because he is doing a great job managing traffic. I personally think that TMC is too small a task for Gempesaw it can now be passed on to a subaltern. If he is that good, Celso deserves bigger responsibilities like the CEO.

The City Engineer of Davao must look beyond what traditionally are the tasks of the CEO. I think that the past heads of this department have not done justice to the post.

Look at our road network. We are stuck with 2-lane and 4-lane roads. I do not know whether the engineers have done their homework in presenting plans to turn over some city roads to the national government. We have to conserve our resources and urge the national government to allocate funds for the construction, upgrading and maintenance of roads. This can only be done if we turnover these infrastructures to the national government. Over-passes built from the pork barrel of our congressmen are not the kind of structures we should prioritize. About 90% of these are useless and had served only as temporary abodes of rugby boys, stalls of ambulant vendors and worse, as latrines of vagabonds and addicts.

We need to widen our roads to six or eight lanes. Our city fathers must open their eyes to windows of opportunities. I mean, I think that Mayor Duterte is among the closest allies that President GMA held with high regard. Our city politicians, planners and engineers must come up with a wish list for Mayor Duterte to present to Malacanang. I think that the city officialdom have not asked for any special favors from the President. I would suggest, for example, that the national road south and north of Davao city poblacion be expanded to ease congestion. Or, consider building a parallel road to the existing highway. The city is growing and bursting at the seams. It is about time the national government allocate substantial budget for new infrastructures otherwise we will be suffocated at the rate progress is going on.

We have to ask GMA a share of her legacy. But even as the President may have a special fondness for our city and its leadership we have to show her workable plans and prove to her the significance of these plans before she will order the release of a single cent from the national coffers. This should be the main task as a starter for whoever will sit in the CEO chair.

Long wait for Manila airport

Long wait for Manila airport

It’s not just collapsing ceilings that are bedeviling Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. President Arroyo, after enumerating in her State of the Nation Address the other day a long list of airstrips being built and airports being expanded or renovated nationwide, said the NAIA-3 could collapse in a powerful earthquake. She invoked public safety as the top consideration in opening the terminal, but fell short of saying outright that the yearend deadline she gave for the opening of the facility would no longer be met.

Collapsing ceilings can be blamed on deterioration from non-use. On the other hand, a facility that cannot withstand the earthquakes that periodically strike this archipelago, which lies along the quake-prone Ring of Fire, suffers from structural defects — something that can be blamed on the builder. The original Philippine white elephant, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, was abandoned after experts warned that it was built near an earthquake fault. The Philippine government at least ran after Westinghouse, which built the plant. But Philippine officials accused of receiving multimillion-dollar kickbacks for the project, led by dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went unpunished.

If the NAIA-3 suffers from structural defects that could endanger public safety, the government should also go after those responsible for the project. Earlier reports said it could take up to P2 billion to make the NAIA-3 operational. The scandal over the project has already damaged the image of the Philippines, especially in Europe, as an investment destination. The country is also suffering from the failure to open a badly needed new airport terminal while other Asian countries are racing to build larger and more modern airports.

The Philippines has neither the means nor the political will to build a bigger premier airport outside Metro Manila. But it can show the world that it is doing something to penalize those behind the construction of yet another white elephant. If we can’t have a new airport terminal, we should at least see certain individuals behind bars. But who should be indicted? This project was cancelled because it was supposed to be onerous. The contractor is challenging this and has taken the Philippine government to an international arbitration court. The mess is unlikely to be untangled any time soon. Juan de la Cruz has a long wait ahead for a new airport terminal.

RP can do better

RP can do better

President Arroyo’s seventh State of the Nation Address yesterday was a report card of what her administration has done in the previous year. That is what such annual speeches are supposed to be, but they are also meant to provide a blueprint of what lies ahead. Apart from asking Congress for electoral reforms and tougher penalties for those behind political killings, and warning anyone against standing in the way of “national interest,” there was a presidential wish for the Philippines to join the ranks of prosperous nations in 20 years.

Getting there will require more than what the country has achieved so far in the six and a half years of the Arroyo administration. In her SONA, the President correctly emphasized the need for strengthening democratic institutions. This isn’t going to happen as long as laws are used for political harassment and too many murders and abductions remain unexplained.

The President has earned the right to brag about sustained economic growth since assuming office in 2001. She and the 13th Congress also deserve credit for the passage of unpopular but necessary measures to put the nation’s fiscal house in order. But economic growth has yet to be felt by the masses, and the country suffers when compared with the progress of its neighbors.

While the Office of the Ombudsman has been doing what it can to stamp out graft, the biggest corruption scandals hounding the administration remain unresolved, and are likely to be revived once again by the 14th Congress. As the President reported yesterday, airports are being renovated and airstrips built across the islands. But the administration still cannot open a much-needed new terminal in the country’s premier airport. The mess surrounding the NAIA-3 continues to scare away investors.

The Philippines is losing foreign investments to its neighbors, which can provide modern infrastructure without big-ticket projects getting bogged down in corruption scandals. Our neighbors can guarantee predictable business policies, an efficient regulatory environment and a level playing field for both foreign and local players. This has been the state of the nation for several years now. It isn’t doing badly, but it can do better.

Invest, Invest, Invest

Invest, Invest, Invest

In turning around the economy and sustaining our trajectory of growth towards first world status in 20 years, we also need to do three critical things: invest, invest, invest!

This was the gist of the President’s State of the Nation Address (SoNA) yesterday, as she highlighted the need to invest in physical, intellectual, legal and security infrastructure; to invest in social safety nets through cheaper medicine, affordable housing, and better schools; and to invest in peace in Mindanao, crushing terrorism and putting a stop to human rights abuses.

The next three years, according to the President, will set record levels of well thought-out and generous investments in those areas.

To highlight this Administration’s priorities as reflected in the Superregions announced in the 2006 SoNA, this year’s SoNA started with far-off Mindanao, moving to Central Philippines, the North Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle (NLAQ) and the Luzon Urban Beltway (LUB).

Of course, the Cyber-Corridor cuts across the entire archipelago, and showcases private investments in a capital-intensive but revenue-rich sector.

Among the highlights of this year’s SoNA are the 3,000 kilometers of Farm-toMarket Roads, for which R3 billion has been allocated. About 300 kilometers of those roads have already been built in Mindanao; 200 of 600 kilometers of farm-tomarket roads for NLAQ are also completed.

The restoration of irrigation for over a million hectares has also increased productivity in agriculture.

The RORO ports, major roads and highways, and bridges that constitute the backbone of the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, have reduced cost of agricultural cargo from the farms to the markets, where cost of freight and cost of transport was cut by half, or more than half.

The President’s report card is replete with facts and figures, targets and timelines. July 10, we inaugurated a R1.7 billion bridge in Butuan City; July 11, we formally opened the Ozamis City Airport.

Earlier this year, the new Iloilo Airport was inaugurated. The Bacolod-Silay Airport, on the other hand, just needs an access road, and should be completed by November, this year.

In NLAQ, construction of the Halsema Highway is well underway. Airports for movement of agricultural produce are also being planned.

Additional investments in education — R29 billion — were also announced, as part of the investments in the safety nets. In fact, the launching of a student loan fund should be good news for both parents and students, and school administrators.

The President reserved in her SoNA a special place of honor for the Filipino achievers, those who excelled in international academic competition, the outstanding farmers, multiawarded scientists in research and development, etc.

A source of personal pride, among those cited by the President, because he is a fellow-Cebuano, is Congressman Dodong Gullas, for his work in regionalizing the old DepEd payroll starting in 2004, together with Tessie Aquino Oreta. He is one Cebuano who does us proud.

Prouder still, is the fact that one of those cited by the President is Diona Aquino of the Presidential Management Staff who vested a whole field of international students in an academic competition of governance in China.

Research and development, better education, access to affordable health services and cheap medicines, major infrastructure, peace and security, and sound fiscal policy, are the fundamentals the President promised to put in place during her tenure, so that all that will remain for her successor is "to gather the harvest."

These fundamentals will only be as strong and sound as the President who will establish them. And this President has shown all that in the past six years.

In fact, in an almost one-hour speech constantly interrupted by applause from a gallery filled almost to the rafers, the longest applause leading to a standing ovation chained with a closing statement that this President can be as strong as she wants to be.

Sona: Promises, promises

Sona: Promises, promises

PRESIDENT Arroyo is scheduled to deliver her State of the Nation Address (Sona) during the opening of the 14th Congress at the Batasan complex this afternoon. This is her seventh Sona since assuming power after Edsa 2, which toppled the corrupt and immoral government of Joseph Estrada in 2001.

Sona is a presidential tradition delivered during the opening of Congress every fourth Monday of July where the chief executive is expected to report on her accomplishments and achievements for the past year and lay down her future programs.

So, what can we expect from the President’s Sona today? Well, just like her previous Sonas, it will all be promises again. While we cannot deny that there were results on her pronouncements in last year’s Sona, the fact remains that the country still experiences major political and economic problems. The threat on military adventurism, communist insurgency and the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao still causes political instability.

The problems on poverty, unemployment, squatting and the quality on public education have not been given enough attention by our political leaders. They will only remember these problems and offer solutions during campaigns. But after they are elected, everything is gone with the wind. Most of our politicians have a short memory.

Remember Mang Pandoy who was former president Fidel Ramos’ model to fight the problem of poverty? Mang Pandoy symbolized the plight and condition of an ordinary Filipino who strives hard to fight poverty. And because of his courage and dedication to improve life, Mang Pandoy became a bit successful. He managed to put up a sari-sari store and was able to send his children to school. But after the Ramos administration exploited him, where’s Mang Pandoy now? I think he’s back in the squatter’s area and still struggling to survive.

During her first Sona in 2001, President Arroyo presented three children from families residing at Smokey Mountain, a garbage dumpsite in Metro Manila where thousands of squatters live. The children, according to Arroyo, sent her a letter through “bangkang papel” (paper boat), which reached Malacañang via the Pasig River. The children were asking if the Arroyo administration could send them to school and if their parents could own a decent house, which they could call home.

The three children represent the millions of children from the underprivileged sector that want to go to school but cannot because their parents cannot afford it. They also symbolize the problem on squatting, where thousands of families have been forced to live in squatter areas and dumpsites.

So how are the children now? I don’t know if Arroyo has fulfilled her promise to them and to the millions of children from poor families who want to go to school? Is the Arroyo administration giving much attention to education, which, under our Constitution, has the biggest budget? I doubt. If you go to the rural areas or even in the urban areas, there is always a shortage of school buildings, teachers and school educational materials. The quality of public education has been deteriorating.

I doubt if parents of these children and the millions of Filipinos who are in the same boat are able to uplift their living condition in the squatter areas. Yes, there is a government “pabahay program” through the housing loan of Pag-ibig but it is not enough to solve the problem of squatting. What about the problem of unemployment? The unemployment rate is still high.

I focus on these issues because I feel that these are the important problems that need to be addressed by this present administration and the next government.

Imelda Marcos and her PGH case

Imelda Marcos and her PGH case

The former First Lady’s visit to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on Tuesday, July 17, provided the occasion for one newspaper to describe that event as a visit to the scene of her crime and to pillory her once again. The PGH case, incidentally, represents the only conviction she has suffered from the barrage of criminal cases filed against her, of which there remain only about 50. Some nine years after the Supreme Court reversed the Sandiganbayan’s decision convicting her, it should now be possible to look with an unjaundiced eye at that case and the legal basis for her acquittal. The public will be surprised to find out that it is the government, and not the Supreme Court or Mrs. Marcos, which has much to be embarrassed about.

Mrs. Marcos, as chairman of the PGH Foundation, and Minister Jose P. Dans, as ex-officio vice-chairman of the Light Rail Transit Authority, entered into an agreement in which the LRTA leased to the foundation property for a monthly rental of P102,760 for 25 years. Thereafter Mrs. Marcos on behalf of the foundation subleased the property to a third party for P734,000.

Mrs. Marcos and Minister Dans were charged with violating Section 3(g) of the Antigraft and Corrupt Practices Act. The elements of said crime are: that the accused acted as a public officer; and that the contract or transaction entered into is manifestly and grossly disadvantageous to the government.

Both elements of the crime were not proven. Mrs. Marcos signed the Lease Agreement as the chairman of a private foundation, the PGH Foundation, and not as ex-officio chairman of the Transit Authority, a position she held by virtue of being the Minister of Human Settlements. There was no evidence to show that she was present when the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority authorized and approved the lease agreement. Hence, the prosecution failed to prove that she acted as a public officer.

To counteract that, the prosecution relied on the theory that she acted in conspiracy with Minister Dans. However, the Sandiganba­yan, in acquitting Minister Dans and convicting Mrs. Marcos, found there to be no conspiracy between them. Hence, according to the Supreme Court, “it is utterly illogical to acquit Dans who entered into the contract ‘on behalf of the government’ and convict Marcos who signed the same in her capacity as Chairman of … a private enterprise.”

The prosecution also did not prove the second element. Its case rested on the disparity between the rental price of the lease agreement and that of the sublease agreement. It did not offer in evidence even a single lease contract covering a property within the vicinity of the said leased premises. On the other hand, a real estate appraiser testified, as an expert witness for the defense, that the reasonable rental rate at that time was P73,000 per month.

The Court offered another reason why the lease agreement could not have been disadvantageous. The rental income realized by the Foundation “from the sublease agreement augmented the financial support for and improved the management and operation of the Philippine General Hospital, which is, after all, a government hospital of the people and for the people.”

Finally, “the procedural flaws” committed by the trial court, of which at least six were enumerated, were “fatal to the validity of [the] decision.” Among these flaws was the phenomenon of a sitting justice personally conducting the cross-examination of a defense witness. The process was described as a “rigmarole,” and that justice’s “bias and prejudice” were exposed and his “lack of impartiality” not refuted. Consequently, the Supreme Court found her right to due process violated and the decision void.

Ultimately, what is most disturbing about her prosecution and conviction is that ever since her exile, Mrs. Marcos has been vilified by the government and the press as wickedly greedy, corrupt and rapacious. Hence, hundreds of civil and criminal cases were filed against her. The government eventually achieved a victory and she was sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison. But the victory was a disgraceful one.

Mrs. Marcos did not personally benefit from the transaction. Rather, it was a government hospital, designed to service the poor and the needy, which stood to profit in the amount of P631,240 a month in much-needed revenue for 25 years. Her imprisonment, rather than proving her to be corrupt, would only establish that the government was hell-bent on sending her to jail at all costs, risking the consequences that an unfair decision would bring. For the government would be penalizing Mrs. Marcos for her imaginative schemes which enabled social welfare institutions to remain viable with minimal financial support from the government, a punishment conceivably resulting in the elevation of her status as the compassionate champion of the forlorn and the destitute to that of a martyr.

Making housing affordable for lower and middle-income earners

Making housing affordable for lower and middle-income earners

BASED on available statistics, middle-income earners constitute 23 percent of the labor force. Many of these middle-income earners do not own the house they reside in and part with a substantial portion of their income for house rentals. As they constitute a sizeable chunk of the population in need of housing, the government is providing opportunities for this sector to avail of housing loans. The decisions of the Pag-IBIG Fund to reduce interest rates from 9 to 7 percent opens the gate to middle-income earners to avail of housing finance.

Under the new loan package, loans worth above P300,000 up to P700,000 will have an annual interest of only 7 percent, while loans under P300,000 will carry a 6 percent per annum interest. The new package was announced recently by Vice President Noli L. De Castro who is concurrent Chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.

The new round of reduced interest rates sustains the Pag-IBIG Fund’s thrust that started in 2006 to effectively address the affordability problem of the lower-income brackets that comprise about 77 percent of the work force. In addition to reduced interest rates, the Pag-IBIG Fund is streamlining loan procedures and requirements. To enhance the Fund’s viability, it will improve its collection efficiency and its return on investments, speed up the disposition of its acquired assets, improve organizational efficiency, and diversify income sources.

We commend the Pag-IBIG Fund for continually expanding the opportunities for the lower and middle income brackets to own their own homes.