R.P. Political Scene
By DANIEL E. LLANTO
First, we had reports that presidential sister Kris Aquino made the round promising rewards to three senator-actors – Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Lito Lapid and Jinggoy Estrada – if they give their vote to the candidate for Senate president of the now ruling Liberal Party, Sen. Francis Pangilinan. Revilla is affiliated with the Nacionalista Party, which is fielding Sen. Manuel Villar for the top Senate post. Lapid and Estrada are with the Lakas-Kampi-CMD and Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, respectively.
Then Malacanang raised the possibility that fugitive Sen. Panfilo Lacson may return to the country under the new dispensation possibly in time for the July 26 opening of the new Congress. Almost in the same motion, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III ordered Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to review the rebellion case against detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who was petitioning the court to allow him to attend the July 26 event.
The ever feisty Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago believes P-Noy is reverting to the old ways of traditional politics by meddling in the contest for the Senate presidency in hopes of placing the chamber under his thumb. Crying “trapo (traditional politician) politics,“ Santiago alleged last week that Malacanang also put some pressure on Lapid to pick Pangilinan as Senate president in exchange for the retention of his son Mark as general manager of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.
Said Santiago: “I was hoping, together with all the others of the electorate, that we would now have a new dispensation announced by no less than the President himself, but look at what these people are doing. They are holding the Lapid father’s vote hostage to the son’s reappointment.”
To everyone’s consternation, former Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, son of former President Gloria Arroyo, was allowed by the Commission on Elections to return to Congress this time as nominee of the party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy. Mikey was all but expected to be next on the chopping block after the Comelec earlier disqualified businessman Teodorico Haresco and former San Carlos City Mayor Eugenio Lacson for misrepresenting themselves as members of the Ang Kasangga, a party-list group of micro-entrepreneurs.
Like Haresco and Lacson, Arroyo could not by any stretch of imagination represent the tricycle drivers and security guards composing the membership of Ang Galing Pinoy, but the Comelec apparently decided that what was sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. In throwing out at least two disqualification cases against Arroyo, the Comelec said the former presidential son “actively supported and advanced the projects and programs of the party.”
The Comelec decision was naturally greeted by calls for the resignation of its officials. For Sen. Franklin Drilon, it was a “mockery of the party-list system” and to Sen. Francis Escudero, a “decision of accommodation.”
Because of the controversial decision the credibility of the Comelec is again in tatters, negating all the plaudits the poll body earned for the success of the May 10 automated elections.
One big name is now listed in the scoreboard of the Aquino administration as part of its campaign against tax evaders and smugglers, that of William Villarica, owner of the Villarica chain of pawnshops. Investigations of the Bureau of Internal Revenue showed that Villarica failed to file income tax returns from 1998 to 2009, during which the businessman only paid P25,000 in taxes.
Of interest to keen political observers are the tax evasion charges being readied against the city of Makati, which supposedly owes P1.2 billion in back taxes. These taxes were of course incurred during the time of now Vice President Jejomar Binay as Makati mayor. But to pre-empt talks of possible political retribution, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares clarified that the tax evasion case is being filed against Makati as a local government unit and nothing personal against its former mayor.
The campaign promise of the President was at least one of such cases to be filed each week, but P-Noy said there will be more in number and frequency. Which could mean that the BIR and the Bureau of Customs are already hot on the heels of many tax evaders.
Deficit spending may be part of Aquinomics, which is expected to be given concrete form and substance by the economics-trained President Aquino in his first state of the nation address on July 26. A preview of the government’s economic policy provided by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Acting Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos indicates that there will be more borrowing to sustain spending on priority social services. Abad said the government might have to borrow more to finance spending if it failed to substantially raise state revenues.
It seems that better tax collection and enforcement could not be enough to address the perennial problem on budget deficit, as P-Noy had hoped it would in his campaign.
share: del.icio.us.
Reddit 
Digg 
Yahoo 
Wink 
Windows 
Google 
Newsvine 
Comment
Commenting is closed for this article.
Full story