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Sunday, February 5, 2012

How to lead modest lives

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By ATTY. ROMEO V. PEFIANCO

(Editor's note: Despite the constitutional command some high public officials prefer comfort/secrecy in high-rise condos as noted by the author.)

MANILA, Philippines — The Constitution has a clear command: “Public officers and employees must at all times ... lead modest lives,” in addition to such old virtues as responsibility, integrity, loyalty, etc. Can all public servants really obey this command in all good faith? Another old rule in public service badly needs to be invoked: The good example to all public servants, without question, starts at the top.

Clerk’s Porsche
The other night a Customs clerk – yes, a mere clerk as reported – was driving his Porsche when another car – a lot less expensive – bumped the clerk’s dream car. A chase followed that resulted in the filing of charges of physical injuries and attempted murder against theclerk, with an expensive Cal. 40 mm pistol.

Cost of one Porsche
How much is a Porsche, brand-new or second-hand? It’s hard to guess. But shortly after June 30, 2010, theBIR filed a tax evasion case against a businessman who bought a Porsche for a cool R26 M which was not supported by his ITR.

The Customs clerk has extreme ideas and dreams about life. But he lacks the solid resources of a boxing champion like Rep. Manny Pacquiao, and loves to tool around in a Porsche. Does he use this car to commute between his “humble home” and BoC at the Port Area?

But where are the 1,500 vans?
So far there’s no such report yet from the staff of Ruffy Biazon. Can charges of unexplained wealth and lying in his SALN be preferred against him? His proper answer could be: “Why only me when 1,500 fully loaded vans disappeared like a mist last year.” Not one or three vans were ever found for the assessment of duties.

Lifestyle model
For many years, between June 30, 1998, and June 30, 2010, many public officials enjoyed an enviable lifestyle supported, apparently, by illegal resources in lieu of lawful income. This is the example at the top and the very model of ill-gotten wealth’s benefits among others.

1. Carlos P. Garcia
Let’s review a few lifestyles of our conservative high officials in the old days. Before his election as vice president in November, 1953, Senator Carlos P. Garcia was a boarder at the YMCA at the back of Manila City Hall facing the old GSIS building on Esteros St.

To my best recollection, I often saw the senator playing chess with a national champion named Pascual. As vice president, he lived in a rented home. When President Garcia ran for reelection in November, 1961, Mayor Lacson, a fellow NP, disclosed at Plaza Miranda that the president was building a house on Bohol Ave., QC with borrowed money from the GSIS. This house was a bungalow and was not fit for a president of Garcia’s stature for his long service. I witnessed its renovation after anay had nearly eaten up its wooden ceiling and partitions. For building a small home with borrowed funds, Garcia lost the presidency.

2. Mayor Arsenio H. Lacson
Mayor Lacson himself lived in the house of his in-laws (the Geronimos) between 1949 (as congressman) and 1963, when he died in office as mayor of the nation’s capital. Lacson’s temper and bullying of his opponents probably conditioned his mind against building a family home he could call his own.

3. President Quirino
President Quirino lost to Magsaysay in his bid forreelection in November, 1953. The main issue againsthim: Graft and corruption allegedly committed by his appointees. Unknown to voters was the fact that Quirino had no home to come home to in Metro Manila. Before he left Macalañang, he built a home with GSIS money in the middle of a ricefield in Novaliches, QC, where a homelot in the 1950s could be bought for a song.

4. President Macapagal
One of our presidents lost his reelection try in November, 1965. When Macapagal left Malacañang, he transferred to a home in a gated community in Makati. He was popularly known as the “poor boy” from Lubao, Pampanga.

5. President Magsaysay
President Magsaysay lived in a modest home owned by his wife Luz Banzon. He died in a plane crash without building a home he could call his own.

Era of high-rise condos
There were no high-rise condos then, and for the first time a 20-story hotel was built in 1967 on UN Ave. – Manila Hilton – with a restaurant on the 20th floor.

Most developers today preferred to build high-rise structures for one main reason: An expensive residential or commercial lot of 1,000 sqm can be made highly profitable if a 40-story condo building can stand on it.

Can high public officials really LEAD MODEST LIVES incognito? In complete comfort/secrecy? “That is the question!” (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).

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