Category: Online Research

By the Numbers: P50 vs P100M

mcmangahas Leave a comment

HOW MUCH have people donated to get candidates elected? What was the upper limit? What was the lower limit?

Fifty pesos was the lowest amount in cash donation ever that was reported to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

This was received by candidate Nicanor Jesus ‘Nicky’ Perlas III, who ran for president in 2010, from a donor named “Seth Jordan”.

It was also in 2010, however, when presidential candidate Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and the Lakas-Kampi-CMD party received the highest amount of donation ever reported to Comelec.

Aquino received P100 million from cousin and businessman Antonio ‘Tonyboy’ Cojuangco.

Lakas-Kampi-CMD received P100 million in two tranches from businessman Emmanuel ‘Noel’ Oñate, who acquired AirAsia Airlines and renamed it Asian Spirit (now Zest Airways) in 1995, during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos, Lakas-Kampi-CMD chairman emeritus.

For more information on campaign donors, browse PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics.

So you think you know elections? Take the MoneyPolitics Quick Quiz

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

MOST OF US are probably veterans of elections, that event that pundits like to call the favorite past-time of Filipinos, in the league of fiestas and siestas. But how much we really know about Philippine elections will show just how serious we are about the process.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s MoneyPolitics Online offers Quick Quizzes, little bits and pieces of election information to test just how much we know about that political exercise that visits us every three years.

Quick Quiz No. 1

True of False:

The May 2010 elections marked the first-ever automated elections in Philippine history.

The answer to that quiz may be found here.

Try to answer the question first on your own before taking a peek. No cheating!

More quizzes to come in our countdown to election day.

 

 

11 senators splurge pork money on 593 ‘palengke’ projects in 2 yrs

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FROM THE august halls of the Senate came a good number of the Philippine presidents. But on the way to the presidency, it looks like a good number of the senators of the republic have had to stop at the market and spend oodles of pork on palengkes?

Eleven of 21 senators of the 15th Congress with pork barrel allocations are by all indications not habitues of palengkes. They have, however, literally splurged pork money on public markets from June 2010 to June 2012.

At least 582 public markets were built and 11 others were repaired in 29 provinces using the 11 senators’ pork shares during the period. In all, that’s a sea of 593 pork-funded palengkes nationwide.

Want more pork tales of woe? Check out PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics Online, a citizen’s resource tool on elections, public funds, and governance in the Philippines.

These public markets have been located in Abra, Aklan, Antique, Apayao, Batangas, Benguet, Bohol, Bukidnon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Capiz, Ifugao, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Kalinga, La Union, Mountain Province, North Cotabato, Nueva Ecija, Quirino, Rizal, Sarangani, Siquijor, Sorsogon, South Cotabato, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga Sibugay.

Of the 11 senators, re-electionist Francis Joseph ‘Chiz’ G. Escudero wins, hands down, as the Senate’s Palengke King by sheer value and number of his pork-oiled public markets.

He gave P289 million of his pork allocation to build public markets in 25 provinces. A third of Escudero’s pork went to Camarines Sur, which got P100-million worth of public markets.

The 10 other senators who also spent slabs of pork on public markets are Ralph G. Recto, Franklin M. Drilon, Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Vicente C. Sotto III, Francis N. Pangilinan, Manuel B. Villar Jr., Ramon ‘Bong’ B. Revilla Jr., Jinggoy E. Estrada, Pilar Juliana ‘Pia’ S. Cayetano, and Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

Like Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano is a re-electionist senator.

According to reports of the Department of Budget and Management that PCIJ reviewed, here’s where the other senators built and repaired public markets and at what cost:

* Recto, P20 million in his bailiwick of Batangas;
* Drilon, P5 million in his bailiwick of Iloilo;
* Alan Peter Cayetano, P4.5 million in Iloilo;
* Sotto, P4.5 million in Ilocos Sur, Aklan, Cebu, and Bohol;
* Pangilinan, P3.5 million in Rizal;
* Villar, P3 million in Iloilo and Nueva Ecija;
* Revilla, P3 million in Bohol and Aklan;
* Estrada, P3 million in Cebu and Iloilo;
* Pia Cayetano, P2 million in Camarines Sur; and
* Marcos, P200,000 in Iloilo.

Senators’ pork: P5.78-B in 2 years

mcmangahas Leave a comment

TAXPAYERS paid P1.86 million on average for every project that was supposedly implemented using the pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) of 21 senators in the 15th Congress from June 2010 to June 2012.

What are the most expensive, and what, the cheapest, projects?

Browse through the Public Funds section of PCIJ’s MoneyPolitics Online to learn more about your legislators’ spending patterns.

The most expensive were those implemented under the “soft projects” category, such as cash assistance to indigent patients, scholarship, livelihood projects, and financial assistance to local government units (LGUs). The 953 “soft projects” rolled out during the period cost taxpayers P2.08 billion, or P2.18 million on average.

In contrast, infrastructure or “hard projects” implemented using pork money seemed to have cost less.

A total of 2,151 infrastructure projects were funded with P3.7 billion of the senators’ pork during the same period. On average, each hard project cost taxpayers P1.72 million. These projects include the construction and/or repair of roads and bridges, drainage and boulder bank protection, multi-purpose buildings and pavements, school buildings, and health centers.

Another P4.3 million, however, went to three other projects with no specifications at all.

In sum, the 21 senators used their combined P5.78-billion pork allocations on 3,107 pet projects from June 2010 to June 2012.

Two other senators, Joker P. Arroyo and Panfilo M. Lacson, did not avail themselves of their PDAF allocations. The 24th senator of the 15th Congress, Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, was elected President in May 2010.

Pork is the exclusive perk of legislators. But in December 2010, Vice President Jejomar ‘Jojo’ C. Binay asked Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to allot PDAF shares to the Office of the Vice President.

President Aquino agreed and instructed the Senate to grant Binay P200 million in annual pork share, using the PDAF Aquino was supposed to receive as the 24th senator.

The 2011 General Appropriations Act (GAA) made only passing mention of Binay’s pork share in the paragraphs on “allocation of funds.”

In the 2012 GAA, however, Malacanang and Congress somehow put Binay’s pork in order — his P200-million pork allotment was enrolled in the budget of the Office of the Vice President.

Deadline Approaching: Basic Investigative Reporting Seminar

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Basic IR web photo-large

PCIJ’s Basic Investigative Reporting Seminar: Political Clans, Governance, and Journalists’ Safety

Open to mid-career and senior Filipino journalists, citizen media, and bloggers
Researchers, anchors, producers, editors, news managers, freelance reporters, contributors, and stringers of print, TV, radio, and online media may apply. Citizen media and bloggers covering public policy issues are also eligible.

Application Deadlines and Tentative Seminar Dates:

Visayas
Application Deadline: May 17, 2013
Seminar Dates: June 27–30, 2013

Mindanao
Application Deadline: June 10, 2013
Seminar Dates: July 25–28, 2013

Luzon
Application Deadline: July 10, 2013
Seminar Dates: Aug. 22–25, 2013

NCR
Application Deadline Aug. 1, 2013
Seminar Dates: Sept. 19–22, 2013

Seminar Topics

Session 1: Media Killings, Political Violence, and the Culture of Impunity in the Philippines

Overview of media killings and human rights abuses in the Philippines; the hot spots of political violence and human rights abuse; The legal context, and international and Philippine protocols on Conflict, Human Rights, and Extra-Judicial Killings.

Panel Discussion with officials from government agencies involved in monitoring and prosecuting human rights and extra judicial killings cases such as the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Department of Justice, and the Commission on Human Rights

Session 2: Political Clans: Past and Future Links

Historical analysis of political clans and their networks in government; The connections between the rule of political clans in certain areas with development plans and the socio-economic conditions of the areas; Participation of certain political clans in the May 13, 2013 national and local elections and its implications for governance.

Session 3: The Government’s Purse: Tracking the State’s Resources

The government’s budget process, assessment of the use and spending of various lump-sum funds (e.g., PDAF, IRA), and the sources of financing available to national and local government agencies; Information and insights journalists may derive from datasets available on government websites.

Session 4: Ethics and Safety: Field and Newsroom Judgment Calls

Discussion of measures that newsrooms may implement to protect journalists, and ethical and editorial standards that media agencies may institutionalize; Practical safety tips and safe-passage techniques in high-risk and dangerous areas of coverage.

Session 5: The Fundamentals of Investigative Reporting

Investigative methods and tools that could be used when studying political clans, governance, and extra-judicial killings.

Session 6. Tracking the Investigative Trails

  • Practice Set A. The Paper Trail: Understanding, Connecting, and Organizing Documents and Databases — a “show-and-tell” session of the different types of documents useful for journalists doing in-depth reports on political clans and governance.
  • Practice Set B. The People Trail: The Art of the Interview — mock interviews and critique session

Session 7: Putting the Story Together

Various techniques to make a complicated and data-driven story accessible to citizens; How an investigative report can be translated for broadcast (TV and radio) or rendered on multimedia platforms.

Workshop: Pitching Story Ideas and Developing Story Plans

Funding

The PCIJ will cover:

  • Round-trip transportation from the participant’s place of work and/or residence to the seminar venue.
  • Board and lodging during the seminar.

The PCIJ will also provide a modest fellowship grant for story proposals that will be approved during or immediately after the seminar.

Application Requirements

  1. Completed application form with two references (see attached .doc file).
  2. One or two samples of work discussing public policy, development, human rights, or governance issues.
    • For print and online: link to the stories or attach copies of stories in Word or PDF
    • For TV and radio: link to the broadcast story, or attach script or story concept/treatment

Successful applicants will be notified within 10 working days after deadline.
The seminar graduates will be accorded priority slots in the subsequent Advanced Investigative Reporting Seminars that PCIJ will conduct in 2014.

Sending your application:

By email:
Email address: training@pcij.org
Please state ‘Application to Basic IR Seminar’ on the subject line

Note: We will acknowledge receipt of all submissions. If you do not receive any reply within three working days, please resend your application and move a follow-up email or call (02) 410-4768.

By fax:
Telefax: (02) 410-4768
Please write ‘ATTN: PCIJ Training Desk’ on the fax cover sheet

Note: After faxing, please call (02) 410-4768 to confirm if all the documents had been transmitted successfully.

By mail:

The Training Desk
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
3/F Criselda 2 Bldg., 107 Scout de Guia St.
Brgy. Sacred Heart, Quezon City 1104

Note: We will acknowledge receipt of mailed applications via email or text.

Questions?
Please contact the PCIJ Training Desk at (02) 410-4768 or training@pcij.org

Through combined onsite and field learning sessions, the seminar aims to enhance the participants’ investigative reporting skills and practice, and offer a framework for analyzing media killings and safety issues in the context of governance, the culture of impunity, and the presence of political clans and private armed groups in many parts of the country. The seminar also seeks to highlight the role of the police and the Commission on Human Rights as vital sources of journalists.

The seminar will feature lecture-discussions and workshops to identify potential risks and practical safety tips when covering dangerous assignments. A Story Development Workshop will give participants an opportunity to pitch story proposals that the PCIJ may consider for fellowship grants and editorial supervision.

Experts from the academe, national media organizations, the police, human rights agencies and organizations, and data repository agencies will lead the discussions.

This seminar series draws support from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED).