SONAkakadismaya

aint enough to expose gma’s overspending and then to tell us how he’s going to streamline the system so public funds aren’t wasted or lost to corruption.   aint enough to expose how much money goes into perks for lowly-paid high-government official appointees just to shame them into resigning.  aint enough to run after smugglers and tax evaders.

not all the anti-corruption campaigns and the most judicious kind of public spending are going to make much difference, whether in the short run or the long term.   there still won’t be enough money to address the food, education, health needs of the masses if nothing is done about our increasing population, growing by leaps and bounds, and about our economic policies that are tailored more to foreign interests than national interests.   and what about our debt & payment policies, are we never going to renegotiate?   are we forever prioritizing debt payments over the the well-being of millions of disenfranchised and marginalized filipinos?

prof. clarita carlos (gma7) is right. it’s not enough to choose a straight road over a crooked one.   question is, where does the road lead?   if his message to the cpp-npa-ndf is any indication it”s like the same road every president before him has taken: rightist road, status quo.   uncle sam must so love him.

Tungkol naman po sa CPP-NPA-NDF: handa na ba kayong maglaan ng kongkretong mungkahi, sa halip na pawang batikos lamang?

batikos lang ba ang call for agrarian reform?   and better pay for teachers?   fair trade vs. free trade?   an end to oligarchic rule?

Mahirap magsimula ang usapan habang mayroon pang amoy ng pulbura sa hangin. Nananawagan ako: huwag po natin hayaang masayang ang napakagandang pagkakataong ito upang magtipon sa ilalim ng iisang adhikain.

pulbura issues from the right too, as in the hacienda luisita massacre atbp.

Kapayapaan at katahimikan po ang pundasyon ng kaunlaran. Habang nagpapatuloy ang barilan, patuloy din ang pagkakagapos natin sa kahirapan.

it’s not as if the left rose out of nothing, and then there was kahirapan.   the kahirapan was there to begin with, thanks to oligarchic rule, kaya nga dumami at lumakas ang hanay ng kaliwa.

Dapat din po nating mabatid: ito ay panahon ng sakripisyo. At ang sakripisyong ito ay magiging puhunan para sa ating kinabukasan. Kaakibat ng ating mga karapatan at kalayaan ay ang tungkulin natin sa kapwa at sa bayan.

sakripisyo nino?   ng mahihirap pa rin?   puro sakripisyo na nga sila.   those are words better addressed to his own class, his fellow elites and landowners atbp. who refuse to share the nation’s resources.

say ni teddyboy (anc) re the speech and the new prez:

“it was an indictment. When he was talking, it was Ninoy Aquino. I was with Ninoy when he was at his most flamboyant. It was like bullets flying out of a machine gun…There was no vision, but facts.”

sorry, i don’t see the resemblance.   ninoy before martial law was hot.   noynoy is cold.   at his wisest, after seven years seven months in jail, ninoy had a vision for the country that included the left, whom he never brushed off as a “noisy minority.”   a pity that the son either seems to have no idea of it or the son chooses to ignore it.   SONAkakapanghinayang.

Comments

  1. UP nn grad

    Other than saying “lay down arms, immediate cease-fire. Let us go back to the table and begin talking again”, Noynoy in his SONA has nothing new as proposal to move the agenda with regards CPP/NPA.

  2. sonayang nga ang oras ko. hindi ako na shock kasi nasa news slash press releases na naman nila yon days before. kunwari naman nasurprise ako. ha, may isa silang nahuling tax evader na may lamborghini whatever it is…sama ako sa rolleyes rah.

  3. lost focus while trying hard to nail down GMA. Facts on budget being depleted is distorted. Of course spending has to be programmed until the end of the year. Translated, there are savings vis-a-vis 2010 General Appropriation Act

  4. That was just a 39-minute speech. Noynoy should have alloted 5 hours instead. That way it would have covered everything and left everybody snoring with satisfaction, :).

  5. manuelbuencamino

    “Contrary to the rumors you have heard, I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father Jor-El to save the Planet Earth.” – Barak Obama in a light moment

  6. Talaga, angela, labis nga akong nalulungkot. Sana naman iyong mga magagaling na babae at lalaki na siyang nagtayo ng pundasyon para umangat at maihantong sa rurok ng dating kinalalagyan ang FV ay magpunyagi ulit na pagtulong-tulungan na maitayo ulit na ma-revived. Naniniwala ako na kung mayroong collective will ang grupo ay hindi imposibleng makabangon ulit ang FV.

    Namamayagpag ‘kamo ang anti-pinoy, hane? Sabi nga ni Kuya Kim, weder-weder lang iyan, pero hindi ko sila type. Kita mo naman, sila-sila nagbubulahan, agree ng agree sa isa’t-isa, iisa lang naman ang sinasabi…at iyon ay siguradong kontra sa kanilang sariling bayan at sariling kababayan. Haaaay, aantukin ako roon.

  7. UP nn grad

    “Inatasan si Sec. [Leila] de Lima sa SONA na kung may anomalya, imbestigahan at kung may sapat na ebidensya, magsasampa po ng kaso sa appropriate agencies (Sec. De Lima was directed in the SONa to investigate anomalies and to file charges before the appropriate agencies if there is sufficient evidence),” said the Palace spokesman.

    Hmmmmm, so Presi-Noynoy is not sure yet — presiNoy does not have sufficient evidence — but in his SONA he was pointing to the MWSS trustees’ and NFA heads’ criminal acts?

  8. jojie umali-riyadh

    Sure enough, P-Noy did not provide us the details of all the fundamental and ideological solutions to the multi-faceted historical anomalies plaguing our dysfunctional govt and its wayward policy issues. Otherwise, his speech would be a square peg in around hole. He came to accept reluctantly the call to cleanse the govt of shameless corrruption eroding the integrity of our political and social institutions. His mandate is to inspire,to lay down the “straight path” that everyone should pursue if we want that radical change in our govt and in the bureacratic environment. He knows his limitation and thats why he has called for the highest standard of govt accountability, people’s vigilance and divine guidance to achieve these goals, not concretely but in calculated risk

  9. “i dont know na whom to believe.”

    I go for lagman snd horn. Government accounting is a specialized accounting. Even CPAs who have no hands on experience in Government accounting would not understand how appropriations, allotments and disbursements are recorded in the government books.

    With our budget deficit practice, the government should expect that expenditures will exceed the expected revenues.

    From the last time I read the newspapers, the same type of deficit financing is adopted by the current administration. Hardly a change at all.

  10. “i dont know na whom to believe.”

    it seems that even the budget exec of aquino believed that there is nothing illegal or anomalous in the budget spending.

    http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/269389/budget-exec-clears-arroyo

    “Relampagos, a career official, said of the P1.54 trillion national budget, P942 billion has been lawfully released by the budget department as of June 30.

    So far, there is still an “unreleased” appropriation of P591.4 billion from the 2010 budget, most of which have been set aside for internal revenue allotment, debt payments, and salaries of government workers. “All within appropriation,” Relampagos said.

    Of the P591.4 billion left in the national coffers, P313 billion has been automatically appropriated for debt payments, P278 billion for salaries of government workers, internal revenue allotment, and remaining budget for state agencies. The remaining balance from these appropriations mandated by law is P100 billion that could be freely used by the new President, he added.”

    That is how budget works. Appropriations are made and then distributed to the different government agencies.

    Parang ito sa suweldo, ito para sa mga pagpapaayos ng mga facilities, pambayad utang, pamabayad sa mga interest ng utang iba pang gastusin.

    What is good about it is that once it is appropriated for a particular expense item, it could not be used for other purposes.

    kaya nga meron tayong kasong fertilizer scam kasi may diversion.

    ang sinasabing natitira sa budget ay yong para panggastos ng pangulo para sa mga inaakala niyang nararapat bigyan ng pansin.

    Pero kung baga sa karamihan ng gastusin ng pilipinas, ay nakatabi na.

    ang mga projects na hindi naman priorities ang hahanapan pa nila ng funding. ito ay mga long term projects na sinasabi ng gobyerno na
    mas gugustuhin nila ang BOT (build-operate and transfer) scheme ang gamitin.

    Matagal ng ginagamit yan ng gobyerno.

    kung yan nga ang plano nila, bakit balak nilang mangutang ng 766 billion

    ito ang balita:

    http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNews.htm?f=2010/july/28/news1.isx&d=2010/july/28

    “THE government plans to borrow P766.4 billion and to raise at least another $200 million this year to finance INFRASRUCTURE spending, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said Tuesday.”

    He said the Philippines was confident it would win a higher debt rating under President Benigno Aquino III, and that it planned to sell peso-denominated bonds overseas for the first time in the next quarter.

    Sa mga nakakaintindi at sumusubaybay, ito ang deficit financing na inadopt ni GMA (peso denominated bonds para hindi tali sa foreign exchange rate). May bago ba?

  11. UP nn grad

    P-Noy’s speechmakers created the problem for the SONA.
    The speechmakers, not well-grounded in accounting, being predisposed
    to wanting to humiliate GMA and knowing that Noynoy wanted to do
    the same, the speechmakers presented the accounting numbers as if
    they were criminal acts.

  12. GabbyD

    the weird paragraph is:

    “Our budget for 2010 is PhP1.54 trillion. Of this, only PhP100 billion – or 6.5% of the total budget – can be used for the remaining six months of the current year. Roughly 1% of the total budget is left for each of the remaining month.”

    what Cat said is right… and frankly this is what Pnoy WANTED TO SAY. we know this because he spends several paragraphs detailing why the existing allocations are wrong (to which he gave multiple examples), and that its largely hidden from people [i.e. do people KNOW MRT is heavily subsidized]

    in a nutshell, the 100 billion is the unallocated part, which Pnoy can allocate himself, for purposes he sees fit.

    this paragraph is poorly worded, and the shame is that its so easy to fix! such an amateurish mistake; if carandang wrote this, my respect for his communication abilities has taken a huge hit.

  13. “6.5% of the total budget” na lang ang magagamit sa remaining months of the year 2010. ibig sabihin 93.5% of the budget for the year 2010 were either allocated na sa iba-ibang project na hindi naman priority, or nagastos na, or naibulsa na ng nakaraang administration sa loob lamang ng unang anim na buwan. ano naman ang weird diyan kung sabihin man iyan ni Ricky Carandang, o’ kaya hindi matuwa si Noynoy? tayo bang mamamayan matutuwa diyan? ewan ko kayo, ako hindi.

  14. Oo sino mang tumingin at nag-edit ng SONA ay dapat napansin ang mali sa dalawang paragraphs na ito.

    “Even the La Mesa watershed wasn’t spared. In order to ensure an adequate supply of water, we need to protect our watersheds. In watersheds, trees are needed. Where there should be trees, they built homes for the top officials of the MWSS.

    We cannot remove them from their positions quickly because they are among the midnight appointees of former president Arroyo. We are investigating all of these things. But if they have any shame left, they should voluntarily relinquish their positions.”

    To be considered midnight appointments, the people should have been appointed within two months preceding election this year.

    Ganoon ba kabilis ang pagpapatayo ng bahay?

    The overcompensation, fringes and perks were alleged to have been enjoyed by the board members and therefore they have been enjoyed by the members of the board in the past.

    Kung marereceive ito ng mga board members ay dahil mayroon ng approval sa board noon pa.

    Hindi lang yong midnight appointees. If they are really midnight appointees, they can be removed. If they enjoy job security because they are career officials, they can not be removed but they can be transferred.

    Does receiving fat allowances and salaries considered a crime ? Can you hold the people receiving the bonanza criminally liable. At hindi rin pwedeng hintayin na may dumapong anghel sa kanilang balikat at sabihing umalis ka na diyan.

    Kahit umalis yon, pag nag-appoint ang presidente, the new appointees will enjoy the same perks. IT goes with the appointment.

    Why MWSS only ? It is as known fact that even though government officials receive low salaries, their additional compensation comes from being board member of government controlled corps. By all means, the suggestion of probing these quasi-government entities is in order.

    Pero baka may matapakan na naman at hanggang diyaryo lang ulit.

  15. “6.5% of the total budget” na lang ang magagamit sa remaining months of the year 2010. ibig sabihin 93.5% of the budget for the year 2010 were either allocated na sa iba-ibang project na hindi naman priority, or nagastos na, or naibulsa na”

    Kasi di naman naibulsa yon. Nandiyan pa rin yan. Wala na lang sa account ng National Government dahil inilipat na sa kaniya-kaniyang department kung saan sila ay gagastusin. Anmg mga departments naman ay kailangang iallot ang appropriations na ito sa dapat nitong pagkagastusan.

    Hindi mo rin naintindihan ang budgeting sa gobyerno.

    Parang ang magulang, may budget sila. May lima silang anak. Ang allotment ng mga anak ay ibinibigay nila ng advanced sa kani-kanilang bangko.

    Sa bangko ng magulang wala na yon. Pero sa bangko ng mga anak nandoon na yon.

    Gagastusin nila sa mga susunod na buwan.

    Sa gobyerno, bago sila makakuha ng panibagong appropriations, kailangang ipakita nila na nagastos na nila lahat yon.

    Kung wala ng pera sa budget, wala nag pansuweldo. PEro sabi nga nila mangungutang sila para sa infrastructure hindi para sa basic services kagaya ng pagtaas ng suweldo ng pangul ng 65 per cent at iba pang mga empleyado. Yon ay may nakalaan na. Kung hindi magkakagulo pag walang ipapasuweldo.

    Ang sinasabi nilang natitira ay ang unappropriated na maaring pakialaman ng presidente kung gaano niya gustong gastusin.

    Ginawa ang proceso na yan para siguradong hindi magagalaw yong mga nakalaan na sa mga dapat laanan kahit presidente pa.

  16. “Kasi di naman naibulsa yon. Nandiyan pa rin yan.”-The Ca t

    Heheh, iyan ang mahirap sa ganitong discussion, parang lumalabas lagi ang pagka partisan ng mga naguusap. Kagaya nito, kung pagtatakpan natin at iisiping malinis ang palakad ng nakaraang administration madali lang sabihing, “Kasi di naman naibulsa iyon. Nandiyan pa rin iyan.” Subali’t maaaring tama naman iyan, maaaring mali rin. Kahit nga ang bagong gobierno ni Noynoy hindi naman tahasang sinabi na ninakaw na lahat na pondo sa budget bagkus iimbistagahan pa…at siguradong iimbistagtahan iyan, mayroon na ngang order na imbistagahan. Saka na lang natin malalaman pagkatapos ng imbistigasyon kung talagang ‘nandiyan pa rin iyan’, o’ kaya’y naibulsa na, ‘di ba?

  17. GabbyD

    “Ginawa ang proceso na yan para siguradong hindi magagalaw yong mga nakalaan na sa mga dapat laanan kahit presidente pa.”

    actually, the president can do it. except it wasnt the NEW president. it was the former one.

  18. UP n, malabong mangyari iyan kasi binata si Noynoy pero kung magpapakasal sila ng dyowa niyang si Shalani ay siguradong legal ang kanilang tsikiting kung ganun hindi pa rin pwedeng gastusin ng administrasyon ni Noynoy ang perang naibulsa na ng nakaraang administrasyon.

  19. “Heheh, iyan ang mahirap sa ganitong discussion, parang lumalabas lagi ang pagka partisan ng mga naguusap. ”

    kailan man hindi ako naging partisan. ang sinasabi ko nga kung may krimen,corruption, dalhin sa korte. ikulong ang tao. hanapin ang ebidensiya. being an accountant and auditor/economist, hindi mo ako mapapaniwala-wala basta-basta kung walang documented evidences.

    ang sinasabi ko ay ang proceso na kahit ngayon after the SONA, inamin ng budget dept. na mali ang sinabing may anomaly sa budget releases.

    simple lang ang paliwanag ko diyan, iba ang propaganda at iba ang katotohanan.

    hinanhanap ko kung anong bagong economic, fiscal and monetary policies and iintroduce wala akong makita.

    Ang build operate transfer scheme ay matagal nang pinatutupad. Sinabi lang sa simpleng paraan.

    ang recommendation na magbibigay na hahabulin ang mga market vendors, pedicab etc by issuing receipts.

    sa tingin ko ang nagrecomenda ay bagito pa sa kalakaran ng pag-eexamine ng mga taxpapayers. hindi mo iniisa-isa ang recibo para malaman ang income ng tao. aabutin ka ng siyam-siyam niyan. kahit malalaking kumpaniya, hindi hinihingi ang lahat ng recibo. besides, hindi lahat ng nakalagay sa recibo ay siyang transaction. may collusion minsan ang vendor at buyer.

    ang sinasabi ko ay reality at hindi perception based sa mga press releases.

    napakasimplistic na approach for a gargantuan problem.

  20. “actually, the president can do it. except it wasnt the NEW president. it was the former one.”

    and i am waiting for them to build a case and not a trial in newspaper.
    dito kasi u.s., tapos na ang imbestigasyon bago ilabas ang balita para hindi nagagawan ang paraang malaunder ang pera.

    there is too much bark but no bite. parang asong walang ngipin.

  21. “it seems that even the budget exec of aquino believed that there is nothing illegal or anomalous in the budget spending.”-The Ca t

    just to be pernickety about this, Relampagos, the mentioned ‘budget exec of aquino’, is Noynoy’s budget exec for barely a month. he was also the budget exec of GMA for 9 years. his loyalty is a bit clearer by now, I suppose.

  22. “just to be pernickety about this, Relampagos, the mentioned ‘budget exec of aquino’, is Noynoy’s budget exec for barely a month. he was also the budget exec of GMA for 9 years. his loyalty is a bit clearer by now, I suppose.”

    for one he is a career gov’t. official. whatever his statement is can be verified. if what he said in the newspapers is wrong, he could have been corrected by the budget dept. via the communications group.sayang na lang ang tatlong cabinet secs at 19 spokespersons na kukunin nila. Ganoon ba kahirap ang mag-enhance ng image ?

    so far there is no correction. lacierda’s reaction was a disclaimer that they did not want to embarrass the former president. Ows.

    what i hate are leaks that are not true presented as the truth.

    i applaud the move for the disqualification of mikey arroyo, the suspension of the COMELEC officials who were linked to the ballot secrecy folders and the probe of other giovernment controlled corporations and other ehite elephant projects of the govt. like in the past, the investigations and the attempts to stop the government subsidies of these organizations did not prosper. Bakit kaya?

  23. joy oh

    ” and i am waiting for them to build a case and not a trial in newspaper.
    dito kasi u.s., tapos na ang imbestigasyon bago ilabas ang balita para hindi nagagawan ang paraang malaunder ang pera. there is too much bark but no bite. parang asong walang ngipin.”

    i hate to agree with miz ca t kasi like to si pnoy. pero tama sya, dapat evidence-based and they should have made sure that data and statements will stand scrutiny. pagtapos ng sona medyo nagkagulo gulo ata sila dahil inconsistent ang figures. at ang daming kalembang sa pagbuo ng communications group na yan ha, bakit kaya. i was also wondering bakit walang katiting na banggit man lang tungkol sa mga OFWs, paano sila makatulong, etc. — bayani nga limot naman. huss..

  24. this discussion is very educational. but some of us are posting based on emotions and percieved biases. it is true that any assertion should be by supported by hard facts. innuendos and conjectures will not indict anyone. all smoke, no fire – hope this will not be the case for the next six years..

  25. “pagtapos ng sona medyo nagkagulo gulo ata sila dahil inconsistent ang figures. at ang daming kalembang sa pagbuo ng communications group na yan ha.”

    the problem with the “communicators” is the penchant to outdo each other in providing the president certain information which he would deliver to the public.

    kung baga sa salitang kalye, nakuryente.

    while people applauded his private-public partnership, someone should have informed him that we have already on-going projects built thru BOT financing.

    http://www.ip3.org/pub/publication014.htm

    That must be the reason why Purisima is not so keen about this financing scheme of infrastructure and instead he is more on public borrowing thru bonds.

    public works or infrastracture projects are not built overnight. If they are the kind of self-paying or self-liquidating projects, it takes decades to recoup the investment. This is the reason why bonds raised for infrastructure projects have 20 years up maturity.

    The proposed is 5 to 10 maturity period.

    medyo nahulog IQ ko pakipulot nga.