Makabagong Pulitika ang pairalin – Celeste

WALANG SIRAAN. Ilatag ang plataporma sa pamamahala na ayon sa diwa ng totoong pagsisilbi sa mamamayan.

GANITO ang panuntunan na nais ipatupad ni Congressman Jesus ‘Boying’ Celeste, sa gaganapin na pulitikahan para sa mid-term elections sa Mayo 2019.

ANIYA ang makabagong pulitika na ang tahak ay maayos na paglalathala sa mga nais na maisakatuparan, paglalatag sa iba’t-ibang programa na tukoy ay pangkalahatan, paghahain ng mga panukala para higit na maging kapaki-pakinabang ang gawain ng pamahalaan at marami pang hangarin na ang tukoy ay totoong pag-unlad at serbisyong pakikinabangan ng mas nakararami ay ilan sa mahalagang laman ng panuntunan na dito ang saysay ng pulitikahan na tahak.

“Para higit na mapaunlad ang kabatiran mulat ng ating mga kapwa botante ay ipagkaloob natin ang mahusay na pamo-mulitika na naka-sentro sa mga nagawa, ginagawa, at balak pang mga gawin bilang halal na lider,” paliwanag ni Congressman Boying, na ngayon ay nasa ikatlong-termino bilang kinatawan ng Unang Distrito ng Pangasinan sa Philippine Congress 2016-2019.

Helmet Ord was Indeed Stupid, I told you then

By Mortz C. Ortigoza          

                         

Columnists and radio commentators should not only have flair of writing and gift of gab, they should be perceptive where what they passionately write and bombard in the airwaves are buttressed by past knowledge and research.

Otherwise, they would be just like many of these present practitioners who pollute the media with their, my golly, all form but lack the freakin’ substance’s journalistic somersault. 
  

Here was a column and blog, full of common sense, I wrote in July 28, 2014:

“The Dagupan City Council led by its proponent Councilor Netu Tamayo, a lawyer, had passed an ordinance revising the helmet law by imposing a fine for motorist who drive motorcycle above 15 kilometers per hour (KPH) and/or wearing his helmet inside the central business district as a way to deter criminals riding in tandem in perpetuating their dastardly acts.
The intention of the dads versus the criminals was laudable but the passing of the no-helmet law is idiotic.
Lawyer Jojo Guadiz, the regional director of the Land Transportation Office based in San Fernando City even warned the councilors that in case he and his men see motorcycle riders driving without a helmet they would flag and fine them.
Republic Act No. 10054 mandates all motorcycle riders to wear standard protective helmets while driving. It imposes fines for violators at P1, 500 for the first offense; P3, 000 for the second offense, P5, 000 for the thirds offense and P10, 000 plus confiscation of driver’s license for the fourth and succeeding offenses.
What would Netu and his colleagues do in case a motorist is fined by an LTO enforcer because he violated a national law like RA No. 10054?
Would Netu and the councilors chip-in to pay the fine in behalf of the flagged motorist?
Let us remember an ordinance can not supersede (to motorcycle riders who read my article it means “replace”, stupid!) a national law.
If the dads were against the national law they should lobby at congress to pass the statute they want and not act among themselves to make their own law. 

Son of a gun, they are not congress, they are only a city council”.

*** 

Recently, Regional Trial Court Judge Junius F. Dalaten rejected that Section 4 of Ordinance No. 2013-2014 (Instituting Certain Measures for the Protection of the Lives and Property of Dagupenos and Providing Penalties Thereto for Non Observance) runs counter to a law particularly Republic Act  No. 10054 (Helmet Law) where motorists are required to wear helmet.

“Clearly, their (respondents) interpretation to the ordinance lead them to arrive to their conclusion that they are not violating the Helmet Law resorted to the game of semantics,” Judge Dalaten wrote.

Petitioner and Lawyer Llamas, a motorbike enthusiast, petitioned the court in 2014 that the councilors passed the assailed ordinance to vent their ire on all innocent motorcycle riders after Councilor Tamayo’s wife was mugged by motorcycle riders after she withdrew money from an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in a bank in the city.

The RTC admonished the local lawmakers: “Let everyone be informed that enactment of local ordinances cannot rest solely on the whims and caprices of the local legislative assembly sitting in its August chamber, not to vent an ire or to give way to an unbridled anger but it must conform to the test of consistency with existing laws”.

In case the respondents appeal the decision of the RTC to the higher court, I am sure the latter will uphold the “common sense” decision of Dalaten.

To those who still advocate on this beleaguered ordinance, even political science students will rebutt you in this boondoggle and waste of saliva at the expense of the taxpayers’ monies with that legal maxim “a local law cannot supersede a national law”.

Local nga, e hindi national sikayo met!

VIDEO: JDV on the lack of understanding of the Pinoys on Federalism

(You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Flip-flop for reelection will not affect Poe’s No. 1 poll stocks – Son

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The uncertainty of Senator Grace Poe to join or not the next year’s senatorial election will not affect her being No.1 in the polls, her son said.

 Brian Poe Llamanzares told this paper that her mother being the consistent front runner in the surveys done by Pulse Asia, Social Weather Stations, and others only reflected her tireless proactive works in the House of Senate.

“Ah, sa tingin namin sana naman hindi. Iyong survey sana iyan ang reflection tingin ng tao sa trabaho niya. So kung maganda pa rin ang trabaho niya sa senado sana maging No. 1 pa rin siya,” Llamanzares, an alumnus of Columbia University, cited in his American accented Tagalog.

ANG PANDAY - Brian Poe Llamanzares (3rd from left), son of Senator Grace Poe, and Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez (extreme left) distributed relief goods to the victims of the last typhoon that barreled and wrought havoc recently in the coastal city. The distribution of hundreds of bags of relief goods were complemented by Ang Panday Bayanihan Relief Operations under Senator Poe and ensued at the flood prone barangays of Mangin and Malued in Dagupan City.

He cited however the factors of the ambivalence that beclouded the decision of the senator whether to seek re-election or not on the May 13, 2019 election.

Llamansarez cited the division in the family on her mother’s predicament.

His father,Neil, thought that the senator had already served substantially the country while the young Llamansarez think there is still more works to be done if she is with the August chamber.

“Split po kami. Ang tatay ko feeling niya okay (na) ang trabaho. Ako naman sa tingin ko sa tingin ko naman marami pa siyang puweding gawin. So, kaya split decision kami sa bahay. Kaya ngayon undecided pa rin ang nanay ko”.

Brian said his sisters are apolitical on her mother’s plight.

Brian said the other reason that the lady solon was lukewarm to run on the next year’s poll is the overload of works in the Senate while being an independent maverick legislature.

In case she will forego her reelection, the son said Poe can work at the FPJ Production Incorporated and helps those non-government organizations she created.

“Ako sinasabi ko sa nanay ko na sana ituloy niya iyong trabaho niya pero nasa kanya pa rin ang decision”.

When asked if her distribution of truckloads of relief goods to the victims in the two villages of the recent tyhoon only showed she ingratiate with the voters for the next election, Llamansarez disagreed since his mother had been doing charities since becoming a senator through her Panday Bayanihan that grew when she ran for president in 2016.

“Siyempre malakas ang volunteer base namin dahil tumakbo siya ng 2016. Lumawak ang network namin dito kaya maraming volunteers pundo na ibinigay”.

Arcinue pushes construction of second power plant in Sual

SUAL, Pangasinan-Mayor Roberto  Ll. Arcinue told newsmen on Monday that discussion on the construction of a second coal-fired power plant in this first-class municipality is now in full swing following the recent visit of President Duterte in South Korea.

“I am optimistic that construction of the project would start middle of next year,” Arcinue said.

 IN FULL SWING: Mayor Roberto Ll. Arcinue of Sual tells newsmen that talks for the establishment of a second power plant in the municipality are in full swing.

Korean Electric Power Corporation or KEPCO, the biggest power producer in South Korea with branches in the Philippines and several other countries, is putting up the 1,000-megawatt power plant at an estimated cost of two billion US dollars.

Lawyer Raul Lambino, recently appointed  by President Duterte as Presidential Adviser for Northern Luzon, said he would strongly recommend to the President the power plant project in Sual to help address high electricity rates and to stabilize power supply in the country.

Lambino said that South Korean Ambassador Han Dong-man told him about their plan to put up another coal-fired power plant here.

Arcinue and Lambino welcomed KEPCO’s initiative as this would create more than a thousand jobs for Pangasinenses as well as millions of additional revenues estimated at P800 million annually for the province and the municipality of Sual.

 Lambino said there is no problem about pollution because of the advent of new coal technologies that greatly reduce if not eliminate greenhouse gas emission.

Among these new technologies is  the ultra-super critical coal-fired power plant which  at present is considered as a “High Efficiency Low Emission (HELE) Technology” and as a “green technology”.

For the power plant here, KEPCO would be using the ultra-supercritical technology which is the latest in coal power generation.

                                   

                                                   More power plants

With the influx of foreign investors, Director General Charito B. Plaza of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) stressed the importance of constructing more power plants, including another coal-fired power plant here, to insure stable and cheaper power supply.

This is in line with the plan of the national government to create a mega-economic zone in Pangasinan.

Plaza said big foreign companies are eyeing Pangasinan for their expansion and conversion of the province into a mega-economic zone will open this possibility.

This move requires stable and cheaper supply of power to sustain the operation of the industries to be put up provided the power plants to be constructed conform with environmental standards, she said.

Plaza visited Pangasinan early this year following the holding of the Luzon Economic Zone Summit in Dagupan City last year.

Mayor Arcinue, who attended the event, happily welcomed this development even as he disclosed ongoing talks with KEPCO officials for the construction of another power plant in Sual town.

                                                            ###

Cong. Boying for Alaminos City's Mayor?

BOTANTE na si Congressman Jesus ‘Boying’ Celeste sa lunsod na tangan ni Mayor Arth Celeste ang pamamahala sa pamahalaang lunsod. Kamakailan, ay nagpa-transfer na sa pagboboto ang diputado na residente sa barangay Bued, matapos makabili ng bahay, dalawang taon na ang nakakaraan.

Sa larawan, nagbio-metrics at nagfile ng transfer form application si Cong Boying Celeste, sa tugaygay ni Atty. Siaden, ang COMELEC Officer ng City of Alaminos. (Kitz Basila)

BIR exec fears reduced collection this year

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

QUEZON CITY – A top executive of the Bureau of Internal Revenue worries that the hundreds of billion pesos per year to be collected by the regional offices of the tax agency are prejudiced because of the cap on the income taxes and those of the contractors’ taxes.

“Yes, not only sa income tax but also we have a problem on the collection of the withholding tax on DPWH. Kinuha na ng national office ng Large Taxpayers Service (LTS). This year they listed LTS from the regional office lahat ng withholding taxes, from all contractors all over the Philippines, doon na ma reremit sa national,” cited by former Region 1 BIR Director Marina de Guzman.

BIR Regional Director Marina de Guzman. She supervises nine
revenue district offices in Quezon City, other cities, and Rizal 
Province. Her office, second biggestregional office in the country, 
has a tax target of more than P171  billion this year.

She is now the Regional Director that covers this city, other cities, and Rizal Province – the second biggest tax region in the country after Makati City.

The same dilemma was shared by two top executives of the BIR in Region 1.

De Guzman said that on the contractor’s tax alone, billions of pesos will be lost by these offices.

PANGASINAN RE-DECLARED ‘INSURGENCY-FREE’

 Governor Amado I. Espino, III (center) receives board resolution no. 01 series of 2018, which recommends the insurgency-free re-declaration of Pangasinan from BGen. Lenard Agustin (2^nd from left, front row) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the chairman of the Area Clearing Evaluation Board (ACEB). Other signatories of the board resolution present during the ACEB meeting held on September 13 at the Urduja House ceremonial hall were: BGen Henry Robinson (left, front row), 702nd Brigade Commander; and Vice Governor Jose Ferdinand Z. Calimlim, Jr., (2^nd from right, front row).Witnessing the signing ceremony were regional and provincial executives of the Philippine National Police to include representatives of Regional Director Romulo Sapitula, Provincial Director Wilson Joseph Lopez (3^rd from right, back row), top officials of the 7th Infantry Division - Philippine Army, and Sangguniang Panlalawigan members Jeremy Agerico Rosario, Rosary Gracia Perez-Tababa (partly hidden) and Generoso Tulagan, Jr. (3^rd to 5^th from left, backrow). /Photo by Senielda Reyes/MGNO

Mayor To Report Waves of Harassment By Cops

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Roberto “Bing” Arcinue was hell bent to goad Bolaoen Punong Barangay(village chief) Valentin dela Cruz Doquenia II  to file criminal and administrative cases to those members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) based at the provincial office of the CIDG in Lingayen, Pangasinan after they “harassed” PB Doquenia and his family.

According to the written narration given by the village chief to the mayor, at 5 am of September 19, 2018 personnel of the CIDG knocked at the door of his house and declared to search it under a warrant issued by the judge of the Regional Trial Court.

SEARCH - State security in the Philippines do a search and seizure of a person's property when he purportedly violated a law as stated in a search warrant issued by a judge. Photo Credit: NDBC NEWS

The alleged offense of Doquenia was he hid an illegal .45 caliber pistol and numbers of its bullets.

When one of the operatives showed the warrant it had a different name of Valentin Clemente Doquenia instead of the name of the PB.

“Tinangkang ipatupad ng isang CIDG Officer ang permiso para maghalughog sa naturang lugay subalit pinigilan sila ni Ginoong Doquenia habang tinatawag si Kagawad Nancy Lardizabal Clemente,” a written narration in Tagalog titled “Di Umano’y “CIDG” Lingayen” na Wow Mali!”  furnished by the mayor to reporters.

One of them threatened the village chief when he prevented them to search his house: “Kung may makita akong baril sa bahay mo, papagapangin kita!”

When Kagawad Clemente arrived she told that the subject person was not the kapitan.

Sensing that they could be technical by the magistrate or they would be subject to a string of criminal cases that could not only land them in a slammer but sued them with administrative cases where they could lose their jobs, they called their chief, probably a police major, in the capital town Lingayen for advice.
The criminal cases against the sleuths could include Violation of Domicile, Search Warrants Maliciously Obtained and Abuse in the Service of Those Legally Obtained, and Others while the administrative cases would be Misconduct, Abuse of Authority, Oppression, and others.

Arcinue told us media men that the chief ordered his men to backtrack and return to the “barracks” at their camp nestled just besides the office of the police provincial director.

The mayor told us that Kapitan Doquenia had been anxious that the operatives will come back some other day and search his house with a prepared warrant just like what happened to the three punong barangays in the coastal town whose abodes were searched and one of them complained that after the cops did not find those firearms that were written on the warrant, one of the policemen allegedly “surreptitiously put" a grenade above the aparador or cabinet.

“The fear of the kapitans are the police or the CIDG would even plant or put a sachet of shabu (methamphetamine) or items to incriminate the subjects,” Arcinue cited.

It made me think that although those mala prohibitas (unlawful acts) allegedly "planted" and found there could not be used as evidence, still they undermine the credibility those law abiding village chief executives before the eyes of the gullible.

Arcinue said he will report these harassments to President Rodrigo Duterte, Philippines National Police Chief Director General Oscar David Albayalde, and CIDG Director Roel B. Obusan, a Pangasinensi from Manaoag town.

The mayor had been writing the power-that-be before whenever he saw shenanigans committed by law enforcers.

“Somebody wanted to paint my town as disordered. One of my village chiefs was assassinated last June without even a known reason”.

The kapitan who was shot to death by sicarious or killers riding in tandem on a motorcycle was  Sto. Domingo PB Romulo Agbayani who was peppered with the lethal bullets of assassins’ favorite .45 caliber in front of his house.

Since then public officials of Sual, host of a wharf and the 1,200 megawatts coal power plant that pays her hundreds of millions of pesos yearly, feared the abuses of the law enforcement.

***

To educate our readers how to prevent these abuses, here under are my modest contributions how search warrant is being implemented.

PROCEDURES

Section 2 Article III (Bill of Rights of the Philippines Constitution states the requisites  for  issuance of a  Search  Warrant:

1)      A  search  warrant shall not issue except upon probable cause in connection with one specific offense  to  be  determined  personally  by  the  judge  after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witness he may produce;

2)      Description of the place to be searched and the things to be seized which may be anywhere in the Philippines.

NOTE:Please remember those words that I underscored. Any violation of each of them will see a warrant to search and seize thrown into the trash can. Notwithstanding the judge chides the police or the member of the National Bureau of Investigation While they brace for charges by the offended party they raided.

The explanation in No.1 is “one specific offense” like violation of Republic Act No. 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).

 Explanation in No. 2 is “description of the place” means if it is House No. 7 the searching team would not search House No. 14 even if their “complainant” or “witness who has personal knowledge”, say the nemesis of the Kapitan, meant that house is No. 14 not No. 7.

The Supreme Court said, in G.R. No. 129035 in August 22, 2002, that: “What  is  controlling  is  what  is  stated  in  the  warrant,  and  not what the peace officers  had in mind, even if they were the ones who gave the description to the court”. 

    This, my dear Watson, is to prevent abuses in the service of search warrants.

The thing to be searched and seized should be specific, if it is M-16 Armalite rifle, it should be that gun.

How about if the law enforcers stumbled on a hand grenade or a sachet of shabu?

The high court said that they could be confiscated but could not be used to charge the subject.

“Anything seized illegally must be returned to the owner unless it is mala prohibita.  In such a case, it should be kept in custodia legis”.

Section 8 Article 126 of the Rules of Court: Search of house, room, or premises to be made in presence of two witnesses.  –  No  search  of  a  house,  room,  or  any  other premises  shall  be  made  except  in  the  presence  of  the  lawful occupant thereof or any member of his family or in the absence of the latter, two witnesses of sufficient age and discretion residing in the same locality. 
NOTE:    The  Two - Witness  Rule  only  applies  in  the  absence  of  the  lawful occupant of the premises searched.

It’s DIFFERENT to the warrantless search incidental to a lawful arrest when the subject had been found to possess a sachet of drug or a grenade or other illegal item after the police frisked him. The illegal item could be used against him in court but not if they were found during a search in the house where the warrant looked for an Armalite rifle.   

Protection of illegal search is more superior than the warrant of arrest. The wisdom there was “The right against unreasonable search and seizure is a core right implicit in the natural right to life, liberty and property. 

Section 9 Article 126 of Rules of Court: Time of making search. – The warrant must direct that it be served  in  the  day  time,  unless  the  affidavit  asserts  that  the property is on the person or in the place ordered to be searched, in which case a direction may be inserted that it be served at any time of the day or night. 

Sec.  10 Article 126 of Rules of Court: Validity of search warrant.  – A search  warrant  shall  be valid for ten (10) days from its date. Thereafter, it shall be void. 

Question: Can the owner of the things illegally seized be made to sign the receipt from the police or the NBI's enforcer?

Anwer: No.  Since  this  would  be  tantamount  to  a  violation  of  one’s  right against   self-incrimination. It is a confession without the assistance of counsel. 

Question: Is the presence of two elected public officials or a member of the media necessary in a search and seizure of an illegally hidden Armalite rifle?

Answer: No. The presence of two elected public officials and either member of the National Prosecution Service or the media are during the inventory of a search of dangerous drugs only as embodied on Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act).

MY PROBLEM: The media members being requested by the law enforcement agencies to join them as witness for the inventory of the corpus delicti (body of the crime) is whenever the case against the culprit or culprits are filed in court, the poor member of the fourth estate is hailed too as witness under the pain of contempt by the tribunal if he failed to appear.

The other downside of these eager beaver media men, thanks to the sum given by the enforcers, they and their family become target of the assassination by those they incriminate in court.

“Hindi na kayo natuto! It’s time for Congress to amend this rule. Media men are created by our democratic government not only “to  comfort the afflicted, afflicts the comfortable” as what American humorist and writer Finley Peter Dunne cited but susmariosep be a part of the acrimonious healthy democracy that saw a fiery Senator Trillanes spewing fire on a peeved President Duterte.

Ang saya-saya di ba?

READ MY OTHER COLUMN:

Police Stop and Frisk Help Lower Shooting Incidents

(You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

It’s Final, Art for Guv – Kin

Art is Primus Inter Pares Among Mark, Conrad

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ALAMINOS CITY – A relative of a gubernatorial bet debunked the rumor that the three probable candidates against incumbent Pangasinan Governor Amado I. Espino, III have not yet finalized their front runner.

“No, it’s already final. It’s Art for governor,” a kin of this city's mayor Art Celeste told recently this paper in a telephone conversation.

The probable bets are Celeste, Abono Party List Representative Conrad Estrella, and former Fifth District Congressman Mark Cojuangco.

PRIMUS INTER PARES - Alaminos City Mayor Art Celeste (left) is the first among equals with Abono Party List Representative Conrad Estrella and former Fifth District Congressman Mark Cojuangco (above and below, right column) on the triumvirate in Pangasinan to defeat the dominion of Governor Amado I. Espino, III and his father Congressman Amado Espino, Jr. in the politics of the gargantuan province. 

This paper inquired to the relative, who asked anonymity, when one of the reporters who attended recently the birthday party of Rep. Estrella held in Rosales town said that former Congressman Cojuangco told them that there was no official bet yet of the group for the top public executive post in the forty four towns and three cities’ Pangasinan in the next year’s election.

He said that the triumvirate of Cojuangco, Celeste, and Estrella has to finalize among themselves the front runner to challenge Governor Espino III.

Ompong's left P’sinan with P1 billion damages - Partial Reports

Lingayen, Pangasinan — The fury of typhoon “Ompong” that wrought havoc to Pangasinan posted P1.09 billion estimated damage to infrastructure and agriculture, according to the partial reports submitted by the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO) and the Provincial Agriculture Office to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) on September 19, 2018. 

The collated report of the PDRRMO noted that damage to infrastructure has reached Php47,819,000, which include the damaged provincial roads, bridges, provincial buildings and other facilities.

The estimated partial cost of damages to agriculture, on the other hand, amounts to Php1,043,361,280 to include the damages on palay, assorted vegetables and fish.

Sual town eyes more taxes

SUAL, Pangasinan-The mayor of this town said the municipality expects to collect more than P800-million a year in real property taxes once the $2-billion coal-fired power plant to be constructed by a Korean company becomes operational.

Mayor Roberto Arcinue told newsmen that aside from tax revenues, the plant with a 1,000-megawatt capacity would generate more than a thousand jobs for the locals as well as reduce the cost of electricity for households.

Arcinue said construction of the plant by the Korean Electric Power Corp. (Kepco), the biggest power supplier in South Korea, is expected to start middle of next year.

BOOM TOWN: Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue envisions Sual town as Pangasinan’s premier investment hub with the planned second power plant, international seaport, oil depot, ship building and fish processing facilities.

The project has already been endorsed by lawyer Raul Lambino, presidential adviser for Northern Luzon pursuant to the declaration by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan which declared this thriving town as the future energy city of Pangasinan.

How a Mayor Steals to Fund Reelection

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Since election time will be next year, I discussed with a high politician how a mayor for example will purloin the government of funds for his re-election campaign.

Tens of millions of pesos of these stolen monies will be used for vote buying that runs from P300 to P1000 per voter.

Where would the shrewd chief executive get the fund illegally to perpetuate his three years stay in his honorable if not horrible perch?

We scrutinized the annual appropriation budget of a town or a city.

In a five hundred million (P500, 000, 000) budget for the current year, the Local Government Code provides that 45%  goes to personnel service or salaries for first and third classes … cities, and municipalities; Each of these local government unit (LGU) shall appropriate in its annual budget no less than 20% of its annual internal revenue allotment (IRA) for development projects; 5% of the estimated revenue from regular sources shall be set aside as an annual lump sum appropriation for unforeseen expenditures arising from the occurrence of calamities; 5% of their total budget for gender and development  (GAD) concerns; 1% real property tax (RPT) will accrue to the Special Education Fund (SEF) shall be automatically released to the local school boards, and others.

The following are the results after the enterprising chief executive raided the coffer dry:

1)      P54. 6 million kickback - P1.4 million in one month or P18.2 million in year that includes the workers’ 13^th Month Pay, or P54.6 million in his three years’ term if out of the 400 public personnel half of them are “ghost” employees who received a P7,000 average monthly salary.

“Have you heard about a third class town with 400 workers? According to critics that 400 personnel are bigger than those workers of a city. A first class town in Pangasinan has more than 200 personnel only, how come a third class town has this scandalous number?” another mayor, who asked anonymity, posed to me.

2)      P42 million kick back from the 20% S.O.P or cut from the 20% of the P350 million or 20% Development Fund (D.F) or infrastructure projects in three years’ stint.

My Explanation: Since the Code mandates that 20% of  D.F will be taken from the Internal Revenue Allotment given yearly by the national government from its collection of the national taxes, I put P350 million or 70% of the P500 million annual budget a year. It must be noted that most cities or towns are dependent to the IRA that dominates their budget, the lethargic local revenues usually come from real properties, licenses, permits, others.

Thus the P42 million kickbacks came from the P350 million IRA multiplied by 20% S.O.P or cut  equals P14 million a year multiplied by three years equals P42 million.

3)      P10.5 million in three years from the 20% cut in the 5% Calamity Fund taken from the half-a-billion pesos annual current budget.

My Explanation:  The mayor can utilize 70% of the 5% percent (P25 million) Calamity Fund or Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF)  even without the calamity or disaster by buying those overpriced, say 20 percent, training, purchasing life-saving rescue equipment like life jackets, speed boat, vehicles, others.

The 70% is P17.5 million of the mentioned P250 million calamity fund.

P25 million multiplied by 70% equals P17.5 million multiplied by 20% cut equals P3.5 million yearly or P10.5 million in three years’ stint.

4)      P4.5 million

How about the 30%  or P7.5 million allocation as Quick Response Fund (QRF) or stand-by fund, approved by the legislature, for relief and recovery programs to lessen the situation and living conditions of people in communities or areas stricken by disasters?

He can still get P1.5 million as S.O.P yearly or P4.5 million in one term from those overpriced by 20 percent purchased relief goods like rice, canned sardines, noodles, eggs, bottled mineral water, blankets, mats, mosquito nets, others because of his audacious greed to make money, son of a gun!

5)      P15 million in three years or P5 million 20% kickback from the 5% (P25 million) of the total budget for gender and development (GAD).

My Explanation: The GAD Code mandates the LGU to identify programs, activities, and projects on gender development and fund them with the 5% taken from the P500, 000, 000 budgets.

6)      Aside from the percentages that I mentioned recently, the politico can still purloin some percentages on the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) in the different offices on supplies where him as the Bids & Award Committee (BAC) chairman, in conspiracy with the treasurer, the accountant, the budget officer, general services officer, and the head of office who are members could spike the price of a laptop computer worth P30,000 to P120,000 apiece, and others and even tinker with the 2% and 1%  of the Discretionary Fund and Special Education Fund (SEF), respectively, taken from the total collection of the RPT in a year.

                                           More Shenanigans

He could earn also millions of pesos a year if there is illegal number game jueteng, bookish of government run Lotto, or payolas from the owners of the perya or faire where gambling is being hosted, too, and the baratillos.

To compute all the stolen monies as a result of the greed and criminal mind of the mayor, he could have P42.2 million a year or a staggering HesusMariaHusef P126.6 million in his three years in office that he could use for his successful reelection bid.

This analysis could be the same with those governors in the Philippines but with budget that runs to four billion pesos a year or a total kickback of P337.6 million a year or P1, 012,800,000 in three years’ term.

“How about a congressman?” I posed.

My politician pal told me, the average S.O.P of a congressman is only 10 percent that collaborate to what the District Engineer of the Department of Public Works & Highway who told me the figure then.

With an average of P1 billion a year infrastructure projects, the solon can pocket P100 million or P300 million in his three years’ term from the contractors who won in the bid those projects.

In case a congressman run for mayor versus a re-elective chief executive of a town with P200 million annual appropriation budget a year or a kickback of P50 million in three years, the solon has a lot of wherewithal to buy votes, pay for his or her supporters, and even finance those very expensive advertisement aired by giant regional television stations' ABS-CBN and GMA-7 to promote himself or herself even to those people in the boondocks.

“That will be, Holly Molly, P300 million campaign fund juggernaut versus the measly P50 million that could hardly afford an ad on TV,” I exclaimed.

“It’s just okay in case the mayor loses to a moneyed solon. It’s worse if he losses to a mayoralty challenger. The public works he sent to the barangays and the relief goods he distributed during a calamity came from the taxes of the people while his mayoralty rival uses his own monies to ingratiate with the voters. Nakakahiya pag natalo ka ng challenger kasi ang ginagamit mo pera ng bayan,” my politico pal remembered a town and a city mayor in my province was defeated by a rival by a stroke of genius or because of their incompetence in protecting their position.

(You can read my selected columns at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)