ANGARA: AQUINO PARTIES AT EDSA WHILE OFWs SUFFER DURING TURMOIL
MANILA, FEBRUARY 28, 2011 (TRIBUNE) By Angie M. Rosales - A legislator sees President Aquino slackening and demanded that he buckle down to work before the government is caught up in a crisis situation amid the crisis situations transpiring in many parts of the globe that would impact on the country.
Sen. Edgardo Angara said yesterday the Aquino administration appeared to be giving in to a relaxed attitude amid the various political turmoils and disasters taking place in other countries that are expected to highly affect Filipino immigrants and migrant workers.
Angara criticized on radio the apparent lack of a sense of urgency being shown by Malacanang over issues confronting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Libya, Taiwan and in New Zealand, saying the crisis in the Middle East is expected to affect the country's oil supply anytime as well.
"If I'm the secretary of the Department of Energy or the
executive secretary or the President, I will seek a dialog with those in the oil industry (not to raise prices for the meantime). We need to help one another first because the situation is critical. A number of Filipinos are out to lose their jobs in the Middle East. This would be a double whammy for us," he said.
"There should at least be a show of a sense of urgency, not a sense of crisis, that there could come a crisis period that would be hard to deal with when it comes. So before that happens, we should be prepared and discuss ways (to) cope with it," he said.
Angara did not hide his disappointment over the apparent effort thrown by Malacanang in celebrating the recent 25th anniversary of Edsa People Power I when it should instead be addressing the welfare of Filipinos overseas who are in dire need of assistance from the government.
Aquino attended not only the various ceremonies during the day but also a concert activity well into Friday night.
"There's unrest, strife in different parts of the world, unemployment due to what is happening in Libya, Bahrain is seen to get worse, there are those reported to have died in an earthquake in New Zealand – that should be enough to ring an alarm to our government. It's happening simultaneously in different parts of the world," he said.
This early, Angara said Malacanang must be taking precautionary steps, discouraging any confrontation, if possible with the sectors that could worsen the current situation.
Some sectors are calling for a review of the oil deregulation law while there are those urging the Executive to take definitive steps against another round of oil price increases.
"To insist on opening their financial books (of oil firms) is when you already reached the level of confrontation which we're not in right now. That should be the last recourse. The first step, I think is the use of persuasive powers, that's how it works in a democratic society.
"Use persuasive powers first. If they will refuse to cooperate, then maybe we can use of our coercive power. But use the arsenal of persuasion before you use coercion," he added.
As to the matter of proposed exemption from the imposition of the value-added tax (VAT) of petroleum products, Angara said such proposition is a solution bigger than the problem.
"Why? When you implement that, it would mean a big chunk of lost national income of the government. In a situation where we're looking at possible crisis in the near future, those kinds of solutions are better discussed properly to determine the pros and cons. But that is not what is happening. No one is convening those type of dialogs or initiatives, much as I would not want to call it crisis management team because we're still not in a crisis situation, but let's not wait for the crisis to set in before we take action," he said.
Angara expressed hope that the matters raised by him are fully deliberated upon when the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) hold a meeting today.
"We should change the style of governance. We should have an anticipatory type of governance instead of a reactive type of governance," he said.
Asked if he will participate in the convening of LEDAC if invited by Malacañang, Angara gave this reply: "I'm always willing to help my country."
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, on the other hand, is not about to withdraw his pending proposed reviewof the oil deregulation law and make VAT-exempt the petroleum products.
These proposals, he said, could help mitigate or cushion the effects of the impending price hikes should there be a problem in supply.
"When the law, RA 8479, was passed, we thought it will finally bring down the prices of oil but it did not because we allowed the market forces dictate the prices of the oil companies," he said.
Aquino, however, insisted before over 200 international and local investors late Saturday that his is "a government that works well and is willing to work with you" in ensuring that the benefits of prosperity will be felt by the greater majority of our citizens and not just by a few.
The Philippine Development Forum, the first organized in this administration, is chaired by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and co chaired by World Bank Country Director Bert Hofman. It was attended by multilateral funding agencies, foreign donors, civil society, non government organizations, the diplomatic and business communities and the academe.
The President said the forum "comes at the right time because our nation has always aspired for an economy where the growth powered by private enterprise impacts on a larger number of people."
He noted the "upsurge of optimism in the Philippine economy" since the start of his administration, adding that "in a short span of time we are fulfilling our promise to curb corruption and reduce poverty."
"We did not need a miracle to make it happen. We are simply doing things right," he continued.
He said his administration took care of spending money prudently to where it could create more impact and benefit, reducing opportunities for corruption, using local ingenuity and creativity and reducing the perks and compensations of government owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions basing the compensation on their accomplishments.
In January 2011, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and government financial institutions (GFI) remitted over P29 billion to the national treasury, almost triple the amount from the previous years.
For example, he cited stopping overpriced contracts of the Department of Public Works and Highways amounting to P1 billion that were renegotiated and at least some P300 million in savings resulted from a more transparent and truly competitive process in the bidding.
He also mentioned how tapping local innovations such as coco coir for slope protection generated savings of some P2.2 billon.
He said government's zero-based budgeting approach ensured the efficient use of public resources, as budget items were now evaluated in order to determine the relevance, effectiveness and vulnerability to leakages. Programs that were not delivering were terminated while those that were working enjoyed even more funding.
The President said his government has increased spending on social safety net programs such as the conditional cash transfer and the expanded Philhealth program for immediate, direct and substantial benefits. Beneficiaries to the CCT program will be increased from the current 1 million to 2.3 million by the end of 2011, he said.
The government also affirmed its commitment to basic education by giving it the biggest budget in a decade so that resources will be given to areas students need the most such as in building classrooms and more importantly hiring new teachers.
Aquino said convergence is the key development strategy where efforts and resources will be collaborated for social protection, poverty reduction, health care, education and development of rural economies to ensure maximization of resources for greater impact.
The collaboration will also entail encouraging communities to participate actively in barangay development, as done in the KALAHI CIDDS areas to ensure that agencies pour their resources into communities that need them the most.
"Through our public private partnership initiatives we are also optimistic about enticing investors to enter into a fair, mutually beneficial and productive partnership with the government to build infrastructure, undertake other economic activities in order to generate more employment," he said.
In the wrap-up of the full-day forum, Hofman said the participants shared a lot of optimism, openness and trust for the Aquino administration's handling of the economy. He noted that with effective implementation of the plan and adequate support, the Philippine government can realize its goal of eradicating poverty through sustained high levels of growth.
He said the development partners of the Philippines welcome Aquino's social contract with the Filipino people saying the 16 points outlined in the contract "go to the heart of the many development challenges that Filipinos confront today." The partners also congratulate the government for some very positive and early reforms that seek to deliver this social contract.
The partners also recognize the importance of the forum as the framework that would allow them to align their support programs with the Philippine program with particular emphasis on strengthening the capacity to implement the program in the local governments through performance-based grants to make budgeting open, transparent and consultative.
They also commended the Philippine legislature for passing a quality 2011 budget and the timely release, which Hofman said "sends an unambiguous signal that this government and legislature are fiscally responsible, transparent and performance-oriented."
Hofman said development partners laud the government's strong growth posted last year, the timely passage of the first budget of the new administration and the priority given to the conditional cash transfer program and household targeting systems.
Civil society organizations acknowledged the greater space for involvement as they stressed the need to focus on asset reform, better coordination among anti-corruption agencies, greater access to information and development of the poorest areas of Mindanao.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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