Mar Roxas in 2010

Just about the only bright spot in the May 10 elections, is the strong possibility that Mar Roxas would be elected Senator. From as low as 16 or even lower before the campaign started, Mar zoomed right up to number 1 or 2, depending on what survey you are looking at. For a while, it seemed that neither performance in the Cabinet nor his presidential pedigree were enough to land him one of the 12 seats up for grabs in the Senate.

The reason Mar’s election to the Senate is good news is because it effectively grooms him for the Presidency in 2010, if we still have it by then. Actually, we are losing an effective executive in the process of preparing him to be the Chief Executive. Given the realities that constrained him during his watch as DTI Secretary under both Erap and Ate Glo, Mar did pretty well.

I caught an interview of Mar on ANC over the weekend and it is a pity we are not being asked to vote for him for President or Vice President now, instead of the sorry choices we have. It is not enough to be good. Because he is not a showbiz personality, Mar would have been a sure loser if he didn’t have the resources to fight it out on television like a detergent brand. It is also not enough that he is romantically linked now and then to showbiz figures.

It was refreshing to hear Mar express dismay over the failure of the Department of Energy (he carefully avoided mentioning his friend Vince Perez who is actually responsible for the department) to carefully monitor movement of oil prices and speaking out. Even if oil price increases can be traced to world market prices, Mar pointed out that the DOE gave up its responsibility to keep the oil companies honest to Ronnie Concepcion, who is doing it out of sheer civic duty.

Mar contrasted the laidback attitude of Vince’s DOE to his activist stance in monitoring the market and doing what he should to make merchants a little more honest. Mar said it was not enough for Vince’s DOE to say they don’t have the powers under the law to monitor oil companies the way Ronnie Concepcion does.

In his case, Mar said he publicly expressed his opinion if he is prevented by law to do anything more. Mar also got into trouble with Cito Lorenzo, another Cabinet member, when he advocated importing chicken to avert a supply crisis. Cito rejected Mar’s suggestion and Mar was proven right.

An investment banker in New York before he came back to take on the family responsibility for national leadership, Mar was able to adjust to the local situation fairly quickly. This is something his other fellow investment bankers like Vince and Lito Camacho failed to do. Maybe, Mar’s being from a political family made the difference. He grew up with politics, business and public service drilled into his subconscious.

I have no doubt that Mar would be an independent minded senator, one who is worthy of our trust and our vote. Even as he tried to defend Ate Glo in that ANC interview, you can sense with his body language and his careful choice of words that he has some ideas of his own and we can just wait and see after he is elected.

I wonder if Mar would get bored in a Senate dominated by know-nothing showbiz types and a bunch of Marcos era geriatrics. Still I am confident that he will be able to contribute greatly towards getting economic reform measures passed, but it is still such a waste not to also have him in a Cabinet position where he could get things going, follow through his low price drug imports and gather enough guts to pick national champion industries for greater global competitiveness.

I am not hot about a shift to a parliamentary form of government but when I think of people like Mar Roxas and Dick Gordon who could both be top legislators and executives, maybe Chit Pedrosa has a point after all. It is a pity that Mar would have to live with showbiz types like Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada and Lito Lapid or with Marcos era has beens like Enrile and Maceda. But that’s the inadequacy of the current system.

I am like many of you out there, hardly able to fill out 12 names for senators. My tentative list includes Mar Roxas, Dick Gordon, Fred Lim, Orly Mercado, Jun Yasay, Sonny Alvarez and that’s all I can very quickly remember. Maybe I will vote for two Muslims, Amina Rasul, the wife of economist Romy Bernardo, and Dr. Parouk Hussin, Governor of the ARMM who is a doctor and sounds credible to me. Eight is all I can muster off the top of my head.

If I have to fill up all 12 slots, I will pick the fresh candidates over the older politicians who have been there before. We need a generation change in the Senate. Otherwise, we should pass a provision calling for retirement at 75 when we amend the constitution. If Supreme Court justices retire at 70, why should those who are close to 80 still be eligible to serve in the Senate? They should rest at that age and the public should be allowed to rest from them.

Tax Returns

It is unfortunate that the presidential candidates and their runningmates are ignoring a request from the Tax Management Association of the Philippines and the newly formed Coalition of Tax Advocates to make public a copy of the tax returns they submitted last April 15. The fact that they are seeking the highest public office should mean that they need to be totally transparent specially in something as important as the taxes they paid.

The fiscal deficit problem is probably the most serious concern of the nation today and this is because Pinoys are not paying enough taxes and also because of the inclination of our officials to spend excessively and waste tax money on corruption, among others. Getting Pinoys to pay more taxes and pay more honestly is top priority. And those who aspire to be our leaders should set the example.

Aside from the Tax Management Association of the Philippines, the Coalition of Tax Advocates is composed of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Certified Public Accountants in Public Practice and the Bureau of Internal Revenue Retirees and Ex-Employees Association.

Why are the candidates afraid of making their tax returns public? Maybe we should make those tax returns public by law as part of the effort to make the financial transactions of public officials transparent. Maybe they are embarrassed that ordinary middle income guys like me are paying more taxes than them and yet, can only dream of their luxurious lifestyles.

Custody

PhilStar reader Jack Gesner sent this one.

A man and his wife were getting a divorce at a local court in Italy. But the custody of their children posed a problem. The mother jumped to her feet and protested to the judge that since she had brought the children into this world, she should retain custody of them.

The man also wanted custody of his children. The judge asked for his side of the story too. After a long moment of silence, the man rose from his chair and replied: "Judge, when I put a coin into a vending machine, and a Pepsi comes out, does the Pepsi belong to me or to the machine?

The man won.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]