MORE UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR P-NOY
The Philippine Star
07/19/10

One of the letters I recently received was from a faithful reader of this column since day one (almost nine years ago!). I am certain he has not missed a single column. I should know. He is my eldest brother, Lt. Col. Roberto Gamboa, Jr., PA Res. This is to date his only letter to this column after all these years. So Kuya, here are bits of your unsolicited advice to P-Noy.

“1. Abolish the ‘pork barrel’ of congressmen and senators. If some (like Senator Lacson) were able to politically survive without it, why can’t all of them. Money should be better spent and managed by the responsible line agencies, e.g., Dept. of Public Works and Highways, Dept. of Health, etc. If heads of these agencies do not make use of these funds properly, they can easily be removed and replaced, unlike those politicians who misuse the ‘pork’ funds.

“2. Abolish the very costly Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections. There are better ways to train and expose aspiring local leaders on the aspects of civic duties and responsibilities. The corrupt practices of elected higher officials have trickled down to the barangay and SK levels, and the youthful leaders get to learn the ‘dirty’ ways very early in their career.

“3. Re-introduce the military and civic training program for all college students, i.e., Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC). Progressive countries like Singapore recognize the value of properly implemented military and civic training programs such as this for all students.

“4. Enhance the image of the military, police and investigative agencies through some simple basic changes, such as discouraging PMA class/batches from adopting politicians as ‘honorary members’ of their class (for what purpose is quite unclear!); discourage if not prohibit the appointment of political officials as ‘honorary or special agents’ of the NBI or police units, especially if such persons do not have proper training. More often, these so-called ‘honorary or special agents’ resort to bullying or engaging in downright ‘extortion.’

“5. In the name of road safety, a lane for bicycles and motorcycles must be designated and constructed along the main roads. There are too any senseless deaths on the road these days – many, many more than media personnel and activists killed.”

Review of IRA

The next letter, from LLeo Tecson, urges for a review of the Internal Revenue Allocation (IRA) that local governments are currently enjoying. Following are his views:

“The controversial pork barrel of congressmen and senators is once more in the front pages of newspapers. What is overlooked is the IRA. The pork barrel is peanuts compared to the IRA. The pork barrel of senators is P200 million each; multiplied by 24 senators is equals P4.8 billion. The pork barrel of congressmen is P70 million each by 250 congressmen, and is equals to P17.5 billion. The combined pork barrel of senators and congressmen total P22.3 billion.

“The total IRA for governors, city and town mayors this year alone is P265.8 billion; next year it could be over P300 billion. The IRA started in 1991 when the Local Government Code sponsored by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel was passed into law. The IRA law mandates that 40 percent of total BIR collections nationwide go directly to local government units.

“This means that since 1991, trillions (of pesos) have been given to governors and city and town mayors, and even to barangays. What has the country to show for these trillions spent in the countryside? Our provinces, cities and towns are as backward as ever.

“The reason for this is that most of the money ended up in the pockets of politicians. The governors and mayors of the poorest provinces, cities, and towns have become rich beyond their wildest dreams; it is like Christmas everyday for them. The IRA is the biggest source of graft and corruption in the country.

“It also spawned the creation of so many provinces, cities and towns. We now have the most number of provinces in the world; China has only 28 provinces while India has only 32 states. Our already huge bureaucracy has become gargantuan with the creation of these new provinces, cities and towns. Economists will tell you this is totally unproductive and a total waste of taxpayers’ money.

“An example of this is last June 28, 2010. The Philippine Star featured in their front page former Congressman Jerome Paras of Negros who petitioned the Supreme Court to nullify the conversion of Guilhulgan, his former constituency, to a city.

“He said that prior to the conversion to a city, Guilhulgan had an IRA of P64 million. In 2008, it had an IRA of P310 million. This means that the mayor of this city, which very few outside of Negros have ever heard of, has IRA funds more than 4.5 times the pork barrel of a congressman and more than 50 percent bigger than the pork barrel of a senator. I wonder how much was the revenues of this city prior to the enactment of the IRA.
“Congressman Paras charged that the IRA funds did not trickle down to the residents of the city, and that the municipal officials purchased overpriced goods, manipulated public bidding's and falsified public documents.  I understand this is how most local officials all over the country treat the IRA.

“Provinces, cities, and towns used to depend on their local revenues prior to the IRA. Now they are totally dependent on the IRA since they no longer have any incentive to develop their local communities. What is ironic here is that the BIR collects very little taxes from these provinces, cities, and towns (because) 60 percent of total BIR taxes are collected from Metro Manila.

Fundamentally unsound

“The law on the IRA should be reviewed since it is economically and fundamentally unsound. This law takes such a huge amount from the national government. The country also has a huge debt burden. After paying off the yearly installments on the country's debts and after the IRA is given to local governments, the national government has very little money left for development.

“This is the reason why we lack school buildings, and why our infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and airports are the poorest in the (Asian) region. The IRA should be amended and reformed otherwise our economy will continue to be stagnant and our country will remain the basket case of Southeast Asia. ”Only a (handful of politicians) benefit from the IRA, so why should we allow a few hundred politicians to be immensely rich at the expense of the rest of the citizens of this country?”

Join “My Dream Teams” contest

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Participants are asked to guess the top six teams at the end of the ongoing UAAP and NCAA competitions in the correct order of ranking. Those with the most number of correct rankings will be given surprise gifts courtesy of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL).

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Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, SalcedoVillage, 1227 MakatiCity. Or e-mail me at reydgamboa@yahoo.com. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net