By Rey O. Arcilla
Malaya
Malaya
‘It would seem to me that the GCG has failed miserably in its assigned task. I wonder how much in per diem and bonuses its commissioners receive. They should make that public.’
Robert Vergara
PRESIDENT Noynoy Aquino’s tuwid na daan slogan seems to be turning out to be just that – a slogan.
“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” also appears to be inexorably headed in the same direction.
“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” also appears to be inexorably headed in the same direction.
When he took over the reins of government more than three years ago, Noynoy bitterly criticized government-controlled and –owned corporations (GOCCs), singling out the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, for the unbelievably obscene emoluments and perks received by their officials and employees.
Lately, after the Social Security System (SSS) board directors had been roundly criticized for giving themselves P1 million bonus each, it was revealed that 19 GOCCs have slid back to the same pernicious practice, courtesy of the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG).
A little bird told me, for instance, that the eight (8) members of the Board of Trustees of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will get more than the SSS directors got when they each receive P1.25 million bonus for 2012. The amount has already been approved by the GCG but not yet collected, I’m told. Afraid they might get pilloried like the SSS directors?
On top of that, the same little bird told me that the GSIS trustees meet every week with each receiving P40,000 per meeting. That means they make the minimum amount of P160,000 a month! Wow! I know of two big private corporations (one of which is reputedly the biggest in Southeast Asia) that pay only P20,000 per board meeting. And they generally meet only once a month.
And to think that the job of trustees/directors is mainly ministerial in nature, especially of GOCCs!
As someone familiar with GSIS told me: “Simple rin gumawa si ‘Pretty Boy’ ng pera. Iyan ang reform ng daang matuwid. Pero mga employees, gutom.”
As someone familiar with GSIS told me: “Simple rin gumawa si ‘Pretty Boy’ ng pera. Iyan ang reform ng daang matuwid. Pero mga employees, gutom.”
I understand “Pretty Boy” is the monicker given to GSIS chief Robert Vergara by the staff of the government pension fund. Fondly or otherwise, I wasn’t told.
It would seem to me that the GCG has failed miserably in its assigned task, i.e., to safeguard the interest of the poor members of the GSIS and the SSS and the rest of Noynoy’s bosses in the case of the other GOCCs.
I wonder how much the GCG commissioners receive in terms of per diem and how often they meet and, of course, how much bonus, if any, they gave themselves in years past. They should make that public as well.
***
I wonder why future ex-Senate President Franklin Drilon was included in Noynoy’s ill-timed state visit to South Korea. (The South Korean government would have readily understood if he had requested the postponement of the visit on account of the tragedy that struck Bohol and Cebu.) The voluble deputy Malacañang mouthpiece said Drilon wanted to belatedly thank personally the South Koreans for their help in funding some infrastructure projects in his province sometime ago. Ang babaw naman!
Could it be Noynoy and Drilon wanted time to privately discuss the matter of summoning Queen of Pork Janet Lim-Napoles to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings? Drilon was supposed to sign the subpoena for Napoles last Thursday but deferred it until after his return from South Korea.
It must have been a long tete-a-tete the two had. Let’s watch what happens.
***
Drilon was quoted as saying that there is no consensus among the senators to abolish their P200 million pork barrel from the 2014 budget.
I suggest that he name those senators who are balking at removing the pork when the proper time comes. The people have the right to know.
***
He’s done it again!
Almost every time Noynoy goes abroad, he mentions the rice importation anomaly in the National Food Authority (NFA) during the unlamented Arroyo regime. He, of course, never cites the fact that during his term, there were also allegations of irregularity in the agency.
Noynoy told the South Koreans that the unnecessary rice importation during Arroyo’s time caused the NFA’s P12-billion debt to balloon to P177 billion in nine years.
“My predecessor had us believe that the country needed to import 1.3 million metric tons of rice every year,” he said.
“In 2010 alone, they allowed the importation of 2.5 million metric tons, and actually imported two million metric tons of rice – grossly in excess of what was needed, overpriced, and finally with many sacks of rice ending up rotting in warehouses,” he added.
This matter has been number one in my list of Reminders below for a long time now. What, if I may again ask, has been done to have the perpetrators of this heinous crime brought to justice? It has been more than three years. Noynoy himself claimed there is documentary evidence enough to send the guilty to jail.
Your bosses want to know, Mr. President.
***
Incidentally, I noticed in the picture showing the South Korean and Philippine panels during their formal meeting in Seoul that Foreign Secretary Albert “Amboy” del Rosario was seated to the left of Noynoy and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to his right. It should have been the other way around!
So, who could be responsible for the breach of protocol? Who made the seating plan? The hosts? Was Nonoy’s protocol chief consulted? Or our ambassador? Both are career officers who know that the foreign secretary always takes precedence over all other cabinet members, especially abroad.
So, who? Noynoy? Hmm…
***
Noynoy invited South Korean businessmen to invest more in our country.
His invitation accentuates the need to facilitate the adjudication of the bribery complaint of the head of the Czech corporation Inekon and the Czech ambassador against Metro Rail Transit (MRT) head Al Vitangcol, et al. Inekon wanted to sell coaches to MRT.
As I said before, how the case is handled will affect significantly the flow of foreign direct investments into the country. For instance, remember how German investments were adversely affected because of the NAIA 3 scandal?
***
When Noynoy blames the Arroyo regime for the steep decline in his popularity rating, he is only partly correct. He shouldn’t forget that the pork barrel scam, among others, segued into his term.
In my view, all he had to do to arrest the decline was and is to unequivocally declare that he is shunning all forms of pork barrel. Place the burden of catering to his bosses’ needs on the shoulders of his cabinet secretaries and heads of all other government agencies. Let them do their jobs. All that he and his trusted lieutenants have to do is to monitor, prod, and threaten them with the wrath of hell when they goof. As he himself has admitted, he is not superman.
What he should be is a “bastonero”. He should stop thinking politics. He cannot run again anyway. And as long as he puts in place all that is needed to make it difficult, if not impossible, for any successor to scuttle the reforms he institutes, his place in history as the reformist president would be secure.
***
Taiwan’s Supreme Court had just rejected the final appeal of five judges and upheld their conviction by a lower court for bribery. They were meted sentences ranging from ten to twenty years in prison. The bribery scandal took place three years ago.
Our Supreme Court which has just created a committee to investigate influence peddlers in the judiciary who allegedly fix cases by bribing judges should take a page from our neighbor.
***
Senator Miriam Santiago said that anybody who doesn’t think there was a message in the traffic chaos recently caused by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) in Manila is a fool. Maybe…
I only wish the sect had been more open and specific about what its message was. And how I wish it is the same demand of the majority of the Filipinos, i.e., for Noynoy to abolish all kinds of pork barrel. If the Catholic Church can do it, why not the INC? Is it for or against pork barrel? It should have its voice heard loud and clear on this one.
***
Reminders: (for Noynoy’s action):
1) Filing of charges against officials of the National Food Authority (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency.
2) Investigation of reported anomalies in the GSIS during the watch of Winston Garcia and ordering his successor, Robert Vergara, to file the proper charges, if warranted, against the former.
Noynoy should also order Vergara to report to him on COA’s findings that:
(a) He received the obscenely excessive compensation of P16.36 million last year making him the highest paid government servant and;
(b) That, as of four or five months ago, at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.
COA also said the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have so far responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.
There are three questions being raised when remittances, or parts thereof, of government agencies are not recorded by the GSIS on time: a) Where are these huge sums “parked” in the meantime?; b) Do they earn interest?; and c) To where (whom?) does the interest, if any, go?
3) Facilitating the investigation of rampant corruption in the military and police establishments.
4) Expeditious action by the AFP on the case of Jonas Burgos.
***
Today is the 177th day of the seventh year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.
The Justice Department has dismissed the charges against several of those accused in Jonas’ disappearance. Cleared were former AFP chiefs of staff Hermogenes Esperon and Alexander Yano, ex-PNP chief Avelino Razon, retired Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino, Brig. Gen. Eduardo Ano and Lt. Col. Melquiades Feliciano. Only Maj. Harry Baliaga will be charged for arbitrary detention, murder and obstruction of justice on the disappearance of Jonas.
“Pwedeng kasuhan ang kamay ng krimen pero ang utak ay hindi?” rued Lorena Santos, daughter of a desaparecido like Jonas.
Mr. President, is this what you meant when you called for a “focused, dedicated and exhaustive” probe of what really happened to Jonas?
***
From an internet friend:
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***
Email: roacrosshairs@outlook.com
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