A begging republic; a beggar-President
A begging republic; a beggar-President
Updated 11:48pm (Mla time) Sept 19, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 20, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
THE ALLEGED "strong republic" has become a begging republic. And the President, whom an American magazine included among the "most powerful" women in the world, has become a beggar-President.
The government itself prohibits begging- huge billboards warn the poor and Good Samaritans alike against the giving of alms to beggars. But it has resorted to begging to save itself from a looming financial disaster. After "extorting" P1 million apiece from a group of mostly Filipino-Chinese businessmen trapped in a jetliner (for the so-called Bayanihan Fund), the government is now begging each of the 50,000 top taxpayers to pay P1 million more. For being such good taxpayers, the President will punish them by dunning them for another P1 million apiece, while the tax evaders continue to get a free ride.
Wouldn't it be better to tell them to pay the correct taxes instead of begging for contributions? According to estimates, there is about P200 billion in uncollected taxes lying out there.
The businessmen want tax credits-to be used to pay future taxes-in exchange for their contributions. So there really would be no increase in the government's tax income. And we have had such a sorry experience with tax credit certificates.
The President is also begging members of Congress to agree to a cut in their pork barrel; and the fat cats in government-owned and controlled corporations to voluntarily cut their excessive salaries. Why does she have to beg them when all she has to do is remove the appropriations for pork from her proposed budget? If she is really the "powerful President" that the Americans think she is, she should not be afraid of the members of Congress. If there is no pork appropriation in her budget, then that is the end of it. Congress cannot increase the proposed budget she submits; it can only decrease it.
But the truth is she has submitted a P10 billion budget for pork to keep the congressmen happy. Only they're not happy with just P10 billion. They want P20 billion!
She has asked GOCC officials to voluntarily cut their scandalously high salaries. But since it is voluntary, they will not do that. Some of them will take token pay cuts for show, but they will still retain their excessive allowances, bonuses and other perks. For the salaries are only the tip of the iceberg. A big part of their take is hidden, just like the hidden allowances of the members of Congress, especially committee chairmen (that is why they're fighting for chairmanships), and Cabinet members. That is why some congressmen volunteered to give up their salaries, for show. Their salaries are peanuts compared to their hidden allowances.
What the President should do is issue an executive order standardizing the salaries and allowances of GOCC officials while waiting for Congress to pass an omnibus salary scale for GOCCs. Why should a GOCC official get a salary bigger than a Cabinet member, Supreme Court justice, and even the President herself?
They say that GOCC officials should get salaries at par with those of their counterparts in the private sector. But there is a difference in the public and private sectors. In the private sector, when a corporation doesn't earn a profit, its top officials are fired by the board of directors. They get fat salaries and bonuses only when the corporation is making big profits. For the directors have a stake in the corporation-they are part owners and shareholders.
In our GOCCs, however, the directors and top officials are politicians, proteges, and camp followers being rewarded for helping the President win the elections; they stay on and on even if the corporation is being run to the ground. They couldn't care less for the corporations; they care only for what they can get from them while they're in the saddle.
The reason there is so much abuse and wastage in Congress and in the GOCCs is that we have forgotten the principle that law/rule-making bodies should not be given the authority to increase their own benefits. That is why the Constitution prohibits members of Congress from increasing their own salaries.
But legislators-and executive and GOCC officials-have surreptitiously increased their own benefits. Thus, they have so many allowances and other perks that they no longer have any need for their salaries. The pork barrel is only the biggest and most corrupt.
For such a corrupt system, it is a wonder why our supposedly responsible leaders have allowed it to remain for generations. I was still a student when the Philippines Free Press under Teodoro M. Locsin was already fighting the pork barrel. Instead of abolishing or reducing it, the congressmen increased it and disguised it under innocent-sounding names. It is now P200 million for each senator and P65 million for each congressman, hundreds of times more than the original allocation. The lion's share of the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways now goes to the pork barrel of legislators. The DPWH has steadily lost control of its own budget. The legislators now control it. Legislators are now de facto secretaries of public works, usurping the authority and functions of the Cabinet member.
And yet the Constitution clearly delineates the authorities and functions of the three branches of government: Congress legislates, the executive branch executes, and the judiciary interprets (the laws). So why are the legislators performing the jobs of the executive departments? Because of corruption. They get kickbacks from favored contractors.
Updated 11:48pm (Mla time) Sept 19, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 20, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
THE ALLEGED "strong republic" has become a begging republic. And the President, whom an American magazine included among the "most powerful" women in the world, has become a beggar-President.
The government itself prohibits begging- huge billboards warn the poor and Good Samaritans alike against the giving of alms to beggars. But it has resorted to begging to save itself from a looming financial disaster. After "extorting" P1 million apiece from a group of mostly Filipino-Chinese businessmen trapped in a jetliner (for the so-called Bayanihan Fund), the government is now begging each of the 50,000 top taxpayers to pay P1 million more. For being such good taxpayers, the President will punish them by dunning them for another P1 million apiece, while the tax evaders continue to get a free ride.
Wouldn't it be better to tell them to pay the correct taxes instead of begging for contributions? According to estimates, there is about P200 billion in uncollected taxes lying out there.
The businessmen want tax credits-to be used to pay future taxes-in exchange for their contributions. So there really would be no increase in the government's tax income. And we have had such a sorry experience with tax credit certificates.
The President is also begging members of Congress to agree to a cut in their pork barrel; and the fat cats in government-owned and controlled corporations to voluntarily cut their excessive salaries. Why does she have to beg them when all she has to do is remove the appropriations for pork from her proposed budget? If she is really the "powerful President" that the Americans think she is, she should not be afraid of the members of Congress. If there is no pork appropriation in her budget, then that is the end of it. Congress cannot increase the proposed budget she submits; it can only decrease it.
But the truth is she has submitted a P10 billion budget for pork to keep the congressmen happy. Only they're not happy with just P10 billion. They want P20 billion!
She has asked GOCC officials to voluntarily cut their scandalously high salaries. But since it is voluntary, they will not do that. Some of them will take token pay cuts for show, but they will still retain their excessive allowances, bonuses and other perks. For the salaries are only the tip of the iceberg. A big part of their take is hidden, just like the hidden allowances of the members of Congress, especially committee chairmen (that is why they're fighting for chairmanships), and Cabinet members. That is why some congressmen volunteered to give up their salaries, for show. Their salaries are peanuts compared to their hidden allowances.
What the President should do is issue an executive order standardizing the salaries and allowances of GOCC officials while waiting for Congress to pass an omnibus salary scale for GOCCs. Why should a GOCC official get a salary bigger than a Cabinet member, Supreme Court justice, and even the President herself?
They say that GOCC officials should get salaries at par with those of their counterparts in the private sector. But there is a difference in the public and private sectors. In the private sector, when a corporation doesn't earn a profit, its top officials are fired by the board of directors. They get fat salaries and bonuses only when the corporation is making big profits. For the directors have a stake in the corporation-they are part owners and shareholders.
In our GOCCs, however, the directors and top officials are politicians, proteges, and camp followers being rewarded for helping the President win the elections; they stay on and on even if the corporation is being run to the ground. They couldn't care less for the corporations; they care only for what they can get from them while they're in the saddle.
The reason there is so much abuse and wastage in Congress and in the GOCCs is that we have forgotten the principle that law/rule-making bodies should not be given the authority to increase their own benefits. That is why the Constitution prohibits members of Congress from increasing their own salaries.
But legislators-and executive and GOCC officials-have surreptitiously increased their own benefits. Thus, they have so many allowances and other perks that they no longer have any need for their salaries. The pork barrel is only the biggest and most corrupt.
For such a corrupt system, it is a wonder why our supposedly responsible leaders have allowed it to remain for generations. I was still a student when the Philippines Free Press under Teodoro M. Locsin was already fighting the pork barrel. Instead of abolishing or reducing it, the congressmen increased it and disguised it under innocent-sounding names. It is now P200 million for each senator and P65 million for each congressman, hundreds of times more than the original allocation. The lion's share of the budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways now goes to the pork barrel of legislators. The DPWH has steadily lost control of its own budget. The legislators now control it. Legislators are now de facto secretaries of public works, usurping the authority and functions of the Cabinet member.
And yet the Constitution clearly delineates the authorities and functions of the three branches of government: Congress legislates, the executive branch executes, and the judiciary interprets (the laws). So why are the legislators performing the jobs of the executive departments? Because of corruption. They get kickbacks from favored contractors.
posted by Dante at 11:01 PM
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