Forking ‘pork’ for change

CARMONA: Raise the salaries of government employees.

The country is officially in a “pork frenzy” as the clamor for the scrapping of pork barrel funds intensifies.  Although joining the call for the abolition of the fund, also known as Priority Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, is a step to determine individuals who really just want to help the nation from those who only want to help themselves, the issue now is: How else will the fund be distributed to the cities that really need them?

I came across an article on the Internet recently where  then presidential aspirant Ninoy Aquino, sharing his thoughts on the PDAF, wanted hard and soft priorities to serve as guide for its release.  It is, however, so easy to claim that the pork is for instance for education, without bothering to verify if it goes to a classroom in Benguet or to Jeane Napoles’ 2012 summer collection.

ARIAS: Fundamental infrastructure development

Also, if the pork is given to the local government units without the proper checks and balances and, of course, diligence of our so-called public servants, we go back to where we started, again.  Methinks that one possible solution is for the government to adapt transparency and do a modified version of the jury system in the United States for the approval and release of funds every quarter. People in the council will be drawn randomly and given short terms so as not to encourage corruption. In this way, taxpayers like us will have a say where our money goes to.

With that said, if you were part of this hypothetical council, where would you spend the money on?

DAVID: College education assistance plans

For me, since road safety is my advocacy, I would probably spend on road safety education by financing road safety and driver education as part of the high school curriculum. There is already an ongoing health campaign against smoking and drinking in schools—which I believe is very effective—so why not use the same method for road safety?

Each of us a road user

Each person in the community is a road user, whether as pedestrian or driver.  You can’t tell me that those in the public school will not benefit from this because they are the same people who drive those buses and jeeps with no regard for or aren’t even aware of the rules of driving. One semester on pedestrian rules, another on auto maintenance and another on driving should do the trick.

We can also divert funds to a project that will allow us to regain our status as a car manufacturing hub in Asia.  Before all the car manufacturers started packing up for Thailand, we were poised to take on this role.  But disadvantageous tax laws and investor-unfriendly policies were all in place to extract a few millions from these companies, instead of look at the thousands of Filipinos with jobs that will contribute 30 percent of their salaries.  Filipino car workers are some of the best in the world; we should nurture them.

TIO: Electoral education and reform

For my husband JP, he would want to spend funds on an F1 track.  According to the Formula 1 website, the Malaysian government spent $120 million to build the Sepang International Circuit; given today’s exchange rate that is roughly about P5 billion.  Staging the Formula 1 race brings thousands of tourists during the weekend with an estimated spend of $1,500 each for hotel, tickets, airfare and food.

With the capacity of the Sepang circuit, which is at 80,000 people (not counting non-F1 attending tourist), that is a gross sale of $120 million (about P5 billion) in one weekend, they have almost recovered the cost of building the track.   Compare this to the P3.1-million Centennial Park in Clark that brings in zero tourists and nothing in terms of tourism sales.

Support for tire industry

RAMIREZ: Tourism promotions, infrastructure and international relations

For Marc Tagle, president of Bridgestone Philippines, he would spend on education, infrastructure and supporting the local tire industry. “Last but not least, to the judicial system so that we can put those crooks in jail,” he added.

On the other hand, Leanna Farrales-Carmona, chief operating officer of Eon Inc., said that she would allocate the funds to raise the salaries of government employees to make these competitive with their equals in the private sector. “Prosecute and retire all those with cases of graft. Fill up all open plantilla positions with the best and the brightest of the upcoming generation. Bring back pride in civil service,” she said.

Ariel Arias of Toyota Motor Philippines said, “If I had pork, I would use it for fundamental infrastructure development countrywide, not merely focusing on key cities. This will help spur economic growth across all areas and sectors of our country.”

TAGLE: Improvement on the judicial system

Meanwhile, businessman Raffy David of Pilipinas Teleserve Inc., who is also a car enthusiast, said he will focus on college education assistance plans to keep kids in school and develop the talent in his district.

Pagcor executive Chris Tio, who is a classic car enthusiast, said that, on electoral education and reform, there is a need to remove financial temptation and incentives to recover campaign expenses as well as provide mechanisms to allow better-qualified, good-intentioned candidates for public office. “Unless we improve the definition of the type of public service we expect from public servants, it will be a never-ending churn of abuse and reform.”

For Joyce Ramirez, director of Publicity Asia, if she is given a free hand, she would spend the so-called pork barrel on tourism promotions, infrastructure (including renovating or building a brand-new, modernized airport) and international relations to increase foreign investments in the county.

Ramirez added that there are more new graduates than there are jobs, which she said is the reason people leave for other countries to find work. “Ideally, these are really the projects the pork is intended for—to help the poor, not to fatten the rich.  It is called Priority Development Assistance Fund for crying out loud; to be for roads, bridges, classroom, etc.”

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