The Great Purge

This week hundreds of "non-career" senior government officials will vacate their positions as Memorandum Circular No. 1 takes effect today, July 30, 2010. These non-career officials, most of whom were appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, issued a last-ditch appeal (thru the media) that they be allowed to stay one more year to give them enough time to study for the CESB exam and acquire their CESO-eligibilities. Francisco Duque, the chair of the Civil Service Commission, claimed that while he is supportive of their plight, said that eventually "it's the decision of President Aquino, that's his prerogative." The Career Executive Service Board (CESB) for their part also issued a "careful" statement by just stating the facts: "the entire Philippine bureaucracy needs at least 6,000 CESO holders. At the moment, there are only 2,000 CESOs currently working in the different departments and bureaus of the government. This means, 4,000 cannot be filled," CESB said.

A paper written by Dr. Toby Monsod (UP School of Economics) for UNDP entitled “The Philippine Bureaucracy: Incentive Structures and Implications for Performance” gives a good idea of the real situation in the bureaucracy. For example, the Monsod study reveals that there are exactly 6,388 Career Executive Service (CES) positions existing in government as of late 2007. Out of this total, only 40% of CES positions (or about 2,500) were occupied. On the supply side, there were 1,109 CESOs and 3,944 CSEE-eligibles in the CESB pool as of 1st Quarter 2008. Miss Toby Monsod also notes that “the share of CESO eligibles occupying CES positions has been falling beginning around 2004. A decreasing share indicates that the share of political appointments is increasing and/or that CESO eligibles are leaving voluntarily. Note from the numbers alone that this decreasing share cannot be attributed to a lack of supply of CESO eligibles to fill in CES positions. There is even a decreasing trend in the share of CESO eligibles even in GOCCs that are SSL-exempt. In other words, the monetary incentives in these agencies could be inviting greater political intervention in the hiring of personnel. In turn, such interventions may be causing CESO eligibles to leave."

This means that there was increased "politicization" in the government appointment process when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo started her second term in office (in 2004) which led to the marginalization of our senior career civil servants. This has pushed many of our competent CESO-eligibles to find employment in the private sector, where the pay is not only better but the job less "complicated."

Memorandum Circular No. 1 reminds me of the "Great Purge" that the other Aquino administration undertook in the aftermath of the first People Power Revolution. On March 25, 1986, President Cory Aquino promulgated the Freedom Constitution and began a top-down campaign to "de-Marcosify" the entire bureaucracy. She abolished the Batasang Pambansa, asked all Marcos-era bureaucrats to vacate their posts, replaced all governors, mayors and other local government officials perceived loyal to the ousted President Marcos with her own OICs (officers-in-charge), and even asked the Supreme Court justices to resign. The Cory administration justified the "Great Purge" as a requirement for the "restoration of democracy" (and the media bought their line) but it is now clear that what was restored was Philippine democracy "pre-Marcos style."

MC No. 1 seems to me like a mini-version of the "Great Purge of 1986." The justification given is that government needs to erase all vestiges of the corrupt Macapagal Arroyo administration and that President Noynoy needs a "clean, fresh start" if he is to reform our government. It is a page taken out of the Cory Aquino template. But things are a little different today because, unlike his mother, Noynoy cannot just abolish the Constitution and assume dictatorial powers to make the Mercy Guiterezes and Renato Coronas of government go away.

In the end, the more important question is what the Aquino government proposes to do once it accomplishes its goal of "erasing all vestiges of the corrupt Macapagal Arroyo regime." After purging government of Gloria's non-CESO appointees, what does it plan to do next? Ano ba ang "landas na tuwid" sa isyung ito, if I may borrow the President's words.

If all the Aquino administration intends to do is replace the non-CESO Macapagal appointees with their own non-CESO appointees, then they will only be perpetuating the age-old "spoils system" in Philippine politics. Government will still be run by "dilletantes in public service" (read: political appointees); the only difference now is that the Gloria "dillettantes" are being replaced with Noynoy "dilletantes." Then they will be no better than the previous administration they describe as morally bankrupt and four-five years down the line many of them will become the ogres they once sought to slay. This Aquino administration will be repeating the mistakes of the previous Aquino administration. But if the real goal of MC No. 1 is to restore the principle of "merit-and-fitness" in the Civil Service, then I am all for it.

Enact the Freedom of Information Act

Noynoy Aquino ran under the anti-corruption platform "Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap" and the people overwhelmingly voted for him based on that promise that he will eradicate graft and corruption in government. I believe one of the first correct steps towards achieving this goal is for Congress to enact the Freedom of Information Act. The Freedom of Information Act, which has long been languishing in the House of Representatives, proposes to impose administrative, criminal and civil liabilities to any public official who delays the release or withholds public documents from the media or any interested citizen. I am a firm believer in what my former boss Senator Roco called the "sunshine principle" - germs do not grow in areas regularly exposed to sunlight - and if enacted into law, the Freedom of Information Act will pave the way for sunlight to be shone on all public transactions. Once public documents are freely open to media scrutiny, I believe that most public transactions will be rid of irregularities and graft and corruption in government will be lessened.

Take for example the most "basic" of public documents: the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN). The law requires that all government employees should declare their material possessions in their SALN every year and for most investigative journalists, the SALN is a very good starting point in determining who is corrupt and who is not. But, as most lawyers and reporters will attest, it is usually very hard to access the SALNs (especially of high government officials) and requesting parties are usually given the run-around or worse, ignored altogether by the government custodians. To cite a specific example, a lawyer-friend requested for a copy of the SALN of Palawan Congressman Baham Mitra (primarily to determine his place of address) and it took him several weeks just to procure a certified true copy from the office of the Secretary-General of the House of Representatives. As such, they were not able to use the residential information in the SALN to prove that Congressman Mitra indeed was a resident of Puerto Princesa City and not of Aborlan town, which automatically disqualifies him from running for governor of Palawan. (Puerto Princesa is a highly urbanized city and its residents do not vote for governor). If the information from the SALN was procured in a timely manner, my lawyer-friend claims that they could have used it to prevent an unqualified, non-resident candidate from winning the elections. So now Palawan is in turmoil because, although Congressman Mitra won the elections (by a slim margin over businessman Jose "Pepito"Alvarez) he is being hounded by lack of residency allegations and may very well be disqualified by the Supreme Court from assuming his post.

If the Freedom of Information Act does not get approved during this Congress, President Noynoy should make it his first order of business to have it passed into law during the incoming 15th Congress. The Freedom of Information Act will send the right signal that the Noynoy administration means business and that he is really serious about stopping graft and corruption in the Philippines.

Treñas and Mabilog Owe Their Victory to the Iloilo Chinese Community

The Comelec has already released their final tabulation and the numbers are quite compelling: For Congressman – Treñas 101,304 votes, Gonzalez Jr. 76,478 For Mayor – Mabilog 80,654 Gonzalez Sr. 65,509 and for Vice Mayor Joe III 63,319 Baronda 58,659. Treñas made a clean sweep of the city, besting Gonzalez Jr. in all of Iloilo City’s seven districts, while Mabilog won over Gonzalez Sr. in all but two districts, namely City Proper and Lapuz. Despite having the majority of barangay chairmen (138 to be exact), Gonzalez won in only 41 barangays while Treñas-Mabilog won in 139 out of the city’s 180 barangays. The Treñas-Mabilog victory will surely go down as one of the most exciting come-from-behind victory in Iloilo City election history. Today, coffee shop pundits are having a field day analysing and giving their two-cents worth analysis of how the duo managed to secure their upset victory.

Up until the eve of the elections, almost everyone in Iloilo City expected the Gonzalezes to win. On May 8 (Saturday), the Gonzalezes held a massive show of force thru their Miting de Avance at Freedom Grandstand which was attended by around 35,000 of their supporters. The day prior to that, the local Iglesia ni Cristo Chapter announced that they are supporting the Gonzalez father-and-son tandem (and Councilor Jam Baronda for vice mayor) and this seemed to many observers as the final nail in the coffin for the candidacies of Treñas and Mabilog. All throughout the campaign period, the Gonzalez camp have been busy “dishing out” various propaganda offensives which both Mabilog and Treñas found hard to counter, such as Jed’s transcript of records and Efren Gimeo’s land scam expose. It was also commonly believed that Treñas and Mabilog were having cash flow problems and that they did not have enough money to match the resources of the Gonzalezes. Faced with such daunting prospects, all that Treñas and Mabilog could do in response was to kneel down and pray for God’s help. And God did seem to hear their prayers, if we were to judge by the succeeding events.

Coffee shop pundits claim that Treñas and Mabilog won not so much because they had more money and the bigger machinery but more because the Gonzalez machinery collapsed on election eve. It is said that the 35,000-strong Women’s Brigade collapsed on the eve of elections because, seeing that the other camp was giving out P500, many of its members felt insulted receiving only P300 as “salary.” Brimming with confidence of their impending win, some Gonzalez barangay captains “withheld” the funds intended for election day purposes. In fact, a few days after the elections many of them went to Quintin Salas in order to return the “election budgets” they failed to release to the people.

Contrary to expectations and much to everybody’s surprise, the Treñas-Mabilog camp had money to spend on election day - their ward leaders were distributing P500 to P750 per voter. A source told me that the Treñas-Mabilog camp was in fact awash with cash because the local Filipino-Chinese Community delivered on their commitments and donated heavily at the last minute. And the local Filipino-Chinese community not only extended financial assistance, they actually came out in droves to vote for Treñas and Mabilog on election day, as a friend who regularly volunteers for the PPCRV observed. Thus, the “Chinese vote” effectively nullified the solid “Iglesia ni Cristo vote” of the Gonzalezes. And most Filipino-Chinese business owners had a “multiplier effect” since they compelled all their employees to vote straight for the Treñas-Mabilog ticket.

Thus, the May 2010 elections may very well signal a “paradigm shift” in how politics is played in Iloilo City. Power has now shifted from the barangay captains to the new local “king-makers” – the local businessman. The local Filipino-Chinese community, which control 90% of the businesses here, has demonstrated that they now have sufficient influence and clout to determine the outcome of elections in Iloilo City.

The Most Expensive Election Ever

The May 2010 elections will probably go down as the most expensive election in Iloilo City history. Almost everyone I know in Iloilo City received something (from as low as P200 to as high as P1,500), with some accepting money from two or more candidates (a practice termed locally as “double cropping”). Even the Ilonggo middle-class, which traditionally frowns on such vote-buying practices, eagerly grabbed the chance to make a few fast bucks (although the middle-class prefers to have their money delivered to them in their gated subdivisions ala “door-to-door,” unlike their poorer cousins). The very few persons I know who did not get any money did so more because of personal choice – they refused to accept the money offered to them – but the fact that they were offered money is an indication of the rampant and pervasive vote-buying that occurred during the recently-concluded elections.

It is said that the Gonzalezes spent around P200 million while Treñas and Mabilog reportedly spent P200 million and P100 million respectively during the elections. Summed up, it amounts to a mind-boggling P500 million! 500 million pesos – this is more or less the total amount of money which circulated in Iloilo City during the last elections. This is probably the reason why SM City and Robinsons mall are so full of people these past few days. People are buying groceries or shopping for clothes or upgrading their cellphones, and I notice that the neighbourhood tambays are drinking beer instead of their usual whiskey or gin.

In previous elections, people were happy to receive 200 pesos. Today, voters feel “insulted” if they receive P200 pesos. This is because the average “going-rate” for a vote is P500 to P1,000 even, and the ward leader who distributes a smaller amount is automatically suspected of pocketing campaign funds by his people.

Needless to say, this development is very disturbing for me because now elections will be decided on how large a candidates’s campaign kitty is and not based on his credentials and achievements. Money blurs our people’s vision and it affects their judgement. I mean, it was quite obvious that among the three candidates for mayor (Gonzalez, Jamora and Mabilog) it is Jed who is the least-qualified and least-prepared to tackle the problems of our city. Among the candidates for congressman (Gonzalez, Malabor and Treñas), I believe it was Jun Gonzalez who is the most qualified candidate because he would have entered Congress as a senior legislator and would have carried with him the clout inherent to a third-termer lawmaker.

The bitter lesson for all politicians is this: people do not reward good performance. That is why I would not be surprised if Treñas (should he be elected Congressman) would discontinue the Free Medical Referral program instituted by the Gonzalezes. For years Congressman Gonzalez has been helping countless poor people thru this free hospitalization program and look what it got him: nada. On election day, voters remember not the service but only the money. I have always thought that Iloilo City voters are different and more politically sophisticated than their cousins in the interior towns (where vote-buying has long been institutionalized). I guess I was wrong.