Written by Ed Javier / Firebrand
Business Mirror
ANDRES “ANDY” BAUTISTA, the current chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), demonstrated recently that some government officials still had the Filipino value of delicadeza when he recommended the abolition of the agency.
With a refreshing air of candor, Chairman Bautista proposed that the very commission that he heads be allowed to close shop, declaring, “It has become a law of diminishing returns at this point.”
He added: “It’s been 26 years and people you are after are back in power. At some point, you just have to say, ‘We’ve done our best,’ and that’s that. It is really difficult. In order now to be able to get these monies back, you need to spend a lot.”
When we interviewed him on our radio program Karambola sa DWIZ, Bautista explained that it would be more cost-effective at this point to transfer the job of investigating and prosecuting criminal cases exercised by the PCGG to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He also said it would be better to designate the Privatization Office under the Department of Finance (DOF) to be the custodian of “all sequestered real and personal assets and properties previously under the control and management of the PCGG.”
True enough, an honest-to-goodness cost-benefit analysis would most likely reveal that the task of going after the Marcos wealth is best left to the DOJ and the DOF to avoid overlapping of functions and save on scarce government resources.
We tip our hat off to Bautista. By declaring that it is all right to be stripped of a high-profile government position with all its perks and privileges, he has shown that there are still public officials who do not pay mere lip service to the core value of delicadeza.
It’s such a pity that this bright man is willing to be let go. We consider him as one of President Aquino’s more inspired choices when it comes to appointees to public office.
Prior to the PCGG, Bautista held a high-paying job at the private sector as the Philippine chief executive officer of the Kuok Group, owner of the upscale Shangri-La chain of hotels. This former dean of the Far Eastern University’s Institute of Law became a Bar topnotcher after graduating class valedictorian from the Ateneo Law School. He obtained his Master of Laws from Harvard University in 1993.
But for every bright spot in government service, there appear to be forces of darkness holding sway.
Last week media reports exposed the irregularities surrounding the designation of Akbayan Party-list Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao as caretaker of the lone district of Dinagat Island to replace former Rep. Ruben Ecleo, who was convicted of killing his wife.
Apparently, Bag-ao had taken her oath as member of the Liberal Party, having received a Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance from the LP, and had filed her certificate of candidacy to run as district representative of Dinagat in May 2013.
Under Section 15 of Republic Act 7941, which provides for the election of party-list representatives through the party-list system, “Any elected party-list representative who changes his political party or sectoral affiliation during his term of office shall forfeit his seat.”
Bag-ao, a lawyer, can always claim she did not change her sectoral affiliation and is only running as an adopted candidate of the LP. However, the law is crystal-clear. There is no room for varying interpretations even by clever lawyers out to manipulate the spirit and intention of the law.
What gives this whole episode a very bad—shall we say, greasy—taste in the mouth is the fact that Bag-ao also received some P140 million in pork-barrel funds just before Christmas from Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr., which were earmarked for Ecleo.
The P140 million is in addition to Bag-ao’s regular P70-million allocation. P210 million less than five months before the election? That large amount of money is nothing to sneeze at.
“Big Bucks Bag-ao’” went on a breathtaking spending spree and constructed buildings, bridges, and purchased a slew of multi-cabs, ambulances and luxury SUVs.
This voracious appetite for government largesse extends to the questionable manner in which defeated Isabela governor and now-Commission on Elections Commissioner Grace Padaca has seen fit to use her position by allowing her brother to run for Isabela governor.
Clearly, Bag-ao and Padaca’s sense of delicadeza have gone awry. Too bad these “ladies” who are supposed to be more refined in their ways and manners are already right up there with the grizzled old men steeped in the nasty habits of traditional politics.
We need more of the likes of Chairman Bautista in public office. These are the haves who can bank on their outstanding achievements in the private sector and who possess a highly attuned sense of delicadeza and propriety to boot.
We need less of the defeated politicians chewed up and spat out by their constituents. We also don’t need class-C executives who have nothing to show for all their years in the corporate world, but were appointed to juicy government positions simply because they were the President’s classmates and buddies.
God spare us from these individuals out to rake money from the government. These are the have-nots who do not even have the decency to mask their attempts to make the government their own private piggy bank.
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