Pasasalamat at paglilinaw

Sa daan-daang nagsipagpadala ng text messages at e-mail, o tawag sa telepono na ang iba’y hindi ko na nasagot, o hindi pa nasasagot sa e-mail, marami pong salamat sa inyong pagbati, kalakip ang pa nalangin na nawa’y maging karapat-dapat sa inyong tiwala, maging sa Pangulong Noynoy Aquino.

Sa loob ng tatlong araw mula nu’ng Huwebes na nagdaan kung kailan ako pumasok sa tanggapan ng National Food Authority, patuloy kong inaalam ang mga masalimuot na suliranin ng naturang ahensiya at nang makapagplano nang wasto sa dapat na gawin. Maging nu’ng Sabado, ako’y nakipag-meeting sa ilang mga nakakaalam ng kalakalan ng bigas, matapos na dalawin ang ating kaibigang si Arsobispo Oscar Cruz upang makidalangin at humingi ng basbas. Noong Linggo naman, anupa’t ang sermon ni Monsignor Gerry Santos ay ukol sa “compassion”, ang pagtulong sa mga mahihirap, na sa katunayan ay siya ring pangunahing layunin sa pagtatag ng NFA. At ang aking pinagsisimbahan kapag Linggo ay ang simbahan ni San Isidro, patron ng magsasaka.

Pagkat pangunahing responsibilidad ng NFA ay tulungan ang mga magsasaka upang makatanggap ng sapat na kita sa kanilang palay at mais at nang hindi mabiktima ng ilang mga mapagsamantalang “middlemen”. Dapat ay kumita sila at nang hindi tigilan ang pagtanim ng mga pangunahing pagkain ng mga Pilipino. Subalit, responsibilidad din namin na siguruhing may sapat na bigas sa merkado at sa presyong abot-kaya, ma ging ng mga mahihirap.

Sa pitak na ito, nais ko lamang linawin ang mga patama galing sa ilang sektor ng media ukol sa pagkakahirang ko bilang pinuno ng NFA. Binigyan kasi ng anggulong ito’y pagbibigay kay Senador Ping Lacson ng kasalukuyang administrasyon. Napaka-unfair sa senador na hanggang ngayon ay wala sa bansa, dahil nga sa naging biktima ng hindi patas na hustisya mula sa pamahalaang Arroyo. Huwag sana nating kalimutan na minadali ni Agnes Devanadera ang pagsasampa ng kaso kay Lacson batay sa napatunayang pagsisinungaling ni Cezar Mancao sa korte na ang basehan pa man din ay hearsay na, fabricated pa. Malinaw pa nga na matapos na magpalabas ng warrant of arrest si Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez ng RTC-Manila ay kaliwaang hinirang siya sa Court of Appeals bilang kabayaran ng nagdaang rehimen. Dahil dito ay hindi nakapagkampanya si Lacson para kay P-Noy at kami namang mga malapit sa kanya ay tumulong sa pagpapanalo kay P-Noy dahil sa aming taimtim na paniniwalang siya ang magbibigay ng tunay na reporma at pagbabago sa ating kaawa-awang bansa.

Nagkataong nagkasabay ang pag-anunsyo ng aming appointment ni Gen. Magtanggol Gatdula, isang karapat-dapat na abogado at mahusay na opisyal ng kapulisan, bilang bagong Director-General ng NBI. Tanong ko nga lamang sa mga pilit na ginagawan ng malisya ang pagkakahirang sa akin na tila ba’y pagbibigay kay Ping Lacson -- bakit, ano ba ang magagawa ng NFA para sa kanyang suliranin sa batas? Padadalhan ko ba siya ng libreng bigas, sakaling siya’y madetine sa kung saan pagbalik niya?

Hintayin na lang sana natin ang resolusyon ng kanyang mga mosyon sa korte, dahil wala na sa kamay maski ng DOJ ang kaso, matapos na isinampa ni Devanadera at mga tuta niya.

Gayunpaman, ipinagmamalaki ko ang pagiging kaibigan ni Ping Lacson. At kung ang pag-uusapan ay ang NFA, ito ang tahasan kong sasabihin: Korapsyon at kapalpakan ang ugat ng maraming suliranin ng NFA, lalo na sa nagdaang rehimeng Arroyo na walang habas na pinagsamantalahan ma ging ang sektor ng agrikultura. At si Ping Lacson ay hindi korap at laban sa korapsyon. Wala namang human rights na isyu sa NFA, para sa mga naninira sa kanya.

Iyan po ang pagpapalinaw ko ukol sa walang basehang pilit na pagdikit kay Lacson sa aking pagkakahirang. Mag-isip naman sana ang ilan bago bumatikos o pumuna.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-13 ng Hulyo, 2010

Setting things straight

‘What connection does Lacson’s persecution have to do with the NFA?’

LET me use this space to thank all those who sent text messages, called up or wrote by e-mail to congratulate me on the occasion of my appointment by President Aquino to the post of Administrator of the National Food Authority.

I am heartened by the expressions of support, especially since the NFA which I inherited has huge financial obligations, which ballooned seven-fold in the last seven years of the Arroyo administration.

People who are shocked at the numbers of NFA indebtedness should however know that the mandate of the agency is not to produce black ink at the bottom line, as it was established for a two-fold subsidy role. One, to serve as a market mechanism to ensure that the palay and corn farmers are not at the total mercy of middlemen who take advantage of their lack of capital and urgency to sell for their livelihood. And two, which makes the financial operations even more difficult, we must try to achieve price stability, apart from supply stability, to the consuming public. NFA is not a profit center; it is a prime service center for the most basic of food staples.

This is not to say that things have been hunky-dory in the organization which I began to head since July 8. Our warehouses are presently over-flowing because of extremely heavy rice importations done in the past three years. This was an offshoot of the world-wide rice crisis when the Philippines found itself the largest importer of rice in the world, not at all something the Arroyo regime can be proud of. But, hunger had to be staved, and over-reaction or not, the situation, though slightly improved, remains a gargantuan task of producing enough to sustain our consumption of the grain.

Still, I have much more to learn, much more to analyze, many places in the country to visit, much more figures and documents to study. Marketing rice for more than 90 million consumers is far removed from my business in the late 70’s of fruit marketing, where I used to contract the produce of Davao farms, later Laguna and even Mindoro, and supply these wholesale to the Metro Manila market. The areas of operation may be the same --- buying, warehousing, transporting, handling, and selling, but the difference, apart from awesome volumes, is that fruits, the ones I sold especially, cater to the rich; rice is for everyone, and subsidized rice is for the poor.

One of those who did not know whether to congratulate me or to commiserate with the difficult responsibilities I shall forthwith undertake, was our publisher, boss Jake Macasaet, himself a gentleman farmer of fruits and vegetables in balmy Lipa. He asked me not to give up writing in this space, as did my immediate superior, Secretary Procy Alcala of the Department of Agriculture. But the load may be too heavy, and I may have to write more sparsely, and perhaps with much less political color.

Let me straighten certain rather unseemly comments aired in broadcast media, a few in print, regarding the coincidence of my having been appointed by President Noynoy to NFA at about the same time as my good friend Atty. Magtanggol Gatdula, retired police general whose sterling record in the PNP would make him a very effective head of the National Bureau of Investigation. Because both of us happen to be confidantes of Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, who deliberately refused to face an unjustly-issued warrant of arrest issued by a transactional judge now appointed to the Court of Appeals by the queen of transactional governance, some quarters have slanted their reportage on simple appointments to political payback in favor of someone who was unable to help in the campaign for change and good governance personified by President Noynoy.

While I can understand the connection insofar as the NBI is concerned, what connection does Lacson’s persecution have to do with the NFA? Would I, as friend, give free rice to him if and when he is detained by the NBI? In any event, Lacson’s case is with the trial courts, not even with the DOJ under whose previous watch a clear abuse of prosecutorial powers was unleashed against the most dedicated political enemy of the Arroyos.

Still and all, I see a possible connection. The NFA is plagued by corruption, a disease not particular to it, but to the entire bureaucracy, judicial, legislative and executive, national as well as local, as it is to society itself, even religious institutions. And Panfilo M. Lacson is nemesis to corruption. I am privileged to have helped him in his lonely crusades. I am proud of that, as I am of being his friend.

There are those who scourge him on the altar of supposed human rights violations, but as far as the NFA is concerned, human rights is not an issue. It is corruption, mostly inflicted by orders of those who made Malacañang stink more than the river beside it which is at the least getting cleaned up by civil society efforts.

And perhaps in the near future, another friend of Lacson, NBI’s Gatdula would be conscripted by customs officialdom to assist them in battling the rampant smuggling of oil, of textiles, of comestibles, and yes…rice.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Back to government

‘After almost ten years in the private sector, I now go back to the folds of public service.’

LAST Tuesday, I was in the office of the Executive Secretary, Atty. Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., where after a half-hour meeting where many other things were discussed, I was informed that the President was disposed to appoint me to head the National Food Authority as its administrator.

On my way out of the presidential offices now back to the Guest House where I used to inflict my presence upon about a decade back, as presidential adviser on political affairs of then President Joseph Estrada, the new President Noy called me to join him and his group for merienda. And for the next thirty minutes or so, together with him and DBM Secretary Butch Abad, DILG Usec Rico E. Puno, and senior deputy executive secretary Amorado, we had soft drinks, ham and cheese sandwiches, and chicharon from Cagayan de Oro, which are truly one of the best in the country. Then, P-Noy was off to an engagement outside Malacañang.

Early Wednesday morning, the Executive Secretary surprised me with a text message congratulating me, as the President had signed my appointment, I guess the previous night, after coming back from his late afternoon or early evening engagement.

Yesterday, I met with Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to whose department the National Food Authority is an attached GOCC. I also went to the NFA offices nearby, for briefings from its senior career officials on the operations and finances of the agency. The secretary has himself been immersed in almost 24/7 briefings from the department’s officials, as well as the myriad agencies, bureaus and GOCC’s created to ensure sufficient food at affordable cost in every consumer’s table, while supporting the huge army of farmers and fishermen who altogether comprise more than half of the nation’s population. It is a most daunting responsibility that Secretary Alcala faces, himself a farmer and organizer of farm cooperatives in his erstwhile Quezon congressional district, next door to my native San Pablo in Laguna.

Today as you read this, I should be meeting the central office employees of the National Food Authority, as well as most of its regional honchos. Which is why this will be one of the shortest columns I have ever written for the Malaya. It may well be one of my last regular articles for this space. I have yet to talk with my editors and the publisher regarding this public service assignment and my journalistic utility value. I am most privileged to have been allowed to use this space as a columnist for the past six years by one of the nation’s most respected and truly crusading newspapers.

After almost ten years in the private sector, I now go back to the folds of public service. On March 8, 1986, the new president’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino of beloved memory, appointed me postmaster-general to preside over the nationwide network of basic communications then called the Bureau of Posts. It was under my watch that the initiative to convert the Bureau into the Philippine Postal Corporation began, and indeed, endorsed at committee level for plenary action by the late Rep. Benny Marquez of Quezon, who headed Government Reorganization.

I came back to formal public service after years of counseling several political luminaries in between private business commitments, when Joseph Ejercito Estrada was elected president 12 years ago. I was appointed to head the Philippine Tourism Authority, the operating arm of the Department of Tourism, and concurrently presidential adviser for political affairs.

Last week was the first time I re-entered the presidential palace since the fateful day of January 20, 2001 when President Estrada was forced to leave its premises. Last Tuesday afternoon was the first time I shared the table of another president after more than nine long years.

Today I embark on another odyssey in my life, this time in charge of an agency with far more responsibility than those I have led before, for the basic reason that it involves the most basic of the Filipino’s everyday requirements – food.

On Wednesday afternoon, the president’s sister, Mrs. Pinky Aquino Abellada, after learning about my appointment, sent me her felicitations along with the prayer that I would be able to help "bro" in "improving the lives of our needy countrymen". I was moved to tears by her message, and pledged to do my best to help her "bro", President Noy, whose father Ninoy and mother Cory initiated me into public service. I owe it to their kind memory to serve their son, the President, and through him, our people, as best I could.

I pray that my readers will find the time to wish me well.

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 09 July 2010

Ang magiging silbi ni VP Jojo Binay

Ngayong malinaw na na hindi tatanggap ng tungkuling atas ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino si Pangalawang Pangulong Jojo Binay, marami ang nagtatanong kung ano ang kanyang gagawin sa loob ng anim na taon ng halal na termino.

Una ay liwanagin nating hindi pang-anim na taon ang sabihin na nating indulto sa paninilbihan bilang miyembro ng gabinete ang siyang nais o binigkas ni VP Jojo. Sa ngayon na naiintindihan niya ang hirap ng pagbalanse sa nag-uumpugang interes, at dala ng katotohanang maraming nakasama si Pangulong Aquino sa nagdaang kampanya, at siya naman ay hindi, umiwas na muna siyang sumali sa gabinete.

Ngunit dahil sa inihalal siya ng higit sa 14 na milyong Pilipino, nais naman siyempre ng sambayanan na magamit ang kanyang dunong at galing sa serbisyo publiko. At tiyak namang hindi matutulog si VP Jojo sa kanyang halal na tungkulin at sa responsibilidad na kaakibat nito bilang tiwala ng bayan.

Sa aking konting pananaw, gagamitin ni Bise Presidente Jojo Binay ang pagkakataong ibinigay ng kawalan ng malinaw na tungkulin bilang paraan upang maglibot sa buong bansa, hindi lamang gaya ng naging bise-presidenteng si Diosdado Macapagal sa ating kasaysayan na naglibot nang naglibot at mistulang nangampanya ng apat na taon bago nga mahalal laban kay Pangulong Carlos P. Garcia noong 1961.

Imbes ay maaari siyang maging boses ng taumbayan. Yaman din lamang at maganda naman ang personal na relasyon nila ni Pangulong Aquino, sampu ng mahal nitong mga kapatid, makapagri-report si Bise Presidente Binay kay P-Noy, at nang palagi namang sayad sa lupa ang pananaw ng Pangulo.

Gaya nga ng sabi nito noong siya’y pinasinayaan at sumumpa sa Luneta noong Hunyo 30, “kayo ang aking boss” patungkol sa mamamayang kanyang taimtim na pagsisilbihan. Maaring si Jojo Binay ang siyang maging tulay sa pananaw ng sambayanan, hindi upang bumatikos o kumontra, kundi maging tagapag-alaala sa mga pangako ni P-Noy sa bayan. At kung ito’y gagawin niya sa pagnanais na makatulong sa tagumpay ng mga adhikain ni Pangulong Noynoy, magiging katanggap-tanggap ang ganitong sariling atas na responsibilidad.

Maraming mga adhikain si Pangulong Aquino na nais ipatupad, at siyempre aasahan ang mga miyembro ng kanyang gabinete at iba pang opisyal na siyang magpatupad sa pang-araw-araw na buhay ng mga ito. Ngunit sa dami ng suliraning minana, hindi naman kayang pangatawanan ng bagong halal na pangulo ang lahat ng mga suliraning ito, kaya’t kailangang tulungan siya ng lahat ng mamamayan. Yaman din lamang at hindi siya kasali sa opisyal na pamilya ni Pangulong Noynoy, malaking bagay kung si VP Jojo ang siyang magiging boses ng mga hinaing at maging papuri ng sambayanang pinaglilingkuran. Feedback mechanism at oversight, wika nga sa Ingles.

ABANTE para sa Huwebes, ika-08 ng Hulyo, 2010

The devil is in the committees

‘The 23 republics in the Senate do not always march to the beat of the Palace.’

OR the committee chairs, to be precise.

This is what Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan will soon discover, if he has not begun to discover, now that Sen. Franklin Drilon graciously gave way to the younger senator to become the Liberal Party’s Senate President presumptive. Both are friends who this writer hold in high esteem, and whoever of the two the LP chose as its champion against announced candidate Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party, the Senate would be in able hands.

The numbers game in the Senate is quite precarious. There are only 23 senators, one of whom, Sen. Antonio Trillanes, is in jail, and another, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is nowhere to be found. Assuming both are unavailable by the morning of July 26, there will be 21 senators to cast their vote for the chamber’s top officials, just before they troop to the Batasan in the afternoon to listen to the new President’s State of the Nation Address.

As there are no free lunches, the senior Sen. Frank, in giving way to Sen. Kiko, must have been sufficiently mollified with a promise of post and committee chairmanships. So too the come-backing Sen. Ralph Recto and the neophyte Sen. TG Guingona. Everything started within the party after all.

Now the four Liberals need nine more votes, at the least, to clinch the leadership of the Senate. Let us begin with those perceived to be their natural allies – Senators Serge Osmeña and Sen. Francis Escudero, both independents. Surely both have their own choices for committees to head. I would guess that Ralph, Serge and Chiz both in terms of expertise and inclination, would want to head Finance, which presides over the national budget. All three are highly qualified to head Finance in terms of experience and proximity to power. The President would naturally want an ally heading this all-too-powerful committee.

But then the Senate is the more independent of the two houses of Congress, and the new president knows this only too well, having just been there for three years and in the House for nine, before destiny placed him in Malacañang. The 23 republics in the Senate do not always march to the beat of the Palace.

Assuming Sen. Kiko could balance off the committee choices of the aforementioned, then he now has six votes, with seven more to go. There’s Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who has publicly stated that he would go for anyone but Manuel Villar, and expressed inclination to support the President’s candidate. But as Senate President, and a highly respected one by his peers, it is obvious to anyone who understands the power games in this country, that Enrile cannot just be given a sop. Once more, I would think the good senator from Cagayan would initially prefer Finance, which he has more than ably led in the past.

While they ran and won handily together in the same party of former President Joseph Estrada, it would be wrong to presume that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada would just follow the senior Enrile come what may. He would, I feel, prefer to remain Senate President pro-tempore, plus one or two choice committees to head. Let me guess: Public Services and Labor?

Assuming Sen. Kiko is able to rein in committee choices and inter-locking desires, he will by now have eight votes, still short of the magic 13. And it becomes trickier as it gets closer to the magic number.

Who could/would the next five senators be? It is at this point that we need to first identify those who can be safely presumed will go for Villar, come what may: Pia and Alan Cayetano, Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which with Villar is a base of six. Given the equation, once Sen. Kiko gets nine votes, he shall have strategically stalemated Villar. Remember that the magic number is 13, and the universe, unless Ping Lacson gets back in the nick of time, is 21 electors. If you have nine sewn up, you deprive the other side of the possibility of getting 13. Revisit your elementary algebra, or even plain arithmetic. 21 minus 9 is 12, which is one short of the magic 13.

Which makes the ninth vote the most crucial, after, and only after --- one has ascertained for sure, and in the Senate, unlike in the House, "certitude" is hardly ever sure until zero hour, especially as the new Congress opens. Who shall Number 9 be?

Sen. Kiko may be counting on my grade school classmate Sen. Tito Sotto, as megastar Sharon’s mother, Mrs. Elaine Gamboa Cuneta, is the elder sister of Sen. Tito’s gracious Helen. But Sen. Edgardo Angara, a compleat political gamesman as one could find, has built a bloc to bargain with, comprising himself, plus Senadora Loren, plus Majority Floor Leader Migs Zubiri, plus Senators Tito and Gringo Honasan. And, as per the "Magnificent 5" claims, Senators Bong Revilla and Lito Lapid. If the Bloc’s numbers are real, Sen. Kiko needs to deal with them as a group, whether the original 5 or the expanded 7. Remember that at this point, our count is yet 8, with five more to go.

Senators Bong and Lito’s committee chair preferences are predictable, but then again, into their second terms. Public Works for one and Games and Amusements for the other may no longer be enough. Additionally, Senator Bong has a father, the former senator, who now chairs the Philippine Reclamation Authority, which is an added bargaining chip. And Senator Lito has a son, Mark, the former governor of Pampanga, who is ensconced as head of the Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), the recently legislated phoenix of tourism risen from the now defunct Philippine Tourism Authority. Because of the political realities at the Senate, our friend Bertie Lim, the new Secretary of Tourism, may have to contend with someone not ideally situated, in an agency so critical to tourism success.

For Sen. Kiko, if he does not get Sen. Tito’s immediate assent despite affinity, may have to first nibble at the fringes of the Angara Bloc. If he gets Senator Bong, that gives him the ninth vote. Sen. Lito will be the tenth. By then, the magic 13 may start folding in, or rather, crumbling in. That means Senators Tito, plus Gringo. But wait!

That would still be short by one precious vote. Would it be Senator Migs? Or Senadora Loren? Or all to include Senator Edong for a total of not just 13, but 15?

Aha! The devil, as I said in the title, is in the committee chairmanships. Senator Edong would likely also want to chair Finance. Agriculture would also be a plum for him, and Senadora Loren, and Senador Migs. Maybe Honasan would be happy with Defense and/or Public Order. But then again he may want to expand his horizons. Senator Tito will surely want more than just the usual drugs problem to battle with.

And then again, who gets to be the Blue Ribbon chair? Or Ways and Means?

It’s pretty difficult terrain Senator Kiko will have to travel, and master, in the next three weeks. In the House, there are peers. In the Senate, there are independent republics. With the help of the President, it is easier to be Speaker of the House, than it is to be Senate President among equals of 23 members, even with the President’s help.

Good luck, my friend!

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Thursday, 08 July 2010

Simplifying government

‘Then it’s a simpler government, uniquely Filipino, still democratic, but more effective and efficient. What do you think?’

WHILE the resolution filed by Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo calling for charter change is quite likely motivated by ill-will rather than long-term systemic change, let me get this thought off my mind and share it with my readers. I have always been batting for simplifying government, and in small circles of friends, I have articulated so.

Maybe at the appropriate time (2011, perhaps), we should really sit down and revise our current fundamental law. There just are too many outmoded prohibitions in the Constitution, including those that pertain to ownership of land and sanctions against foreign investments that need to be reviewed in the light of changed and still evolving word economic conditions.

But let me in this article propose a simplified political structure.

I believe in the presidential form of government. Filipinos to my mind will always reserve for themselves the right to elect their supreme leader, the president, and will not delegate this to a group of legislators in parliament. So be it. Let us respect that sovereign will.

But let us go back to the two-party system. We have had twenty-four years of a multi-party system where still no ideological distinction separates one party from the other. Instead, political parties have degenerated into flags of convenience utilized by those with unstoppable presidential ambitions as vehicles for their candidacies.

Let us have block-voting for executive positions. Thus, we cannot cross party lines in our choice of vice-president for a president, or vice-governor for a governor, and a vice-mayor for a mayor. They must belong to the same political team or party. Thus, the ballot that needs to be filled for mayor will automatically credit the same vote for his team-mate, all the way to governor and president. It is not emphasis on checks and balances that should take precedence over teamwork and cohesion in management.

And let the vice-president be the presiding officer of the Senate, the vice-governor and vice-mayor presiding officers (as they do) of the respective legislative bodies.

But here I differ, in a most radical way:

I am for abolishing the election for municipal councilors, city councilors, provincial board members. In their stead, I propose that barangay chairmen compose the municipal and or city councils, and municipal mayors themselves compose the provincial board. How does this work?

First, let us prolong elective terms of everybody to six years. We will then hold one election for barangay chairmen and their kagawad, and another for president and his vice-president, regionally-elected senators, governors and their vice, city mayors and their vice, and municipal mayors with their vice-mayors likewise. Elections will be held every three years; one for barangay officials and the other for all others from president down to the mayor-vice-mayor team.

Thus, the barangay elections (one chairman and his vice, six kagawads, and no Sangguniang Kabataan) means that the neighborhood communities will write down only seven names in their ballots, easy and quick enough for uncomplicated canvass. They will sit for six years, with as many re-elections as their constituents want (no term limits). Of course, the number of barangays must be rationalized properly, unlike places like Manila with as many as 897 barangays, where a small street or a couple constitute one barangay already.

The barangay chairs automatically constitute themselves into the local legislative body or council. If there are only twelve barangays (some towns have even less), then they constitute the municipal council, with the elected vice-mayor as presiding officer. It there are so many (as in big cities), then they could elect among themselves, taking turns of three years even, two sets of councilmen among themselves. For instance, if Manila’s 897 barangays could be trimmed down to say, 180 barangays, with 30 barangays per district, the thirty chairmen elect among themselves 12 peers who will comprise their representatives to the council, with the first six serving a term of three years, and the next 6 serving the next three years.

Let’s face it. The barangay officials are the immediate governance link to the citizen. The mayor can delegate as much authority and responsibility as is needed to make the delivery of services more efficient and more organized. Why should there be another layer of policy-makers in the form of an elected city or town council? This change will make both elections and the local payroll much, much cheaper.

Similarly, all municipal mayors, being stakeholders by right in the province, should constitute the provincial legislature that approves the provincial budget, among other things, with the elected vice-governor acting as presiding officer. If there are far too many towns in a province like Pangasinan, or Cebu, or Bohol, then just like in the towns or cities with too many barangays, they could be divided in service periods of three years each within their six-year term.

Here’s another proposal that will get congressmen mad at me: Let us have a unicameral legislature for the first 12 years of the government under the new Constitution. That unicameral body ought to be a regionally-elected Senate. There are at present 17 regions, namely Regions 1, 2, CAR, 3, 4, 4-A (Mimaropa), 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, Caraga, ARMM and NCR. Let us elect three senators per region, for a total of 51 senators, regardless of area covered or population. This way, there will be 3 senators for huge Regions 3, 4 and NCR, the same number of 3 senators for lesser-populated but infinitely poorer CAR, ARMM, Caraga, 8 and 4-A.

This equal representation will allow more resources and attention to redress the focus in policy-making as well as budgeting in favor of a more equitable distribution of resources for the heretofore economically neglected regions. In time, they should be able to catch up in terms of infrastructure with the other wealthier and bigger regions.

Meanwhile, for twelve years (longer if the public consents in a referendum), there will be no House of Representatives. Just a Senate of 51 senators elected region-wide and not nationally, presided over by the elected Vice-President. The two political parties need not draft celebrities and tinseltown retirees as much as they do now. Instead, the regional population should be able to discern capabilities and character more closely because they have to choose among those who actually reside in their areas. Again, cheaper cost of electing senators, and a cost-efficient legislature as well.

Hence, in the national elections, we elect a president with his vice-president both from the same party; three (3) senators where we can vote crossing party-lines from those presented by their political parties (the highest 3 among the candidates); a governor along with his vice (or city mayor and his vice); a mayor along with his team-mate. That is all. Five names if you vote in a chartered or highly-urbanized city. Six if you vote in a municipality which is politically integrated to the province.

That simple. Automated or manual, results should be much easier and less prone to manipulate in the canvass. Three years later, we elect one barangay chair, with his vice-chair, and 6 kagawads. Seven names. Unlike our present synchronized system where we elect as many as thirty choices from a long list of as many as 350 names.

No term limits for barangay, municipal, city, gubernatorial and senatorial level officials need be provided in the new Constitution. One 6-year term for the President, just as we have at present. While elections will be held every three years, the elected officials serve for six years, not too short to be able to make a difference, and not too long if he makes no difference for better, and should be booted out in the next elections. A provision for recall may also be legislated.

Meanwhile, the Senate can rationalize the number of congressional districts for the time there will be a functional House of Representatives. My reason for disabling the bigger House in the meantime, or twelve years (two terms) after the ratification of the new Constitution is to give the nation a breather from too much politics, and the nation’s treasury from too much pork barrel.

Who knows? The people might find a simplified government structure with far less elected officials a boon during those twelve years, and find adding a House of Representatives with their myriad party-list members a bane.

Then it’s a simpler government, uniquely Filipino, still democratic, but more effective and efficient, both in terms of service and cost.

What do you think?

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 06 July 2010

Wangwang, atbp.

Kamangha-mangha ang pagtanggap ng sambayanan sa napakapayak na pagbabagong isinakatuparan mula nang magtalumpati si Pangulong Noynoy Aquino sa Luneta. Hindi lamang dahil nagpakitang gilas na bigla ang nagtutulug-tulugang pulis at LTO, kundi mismong ang bagong Pangulo ay hindi ipinagamit sa PSG ang kanilang wangwang. Higit pa riyan, siya mismo ay tumitigil sa pulang ilaw na nagpapahiwatig ng pagtigil, ayon sa trapiko. Sadyang hinangaan ito ng taumbayan na buwisit na buwisit na kasi sa pang-aabuso ng mga malalakas, makapangyarihan at mayayaman na tila baga’y naghahari sa ating bansa.

Samantala, parang walang pakialam si Donya Gloria, na ngayon ay kongresista na lamang mula sa Pampanga, pagkat naibalitang wala itong pakialam na humarurot ang convoy sa NLEX na hindi pa nagbayad ng toll fees! Ayaw tumigil, samantalang ang ordinaryong mamamayan ay kailangang huminto at magbayad. Sadyang sanay sa pagkaabusado.

Dahil sa mainit na pagtanggap sa pagpapatupad ng batas ukol sa pagbawal sa wangwang, marahil ay dapat na itong sundan ng maliliit pang mga pagbabago na madali namang isatupad, mga pagkakama­ling dapat ituwid, na hindi naman nangangailangan ng bagong batas dahil may mga batas at ordinansa nang nagbabawal sa mga ito.

Katulad halimbawa ng jaywalking. Disiplinahin natin ang ating mga sarili, na tumawid lamang sa tamang lugar, at nang hindi maging biktima ng sakuna, o maging sanhi ng sakuna ng iba. Payag ako na maglagay halimbawa ng mga “detention areas” sa mga kanto, maski gawa lang ng dos por dos na kahoy, kung saan pansamantalang ikukulong nang isang oras ang sinumang tumawid ng kalsada liban sa mga tamang tawiran.

Bakit hinahayaan ang mga pedicab, o tri-sikad, na mag-counterflow sa mga matrapik na kalsada, tulad ng Taft Avenue sa Maynila? Bagama’t maraming aangal dahil sa kawalan ng hanapbuhay, dapat siguro’y magkaroon na ng malinaw na patakaran ang mga lungsod ukol sa pagpasada ng mga tricycle, na sadya namang mainit sa sakuna, at hindi naman talaga kailangan, kung matututo lang ang Pinoy na lumakad, imbes na sumakay pa maski malapit lang ang pupuntahan.

Hulihin agad ang mga jeepney drivers na matitigas ang ulong bumabara sa trapiko, habang naghihintay ng pasahero. Sa kanto pa mandin pumaparada, o maski sa gitna ng kalsada ay bumabalandra, bagama’t buhul-buhol na ang trapikong sumusunod. Walang pakialam. Tingnan ninyo na lang ang trapiko sa paligid ng mga mall (tulad ng Robinson’s sa Pedro Gil), o mga eskwelahan (La Salle, St. Benilde’s, St. Scholastica’s, atbp.). Siguro naman ay kayang isaayos ang mga ito, pati na ang pagbawal ng illegal parking sa harap ng mga eskwelahan. Bakit ba ang mayayamang estudyante ay bukod-tanging de-kotse pa araw-araw at hindi na lang sumakay sa LRT o sa pampublikong sasakyan?

Turuan sila ng pagtitipid, at ipairal din ang disiplina.

Bakit ba kailangang sa kanto at intersection hayaang magsakay at magbaba ng pasahero ang mga jeepney at bus? Bakit hindi ilayo ang loading and unloading zones sa gitna ng dalawang kanto, at hindi mismong sa kanto? Hayaang maglakad ng kapiraso ang mga mananakay, imbes na magbuhol ang trapiko sa intersection. Common sense lang naman ito. At disiplina.

Kilala naman ng LTFRB, LTO, MMDA at DOTC ang mga kolorum na bus na naglipana sa EDSA, Taft, atbp., kung sadyang nanaisin. Bawal ang mga ito sapagkat pinag-aralan naman ang carrying capacity ng mga lansangan ng Kalakhang Maynila, at labag sa batas ang operasyon ng mga ito. Ipatupad agad ang batas.

Magkaroon ng masusi at agarang pag-aaral ng mga panga ngailangang pampublikong sasakyan, at nang hindi dagdag ng dagdag ng mga jeepney na hindi naman mapuno-puno, ay pasada pa rin ng pasada. May mga ruta na kay raming pinapayagang pasadahan, at sa makikitid na kalsada nagsisipagdaan, na ang ginagawa tuloy ay nagsisiparada lamang ng ilang oras sa mga interseksyon habang pinupuno ng pasaherong kay tumal naman ang dating.

Napapanahon na sigurong magkumperensya ang DOTC at mga ahensya nito, ang MMDA (kapag may natalaga nang pinuno), at mga alkalde ng mga siyudad at bayan ng Metro Manila upang magkaroon ng isang rationalized public transportation program. Maaring isagawa rin ito sa Metro Cebu, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio at iba pang lugar kung saan nagiging bangungot na rin ang trapiko.

Marami pa ang mga maliliit na pagbabago na magpapamalas sa lahat na ngayon ay seryoso na ang pamahalaan at seseryosohin ang batas at kaayusan sa lipunan. Swak na swak ang ginawa ng bagong Pangulo sa wangwang. Ngunit dapat ay sundan pa ito ng ibang mga maliliit na reporma at pagpapatupad sa batas at nang maumpisahan na ang pagbabago at disiplina sa lahat ng mamamayan.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-06 ng Hulyo, 2010