It could just be a case of a beginner’s nerves—but the knee-jerk reaction of the Duterte administration to be a copycat of the Aquino era’s basic macroeconomic policies means we will have more of what we have seen.
Unfortunately, that includes GDP growth, without inclusion of the lower social strata from the benefits of growth, which is a major failing of the Aquino era.
Without big-ticket items for privatization, as in the FVR era, where there were years of the so-called balanced budget, the Aquino fiscal mantra was “live within one’s means,” anchored on a fixed budget deficit/GDP ratio. Smarting from an Arroyo era’s debt-financed GDP growth, Mr. Aquino opted for more reliance on internally generated funds—policed by a debt/GDP ratio focus.
If one wishes to move out of President Aquino’s fault line, one must ask whether every policy and program of the Duterte administration can answer this question: how will this positively affect the poorest of the poor to ensure inclusive growth from hereon? It is a simple enough formula.
The dilemma of most governments, of course, is facing an almost limitless demand for public-service programs versus the finite resources of a young government.
To fund a more ambitious fund total for the government programs that would eventually redound to the benefit of the poor, government must do creative access to more sources of funds.
Big-ticket items involving infrastructure that enthuses foreign investors to try the Philippines and, thus, generate jobs—need participants from the private sector because the government cannot do it all, say, through the PPP (public-private partnership). The government just has to make sure that the private sector enjoys a reasonable return on its investment against the risk and size of capital it throws on the table.
That may involve a highly beneficial regulatory environment for the PPP participant through government support. It means local legislation involving the project site must be subordinated when the project is tagged by the national government as “top priority”. If congressional initiative is needed, this has to be pushed.
Seriously now, also, the study to rationalize the huge “tax leaks” from legislated fiscal privileges of firms from Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Board of Investments-registered firms must take place immediately.
Meantime, reforms at one of the citadels of corruption—the Bureau of Customs—which only collects a fifth of the total Bureau of Internal Revenue collections, must take place now. The efforts of vigilant practitioners involved in the trade are still looking for that one day everything in Customs will finally become “paperless transactions”, bereft of human intervention and judgmental discretion.
Another source of incremental funding for social services would be—given the excellent international ratings the nation has gotten—to restructure short-term debt (peso and foreign) to longer terms and save on cash flow in the interim.
One must note that of the P3-trillion GAA (national budget), close to one third of that is an automatic appropriation for debt-servicing. Any postponement of capital payment, therefore, is additional source of funding for the government.
Finally, there is the crowd of government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs) out there, which is not making money and has been a constant source of subsidy from government year in and year out. A study group must be created fast to determine which of these high-maintenance GOCCs should be abolished or merged with similar-functioned GOCCs. This would be a tremendous amount of savings for the government.
If the government succeeds to amass such incremental cash inflow from the above—one is back to the basic question—which projects should be prioritized (funded from such) that will directly impact the welfare of Juan de la Cruz’s family? Aye, there lies a potential tug-of-war of warring interests.
Creative sourcing of funds and judicious application of these resources require a different set of skills, mind-set and sectoral commitment of the government. The poor should have a break this time—after years of benign neglect.
The author should not just read the headlines but also listen to what Duterte has been saying. First Duterte wants to change the Constitution to entice more foreign investments. Second he wants to index the income tax to inflation to give people more money in their pockets. These two alone would have this article of the author irrelevant. This is not in anyway copying what Noynoy did, but radically changing things.
On corruption in the PCSO
Contrary to what is being bandied about, the incoming Duterte Administration is not inheriting a largely graft- and corruption-free bureaucracy from the outgoing administration. Far from it. Several agencies, namely DOTC, Pagcor and PCSO, are now reeking with the stench of corruption and anomalies and are crying for the new leadership to place them under close scrutiny. For one, PCSO needs to be investigated carefully because of how Noynoy’s appointees have played loose and reckless with its finances. This agency has yet to recover from the depredations of Morato and Arroyo’s other subalterns and now, it’s clear that Noynoy’s appointees will be hounded with corruption and plunder cases as well…
A Manila Times report (August 30, 2015) gives this damning account, which happened under the very nose of Ayong Maliksi:
“One “Nicanor Flavier,” a non-employee but a PCSO fixture, is allegedly doing a “Janet Lim-Napoles” by masterminding and serving as a conduit between unscrupulous PCSO officials and local government unit (LGU) officials. According to my informants, Flavier deals with contractors and suppliers, as well as LGU chief executives, involving hundreds of millions of pesos in PCSO funds supposedly intended for the purchase of medicines for the LGUs’ constituents.
“This culprit reportedly hangs around the PCSO’s Releasing Department, where he has bonded with insiders who connive with him to manipulate purchases of medical supplies to be delivered to different cities and municipalities and to governors. He rakes in tens of millions of pesos in commission, representing 10 to 50 percent of the total costs of the purchases while mayors and governors pocket their 10 percent kickback, as well.
“Flavier usually instructs the LGU executive to “under-deliver” or “not to deliver” medicines at all to their unsuspecting constituents.”..
Contrary to what is being bandied about, the incoming Duterte Administration is not inheriting a largely graft- and corruption-free bureaucracy from the outgoing administration. Far from it. Several agencies, namely DOTC, Pagcor and PCSO, are now reeking with the stench of corruption and anomalies and are crying for the new leadership to place them under close scrutiny. For one, PCSO needs to be investigated carefully because of how Noynoy’s appointees have played loose and reckless with its finances. This agency has yet to recover from the depredations of Morato and Arroyo’s other subalterns and now, it’s clear that Noynoy’s appointees will be hounded with corruption and plunder cases as well.
A Manila Times report (August 30, 2015) gives this damning account, which happened under the very nose of Ayong Maliksi:
“One “Nicanor Flavier,” a non-employee but a PCSO fixture, is allegedly doing a “Janet Lim-Napoles” by masterminding and serving as a conduit between unscrupulous PCSO officials and local government unit (LGU) officials. According to my informants, Flavier deals with contractors and suppliers, as well as LGU chief executives, involving hundreds of millions of pesos in PCSO funds supposedly intended for the purchase of medicines for the LGUs’ constituents.,
President-elect Rody should take a close scrutiny of the Pagcor and PCSO. These agencies have been the traditional milking cows of corrupt administrations because of the immense financial resources that have regularly flowed through them as well as their potential for making more money through gambling, gaming and sweepstakes. It is now apparent that the favoured friends of Pnoy have dipped their fingers into these agencies’ ‘cookie jars’.
Take for instance the matter of PCSO’s Lotto sales, where they recently declared improved income. However, a cursory look at the institution’s Financial Statements shows a different picture. PCSO’s Annual Reports for the years 2011 to 2014 and the Financial Statement for 2015, shows that the income generated from the Lotto sales alone are as follows:
2011 – Php 27,006,234,530
2012 – Php 31,305,668,490
2013 – Php 29,680,511,310
2014 – Php 29,519,949,190
2015 – Php 28,936,496,360
What strikes curiosity is that in May 2013 PCSO implemented an increase in lotto ticket prices from Php10 to Php20 for the 6/42 and 6/45. So, since there was even a ‘dip’ in sales from the 2012 level, we can safely surmise either of two things: one, that the market has significantly dwindled and on an alarming rate; or two, that they are under-reporting the real income of the agency.
In the meantime, the much-vaunted Small Town Lottery (STL), PCSO’s so-called antidote to jueteng, trudges slowly on with a meager Php4,794,558,765.10 income generated for 2015, while jueteng has been largely reinvigorated nationwide with estimated gross revenues of at least Php100B annually.
Really, heads have to roll…
One of the priority actions that presumptive President Rody must make when he assumes the nation’s mantle of leadership is to closely review the records of the PCSO. PCSO was created with the noble mission of being a primary instrument for extending much-needed and significant financial assistance to indigent Filipinos with healthcare and medical needs. Instead, it has been made a lucrative milking cow for Noynoy’s favoured cronies while our poorest countrymen have languished, despaired and died of dreaded, but curable, diseases. From Margie Juico and her successor Ayong Maliksi together with their crony board members are now facing numerous corruption and plunder cases at the Ombudsman. Simply put, Aquino’s much-trumpeted daang matuwid has been a dismal failure and a cruel false hope with PCSO…
President-elect Rody should take a close scrutiny of the Pagcor and These agencies have been the traditional milking cows of corrupt administrations because of the immense financial resources that have regularly flowed through them as well as their potential for making more money through gambling, gaming and sweepstakes. It is now apparent that the favoured friends of Pnoy have dipped their fingers into these agencies’ ‘cookie jars’.
Take for instance the matter of PCSO’s Lotto sales, where they recently declared improved income. However, a cursory look at the institution’s Financial Statements shows a different picture. PCSO’s Annual Reports for the years 2011 to 2014 and the Financial Statement for 2015, shows that the income generated from the Lotto sales alone are as follows:
2011 – Php 27,006,234,530
2012 – Php 31,305,668,490
2013 – Php 29,680,511,310
2014 – Php 29,519,949,190
2015 – Php 28,936,496,360
What strikes curiosity is that in May 2013 PCSO implemented an increase in lotto ticket prices from Php10 to Php20 for the 6/42 and 6/45. So, since there was even a ‘dip’ in sales from the 2012 level, we can safely surmise either of two things: one, that the market has significantly dwindled and on an alarming rate; or two, that they are under-reporting the real income of the agency.
In the meantime, the much-vaunted Small Town Lottery (STL), PCSO’s so-called antidote to jueteng, trudges slowly on with a meager Php4,794,558,765.10 income generated for 2015, while jueteng has been largely reinvigorated nationwide with estimated gross revenues of at least Php100B annually.
Really, heads have to roll.
As the callous and insensitive Aquino administration ebbs to an end in the coming weeks, it would be a much welcome development if a host of corruption and plunder complaints can be filed against the current and previous Aquino appointees to the PCSO. Through six years of their hypocritical governance, there have been numerous gross violations of provisions of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), Republic Act No. 6713 (Rules Implementing the Code Of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees), Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Act), and the PCSO Charter itself, among others.
A glaring example is the extension of the ELA (Equipment Lease Agreement) earlier given to Berjaya-PGMA and Pacific Online, without the benefit of a Public Bidding as mandated by law (in clear violation of the Government Procurement Act [RA No. 9184]). Insiders have reported of incessant whispers among the ‘higher ups’ that several favoured cronies made oodles of money from these shady deals…
the dap is clearly illegal and should be held liable to the government official who used it. abad and pnoy should not be cleared of this mess and should continue to answer to the people on where the dap money was used and how it was used for the people.this dap should have helped a lot of people but instead we dont know how it was used and who used it. we should demand answers from abad and pnoy and make them liable for the use of this dap. the supreme court has already ruled very clearly that this is illegal and not according to the law.
any act that is unconstitutional should be punished including the dap. as this is unconstitutional, the primary government officials responsible should be punished and should answer under the law. the dap issue should not be disregarded as this involves the money of the people.government should make use of the peoples money and spend it wisely but instead this dap showed that government is releasing money without any accountability and not according to the law. as the supreme court found it unconstitutional we should ask pnoy and abad to answer how the dap was used and if the people benefited from it.,
As the callous and insensitive Aquino administration ebbs to an end in the coming weeks, it would be a much welcome development if a host of corruption and plunder complaints can be filed against the current and previous Aquino appointees to the PCSO. Through six years of their hypocritical governance, there have been numerous gross violations of provisions of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), Republic Act No. 6713 (Rules Implementing the Code Of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees), Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Act), and the PCSO Charter itself, among others.
A glaring example is the extension of the ELA (Equipment Lease Agreement) earlier given to Berjaya-PGMA and Pacific Online, without the benefit of a Public Bidding as mandated by law (in clear violation of the Government Procurement Act [RA No. 9184]). Insiders have reported of incessant whispers among the ‘higher ups’ that several favoured cronies made oodles of money from these shady deals.
President-elect Rody should take a close scrutiny of the Pagcor and PCSO. These agencies have been the traditional milking cows of corrupt administrations because of the immense financial resources that have regularly flowed through them as well as their potential for making more money through gambling, gaming and sweepstakes. It is now apparent that the favoured friends of Pnoy have dipped their fingers into these agencies’ ‘cookie jars’.
Take for instance the matter of PCSO’s Lotto sales, where they recently declared improved income. However, a cursory look at the institution’s Financial Statements shows a different picture. PCSO’s Annual Reports for the years 2011 to 2014 and the Financial Statement for 2015, shows that the income generated from the Lotto sales alone are as follows:
2011 – Php 27,006,234,530
2012 – Php 31,305,668,490
2013 – Php 29,680,511,310
2014 – Php 29,519,949,190
2015 – Php 28,936,496,360
What strikes curiosity is that in May 2013 PCSO implemented an increase in lotto ticket prices from Php10 to Php20 for the 6/42 and 6/45. So, since there was even a ‘dip’ in sales from the 2012 level, we can safely surmise either of two things: one, that the market has significantly dwindled and on an alarming rate; or two, that they are under-reporting the real income of the agency.
In the meantime, the much-vaunted Small Town Lottery (STL), PCSO’s so-called antidote to jueteng, trudges slowly on with a meager Php4,794,558,765.10 income generated for 2015, while jueteng has been largely reinvigorated nationwide with estimated gross revenues of at least Php100B annually.
Really, heads have to roll.
As the callous and insensitive Aquino administration ebbs to an end in the coming weeks, it would be a much welcome development if a host of corruption and plunder complaints can be filed against the current and previous Aquino appointees to the PCSO. Through six years of their hypocritical governance, there have been numerous gross violations of provisions of Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act), Republic Act No. 6713 (Rules Implementing the Code Of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees), Republic Act No. 9184 (Government Procurement Act), and the PCSO Charter itself, among others.
A glaring example is the extension of the ELA (Equipment Lease Agreement) earlier given to Berjaya-PGMA and Pacific Online, without the benefit of a Public Bidding as mandated by law (in clear violation of the Government Procurement Act [RA No. 9184]). Insiders have reported of incessant whispers among the ‘higher ups’ that several favoured cronies made oodles of money from these shady deals.
One of the priority actions that presumptive President Rody must make when he assumes the nation’s mantle of leadership is to closely review the records of the PCSO. PCSO was created with the noble mission of being a primary instrument for extending much-needed and significant financial assistance to indigent Filipinos with healthcare and medical needs. Instead, it has been made a lucrative milking cow for Noynoy’s favoured cronies while our poorest countrymen have languished, despaired and died of dreaded, but curable, diseases. From Margie Juico and her successor Ayong Maliksi together with their crony board members are now facing numerous corruption and plunder cases at the Ombudsman. Simply put, Aquino’s much-trumpeted daang matuwid has been a dismal failure and a cruel false hope with PCSO.,
President-elect Rody should take a close scrutiny of the Pagcor and PCSO. These agencies have been the traditional milking cows of corrupt administrations because of the immense financial resources that have regularly flowed through them as well as their potential for making more money through gambling, gaming and sweepstakes. It is now apparent that the favoured friends of Pnoy have dipped their fingers into these agencies’ ‘cookie jars’.
Take for instance the matter of PCSO’s Lotto sales, where they recently declared improved income. However, a cursory look at the institution’s Financial Statements shows a different picture. PCSO’s Annual Reports for the years 2011 to 2014 and the Financial Statement for 2015, shows that the income generated from the Lotto sales alone are as follows:
2011 – Php 27,006,234,530
2012 – Php 31,305,668,490
2013 – Php 29,680,511,310
2014 – Php 29,519,949,190
2015 – Php 28,936,496,360,
Contrary to what is being bandied about, the incoming Duterte Administration is not inheriting a largely graft- and corruption-free bureaucracy from the outgoing administration. Far from it. Several agencies, namely DOTC, Pagcor and PCSO, are now reeking with the stench of corruption and anomalies and are crying for the new leadership to place them under close scrutiny. For one, PCSO needs to be investigated carefully because of how Noynoy’s appointees have played loose and reckless with its finances. This agency has yet to recover from the depredations of Morato and Arroyo’s other subalterns and now, it’s clear that Noynoy’s appointees will be hounded with corruption and plunder cases as well.
A Manila Times report (August 30, 2015) gives this damning account, which happened under the very nose of Ayong Maliksi:
“One “Nicanor Flavier,” a non-employee but a PCSO fixture, is allegedly doing a “Janet Lim-Napoles” by masterminding and serving as a conduit between unscrupulous PCSO officials and local government unit (LGU) officials. According to my informants, Flavier deals with contractors and suppliers, as well as LGU chief executives, involving hundreds of millions of pesos in PCSO funds supposedly intended for the purchase of medicines for the LGUs’ constituents.,