Abolish Pork barrel politics

Read this first: RP heading in the wrong direction

UPDATE: So ito ang lagay ng ating bansa ngayon. What to do? para sa akin, ito ang dapat gawin:

- cut wasteful spending
- abolish pork barrel
- reduce corruption
- restore and strengthen the checks and balance to help make gov't more accountable
- do a better job of tax collection
- become "eligible" for the millennium challenge account
- amend the constitution to remove restrictions and open economy to investors

and finally

- reduce taxes

cut wasteful spending - like Arroyo 1.2 billion intelligence fund na ginagamit nila laban sa opposition, lalo na nung 2004 elections. self explanatory.

abolish the pork barrel
Hard to believe, pero of all people, gusto ni Erap na i-abolish ang pork barrel para mabawasan ang pork barrel politics at corruption sa bansa natin. We know the guy got impeached, but still, his ideas make more sense to me than Arroyo's. Weird talaga.

Sacrifice and discipline are the buzz-words of the incoming administration of Estrada (who now insists that his family name Ejercito be restored, as Estrada is a stage name from his days as an action star). And the 61-year-old college dropout is determined that everyone—not just himself and his aides—pitches in for the good of the nation. He has vowed to: put an end to the pork-barrel or public-works projects controlled by congressmen; streamline the bureaucracy, which could mean layoffs of state workers; ensure that the moneyed classes pay their share of the taxes; allow greater foreign ownership of banks and real estate; and strip the Supreme Court of the power to review the government's economic decisions.

Pati si Congressman Sergio Apostol nagalit dati.

Cutting congressional pork is another of Estrada's strategies to improve the country's finances. Pork has made Congress a den of corruption, maintains the president-elect. He says the practice eats up 20% of the $14 billion national budget and half of that goes to payoffs to congressmen for endorsing funded public-works projects. For their part, congressmen insist pork is an effective way to funnel development funds to the countryside, which cannot otherwise get allocations from Manila. We will not allow Estrada to abolish pork, vows Lakas congressman Sergio Apostol.

Sergio Apostol, if you'll recall, is one of Erap's impeachment prosecutors.

Bel Aquino, in her 1998 article, said this about mr. estrada's other "obsession":

His other obsession -- to abolish pork-barrel politics -- is being received better by the public, because it hits at the core of Philippine official corruption.

The Bishops-Businessmen's Conference (BBC) seemed to like the idea too back then:

Manila, July 13, 1998 - The Bishops-Businessmen's Conference (BBC) is in full support of President Estrada's decision to abolish the controversial "pork barrel" of legislators in a move to eliminate graft and corruption. The support was given at the end of the 22nd General Assembly and Annual Meet of the BBC at the Manila Hotel.

Scrapping the "pork barrel" is one of the radical measures being adopted by the Estrada administration in order to meet the country's financial needs. The funds, Estrada proposed, should instead go directly to projects that would benefit the poor.

The pork barrel issue has polarized the members of the House of Representatives, with blocks for and against the proposal strongly arguing their respective positions and threatening the solidarity of the President's coalition party LAMP.

Hindi naman mahirap i-give up yung pork eh. Nagawa ito ni Mr. Drilon, Mr. Lacson at Mr. Fred Lim. Good for them!

And you can bet your ass na Pork barrel and gov't money will play a major role in the 2007 elections. babaha ang pera sa mga congressmen supporters ni Arroyo para mai-re elect sila. IMO, all things being equal, matatalo ang pro-Arroyo candidate sa isang Anti-Arroyo candidate, but the millions of gov't/pork barrel funds (and philhealth cards) many of these pro Arroyo candidates will receive from the admin is A GREAT EQUALIZER.

So my advice to the challengers is to make pork barrel politics/corruption and issue and by promising to the voters that they will not take any pork barrel money if they're elected to their terms in office. get pork barrel out of politics, dahil malaking tulong yan sa bayan natin. Kasi alam natin na malaki ang temptation na gamitin ang pork barrel money para sa election campaign (kagaya ng ginawa ni Arroyo) o ibulsa ito. Ping lacson said na 50% of the pork money is pocketed by corrupt politicians.

You can read more about my abolish pork barrel idea here and how to do it. pinaghirapan ko rin isulat yan dati. heh heh...

reduce corruption
Abolishing the pork barrel helps. Removing Arroyo and cleaning house within the military, COMELEC, PNP and the justice department helps. Going after Pidal will restore confidence in the justice system. Restoring and strengthening the checks and balance within the system helps. Hearing news like these does not give us any confidence. I guess, in Arroyo's world si erap at lacson lang ang corrupt. LOL.

Restore/strengthen checks and balance and make gov't more accountable
Continued implementation of EO 464 does not help. Calling for the abolition of the Senate does not help. (if philstar link does not work, try this).

Palace: Time to abolish Senate
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 06/11/2006

The time has come to abolish the Senate by replacing the current form of government with a single-legislature parliamentary system because the chamber has become obstructive, Malacañang said yesterday.

The Senate produced 12 bills that were signed into law by President Arroyo, a piddling effort according to two administration allies in the House of Representatives.

Deputy Majority Leader Antonio Cerilles and Rep. Exequiel Javier said the Senate’s output "caused the dismal performance of the 13th Congress."

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the Senate failed to act on several important pieces of legislation needed for the country’s economic recovery.

"We lament the non-passage of vital reform bills, including the national budget, due to the non-cooperation and dilly-dallying displayed by the Senate," Bunye said in a statement.

He said the "gridlock caused by the Senate has hindered confidence in our economy, stunted opportunities for growth with social equity and hampered the pursuit of national security because of several key pieces of legislation that are gathering dust in the upper chamber."

Bunye said the situation "is the clearest and best" argument for Mrs. Arroyo’s call to replace the current US-style presidential system with a parliamentary form of government "for which we now have a growing momentum of public support."

Well, invoking EO 464 slows things down, ano? A gov't that has something to hide and trying to obstruct justice is not healthy for our democracy. And trying to abolish the senate is just plain cuckoo. Obviously, this kind of hostile black propaganda by a pro-Arroyo newspaper is a little disturbing.

We might end up looking like Belarus, diba ambassador kenney?

Do a better job of tax collection
Only going after celebrities associated with the opposition is not enough. What about pidal? Is he paying the right amount of taxes? What about nani perez? the admin should go hard after all tax evaders.

become "eligible" for the millennium challenge account
yes, we got some assistance from the MCA because we qualified for the threshold program. $21 Million ang nakuha natin. which is nice, until you realize na mas malaki ang natatanggap ng ibang bansa with "elibible" status. Like the $547 mil Ghana received to combat poverty.

at kapag nasa threshold status ka lang, the money is not guaranteed.

As with the core MCA program, being declared eligible for Threshold Program assistance does not guarantee a country will receive such assistance. Only Threshold Country Plans demonstrating a meaningful reform commitment and a high likelihood of successful implementation are awarded Threshold Program assistance. Further, participation in the Threshold Program does not guarantee eligibility for MCA Compact funding, which continues to depend on a country's performance on the applicable MCA selection criteria.

Reducing corruption will help our country qualify for more needed asssitance from the MCA, which ain't gonna happen as long as the illegitimate one is still running the show. I know this will not help.

Amend the constitution to remove restrictions and open economy to investors
We don't need to change our entire political system and rewrite the constitution. We only need to amend or repeal provisions in the constitution that restrict economic activities.

Katulad nang sinabi ni Neal Cruz:

The US Constitution is still the same one that its founding fathers wrote. It has been amended several times, but it has not been changed even once. And America is now the richest and most powerful nation in the world, with a bicameral Congress like we have.

So let's amend our Constitution provision by provision, and the people can vote yes or no for each one. Changing the whole Charter at once mixes the good provisions with the bad ones, and the people have to vote for or against all in the plebiscite. In voting for the good provisions, they are forced to vote also for the bad ones.

And let's have a Cha-cha after the current politicians are out of office.

I agree. And it's interesting what Winnie Monsod said na there is no basis for the assumption that liberalizing economic provisions would necessarily invite more investments:

In a forum sponsored by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), former planning secretary Solita Monsod said there is no basis for the assumption that removing or liberalizing economic provisions would induce foreign direct investments (FDIs). The proposed reforms include lifting restrictions on foreign ownership of land, natural resources, public utilities, media and advertising.

Monsod said amending the Constitution is not likely to open any new doors to foreign direct investment because "they are already open" through the use of other means.

She said foreign investors are in fact "in happy control or in beneficial ownership, either by liberal interpretation, or by redefinition through legislation, or the use of creative and financial and other instruments."

"Changing the Constitution or liberalizing or removing the economic provisions is like somebody has a diarrhea and you try to cure the diarrhea by fixing the toilet seat," she said.

She has a point. Marami namang mga foreign investments at businesses dati sa atin eh. Yan lang nga, nung tumaas ang cost of doing business dito sa bansa natin (taxes, high electricity costs), most of these foreign businesses packed up and headed to thailand, vietnam or china instead, where the labor is much cheaper than ours.

So even if you make it easier for foreigners, hindi necessarily na babaha ng investments dito sa atin dahil nga mas magastos mag-start ng business dito kaysa sa ibang bansa. Siguro, more call centers lang muna ang makukuha natin, lol.

And this is interesting: Charter change has no proposal on opening economy

The spokesmen for the government-funded Charter Change Advocacy Commission and the government-initiated "people's initiative" keep harping on the benefits of opening up the economy to foreign investors as a justification for changing the Constitution. This is incomprehensible, because opening up of the economy is nowhere in their proposal.

All they are actually proposing is the wholesale replacement of 55 sections in Articles VI and VII of the Constitution, which would change the structure of government from presidential to parliamentary.

Nowhere do they propose changes in the provisions in the Constitution restricting foreign investment, which are contained in one section in Article XII, one section in Article XIV and one section in Article XVI.

They are trying to justify changing the Charter on the basis of a change that they are not proposing at all. This is deception of the most blatant kind.

That they are forced to resort to such tactics is the clearest indication that they simply cannot justify, on its own merits, a shift to a parliamentary system.

It is puzzling that these Charter-change advocates do not bother to explain and justify to the Filipino people why they want to give our national politicians more power and effectively remove restrictions on their pork barrel allocations. Could their desperate desire to concentrate power in the proposed parliament be linked to the allegation that some people may have already been promised appointive seats in that parliament? Just asking.

DR. RENE B. AZURIN (dissenting member of the now-defunct Consultative Commission, and signatory to One Voice), Diliman, Quezon City (via e-mail)

Lowering taxes
later...