What are they in power for?

During the Martial law period one of the often-quoted phrase to depict the abuse of power was the statement: “What are we in power for.” In today’s political setting, the phrase becomes more of a question than a statement.

After witnessing the fury and power of President Noynoy Aquino in removing the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, I can’t help but wonder why President Aquino and associates can’t seem to use the same political will to insure the passage of various laws and Executive Orders which the current administration initiated in the first place.

Consider for instance House bill 5727, which is aimed at correcting the historically anomalous system of taxation on tobacco/cigarette products. In its original version the bill would earn an estimated P60 billion for the government, which would be used for healthcare as well as assistance to tobacco farmers.

Given the fact that the Philippines has one of the lowest taxes on cigarettes in the region, and the fact that such a tax would bring billions to government while reducing the ability of first timers — young adults to afford cigarettes, all of us would think that Malacanang would immediately enlist the congressional club known as the “Movement 188” to ram through a socially and financially correct law.

Instead the original version was watered down which instantly cut the potential tax collection in half or roughly P33 billion, instead of the original estimate of P60 billion. Given the political realities and the art of compromise, supporters of House bill 5727 were already willing to accept the watered down version of the bill. But imagine how upset they were after discovering that lobbyists funded by the tobacco industry are now pushing for a third version that would further reduce the collectible tax to one fourth of the original or a mere P15 billion.

So what is the Aquino administration in power for? What use is the Liberal party for if a priority legislation of the administration cannot even survive in its original form or at least come out as a true compromise and not a sell out?

Perhaps one must truly be realistic and come to terms with the fact that the Aquino administration is not all that it claims to be. In the first place how could we expect a chain-smoking President to carry House bill 5727, there certainly would be no integrity in such a cause.

But why did the Aquino administration push for such a bill only to allow it to drown in all the watered-down treatment it received? Was it all for show and then take whatever chump change or peanuts they could get? I don’t think so. Somewhere along the way, I suspect, and I am speculating to the max, that HB5727 may have become one of the many trade offs for the head of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Why else would several congressmen blindly sign an impeachment complaint? And why would a government in need of cash so easily give up the prospects of collecting P30 to P40 billion, considering the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs have both been struggling just to meet their collection quotas?

Whatever the outcome, if the Aquino administration fails to shore up HB 5727, it may become a costly failure that will result in more deaths, tobacco related or otherwise. It may also become a cause of international criticism, that the administration who can remove a Chief Justice cannot impose sin taxes that will save thousands of lives and bring much needed revenue for a country on the rebound.

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Long after their fight with the one-woman standing Gina Lopez has died down, it is interesting to note that a number of mining companies have aggressively been conducting public relations campaign mostly to establish the “good” they bring to the communities where they operate.

I normally don’t pay much attention to these things but when an industry or a group of companies start conducting a PR campaign even when there is no serious concern nor crisis, it tells me that something “fishy” is about to happen.

In the case of the mining industry, the first thing that comes to mind is a pending Executive Order that has long been undergoing “massage” or is being similarly watered down. Again the EO has to do with increased taxes that will bring some P16 billion to government as against the measly millions it collects from mining firms. I don’t know if the watered down version has quietly floated out of Malacanang through the Pasig River, but if it does, it will stink sooner or later.

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Believe it or not the roads of imperial Manila suck compared to the roads in the provinces. After a week-long road trip through northern Luzon, I immediately realized that most of the roads in Metro Manila are in bad shape. We just never noticed it because we have nothing to compare them to.

The minute we drove up from the NLEX to EDSA, we immediately noticed the uneven surfaces and jarring feeling on the steering wheel. With all the concrete re-blocking and inconvenience they cause, you would think that the DPWH-NCR people could at least do the job right. While P-Noy maybe aiming for his “Matuwid na Daan,” some of us mere mortals are only asking for “matinong daanan.”

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