Why dealing with corruption is a priority

The morality aspect aside, there is a very practical reason why P-Noy has prioritized dealing with corruption: He needs all the cash he can squeeze from our P1.8 trillion national budget to finance programs that make a difference in the lives of people. A budget in the trillions of pesos sounds like a lot of money but it isn’t… there are so many things we have to do right now.

I was going through the transcript of P-Noy’s interview last week that was conducted by RMN’s Jake Maderazo. While it sounded more like a rambling conversation than a formal media interview, Jake managed to get P-Noy to reveal his inner thoughts on his mission as the country’s Chief Executive.

In general, the interview showed P-Noy’s nagging fears about not having enough resources to do everything that needs to be done. So he is starting where he should start: Win back citizen trust and confidence in government’s ability to use the money of the taxpayers efficiently and honestly.

I guess P-Noy is thinking that if he shows he is serious about dealing with corruption, the effort will eventually show very encouraging results that people can see. Hopefully, that will make it easier to collect taxes because people can see their money being used well and not just ending up in pockets of government officials and their cronies.

During the interview with Jake, P-Noy made a rough calculation of how cutting the corruption element in government will increase available resources for useful projects. He told Jake: “Ten percent of P1.8 trillion kung hindi lang napupunta sa corruption bayad na iyong conditional cash transfer program for all 4.6 million families.”

 P-Noy laments that the public doesn’t seem to appreciate the progress that had been made over the past year in the fight against corruption. “Ang sinasabi lang ho namin tingnan niyo sa DPWH at ang na-save nga po over P2 billion. So, what does that mean? Yung tongpats nawala…”

P-Noy explained that the money being saved by, for example, the anti corruption drive at DPWH can be used to finance other infrastructure projects that would help farmers bring their produce to market among others. “Kung meron nai-save ang DPWH…  pwedeng gugulan iyong mga pangangailangan nating imprastraktura sa iba pang lugar.”

As we all know, the problem of corruption is already embedded in the bureaucracy so that the crooks are able to go around safeguards incorporated in our laws. P-Noy cited what they found out at DPWH, where contractors and bureaucrats colluded with each other to defraud the taxpayers.

“Isang problema…DPWH na naman, nagtataka ako bakit under spending naman tayong lahat. So, isa sa paliwanag nila ang dami nilang nadiskubre about 70 percent of their program funds ay hinihinging ire-align. So, noong tinanong bakit kailangan ire-align ang sagot matatapos na iyong mga proyekto. Inimbestigahan nilang lahat ngayon. So, ang nangyari raw mula DBM diniretso sa District Engineer hindi na sinabihan ang DPWH sa Central Office. So, muntik na nagastusan ng dalawang beses…”

In another instance, they found out that contracts are divided into several components so awarding it would remain within the limit of the District Engineer. P-Noy said that when this was discovered by Secretary Singson, he did not award the contracts and removed the District Engineer. He also ordered that all bids be reduced at least 10 percent. The President remarked that it was proven they could do the project at less cost.

But how big is the problem? P-Noy cited the worse case they have discovered and it is simply disheartening… at the ARMM the overprice is as high as 80 percent. No wonder P-Noy insisted on postponing the ARMM election. He wanted the chance to clean out the system there and he needs time and officials who share his sense of mission against corruption to achieve this goal. An election using the flawed voters list and with entrenched officials still in power will just perpetuate the problems.

P-Noy may look too obsessed with dealing with corruption and there are many who say he should just move on. But I can see his point. We are losing a big part of our meager resources to corruption. We simply cannot do anything much with what is left. We have to deal with corruption first.

One more thing… the 80 year old Gen. Jose Almonte told our group of economists the other night that the biggest national security risk isn’t China playing around at Mischief Reef but our inability to put our internal house in order… including our ability to stop corruption that’s at the root of our failure to gain respect… ours and the world’s.

Customs

The failure of Customs Commissioner Lito Alvarez to deal more decisively with corruption in his notoriously corrupt agency is probably why P-Noy decided to replace him. Controversy about supposedly altered golf scores hounded Lito as he assumed his post. He could have done more to prove his detractors wrong. Alvarez has one last chance to clean up his name by spilling everything he knows, naming names, that have anything to do with his failure to achieve his mission of cleaning up Customs.

When we had the chance to dialogue with him some weeks ago when he joined Finance Secretary Purisima and staff to a visit at the Philstar offices, Lito didn’t strike me as someone driven to make a difference. I remember asking him about oil smuggling and I don’t remember him giving me a coherent and direct answer why he has failed to catch a big fish in the oil smuggling trade.

Ramon Ang of Petron/San Miguel once estimated the market share of oil smugglers at 30 to 35 percent. That’s a lot of money government is missing on duties and other taxes. Oil smuggling also poses unfair competition.

Given the problems of the agency, the next Customs Commissioner must not only be honest, but also be as wily as the smugglers who are experts in what they do. The new commissioner must know how to use carrot and stick to make the bureaucrats as well as those who transact business with the agency behave.

I have been hearing three names as possible successors to Mr. Alvarez… Ruffy Biazon, Gen Danny Lim and Elizabeth Lee. None of them have any experience in customs administration which can be both good and bad. Good because they will not take anything for granted and bad because the bad guys could run circles around them.

I was surprised to hear of Beth Lee being a contender, not because I think she is too dainty and too pretty to deal with the thugs at port area, but because I never thought of her as a public official type. Maybe Beth knows something about Customs based on her experience importing CBU car units she sold at Universal Motors.

I don’t know Ruffy Biazon much beyond the fact that he is the son of Gen. Pong Biazon and a former congressman. Gen. Danny Lim’s reputation, on the other hand, is impeccable. I understand both men want to be commissioner and not serve under the other as a deputy. So P-Noy will have to make a choice.

Just off the top of my head, Ruffy’s being a politician works against him because politicians are known to make deals. Given the discipline problems at Customs, maybe it needs someone like Gen Lim. But Gen Lim will only recognize one boss, P-Noy, and that probably explains why Sec Purisima is not thrilled to have him on board.

So maybe, let us just have Beth Lee. Baka mahiya yung mga gago doon if only because she is young, pretty and very articulate… those macho crooks will want to impress her. Then again, she is pretty enough for P-Noy to date and I don’t know if that’s a plus or a minus.

Vendo

Robin Tong sent this one.

A Pinoy husband and his American wife are undergoing a divorce and find themselves embroiled in a bitter dispute, fighting among other things, over custody of their three-year old daughter.

The woman began, “Your honor, I brought this little girl to the world, so it’s quite clear that I should have custody of her.”

The judge said it was certainly a convincing argument and turned to the man to give him a chance to air his side.

The husband thought for a while and then said, “Your honor, if you put a dollar into a vending machine and a can of Coke comes out, whose Coke is it?”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. He is also on Twitter @boochanco