Drilon takes a dig at spooks

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 12, 2012 |

 

 

Ghosts roam in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, remarked Senator Franklin Drilon while holding a public hearing.
“In ARMM, there are a lot of ghosts– ghost employees, ghost teachers, ghost students, ghost internally displaced persons, ghost voters, ghost contractors, ghost gasoline stations, and many more,” said Drilon, chair of the senate finance committee.
In talking about the haunted place, he was referring to fictitious and non-existing persons and transactions which were used to cover up for various anomalies in the region.
“All of these contributed to the corruptions in the past which continue to haunt people in the ARMM,” said Drilon in finance committee’s hearing on the ARMM proposed P13.99 billion budget for 2013.
He cited the P1.6 billion unpaid premium payments, including interests and penalties, to the different insurance agencies particularly to the Government Service Insurance System.
These payments were deducted from the salaries of the ARMM employees, which the GSIS claimed were not remitted to them from 2001 to 2010, he noted.
“We must emphasize the deficiencies in premium contributions are the major source of continuing frustration and disappointment among government personnel including the thousands of teachers,” said Drilon.
Thousands of teachers sometime could not avail of their GSIS benefits like housing and salary loans because the premiums were collected, but not remitted to the GSIS based on the agency’s record, he said.
During the same senate hearing, ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman disclosed numerous irregularities in the region.
Drilon said his committee and the Senate Blue Ribbon chaired by Senator Teofisto Guingona III will conduct an investigation on where these funds went.
“We will look into this to finally address the plight being faced by the thousands of government personnel in the ARMM,” he said.
“We have confidence in the leadership of Hataman. The OIC governor is our new ghost buster,” said Drilon.
“We are pleased that under the leadership of Governor Hataman, these ghosts are starting to vanish and the corruption is being firmly addressed.” (END)

 

Skewed tax rate opposed

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 11, 2012 | 

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday vowed to block the “distorted nature” of the cigarette tax increase being pushed by the House of Representatives and the government’s finance sector.
Enrile however clarified that he is not against measures to generate additional revenues for the government, but said he cannot allow unreasonable and unjust taxation.
“I am in favor of increasing taxes, but it must be up to a reasonable level to be determined by us,” he told newsmen at the regular “Kapihan sa Diamond Hotel.” The government proposed to increase by 700 percent the tax on low-priced cigarette.
The lawmaker said taxes must be equitable. “We can’t tax the poor similar to the rich. Their capacity to pay is so different,” he said. “So, let’s study and come up with reasonable measure that will not shock the market, and the economy.”
Enrile said he had discussed this matter with Senator Ralph Recto, chairman of the senate committee on way and means who’s conducting public hearing on the proposed measure to re-structure excise tax on the so-called “sin products.”
“He (Recto) said he is trying to craft a tax measure that will be fair to the government, to the people and to those that raise the golden egg,” he said.
Apart from the planned tax hike, health issues have also muddled the bill on cigarettes.
While health advocates have blamed smoking as the No. 1 cause of lung cancer deaths in the country, Dr. Tony Dans of the UP College of Medicine told senators that 60% of lung cancer cases are caused by air pollution.
While smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, he said it is air pollution which “should be causing about 60% of the lung cancer” cases. (END)

 

Gazmin woes: All plans but lack funds to buy arms

By Macon Ramos-Araneta | Posted on September 12, 2012 |

The Defense Department on Tuesday said a lack of funds was stopping it from procuring weapons such as warships and fighter planes from Italy, France, South Korea and the United Kingdom that would boost the Philippines’ ability to guard and defend its territory.
Interviewed after the Senate finance committee hearing on the department’s proposed budget, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the country needed fighter jets and missile-firing gunboats, but the problem was “we don’t have the funds to buy them.”
He said there were ongoing negotiations for the procurement of a warship from Italy and they were “short of signing the contract,” while the purchase of fighter jets remained “on the drawing board.”
Gazmin and the other military officials present during the budget hearing, however, did not say how much money they needed to buy such weapons and equipment.
Senator Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Senate’s finance committee, said the Defense Department needed at least P75 billion in the next five years to upgrade and modernize the Armed Forces and to build a credible defense capability.
Gazmin said that, based on Drilon’s amount, his department should be able to secure an annual budget of P15 billion from the General Appropriations Act.
But Drilon said the Defense Department might face a budget-related problem since the GAA may not be able to provide in full the P75 billion to boost the Armed Forces’ defense capability.
Only P5 billion has been earmarked for the military’s modernization for 2013, while the other P10 billion is lodged under the “unprogrammed” fund item in the budget, and which could only be released if funds were available.
“If there is enough fiscal space, that can be funded, but if not, we have to look for other means to fund this equally important endeavor,” Drilon said.
“It’s principally a question of where to source these funds because the budget would have limitations on the resources of funds and our deficit level.”
Drilon said the Budget Department could get the funds from realignment of items that might not be used in 2012. He challenged the Defense Department to “think out of the box” to find out where to get the money.
“I challenge Secretary Gazmin and the rest of the AFP officials to look for funds similar to the system in the Bases Conversion Development Authority where the sales of military lands were used to fund the modernization program,” Drilon said.
“We are looking at how the excess lands in the military camps can be made more productive to fund the modernization program in order to strengthen our defense system.”
Said Gazmin: “We are really having difficulty to producing [the funds], so we are finding other means.”
He said the military still had many pieces of property that could be sold or leased, including golf courses and military camps. (END)