Angelito Banayo

Pasasalamat at paglilinaw

2010-07-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

‘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

2010-07-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

‘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

2010-07-08T02:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-08T02:29:00.000-07:00

‘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

2010-07-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

‘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.

2010-07-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

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

Simulan natin

2010-06-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

Isinulat natin ang pitak na ito bago tumungo sa Rizal Park, upang pagmasdan ang pasinaya ng bagong pangulo na si Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III.

Sa kanyang maikling talumpati, hihingin niya sa sambayanan ang pagkakaisa at pakikipagtulungan, hindi lamang sa pamahalaan, kundi maging sa isa’t isa, sa diwa ng bayanihan na angkop sa uga ling Filipino.

Sa nagdaang mga buwan, palagi na ting naririnig ang panawagang “Ako ang Simula”, na panawagan para sa pakikialam upang magkaroon ng pagbabago na lalan ng malinis at maayos na halalan.

Ngayong nakapaghalal na tayo ng bagong pamunuan, angkop rin marahil na sabihing, “simulan na natin ang tunay na pagbabago.”

Totoo, malaki ang inaasahang pagbabago mula sa pamahalaan, at dapat naman, pagka’t sa nagdaang dekada, lubhang napariwara ang pamamahala, at lubhang nasadlak sa kahihiyan ang imahe ng ating bansa.

Ngunit sa isang dako, hindi naman pamahalaan lamang ang dapat na asahang magbago, at hindi naman tama na ang mga namumuno na lamang ang asahang magbago, sapagkat kaakibat tayong lahat ng pagbabago. Ngunit paano tayong magsisimula sa pagbabago?

Maging sa pang-araw-araw na buhay, sa maliliit na pamamaraan, kaya nating simulan ang pagbabago.

Huwag magkalat sa lansangan o sa ating komunidad. Hindi naman siguro kahirapan ang tumulong sa pagpapalinis ng kapaligiran.

Sumunod sa mga alituntunin sa trapiko, maging sa pagtawid sa mga lansangan. Huwag mag-jaywalking, at hintayin ang berdeng signal na hudyat na maaari nang magpatuloy. Huwag makipaggitgitan, lalo na at matrapik, pagka’t imbes na maibsan ang daloy ng trapiko, lalo lang nating pinalalala. Liban pa sa nagdudulot ito ng stress at init ng ulo.

Maging mapagmasid sa mga pangyayari sa lipunan, at kung may mali o taliwas sa hinihingi ng batas, tayo na ang magkusang ipaalam ito sa mga kinauukulan, lalo na sa mga alagad ng batas. Kung biktima tayo ng pagmamalabis o abuso mula sa mga kawani o opisyal ng pamahalaan, maglakas-loob tayong umangal, at ipaalam ito sa mga nakatataas, o di kaya ay sa media at nang ma-expose.

Sa abot ng ating kaya, tulungan natin ang mga kapus-palad. Hindi sa pagbigay ng limos sa mga pulubing malamang sa hindi ay ginagamit at inaapi lamang ng mga sindikato, kundi sa pamamagitan ng pagkawanggawa. Maski sa ating mga kalapit-komu nidad, may mga karapat-dapat na tulungan. Kung may anak tayong nag-aaral, baka may kamag-aral na galing sa hirap na pamilya, na maaari na ting tulungan sa maayos na paraan. May mga bahay-ampunan at iba pang pagkakawanggawa na maaari nating bigyan ng kontribusyon, kung hindi man ng salapi, maaaring sa pagtulong, sa gawa at pakikipagbayanihan.

Tandaan natin na kung nais nating magkaroon ng tunay na pagbabago, hindi maaaring iasa na lamang ito sa pamunuan o sa pamahalaan. Kaakibat tayo ng pagbabago. At saling-lahi natin ang makikinabang kung mag-uugat ang tunay na pagbabago sa lipunan natin. Simulan natin!

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Huwebes, ika- 01 ng Hulyo, 2010

Change

2010-06-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

‘By merely ensuring personal incorruptibility, he will begin the process of meaningful change.’

BARACK Obama promised it in 2008. He rallied Americans of all ethnic origins and all persuasions to embrace change. Change, he said, that they could believe in. Because it was doable. Because it would be an improvement from a failed economy where the excesses of a few and the abuses of some were made at the expense of the ordinary workingman who held that thrift and prudence paid future dividends, only to realize that they had been skinned by the smarter few. It was a battle cry that resonated because the average American felt helpless and hopeless.

Noynoy Aquino appeared from left field when Filipinos felt so hopeless about their future and helpless to change a government that seemed bent on perpetuating its hold on illegitimate power. There were those who held some promise, but had little wherewithal to pursue their ambitions. There were those who made promises, but had little by way of credibility for the people to repose their trust on them. Because he was the son of a courageous Ninoy and an honest Cory, the public believed Noynoy. And from all walks of life, they hearkened to his message, that without corruption, poverty could be eradicated.

It was, to be sure, simplification as all messages encapsulated in slogans go. But it was not over-simplification. Because it rang true. The Filipino had heard candidate after candidate launching a "crusade" against corruption, election after election, only to realize that in the end, they had been had. Now came one who was credible because his parents lived it once, and his own simplicity of lifestyle bordering on the austere amplified it.

The message was credible coming from him, especially because those who opposed him in the recent campaign were either corrupt, or were accomplices of the corrupt. The few who were neither, had little chance of making it, ruled out by the measure of dismal survey ratings. And so the electorate pinned their hopes for meaningful change on this heir to a legacy of heroism and selflessness.

But would being incorruptible alone guarantee meaningful change? Would eradicating corruption, assuming it could be achieved within reasonable measure, and given the slow and tedious processes of our shattered institutions, really bring about an escape from the wretchedness of poverty?

Political economists and sociologists tell us that minimizing corruption can only best add wherewithal to government’s ability to provide a modicum of basic services, but it does not exactly create jobs or better incomes, because the economic system we have embraced, and the global economic order it has become but a small particle of, is essentially oppressive of the marginalized. Perhaps.

And perhaps in some other time that order of international economic relationships will self-destruct, just as an order which held that regimentation along with central planning in a totalitarian policy could effectively bring better and equitable lives has been discarded by a good half of the world. Perhaps the inequality and inherent weaknesses of our present order will ultimately give way to a better system. Perhaps a raft of good governance reforms now will pave the way for more deep-seated and systemic reforms by the next leadership.

But for the moment, in a country where the few who compose the landed elite have been joined in their conspicuous wealth only by those who have abused political power and influence to enrich themselves several times over, corruption, nay, too much corruption, has become the single most identifiable culprit for continuing and worsening public misery. And improvement in the delivery of basic services especially to the poor, though marginal in the macro sense, is great change in every Filipino’s micro measure. For that alone, gratitude towards the new leadership will be profuse.

It is in this cusp of change that the 15th president of the Philippines, this child of destiny, finds himself. By the power of good example, and by ensuring the same good example among those he shall appoint to help him run government, he shall be able to make enough of a difference, in comparison to a predecessor who has herself abetted corruption and even engaged herself in its transactions. By merely ensuring personal incorruptibility, he will begin the process of meaningful change.

While that is not enough, that is improvement enough. And if the new president is able to inspire, cajole, require all other government officials to follow his example, then that would be meaningful improvement. That would be the kind of change we can all believe in.

Barack Obama did not rant and rail against official corruption, because that was not the issue in wealthy America. He spoke against a federal polity where the big were pampered because of the philosophy that their financial health provided more jobs and more opportunities. That was an equation shop-worn with abuse, He spoke for change where government would weigh in for the least able.

But Obama, almost midway into his elected term, finds that the going is rough, because the forces of static conservatism are not about to surrender their beliefs and their ways to this upstart’s crusade for meaningful and equitable change.

Aquino faces similar challenges. Those who have wallowed in corruption far too long are not about to change their ways, nor surrender the power that has benefited them far too much. They are in Congress, in the judiciary, in the police, in big business, in the bureaucracy, even in the religious sector.

But unlike Obama, Aquino’s battlefield is not so much in a Congress where new laws are not as important as implementing old laws decisively and effectively. He need not transact as much as his predecessor, hobbled by impeachment threats because there was reason to question her very legitimacy.

The police nor the bureaucracy either, for as long as he brooks no violation of law or his example. As they have shown in past brief episodes in our history, they follow the leader. They can be shocked into obedience.

It is more in the area of judicial reform where the new president must find an ally against corruption. That judiciary must be his ally in slaying the culture of impunity which has made a mockery of our justice system and made the official fight against graft and corruption nothing but a sick joke. That alone is a tall order, and short of revolutionary change, it is going to be tedious effort.

The religious sector, whether through the bishops of the numerous Church or the leaders of the other denominations, can hopefully be where the new president’s power of good example will evoke resonance. If these leaders of their flock would only rekindle their moral fundamentals and eschew their moral compromise with the old and discredited leadership, then they could be a vital partner in the effort towards meaningful change. And if these religious leaders can ditch the attitude that intervention in the policies and praxis of politics is par for the course, as has been tolerated in past leaderships, while the new president stands his ground on his principles and beliefs, then we are off to good start.

For all that, we can only pray and hope. And so to our new President, Godspeed!

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Thursday, 01 July 2010

Pagsasara ng nakaraan

2010-06-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Bukas ay susumpa na sa kanyang tungkulin si Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, bilang ika-labinlimang pangulo ng ating 112 taong kasaysayan mula nang matagumpay na itanghal ang Unang Republika ni Emilio Aguinaldo. Siya rin ang ika-limang pangulo ng ika-limang Republika, na nagsimula noong Pebrero 25, 1986, na ang unang naupong pa ngulo ay ang kanyang inang si Corazon C. Aquino.

Dahil sa pagkakalugmok ng bansa sa sobrang kurapsyon, hanggang sa matanyag sa buong daigdig bilang isa sa mga pinakakurap ang pamahalaan (Ang Pilipinas ay nasa ranggong 139 sa hanay ng 180 bansa sa daigdig pagdating sa kurap syon, kung saan isa sa nangunguna sa kalinisan ng pamamahala ay ang karatig-bansa nating Singapore), maraming nananawagan na usigin ang mga nandambong, at siguruhing mapatawan sila ng sapat na kaparusahan, liban pa sa singilin sila sa kanilang nakamkam, at ibalik ito sa kaban ng bayan. Iyan naman ang nakasaad sa batas, maging legal o moral. Ngunit sa tinagal-tagal ng panahon, bihira ang nauusig, at bihira ang sinisingil. Dahil nga rito, nag-ugat ang “culture of impunity” o kawalan ng pagsara sa nakaraang mga pagkakasala sa bayan.

Mismong mga dayuhan ay nananawagan na seryosohin ng papasok na administrasyon ang pag-usig, paniningil, at wastong pagsara sa nakaririmarim na nakaraan. Kamakailan, sa kanyang talumpati sa harap ng Makati Business Club at European Chamber of Commerce, sinabi ni Michael Hershman, isa sa mga nagsimula ng Transparency International, na dapat daw ay tuparin ni Pangulong Noynoy ang kanyang pangako noong kampanya pa, na tigilan ang kurapsyon, at usigin ang mga tiwali at kurakot sa nagdaang mga rehimen.

“Sampahan ng kaso ang mga nagnakaw sa bansa. Kailangan silang managot, at sana’y totohanin na ngayon ang pagparusa. Ikulong sila at ang mga ari-arian ay samsamin at ibalik sa kaban ng bayan,” ani Hershman. At dinagdag pa niya, “siguruhin ninyo muna na ang inyong sistema ng hudikatura ay maging makatotohanan at makatarungan.”

Sinang-ayunan ni Hershman ang pagtatag ng isang independenteng komisyon na mag-uusig sa nakaraang mga ano malya at kasangkot sa mga ito, gaya ng nasabi na rin ni Aquino noong kampanyang nagdaan. At muli niyang binanggit ang kahalagahan ng transparency at accountability sa mga mahihirang sa gabinete at iba pang mga posisyon sa bagong administrasyon.

Sa madaling salita, hinahanap ng mga investors, dayuhan man o sariling atin, ang tunay na pagbabago sa pamahalaan. Walang sinisino. Kapag nagkasala, patawan ng kaparusahan. Magkaroon ang lahat ng respeto sa batas, at pagsunod sa mga adhikain nito. Patas na laban, wika nga.

At magkaroon ng pagsasara sa nakaraan. Kailangang hindi pabayaan na lang na lista sa tubig ang pagkakamali, at nang magkaleksyon naman para sa sambayanan. At siyang maging hudyat sa tunay na pagbabagong-loob at pagbabagong serbisyo sa sambayanan, lalo na sa mga naghihikahos na lalong naghihirap dahil sa hindi masawatang kurapsyon.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-29 ng Hunyo, 2010

Gloria’s farewell

2010-06-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

‘Aquino means well, and he means to do what is right. He has to keep his sacred bond with his parent’s memory.’

PERRY Diaz, the Fil-Am journalist who regularly gives internet users his Global Balita, has come out with a regaling tale about a document found under the mattress of the First Couple’s bed. A note was attached to the document, saying: "To be published after I step down".

Tomorrow, she will step down, and as we all await Benigno S. Aquino’s first formal address as the new president of the benighted land, let me publish in this space Perry’s "Adios", hopefully ultimo, allegedly by Gloria (with a little editing).

Farewell, my Inang Bayan, land of the morning sun,

Pearl of the Orient Sea, Paradise lost.

With gladness I gave you my life,

With sadness I leave you now.

I made a lot of promises,

Some of which I kept.

I promised to end poverty,

But in the end, the poor are eating pagpag.

I promised to stop corruption,

But in the end, power corrupted me.

I promised to end the communist insurgency,

But in the end, Delfin Bangit failed to end it.

I promised to create jobs,

But in the end, 3,000 Filipinos leave everyday to look for jobs abroad.

I promised to end the deficit,

But in the end, I left Noynoy with a P340 billion deficit.

I wish I was more honest,

But instead I became too greedy.

I wish I had served the interest of the people better,

But instead I served my own best interests.

I wish I listened to my critics,

But instead I listened to my husband, Mike.

I tried to improve the economy,

But instead only the oligarchs and my friends benefited from it.

I tried to govern with integrity, credibility, and accountability,

But instead the people called me the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History."

I asked the people what they want,

And they said, "Return the money you stole."

I asked the people to give me another chance to make good my promises,

But they said, "Alis dyan!"

I dreamed of transforming the country into an enchanted kingdom in 20 years,

But the people said, "No way, that’s too long for you to stay in power. Go away!"

I wanted to amend the constitution by way of a people’s initiative to stay in power,

But Justice Antonio Carpio penned a ruling rejecting the people’s initiative petition.

I wanted to change the constitution by way of a Constituent Assembly,

But Cory Aquino passed away and nobody would dare change her constitution.

I planned to stay in power by other means,

But Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales bungled the job.

I put up my own candidate for president,

But my "kiss of death" killed Gibo Teodoro’s candidacy.

When Gibo appeared to be losing I supported another candidate secretly,

But the media discovered it and exposed my "secret candidate," Villarroyo.

I appointed 250 midnight appointees,

Hoping that they’ll be there when I needed them.

I appointed a Chief Justice, midnight style,

Hoping that he’ll be kind to me when my plunder cases reach the Supreme Court.

I promoted the government lawyers and made their jobs permanent and secure,

Hoping that they’d be indebted to me and kinder when they’re prosecuting me.

I got all the bases covered,

Including a castle in Portugal where I can go to exile if I have to.

And now the end is near,

With heavy heart I leave thee, my Inang Bayan.

I lived a life that’s full,

I had fun spending P3 billion in 107 foreign junkets.

Regrets I’ve had a few,

My biggest regret is that I failed to stay in power longer.

I bit off more than I could chew,

However, I enjoyed every bit of it (especially dining at Le Cirque).

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried,

And I’ll miss all the games I played with the generals.

And now as tears subside,

I’m glad I survived it all.

The record shows I took the blows,

But I hit back with all my strength.

For what is a woman what has she got,

If not her moolah then she has none.

And so I face the final curtain,

I say this to all my enemies – to hell with you all!

Yes! I did it my way.

Oooh…oooh…Let history go hang.

***

Tomorrow the nation will witness, for the first time in twelve years, a duly-elected, a truly-elected president being sworn-in. The speech, as announced, will be short. This after all is not a man given to empty eloquence. But they will be words straight from his heart. He means well, and he means to do what is right. He has to keep his sacred bond with his parent’s memory.

Sure, he may falter in the way of fulfilling everybody’s great expectations. Rome was not in a night built. Rebuilding shattered institutions takes time and plodding patience. Renewing the public trust in governance so badly run will also take time. But let us keep the faith. For as long as the new president keeps his personal integrity intact, and exacts the same from the men and women he appoints to office, the new beginning will find a happy ending.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 29 June 2010

Shadow boxing

2010-06-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

‘So which country does Norbert want to practice his shadow boxing in? Maybe Malaysia, which is parliamentary, and where I understand, he is taken seriously.’

OUTGOING defense secretary Norberto Gonzales will put up an opposition structure to monitor and fiscalize the incoming administration of Benigno S. Aquino III. Not an "old soldier" to fade away, Gonzales will even form a "shadow cabinet", and his first prospective member is Delfin Bangit, the former AFP chief of staff. Gonzales floated this a month ago or so, and proudly said he wanted his predecessor, Gilbert Teodoro, who ran and lost in the last presidential elections, to join him in his new role. Wisely as usual, Gilbert declined in short shrift manner.

A "shadow cabinet" is a practice in parliamentary traditions where the interim government could fall once a vote of "no-confidence" is reached in Parliament. Thus, the opposition party head names possible stand-ins among his own members of parliament so that they could immediately substitute for the current ministers appointed by the incumbent prime minister. No paralysis or even extended hiatus in government leadership happens even if the present leadership falls. Hence, when Italy was experiencing revolving door governments, a cabinet was ready from the opposition ranks to take over the fallen and take charge as the new.

But that is a parliamentary system. Governments could fall at any time. Ours is a presidential system, with a fixed term for the nationally-elected president who is removable only through tedious impeachment or death. And a constitutional successor, himself duly elected, is in place. So which country does Norbert want to practice his shadow boxing in? Maybe Malaysia, which is parliamentary, and where I understand, he is taken seriously. Unless, Norbert is thinking of foisting mayhem upon our polity.

He and his incarnation of Don Quixote, that Jesuit Archie Intengan, have been conjuring plots and sub-plots ever since their Doña Gloria resurrected them in the national nightmare that was her regime. And Norbert as Sancho Panza likely dreads the moment, five days distant, when curtains will fall on their impossible dream. What will he do by July 1? Go back to Sabah or Sarawak perhaps, and do teach-ins there? There are plenty of wild bananas in their yet verdant farms and forests. Sweeter than the Dole variety that clutters our supermarket shelves and which I refuse to see on my kitchen table. Was it a Dole that Norbert pulled out of his satchel when the Senate was questioning him on the Venable contract, when his blood pressure shot up? Gonzales could also take a sabbatical leave to pursue further learning at the University of Salamanca, Don Quixote’s favorite. How do Norbert de la Panza and his Archie del Quixote make themselves "relevant" in the politics of this benighted land?

That’s why Norbert makes his pitch for a possible re-run, in his wildest dreams.

Of course he disclaims plans of being president. Remember if you will, that last year, he made the rounds of whoever cared to listen, telling him that there was need for a revolutionary transition government. He called on bishops even, peddling his scenario, but said it was his Doña, because of the commander-in-chief provisions in the Constitution, who should head the revolutionary council. He. he. he, the bishops told him off.

And so, since Norbert the shadow leader has not publicly declared his aversion for unsolicited advice, this space will suggest a "new" cast of characters for his shadow cabinet.. Tap Butch Pichay. Joc-Joc Bolante. Between the two of them, there’s enough turf to quarrel over in plundering agriculture and despoiling natural resources. Garcillano for Department of Finance. If there’s no money, he will produce, just like when he produced an instant "million" votes for their Doña in 2004. This time, Norbert can tell the public that if he becomes "president", his shadow boxer for finance is a creative genius like Garci. Maski walang boto, gagawa. Kapag walang pera ang kaban ng bayan, mag-iimprenta. Can you beat that quick fix? Maybe Madam Auring for Neda, NCSO, NSO all combined. Bakit pa kailangan ng "statistics"? Who cares about growth rates which his Doña keeps trumpeting about. Bolang kristal lang ‘yan!

For MMDA, why Ely Velez Pamatong is ideal for Norbert’s shadow cabinet. He will solve the traffic woes of the metropolis no sooner than you could think. All he needs to do is get his storm troopers to throw huge and sharp nails at Edsa’s pavement today, and Ayala Avenue tomorrow. After a week, wala nang maglalabas ng kotse. E ‘di solved ang trapik!

Secretary of Justice? E di si Oliver Lozano, sino pa nga ba?

Foreign Affairs? Eto, batang-bata compared to Bert Romulo, and just as well-travelled. She has after all been with their Doña Gloria in most every foreign peregrination, and knows the best Syrian chocolates other than Patchi. Medy Poblador, with the blessings of her "Tito" Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. O, di ba, galing?

And you need not think any longer about who the shadow executive secretary will be. No less than Father Intengan, naturally. Brains, eminence gris, jesuitic pa! Can you beat that?

"Quete…un imposible reve" (To dream, the impossible dream…), hums Norbert. Curtains are falling on his Filipinas de La Mancha. So dream on.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Friday, 25 June 2010

Neri called this woman evil

2010-06-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

‘Now Neri says Ms. Arroyo did what she had to do, and he now respects her decision, a decision clearly imbued with betrayal of public trust.’

FUNNY. I read in the papers that Romulo Neri, former head of the Congress Economic Planning office, then NEDA director-general, later Secretary of the Budget, and now SSS chief executive officer, declared that his President Arroyo is innocent of the allegations hurled against her at the height of the Senate investigations into the mercifully stopped NBN-ZTE deal.

"The President has to do what she has to do. I respect whatever decision she has done. I am professionally loyal to my boss", Neri said after filing bail before the Sandiganbayan. "When I reported the bribe attempt (of Ben Abalos, he earlier said), she told me not to accept." And that, to Romulo Neri now, means she is innocent.

Did his president investigate his accusation of bribe-offering from another public official, head of a constitutional body at that? More importantly, did the deal which Neri found too difficult to endorse because egregiously lopsided against the public interest, go through? Yes it did. In the wee hours of the morning, at a VIP lounge of the Hainan Airport in China, the deal between "her" government and ZTE of Shenzhen was signed, with her beaming proudly as witness.

When she got back to Manila that April morning, she rushed to the bedside of the husband who was in mortal danger of losing his life, despite which condition she rushed the night before to China, ostensibly because of an "important" conference to attend in Boao. Turns out the more significant thing was her rendezvous with ZTE officials at the Hainan airport where the "deed," the infamous deal called the NBN-ZTE broadband project, would be done.

Dutifully, her press office sent a press release to news desks that morning touting her singular achievement in that rush trip to China – to bring home the bacon, by way of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investments in the telecommunications industry, hastily like the "super" lady that she was, accomplished "like a thief in the night" (direct quote from Malacañang’s press release).

Now Romulo Neri says she did what she had to do, and he now respects her decision. A decision clearly imbued with betrayal of public trust. And he faces a stiff jail term, on top of perpetual public disgrace (as if what he has been through in the public eye is not yet the zenith of his disgrace), because finally, in the twilight of his president’s reign, she "allowed" the Ombudsman to charge him and Benjamin Abalos before the Sandiganbayan.

It was reported the other night on radio that Romulo Neri rued that he ever joined public service. He regrets having been there, done that, or not done that, and intimated that he should have just stayed put in staid academe, or the private business sector.

But to be fair, Romy wasn’t too bad as Neda director-general. He fulminated against the regulatory capture of the Philippine economy by certain moguls of industry. Shipping was in the hands of a presidential crony, which made the transport of farm products from Mindanao to Manila more expensive than from Mindanao to Japan. Port operations were also in the control of another presidential crony. Electric power, in all stages of generation, transmission and distribution, were in the hands of the same and more powerful friends and politico-economic confreres. Airline operations likewise. And telecommunications as well.

Because of this regulatory capture, as he eloquently and succinctly put it, the economy and its growth and proper development was hostaged by powerful interests. He went on the lecture circuit to rant and rail against oligopolistic status of the underlying fundamentals of business in the country. But when some of these same interests conspired with a greedy woman’s greedy man and used another greedy official to broker a deal that would have not only monopolized broadband technology, but also profit in an immensely and immoderately greedy manner, he pointed a finger only at the greedy broker but no one else. And so he now suffers the ignominy of being on the dock before the bar of "justice" as well as public opinion, along with the greedy man he accused of attempting to bribe him with 200 million smackeroos, just to grant nihil obstat as chair of the ICC in his capacity as head of the Neda. While the boss he remains faithful to, the boss who admonished him not to take the 200 million, but nonetheless approve the deal, is scot-free – at least for now. Or scot-free on this scandal because he clammed up then, and wants to clam up now. What a faithful servant!

Yet, in December of 2007, at a bistro along Benavides in Legaspi Village adjacent to the Asian Institute of Management, Romulo Neri opened bottles of wine for two senators, Ping Lacson and Jamby Madrigal, who both did not drink, Jun Lozada and his brother, another friend, plus Jamby’s Gary Jimenez and myself.

Again he described, with diagram and all, how the nation’s economy had been hostaged to vested interests. I heard that before, and wrote articles in support of his position against greedy monopolies in strategic industries, but this time he named names. Who was in charge of this, who profited from that, all of them linked to the transactional empire of his, well … boss woman.

When Lacson tried to pin him down to testify before the Senate, he hemmed and hawed, but he kept saying, as if to tell us he feared for the consequences of full disclosure before the elect of the people, "she is evil…she is evil".

Now the clock has turned full circle, or almost. Romulo Neri can now confront, nay --- has to confront the "demons" that bedevil his soul, the "demons" that made him hold back on telling all before an executive session of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. For the regime that barred him from speaking the truth, by threats and pressure, later by executive fiat, is in the last dying hours of its long night of darkness. And the new order that beckons with the coming of dawn wants nothing but the truth.

In the next few months, Romulo Neri’s agony will heighten, and he will have to keep wrestling with his personal "demons", on whether to tell the nation and the world the naked truth behind his conversations with his president, this woman she described, and never denied he described, as "evil".

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Thursday, 24 June 2010

May bangko pa ang LWUA

2010-06-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

Gaya ng isinulat natin noong Martes, kay daming mga kontrata sa patubig ang nilagdaan nitong LWUA sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni G. Butch Pichay, na wala naman palang sapat na pondong inilaan para sa mga proyektong ito. Ano na nga ang tawag natin sa isang kumpanya na ang laki ng pagkakautang ngunit kapos sa pambayad? Bangkarote.

Pero sa pamahalaan, walang nababangkarote, kasi, sinasagot ng pamahalaan. Sinasagot ng kaban ng bayan. Nabangkarote ang Central Bank, sinagot ni Juan de la Cruz ang mga utang, dinagdagan ng panibagong kapital, at pinalitan ang pangalan, naging Bangko Sentral. Ganyan din ang mga GSIS, SSS, at iba pa. Ang National Food Authority, na siyang nagsisigurong may sapat na bigas sa hapag ng bawat Pinoy, si Juan de la Cruz din ang sumasalba sa malaking pagkakautang. Gayundin ang Napocor.

Walang masama rito, kung sa mabuting paraan nagastos ang salapi ni Juan, at nakinabang si Juan.

Paano na kung mga proyektong overpriced na nga, e non-existent pa? Multo, naniningil kay Juan?

At kung ikaw naman ay kinakapos na nga ng pambayad, tama bang bumili ka pa ng bangko? Wow naman!

Pero ganyan ang ginawa ng LWUA sa ilalim ni Pichay. Bumili ng isang maliit na bangko sa Cabuyao, Laguna na “under rehabilitation” ng Bangko Sentral (ibig sabihin sinasalbang pilit sa pagka-bangkarote para maprotektahan ang maliliit na depositor). Noong Hunyo ng nagdaang taon, bumili ng 60% ng pag-aari ng Express Savings Bank sa Cabuyao ang LWUA, at nagbayad ng 80 mil yong piso, bagama’t gaya nga ng naisulat natin, ito’y under rehab ng BSP (He he he, “rehab” parang adik na ginagamot).

Nais kasi ni Pichay diumano na magtayo ng isang WE Bank, o Water and Energy Bank, at ipagsasanib ang salapi ng LWUA (tubig) at National Electrification Administration (NEA) na siya namang tagapangasiwa ng mga electric coops sa buong bansa (energy). Wow!

Dalawang ahensya ng pamahalaan na pasan-pasan ang utang at pondo ng kaban ng bayan, magbabangko pa! Ano ito, bagong DBP?

Ngunit hindi pumayag ang Bangko Sentral dahil may moratorium sa pag-apruba ng bagong bangko.

Kaya bumili na lang ng isang pabagsak na bangko si Pichay at kanyang Board of Trustees. Pero sabi ng BSP, kulang sa capital iyan. Kaya’t nagdadagdag ng 400 milyon si Pichay. Sa madaling salita, ginugulan ni Juan de la Cruz ng 480 milyon ang pera para sa tubig, para maging bangkero si Butch Pichay. Wow na wow talaga!

Pero ayon sa GAA, ang batas ng budget ni Juan de la Cruz, mahigpit na ipinagbabawal para sa korporasyon o ahensya ng pamahalaan ang maglagak ng puhunan o salapi sa mga non-government securities, money market, o magdeposito sa pribadong bangko. Kanya talagang iba itong si Butch Pichay. Wow na wow talaga!

Ginawa na ito dati ng mga sumunod sa akin sa Bureau of Posts na naging korporasyon sa aking pagpupunyagi. Iniwan ko ng halos 200 milyong pisong surplus ang Philpost noong 1988, na may sapat na kakayahang maging korporasyon na ipinasa sa Kongreso noong 1991 na wala na ako roon.

Pero dinambong ang Post Office ng mga itinalaga roon ni Pangulong FVR, binuhay ang Postal Bank, nagtayo ng Postal Leasing, pati nga security guard na negosyo ay pinasukan. Hinuthot ang salapi ng Post Office, nabulok ang serbisyo ng Post Office, at ngayon, bangkarote na ang Post Office, na bago nagkaroon ng Pagcor ay ikatlo sa pinakamalaki ang kinikita, sunod sa BIR at Customs, noong panahon namin nina Postgen Tanabe (na sumakabilang-buhay na), Roy Golez (congressman ng Parañaque na dapat ay maging senador), at inyong lingkod.

Sobra ang pagka-demoralisa ng mga kawani at mababang opisyal ng LWUA. Gaya rin ng Philpost ngayon, hindi makapagretiro ang nais na magretiro dahil hindi makatatanggap ng kaukulang benepisyo. Walang pondo.

Ngayon, nilalakad ng mga opisyal ng Philpost na sila’y manati ling muli sa pwesto, maski isang taon lamang daw. May midnight appointment pa si GMA na inilagay sa Board of Directors. At ang isa sa mga kasali sa paghuthot at pagpapadugo ng Philpost nu’ng kapanahunan ni FVR, gusto pa ngayong maging Postmaster-General. Diyos ko po naman!

Sa LWUA, midnight appointments ang solusyon ni Pichay et al. Wow talaga. May tawag sa mga ganitong uri ng opisyal. Makikita ang simbolo nila sa isang T-shirt na mamahalin na gawa sa Pransya.

Wika nga sa akin ng mga taga-LWUA at taga-Philpost, “sabihin lang ni Noynoy, kakaladkarin naming palabas ang mga over-staying na appointee ni GMA”.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Huwebes, ika- 24 ng Hunyo, 2010

Pandarambong maging sa patubig

2010-06-22T02:28:00.000-07:00

Noong nagdaang linggo ay kagulo sa tanggapan ng Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). Ito ang tanggapang nasyonal na siyang nangangasiwa ng mga local water districts sa iba’t ibang lalawigan at bayan sa Pilipinas. Ang layunin ng mga ahensyang pinangangasiwaan ng LWUA ay palaguin ang pagkakaroon ng “safe drinking water” sa buong kapuluan. Hindi madali ang ganito, lalo na at puro tayo mga islang umuunti na nga ang mga aquifer at natural na daluyan ng malinis na tubig, kundi watak-watak pa at magastos ang pagkabit ng mga tubo ng tubig. Higit pa sa riyan, kapos sa salapi at kapital ang pamahalaan, maging ang mga kumukonsumo ng malinis na tubig.

Ngunit bakit nagkakagulo? Kasi pala, nagkakandarapa ang mga kontratistang nagsipaggawa ng mga water supply projects sa iba’t ibang panig ng bansa dahil hindi sila nababayaran pa. At takot din na pagpasok ng bagong administrasyon ni Noynoy Aquino, ay madiskubre ng mga papalit sa kasalukuyang nagpapatakbo ng ahensya, ang misteryo ng pagkalaki-laking gastos sa pamunuan ni Prospero “Butch” Pichay, samantalang kapos at kapos sa badyet na pambayad ang naturang ahensya.

Ayon sa kalalabas pa lang na report ng Commission on Audit (COA), nagpagawa ng mga projects na umaabot sa 3.4 bilyong piso ang halaga, samantalang ang pondong hinahawakan o kayang hanapin ay 2.2 bilyones lamang. Lahat ng nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno ay alam na hindi ka maaaring mag-award ng anumang proyekto kung wala pa sa iyong mga libro ang pondong ibabayad mo kapag natapos ang proyekto. Ngunit paanong nangyari ito?

“Diumano, dahil sa sabi raw ng LWUA Chairman na si Butch Pichay, may “pangako si GMA sa kanya na magre-release ng hanggang 6 na bilyung piso para sa LWUA mula sa kanyang President’s Social Fund”, na hango naman sa kontribusyon ng Pagcor at PCSO. At ang mga kontratista naman, sugod-kabayo para sa mga kontratang ‘diumano’y “over-priced” at maski tumutol ang mga local water districts dahil sa katapusan, sila ang magbabayad sa mga proyektong ito.

Kanya siguro nagpa-midnight appointment si Pichay bilang LWUA Chair, at nag-akibat ng mga bagong direktor sa Board of Trustees, kasama na sina Renato S. Velasco at Susana D. Vargas, na pawang mga galing sa Malacañang mismo. Kakaupo lang ng mga ito, at ewan ko kung alam nilang sa taong 2009 lamang ay katakut-takot na iskandalo na ang napansin ng COA. Paano pa kaya nu’ng bago mag-umpisa ang ban sa kontrata dahil sa halalan?

Nagkakagulo raw sa LWUA noong nagdaang linggo dahil naggigitgitan ang mga kontratista na mabayaran. Una dahil nga paanong magdi-disburse ng vouchers ng pagbabayad kung kulang ang pondo para sa lahat? Paano makapagbibigay ng tse keng kabayaran, e hindi naman pwedeng magpatalbog ng tseke ang pamahalaan ng Pilipinas?

Isa pa, pagpasok ni Pangulong Noynoy Aquino sa Hunyo 30, ano kaya ang gagawin sa mga katulad ni Pichay at kanyang board na mga “twilight”, huwag na nating sabihing “midnight” appointees ni Donya Gloria? Babayaran ba sila ng susunod na mga pinuno ng ahensya, dahil hindi naman siguro makapapayag si P-Noy na opisyal niya ang isang katulad ni Pichay? Laking sakit ng ulo.

Magbibigay ba ng courtesy resignation si Pichay? Sagot daw nito, nang mabasa ang tungkol sa courtesy resignations na hinihingi ng maraming grupo, tulad ng FSGO, Makati Business Club, Management Association at iba pa: “Bakit, kailan ba ako naging “courteous”? (Itutuloy)

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika- 22 ng Hunyo, 2010

‘Small changes’

2010-06-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

‘If Noynoy leads by the power of good example, and manages his people sternly and decisively, the bureaucracy will deliver.’

THE weekend became an occasion to meet old friends from school days. Maybe that comes with age. Reunions come more often, informal get-togethers over wine or beer and "pulutan." It was a gathering of strictly "middle-class" guys. And even that is hard to describe, or to define.

What income level qualifies one to be better off than the poor? Similarly, what income ceiling do you need to breach to qualify as rich? It is not just a matter of statistics, the standards of which may be awfully distant from micro-economic reality. Suffice it to say that the guys I sat with classify themselves as "middle-class". As I do myself.

In the province where I spent my early childhood, we were comfortably well-off, but when my parents moved to the big city, we became truly middle-class. Paying the tuition was a quarterly problem until after a few years when income levels adjusted happily upwards. There was hardly a day when a meal was skipped, except when some children in their teens thought dieting was a bigger priority than a good meal on the table. In my case, meals got skipped after a heavy hang-over the night before when I was in my early twenties, time when good beer and good pulutan was the end of most every day’s hard work.

In our time, provided you studied well enough in college, a job awaited you right after graduation. You even had the luxury of choice. These days college graduates can choose between being a coffee shop "barista" here or there, and a call center operator there or here. Unless you finish with good grades from three or four universities, except that kids from "better" schools prefer to work abroad, having enjoyed the short episodes when upwardly mobile parents afforded them a US or Canadian trip.

But enough of that useless intro into my definition, or attempt to define, what comes with the "middle-class". Let’s get back to that meeting with guys my age who have, more or less, the same living standards I enjoy. The difference between me and the small group was/is, that I write for a paper, and two, I have hobnobbed with the powerful. They all went through middle-class status, grew their kids, have become happy grand-dads, all in public anonymity. Some went the corporate ladder route, others the professional route, and others became successful medium-scale businessmen.

Talk drifted to the changing of the leadership unfolding soon. Most everyone thought the people made a good choice, not that they really had much choice to begin with. But for one who went Gibo, they all voted for Noynoy not necessarily because of himself, but because he was the only one who could bring about some "change". Nine years of Gloria was an excruciating "pain in the neck", or whatever part of the anatomy, as someone called it. There simply had to be change.

Then I asked them, what kind of "change"? Someone came up with the phrase, "small things lang naman … small change." He was a Chinoy businessman, but rather than getting amused at the dual meaning of his phrase, most everybody chimed in.

Now what the hell is "small change" for someone who has been concerned about, and writing for years about the bigger things, "the big picture" as Ricky Carandang says it?

Getting the "trains" to run on time, that Mussolini promise, seems to be the more accurate descriptive. Do something about the traffic. Why are there so many colorum buses, taxis, FX’s, jeepneys messing up the traffic because of obstinate disregard for rules, and government looks the other way around? Why is traffic management left to dolts and dorks called traffic aides, who are more interested in fleecing the motorist than getting his brains stuffed with enough common sense?

Why is the airport such a big mess, with toilets that stink, systems that do not work? Even, as one put it very simply, even at the airport, there’s "air" traffic, so sometimes you stew inside the plane to Boracay for an hour. Or your plane to Palawan is two hours late, because first, the aircraft arrived late, and then, when finally inside the plane, the pilot tells you that because of heavy traffic (so many arrivals and departures using but one runway), please bear with the reality. And why in heaven’s name can’t government open the NAIA-3 to international air traffic after ten years. What kind of governance is that, they exclaim? I remarked that they are probably the guys who were enthralled by Gilbert Teodoro’s "take-off" ad, where he was the pilot. They were not enticed, they said, because they expected Gloria and her Mike to be his passengers. He he he.

Try getting on the road to Baguio, someone said. It’s beautiful from Balintawak to Tarlac City, then you get bogged down in the MacArthur Highway where motorized tricycles chug-chug in the middle of the road, and devil-may-care bus drivers act like they owned both sides of the road. Why can’t DPWH, or whatever, he asks, ban tricycles in such busy and high-speed thoroughfares? I’ve been asking that myself each time I pass Tarlac and Pangasinan for the past four decades. Then again I thought, these guys are certainly not "poor". The poor hardly ever ride airplanes or use the NAIA comfort rooms, or drive to Baguio. And because the plaints and condition of the "poor" constitute the "bigger picture", then indeed these middle-class plaints are "small change".

Everybody hated the "wang-wang" and had their own horror stories about encountering the convoy of cabinet member this or senator this, or mayor that. "Pwede ba ipagbawal na ni P-Noy ang lahat ng wang-wang, p’wera lang pulis at ambulansya"? "P…inang mga ‘yan, sinuswelduhan ng bayan, tapos kala mo mga hari", and the mildly profane guy identified a senator who loves to parade himself with motorcycle escorts and siren-blaring back-ups, even when he has been one of the do-nothings in that chamber. And the Chinoy observed, "Si Ping Lacson nga naging PNP chief pa, tapos senador, hindi ko narinig na may wang-wang", and I smiled.

"Simpleng bagay, like jaywalking, jeepneys and cabs stopping in the middle of the road, and closing the whole road to traffic while waiting for passengers," a doctor added. And when I said, "trabaho ng LGU ‘yan", he shot back, "kung kaya ni Binay disiplinahin yung mga mayors, siya na!" To which someone said, "E si Bayani Fernando nga, nag-try na mag-kamay na bakal, wala ring nangyari". But the exasperated doctor remarked, "E paano nga, ‘yung presidente niya walang pakialam kundi magnakaw". (While I write this, her American citizen-spokesperson Gary Olivar was presenting Anthony Taberna on TV with a book he edited, entitled "Beat the Odds" sub-titled, "Another Stone for the Edifice". Wondering which, will GMA ever gift this writer with a copy?)

"You wrote once (these guys are fans) about simple living, even cabinet members and officials dressing up simply…polo barongs or short-sleeved shirts instead of Armani suits and Hermes ties", said a former bank executive who took early retirement and does nothing but play golf these days. "That makes sense…delivers the right message", he claimed.

"Peace and order, pare…grabe na, parang manok na lang kung patayin ang tao, and recounted the TV story of a seaman who was killed in broad daylight in a busy street just to snatch his gold necklace ". Everybody chimed in with their children’s own encounters with street crime. Someone who comes from a Northern province but lives here in Manila talked about the state of perpetual crime and terror there.

"Rule of law…ipatupad lang", said a lawyer. "Justice system, napaka-corrupt…buti na lang nag-retire na ako from practice, but truth is, even I had to close my eyes to the reality, or else I’d lose all my clients. To be truthful, it was better in the time of Marcos…may takot pa ang judges and fiscals, but now…lantad na lantad".

Wait, I said, that probably is part of the "big picture". "Hindi kaya ng "small change" ‘yan. Mukhang complete overhaul ang kailangan diyan…systemic even".

"But Noynoy has to begin," he pleaded, the sadness in his face all too apparent, and admitted, "sa totoo lang…nakakahiya nang maging abogado ngayon…more areglo than legal skills".

Then I posed a question: "How come you never joined the judiciary? Your dad was a respected justice." And he answered, "Buti na lang tatlo lang kaming magkakapatid. Otherwise, baka si daddy naging corrupt din". But my lawyer-friend insisted, there is need for big steps to cleanse the legal system, beginning with the judiciary and prosecutorial service. I wholeheartedly agree. Nobody except the absolutely corrupt can possibly disagree.

"Small changes", as they said, while concrete steps are being done to address the bigger, more complex problems of peace in Mindanao, or food security, or overhauling the bureaucracy, or cleansing the judiciary, or even providing jobs.

"When confidence in government and the system returns, investors will invest. Hindi naman pwedeng mabulok sa bangko ang bilyones nila…even the foreign investors who need to show their stockholders bigger returns", the retired bank executive wisely said. "Then the jobs will be created, more by the private sector than government…it is a long process, but confidence is what matters".

In the end, we agreed by consensus, "small changes" could infuse the citizenry with a feel-good confidence that at last, things will start to get better. It will take us years to solve the "big picture", or at least alleviate the problems. Everybody agreed that if Noynoy leads by the power of good example, and manages his people sternly and decisively, the bureaucracy will deliver results. Meanwhile, the hope for change must go on, and must be re-energized by small confidence-building actions, "small changes" as we coined that afternoon.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Colum for Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Plunder H20

2010-06-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

IT used to be an innocuous office along Kalayaan Avenue in Balara, past Miriam and the Tuason’s former estate, La Vista. Sometime during Cory Aquino’s term, there was some brouhaha over the appointee to chair its Board of Trustees, one Porthos Alma Jose. I forget the specifics of why employees rallied against Alma Jose, which eventually led to his being replaced.

The Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) next came to great public notice when Doña Gloria appointed one Prospero Pichay, a year after being defeated in the 2007 senatorial elections. Such a low-profile position for one so high profile particularly in the defense of his Doña? But it seems there is so much to supervising the various local water utility agencies strewn all over the land than meets one’s ordinary eye.

Just recently, Pichay and his Doña’s anointees were extended midnight appointments to the board of LWUA. Among them are Renato S. Velasco, once a palace factotum who has been with the Doña from her senatorial days, and Susana D. Vargas, before then a deputy executive secretary in charge of Finance and Administration. Along with Prospero Pichay who was re-appointed to five-year terms, a recent appointee to the Board was one Bonifacio Maria Pena, the brother of a Negros Occidental mayor. And long-time "acting" administrator Daniel Landingin was finally given a "permanent" appointment.

Pichay of course was concurrently named Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs after Gabriel Claudio resigned for reasons of health. Whereupon, Claudio was re-appointed, also just a scant few months ago, to chair the MWSS, which deals with the water needs of Metropolitan Manila. While Pichay was unable to steer the Gibo campaign to victory or even close to one, he has clearly been very active in deals and operations that amount to nothing less than systematic plunder --- plundering water, so to speak.

He bloated the Capital Investment Program of the agency and disbursed a total of 3 billion 354 million in 2009, despite approval of only 2.4 billion, of which 400 million came from LWUA funds, 1.5 billion from the Department of Health, and 490 million from the DPWH. There is about 3.3 million more from foreign assistance. Now how was this done? There is an axiom in government expenditure procedures that state one can only purchase or bid out projects if there is an accompanying certification of the availability of funds.

LWUA’s Board of Trustees apparently took the assurance of Mr. Prospero Pichay that he had a commitment from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to commit 6 billion pesos from the President’s Social Fund. Without clear availability of funds, they awarded a long list of projects in 2009, and used the LWUA Fund for some 1.24 billion pesos released to various water districts and charged the same to Receivable Miscellaneous-Miscellaneous Claims. In short, payable by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

The Commission on Audit in its May 24, 2010 report has ruled that the receivable from the GoP has no basis or legal document to back up the claim except for the verbal commitment (kuno) from the Office of the President as warranted by its Chairman Pichay. In short, laway lamang. And coming from one whose prefabrications of "fact" and contortions of "truth" have always had media questioning his credibility, the Board apparently was taken in.

Then again, listen to how the many water districts had been growling. Pichay’s men would tell them to submit a water project (especially those municipalities with little or no running water system), and ask them to bloat the amount to ensure that some people "upstairs" got a hefty cut. Not a "London Cut" as in prime rib, but a "King’s Cut", if you know what I mean. If the water district manager balked, the "operators" went to the mayor of the municipality, who, for his own "London Cut", would only be too willing to proclaim another "project for the benefit of his constituents". 2010 after all was re-election year for these local executives. Now how will the local water districts pay for these LWUA-extended projects? From their collections of course. And what happens if these collections do not suffice because the projects were overpriced to plunderous amounts? Problema na ng susunod na gobyerno. Or, he, he, he…lista sa tubig.

No wonder Pichay had himself re-appointed, along with Velasco and Vargas, in midnight fashion. May pagtatakpan?

And then there is Pichay’s foray into banking. Yes, banking!

In June of 2009, LWUA, as approved by its Board, purchased 60 percent of the total issued and outstanding common shares of Express Savings Bank, a private bank operating out of an office in Cabuyao, Laguna. For its 445,337 issued shares, LWUA paid 80 million pesos. Now read this: Express Savings is a thrift bank currently under rehabilitation, as administered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Pichay had a dream. That together with the National Electrification Administration (NEA), he would conjure a Water and Energy Bank (WE Bank), and he brought the idea up to the BSP. But Deputy Governor Nesting Espenilla informed him that the BSP is currently enforcing a moratorium in the establishment of new banks and advised him to instead consider acquiring an existing financing company for the purpose of addressing LWUA’s financing requirements. And so, Pichay instead bought 60 percent of the Cabuyao bank. The OGCC (Alberto Agra?) sustained his action as within its corporate powers. The ESBI now controlled by LWUA then applied with BSP for quasi-banking authority. But BSP said it had to have at least 650 million pesos in minimum capital accounts.

In partial fulfillment of BSP requirements, LWUA then deposited 400 million pesos as "advance payment" to capital subscription pending BSP approval and SEC registration. But this is contrary to the General Provisions of the General Appropriations Act which restricts government-owned and controlled corporations from investing in non-government securities, money market placements and similar investments or deposit in private banking institutions. So what is the legal basis for Pichay’s grandiose dream of becoming a banker on top of being water czar? Nada.

But Pichay is wise too. Wise as in "wa-is" in everyday patois. He did not sign those water contracts. His "career" officials did. And in a gesture of appreciation, he had the "acting" appointment of Daniel I. Landingin as Administrator made permanent in the twilight of his Doña’s reign.

One more problem for the incoming administration of President Noynoy Aquino. But wait! The employees of the LWUA have been so scandalized at the high-jinks and financial legerdemain of their Chairman and his Board that they are willing to be the ones to bodily remove Pichay and his ilk from the premises of LWUA if the new president will just withdraw their questionable appointments. Bodily remove, or "kakaladkarin palabas" if necessary.

There must be a thousand and one acts committed under this Gloriannic reign in several agencies, departments and GOCC’s as well as GFI’s that qualify as "plunder". This is just one of them.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Friday, 18 June 2010

Campaigns and governance

2010-06-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

‘Aquino’s official family will likely be a mix of professionals, technocrats, and campaign officials, with a few family friends.’

AS the nation awaits the announcement of the members of P-Noy’s official family, some are wondering at how the process of vetting, and eventually naming, the members of the cabinet who will help implement the President-elect’s "good governance" platform works.

Earlier, names were floated as part of a "Search Committee" that would accept nominees, vet them, and convert the same into a short list for the new president to eventually choose from.

Because we do not have a two-party system where it is understood from the very start that the president-elect’s party mates get to sit in the councils of his government, the search and vetting process casts a wider net. In the case of P-Noy, he was borne to electoral victory not only by his Liberal Party, but by volunteers all over the country who answered to his call for change, as well as political personalities and smaller alliances not part of his own party.

In such a setting, the political praxis has been to choose from among those who helped the campaign, regardless of partisan affiliation. Thus, we have heard names floated who have no political party affiliation, and come instead from civil society and the ranks of his volunteers. Which is as it should be in this coalition which persuaded some 15 million Filipinos to give President Benigno S. Aquino III the largest post-Edsa voting numbers.

It is after all in the crucible of the campaign that the president-elect himself sees and is able to gauge, at first hand, the abilities for good governance of the people he would include in his official family, as well as the other appointive positions he has to fill. As Sen. Kiko Pangilinan once told this writer, without reference to anybody in particular, "If you can’t even run a campaign properly, what business do you have being in sensitive positions in government?"

P-Noy, during the ninety-day campaign and even before that, must have recognized the management and people skills of those who were running, or helping run, the various components of his campaign. In that regard, he alone knows best who can be trusted to run departments of government efficiently. As he himself said, "I shall be responsible after all for the conduct of those I will appoint".

Working in a ninety-day campaign and making sure your endorsed candidate regularly tops the surveys, widens his lead against his opponents, is like working in a pressure cooker where the heat won’t abate until after all of 90 days. This pressure-cooker situation is itself the best test of competence and leadership abilities, in a polity where there are no properly differentiated political parties. Working in sensitive and problem-laden departments and agencies, whose moral moorings had been debauched by the present regime for purely transactional motives, means having to lead against the tide of great expectations.

Only the president-elect knows best how to gauge the contributions by way of effort and proper management that the key people in his campaign effected. And that tells him a lot about whether they too can, given the challenge and the opportunity, run sensitive posts in government well.

Which probably explains why the appointments are taking some time to finally announce. In previous transitions, names were announced one at a time, in continuing fashion, until the whole set of cabinet officials was completed. Thus, President Estrada named his cabinet members at the rate of one or two a day, even before he was officially proclaimed by Congress. And so did President FVR before him. In the case of Mrs. Arroyo, she was just segueing from a usurped reign to a dubiously-elected term, which really required few if any surprises. In the case of President Cory, the emergency situation required that key posts had to be filled up soonest, and so she verily completed her cabinet in a few days after her Club Filipino oath-taking.

So let us give the new president the breathing space to form his cabinet, and stop floating speculations which tend only to muddle the picture. Whether he likes it or not, he has a full cabinet meeting to preside upon on June 30, 2010, after he is done with the ceremonies of formal installation. He has a deadline, and it is a scant two weeks away. And by the looks of it, it will not be a partisan political affair, with names from civil society and other professions not necessarily allied with his own Liberal Party, being currently vetted, as we ourselves have learned. In fact, it should not be surprising if in the process of looking far and wide, some of Dona Gloria’s own appointees may be retained or re-cycled for the meantime. Which is just as well. Governance has to have continuity, even as the process of looking for replacements is yet unfinished.

In the last electoral campaign, it was never either clear who would be in Villar’s cabinet, as he ran a very party-oriented campaign, albeit managed by his corporate vice-presidents. If Gibo had been elected, the Lakas-Kampi stalwarts would have continued their happy days, or so they expected. In the case of Erap, he had time and again trotted his previous cabinet as among the best.

While not necessarily a "rainbow" coalition in the traditional mold of Joe de V, President Aquino’s official family will likely be a mix of professionals, technocrats, and campaign officials, with a few family friends added whose trust the new President has retained through the years.

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Thursday, 17 June 2010

Hulyo 1, 2010

2010-06-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

Nagdesisyon na ang bagong pa ngulo na sa Quirino Grandstand sa Luneta siya susumpa bilang ika-15 pa ngulo ng bansa. Susulatan si Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales upang siyang magpasumpa sa kanya, gaya ng dati nang nasabi ni Noynoy Aquino. Matapos ang seremonya, at matapos ang unang miting ng kanyang gabinete, magkakaroon ng “street party” sa Quezon Memorial Circle, kung saan sa masang Pilipino at ordinaryong mamamayan makikipagdiwang ang bagong pangulo, imbes na sa Malacañang kung saan piling-pili at iilan ang maaring makatungo. Ito ang nais ni P-Noy, upang bigyan ng halaga na dapat ay magsama-sama ang liderato at ang taumbayan sa pagsulong ng pagbabago.

Ngunit kinabukasan, matapos ang seremonya at pagdiriwang, mag-uumpisa na ang mahirap na trabaho. Napakara ming suliranin ang mamanahin ng bagong halal na pangulo, at lalo pa itong kinumplika ng pagkaraming mga “midnight” appointments sa mahahalagang pwesto sa mga ahensya at korporasyon ng pamahalaan.

Magbalik-tanaw tayo sa nagdaang kampanya. Liban sa temang “Kung walang korap, walang mahirap”, at sa paninindigang taumbayan ang siyang nagbibigay ng lakas sa kanya (“kayo ang aking lakas”), matatandaang binigyang-diin sa pamamagitan ng deretsahang mga advertisement sa radyo at telebisyon ang ilang mala laking isyu.

Marahil sa Hulyo 1, 2010, ang mga pangakong binitiwan ang siyang dapat na maging sentro ng mga programang ilulunsad. Una rito ay ang pangakong dapat patas ang laban sa batas. Dapat magkaroon ng pantay-pantay na katarungan. Ang hustisya ay hindi para sa mayayaman at makapangyarihan lamang, kundi para sa lahat ng mamamayan, lalo na sa mga maralitang naaapi. At dapat sigurong gumawa ng malalaking hakbang upang linisin ang hudikatura ng mga korap, alinsabay ng pag-usig sa mga malilinaw na kaso ng korapsyon.

Isa pang malaking programa ang siguruhin ang sapat at abot-kayang pagkain ng bawat mamamayan.

Sa biyayang lupain, sa nakapalibot na karagatan, at sa klimang tropikal, hindi dapat na nag-aangkat pa tayo ng pagkain, at hindi natin mabigyan ng abot-kaya at sapat na nutrisyon ang ating sambayanan. Kaya’t malamang ay tutuunan agad ng pansin ang programa para sa pagpapalago ng agrikultura, pangingisda, at iba pang proyektong makapagpapasagana ng ani at makabibigay ng kaunting kaunlaran sa mga magsasaka’t mangingisda.

Ipinangako rin ni P-Noy na sisikaping mabigyan ng mabuting hanapbuhay ang taumbayan, at nang hindi na lamang pagsasa ngibang bansa ang inaasahan. Hindi madaling gawin ang ganito, at hindi naman sadyang kayang madaliin ito. Una’y dapat manumbalik ang kumpiyansa ng mangangalakal, lokal man o dayuhan, na magiging malinis at maayos na ang pamamahala ng ekonomiya, at lulubayan na ng impluwensiya ng pulitika at korapsyon ang sector na pribado. Samantala, gumawa ng mga hakbang para maibsan ang hirap ng sambayanan, sa pamamagitan ng mas maayos na serbisyo publiko sa edukasyon, kalusugan at kawanggawa.

Nariyan din ang paigtingin ang peace and order at siguruhing tahimik at payapa ang bansa, laban sa organisadong mga kriminal, laban sa mga ilegal na gawain, laban sa pang-araw-araw na krimeng maaaring dala ng kasalatan sa kabuhayan, at maging ang mga isyu ng sesesyon at rebelyon.

Napakaraming mga suliranin; napakaraming mga balakid. Ngunit sa awa ng Maykapal, at sa pagkakaisa ng sambayanan, nawa’y maging mistulang bukang liwayway ang tanghaling tapat ng Hunyo 30, 2010, at umagang puspusan ng sama-samang pagsisikap ang Hulyo 1, 2010.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika- 16 ng Hunyo, 2010

Hunyo 30, 2010

2010-06-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sa loob ng dalawang linggo, magpapalit na ng pangulo ng bansa. Isasalin na ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo kay Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III ang kapangyarihang mamuno na sa ating pamahalaan, at umugit ng mga patakaran, programa at gawaing naaayon sa pangakong pagbabago.

Sabik na sabik na ang mamamayan sa pagsalin ng kapangyarihan, pagka’t matagal na nilang tiniis ang walang habas na korapsyon at masamang pamamahala ng ating pamahalaan sa ilalim ng walang kasing tibay at tatag dahil walang kasing kapal na si GMA. Bagama’t ninakaw ng dalawang beses ang kapangyarihan, siya pa rin ang pangulo, at nakuha niyang talunin ang maraming umaway sa kanyang liderato. Ngunit dahil sa lahat naman ay may katapusan, inaasahang katapusan na ni Donya Gloria sa huling araw ng Hunyo, na siya ring umpisa ng pamahalaan ng bagong halal na pangulo ng bansa na si Noynoy Aquino.

Ngunit kaakibat ng pagkakagiliw sa pagsalin ng kapangyarihang iyan sa Hunyo 30 ng taong kasalukuyan ay ang pag-asa ng sambayanan na magkaroon na ng tunay na pagbabago mula sa araw na iyon. Ipinangako ni Noynoy noong nagdaang halalan na kanyang tatapusin ang kanser ng korapsyon, na siya niyang sinisi kung bakit patuloy na sadlak sa kahirapan ang nakararami. “Pag walang korap, walang mahirap,” wika niya.

Kaya’t sa lahat ng kanyang mga pangako at programang nais itaguyod, malinaw na ang prayoridad ay nasa pagsugpo ng korap syon. Ngunit paano?

Una sa lahat, dapat ay magtalaga siya ng mga katulong, sa gabinete at mga ahensya ng pamahalaan, ng mga Pilipinong hindi sangkot sa katiwalian, at hindi nang-abuso ng kapangyarihan noong sila ay napagbigyan ng pwesto sa pamahalaan, bilang halal o hirang.

Pangalawa, dapat ay magbigay ang bagong pamahalaan ng ehemplo, sa pamamagitan ng pag-usig sa mga malinaw na nagkasala sa bayan o umabuso ng kapangyarihan at nilabag ang ating mga batas. Liban sa mag-asawang Arroyo, dapat ay usigin ang mga kasali sa ZTE-NBN, fertilizer scam, at marami pang iba. Dapat ding ala min ang tunay na yaman o pag-aari hindi lamang ng mga Arroyo kundi maging ang mga alipores at kasabwat nila, at tingnan kung ang mga ito’y hindi maisplika ng kanilang legal na pinagkakitaan. Kailangang ipakita sa lahat, maging sa ibang bansa sa daigdig, na hindi makalulusot ang pagnakaw sa kaban ng bayan.

Pangatlo, dapat na linisin at repormahin ang hudikatura, na totoo namang napakabulok, sapagkat kung hindi ito babaguhin, lalamunin lang ng sistema ang mga pagbabago at repormang nais isagawa ni Noynoy. Tanggalin ang mga bayarang mahistrado, huwes, piskal, at iba pang sumisira sa tunay na katarungan. Kapag hinayaan ang mga ito, hindi rin tatagal at muli na namang iiral ang sobrang korapsyon sa sistema ng katarungan, at mapapariwara na muli ang ating demokrasya.

Pang-apat, ipakita sa bayan na totoong walang hahayaang uma buso ng kapangyarihan, o magpasasa sa kaban ng bayan, lalo na sa kanyang mga hirang. Dapat ay matigil na ang tinatawag na “impunity”, o kultura kung saan walang napaparusahan basta’t mala kas. At naaayon ito kay Noynoy Aquino, o P-Noy na nais niyang taguri mula sa Hunyo 30, 2010, sapagka’t siya mismo ay simpleng-simple ang pamumuhay, at mamumuno sa pamamagitan ng maa yos na ehemplo.

Kapag nakita ng sambayanan na seryoso ang susunod na pamahalaan sa pagsugpo sa korapsyon, titino at titino ang pamahalaan maging ang taong-bayan. Susunod sa batas, dahil may takot dito.

agkakadisiplina ang taong-bayan, dahil alam na hindi madaraan sa lakas ang paglusot sa paglabag sa batas. Sa malaon at madali, mababago ang kulturang ipinariwara sa maraming mga taon, at maiibsan ang kahirapan ng nakararami dahil magiging maayos ang pagbigay ng nararapat na serbisyo publiko sa lahat.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika- 15 ng Hunyo, 2010

Sense of history

2010-06-14T19:47:00.000-07:00

‘But not that singular moment in history when we as a people proclaimed our independence as a nation.

IT was so admirable of the president-elect to state that June 12, our national day wherein we commemorate the establishment of the First Philippine Republic in 1898, should be an "immovable date" for a holiday. This was his remark by way of declining to attend outgoing GMA’s parade and extravaganza in praise of her supposed "achievements", although she declared yesterday, June 14, as the commemorative holiday. Note that GMA has been moving the celebration of holidays in order to promote long week-ends, the better to promote domestic tourism.

While I have been supportive of this practice of moving the celebration of holidays to the nearest day before or after a week-end, and have written about this in previous articles in this space, I have always maintained that there is one national holiday we should never move the commemoration of, and that is Araw ng Kalayaan. We can move the commemoration of Edsa Day, even Labor Day, as well as National Heroes Day, but not that singular moment in history when we as a people proclaimed our independence as a nation.

I even wrote that in commemorating June 12, the President should require all public servants to be at the Luneta where a grand parade, military and civic, should be prepared each year. There are symbols of state and nationhood that must always be observed, as has been the practice in almost all self-respecting countries where national pride and nationalism are given the premium it ought to have. Even in hedonistic US of A, July 4 is as sacred as sacred can be, as Bastille Day is to the French, but in these benighted parts, even the incumbent president gives it scant importance, except now that she is on the exit, and would use the movable date only to glorify her 9-year reign.

President-elect Aquino displays a sense of history so lacking in many of our leaders, certainly absent in Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who dares dishonor even the memory of her own father by purloining midnight appointments in the twilight of her power, that he in his day questioned when he took over his defeated predecessor. She has no sense of history, or for that matter, of right or wrong.

Oh and by the way, I appeared in a TV interview last week where I condemned, individually and as a member of FSGO, the wholesale "midnight appointments" of Doña Gloria done in the twilight of her long reign. In the list I showed Anthony Taberna of ABS-CBN, there were a total of 259 such twilight appointments. Well, what do you know, I was reliably informed that American citizen Gary Olivar y Bocobo was also appointed to the Northrail Corporation, that on-again, off-again train project to the North. More to come?

***

Having said that, there ought to be some trepidation in holding the new president’s inaugural at the tomb of Manuel Luis Quezon enshrined in the memorial to his name. Why hold a beginning in the premises of a burial ground of a predecessor, no matter how distinguished?

In previous articles, I have wondered why we commemorate our defeats, as in Bataan Day, or the death of heroes, such as Rizal on December 30 and Ninoy on August 21, rather than on the happier occasions of their birth? Sure, historians will say that the lives of heroes are ennobled by their martyrdom, which elevates them into that pantheon of the nation’s greatest, but still (and accuse me of being superstitious if you will), I prefer to commemorate birthdays than death dates.

Manuel A. Roxas took his oath at the Legislative Building on P. Burgos ave., now the National Museum, likely in keeping with American tradition where presidents take their oaths of office at the Capitol where Congress resides. He died in office. By then, a fitting grandstand at the Luneta, fronting the wide esplanade that leads to Rizal’s monument (where his remains likewise are interred) was the site of the oath-taking of Elpidio Quirino after his controversial election in 1949. That has since been the traditional site of presidential inaugurals, and named after Quirino as well. All presidents, until Joseph Estrada decided on Barasoain Church in Malolos in 1998, took their oaths at the Quirino Grandstand. Estrada’s example was followed by Gloria when she took her oath at the concourse of the Cebu Provincial Capitol in the fraudulent elections of 2004.

President Noynoy has described the atmosphere at Malacañang as rather inauspicious, with all sorts of feng shui "experts" blaming either the stinking river beside it, or the directional location of its doors, even the huge balete tree fronting one of its main entrances, as culprits to "malas". Having grown up in a simple split-level bungalow on Times St., he eschews the size and grandeur of the palace originally built for Spanish governors-general. Happily, there is the Bahay Pangarap at the other side of the river Pasig, with a single bedroom for the first bachelor head of state as more likely living quarters.

***

The president-elect’s sister, Pinky Aquino Abellada, is properly mad at Europe-based communist supremo Jose Maria Sison, for accusing her of having "secretly met" and thus conspired with GMA to plot the US-inspired "pre-programming" of the automated election system to make Noynoy win.

She rightly challenges the Utrecht-based wash-out to specify "when and where" he based his canard upon. Sison has reportedly embellished his prevaricated "expose" about a plot concocted by a "high-ranking CIA official" (na naman?), the Arroyo administration and the Aquinos to "pre-program" election results proclaiming Noynoy winner by a mile. Joma of course lies. Even the public, so wary of the unproven AES prior to May 10, found the national results acceptable and in fact, most credible.

Which brings me to the issue of whether the new government should continue to parlay peace in Oslo, or the Netherlands, or anywhere else but Philippine territory. It was Noynoy’s mother, President Cory who released Joma and others right after she deposed Marcos, an act which caused her so many problems with the rightists and military, in fact used as casus belli for several attempted coups. Noynoy must now tell Joma that if he wants peace, then come home and talk peace here in the country he wants to take over in the name of an ideology that has lost favor and flavor all over the world except in Pyongyang and the four corners of Joma’s Utrecht digs.

In a country where there is democratic space, there is no reason for the communist "supremo" to keep hiding in the Netherlands, while his followers trek from mountain to mountain lair in pursuit of their political objectives, which a liberal polity allows them to articulate in Congress even. Suffer with your people, Joma. And talk peace, if you really want it, here in the motherland.

***

In a most expensive farewell, with her cabinet members atop floats, La Doña enumerated her "achievements". I will not waste words to dispute her claims. Till the end, she lies.

In any case, come June 30, it will be sic transit Gloria mundi.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 15 June 2010

‘Time is no longer a friend’

2010-06-10T10:19:00.000-07:00

‘Noynoy never promised the people a rose garden. What he promised was clean and honest leadership.’

THE president and vice-president elected by the people last May 10, 2010 have been officially proclaimed by Congress in joint session assembled. Before noon of June 30, Jejomar Binay will be sworn in as vice president, and at the exact hour of noon, Benigno S. Aquino III, child of destiny, will be sworn in as the15th president of the Philippines.

In his week-long hiatus prior to the official proclamation, PBSA must have been pondering over the enormity of the job that lies ahead.

While Congress has discharged its constitutional duty with proper dispatch, given the masterful handling of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the incumbent chief executive whose term will expire twenty days hereafter has, contrary to good sense and good conduct, strewn the path of graceful transition by a plethora of midnight deals and a cacophony of midnight appointees. Just unravelling these obstacles, these potential minefields, will consume the time of the new president’s lawyers, meanwhile holding hostage the momentum of change he promised.

Which is exactly what the evil want. She and they hope that with high expectations from a people who desperately want to see the beginnings of reform, the new leadership will falter. That is why she is splurging millions upon millions to advertise her shop-worn wares. Infrastructure, she touts in television commercials, without counting the "tongpats." She wants to be remembered for the new roads and bridges, for the instant convenience, in the hope that in time, people will forget how they were bled dry by the overpricing, how for years and years public services and basic necessities will be denied them because government will have to pay the bills that she incurred.

Gloria banks on the Filipino’s legendarily short memories. Her paid hacks in media now even have the gall to compare her to Marcos, saying that while Marcos left in a blaze of shame, now many are singing paeans to the "efficiency" of that chapter in our lives called martial law. Proof in fact of this cultural aberration of forgetting too soon is the ease with which Bongbong the son was elected senator of the realm last May 10.

Indeed, in his sponsorship speech before Congress, outgoing majority floor leader Arthur Defensor, who by June 30 will reclaim his post as governor of genteel Iloilo, somehow echoed the burdens upon the new president-elect, when he quoted the great American poet, Robert Frost: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep".

Defensor of course was careful to include every government official and not just the president-elect, reminding the collective government leadership of promises made and promises that must be kept. Well, Noynoy never promised the people a rose garden. What he promised is clean and honest leadership, the wellspring of good governance, which in turn is the key to alleviating poverty. Surely those who elected him last May 10 do not expect instant salvation. And now that they realize how many monkey wrenches the evil have thrown at Noynoy’s new government, their revulsion at the old order multiplies a hundred fold.

Noynoy can call upon the goodwill of honestly-gained overwhelming mandate to put the dragons of Gloria’s greed at bay. So it is best for those midnight appointees to submit their resignations gracefully, in keeping with tradition as well as good sense. If Noynoy is forced to drag them out of their offices, especially those who have abused the laws of the land or public trust, the public will applaud. Employees of their agencies might in fact be the first to drag them bodily out of their sinecures.

So perish your dreams of public redemption, Doña Gloria. Neither the present nor the future will give you the fond memories you seek. Only the opprobrium will remain, especially with this series of naked exercise of prerogative done with stealth "like a thief in the night".

But then again, the new president cannot rule by merely reminding the people about the amoral reign and bad governance of Gloria. There is grinding poverty that needs to be addressed. There is a faltering economy saddled with huge debts and fiscal deficits that needs to be remedied. And there is a woeful state in the delivery of the most basic of services, especially to the poor, that must be delivered.

It therefore behooves the men and women of the new regime to think on two parallel tracks – the medium and long-term programs, as well as the immediate relief programs. The medium consists of what are doable within the six-year term; the long-term in terms of laying the founding predicates for continuity of policy and program implementation beyond those six years.

Immediate relief comes in the form of poverty-alleviation measures that are affordable and relatively easy to implement, and in confidence-building measures that will assure the local and international community that at long last, this is a no-nonsense government dedicated to transparency, accountability and the exercise of requisite political will.

As John F. Kennedy, who himself loved to quote Robert Frost, kept saying when he would expound on his domestic and foreign policy initiatives, when he blazed his "new frontiers", "time is no longer a friend".

President-elect Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III knows this only well.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Friday, 11 June 2010

Feeding the people enough

2010-06-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

‘Simply put, we do not produce enough food to feed our people.’

HAVING observed "whatever and whoever" at a range closer than many allows me the luxury of maintaining insights into how things have been done, and wish they were done differently. That is perhaps one of the thoughts that satisfy the mind of many a writer, and one who has been in the vortex of contemporary Philippine political praxis.

One of the most perplexing things about this benighted land is why people go hungry, or why children are malnourished of food nutrients like protein and even enough carbohydrates, a situation that stunts young mental faculties and dooms their upward mobility in a society of extreme inequity. This is certainly a problem that the new president-elect will inherit, never mind the fatuous claims of the textbook economist who relies on statistics rather than stark reality to measure economic success.

There is of course the population growth nightmare that is both Malthusian in proportion and as blindly perpetuated by archaic postulates of the numerous church. We are grateful that we elected a man who is not likely to follow whatever the Church dogmatically demands, unlike past leaders, most especially the present who wilfully throws economic sense to curry favor with bishops for illegitimate survival. Objectively and conscientiously pursuing a balance between the demands of growth and the ability of the State and the private sector to support its population is something that we can reasonably expect president-elect Noynoy Aquino to effect. His previous pronouncements on the population issue, done despite Roman Catholic conservatives’ unreasonable stand, assure us of enough sanity in attempts to curb excessive population growth.

But population growth tapered over a reasonably predictable time frame does not erase the need for us all to confront the paradox of hunger in a resource-blessed country. Simply put, we do not produce enough food to feed our people. It seems unthinkable for a community surrounded by seas, to have a population that is protein-sufficient because of the un-affordability of fish. It is unacceptable likewise for a country whose agriculturists taught the Thais in its universities, to now import staple grains from the same, or from Vietnam which just about a generation ago was torn by war. We subsidize the Vietnamese and Thai farmers at the expense of our hand-to-mouth farmers who could hardly produce enough palay and get paid properly for it. We subsidize the Vietnamese and Thai farmers so that we could sell low to urban consumers the rice that we sell at tremendous losses which the State in turn charges to taxpayers anonymous. And we buy other grains, like corn and soya from the Americans, the Canadians, even the Chinese, to be able to feed the hogs and the fowl that we cannot adequately produce to feed our population. And flour our bakers convert into bread, imported from the heavily-subsidized farmers of the industrial West. Not to mention cattle from Australia which we fatten and slaughter, without producing stock that we can call our own. Or even vegetables that go into the tables of the rich, from the polonchay and black mushrooms of Chinese restaurants, or the arugula and artichokes, even the bell peppers that continental cuisines use. Never mind that the sitaw and talong, the ampalaya and the sigarillas of our pinakbet have often become too pricey even for our middle class.

One of the other doables that a new administration must aim at is providing enough local produce to feed our people enough. And even if we do not have as extensive and as great river systems as those of the Mekong and the Irrawaddy, or the Yangtze and the Yalu, it can be done. Producing palay after all is a function of land, water, seedling, fertilizers and labor, and thereafter, the post-harvest facilities and marketing that brings rice to the consumer.

There are about a hundred thousand hectares available in Palawan where water is abundant if irrigation facilities are fast-tracked, another hundred thousand hectares in the Agusan Valley, with the great Agusan River and its tributaries as source of water. There are enough arable lands that can be cultivated in the Zamboanga and Lanao del Norte provinces, and some more in the huge valleys of the subdivided Cotabato. And the old irrigation systems in Luzon and parts of the Visayas could yet be repaired and rehabilitated. Certainly there must be a stop to land conversion in the manner of Savannah in Oton which became an election issue against Manny Villar’s housing empire.

So if the new regime would first map out areas where palay could be properly grown, invest in irrigation facilities, including water impounding systems, and even conscript AFP engineering battalions to help in the effort, the potential for rice self-sufficiency could be laid out. Then, with new technologies from our agricultural scientists and researchers, such as nitrogen-rich inoculants, plus credit support for fertilizer purchases (since most palay fields are farmed by agrarian reform beneficiaries with little capital or savings), we may be able to turn our country away from the notoriety of being the world’s biggest rice-importing nation.

The new president might even consider putting up an inter-agency task force on rice production under his own office precisely to address this anomaly, with an abbreviated timeframe for achieving self-sufficiency. We now import anywhere from 2 to almost 3 million tons of rice a year, based on the past three years’ figures. In 2008 when world prices shot up due to scarcity, we pushed the price to almost a thousand dollars per ton. Even if the average purchase price was say, $500 per ton for the past three years, that amounts to a hefty 1 to 1.5 billion dollars per annum. That’s money that goes to Vietnamese farmers rather than our own, and because we subsidize selling prices for political reasons, taxpayers end up footing the bill even if they do not buy NFA rice.

A focused program to produce more vegetables, both of the highland and lowland varieties, must also be undertaken. Though remembered as an "imeldific" program, a "green revolution" initiative could be implemented with adequate local government participation.

There are new technologies available to increase fish production in fish cages and pens, whether in the seas or inland waters. Again, it is a matter of the private sector, principally medium-scale entrepreneurs in the provinces, being assisted with cheaper financing and technical support.

Apropos the same, it may be time to ask the Department of Science and Technology to focus more on innovations in agricultural technology, rather than be all over the place on inventions and innovations that are non-marketable, or uncompetitive to begin with in a global market where economies of scale matter most. And because agricultural extension work has been devolved to local government units, it is important to get the DILG involved in a concerted food production program. The DA by itself cannot do it because farm extension people are no longer theirs to control and supervise, but the LGU’s.

Nations can have both internal peace and more balanced economic growth when its countryside is productive where it can, which in the Philippine setting, is agriculture and fisheries, while its urban work force is supplied with affordable food. An economy that relies chiefly on manpower export while using the earnings of such manpower on importing almost every consumer item, cannot ever properly and equitably develop.

Industry and the services sector will grow with the private sector as the engine, but agriculture needs pump-priming and consistent support from government, until such time that its private stakeholders, mostly small landowner-cultivators, have both wherewithal to produce more, and the ability to stand on their own. Enough food to feed a country’s population is part and parcel of national security. It cannot be a function of mere chance or good weather.

***

P.S. And before I forget, a new agriculture secretary has been named, and he has accepted. I shall not pre-empt the President-elect’s official word for it, but the appointee is a fresh gust of wind. He has the heart, the passion, and the necessary political skills to relate to, and in fact, inspire the many stakeholders in the agriculture sector, principally the small farmers and landowners. He has had a track record of doing so. He does not come from the usual "plantation-agriculture" sector from whence many of our former agriculture secretaries have originated. Above all, he is sincere, humble and down-to-earth.

Noynoy Aquino has made not just a wise, but an inspired choice for a portfolio whose impact on the lives of Filipinos is of transcendental importance.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO

MALAYA Column for Thursday, 10 June 2010

Masamang “feng shui”, 2

2010-06-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon mula kay Elpidio Quirino, ginusto ni Joseph Estrada na hindi sa Luneta manumpa, kundi sa makasaysayang simbahan ng Barasoain sa Malolos, kung saan itinanghal ang bagong Saligang Batas ng rebolus yong lumaban sa kolonyalismo ng Espanya, upang mahalinhan lamang ng iba pang kolonyal na pamamahala ng Estados Unidos. At noong pumasok si Estrada sa magiging tanggapan niya sa palasyo, anupa’t bumagsak ang chandelier sa Music Room na katabing silid ng kanyang tanggapan! Matapos ipaayos ang Guest House, lumipat din si Estrada sa Malacañang.

Hindi tumagal si Erap sa panguluhan matapos na sampahan ng kasong impeachment noong 2000, at noong Enero 19, 2000, binaligtad siya ng kanyang mga heneral at ilang miyembro ng gabinete, na siya namang naging pag-angat ni Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa kapangyarihan. At tulad ni Ferdinand Marcos, mahabang panahon ang inilagi ni Gloria sa Malacañang, kung saan mismong siya ay nanirahan.

Tila tumatagal ang mga ka tulad nina Marcos at Gloria sa palasyong katabi ng marumi at mabahong Ilog Pasig. Hiyang sila rito.

Siguro’y nasa isipan ni Benigno Aquino III, anak nina Cory at Ninoy, ang kasaysayan ng marangyang palasyo ng Malacañang at ang mga nangyari sa mga nanirahan dito. Liban kina Marcos at Gloria na hanggang sa dulo ay kinamumuhian ng sambaya nan, walang nanirahan dito na tumagal ang buhay o panguluhan. Masama nga kaya ang “feng shui” ng palasyo? O hindi hiyang ang “vibes” para sa mga hindi katulad nina Marcos at Arroyo?

Dahil karapatan ng pangulo kung saan maninirahan, bagama’t opisyal na tirahan niya ang palasyo ng Malacañang, sari-saring alternatibo ang inihain kay Pangulong Noynoy. Nariyan ang kinalakihan at kinasanayang bahay na itinayo ng kanyang ama’t ina sa Times Street sa West Triangle Homes sa Lungsod Quezon. Ngunit magiging “security nightmare” para sa isang pinuno ng bansa ang magparoo’t parito na dumadaan sa mahaba-haba ring tahakin mula sa tanggapan at tirahan. Liban pa sa maaaring pagbabago sa kinasanayang buhay ng mga kapitbahay nila sa Times St. at subdivision.

Maaari siyang manirahan din sa Arlegui, na patuloy na inuupahan ng pamahalaan sa may-ari nito.

Nu’ng panahon ni Erap, ito’y ipinahiram sa kanyang Press Secretary na si Rod Reyes, na sa malayong Parañaque ang tahanan. At noong ilang taon ni GMA, ginamit itong tanggapan ng iba’t ibang dagdag na tanggapan sa Malacañang, pati na ang ilang mga taga-press office. Subalit ngayon ay isinasaayos, at ayon sa kasalukuyang liderato ay maaaring muling tirahan ng papalit na pangulo.

Nariyan din ang Bahay Pangarap, ang dating golf clubhouse sa kabilang pampang ng Ilog Pasig, na siyang pinipirmihan ng Presidential Security Command, kung saan din nagla-landing ang mga helicopter ng panguluhan. May 9-hole golf course pa rito, at malawak na lupain, sakop ng Pandacan, samantalang ang mismong palasyo ay sakop ng distrito ng San Miguel, parehong sa Lungsod ng Maynila. Kamakailan ay ipinaayos ito ni Donya Gloria upang gamiting lugar ng maliliit na piging at mga pribadong pag-uusap. May isang silid-tulugan na malaki at marangya ang pagkakadisenyo, at sabi’y angkop sa isang binata pang pangulo.

Ang tiyo ni Noynoy na si Butz Aquino ay may bahay sa Calle San Rafael, ilang hakbang lamang mula sa Gate 3 ng Malacañang, at hindi rin kalayuan sa Arlegui. Ngunit ewan ko kung maisasaayos ang “security concerns” ng PSG sa bahay na ito.

Maging ano pa man, itatanghal si Noynoy Aquino na ika-labinlimang pangulo ng bansa sa tanghaling tapat ng Hunyo 30, malamang sa isang seremonya sa Quirino Grandstand sa Luneta. At saan pa man niya piliing manirahan, taglay niya ang suporta ng sambayanang sabik na sabik sa maayos at malinis na pamamahala.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika-09 ng Hunyo, 2010

Sunset on tourism

2010-06-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

'Tourism provides jobs for the nation’s army of semi-skilled workers.’
THE Philippine tourism industry has been enjoying some kind of a mild upswing in visitor arrivals. Compared to the early part of this decade when we were plagued by bad news on the peace and order front, what with unabated Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, and even the mercifully abated avian flu pandemic, we have been generating more tourist arrivals for the past three to four years.
I shall not bore you with figures, except to note that the increased frequency of visitor arrivals are mostly attributable to South Koreans. There has been mild interest from some European countries, mostly senior citizens who find the winters in their country extremely uncomfortable. With Russia’s economy on the rise principally because of their oil exports and increased consumer spending, senior Russians who have never experienced anything but bleak and freezing temperatures have been traveling to the tropics for pleasant clime and warm waters. The same kind of attraction perhaps holds true to Koreans whose winters can be terribly harsh, except that the more business-minded among them find living here both profitable and easy thereafter.
Everybody and his uncle has stated, from the time of Manong Joe Aspiras and his "sunshine" over tourism, that the industry could well be the savior of an economy perennially bogged down in between mild booms and longer bouts with doom. Another advantage that a tourism boom provides is jobs for the nation’s army of semi-skilled workers. One need not be a college graduate to become a chambermaid, a waiter, a cook and his kitchen assistants, a driver, a busboy, utility workers, and such other services that the hospitality industry needs in abundance. Training from TESDA, TLRC and private vocational course-givers would suffice. As the demands of tourism increase, infrastructure building becomes necessary --- roads, airports, ports, hotels and resorts, all of which have a giant multiplier effect on the economy. Indeed, tourism is high up in the do-ables of a new government.
But tourism as an industry has to be treated as such --- an industry. It means that a supervising authority, in this case, government, must first take stock of what it has to offer. In the case of the Philippines, what products do we "sell" to the international market and specifically, to what niche, what segment? What products would appeal to the domestic market? How do we enhance these products in terms of providing accessibility and creature comforts so indispensable by today’s living standards?
Boracay is a product, with its powdery white sand, its clean waters and awesome sunsets. But the tourism authorities abdicated their responsibility to properly plan, and implement whatever plans there have been for this island paradise. Ferdinand Marcos wanted the island to be his and his cronies’ playground. This was where he brought visiting cognoscenti, mostly female. He even decreed that the island would be under the control and supervision of the Philippine Tourism Authority, along with other beautiful spots in Palawan, Bohol, Cebu, and the north. That ought to have been the start of serious planning, and to his credit, the dictator knew his directions. But he entrusted his tourism vision to cronies and their hangers-on, who kept asking, "What’s in it for me?" and eventually got their slimy hands on choice properties which they hoped to parlay into money-making resources, with the help of government financial institutions. But Marcos fell ill, then Ninoy Aquino was assassinated, and the rest is history, with curtains falling on the dictatorship.
When President Corazon C. Aquino took over, our tourism industry as marketed under Marcos by PR man Joe Aspiras as "the islands where Asia wears a smile", was the envy of most other Asian capitals, having already breached the million-visitor benchmark. At that time, Thailand and Malaysia were just beginning to "copy" the Philippine model, their nations having just graduated from years of political strife. The pricing bargains they offered were extremely attractive, with four-star hotels at 30 dollars per night, as against the 80 dollars that most Manila hotels then would charge. And they had a truly Asian culture which spiked European curiosity.
But unfortunately, that million-visitor benchmark for the Philippines was to remain stagnant for years on end. What happened? First, there was the peace and order problem, highlighted by several attempted coups against Cory’s leadership. Second, the planning came in spurts, and the implementation even more woeful. Boracay was left to foreign carpet-baggers to mutilate. Only in the Ramos and Estrada administrations was something done about its water system and worse, the sewerage treatment facility that the island so badly needed, but before then the PTA had failed to impose any centralized planning despite the mandate given by Marcos’ PD 1801. Ramshackle lean-tos built helter-skelter by foreigners and their native cohorts dotted the landscape. Worse, the Local Government Code, enacted in the early 90’s as landmark legislation providing decentralization of central government authority, left the matter of tourism estate planning and implementation largely in the hands of local governments, with nothing else but inutile support from the DoT. Boracay was left to the tender mercies of LGU officials who had absolutely no idea about environmental safeguards or carrying capacity. When I was appointed to the PTA, there was little I could do except ensure the fruition of a potable water system, and installing state-of-the-art sewerage treatment facility which though completed, I understand is not functioning fully because many resort owners refuse to connect and pay. Together with the governor, now Rep. Joeben Miraflores, we got a sympathetic President Estrada to fund the renovation and expansion of the Kalibo Airport, the widening and concrete paving of the national highway from Kalibo to Malay, and the jetty ports that would rationalize the flow of pumpboats servicing the ingress and egress to Boracay. I got JBIC and ICC approval for the solid waste management program for the island, but then the curtain was about to fall on the short-lived Estrada government. I wonder if successive PTA managements were able to move this to fruition. But the efforts were really difficult considering previous neglect and the often irrational actions of the LGU which was more concerned about turf and prerogative than any world-class vision.
Despite that, Boracay’s visitors have increased tremendously, from a little over a hundred thousand in 1998 when we got involved, to 600,000 yearly, and counting. But while I pride myself with the psychic satisfaction of having contributed much to this tourism boom, I worry about the future prospects of paradise defiled.
Third, there is the problem of infrastructure, defined in terms of accessibility, provision of basic necessities including power, water and communications, as well as competitively affordable and internationally acceptable standards of lodging and food. This is what we woefully lack. Because of tremendous employment-multiplier effects on the economy, you would think that the national and local governments would do their part. They hardly do. Instead, obstacles principally on account of greedy corruption are placed along the way of private investors. This would take an entire pamphlet to discuss.
Fourth, the Department of Tourism’s marketing efforts are not only puny, they have been quite un-focused. Every new administration carries with it a change of leadership, and everyone has his or her own idea of how to market our 7100 admittedly beautiful islands, its people, its culture, its attractions. Together with selling everything and anything (seemingly unmindful that with our paucity of resources, it is best to develop and market a few products at a time) and politically-inspired or mis-inspired choices of helmsmen, selling Philippine tourism has been a willy-nilly effort. Without taking any worthy praise for DOT’s Ace Durano and the three-fold increase of visitor arrivals (take the numbers with a grain of salt, because unlike Thailand and Malaysia whose visitors are overwhelmingly foreign, ours include balikbayan’s like the current presidential spokesperson) under his watch, there is so much left undone. This includes rationalizing the prerogatives of local government officials vis-à-vis central planning and authority over tourist areas. (In my time, Boracay stakeholders were proposing that legislation be crafted to make a Boracay Island Authority similar to the mandate of SBMA in Subic, principally out of consternation over the ways of local officials).
Now juxtapose these concerns with the midnight appointments of a physical therapist-classmate of the Doña or fitness trainer (whatever) to the Tourism Promotions Board spun off from the defunct PCVC ably helmed by Danny Corpuz. And the newly-formed TIEZA, which takes over the functions of PTA and more, by re-appointed Mark Lapid, once governor of Pampanga. Whoever newly-elected President Noynoy Aquino appoints to the DOT will have to work with, or past, these people. The Tourism Act of 2009, created by law through RA 9593, provides a basically good framework for tourism development and implementation, but structure is always effective only with the proper implementors and purposive leadership.
If we had our ‘druthers, tourism ought be appended to the Department of Transportation, as an authoritative and autonomous Philippine Tourism Authority which would spearhead focused efforts on infrastructure development, incentives and linkages with the country’s transportation planning. For instance, wouldn’t the international airport be better located in Aklan, minutes away by boat to Boracay, than Iloilo’s Sta. Barbara? Lopping off a hill in Caticlan for a long runway has environmental concerns, and putting one in Romblon’s Carabao Island means choppy and longer rides by boat, while a longer runway and bigger airport in the flatlands of Malay may likewise increase awareness for a cheaper domestic tourist destination in nearby Tangalan and Ibajay. Good thinking caused the national government to put up a long runway and terminal facilities in San Vicente in northwestern Palawan, which is just as breathtaking, and longer than the Boracay beachfront. Except again, is there central planning, before this long strip of white sand becomes haven for derelicts drinking all night in cheapos fronting the South China Sea?
While on the subject of airports, the new administration must now do everything possible to correct the egregious situation of a decayed international airport named after the president’s martyred father operating as first-hand negative visitor initiation to the country, side-by-side with a terminal designed for domestic use being utilized by the nation’s flag-carrier as its monopoly even for foreign arrivals, while a third terminal lies rotting because of legal problems. Cut the Gordian Knot, Mr. President, and operate NAIA 3 soonest for international flights. That would be both concrete expression of political will and the message that this time, things will be done right, without strings of greed and self-dealing.
And the marketing effort is best done by a Department of Trade and Tourism Promotion, where consumer welfare is safeguarded through a spun-off Consumer Protection Authority with adequate powers. Selling the Philippines to investors is best achieved by selling the Philippines to tourists first. Just look at Thailand, Malaysia, even man-made Singapore and Hong Kong.
This article attempts merely to put things in perspective framework, but hardly suffices as journal on how tourism, once and ever touted as "sunrise" industry, could very well be descending upon its sunset in this benighted land of lost opportunities. It is an industry where a new regime could work wonders upon in as short gestation period as possible, certainly a do-able.
Fact is, even the unfairly belittled Boy Abunda with his communication abilities, could effect sunrise instead of sunset over our tourism industry, provided he gets the support of stakeholders, beginning from able and dedicated confidantes in the newly re-created department and industry players, and most significantly, a national government leadership which knows its priorities and would govern imaginatively, innovatively, and purposively.
***
(banayo_at@yahoo.com)
LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 08 June 2010

Masamang “feng shui”

2010-06-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Maraming tumutuya sa pag-ayaw ng bagong halal na pangulo na manirahan sa palasyo ng Malakanyang, na siyang tinirhan ng maraming mga pinuno ng bansa, mula pa nu’ng panahon ng mga Kastila. Sa ating kasaysayan, ilan sa mga nanirahan sa palasyong katabi ng Ilog Pasig ay kinapus-palad. Si Manuel Luis Quezon ay nagkaroon ng tuberculosis, na noong panahong iyon ay hindi pa nagagamot. Namatay siya sa Saranac Lake sa Nuweba York, habang naka-destiyero lalan ng Pangalawang Digmaang Pandaigdigan. Hinalinhan siya ni Sergio Osmeña Sr., na matapos ang ilang buwan bilang pangulo ay humarap sa sambayanang lumpo sa digmaan para sa panguluhan ng pangatlong republika. Natalo si Osmeña ni Manuel A. Roxas, na sinawimpalad na namatay sa atake sa puso makalampas ang higit lamang sa dalawang taon.

Naging pangulo ang bise-presidente ni Roxas na si Elpidio Quirino, subali’t panahon ito ng malawakang pag-alsa ng mga Huk na nais itatag ang pamahalaang komunista sa bansa. Nagkasakit si Quirino sa hirap ng kanyang panguluhan, at bagama’t maraming naumpisahang mga proyektong nagpatatag ng ekonomiya matapos ang mapagpinsalang digmaan, siya’y tinalo noong 1953 ng kanyang hinirang na kalihim ng tanggulang pambansa na si Ramon Magsaysay. Muling trahedya ang nangyari nang mamatay sa isang sakuna sa Mt. Manunggal sa Cebu ang Pangulong Magsaysay na nanungkulan ng higit lang sa tatlong taon. Pinalitan ito ni Carlos P. Garcia ng Bohol, na bagama’t naihalal noong 1957, ay natalo naman sa halalan ng 1961 ng kanyang bise-presidenteng si Diosdado Macapagal, ama ng kasalukuyang nakaupo sa trono sa loob ng palasyo.

Nguni’t hindi rin nagtagal si Macapagal. Matapos ang isang termino, hinalinhan ito ng pangulo ng Senado na si Ferdinand Marcos. Siguro’y hiyang kay Marcos ang palasyo, sapagka’t binalak nitong hindi na lisanin kailanman ang kapangyarihan. Matapos magtagumpay sa re-eleksyon ng 1969 laban sa anak ng dating pangulo, si Sergio Osmeña Jr. na ama naman ng kasalukuyang Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, sinadya na ni Marcos ang magtatag ng martial law at mag-hari sa bansa. Sa matagal na panahon ng dalawampu’t isang taon, kung saan halos labing-apat na taon ay sa ilalim ng diktadurya, naghari nga si Marcos at asawang si Imelda. Nguni’t may bawi ang hindi magandang “feng shui” ng kaniyang palasyo, bagama’t ito’y kanyang binago (Pinalitan ang lumang palasyo ng isang “bomb-proof” na istraktura, gaya ang dating arkitektura kaya’t kung mga larawan ang pagbabasehan ay akala mo’y luma pa rin.) Nagkasakit si Marcos ng nakapanhihinang “lupus erythrymatosus” at matapos mapaslang ang matagal na ikinulong niyang kalaban sa pulitikang si Ninoy Aquino, unti-unti nang pabagsak ang kanyang rehimen.

At humalili sa kanya, matapos ang dinayang “snap elections” ng 1986, ay walang iba kundi ang biyuda ni Ninoy na si Cory Aquino. Dala siguro ng kapaitan na manirahan sa binahayan ng pinaghihinalaang pumaslang sa kanyang asawa, tumanggi si Cory na manirahan sa Malakanyang. Imbes ay ginamit na tanggapan ang “Guest House” na itinayo ni Marcos para sa mga natatanging bisita mula sa ibang bansa, at nanirahan sa isang mansyon sa Calle Arlegui na pag-aari ng mga Laperal, na kinuha naman ni Marcos noong martial law. At matapos ang panguluhang ginulo ng sunud-sunod na pagtangka sa kanya, na sa isang pagkakataon ay mismong bugtong na lalaking anak nila na si Noynoy ay muntik mapatay, ang humalili sa kanyang si Fidel Valdez Ramos ay muling ayaw manirahan sa palasyo, liban na lang sa paggamit ng dating opisina ni Marcos bilang tanggapan rin. Natapos naman ang anim na taong panunungkulan ni FVR, subali’t ang humalili sa kanya noong 1998 ay hindi kanyang minanok kundi ang kanyang bise-presidenteng si Joseph Estrada na malapit sa masang Pilipino. (Itutuloy bukas)

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-08 ng Hunyo, 2010

Stealth

2010-06-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

‘The net intended effect is to tie down the hands of the incoming administration.’

IT’S 26 days before Benigno Simeon Aquino III takes over as the newly-elected president of the Republic. But in the past and in the coming 26 days more, greedy men and women in cahoots with one another will do everything possible to "clear their desks, so to speak, of any incriminating evidence that might pin them down – for plunder, for graft, or for plain incompetence to stop graft, and all of the above.

This is the reason for some 200 midnight appointments. This is the reason for so many more midnight deals that will be rushed on top of those that had been rushed. Everything will be done in stealth. The net intended effect is to tie down the hands of the incoming administration, caught in the vise of done deals the rejection of which will create legal difficulties.

To begin with, there are the appointments allegedly signed by Doña Gloria in one day. The erudite Fr. Joaquin Bernas wrote in his column a few days back that there are two steps in the appointment process --- the offer, and the acceptance thereof. There is no appointment until the offer of appointment is accepted by the appointee. Thus we take note of the delicadeza displayed by Anita Carpon, the manicurist appointed to the board of trustees of the Pag-ibig housing fund. She shames many of those more lettered, more highly schooled, but apparently quite uneducated.

Still, assumption to public office is not complete until after the appointee takes his oath of office. Only when the public officer has satisfied the prerequisite of an oath does his right to enter into the position become plenary and complete. Until that oath, he has no right.

So, given this argument even if the appointments were made on or before March 9, but the oathsof office were made subsequent to March 10, the appointments are legally questionable. This is the reason oath of offices are required to be submitted to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Office of the President (OP), as the appointing power.

Now read this and gnash your teeth:

My mole in the bureaucracy of Malacañang told me that the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) has been calling up GOCCs to inquire on when the recent appointees of Mrs. Arroyo actually took their oath of offices and if and when these oaths were actually transmitted to the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the President.

See the stealth? It would do well for the incoming administration to scrutinize each and every document of appointment and oath, if any, once it takes hold of office. Thereafter, the new president could rescind their appointments. Or ask them to resign. If they had been appointed to offices which by law have term limits, then the technical errors between appointment, authenticity of oath and assumption to office may be carefully analyzed, and thereafter questioned in court.

Additionally, with the support of the public fresh on the back of its sails, the new presidency could exert pressure, ranging from soft persuasion using back-channeling efforts, all the way to hard pressure, as in disallowing financial transactions by ordering the banks not to honor the signatures of midnight appointees. There are many other ways of skinning the proverbial cat. A new mandate cannot be allowed to sunder in front of clearly immoral acts of a dead regime.

As a lawyer-friend wrote in reaction to the plethora of "midnight" appointments callously and stealthily done, "If Noynoy does not defy those midnight appointments, he could be a lameduck on Day One". Clearly, the new president will not allow that.

***

We have been reliably informed too, by a government official at that, of moves within the Bangko Sentral intended to "save the day" for their inexcusable negligence at accepting spurious land titles, as well as worthless properties, to guarantee payment of a 4.5 billion accommodation to the then floundering, now defunct Villar-owned Capitol Bank.

The continued silence of the Bangko Sentral to explain how they got conned into taking worthless properties and titles of questionable provenance in payment for such a huge amount of public money will soon be challenged when Congress convenes under a new president who wants full transparency and full disclosure. The Blue Ribbon Committee as well as the Committee on Banks and Financial Institutions, whoever their respective chairs will be, await the explanation of the BSP on Norzagaray and other issues.

The information we have received though is that the Bank has been in quiet negotiation with the defeated Nacionalista Party presidential candidate or his corporate subalterns, to offer other collateral and swap these for the obviously unworthy. Trying to sweep the dirt under the rug? Will such an effort, if it could be complied with, erase the stigma upon the institution? And how could that legally be done, all in stealth? Questions and more questions that Congress will soon ask of the leadership of the Bank of Banks.

***

And additionally, the Bank will soon have to explain to the public, through Congress, how it is that they have been outsourcing our paper currency, nay, even the minting of our coins, for years and years on end, from favored suppliers and printers abroad, this, despite the presence of a security printing plant in Quezon City put up and maintained by the taxpayer at great expense.

The Bangko Sentral will likewise have to explain why it will demonetize in three years the current banknotes in favor of a New Generation Currency which it is rushing for introduction by the end of this year. And why again, these banknotes will be imported from foreign printers, at a staggering cost, even as their 32-year-ld printing machines needed replacement years ago? Even numismatists and history aficionados will likely question why we feature tourist spots and animals in the obverse side of banknotes whose front will sport the faces of Philippine presidents and heroes.

If the intent is to promote our tourist spots, what good will such do when the peso is acceptable only within the metes and bounds of these islands, unlike the American dollar or the euro, which are utilized in various countries. Will a French or German traveller, for instance, see the tarsier and the Chocolate Hills in Lyon or Dusseldorf? Nope. Only when they are already in the Philippines, when they exchange their euro for Philippine pesos. So what tourist-promotion value will printing these natural wonders have?

But, as usual, what the Bangko Sentral’s "independent" officials want, they get. They do as they please, ensconced as they are in the "secrecy" of their vault-like headquarters by the Bay. Vamos a ver.

In a regime of absolute amorality, that is possible. In a new order where good old-fashioned values of accountability, transparency and good governance will reign, must the Bank be spared?

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Friday, 04 June 2010

Magandang panimula

2010-06-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

‘Di tulad ng ibang manunulat, ayaw kong magbigay ng komento base sa mga ispekulasyon patungkol sa gabinete ng bagong halal na pa ngulo ng bansa, si Noynoy Aquino. Naglipana ang mga text messages na binabanggit ang kung sinu-sino para sa kung anu-anong posisyon. Natatawa ako sa ilang mga pangalan at kaakibat na posisyon (kuno), dahil alam kong napakalayo sa malamang na gawin o isipin ng bagong halal na pangulo.

Kanya hinintay ko ang sadyang anunsyo na galing mismo kay Noynoy. Nauna nang binanggit si Dinky Soliman para sa DSWD. Ito’y hindi sorpresa pagkat matagal na itong nabanggit ni Noynoy, kandidato pa mandin siya. Si Dinky, na kasamahan ko sa FSGO, ay masipag at sadyang kapakanan ng mga mahihirap ang nilalayong matulungan. Nagpa kita siya ng paninindigan noong nilisan niya, kasama ang Hyatt 10, ang gabinete ni GMA, dala ng ebidensya patungkol sa Hello Garci, at kakulangan ng sapat na reaksyon mula sa kanilang pangulo. Hinangaan ko ang ganoong paninindigan, at sa aking konting pananaw, ang mga nanindigan noong mga panahon ng iskandalong Hello Garci ay dapat ipagbunyi, at hindi masamain.

Gayun din ang aking reaksyon ng kamakailan ay sabihin ni Noynoy na siya’y tutulungan ni Ging Deles, isang kasapi rin sa Hyatt 10, na siyang tumatayong pangkalahatang kalihim ng FSGO, sa larangan ng paghahanap ng matagalang kapayapaan bilang Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process na may ranggo ng gabinete. Maski mas malawakang pwesto sa gabinete ay karapat-dapat si Ging, ngunit palagay ko ay sadyang dedikasyon niya ang makatulong sa pagsulong ng kapayapaan at pagkakaisa ng bayan.

Noong Lunes ay inanunsyo na ni Aquino na ang kanyang magiging Executive Secretary ay si Atty. Paquito “Jojo” N. Ochoa Jr., na siguro’y hindi kilala ng marami sa ating mga tagasubaybay. Bagama’t siyam na taon na siya halos na City Administrator ng Lungsod ng Quezon, sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni Alkalde Sonny Belmonte, si Ochoa ay naging “low-key”, walang kontrobersiya, at walang publisidad sa kanyang pagkatao o pwesto.

Iyan din malamang ang nais ni Aquino --- isang masipag, tahimik at magaling na kalihim pangkalahatan, na siyang magiging administrador ng Office of the President. Lubos ang tiwala kay Jojo Ochoa ng kanyang pangulo, na matagal na niyang kaibigan at maging ang kanilang mga ama na si Ninoy Aquino at ama ni Jojo ay naging magkasama.

Nakatrabaho ko si Jojo nitong huling tatlong buwan o higit, mula nang tumulong ako sa kampanya ni Noynoy. At napakaayos ng pagkakilala ko sa kanyang mga katangian. Magaling sumunod, at magaling manguna. A good follower and a good leader. Kung baga sa military, mahusay na heneral ng kanyang commander-in-chief. Iyan ang sadyang katangiang nararapat sa isang Executive Secretary, na siyang sasala ng mga impormasyong aabot sa Pa ngulo, at hihingan ng payo ukol sa mga desisyong nasyonal. Siya rin ang sisiguro na ang mga kawani ng Office of the President ay ginagawa ang kanilang mga tungkulin ng maayos, upang matulu ngan ang susunod na pangulo.

Taong-tao at walang kaplastikan itong si Jojo. Kung hindi maaari, sasabihin ng maayos. Kung wala sa lugar, tatanggi ng maayos. Hindi ka bibilugin, tatapatin ka.

Ganyan ang dapat talagang maging Executive Secretary. Hindi hangad ang pansariling pagpapa-pogi, kundi paano mapapabuti ang kanyang pangulong pinagsisilbihan.

Magandang mga panimula ang nakikita natin sa hinihirang ng bagong halal na pangulo, si Noynoy Aquino. Nawa’y magpatuloy ang ganito, at nawa’y maisaayos na niya ang mabuting pamamahala na hindi transaksyunal, kundi sadyang makabubuti para sa kinabukasan ng sambayanan.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika-02 ng Hunyo, 2010

Midnight

2010-06-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

‘Up to the very end, she will not gracefully ride into the sunset.’

A FRIEND sent me a partial listing of supposed "midnight" appointees of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Some had to be filled up simply because the offices were vacated, and therefore an appointment in "acting" capacity was required by law. The better option was to name an officer-in-charge (OIC) from any of the undersecretaries or those of lower management rank.

Jesli Lapus was moved from DECS to DTI on March 8, 2010, because Peter Favila who used to be Trade secretary wanted a cushy retirement job as member of the Monetary Board. GMA had to press my good friend Raul Boncan to retire earlier, "for reasons of health", so as to give way to the desires of Peter.

To replace Jesli at DECS, she resurrected Mona Valisno from retirement and gave her cherished dream of being a line cabinet secretary, at last.

Because Raul Gonzalez resigned to run for mayor of Iloilo (and lost), Raoul Victorino of Pasig was likewise resurrected from retirement as a Sandiganbayan justice and member of the Judicial and Bar Council, of the Court of Appeals, among other positions held in a long career in government, to become presidential legal counsel.

When the post of Executive Secretary which Ed Ermita gave up to run for his old seat in Congress representing the first district of Batangas (which he too, lost), Leandro Mendoza had to vacate DOTC and move in to the palace beside the stinking river.

Anneli Lontoc was named OIC, and because she was an undersecretary, GMA named Art Lomibao to replace her as undersecretary, really quite unnecessary because there is a host of Usecs in DOTC, far more than the Administrative Code provides. "Promoting" Lomibao to Usec meant he had to give up juicy LTO, and Bert Suansing, a performer really, was trotted off LTFRB and returned to LTO. Just a game of musical chairs. What was the music? Something retro, perhaps?

Just in the nick of time, Gabby Claudio, who served her long as political adviser, was appointed to head the board of MWSS, supposedly one with a fixed term. His appointment papers were signed March 9, a day before the constitutional ban, yet released just before Semana Santa.

Erstwhile health honcho Francisco Duque was earlier named to the Civil Service Commission, with a fixed seven-year term. In midnight fashion, the Commission on Appointments approved his new posting, even if he is not a "lawyer" which was the lame reason given by the same CA for rejecting Ricardo Saludo’s earlier appointment. Will wonders never cease?

TESDA’s Augusto Syjuco went back to his wife’s native Iloilo, after sensing certain defeat if he were to run for senator, and won as congressman of its second district. So to replace him at TESDA, an agency under DOLE which was queerly and quizzically elevated by his Doña to "cabinet" rank, she named a Pastor Guiao, likely a cabalen.

Foreign Affairs Usec Esteban Conejos was mysteriously appointed permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, after one of Claudio Teehankee’s sons resigned. But the Foreign Affairs career officers raised a howl, and the CA, as far as I know, sat on Conejos’ confirmation. So Conejos of Leyte is still in Manila, awaiting his fate under a new administration which hopefully will put Bert Romulo, the DFA boss, to pasture. The foreign affairs portfolio should be given to one who could energetically push for more foreign interest, and investments, in Philippines, Inc.

Another howl greeted the midnight appointment of Alfonso Yuchengco as ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany. The good old man is well, too old at age 87. Frank Benedicto of Cebu who has moved from post to post through several presidencies starting with Tita Cory, has been named to the premier post of ambassador to China. Congressman Tony Cuenco, also from Cebu, was named in midnight fashion as ambassador to Italy, but his once fellows in Congress failed to confirm him. Libran Cabactulan, a career foreign service ambassador, was named to replace Hilario Davide as United Nations ambassador, after Davide decided to resign and campaign for his son Jun-Jun, who lost as governor of Cebu in the hands of Gwendolyn Garcia.

Deemed hilarious was the sudden appointment, again during the wee hours, of Anita Carpon, the Doña’s favorite manicurist, as trustee of the Pag-Ibig housing fund, which carries with it a fixed term of two years, at a monthly compensation of a little over a hundred thousand pesos. As far as I have learned, she has not taken up the post. Maybe she earns more than a hundred thousand cutting and polishing nails of the rich and famous. If she could trim the dainty nails of a former president, and she never shouted "Aray!", her credentials should be good enough for her hundreds of cronies’ wives and mistresses.

Armando Macapagal, Malacañang Park gardener, was promoted to deputy of the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) which has jurisdiction over Luneta Park. His credentials are fine enough, a gardener for a park maintenance job, except why in heaven’s name do we need deputies and assistants? One of those queer things about a bureaucracy which has vice-presidents without tasks, and assistants waiting only for the demise of the head honchos.

The music on her mind? Sondheim’s "Send in the Clowns", perhaps.

Jess Dureza, the former press secretary who openly wished, in prayers at that, that his Doña Gloria would reign "beyond 2010", has been rewarded as chair of the newly-created Mindanao Development Authority with a fixed term of six long years, almost the life of the regime of her successor in office. It pays to pander, never mind if the whole country ridicules you for it. And Al Cusi was moved from NAIA to head the also newly-created (by law) Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, which merged the former ATO with the former CAA, a most powerful aviation body in charge of air rights and provincial airports, to head the same for a term of four years.

Pati naman Dangerous Drugs Board at Board of Pardons and Parole hindi pinalagpas. Vice-chair of DDB, also appointed on the same day (March 9 if Malacañang records are to be trusted) is a certain Rommel Garcia, with a six-year term, and to the Board of Parole a certain Natividad Dizon, also for six years (is Tony Sanchez’ parole upcoming, like Romy Jalosjos under a predecessor’s watch?)

Octogenarian Larry Henares, papa Dadong’s NEC head (predecessor of NEDA) accepted a midnight four-year-term as chair of the National Museum. Well, relics and antiquities are perhaps best cared for by the aged. And with him, a certain Jeremy Barns for director of the museum.

And the trusted man of the First Gentleman, the assistant Ombudsman, Mark Jalandoni, has been appointed Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon for a fixed term of seven years, to serve under the FG’s classmate and favorite, Merceditas Gutierrez, for what she claims is a term that will end only on October of 2012.

There have been midnight appointments to the Judiciary as well. As soon as she issued a warrant of arrest for Senator Ping Lacson, the First Couple’s most hated, Manila RTC Judge Myra Garcia Fernandez was appointed to the Court of Appeals, in "kaliwaan" fashion. Along with Nina Valenzuela, Eduardo Peralta Jr., Ramon Paul Hernando, all newly-minted in the cloak of nightfall, associate justices. As if the CA would not function if there were a few vacancies left to the new president to appoint. And when a newly-appointed presiding justice died, so instant was his replacement as well! And in the Sandiganbayan, Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo was rushed into appointment. Wendell Barrera-Sulit was named Special Prosecutor of the Ombudsman, also for a fixed term of seven years.

Ten regional trial courts were instantly filled up with new appointees, also on March 9. Basta’t may butas, tinapalan!

Mark Lapid was PTA general manager after Dean Barbers ended his term. Meanwhile, the new Tourism Policy Act of 2009, R.A. 9593, was enacted. And with the Implementing Rules and Regulations rushed, the new Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority was created and the Philippine Tourism Authority abolished. In midnight fashion as well, Lapid was named to head the TIEZA for the next six years. Not content with that, GMA had to name her physical fitness instructress and classmate, Cynthia Carreon, also for six years, to head the marketing arm of tourism, the Tourism Promotions Board. And Michael Kho, for the last nine years head of Duty Free Philippines, was re-appointed, this time for another six years, to the same newly re-organized corporation. Wow, it really pays to follow the boss, whoever it was, or is, whether Dick Gordon or Lucio Lao Co, or Butch Pichay, or El Esposo Fabuloso, eh?

And the latest pronouncement from Malacañang has to do with the nation’s third largest revenue generator, after BIR and Customs, and that is --- gaming! Apparently, she also signed on March 9 (really?) but announced only the other day, the re-appointment of Efraim Genuino as Pagcor chair and CEO, along with four other directors of the board, for another year. You see, the charter of this gaming corporation, created by Presidential Decree 1869, provides that "board members should serve for a term of one year until his or her successor shall have been duly appointed and qualified."

Genuino was appointed chair and CEO right after Doña Gloria y Don Miguel took over Malacañang on January 22, 2010, among the very first of her appointees after usurping power from Joseph Estrada. It should be interesting to see if indeed, "as provided for by law", Efraim has nine annual appointment papers all duly signed and authenticated (Yes, Virginia, he has been there continuously). For the enabling law provides that directors shall serve for one year or "until his or her successor shall have been duly appointed and qualified". Which means that even if GMA did not re-appoint her favorite Genuino and cabal on March 9, as alleged, they could serve in the same "until…successors shall have been duly appointed"… by the new appointing authority, Benigno S. Aquino, who shall take over the presidency by noon of June 30, 2010.

Why then did she have to re-appoint these characters, likely not in midnight fashion but in ante-dated manner (why announce it only now, if the appointments were made on March 9)? Was it pambabastos? Was it to cover up certain tracks? Was it to give her coven in Pagcor time to urgently clean up the books? Was it to forge some more midnight deals? Or all of the above?

Up to the very end, she will not gracefully ride into the sunset. "In the lamplight, the withered leaves collect at my feet…" says the hauntingly beautiful song from Cats, entitled "Memory" which begins with the word "midnight". All in stealth, very apropos.

***

Post-script: While writing this article, I heard that Pagcor’s Genuino declared over radio that he would follow whatever the incoming president decides insofar as his fate is concerned. Hindi naman daw siya mag-kakapit-tuko, probably reminded about the fate of one Publio Tibi Jr., who chained himself to his executive chair at the Philippine National Railways and had to be physically dragged out by then MOTC minister Hernando B. Perez Jr., Cory’s first appointee to the transport and communications department.

And then a friend who used to work in Pagcor during the time of Alice Reyes, sent a text message saying that one of the perks of a Pagcor chair is having "free" Ermenegildo Zegna suits, as many as desired. On the TV news program, Genuino indeed looked natty in a fabulously expensive suit. Oh well. The guy dresses with taste, unlike others in Gloria’s coven who buy Mongkok ties.

Methinks President Noynoy, a simple man with an almost Spartan lifestyle, should inaugurate a new dress code for all public servants. That except for very special occasions or official travels abroad, the new pubic servant should wear simple short-sleeved polo barongs, not necessarily a-la-jacket like Marcos and his Bongbong, and not expensive suits with silk cravats or pina and silk cocoon barongs. Yes, even in cabinet meetings. After all, they are servants of the people, right?

Be simple. In Israel, parliamentarians come to "august" chambers in short-sleeved white shirts. As in Singapore. And these are highly-paid public servants who do not have to resort to graft for perks like nice suits.

But en las Islas Filipinas, ladrones, como monos, have to parade themselves in vestidos de oro. (There is a saying in Castillian that translates: A monkey, though dressed up in gold, is a monkey nonetheless).

And while we’re at this, should not the new Executive Secretary come June 30, 2010, Atty. Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., another simple man with simple lifestyle, also clarify by administrative order, official protocol on how public officials ought to be addressed? In this country, everyone and his uncle who happens to be appointed or elected to as lowliest office as available, appropriates the title "Honorable" to his name. Yes Virginia, even a kagawad is the Hon. so-and-so. What a country, indeed!

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Thursday, 03 June 2010

Panghahamit

2010-06-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Ewan ko kung ang atin g pamagat ay Tagalog-Bulakan o Tagalog-Laguna, ngunit ito’y na rinig ko makailang beses sa aking lola na sinilang at lumaki sa Malolos at Paombong, ngunit nag-asawa at nanirahan sa Laguna ng nasa pitumpung taon. Ang pinakamalapit na kataga ay “pang-iinis”, na siyang malinaw na ginagawa ng kasalukuyang rehimen sa papasok na pangulo dalawampu’t siyam na araw na lamang mula ngayon.

Naglabas ng report kamakailan ang NEDA, NSCB at NSO na diumano’y umangat ang pambansang ekonomiya ng 7.3% noong unang tatlong buwan ng taong kasalukuyan. Ipinangalandakan ito ni Donya Gloria na ebidensyang sadyang matatag ang ekonomiya sa kanyang rehimen, at patuloy pa itong lumalakas. Sinundan ito ng panghahamit ng kanyang tagapagsalitang Amerikano, si Gary Olivar, na hinamon pa si Noynoy Aquino na ipagpatuloy ang mga “pamana” ng kanyang Donya sa larangan ng ekonomiya. Sinagot naman sila ng papasok na pangulo na numero lang ang inilabas ng NEDA at iba pang ahensya, dala ng gastos sa kampanya (ilang bilyon doon ay dahil kay Manny Villar, na ABS-CBN at GMA-7 lang naman ang malaki ang pakinabang), at naghihirap pa rin ang sambayanan. Tumpak.

Kung hindi nakakabili ng murang pagkain sa peryodiko, wika nga, hindi rin nakakapawi ng gutom ang estatistika. Iyan ang misteryo ng ekonomiya ni Gloria. Taas ng taas ang numero, pero ilan lang ang nakikinabang. Ang tunay na kaunlaran ay dapat maramdaman, sa hanapbuhay, sa pagkakataon, sa mataas na antas ng serbisyong pampubliko. At natutunan ni Noynoy iyan sa Ateneo, malamang sa ibang guro, at hindi kay Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Dagdag panghahamit ay ang unti-unting paglalabas ng mga bagong paghirang, o pagpapalawig ng hirang, sa mga tinaguriang “midnight appointees”. Mahilig talaga sa gawaing pailalim at patraydor itong rehimeng ito. Noon ay isang hardinero sa Luneta, isang manikurista sa Pag-ibig na namamahala ng pondo ng pabahay. Meron ding isang PE teacher na kaiskwela ng Donya na ginawang tagapamahala ng pagpapalawig ng turismo, na napakahalagang tungkulin, at marami pang iba. At ngayon, batay sa dokumentong pineke, na ipinalalabas na hirang bago mag-Marso diyes (animnapung araw bago maghalalan kung kailan ayon sa Saligang Batas ay hindi na maaaring humirang pa ang papatapos na pangulo), pati ba naman si Efraim Genuino ng Pagcor, sampu ng apat pang mga director? Kinopo na ang mala king gatasan ni Donya Gloria at ni Mike Arroyo, kung saan bilyun-bilyong salapi ang pumapasok at lumalabas linggu-linggo? Hindi lang kawalan ng delikadesa, kundi sadyang kaswapangan.

At malinaw na iniinis ang bagong administrasyong halal ng bayan. Nanghahamit na pero kapal-muks pa rin. Itong si Elena Bautista na hepe ng PMS, na siyang tagapaghanda ng mga rekomendasyon para sa paghirang ng pangulo (na dapat ay trabaho ng Executive Secretary, at secretariat lang ang PMS), wala pang kagatul-gatol na sinasabing “above board” ang ginawa ng kanilang Donya at nina Genuino.

E bakit ngayon lang inanunsyo, na para bagang “like a thief in the night” na siya ring pailalim na ginawa ng Donya sa ZTE-NBN nu’ng madaling-araw nagpirmahan ng kontrata sa Tsina? Bakit hindi nila inanunsyo noong Marso 9? At nariyan na rin lang sa usaping iyan, wika ni Bautista at Genuino, taun-taon daw kung hirangin ang chairman at mga direktor ng Pagcor. Vamos a ver. Ilabas nga nila ang taunang appointment papers ni Genuino at iba pang director ng Pagcor? Hindi ba’t Enero 22 nang unang tumungtong sa palasyo si Donya Gloria? Kailan ang unang appointment paper ni Genuino?

Marami-raming dokumento ang pinipeke ngayon sa Malakanyang.

O baka naman tone-toneladang salapi ang inilabas sa Pagcor noong panahon ng halalan, lalo na ang pambigay sa mga tumakbo (at karamihan ay nanalong congressman), na ngayon ay dapat ang sapat na panahong pagtakpan? O marami pang hiningi ang isang malakas na kamag-anak ng pangulong papatapos, na inilipad na kung saang lupalop? Hanggang sa ngayon ba, 29 na araw bago magtapos si Donya Gloria, bari-bariles pa rin ng salapi ang inilalabas at inilulusot?

Tingnan naman natin kung papayagan sila ng papasok na panguluhan na gawin ang kanilang mga kabuktutan. Tapos na ang maliligayang araw ninyo. Mas makabubu ting tulad ni Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, ay mag-empake na ng personal na mga gamit sa tanggapang lilisanin.

Ganyan ang maginoo na may wastong huwisyo.

Kaya nga ba sana ay makauwi na itong si Senador Ping Lacson na kasalukuyang “nagdiriwang” ng birthday kung saang lupalop, dala nang pambubuwisit at pang-aaping dinaranas ng mapaghiganting mga Arroyo. Marami ka pang dapat busisiin, Ping, bilang kalaban ng kurakot at masasamang tao. Sa ngayon, anumang lungkot meron ka, “happy birthday” pa rin.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-01 ng Hunyo, 2010

More amused than amazed

2010-06-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

THAT was a pretty good break from column-writing. Of course, I kept in touch with my Abante readers. Shorter columns in Tagalog are easier to dash off than a Malaya opus. I wanted to have some distance from the usual, and usual was quite hectic during the campaign period.

I went to my adopted Caraga, soaked in a little sun, ate a good lechon and native crabs in a small beachside lot in Carmen, Agusan del Norte which my physician-brother bought several years back. There I did an ocular inspection of a small business project that the family began this year, and talked with old friends from the mother Rotary Club of the city where I once presided.

I also visited some other places, sometimes just to look at magnificent fire trees in full bloom. This is the time of the year when their leaves give way to an outburst of flaming orange, a color that was not in favour in the early days of May. Of course I have in my front yard a golden shower tree, which likewise gave a cascade of yellow amidst the crush of orange from three giant caballeros beside it. Ah! Life’s simple pleasures.

I had occasion to marvel yet once more at the beauty of Palawan. They had just concluded an elections where most every major candidate could not figure out just where they actually resided. Those who had been in power far too long forgot that their capital, Puerto Princesa, had been declared a highly urbanized city, and since Puerto was the only place in the huge province where a political sophisticate could access the usual amenities of modern life, everybody and his uncle lives in Puerto. But Puerto this time does not participate in electing a governor, just as my adopted Butuan City in Agusan del Norte has not voted for governor since martial law days.

In any case, a three-term congressman who decided to run for governor claims that he has been living in an animal feeds bodega without a rest room in the municipality of Aborlan, next to Puerto Princesa in Palawan, since March of 2008. That’s because the law provides that a candidate for a local position must reside in the constituency he hopes to govern. But Representative Abraham Mitra actually lives in the beautiful family mansion overlooking Honda Bay in Rancho Sta. Monica, Puerto Princesa. As late as in his 2009 Statement of Assets and Liabilities, which he signed under oath, he indicated his residence as such. So does it say in his residence certificate.

Now some say that this is a technicality, and indeed the results of the elections show Mitra edging out Jose Alvarez by less than 15,000 votes (146,847 to 131,872). And Baham’s supporters say this ought to be a case of vox populi, vox Dei. Mitra was backed by incumbent three-term Gov. Joel T. Reyes, whose wife was packaged with the latter as vice-governor. Despite this preponderance of traditional political muscle, he led Alvarez by just 5% of the total votes cast.

The Commission on Elections en banc decided on May 4 that Mitra does not qualify because he is not a resident of Palawan minus Puerto Princesa which has been declared a highly urbanized city. Mitra had three years to actually reside in Aborlan, or Narra, or anywhere but Puerto. Yet he did not. And when he realized the legal infirmity, he declared that he had been residing in a small room of a feeds warehouse. Amazing!

What is quite amusing is that because the Supreme Court issued a status quo ante order until it finally decides on whether or not Mitra was qualified to run for governor of a province despite lack of real residence, the provincial Comelec counted the votes of one who the Comelec en banc declared, was never a candidate to begin with. And the provincial Comelec supervisor forthwith proclaimed him.

What happens now when the High Tribunal rules that Comelec was right? That dura lex indeed is sed lex? That vox populi cannot overrule what is patently illegal to begin with? What indeed is the point of having laws and rules if these can be waved by those tasked to make laws, and exceptions made by those tasked to implement those laws?

***

In the aftermath of the first automated electoral process in this country, whiners who confess to being computer-illiterate, or even those who claim to understand but actually don’t as shown by their inane pronouncements, have suddenly claimed that they were cheated. The public is more amused than amazed.

Some claim to having been approached by "operators", a term given to election "fixers" who claim to being able to cheat for a candidate, or against an opponent. These operators have "patron saints", perhaps the most visible having been Garci of cellphone fame. They were given illegal and indecent proposals, for a fat fee. One could guess who among those whining in the congressional circus were "had" by con artists. And who were not, but did not hale the "operators" to the nearest police station, because they were still wondering if they could raise the money to engage the illegal services. Now that the machines showed that they lost, most miserably at that, they parade their woes and hope that the public would sympathize.

Someone trotted out a masked creature who looked like a marsupial which Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. called a "koala bear". The costume might have been filched from some cinema props warehouse by a washed-out character actor who now dabbles in politics along with a sidekick. Now the cinematic duo threatens to bring out a "Batman" who shall this week (kuno) spill the details of the "cheating mechanics" that "Robin" the koala regaled us with.

Imagine what would have happened had Comelec agreed to a parallel manual count in the clustered precincts, just to verify the automated count? Then we would not have been entertained by "koala bears" and congresswomen flaunting faulty English and brandishing plastic chips she could not properly identify.

***

Non-smokers also had their heyday, a long shelf life of about a week, asking the newly-elected president to give up smoking. For goodness sakes…unable to pin him down on anything of great national significance, they choose his smoking as such a great vice. They never excoriated Erap for smoking Lucky Strikes, probably because they zeroed in on his "greater" vices. But for Noynoy, his smoking was such a great national concern.

Oh well, if they can’t stand the smoke, then they are under no obligation to see him in person. Not that I smoke and therefore write in defense of the habit. I kicked the habit three decades ago, when in the course of a two-month European trip, I ran out of my reams of Marlboro brought from Manila. I consumed my entire stock of weed in of all places, Copenhagen, where liquor and cigarettes are taxed to the max. Refusing to buy a pack of Marlboros which cost me ten pesos per pack back home at an outrageous equivalent in kronor of 100 pesos, I just stopped, cold turkey. But picking on Noynoy’s smoking habit, which indeed helps in times of stress (the president-elect hardly drinks, by the way), simply shows wala nang masabing iba.

***

This is the Philippines, where thousands make piles by fooling others, where con artists abound, from "budol-budol" to "dugo-dugo" to sellers of lands with fake titles, and counterfeit money as well as purveyors of pirated DVD’s. With Garci and Bedol outmoded by newfangled machines, the con artists try their scam on witless victims. Truly amazing that many got conned. And truly amusing that these were people who deserved to lose.

But enough of the amusement. There is a leader who needs to be proclaimed so that we could move on with our lives, and move this nation forward as well. He is the least likely to have participated in any funny deals with any con artists, because the con men and con woman he opposed would never ever have wished him well.

By the grace of God and the sovereign will of the people, Benigno Simeon Aquino III has been chosen to lead us. Whether or not this amuses Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her family or not, it is amazing that we even give the time of day to all the whiners who cry foul because they were conned, or cry foul because their "usual operations" did not work, and finally, whoever the people chose, thank God, the process reported.

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 01 June 2010

Bakit iniiwasan ang Maynila?

2010-05-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

Ipinadala sa atin ang sumusunod sa pamamagitan ng Internet mula sa panunulat ng isang mag-asawang Fil-Am na mali mit sumakay sa mga cruise ships (at atin g isinalin sa wikang Pilipino):

“Kaming mag-asawa ay mali mit na sumasakay sa cruise ships bilang turista. At malimit ay mga Pinoy ang crew sa mga cruise ships na ito, na amin namang nakakausap. Kamakailan ay kumuha kami ng isang 12-araw na packag e sa Mediterraneo (Italya, Grecia, Slovenia, Albania, malamang kasali ang Turkey).

Tinanong ko sa mga waiter na Pinoy kung bakit tila hindi dumadaong sa Maynila ang mga cruise vessels na nagtutungo sa ibang mga lungsod sa Asya (tulad ng Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tsina, Hapon).

“Bakit wala sa itinerary niyo ang Maynila?” tanong ko.

“Ang sagot sa akin: Noong una ho may cruises kami na humihinto sa Manila, pero masyadong matakaw ang mga taga-Customs sa atin, kaya ang management ho ay nagdesis yon na i-skip na ang Manila. Kapag dumaong ang barko sa pantalan, at umakyat na ang mga Customs inspectors, kasama pa ang pamilya nila para kumain ng libre sa barko. Tapos bago magbigay ng clearance para maka-depart ang barko, maraming hinihinging sigarilyo at mga alak.

“Sa Manila lang ho namin nai-experience ang ganito. Kaya nga ho nahihiya kaming mga Pinoy dito sa barko. Sa ibang mga Puerto sa Asya, wala namang nanghihingi.

“Karamihan sa mga bagong cruise ships ay lumululan ng dalawa hanggang tatlong libong pasahero.

Isipin mo naman ang nawawalang tourism revenues sa Pilipinas dahil sa ayaw dumaong sa Maynila ng mga cruise vessels na ito. Pero paano mapapatino ang mga taga-Customs kung ang mga taga-Malacañang, Kongreso, gobernador, alkalde (maging mga huwes) ay mas malaki pa kung mangurakot?”

Totoo po ang iniliham na ito sa atin, at sa iba pa sa Internet. Minabuti ko pong itampok ito sa ating pitak dahil nga sa ang turismo ay isa sa mga dapat ay “sunrise” industries ng maganda nating mga kapuluan. Ngunit ang turismo ay hindi aasenso maski ilan pang advertisements ang ating itanghal sa CNN o BBC, at maski na ano pang mga promosyon ang ating isagawa sa ibang mga bansa upang hikayatin ang tour operators na ibenta ang Pilipinas sa kani-kanilang mga bansa, habang hindi natin isinasaayos ang dalawang mahalagang bagay: ang katahimikan at seguridad (peace and order), at ang pangingikil at pang-aabuso ng mga kababayan natin na imbes ipakita ang mainit na pag-welcome sa turista, ay kinikikilan at sinasamantala sila, maging ang mga carrier (tulad ng cruise ships) ng mga opisyal ng ating pamahalaan.

Sa ilan pang mga linggo ay malalaman ng sambayanan kung sino ang mga opisyal na ihihirang ng bagong pamahalaang Aquino. Sana naman ay seryosohin na ng mga ito ang malinis at mabuting pamamahala ng mga kawanihang ipagkakatiwala sa kanila.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika-26 ng Mayo, 2010

Pagbabalanse

2010-05-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Isa sa pinakakritikal na ginagawa halos araw-araw ng isang pangulo ay ang pagbabalanse ng mga nag-uumpugang interes. Interes halimbawa ng negosyo laban sa mga hinaing ng mga manggagawa. Interes na pangsandalian laban sa interes na pangmatagalan. Interes ng mga pulitiko, lalo na sa Kongreso, laban sa pangkalahatang interes at sa pangmatagalang bisyon ng Pangulo. At napakarami pang iba. Tungkulin ng Pangulo na siguruhing patas ang laban. Siguruhing matiwasay ang barko ng estado sa mga sumasalpok na iba’t ibang alon ng suliranin at balakid.

Sa pagdedesisyong ito ng isang Pangulo nagi ging mahalaga ang kalidad ng impormasyong napapaabot sa kanya. Ay dito rin nagiging mahalaga ang kalidad at abilidad ng mga taong pumapaligid sa kanya -- ang kanyang mga gabinete at mga tagapagpayo. Hindi maaaring pipitsugin ang mga taong ito, ‘pagkat ang nakasalalay sa pagbuo ng desisyon ng Pa ngulo ay ang kasalukuyan at kinabukasan ng sambayanan.

Hindi mapagkakaila na ang susuunging mga suliranin ng bagong halal na Pangulo natin ay mabibigat.

At lalong hindi mapagkakaila na kapos at kapos siya sa pondo, dala ng napakalaking deficit at pagkakautang na mamanahin sa kasalukuyang Pangulo. At hindi rin madaling agarang buwagin ang mga nagsama-samang buwaya ng korapsyon na matinding balakid sa pagpapalakad ng mabuting pamamahala. Handa ang mga buwaya na iyan na lumaban nang husto, sapagkat kapangyarihan nila ang siyang mahahamon ng tunay na mga reporma.

Kaya nararapat lamang na huwag nating masyadong i-pressure ang sunod na Pangulo, na tila baga ay kaya niyang magmilagro. Bigyan natin siya ng sapat na panahon upang magawan nang hustong prayoridad ang mga suliranin, at tamang panahon para labanan ang mga balakid na kokontra sa mabuting pamamahala at pamamalakad ng pamahalaan.

Dapat din ay tulungan siya ng iba’t ibang mga sektor upang makahanap ng mga taong tutulong sa kanya sa pag-ugit ng pamahalaan. Ang mga nababasa natin sa mga text messages at nariri nig na ispekulasyon sa binubuong gabinete ay hindi nakatutuwa. Marami ay “re-treads”, o kung baga sa gulong, ay gamit na, gasgas na, at tinagpian lamang. Mayroon namang ang serbisyo nu’ng datihang mga administrasyon ay hindi naman sadyang kahanga-hanga. Kaya’t dapat ay huwag magkait ang pribadong sektor ng kanilang tulong. Isangguni sa bagong Pangulo ang alam nilang karapat-dapat, mga talu-batang negos yante o ekonomista, mga mahuhusay na akademiko, mga propesyunal na dapat lang na tanggapin ang hamon na tumulong sa isang sinserong Pangulo. Higit sa lahat, mga taong may taglay na “common sense” dala ng karunungang napanday sa karanasan, na tutulungan ang bagong halal ukol sa wastong pagprayoridad ng mga suliranin, hindi paurong-sulong, hindi lubhang “mainit ang kilikili”, wika nga. Cool under pressure. Sa wikang Ingles, na magbibigay naman sa bagong Pangulo ng “grace under pressure”.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-25 ng Mayo, 2010

Paghilom ng mga sugat pulitika

2010-05-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

Marami-rami rin akong nakausap na mga pulitiko sa aking pag-uwi rito sa Butuan, pati na rin mga miyembro ng media.

Damang-dama mo na sadyang sawa na ang taumbayan sa lisyang sistema na pinag-ugatan ng sobrang korapsyon sa nagdaang mga dekada. Tila may hangganan ang pasensiya ng tao. Tinatanggap ang kaunting korapsyon, basta’t may kapalit na benepisyo sa kanilang buhay, sa pamamagitan ng mga serbisyo publiko at kaunting kaunlaran.

Kaya nga ba’t may mga nagwagi, at patuloy na nagwawagi sa larangan ng pulitika, na hindi mo naman masabing sinlinis ng bulak. Ngunit hinahayaan na ng taumbayan ang mga paratang sa kanila, basta’t may kapalit silang natatamasa, at may pagbabago sa kanilang buhay, sa kanilang kapaligiran. Su balit, gaya nga ng wika ng yumaong si FPJ, “kapag puno na ang salop, kinakalos”. Napupuno rin ang taumbayan sa sobrang korapsyon. May listahan sila sa kanilang isipan, at sa araw ng pagtutuos, sa araw ng halalan kung saan pantay-pantay ang karapatang bumoto ng bawat Pilipino, mayaman man o mahirap, ay saka nila kinakalos ang dapat ay kalusin.

Dangan nga lamang at pati paghalal ay napepeke, sa pamamagitan ng mga Garci, o nabibili, sa pamamagitan ng mga katulad ni Bolante, kaya’t lubhang nasasalaula ang pagpili ng liderato. Ang kasalanang iyan ay siyang lalong nagpadiin kay Ginang GMA, na sa ayaw niya at gusto, ay nahusgahan ng matindi ng buong Pilipinas, liban na lamang sa lalawigan niya ng Pampanga, para sa sarili lamang. Ngunit maging sa lalawigan niya ay hindi niya maipanalo si Gilbert Teodoro na opisyal niyang kandidato, o sinumang tulad ni Villar, na mas nais niyang maluklok sa panguluhan kaysa kay Noynoy. Pagkat ang anak nina Ninoy at Cory, na taga-karatig lalawigan ng Tarlac, ang siyang nagwagi sa Pampanga. At salamat sa automation, hindi nakagawa ng kawalanghiyaan ang mga Garci at mga mandaraya. Hindi sila nakamaniobra ng tulad dati.

Mainit ang mga pagtutunggali sa bawat halalan, lalo na kung gitgitan ang laban. Dito sa Butuan, 9,000 boto lamang ang pagitan sa dala wang magkatunggali, sa 120,000 nakaboto. Sa karatig-lalawigan ng Surigao, na lalong mainit ang laban ng mga Barbers at mga Matugas, nasa 2,000 boto lamang ang inilamang ng kumare kong si Sol Sering Matugas laban sa incumbent governor na si Ace Barbers. Talo rin ang kapatid ni Ace na lumaban sa bayaw ni Sol sa pagka-alkalde ng Surigao City. At mu ling nagwagi ang kumpare kong si Francisco Matugas bilang kinatawan, maging ang kaalyado nilang si Rep. Romarate na tinalo ang kandidato ng mga Barbers. May mga banta pa ngayon sa buhay ng mga nagwagi, na maaring hindi naman sadyang nais ng mga natalo, kundi ng mga mainit nilang tagasuporta na ngayon ay mawawalan ng trabaho at pagkakataong kumita ng malaki. Andyan din ang mga kontratang mawawala, mga gawaing ilegal na hindi na kakayanin dahil hindi kakutsaba ang liderato. Iyan ang mga maaaring mag-isip ng masama.

Kaya nga sa pagtatapos ng halalan, kapag naiproklama na ang mga nagwagi, ay dapat umpisahan na ang paghilom ng mga su gat pulitika. Dapat ay tanggapin ng maalwan sa puso ang hatol ng sambayanan. Hayaan na ang kasaysayan at ang susunod na mga halalan na siyang magbitiw ng matagalang hatol sa ginawa o hindi nagawa ng mga pulitiko. Iyan ang nararapat.

Subalit sa paghilom ng sugat pulitika, hindi kaakibat diyan ang hayagang pagpapatawad sa mga pagkakasala, kriminal o administratibo, dala ng korapsyon at iba pang kasalanan sa bayan. Kaya nag-ugat ang korapsyon ay dahil todo pasa ang mga namumuno, maging ang sambayanan. Kapag tapos na ang halalan, kalimutan na. Kaya nga’t nag-ugat ang “culture of impunity”, o walang pag-usig sa pagkakasala, walang kaparusahan ang pagkakasala sa bayan.

Hindi nararapat na maging mapaghiganti, ngunit kailangang may pagtutuos ang lipunan sa pagkakasala. Kailangang maparusahan ang mga nagkasala, lalo na at lubha, o garapal ang korapsyon.

Maging sa ating paniniwala at pananampalataya, doktrina ang kapatawaran, ngunit may kaakibat na katarungan, may kasamang pagbabayad-utang.

Ito ang “moral dilemma” na hinaharap ng bagong halal na pa ngulo na si Noynoy Aquino, na itinanghal ng sambayanan dahil sa pagiging malinis, dahil sa pangako ng tunay at makabuluhang pagbabago.

Totoong hindi siya dapat, at sa pananaw natin ay hindi magi ging mapaghiganti. Subalit hindi niya maaaring talikuran ang katotohanang kung walang katarungan, kung walang pagtutuos sa pagkakasala sa bayan, ay hindi mababago ang kultura ng korapsyon. Kaya basta’t naaayon sa proseso ng batas sa ilalim ng demokrasya, dapat ay ipatuloy niya ang pagkakalos ng salop na puno.

Hindi maaaring hayaan na lamang na umapaw ng umapaw ang kasalanan sa bayan.

Sa paghilom ng sugat pulitika, hindi naman maaaring band-aid na lamang ang itapal, at hayaang magnaknak ang bulok na nasa dugo at laman ng mga nagkasala.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-19 ng Mayo, 2010

Pagbabago

2010-05-12T23:45:00.001-07:00

Narito ako ngayon sa lungsod ng Butuan upang magbakasyon ng saglit matapos ang kampanyahan at makasaysayang eleksyon. Nagkataon pa man din na araw ng halalan ay kaarawan ng aking inay, kaya’t pinagpaliban ang family reunion nitong nagdaang linggo.

Dito sa Butuan, ang pulitika ay napakatradisyunal at ang pamamahala ay napakapiyudal. Bilihan ng boto ay umugat na noon pang dekada sisenta, magpasahanggang ngayon. Pami-pamilya ang naglalabanan, lahat may malaking salapi na noong araw ay mula sa pagtutroso, at ngayon ay bunga ng mga kontrata sa gobyerno na dala ng panalo sa halalan at patuloy na kapangyarihang nakamit sa pamimili ng boto.

Sa kasaysayan ng lungsod ng Butuan, may apat na dekada nang naghahari ang pamilya Plaza.

Panahon ni Marcos, ang nakababatang kapatid ni Democrito, o taguring “D.O.” na si Figurado ang siyang alkalde. Ang kuya niyang si D.O. na malaking magtutroso ang siya namang gobernador ng lalawigan ng Agusan, na hinati sa dalawa, ang Norte at Sur.

Magaling namang mayor si Figurado, o Lado; hindi abusado at maayos magpatakbo, at hindi magnanakaw. Hinalinhan siya noong matapos ang martial law ng OIC, na hindi naman nanalo laban sa salapi ni D.O. noong nagkaroon na ng halalan matapos ang bagong Saligang Batas. Ang nagwagi ay anak ni D.O. na si Boy Daku, kuya ni Ompong Plaza na tumakbong senador kamakailan sa tiket ni Erap.

Mula nang mahawakan na ni Boy Daku ang pagiging alkalde ng Butuan, siya at asawa niyang si Daisy ay naghalinhinan na sa pwesto. Sinumang piliin nila sa pagka-congressman ay siya ring nagwawagi.

Ngayong 2010, nag-expire na ang ikalawang tatlong termino ni Boy Daku, kaya’t asawa niyang si Daisy ang siya na naman sanang hahalili. Pero tinapatan sila ni Dr. Ferdinand “Jun” Amante, isang orthopedic surgeon na bagama’t galing sa angkan ng mga Amante na may dinastiya rin sa lalawigan ng Agusan del Norte, ay ngayon lang napasabak sa malakihang pulitika.

Dala ni Jun Amante at kanyang bise na si Lawrence Fortun, batang-batang abogado na anak ng yumao kong kaibigang si Camilo Fortun ng PDP-Laban, ang tiket nina Noynoy at Mar, kaya’t dala rin nila ang mensahe ng tunay na pagbabago. At bagama’t incumbent at napakaraming salapi ng mga Plaza, nagwagi ang dalawa bilang mga tanghal na bagong liderato ng Butuan. Sa halos 150,000 na botanteng nakarehistro sa highly urbanized city ng Butuan, halos 120,000 ang nakaboto. Siyam na libo naman ang inilamang ni Jun Amante kay Daisy Plaza. Sawa na ang taong-bayan sa matagal na paninilbihan ng mga Plaza.

Sa mahabang panahon ay nakita kasi nila kung paanong naungusan na sa kaunlaran ang dati-rati ay mayamang lungsod nila ng Surigao, Dipolog, Pagadian, maging ang lungsod ng Valencia sa Bukidnon.

At milya-milya nang napag-iwanan ng karatig na Cagayan de Oro. Hirap sa industriya at trabaho, at matumal ang kalakal.

Hudyat ng pagbabago ang bagong liderato, na sana naman ay hindi biguin ang mga taga-Butuan.

Harinawa ay magtagumpay sila Jun Amante at Lawrence Fortun. Hindi nila kasangga ang congressman, na loyalista at dikit na dikit kay GMA. Maging ang tiyo ni Amante na si Edelmiro, kasama ng mga anak na sina Rep. Angelica at Gob. Erlpe, ay mga tradisyunal at piyudal. Sana ay maging makabago at tapat ang bagong liderato ng aking adopted hometown ng Butuan.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Martes, ika-18 ng Mayo, 2010

The morning after

2010-05-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

I WAS unable to submit my Tuesday article as I monitored some voting centers in Manila, trying to get a first-hand observation of how the polls went.

I was quite satisfied with the way the Smartmatic machines worked.

I was dismayed at the lack of personnel and proper systems in the clustered precincts, where the process of finding the voter’s name in the voters’ list took quite a time, with the long lines of anxious voters getting longer by the minute, and well past hours and hours.

I wondered at whether there was any time-and-motion study made by the Comelec and the DECS, and in my particular precinct, I personally suggested ways by which the process of identifying voters and the ritual thumbmark printing and indelible ink application could be speeded up.

I salute the teachers who comprised the Board of Election Inspectors, for their heroic dedication to the traditional work they additionally get each time the elections come. On Monday, they overdid that dedication, missing lunch, patiently holding even their visits to the restroom, just to be able to serve the needs of long lines of anxious voters queuing for their turn.

But over and above the machines which thankfully worked despite all our fears and apprehensions, over and above the dedication and good work of the teachers, we witnessed the atypical patience of the Filipino voter, motivated indubitably by the desire to participate actively in the beginnings of genuine and meaningful change. They braved the wilting heat, the muggy humidity, the pangs of hunger, frayed nerves, and patiently lined up for their chance to exercise their sovereign right of leadership choice in a democracy. Few were those who went home to forego their democratic to vote, which explains why the turn-out exceeded 75 percent nationwide. I had feared, seeing the long lines as early as seven in the morning, that less than 50 percent would be able to vote. But the process became faster as BEI members improvised, and the public cooperated.

Once more, Mabuhay ang Pilipino!

***

When the polls closed and the PPCRV began giving out the tallies of their precinct-sourced election results, it was clear that Benigno S. Aquino III was the overwhelming repository of the people’s trust.

As I had recounted in previous columns, I predicted a 42 % win for Noynoy, followed by 24 % for Estrada, and 18 % for Villar as early as the second week of April. While the numbers may differ a few points up or down, it would seem that I had predicted rightly.

What became rather surreal was the surge of Jojo Binay and the decline of Mar’s numbers, both in quick fashion, during the last two weeks of the campaign. Even then, I kept telling everybody that Mar would still win, albeit by a margin of 5 % or so. Jojo Binay and Chiz Escudero, his "miracle worker", proved me utterly wrong.

Tell you what --- in the early stages of the campaign, this writer Chiz, who had already announced his support for a Noy-Jojo mixed ticket sometime in February, were in one of our regular beer and pulutan sessions at his favorite Taste of LA in his beloved Kyusi. He told me Jojo would win over Loren, which I disputed. At the time, Jojo was doing 9 or 10 % in the surveys; Loren was in the 30’s, and Mar was 46 % or so.

"Pustahan?" Chiz asked. I wagered that Loren would beat his Jojo. But both of us agreed Mar would make it still. By April, it was clear to me that Jojo would overtake Loren, as it was clear that Erap would overtake Villar. Buti na lang Chiz has forgotten to collect on my losing bet.

It will take more than an article and several interviews to chronicle Jojo’s amazing climb, both in the surveys and in the actual numbers on Election Day. While the 800,000 figure has firmed up, I would await the final results. As of the time I am writing this article, the numbers may yet change, as some 10 % of the total vote has yet to be reported (that’s about 3.5 million), but it’s pretty safe to extrapolate, based on the trend set by regional tallies, that Jojo should yet be ahead by a little less than a 500,000 vote margin, at worst. I just hope that like the Chicago Tribune editors the morning after Truman defeated Dewey, I will not have to eat crow later.

***

After a night of applauding the figures instantly reported in the night of May 10, and the wee hours of May 11, reality sank in the morning after. Late on Tuesday morning, my campaign assistants, myself, and a relative of the winning presidential candidate were having coffee in the patio of our "secret" campaign headquarters, an old mansion in Quezon City lent by a Noynoy friend for use as "war room", lawyer’s quarters, and Noy media bureau center all rolled into one.

"Now comes the hard work for Noynoy", the relative said. "Last night, we were in Tarlac, and we noticed not only how Noy had lost so much weight, but how he was trying to get his mind out of the task ahead by playing with his nephews," the relative, who drafted me into Noy’s campaign, was recounting.

"But in moments of self-reflection, we could see how Noy has been trying to analyze the problems that lie ahead, and how daunting these are," he observed.

Hours after, Noy appeared before the media at Max’s in Tarlac City, and had his first interview since he cast his vote Monday. He was as humble as ever, as when he said it was premature to claim victory until the last vote has been ascertained.

I recall what he said in an after-voting interview, when asked why he chose to wait it out for four and a half hours in the precinct, when both BEI and the voters themselves were graciously offering that he and his sisters vote ahead of the long queue. "One who aspires to lead should also learn how to be a good follower", he said in Tagalog, adding that one should join the people in their suffering.

The right words from the right leader for these difficult times. For as long as Noynoy remains the humble and sincere person that he was brought up to be by Ninoy and Cory, his North Star will not wane.

***

Let me also use this article to applaud Manny Villar’s gracious message of concession the morning after. It was a long and difficult campaign, harsh words were spoken and hard accusations were thrown by handlers of both sides. Manny Villar’s sportsmanship the morning after was like a refreshing shower of rain in the heat of campaign passion. It was a class act.

***

I shall take a voluntary leave from my writing chores after this article. I will take a brief vacation, recharge my physical batteries, soak in some sun in the family’s small hamlet by the sea, and momentarily take my mind off the issues that concern the nation of which I write in this space.

***

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 13 May 2010

Mabuhay ka, Pilipino

2010-05-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

Habang sinusulat ko ito, dakong alas-otso ng umaga ng Martes, Mayo 11, malinaw na ang resulta ng halalan para sa panguluhan ng Pilipinas. Lumalamang si Noynoy Aquino ng halos 5 milyong boto sa pumapangalawang si dating Pangulong Joseph Estrada. Nasa-75% na ng boto ang nabibilang ng mga PCOS machines, at masasabing may malinaw na “trend” na sa panguluhan.

Bagama’t hindi natitinag ang lamang ni Jojo Binay na humigit kumulang sa 800,000 boto kontra sa pumapangalawang si Mar Roxas, hindi pa siguro maaaring masabi na malinaw ang trend. Ang natitirang boto sa Kabisayaan na halos 25% pa ay kailangan pang pumasok, kung saan inaasahang huhugot ng boto si Roxas. Ngunit ganoon din ang Mindanao, kung saan lumalamang naman si Binay. Sa araw na inyo itong mabasa, Miyerkules, malamang sa hindi ay pasok na ang boto ng mga naturang rehiyon at ang balance pa ng Luzon at Kalakhang Maynila. At doon masasabing tapos nang talaga ang halalan.

Ang mga pangamba natin ukol sa Smartmatic PCOS machines ay hindi nagkatotoo. Naging mapagpuna tayo, ngunit iyan ay dahil sadyang maraming mga isyu ukol sa sistema at ang posibilidad ng malawakang pandaraya. Subalit maayos ang naging halalan, pati ang kahanga-hangang bilis ng pagpapadala ng resulta mula sa mga 76,000 PCOS sa iba’t ibang lugar sa kapuluan. Binabawi natin ang mga pangambang iyan na naisulat sa pitak na ito, at sa Smartmatic --- congratulations.

Subalit isang sektor ang kahanga-hanga ang nagawa sa halalang nairaos. Ito, tulad ng palagi, ay ang mga gurong Pilipino. Bagama’t salat sa paghahanda, kapos sa gamit, walang tulog at wala halos panahon para kumain at magtungo sa palikuran, buong dedikasyon nilang ginampanan ang kanilang tungkulin. Ito ay saludo sa gurong Pilipino, ngunit hindi sa mga amo nila sa DECS, na tulad ng dati, ay natulog sa pansitan. Gaya ng sinulat natin kahapon, dapat sana’y dinagdagan ang mga guro sa clustered precincts, sapagkat sentido kumon namang magkakaproblema kung tatlong tao lang ang mag-aasikaso sa 1,000 botante, samantalang sa lumang sistema ay tatlo rin ang nag-aasikaso sa 200 botante. At kakulangan din ito ng pag-iisip sa parte ng Comelec, na bagama’t inasikaso ang mabilis na pagbilang, ay nakaligtaan ang simpleng time-and-motion studies patungkol sa pagdagsa ng botante, at kaukulang pila nito.

Ngunit ang talagang nagpakita ng kahanga-hangang pasensiya at masidhing kagustuhan sa pagbabago ay ang mamamayang Pilipino. Maaga pa ay dumulog sila sa mga eskwelahan kung saan idaraos ang pagboto. Tiniis nila ang haba ng pila, ang init, ang siksikan, upang maipakita lamang ang kanilang soberanyong kapangyarihan. Tunay na sa araw lang ng halalan nagkakapantay-pantay ang lakas ng mamamayan. Boto ng mahirap ay iisa, at boto ng mayaman at makapangyarihan ay iisa rin.

At dahil sa nahirapang mandaya ang mga mandaraya, ang pagkakapantay-pantay na ito ay nanaig.

Kaya’t sa ating lahat, sa buong sambayanan --- Mabuhay Ka, Pilipino!

At sa bagong tanghal na pangulo na si Benigno Simeon Aquino --- isang tagumpay ng bayan ang nangyari, gaya ng nangyari noong 1986 sa ina mong si Cory. Malakas talaga si Cory at si Ninoy sa langit, kaya’t ang maaaring masamang mangyari noong araw ng halalan ay hindi nangyari, at muling ibinigay sa atin ng Panginoon ang tamang landas sa tunay na pagbabago.

Hindi ka rin nag-iisa, Noynoy, at nawa’y hindi mo biguin ang sambayanang Pilipino, na gaya ng iyong sinabi, ay “aping-api --- dala ng korapsyon at kahirapan”.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika-12 ng Mayo, 2010

Benigno Simeon Aquino III

2010-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

(This is my last article in this space prior to the elections of May 10, 2010.)

(I am not sure if I would have either time or inclination to submit one on May 10, after I had come from the voting precinct, Based on founded fears, it is possible that I may have to line up for hours just to cast my vote and feed the ballot into an uncertain fate, placing blind trust in the PCOS machines that some smart guys of Venezuelan origins and their local patrons assure us will count our vote accurately and faithfully. Oldtimers in the Comelec tell me that at best, only half of the 1,000 voters in clustered precincts will be able to cast their vote before the close of the polls. Which means by the time I get back home, I may either be too tired, too angry, too emotionally distressed to be able to put down my thoughts on the keyboard of my faithful laptop.)

By all statistically scientific indications, a bandwagon has formed around the person of Benigno Simeon Aquino III, whom destiny has fated to become the 15th President of the Philippines.

In 1986, I supported his mother Corazon and her vice-president, Doy Laurel. I was an active part of that campaign, beginning my political odyssey in the lobby of a Washington DC hotel, thence Boston, then back home. When Ninoy came home only to meet his fatal appointment with martyrdom, I was at the NAIA to welcome him with streamers and banners proclaiming, for the UNIDO I helped organize, “Ninoy, Hindi Ka Nag-iisa”. In the aftermath of the people power revolt that catapulted Noynoy’s mom to the presidency, I was appointed Postmaster-General of the Bureau of Posts, to preside over a humongous bureaucracy of close to twenty thousand men and women.

In 1992, I did not support Cory’s choice for president, Fidel Valdez Ramos. I did not trust a military man to become president, so soon after the bitter memories of martial law. I was spokesman of the Mitra-Fernan campaign, which eventually lost out to a Ramos-Estrada win. It was too close to call, and in the end, FVR squeaked through a slim majority which Miriam Defensor Santiago, to this very day, disputes.

In 1998, Erap Estrada went to my adopted hometown of Butuan City, lunched in my place, and forthwith drafted me into his campaign. He won overwhelmingly, in part because FVR chose a candidate unable and unwilling to depart from the quintessential trapo mold. FVR won because Mitra and Danding were viewed by the voters as very traditional politicians, but when he became president with a slim majority, he bedded with trapos of all stripes in a rainbow coalition to push through his legislative agenda. It would seem, by his choice of Jose de Venecia, that FVR had embraced traditional politics, eaten up by a system of entrenched political patronage. Estrada thus won, overwhelmingly by comparison to the poor showing of Joe de V, yet still short of an electoral majority. He got more than 39% of the total vote in a field of seven candidates.
In 2001, for so many reasons too long to detail in this article, (and which I hope I would be able to put together in a book, or many books I have so long wanted to finally write down), Estrada fell from power. I was in the seat of political power then, in Malacanang as Erap’s adviser for political affairs, concurrent with being Philippine Toruism Authority CEO.

What was instant hope for good government in the hearts and minds of those who helped Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ascend to power, turned sour days after she entered the gates of the stinking palace beside the stinking river. By the end of 2002, so badly damaged by accusations of corruption and divisiveness, she swore in front of Gat Jose Rizal’s monument that she would not seek election in 2004. I never took her word for it, and I was proven right in October of 2003, when she declared she would run. By then she had ensured the conscription of Ronnie Puno and his operators, and further, the services of that salamanquero of the Commission on Electoral Cheating, Virgilio Garcillano. Nothing, absolutely nothing, would deny her another six more years in Malacanang.

I chose Ping Lacson in 2004, in part because of a fear that the inexperienced FPJ might be putty in the hands of the same cabal of whisperers who hounded Erap’s court, and foreboding that the king of Philippine movies would, like his buddy Erap, be unable to transcend the attitudes and habits built around a lifetime in show business. I had unfairly judged the late cinema icon, because subsequent to his death, close friends who chose to support him convinced me that he would have been quite different from the Erap I observed at close range in Malacanang. But I do not at all regret supporting Lacson, in whose disciplined mind and uncompromising reform agenda I conjured visions of a Filipino Lee Kuan Yew.

Last year, in June of 2009, Lacson threw in the towel on yet pre-campaign positioning for the presidency of 2010, unable to even hope to match by ratio of 1 to 10 the huge campaign treasure chest of a Manny Villar, who had by then re-defined the contest in terms of money and money and more money. I was convinced by Chiz Escudero after a series of brainstorming sessions to hop into his political wagon, amazed at the store of knowledge, the street-smart sense of the public sentiment, the idealism of youth, and communication abilities second only to the late Ninoy Aquino.

But it was uphill, again because Villar had defined the political contest in terms of an obscene amount of required spending. Meanwhile, providential game-changer entered the scene. Cory Aquino, the icon of our democratic space, died after a lingering illness. And the public outpouring of grief overwhelmed everyone, and touched every heart except those of the malevolent and the greedy. I wept like most everyone who appreciated the enormity of what this frail and reluctant leader had achieved for the nation in her lifetime.

In much the same way that the death of Ninoy ushered in a public cri de coeur for Cory to run in the snap elections, his mother’s death in turn revived images of the heroic struggles of 1983-1986, turning into a public clamor for Noynoy to run.

In time, young Chiz, barely 40 (the age limit for those who would be president), decided to bide his time, bowing to political and logistical realities, and in part because he hated to stand against bosom friend Noynoy. It was clear to both Chiz and me at the end of November that we would end up supporting Noy. It was only a matter of time, unwilling to volunteer services in what seemed to be a full house of able assistants. But as fate would have it, I could not resist the call to service, impelled in great part by the need to prevent another Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, her re-incarnation or assign or look-alike in terms of amorality, from abusing the nation any further, and in part by the sincerity I saw in the son of Ninoy and Cory.

I had written against genes being determinant of leadership choice. I have always questioned the theory of the “leader class”, and dislike dynasties based on some kind of hereditary right, rather than merit. But it is not Noynoy’s genes that matter. It is his upbringing that I admire --- the ability to discern between what is intrinsically wrong and immoral, and what is indubitably right. And in the short period from February 15 when I officially got on board along with the return of Serge Osmena, when the chips seemed to be falling down on what was heady start, I got further glimpses into the quintessential Benigno Simeon Aquino III. Two weeks earlier, Chiz Escudero’s media staff had been volunteered into Noy’s campaign. I brought with me some of Ping Lacson and Escudero’s trusted people.

A personal dilemma was whether to continue writing this column. In the past, I would always disengage from writing whenever I would actively work in a national campaign. This time, I chose to violate my own rule of propriety. I apologize to my readers for that, but I thought that somehow, my essays would contribute to the effort to stop those who should be stopped, for the sake of the nation and my children and grandchildren’s future. Those who have faithfully read my articles in this paper and our sister publication Abante would appreciate whereof I aver.

I shall no longer enumerate why I am for Noynoy. These have been evident in the thread of several articles. Let me just state that in these desperately parlous times, TRUST ought to be the most important determinant of leadership choice.

Would you trust Manny Villar with your future, and that of your family’s? Would you trust someone who has duped the Bangko Sentral, duped the Senate, duped the DPWH, duped the Unified Housing Loan Program and the housing agencies of the Republic, manipulated the BIR and several unnamed judges and the land registration authorities, and abused the powers and prerogatives of an elect of the people, for another six long years at the helm?

Would you give former President Joseph Estrada another turn at the bat, after sterling promises turned into dross realization of the human failings of his leadership? Would you entrust the nation’s fate once more to him?

Who would be in the best position to undertake reforms in a system so corrupted by a decade of perpetual abuse? A decade of institutions rendered ineffective by corruption most gross and most pervasive? Sure, the cleansing will take time, given the checks and balances of democracy, given further the not-too-easily dismantled transactionalism between the executive and legislative, and the rooted flaws of our present judiciary. But we must begin.

And only Benigno Simeon Aquino III can lead that new beginning.

But let me add a postscript. The evils that hold sway will not go away too easily. Already, the automated election system had been discombobulated, and our worst fears suddenly become true.

Nonetheless, we have to march into May 10 and beyond with utmost resolve. It is like 1986, when we put our blind trust in Divine Providence.

Which is why I call on all those yet undecided, torn between Noynoy’s relative inexperience versus the lack of character of those who oppose him. Decide on the side of the right. Shed your indecision and go with the bandwagon for the beginnings of meaningful change. Likewise do I call on those who would support men and a woman with good intentions but unable to capture the public imagination, with no more wind behind their forlorn sails. Join too the bandwagon for change, not as a surrender to political reality, but more to add your vehemence against the system into a solid block of immovable obstacle against the enemies of change.

Let us give the clamor for change a clear and convincing majority vote. Let us impress upon the whole world that as a people, come May 10, we elect to change a system so perverted by corruption and ineffectiveness. And thus strike fear upon the hearts even of those so hardened by the spoils of corruption.

Remember --- we owe it to ourselves, our children, our collective future.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Friday, 07 May 2010

Discombobulated

2010-05-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just as everyone was preparing to cast his vote less than a week away, the automated system that would govern the sanctity of sovereign choice gets discombobulated. What was billed by its sponsors, principally the discredited Comelec and the pollyanish PPCRV as a foolproof, Garci-proof “high-tech” system has suddenly seemed like Humpty-Dumpty.

Tested with actual ballots and actual candidate names printed on front and back, the Smartmatic PCOS machines failed quite miserably. In Batangas, in Mindoro, and even in the country’s most affluent Makati, the PCOS read the front of the official ballot well enough, but failed to read the back where the local candidates were listed, accurately. Contrary for instance to both surveys and plain sense, Jun-jun Binay got zero, Ernesto Mercado got 2, and Erwin Genuino harvested an unbelievable 76 votes in pre-testing. In Mindoro, Josephine Sato had zero versus Villarosa of Pa-La-Ka. Even the immensely popular Vilma Santos registered a cipher in the machine-printed tally.

By Tuesday, Comelec could only mumble lame excuses, and PPCRV, heretofore as gung-ho as the deaf being led by the blind towards uncertain fate, could only admit its composure was shattered. Smartmatic executives were profuse with apologies, assuring everyone and his uncle that they could yet “fix” the incompatibility of quickly-printed ballots with the 76 thousand memory cards imbedded on their counting machines. And with so little time left.

People had made up their minds, the religious blocs have battened down the hatches on their “command” vote, national candidates have been winding down their campaigns, and then this sudden discombobulation. Was Humpty Dumpty all broken to pieces, or is it just a crack that Elmer’s can glue together?

Meanwhile, the little lady in the stinking palace beside the stinking river is as eerily quiet as ever. Nary a beep, nary a squawk. Only Gary Olivar, her American spokesperson, is cackling. Is she up to something? With her candidates, official and secret, unravelled in naked glory and naked gore, is this her way of throwing a monkey wrench on the predictable win of those she most despise? Is this pre-programmed? Or is it sheer incompetence?

The political storm has begun. It has yet to hit land, but gale force is predictable. Will the ship of state founder?

* * *

Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) of which I am a part, has been warning about this automated system from the beginning. As early as last year, I rean a series of articles on what I called “a disaster waiting to happen”. Comelec never listened. Neither did PPCRV. Commissioner Rene Sarmiento wrote me a letter saying that he appreciated my concern and that he would take these up with the commission en banc.

Yesterday, CCM, through my good friend Harry Roque, whose heart is always in the right place, and whose mind is as sharp as his tongue could cut. Issued a statement on the disaster that has come:

“This has been a problematic contract to begin with – how can anyone be surprised that the machines are not performing correctly given the haste by which the contract was crafted, the speed by which the contract price was paid, and the haphazard way the AES is being implemented?

“When we questioned this contract before the Supreme Court, we indicated that we were not against the automation of elections per se; we were against this particular contract because it was disadvantageous to the Philippines.

“The malfunctioning of the machines would not be happening if Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) complied with the mandatory testing of all PCOS machines as soon as they are delivered to the COMELEC and on time. Smartmatic-TIM and COMELEC used the delay in the delivery of the PCOS machine as justification to waive the mandatory testing and effectively short circuit the processes provided by the law.

“Based on the ‘creatively’ crafted contract between Smartmatic-TIM and Comelec, the Philippine government is obliged to pay for the full price of the contract, whether the PCOS machines are used or not, and whether irregularities with the machines and the software are subsequently discovered.”

But worse than the billions poor Juan de la Cruz will be charged with yet once again (after Ben Abalos threw a billion and more in the Mega-Pacific deal of 2004), is the despair and anger a failed electoral exercise will unleash.

It may be a case of democracy, and not just Comelec or Smartmatic, becoming a Humpty Dumpty whose pieces can no longer be put back together.

* * *

Meanwhile, angered Fil-Canadians, speaking through Mike Moreno of the Fil-Can Alliance, warns of the spectre of the AFP Chief of Staff, Del Bangit, installing a “transition” government, whether in the form of a military junta or Dona Gloria yet in the saddle. Moreno warns thus:

“Should this happen and I wish it won't, we will see and witness again a massive peoples power uprising with the assistance of some influencial church leaders and the patriotic men and women in uniform to protect civilians, in complete abandon to the illegal order of few loyalist Generals in the AFP to their Commander-in-Chief and bloody, it will be and far worst than what is in Thailand today.”

Hindi naman siguro, Mike. I happened to chance upon a Strictly Politics interview of General Bangit some last week. For someone in whose person most Filipinos get paranoid with fear and mistrust, General Bangit sounded truly sincere in upholding the laws of the land, particularly the Constitution. He did not seem willing to risk his name over adventurism or vile utilitarianism from the person who appointed him CS. Neither, I trust and I hope, will the professional corps of the military, even the police, let alone the junior officers and enlisted men who have suffered just as much as any other Juan de la Cruz, from the criminal excesses, the abuses, and the ineffectiveness of this regime that is in its last dying gasps of putrid air.

* * *

Yet in the Bank of Banks, apart from fatal silence on how a preceding leadership allowed it to be the vaca lechera of a failed bank belonging to the family of a “failed” presidential candidate, dark forces have succeeded in getting their Dona Gloria to sign approval of the New Generation Currency, set for release before the end of this year. Agreement of Malacanang was needed to trigger a “public bidding”, as “privately” being stitched together, as it is rushed. As if there is a compulsion to begin demonetizing the present banknotes, unmindful of the fact that there will be, or should be, a new president and a new regime come noon of June 30.

Earlier, as part of a massive outsourcing process began six or seven years ago, the Bangko Sentral ordered some 900 million pieces of fresh new paper bills, some 100 million of which arrived recently. But to its consternation, the first batch of the 900 million bills imported from a German printer had a serious flaw, likely because the Bank specified a new kind of printer’s ink. When the freshly minted notes arrived, they were of a paler hue than the usual 100-peso banknotes bearing the likeness of Pres. Manuel A. Roxas.

Worried that (1) the public, through naked eye, might spot the paler hue, and mistake the same for counterfeit notes; and (2) that there needs to be an ample supply of lower-denomination peso bills (it used to be that 20 and 50 peso denominations were used for vote-buying, now of course, the local candidates need tons and tons of hundred-peso denominations) for the elections, the Bangko Sentral has been going overtime on its 34-year old printing machines at the East Avenue Mint, printing the new 100-peso bills to replace yet another botched delivery from its outsourced printers (“Arrovo” all over yet again?). They even assigned a lady Monetary Board member whose family is in the printing business, among many others, to oversee the rush, round-the-clock printing, like a taskmistress of sorts.

For a fiduciary of the people’s monetary system, one wonders if it is only sheer lack of foresight that has got the Bank from replacing equipment depreciated several times over, and preferred imports of currency in its stead. The deputy governor, Diwa Gunigundo, has written that outsourcing is necessary because of demand outstripping supply capability. Fine. But why seven years, Mr. Diwa, sir?

Now it wants to rehabilitate its print and mint plant, allocating 5.7 billion pesos for the purpose. The Bank reasons that upgrades and rehabilitation are needed before buying new printing machines, reputedly the most modern, with capability to print banknotes almost fool-proof from counterfeiting. Why so? That seems to defy all logic.

It would cost them some 2.6 billion to buy new printing machines, ready for installation by end-year at the latest, by mid-year if they had proceeded with their indefinitely postponed bidding. Now they would spend some 5.7 billion just to rehabilitate and upgrade three decade old machines? And meanwhile, continue importing printed paper currency which costs them some 20 million euro (about 1.2 billion) each year?

Did these guys at the Bangko Sentral forget their lessons in incremental costs and logical reasoning? Or is the smell of freshly-printed euros too overpowering? Last two minutes, ala-IBC 13 and other sorts of privatization deals, not to mention Norbert Gonzales’ buying spree of defense materiel?

A new government under Noynoy Aquino will have to look into this, as it has to discover what made an earlier Bank leadership to grant 4.5 billion pesos in loans to a failed bank and accepted payment in kind of worthless, even dubious titles. “Independence” of the monetary authority does not mean exemption from transparency and public accountability.

So many more details, so many new leads, so much documentary trail, but so little time. The elections, real or faked, failed or un-proclaimed, demand full attention at this point.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Thursday, 06 May 2010

Bakit si Noynoy?

2010-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ito ang huling pitak ko para sa pahayagang Abante bago mag-halalan sa parating na Lunes, ika-sampu ng Mayo. Sa mga pitak ko nitong nakaraang mga buwan, malinaw na kontra ako na maging pangulo si Manny Villar. Ito’y hindi dahil sa anumang personal na dahilan, gaya ng sinusumbat ng iba, tulad ng: (1) hindi raw kasi ako kinuha ni Villar; (2) dala ko lang raw ang alitan ni Ping Lacson na aking kaibigan kay Manny Villar at mga kasamahan nitong tulad ni Alan Cayetano.

Sa totoo lang, inalok ako noon pang 2008 ng kaibigan kong si Rep. Ronny Zamora ng San Juan na sumama na at tumulong kay Villar, sa pagnanais nitong maging pangulo ng Pilipinas. Tumanggi ako, una, dahil tumatakbo pa noon sa pagka-pangulo si Lacson; at pangalawa, dahil hindi ako kailanman “bumilib” kay Villar. Maging noong siya’y Speaker, at lalo na nung minadali niyang ipa-impeach si Pangulong Estrada. Kapag ipinagtahi-tahi ko ang aking mga nalalaman noong ako’y Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs ni Erap, hanggang sa naging consultant ni Lacson, at bilang manunulat at taga-masid ng mga pangyayari sa ating bansa, sadyang wala akong nakitang ano mang galing o katangi-tanging ugali itong si Villar, liban na lang sa simpatiya na diumano’y nanggaling siya sa hirap, at umasenso dala ng “sipag at tiyaga”. Nang mapag-alaman ko batay sa malinaw na mga ebidensya na inabuso niya ang kapangyarihan upang lalong magpayaman, na malimit kong isulat sa pitak na ito, lalong namuo sa aking isipan at damdamin na hindi dapat maging pangulo si Villar.

Bakit ako hindi sumusuporta kay Erap ngayon, samantalang masugid akong sumuporta sa kanya noong 1998, at naging miyembro ng kanyang gabinete bilang Political Adviser at General Manager ng Philippine Tourism Authority? Hindi ko siya iniwan noong nasadlak siya sa krisis ng impeachment, at maging noong siya ay nakulong sa Veterans at sa Tanay. Nguni’t nung siya ay nabigyan ng pardon ni GMA, sa aking pananaw ay nasuklian ko na bilang kaibigang tumatanaw ng utang na loob ang kanyang kabutihan. Ngayong pipili na naman tayo ng isang lider upang palitan ang pinakamasamang pangulo sa ating kasaysayan, na nang-wasak ng mga institusyon na ngayon ay kailangang lubusang i-reporma, sa aking pananaw ay hindi si Pangulong Erap ang dapat na mamuno at magpalakad ng bansang nais ang tunay na pagbabago.

Naniniwala ako, noon maging hanggang ngayon, na kung sana’y tumuloy si Ping Lacson o si Chiz Escudero, maari silang mamuno ng isang pamahalaang sadyang iri-reporma ang ating bulok na sistema. Subalit ang pamumuno ng isang bansa bilang pangulo ay itinatadhana ng langit. May dahilan ang Panginoon para sa lahat ng nangyayari, at sa kanyang takdang panahon.

Nang namatay si Pangulong Cory Aquino, na nag-nombra sa akin bilang Postmaster-General noong 1986, biglang nagbago ang takbo ng pulitika ng ating paparating na halalan. Kasasama ko lang noon kay Senador Chiz Escudero sa kanyang campaign team. Ano pa nga ba at dahil sa malawakang simpatiya kay Tita Cory, nabago ang kandidato ng Liberal, at nagparaya si Mar Roxas para sa bugtong na anak ni Tita Cory at kaibigan kong si Ninoy, na si Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

Noong nakita ni Chiz na tila hindi nakatakda ang kanyang panahon sa ngayon, at siya’y umatras sa labanan ngayong 2010, malinaw sa aming dalawa na ang aming nasa puso at damdamin ay walang iba kundi si Noynoy. Nguni’t hindi kami agarang nagprisintang tumulong, dahil tila sapat naman ang kanyang mga kasamang tumutulong, at mataas ang kanyang mga survey ratings. Kaya’t noong umangat si Manny Villar, dala ng napakaraming magagastos na advertisement sa media, saka kami sumali sa pag-suporta kay Noynoy.

At ang nakita kong Noynoy ay isang taong tapat ang nais na magsilbi sa bayan. Hindi mapagmalaki, hindi mayabang. Kung minsan ay naiinis at napipikon sa mga batikos na walang basehan, pero sino ba naman ang hindi? Subali’t malinaw ang direksyon ng isipan; alam ang dapat gawin. Higit sa lahat, mabuti ang pagkatao. Hindi nagnakaw, at hindi magnanakaw. May wastong paninindigan, at kailanman ay hindi gagawa ng ikahihiya niya at ng angkang pinagmulan. Ito’y wala sa dugong nananalaytay sa kanyang mga ugat, kundi dala ng pagkakapagpalaki sa kanya nina Ninoy at Cory. Hinubog siya sa wastong paniniwala, sa wastong asal, at lumaking taglay ang responsibilidad na magsilbi sa iba.

Hindi perpektong tao si Noynoy, at sino ba naman ang ganoon? Nguni’t siya ang napapanahong maging lider ng isang bansang nalugmok sa hirap at napariwara ang pamahalaan. Pagka’t higit sa lahat, ang kailangan ng ating sugatang bayan ay muling magtiwala sa pamunuan. Tiwala ang siyang magiging batayan ng muling pagbalik ng pag-asa sa nalugmok nating Inang Bayan at sa kaawa-awa nating mga kababayan.

Dahil siya ang higit na mapagkakatiwalaan sa siyam na tumatakbo bilang pangulo, hinihikayat ko ang lahat ng mga taga-subaybay ng pahayagang ito na sa darating na Lunes, iboto si Noynoy Aquino. At mula sa Hunyo 30, tulungan natin siyang ma-reporma ang ating pamahalaan, at nang manumbalik ang sigla sa bansang sadlak sa karimlan.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
ABANTE para sa Miyerkules, ika-03 ng Mayo, 2010

The “religious” side of politics

2010-05-03T19:10:00.001-07:00

Former president Joseph Estrada went to the Northern highlands, and as is the wont of tribal leaders, was feted through a “canao”. I have been through some of these canao, where they slaughter a pig in full view of everybody. The “mambunong” or tribal high priest digs into the entrails of the butchered pig, then gets the bile. He then looks at its condition. If it was reddish “pink” as in Bayani Fernando’s “in the pink of health”, that was a good omen. If it had dark blotches, that was an omen of ill portent.

Apparently, the mambunong was happy with what he saw, and declared Erap would once more be president of the benighted land. He and Jojo Binay probably drank the native basi to that “endorsement”.

* * *

In the deep South however, Apollo Quiboloy, the “appointed son of God”, as we predicted in this column last week, went not for one or the other of the two main protagonists in this electoral contest. A dear friend of his, we wrote then, asked him to choose even someone who probably would not make it due to dismal survey ratings, rather than choose someone who had assiduously courted his endorsement, but who this close friend deemed “totally unworthy” of the presidency because of questions of integrity and character.

The problem with these endorsements is that if you back the wrong candidate and he loses (as in Numero Dos), your credibility as a political “power” diminishes. For Quiboloy, who supported Gloria in 2004, the choice was between someone who had fawned over him, or someone who paid him mere perfunctory courtesies. But then again, if he chose the one who publicly showed obeisance, what if the guy loses, and miserably at that, as the surveys show?

So he probably took the good friend’s advice, and made a less than harmful endorsement of the “appointed one”, or so he declared last Sunday. Even if the guy loses, as a Quiboloy endorsement cannot stem the tide, it may get Gibo Teodoro a point or few up by election day. The loss of face is less, and it certainly would not look too unfriendly, or defiant of the eventual victor.

* * *

Now this puts Jamby’s “swami” in a bind. Good for her that few in this country knows anything about this Indian guru, quite popular in Kuala Lumpur and adjoining parts, and in Singapore with its huge Hindu-descended population. Jamby hardly does anything of consequence without going through a session with her swami.

In 2002, when she was planning to run once more for a Senate seat she lost in 2001, she consulted a Taoist “master” about her political plans. She was told she would win this time around (2004), but she had to get married first.

True enough, she married a Frenchman in 2003, and then hitched her wagon to the late FPJ’s train, and with the help of a most influential religious sect, got elected senadora de la pais.

This time, the swami told her she would become La Presidenta, after she forgot the feng shui master who predicted her win in 2004, provided she married. With survey ratings so awfully low, the swami must really call on all his deities and all his gods to make Jamby win.

Next oracle, please.

* * *

Now that another religious leader failed to get his dream alliance of “orange” forces through, how will he position his “charismatic” following in this crazy amalgam of politics and religion? Would he follow the lead of Pastor Quiboloy, or would he also go consulting Jamby’s swami? Would he try to ask the mambunong how he reads anything out of pig bile, or would he just stick it out with his realtor-friend, come hell or high water? It’s a dilemma, surely not at all a moral one.

He could of course await the decision of another group, the most politically influential, and hitch his “Tiyak ‘yun!” to whoever they choose. That was what he did in 1998, and then again, in 2004, after Poe and Ping failed to concile, and the hugely influential religious sect had to settle for Gloria. (Despite that decision, which was heart-rending for many in the “kapatiran”, Gloria needed Garci to win by at least “a million”).

In 1998, he was very close to FVR’s anointee, who promised him top price for road right-of-way payments on land that was to be traversed by C-5. But when it became imminent that Erap would win, and had long bagged the most influential sect’s yet un-announced endorsement, this charismatic leader shouted “Tiyak ‘yun!”, and forthwith became the new president’s “spiritual adviser”, dumping his friend with the mostest in promises alone to bite Erap’s dust.

From such lofty perch did he try to get the popular president to give him the same price the losing candidate of FVR promised for his real estate. But a decent cabinet member stood his ground and would not put his John Hancock on a deed so grossly over-valued. Haggling happened to and fro in Malacanang, with the popular president assigning the dubious task to one in the PMS who is now a congressman from Cavite. Finally, in the year 2000, Malacanang and the charismatic leader met half-way, between the overprice the lost but close politician promised, and the fair valuation the upright cabinet member insisted upon. The whole deal cost the Republic 1.8 billion pesos in road right-of-way payments.

The Cavite congressman is now one of the “other” orange candidate’s attack dogs, and his younger brother, aside from running for senator, is the spokesperson of an increasingly doomed campaign. The congressman’s hope of becoming the next Speaker of the lower House, as promised by his patron, seems forlorn, first because Dona Gloria wants it, and is price to pay for Villarroyo deal. But worse, it looks like Villarroyo is not going to make it. But I digress.

For wait! After having gotten what was a “killing” in real estate prices, the charismatic leader and his long-time realtor-friend got the Republic to construct another road nearby, which, thanks to Ping Lacson’s curiosity over doubled budgetary allocations, became the C-5 at Taga episode in the life of orange candidate. The paid-for road right-of-way remains unutilized.

* * *

And where are the bishops of the numerous Church in this amalgam of politics and religion?

Some of them openly endorsed J.C. de los Reyes, who would impose a theocracy upon this benighted land. Despite this open endorsement, JC’s survey numbers have not perked up a bit. Akala ko ba, vox populi, vox Dei?

And now comes that unworthy eminence in his Villa de Mandaloyon, pontificating about the absurdity of “people power” which once made this nation and its people proud. He riles against those who would call for defiance if sovereign choice is trampled upon by cheats and liars and thieves.

This paragon of submissiveness really leaves Catholics with conscience cold. Up to the very end, this cardinal prefers Medy Poblador to righteous indignation.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 04 May 2010

Then dump it on the Republic

2010-04-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, we detailed how Manny Villar and his housing corporations made its billions, piggy-backing on the monies of the Republic of the Philippines. By a scheme called “takeout”, Camella and Palmera, among others, sold socialized cost housing units to any Tom, Dick and Harry, regardless of whether these Toms and Dicks could afford the monthly instalments. Then, they turned around to the NHMFC, and through the United Home Lending Program, they were paid the value of the houses sold, in cash. Because many of the buyers, in fact more than half of them, could not pay the mortgaged units, the government was left holding the proverbial empty bag. The housing deals made Villar happy and awash with billions in profits. But Juan de la Cruz, though he did not know it then, has every reason to be unhappy. The un-collected mortgages were charged to the Republic.

Villar went for the even bigger deals. He bought every available piece of land in Bacoor, Imus, Muntinglupa, San Pedro and Las Pinas, even Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, and other bustling parts of the benighted land. These were financed by huge dollar-denominated borrowings just at the time that FVR de-regulated banking restrictions on foreign exchange. And to make sure the loans were easily facilitated, Villar had a bank to boot – Capitol Bank, which was re-packaged from the ashes of a previously failed bank. And his wife was the CEO of Capitol Bank.

But then, the heavens caved in when an overheated, over-expanded Southeast Asia suddenly got caught in the throes of a major recession. Hardest hit was Thailand, where several mega-billionaires jumped desperately from buildings to their death. Manny Villar, earlier basking in recognition as the “brown taipan”, suddenly felt the ground shake beneath his billion-peso empire. It must have been akin to Intensity 8. But smart Filipinos do not commit hara-kiri. They enter politics, and then dump their liabilities on the Republic. Again, bahala na si Juan de la Cruz.

In 1998, Capitol Bank borrowed emergency loans in four tranches from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Earlier in this space, I thought Cynthia Villar and Anacordita Magno’s signed promissory notes were only for 1.168 billion and 332 million, respectively, for a total of 1.5 billion pesos. And I thought that the bulk of the properties mortgaged and later foreclosed was the Norzagaray ancestral land occupied by Dumagats and remontados.

It turns out I barely scratched the surface of the iceberg, with documents provided by long-suffering and long-complaining farmers. For now, Bangko Sentral insiders, shocked at the kind of investigation they would have to weather after June 30,2010 from an incensed people who would want closure and justice from several financial scandals and gross violations of anti-graft and plunder laws, and seeing how their top officials continue to stonewall, obfuscate and even prevaricate, supplied us with evidentiary documents proving that it was not just 1.5 billion pesos that the BSP in 1998 doled out to the insolvent Capitol Bank, but 4.5 billion!

On March 20, 1998, 2 billion pesos was released. Six days after, on March 26, another 1 billion was granted. Then on April 22, 1.168 billion, followed by 332 million two days after. For a grand total of 4.5 billion pesos. All of these happened while Manuel Villar Jr. was running unopposed for a third term as congressman of the lone district of Las Pinas under the ticket of Lakas-NUCD, whose standard-bearer was Jose de Venecia, then Speaker of the House of Representatives.

But another person trumped De Venecia, winning in every city and municipality of Metro Manila, except in the Villar-Aguilar fiefdom called Las Pinas. Strangely, Erap made Villar speaker after he was elected and proclaimed president, leaving Joker Arroyo of Makati and Bibit Duavit of the NPC and Rizal, out in the cold. This was a decision I objected to, as then newly-named Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, albeit awaiting the official oath-taking, because I have a personal dislike, then and now, for political turncoatism. But the president had decided. Two years and five months later, the decision to adopt Villar as his Speaker must have caused Erap deep regrets. For Villar impeached him and forthwith, “like a thief in the night”, sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.

As Speaker, Villar was an awesome power the “independent” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Monetary Board had to contend with. The promissory notes remained unpaid long after their six-month term expired. Thus, the BSP, through its Department of Loans and Credit, wrote the Optimum Development Bank, on December 13, 1999, the successor bank of Capitol Development Bank which had earlier closed down, reminding them of a total obligation of “PhP Four Billion Three Hundred Forty Million Three Hundred Seventy Four Thousand Seven Hundred Seventy Pesos and 71 centavos, EXCLUSIVE of the corresponding accrued interest and liquidated damages”.

“Because of this, we have been given definite instruction(s) to initiate legal action against you and the real estate mortgage(s) securing the said amount…Consider this as our FINAL demand”.

Cutting a long story short, the Bangko Sentral foreclosed on the properties mortgaged to it by Capitol Development Bank. Deeds of real estate mortgage executed by several Villar corporations, such as Optimum, Adelfa, Palmera, Manila Brickworks, Capitol, Carissa, Household Development, etc. etc. etc., were hastily signed from 2000 to 2001 by Anacordita Magno,and Jerry Navarrete, during which time Villar had already successfully dumped Erap in favour of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and in fact, become senator of the realm in May 2001, while the transfers were yet being made to the BSP, which accepted the said “titles” through Andres I. Rustia, Managing Director of the Department of Loans, Credit and Asset Management.

In an announcement made via an ad in this paper reacting to the questions posed before it by farmer’s groups and NGO’s assisting the Norzagaray farmers, the BSP now says (1) they exercised due diligence in ascertaining the validity of land titles mortgaged to it; (2) they had to act fast as lender of last resort; (3) they took appropriate legal steps to protects their rights as creditor; and (4) the claims of the Norzagaray farmes are now pending litigation and BSP would abide by the decision of the appropriate courts”.

In short, the people of the Republic, whose money entrusted to the bank of banks, to the tune of 4.5 billion pesos excluding interest, will just have to accept the “good word” of its fiduciary trustee that everything was done in order, and everything was protective of their interest. The farmers dispossessed of legal title to their land will just have to grin and bear it, because the Bank said so, and will have to await decision by the courts of justice in a land where justice is for sale, or if not so in certain exceptions, is blind to the plight of the powerless when pitted against the powerful. And Manuel Villar Jr. is about to be the most powerful man in this land for the next six years, if God and the people cannot help it.

It turns out though that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas not only accepted overlapping Norzagaray titles with faked provenance. It also accepted marginal properties in Teresa, Rizal, among others, and accepted the Villar corporation’s claimed valuations thereof which in most cases were FIVE to SIX times their market value at the time! Just as an example, TCT No. M-71887 with a Tax Declaration market value of 30,000 pesos, was accepted by the BSp at the declared collateral value of 211,400, and a 70% loan value of 148,000 pesos. TCT M-71925n worth 16,000 pesos was accepted at a collateral value of 149,950 pesos with a loan value of 105,000 pesos. And so on and so forth, through page after page of enumerated real estate “garbage”.

Tell you what. In 1978, my old folks had to borrow from a commercial bank so we could rebuild a commercial property in Butuan City that was burned down without appropriate insurance. The property we hocked was given a loan value of only 60% of market. How many of us lesser mortals have had to plead with our banks to please, oh Lord please, give us more value for our precious little assets when we need the loan so very badly?

Ah, but as F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “the rich are different from you and I”. And in this benighted land, the supra-powerful, like a senator and congresswoman, a Speaker at that, and a Senate President even, are certainly different from you and I.

Even insofar as the “independent” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is concerned.

The moral of the story of Manny Villar’s billions? It pays to be powerful. It pays to abuse your power.

You make an obscene amount of billions not through “sipag at tiyaga” but through cunning and deceit and the arrogant abuse of power. And when you lose those billions, either through recklessness or sheer misfortune, no need to worry…you can always charge it to poor Juan de la Cruz. You can inflate the value of your :garbage”, dump it upon a trusting and submissive Bank of Banks, and just relax. And then, using all the monies you could scoop out of the public works budget, your collective pork barrel (his and hers) and even budgetary insertions, you can cause the building of spanking new highways to traverse your choice properties (C-5, Daang Hari, Daang Reyna, etc.) the better to increase their value and marketability, no longer as “low-cost” houses, but as Italianate or Mediterranean-inspired homes for the nouveau riche.

And then put together your by now freed-from debt corporations, thanks to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and other banks left holding garbage-filled bags into one corporate flagship. Then you go to the Philippine Stock Exchange and have the new flagship sold to the gullible public in the form of initial public offerings of hyped-up shares of stock. And when you foresee rough economic times ahead, because of an economic recession triggered in similar but bigger fashion in the ultra-rich United States of A, dump those shares of stock, take the money, and run for President of the benighted Republic whose citizens and institutions and public monies you have used, abused and hood-winked.

No. Gibo is not “galing at talino”. Gloria is. And most certainly, perhaps even more “galing at talino” than Gloria and her Mike, her Mikey y ademas relaciones, is Senor Manny Villar, er, Money Villarroyo.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Thursday, 29 April 2010

Charge it to the Republic

2010-04-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Many of those who staked everything at Edsa in 1986 had hoped that things would change, beyond just mere democratic space. But there were those who never staked anything in Edsa, yet figured they could make oodles of money by taking advantage of Cory Aquino’s sincere desire to make democracy work for the under-privileged.

The Aquino reform government was held hostage by as many as nine coup attempts, some minor adventurist plots, some as damaging as the 1987 and 1989 coup attempts. But while the coup plotters were busy threatening Cory’s presidency, some who never fought Marcos, in fact, collaborated with the dictatorship till the end, quietly made money. As the late Ricardo Manapat once wrote, “some are smarter than others”, describing men and women who in the heyday of the dictatorship, took advantage of power or proximity to power, to feather their own nests so thickly. In the Cory days, and beyond, there have always been people who made piles and piles of hay, using “other people’s money”. Those other people were/are the taxpayers of this benighted land.

The Wikipedia page on Manny Villar tells us: “After (the) EDSA revolution, Mr. Villar and his colleagues in the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Associations (CREBA) influenced the Aquino administration in launching an aggressive mortgage financing program, the Unified Home Lending Program (UHLP) of the National Home Finance Mortgage Corporation (NHMFC) and the Pag-Ibig Fund. NHMFC, the financial coordinator of the program, was bankrupted. The funders (SSS, GSIS, Pag-Ibig) were stuck with billions in bad home mortgages covering Villar's houses and flirted with bankruptcy for a while. Eventually, these bad mortgages had to be covered by the national government using its tax revenues.”

Tony Hidalgo, Secretary General of HUDCC during the Ramos administration, put it even more bluntly in emails he wrote about Manny Villar: “He is also guilty of making billions out of government funds for socialized housing through a questionable, unsustainable scheme that nearly destroyed our financial system in the 90's… It's a bit complicated, but I was right there, trying to stop what was essentially Villar's scheme as HUDCC (housing) Secretary-General. Fortunately, we succeeded (Dept. of Finance, Pag-Ibig Fund, SSS, GSIS, HUDCC, HIGC-I was head of the multi-agency Task Force that did this) and avoided a financial disaster in the Philippines that would have preceded the similar one that recently hit the US and hurt the world economy… It started when Cory became president. Villar, through the CREBA he controlled, drafted a socialized housing law to spur low-cost housing in the country. Cory approved it with her emergency powers, not seeing through Villar's scheme… To oversimplify, the law required the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig Fund to put billions of pesos of their funds each year into a fund for mortgages for low-cost housing (defined initially as 150 thousand maximum, later going up to 250 thousand through the years). This fund would be managed by the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC - an agency of HUDCC). The NHMFC then established quotas for allocating the annual common funds of SSS, Pag-Ibig, and GSIS based on the building capacities of registered developers. The largest quotas every year were for the Camelia and Palmera (C & P) company of Villar which got a very large chunk of the funds for their home mortgages.”

A research team tried to put numbers on the anecdotal statements of Mr. Hidalgo to get a better sense of how much Manny Villar actually benefited from the UHLP program. How he made his first big “killing”, using public monies. Smart guy Villar truly was, and is. Smart at making obscenely huge amounts of money, using high-finance legerdemain, and later, using politics and the corridors of power to amass more, or to cover-up for his abuse of such power.

An internal HUDCC report dated October 16, 1998 indicated that UHLP takeouts from November 1987 to April 1996 (when the UHLP was terminated) amounted to a staggering 42.123 billion pesos. The beneficiaries of the takeouts were developers/originators that sold lots and/or houses to low-income buyers with financing provided by UHLP. According to HUDCC, the single largest beneficiary of the UHLP program were companies owned/controlled by Manny Villar which accounted for about Php7.8 billion of loan takeouts, or about 18.5% of the total. The report also stated that the collection efficiency (defined as collections received by NHMFC divided by the total amount of principal, interest and penalty payments due) of the Villar corporate flagship was 47.3%, which was lower than the average collection efficiency of 53.7% experienced for all UHLP developers/originators.

The 1998 HUDCC report does not provide the total amount of payments due. However, present NHMFC records show that, as of December 31, 2002 (i.e., before the UHLP portfolio was restructured and partially sold), the amount of unpaid principal was about Php33 billion, or approximately 78% of the original Php42 billion of takeouts. Since the Villar companies’ overall collection efficiency was lower than the average for the entire UHLP portfolio, we can assume that the amount of unpaid principal for Villar companies is also more than the average. However, even if Villar’s past due equaled the average, this would mean that the Unified Home Lending Program was unable to collect at least 78% – or about Php6 billion – of the Php7.8 billion principal amount of loans it granted buyers of Villar-developed properties.

Another big developer, by the way, is E.B. Villarosa (there must be something in the names) with an awful collection efficiency of only 25.7%. But Villarosa (any relation to Girlie, the acting Pa-La-Ka chair who is chummy-chummy with Villar, I have not bothered to research)

Between 1987 to 1996, companies owned or controlled by Manny Villar obtained takeouts for their end-buyers totaling approximately 7.776 billion pesos, or about 18.5% of the total takeout amount of Php42.123 billion. As a group, Villar companies obtained the largest amount of takeouts from the UHLP program. The term “takeout” only applies to the original principal amount of the loan obtained by the end-buyers of the houses/lots sold by the developers/originators; at the UHLP annual interest rates of 9%, 12% or 16% (depending on the size of the takeout) – which were subsidized rates and therefore much lower than prevailing market interest rates – the total debt amounts (consisting of the original principal amounts plus cumulative interest and penalties since 1987) would have amounted to over Php71 billion by December 31, 2002.

The UHLP’s collection efficiency actually fell after 1992 (i.e., the year that Villar became a congressman), with its overall collection efficiency dropping from 62.3% from 1987‑June 1992 down to 48.1% from July 1992‑April 1996; during the two periods, the collection efficiency of the Villar companies deteriorated dramatically from 60.8% for the 1987‑June 1992 period down to 39.3% from July 1992 onwards.

The amount of UHLP takeouts increased significantly after 1992. From November 1987 through June 1992, UHLP takeouts averaged about Php220 million per month (or around Php2.6 billion per year). However, from July 1992 through April 1996, takeouts nearly tripled, averaging approximately Php647 million per month (or about Php7.8 billion per year) despite the fact that collection efficiency dropped from 62.3% to 48.1%. Total takeouts by Villar companies increased from around Php38 million per month before July 1992 to about Php122 million per month after he became a congressman. To quote Winnie Monsod, “Being in public office surely has paid off for [Manny Villar].”

To run a successful business, several key operating risks have to be addressed. These risks include selling risk, pricing risk and collection risk. You need to find buyers for your product or service. You need to be able to sell at prices that cover your cost plus overhead, and make a profit as well. And you need to collect enough of your sales to be able to stay in business.

In the case of low-cost housing, the demand was, and is, significant. The problem was the capacity of prospective buyers to pay for the units they purchased. But what if you pass on the risk to government, and just sell units without paying heed of whether the buyers can or cannot pay the future installments on their housing units? The government thus foots the bill, while the real estate developer just keeps building and selling houses to people who may not have the capability to pay, to begin with. Sell and sell, and dump the receivables to government, its housing agencies, its pension funds.. Great business, neh? Just pass the bill to the collective Juan de la Cruz..

The key flaw in the UHLP/NHMFC program lay in government providing a 100% takeout, and in allowing the real estate developers to trick it into being responsible for collecting from the end-buyers.

We are not certain about the profit margins of the Villar socialized housing units. But it would seem apparent that if the NHMFC was unable to collect on 78% of the principal amount of the takeouts and Villar’s firms accounted for 7.8 billion pesos of the takeouts, then his companies made billions, while government held the proverbial empty bag of delinquent payments, and in some cases, even “ghost” buyers and therefore, non-existent “receivables”.

So this is the provenance of Villar’s first billions. He got it from government, which in turn charged the whole mess to the people of this ever-benighted land.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Tuesday, 27 April 2010

The homestretch

2010-04-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

Last March 5, I wrote an article entitled “Time to take stock” in this space. It was then about four weeks since the official campaign period began. I wrote it just before Pulse Asia and SWS would release the results of their field surveys undertaken in the last week of February, or some 20 to 24 days since the campaign began. I said then that the previous surveys had Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar so close to each other, with the latter leading by as little as two percentage points.

March 5 was a Friday, and if my recollection is right, Pulse came out with its survey results three days after. Noynoy had increased his lead over Villar by 7 points. Erap had gained some, and Gibo languished in single-digit territory.

It is now 17 days before D-Day. The moment of truth is upon all the candidates. The moment of decision is upon the people. The latest survey findings I have seen which I cannot pre-empt show that Noynoy has widened his lead over Villar from 7 points in end-February to 12 points in end-March, and now, as of mid-April, to 14 points. In another private survey which is not likely to be released by the one who commissioned it for private eyes, it was a 15-point lead.

Noynoy’s numbers have not exactly increased, give or take a point or three. But Villar’s numbers have precariously dropped. Though I won’t call it a free-fall, the fact is that the decline has not been arrested for two months now.

The big surprise of this election campaign is how the underestimated Erap has come back from behind, hobbled initially by doubts (mine included) about the legality of his second run. That the Comelec has allowed him to continue has bolstered his numbers. That plus the silence or inaction of the Supreme Court where I understand an appeal had been filed against the Comelec ruling, means that Erap most likely will stay the course.

In the latest surveys that I have seen, Erap is perched so close behind Manny Villar. In one of the surveys, he is just two points behind. If Manny’s numbers keep dipping, Erap should be ahead in the next round of surveys, to be released just a few days before the elections of May 10. In Pilipino, “mauungusan na si Manny”.

Come what may, Erap will remain a major player in Philippine politics for the rest of his mortal life. He has proven to all observers that he does have a hold on a loyal 15% of the electorate. In 2013 and 2016, even as more of those loyalists may be too old to vote, his endorsement would still matter.

The other big surprise of this campaign is the fantastic rise of Jojo Binay. For quite some time he had been languishing in single-digit territory. But with well-crafted ads touting his achievements in Makati, he became double-digit at the start of the campaign, though a wide gap still remained between him and second-placer Loren Legarda. With amazing tenacity, Jojo has held on, and after mending political fences in his fiefdom of Makati, where local surveys show his son Jun-Jun is comfortably ahead, he has now reached statistical tie with twice-senatorial topnotcher Loren. And this is Jojo’s maiden appearance in the national political scene.

Mar Roxas has nothing to worry about, as clearly Jojo, if he beats Loren, will yet end up numero dos in the VP race. Mar’s win is a foregone conclusion. Still and all, Jojo is a class act, by all the markers of political strategy and tactics.

As for the administration’s yet official candidate, Gilbert Teodoro, his numbers have lately been going up at the rate of one percentage point every week, after getting stuck at 6% from the start of the official campaign period. The latest surveys I have seen says he has 9%, while another says he has 8%. Two weeks and a half before D-Day, 9% is not likely to get any higher, even at increased rate, than 12%, and that is assuming that a third of the undecided vote for the “dejado” instead of the “llamado”. That would fly against the bandwagon culture, but I would be pleasantly surprised if that does happen.

So what is my fearless forecast? Noynoy-Mar. With Erap-Binay at Number Two. Or possibly Villar-Binay at number two, and Erap-Loren a close third.

Of course, fearless forecasts do not consider the risks of an automated Garci, as my friend Gus Lagman, who was with me in planning the anti-Marcos Makati rallies back in 1983, calls the looming hazard of the Venezuelan company called Smartmatic.

Last-minute money will give a small perk, but by and large, with the margins between 14-15, local executives will just use the presidentiable’s money either to ensure his mayoralty or congressional win, or pocket the same altogether. It can buy the local incumbent a new luxury car, or the wife a fabulous bauble from Hong Kong jewellers. As the sad spectacle of Gibo’s reliance on “party machinery” is showing, you cannot anchor a presidential run on flags of convenience.

So it’s time to watch out for the cleaners, er … cheaters. A parallel manual count is most ideal; a random audit less than assuring. Better to just pray that the fear of the Lord will strike the hearts of the malefactors.

But given the temper of the times and the desperate yearning of the people for change, which they patiently kept via the electoral route, an automated Garci or any devious variant that would lead to a failure to proclaim, or worse, a failure to exercise the fundamental right of free choice, will lead to a political crisis unlike any other since 1986.

It’s only 17 days distant, and look at the Dona’s eyebags. It’s make or break.

(banayo_at@yahoo.com)

LITO BANAYO
MALAYA Column for Friday, 23 April 2010