(Retired Ambassador Reynaldo Arcilla writes a column for Malaya. This was his piece last Tuesday.)
Either Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants to retire Foreign Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, or Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago desperately wants his job. Or both.
Last week, Santiago was reported to have said that Arroyo was amenable to nominating Romulo to the post of United Nations Secretary General. Incumbent Kofi Annan is vacating the post at the end of this year.
The report did not say whether or not Romulo was consulted on the matter, much less agreed to being nominated. He was in New York when Santiago made her statement.
As far as I am aware, Ms. Arroyo issued no disclaimer to Santiago’s claim.
No one will argue with Santiago when she said, “It would be a great honor and a source of prestige for our country if a Filipino is elected secretary general. It is a position of global leadership.”
But by the same token, it would be a great dishonor and a source of embarrassment for our country if we had a Filipino at the helm of the UN who can hardly cope with the responsibilities of running one of the smallest departments in the government. What more a UN bureaucracy of some 9,000 international staffers from 170 of the 192 member countries?
And how are we to deal with the fact that Asean has already an endorsed candidate? Romulo himself announced Asean’s continuing support for the candidate, Surakiart Sathirathai of Thailand, after the association’s ministerial meeting last week in New York.
Arroyo and Santiago know in their heart of hearts that Romulo is way past his prime and does not have the proverbial chance of a snowball in hell of getting elected as UN secretary general. In their desire to get rid of him as foreign secretary, why embarrass Romulo, and the country, by even suggesting that he be nominated to the post?
Why can’t Ms. Arroyo herself tell Romulo directly that he has outlived his usefulness as foreign secretary, judging from the reports she presumably must have been getting both from the DFA and other sources? Why can she not just tell him that he would be doing the country and himself a favor by quitting now?
This is not the first time Ms. Arroyo manifested her desire to dispense with the services of Romulo. His name was floated before to replace Ambassador Albert del Rosario in Washington. He should have resigned even then, as a prominent friend of his had suggested. But I guess you can’t expect that from someone who refuses to even understand the meaning of command responsibility.
Where, oh where, has delicadeza gone?
I think I told you Ellen, how Romulo was simply overtaken by events here in Brussels during Gloria’s roadshow of lies galore in the EU!!! Poor fellow! He seemed a nice enough chap but he was out of his depth here.
He was good at cracking some Filipino jokes than none of the foreigners here could understand – he giggled quietly after delivering his jokes but beyond the wisecracking, I couldn’t quite understand how he became Foreign Affairs chief.
Frankly, he didn’t impress me as someone who was on top of things. During the interview with Vi, Gloria would sometimes refer to Romulo over this and that but Romulo was just mumbling about…Finally, Gloria would rattle off in order to save Romulo from going on and on outside of the topic being discussed.
As you said, Romulo has outlived his usefulness. But why the two witches of Malacanang – Gloria and Brenda – should humiliate him is beyond me.
Personally, Ellen, not that I am against any Asian to be at the top of the UN, but I’d rather they recommend a Frenchman to take over the place of Kofi Anan if we want to see a real working UN what with most countries in the world headed by nincompoops and bogus presidents, the US included.
Kofi Anan was no effective leader because of the color of his skin, and we see the world, particularly the Middle East and Africa ready to burst into oblivion.
South Korea is aggressively pushing for a South Korean to head the UN. I surely don’t think it is wise. They should choose one from one of the strong EU countries to counter US bullying for that matter.
As a child, I was taught that the UN could save the world, but in all practicality, that cannot be achieved with an Asian, African or a Middle Eastern diplomat there.
Let’s face it, thjs world is still very much a world that the white men would not give up for colored peoples to dominate.
Yuko,
It is unlikely that a Westerner would get the post. There is a kind of implicit understanding that the top UN post would go to someone representing a country that is not a member of the G8 in order to sort of lessen the impact of power…
It’s a tradition that these nations follow – give the gavel to the someone else from who ios not from any of the G8 countries. I discovered this when Letty Shahani was gunning for the same post and was lobbying with the French to deliver the French African and French speaking voters bloc.
A group here helped Shahani but at the end of the day, Chirac decided that because the US was fielding their own candidate from some South American country, France decided to stick by Koffi Annan.
The Asian bloc have a crack at the post it seems but in reality the big nations with huge country following, i.e., France, US, UK, and perhaps Russia are the ones calling the shots.
I won’t be surprised if the candidate from Thailand is heavily lobbyng now for the support of the above countries. These countries will deliver the votes emanating from their spheres of influence: African nations, South American nations, Asia, Europe, etc.
Do you know who else is being fielded? In all probability, there would be a candidate from Africa, 1 from the Middle Eastern bloc, another from South America and perhaps 1 typical Westerner.
That’s how they go about it.
But since the current UN Chief is from Africa, it is not likely that the next one will come Africa again.
However, the candidate from Thailand has a handicap – the country being under martial law is not really conducive to the election of the Thai to the post unless the Asian bloc makes a noise.
Anna says: “. But why the two witches of Malacanang – Gloria and Brenda -“
THAT made my morning great! Thanks, Anna…
RE Romulo…
Better place a career diplomat to head the DFA para naman maiba ang kalakaran sa Foreign Affairs. A BIG NO! to political appointees.
UN SG’s position: I think may agreement na mag-ro^rotate ng position sa lahat; Dati taga-Europe, then African bloc[Kofi Anan]…then it is the turn of Asia…. and so on…
Hi Taipan,
Nag alburuto na naman iyong kampon ni Arroyo satanas sa isang thread ni Ellen.
Palagay ko siguro ay nasa talampakan ni Mike Bachoy Baboy pangit Arroyo iyong nag-aalburutong doon!
Anna,
saan yun?
Teka…lemme see…
OK sa akin kung si Mahatir ang ipapasok ng Malaysia sa UN, kaya lang lintik, lalakas lalo ang mga Moslems kapag siya ang umupo pero at least hindi siya puedeng insultuhin ni Dubya, who keeps a book in his desk’s drawer about the UN being a useless organization and that the US should ask the members to remove and transfer to Europe. This is an information I got from one of the forums I blog in as a Eurasian.
Don’t like a Filipino there in the UN kasi lalong maku-corrupt ang UN especially with this weakling under the thumb of a bogus president.
Isang mangyayari diyan, Anna, katapusan na ng mundo!
A decent man who carries the good decent name of the family must never work for a corrupt and abusive government such as Arroyo’s. If I were Bert Romulo, I will now retire in grace.
Amid louder military grumbling and restiveness
GMA pledges P26B for soldiers’ pension pay to quell unrest
By Sherwin C. Olaes, Angie M. Rosales and Gina Peralta-Elorde
10/06/2006
Amid reported military restiveness and the announcement of the Defense chief that the military pension fund plan has gone bankrupt and faces closure, President Arroyo yesterday quickly earmarked some P26.1 billion to pay for the soldiers’ retirement benefits next year, even as this was not included in the 2007 national budget.
The Palace move was seen by observers as a means of preventing the restive military from plotting a coup d’etat or mutiny against the President and her government.
This Palace payment of P26 billion for the military pensioners was disclosed by Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. who stressed that for the past five years, the Arroyo administration had not been remiss in its obligation to pay the military pensioners, claiming that the Palace had shelled out almost P113.4 million for the pension of the military retirees.
This was evidently in reaction to opposition Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s earlier charges that the Palace under Mrs. Arroyo allowed the military’s pension fund to bleed and run dry, in a bid to shield former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) officials who managed the Retirement and Separation Benefits System (RSBS) and who had earlier participated in the Arroyo power grab in 2001.
Senator Estrada said there were so many reports of anomalies in the running of the pension fund that when his father, Joseph Estrada, was President, he had promptly ordered a probe and uncovered various illegal transactions that depleted the cash and other assets.
The senator pointed out that his father had issued the order during the time when Orlando Mercado was then the head of the Department of National Defense (DND).
It came after the Senate recommended the filing of graft charges against former military officials of RSBS led by retired AFP chief Gen. Lisandro Abadia, he said.
“There was an instruction to carry out a probe because of his (former President Estrada) concern for the welfare of the ordinary soldiers, but unfortunately he was ousted from office and the RSBS scam was forgotten by the Arroyo administration,” he said, to insulate former RSBS officials who were recommended for prosecution.
It can easily be deduced that the administration neglected the welfare of military pensioners and failed to rescue the beleaguered RSBS, the opposition lawmaker said.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. recently announced that the department might be forced to close down the bankrupt RSBS after the military pension fund was plagued by anomalous transactions in the past.
Estrada said this could not have happened had Mrs. Arroyo not ignored the concerns of the military pensioners.
“The lack of concern of the Arroyo Administration for the welfare of the military pensioners had resulted in the shutdown of RSBS and the contributions of ordinary soldiers in preparation for their retirement have been lost,” he said.
Estrada said the administration could have allowed the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) to absorb RSBS so that the contributions of soldiers would not go to waste or the government could have taken over the operations of the military pension fund.
“The problem with this administration is that it has so many irrelevant priorities like the Charter change, and it has forgotten about the problems of ordinary citizens like the welfare of soldiers who were relying on the RSBS for their retirement benefits,” he said.
Evidently, the problem of continued restiveness and demoralization in the military establishment has become more serious, as not only did the Palace promise to shell out P26 billion to pay the retirees’ pension, but that the military leadership has also announced it will personally lead the information campaign in military camps nationwide on the closure of the RSBS, admitting that this move is being taken to prevent demoralization that may trigger confusion and miscommunication.
Maj. Gen. Horacio Tolentino, AFP deputy chief of staff for personnel (J-1), said a communication plan has been prepared by his office that would carry out the massive information drive to explain to soldiers what really happened to RSBS.
Tolentino disclosed that they have formed a communication plan and the Armed Forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr., will go around the camps next week, with the first visit to be made in Mindanao.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon’s warned the other day that the RSBS issue could spark widespread unrest among the troops whose contributions to the RSBS are regularly deducted from their paycheck.
Military officials expressed hope that the issue would not be exploited by some quarters and fan sentiments of discontent among soldiers against the government.
The retired soldiers had earlier grumbled, charging that the Arroyo government had not fulfilled its obligations under the law and had been remiss in paying their benefits in the billions of pesos.
According to Andaya, DBM projections peg at P290 billion the cost of meeting veterans and retired soldiers pension from 2007 to 2015.
“This is a big requirement but it is an obligation we have to keep to those who had fought for our flag,” he said, adding that the “national government’s budgeting for soldier pension has never been contingent on the financial status of military-run person fund,” referring to the soon to be scrapped RSBS.
Andaya pointed out that the Arroyo administration has been providing the monthly pensions to former military personnel, even when their pay was never deducted while still in active service.
This is unlike the case of civilian employees whose monthly pay is subjected to mandatory deduction for contribution to the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
Andaya said next year’s pension allocation for ex-military men is made up of P10.89 billion for “retired military personnel” and P15.26 billion for “veterans.”
Numbering about 104,458, retired military personnel are those who had reached the mandatory age of 56 or have served at least 20 years.
They get a monthly pension the equivalent of 85 percent of the current basic pay of the rank they held while in service, plus longevity pay, which is equivalent to up to 50 percent of the present salary of that rank.
“Veterans” are those who fought in World War II while retired military personnel are those who have reached the age of 65. Each gets an “old age” pension of P5,000 a month.
Thus, under the law, a retired colonel, upon reaching 65 years old, will receive, on top of his military regular pension equivalent to 85 percent of a brigadier general in active service (as regular pension is computed based on the next higher rank of the retiree), P5,000 a month in “old age pension.”
The pension of veterans and military retirees who die is passed on to their spouse who shall enjoy it until her death or remarriage including the “double pension” of military retirees.
Per PVAO records, veterans number 272, 284 as of July 2006. Of this, 56, 393 were World War II veterans and 104,754 were spouses of World War II veterans. The rest are military retirees who have reached the age of 65. Those who were injured in action get between P500 to P1,700 a month in “regular disability pay.”
On top of the pension, a child or the spouse of a World War II veteran is entitled to college education benefits.
A P10,000 burial benefit will also be given to the next of kin of a deceased veterans.
Military and defense officials earlier said they would push for legislation for the creation of a new military pension fund to replace the RSBS.
If the plan pushes through, the new pension fund will be run not by retired military officers but by what they described as “professional managers.”
Esperon, who is the concurrent RSBS chairman, earlier announced the closure of pension fund saying it is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The Armed Forces said that the abolition was for the interest of the soldiers so that when they retire from the service, they would be assured of the benefits due them, being major contributors.
Meanwhile, at least five military officers who have been charged for rebellion have been removed from the payroll of the Armed Forces.
According to Lt. Colonel Bartolome Bacarro, chief of the Armed Forces public information office (PIO), the order took effect in August this year after Mrs. Arroyo issued the green light to have the names of Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon and Army Lieutenants Sonny Sarmiento, Patricio Bumidang Jr., Lawrence San Juan and Capt. Nathaniel Rabonza stricken out of the military payroll.
Bacarro justified the move since besides being on Absent Without Leave (AWOL) for more than 60 days, they escaped from the military custody. “They were stricken from the payroll because they escaped… they also went on AWOL,” Bacarro said on Thursday.
A captain usually receives monthly base pay of P24, 804 plus and allowances while a first lieutenant receives P22,113 in basic pay and allowances.
Bacarro said that following the short-lived Oakwood Mutiny in July 2003, then military chief, Narciso Abaya recommended that all 300 officers and men involved in the putsch be removed from the payroll.
eto na naman ang isang maliwanag na panunuhol upang huwag mag-aklas ang mga pobreng kawal. sa pagpapasara ng RSBS, hindi kaya lumobo ang bank accounts ni assperon? busong na naman ang mga limatik, buwaya, buwitre at mga sawa ng circulo maligno.
Anna, thanks for posting statement on the murder of Bishop Ramento. Hindi ko naasikaso because I’m busy with my medical tests.
You’re welcome Ellen.
It is terribly sad (and maddening at the same time!) that a good man of the church is murdered for his criticism of the immoral government led by Gloria, the liar, cheater, thief personified and who has now added another fitting tag to her unillustrious name: KILLER!
What prompted these evil men to attack a man of the Church?
Robbery to buy illegal drugs? Perhaps, so! What has happened to this nation that there should no longer be any respect for one whose calling is to serve God and country?
Could it be his outspoken criticisms of Gloria’s government? If so, then the nation has sunk lower and has reached the bottomless pit of immorality.
Who is at the helm of this nation? Someone who has a record of more than 750 extra judicial killings of human rights activists, outspoken journalists, and added to that, the cold blooded murder of a man of the church.
There are no words to describe how angry I feel. Gloria’s reign has brought nothing but HAVOC, nothing but greed and nothing but abuse on the people of the Philippines.
She doesn’t deserve ANY RESPECT!
How strange…Romulo was one of Gloria’s NASTY “soldiers” at the start of her presideny (in 2002)…although as he has this “hatred” on the Marcoses and their cronies. Maybe that could be the reason Gloria wants to ease him out, as he may be hampering on her plans (whatever that may be!)…Gloria DESPERATELY NEEDS allies, and she will take whatever and whoever!!!
How strange…Romulo was one of Gloria’s NASTY “soldiers” at the start of her presideny (in 2002)…although Romulo does have this “hatred” against the Marcoses and their cronies…Maybe that could be the reason Gloria wants to ease Romulo out, as he may be hampering on her plans (whatever that may be!)…Gloria DESPERATELY NEEDS allies, and she will take whatever and whoever!!!
In my opinion, agree ako na huwag na lang Pilipino duon sa UN. Siempre Sec Gen, magbibitbit ‘yan ng kanyang mga tao sa UN. Eh kung may ilang kampon din ni Pandak ang dadalhin, eh di mako-contaminate and UN org. Baka dalhin pa sa UN ang pagka-corrupt nila. Baka magturo ng kanilang mga abilidad duon. Baka magpauso sila ng ghost projects, ghost missions, ghost employees, overpricing, ghost deliveries, etc, etc. (Baka magpauso pa din ng jueteng,… joke lang).
Kitamo’s “(Baka magpauso pa din ng jueteng,… joke lang). ”
Hehehhe!
Alam mo ba na may jueteng na sa Italy thanks to our kababayans there?
Last year, a Pinoy jueteng lord was stabbed in Milan in gangland style of killing.
Nakalimutan ko. Ang alam ko maraming pera ang UN – from contributions from member nations. Pinakamalaki ang US pero aywan ko kung nagbabayad. What i want to say is Pandak’s goons will be interested dahil madatung duon DOLLAR pa.
One thing more, baka kung Sec General ay Pinoy, e di lusot na sa Merica si Bolate. He can be employed sa UN, presto, he can stay in the US of A.
Kitamo,
Imagine na lang natin na Pinoy ang SG sa UN.
Kailangan niya ng malaking bahay na maraming kuwarto. Doon sa dining room, isasabit niya iyong picture ng Last Supper at ng tinidor at kutchara na galing sa Baguio.
At saka siyempre, iyong mga kamag-anak na maraming pupunta doon. Laging may fiesta sa bahay niya kaya kailangan malaki ang garden niya.
Tapos dapat lahat ng banyo, may tabo, dahil ang mga bisita from Pinas gusto ng tabo!
Does it really matter either Romulo or Santiago? They all came from the same mold, and put both or all of them in a brown bag shake it for several hours, you’ll still get illegitimate Gloria Arroyo as the price. It’s not Romulo or Santiago or whomever is the queen of thieves along with the king of smug, better yet how about smut. The country need to get to the very core of the problem and we they’re located, right along the the stinking river, the murky river where there are no life, so to speak.
So, lets not kid ourselves, it really nothing that will surprise us anymore. What illegitimate Gloria and her co-horts represent are not the people’s interest, but theirs. As I had mentioned before, they’re “it” and far from human being, since human has compassion and shame. They’re more or less that crawls in the night, carnivorous, bloodsucking leeches. No other way to describe them, but animals. Harsh, so is the stealing of human rights of the citizens and the extra-judicial killings, if we’ve to make comparison.
In due time! Romulo obviously still have some use to illegitimate Gloria, but his time is coming not so distant away. As to Pilipino a replacement for Kopi, dream on. Would be nice though, but not while fake Gloria in Malacanang, then we would never hear the end of it, it would have a swelled head, not that it already with expanded head – an overated head yet. To what I read and heard both Romulo and Santiago can be qualified as candidate to assisted living, so that kinda disqualify both.
How about Migueal Arroyo for UN Secretary General and why not? He would certainly fits in there with his qualifications as smugler and corrupt. Then, we would’ve a New York and Manila conection, won’t that be something?
The above subject I guess is good for talking point to update our know how of who’s in and who are out in the land of Gloria’s Enchanted kingdom. An illegal Empire where the Queen’s men and subjects where considered an expandable pawn, except for the immediate clowns. In the scheme of things, in Gloria’s domain, Henerales are the behind the scene dictators and while Queen “it” sit on the throne as the figure head. There are no harmonious organization in the realm of things, only the mission of thievery. And the victims are the hopeless 85 millions. And we talked of Romulo and Santiago? How about the noose on the Queen “it” ’till “it” choke to serve “it” purpose. I say, it’s more like “it”.
Ellen,
“How to dump RSBS money into a bottomless pit by military scalawags and civilian misfits” should be a good topic.
RSBS, the AFP pension fund from troopers’ blood and sweat is now officially bankrupt!
Extraordinary phenomenon! Absolutely shameless!
This is the problem with many Pinoys. The moment they see money, their eyes become big and they immediately become gluttons; they feast and fatten themselves up with money that is not theirs.
From Boy Abadia to Angie Reyes then to Narcing Abaya – they all feasted on the soldier’s blood and sweat money.
Utterly despicable!
Off Topic. But, just want to bring it to everybody’s attention another malversation of the crook officials running the govt asylum. Read this morning, I’m sure the news has been out way before. I’m always late with the hot news, pasensya na. Nevertheless, Retirement and Separation Benefit System (RSBS) is bankrupt, as in pesoless. How can it be when the AFP members making contribution every month. Good question! Another malversation of Malacanang boys, boys in every sense of the word, they’ve not yet matured. Admitted on the hearing, the boys without remorse, with excuses, certainly, siyempre naman, people’s tax monies were wasted on the cha-cha people’s initiative in disguise – millions na millions ang ibinigay sa Singaw ng Bayan. Anak ng butse! It was an illegal act, but as usual no big fish is going to jail. Consider it catch and release, if you can understand the term. Only in the Philippines!
Anna – it appeared we read the same article, eh. Ain’t something, how can do that to the regular low ranking military? Such callous arrogant behavior of those hardheartedness!
Toney,
The problem is a lot of our former generals were wannabe financial experts.
How they managed the RSBS in such scum fashion is really mindboggling.
One doesn’t have to be in possession of Ph.D in finance or economics to know that you don’t dip into capital but dip into profits.
I’ve known RSBS and have tried to work with them at some point but when you see the financial wreck they were hell bent on implementing in the fund, you just shake your head and move away.
A European conglomerate (the one I was working for at the time) had offered to buy one of RSBS’s units called VETRONIX and were prepared to put in good, solid, foreign equity with transfer of technology to boot. Vetronix by then was just an empty shell already! But never mind, we thought it was a good shell to start a manufacturing firm for some high-tech equipment intended for the Asian market.
However, when the guys there led by BrigGeneral Ramiscal found out that they couldn’t con us, they dilly dallied – we in Europe didn’t think that these Pinoys’ way of doing things was right so we took our money elsewhere – we took it to Malaysia (and the company there is now making a killing with our technology)!
I tried to orient the company I was working for then towards tying up with local companies in Pinas but it was darn hard to make these guys see that a foreign investor wants things run a decent way. In the end, we just pulled out altogether. The company I’m talking of has major stakes and investments all over Asia but not in the Philippines!
Anna:
The bottom line is about money. It’s the evil of society and Philippines has take it to the extreme, nothing matter anymore but the money one’s can steal.
A little bird tells me that the RSB is NOT bankrupt. It just lacks cash. Someone just wants to condtion the minds of people that it is bankrupt. It still has a lot assets. Is “someone” sneakily transfering the assets somewhere else?
Chabeli,
They may have assets (properties) but the property market may be good on paper but when you need cash to run operations and you don’t, what happens? You close shop and try to liquidate these assets.
In the end, you still end up being bankrupt because of the volumes of debts that the converted assets have to be poured into.
It’s not People’s Initiative after all but Palace’s Initiative:
Palace boys admit funding Sigaw’s Cha-cha
It never was a people’s initiative, only an Arroyo government initiative, to ram through Charter change (Cha-cha) for a shift to the parliamentary system and the proof of this was the admission elicited from Malacañang media officers on the government funding by the senators during a budget hearing yesterday.
And the figure could go as high as P150 million for the propaganda and the printed materials and even more, if the budget hearings are to reveal more.
Senators yesterday succeeded in blowing Malacañang’s cover, which was its “indirect” financing of the needed funds to the Sigaw ng Bayan group of Palace frontman, lawyer Raul Lambino for their controversial and questionable signature drive on a “People’s Initiative (PI).
During yesterday’s budget hearing focused on the budget of the Press Secretary, senators succeeded in extracting from government media officers a confession that close to P10 million had been poured in from government funds for this year’s Cha-cha advocacy while new allocations to boost their propaganda have been included in the P1.13 trillion proposed 2007 national appropriations.
Obviously prepared for the scenario that took place during the budget hearing of the Office of the Press Secretary presided over by Sen. Franklin Drilon, Palace officials who attended the proceedings came prepared, armed with a ready answer: That the funds were properly used and could be accounted for.
In further justifying the funding for the people’s initiative, despite the lawmakers objections in their use of public funds for such a project is unauthorized under the law, Palace officials maintained they can do so because “this is an advocacy of President Arroyo.”
Palace Spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye who was at the forefront in defending the Executive over the issue of financing the Cha-cha campaign, was on the defensive, saying he and concerned officials had managed to explain fully the programs of the government related to this move.
“We’re not saying that the expenses cannot be properly accounted for. That’s not the point. The point is that, in fact, government funds are being spent for this. That this is legitimate. We are not saying here that the funds are improperly spent. We are saying that government funds are being used for the Cha-cha campaign because it is an advocacy of the President, as simple as that?”Drilon retorted.
Bunye countered by saying: “That is correct but we have to qualify the circumstances under which the funds were used,” Bunye said.
“And right now, we have identified already nearly P10 million of government funds being used,” the senator immediately noted, enough to silence the Palace official.
Alongside this development uncovered by the Drilon-led finance committee, was uncollected receivables of the National Printing Office (NPO) amounting to almost P124 million.
The NPO figure is more than enough to fund the agency’s operations next year, even exceeding by P2 million the budget it is seeking before Congress for 2007.
NPO, it can be recalled, has been enmeshed as well in the Cha-cha controversy, having been reported several months ago that this agency was allegedly involved in the printing of some of the campaign paraphernalia of Sigaw and Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).
NPO chief Felipe Evardone happens to be the brother of ULAP leader Eastern Samar Gov. Ben Evardone.
Drilon pried into the OPS items in its budget related to Cha-cha, in an attempt to scrutinize the legitimacy of the use of funds and in the process, managed to entrap the government media officials into the situation that these efforts were disguises in assisting Sigaw and ULAP’s moves to push the Arroyo’s people’s initiative.
“It is not a secret that the President is in favor of political reforms through Charter change….Not specifically Cha-cha, but we can promote programs that will explain the Charter change. For example, in the case of the national government television, there are specific programs that deal with the discussions on the Charter,” Bunye explained.
“Are you saying that devoting government funds to push Cha-cha which the President herself has openly declared as a policy would be improper? I don’t think so. So the President can, through the OPS, include for example the CoA (Commission on Audit) audit expenses incurred for Cha-cha, because this is an open policy,” said Drilon.
“That is line with the thinking of the President,” replied Bunye.
When asked to detail the expenses devoted in this year’s budget on Cha-cha, Bunye passed the buck to government media executives who all admitted being engaged in promoting Mrs. Arroyo’s advocacy.
Based on the officials’ explanations, close to P10 million has already been spent for this and P4.5 million had been allotted by the government television station NBN-4 in terms of production cost for Cha-cha-themed programs.
NBN general manager Joey Isabelo told Drilon that they plan to spend another P2 million pesos next year while the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) meanwhile has spent P3 million pesos.
Isabelo gave the impression that the government intends to go full-blast in the remaining months, appropriating P4.5 million for their TV program aired every Wednesday night, that has a projected income of P500,000 for every season or 13 episodes.
“For this (second) season (now ongoing), we will bring this program to the provinces, so we will be needing more and we’re allotting P4.5M for the program up to December this year,” he said.
“But you’re asking for a subsidy of a P50M…the people have the right to know how this budget will be utilized as every office in this government would make public in these public hearings how they propose to spend government money,” Drilon said in grilling Isabelo.
The NBN executive said the P50 million will cover the station for capital outlay and program development.
“And program development could include Cha-cha?” Drilon asked to which he received an affirmative reply.
When asked for proposed funding for programs intended to promote Cha-cha, Isabelo estimated some P2 million in expenses.
“If you already spent P4.5M for less than one year, why should I believe you when you say P2M only?” asked Drilon.
“For this (second) season, we’ll be on remote mode but for next year, since we have finished visiting all the provinces, we can do it in the studio,” Isabelo said, explaining that the high cost would also cover broadcast and transmission expenses.
The PIA claimed it had no role in the advertising placement of ULAP and Sigaw ng Bayan, but media and advertising sources said it was the PIA that they dealt with.
Drilon was quick in pointing out to them that a Palace-created commission which reviewed the feasibility of undertaking Cha-cha, happens to include among its panel members, Sigaw’s Lambino and Romela Bengzon.
The said body crafted the proposed Cha-cha advocated by Mrs. Arroyo, the senator said, adding that Lambino is also a petitioner before the SC on the matter of people’s initiative.
“That is on record. Lambino is espousing the Cha-cha as advocated by the President and for which government’s funds are being spent, would you agree with that?…I hear a deafening silence….according to Sen. (Juan Ponce) Enrile, the deafening silence comes because the question is unanswerable,” he remarked.
It can easily be deduced from the facts presented by them, Drilon said to reporters in an interview, that the OPS’ budget clearly funds the activities of Sigaw ng Bayan.
“At least to the extent of P10 million as admitted by the OPS through various expenses for the advocacy of the Cha-cha…In the forefront of which is the Sigaw ng Bayan. It is quite obvious that the Sigaw ng Bayan is funded, insofar as its information drive is concerned, as admitted by the OPS and its attached agencies, to the extent of about P10 million,” he said.
The senator emphasized what he insinuated as the illegality on the acts of Malacanang saying that “when the framers of the Constitution included the people’s initiative as a means of proposing amendments to the Constitution, it was contemplated that it will be a people’s initiative not a government initiative.
“We are withholding approval of the budget of the National Printing Office because of the cavalier attitude of the head of that office. There are receivables amounting to P124 million and the budget for this office for 2007 is P122 million. In other words, if he just exerts effort to recover these receivables, this could fund his budget for next year. But the cavalier attitude that he has shown would prompt this committee to withhold approval of this budget until he could submit a program for the collection of this P124 million in receivables for his office.
“I am prepared to do that if I do not see any serious effort to collect these receivables and liquidate these advances. We are not saying that we will withhold approval if they cannot liquidate or collect. What we are just looking for is a serious effort to collect receivables and liquidate these advances,” Drilon said.
Thanks, Anna de Brux, for your comments. It really helps to get other points of views, so as to be more objective in our judgements.
Sorry to post this in this loop, but here’s a note from the group helping Nicole:
Hi All,
We made an online petition for Nicole. Here’s the URL:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/justicefornicole/
Please read the statement and sign with your full name and e-mail address. Your addresses are safe. You may also opt to have your name appear as “Anonymous” in the public list by checking the box provided in the page.Your real name will be viewable only to us.
You may also send an e-mail to the Task Force Subic Rape Secretariat[tfsrsecretariat@yahoo.com with this in the subject line: “Online Petition: Justice for Nicole, Justice for Our Nation.”
Thank you.
i drink from the cup of unbridled passions..
Ellen,
Begging your indulgence again… may I post here Senator Nene Pimentel’s e-mail re the murder of Bishop Ramento after I forwarded the same statement I posted in your blog earlier on:
From: Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr.
To: anna-de-brux
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: This is what I personally received.
anna:
although i was not blessed to have met the bishop in life, in his death i have come to know him.
archbishop cruz of lingayen has high praises for him as a man of God and of the poor.
coming from a catholic archbishop who also has great credibility, that was great tribute to the man.
i have added my humble words to prod the law enforcement agencies to look for, arrest and punish the perpetrators of the unspeakable deed that cries to the heavens for justice.
i do not think that they should just dismiss the murder of the bishop as the afterthought of a robbery. the people in the area knew him and as the pastor of the poor, there was nothing to rob him of – except, indeed, his life.
everyone knows what terrible government leaders we have. but we also have great people like bishop ramento who will in the end make the difference for the better for all of us.
I ask the Lord God to bless him.
N
The late General Carlos P. Romulo was the first Asian and a Filipino at that to become president of the UN General Assembly (Fourth Session, Sept.1949). He maybe short in height may not look imposing physically but, he stands tall among everybody else due to his brilliant mind. He did not commit himself to any political party, he never allowed himself to be a political tool and up to the end of his very long civil service as Secretary Foreign Affairs to President Marcos, he remained apolitical.
Bert Romulo, the nephew of the Great Carlos doesn’t seem to have the genes or the bloodline of the old man Romulo. He can’t even distinguish himself as the big boss at the DFA. He has no balls to enforce and to do what he’s supposed to do. He was a very big part in the cover-ups of Garci and Bolate and the Lebanon crises. He is a yes man to his boss Gloria. But inspite of all his obedience and subservient, the glue may have concluded that he has outgrown his usefulness and became a dispensable material to her bogus government, that its now high time to get rid off. The problem of the Glue is how to dump him. The Glue, well-known of her brazenness and “kapalmuks” may not have the guts to ask him to resign or fire him because she knew that the Romulos and their evil society was a very big factor in her stealing the presidency. Maybe all those talks about bypassing him in the decision-making concerning foreign affairs are just one way of putting pressure on him but the desired effect did not materialize. Romulo may already have forgotten about delicadeza and so he is still there. Brenda on the other hand made no secret that she is very much interested on the job and the Glue shows the same interest too but they are at a loss on how to get rid of this guy Romulo. What will be The Glue’s next move?
Florry,
Re: “(CPR)… maybe short in height may not look imposing physically but, he stands tall among everybody else due to his brilliant mind. He did not commit himself to any political party, he never allowed himself to be a political tool and up to the end of his very long civil service as Secretary Foreign Affairs to President Marcos, he remained apolitical.”
Amen to that!
He was one highly respected soldier-statesman with great intellect and one of the few who could stare down Gen D MacArthur or any American for that matter.
He worked and did things with great finesse. He was a pride of the Filipino race.
As opposed to this Gloria moral punggok who wants to think, sound and look TALL but she’s no more than what she really is – a midget and an immoral one, clumsy, inept, arrogant looking and sounding creature who thinks she’s a president but who in reality, even by a huge stretch of the imagination, she is not.
What happens is that every time she makes a decision or whenever she speaks grandiosely of her so-called achievements at the helm of an utterly confused republic as when she recently announced that the Philippines is no longer a “third world” country but is considered a “second world” country (as in a Communist country), she falls flat on her face, laughed at with gusto by political pundits.
Anna,
That’s why Milenyo lashed at the Philippines with full fury because the Bansot declared that the Philippines is no longer a third world. Galit na galit si Milenyo at pati buong bansa nadamay sa galit niya kay Bansot dahil pati ba naman sa status ng Pilipinas gagawin pa niyang Fake.
Sino itong Romulo para gawing UN Representative? Baka Gumulo si Romulo…ganda ng rhythm ano?
Iba itong Romulo kesa sa dating Romulo ni Macoy. Akala niya porke dala niya ang pangalang Romulo ayos na. Ano ba ang UN? Short cut ba ito ng salitang UNano? Di puwede si tiyanak na ilagay sa UN? Dahil UNano siya…
Hihihi!
“Di puwede si tiyanak na ilagay sa UN? Dahil UNano siya… “
gaya nang sinabi ni mabini (isang parang prediksyon na nangyayari ngayon): darating ang panahon na ang mamumuno sa pilipinas ay malalagay sa kapangyarihan hindi sa kagitingan kundi sa kabuktutan. at siya na nga!
kung komedian itong si gma baka sakali matawa ako sa mga antics nito pero presidente ng pinas kahit na fake siya oic pa rin.ito namang mga atatoy niya, niluluko na hindi pa rin nila alam. panay kasi matatanda na. wala na yatang makuhang mga bata itong gma na ito o baka naman gusto niya talaga siya ang pinaka bata.kailangan may makasama ito na medyo bata para masabi sa kanya na wala na rin siyang damit.
tutal naipasok na rin lang dito ang komedi, ipasok ko na sa eksena si Chiquito.
hi artsee, ito palang si Chiquito eh may lahi rin Intsik sa Mother side, samantalang father side naman ay galing pa ng Ecuador.
Nagtataka ako kung bakit walang nag re-revive ng Funny Komiks? Meron dun na istorya ni Niknok at palaging inaasar si Mang Ke 😛
Could it be that this artsee is related to Chiquito; hence, very corny?
Tanga ka na gago ka pa ngongo. Mas guwapo ako kay Chiquito ano! At hindi ako Mr. Wong. Mr See ako!
npongco,
ayan napagalitan ka tuloy ni artsee.
naalala ko noon sa mga una mong posting, na kapag ayaw mo – huwag mong pansinin. sa madaling salita “dedma”.
nabanggit ko lang naman si “toh-chiquits” dito dahil naging vice-mayor sya noon at pulis ng Makati. 🙂
May nakakakita sa kanya noon na naka-motorsiklo pa nga ito eh 😉
Syangapala, itong si Jett Pangan na bokalista ng The Dawn ay apo ba talaga ni Chiquito?
Sila yung kumanta ng IISANG BANGKA TAYO 😛