Philippines least competitive in Asia; graft blamed

RP least competitive in Asia; graft blamed

By Michaela P. del Callar

Daily Tribune 05/21/2009

The country slipped anew in terms of its global competitiveness ranking 43rd out of 57 countries in the World Competitiveness Yearbook that Swiss business school IMD released yesterday.

Among 12 Asian countries on the list, the Philippines got the poorest ranking with Hong Kong considered as the world’s second most competitive country, next to the United States. Singapore ranked 3rd; Japan, 17th; Malaysia, 18th; China, 20th; Taiwan, 23rd; Thailand, 26th; Korea, 27th; India, 30th; Kazakhstan, 36th, and Indonesia, 42nd.

The Philippines’ competitiveness grade had regressed the past five years having been ranked 40th in 2005, 42nd in 2006, 45th in 2007 before improving to 40th last year.

What’s more telling was that IMD ranked the economic performance of the country at 51st out of 57 this year despite President Arroyo’s continuous harping about her administration’s focus on uplifting the economy.

The economic performance of the country had deteriorated progressively since 2005 when it was ranked 36th, 45th in 2006 and 2007, and 42nd last year.

On government efficiency the Philippines was ranked 42nd, on business efficiency, 32nd and infrastructure second to the last at 56th.

Aside from perceptions of corruption, a weak government institution was blamed for the dismal ranking of the country in the annual competitiveness ranking.

A United Nations report echoed the IMD findings, saying weak congressional oversight on foreign aid

and national budget facilitates corruption in the country.

In the Philippine Human Development Report for the period 2008-2009, it said that “loopholes” in the current budget law give the executive and not congress the “power of the purse.”

It added that the President can override congressional budget mandates in a number of ways by not releasing or delaying the release of authorized appropriations and by using “savings” and “other unprogrammed, discretionary or confidential funds at will.”

The PHDR cited overwhelming amounts with savings ranging from P11.4 billion in 2004 t P117.5 billion in 2007.

Lump sums in the 2009 National Expenditure Program—defined as one-liner appropriations amounting to P100 million or more—amounted to P224 billion, or 16 percent of the proposed national budget. Confidential and intelligence funds amount to another P1.12 billion.

“Presidents can, and have restored programs scrapped by Congress by using ‘savings,’ lump sums or contingency funds,” the report said.

It lamented that mandatory obligations comprise more than 80 percent of the total annual budget on average, leaving little headroom to increase spending on basic services or fund innovations.

The report also pointed out that Congress plays a significant part in undermining its own powers, noting that when it fails to pass the national budget, the previous year’s budget is automatically re-enacted.

It said that there have been three fully re-enacted budgets since 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006 and a few more being partially re-enacted.

“The re-enactment of a budget even strengthens the President’s control over allocations owing to larger savings that can be disbursed at his or her discretion,” the report said.

It also noted the lack of transparency in government agencies as they fail to submit quarterly financial reports in a complete and timely manner to Congress, the Commission on Audit, the Department of Budget and Management, and the Office of the President.

“One problem is the lack of any mechanism for systematic legal or administrative sanctions against such agencies, notwithstanding the oversight functions of the CoA,” the report said.

The report also cited many instances of unresolved “recurrent adverse audit findings” among national government agencies and corporations from the COA.

Five war-torn provinces in Southern Mindanao ranked lowest in the human development index due to lack of economic development, extreme poverty and thousands of displaced civilians due to ongoing hostilities between Muslim rebels and government troops .

At the bottom 10 are seven provinces from Mindanao, five of which are from the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the report that covers the country’s 77 provinces and Metro Manila released yesterday said.

Sulu, a stronghold of Muslim militants and a battleground for Philippine armed forces and rebels, was retained in the last spot, followed by Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Basilan and Lana del Sur. Their performance in human development is comparable to Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan and Senegal.

“As human insecurity increases from armed conflict, people turn away from those social and activities that could have facilitated the development of their human potential,” the report said.

“Lives are destroyed, families and communities torn apart, cultures decline, and investment is foregone or deflected. Development in the immediate are stagnates and, through spillovers, the entire region and perhaps the entire country is affected,” it added.

Previous Philippine human development reporters dating back to the mid-1990s have consistently shown that the bottom 10 provinces in almost every aspect of human development are the most conflict-ridden.

New to the bottom 10 are Eastern Samar and Romblon and graduating from the lowest ranking provinces list are Agusan del Sur, Northern Samar and Surigao del Sur.

Provinces in Luzon led by Bataan, Benguet, Cavite and Rizal topped the human development rankings. Completing the top ten are Batanes, Ilocos Norte, Laguna, La Union, Nueva Vizcaya and Pampanga.

Human development levels increased for 51 provinces and declined for 27, including Metro Manila.

Benguet, Biliran and Siquijor were cioted as “the most improved in human development,” while the top ten provinces performed well in the gender-development index.

Overall, the Philippines is classified as a medium human development country, along with other Asian states like China and Thailand, ranking 90th out of 177 countries. Highest ranked countries are Australia, Canada, Japan, Iceland, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

In terms of health, the estimated life expectancy at birth of the Philippines is 71 years, or 3.5 years above the average for medium-ranked countries. For simple literacy rate, the Philippines has 92.6 while real per-capita incomes is at $5,137 or about five percent above the average of $4,876 for the group.

“This is an improvement over the past computations, where the Philippines’ real per capita income was below the group average,” the report said.

Philippine Supreme Court Legitimized Kleptocracy

Deviantart

Welcome to kleptocrat nation! The Philippine Supreme Court has legitimized Gloria Arroyo’s kleptocracy-the rule by looters and thieves. The Arroyo government is ruled by Mafia criminals and cronies. It’s lutong makaw! The majority of the magistrates are blind and bias. The Arroyo Supreme Court is a part of wholesale conspiracy of China’s ZTE scam and its clone’s cover-up. In fact, the Philippine Supreme Court legitimized the Arroyo presidency after the 2001 EDSA Dos coup. What national security? What diplomatic matters? The alleged Spratlys sell-out and wholesale conspiracy to commit fraud, bribery, and treachery are covered under Gloria’s executive privilege. Shame on them!

The rule of law is dead under corrupt Arroyo regime. Gloria Arroyo has the rubber stamp do-nothing House of the Representatives, the Supreme Court to justify her misdeeds, the Ombudsman and Department of Injustice to protect her Mafia cronies from prosecution, the military-police to suppress people’s civil liberties and the bishops for their prayers and all-out support. Anak ng jueteng! But no thanks to bribery! Tuloy ang ligaya!

SC Chief Justice Puno dissents
The limits of executive privilege
GMA’s justices uphold Neri’s silence, castrate Senate

CJ Puno: Palace claim of RP-China ties at risk not credible
By Benjamin B. Pulta
Daily Tribune 03/26/2008
The Senate, empowered by the Constitution with the mandate to investigate anomalies in government, and in the Executive branch in aid of legislation, has been effectively castrated by the high court with its ruling issued yesterday involving the invocation of executive privilege.
All of President Arroyo’s men and women in the Supreme Court (SC) appeared to have delivered to her what she wanted: The clipping of the Senate’s powers to investigate, in aid of legislation; to question witnesses and resource persons and demand answers from them; and to cite them in contempt, while upholding the Malacanang officials’ right to invoke executive privilege, and thus evade public accountability even in criminal matters.

The SC yesterday ruled to grant a petition filed by former National Economic Development Authority (Neda) secretary-general now chairman of the Commission on Higher Education Romulo Neri to stop the Senate from compelling him to testify in its investigation into the aborted $329-million national
broadband network project of the government with China’s ZTE Corp.
Voting nine-to-six,the majority of the high court in the decision written by Associate Justice Teresita De Castro agreed with Neri’s claim that the Senate cannot cite any person appearing before legislative inquiries before it in contempt until the upper house passes its rules.
As of 4:00 p.m. yesterday, no official copy of the main ruling was available since it was still being revised, SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said, adding that it runs to some 35 pages.

The main decisions said ,in this present search for truth, we should turn to the fundamental constitutional principles.
The SC said while the three department s of government are considered separate,co-equal,coordinate and supreme within their respective spheres they are imbued with a system of checks and balances to prevent unwarranted exercise of power.
Even the courts are repeatedly advised to exercise the power of contempt judiciously and sparingly with utmost self-restraint with the end in view of utilizing the same for correction and preservation of the dignity of the court, not for retaliation or vindication.

The majority added that the Senate committees should have exercised the same restraint adding that after all petitioner (Neri) is not even an ordinary witness. He holds a high position in a co-equal branch of government.
The SC also pointed out that only a minority of the members of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee were present during the deliberation.
Clearly,the needed vote is a majority of all the members of the (Senate blue ribbon) Committee. Apparently, members who did not actually participate in the deliberation were made to sign the contempt order. Thus , there is a cloud of doubt as to the validity of the contempt order, the SC said.
The tribunal also cited that in letters made by Neri to the Senate, the former include(d) an expression of his willingness to testify again, provided he be furnished in advance copies of the questions.

The dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Reynato Puno was 120 pages long.
Despite the majority vote in favor of the administration in the Neri petition, magistrates of the high court who dissented said a virtual mouthful for the case.
In his separate opinion, the Chief Justice did not give credence to the claim of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the country’s relationship with China may be put at risk if Neri is forced to answer the three questions which stem from a Neri allegation of bribery.
Puno said Ermita has no explanation on how diplomatic secrets will be exposed at the expense of national interest if petitioner answered the three disputed questions propounded by the respondent Senate committees.
Neri, Puno pointed out, also failed to explain during the oral argument on the case how diplomatic secrets will be compromised if the three questions are answered by him.

But even assuming arguendo that petitioner Neri can properly invoke the privilege covering national security and military affairs, still, the records will show that he failed to provide the Court knowledge of the circumstances with which the Court can determine whether there is reasonable danger that his answers to the three disputed questions would indeed divulge secrets that would compromise our national security, Puno noted.
The questions, Puno added, should be answered by Neri as these are pertinent to the subject matter of the legislative investigation being undertaken by the respondent Senate committees.

He noted that the questions to Neri have direct relation not only to the subject of the inquiry, but also to the bills pending before the Senate such as Senate Bill No. 1793 which intends to amend Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act, Senate Bill No. 1794 or An Act Imposing Safeguards in Contracting Loans Classified as Official Development Assistance and Senate Bill No. 1317 or An Act Mandating Concurrence to International Agreements and Executive Agreements.
Puno further stressed that the strength of the executive privilege is weakened by the fact that the subject of the communication involves a contract with a foreign loan, which is not exclusively vested in the President, but is shared with the Monetary Board (Central Bank).

We also consider the chilling effect which may result from the disclosure of the information sought from petitioner Neri but the chilling effect is diminished by the nature of the information sought, which is narrow, limited as it is to the three assailed questions. We take judicial notice also of the fact that in a Senate inquiry, there are safeguards against an indiscriminate conduct of investigation, Puno added.

With all these considerations factored into the equation, we have to strike the balance in favor of the respondent Senate committees and compel petitioner Neri to answer the three disputed questions, he further said.

Spokesman Marquez, quoting the high court’s majority ruling said that since there are no published rules of the Senate’s rules for contempt no person can be penalized with contempt by the Senate until the guidelines are already published.
Marquez said the ban not only covers Neri but in effect also covers other witnesses appearing before the legislature.
It does not limit the power of the Senate but only defines executive privilege he added.

Dissenting from the majority opinion were Puno and Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales and Adolfo Azcuna.
Carpio however joined the majority in ruling that the arrest warrant issued by the Senate against Neri was handed down in grave abuse of discretion.
The senators ordered Neri’s arrest following his failure to heed their subpoenas for him to appear the Senate inquiry.
The SC ruled that three crucial questions being asked of Neri during the senate proceedings are covered by the rule of executive privilege.
The majority decision said that these questions fall under executive privilege and that the conversations between Neri and the President must remain secret, despite the fact that an earlier SC ruling on EO 464 made it clear that executive privilege does not cover criminal activities.
It was claimed by the majority that for Neri to divulge his conversations with Mrs. Arroyo would put the diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines at serious risk.
Marquez clarified that the SC ruling does not prevent Neri from opting to change his mind and voluntarily testifying before the senate in executive session.
Aside from De Castro those who ruled to uphold the Palace position were Associate Leonardo Quisumbing, Renato Corona, Dante Tinga, Minita Chico-Nazario, Presbitero Velasco, Antonio Nachura, Ruben Reyes and Arturo Brion. All of whom are publicly perceived to toe the Malacanang line.
Brion who replaced Associate Justice Angelina Gutierrez was not yet with the court when the high court held oral arguments on the case last March 4. Marquez clarified that Brion wrote a separate opinion explaining his vote to concur with the majority.
Malacanang was pleased by the decision, saying that the ruling confirmed all along its belief that the Senate had been disrespectful toward the Executive department when it comes to its inquiries in aid of legislation.
What’s good about this ruling is that it emphasized what we have been saying all along that all these time we have been talking about respecting the independence of one another (executive and legislative branches) and (for the Senate) to accord respect to resource persons. In all of this, we have been proven correct. The only reason this Executive Order 464 was ever issued was due to the disrespect (of the Senate) to the Constitution, said Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
For his part, Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said they are now looking forward to the Senate and the executive to work out a mutually acceptable rules on appearances in the senate inquiries of witnesses, in aid of legislation.
With Sherwin C. Olaes and PNA

Elections chief Benjamin Abalos, Sr. Resigns

The resignation of Abalos is a part of Malacanang’s game plan. It’s a calculated Queen’s Knight Sacrifice to save the throne. Elections chief Benjamin Abalos, Sr. is just a sacrificial lamb to absorb the heat from the $329-M ZTE-NBN scam. Paper trails points directly to Malalcanang Palace. Gloria Arroyo and Jose Pidal are held responsible for the ZTE scam. Who's next to resign?


Razon's Hand in ZTE-NBN Deal
Razon now most powerful businessman, says De Venecia son

Conjugal Plunderer

The Bonnie and Clyde of the Philippines
The majority of the Filipino people can no longer stomach the never ending plunder, greed and cover-up. Jose Pidal and his mafia gang have cornered most of juicy government contracts. Even the Arroyo government totally junks the ZTE-NBN, ZTE-Cyber-ed, the crooks and brokers cannot escape from criminal prosecution.

Arroyo satisfaction rating at -11, lowest this year - SWS

Crime Does Not Pay: The Wack-Wack Mafia Conspiracy

Don’t kill the messenger. It’s crystal clear that Miguel and Gloria are directly involved in the ZTE-NBN misdeal. What’s new? Scams, deceit, election fraud and political killings are Gloria Arroyo’s legacy.

Why? Philippine bogus President Gloria Arroyo has allowed Cabinet men implicated in the ZTE-NBN $329.4- M misdeal to attend the Senate inquiry. What’s cooking? Are they sacrificial lambs? The President‘s loyal dogs, Favila-Mendoza-Neri are shock absorbers in the aftereffects of Joey De Venecia’s bombshell at the Senate. I think they cannot save Gloria and Miguel assess. It’s back to back plunder as in AB ZTE FG.

Related links:
‘Mike Arroyo is NBN deal mystery man’
GMA Played Golf with Businessmen Who Bagged Broadband Deal

Abalos’ Golfing Buddy Close to ‘Wiretappers’
Neri to bare all in next Senate hearing on NBN-ZTE deal
Cabinet split on cost, benefits of NBN, overlap with CyberEd
Webcast: DOTC Asst. Sec. Lorenzo Formoso III on $329 M ZTE deal