TALE OF 2 CABINET SECRETARIES
By Mortz C. Ortigoza
Reporters in
Pangasinan saw recently two cabinet secretaries of the Duterte Administration
graced two occasions in the same day at the Capitol Ground in the historic and
capital town’s Lingayen.
After Presidential
Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar and party sneaked to
say hello near the rostrum where Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol was already
speaking before the stakeholders of the Mango Forum at the swanky world class Sison
Auditorium, I saw again the PCOO top honcho spoke before elected officials of
the 47 cities and towns’ Pangasinan at the nearby Training Center.
 |
| Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol and Communication Secretary Martin Andanar. |
If the diminutive Piñol, former broadcaster and a Governor, emphatically spoke with gusto and spiced his speech with macho jokes before the multitudes, the six-footer Andadar seemed reserve and a snooze with his discourse before the local government executives and their communication officers.
“Dapat si Piñol
ang Communication Secretary because he communicates effectively with the people
unlike kay Andanar na parang boring,” I
ribbed my radio tandem Harold Barcelona when we dropped by at the training
center and listen to the wisdom of the PCOO's top man, a former TV-5 reporter,
on the important roles of the information officers at the local government
units.
After being treated
by Piñol’s side statement, er, joke that many Ilocanos are poor but happy
because after they incessantly contented themselves to over eat the slimy
Saluyot (Corchorus) plant in their three square meals a day, the supper with
the poor man’s vegetable was the most exciting because the spouses disappeared
to the dark part of their room and indulge to sex, Andanar’s dry corporate-like
talk made me reminisced about rabble rousing Abono Party list Congressman
Conrad Estrella cracking jokes like that Saluyot antics of Piñol that brought the house down.
“Sino sa inyo mga
mayors ang may gusto ng Federalism, taas ang mga kamay!” Only three Pangasinan
mayors raised their hands while nobody waved their hands when Andanar asked
them who among the elected executives do not like Federalism.
“Paano magtataas
ang mga iyan, hindi nila naiintidihan the pros and cons of Federalism,” I told the amused Rey dela
Cruz, City Information Officer of San Carlos City.
“They did not
understand the nuances of Federalism. They need to be informed,” quipped by Governor Amado
Espino III to the Secretary after seeing the blank faces of most of the Hizzoners and the Board Members on Federalism.
Then Andanar, like a
neophyte college instructor, explained the kinds of Federalism in Australia and
France where in the former the prime minister (Malcolm Turnbull) was
elected (Westminster System’s style – Author) by majority
party or coalition of the members of the Parliament while in the latter the
prime minister was appointed by the strong president like Emmanuel Macron.
“Any comment or
question?” Andanar
posed to the audience.
I was tempted to go
to the microphone in the center of the building because nobody wanted to speak
ha ha ha but I restrained myself in giving my piece.
“Baka wala ng
bumoto sa Federalism just like what happened when I gave my side during the
First Public Consultation of Constitutional Reform,” I told Harold who urged me
to say my opinion that I passionately cited in the radio.
I should be telling
Andanar that the most divisive part on Federalism was how would poor provinces
and regions pay the salaries of national personnel like those in the Philippine
National Police, Departments of Public Works & Highways and the Education,
and others and how these LGUs financed infrastructure projects after these
local government units converge as a state, just like in the U.S, and feed
themselves on the taxes used to be collected by the national government?
Poor provinces like
Maguindanao, Davao del Sur, Ifugao, Aparri, Leyte, Samar would find themselves
in a financial catastrophe because there will be no national government through
the Bureau of Internal Revenue that collects Value Added Tax, Capital
Gain Tax, Corporate Tax, Donor Tax, Percentage Tax, Documentary Tax, except "Thumbtack" and divide through the internal revenue allocation where
some of these funds collected from progressive provinces like Pangasinan and
Pampanga would be funneled to Maguindanao and those poor provinces I mentioned.
I should be
responding to Andanar’s poser that the economic malaise of the Filipinos could
not be solved by Federalism but by amending the economic provision in the
Constitution where the xenophobic law was responsible to the penury of our
countrymen.
Here’s what I told
early this year the congressmen led by the Committee on Constitutional
Amendment’s Chairman Roger Mercado during the First Public Consultation on
Constitutional Reform when I gave my piece that amending the 60-40
percent provision is the silver bullet to solve, probably partially because we
still have to deal with population explosion, the economic hardship where jobs
are elusive to find in this forsaken country.
“Our problems are
jobs for our people and the solution is break that 60-40 percent economic
provision in the Constitution and make it 100 percent to attract more foreign
businessmen to put jobs in the country,” I cited.
I elaborated that 100
percent foreign ownership made Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and
Singapore a haven of foreign investors while their neighbor Philippines lurked
at the economic bottom in drawing investors.
“According to the World Bank in 2015 foreign direct investors poured almost U.S $6 billion to the Philippines; $ 9,003, 516, 296 to Thailand; $10, 962, 721,673 to Malaysia; $11,800,000,000 to Vietnam; $20, 054, 270,304 to Indonesia; and $65,262,633,426 to Singapore,” I stressed.
If jobs for the
millions of Filipinos are the problem, then HesusMariaHusep, why
chose Federalism where foreign investors would still be hesitant to come to our
shores because the local industries are still controlled by the likes of
Gokongweis, Sys, Pangilinans, Ayalas, Cojuangcos, Angs, Gaisanos, Aboitizes,
and other taiphans ?
Are the proponents of
Federalism should be pushing instead of the breaking out of the anti-foreign
investors 60-40 equity to save this country from the squalor?
(You can read
my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan
News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
