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PCG’s problematic dualism
There is a world of difference between the roles of a civilian agency and those of a military command. No civilian agency or military command should be doing the role of the other, lest they overlap, conflict, or render redundant their authority. The role of the Philippine Coast Guard is a good subject for legislative review — whether it fulfills a purely civilian function or a purely military one. The fact that it’s an attached agency of the Department of Transportation as much as an attached service of the Department of National Defense “confers” upon it a dualism that may be at cross purposes. While the PCG can fit either role, it shouldn’t. For in so doing, the line between maritime law enforcement and national defense is blurred. One may be led to think that, perforce, the PCG is unadulteratedly a military organization as it used to be part of the Philippine Navy, a major branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Something explains this duality, but it may require assessment as to whether it must continue to have this dual character. In principle, any individual or unit that performs a task or mandate that essentially belongs solely to the military must forthwith be under a military commander or military organization. Who can even begin to fathom what it means when the Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard reports directly to the Transportation Secretary in the enforcement of maritime law, but also reports to the Defense Secretary if not the President in wartime? If one should take a cursory look at those who served as commandants of the PCG since its founding in 1967 under different presidents, one would find, viz.: 1) During Rodrigo Duterte’s term, only three served for over a year, while four served for less than a year, and one for only 18 days; 2) Under Benigno Aquino, four barely completed a year, one just a year, and one more than two years; 3) Under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, three served for barely a year, two served over two years or so; 4) Under Joseph Estrada, one served for two years; 5) In Fidel Ramos’ time, five served for less than a year, one for 32 days, and one for almost three years; 6) Under Corazon Aquino, two served for two years, one for three years, and two for a week or so; 7) Under Ferdinand Marcos Sr., four served for over a year, three served for 3, 4, 5 years, respectively. This tells us that commandants, as presidential appointees, must be the personal choices of the presidents they serve. With a change of the occupant in Malacañang, a change in the leadership of the PCG also takes place, good or bad. It’s said that the PCG’s “transformation into a non-military organization” and its “civilian character” allowed it “to receive offers of vessels, equipment, technology, services, cooperation and other needed assistance from other countries,” that otherwise would not have been feasible were it a military agency. President Fidel Ramos signed Executive Order 475 on 30 March 1998 to separate the PCG from the Philippine Navy, and Executive Order 477 to transfer it from the DND to the DoTC, a month thereafter. Thus, even FM Jr. has been heard saying, “Our friends from other countries will help strengthen the PCG’s capabilities.” Today, the President envisions the PCG as a “central actor” insofar as West Philippine Sea matters are concerned; thus, he ordered several 40-foot long patrol vessels to be built in Cebu to improve the PCG’s capabilities in maritime territorial disputes. In the face of China’s unprecedented coast guard expansion — the largest in the world — “civilianizing” the PCG makes little sense. It’s a Catch-22 on how to “reinvent” the PCG. Military strategists had miserably failed. The post PCG’s problematic dualism appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Chronic bureaucratic lapses
The entire bureaucracy suffers from serious lapses. Let’s borrow the phrase, “seven deadly sins,” as a handle to better understand how they indicatively fail to inform public policy on what government “should do or should not do,” to wit: First: “Tight fiscal space.” A little over 60 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) is reserved for foreign lending institutions with which the country has huge borrowings. Consequently, the government has to make do with the remaining less than 40 percent in terms of public spending. It’s no urban legend that about 45 percent of these allocable public funds is siphoned off due to massive corruption across all levels of government. Second: “Good governance.” The term, as often used, is an oxymoron. Whenever presidential appointees in any line department, agency, or bureau introduce reforms or new management ideas into state affairs, it’s unfortunate that outcomes and impacts go in the opposite direction — or bad governance overshadowing good. Isn’t it a paradox that the “top brass” of the Manila International Airport Authority were dismissed by the Ombudsman even as key stakeholders and captains of industry (i.e., the Makati Business Club) vetted and vouched for their performance par excellence on the job? Contrivedly, a purely management issue just shouldn’t be within the purview of the Ombudsman. For another, how is it that the housing program has become too costly for the government? Reportedly, P36 billion in interest is accrued by the government every year if one million houses are built. With a target of three million houses, the onerous interest is pegged at P100 billion every year, a “sunk cost” that the economy can ill afford to sustain. Why even start a program that demands that humongous amount of interest on a year-by-year basis? Third: “Street-level bureaucracy.” Nearly the whole range of public affairs appears to be manned by those we can compare to a typical traffic enforcer, gate guard, or utility aide, who, if given a chance to exercise a little authority, tend to behave as their actuations come directly from above. Fourth: “Tax hike.” Some strange mathematicians in Congress thought of taxing vehicles per kilo of weight, coupled with jacking up taxes on vehicle users by as much as 90 percent. Worse, how can there be an increase in the road users’ tax – year in and year out? Fifth: “45 seconds turnaround time.” This is the kind of rhetoric that rests on the “big bluff” or what one legislator calls a “promissory note,” or the carrot, to get what they want in their agency budgets. Scenes like offloading, missed flights, and logjams would never be a thing of the past since the Bureau of Immigration operationalized its new set of guidelines that are essentially racist, if not anti-poor, against outbound Filipino travelers, while sparing foreign travelers. Sixth: “Privatization overdrive.” There’s a dangerous pattern or trend of government aiming to privatize the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, all 45 casinos of PAGCOR, some mass transport systems (e.g., LRTs), and the toll expressways. Whether or not this privatization track is driven by the “gospel of efficiency” is another story. More likely, it’s because it opens doors to raising “windfall capital” and making available “alternative investments.” Seventh: “Multiple allotments.” As if a mere afterthought, there are “double entries,” even multiple ones, in the National Expenditure Plan that bloat the budget and such entries by various agencies even insulate them from any accountability. This explains why what is budgeted — twice or thrice — cannot be disbursed over and over again, not to mention the perennial failure of most line departments to fully utilize their budgets. In the voluminous General Appropriations Act the President signs, every budget cycle has become a “hiding place” for public funds that only trained eyes can declassify as “significant others,” for lack of a better term. It isn’t remote to say that when an agency prepares its budget, it knows under which item in its “shopping list” the money is. The post Chronic bureaucratic lapses appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Pork’s different strokes
Efforts have begun in the House of Representatives to raise the Motor Vehicle Road Users Charge or the Road Users Tax after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. identified the levy as a main source of precious funds. The eagerness of the members of the House to comply with the proposal to hike the tax makes people wary. Proceeds from the tax are the favorite source of legislative pork. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda’s bill indicates the MVUC which ranges from P120 to P4,000 will be raised to between P2,080 and P10,400 for cars, depending on their gross weight. Under the proposal, the MVUC will be increased by a fixed rate yearly until 2025, and by 5 percent from 2026 onwards. Salceda is looking at collecting P151 billion more in revenue from 2024 to 2027 through the higher MVUC. The higher collections should be earmarked for road improvements which is under the Department of Public Works and Highways after President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law abolishing the graft-tainted Road Board. The disposition of the MVUC sparked the feud between House members and the Department of Budget and Management during the initial years of the Duterte term after then Budget Secretary Ben Diokno refused to release the MUVC proceeds until the Road Board was dissolved. Moreover, the late former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III exploited the RUT funds using them as leverage to get House members to impeach former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and to obtain the legislators’ approval for his political agenda, such as a measure seeking to postpone the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao election to allow Noynoy to place his appointees in the Muslim region. The Road Board had an unusual collection setup that practically freed its state audit, making it a perfect “cash cow” as termed by some senators. Gutierrez was impeached overwhelmingly in the House after Noynoy first dangled the pork barrel, saying through his House allies that those who would vote against the impeachment would not receive their pork barrel while those who signed the measure would get a P20-million bonus taken from the Road Board.Later, Gutierrez, knowing that she was in a losing situation, resigned from her post despite her having a guaranteed term. She was replaced by Noynoy’s favorite associate justice, Conchita Carpio-Morales, who carried out the yellow brand of selective justice. Gutierrez had displeased Noynoy when she dismissed the case against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in connection with the P729-million fertilizer fund scam. Former Chief Justice Renato Corona Jr. was also ousted through impeachment and the leverage used, in turn, were the DAP funds. It was ironic that Noynoy’s allies vowed to abolish the Road Board, which under the law that created it, had full discretion on its use. Its disposition was beyond the scope of the Commission on Audit since the RUT was not part of the budget. Former Sen. Franklin Drilon, for instance, said the body would be abolished by the Senate despite the House allies of former President Arroyo’s withdrawal and eventual rescinding of the bill that sought to terminate the anomalous 2001 creation. Congressmen turned the RUT proceeds into a source of fast money through collusion with Road Board officials. Since the DPWH is now the custodian of the funds, attention must also be directed at the agency in the proper disposition of the MUVC proceeds. Increasing the audit-free funds plus the recently discovered P215 billion in insertions in the budget through the generic flood mitigation projects exposed maneuvers to pilfer public funds. The post Pork’s different strokes appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Huge difference (2)
Former Commission on Audit chairperson Ma. Gracia Pulido Tan and Commissioner Heidi L. Mendoza worked in tandem but their ill-fated partnership was marred by their mishandling of the audit of lawmakers’ pork barrel, which turned into a global disaster. The dysfunctional CoA turned Noynoy’s straight path into a crooked one, losing total control which led to the holocaust in Philippine fiscal administration under the triumvirate of Florencio Abad, Pulido Tan, and Mendoza. The appointees of then-president Aquino in CoA were the obstacles to the ability of President Rodrigo Duterte to fulfill his promises and meet the high public expectations. In one instance, he ordered the CoA chairman to audit the accounts of the Philippine National Red Cross, given the President’s controversy with Senator Gordon. The CoA chief rebuffed the President, saying the CoA had no jurisdiction over the PNRC. That was indeed a rebuff and a disrespect because it was incredible that a 7th placer in the Bar did not know her constitutional power to audit. But when the President directed the Solicitor General to take action and make CoA audit the Red Cross, the CoA chief blinked and said CoA would conduct an audit “next week.” Such was the naughtiness of President Noynoy’s appointees to constitutional offices. President Digong appointed the former chief accountant of Davao as CoA chief in 2022. Digong’s decision had a lot of logic and common sense. First, it would remove hindrances to the fulfillment of his promises to the people. Then Chairperson Rizalina Justol was greeted warmly by the CoA officials and staff. “I am glad to be back at CoA, an institution that I had served for 10 years as an auditing examiner,” Chairperson Justol said. She chose 1 March as the date of her assumption as chairperson, it being a significant date as it was when she left the Commission in 1996. Justol, however, was not confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, and her term was overtaken by the assumption into office of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. President Marcos then appointed National Telecommunications Commissioner Gamaliel A. Cordoba as CoA. He took his oath of office before Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Alexander Gesmundo. Cordoba obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1992. He entered the Ateneo School of Law and obtained his law degree in 1996. He passed the Bar in 1997. Atty. Cordoba was supposed to enjoy life with his appointment to the exalted post of chairman of the Commission, not far down the line of succession from the Head of State, but his life has been complicated by the backlog of more than 6,000 cases left behind by the former Commission Proper who wasted their official time on too much foreign travel, on the unconstitutional citizen participatory audit, and simply with their lack of direction. Cordoba was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun by Japan as a rising star of the Philippines. (To be continued) The post Huge difference (2) appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Akbayan to Sara: You don’t have to be president to speak vs China
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Roque bares Duterte, China agreement to respect status quo in WPS
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7 nanlaban drug suspects dead after Baste Duterte declares drug war
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Marcos tells Filipinos to serve others during Holy Week
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CHR alarmed by war vs drugs in Davao City
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Revisiting Uniteam (Last of 2 parts)
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Power fluctuations hit NAIA
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Roque: Xi, Duterte agreed to keep West Philippines Sea status quo
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CHR probes Davao drug war deaths
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Drug killings 95 percent lower than in previous admin
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Agdao Public Market vendors want variety and vegetable sections merged
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7 dead after Davao City Mayor Duterte declares war vs. drugs
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eTravel pains
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Hamas tells mediators it will stick to original position on ceasefire
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Killua’s owner sues ‘killer’ of golden retriever
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SEC formally asks NTC to block Binance
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