Massive Corruption and Bad Governance under Duterte

MASSIVE CORRUPTION AND BAD GOVERNANCE UNDER DUTERTE

LACSON FUMES OVER ‘UNLAWFUL’ BUDGET CHANGE

By: Marlon Ramos - Reporter / @MRamosINQ

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:30 AM March 02, 2019

Leaders of the House of Representatives unlawfully altered the P3.8-trillion spending bill that Congress had already ratified by cutting the pork allocations of some 60 congressmen, Sen. Panfilo Lacson alleged on Friday.

Lacson, in a text message to the Inquirer, said the alteration was “not only unconstitutional” but also “violative of the legislative process.”

“This is what I consider anomalous and tantamount to abuse of discretion and violative of the Constitution,” he said. “For how can the Senate President and Speaker certify that they are enrolling [a bill] approved in plenary when it is not?”

“Whatever it is, these are things that they do for greed. It’s a shame and revolting, to say the least,” he said in a separate statement.

…Asked who could have ordered the changes in the ratified spending bill, he said: “The congressmen-sources indicated no one else but the House leaders.”

…Different from ‘insertions’

Lacson said the projects that the House members wanted funded were different from the “insertions” that they already introduced during the budget deliberations.

These, he said, violated the 2013 decision of the Supreme Court outlawing the pork barrel system, which is officially known as the Priority Development Assistance Fund.

“While, technically speaking, it may not constitute post-legislation enactment since the President has not yet signed the budget measure, we can see clear abuse of discretion, especially if done without the concurrence of the Senate,” Lacson said.

“This latest caper that the House leadership is trying to pull off may also constitute violation of the 1987 Constitution,” he added.

Lacson said he intended to closely check if the final version of the national budget that would be transmitted to Malacañang was the same as the one that Congress approved.

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1091244/pork-for-60-house-members-unlawfully-cut-lacson-fumes#ixzz5ruqv7wyG

DUTERTE MUST EXPLAIN WEALTH – SERENO

By: Julie M. Aurelio, Nestor P. Burgos Jr. - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 07:27 AM April 09, 2019

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has the duty to explain the significant increases in his family’s earnings instead of saying it was nobody’s business, former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said here on Monday.

On the sidelines of a voter education forum on the University of the Philippines Visayas campus, Sereno said the explanation was more necessary amid allegations that members of the President’s family were involved in illegal drugs.

“I believe that we (government officials) should display a simple lifestyle. If an official is suspiciously wealthy, there should be an explanation. And the explanation should be made public,” Sereno said.

A three-part report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) found significant increases in the incomes of the President and his children, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and former Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte, while they were in office.

Using data curated from his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs), PCIJ said the net worth of the President, a former mayor, rose 195 percent from P9.69 million in 2007 to P28.54 million in 2017.

The net worth of Sara jumped 518 percent, from P7.25 million in 2007 to P44.83 million in 2017, while that of Paolo jumped 233 percent, from P8.34 million to P27.74 million.

PCIJ also found that the Dutertes had interests and engagements in at least 23 corporate entities but did not consistently declare them in their SALNs.

It claimed that they had an unregistered law firm and shares that they did not declare.

Nobody’s business

During a profanity-laden speech here on Saturday, the President said that whatever his family earned outside of politics was nobody’s business.

He came to his children’s defense, claiming that their wealth came from their businesses and law firms. He went on to say that he had also received inheritance from his mother Soledad Duterte, a schoolteacher.

“You yellows, all the time I was with my mother. Even when I was already mayor, my mother still fed me,” the President said, using a broad reference to Liberal Party members and critics of his administration. “She left us with money. But do I have to tell you how much?”

In a statement, PCIJ executive director Malou Mangahas on Sunday said that under the SALN law, all public officials should file “truthful and complete” disclosures of their assets, liabilities and net worth.

…Certified true copies

The corporate documents and asset records used in the reports were also authenticated as certified true copies.

“It would have been far better had Mr. Duterte . . . Sara . . . and Paolo granted PCIJ’s request for comment, and possibly sit-down interviews, before the story ran,” Mangahas said.

…The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said the President and his family were not exempt from the transparency mandated by the Constitution and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

“As for his accusation against investigative journalists, if he has proof, by all means present it,” said Nonoy Espina, NUJP chair. “As far as we know, many of the investigative journalists we know are among the creme de la creme of the profession.”

Sereno said journalists “are just seeking answers to questions.” 

“It is clear that the people need an explanation. He is not being accused (of any crime or violation) as of now,” she said.

Sereno was removed from office last year due to her alleged failure to submit some of her SALNs when she worked as a professor in UP Diliman before she was appointed to the high court.

She had explained that she then was not able to secure a copy from UP because these were missing. —With a report from Jhesset O. Enano

Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1104528/duterte-must-explain-wealth-sereno#ixzz6CsQ6js16

EXPLANATION WANTED

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 09:08 AM April 10, 2019

…Among the PCIJ’s findings were that:

The net worth from 2007 to 2017 of the President rose 195 percent from P9.69 million to P28.54 million; of Sara Duterte, 518 percent from P7.25 million to P44.83 million; and of Paolo Duterte, 233 percent from P8.34 million to P27.74 million.

The law firm Carpio and Duterte Lawyers, in which Sara Duterte and her husband Mans Carpio are partners, has not been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission since it was put up a decade ago.

The law firm “is a hugely opaque matter in the Dutertes’ wealth records particularly because it has recently shown an appetite for big corporations with big controversial cases before government regulatory agencies,” the PCIJ said.

It also said that the President’s “disclosures in his asset records across 20 years are woefully inconsistent,” and that his daughter and son “are similarly ambiguous in the declarations they have made under oath” in their SALNs across 11 years.

It is clear why the faithful accomplishment and filing of SALNs are required of everyone in the government starting from the President down. It is a requirement based on the Constitution and on Republic Act No. 6713, or an act establishing “a code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees to uphold the time-honored principle of public office being a public trust…”

Based on this document, to which any Filipino can gain access for the purpose of information, the behavior of any government official or employee can be assessed if he or she is adhering to the law or the lofty ideals of public service.

…It wasn’t too long ago when details of then President Joseph Estrada’s hidden wealth surfaced, startling those still reeling from the Marcos plunder.

Per the private prosecutors involved in Estrada’s abbreviated impeachment trial, his wealth covered cash deposits in practically every bank in the country as well as prime real estate, including the notorious “Boracay mansion” in Quezon City that was purchased for P142 million for his favorite mistress—all unsurprisingly not reflected on his SALNs.

…The luxury mansion of a senator who could otherwise have been mistaken for a toadstool, so silent was he during his incumbency, can be freely seen online; his wife was once stopped at a US airport for attempting to smuggle in tens of thousands of dollars.

A former military comptroller and his family were found to have amassed more than P300 million in unexplained wealth; the big unraveling occurred when the wife and son were stopped at another US airport with scads of dollars on their persons. (“Gratitude money” for the comptroller, the wife claimed.)

The spouses of the Ampatuan dynasts of Maguindanao are said to be top clients of luxury shops in Makati. Etc.

All these stories of excess and thievery, all the massive drains on taxpayer money… It’s time things changed. If not now, when?

Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/120680/explanation-wanted#ixzz6CsSZ9Bla

OVERCHARGING WITH IMPUNITY

By: Cielito F. Habito - @inquirerdotnet

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 09:10 AM April 26, 2019

…excessive greed all adds up to keep us from achieving a more dynamic and broad-based economy that uplifts all lives.

…Thanks to insiders in the trade services industries that include freight forwarders, warehouse operators and truckers, I learned of how excessive greed there preys on small businesses relying on small shipments of imported inputs (it’s not as bad for large firms able to import by the container-load). For many years, I’ve been looking at how government inadequacies stifle small business development in our country, but didn’t expect that formidable obstacles lie within the private sector itself.

…From what I’ve learned, it’s the freight forwarders and the off-dock container freight station (CFS) or warehouse operators who have been overcharging importers somewhat arbitrarily, and with impunity. The whole scheme, as described to me, came about as follows: Many years ago, these firms started “bribing” their respective customers to use their services, with “rebates” that, along with profit margins, swelled over time. Freight forwarders pay rebates to exporters abroad to get them to use their services; it amounts to “buying” their cargo.

…Meanwhile, the CFS operators pay the freight forwarders similar “rebates” to patronize their warehouses. All those added costs, along with arbitrary profits, are hidden in the total amount charged to the hapless importer, who pays for it all, on a per cubic meter or per ton (whichever leads to a higher amount) basis.

To get a sense of the numbers, the rebates used to be at $100 per 40-foot container ($50 for 20-footers) back around 1998. By 2006, these started skyrocketing and peaked at P12,000 ($200-$300 depending on the exchange rate) per cubic meter or ton, translating to a whopping $8,000 per 40-foot container (around $3,000 per 20-footer). This amount is shared between the foreign forwarder and their local agent or branch. Meanwhile, Mayor Joseph Estrada’s Manila truck ban gave truckers the excuse to jack up rates from P3,500-P4,500 to P10,000-P12,000 per container—which have stayed there since, even as the ban is gone.

All these unwarranted trade costs lead to much higher costs of commodities than they need to be. So don’t think it’s only dishonest public officials making life hard for all of us.

cielito.habito@gmail.com

Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/120973/overcharging-with-impunity#ixzz6DbecoWco

Bad governance, especially massive corruption, has deleterious economic effects, inevitably. If the Philippine people believe we can carry on in this manner without being impacted by disastrous consequences, they delude themselves.