Newly installed Tourism Secretary Bernadette Fatima Romulo Puyat needs all the help she can get from the Duterte administration—and the people under her—in the gargantuan task of eliminating the contagion of graft and corruption in her own turf.
The tourism chief started her term on a high note when she immediately suspended all projects of the Tourism Promotions Board, including the P80-million Buhay Carinderia project of resigned TPB chief Cesar Montano, which reportedly did not undergo public bidding.
She also asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to investigate all the projects of the Department of Tourism (DOT) after announcing in a highly emotional interview that she discovered hundreds of millions of pesos in public funds wantonly spent during the time of her predecessor.
As a case in point, in its 2017 audit report, the COA found that the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC), an attached agency of the DOT whose mandate is to take care of the Rizal and Paco Parks, made questionable expenses worth P7 million.
The COA report said the NPDC chief spent P562,200 for tailoring services to design and produce the uniforms of NPDC officers and employees without government-required documents, such as terms of reference, request for quotation, abstract of canvass and official receipts to support the purchase. The NPDC allocated P890,000 for the uniform/clothing allowance for its personnel in its 2017 budget.
The COA also questioned P3.7 million in payments to performing artists for several events, P476,000 professional fees for a private lawyer who was hired without the approval of the solicitor general and written consent of the COA, P2.2 million for the purchase of several equipment and excessive travel expenses.
The COA 2017 report also noted a P10-million decline in the NPDC revenues and recommended that the NPDC should review its policies, rules and regulations on revenue generation for the two parks. In response, the NPDC agreed to create a committee to assess its revenue stream and formulate a business model to improve its income profile.
But then, there were reports of concessionaires in Luneta being forcibly removed by the NPDC, including the NPDC Employees Association Canteen where several employees who refused to budge complained that they got locked in the canteen by NPDC security guards allegedly under orders from the NPDC head.
The NPDC chief also reportedly threatened to close down the Luneta parking lot of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., National Library, Seafarers’ Center, Philippine National Bank and Jollibee. However, the establishments have existing contracts and local permits to operate in Luneta. There is information though that this could be an attempt to replace the existing establishments with favored ones.
In a recent media forum, Secretary Romulo Puyat was asked if heads will soon roll in the NPDC, to which she only responded with a smile.
Our humble advice, though, to the good secretary, given indications that the current state of affairs at NPDC could give her more king-sized headaches, is for her to take decisive action, or else any delay may fuel unfavorable public perception especially with her declared commitment to fight graft and corruption in the DOT.
Will BBL 2 pass muster?
Don’t look now, but civil-society groups in Mindanao are apparently dissatisfied with the new Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) now up for deliberation by a bicameral conference committee. They are calling on Congress to see to it that the final version of the proposed law would dovetail with what was agreed upon in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro.
“We note sadly that both houses of Congress, should they persist in their revisions, will fail to replace the weak autonomous government with a strong autonomous government,” they said, as they appealed to the lawmakers to consider restoring the deleted or transferred power of the Bangsamoro autonomous government. They highlighted a number of key points in their appeal to Congress:
One, to restore the original provision of the BBL on inland waters, which should be placed under the exclusive power of the Bangsamoro.
Two, to restore the original provisions of House Bill 6475 on the power of the Bangsamoro government to regulate power generation, transmission and distribution that would be operated exclusively in the Bangsamoro and not to be connected to the national transmission grid.
Three, to restore the original provision of the bill on the share in the national taxes collected in the Bangsamoro.
Four, to restore the original provision of the bill on the core territory of Bangsamoro, particularly on the six towns of Lanao del Norte, so that it would no longer require the consent of the whole province.
And five, to reconsider the wisdom of building strong autonomy for the Bangsamoro as the only key to achieve national peace and
solidarity.
The groups said strong autonomy should not be viewed as threat to national sovereignty but as the “most decent and noble gesture” to allow a sovereign people to live as a “self-governing entity” within the sovereignty of the Philippine state.
From where we sit, these are valid concerns, and Congress should heed their views as failure to do so could spark unrest and instability in our southern shores.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.