The Delayed Announcement

Opposition senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero turned 40, nine days ago. This made him eligible to run for highest seat of power in the country. October 12, 2009, the country waited for him to finally announce his bid for presidency. No announcement happened. According to him, it would be inhumane to announce one's political plans while the whole country is still suffering and trying to recover from typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

Inqurier.net's Neal Cruz wrote on his column As I See It, Why Chiz has not yet made an announcement:

It has been nine days since Oct. 10, when Sen. Chiz Escudero turned 40 and thus eligible to be president of the Philippines.

He had promised to officially announce his presidential candidacy on that day, but the day came and went and no announcement. The date for the formal announcement has been postponed to Oct. 12, they said. That day came and still no announcement. The new rumor is that he would do it on Monday.

Why the delay when his rivals are already all over the place campaigning although that is still prohibited at this time by election laws? Has he changed his mind? Was he dismayed by the drop in his ratings in the latest survey when he had been leading in most of the earlier surveys? Has he not yet reached an agreement with Sen. Loren Legarda? Did the latest propaganda ploy of the Lakas-Kampi party with the governors wanting to pirate Legarda of the Nationalist People’s Coalition as the running mate of its Gibo Teodoro have its desired effect on Chiz? Is he now wavering? You can read more here.

What is your take? :)

4 vs 100

Four Presidential aspirants faced 100 local government officials to answer various issues involving local government units (LGUs).

The forum dubbed as "Face to Face: 100 Local Government Champions versus Four Presidential Contenders" was attended by Senators Manny Villar, Noynoy Aquino and Chiz Escudero and Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro.

The sharing scheme of the internal revenue allotment (IRA) between the national govt and LGUs, pork barrel system and the Mindanao peace process were some of the issues that the presidentiables had to address individually as they were given an hour each to meet with the local officials.

One of the most applauded statements was that of Escudero when he said that he is “in favor of abolishing the pork barrel system,” he said.

According to Escudero, he has not been receiving his pork barrel allocation since 2005 when he led the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He defines pork barrel as “lump sum allocation sa budget kung saan di na natin alam kung san pupunta o pumupunta, lumalabas na lang at nakikita na lang bigla, minsan hindi pa.”

He proposed institutionalizing line-itemizing of government projects that would state how much money is needed, what it is for and the proposed timeline of the project. Escudero said that this would solve two problems regarding the pork barrel system – corruption and the “absence or lack of focus when it comes to the utilization of government funds."

However, results of an informal survey done among the local officials after the forum showed that they chose Teodoro as their top choice (although some criticized him for being endorsed by the infamous President), then Aquino and Escudero, while putting Villar as their last choice.

The Illegal Ombudsman

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is under much criticism having released a memo imposing more rules before the Statement of Assets. Liabilities and Networth (SALN) of public officials are released.

According to Sen. Francis Escudero, what Gutierrez did was illegal. In his statement, Escudero said that "it's illegal as it hinders or hampers free flow and access to information on matters of public concern. Confidentiality is the anti-thesis of 'public document.' Besides the Ombudsman is not vanguard but the keeper of the SALN so that the public can have better access to it."

June 16, 2009, Gutierrez issued Memorandum Circular No.1 that would require people who would want access to SALNs to provide a statement why they are doing so, two government-issued IDs and be sworn in before a prosecutor of the supposed anti-graft institution. Furthermore, as if to add insult to the injury, the public and media can be immediately denied access to SALNs if their reason is deemed "contrary to morals or public policy, or is commercial in nature other than by news and communication media for dissemination to the general public."

Blogger Carlo Ople posed this question: Instead of defending the Filipino people, the office of the Ombudsman would rather shield corrupt officials from getting exposed?

We all know how Rep. Mikey's corruption was exposed through his SALN during Philippine TV's shining moment that is the grilling of Arroyo by Prof. Winnie Monsod. We need more of these. More corrupt government officials getting exposed. And if they can't be transparent through their SALNs clearly they are hiding something. So why Ms. Ombudsman are you protecting them by imposing more rules?

We need transparency and accountability from our public officials, and if they are incapable of being so, they have no business in serving Filipinos.

Bloggers and Sen. Escudero

Image from HeaRty's Haven

We ate our food and waited. Past the chicharon, Coke Lights (yes, that's how the waiter called it), loads of laughter, magic tricks and chatter (we tried to figure out how much sisig can be bought from Gerry's with $20,000), it was finally our table's turn. It's 9:15pm.

Bloggers had the privilege of spending some informal time with Sen. Francis Escudero at the Club House of his political party in New Manila.

So there we were, seated on wooden chairs around the Senator. We knew what we wanted to ask but no one seemed eager to draw first blood.

Before we knew it, everyone's laughing and the conversation did not feel as awkward anymore.

The million-peso question was somehow a given: are you planning to run for President next year?

Sans pretense, he answers that he does want and plan to run for President. He said that he's running for two reasons - 1. he wants to prove that the younger generation can be entrusted to lead this country and 2. the younger generations are to suffer for the bad governance that the older ones are continually running.

He reinforces this by saying that he'd want to run while his still young and idealistic, because for him the government doesn't make one better but worse through time.

He also promised his wife that if he does lose next year, he'd stop politics altogether, saying that there must be someone else who can do the job.

An animated discussion followed regarding his choice for VP and Senators.

The night ended with a twisted fork on the Senator's palm.

The 2010 Presidential Elections is right around the corner and every one is running with their best foot forward.

Fighting Back

Kung palabas lang ang tira ko kay Pangulong Arroyo, eh bakit napipikon sa mga banat ko?

The Senators are fighting back.

During her "performance," PGMA told Presidential aspirants not to speak bad words in public - a clear reference to Mar Roxas' P.I. carnage at a Makati rally recently.

"To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public."

And so, since Twitter is the best thing, Roxas' tweeted this back: MARoxas "Gloria, I have to say bad words in public because of bad deeds done in secret."

Then, in an Inquirer article, Presidential son/sucky actor Mikey Arroyo is said to be "mad" at the opposition for being such actors in the arena of Philippine politics. He points out how Sen. Francis Escudero clandestinely asked for the President's blessing and endorsement for next year's Presidential elections. An accusation that Escudero denies.

In a statement released today by Escudero that I've posted below, he vehemently denied all allegations that he asked for support from the President.

"I have not sought, nor will I seek, the endorsement of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Nor have I authorized anyone to do so.

Let Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando or Vice President Noli de Castro, or anyone else who might want her blessings, get that endorsement which they have been seeking from day one for all I care.

I have not even declared yet. And if I do, I will seek only the endorsement of the Filipino people and will run as Opposition simply because I have been consistently against and questioned the mandate of this administration from the very start.

I supported and was spokesperson of the late Fernando Poe, Jr. in the 2004 presidential elections; I led impeachment complaints against Arroyo in the House; voted consistently against the administration on major policy positions, i.e., the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), EVAT, and the Human Security Act.

To get back at me, this vengeful administration has withheld the release of my Countryside Development Fund (CDF) since 2005. And now, its proxies have taken the debate over its performance in the past nine years down to the gutter by spreading intrigues against my person."

I smell trouble brewing. Don't you?

A Public Declaration

from PGMA, is what Opposition senator Francis Escudero wants.

Escudero asked PGMA to order her House allies to stop all efforts on Con-Ass during her delivery of her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) to fully stop all suspicions that her administration is still hungry to stay in power.

"Unless there is a public declaration by the President herself, addressed to her partymates in the House, the suspicions about this administration's dark intentions will remain in the minds of the people," Escudero said. "As president of the biggest coalition in the House, Lakas-Kampi, she can make the order."

The Senator said that if changes are to be made with the Constitution, it should not be during PGMA's term. And if it does push through at the Lower House, he'd do everything in his power to stop it at the Senate level, especially since he heads the Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes and Laws.

PGMA will deliver her last SONA at the Batasan this 27th of July, 2009.