Neri: In but out of coveted Cabinet

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, July 11, 2008

When opposition Sen. Francis Escudero fretted that Romy Neri’s entry as SSS head “might be used for politics,” even admin insiders silently agreed. Neri during the Senate’s inquiry last September into the ZTE scam famously had sacrificed truth for politics. He exposed Comelec chief Ben Abalos’ P200-million offer to endorse the telecom deal as then-economic secretary in early 2007. But he clammed up from thereon, risking Senate detention for contempt and constitutional crisis from a Malacañang-Senate showdown. Invoking executive privilege, he refused to tell what his boss President Gloria Arroyo did after he reported to her the bribery attempt.

Neri placed Arroyo’s above public interest, Escudero noted. That’s where danger lies in the new posting to head the government-administered mutual fund of private workers. Presidents historically have abused their power to appoint SSS CEOs by using the P250-billion fund for personal gain. Say, for popularity gimmicks like hiking pensions even if the SSS can’t afford it; or for outright kickbacks from SSS stock trading, like the BW Resources scandal under Joseph Estrada.

That’s probably why Sen. Mar Roxas, who had left Estrada’s Cabinet in 2000 due to an SSS mess among others, was pointed. “I would not have made that appointment; these are turbulent times for the country,” he said. “It’s not time to appoint someone with minimal real-life work experience in the marketplace to sit atop the SSS, which has nearly 30 million members.” Having worked with Neri in the succeeding Arroyo Cabinet, Roxas knows: “This appointment will just drive unneeded political controversy.”

Executive Secretary Ed Ermita’s defense of Neri’s administrative skill fell short. He cited Neri’s past jobs as management professor and Congress economic adviser, hardly solid qualifiers as an executive. Neri wears other stars: he graduated magna cum laude from UP-Diliman and speaks fluent Chinese, but those too do not count for organizational savvy. (His clean-up man in the ZTE deal, Jun Lozada, has left him.)

Roxas’ predicted political controversy bears watching out for. Talk is that Neri was moved to SSS to help the fight in Meralco of Winston Garcia, head of the GSIS provident fund of state employees. Garcia has been trying to wrest control of the country’s biggest power utility from the Lopez clan. Combining GSIS’s 18-percent holdings in Meralco with the 15 percent of SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG, he confronted the Lopezes’ 35-percent hold last May. There were reports that erstwhile SSS president Cora dela Paz hesitated to go along, and so had to be removed. Dela Paz wouldn’t reveal the reason, saying only that politics had to do with it.

Neri at the height of the Meralco face-off in May was reported to be orchestrating the admin’s moves against the Lopezes. He lists them among his hated oligarchs who allegedly manipulate the regulatory agencies. The SSS posting gives Neri a huge war chest with which to pound his — and now Arroyo’s — declared enemy. Ermita hinted as much. Neri’s transfer to SSS comes with an unprecedented Cabinet rank. As SSS boss, Neri will act as “social welfare czar” overseeing as well the GSIS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG.

The Cabinet rank is for convenience. Ermita stressed to reporters that Neri will continue to be protected by executive privilege, and may not be forced by the courts or Congress to divulge past or present chats with the President.

Most of all, the appointment is an accommodation. Neri has always wanted to be, and stay, in the Cabinet. Since 1987 he was a congressional economist, first as staffer and later as chief. Resignations by the “Hyatt 10” in the wake of the Hello Garci poll rigging opened up opportunities. Backed by then-Speaker Joe de Venecia, Neri became budget secretary in July 2005 and then economic secretary in February 2006.

In August 2007, however, as the ZTE story was brewing in the press, Arroyo moved Neri to the sub-Cabinet Commission on Higher Education. It was, he proclaimed then, for only six months, to trouble-shoot college curricula to suit job availabilities. But close associates said he was demoted for angering Palace spin-doctors with too candid admissions — three in all — of the admin’s bad economic performances.

Senators suspect that Neri protected Arroyo with silence in the ZTE hearings the following month to prove himself worthy to rejoin her inner circle. He reportedly sought a meeting with the boss in November to beg for reposting to either of his prestigious past Cabinet seats. But distrustful presidential advisers blocked him. He was too close not only to de Venecia, whom they would depose in February 2008, but also to House Minority Leader Ronnie Zamora.

It didn’t help any that Neri’s name was linked to the November 29, 2007 siege of Peninsula Hotel. Supposedly, jailed coup plotters Sen. Antonio Trillanes and Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim left their court trial that day and marched to the hotel on info that Neri would arrive to bare all about the ZTE scam.

Perhaps that was just one of the usual coup rumors, but Neri did commit an indiscretion, by Arroyo-loyalists’ standards, on December 9. He arranged to meet at a secluded Makati diner with opposition Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal, and their chiefs of staff. The latter two later confided to Senate investigators of the ZTE mess that Neri thrice had referred to Arroyo as “evil”. Queried by Malacañang reporters about it, Neri only said he doesn’t recall if he did call her that.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. suspects that Arroyo is keeping Neri in the Cabinet to placate him. “Why doesn’t she just keep Neri under her bed, so she can continuously monitor him?” he said, half joking.

But that’s just it. Arroyo wants him in, but also out.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Kung opisyales palpak, lalo ang mamang pulis

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Tuesday, July 1, 2008

INEKSAMEN ng National Police Commission nu’ng Mayo ang 542 high officials ng Philippine National Police. Ang Police Executive Service Exam ay para sa mga nais ma-promote na senior o chief superintendent, director o deputy director general. Aba’y 149 lang ang pumasa, 27%, samantalang 393 ang bumagsak sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao. Bakit gan’un?

Anang isa sa mga pumasa, nagsilagpak ang mga naguguluhan ng pulitika ang pag-iisip. Ilan kasi sa mga tanong ay panukat sa kakayahan ng opisyal dumesisyon kontra sa emosyon at ayon sa matuwid.

Halimbawa na tanong ay kung merong jueteng sa pook na pinangangasiwaan ng ineeksamen na opisyal. Natural lang na dapat puksain ang ilegal na sugal. Pero merong mga kolatilya ang tanong: paano kung ayaw ng immediate superior na makialam siya sa anti-gambling, o pinahihinto ng provincial governor ang ilegal na bisyo, o ang PNP director general mismo ay nakakaalam ng jueteng sa pook pero ayaw kumilos dahil ang pinaka-mataas na amo mismo ay may “tong-pats”.

Aba’y may mga sagot na natural nilang susunurin ang miski ilegal na utos ng immediate superior, susuwayin ang civilian authority, at gagaya na maling pagtatahimik ng PNP chief. Buti nga at ibinagsak sila.

Pero ang nakakabagabag ay ito: kung 73% ng opisyales ay baluktot mag-isip, paano pa kaya ang ordinaryong mamang pulis?

Ang pulisya ay mala-militar na organisasyon. Tine-train ang pulis na sumunod sa utos at tumulad sa gawi ng nakatataas. Bihirang sitwasyon lang maaring kumontra; at miski sa bihirang ‘yon, maaring mapahamak ang naglakas-loob na magpakita ng sariling isip. Kaya natural lang na ang mamang pulis ay katulad ng pamunuan mag-isip at dumesisyon. Kung ang hepe ay takot o tuwirang nasusuhulan, gan’un din ang tauhan.

Klaro na kailangan ng malawakang re-indoctrination sa PNP para maituwid ang baluktot na pag-iisip ng rank and file. Matagal na proseso ito, pero kaya. Noon pa man, hinuhubog sa tama ang mga tiwali at palpak na pulis — sa retraining camp sa Subic. Idaan dapat doon ang iba pa.

Bridge construction to resume — finally

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, June 30, 2008

Just when one of government’s rare successful projects is about to be revived, envious contractors are badmouthing it. It’s a classic example of crab mentality, of pulling down the successful in order to rise. Intriguing in official and media circles, the contractors are claiming that the President’s Bridges Program is about to use untested steel technology. In the process, though, they accidentally might expose their own poor design and works.

Begun in 1995, the Bridges Program has run under three Presidents. Its engineering took off from the post-Liberation Bailey bridges, but with improved technology. Using snap-on steel sheets and rails, construction time was cut to only a month or two. More than that, the bridges were sturdy enough to withstand raging floodwaters, resisted rust, and had no moving parts that could be stolen. The only constraint to work speed was fund availability. Other urgent priorities competed for attention. So soft loans were obtained from the European Union or single members depending on what provinces the foreign governments wished to help. More than a thousand rivers and ravines were spanned in 11 years.

And yet the Bridges Program has barely scratched surface. Regional and national officials in the early ’90s, consulting with local businessmen, had identified at least 15,000 bridges needing to be built then. But with funding always scarce, the construction score has been less than a tenth of target. Then, works abruptly ended in early 2006 reportedly due to quality decline from a British supplier. Complaints of neglect naturally began to mount from rural folk who were left behind. Bridges in adjacent barrios had spurred commerce that put more money in the pockets of fellow-farmers. Not to mention, getting their children to school dry instead of wading across streams.

In Feb. a new steelmaker was found, courtesy of a French agency that would provide fresh financing. Improvements were made in the old design to cut the costs of fabrication, delivery and site assembly. No longer will the steel frame be overlaid with concrete that tends to crack from shrinkage, but with a durable special resin coating. Installation time would take only weeks. The span can hold up to 60-80 tons, and the maker is guaranteeing a lifespan of 100 years with two million vehicle cycles. With the entry of the new French constructor, the quick-assembly steel spans finally will resume.

With still more than 13,000 bridges needing to be built, there’s more than enough room for everybody in the business to participate. That is, so long as they meet public works standards and bidding rules. But some envious contractors wish to ease out the steel technology in favor of their old concrete-encased spans using Japanese know-how. Perhaps they fear that the sample steelwork in bridges eventually will compete as well in the construction of seaports, another growing need in the wake of roll on-roll off transport.

The track record of steel bridges is established, though. The Bridges Program exceeded its original target of 1,128 bridges by 75 units, for a total of 1,203. The additional spans were built from savings from the first batch. The excess weren’t just short spans over narrow creeks; one was the 210-meter Alternate Quirino Delta Bridge connecting Cotabato City to Sultan Kudarat province.

The virtual 106.65-percent accomplishment rate was done cheaply too. Most of the steel bridges cost P480,000 per linear meter, 12 percent lower than the closest foreign bid of P555,000 (which the government later took on when a funder came along). That cost is only a fifth of concrete builders’ prices, at a tenth of the construction time.

Notably most of the envious contractors are also the poorest workers. Cost overruns of 39 to 87 percent mar the spans they are constructing at present, according to a May 2008 report of the President’s Bridges Program. Those doing repair and maintenance have overshot their own bids by three to 43 percent; flood control ways are above budget by 9 to 63 percent. Not one of the steel bridges in the past decade ever exceeded its cost limit.

In fairness, some of the concrete works funded by Saudi Arabia, Korea and Japan also are within budgets and schedules. Only the sluggards are yakking against the silent workers.

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Those who experienced the fury of Typhoon Frank and survived must imagine the misery of countrymen who lost homes, farms or loved ones. Donations are pouring in, but the victims still need clothes; ready-to-cook food; cold, cough and diarrhea medicines; and cash. Search your cabinets for other items for normal living that you can share: kitchen and dining utensils, beddings, toys, musical instruments, and carpentry tools. Many media and church organizations have organized collection drives, so you can go to the one nearest you. You’d feel grat about yourself.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Only 21 lighthouses for 7,100 islands

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, June 27, 2008

Reader Herminia Rosales Fajardo asks the question many Filipinos have in mind about the sinking of a passenger ship just off Sibuyan Island. Why, if the vessel was so close to shore as most survivors noted, were they unaware so? Is there no lighthouse on the isle that is clearly on a shipping route? Or if there is, was it malfunctioning as most government facilities are? And have old lighthouses been replaced, apparently insufficiently, with radars and sonar from which government officials make kickbacks?

It will surprise habitual congressional investigators to know that this archipelago of 7,083 islands has only 21 lighthouses. And that the Coast Guard, tasked to man the facilities, is so poor that it put them up for adoption by private firms this time last year. The government intends to replace the lighthouses with movement and sound detectors. But transport growth — along with the number of ship passengers and fishing boats — has far outpaced the modernization.

All 21 relic lighthouses were built during the Spanish and American regimes. Today’s ships navigate by satellite. But millions of fishing bancas, unequipped even with handheld global positioning system, have no option. Same with sea commuters like the more than 800 missing passengers of the capsized Princess of the Stars. For them, the good old reliable lighthouses are lifesavers, not those thingamajigs.

Legislators invariably will come to that conclusion. But will they take the next logical step of allocating funds to erect and maintain lighthouses? That’s another question in the minds of most Filipinos who are tired of congressional probes after each of those frequent sea disasters.

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Another reader, Eddie B., wonders why a 23,000-ton ship went belly-up in internal seas rated as “moderate to rough.” The marine inquiry into the operations of Sulpicio Lines Inc., he says, must look into the possibility of cargo overloading. He gives two tips: one friend confided having lost millions of pesos in goods packed in container vans, while another friend was shipping five brand-new cars to Cebu. “It is possible that the cars or container vans moved due to the big waves, causing the ship to list as officially reported,” the reader says.

Overfilling of commuters and cargo are usual in Philippine maritime transport. No one gets punished for breaking the rules. Dozens of marine inquiries have led to mere slaps on the wrists of negligent shipmasters. Survivors and relatives of fatalities are left begging for financial help with hospital or burial bills. And regulators continue to squeeze grease money from ship owners.

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While we’re at it, here’s a reaction from reader Danny Durmaza to my piece Friday about the new passports:

“What’s with those new machine-readable passports? My cousin here in Florida found out he needed to renew his passport. He logged onto the website to download the application form for mailing — the way it goes in America. But there was a notice that as of June 2 all passport renewals must be made in person. We called the consulate in Ft. Lauderdale a thousand times. When finally we plugged someone there for information, my cousin was told that he needed to go to the embassy in Washington, D.C.: “Wala ho tayong magagawa, batas ’yan.” This is the simple explanation why hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the States needing new passports have to fly or drive many miles and spend incidentals for a personal appearance at the capital. And yet we also found out later that applicants won’t get their new passports from the Washington embassy either. The embassy does not have special machines for it. So the application forms have to be sent to Manila, in a process that would take six long weeks. What gives?”

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Reader Nomer Obnamia seems to have the answer:

“In tyranny of taxation, the Philippine government concocts revenue schemes not to improve services but to fund pork barrels. The new passport scam is one of them.”

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Don’t let’s end on a negative note. So here’s a reaction, one of many to my piece Wednesday on the Virgin Mary’s house, from Hernan Hormillosa of Elmshurst, New York:

I’ve been reading your columns since your ZTE exposé. Your latest on the Blessed Mother is very informative. I first heard of Mary’s house in Ephesus from a dear departed friend who was instrumental in my present life progress in faith. She went there too and was inspired by what she saw. Your column has given me more info and inspired me too. Your writings reveal both your courage and faith.”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com