“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”

Ex-speaker Jose de Venecia

Recent developments as they unfold in the political scene must be read from the outline – a purely peripheral view.Such is the case of JDV who personally initiated an impeachment move against GMA but which, quite dismally, failed to clinch the required votes so it may be endorsed to the Senate.It was expected to fail as every impeachment attempt before it has failed simply because, as JDV himself claims, Malacanang bribes each congressman with a P.5 million bounty to buy legal protection for one year – in favor of GMA.Thus, this happens if again – not once, but twice – with every kind of bogus article of impeachment complaint being endorsed at the House of Representatives purposely intended to dissatisfy the requirements of form and substance, however merely procedural legalese.

It is hard to believe that JDV can file an impeachment complaint that would be found lacking in either form or substance, or both.It cannot be made to apply since JDV has been fifth-term speaker who would know how to differentiate between apples from oranges.In other words, for anyone to say that what JDV has filed in the committee was a mere scrap of paper must be coming from Mars.But if the House of Representatives only exists today to produce the votes required to overturn every position contrary to that officially embraced by Malacanang, then doesn’t that make of a our legislature a mere rubber stamp of the executive?This is why JDV’s conscience call really has to fall on deaf ears especially so since bundles of money have become a fair inducement to side with GMA.

The equivocation is such that voting against an impeachment complaint would mean half a million peso reward.Also, voting in favor of any administration bill that may be introduced from time to time would probably mean another bounty of P.5 million.Further, voting in favor of a bill where lobby money is being infused by giant monopolies would be another rewarding experience.This is not to mention of congressional franchises being approved under secret concessions.If voting is then determined by how much a congressman can juice out of it, chances are, legislation no longer has to be issue-driven nor does it have to be based on any kind of judgment or conscience call.Worst, given the same set of stimuli, it appears that every species of the House would behave in much the same – most tend toward money, only few tend away from it.In the end, lawmaking has become a very profitable cottage industry this part of the world.

JDV now claims corruption has infected the presidency itself and this has become his new battle-cry to the point he is willing to lay his life on the line.It is hard not to believe JDV now that he dissociates himself from GMA, disowns the president, and owns – wittingly or unwittingly – to his level of participation in a grand scam.FG calls him a liar and even one other Pichay in Congress telling us that nobody amongst them likes JDV because he accuses everyone as if he were the only one clean.The first thing that could result from what JDV has thrown in the waters is for other congressmen in the House of Representatives to bite the bait – state for the record – that JDV is likewise guilty of the accusations he is trying to hail against GMA.But will anyone dare do such a suicidal act?

With his long years in politics, JDV could not have known only two major scams – one, the $329 million ZTE controversy and the other, a Malacanang payola at P.5 million each House Member to buy legal protection against possible impeachment.First, JDV’s son is a stakeholder into this ZTE controversy had it not been that FG finally asked him to back off and bribing him for P10 million only.Second, JDV did actually get the bag of money sent to him by Malacanang albeit now used as evidence of corruption.It is not far removed that since JDV’s son did not get any gain from the business deal, JDV now has to cry wolf since he became privy of the anomalous negotiations attendant to the ZTE where FG had the upperhand and young Joey de Venecia being pushed aside.JDV learned that some $130 million will be siphoned off in kickback or commission by FG and by implication – GMA.

JDV has to be handled with skill by Malacanang’s veteran political subalterns.For now, it seems old JDV is not one rudderless ship steaming in the open seas.He is seen in the global radar screen and whichever course he takes in relation to other regional world leaders will be the subject of international reaction.In short, JDV has shifted his one-man led crusade beyond RP’s geo-political milieu.The world is there to watch and GMA can do only so much.If JDV gets assassinated, general suspicion will be that it was the handiwork of GMA’s patronizing generals.Truly, they may unseat JDV from the LAKAS as its chair or president even maybe attempt to expel him from the 14^th Congress.Unseating JDV as speaker as they did with Villar has always been an official practice – if and when – one has chosen to go his own way and be his own man.

JDV ought to have prepared himself for whatever backlash his act of betrayal may create.His former supporters will morph to be his enemies, his old former allies his own tormentors.JDV’s well-stated expose of corruption is supposed to undo him with just one House Member coming out with a personal testimony that he too was bribed by JDV to get whatever favor may have been asked.Probably, all sorts of possible accusations against JDV are now in the production line of Malacanang’s demolition department.If they don’t come up with trumped up charges these coming days only tells us that perhaps, JDV has cut himself clean – each and every time – he is supposed to be in cahoots with the powers-that-be.

JDV might drift – depending on where political currents will bring him – to bid for the presidency instead, come 2010. Young Joey de Venecia batting for senator can just be an unintended by-product.Fighting corruption right at the heart of Malacanang has all the makings of an Obamic ideal and indeed – change must come to RP.With a determined change of heart after a long period of futile sycophancy, JDV might come as a catalyst now that he will expose all the excesses of a government that failed to moderate its greed.With anti-corruption stance high in his personal agenda, we can only wish JDV succeeds in his one-man crusade.From Marcos to Cory to Ramos to Erap to Gloria – no doubt, JDV knows how to re-engineer the bureaucracy – if guided as he should – with clean conscience to embrace a new contemporary culture against corruption.From where I stand, it is a hope against hope – this mob rule called majority.

Senate coup – naked power grab?

What this ‘coup’ – unceremoniously unseating Sen. Manny Villar out of the Senate presidency by forcing him to resign on the face of a resolution that expressed a vote of no confidence and his immediate replacement by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile accepting the unanimous nomination – teaches us is the fact that Villar serves as the single standing obstacle to any further move by Malacanang for a charter change.With Enrile at the Senate front, this vicious if official outcry for a shift to a parliamentary form of government that extends, in effect, the term of PGMA beyond 2010 shall find final fruition and would give semblance later on that the whole political exercise satisfied the requirements of a democratic process (euphemism for tyranny of numbers).With upcoming new appointments to the High Court to add to a perceived expanding pro-GMA alliance, getting the majority ruling for every legal question that may arise is never been more guaranteed.The House of Representatives is expected to simply follow suit.It will be recalled how the High Court claims to have sufficiently legitimized Arroyo’s ascent to the presidency and eclipsed the 2004 election controversy in the ‘Hello Garci’.What’s next in the monarchical agenda?

It then challenges reflection if there existed a so-called ‘principled opposition’ as advocated by its frontrunner, Sen. Jamby Madrigal who claims to have been responsible for Villar’s ouster along with Sen. Ping Lacson over the controversial P200 million double insertion issue that once rocked the Senate.This ouster might pose grave consequences on Villar’s presidential bid which at its present pace already gathers positive momentum next to Vice President Noli de Castro.On the other hand, it might improve Lacson’s lot in his perceivable bid to the presidency.Under the evolving configuration of a seemingly mixed opposition-administration Senate make up, it is yet uncertain where subsequent policy directions will point to.Some say it might bring to close all like-minded scams or probes in the notoriety of a Joc Joc or Dela Paz in so far as the requisite congressional inquiry is concerned.When this happens, Senate automatically becomes a protectorate of Malacanang which then betrays its self-avowed independence.

Not few are aware that Enrile knows the long and short of a parliamentary form of government and he is more conversant on the topic than even the constitutional experts in our midst.With Enrile as the main political chef, it is as if all kinds of menu that the guest at Malacanang so pleases, can be cooked to her all consuming delight.It will be at this point however that a whole work in congressional oversight would have failed because, first and foremost, this crucial job was purposely placed in the back burner.On the other hand, if Enrile proves to be his own man than what the Palace calculates him to be, then he can always play hero as he did play hero at EDSA.At least for now, Enrile is perceived as neither avid pro-GMA nor rabid anti-GMA.It would then depend what weights are placed in either side of the political scale, in a manner of speaking.This situation, if correct, inspires confidence and hope that the future of almost 90 million people will not be compromised.

The only difference with this recent comeuppance is that it clearly crystallized that in the Senate, a culture of corruption has no place.On the other hand, the House of Representatives seems to have worked in the opposite – courtesy of JDV or maybe even Villar when he was House Speaker – where payola is the name of the game and the lure of committee chairmanships dictates who sits as Speaker.In other words, the Lower House is largely into what political analysts call ‘transactional politics’ where Senate qualifies as the lesser evil, matter-of-factly.At least, at the Senate, we can hear of senators who do not enjoy their pork barrel funds.It bears watching how Enrile will stir the course of history – coming as he does from his own share of triumphs and failures.Old Raul of the justice department is better warned not to go into a collision course with old Johnny of the Senate or patience might wear thin in either of them.

So there is so much of work to do and it is hoped that trust or approval ratings for the Senate will improve considerably with an Enrile at the helm.And since, by his own admission, he is Senate president for as long as the majority wants him there, then Enrile should really expect to be booted out anytime likewise or at the first instance that he will be implicated in a scam of like proportion as the C5.Invoking conflict of interests appears to be the single most powerful tool one can take against another and Enrile is not far immune from this kind of viral attack in our brand of patronage politics.Maybe later on, Sen. Jamby Madrigal can always pull the rug from under Enrile’s feet which makes the Senate presidency of very temporal character since the majority vote can be embargoed anytime by a slight change of mood.

Any similar coup or naked power grab down at the House of Representatives is a little bit more complicated than the way it can now be done in the Senate.The good thing about Villar is that he proves himself to be not a sourgrape.It bears watching if Villar can play the role of a fiscalizer in the Senate now that there are no strings attached in him doing so.On the other hand, let us see how Enrile would metamorphose into the fiscalizer that he used to be as minority floor leader of Senate to being now the primus inter pares that he is at the Senate.Will good old Johnny Enrile stand to the occasion given both the dark and bright sides of his political career in the service of people and country?

In the final analysis, the sudden take-over of the presidential Senate crown still smells of politics vis a vis the coming elections of 2010, this despite no one knows yet who will most benefit with an Enrile-led Senate.Perhaps, Villar will find much more flexible time in his otherwise busy schedule now that he goes back to be just like any ordinary senator.But if Ping Lacson will not stop placing Villar on the defensive, it might signal Villar’s impending political funeral, pray not.With this development of no historical parallel, it can read as just the tip of the iceberg.Maybe, Malacanang wants to have full control of the High Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives in an orchestrated move to remove all forms of possible opposition to its ultimate workplan to allow GMA to hold on to power until 2010 and beyond.

Term extension through charter change is still high in the agenda of Malacanang, Inc., a plan to be executed – before, during, or after – GMA’s incumbency.But most of us know, nonetheless that under PGMA’s regime, corruption will always characterize major public expenditures in agriculture, public works, defense, health, communications, energy, et cetera et cetera.The AFP and the PNP have demonstrated its weak resolve to weed their ranks of corrupt officers and personnel as we see top brass from the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard receiving key positions in government after their retirement from military service.With Malacanang highly militarized, there is no way for coups, juntas, or attempts at an armed overthrow of government to succeed.RP politics probably is rooted on mother’s instinct, reason for at least two women being patronized to have led this country to nowhere.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon City (Email:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Lessons from Senate inquiry

The first round of Senate inquiry over so-called fertilizer scam from its suspected chief architect, Joc Joc Bolante that took a punishing 10-hour period on national TV in a question and answer format that in the end yielded no concrete evidence than mere presumptive facts leaves nothing more to the imagination.Even if a second round ought to be undertaken up to the point all senators would have been exasperated in having to ask further questions from an individual who indicatively follows a script or either evades a question by feigning non-remembrance or non-involvement, still the whole useless exercise is akin to extracting oil from the ocean floor.In other words, Joc Joc has ready answers to questions that seemingly appear as calculated not really to ferret out the truth any more than to simply satisfy the requirement of a mere inquisitorial ritual.In the end, the Senate hearing failed to prove that in a scam of such gravity and magnitude, it is the single ultimate way that would separate the chaff from the grain except it did not.

In this Senate inquiry albeit generally baloney, few lessons may be drawn.First, the Presidential Management Staff or search committee of Malacanang recruits individuals based on merit system that the appointee does not have to have a backer like a First Gentleman or any fellow Rotarian.Second, a public official in the rank of an undersecretary enjoys full fiscal autonomy over a P730 million fund as to even necessitate the go-signal of the President – be that a delegated power or otherwise – to disburse such public money based on terms of reference known only to him.Third, one can grab appointment as undersecretary in the Department of Agriculture even without any professional or academic background in agri-related fields of specialty provided you are a president of an insurance company.Fourth, as undersecretary, one can spend most of his time in personal commitments abroad thereby exempting him from any responsibility resulting from such leave or absence with pay.

Fifth, it is the duty of a public official especially of an undersecretary for finance to serve as kamikaze when the president is under siege for perceived scams or payolas.Sixth, it is impossible for a Joc Joc to do a Lozada but not vice versa.Seventh, the name Joc Joc Bolante should rather read other way since he appears like a worm that can wiggle his way and bury itself in mud without feeling shame.Eight, the minimum requirement for a response to an invitation, subpoena or warrant by the Senate is at least a period of 3 to 4 years without being cited in contempt.Ninth, an undersecretary or even perhaps a full-fledged cabinet secretary does not have to know who Rep. Jose De Venecia, Jr. is in our national life even as any ordinary mortal knows he is the only congressman who has held the speakership for the fifth time and lesser ones like Augusto Syjuco, head of TESDA and Marcelino Libanan, head of the Bureau of Immigration, to name more.Tenth, the hospital where Joc Joc sought treatment should have more correctly diagnosed him for amnesia rather than for ulcer or fluctuating hypertension, if there is such a thing.

Eleventh, Joc Joc has only proven that 3 to 4 years are long enough time to forget all about what he did at DA as undersecretary.Twelfth, the concepts used in bureaucratic parlance such as – activity, project, program – in the end for Joc Joc mean one and the same thing and can be used interchangeably when in truth, each term carries another meaning from the rest.Thirteenth, it is normal in the bureaucracy to resign one’s post as undersecretary but effective after three or more months ahead, at least to fix all loose ends that might indicatively involve the President.Fourteenth, every public fund appropriated for subsequent release follows the profit sharing scheme of 25% for Bolante, 20% for the supplier and 30% for the proponent (governor, mayor, congressman) which made lady Miriam shake his head in utter disbelief.

Fifteenth, to approve fund requests for farm inputs or farm implements to a governor, to a congressman, and to an x number of mayors within the same geo-political territory does not at all speak of patronage politics nor of double funding as the good Pia Cayetano tries to argue with Joc Joc.Sixteenth, it is the Senate’s fault altogether for sending the invitation to a resource person like Joc Joc in a Senate investigation the very same day such public hearing is scheduled thus making it impossible to oblige.Seventeenth, in order that a resource person will appear before the Senate to testify, there shall not be any prior announcement all over media that a bounty has been offered.Eighteenth, the set of words or phrases like – ‘I don’t know him (JDV)’, ‘I can’t remember’, ‘… my belief’, ‘I apologize your Honors’, ‘I didn’t bring out records of DA’, ‘not a single centavo goes to the congressmen’, ‘… in the focal list’, ‘funds in the regular budget do not need the approval of the President’, et cetera et cetera – are variations in a thematic act of lying.Nineteenth, sporting white hair, getting thin, or malingering ill but not quite than last seen in public provides soothing effect to Joc Joc who is supposed to have earned the ire of senators.

Twentieth, to survive the ordeal of an uncharacteristically friendly Senate inquiry, Joc Joc only has to confront questions with his own indeterminate answers based on what he recalls or remembers in a never arrogant nor abrasive but low key fashion without looking even remotely intimidated.

Given all conclusions we can deduce from this whole exercise, we can only say that nothing in the facts or circumstances he testified to can really be taken against him precisely because to begin with, not one senator has really asked the more important questions that would have pressed Joc Joc to elicit more relevant and substantive revelations.At the very least, there was not an instance where Joc Joc must have been required to show proof, evidence, fact, or testimony that can pass scrutiny – not a single one.It was not a grilling session altogether but a remarkably cordial, friendly, courteous and sweet process of just getting interviewed before that Senate panel.

Where signs indicate, the poverty of any kind of Senate inquiry leaves nothing more to be desired.We all know that at the end of the day, when every senator would have been asked to vote whether or not Joc Joc should be found guilty of malversation of public funds, perjury, plunder or whatever, the votes will point to Joc Joc’s way out of the crimes imputed to him.It is grossly injurious to all taxpayers to realize that after all is said and done, Joc Joc will come out of the supposed-to-be torture chamber with the verdict that no penalty can ever be applied to him due largely to the fact that case building has not been pushed hard enough to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.RP is doomed!

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon City(Email to:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Euro cash scandal revisited

If things can proceed along universal legal norms, it has become clear that most of the acts, statements, even whims perhaps openly expressed by Lady Miriam over the euro cop scandal in Moscow amount to (un)thinking out of the box.Where more mature viewpoints indicate, that of the good Senator ought to be somewhat wild or out of touch with reality.In other words, even if her intentions were good enough, such attempt to investigate a suspiciously laundering activity will not hit the ground running.And where this happens, every word said against Eliseo dela Paz or every action against him becomes an entire exercise in futility.Remember that incident where she ordered guests at the Senate to be arrested, humiliated, in-dignified (as though some lower life forms, in her popular punch) on mere suspicion that she was booed by them?Hamurabi, if he were alive today, ought to be revolting.

Certainly, the Senate cannot be transformed into an accuser, judge, executioner – all in one and the same respect.From the outline, this seems to be what Senator Miriam tends to metamorphosed into that one finds comfort in the thought she did not become president or anyone who would dare expressed another view will earn her wrath, contempt, or contumacious ire.Or is it not the case that she is trying to tell us that ‘unless kings senators, and senators kings, there cannot be an ideal government’?This kind of mindset can have its excesses and if this tends to become a dangerous legal precedent, it can send ‘shark-attacks-effect’ on our political beach, pray not.At the very least, the Machiavellian tradition of ‘end justifies the means’ is a thing of the past and this is probably the reason why, citing anyone for contempt by skipping all the normal procedures or ordering anybody’s arrest by skipping everything that due process provides ought to be tantamount to contempt itself.But there is no such thing as contempt upon oneself, is there?

Observers derive lessons from these forms of un-governing legal intramurals.It tells us that there are procedures yet to be satisfied and followed before a contempt charge can be cited against anyone.Likewise, there are requirements that ought to be complied with before an arrest order can be issued to the peril of anyone who is subject of such writ or warrant.True enough, the whole concept of social justice grinds exceedingly slow but when it does, it makes smooth all otherwise rough edges in legalese.In the unseen process, poor PNP officer has been unduly exposed to that crippling effect of trial by publicity when not a moment much less a day has been afforded him in open court to speak his piece.As things resulted, in effect, we have placed the cart before the horse.As early as anything very positive is proven, the offenses committed and their penalties have already been advanced.

If such given incident did not as much as create a ripple in Moscow, why did it create a tidal wave here in the Philippines?When Moscow authorities have already cleared the PNP officer involved as beyond any possible legal sanction, why should he be made culpable of every kind of possible crime in his country of origin?Had we rather embrace an unpatronizing attitude in his behalf since Dela Paz came to the 77^th Interpol General Assembly as our own representative to this global conference?Instead of initiating a very elemental note ofdiplomatic apology to the host country by our official government agency concerned such as the Department of Foreign Affairs in behalf of Dela Paz, why do we want to place his head on the chopping board before a viewing universe?

And as if posting an alert at the Bureau of Immigration to preclude Dela Paz’ possible flight off-country, lady Miriam ordered the bureau to put him in the hold-order list.The arresting team of the Senate literally combed the whole CampCrame complex to get Dela Paz but failed to even find him.Why this wild goose chase when his lawyer has always expressed his willingness to cause the appearance of his client, if at least legally permissible and necessary?It seems that there is no stopping the Senate in whatever it undertakes to do – this despite a petition has yet to be acted upon by the High Court which in fact asked the Senate to submit its comments within 10 days.Come to think of it, the Dela Paz camp has raised a lot of legal questions that have yet to be confronted with answers – telling us that the democratic framework simply allows for both parties to the controversy to disagree especially where new practice or procedure is undertaken without any existing legal precedent.

The video footage of the English Parliament where we see members of Parlliament in a kind of wild brawl ought to be instructive.In other words, guests at the Senate should not be treated like they can just be slapped with contempt or otherwise detained within its premises – absent the requirements of due process and legal processes at work.Whoever the Senate invites may or may not accept the invitation which means plainly that normally anybody can also either accept or reject it.One who fails to make self available or be present does not have to be automatically cited in contempt nor should an automatic warrant of arrest be issued at the unilateral judgment of a single member of Senate.In short, certain rules of procedure ought to be observed with the same degree of reverence as in ordinary times.

If the just-held Joc Joc Senate inquiry were any gauge, from where I stand, there is sufficient reason to believe that again, inquiring into this euro cash scandal will not yield any positive results than mere highly theory-laden suspicion.It is so disappointing to see how Joc Joc Bolante was being investigated that it is even possible, no one gets anything from his appearance at the Senate than what have already been known and discovered independently of any testimony from the person himself – just nothing new.And this show can just go on and on indefinitely until everyone else experiences mental fatigue and the show must come to an end.What “in aid of legislation” are we talking about here?We are always carried by the current of the political waters than wanting to cross the other end of the river – this demented bureaucratic procedure has been overstretched with nothing really accomplished.Who did any of congressional inquiries we know of jailed who, pray tell?Who, if any, were truly made culpably accountable for any grave offense, please tell?

Forgive me, but watching the whole televised proceedings live and unedited opens a lot of room for laughter.No wonder one calls it entertainment as much as showbiz does.I fondly recall Jinggoy asking if ‘attorney so and so’ is a lawyer except if that were a rhetorical question altogether.And then in questioning whether Joc Joc would prioritize his business commitments over that of national interest, it is unfortunate that Joc Joc has not made justice to the very interesting point raised by Jinggoy who then have to say Joc Joc has chosen one over another that is equally important.But which is which?In fairness, Jinggoy asked the more proper background questions that can lay the predicate at the latter part of the investigation, or so I thought.All told, the kids’ gloves treatment afforded Joc Joc only made a mockery of truth, justice, and morals.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

UP Diliman, Quezon City(Email:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Obama has come to the White House

The just concluded US presidential election – in state of the art digital automation – is cause for envy in so far as RP is concerned.But, It is not as if steps in this direction have not been initiated except that the Supreme Court according to its worldview – believes that it cannot be applied in our contemporary political culture.Thus, it will always be the case that counting the votes would proceed manually such that the longer it takes to finish the count – in days and weeks – the more likely it has opened windows of opportunity for cheating.America on the other hand counts push-button and RP counts scandalously primitive.

Obama and McCain were luminous figures seen in the world stage as arch contenders to who should run corporate America after President George W. Bush.And Obama got 64,414,843 of so-called popular votes and 364 of so-called electoral votes against McCain getting 56,735,145 and 162, respectively.Obama’s victory in this presidential race flips a new page in US political history as the first ever African-American president with McCain conceding even before the last vote is counted.

In the realm of the senses, there is nothing McCain can do to outsmart Obama whose oratory is par excellence.Given images of two competing candidates, McCain receives the short end of the bargain, McLuhan-wise – where ‘the medium is the message’.Obama is seen and heard to have presented his promissory note under the terms and conditions that come agreeable to any contracting party.Thus, there is little difficulty for every voting American to sign this social contract offered by Obama as the simple epitome of the American dream.

Obama is highly educated, McCain isn’t.Obama is an eloquent orator, McCain just isn’t.Obama carries charisma, McCain is yet to acquire the virus.Obama attracts patronage from both the blacks and the whites in, more or less, equal degree while McCain only got half of the racial deal.With another under-educated as chosen running mate, McCain failed to check his political equation.Obama has been better paired with his running mate.With just these two presidential wannabes viewed in the viewing screen, there is no way McCain can attract adherents any more than Obama can – with such ease and facility – typical of the educated class in the US social pyramid.Obama, after all, graduated his law magna cum laude at HarvardLawSchool while McCain almost at the tail-end of the graduating class in the US Naval Academy.

Perhaps, speech power has been the name of the game in this US election.Every word spoken by Obama seems calculated to summon favor from any average listener or viewer.His speech proceeded from a methodology already known to most Americans with delivery alone qualifying as superb and a cut above the rest.The text of his message comes as though God has spoken before a revering flock – a speech that has warmed the hearts of most Americans, whites or non-whites.Obama’s overall audience impact has really touched every a listener who has been so frustrated with the way Bush has run US politics that one school of thought believes Obama has been a principal beneficiary of this hatred for Bush war policy – viewed as ‘crimes against humanity’.

No wonder then that the punchline – “Change has come to America” – really placed the viewing universe in some kind of trance.Bush bedeviled the American people, and Obama kind of probably ‘angelized’ the new and contemporary American population.Between the devil and the angel, Americans across social ladders, tend to like Obama better than any Bush protégé, or McCain.Given then a prevailing national mood, Obama can skillfully order how his chips will fall in place.And he did just right for his dream to become the next and 44^th president of the world’s superpower that is America.

What will US politics be like under an Obama administration?Policy issues have already been drawn, even maybe neatly by the new world leader.Some of these send “shark attacks effect” making the world uncertain for countries that used to benefit economically from US policy directions under Bush.If Obama pursues the creative approach of going insular by focusing largely on its domestic economy, then world trade as we used to know it might have to be configured differently under an Obama regime.If all jobs go to citizens of America, if all goods go to the American people, if all services are just for the Americans – this consuming all-American protectionist policy might mean making US a closed society than what it used to be and imperiled its own national life.

Whatever policy directions Obama will take ought to be beyond fault.With two wars – that in Irag and Afghanistan – first in the political agenda, Obama is left with not much choice but perhaps to withdraw troops in this beleaguered nations if only to cut on the defense budget.With the economic meltdown US is into, Obama might have to make drastic fiscal reforms without having to reinvent the wheel like say – strengthening a protectionist policy in the best tradition of the Democrats where he belongs.A host of pressing social, economic, political, and security issues have to be addressed and Obama thinks too honestly that indeed US meets the challenge in his favorite line – “Yes we can”.

It still bears watching how Obama will reformat a prevailing if irreversible economic curse that appears to be redeemable only with as much as a $700 billion bail out.Bush is heard to have wished Obama hits the ground running.Truly, US has been seen to be at the verge of a cliff to such extent that it seems like there is only 24-hour left to save present-day America.

After the whole electoral exercise, Obama must get down to business.An economic turnaround or a miracle cannot just come about – from a culture of overspending – that has characterized the Bush’ government.Nor can US’ global position as world policeman be compromised as though pulling out US troops in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan will do the trick.It bears watching whether Obama can bring US economy back on its track especially by giving middle class tax cuts to some 95% of American workers if true anything can be done to uplift some 37 million poor Americans that corporate American has neglected for many years.With Obama breaking the century-old racial barrier, it is hoped that political assassinations by some kind of feudal supremacist vogue would be a thing of the past.

Price control – drugs or medicines?

Republic Act No. 9502 also known as the Cheaper Medicines Act and its subsequent Implementing Rules and Regulations that will take effect on November 21 of this year ought to be a piece of landmark legislation courtesy of this 14^th Congress.Central to its various themes, the law vests upon the Secretary of the Department of Health the authority to set price caps for all kinds of drugs or medicines – patented, non-patented, branded, generic – as if it were not more proper for the Department of Trade & Industry to have been taken to task in so far as price control is concerned.Joker always reminds us of ‘redundancy’ and this one surely is.

A cursory reading of RA 9502 tells us that it amended at least three existing laws, namely – RA 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code, RA 6675 or the Generics Act of 1988, and RA 5921 or the Pharmacy Law. Literally enough, this shotgun approach hits more birds than necessary.A more studied reading of the law however shows that it must have been a work in legal engineering, the implications of which may yet to boomerang.For instance, it took the short route to invent for BFAD a new budget source that does not have to come from the annual budget pie.It tinkered with existing provisions of the Intellectual Property Code that possibly enough, could be violative of patent rights of legitimate owners at least in the context of the old law.It is not as if the Generics Act of 1988 has not likewise been overhauled as it is with the Pharmacy Law – the repercussions are yet to appear on the surface and therefore backfire. This will be graphically demonstrated as soon as the State – by force of law – chokes to death businesses foundviolating its many salient provisions.

So-called Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008 simply aims – by theoretical fiction, that is – to cut in half prices of drugs and medicines and be made accessible to the poor, this by vesting the President through the health secretary sole power to regulate or control prices in what appears to be almost absolute given that only the Supreme Court, not any other lower court, can issue the temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction in the event legal questions will arise as regard price control and regulation.Not remotely, this law appears to strengthen PGMA’s ‘Gamot Mabisa, Abot-Kaya’ program with the end in view of expanding so-called Botika ng Bayan down to the barangays.Perhaps, as election 2010 nears, politicians will be allowed funds for the purpose in what will, in later days, be known as the grand medicine scam.

RA 9502 sets its eye on lowering prices of drugs in the market through competition or what it calls leveling the playing field.To this end, the new law allows for parallel importation where government largely or other favored individuals or groups buy cheaper drugs – both branded or generic – from a third country where they are sold cheap.Why indeed that the retail prices of medicines in Malaysia and Indonesia are 40 to 70% lower than in the Philippines?True enough, this could bring down prices of drugs and medicines to as much as 60%.With the number of Botika ng Bayan increasing, they serve as distribution outlets that will make available drugs and medicines to the poor.

What appears clear from the outline is that the law is designed to break drug cartel or for that matter ‘moderate greed’ so far as the big players are concerned such as multinational pharmaceutical companies.Thus it opens wide the door for small players to import drugs or medicines in countries where they are sold cheap such as India that is seen to result in a situation where retail prices will have to be lowered by the bigger drug monopolies to shield themselves from radical if uncommanding price attacks.The State, by and large, will be in the business of buying and selling drugs at affordable rates to benefit the poor.Effectively perhaps, bigger drug companies will lose their significant market share when buyers prefer to buy at other smaller drug outlets, or even in supermarkets for non-prescription or over the counter medicines.A shadowy ‘National Drug Authority’ at work to the peril of the Philippine drug market that is dominated by US-run drug companies?

If for example, reputable drugstores will soon be selling less and less in an evolving situation where people no longer patronize branded drugs but rather generic drugs, it simply means that there will be lesser sources of revenue or income for the government at the other end of the economic ledger.That would result in lower revenue collection in business taxes from what used to be are highly patronized drugstores.It can even perhaps, trigger, capital flight.When the market is no longer viable or conducive to business, what reason is there left but for badly affected drugstores to rather close shop or fold tent and go where business prospects are better?

It appears, in the higher scheme of things, that private sector must give way to every form of public investment if in this case allowing the government to flood all available outlets with half-priced drugs or medicines.Bringing back retail prices of drugs or medicines back to their 2000 or 2004 rates might really be difficult.If we go by simple economies of scale, increasing the number of Botika ng Bayan or Botika ng Barangay outlets necessarily require a lot of government subsidy when in fact, this should be borne out of private sector initiative.In an ideal free market economy, there ought to be less of state intervention.Later on, perhaps, we can expect this government to be the one to buy – in quite a similar mode – gasoline and diesel for our transport’s fuel requirements and sell them too at pretty much lower rates.That way, there are no prices to regulate or control saved its own – RP, Inc.

From where I stand, to run corporate RP this way – is a mere experiment – the results of which are yet unknown.Taking more drugs or medicines from the shelves of multinational pharmaceutical companies will mean that the State would want businesses now to go bankrupt under a regime of state-run price control mechanisms that are oppressive, cruel and unstudied.If this grand experiment fails to yield its intended results, everything reverts back to the old way.Paradoxically, Secretary Duque, in case he throws hat in the political ring, might use this launching pad to his own political advantage.Still, in the general context of health care system, lowering the prices of drugs or medicines that the patients buy from available markets remains an ambiguity unless hospitals and doctors are to be subjected to a similar mechanism that sets to regulate or control the table of fees demanded from patients under treatment.Absent that, the law is only cosmetic even perhaps useless for its shortsighted motive.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN

(Email to nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Senate probe, et cetera

The Senate began a probe on the so-called ‘euro cash scandal’ involving officers from the Philippine National Police who attended the 77^th Interpol General Assembly held in Russia found to have carried euro cash in excess of authorized limit and undeclared before Russian customs or immigration authorities.Indicatively bound by his lawyer’s advice, Eliseo dela Paz, the main character in the Moscow incident did a disappearing act and effectively freed self from what ought to be a full-dressed investigation initiated by the Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Miriam Santiago.The probe became anticlimactic as the principal accused, call it that, is a no-show.Neither can dela Paz be cited for contempt except by mere lip service since the requisite authority and procedure have to be satisfied first.The Senate failed to issue a warrant of arrest or that compelling dela Paz to appear cannot be undertaken by its own rules of procedure.

Not now that the PNP has already taken administrative action and its report to the Ombudsman already submitted for further disposition.From the Senate therefore, the legal pendulum has now swung to the other side with the Ombudsman to begin work where Senate left off.For the Senate and the Ombudsman to simultaneously conduct parallel public hearings for the same purpose would be, as Joker Arroyo says, a redundancy.It becomes expected that in so far as the case is concerned, the ball is in the court of the Ombudsman and consequently, everyone else would have to take the back seat.However, where patterns indicate, Ombudsman might prove slow in the draw in the same way it took a lot of time over the Senate report on the Joc Joc Bolante case.It bears watching what the Ombudsman’s resolve would be.

PNP involves itself in a self-contradiction.Why would it ask the PNP officers who attended the 77^th Interpol to have to refund the money in this official travel as though P275,000 is peanuts?That some paid in full as some did in installment under a promissory note – does not remove whatever stain has been cast upon the Chief of PNP.For other officers involved in the disbursement of the supposed-to-be travel funds to be held administratively or even criminally liable appears to be coming from nowhere.Why would they be held responsible if the proper travel authority has been issued in connection with this official trip?From the outline, it appears that heads must roll if only to redeem the Chief of PNP from this embarrassment any other way.Is this not circumventing the conventional framework of ‘command responsibility’ applied in both the AFP and the PNP?

How the Ombudsman conducts its probe on this ‘euro cop scandal’ will now be hidden from public view as it is not of the ways of that agency to broadcast its proceedings live on TV.Knowing the facts behind the scandal will cut either way –the public will learn some or will learn none – as knowledge is contingent upon what is presented in the viewing screen.This is where the Senate probe has been grossly violated with the disappearing act of Eliseo dela Paz.No less than the DILG secretary failed to convince or compel the appearance of his subordinate to the Senate inquiry in an effort to show it is not hiding something from view.It is so perhaps because, our politicians have already been heard to have aired their biases and presumptions even before a single evidence or testimony has been laid on the surface.With Senate indicatively in a fishing expedition, it seems logical that Eliseo dela Paz opted not to oblige to the subpoena consistent with every available legal option.

If there is no one the Senate can compel to appear before its cognizant committee like in the case of Eliseo dela Paz as it is in the case of Joc Joc Bolante now, what would that reduce the institution to?The cases of dela Paz, Joc Joc, and Neri seem to share one thing in common – each of the three – disdained appearance in a public hearing sought for the purpose of investigating publicly known financial mess or scandal.There seems to be a higher order of things here where a puppeteer pulls the strings so the puppets behave in the way they should.Certainly, puppetry in this context can only be done by someone or an institution that is higher than the rest in the bureaucratic hierarchy.The token invocation of executive privilege provides security blanket for every kind of censure or rebuke as much as it effectively frustrates our justice system to work.Again, all these recent scandal, are woven from the same thread.Disturbingly, it always leaves us a white cloth.Comes another scandal of an alleged P10 million cash advance scam involving Camilo Sabio of the PCGG, what is this?

The bigger canvass against which these recent scandals are set spells of corruption in the bureaucracy giving us an embarrassing place in the popularity chart as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.That they involve high ranking officials is fast reduced as though it is a favorite pastime of every bureaucrat vested with so much power and authority.Where signs indicate, it may not be far removed that a massive paralysis in our entire body polity is about taking place.Where anything is moving, it must be moved by another and so on.In a series of motion, there ought to be a prime mover who is himself or herself not moved by another.In other words, it challenges reflection if there is one – author of all scams – where everyone else is working under his/her shadow.The tidal waves of corrupt practices in government that go unheeded are revolting to the tilt and to the nth time.Is there no one left than lady Miriam to at least attempt to stamp out corruption in government especially as the CBCP has already rang the alarm?

(Email:nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)