Pgma, game na!

In 2001, she vowed for a united country and a people free from poverty. The following year, she called for a strong republic. And last year, without the pomp and drama of the previous two, she simply reiterated the measures she intended to pursue in her fight against poverty.

For indeed, after three years at the helm, the nation seems to be in the same place as where it was when she started. In fact, if recent aggravated figures of joblessness and the continued weakening of the peso in the global market are indicators, we may have slipped not just a tad or two on the measurement pole.

Now is not the time for apologies. She is not just taking over from a deposed leadership but supposedly has a "legitimate" mandate.

The harrowing reality remains – even as the unresolved issues on the honesty of the recent May elections still hound – that we have a new President that may not have made it if she did not command and had not mustered the remaining but still substantial resources of the bureaucracy.

But as I have in the past said, it is time to move on. President Arroyo and her running mate Noli de Casto should buckle down to work and start the Herculean task of solving the country’s life-and-death problems, more urgently than trying to woo their political detractors (read: opposition members who lost in the last polls).

She is after all the new president, legitimately recognized by Congress and the Judiciary. During the next six years, there will be no more excuses.

Wanted: Genuine Reforms

No progress can be expected to happen without genuine reforms. And these reforms must lift the country out of the debt and deficit rut and regain confidence particularly of the investors.

It looks like the new government is pinning all its hopes this year on finding money from new taxes. There is a fallacy here because there is no need for additional taxes if only the government would efficiently collect what is due, and if only public money was not wasted on graft and corruption.

Estimates show that more than P250 billion a year is lost to inefficiency and corruption. This does not include the billions of pesos lost due to rampant smuggling of vehicles, petroleum products, rice, vegetables, and what have you. Today, the smugglers claim to have a vast network permeating the top and the bottom layers of government.

Corruption is at its worst ever. It has become a way of life built on years and regimes of moral decay where people simply turn a blind eye or keep quiet about unethical behavior. We now rank as one among the world’s top five most corrupt nations.

A moral recovery program, borrowing on the platform of presidential aspirant Eddie Villanueva, is definitely in order.

Priorities

There is no more excuse for this administration, supposedly undistracted by political expediencies before, not to even attempt to handle politically unpopular issues such as population management and the bloated bureaucracy.

We can no longer get by with wishy-washy population management program as our 82 million-strong nation fight over limited resources.

Streamlining of the bureaucracy is long overdue. There are 1.5 million National Government workers when perhaps only one million or even less would do. Reducing the overhead could also mean billions in pesos of savings yearly. Offhand, the budget department said that retiring some 10,000 to 20,000 government workers could mean annual savings of about P8 billion in salaries.

An efficient tax collection system and the prevention of corruption should go hand-in-hand with the adjustment of the so-called sin excise taxes to inflation. This is estimated to give the government a one-time windfall gain of about P14 billion, followed by incremental collections in the future.

New revenue may be raised if the government could tax the telecom sector without the profitable phone companies passing the levy to consumers. There must be a way of taxing the excessive profits generated by these companies on drop calls and text games (or disguised gambling) without hurting the already text addicted public.

Privatizing the National Power Corp. (Napocor) is a must. Its P500-billion debt is a major part of the deficit problem. Innovative thinking and firm government resolve to honor contracts are needed to make this work. Prospective investors must be assured that the reported "arm-twisting" and political pressure on the independent power producers (IPP) will not occur. That will take a lot of persuasive talk, though.

President Arroyo puts meat into her 10-point agenda as she delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA) today. And she has six long years to carry out her promises. We hope that it would be worth the wait.

SSS Issues On TV

"Isyung Kalakalan at Iba Pa" on IBC News (4:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Monday to Friday) starts today with a discussion of problems affecting the Social Securities System (SSS). After baring its actuarial problem and the need for members to increase their membership contributions, the SSS also is trying to solve its problematic investment funds, namely its shares in Equitable PCI Bank and housing loans under the National Home Mortgage Fund Corp.

Under the no-nonsense leadership of SSS president Cora dela Paz, the country’s largest private pension fund is slowly gaining firmer footing as it continues to serve its 25 million members. Watch how the SSS is doing it.

‘Breaking Barriers’ With Rep. Danilo E. Suarez

"Breaking Barriers" on IBC-TV13 (11 p.m. every Wednesday) will feature on Wednesday, 28th July 2004, Rep. Danilo E. Suarez of the 3rd district, Province of Quezon.

The 10-point program of action unveiled by President Arroyo will definitely require funding that the current government will need to raise. While disposal of a government asset like the Napocor is an option, realistically said sale is difficult to materialize considering Napocor’s dire financial condition.

Improving tax collection efficiency is another option but it has its own inherent limitation. It appears that imposing new taxes on poor Juan dela Cruz is becoming imminent, and the House of Representative is the entity mandated to initiate such moves.

Will the current crop of leaders in the House be able to move the entire body to support such unpopular measures? Will the loose coalition of different personalities and aggregation hold as more taxes are extracted from the burdened public to support the ambitious program of GMA?

Join us break barriers and gain insights into the views of Rep. Danilo E. Suarez of the 3rd district, Quezon province on various issues as the nation confronts the debilitating budget deficit. Watch it.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.