GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Monday, November 5, 2007
Not many details have emerged from the weekend truce. But plainly it revolved on two issues: de Venecia’s ouster from the Speakership he has held five times versus Arroyo’s impeachment halfway into her six-year term. The choice wasn’t one or the other; both Arroyo and de Venecia could have fell. An Arroyo loyalist would have risen today at the House of Reps to have all seats declared vacant, whereupon allied congressmen would have voted in a new chief for the 239 members. De Venecia, however, would have retaliated by combining with the minority 80 signatures to impeach Arroyo straight away for Senate trial. It would have been tough for either to recover from the confrontation.
Instigating the fight was the testimony of de Venecia’s son Joey about the administration’s shady broadband deal. Joey had implicated the First Couple to fraud in the $330-million telecoms purchase, and Arroyo’s congressmen-loyalists felt the elder de Venecia must be punished for it. On the other hand, the impeachment complaint against Arroyo dwelt on Joey’s revelations of bribery in the deal. Yet the Arroyo-de Venecia showdown was avoided not on the merits of the exposé but on the magnitude of pork barrel.
The Brutus assigned to stab de Venecia today could only have done so with Malacañang help on that all-important legislative perk. He would have promised his colleagues that, under his tenure, pork slabs will be doled regularly. The no-audit P70-million annual pork is the be-all and end-all of congressional work. Along with regular P500,000 no-receipt cash gifts, it’s the reason why congressmen and their dynasties spend millions of pesos to run for a salary of only P35,000 a month. De Venecia’s successor would have assured them of continued speedy releases.
But there’s no point replacing de Venecia. He has 13 years’ experience delivering the pork to his colleagues. With such practice he can do it better than any usurper. He knows what levers to pull and buttons to push in the corridors of power to wangle the cash commitments and actual releases. Not even a promise to reform the pork system can dampen congressmen’s appetite enough to oust him.
And so the pork will stay, P16.8 billion a year for congressmen and P4.8 billion for senators. They and the people know it is among the biggest corruptor of officials and the worst reason for election. And yet they will allow it to continue messing up Philippine politics.
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Legacy is the reward for honest state heads, but cash can also entice. That is what the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership seeks to prove. Recently the first recipient was Joaquim Chissano, former Mozambique president who ended civil war and laid down democracy then retired although not required by the constitution. The judges, who included a former Irish president and UN secretary general, hailed him for some other atrocious things he didn’t do in office that made him atypical in Africa — and Asia and Latin America.
For this Chissano will get a cozy pension of $5 million over ten years, then $200,000 a year thereafter for life. The Sudan-born British telecoms bigwig after whom the prize is named had put up the endowment two years ago to encourage good government. The organizers do not expect to be able to award every year. But this first, perhaps the heftiest in the world, should make clear the need for honest retirement for clean leaders.
There’s a lesson here for the Philippines. We keep paying our highest leaders and career bureaucrats a pittance, yet expect top service from them. That’s why with a monthly salary of P50,000 for president and P35,000 for a senator or congressmen, we get only the worst. We made an exception only of the Bangko Sentral governor when, recognizing his worth and dignity among peers worldwide, we fixed his monthly pay at P100,000. And yet that was 15 years ago. Lee Kuan Yew’s pay back then as chief executive of Singapore was already $10 million a year.
The fight against corruption has to start somewhere. And it shouldn’t always be with expectation of unending sacrifice from leaders who, being human, naturally desire comfort somewhere down the road.
