Posts tagged with Batasan

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September 21, 2009

Budgets, budgets

The past week had been spent largely reading through the 2010 budget proposals of the government and its various departments and agencies. It can get frustrating and confusing, for someone who’s not used to reading accounting sheets and pages full of numbers. After a few days of flipping through the pages and scrutinizing the items, one will eventually get used to it. It is imperative, too, to look at the budget figures over the past years and at government policy declarations, to track the trend of government priorities as reflected in the money it is willing to spend on certain services and projects.

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September 19, 2009

State abandonment of higher education

This table shows the share of state subsidy and internally-generated income in state universities and colleges’ (SUC) total operating budget through the years. What is evident is that SUC’s are being forced to rely less and less on government subsidy and more and more on internally-generated income (in the form of tuition and other student fees, privatization of assets, etc.).

One sector which has always suffered from the government’s policy of contracting spending for social services in favor of continued debt servicing is the sector of higher education. When I was still in UP, I had friends who abhorred militant activists and the “leftist” slogans. One of the state policies they continuously deny is existing is “state abandonment of education.”

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Contracting social services, taxing the people dry

It has always been a priority for the Arroyo administration to “balance the budget”””meaning, to decrease the gap between government revenues and government spending.

In plain reading, this is good. Trimming the budget deficit should mean less borrowing, and eventually more money for health, education and other social services. However, the goal of balancing the budget under the Arroyo administration, and even before, has always been to ensure the payment of our debt obligations, unfortunately at the expense of social services spending.

To make matters for ordinary citizens worse, in order to balance the budget and earn more revenues, the government, for years, has always put a stress on consumer taxes (E-VAT, sin taxes, proposed text tax) instead of directly taxing corporations and high-income tycoons, instead of taxing imports or plugging the leaks from corruption. In the age of trade liberalization and globalization, government would rather give rich foreign investors, high-income tycoons and importers tariff cuts, tax holidays and other tax incentives.

Aside from taxing the consumer, government has also been selling its assets and privatizing services and public utilities in an effort to hide its poor and lopsided tax effort. This results to private companies concerned largely with profit and not with public service controlling public utilities. Thus, the high power and water rates we experience.

When corruption and smuggling comes into the picture, we arrive at the terrible fiscal decay we find ourselves in. Ordinary people are being taxed dry, and yet social services are continuously deteriorating, and despite all these, our debt just keeps growing and growing.

Below are some graphs that would illustrate the trend of the government in its budget proposals for the past years.

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September 14, 2009

Lobbying through blogging

It was our simple “day-off” together. Some of my co-staff members and I, together with Congressman Mong, went to the opening day of the Cine Europa Film Festival in Shangri-la Mall. We caught the screening of Just Another Love Story, which contrary to its pleasant name, is actually dark and engaging Danish thriller film. Having watched it made me miss the days when almost all I did for school, as a film student in UP, was watch non-mainstream movies in class and write papers about them.

After the movie, we just had some snacks at the food court before parting ways.

Later that afternoon, I met up with some students from UP Manila who requested for an interview with regard to my opinion on lobbying through blogging and online social networking. Airah was also there to help me answer the queries. Our first answer was that, there’s no such thing as “lobbying through blogging.” At best, blogging is only a minor complement to a lobbying campaign in the largely traditional arena of Philippine politics. The primary force in the shaping of public policy is and should always be the mass movement. I conceded, however, that money and economic influence often contest this in the present style of politics that we have. But no matter how slick the grease is, once policy makers are confronted with “people power,” there’s little that can stop the tide of public pressure.

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September 10, 2009

Snapshots of our Batasan office

I attended a committee hearing yesterday with soaked socks and squishy shoes. It was raining hard and I, unfortunately, stepped on a deep puddle while walking towards the Ramon Mitra Building in the Batasan complex.

I spent the rest of the morning till some hours after lunch at the hearing of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education. They were able to pass a couple of local bills, but the controversial Magna Carta of Students was remanded back to a technical working group because of the vehement objections of A TEACHER Rep. Piamonte and Valenzuela Rep. Gunigundo, who were obviously championing the rights of school owners and administrators. Their lines go, “We cannot grant students’ rights at the expense of the rights of school owners and administrators.”

“Schools have a right to exclusively determine fee increases, students or parents can just appeal to proper authority.”

“School-student relationship is contractual. Academic freedom includes the right of the school to determine how to best attain their objectives.”

“We cannot put private schools and state universities in the same situation. Government cannot compel private schools to give students same rights as those who are in state universities.”

Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress

Late yesterday afternoon, we also decided to rearrange, for the fourth time I think, the few tables and chairs we have at our Batasan office. Here are some snapshots of our “make-shift” office, which is a compartment in a large room that used to be the office of the Congress security force. The room is now divided among a handful of newly-seated partylists. One of these days I’ll take a picture of our neighboring partylists’ offices. Walang laman. I don’t know kung hindi ba sila nagta-trabaho at sumusweldo lang nang walang ginagawa. Fine, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, baka sa ibang lugar nag-oopisina.

Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress Kabataan Party office in Congress

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September 9, 2009

Kabataan disapproves of House approval of “text tax” bill

Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond “Mong” Palatino today disapproves of the approval by the House of Representatives in the committee level of a measure imposing a five-centavo excise tax on every text message, saying that the “no pass-on provision” is no assurance that consumers will not shoulder the additional burden.

“Despite statements from the authors of the bill and House Speaker Propspero Nograles that the “text tax’” should not add to the burdens of the tax paying public, these do not guarantee that consumers will not shoulder this additional burden.”

Palatino said that the present deregulated telecommunications industry makes it virtually impossible for the government to impose the “no pass-on” provision. “The government is simply powerless to stop telcos from imposing new fees to consumers in light of the implementation of this new text tax,” he said.

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Spot Report #2 on Con-Con Deliberations

Yesterday, I attended the meeting of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Constitutional Amendments on the proposed Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) to change the 1987 Philippine Constitution. (Read my spot report on the Aug. 26 meeting here)

The Committee amended the proposed measure calling for Con-Con by postponing the elections for the convention’s delegates from May 2010 (to coincide with the national elections), to October 2010 (which may coincide with the barangay elections). The exact date stipulated for the holding of the Con-Con elections is October 25, 2010. One representative who used to oppose Con-Con now approves of it because of this amendment. She claims it now clears the doubts on the political maneuverings that may happen in the Con-Con elections because it will be held after the term of Pres. Arroyo.

I think, however, it’s just a way for the Arroyo administration to reassure themselves that they have another elections to maneuver, in the likely chance that they lose the national elections on May. The Con-Con elections will be vulnerable, then, to the political manipulation of those who will lose the May 2010 national elections.

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September 4, 2009

Random notes 09/04/09

BATASAN STUFF
A couple of nights ago, Rep. Mong Palatino took me to the congressmen’s lounge beside session hall, to sample some of the food. It is exclusive to members of the House but I think they’re allowed to bring one or two of their staff or family once in a while. It was free, limitless, hotel-like food for congressmen every session day. Apparently, Mong said he hasn’t seen any same dish served twice for the entire month. No wonder many of the congressmen get fat in Congress, literally, and figuratively too. That night, it was Chinese-themed food. I don’t think Congress has a concept of simple living, which is a shame in a poor country like the Philippines. Iba talaga when one has the “power of the purse.”

Speaking of Congress’ “power of the purse,” I briefly attended the first hearing of Congress for the government’s P 1.541 trillion budget for next year. The hearing was very well-attended by the congressmen, their staff and employees of the Budget and the Finance departments. I could barely find a comfortable place, not even to sit, but to stand. It’s that packed. Iba talaga pag pera na ang pag-uusapan.

TAMBAY SA OSPITAL
A few days ago, some of my fraternity batchmates and I brought another batchmate of ours to the hospital due to his chronic seizures because of his multiple sclerosis. He had five attacks that day, and the UP Health Service urged us to move him to a bigger health facility because all they could provide were valium shots. It was the first time I saw someone having a serious seizure, and it was quite scary. Since his parents were in the province and his relatives couldn’t come as soon as possible, we stayed at the hospital the rest of the afternoon, some of us till later that evening.

MEETING BOY ABUNDA
In between staying at the hospital, I went to a meeting with some ABS-CBN staff together with Boy Abunda, to talk about his new political talk show. I don’t know why I’m part of it. I got a call a few days earlier inviting me to join in, and well, I agreed. Though I’m having second thoughts now. True, I may be opinionated, I write and I blog, but I don’t do a lot of talking, really. Details to follow, as I don’t think I’m at liberty to disclose any more information about it.

CLEARING OUT OF U.P.
I’m currently processing my papers for my honorable dismissal from UP Law. I passed by Malcolm Hall yesterday, after not being there for weeks now. It didn’t feel nice being in a place you were forced to leave all of a sudden. Unfortunately, I’ll have to keep coming back the next few days to finish the process, get a transcript and other papers to be able to take tests in other law schools.

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September 2, 2009

Kabataan sa Batasan on Twitter and Plurk!

The House of Representatives staff of Kabataan Party, of which I am part of, started a group Twitter and Plurk account a few days ago. Since we attend committee hearings left and right, attend plenary sessions and other Congress functions, too, we might as well give you a blow by blow account of the happenings in Congress, from the interesting and sometimes scandalous sound bites of congressmen (which may not see the light of day in mainstream TV), to random and mundane twits about various quirks with House procedures and our rants on Congress red tape, among other things. The entire Batasan complex is wifi-enabled after all. Add us up, we are Kabataan Crew!

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August 26, 2009

Spot Report #1 on Con-Con Deliberations

One of my tasks in Batasan is to attend committee hearings and other functions in Congress when Kabataan Rep. Palatino has another Congress function to attend. Yesterday, since Mong was at the hearing of the Special Committee on Bases Conversion regarding the North Rail project, I attended one of the hearings of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments regarding the proposed Constitutional Convention (Con-Con).

As it appears right now, administration congressmen are not acting on the controversial HR 1109 calling for a Constituent Assembly. They are now focused on drafting a bill allowing Congress to call for a Con-Con to revise the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It will be a consolidation of a handful of other measures on Con-Con proposed by different congressmen. As proposed, the members of the Constitutional Convention will be elected during next year’s national elections.

There had been meetings before, and much of the time was spent on debates with regard to the inclusion of the phrase “voting separately” which specifies how majority of the House and the Senate would approve the calling for Con-Con. Eventually, administration congressmen in the Committee voted to strike it off and leaving the “vagueness” of the present Constitution as is. Only Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza voted against it in yesterday’s deliberation.

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