Tough job, low pay, many applicants

MANILA, Philippines - These are jobs that require full-time, hands-on management, dealing with mass housing, employment, peace and order, health care, traffic, and periodic natural calamities.

The monthly gross pay is P78,946 for provincial governor or a basic pay of about P42,000; for mayor, it’s P62,670 a month. And yet there are thousands of applicants for these positions,
with some of them even willing to commit murder to win.

 Campaign funds are also overwhelmingly larger than the pay for the coveted positions. The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) claimed candidates were offering up to P3,500 per voter in Ilocos Norte, P3,000 in Ilocos Sur, P2,000 in Zamboanga Sibugay and P100 in Tawi-Tawi.

 In Metro Manila, there are 35 aspirants for the 17 positions for city and town mayors. The situation is similar in the provinces, even in the smallest and poorest towns, where local candidates are spending a fortune to be elected to a three-year term.

 In Caloocan City, there are four applicants for mayor: Macario Asistio Jr., Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri, Dionisio Guillarte and Oscar Malapitan.

 Malabon is among the few cities where the incumbent is seeking reelection. Mayor Antolin Oreta III of the administration Liberal Party (LP) is running unopposed.

 In Navotas, another coastal city in northern Metro Manila, Patrick Joseph Javier and John Reynald Tiangco of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) are running for mayor.

 There are three candidates for mayor in Valenzuela: Danilo Cuadra Bonifacio, Rexlon Ting Gatchalian and Adelma Yang Gunigundo.

 In Mandaluyong City, the candidates for mayor are Benjamin Abalos Jr. (LAKAS), Danilo de Guzman and Florencio Solomon.

 In affluent Makati, the race for the top post in the city is between reelectionist Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. and businessman Renato Bondal.

 The race in Manila is among the most closely watched because it pits two seasoned politicians, former President Joseph Estrada and reelectionist Mayor Alfredo Lim.

 In Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista is seen as a shoo-in against John Charles Chang Jr. and Henry Samonte.

 In Marikina, it is a three-cornered fight among reelectionist Del De Guzman, businessmen Felipe Evangelista and Rizal Tenorio. Similar fights are on in San Juan among Alton Glenn Angeles, Guia Gomez and Eduardo San Pascual Jr. as well as in Pasig City among Maria Belen Eusebio, Ismael Flores and Wainwright Rivera.

 There are two-way fights in Pateros between Jaime Median and Miguel Ponce III, in the booming city of Taguig between reelectionist Maria Laarni Cayetano and Ma. Rebecca Tinga, in Parañaque between Florencio Bernabe III and Edwin Olivarez, and in Muntinlupa between Jaime Fresnedi and Mayor Aldrin San Pedro.

 In Las Piñas City, considered to be a bailiwick of the Aguilar and Villar clans, there are four hopefuls: Antonio Abellar Jr., Francisco Antonio Jr., Conrado Miranda, Felix Sinajon and Mayor Vergel Aguilar.

 In Pasay City, the candidates for mayor are Antonio Calixto, Jorge del Rosario, Romulo Marcelo and Wenceslao Trinidad.

Control over public funds

 The pay may be meager, but local executives have control over millions of pesos in public funds.

 In the city of Manila, the Bureau of Local Government Finance reported a total tax take of P4,045,248,190 and non-tax revenue of P789,322,492, for a total of P4,834,570,682 in 2009. The BLGF is an attached agency of the Department of Finance.

 The amount is apart from funding from external sources, including an internal revenue allotment (IRA) of P1,689,087,485, other shares from national tax collections amounting to P4,866,257, and extraordinary receipts, grants, donations or aid amounting to P1,300,253498, or a total of P2,994,207241.

 Manila’s operating income in 2009 amounted to P7,828,777,922, with total operating expenditure of P6,166,680,856.

 Funds of a local government unit are at the mayor’s disposal. The unscrupulous are also seen to receive a share from illegal activities such as jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling and smuggling.

 Smaller cities such as Iriga in Camarines Sur make do with lower collections.

 Iriga City Mayor Madz Gazmen receives a monthly salary of P42,000 and a per diem of P800 when she travels outside the city. Her supporters say Gazmen stopped illegal gambling and padlocked five nightclubs for causing problems in the community.

 In 2009, the city reported a total tax revenue of P26,601,840 and non-tax revenue of P18,003,672, or a total local income source of P44,605,512. Its IRA was P256,435,165 while other shares from national tax collections amounted to P146,593, or a total of P261,778,688.

 Iriga City’s operating income in 2009 was P306,384,201 with total operating expenditures of P281,512,268.

 With Gazmen’s third and final term ending, five men are seeking to replace her: cousins Emmanuel Alfelor Jr. and Ronald Felix Alfelor, Rodrigo Badong, Mariano Trinidad and Jose Villanueva Jr.

 There are four candidates vying for mayor in Bacacay and three in Guinobatan, both in Albay.

 In Ampatuan, a small, remote town in the province of Maguindanao that gained notoriety for the worst case of election violence in this country, there are four candidates for mayor, four for vice mayor, and 28 for the eight Sangguniang Bayan seats.

Civil Service Commission Chairman Francisco Duque gave the monthly salaries for the contested positions, based on standard salary grades:

Senator (Salary Grade 31): P90,000

Congressman (Grade 31): P90,000

Governor (Grade 30): P78,946

Vice governor (Grade 29): P73,099

Mayor (Grade 27): P62,670

Vice Mayor (Grade 26): P58,028

Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Grade 27): P62,670

Councilor, city/town (Grades 24-25):

From P49,750 to P53,730

– Michael Punongbayan