QUESTION: How many Philippine senators does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: 24 plus their assistants.
I can only observe with distress why nothing ever gets resolved in this country. Malacañang says they will not attend Senate hearings unless the Senate publishes the rules.
How many debates will we have over radio and television? How many statements to the press will we hear? How many bombastic and self-righteous remarks are we away from resolving this?
Maybe I just have a simple mind, but if the rules are already there, then just publish it so we can get moving on these investigations. Isn’t that the simplest, most direct step to take? Can these supposedly learned and principled men for once just do things right?
Just publish the damn rules and get it over with! What is so difficult with that?
– Gus Cosio, Quezon City, Philippines (via e-mail)
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April 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
nakita dw ng bulag n magksama s miting c PGMA at abalos at may nkrinig din dw n pipi at bingi s usapan nila regarding s ZTE/NBN deal. abangan ang knilang pgtestigo s senado! mabuhay ang senado!
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
more witnesses to appear! hindi lng star witness ni jamby, surprise witnes ni lacson & secret witness ni cayetano kundi mga blind witness at deaf & mute witness din.. hehehe. cno nmn kya sponsor nila?
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
The email message hereunder is being circulated among OFW’s. This is the reason why we call OWWA useless & should be abolished, or at least make OWWA membership for OFW’s voluntary, not complulsary.
FYI
Basahin ninyo ang nadiskubre ng Commission on Audit kung saan
> nilulustay ang pera nating mga OFW at ipakalat
> o ipaalam sa mga
> kasamahan natin na walangdaan sa e-mail.
>
>
THE Commission on Audit (COA) has rebuked
> the
> Philippine Overseas Employment
> Administration for “illegally”
> granting about P40 million in incentives and
> allowances to its officials
> and
> employees for the past three years.
>
> COA also took the POEA to task for allowing
> its executives and
> employees who were issued mobile phones to
> download about P796,000 worth
> of games,
> tones, picture messages and other
> unauthorized items.
>
>
> In its latest report, prepared by Director
> IV Roberto Marquez,
> COA said the POEA drew P24.048 million from
> the funds of the Overseas
> Workers’
> Welfare Administration to grant an
> “incentive allowance” to its
> personnel. Such use of OWWA funds is
> unauthorized, COA said.
>
>
> It said that even if the OWWA Board of
> Trustees had justified
> the giving of the incentive allowance by citing
> the increase in OWWA
> collections from overseas Filipino workers, the
> move was “without legal
> basis.”
>
>
> Section 15 (e) of the General Appropriations
> Act, FY 2003 (as
> reenacted in 2004), “as well as previous
> general appropriation acts,
> provides that
> no government funds shall be [used] to pay
> honoraria,
> allowances or other compensations to any
> government official or
> employee, except
> those specifically authorized by law,” the
> report stated.
>
>
> Section 3 of Administrative Order 103 also
> bans national
> government agencies from granting new or
> additional benefits to their
> officials and employees “except for Collective
> Negotiation
>
> Agreement (CNA) Incentives and those
> expressly provided by
> presidential issuance,” the COA said.
>
>
> Although it recommended that the POEA
> management stop granting
> the incentive allowance, COA acknowledged that
> the issue is awaiting
> final disposition before the Legal Adjudication
> Office.
>
>
> COA noted that the POEA granted P15.448
> million for the CNA
> signing bonus and rice allowance to its
> employees, a violation of rules
> laid down by
> the Public Sector Labor Management Council.
>
>
> COA said the POEA management and the
> employees’ union agreed on
> a quarterly rice subsidy to its employees,
> including casuals,
> contractual and
> temporary workers, and a P15,000 signing
> bonus “to be given on a
> staggered basis within three years subject to
> the availability of
> savings.”
>
>
> On the strength of the agreement signed on
> December 10, 2001,
> the POEA granted P15.448 million from 2002 to
> 2004. But! the COA
> reviewed the
> payments and found they could have violated
> the rules on CNA
> signing bonus and allowances. Rice and other
> subsidies require
> “appropriation of funds,” or approval from
> Congress and subsequent
> enactment of the President, COA said.
>
>
> COA also cited a May 16, 2002, circular from
> the Department of
> the Budget and Management that said the
> President has issued a
> “moratorium on the grant of CNA signing bonus
> due to some problems
> raised on the payment and fund source.”
>
>
> COA added that the moratorium has been in
> effect until these
> problems are resolved and a policy is issued on
> the matter.
>
>
> It also cited the July 11, 2002, decision of
> the Supreme Court
> in the case of Social Security System v. COA,
> in which it ruled against
> the signing
> bonus as a form of additional compensation
> under the
> Constitution.
>
>
> COA said that despite the Court’s earlier
> pronouncement against
> the granting of incentives and allowances, the
> POEA in 2004 still gave
> P7.2105 million to its employees and officials
> as signing bonus and rice
> subsidies.
>
>
> The POEA justified its move by saying that
> the budget department
> had approved the release of incentives and
> allowances, COA said.
>
>
> COA also questioned why the POEA failed to
> follow the guidelines
> in its memorandum on October 26, 2001, covering
> the use of cell phones
> after the POEA paid for the nonessential
> downloads made by its officials
> and employees.
>
>
> The POEA is supposed to put a limit on the
> use of cell phones,
> but the audit on its telephone bills showed
> that P487,283.59 of the
> P1.3-million total
> from 2003 to 2004 consisted of charges in
> excess of the
> authorized limit.
>
>
> Even POEA’s bookkeeper in charge admitted
> that she could not
> impose limits on the use of ! the cell phones
> to some officials, COA
> said.
>
>
> “We also noted that the POEA had incurred
> other charges
> amounting to P308,747.58 in the use of the
> mobile phones, in addition to
> the fixed charges of P400,002.80 due to
> subscription to Globe lines or
> plans. These additional charges are value-added
> taxes and currency
> adjustment fees. Other charges which are
> personal and which are easily
> incurred and billed due to the nature of line
> subscription, include
> share-a-load and its processing fee, GPRS such
> as Globe games, photo
> messages, polyphonic
> ring tones,digital postcards, photo album,
> cinema and magazine
> covers, premium java download, instant
> messaging and catxtcism, etc.,”
> COA said.
>
> To avoid further overpayments, COA
> recommended that the POEA
> coordinate with Globe to shift to prepaid cards
> and end the subscription
> of postpaid
> lines.
>
>
>
>
> ____________ _________ _________ __
>
> If this is all true it is ROBBERY.CORRUPTION
> AND DISREGARD FOR
> THE LAW.
> I propose the following action:
>
> 1. The OFW, through a legal
> representative file
> a corruption case against the
> officers, and
> employees of POEA and OWWA.
> The legal funds can be donated by OFW,
>
> through a US$1.00 Contribution, per
> OFW.
> We have to find how the money can be
> collected. Through a bank? Through a
> trust
> Fund? (Any suggestions? )
>
> 2. Petition the Government, through the
> Senate
> to Scrap the POEA and OWWA.
>
> 3. Force the Government to return to the
> OFW
> the payments issued by the OFW to the
> POEA
> and OWWA.
>
> (Ex)-Chief Justice Panganiban, please give us
> some advice on how to
> proceed with the necessary action.
>
> OFW DOES NOT NEED POEA AND OWWA.
> THE OFW IS PAYING THE SALARIES OF THESE
> PEOPLE, AND THEY ARE
> TREATING OFW’S AS DIRT.
> THEY ARE ROBBING THE OFW OF THEIR HARD
> EARNED MONEY THROUGH THE
> HELP OF THE GOVERNMENT THAT SHOULD PROTECT ITS
> WORKERS.
> INSTEAD OF THE FAMILIES OF THE OFW, THE POEA
> AND OWWA IS
> ENJOYING THE LABORS OF THE OFW.
>
> THIS IS THE TIME THAT OFW MUST SHOUT AND
> DEMAND FOR ACTION.
> THIS IS WORSE THAN THE DIRECT HIRE
> REGULATION.
>
>
>
>
> Dear “OFW” ,
>
> Ganito siguro talaga tayong mga Pilipino,
> kahit pinagsabihan na
> ng
> kamalian, patuloy pa ring magpapalusot
> especially kung sa
> gobierno
> nagtatrabaho. Not all as I know of but the
> below COA findings
> are clear
> indication and self-explanatory.
>
> Anyways, it’s about time we explore
> alternative means of having
> a separate
> private insurance company which will
> properly invest the
> premiums that will
> result to concrete and practically available
> insurance and
> medical benefits
> at hindi katulad sa OWWA at POEA na
> pi-nagsa-samantalah ang
> gastahin maging
> pang-load sa cellphones ang ating ibinabayad
> na premium sa
> dahilang wala
> silang alam patungkol sa ‘insurance’.
>
> I bet my ass (forgive my language), no one
> from OWWA and most of
> all from
> the POEA is knowledgeable about insurance
> business much more how
> to invest
> the premiums paid thru these agencies
> (inorder to generate
> income and
> return these thru exceptional benefits to
> the insured) except to
> enumerate
> the OWWA guidelines and the memorandum of
> objective creating the
> POEA from
> which, in defense to this accusation,
> officials from these 2
> government
> entities will immediately refer to. Ang
> alam nila ay gastahin
> ang pera
> kahit hantarang hindi nila eto pueding
> galawin.
>
> Any more better thoughts to add, be my
> guest.
>
> Cheers and good day,
“Kabayang OFW”
>
> VERY DISGUSTING AND DISAPPOINTING! !!!
> What will happen to us if these things
> continue to happen?
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I belived that the rules have been published since then, simply because of the fact that the Senate is a continuing body not like the House of Representatives. The majority in the Supreme Court who voted for upholding the right of Commisioner Romulo Neri to invoke executive privilige in refusing to answer the queries from the Senators was a deliberate manuevering by the majority with absolute help from Malacanang, of course, to deflect from the real issue of a commission of a crime, that is why they came up with a decision to uphold because of a technicality they argued that the Senate is not a continuing body and had not publish their rules. Based on simple logic my argument now is that the Supreme Court must recognize and uphold that the Senate is a continuing body because it is a law making body that needs to make and enact laws swiftly and immediately no matter what time, day, or event to keep the rule of law of the land meaning to prevent chaos, unlike the Supreme Court which is the law interpreting body and the Executive Branch which is the law enforcing body and from this logic we can separate their distinction. So to make my point, the majority should have given more weight in their argument towards national interest which is there was a commission of a crime as evident by the admission of the President and Commissioner Neri in public, than a technicality on the part of the Senate which is just doing their job as eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the people. I believe Malacanang meddled in those justices decision to uphold because Malacanang wanted Commissioner Neri to lie and to get former chairman of Commission of Election Abalos of the hook because Abalos knew a lot about the cheating in the 2004 presidential election. Why can’t president Arroyo testify or prosecute against Abalos if she is really for anti-corruption. Also, just a thought, did anybody cross in their mind that the automation of poll before the 2004 presidential election might have been intentionally sabotaged by Abalos dictated by Malacanang because they found out that Fernando Poe would run and could win it, so they opted not to automate it to manipulate the results.
This is it for now!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
it’s high time someone write about these “dis-honorables”.
whenever this senator from cdo gets hold of the mike, you can be sure it will spell disaster. but, that’s ok, because more and more people will come to realize they have wasted their votes. remember during cory’s time he created an uproar as sec. of the local govts.? friends of mine from cdo will attest to this senator’s arrogance.
along w/ jamboy, pingky, jingoy, they demean, insult, taunt resource persons w/o let-up, and they all say they are in search of the “truth”? give us a break.
it’s as if they have claimed a franchise to dishonor one’s reputation.
and this senator whose only claim to fame is sharon, how dare him call the sc inutile, just because he didn’t like the decision? such arrogance..
mang godo is right, what legislation have they crafted after their investigations in aid of legislation? nothing.
perhaps it’s time we start our own 1M online petition to ABOLISH the senate. if erap die-hards can muster their 1M for their idol, why can’t we? we are giving them 200M/yr as cdf funds, for what?