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. Home | From the Soldiers | The Struggle for Change | Withdrawal of Support | The Armed Forces | The Nation | Issues and Concerns -------------------------------------------------- From the People | Soldiers of the People | About Us | Links -------------------------------------------------- . |
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================= Preventing Military Interventions ================= ================= ================= Civilian-Military Alliance for Reforms in Society ================= ================= ================= ================= ================= The Cavaliers, the PMA Alumni Association ================= ================= Young Officers Union of the New Generation (YOUNG) ================= ================= Rene Jarque . USMA West Point Class 1986 ================= Rene Jarque . USMA West Point Class 1986 ================= Message To The Filipino People Armed Forces of the Philippines ================= The Last RevolutionTowards A New Philippine Order================= ================= Corruption in the Philippine Navy Procurement System ================= A Study of Corruption in the Philippine Navy ================= |
. National Recovery Program
The National Recovery Program (NRP) is inspired by a Vision of a peaceful prosperous Philippines and united Filipino citizenry. It advocates social equity as the essence of governance and equality and social justice as the true measures of a Democracy.
The pursuit of this noble vision would tread on a long circuitous and difficult path thus, would require structural changes to some institutional restrictions that have hindering our progress and development.
The dire situation we are in calls for drastic, sweeping reforms and there is no way around it. Political concessions and accommodations would never solve ours. The decisions must be hard and steadfast.
The NRP does not pretend to be a cure-all formula for our problems. Instead, its primary objective is to arrest the rapid spiraling descent of our Republic and lay the foundation for a truly strong Nation. More importantly, it intends to ignite a Moral and Cultural Revolution to finally free us from the clutches of greed, insolence, subservience, ignorance, and helplessness that have been ingrained on our psyche through centuries of colonial persecution.
The NRP is a strategic package of policy propositions, which focuses on five key result areas of governance. These are: Peace and Order, Economy, Poverty, Population and Corruption.
PEACE and ORDER
The peace and order problem is the main stumbling block to our country’s progress. We can not develop as a nation as long as lawlessness is prevalent in our society. Economic gains, if any, will be negated and domestic/foreign investments and tourists will be discouraged to come in. Worse, the atmosphere of crime and terror has prevented our citizens from enjoying the blessings of freedom and democracy.
To address the problem, Peace and Order is dissected into five areas of concern namely foreign aggression, terrorism, criminality, insurgency, and secessionism. Each area is completely diverse from the other and therefore, each requires a unique strategy for its resolution.
A. Diplomatic solutions to deal with Foreign Aggression
The Spratly Island Group and the Scarborough Shoals are the potential flashpoints, which could trigger a conflict with other countries. This could be settled diplomatically by invoking international laws. As an added measure, bilateral ties with concerned countries would be strengthened. This recourse would be much more inexpensive than engaging in an arms race.
B. War vs. Terrorism
Terrorism is a global concern. We have seen its ugly head many times over, mercilessly killing innocent lives in the guise of pursuing fanatical beliefs or ideology. It must be stopped and the responsibility for its extermination falls not only on the State but on each member of society. This would be achieved through vigilance, relentless exchange of information and highly responsive law enforcement agencies.
C. Campaign against Crime.
Criminality is a menace of society. The past decades saw the rapid increase in crime incidence threatening business, tourism and, more importantly, the normal lives of ordinary Filipinos. While it is true that poverty is one root cause of crime, many rich and powerful people also commit these dastardly acts. Either way, there should be nothing to stop the State from protecting the other helpless members of society and applying justice to these criminals.
To effectively deal with criminality however, the other legs of the criminal justice system such as law enforcement, prosecution, judiciary, and rehabilitation would have to reform.
The following anti-crime measures would be undertaken:
D. Ending the Insurgency
The CPP-NPA insurgency has been around for more than thirty years. However, the end of this Cold War in the 90’s has removed the ideological causes for its armed struggle. Still, its demands for social equity and social justice are valid and should be dealt with.
To end the insurgency, the following activities would be undertaken.
E. Lasting Peace in Mindanao
The handling of Muslim secessionist group is much more complicated considering that it has historical, religious, social, economic, cultural, political, and military dimensions. Therefore, the strategy to be employed would likewise require a multi-dimensional approach. On the historical and religious facets of the problem, the Muslims and Christians would be made to understand that they are equally essential parts of composite National Identity that is Filipino. We are all Filipinos to fight this reality are futile and would only bring more bloodshed that it already has. All of us could be considered victims of history and we could argue and fight to the death and it would still not change our present predicaments. The best thing to do now should be to resolve our differences so that we could jointly move forward to a progressive future for our succeeding generations.
The social, economics, cultural and political dimensions of the problem should be addressed by a truly autonomous government for each major Muslim group (e. g. Tausugs, Maranaos, Maguindanaoans, etc.). The failure to the present ARMM is but a manifestation of how the diverse Muslim groups were completely misunderstood.
Nevertheless, those insist on pursuing secession through arms would leave the State no other choice but to deal with them militarily.
The Abu Sayyaf group is considered a terrorist group and therefore, have to be exterminated.
The following activities would be undertaken to finally bring lasting peace in Mindanao:
F. Reformation of the AFP/PNP
A key element in the resolution of all these concerns is the reformation of the two major organizations primarily responsible for the upkeep of peace and order namely: the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). Both institutions have been badly damaged and plundered by its treacherously corrupt and power-driven senior officers. While there may still be a few morally upright generals left in the AFP/PNP nonetheless, they have become to insignificant and impotent that they never made any difference.
For us to have any chance of restoring peace and order, these institutions must be reformed, cleansed, and restructured.
In the AFP, the funds for modernization, intelligence, operations, and maintenance were blatantly and methodically realigned straight to their pockets and lavish houses. All these were done while their men on the field, the lowly soldiers on the foot patrol wearing dilapidated uniforms and using antiquated weapons, were risking their lives fiercely fighting for military victories, which their own house to come home to, as most of them are squatters inside military camps. To top it all, even their retirement pay was not spared as the RSBS was pillaged by the same military leaders.
The situation in the PNP, as everyone would agree, is much worse. We have policemen engaging in murder, kidnap-for-ransom, robbery, drug trafficking, extortion, bribery and illegal gambling. In short, the very institution that was supposed to protect the welfare of the people is the same institution that is terrorizing them.
To reform the AFP/PMP, the following activities would be undertaken:
1. On Professionalization
2. On structural reforms
3. On Morale and Welfare
4. Increase Operations and Modernization
ECONOMY
According to recent reports, our GDP and GNP posted growths of 4.6% and 5.20% respectively. While this may be true, the question is, who benefited most from this growth? The poor? The working middle class? or the upper Class?
To better analyze the true state of our economy, we would put forth some hard facts, which were not given much emphasis. The unemployment rates is over ten percent. Investor confidence is very low and businesses are down. The Agriculture sector has contracted. And our total outstanding external debt as of September 2002 has surpassed $50-billion. To top it all, we have a runaway budget deficit reaching P230-billion that is threatening to halt government operations.
We need to reverse this economic downturn quickly before it totally collapses.
Below are the key economic reforms/activities to be undertaken for our immediate economic recovery:
1. On Fiscal Administration
1. Reformation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC). (to be discussed below) 2. Initiate the amendments to our tax laws. These should include the following a. The removal of the 32% income tax limit for high-income earners. b. The act of not issuing officials receipts would become a crime (i. e. tax evasion). This would force business and professionals to pay the right taxes. 3. Initiation of the repeal of the Automatic Appropriations Law (AAL). This would effectively de-prioritize debt payments. However, the payment for government bonds issued and domestic debts would be guaranteed by the NG. Also, foreign lending institutions would be assured that debts owed to them would not be written off. 4. NG to make representation with “developmental” banks such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank for debt forgiveness. 5. Eradication of bureaucratic corruption (to be discussed below) 6. Crackdown on smuggling operations. 7. Implementation of the National Austerity Program. This would be applied to all national government agencies (NGA). The activities under this program would include the following: a. All gov’t funded foreign travel would be banned. International conferences earlier committed to by the NG would be attended by the Vice-President and no more than P500M annually for the NG and also enable the President to focus more on domestic concerns. b. The procurement of service vehicles for all NGA’s would be banned. COA would be notified that any payments thereof should be disallowed including procurement variations such as “knock-down parts” or substitution. c. All Presidential Advisers and consultants would be removed. Services of consultants may be tapped only on pro bono basis. d. NGA’s/LGU’s/GOCC’s would only be allowed to have two (2) consultants each. e. Salaries and allowances of all Presidential appointees on all GOCC’s and other private corporations to which the NG has a stake on, would be standardized and should never exceed the salary of the President. To ensure compliance, a contract would be executed between the appointee and the President prior to the formers appointment stating, among others, that any form of remuneration given in excess of the amount of the salary of the President would be returned to the Bureau of Treasury immediately upon its receipt. f. Expenditures for meetings, conferences, ceremonies, strips, Christmas parties, anniversary celebrations, etc., would be set at a minimum. g. All NGA’s and LGU’s would practice electricity cost reducing measures. h. Ceremonial functions of the President would be reduced to a minimum. i. The Presidential Security Group would be streamlined. * While it would appear that undertaking these activities would reduce the aggregate demand of the economy, on the contrary, the financial surplus expected to be generated through the increased revenue collection, eradication of corruption, bureaucratic streamlining, National Austerity Program and the repeal of the AAL, would be re-channeled to finance the rehabilitation and reinvigoration development as well as to support anti-poverty programs thereby spurring sustainable and equitable economic growth and productivity.
2. On Globalization
Globalization as a paradigm originated from 1st World countries. Thus it is highly probable that the economists who conceptualized it did not dwell on its possible negative effects on developing countries. More likely, their foremost concern was how to tap the huge but protected 3rd World markets to advance their own economic interests. They shrouded this scheme by preaching that Globalization would ultimately benefit consumers of all nations, as they would now have access to the high quality, world-class products at the cheapest price.
However, the impact of Globalization on our country would be catastrophic. The infancy of our Agriculture and Industry sectors could not stand against global standards and would eventually collapse. This would result to the wholesale displacement of farmers and laborers across the country causing social unrest, anarchy, and possibly, civil war. In short, we would risk the survival of our State just for consumer welfare.
Sadly, however, we are already members of the WTO and so are most countries in the world. Hence, any stand against globalization at this point has become untenable. Still, this should not stop the State from protecting its own interests.
The following activities would be undertaken to countervail the effects of Globalization:
· Review of WTO commitments. · NG to make representation with WTO to move the full implementation of WTO agreements for another ten years citing National Security concerns. · Protection of the Agricultural sector through the re-imposition of Quantitative Restrictions and Tariff on imported agricultural products. · Reinvigoration, rehabilitations, and modernization of the Agricultural sector. · Protection and rehabilitation of dying industries. · Reinvigoration and modernization of the Industrial sector. · Removal of all tariff barriers on imported products used extensively for local manufacturing. · Revisit the “Buy Filipino” policy to help boost the local industries and help foster National Pride in our local products. · Launch an aggressive campaign to market export products utilizing Foreign Service offices. · Spearhead the forging of a coalition of 3rd World countries within WTO that would protect the interest of developing countries.
POVERTY
Latest NSCB statistics 92000) show that of the 15.3 million households in the Philippines, 33.7% fall below the poverty threshold, meaning 5.1 million families could not satisfy incidence in 1997. The poverty problem is also coupled with very minimal access to the basic social services offered by the NG, such as education, health services, and shelter.
To alleviate poverty, the best strategy would be to generate employment and have at least one member of each family employed. However, the abject poor people in our society who are too sick, too old. or too young for employment should receive help right away.
The following activities would be undertaken to alleviate poverty:
2. For the rural poor
· Rural Development. Rural employment would be generated through labor-intensive infrastructure projects like farm-to-market roads, irrigation facilities, post harvest facilities, mass housing, school buildings, and health care institutions. This would be complemented with provisions for education, health care electrification, and access to potable water. Rural service for doctors and nurses would be expanded. · Agriculturalization. The renewed thrust toward the protection and rehabilitation of the agricultural sector could provide the impetus for agricultural growth, employment generation and consequently, the eradication of rural poverty. In addition, this would stem the influx of rural poor to the urban areas. The urban poor may be even being persuaded to seek opportunities in the rural areas. The agricultural thrust would include:
a. The immediate implementation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act. b. NG mediation for the immediate release of the frozen Coco levy funds to be used for the rehabilitation of the coconut industry. c. The break-up of the rice cartel. d. Crackdown on smuggling of agricultural products.
· Wealth distribution through Agrarian Reform
a. The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) would be given a one-year deadline to complete land distribution after which it would be reduced to a branch under the Department of Agriculture. The DAT budget would be re-channeled to finance Agri-Agra loans. b. Cooperatives would be promoted and enhanced as tools for the protection of the newly landed as well as to guide them in Agribusiness. It would also serve as conduits for the release of Agri-Agra loans. c. The conversions of agricultural lands into residential or industrial lands would be banned.
CORRUPTION
Corruption is the bane of our country,. Its roots be traced way back during the colonial era and is now deeply imbedded in our bureaucracy, our culture and our society. Previous administrations have attempted to eradicate corruption through words or actions, only to find out the futility of it all.
But now, there is a way…… Corruption in itself is a complex. Corrupt practices should not be lumped together as one form requiring one formula in eradicating it. Each government agency has, through the years, bred its own peculiar type of corruption. Applying traditional anti-corruption strategies of inserting additional checks and balances would only result in the formulation of new ways of circumvention. In the end, the net effect is only additional bureaucratic red tape for the public. Another failed strategy is creating a super Anti-Corruption agency, which doesn’t have inkling as to where the corruption occurs.
The participation of the private sector is also not the remedy as they are often party to the commission of corruption. The culture of corruption is as prevalent in the private sector as it is in government.
Corruption, based on where they occur, can be classified into two, Operational and Administrative.
A. Operational Corruption
Operational corruption is where the act occurs as a result or as part of an agency’s operational activity. An example of this is in the BIR wherein the common acts of corruption like bribery and extortion occur during the conduct of its operational activity that is tax collection. Corruption in other revenue collecting agencies such as Customs, LTO, Register of Deeds, etc., falls in this category. The PNP’s corrupt practices of kotong and hulidap also fall under operational corruption.
To effectively deal with this systemic problem, it would likewise require a systemic solution. In other words, the very same agency, which created a systemic solution. In other words, the very same agency, which created its own form of corruption, would be the same agency to be used in decimate it. This would be done through the imposition of performance targets with zero-corruption assumptions that would be set jointly by he agency concerned and the NG. This way, the NG would only need to monitor the performance as compared to the targets to measure the agency’s success or failure in its anti-corruption drive. Agency heads who would fail to reach the imposed targets would be relieved immediately. This would force the agency head to apply the same standard to his subordinates and so on and so forth until a cycle of top-to-bottom reforms has been completed in that particular agency.
The following tasks would be undertaken to address operational corruption
· Reformation of BIR and BOC.
a. All Commissioners/Deputy Commissioners as well as all the District Collectors of BOC and all the Regional and District Officers of BIR would be relieved. They would give a fresh start to these organizations. Meritocracy would be the sole basis for the selection of the new set of BIR/BOC revenue officers and collectors. b. New annual revenue collection targets would be set for both BIR and BOC. All revenue officers and collectors who would reach these targets would receive incentives. But those who fail to reach the targets would be relieved. This would again spark a top-to-bottom cleansing of their agencies since the pressure of trying to reach the targets would force the regional/district heads to set certain targets to their subordinates and subject them to the same reward and punishment scheme. c. Tax audit of individuals and corporations. d. Computerization of BIR and BOC. · Reformation of other NGA’s engaged in operational corruption using the same strategy as stated above.
B. Administrative Corruption
Administrative corruption is a different type altogether. It is where the corrupt act occurs as a result or as part of an agency’s performance of an administrative function. This includes procurement of supplies, equipment, and personnel, hiring of services, facilities of contracts, processing of documents, etc.
To illustrate one of the administrative tasks of the Philippine Army (PA) is to procure ammunition. Let us assumed that according to procurement documents, the PA procured 100,000 rounds of ammunition in the amount of P2 million and that the said items were delivered. Everything was documented properly with the corresponding signatures and receipts and therefore, the payment was allowed by COA. In truth however, not single ammunition was delivered. Instead, P1.4 million in cash were given to the Commander, PA. The other P600,000.00 were distributed equitably as profits for the supplier and as “lagay” for COA and the other significant signatories who fascinated the transaction.
This form of administrative corruption is called “conversion” or “ghost delivery”. How could this happen? Conclusion. All persons involved in the procurement process were either involved in the pay-off or were forced to sign for fear of their superiors. As for the COA, he/she receives 1-2% equivalent of the total amount indicated in the purchase order to allow the payment for the transaction.
To guard against this type of corruption, the reformation of the Commission on Audit is the key. Under the present system, the COA is the primary instrument of the State in guarding against administrative corruption. Since the government is concededly immersed in corruption, on simple conclusion can be borne out that is, COA has failed miserably in effectively performing its mandate. Worse, it had often been an accomplice to the bureaucratic corruption it was supposed to guard against.
The following are the reasons why some COA auditors have propensity for such negative bureaucratic behavior: (1) threats/pressure from the heads of NGA’s/LGU’s, (2) boundary exchange or familiarity with officials/officers being activities would be undertaken to address administrative corruption:
The following activities would be undertaken to address administrative corruption.
· The immediate implementation of the Procurement Reform Act. · The cleansing of all NGA/LGU employee rosters to weed out “ghost” employees. · Restructuring of COA auditing procedures. a. Transfer of all tenant COA officers to the Regional Offices. Post-auditing would be done at the security of their own regional offices so as to insulate them from external pressure and prevent boundary exchange. b. NGA’s documents for auditing that are within the jurisdiction of a Regional COA office would be raffled off to COA auditors to maintain randomness and avoid collusion and bribery during post-audit. c. Monthly random inspection of supply bodegas of all NGA’s by COA auditors to ensure that the actual inventory reconciles with the quantities stated in the inventory reports. This would do away with such corrupt practices as conversion, ghost delivery, and substitution.
POPULATION CONTROL
In 2002, the Philippines placed third among Southeast Asian countries with the most number of people. The population now stands at more than 80 million people, with a growth rate of 2.3%. At this rate, the population is projected to reach 100 million by 20015.
The Philippines rapid population growth has negative effects on economic growth, delivery of basic social services, environment and is one of the primary cause of poverty. To address this problem, there would have to be shift in the population policy from one that promotes both natural and artificial means of birth control. It should be stressed however, that ABORTION WOULD STILL BE ILLEGAL and would not be condoned.
The following population control measures would be undertaken:
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