Category: Jejomar C Binay

Wealth Check: JEJOMAR BINAY

mcmangahas

By The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

PCIJ. JEJOMAR BINAY SALN Timeline. may 2016

JEJOMAR ‘JOJO’ BINAY marked his Year 1 in public office as OIC (officer-in-charge) mayor of the country’s premier financial district, Makati City, in 1989 with a net worth of only P2.9 million.

Twenty-five years hence in 2014, this grew to P60.2 million, but also a cumulative 20 times more from his first year in office. He has filed a total of 23 SALNs, copies of nearly all on file at the PCIJ.

His 2014 net worth consists of the following entries: real properties valued at P13.92 million, personal and other properties of P62.38 (total assets: P76.3 million), and liabilities of P16 million.

But in 1989, Binay started with just the following: P183,445 in real properties, P3.7 million in personal and other properties, and liabilities of P2.87 million.

The year he was elected vice president in 2010 was also the year that Binay marked the biggest leap in his net worth. From just P44.8 million in his 2009 SALN, he reported a net worth of P58.09 million, including real properties of P16.88 million, personal and other properties of P42.7 million, and liabilities of only P1.5 million.

His 2014 SALN also saw a P10-million uptick in his personal and other properties from 2013: P52.3 million to P62.38 million, even as the value of his real properties stood still at P13 million.

Curiously, Binay’s liabilities of only P6.05 million in 2013 more than doubled in 2014 to P16.05 million, and a P20-million variance in his net worth. In his 2014 SALN, he said he owed unnamed creditors P10 million in personal loans, P5.7 million in auto loans, and P370,000 other liabilities.

For all the accusations of alleged plunder and unexplained wealth against Binay in months of public hearing by the Senate’s Blue Ribbon subcommittee, the Vice President did not declare owning any houses or apartments in his 2014 SALN. All that he listed as real properties were three pieces of residential and agricultural lots in Makati worth just slightly over P13 million.

But Binay seems to be rolling in dough. He declared having P38.8 million in cash on hand and in bank, apart from P4.2-million invested in growing flowers and pigs. His SALN for 2014 lists only one business entity: Blooms & Bouquet Flower Shop located at Unit 3, Southway Condominium, Mayapis Street, San Antonio Village, Makati City. It has a “nursery” in Batangas that Binay said he co-owns with his wife and former Makati Mayor Dr. Elenita Binay.

It was only in his SALN filing for the years 1999 to 2009 that Binay disclosed having interest in a second business second entity: JCB Farms, a piggery located in Maligaya, Rosario, Batangas. He acknowledged, though, that his “acquisition of/connection with” JCB Farms started years earlier in 1995.

In addition, the Vice President has a fleet of vehicles, including a Ford Club Wagon and Toyota Land Cruiser, altogether worth P11 million; P6.2 million in “furniture, antiques, clothing and other personal properties”; P1.1 million in jewelry; and P829,000 in “prepaid income tax/creditable withholding tax.”

Among the presidentiables, Binay and Duterte are the only ones whose immediate family members have held prominent political posts. Politics, in fact, has practically become a family business for both Binay and Duterte.

Jojo and Elenita Binay and son Jejomar Erwin Jr. or Junjun have taken turns serving as mayor of the financial district of Makati City since 1987 — an uninterrupted 29-year reign of the clan in Makati City.

In the three years that she served as Makati City mayor from 1997 to 2000, Elenita Binay filed four SALNs jointly with her husband, all marked with constantly rising values of their conjugal net worth.

She started with P15.82 million in her 1997 SALN, P17.49 million in 1998, P20.06 million in 1999, and P24.37 million in 2000. (From 1998 to 1999, while his wife was Makati mayor, Jojo Binay worked as chairperson of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority or MMDA as an appointee of then President Joseph Estrada.)

Daughter Mar-Len Abigail has served two terms (2010-2016) as congressman and is now running for Makati mayor, while the eldest Binay child, Ma. Lourdes Nancy, remains senator until 2019.

Abigail’s husband is Luis Jose Angel N. Campos, now candidate for the Congress seat that she is vacating, while Nancy’s spouse is businessman Jose Benjamin R. Angeles.

Currently suspended Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay became a city councilor straight from college (where he majored in creative writing and public administration) and Abigail, from law school. Before plunging into national politics in 2010, Nancy, a tourism graduate, had her hands full as a wife and mother and as a partner in her husband’s family businesses.

A third Binay daughter, Anne, works as executive assistant at the Vice President’s office. Only the youngest child Joanna Marie is not in public service on either elective or appointive capacity.

All told, the combined net worth by 2014 of the four Binays currently in elective public posts had amounted to a handsome sum of P191,155,922. The combined value of all their real assets and personal properties for 2014 was a whopping P322,861,763. Their combined liabilities, meanwhile, was a significant P131,706,041.

Notably, the sharp uptick in the net worth that the Binays had declared in separate SALNs similarly occurred before or after the years when elections were conducted in the country: 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2003-2004, 2007-2008, 2009-2010, and 2012-2013.

PCIJ. Binay SALN may 2016alth

Individually, the three older Binay children in public office are more than affluent, even if they have not really had enough years or opportunity to grow their wealth by leaps and bounds outside of politics.

Junjun started with a net worth of P1.1 million on his first run as councilor of Makati in 1998, when he was just 21 years old. By 2014, at age 37, he was declaring a net worth of P19.34 million on just his salary as mayor.

He reported liabilities of P5,000 as income tax payable; P25.99 million in loans payable; P6.26 million in other payables; and P841,000 in auto loans.

Now a widower raising three children, Junjun declared purchasing various real properties (residential, mix-use) from 1996 to 2005 in Tagaytay City in Cavite; and in Nasugbu and Loco in Batangas.

But his personal properties saw a tremendous surge in value beginning 2005 while he was still a councilor and on to becoming mayor in 2010.

In his SALN for 2014, Junjun Binay declared having P13.2 million cash on hand and in bank, P24.7 million in investments; P5.5 million in art, jewelry, and other personal properties; P3.3 million in vehicles; P3.72 million in furniture, antiques, and appliances; and P535,000 more in other unspecified personal assets.

In 1999, when he first filed his SALN as councilor, Junjun had only these personal properties: P4.16 million cash on hand and in bank; P1.3 million in vehicles; P575,000 in stocks; P564,210 in furniture and antiques; and P587,280 in jewelry.

From 1999 to 2014—the period during which he was working his way from councilor to vice mayor, to mayor of Makati — Junjun Binay said he was a shareholder or had acquired interests in a plethora of business entities, notably:

• Dinette;
• Greenwich;
• Savona Estate Inc.;
• Hermitage & Manor Realty & Management Corp.;
• Millenium (sic) Food Chains Corp.;
• First Responder Safety Solutions Inc. , as shareholder;
• Stony Road Horse Farm Inc., as shareholder;
• Balagan Sporting Equipment Inc., as shareholder;
• Seahawk Retail Ventures Inc., as shareholder;
• Lakan Tagkan Real Estate Corp., as shareholder; and
• Bravehouse Holdings Inc., as shareholder.

Makati City 2nd District Rep. Abigail Binay, meanwhile, has a net worth as of 2014 of P48.99 million — assets of P78.40 million minus liabilities of P29.4 million — according to an official report of the House of Representatives on the 2014 SALN of its members.

Abigail’s net worth has undergone remarkable growth from only P10.7 million in 2007 to P14.1 million in 2012, to P29.4 million in 2008.

Among her real properties, Abigail listed the following, and their various modes of acquisition from 2000 to 2009, or before she joined Congress:

• Lobo, Batangas, 2005, sale;
• Lobo, Batangas, 2005, purchase;
• Biga Sto. Tomas, Isabela, 2008, donation;
• Langkaan, Dasmarinas, Cavite, donation;
• Biclatan, Gen. Trias, Cavite, 2000, purchase; and
• San Lorenzo Village, Makati, 2009, purchase.

The last property, according to Abigail, had an acquisition cost of only P3.17 million, fair market value of P10.19 million, and acquisition-cost-plus-improvements value of P14 million flat.

In her SALN filings from 2010, Abigail listed the interests and financial connections that she said she acquired from 1992 to 2008, or before she was elected legislator:

• MAS Binay Enterprise, supposedly a “Consumer Distributor of SMART ELOAD and others”;
• Subido Pagente Certeza Mendoza and Binay Law Office, as a Partner;
• Hermitage and Manor Realty and Management Corp.;
• Millenium (sic) Food Chains, Inc.;
• Xnails, Inc.;
• Petsters Company, as a Partner;
• A & T Stores Specialists, Inc. ;
• Dalisay Farms Corporation, with spouse Luis N. Campos, Jr. as Stockholder;
• L & N Food Corporation, with Luis N. Campos, Jr.;
• Dasmarinas Realty Corporation, with Luis N. Campos, Jr.; and
• Vartec Food Concepts Inc., with Luis N. Campos, Jr.

Abigail also listed among her personal properties that were acquired from 1994 to 1997 stocks in Kuko-Phil. Petron valued at P25,201; paintings worth P471,500; life insurance cash option credits of P308,480; jewelry worth P1 million; vehicles worth P9.66 million; capital in business worth P10.77 million; and P10.32 million cash on hand and in bank.

In 1994, Abigail was just 19 years old. It was only in 1997 when she graduated from the University of the Philippines in Los Banos with a degree in B.S. Human Ecology. In 2001, she obtained her Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Abigail’s official profile on the website of the House of Representatives showed her brief work experience as follows: Chief Finance Officer of JCB Farms from 2002 to 2005; Legal Associate, Balane Tamase Alampay Law Office, Legal Associate, July 2003 – March 2007; and Partner, Subido Pagente Certeza Mendoza and Binay Law Office, March 2007 to June 2007.

In all her available SALN, however, Abigail has not disclosed her business or financial interests in JCB Farms.

Among her liabilities, she enrolled the following across her various SALN filings:

• Tax-income tax, P2,320,317.27;
• Chattel Mortgage, P1,359,717.69;
• Chattel Mortgage, Banco de Oro, P1,658,249;
• Premium Loan (unpaid life insurance premium), P259,622.43;
• Chattel Mortgage, Banco de Oro, P1,745,160;
• Loan, SPCMB Law Office, P12,000,000; and
• Company-related liabilities, P966,402.88.

As for Senator Nancy Binay, she declared a net worth in June 2013 of P63.94 million upon assumption into office. This dipped a bit to P63.8 million in December 2014, and went down a little more to P62.56 million by December 2014.

Nancy’s SALN filings for 2013 and 2014 show that she is the proprietor since 1999 of Jajan Marketing and a shareholder from 1994 to 2006, together with spouse, in the following business interests:

• J.A. Development Corporation;
• AB Summit Insurance Agency, Inc.;
• Purple Ginger Inc.;
* St. Andrew’s A-C Services Inc.;
• Dinet Marketing Corporation;
• Mistico Inc.;
• Hermitage & Manor Realty & Management Corp.;
• Tetrarchy Inc.;
• Aquastar Consolidated Environmental Services Inc.; and
• Supremecapital Corporation.

For her liabilities, Nancy listed the following in her latest SALN:

• Income tax payables, Bureau of Internal Revenue, P2,615,789;
• Loans payable, Various, P11,000,000; and
• Other payables, Various, P22,610,275. — PCIJ, May 2012
__________________________________________
For details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

Kamag-anak, Inc.: Power is family to 5 wannabe president

mcmangahas

By the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

VOTERS KEEN in assessing the fitness for office of the five candidates for President in the upcoming elections may want to look at the presidentiables’ political pedigree and blood relations.

The five, after all, have occupied elective and appointive posts from a minimum of five to a maximum of 24 years. They spring, too, from political families with short to long histories, or slight to strong pedigree.

In many parts of the country, elective power and position typically beget appointive power and positions. In the case of the current crop of presidential candidates, are we electing only the persons whose names are on the ballot or members of their family as well?

By their own admission in their respective Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) across the years, in small and large measure, power is family to the top candidates in next month’s balloting.

The picture varies, though. Some have as few as two while others have as many as eight relatives in the government service.

Here’s a rundown of the political history and family ties in the government of the five presidentiables:


VICE PRESIDENT JEJOMAR ‘JOJO’ CABAUATAN BINAY had served as mayor of Makati City for nearly 20 years — from 1986 to 1996, and again, from 2001-2010.
JEJOMAR BINAY

During this period and in the intervening years, he had also worked as chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority; and director of the Light Railway Transit Authority (1987, 1996-1998); director of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (1987), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (1987, 1990, 1991).

In his younger years as a lawyer, Binay had been a law professor and lecturer at the Philippine College of Commerce; St. Catherine’s School of Nursing and Midwifery; Philippine Women’s University; and St. Scholastica’s College.

He was a senior partner of the Binay, Cueva and Associates Law Office and had earlier worked as assistant attorney at the Deogracias T. Reyes Law Office; legal counsel of Manila Councilor Carlos Loyzaga; and claims examiner, Insular Life Assurance Company.

He is married to Dr. Elenita Sombillo Binay, who was elected Mayor of Makati City from 1998 to 2001, or during the three years that Binay could not run for the post.

The Binays have five children:

* Sen. Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay, who is married to Jose Benjamin Raymundo Angeles;
* Makati City 2nd District Rep. Mar-Len Abigail Binay, who is married to Luis Jose Angel Nakpil Campos;
* Suspended Makati City Mayor Jejomar Erwin ‘Junjun’ Binay Jr., who was married to the late Kennedy Ann L. Binay;
* Marita Angeline Binay, and
* Joanna Marie Bianca Binay.

In his latest SALN, for 2014, Jejomar Binay declared having four children in the government service, including three holding elective posts: son Junjun and daughters Abigail and Nancy. Marita Angeline, meanwhile, holds the appointive post of head executive assistant, with rank of Director IV, in the Office of the Vice President.

SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR-SANTIAGO has served as a trial court presiding judge, then Immigration commissioner, and Agrarian Reform secretary. She has been senator since 1997. Her third term in the Upper House will end this June.
MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

In December 2011, she was the first Filipina and Asian to be elected to a nine-year tenure as judge of the International Criminal Court. But she later declined the post, citing as reason chronic fatigue, which eventually led to a diagnosis of lung cancer.

Santiago’s relatives provide her access to a network of politicians and bureaucrats. Her cousins, nephews, and a niece have served alternately as representatives of the third district of both Quezon City and Iloilo from the 12th to the 15th Congress (2001-2013). Her husband, lawyer Narciso Yap Santiago Jr., has also been appointed to various government offices.

Two of Santiago’s cousins and a sister have held key positions in the Bureau of Customs, the Commission on Audit, and the Commission on Higher Education.

In her SALN for 2014, Santiago said she has eight relatives in the government service.

The senator’s sister Nanalyn Defensor serves as her chief of staff, cousin Mary Grace Katigbak is Political Affairs Officer, and sister-in-law Chona Defensor is Director 1, at the Senate.

Her paternal first cousin Arthur Defensor Sr. is incumbent governor, and his son Arthur Jr. is the congressman of the third district of her home province of Iloilo.

Maternal cousin-in-law Estrellita Bito-onon Suansing is the congressman of the 1st District of Nueva Ecija.

Cousin-in-law Vivian Suansing is assistant director at the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

During the Arroyo administration, Santiago’s brother Benjamin P. Defensor Jr. was Air Force chief. Santiago’s husband Narciso Jr., meanwhile, was an undersecretary of the Interior and Local Government under both Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The Santiagos had two sons Narciso III or “Archie” and Alexander Robert or “AR,” who died in a reported suicide in 2003.

On July 18, 2007, Senator Santiago herself swore into office son Archie as representative of the Alliance of Rural Concerns (ARC) party-list group, which won a seat in that year’s elections. This was even after ARC had withdrawn Archie’s nomination as its top nominee, for supposed “loss of confidence, dishonesty, unauthorized exercise of authority and gross violations of the group’s Constitution and by-laws.” ARC has focused its advocacy on the extension of the comprehensive agrarian reform program.

The Santiagos have adopted daughters, twins Megan and Molly.

RODRIGO “DIGONG’ ROA DUTERTE has dominated Davao City politics for nearly three decades now. He has served as its as mayor for two three-term cycles (1988-1998 and 2001-2010). He was its vice mayor from 2010—2013 and then mayor again from 2013 to the present.
RODRIGO DUTERTE

In 1998-2001, Duterte sat in Congress as representative of Davao City’s first district.

Duterte is separated from first wife Elizabeth Abellana Zimmerman, with whom he has three children: Paolo, Sebastian, and Sara Duterte-Carpio, who was Davao City mayor from 2010 to 2013. A fourth child, Veronica, was born to second wife, Honeylet Avancena, a nurse by profession.

Duterte has two siblings: brother Benjamin and sister Jocelyn.

In his SALN for 2014, Duterte listed six relatives in the government service. They include son Paolo who is Davao City vice mayor; brother Benjamin who is his “private secretary”; nephew Wilfrido Villarica, Administration Officer I of Davao City; daughter-in-law January Duterte, councilor/barangay captain of Catalunan Grande in Davao City; niece-in-law Jean Villarica, “auxiliary worker” of the CENRO (City Environment and Natural Resources Office); and co-parent-in-law Agnes Reyes-Carpio, a Court of Appeals Justice.

SENATOR MARY GRACE POE-LLAMANZARES has the shortest stint in public service among the presidentiables — as chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) from 2010 to 2012, and as senator since June 2013.

GRACE POE
Poe has spent longer years working in the private sector. In 1995, she worked as a preschool teacher at a Philippine “Montessori education-style school,” and in 1998, as procurement officer at the United States Geological Survey. In 2005, she was named vice president and treasurer of FPJ Productions, the company of her father, popular action movie star Fernando Poe Jr., who died in December 2004.

In her SALN for 2014, Poe declared having two relatives in the government: cousin Lawrence Cruz, a PAO (Public Affairs Officer) III at the Senate, and cousin-in-law Anna Camille Sevilla, a Director IV at the Senate.

MANUEL ‘MAR’ ARANETA ROXAS II has served three presidents — as Trade and Industry Secretary of Joseph Estrada (1998-2000) and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2003), and as Secretary of Transportation and Communication (2011-2012) and Interior and Local Government Secretary of Benigno S. Aquino III (2012-October 2015).

MAR ROXAS
In the 2004 elections, Mar Roxas emerged No. 1 among the senatorial candidates, garnering 19 million votes. He ran as Aquino’s running mate in 2010, but lost to Jejomar Binay.

The eldest son of the late Senate president Gerardo Manuel de Leon Roxas and Judith Araneta Roxas, Roxas entered politics only in 1993, after the death of his younger brother Gerardo Jr. or ‘Dinggoy,’ then Representative of the 1st District of Capiz. Roxas also has a sister, Maria Lourdes Roxas Ojeda.

He is now married to television anchor Korina Sanchez. He has a son, Paolo Gerardo Z. Roxas, by a former girlfriend, 1971 Miss Young International Philippines Maricar Zaldarriaga.

Mar Roxas is the grandson of Manuel Roxas, who had served as the third and last president of the Philippine Commonwealth Republic from May 28, 1946 to July 4, 1946 as a Nacionalista Party member, and as the first president of the Third Republic from July 4, 1946 to April 15, 1948 as a Liberal Party member.

On his mother’s side, Mar Roxas is the grandson of J. Amado Araneta and nephew of Jorge Araneta, and Maria Lourdes Araneta.

J. Amado Araneta and Jorge Araneta have donated significant sums to Mar Roxas’s campaigns in elections past and present.

In his SALN for 2014, Roxas declared having an uncle, a cousin, and a niece in the government service.

President Aquino appointed Roxas’s uncle Valentin Araneta as member of the Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2014, a post that has a fixed six-year term. Earlier, Araneta had been president of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation.

A first cousin of Mar Roxas, Maria Margarita Fores, meanwhile, was elected in January 2014 as one of the nine new Governors of the Philippine Red Cross, which receives some donations from the government but is not a state agency. Nevertheless, Roxas listed her among his relatives in the government service. Fores, who owns and runs the CIBO chain of restaurants and a culinary school, has become the caterer of choice of several Philippine presidents for big receptions at Malacanang Palace.

Roxas also has a niece, Pia Jane Trillanes, working as a Field Operator at the Department of Social Welfare and Development. DSWD is headed by Secretary Corazon ‘Dinky’ Soliman, a stalwart of the administration Liberal Party, which remains largely a veritable Roxas family heirloom. — PCIJ, April 2016
_________________________________________
For more details, check out PCIJ’s Money Politics Online

Voting for Integrity: Will candidates honor Pledge?

mcmangahas Leave a comment

TODAY starts a week-long job-application and registration process for those who aspire to lead the nation.

The applicants have only until Friday, Oct. 16, to file their certificates of candidacy with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In all, 18,069 positions will have to be filled up.

Decision day is eight months away on May 9, 2016.

By their votes, registered Filipino voters – last counted at 53,786,223 by the last balloting in October 2013 – will have to employ:

* A president
* A vice president
* 12 senators
* 58 party-list representatives
* 235 district representatives
* 81 governors
* 81 vice governors
* 772 provincial board councilors
* 144 city mayors
* 144 city vice mayors
* 1,610 city councilors
* 1,490 municipal mayors
* 1,490 municipal vice mayors
* 11,924 municipal councilors
* A governor for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
* A vice governor for ARMM
24 ARMM assemblymen.

It is fortuitous that the Comelec has helped ease the decision-making process for voters. In a landmark move, the poll body has decided to require all candidates to sign on to an “Integrity Pledge.”

A veritable terms of employment, the Pledge at the very least serves voters a reference for the expected, dutiful, and lawful conduct that all candidates must swear to and live by.

Will they keep true to the Pledge? The voters will know best when hiring time comes.

The full text of the Integrity Pledge follows:

INTEGRITY PLEDGE

I sign this Integrity Pledge for free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections, and through my words and actions, commit to abide by the tenets of our Constitution, election laws, rules and regulations, respecting the sanctity of our electoral exercise.

I will not employ any form of violence, force, or threat that may impair, impede, or unduly influence the free exercise of the people’s right of suffrage. I will ensure the prompt and accurate, reporting and disclosure of campaign-related expenses.

I will not offer or give bribes or gifts to corrupt the integrity of our democratic process.

As a candidate seeking the people’s mandate in order to serve them, I shall respect the norms of conduct expected of public servants and commit to run a clean campaign, observing fairness, common decency, honesty and good faith.

All these, I commit and subscribe to, freely and voluntarily, fully accountable to Almighty God and to the Filipino people as my witnesses.

Voting for Integrity: Will candidates honor Pledge?

mcmangahas Leave a comment

TODAY starts a week-long job-application and registration process for those who aspire to lead the nation.

The applicants have only until Friday, Oct. 16, to file their certificates of candidacy with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In all, 18,069 positions will have to be filled up.

Decision day is eight months away on May 9, 2016.

By their votes, registered Filipino voters – last counted at 53,786,223 by the last balloting in October 2013 – will have to employ:

* A president
* A vice president
* 12 senators
* 58 party-list representatives
* 235 district representatives
* 81 governors
* 81 vice governors
* 772 provincial board councilors
* 144 city mayors
* 144 city vice mayors
* 1,610 city councilors
* 1,490 municipal mayors
* 1,490 municipal vice mayors
* 11,924 municipal councilors
* A governor for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)
* A vice governor for ARMM
24 ARMM assemblymen.

It is fortuitous that the Comelec has helped ease the decision-making process for voters. In a landmark move, the poll body has decided to require all candidates to sign on to an “Integrity Pledge.”

A veritable terms of employment, the Pledge at the very least serves voters a reference for the expected, dutiful, and lawful conduct that all candidates must swear to and live by.

Will they keep true to the Pledge? The voters will know best when hiring time comes.

The full text of the Integrity Pledge follows:

INTEGRITY PLEDGE

I sign this Integrity Pledge for free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections, and through my words and actions, commit to abide by the tenets of our Constitution, election laws, rules and regulations, respecting the sanctity of our electoral exercise.

I will not employ any form of violence, force, or threat that may impair, impede, or unduly influence the free exercise of the people’s right of suffrage. I will ensure the prompt and accurate, reporting and disclosure of campaign-related expenses.

I will not offer or give bribes or gifts to corrupt the integrity of our democratic process.

As a candidate seeking the people’s mandate in order to serve them, I shall respect the norms of conduct expected of public servants and commit to run a clean campaign, observing fairness, common decency, honesty and good faith.

All these, I commit and subscribe to, freely and voluntarily, fully accountable to Almighty God and to the Filipino people as my witnesses.

PH budget transparency, 64; Congress budget oversight, 36

mcmangahas Leave a comment

THE PHILIPPINES scored 64, on a scale of 0 to 100, for transparency of eight budget documents in the latest Open Budget Survey (OBS) 2015, a global survey of 102 countries in the world.

This piece of good news comes, however, with findings of weakness in budget oversight by the Philippine Congress, which got a dismal 36 points.

Yet still, budget oversight by the Commission on Audit got a 92-point score, while public participation, 67, one of the highest in the world.

The new Philippine rating, for transparency of budget documents, a 16-point growth from 48 in 2012, puts the country in the top tier of 24 nations that provide substantial budget information to citizens.

The only independent, comparative, and regular measure of global budget transparency and accountability conducted every two years by independent civil society researchers, the OBS is a project of the International Budget Partnership (IBP) based in Washington, DC.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) has served as country researcher for the OBS since 2008. Karol Ilagan and Charmaine P. Lirio of PCIJ did research for the Philippines for OBS 2015.

The OBS does not reflect opinion but measures observable facts using 140 indicators, according to a standard research methodology.

OBS 2015 Is the fifth to be released by IBP since 2006. It now covers 102 countries that are home to about 90 percent of the world’s population.

Not an opinion poll

The OBS uses documented evidence and objective criteria “to evaluate the extent to which national or central governments in 102 countries provide the public with timely and comprehensive access to eight key budget documents required by international good practices.”

The OBS also examines “the ability of legislatures and supreme audit institutions to provide effective oversight of government budgets and opportunities for the public to participate in the budget process.”

The OBS is not an opinion poll or a measure of perceptions. It is based instead on a rigorous, objective methodology subject to independent review.

Researchers were trained in the OBS methodology and required to test budget transparency in practice, visit with government offices to check compliance with publication deadlines, and interview key informants.

Documented evidence, including citation of a law, interview, a copy of a document, were required to back up the researchers’ answers to the questionnaire.

The completed 140-item questionnaires were checked by anonymous, independent reviewers. Government officials were offered an opportunity to comment on the questionnaire for their country. The IBP staff referee any disagreement between reviewers and researchers to arrive at the most appropriate answer for the questions.

What it is, isn’t

A subset of 109 questions from the 140-question OBS is used to construct the Open Budget Index (OBI) that determines a hard score, ranging from 0 to 100, on budget transparency for each country assessed. The Philippines’s score of 64 for budget transparency comes from the OBI.

Meanwhile, the extent of public participation in the budget process was measured in 16 questions, and the strength of oversight institutions, in 15 questions.

The OBI assigns a transparency score on a 100-point scale using 109 of the 140 survey questions, which focuses specifically on whether the government provides the public with timely access to comprehensive information contained in the eight key budget documents.

The OBS, however, “does not directly measure the accuracy of information contained in budget reports — whether the information provided is correct — or the degree to which government budgets are equitable and address the needs of their populace.”

Too, the OBS “does not measure corruption” but only “budget transparency, opportunities for the public to participate, and oversight capability.”

The link exists, however, according to IBP. “If corruption is to be tackled, governments will need to take many different measures. It is critical that governments tackle corruption and as a first step, increase budget transparency and thereby close one door through which corruption can occur.”


THE PHILIPPINES: Top in ASEAN

The Philippines’s score of 64 in the OBI puts it on top of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations with its score of 64 for transparency of budget documents.

In the last eight years, the Philippines’ OBI score has shifted up and down, however. It scored 51 in 2006, 48 in 2008, 55 in 2010, 48 in 2012, and finally 64 in the latest report.

Public participation in the budget process got a 67 point grade, which is higher than the global average of 25,

Specific elements of public participation in the country was defined thus — Executive Branch – Adequate; Legislature – Limited; and Audit – Limited.

The sorriest point in the Philippines’s performance is budget oversight by Congress that got a dismal 36 points grade.

This poor score derives form following findings:

* “The legislature provides limited oversight during the planning stage of the budget cycle and weak oversight during the implementation stage of the budget cycle.”

* “A pre-budget debate by the legislature does not take place, and regular consultations on budget matters between the executive and the legislature do not take place. ”

* “In both law and practice, the legislature is not consulted prior to the virement of funds in the Enacted Budget and spending contingency funds that were not identified in the Enacted Budget.”

In contrast, budget oversight by the supreme audit institution (Commission on Audit) scored a fantastic 92 points. This derives from the following factors:

* “The supreme audit institution provides adequate budget oversight. Under the law, it has full discretion to undertake audits as it sees fit.”

* “The head of the supreme audit institution cannot be removed without legislative or judicial approval, which bolsters its independence.”

* “The supreme audit institution is provided with sufficient resources to fulfill its mandate and has a limited quality assurance system in place.”

Recommendations

The OBS 2015 report raised the following recommendations for the Philippines:

On Improving Transparency

* Increase the comprehensiveness of the Executive’s Budget Proposal by, for example, presenting expenditures for a multi-year period by the three expenditure classifications and by program and presenting more information on issues beyond the core budget.

* Increase the comprehensiveness of the Year-End Report.

On Improving Public Participation

* Provide detailed feedback on how public perspectives have been captured and taken into account.

* Hold legislative hearings to review and scrutinize Audit Reports.

* Provide detailed feedback on how public assistance and participation has been used by the supreme audit institution.

On Improving Budget Oversight:

* Ensure the legislature holds a pre-budget debate and the outcome is reflected in the Enacted Budget.

* Establish regular consultations on budget matters between the executive and the legislature.

* In both law and practice, ensure the legislature is consulted prior to the disbursement of funds in the Enacted Budget and the spending of contingency funds that were not identified in the Enacted Budget.

GLOBAL FINDINGS

Efficient, effective, and accountable budget systems stand on three pillars: budget transparency, citizen engagement in the budget process, and formal oversight institutions. The absence of any one of these three components undermines the entire system, IBP said.

In OBS 2015, “only four of the 102 countries assessed — Brazil, Norway, South Africa, and the United States — have brought the three elements of their fiscal accountability ecosystem in line with international best practice.

New Zealand and Sweden were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 though in the OBI, or for transparency of budget documents.

But a large majority of the countries assessed – in which 68 percent of the world’s population lives – provide insufficient budget information. These 78 countries have OBI scores of 60 or less.

Worse still, “a troubling 17 countries provide scant or no budget information, with scores of 20 or less.”

According to IBP, “the prevalence of weak budget accountability ecosystems ultimately threatens national development outcomes and the success of global initiatives like the Sustainable Development Goals and agreements pending on addressing climate change.”

Additionally, “the 24 countries providing sufficient budget information tend to have higher levels of income, a freer press, and stronger democratic systems than the countries that provide insufficient budget information. Interestingly, more transparent countries are also typically perceived to be less corrupt.”

One surprising finding though is this: “Any country – irrespective of geographical location or income level – can establish open and accountable budget systems if the political will exists to do so.”

Interestingly, “the weakest performing countries (those with scores of 40 or below) actually have higher incomes, on average, than the countries with scores between 41 and 60.” This, IBP said, “likely reflects the many hydrocarbon revenue-dependent countries with very low levels of budget transparency,” with the exception of Mexico, Malawi, and Uganda.

A far larger number of countries (32) fail to meet the Survey’s standard of adequacy on any of the measures.

Bolivia, Cambodia, Chad, China, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Iraq, Myanmar, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam have been among the least transparent countries (with OBI scores of 20 or less) every single year they have been in the Survey.

Of the 25 countries whose scores placed them in the limited category when first surveyed (with OBI scores between 41 and 60), 19 either remain there or have fallen into lower categories in 2015.

HOW NATIONS FARE

TOP CLUSTER: On a scale of 0 to 100 in the OBI, the following countries landed in the top category – with scores of 88 to 62, in descending order:

New Zealand Sweden South Africa Norway United States, Brazil, France, United Kingdom, Romania, Peru, Russia, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Georgia, Mexico, Bulgaria, South Korea, Malawi, Portugal, Poland, Philippines, and Uganda

MIDDLE CLUSTER: On a scale of 0 to 100 in the OBI, the following countries landed in the top category – with scores of 41 to 59, in descending order:

Argentina, Indonesia, Spain, Chile, Colombia, Slovakia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, El Salvador, Sierra Leone, Mongolia, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Hungary, Kenya, Serbia, Botswana, Mali, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Namibia, India, Tanzania, Malaysia, Ukraine, Benin, Turkey, Cameroon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Honduras, Thailand, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Timor-Leste

BOTTOM CLUSTER: On a scale of 0 to 100 in the OBI, the following countries landed in the top category – with scores of 0 to 39, in descending order:

Dem. Rep. of Congo, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Mozambique, Albania, Morocco, Liberia, Rwanda, Macedonia, Zimbabwe, Trinidad and Tobago, Yemen, São Tomé e Príncipe, Angola, Tajikistan, Nepal, Nigeria, Algeria, Vietnam, Bolivia, Niger, Egypt, Fiji, China, Sudan, Venezuela, Cambodia, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Lebanon, Myanmar, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

For further Information, visit www.openbudgetsurvey.org