The chief who came in from the cold

According to reliable sources, the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) collects three million pesos a day -- yes, P3,000,000 -- from the toll fees at the North Expressway. Now, the big question is: Where is this money going? One thing is clear, though. The money is not going to proper maintenance of the tollway; neither is it going to expressway expansion.

Apparently, it is high time for the nation's policymakers to consider the abolition of the PNCC. This agency is no longer doing what it was envisioned to do when it was first created. It is now a mere milking cow, with its huge daily earnings serving merely as a fount to satisfy the appetites for lavishness of PNCC powerholders.

Go through the North Expressway on a regular basis, and you will notice the deterioration of tollway services. The fast-lane and slow-lane policy is not being enforced. The road condition is very mediocre. So many exits are being built, negating the purpose of a tollway, which is to enable motorists to travel at a faster clip. Truly, there are so many things wrong in the management of the North Expressway.

As I mentioned earlier, the daily toll collection at the North Expressway is P3 million. Multiply that by 30 days, and the monthly collection is P90 million. This is a huge amount that should be used for expansion and improved expressway services. But have you noticed any expansion job? The answer is a big NO. Which means that the monthly toll collections of the PNCC are going somewhere else.

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto is going to render another distinct public service if he orders a probe into the huge toll fee collections of the PNCC. Such a probe is expected to accomplish two things: first, to stop grafters from doing their evil thing, and second, to punish those who have been playing around with the people's money.

By the way, the Ombudsman has given full clearance to the subcontractors who built the controversial Mabalacat-Clark Spur Road. The reason for the clearance is that they were not involved in the overpricing of the road project. Those deemed culpable, not only for overpricing but for awarding contracts without public bidding, were the past officials of the Clark Development Corporation and the Bases Conversion Development Authority.

I mentioned this to focus attention on what the BCDA is reportedly cooking up: which is to get new contractors to finish the Mabalacat-Clark Spur Road. Now, this will mean a new round of negotiations with new players, which could either delay the project or open it up to hanky-panky.

The wiser course of action is to allow the present contractors, to whom the road project was subcontracted, to finish what they were supposed to do. Anyway, they have been given clearance by the Ombudsman, who found no evidence of wrongdoing against them.

One who came in from the cold, to take over a sensitive government post -- is bound to commit mistakes. This is true, especially in a sensitive area that requires assigning the right people to the right posts. Here, decisions on where to place people are either clouded or flawed.

The flawed judgment of people is based, historically, on wrong advice from "We Bulong" brigades that often descend on newly-appointed government officials, like a curse from hell. Right now, this is happening at the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Some characters around new Commissioner Dakila Fonacier have been deceiving him into appointing persons with questionable backgrounds to sensitive BIR offices.

Let us get down to specific names. A certain Virginia Trinidad has been named assistant commissioner for the Large Taxpayers Service. This post is very vital. Between 80 percent to 85 percent of the BIR's yearly revenue collection come from the Large Taxpayers Service.

In this context, this question becomes relevant. What is so special about Trinidad? Note that her track record in revenue collection has been very poor. She used to be a regional director for Quezon City and Makati. During her tenure in both sensitive collection regions, she was often at the bottom insofar as collecting taxes is concerned. By the way, Trinidad is a kumadre of Undersecretary Lily Gruba of the Department of Finance.

The figures released by Rep. Ernesto Herrera on the top failures of the BIR are revealing. The biggest shortfall for 1999 was posted by the Makati revenue region under Trinidad. Under Trinidad, the region had a P12.6-billion shortfall. Fonacier apparently promoted Trinidad based on this dismal and embarrassing performance.

Celia King, newly-promoted to the post of division chief of the Large Taxpayers Division, is a known protégé of Virginia Trinidad. Like Trinidad, King does not have an enviable record when compared with top revenue collectors. King, too, does not have adequate experience in tax investigation on a national scale. According to insiders, King is "passive and not pro-active."

Fonacier also named Meg Lauron and Pol Vidanes as chief and assistant chief of the division for policy cases. If only Fonacier had asked around before making his choices, he should have skipped the names of the two. Lauron has no experience in the audit of complicated tax cases. On the other hand, Vidanes' appointment was more heart-breaking for the professionals at the BIR, people like Leonardo Albar, a classmate of President Estrada at the Ateneo, who rose through the ranks and through merit. Note that Vidanes has no experience, no permanent appointment, and no eligibility.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>