Teodoro bats for reward system for LGUs

MANILA, Philippines - Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential aspirant Gilbert Teodoro is batting for a rewards system for all local government units (LGUs) as his way to combat corruption in the government.

Teodoro said the rewards system would also keep tabs on the performance of LGUs.

“We have to monitor the LGUs more closely,” Teodoro told students of St. Paul’s University-Manila during a presidential forum where a faculty member asked him how he would respond to the perception that “the face of government is a corrupt policeman, and a truant public school teacher.”

He explained that the problem of corruption in the lower levels of government could be traced to Malacañang’s indirect supervision over LGUs.

“The present formula addressing the grievances against corruption in the local level has not worked and has become an opportunity for widespread abuse by unscrupulous local executives,” Teodoro said.

He said the national government must initiate rewards for regions that have “proven their capacity to stand up and manage their own affairs” and excelled in their pro-poor programs.

“We have to find another way, build up the area. We can pilot the worst (performing local governments) and reward those which excel for good performance,” said Teodoro.

He said he would motivate LGUs to “be less reliant on national government resources,” while ensuring that the resources from the national government to the LGUs “are not funneled to unaccountable purposes.”

In the case of police corruption, Teodoro said hiring more policemen would solve much of the problem.

“More eyes watching each other can be a good gatekeeper against shenanigans. It is a great deterrent and, of course, we must legitimately reward good performance.”

Teodoro’s running mate celebrity Edu Manzano, on the other hand, told more than 2,000 students who attended the forum that their tandem will work to reverse the trend of underpaid public school teachers and increase the minimum pay of teachers to P20,000 per teacher a month.

He added that development of education in the country should “run parallel to the development of technology.”