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Bill gives ERC more teeth
The Senate has proposed a bill to establish an Energy Regulatory Commission, or ERC, charter to equip the power sector to become a regulator with more fangs in addressing industry problems. Senate Bill 487 or An Act Enhancing The Governance Structures Of The Energy Regulatory Commission, if enacted into law, gives more power to the ERC in fulfilling its mandate to regulate the energy sector. The birth of ERC came about because of EPIRA or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001. “But if you read EPIRA, there is much room for improvement especially given the recent developments in the industry, so I am going to push for the creation of the ERC charter,” a senator said. Regulator function enhanced “ERC is one of the most important actors in the energy sector, so we have to make sure that it has enough power to penalize,” he added. The senator noted that both Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla and ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta agreed that there is a need to revisit the powers of the ERC. Likewise, the creation of the ERC Charter also bodes well with another proposed legislation to rightsize the government bureaucracy. The ERC charter, for instance, would help the regulator properly address completion delays in projects such as transmission projects of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. He earlier urged the ERC to penalize NGCP for its failure to complete transmission projects on time, leading to disruption in the flow of electricity. According to the ERC, the completion of about 66 transmission projects is currently delayed, excluding six projects of national significance. One is the Mindanao-Visayas interconnection project which was due for completion in 2019. The project will link together all three major Philippine islands to create one grid. “That’s one of the most critical infrastructure projects because we have surplus power in Mindanao of about 200 to 400 megawatts that can be delivered to the Visayas region,” legislator noted. The NGCP was authorized by the ERC to start building the project way back in 2017. It was initially scheduled to be completed in 2020 but it was delayed due to the pandemic. The NGCP holds a 25-year franchise to solely operate the power transmission assets of the government and secure power reserves for contingency. The post Bill gives ERC more teeth appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Sell no casino
As a take-off point, let us quote Abraham Lincoln’s words on the legitimate object of government, viz., “It is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do in their separate and individual capacities.” In the case of privatizing Pagcor down to some 45 casinos, it would appear that the “bargain of government spending” is framed along Adam Smith’s theory — “Give me this which I want and you shall have this which you want.” Privatization simply means removal of responsibilities, activities, or assets from the collective realm, but are there not “risks and rewards when we put public tasks into private hands?” All of a sudden — from out of the blue — this government plan to auction off Pagcor is quite disconcerting unless national survival has become a central concern. Rep. Rufus Rodriguez rightly questions, thus, “Why do we sell the goose that lays the golden egg?” Specially so since the agency’s forthcoming net gains are on the uptrend (i.e., P59 billion in 2022 and an estimated P75 billion by the end of this year). So far, the alibi of government is that by selling its casinos — lock, stock, and barrel — Pagcor’s role as “gaming regulator-cum-operator” becomes purely as regulator. In other words, there is that “revolving door problem” which should be avoided. Even granting that this could be a tenable argument for privatization — though never heard of — what would the backlash be? As far as the role of the Governance Commission for GOCCs is concerned, a public enterprise like Pagcor should only be privatized, if and only if, there’s a “government failure;” when it fails to generate revenues for the state; when it becomes reduced to a “non-performing asset;” when it shows “poor grades” in its Corporate Governance Scorecard. Thus, to privatize Pagcor absent these parameters should be interpreted as “implied contempt for government bureaucracy,” albeit misplaced. The sale of the casinos would fetch about P60 to P80 billion — practically within the same threshold of profit intake for any given year, give or take. In recent weeks, it’s as though the Senate’s over-fixated concerns with Pagcor were the POGOs (Philippine offshore gaming operators) alleged as fronts for human trafficking, kidnapping, other sorts of lawlessness. After privatizing the Pagcor casinos, will all these problems then go away? Bottom line, who in his right mind can say that Pagcor isn’t doing any better given that it contributes half of its revenues to the national coffers (i.e., in taxes) and mandated beneficiaries. It is said to be one of the government’s “staunch allies in nation building” and one of the biggest revenue generators. With the casinos out, who will shoulder the fiscal void created when “funded mandates” shift back to becoming unfunded? As a consequence of privatizing the casinos, there will be a number of national government agencies, local government units, non-government organizations, peoples’ organizations, a number of taxes, duties, licenses, fringe benefits — that taken together would no longer bring a “bundle of joy” to mandated beneficiaries who were allocated such subsidies over the years. The next thing that will ensue is the stark truth that Pagcor would cease to be a “responsible partner of the Filipino” — once privatization cuts the umbilical cord of subsidy dependence. In the next cycle, Pagcor would slide down from third place among GOCCS that remit the highest government contribution. As a rule, no GOCC belonging to so-called “billionaires club” should close shop without more justifiable grounds. In short, it should come last in privatization’s pecking order. There’s clearly no compelling reason to sell off the Pagcor casinos by public auction if the projected proceeds to be generated thereof are practically equivalent to the profit intake of any given year. Again, it escapes comprehension why only a handful of policy makers are against this self-inflicted move. The new pack of most-favored operators will quickly recoup their money without needing to gild the lily. What luck! The post Sell no casino appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
MUP pension takeaways
In every fiscal year, there should be nothing extraordinarily appropriated for the sole benefit of military and uniformed personnel, active or retired. The MUP’s number of pensioner-beneficiaries has already breached the 120,000 mark and counting. The 2023 allocation of P139.51 billion for their pensions alone bleeds government coffers dry; its budgetary impact further depletes public funds for the rest of state workers, active or retired — outside of the MUP universe. When the finance secretary referred to the pension issue as the “elephant in the room” but nowhere in the President’s State of the Nation Address was mention made of an overhaul of the system, this could be construed by cynics as axiomatic of a lack of political will. Instead, the “game theory” model conveniently adopted by the present dispensation is to do nothing for fear that a financial embargo might stir up a hornet’s nest. Must every president, in effect, “babysit” the military, police, and other armed services in a quid pro quo? Have we become what in the mind of Samuel Huntington is a praetorian society that “shirks” the much-vaunted state policy that “civilian authority is at all times supreme over the military?” What about the implied mandate or reach (if any) of the Civil Service Commission over the military, police, uniformed service? What has happened to the notion that no government employee — more so civilian — should be left behind within the purview of a level-playing field? What about the sacred aim of a “salary standardization law” if there is a Great Cultural Divide between the military and the civilian sectors of the government bureaucracy where two classes with the same salary grades have astronomically different compensation packages — retirement or pension-wise? Insofar as the “fiscal collapse” the finance secretary warned against if no pragmatic move would put an end to this MUP dilemma, it remains a time bomb waiting to explode. It could luminously reach a point where the President would be confronted with “lifeboat ethics” or that moral quandary of whom to give up to save another. Whoever reduced the President to the dog that caught the car doesn’t cut it, either. When typhoon “Egay” caused “agri damage” that soared to P4.5 billion, hit 181 cities and municipalities, and affected 142,000 farmers and fishers in nine regions, methinks covering the damage of 30 “Typhoon Egays” should be as easy as paying MUPs over P140 billion a year. What this mathematical comparison illustrates is the disturbing fact that government can hardly allocate even a measly amount for natural calamities affecting communities, agriculture, infrastructure. There ought to be a philosophical approach to resolving the MUP paradox by identifying the proximate cause of the problem and reverting back to the original scheme at parity with the larger body of government workers or employees in the civilian bureaucracy. There must be a future-proof review as to why the salaries of MUPs and retirees were doubled during the term of the President’s predecessor toward possibly reverting such “political payoff” back to the old configuration. In the altar of public service delivery, the role of the MUP is not unique. For their parochial and arrogant argument of serving at the risk of life and limb to hold true, they must add more meat on that bone. It’s the greatest anomaly of all time for the national budget to have to allocate for MUP pensions some P300 billion for 2024. Note that the allocation for the pension of civilian government employees was only P1.15 billion in 2017 and P1.6 billion in 2022. If we have some 1.7 million government employees inclusive of military/uniformed personnel, it’s obvious who gets more than the lion’s share of the budget pie. An “insane” 1 percent of MUP payouts is a drop in the bucket. Please draw the sword to cut this Gordian knot! Or shop for other best-practice pension plans. The post MUP pension takeaways appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Building autonomy
Actualizing autonomy in a political government setup is no walk in the park. You do it chip by chip. It is a work in progress in the case of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or BARMM. The first issue is the attitude of the central government’s bureaucracy toward the autonomous entity in delegating part of its power to the latter. Anything less than sincerity in sharing the national power will present a hurdle for the regional government. The national bureaucrats tend toward being reluctant, if not jealous to part away with some of their powers. There will be stumbling blocks strewn along the way that might stymie the actualization process and growth of the autonomy into full-blown governance with minimum interference from the central government. Another worry is literacy about autonomous law. This brings back memory of the infancy of BARMM when a nitwit in one national department refused to sign a document downloading funds to the office of the Chief Minister because of the claim that there is no such position in our government structure. This was laughable. But it germinates the imperative of educating the bureaucrats about the BARMM and its peculiar set-up as a parliamentary form of governance oddly different from that of the national administrative design. It will take time before BARMM blooms in an asymmetrical position vis-a-vis the national government, a status imposed by the imperatives and realities of the present-day zeitgeist. In the meantime, it is the duty of the present leadership of the BARMM to celebrate and support any move that tends to strengthen the autonomy thru the full transfer of national powers to the various agencies of the BARMM. Apropos of this, it was reported recently in mainstream and social media that BARMM took over the “administration of public transit franchises” following the turnover of assets, responsibilities, and related documents from LTFRB-12 previously exercised by the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board of Region 12.” The report says that “the transfer of all assets, digital records, franchises, special permits, provisional authority, and other corresponding documents for routes under BARMM from the LTFRB-12 was deemed necessary after the BLTFRB was granted authority to oversee franchises areas within its jurisdiction. LTFRB Chair Teofilo Guadiz III led the turnover of the tasks and digital copies of franchise documents for routes under BARMM’s jurisdiction to MOTC Minister, lawyer Paisalin Tago representing the BLTFRB. Chair Guadiz, in his remarks, emphasized the full support to the BARMM leaders saying, “This day. . . represents the culmination of the centuries-dream of our brothers in the south for autonomy.” Minister Tago expressed gratitude for the historical milestone for the BARMM region saying, “This is not just a turnover of documents but also a transfer of responsibility and commitment by the LTFRB. We are grateful to the LTFRB for implementing the provision of the Bangsamoro Organic Law.” This step constitutes another building brick in the autonomous structure which will strengthen autonomy. It will no doubt benefit the riding stakeholders and enhance the delivery of public service. It helps that Minister Tago helms the BARMM’s Ministry of Transportation and Communication. He is, by any measure, a hard-working public servant and a veteran regional legislator with decades of public service under his belt. He is trailblazing programs toward modernizing the transport system and enhancing connectivity in the region. This transfer of power and other national administrative mandates to BARMM carries with it the greater challenge of proving that the nascent regional government can steer governance and lead the stakeholders to a life better than the status quo. It can prove the naysayers wrong by carrying out its mandate fully and with integrity. After all, BARMM’s credo is “moral governance” in sync with the Islamic injunction of right and morality. Comes 2025 when the BARMM leadership will face the stakeholders in a husting, the verdict will be handed down whether they were up to the challenge of an autonomous government or not. amb_mac_lanto@yahoo.com The post Building autonomy appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
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