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DATA A DAY: Barangay benefits

November 4, 2013November 4, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

CLOSE TO 800,000 candidates ran for various positions in the just concluded 2013 barangay elections, quite a number considering how unpoliticized the barangay elections should be.

Up for grabs last week were the position of barangay captain and seven barangay council members for each of the 40,000 barangays all over the country.

But there was more than just the position that was up for grabs – barangay officials, while getting no salaries, are entitled to many benefits. Some of these benefits are in the form of financial assistance, others are in the form of political and social influence.

In today’s Data a Day:

Aside from honoraria, what other benefits do barangay officials get?

For the answer to that question, click this link or visit the PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics Online website.

DATA A DAY: Of pork and positions

October 29, 2013October 29, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

RECENTLY, THE GOVERNANCE COMMISSION FOR GOCCs (Government-Owned or Controlled Corporations) had recommended the abolition of five government corporations in the wake of the pork barrel scandal.

The five corporations were largely instrumental in disbursing funds and overseeing the implementation of billions of pesos in pork barrel projects that were later found to have been assigned to ghost nongovernmental organizations.

These government corporations include the Philippine Forest Corporation, the National Agribusiness Corporation, the Technology Resources Center, the National Livelihood Development Corporation, and the ZNAC Rubber Estate Corporation.

What few people seem to realize is that the abolition of these corporations will result in the termination of employment of many civil servants.

For today’s Data a Day:

How many government employees will lose their jobs if President Benigno S. Aquino III abolishes the five government corporations allegedly involved in the pork barrel scandal?

For the answer to today’s Data a Day, just click this direct link or go to the PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics Online website here.

Images from 2013 barangay polls

October 28, 2013October 28, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

MILLIONS OF FILIPINOS trooped to their polling precincts today to elect the officials of the smallest local government unit in the country – the barangay.

While barangay elections are sometimes dismissed by some as insignificant, the barangay is the closest government unit that the ordinary Filipino will ever get to interact with in his lifetime. At the village level, barangay officials are, for many Filipinos, the only real face of governance in an archipelago so fragmented along ethnic, cultural, geographical, and political lines.

In fact, Section 38 of the Omnibus Election Code provides that “the barangay election shall be non-partisan and shall be conducted in an expeditious and inexpensive manner” in order to shield them from the influence of political parties that may try to use them as part of their campaign machineries.

But it is really at the barangay level that the political machine works; any political operator worth his salt knows that the allegiance of the village chiefs is key in capturing local, and eventually, national positions.

On Monday, the country’s 54 million registered voters come out for yet another political fiesta, where the stakes may appear smaller, although they really strike closer to home.

Elections in the Philippines have always been family affairs, both from the side of the candidates and their political parties (or their political clans), and from the point of view of the voters who bring their children, grandchildren, and pets.

And of course, there were the usual problems of voters unable to find their names in the voters list. For the barangay elections, the Commission on Elections had decided to revert to the manual voting and counting. In the last May 2013 national and local elections, the Comelec had used the Precinct Count Optical Count or PCOS machines.

What this also means is that the counting in some precincts may last long into the night, especially in areas where there are many voters per precinct. This also raises the possibility of more heated exchanges between losing candidates and the Board of Election Inspectors, as the candidates may try to challenge the manual count.

But if some dismiss the barangay elections, there are those who appear committed to make their ballot count. This senior citizen came to the voting precinct in Quezon City despite her difficulty walking, as evidenced by the walker she strapped on to the tricycle she was riding after casting her ballot.

On the other hand, this disabled fellow hobbled around in front of the voting precinct on his one good leg, distributing sample ballots unmindful of the difficulty, and of the fact that his activity was also illegal.

Rep. Barzaga replies to PCIJ pork story

October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

ON October 14, 2013, PCIJ received a five-page letter from Dasmariñas City Rep. Elpidio F. Barzaga Jr., a response to the first two parts of PCIJ’s four-part series on the use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork-barrel funds during the Aquino administration.

Along with other lawmakers, Barzaga was mentioned in “Abuse, misuse of PDAF linger under ‘Daang Matuwid‘” and “Same, same bad pork: ‘Chop-chop’ contracts, duplicate projects, etc.” because of the P20.9-million PDAF he allocated for asphalt overlay, which will no longer be allowed in the new mechanism in lieu of pork funds. (See related story.)

PCIJ found out that lawmakers in the 15^th Congress allocated half a billion pesos of their PDAF for asphalt overlays, dredging, desilting, and re-graveling. Over P2 billion, meanwhile, went to the acquisition of medicine, training kits, seeds and seedlings, and fertilizer. President Benigno S. Aquino III had earlier announced that these types of infrastructure projects and soft projects will no longer be implemented in the new mechanism because these projects are difficult to track.

In the letter dated October 10, 2013, Barzaga said that the roads he identified for rehabilitation are asphalted roads in a “very dilapidated condition with potholes as deep as one foot and have been the subject of complaints by my constituents.”

Despite the news about the alleged pork-barrel scam, Barzaga, a third-term congressman, wrote that he can proudly say that he has been “very prudent and honest in the disposition of my pork barrel from 2007 up to present.” He added that his website pidibarzaga.com contains information on his use of the PDAF.

Two Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) were issued to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Cavite District Engineering Office for Barzaga’s asphalting projects – one worth P20 million on Nov. 24, 2011 and another P20 million on Mar. 22, 2013, of which P900,000 was used for asphalt overlay. Copies of these documents are attached to Barzaga’s letter as annexes.

The Nov. 24, 2011 release was allocated for the asphalting of a road at Barangay Luzviminda 2, Salitran III Road, and access roads in Greenfield Heights Subdivision and Via Verde Subdivision.

Barzaga said these roads are city roads and thus cannot be funded by the DPWH because it only covers national roads. “I wish I had enough budget in order to complete the asphalting and/or concreting of all the city and barangay roads in my congressional district so that these projects could not be called ‘quickie infra’ or ‘chop-chop’ projects,” he said.

Barzaga added that even P1 billion would not be sufficient to cover the entire city and barangay roads of Dasmariñas City with asphalt and/or concrete, which he said is “practically the reason why, as you have mentioned and described, I have to chop-chop the P20 million in order to meet the needs of my constituents.”

“After all, as it has always been said, ‘a journey to a thousand miles begins with a single step,’” the congressman said.

As for the P900,000 asphalting project, Barzaga said the balance of the P20-million SARO allotted for multi-purpose buildings covered this. The multi-purpose buildings cost P19.1 million, leaving an amount that was not sufficient to complete the construction of another multi-purpose building. The remaining funds were instead used for the asphalting of Congressional Avenue located in front of the Dasmariñas Elementary Central 2 and the Dasmariñas National High School.

Download link for REP. ELPIDIO BARZAGA LETTER.

‘Transparency not panacea for true accountability’

October 21, 2013October 21, 2013 Ed Lingao Leave a comment

MAKING VAST AMOUNTS OF data available to the public is not enough, and in fact should not be used as a replacement for true accountability.

This was the message delivered by World Bank governance specialist Hanif Rahemtullah during the launch of the Independent Reporting Mechanism’s (IRM) Philippine report for the Open Government Partnership earlier last week. The IRM is a separate mechanism established by the OGP, a network of governments pushing for transparency, in order to assess or evaluate the performance of member-countries in implementing their transparency commitments. The IRM researcher for the Philippines is the PCIJ Executive Director Malou Mangahas.

Rahemtullah told a forum organized during the launch of the IRM report that while the government has made significant strides in the area of transparency, it must make greater efforts to ensure participation and accountability.

“It is important to know that transparency is not enough, it is not a panacea for accountability,” Rahemtullah said. “There must be a mechanism for participation, to support participation.”

Rahemtullah also emphasized the need for a Freedom of Information (FOI) act. However, Rahemtullah stressed that this FOI will only work if it is complemented by a proper cataloging of the data that government has. For example, Rahemtullah said many people would now know what kind of information government has, and what kind of information it is making available. Without this information, Rahemtullah said it would be difficult for ordinary citizens to imagine what kind of information they would ask from the government.

“The FOI, while I think is extremely important, needs to be underpinned by ensuring that people know what government data are actually held by governments themselves,” Rahemtullah said. “If you are to make a request, you must know what data government actually holds. Underpinning this is the need to start cataloging all government data sets so the public knows what types of informati0n the government has.”

In addition, Rahemtullah pointed out that while there is a lot of government data now being made available, a lot of it is “fragmented” and difficult to analyze or correlate. Government must make the data available in an orderly and public-friendly fashion so that ordinary citizens and civil society organizations can access the data and understand the data as well.

“Not everyone will be able to understand the budget in its raw form,” Rahemtullah said. “(How do you) sensitize the public to understand this information?”

“It is not just about releasing all information into the public domain. There is a need to engage CSOs about the types of data that is valuable, and make sure that the information is regularly made available and updated,” he added.

As well, Rahemtullah said it would be good if government can also establish a “policy incentive structure” that would encourage departments to “publish data in a timely manner.” This could take various forms, such as incentives and transparency seals, he said.