Get rid of political patronage in the Cabinet

If there is anything positive I can say about the Aquino Regime it is that it is moving forward, since it is the scrapping those so-called "underperforming" Government Owned & Controlled Corporations (GOCC), which to date some 19 GOCC's have been targeted for scrapping. Of this number, five GOCC's, notably the Philippine Forest Corp. (PFC), the National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR), the Zamboanga del Norte Rubber Estate Corp. (ZNREC), the Human Settlements Development Corp. (HSDC), and the Cottage Industry Technology Center (CITC), have already been approved for scrapping. The government should scrap more GOCC's.

As the Philippine Star editorial of Mar.14 Tuesday pointed out, "The review of the performance of GOCC's should also lead to a closer look at ways by which fat can be trimmed throughout the bureaucracy. There are too many barangay personnel, for example, who are wasting public funds. The youth councils should have been abolished a long time ago. A study of staffing patterns will help maximize the use of public funds. Political patronage in both the national and local governments has created a bureaucracy bloated with people lacking qualifications for their positions, or whose positions were created simply to accommodate them."

It is for this reason why I have been pushing for Charter Change for as long as I've been a columnist. As far as political patronage is concerned, we don't have to look far. All you need to do is take a good look at the roster of Cabinet Secretaries and right there you will see political patronage staring at your face. It is for this very reason why we must change our system of governance. Remember the President is a temporary occupant in Malacanang, while the rank and file of our national government agencies has to serve the needs of the Filipino and not what the new President wants. So let's start right there -- at the Cabinet level. Put a personal performance target for Cabinet Secretaries and if they don't meet targets, they should resign.

But then, I know too well that this is not possible under the present system of governance, which is why we need Charter Change.

Anyway, back to the issue of GOCC's. The Freeman came up with a photo of my good friend Engr. Pericles "Ricky" Dakay handing out a P1-million check to Leyte Governor Leopoldo Petilla on behalf of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA). What can I say? At least the MCIAA can still survive on its own without any help from the national government. But it is for this reason that it irks me to learn that the Department of Transportation & Communications (DOTC) did not even seek the advice of the MCIAA board on the plans to build a new terminal, which they already bid a couple of months ago.

Meanwhile, at least we got a confirmation from Rep. Raul del Mar that the congressional inquiry on the multi-million bidding of the MCIA has been set for March 12, 2014 at 9:30 a.m. in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately this public hearing will be conducted in the Batasan Pambansa. But if there would be a second hearing, it might just be done here in Cebu.

I know that there are certain personalities who are pushing for the Filinvest-Changi Airport consortium which was the second lowest bidder to the Megawide/GMR consortium. For me, it doesn't matter which of the two would win this bid for as long as it is totally transparent to our people. I have learned from sources that Megawide/GMR had a distinct advantage over the others about this deal. I just wish that it would come up during that hearing.

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It's been six months since that Million Man march happened at the Luneta and the pork barrel scam has not inched forward and is somehow "purposely" stuck as a media circus in the Philippine Senate. From the way things look, people now believe that there is a mastermind working behind the scenes manipulating the Department of Justice (DoJ) to parade whistleblowers one after the other, thus wasting precious time on this case which should have been done in our courts of law.

Meanwhile, star whistleblower Ruby Tuason has left for Hong Kong as reported by the Commission on Immigration (CID). I don't know why at this point there is no hold order to prevent her from leaving the country. But they have a nice excuse that she left the country purportedly so she could raise the P40 million that she got as her share of the bribe in the pork scam. But then only a fool would take that excuse from the Immigration hook, line, and sinker. I'm sure she left the country for a host of other reasons.

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