Nobody to blame but GMA for fiscal crisis
Nobody to blame but GMA for fiscal crisis
Updated 10:25pm (Mla time) Sept 12, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 13, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
EVERY DAY, public officials become more inventive in stealing more money from the people. And officials of the Arroyo administration are more inventive than the others. Instead of using their talent to think of better ways to serve the country and the people, they use it to think of new ways to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. Here is the latest:
The Department of Transportation and Communication paid P100.8 million to a person for 10 hectares of land to be used for the extension of the airport in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. What's wrong with that?
Nothing, except that the government paid for the land that it already owns. The land is part of the public domain. And its description clearly says that. The person who sold and signed the absolute deed of sale does not own the land. Yet government paid him P100.8 million for it.
In fairness to the present DOTC secretary, this scam was consummated by a predecessor. The money had been paid but the Arroyo administration, which admits that it is running out of money and keeps repeating that it will stop graft and corruption, has not done anything to get back the money nor prosecute those involved in the scam. More details will be revealed in today's Kapihan sa Manila.
The Puerto Princesa deal is only the first of six similar deals lined up by the DOTC. The lands to be acquired will be used either for new airports or to expand existing ones. Luckily, the others have not yet been consummated when the first one was discovered. But it shows very clearly why the government is bankrupt-the money is going to the wrong pockets.
* * *
"Don't blame President Macapagal-Arroyo for the hard times," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye was quoted as saying yesterday after the Social Weather Stations came out with its most recent survey showing a huge drop in her net performance rating.
The results showed her net performance rating plunging from +30 in March and +26 in June to a mere +12 in August. This means that more and more people are dissatisfied with her performance.
But leave it to Bunye to always see the bright side. "The economic problems may have weighed down her ratings," he said, "but a positive 12 percent still showed solid acceptance for the President." Bunye is the kind of person who, instead of seeing a glass half-empty, he sees it half-full.
But this takes the cake. The economic crisis "should not be blamed on the President," he said, "because all that (she) did was to tell the truth about our situation and she is looking for a solution to this crisis."
False. But to be fair to him, I think he is just doing his job as best as he can-which is to try to put his boss in the best possible light.
But he is wrong. In the first place, GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)did not tell the whole truth about what happened. In the second place, there is nobody to blame for the economic crisis but herself. The usual excuse of new presidents is to blame their predecessors. But in her case, she preceded herself. The mess worsened in her first three years because of her all-consuming desire to be reelected to a new term-although she had promised not to run for reelection.
She ordered the National Power Corp. to cut its purchased power adjustment (PPA) by 85 centavos per kilowatt hour to make herself popular with the voters, never mind if the reduction entailed huge losses to the power firm. Now we are paying for those huge losses. Because of that electioneering gimmick, Napocor's debts ballooned to P1.3 trillion, the government's single biggest liability.
Now that the elections are over and she does not need votes anymore, she is hitting the people with a double whammy. Aside from making the taxpayers pay for Napocor's debts, she raised Napocor's power rates. In short, while paying for higher electricity rates from one pocket, the taxpayer will have to dig into the other pocket to pay for Napocor's accumulated debts.
During her first term, she refused to raise taxes to pay for the growing budget deficit and national debt because that would have been unpopular. She resorted to a borrowing binge instead and hid the truth from the people. In her first three years as President, she borrowed more money than her two predecessors did put together. Now her sins have caught up with us.
Now that she has been reelected and can no longer run for another term, she is going to raise taxes and impose new ones. Never mind if the already impoverished people will be angry. After, all she does not need their votes anymore. Instead of saving money by abolishing the corrupt and wasteful pork barrel and by reducing the salaries and allowances of officials of government corporations that are losing money like a sieve, she would rather hit the people with more taxes.
That is the truth about what happened which she did not tell the people. There is nobody to blame for the economic crisis but GMA. She brought it on herself more than any other person.
* * *
The gossip mill is humming with the interesting story about the motel magnate and GMA-appointed ambassador whose former live-in partner had charged him with rape, attempted murder and serious illegal detention. Some stories say he has been convicted; others say he has been cleared. I have been asked many times about it-as if journalists know everything.
To find out the truth, I went to the Department of Justice to look at the records of the case, and I now return with good news for Ambassador to Laos Antonio Cabangon Chua and bad news for his partner: the DOJ has dismissed all cases. Furthermore, the charges filed with the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission have been dismissed by Malacañang.
Updated 10:25pm (Mla time) Sept 12, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the September 13, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
EVERY DAY, public officials become more inventive in stealing more money from the people. And officials of the Arroyo administration are more inventive than the others. Instead of using their talent to think of better ways to serve the country and the people, they use it to think of new ways to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. Here is the latest:
The Department of Transportation and Communication paid P100.8 million to a person for 10 hectares of land to be used for the extension of the airport in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. What's wrong with that?
Nothing, except that the government paid for the land that it already owns. The land is part of the public domain. And its description clearly says that. The person who sold and signed the absolute deed of sale does not own the land. Yet government paid him P100.8 million for it.
In fairness to the present DOTC secretary, this scam was consummated by a predecessor. The money had been paid but the Arroyo administration, which admits that it is running out of money and keeps repeating that it will stop graft and corruption, has not done anything to get back the money nor prosecute those involved in the scam. More details will be revealed in today's Kapihan sa Manila.
The Puerto Princesa deal is only the first of six similar deals lined up by the DOTC. The lands to be acquired will be used either for new airports or to expand existing ones. Luckily, the others have not yet been consummated when the first one was discovered. But it shows very clearly why the government is bankrupt-the money is going to the wrong pockets.
* * *
"Don't blame President Macapagal-Arroyo for the hard times," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye was quoted as saying yesterday after the Social Weather Stations came out with its most recent survey showing a huge drop in her net performance rating.
The results showed her net performance rating plunging from +30 in March and +26 in June to a mere +12 in August. This means that more and more people are dissatisfied with her performance.
But leave it to Bunye to always see the bright side. "The economic problems may have weighed down her ratings," he said, "but a positive 12 percent still showed solid acceptance for the President." Bunye is the kind of person who, instead of seeing a glass half-empty, he sees it half-full.
But this takes the cake. The economic crisis "should not be blamed on the President," he said, "because all that (she) did was to tell the truth about our situation and she is looking for a solution to this crisis."
False. But to be fair to him, I think he is just doing his job as best as he can-which is to try to put his boss in the best possible light.
But he is wrong. In the first place, GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)did not tell the whole truth about what happened. In the second place, there is nobody to blame for the economic crisis but herself. The usual excuse of new presidents is to blame their predecessors. But in her case, she preceded herself. The mess worsened in her first three years because of her all-consuming desire to be reelected to a new term-although she had promised not to run for reelection.
She ordered the National Power Corp. to cut its purchased power adjustment (PPA) by 85 centavos per kilowatt hour to make herself popular with the voters, never mind if the reduction entailed huge losses to the power firm. Now we are paying for those huge losses. Because of that electioneering gimmick, Napocor's debts ballooned to P1.3 trillion, the government's single biggest liability.
Now that the elections are over and she does not need votes anymore, she is hitting the people with a double whammy. Aside from making the taxpayers pay for Napocor's debts, she raised Napocor's power rates. In short, while paying for higher electricity rates from one pocket, the taxpayer will have to dig into the other pocket to pay for Napocor's accumulated debts.
During her first term, she refused to raise taxes to pay for the growing budget deficit and national debt because that would have been unpopular. She resorted to a borrowing binge instead and hid the truth from the people. In her first three years as President, she borrowed more money than her two predecessors did put together. Now her sins have caught up with us.
Now that she has been reelected and can no longer run for another term, she is going to raise taxes and impose new ones. Never mind if the already impoverished people will be angry. After, all she does not need their votes anymore. Instead of saving money by abolishing the corrupt and wasteful pork barrel and by reducing the salaries and allowances of officials of government corporations that are losing money like a sieve, she would rather hit the people with more taxes.
That is the truth about what happened which she did not tell the people. There is nobody to blame for the economic crisis but GMA. She brought it on herself more than any other person.
* * *
The gossip mill is humming with the interesting story about the motel magnate and GMA-appointed ambassador whose former live-in partner had charged him with rape, attempted murder and serious illegal detention. Some stories say he has been convicted; others say he has been cleared. I have been asked many times about it-as if journalists know everything.
To find out the truth, I went to the Department of Justice to look at the records of the case, and I now return with good news for Ambassador to Laos Antonio Cabangon Chua and bad news for his partner: the DOJ has dismissed all cases. Furthermore, the charges filed with the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission have been dismissed by Malacañang.
posted by Dante at 11:54 PM
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