AIG bonuses and the US Congress grandstand

Some issues simply invite political circus. Take the recent US Congressional hearings on the controversial AIG bonuses. A classic example of political theater. Government officials, in this case US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, hauled in and grilled one by one by grandstanding US members of Congress. The tone of the questions often lacked the civility the two gentlemen deserved. As each congressional interrogator finished with his or her sound byte on live TV, he/she left the room. By the end of the hearing, only the committee chairman was left in the chamber. It was a show reminiscent of our own honorable legislators here at home.

To be sure, the outrage of the American public over the exorbitant bonuses is clearly justified. Hence, the irresistible urge to pander to the crowd, even to the extent of “going over the top” and generating a media feeding frenzy. The US House of Representatives is even seeking a 90-percent tax on the AIG bonuses. But there may be a wrinkle here. One of my Georgetown classmates, a retired circuit court judge, told me that many lawyers are sharpening their knives to take this tax measure (if signed into law) to court. They contend it is a “bill of attainder”, which is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without the benefit of a trial. Bills of attainder are expressly forbidden by the US Constitution. This raises an interesting point. How often have we Filipinos been chastised about our supposed inability to honor the “sanctity of contracts” by our American friends and colleagues? It would be ironic, to say the least, if the US House of Representatives would now perform an unconstitutional act in order to void a legal contract.

Aside from the Congressional hearings, CNN recently had a one-hour special on AIG and the peccadillos of the giant firm’s controversial financial products division. I have no problem with the TV coverage with one exception. Unfortunately, the show tarred the rest of AIG along with the errant division. The insurance part of AIG continues to be a healthy prosperous company. For the record, as chairman of Philam Insurance Inc., (the non-life presence of AIG in Manila), I can confirm that AIG’s property and casualty insurance company (Philam Insurance is part of it) is rated A+. Philamlife, the life insurance company, will soon be folded into A+ rated American International Insurance Co. Ltd. based in Hong Kong.

Tony blair visit

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a highly impressive whirlwind visit to Manila this week. I have met him twice before and I continue to marvel at his brilliance, eloquence and sense of commitment. His performance in multiple events at Ateneo, La Salle, and Sofitel were extremely successful. He carried the crowds with him. Hopefully some of his qualities as a politician will rub off on our homegrown crew as well.

However, Blair’s stay was marred by one sour note. Before, during and after his visit, there had been reports (baseless it turned out) that the government was going to ask him to take on a direct mediation role in the peace process with the MILF. Tuesday’s newspapers painted different variations on his alleged role. The Star reported that he was not going to be an adviser and that no invitation was extended at the Palace. Two other papers reported that Blair had agreed to serve as international adviser to the peace talks. Others stated that he was willing to help move the peace process forward, but that it was really the government’s call on how this would be done. All this goes to show that our local press can either get the facts straight or that they can be extremely imaginative with the truth.

The fact is, as the DFA informed me, there were only two planned talking points with Blair: 1) the success of peace talks in Northern Ireland and the possibility of visits to Belfast; and 2) the status of the Middle-East peace effort. These points should have formed the basis of our official media briefings. Our media could then have added some possible editorial thinking of their own on how all of this might be relevant to our own peace process efforts.

Yet many of our government officials were quoted as having intimated a mediator role for Blair in Mindanao. We have a disturbing habit of conducting negotiations in the press and of prematurely revealing the contents of back channel discussions. This really has to stop or no one will take our negotiators seriously.  

On all matters of international significance, Secretary Alberto Romulo and I believe that we can avoid another diplomatic “faux pas” if the affected government agencies consulted each other so that a consensus can be reached with the guidance of the Department of Foreign Affairs. In short, government officialdom should all be on the same page.

My late father, Carlos P. Romulo, once commented that officious members of government, in their determination to get headlines, often become guilty of diarrhea of the mouth and constipation of the mind.