Harness the youth

One outstanding failure of the Aquino administration is its failure to harness the youths’ potential for the country’s development.  Majority of the Philippine population (54.3% of 107,668,231) consists of the youth.

Up to now, no legislation has been passed to reform the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and to give them a bigger role in national development.

Underutilized young people incur significant economic costs as they are not being used to their full potential.

By 2015, the total number of young Filipinos is expected to rise to 61 M; 28 M will be of working age, further boosting the supply of young people in the labor market.

With less than two years left in his six-year term, the other problem is Aquino’s refusal to infuse new ideas, harness younger members into his Cabinet.

The 62 percent of voters who are against granting President Aquino a term extension are basically the poor, jobless and hungry Filipinos who have lost hope with this administration.

It is sad that with so much money pumped into the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) funds, no meaningful job creation programs were adapted.

In effect, the DAP became a bigger Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), with major amounts released to lawmakers who funded the traditional projects with one added feature — the use of ghost non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

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The Philippines finished 22nd overall among 45 participating nations, way behind powerhouse countries like Thailand (6th overall, 12-7-28), Malaysia (14th, 5-14-14), Singapore (15th, 5-6-13) and Indonesia (17th, 4-5-11), marking  the country’s worst-ever finish in the sport since joining the competitions in 1951, with a 1-3-11 gold-silver-bronze medal haul in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Our basketball team finished seventh among Southeast Asian countries.

After more than four years of the Aquino administration, our sports programs have gone downhill.

There is an agency under the Office of the President called the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), headed by Richie Garcia, which has government funding.

PNP buying Toyota cars

In his program Dos for Dos, Anthony Taberna reported that the Philippine National Police (PNP) has procured 500 units of Toyota vehicles.

Earlier, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas announced a program to procure 2,000 police cars.

This probably explains why PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima was given a P2 million discount on a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado he acquired.

President Aquino defended PNP chief Alan Purisima as hindi “maluho,” di “matakaw.” Purisima in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) admitted owning several properties and 5 cars, including Toyota Land Cruiser Prado which costs P4 million.

Note that Purisima also owns a Toyota Alphard, a Toyota Hilux and a Toyota Innova.

No viable LP candidate

A major broadsheet headlined Sunday that the Liberal Party (LP) has no viable presidential candidate. Only Interior Secretary Mar Roxas has a less than respectable 13 percent preference vote in the latest September survey of Pulse Asia.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and former Senator Francis Pangilinan received ratings of 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Here comes LP Congressman Edgar Erice saying it is Mar Roxas or Noynoy that will be the LP bet in 2016.

The other persons who registered a double digit vote numbers are Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, with 11 percent; Senator Grace Poe and Mayor Joseph Estrada at 10 percent.

It is unlikely that the LP will adopt anyone of the three runners-up above.

It looks like the most probable LP candidate in 2016 will be Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

The Pulse Asia survey reported Senator Grace Poe as the leading choice for Vice President, with 31 percent of the vote.

Congressman Erice also said the LP will hold a caucus this month to discuss its plans for 2016, including a declaration from President Aquino on his plans for 2016.

Major problem

The power crisis is the number one problem of the Aquino administration. The administration’s proposed solution is a grant to the President of emergency powers.

But up to this point, there is no clear-cut proposal with regard to the extent of emergency powers that the President is requesting.

There is also a debate about how long the emergency powers will be in effect.  To begin with, there is a debate as to whether it is needed at all.

One school of thought maintains that the shortfall in 2015 is only 300 megawatts (MW), which can be covered by the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) – that can produce 400MW.

Senator Serge Osmeña, chairman of the committee on energy (COE), adheres to this view that the projected shortage can be covered without a need for emergency powers.

Senator Osmeña also favors a short six-month grant, if ever.           

Tidbits

There are still 11,000 persons at the evacuation centers in Zamboanga City.

There are more than 12,000 persons at the Albay evacuation centers.

The Ebola death toll is now 3,400.

Swiss nationals Robert Loever and Baltazar Johann Erni were shot dead by three armed men in Opol, Misamis Oriental.

Three thousand teachers joined a protest rally of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) pressing for a wage increase. The Association of Concerned Teachers (ACT) also held a demonstration in front of Malacañang.