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org -- Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Online

Tuesday, 11.05.2004 updated every week

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of
Google Search
Politics
by Elvira Mata
Web pcij.org
Want regular site PHILIPPINE politics is like a
updates? circus. Look who’s running CLICK ON IMAGE FOR DETAILS
Enter your name
for president: a movie actor
and email address: (Fernando Poe Jr.), a
preacher (Eddie
Name: Villanueva), even Elvis (Eddie Gil).

Email: What a freak show.

GO
READ ON
Subscribe
SEE ALSO:
Unsubscribe
Powered by Bravenet The Rulemakers
● Election Lexicon
by Sheila S. Coronel, Yvonne T.
● Quickie Quiz For the Politically Insane Chua, Luz Rimban, and Booma
Cruz

This book tells the

story of the
Philippine
legislature by
ELECTION PERSPECTIVES examining the men
Elections are like Water and women who
by Manuel Quezon III make up that
Get a subscription now body. It looks at
for only P400 a year. The stakes in Philippine elections have been their demographic
fundamental. For many, what is at stake is characteristics
their future and their hope for a better life. (age, gender, education, profession),
Or join the their assets and sources of wealth,
PCIJ Club! and also their family lineage.
Between Tinsel and Trapo
by Sheila S. Coronel What we found was troubling, but
hardly news: Philippine legislators
The current fixation with celebrities has crowded out the
constitute a select and exclusive
trapo, who remain very much alive and kicking.
segment of society. They are richer,
older, better educated, and better
connected than the rest of us. The
great majority of them are also part
of families whose members have
been in public office for two or more
generations.

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The Enigma of the Popular Will

by Patricio N. Abinales ORDER NOW!

Filipinos have tended to vote to the Senate

leaders with diverse interests and ambitions,
allowing that body to serve as a "tempering
platform" where extreme views find a middle ground.

Beyond the
THE CAMPAIGN
Image and
First-World Techniques, First-World Setting
Campaign
by Luz Rimban
Gimmickry
The Philippines uses state-of-the-art campaign techniques,
but its elections are taking place in a political culture that is
FOR more than a month now we have
pre-modern and oriented toward the family.
been bombarded with images,
sounds, and messages from
The X-Men: The Story of Activists-Turned- politicians aspiring to get elected in
May. All of them seek to paint the
Political-Consultants best picture of their candidate: She’s
as told to Luz Rimban the best and last hope; he’s the iron-
hand that this country needs to go
Former communists are today’s campaign operatives and the way of our wealthy neighbors;
political mechanics. he’s an incorruptible and principled
educator; he’s the humble man of the
The PCIJ is a founding masses who will forge for us a better
member of the Southeast
With a Little Help from (U.S.) Friends
tomorrow; and he’s the man of faith
Asian Press Alliance. by Yvonne T. Chua whose morality will guide his
leadership. And that's just the
U.S. political consultants have been involved in
presidency. Other candidates have
Philippine elections since the Marcos era,
also been very busy selling
contributing their expertise in campaign
themselves by similarly creative —
techniques to homegrown politicians.
Golden Sigay and many say annoying — campaign
Best of the Best gimmickry. Clearly we see the
Cyber Pinoys Site Much Ado about Numbers images. But strip all the airbrush and
by Yvonne T. Chua sugarcoat and who are they?

Surveys were first used in the 1953 presidential elections and i-site will tell you. PCIJ’s information
they have been an invaluable — but not always infallible — site on Philippine politics and
be part of guide to candidates ever since. government shows you more of who
our e-forum the candidates are: what they own;
Campaigning, Filipino Style what their family and business ties
are; and, for those sitting in
by Vinia M. Datinguinoo and Avie Olarte
Congress, how they have fared as
Powered by Bravenet lawmakers. i-site is regularly
Candidates use humor and hand signals, symbols and
slogans to sell themselves. updated to include even more data
we welcome not found in any other one site.
your feedback
Spinning the News GO TO I-SITE
by Ibarra C. Mateo

Powered by Bravenet Political PR is redefining the way elections and other major
events are covered.

OUR CONTACT DETAILS

Half-truths in Advertising PCIJ Guide to Government
3/F Criselda II Bldg., by Cecile C.A. Balgos
107 Scout de Guia St. THE PCIJ recently
Selling candidates is like selling soap or toothpaste: A little released its latest book,
Quezon City 1104
truth goes a long way. PCIJ Guide to
Philippines
Government. Written
Campaigns on the High-Tech Road by veteran journalists,
Tel: (632) 4104768/9 the book provides a
9293117 by Alecks P. Pabico
basic backgrounder
Fax: (632) 9293571 that explains the
Properly harnessed, new technology can be used to win votes
and influence election discourse. powers and functions of
Email: pcij@pcij.org various officials and
agencies, including the presidency,
Songs in the Key of Politics the legislature, and the courts. It is
by George S. Caparas intended to be a road map, a manual,
a guidebook to those who wish to
Filipinos love to sing — especially when they’re campaigning. understand how various branches and
agencies of government work.

PHOTO ESSAY
ORDER NOW

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The Presidency as Image

Candidates and their image makers do the
best they can to project images that strike Investigating Corruption
a chord among voters.
THE PCIJ book,
VOTER’S VOICE Investigating
Hope and Elections in Payatas Corruption: A Do-It-
Yourself Guide won this
by Romel M. Lalata year’s National Book
Award for
The residents of Metro Manila’s infamous garbage dump are
Journalism. The book
hopeful about elections and the future.
is a how-to manual that
instructs those
THREE VOICE interested in
corruption—whether they are
journalists, activists, government
● Rachelle Grace San Pedro | Choosing who would officials, academics, researchers, or
lead our country is much more complicated than plain concerned citizens—how to
taking a pick among suitors. probe various forms of malfeasance.

ORDER NOW
● Bobby Valentin | I have always tried to be very
careful about whom I vote for, and so far I have
had no regrets.

● Katrina Stuart Santiago | I refuse to put my

country through the consequences of another of Nonoy Marcelo
my mistakes. I owe it to my country not to vote. (1939-2002)

SEVERINO 'Nonoy'
Marcelo liked to keep
late hours. His body
2004 ELECTIONS clock was on New York
The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics time. He started
working when most
THE media have always been a major player in Philippine everyone else was
elections, more so now with the pervasiveness of television. already preparing for bed and called it quits
But there is a twist in this year’s elections: the increasing when most people were just getting up.
influence of the entertainment media and of showbiz READ ON
celebrities in the campaign. And that, of course, comes with
a price tag. ARMANDO J. MALAY
READ ON A Journalist Worth His Salt

CUM grano salis, Latin for

The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote “with a grain of salt,” means
to accept a statement with a
THE poor, who make up the bulk of Filipino voters, have certain amount of reserve or
been blamed for the sorry state of electoral politics and the caution. That was just what
low level of election discourse. Pundits, analysts, and media Malay did, especially with
commentators say that because of poverty, many voters are regard to official
vulnerable to patronage, vote buying, and simplistic pronouncements coming
messages. The masa vote is popularly perceived to be dumb, from Malacañang and
unthinking, and prone to manipulation. Congress.

His columns often took a dig at the powers-

READ ON that-be: “The Avelino convention was held
in a nightclub; Laurel’s in a racetrack; and
Quirino’s will be held in a cabaret. To keep
Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race up with this, Racuyal should hold his
convention in an opium den.” But it was
JUAN Ponce Enrile, a two-term senator, billionaire Elpidio Quirino, the second President of the
businessman, ex-congressman, and former defense Philippine Republic, whom Malay
secretary, is 80 years old. He is the oldest among the 48 relentlessly attacked in his columns. READ
contenders vying for 12 Senate seats in May. ON

[from Armando J. Malay: Guardian of

READ ON Memory, published by Anvil Publishing,
Inc.]

How Representative is Congress?

EIGHTEEN years after the fall of Marcos, Congress is not

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becoming a more representative institution. In fact, today's

legislators are richer now than ever before. While poverty
levels since 1986 have remained at roughly between 30 and
40 percent of the population, lawmakers have become Investigating the President
wealthier.

The Philippine Center for Investigative

READ ON Journalism (PCIJ) began its research on
President Joseph Estrada's wealth in the
first quarter of 2000. By then, coffeeshops
Read more reports here OK were already buzzing with talk of fancy
mansions being built for presidential
mistresses and of Estrada taking cuts from
various business deals. While there were
Not even counting the many who are vying for local positions blind items in newspaper columns about
this May, celebrities the likes of presidential wannabe these rumors, there were no serious
Fernando Poe Jr., his runningmate Sen. Loren Legarda, attempts to investigate their veracity.
administration vice-presidential bet Sen. Noli de Castro, MORE
senatorial hopefuls Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid, Jinggoy Estrada,
and Jay Sonza, continue to illustrate how democracy and
demography have made the media and the movies a prime Read more reports here OK
recruitment ground for politics. Below are a collection of
stories from our archives.

■ The Triumph of Illusion

■ FPJ | The Myth of Ang Panday
■ Loren Legarda | Like a Shooting Star
■ Renato Cayetano | The Coming of ‘Compañero’
■ The Cult of Celebrity
■ ABS-CBN | The Third Party
■ Star-studded Politics
■ Two Left Views on FPJ | The FPJ Bomb in a
Populist Lamp; Poe and Arroyo: Tweedledum
and Tweedledee
■ CMFR Monitor | FPJ received most media
coverage
■ Sheila S. Coronel FOCAP Speech | The Politics of
Spoils
■ Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec
■ Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo | 1998 Campaign
Expenses | Net Worth

Who Wants to be a
President?
Money, media, and machine will
determine the outcome of the
2004 presidential polls, but class
and demography will also have an impact.
READ ON

SEE ALSO:
The Lacson Campaign | 'Smart' Choice, 'Stupid' Process
The Roco Campaign | The Candidate as Mr. Clean
The Arroyo Campaign | A Calculating Campaign

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Mad About Mobile Disorder in the House

Apps
While congressmen have been
The cell phone is no longer quick to pounce on the
just for texting or making Supreme Court, they have
calls. always been reluctant to
move against their own.

READ ON
READ ON

SEE ALSO: Second Life for

Dead PCs
It’s Hip to be Asian

The F4 craze is the surest

indication that young people
now think it’s cool to be
Asian.

READ ON

It Takes a Village
SEE ALSO: Meteor Mutiny
Palawan shows that national
parks can be managed
successfully and sustainably. A Feast of Fish

READ ON Filipinos are surrounded by

fish and often take for granted
the sustenance they get from
SEE ALSO: the sea.
Dispatches | Gambling on
Greens
READ ON
Trends | The Perils of
Plastic
SEE ALSO: Childhoods of
Pain

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Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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DISENYONG MAGILAS Sining Rastamad

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on current affairs and topics of large public interest like governance, the
environment, women and development issues at discounted prices.

All you have to do is take out a one-year subscription to i, the investigative reporting
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pursuing stories.

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Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

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PCIJ Online Bookshop

Join

PCIJ Club
Click here to
In the nine years since its founding, the Philippine Center for Investigative
find out how.
Journalism (PCIJ), has published more than a dozen books and produced three full-
length documentaries, many of which have won major awards and citations, including
five National Book Awards and a Catholic Mass Media Award.

3 NEW BOOKS and a CD-ROM!

PCIJ marks its 10th anniversary this year with the release of its first ever CD-ROM
entitled, The Public's Eye: Investigative Reports, 1989-1999. The CD-ROM contains
full texts of 200 investigative reports published by the PCIJ in the last decade, clips of
five PCIJ video documentaries and abstracts of 18 PCIJ books.
NEWSFLASH

This month, the PCIJ also releases three new books. Robbed: An Investigation of Pork and other Perks wins
Corruption in Philippine Education examines how the Department of Education, National Book Award for
Culture and Sports (DECS) provides a textbook case of corruption in the Philippines. Journalism. The award was
given by the Manila Critics
Circle yesterday at the
From Loren to Marimar: The Philippine Media in the 1990s is an anthology of 35 ongoing 10th Philippine Book
PCIJ articles first published in various newspapers and in i magazine. The book traces Fair.
how the media have become so powerful.

Finally, as comic relief during these rather disturbing times, the PCIJ offers Joke ni
Erap, a collection of jokes culled from mailing lists on the Internet that feature President
Joseph Estrada.

All these books are available at the ongoing Philippine Book Fair at the SM Megamall,
5th Floor Building B.

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Magazine

i, The Investigative Reporting Magazine, the

information and issues magazine
that showcases the best works of the
Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism. It has sections on
politics, the media, women, the
environment and information
technology. It also includes guides to
journalists who wish to follow the
paper trail in pursuing stories. P400
(four issues a year)

Interested in getting a subscription?

Click here to subscribe

Foreign rates (postage inclusive)

Asia—$23
Middle East, Australia, New Zealand—$24
United States, Canada, Europe—$26
South America, Africa—$27

Books

Environment

Patrimony: Six Case Studies on Local Politics

and the Environment in the Philippines, by Sheila
S. Coronel, editor (1996)—Examines the link between local
politics and the environment, probing
how democratization and devolution
have affected the way resources are
managed at the local level. Looks at
the structures of local power and
explains how those who hold local
office use their power to exploit, and
in some cases protect, natural
resources. P250/US$10

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PCIJ Online Bookshop

Power from the Forest: The

Politics of Logging, by Marites
Dañguilan-Vitug (1993)—Tells the
tragic story of the Philippine forests,
the people who continue to plunder
them and those who are trying to
protect them. P150/US$6 (newsprint)

Saving the Earth: The Philippine Experience, 4th

ed. (1997)—A compilation of 18 investigative reports on the
environment based on previously published articles of the
Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism. The book documents the
problems of environmental
degradation and the remedial
measures being taken by both
government and non-government
groups. P170/US$7

The Green
Guide, 2nd ed. (1998)—So far the
most comprehensive reference manual
on the Philippine environment, this book
is a mine of information, including:
directories of government agencies, local
and international NGOs, environment
experts, resource centers; lists of
endangered species; an index of
Philippine laws relevant to the environment; a glossary of
relevant terms. P250/US$10

Politics

Pork and other Perks: Corruption and

Governance in the Philippines, by Sheila S.
Coronel, editor (1998)—This book contains key examples
of corruption in the Philippines, ranging from the use of pork
barrel funds to the new opportunities for deal-making
brought about by privatization and economic liberalization.
P290/US$11.50

Boss: 5 Case Studies of Local Politics in the

Philippines, by Jose F. Lacaba, editor (1995)—Looks at

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PCIJ Online Bookshop

five areas in the Philippines—Cavite,

Surigao del Norte, Makati,
Pangasinan and Sulu—and
examines what is at stake in the
struggle for local office. Describes
the political and economic
geography of these areas and
explains why, despite urbanization
and economic growth, local clans,
warlords and politicians remain
powerful. P250/US$10

Journalism
News for Sale: Corruption in the
Philippine Media, by Rosario
Florentino-Hofileña (1998)—This
monograph exposes the extent—and
range—of corruption in the Philippine
press. But rather than damning
individual cases, it examines the factors
that contribute to corruption and the
motives that compel politicians and
businessmen to pay the press.
P150/US$6

News in Distress: The

Southeast Asian Media in a
Time of Crisis, by Cecile C.A.
Balgos, editor (1999)—A
collection of papers presented at
the seminar-workshop, “Improving
the Flow of Information in a Time
of Crisis: The Challenge to the
Southeast Asian Media,” convened
by the PCIJ at the Subic Freeport
in October 1998. The essays, by
journalists and academics, look at
the problems faced by the Southeast Asian media in this era
of economic contagion.

Uncovering the Beat: The Real-

World Guide to Reporting on
Government, by Yvonne T. Chua,
editor (1997)—Everything you’ve always
wanted to know about the presidency,
Congress, the courts, the police,
business, education, health and the
environment—compiled in an easy-to-use
reference book intended for journalists,
researchers and citizens interested in
finding how government works.

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P250/US$10

The Electronic Trail: Computer-assisted

Research and Reporting in the Philippines, by
Danilo A. Arao, Yvonne T. Chua and Alecks P. Pabico
(1997)—Provides reader-friendly guides to the use of
computers for research and
reporting—explained in non-technical
language in a manual specially designed
for reporters and researchers interested
in using spreadsheets, databases,
electronic libraries and the Internet for
their work. Comes with The Reporter’s
Notebook, a special note-keeping
software for reporters and researchers.
P350/US$13.50

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Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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ALECKS P. PABICO

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Books

Women

Her Stories: Investigative

Reports on Filipino Women
in the 1990s, by Cecile C.A.
Balgos (1999)—An anthology of
PCIJ investigative reports published
in major Philippine newspapers from
1995 to 1999. The stories paint a
portrait of the Filipina in the 1990s:
Challenged by poverty and need,
often overlooked by policy makers,
but also brave and resilient.
P250/US$10

Women in Brackets: A
Chronicle of Vatican Power
and Control, by Marilen J.
Dañguilan, M.D. (1997)—This book
on women, the Church and the State,
looks at, among others, the
wrangling between Church and State
over the controversial family planning
campaign. P250/US$10

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PCIJ Online Bookshop

Comfort Woman: Slave of

Destiny, by Maria Rosa Henson
(1996)—In this gripping autobiography,
Ma. Rosa Henson recalls her
childhood as the illegitimate daughter
of a big landowner, her wartime ordeal
and her decision to go public with a
secret she had kept for fifty years.
P150/US$6

Videos

Behind the Veil: Voices of Moro Women, written

by Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon, directed by Jam Bonoan—War
or Peace? This is the dilemma faced by the Bangsamoro
women. War is bloody and costly. And
peace does not always right old wrongs.
Through these uncertainties, the anchor
that keeps the Bangsamoro woman
strong is her religion. The veil is her
commitment to Islam. This 20-minute
documentary lets us listen to the voices
of the women behind the veil.
P400/US$15

Luzon: Disaster
and Hope (Fast Track to
Poverty), written by Howie G.
Severino, directed by Antonio Gerena
(1993)—a 45-minute documentary on
Central Luzon’s population and
environment. P600/US$23

No Time for Play, written by Sheila

S. Coronel and Luz Rimban, directed
by Ditsi Carolino—a 50-minute
documentary on the plight of working
children and the efforts taken by local
governments and NGOs to help them.
P600/US$23

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PCIJ Online Bookshop

No More Sabado Nights, written by

Luz Rimban, directed by Kara
Magsanoc—a 20-minute documentary
that tells the story of how the women of
Tawid Sapa organized themselves
against wife-beating, set up a refuge for
battered women, and even got the
government to install electric lines and dig
deep wells in their community.
P400/US$15

Toxic Sunset: On
the Trail of Hazardous Waste
from Subic and Clark, directed and
produced by Benjamin Pimentel and
Louella Lasolla (1992)—a 40-minute
documentary which probes the issue of
toxic wastes in US military bases in the
Philippines. P600/US$23

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BEST EXPERIENCED WITH

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Webweaving by
ALECKS P. PABICO

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 10 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories

THE CAMPAIGN by Elvira Mata

First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story

of Activists-Turned
Political Consultants

With a Little Help from

(U.S.) Friends

Much Ado about

Numbers

Campaigning, Filipino Artwork by Arnold Beroya

Style
PHILIPPINE politics is like a circus. Look who's running for president: a
Spinning the News movie actor (Fernando Poe Jr.), a preacher (Eddie Villanueva), even
Elvis (Eddie Gil).
Campaigns on the High-
Tech Road What a freak show.

Songs in the Key of Okay, so Elvis has now left the building. But there's still a strong man
Politics (Ping Lacson) who has been suspected of dicing more people than
Darth Vader and the amazing Hawaiian shirt man (Raul Roco) who
talks in paradigm shifts.

PHOTO ESSAY
The ringmaster is President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, married to Mike
who eats live chickens. Ate Glo says she's still the best choice for
The Presidency as
president because she has had three years experience, so why not let
Image
her continue for another six?

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

ELECTION Before you swallow the blue pill, think about this: When Ate Glo was
PERSPECTIVES sworn in as president, she promised to do four things - stop poverty,
end corruption in government, introduce "new politics" that does not
Elections are like Water depend on "personality and patronage," and lead by example.

Between Tinsel and Two years ago she also promised she wouldn't run for re-election.
Trapo
We all know what happened to those promises.
The Enigma of the
Popular Will Maybe she just wants another six years. I mean, that's a lot of live
chickens for Big Mike.

VOTER'S VOICE But wait. Philippine politics is really more like a zoo. It's a nice place to
visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. It's smelly, the animals snarl
First-time Voter
and snap, and are always hungry.

Regular Voter
Ate Glo is a tarsier, FPJ is Tarzan, Da King of Monkey Island, Eddie
Villanueva is a llama, and Raul Roco is the amazing man in Hawaiian
shirts.
Non-Voter

The zookeeper is Ping Lacson, who maintains law and order in the
Hope and Elections in
jungle with his "iron-hand" policy.
Payatas

He did some good things: He cleaned up the PNP animal cages. He

gave up his P200-million pork barrel. He was about to expose the
THE LIGHTER SIDE swamp secrets of a crocodile who goes by the name of Jose Pidal
when a gang of monkeys kidnapped the Mahusay canary before it had
Election Lexicon a chance to sing.

Quickie Quiz for the But the zookeeper has also been suspected of doing bad things: He
Politically Insane supposedly gave the order to cull the Kuratong Baleleng species. He
was allegedly involved in narcopolitics, kidnap for ransom, money
All these from i’s special
laundering.
election issue
I change my mind. Philippine politics is like a movie. It is written,
directed and starred in by FPJ. It is produced by Tito Sotto and
executive produced by Edgardo Angara.

The movie title is "Ang Panday vs. Ang Pandak."

No, that's been used to death already.

What about "Dito sa Pitong Gatang," the movie where FPJ played a
barangay chairman? This was the closest he ever got to a political
Order your copy now!
position.

Change that. What about "Hagedorn," where FPJ played a mayor?

This was the closest he ever got to a political position.

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

discuss this
article But maybe a new movie title is in order, with a fresh, Hollywoodsy,
in our e-forum award-winning title, something like "Lord of Malacañang." The plot
goes like this: FPJ plays an underdog named what else — FPJ. Born
out of wedlock, he had to stop high school and settle for any job to
support his family. He became a movie actor. Despite having a good
heart, he becomes rich, marries Snow White, and finds time to help the
poor. His friend, another movie actor turned ruler, asks for his help to
expel a hobbit who has stolen a ring and now rules Middle Earth.

The movie has a hint of romance, a dash of drama and lots of election
violence. The playdate is in May, but there's no script. FPJ has been
presented with several scenarios, but none to his liking. "Let's wait for
the next survey," he says.

Meanwhile, he refuses to say a word of dialogue, except if it's from one

of his old box office hits like, "Kapag Napuno Na ang Salop (When I've
Run Out of Patience)," or "Hindi Ka Na Sisikatan ng Araw (You Won't
See the Sun Rise)," or "Isang Bala Ka Lang (Just One Bullet And
You're Dead)."

This explains why up to now, he still doesn't have a platform. Just a lot
of FPJ text jokes. In an election, people are more interested in text
jokes and biopics rather than platforms.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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First-World Techniques, Third-World Setting

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
The Philippines uses state-of-the-art campaign techniques,
THE CAMPAIGN
but its elections are taking place in a political culture that is
pre-modern and oriented toward the family.
The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned
Political Consultants by Luz Rimban

With a Little Help from

(U.S.) Friends ADVERTISING guru
Reli German tells the
Much Ado about
story of the time he
Numbers
was tapped to
produce commercials
and jingles for then
Campaigning, Filipino candidate Ferdinand
Style
Marcos's 1965
presidential bid. The
Spinning the News campaign was more
of a family venture
Filipino politicians use the latest campaign
Half-Truths in with no less than
techniques, but still look upon voters as mendicants.
Advertising Marcos's wife Imelda
herself directing the troops. She would drop by German's office to look
over campaign materials and listen to the jingles being prepared for her
Campaigns on the High-
husband's campaign. "It was more of Imelda that we were dealing with
Tech Road
directly for the campaign in 1965," German recalls.

Songs in the Key of

Politics
One night Imelda summoned German and his production team to the
Marcos home in San Juan, where they were led to her bedroom, which
had a closet full of shoeboxes. The group, a team of professional
advertising people, did not know exactly what they were doing in
PHOTO ESSAY Imelda's boudoir, but the mystery was soon revealed. German
remembers that "she took three shoeboxes and the boxes were offered
The Presidency as to us, and they were full of money!" With that, the campaign production
Image team was paid, and paid handsomely.

German's story does not only provide insights on the other uses Imelda

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First-World Techniques, Third-World Setting

ELECTION made of her shoes (or, more precisely, the boxes they had come in). It
PERSPECTIVES also tells us that advertising professionals had been involved in
Philippine election campaigns as far back as 1965, when radio was
Elections are like Water reaching its peak and television, just beginning to make a dent in
Filipinos' consciousness. Then and now, however, professionals like
German are relegated to the background, hidden members of the
Between Tinsel and
campaign team who are traditionally composed of the candidate's
Trapo
trusted family members.

The Enigma of the

Campaign professionals, though, have actually been around longer
Popular Will
than that. Soon after the United States introduced elections in the
Philippines, the country's former colonizer also exported to the islands
U.S.-style campaigning. This included the use of the mass media to
VOTER'S VOICE create and manipulate public images, the hiring of public relations and
advertising professionals, and later, the employment of sophisticated
First-time Voter tools like campaign research and polling. Candidates like Manuel
Quezon, Ramon Magsaysay, and Ferdinand Marcos were sold to
voters partly through images crafted by experts and peddled to the
Regular Voter
public through newspapers, radio, and later, television. At least in terms
of elections, the Philippines is not the laggard of Asia, but perhaps the
Non-Voter first country in the region that has mastered the use of first-world
election techniques.
Hope and Elections in
Payatas But it isn't easy applying first-world election
know-how to a third-world political setting.
Despite what appear to be advanced
campaign methods, the Philippines is still
THE LIGHTER SIDE
basically a feudal society where the family
lords over political life. And with the
Making (Non)Sense of weakening of political parties — alongside
Politics
the weakening of other institutions in
society — the family has remained the
Election Lexicon
country's basic political organization. This
feudal, family-oriented base is one of the
Quickie Quiz for the factors that stunts the growth of political-
Politically Insane
campaign professionals.

All these from i’s special

election issue Four decades after Imelda Marcos The first national-level
successfully steered her husband to power, Philippine elections were
Philippine campaigns are still far from being held in 1907. Photo shows
voters reading campaign
well-oiled political projects run by
posters issued for that
professionals. In the Philippine setting, a election.
political campaign machine — especially
one designed for a presidential candidate — can be a complex
structure with various compartmentalized sub-groupings. The
professionals would be embedded somewhere within, a silent and
unknown minority who bow to tacticians and campaign operators.
These tacticians and operators, in turn, are usually members and
friends of a political clan. It isn't altogether surprising that a campaign
can still look like a mom-and-pop affair with the candidate's wife as
Order your copy now! campaign manager, the husband a fundraiser, and all sorts of hangers-

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First-World Techniques, Third-World Setting

on filling the backroom.

discuss this There is a difference in this year's election, however. It is the first
article presidential election in decades in which political advertisements will be
in our e-forum allowed. It is the first time that the power of media in general — and
television in particular — may determine who wins. At no other time in
the nation's history will candidates be sold like soap and toothpaste
because 40 million voters will be relying on little more than visibility and
image to make their choices. More than ever before, candidates and
their campaign machineries will now need to use the media specialists,
campaign managers, and assorted professionals to make themselves
known to the public, and through whatever means available.

By passing the law lifting the ban on political advertisements,

"Congress was in fact saying there's another way of winning," says
political consultant Malou Tiquia. And part of the message to
candidates may be that there could be more room for the pros.

For some candidates, this may be a welcome development, since it

may mean more effective campaigns, i.e. more votes. But it may not
necessarily be good news for the public. As U.S. political scientist Dan
Nimmo points out in his book, The Political Persuaders, hiring
professionals may just mean more sophisticated manipulation. "Without
question," says Nimmo, "the new technology introduces not only the
possibility but indeed the likelihood of systematic deception in electoral
politics." More and more, candidates will be seen in images and
settings that do not really reflect who they really are and what they are
going to do once elected to office. With more professional sleight of
hand at work, the public may have a harder time distinguishing fact
from fiction, especially when they remain unaware that experts now
have more say in the show.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The X-Men: The story of activists-turned-political consultants

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

The story of activists-turned-political

Featured Stories
consultants
THE CAMPAIGN
Former communists are today's campaign operatives and
First-World Techniques, political mechanics.
Third-World Setting

as told to Luz Rimban

With a Little Help from
(U.S.) Friends This piece was based on an interview with a political consultant who was, once upon
a time, an activist. This first-person account records the interviewee's thoughts on one
of the realities of the current election campaign: the vital, though not often visible, role
Much Ado about that former leftists are playing as political consultants and campaign operatives for
Numbers various candidates. This issue of i magazine being on elections, we thought it
instructive to include this piece in our lineup of stories.
Campaigning, Filipino
Style While many articles have
been written on the split
and the debates within the
Spinning the News Communist Party of the
Philippines and the national-
democratic movement, this
Half-Truths in piece is not one of them. It
Advertising is not a critique of the
movement and its leaders,
neither is it an apology for
Campaigns on the High- ex-leftists who are
Tech Road perceived to have sold out.
It does not aim to delve into
the reasons why they "left
Songs in the Key of
the Left" (in the words of
Politics one political science professor). It is merely a reflection on a life after the Left. The
subject's views, however, may not necessarily represent those of the thousands who
once colored themselves red.

PHOTO ESSAY
JOSE Ma. Sison should cry at all the wasted talent. He could have won
the revolution if the movement had stayed its course and kept its
The Presidency as
children from straying into the forbidden capitalist and reactionary
Image
world. (He shares a large part of the blame, too, of course, for steering
a hard-line course and ousting — not to mention possibly ordering the
elimination — of some of the best cadres from the party.) At any rate,

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The X-Men: The story of activists-turned-political consultants

ELECTION these days, many of

PERSPECTIVES us who used to be
part of the
Elections are like Water underground are all
over the place. Some
Between Tinsel and of us run
Trapo telecommunications
companies, public
The Enigma of the
utilities, banks, and
Popular Will
even the highest
offices of
government. Many
form that segment of
Leftists are adept at staging rallies as well as
VOTER'S VOICE the middle class that conducting armed struggle. But they are also today's
supports decent most sought-after campaign operators.
First-time Voter candidates.

Regular Voter Being a successful former activist creates its own ethical crises. We
have this need to reaffirm our activist roots every three years by
supporting and voting for the right candidates, and by bringing out our
Non-Voter
checkbooks and donating to groups like Bayan Muna and Akbayan.

Hope and Elections in

But some of us go even further. Indeed, the unseen hand in the 2004
Payatas
elections is the Left — not as an organized bloc, but as the womb from
which the savvy men and women running the current election
campaigns have emerged. The activists and communists of the 1970s,
THE LIGHTER SIDE '80s, and '90s are today's campaign operators. I could name at least 50
of us ex-leftists in each of the presidential candidates' campaign
Making (Non)Sense of organizations. Hundreds — if not thousands — more are running
Politics campaigns at the local levels all over the country.

Election Lexicon An activist has the kind of skills that aren't taught in school and the kind
of skills for which you don't get a diploma. When he or she returns to
Quickie Quiz for the his hometown from college in Manila, with or without a diploma, he or
Politically Insane she becomes an asset, with talents that would be easily parlayed by
politicians in need of organizers, propagandists, and operatives. A
All these from i’s special candidate running for national office doesn't hire an accountant, an
election issue architect, or an Ivy League graduate. He needs someone with political
skills, someone used to doing battle on the ground, and not in some
ivory tower. And the politician will soon realize that he will get more
bang out of his buck if he entrusts his campaign to an ex-leftist.

After all, elections are basically propaganda wars, the "expose-and-

oppose" kind of advocacy. It is the kind of advocacy we leftists have
been primed for since our youth. The organizing and propaganda
tactics honed by activists — through decades of involvement in
underground or aboveground political work — are easily transferred to
an election campaign.

Order your copy now! For this reason, the leftist movement was a good training ground for

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The X-Men: The story of activists-turned-political consultants

political operatives; it is the best finishing school for campaign

managers and organizers. First of all, leftists have a good grasp of
discuss this
policy issues, and an election is one whole policy debate. As activists
article
we studied the national situation for years through teach — ins and
in our e-forum
various levels of leftist indoctrination. As teenagers, we committed to
memory the whole spectrum of Philippine politics, and we knew by
heart the nature and characteristics of social classes.

We were honed in close-quarters fighting, mano a mano. We are used

to an "all-or-nothing" kind of war. In the movement, we believed we had
nothing to lose but our chains. We developed an instinct for survival
along with the killer instinct — the instinct to subdue the enemy through
legal, semi-legal, and even illegal means. We are therefore uniquely
equipped for political struggle.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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With a Little Help from (U.S.) Friends

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
U.S. political consultants have been involved in Philippine
THE CAMPAIGN
elections since the Marcos era, contributing their expertise in
campaign techniques to homegrown politicians.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Yvonne T. Chua
The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned-
Political Consultants WHEN the U.S. Democratic
Party primary season opened
Much Ado about
in January, Massachusetts
Numbers
Senator John Kerry hardly
looked like someone who
could be the party’s candidate
Campaigning, Filipino in the U.S. presidential election
Style
this November. Although
already a fourth-term senator,
Spinning the News Kerry was being outshone by
Vermont governor Howard
Half-Truths in Dean, who the media had all
Advertising but proclaimed the Democrats’
presidential bet.
Campaigns on the High- Joseph Napolitan, believed to be the first
Tech Road But Kerry had a few surprises private U.S. consultant to work in the
Philippines, helped in Ferdinand Marcos's
up his sleeve. Putting all his
1969 campaign.
resources in Iowa rather than
Songs in the Key of
Politics
New Hampshire, Kerry posted an upset victory in the Midwest state —
the first in a string of key wins. By the time the primaries ended on
March 2, Kerry had emerged as the Democratic Party’s likely candidate
to challenge President George W. Bush. And Dean? Well, he has
PHOTO ESSAY begun stumping for his erstwhile New England rival, even proclaiming
Kerry as the next president of the United States.
The Presidency as
Image Behind Kerry’s come-from-behind showing is a team of advisers that
includes Mark Mellman, president of the Mellman Group. According to
the Boston Globe, the Mellman Group is now the “hottest” political

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With a Little Help from (U.S.) Friends

ELECTION consulting firm in Washington. Its website certainly lists an impressive

PERSPECTIVES array of clients, from U.S. senators, congressmen, and governors, to
corporate clients like software company Intuit (the makers of Quicken)
Elections are like Water and United Airlines. Mellman himself, meanwhile, has been known to
have exported his skills outside of the United States, at one time even
doing consulting work for a prominent politician in the Philippines.
Between Tinsel and
Trapo
Swiss political consultant Louis F. Perron was told this by Mellman
himself in the course of an interview the former was conducting for a
The Enigma of the
study. But Perron says Mellman declined to identify his Filipino client —
Popular Will
who may or may not have had the same kind of luck as Kerry —
because the prominent consultant was bound by a nondisclosure pact
that is popular among non-U.S. politicians.
VOTER'S VOICE
Perron, who was in Manila recently to
First-time Voter attend the World Association of Public
Opinion Research’s regional
Regular Voter conference, says that three of the 19
U.S. political consultants he
interviewed for his study had been
Non-Voter
retained by Filipino politicians at one
time or another. But this is not really
Hope and Elections in surprising since the Philippines is a
Payatas former U.S. colony and its elections
are essentially patterned after those in
the United States. Indeed, each Mark Mellman, a consultant who
election this country has ever held after worked on Senator John Kerry's
THE LIGHTER SIDE bid to be the Democratic Party's
World War II probably saw more than 2004 presidential candidate, has
one U.S. political expert working in the also recently done work for a
Making (Non)Sense of shadows, shaping campaigns and Filipino politician.
Politics
drawing strategies for clients, most of
whom were aiming for the presidency.
Election Lexicon

Now that the Philippines has more than 17,000 public positions filled
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane through elections every three years, expertise from abroad may have
become even more sought after. As Perron explains, “Modern
campaign techniques…become more important if the number of
All these from i’s special
election issue elected offices is high.”

In fact, in a paper he presented at the conference here, Perron says

that while Latin America (Venezuela, in particular) has become a big
market for U.S. political consultants, Southeast Asia is perceived to be
a fast-growing market — and may even become the biggest soon — all
because democratic processes have been put in place in many
countries in the region.

The Philippines, however, still tops the list when it comes to the country
with the longest experience in hiring U.S. consultants-and
heavyweights in the profession at that. Quoting a forthcoming book
Order your copy now! (Going International) by Dennis W. Johnson, associate dean of George

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With a Little Help from (U.S.) Friends

Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management,

Perron names Joseph Napolitan as the first U.S. political consultant to
discuss this work in the Philippines. “His involvement (in this country),” says Perron,
article “probably even marks the beginning of modern international political
in our e-forum consulting.”

Napolitan would serve as adviser to nine foreign heads of state in the

course of his long career. He also founded the American Association of
Political Consultants and the International Association of Political
Consultants. In 1969, he came to the Philippines to help in the
reelection campaign of Ferdinand Marcos. Then already a veteran of
the successful Kennedy and Johnson campaigns, Napolitan was said
to have polished Marcos’s image and assisted in the soon-to-be-
strongman’s overall campaign strategy.

Part of that strategy was to maximize the use of radio as a campaign

tool outside of the greater Manila area (at the time, there were few
television sets outside the capital). In addition, Napolitan supposedly
suggested the shooting of videos on the Marcoses. As Perron tells, it,
the Marcos campaign “secured 15 trucks outfitted them with movie
screens and projects, and drove them from village to village” showing
these videos.

Perron’s paper mentions U.S. media consultant Robert Squier as

having worked with Napolitan. But Raymond Bonner, in his book
Waltzing with a Dictator, says that Marcos had hired another
Washington political pro, former Democratic Party national chairman
Lawrence O’Brien, to work with Napolitan. According to Bonner,
Marcos spent a whopping $50 million for his reelection bid, part of
which was used to pay for the services of Napolitan and O’Brien.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Much Ado about Numbers

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories Surveys were first used in the 1953 presidential elections
and they have been an invaluable — but not always infallible
THE CAMPAIGN
— guide to candidates ever since.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Yvonne T. Chua

The X-Men: The Story

of Activists-Turned- SENATOR John Osmeña is
Political Consultants certain he will win again in the
May elections. The numbers say
so, he crowed in an evening talk
With a Little Help from
show, where he whipped out the
(U.S.) Friends
results of a poll he had
commissioned the survey outfit
Campaigning, Filipino Social Weather Stations (SWS) to
Style do last year.

Spinning the News

The survey, which ran from
August 30 to September 14, 2003
Half-Truths in showed the grizzled politician
Advertising from Cebu ranking third to fourth
in the lengthy list of probable
Campaigns on the High- senatorial candidates. He fared
Tech Road particularly well in Mindanao (he
placed second), and among the
Senator John Osmeña (right), shown
men, as well as among the D and being endorsed by Eduardo Cojuangco
Songs in the Key of
E classes. Jr. in 1998, is confident he will win
Politics
another Senate term because the
surveys say so.
With the numbers squarely
behind him, Osmeña didn’t have to go begging any political party to
PHOTO ESSAY draft him. Instead, the parties came knocking on his door. He is now
part of the administration’s K4 senatorial slate, supposedly after
The Presidency as exacting a pledge that it would back his son John Henry Gregory’s
Image (‘John-John’) candidacy for the governorship of Cebu.

Osmeña belongs to the fast-expanding tribe of politicians that knows

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Much Ado about Numbers

ELECTION the value of checking out — even commissioning — well-executed

PERSPECTIVES surveys before embarking on risky and expensive undertakings like
gunning for public office, thanks chiefly to the accuracy with which local
Elections are like Water scientific public opinion polls have predicted the outcome of elections.
But politicians have found other uses for polls, such as gauging the
mood of the public on a particular issue or measuring the impact of a
Between Tinsel and
campaign message, so much so that Philippine politics could be said to
Trapo
have become much like a legal version of jueteng — a numbers game.
Of course, survey firms would probably balk at that description, since
The Enigma of the they are always dead serious about their work, which they emphasize
Popular Will is no game of chance.

To be sure, there are many misconceptions about surveys. As it is,

VOTER'S VOICE many people still find it hard to believe that a small sample of 1,200
respondents can accurately predict the outcome of an election. But
First-time Voter independent survey organizations have repeatedly demonstrated that
this can be done. The SWS’s final pre-election survey for the 1992
presidential race, for instance, showed Fidel Ramos and Miriam
Regular Voter
Santiago in a close fight (26.8 percent to 25 percent). The one it did in
the 1998 elections showed Joseph Estrada pulling away from his
Non-Voter opponents (33 percent).

Hope and Elections in The results of the SWS polls were just a few percentage points off the
Payatas official count by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The outcome
of its exit poll for the presidential race, first conducted in 1998, was
even closer to the official count.
THE LIGHTER SIDE
Contrary to what many people assume, elections surveys are also
Making (Non)Sense of hardly new in the Philippines, having been around since the 1950s. The
Politics difference is that in the past, the surveys were not published as they
are now.
Election Lexicon
A research done by top SWS honchos Mahar Mangahas and Linda Luz
Quickie Quiz for the Guerrero identifies George Cohen as one of the pioneers in opinion
Politically Insane polling in the country. Robot Statistics, the firm Cohen founded, did
confidential election research in the 1953, 1961, and 1965 elections by
All these from i’s special conducting polls in key cities. The results were pretty accurate such
election issue that when Cohen found the surveys showing his client, President
Diosdado Macapagal, would lose to Ferdinand Marcos in the 1965
elections, he decided against disclosing the results in public. That year,
Mangahas and Guerrero write, “fearing the hostility of Ferdinand
Marcos, the 1965 winner,” Cohen emigrated and Robot closed.

But there were Filipino pollsters of note at the time, too, and they
engaged in open or nonconfidential polling, according to Mangahas
and Guerrero. Enrique T. Virata, a statistician from the University of the
Philippines, ran a Quezon City mail survey in 1957 that foresaw the
victory of Carlos P. Garcia. Political scientist Jose V. Abueva, also of
the UP, conducted a Manila poll that predicted Marcos as the winner in
Order your copy now! the 1965 elections. The media did some polling as well. In the 1969

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Much Ado about Numbers

race, for example, Weekly Graphic magazine undertook a readers’ poll

that saw Marcos leading his opponent Sergio Osmeña Jr.
discuss this
article
in our e-forum

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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Campaigning, Filipino Style

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

10 GIMMICKS PRACTICED BY NATURAL-BORN

Featured Stories POLITICIANS

THE CAMPAIGN
Candidates use humor and hand signals, symbols and
slogans to sell themselves.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Vinia M. Datinguinoo and Avigail Olarte
The X-Men: The Story of
1. Get a nickname.
Activists-Turned Political
Consultants
Mr Palengke — Mar Roxas
With a Little Help from
Kap — Bong Revilla Jr.
(U.S.) Friends
Other nicknames:
Much Ado about The Rock — Raul Roco
Numbers Doc — Parouk Hussin
Kabayan — Noli de Castro
Compañera — Pia Cayetano
Spinning the News
Wow Dick — Richard Gordon
JPE — Juan Ponce Enrile
Half-Truths in Manong/Mr. Expose/Ka Ernie — Ernesto Maceda
Advertising

2. Invent or recycle a hand or fist signal.

Campaigns on the High-
Tech Road

Songs in the Key of

Politics

PHOTO ESSAY

The Presidency as
Image

3. Be crafty with your slogans.

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Campaigning, Filipino Style

ELECTION If you're an actor, your slogan should say

PERSPECTIVES something about you being a hero, or,
better yet, giving the people the starring
Elections are like Water role. Feel free to use words from your
movie titles.
Between Tinsel and
Trapo Tickle the fancy of the millions of fans of a
massively popular Taiwanese boy band.
The Enigma of the
Popular Will If you're the other party, think
quickly of the perfect counter-
slogan.

VOTER'S VOICE
Play with your name.
Make up some rhymes.
First-time Voter Do it today. Don't waste
any time.
Regular Voter
If you've been here before,
Non-Voter make sure your slogan sells
what you think you've done for
Hope and Elections in the people.
Payatas

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of
Politics

Election Lexicon

Quickie Quiz for the

Politically Insane
4. Play with symbols.
All these from i’s special Never mind if you end up looking like a Sanrio product or the long-lost
election issue father of Pucca (the better to attract the youth).

At the campaign kick-off, Raul Roco and his slate

emerged in a V formation. He said they want to be
an arrow "to break the campaign of the other
tickets."

Panfilo Lacson has appropriated the color red for his

campaign, which, he says symbolizes bravery.

Order your copy now!

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Campaigning, Filipino Style

But Roco also called on his supporters to wear red

or floral clothing last Feb. 10, the first day of the
discuss this campaign period, to show that while he doesn't
article have the money and machinery that FPJ and GMA
in our e-forum have, Roco has "the support of thinking believers
who also happen to be fashionable." Roco has
never gone out to campaign without a floral shirt
on him. Flowers, he has been quoted to have said, "will be the symbol
of hope."

5. Find a reference to a historical figure.

Former police chief and Manila mayor Alfredo Lim's
battle cry is one of equality before the law and uses the
Katipunan to sell this.

In one of his kick-off

speeches, Lacson, a
native of Imus, Cavite,
referred to Gen. Emilio
Aguinaldo, the first
president of the Republic, and told the
crowd it was time for another president
from Cavite.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Spinning the News

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 2 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
Political PR is redefining the way elections and other major
THE CAMPAIGN events are covered.

First-World Techniques, by Ibarra C. Mateo

Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story IT WAS a slow Saturday, and

of Activists-Turned so a middle-level editor
Political Consultants
thought nothing of working on
a press release handed over
With a Little Help from by a senior editor and turning it
(U.S.) Friends into a readable news item. It
appeared in the paper the next
Much Ado about day, and that should have
Numbers been that. But then the three
government officials who were
quoted in the piece
Campaigning, Filipino
complained to the newspaper's
Style
editors, saying the writer of the
press release had not Fidel Ramos, shown here campaigning for
Half-Truths in the presidency in 1992, institutionalized
interviewed them at all. They
Advertising political PR when he took over
also said that they had not Malacañang.
authorized the issuance of
Campaigns on the High- such a press release under their names. An internal investigation
Tech Road conducted by the paper's management later revealed that a shadowy
political PR person had been the source of the fictitious story.
Songs in the Key of Apparently, the aim was to cast the winning bidder of a government
Politics contract in a bad light.

The paper never bothered to issue a retraction. The senior editor, who
was reportedly paid a six-figure sum to see that the "press release"
PHOTO ESSAY
would be published, is still working there. And those who read the piece
remain clueless that they had been fed fiction masquerading as fact.
The Presidency as
Image
In a world that keeps getting more complicated by the second, the

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Spinning the News

media play an important role in helping the public sift through issues,
pointing out which one needs more attention than the others and
ELECTION providing facts that could help people make informed decisions. And as
PERSPECTIVES the country prepares to hold one of its most competitive elections in
history, the media have become all the more crucial for the public to be
Elections are like Water able to scrutinize candidates and understand issues. But what should
have been the age of information has instead morphed into a golden
Between Tinsel and season of propaganda, enhanced truths, and hyped realities, as
Trapo mainstream news is manipulated by the masters of the political spin.

The Enigma of the It used to be that the spins were confined mostly to the showbiz pages.
Popular Will Or at least that's what most people assumed. But political PR has been
alive as long as there have been politicians, and while it wasn't as
successful as it apparently is now, it did help some politicians enhance
their public images and get elected, sometimes again and again.
VOTER'S VOICE

In the past, too, political PR was generally aboveground; most of the

First-time Voter
time it was clear when the news stopped and the papogi began. But
today's political spinmeisters seem to prefer to work unseen by the
Regular Voter public, even as a few of them arrogantly flaunt their influence-if not
outright power-over select but well-placed journalists. And as their
Non-Voter insidious influence on newsrooms grow, so does the amount of
disinformation that is inflicted on a still largely unsuspecting public.
There is, however, really no telling how much of the news is being
Hope and Elections in
spun, with journalists themselves sometimes not even realizing that
Payatas
they are already part of a web of deceit.

THE LIGHTER SIDE

POLITICAL public relations persons come in varying labels depending
Making (Non)Sense of on the imagined or real power they want to project, the largesse they
Politics dole out, or the favors they dispense. Spokespersons, media
strategists, media relations officers, public information officers, and
Election Lexicon public affairs specialists are only some of the names they like to call
themselves. Most journalists refer to them simply as "operators."
Quickie Quiz for the
Whatever label they prefer, though, all of them share the same
Politically Insane objectives: first, spin news stories that will put clients or principals in a
good light; second, play down stories that will harm clients; and third,
All these from i’s special
neutralize rivals through whatever tactic that works.
election issue
While there are political PR practitioners who perform their jobs
professionally and scrupulously, they have been overshadowed by
those for whom ethics can even be less than secondary. These PR
practitioners will exhaust all means to attain their three main objectives,
with some of them not hesitating to unleash extraordinary weapons in
their arsenal whenever they see fit. They go to great lengths to know
their "enemy" -members of the media. Better yet, they strive to make
the enemy their "friend." In the past, establishing friendly ties was
enough; these days, media and PR practitioners alike admit that money
often changes hands.

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Spinning the News

Order your copy now! A PR practitioner makes it his or her business to learn the likes and
dislikes of a target editor or reporter, including food and drink
preferences, birthday, hobbies, music and book favorites, maybe even
the kind of friends the journalist has. But the most important question
discuss this
the PR person would want to know the answer to these days is this:
article
Would the journalist be amenable to receiving cash or are gifts
in our e-forum
preferred? For one broadcast journalist, the more astute among the
listeners to her radio show probably know the answer to that one now.
During one program, she reminded a known operator that she was
waiting for her "baon" as she was leaving for a short trip abroad,
apparently unmindful that some of her listeners could have understood
that she was asking for cash.

For those more squeamish over being handed bundles of cash, PR

people are flexible enough to provide expensive meals or perhaps a
fancy knick-knack. They can even send the journalist on an all-
expenses-paid overseas vacation, away from the prying eyes of his or
her media colleagues. Sometimes, it takes as little as a regular,
generous round of drinks "for the boys" at a favorite journalists'
hangout.

In exchange, a PR person expects favorable coverage of his clients or

principals. Sometimes, an operator is satisfied with a simple alert from
a "friend" in the newsroom about a particular item that might affect a
client. The operator would then issue a quick rebuttal, and by the time
the news item sees print, the client's side is already included.

In many cases, the operator ensures that favorable coverage himself,

and no one is often the wiser, except for his few select friends in the
newsroom.

One PR practitioner describes the process, which those in the business

refer to as "layering." The handlers first divide the labor, and
assignments are done. The "good man" is the "formal" PR person who
deals with the media openly. His functions include issuing press
releases or speaking on behalf of the principal. There is also a "bad
man" or a "bag man" who distributes the "envelopes" to reporters and
editors. The "bad man" also makes the calls to the newsrooms to give
specific instructions to the friendly editors on how to spin a particular
story or to have it spiked altogether. A press release can even be
released in toto, with a regular reporter's byline just slapped on it right
before it is published. The "bad man" obviously operates in the
shadows and is not seen in the public operations of the "good man."

One female reporter says she and many of her colleagues know which
among their editors are on the payroll of operators. But she says, "We
choose to keep quiet about it because our respective editors do not do
anything to reprimand the editors on the take. It is normal among beat
reporters to fear being punished by editors on the take through various
means such as refusal to use our story. Punishment can (also) border

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Spinning the News

on sexual harassment."

Some reporters say they get reminded about their editors' "special ties"
with operators even outside of the newsroom. One journalist says that
a PR practitioner she bumped into at a press conference made it a
point to tell her "your editor is a very good friend." Then the PR person
called the editor on his cell phone just to say that the reporter was
there.

Another journalist says that after he and other reporters got into a
heated exchange with the media handler of a presidential candidate, he
got a message from his editor: "Ease up. He is my kumpare (close
friend)." The reporter says what further riled him was that his editor did
not even bother to investigate the incident first.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Half-truths in Advertising

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 5 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
Selling candidates is like selling soap or toothpaste: A little
THE CAMPAIGN truth goes a long way.

First-World Techniques, by Cecile C.A. Balgos

Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story AT LEAST Panfilo Lacson tells it like it

of Activists-Turned is — or how it could be. Elect him as
Political Consultants
president and we could probably
expect someone like Singapore's Lee
With a Little Help from Kuan Yew, Malaysia's Mahathir
(U.S.) Friends Mohamad, or Thailand's Thaksin
Shinawatra at the helm. All three are
Much Ado about known for being, as the TV ad says,
Numbers "buo ang loob, walang takot
(determined, without fear)," traits that
supposedly enabled them to steer
Campaigning, Filipino
their countries into becoming
Style
economic powerhouses. According to the ad, Lacson has the same
traits as well, and its logic argues that these would enable him to do
Spinning the News wonders for the Philippine economy, too.

Campaigns on the High- Lee and Mahathir, however, headed autocratic regimes, which means
Tech Road the payoff for their countries' political stability and economic strength
included the absence of freedom of speech and of the press, as well as
Songs in the Key of questionable human rights records. And while Thailand remains a
Politics democratic country, Thaksin himself has not exactly been the darling of
rights advocates, especially after his anti-drug campaign last year
resulted in the deaths of at least 1,100 suspected drug dealers,
including a nine-year-old boy and a woman who was eight months
PHOTO ESSAY
pregnant. It's also still uncertain if Thaksinomics is really the success it
appears to be, or whether it is guaranteeing Thailand a place in
The Presidency as household-debt hell, where it would be sweating out its economic woes
Image right beside South Korea.

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Half-truths in Advertising

ELECTION But that's how it is in the abbreviated world of ads, especially political
PERSPECTIVES ones, and particularly with TV spots: Given the few seconds allotted to
each ad, what is left out is almost always more interesting than what is
Elections are like Water said (or shown). In fact, by the looks of the commercials placed by
candidates for national posts so far, Lacson's already says a mouthful.
Most of the rest give even less information about the candidates and
Between Tinsel and
what they are offering to the electorate — begging the question why
Trapo
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo even bothered to lift the ban on
political ads at all. This may well be the New Media age, but judging
The Enigma of the from the commercials now running on the tube, tired old campaign
Popular Will ploys still reign, and voters are advised to look elsewhere if they want
to make informed decisions by May 10.

VOTER'S VOICE Certainly part of the reason for that is the fact that ads are supposed to
sell the product, whether it be pork and beans or a politician. That
First-time Voter obviously means leaving the nasty stuff out and following Ella
Fitgerald's advice to accentuate the positive. The bigger reason,
however, seems to be that the primary objective of those placing
Regular Voter
political ads these days is simple name recall. The thinking is, to put
across to the public matters such as competence, years in public
Non-Voter service, and vision, a candidate would get more bang for his buck with
PR and plain romancing the media. Only when such attempts fail would
Hope and Elections in the candidate consider — and even then only possibly (in part because
Payatas they are expensive) — having commercials with more substantial
information for voters to use in making their decisions.

So in the meantime the electorate is m

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of
Politics

Election Lexicon

Quickie Quiz for the

Politically Insane

All these from i’s special

election issue

Order your copy now!

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Half-truths in Advertising

discuss this
article
in our e-forum

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Campaigns on the High-Tech Road

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
Properly harnessed, new technology can be used to win
THE CAMPAIGN
votes and influence election discourse.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Alecks P. Pabico

The X-Men: The Story

of Activists-Turned FORGET receiving text jokes or sweet
Political Consultants messages from now till the end of the
canvassing of votes — at least if you're
a supporter of presidential candidate
With a Little Help from
Raul Roco. And if Katropa had its way,
(U.S.) Friends
even those outside the Roco loop
would instead be receiving more
Much Ado about messages like this right about: "Good
Numbers
day. Join the KATROPA ni Roco
Motorcade on Sun, Feb 8 @ 7 am.
Campaigning, Filipino Assembly @ UP Diliman Oblation,
Style University Ave. Bring ur friends…pls
pass, thanks."
Spinning the News
With one out of four Filipinos now
Half-Truths in owning a cell phone — and the
Advertising ownership cutting across social classes
— viral text messages like the one Katropa.com runs an online and
above have become a convenient way SMS-driven campaign center to
Songs in the Key of help Raul Roco's presidential
Politics
for a candidate's supporters to enlist bid.
warm bodies in sorties across the
country. Katropa, a multisectoral organization running an online
campaign center to advance the bid of Roco, the Alyansa ng Pag-asa
PHOTO ESSAY (Alliance of Hope) bet, is in fact only one among many in the campaign
with text brigades. It is, though, perhaps the most relentless in
The Presidency as circulating messages via the mobile phone's SMS (short message
Image service) among its members, who are then encouraged to relay these
to their own circle of friends and relatives.

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Campaigns on the High-Tech Road

ELECTION Downloadable ring tones and logos, celebrity-texting promos, real-time

PERSPECTIVES news updates, and other widely popular wireless services have
provided media campaign strategists with models for replication in what
Elections are like Water is turning out to be a media-dominated campaign. And so while the
actual polls looks like they will still be done in a highly manual way,
Filipinos may yet witness a high-tech campaign like no other in the
Between Tinsel and
country's election history.
Trapo

The way Alyansa campaign manager Jaime Galvez Tan sees it, this
The Enigma of the
year's elections will be a defining moment for information and
Popular Will
communications technologies (ICTs). He singles out the cell phone —
or, more precisely, its killer application in SMS — as a vital tool in the
current campaign. Just six years ago, when Roco first made a run for
VOTER'S VOICE the presidency, mobile telephony was not yet as popular. "Even during
Edsa II (where text messages were credited for mobilizing the civilian
First-time Voter uprising that led to the ouster of Pres. Joseph Estrada), there were less
than 10 million cell-phone users," recalls Tan.
Regular Voter
Today, close to 22 million Filipinos subscribe to a mobile-phone
service. Software allowing communication with cell-phone users are
Non-Voter
also now available, Tan points out, making the ubiquitous mobile the
closest one could get to a killer campaign tool.
Hope and Elections in
Payatas
Still, it's not the only high-tech device being employed in the current
campaign. The decidedly younger voters are making sure the new
technologies of their generation are spicing it up, and that means going
THE LIGHTER SIDE beyond a popular hand-held gizmo. Indeed, in recent years, the
benefits of technology have managed to turn the political exercise less
Making (Non)Sense of
of a throwback from the first-ever held local polls in Bulacan more than
Politics a century ago, resulting in campaigns that have become more and
more wired.
Election Lexicon
The Internet has even encouraged online campaigning not just by
Quickie Quiz for the candidates but also by individuals and organizations wishing to
Politically Insane contribute to voter awareness-raising and education. Since the 1998
presidential elections, private citizen-led efforts carrying a strong anti-
All these from i’s special trapo (traditional politician) sentiment to enlighten voters about their
election issue chosen candidates have come and gone. Marvin Bionat's Philippine
Update continues to have a section on elections and has recently
spawned an online movement called Talsik! (short for its battlecry
Tanggalin ang mga Linta, Sagabal, Inutil at Kurakot sa Gobyerno!). A
mailing list, Talsik e-group, serves as a venue for advocates of good
governance to address and find ways to solve corruption and
incompetence in government.

The May 2001 polls, meanwhile, gave birth to election portals like
eBantay.com, Vote.ph, Whotovote.com, e-Leksiyon.com,
Halalan2001.com, pinoyelections.net. These invariably contained
Order your copy now!
election-related information and databases covering national and local
bets.

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Campaigns on the High-Tech Road

Today, the profiles, platforms and stands on issues of the presidential,

discuss this
vice-presidential and senatorial candidates are offered by independent
article
sites like Election2004.ph, VoteWisely.com, philelection.com, and
in our e-forum
the special coverage of the mainstream media, in particular the
Philippine Daily Inquirer and GMA Network's Eleksyon 2004 and ABS-
CBN's Halalan '04.

Election2004.ph is maintained
as a free service by
SparrowInteractive.com, a
small Filipino-owned web
development company. The
site has run into a glitch,
though. A month into the
campaign, visitors to the site
were still asking for the data on
the candidates. According to
site administrator Arnold
A feature of Election2004.ph allows
Gamboa, obtaining the supporters to donate campaign websites
information turned out more for their candidates for a fee.
difficult than they had
anticipated. "We found out that only few of them use the Internet," he
says. "So we have to 'manually' get their profiles by meeting with them
(or their campaign team)."

Election2004.ph decided to
experiment on new features that
allow candidates or their
campaign team to submit their
profiles to the site. Another
feature lets supporters donate a campaign website for their candidates
complete with a dotcom domain and two email addresses for a one-
time fee of P50,000. Presidential candidate Eddie Villanueva, who now
has a donated website hosted by Election2004.ph, is even inviting
supporters to text his campaign (2950) if they want to volunteer their
services.

For the same fee a month, national candidates can also join
VoteWisely.com's discussion forums, interact with voters, and have
their profiles posted on the website.

Looser in feel and content are the weblogs or blogs written by politics-
obsessed netizens who have dedicated their pages to election-related
information, either as a news-filtering service or plain self-indulgence.

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Campaigns on the High-Tech Road

The beauty of some of the election blogs is that they are helping
provide a critical appraisal of election issues and are therefore an
alternative reading fare to what is found in the media. Among the more
interesting reads are entries in weblogs like A Sassy Lawyer in
Philippine Suburbia, Crazy Pundit, and Bulletproof Vest: Elections
2004.

Techies, however, say weblogs can also be useful to candidates who

need a direct communications channel to get their views across to the
voting populace. Because blogs employ a recent technique in RSS
(short for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication), a
syndication format for sharing headlines and other Web content, news
and information from a variety of sources — candidates, political
parties, the media, and even fellow bloggers — are easily collated,
distributed and made available to users.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Songs in the Key of Politics

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 9 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
Filipinos love to sing — especially when they're campaigning.
THE CAMPAIGN
by George S. Caparas
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting

IN A country as crazy
The X-Men: The Story about music as the
of Activists-Turned Philippines, it is not
Political Consultants surprising that even politics
has a soundtrack. Long
With a Little Help from before showbiz and media
(U.S.) Friends personalities dominated
Philippine political life,
Much Ado about
music was already part of
Numbers it, from the revolutionary
songs that boosted the
morale of the indios Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos use their singing
Campaigning, Filipino
revolting against the talents to win votes.
Style
Spaniards, to the different
anthems Filipinos were made to sing before they were finally able to
Spinning the News belt out "Lupang Hinirang" in public.

Half-truths in Song merged with struggle to form new musical languages during the
Advertising colonial times. The late 19th-century kundiman (love song), for
example, gave frame and form to subversive war songs during the
Campaigns on the High- revolution. Being courted was not a woman, but freedom for the
Tech Road Motherland, most famously embodied as "Jocelynang Baliwag." The
songs of lament would continue even after the Spaniards left, and
through the American and Japanese occupations. When elections
finally became part of the Philippine political life, though, music
PHOTO ESSAY remained as a constant presence, and it was only a matter of time
before campaign jingles caught the politicians' — and the public's —
The Presidency as fancy.
Image

A jingle is basically a candidate's musical score, but its usefulness lies

in its being a mnemonic device that compresses name, program, and

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Songs in the Key of Politics

ELECTION platform into a two-minute rhyme. The best ones play endlessly in
PERSPECTIVES one's head. Blaring relentlessly from motorcades and speakers, a jingle
enlivens the crowd before the big speech. Its mission is simple: Disarm
Elections are like Water the voter with a good harmony before drilling the message home.
Speeches are all the same and easily forgotten, but a great jingle
lingers.
Between Tinsel and
Trapo
That is why much care is given to the selection of a candidate's theme
song. From Senator Panfilo Lacson's "Si Ping ang Kinabukasan (Ping
The Enigma of the
is the Future)," to former Senator Raul Roco's "Iisang Bangka (One
Popular Will
Boat)," to President Gloria Arroyo's energetic "Go, Go, Gloria!" the
campaign jingle has been an election staple for the last 50 years. Even
neophytes Fernando Poe Jr. and Eddie Villanueva have their own
VOTER'S VOICE jingles. They appeal to the Filipinos' melodic sensibilities,
inventiveness, and political preoccupation. And like the government of
First-time Voter this country, their origins can be traced to America.

Regular Voter Political songs emerged in the land that would be the United States of
America as early as the 1700s. They were elegies lamenting the pains
of a nation being born-identity, oppression, injustice, and class
Non-Voter
struggle. By the 1780s came the first known election song for America's
first president: "God Save George Washington" was sung to the
Hope and Elections in melody of "God Save the Queen." It also began a tradition where
Payatas election jingles were sung "to the tune of" an existing popular
composition.

THE LIGHTER SIDE With the advent of published sheet music in the early 20th century and
the introduction of radio sets, the ground was set for an innovative
Making (Non)Sense of medium to be exploited by the American capitalist spirit. A mix of clever
Politics lyrics and a memorable tune gave birth to the advertising jingle.
Salesmen used it to ply pianos, typewriters, tobacco, and petroleum.
Election Lexicon Astute politicians later adapted this template to sell themselves to the
American public. Most notable among them was the Depression-era
and World War II President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His theme to lift
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane America's morale was the optimistic "Happy Days Are Here Again."

All these from i’s special

election issue
ALL THESE developments would filter into the Philippines, but it would
only be after the war that Filipino politicians would have real use for
campaign jingles. The first to use one was Manila city mayor Arsenio H.
Lacson. Riding an emerging American musical trend of sensual African
drumbeats and Cuban rhythms, the "Lacson Mambo" contributed to the
mayor's victories in 1951, 1955, and 1959. Bloc voting had been
abolished in 1951, which meant that major party affiliation was no
guarantee of election success. Each candidate was left to his own
campaign initiatives. This was a time when there was one radio for
every 100 Filipino and television was just being introduced to a mass
market. Nevertheless, Filipinos made sure they were up to date with
musical trends from overseas, and the mambo had just the right mix of
Order your copy now! Latin beat and Hollywood flair to catch their attention.

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Songs in the Key of Politics

At the time, the country's charismatic defense secretary, Ramon

discuss this Magsaysay, was about to run for president. He was quick to take the
article public's musical cue. Composed by Raul S. Manglapus, the syncopated
in our e-forum rhythms of "Mambo Magsaysay" soon had Filipinos tapping their feet
and swaying their hips. But the infectious song's charm also lay in its
straightforward English-Tagalog lyrics:

Everywhere that you would look/was a bandit or a

crook/
Peace and order was a joke/'til Magsaysay pumasok/
That is why, that is why/ you will hear the people cry/
Our democracy will die kung wala si Magsaysay.

The jingle was crafted around Magsaysay's image as a fighter against

communist guerrillas. It was one the United States adored. The words
seem harmless. But in the context of America's concern with
communism infiltrating Southeast Asia, a different shade surfaces. "Our
democracy will die kung wala si Magsaysay" is a faint reminder that
Magsaysay — and only Magsaysay — could save this nation from the
communists. (Gentle persuasion or subtle mind control is the listener's
prerogative.)

The song also complemented the defense secretary's American-style

"Magsaysay is My Guy" slogan, which the candidate brought to life by
being the first to go to the mountains and barrios to personally talk to
the people and shake their hands. Previous candidates had either
refused to campaign actively or left the road trips to their party's
lieutenants. The people decided it was really time to "Mambo na!" and
voted the burly Magsaysay as president in 1953.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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The Presidency as Image

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 6 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
Candidates and their image makers do the best they can to
THE CAMPAIGN project images that strike a chord among voters.

First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting (This article is based on the PCIJ documentary, Papogi: The Imaging of Philippine
Presidents, that will air on ABS-CBN 2 at 9 p.m., Friday, May 7, 2004.)
The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned
Political Consultants POLITICS is no longer just
addition. In the age of mass
With a Little Help from
media, politics is image
(U.S.) Friends
making. Amplified by television
and advertising, a politician's
image in the public's collective
Much Ado about mind is greater than the sum of
Numbers
his actual attributes, assets,
and accomplishments.
Campaigning, Filipino
Style
Much of the behavior of 21st-
century Filipino voters is based
Spinning the News Manuel Quezon tried to bring the
on images they have of presidency closer to the people by being
Philippine government and photographed doing the things that
Campaigns on the High- society: Some of these images common folk do, like planting rice. Unlike
Tech Road may have little basis in fact but most farmers, though, the president
they are very real to voters, so donned rubber boots in the paddies.
Quezon set the template for future
much so that even governance Philippine presidents who up to now make
Songs in the Key of
Politics
itself has become a the obligatory visit to the ricefields.
competition for images or
between images.

PHOTO ESSAY An effective president is one who has projected an effective image of
himself. For this reason, a skillful spin doctor (more than, say, a good
The Presidency as secretary of health) has become the star player of a president's team.
Image After all, what would be the use of a good health-insurance scheme if
the public did not perceive it as a manifestation of a leader's caring
concern for her people? Then there's also the political opposition,

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The Presidency as Image

ELECTION which attempts to picture every act of governance as yet another

PERSPECTIVES opportunity for graft and corruption, the obligatory "goons" in the soap
opera of Filipino politics. And so the show goes on, airing nightly on
Elections are like Water television and reviewed daily in the newspapers until the next elections.
Fleeting images take on the feel of real life, and the public is entranced.
Between Tinsel and
Trapo The primacy of image can be blamed partly on U.S. influence. U.S.
politics has at always been more image- and personality-oriented than
say, the party politics of Europe, which is marked by the distinct and
The Enigma of the
widely divergent ideologies of contending parties. Our founding fathers
Popular Will
starting from Manuel Quezon were ardent students of U.S. politics.
Until he came along, Filipino politicians were mainly in the Spanish-
schooled, 19th-century ilustrado mode of long speeches written in
VOTER'S VOICE flowery prose and phrased in an alien tongue.

First-time Voter But Quezon belonged to the 20th century. Through his travels to the
United States in the early 1900s, he became keenly ware of the
Regular Voter influence of the mass media in politics and of how politicians could use
newspapers, radio, and the cinema to reach lit to constituents.
Non-Voter
The image that Quezon projected was of a strong leader, but also one
who was reachable to the ordinary Filipino. Quezon made sure that the
Hope and Elections in
photographs and even the anecdotes that were disseminated about
Payatas
him conformed to this image. Although he was weak and tubercular,
especially in the latter years of his presidency, the newspapers (many
of which were owned by his cronies) showed him strong and healthy,
THE LIGHTER SIDE unless it was politically useful for him to appear sick.

Making (Non)Sense of Most of all, Quezon projected himself as the man who was the
Politics embodiment of national pride, an equal to the foreigner, as tall, as good-
looking, and as authoritative as they were. His mestizo good looks
Election Lexicon were definitely an asset. He was also always fashionably and very well
dressed. Photographs of that era showed him either in regal and
Quickie Quiz for the presidential poses — his head held high in the company of high U.S.
Politically Insane officials or looking manly but also at ease in knee-high leather boots.
This was, after all, the sort of leader who was needed at a time when
All these from i’s special Filipinos were negotiating independence from the United States: an
election issue important-looking man respected by the colonial masters but who also
articulated the aspirations of his people.

Quezon was facile in both English and Spanish but was a Tagalog, so
he spoke the native tongue quite well, thus strengthening the image of
being equal to the Americans while also being accessible to his own
countrymen. "His secret," says his grandson, columnist Manuel Quezon
III, "was that even if he spoke English very well, he strived to
communicate directly to the voters. He was the one who started
speaking at town plazas, then climbing down the stage, and
approaching people. He would disappear and his security men would
find him at a sari-sari store, talking to people."
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The Presidency as Image

Quezon was therefore the precursor of the modem Filipino politician.

His succesors would also strive for this simultaneous projection of
discuss this power and accessibility It can be said that in their own ways Ramon
article Magsaysay, Ferdinand Marcos, even Joseph Estrada tried to do their
in our e-forum own versions of the Quezonian politician, adding their own individual
traits to the mold that had been cast by one of the most forceful and
colorful leaders in Philippine history.

Unsurprisingly, photographs would show succeeding presidents in the

poses that Quezon made famous: planting rice with farmers, being
among ordinary folk, and holding the head high when in the company
of foreigners.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Elections are like Water

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 7 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
The stakes in Philippine elections have been fundamental.
THE CAMPAIGN For many, what is at stake is their future and their hope for a
better life.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Manuel Quezon III

The X-Men: The Story ELECTIONS are like water, missed only in its absence. For the
of Activists-Turned overwhelming majority of Filipinos who have no recollection of life
Political Consultants before martial law, elections are like water: a requisite for political life,
as essential for the body politic as water is for the human body. But for
With a Little Help from the older generation, elections are like water: In that, as they view the
(U.S.) Friends arid desert that is our current political culture, they yearn for a time
when the political landscape was lush, abloom with idealism, fragrant
Much Ado about with the virtue of the leaders and the led; far, far removed from the
Numbers horrifying sight of a nation tearing itself apart at the polls and beyond.
Elections are like water: a means for cleansing the body politic, a
roaring torrent of votes, channeled, like a river, to clean out the Augean
Campaigning, Filipino
stables every administration seems to become.
Style

In 1935, when the country

Spinning the News
had its first national
election, fully a third of the
Campaigns on the High- voters didn't bother to cast
Tech Road their ballots. We had a
million and a half
Songs in the Key of registered voters then, all
Politics male, all literate. We were
looking forward to self-rule
preparatory to full
independence; it would
PHOTO ESSAY seem logical that the
voters would be interested
The Presidency as in participating in the
Image creation of the foundations
of their future nation state.
But a significant number

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Elections are like Water

were not, and the reason Artwork by Arnold Beroya

ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES they were not should come
as no surprise. The choices at the time were limited: three candidates
Between Tinsel and for president, and of that limited number, one was the overwhelming
Trapo favorite to win. The result was a foregone conclusion, and at a time
when all seemed to be going well, a third of the electorate found no
reason to even bother. Manuel L. Quezon won by a landslide, 68
The Enigma of the
percent of the votes, against Emilio Aguinaldo and Gregorio Aglipay,
Popular Will
neither of whom managed to get even 18 percent of the votes cast. In
1941, with women added to the rosters of qualified voters, the turnout
remained about the same, that is, a third continued to find it pointless to
VOTER'S VOICE vote, even though the incumbent, Quezon, this time got 81 percent of
the vote.
First-time Voter
In the democracies we Filipinos like to envy, a turnout of 66 percent of
Regular Voter the registered voters would be phenomenal; the United States regularly
involves a far smaller percentage of its population in elections that do
not only determine the direction of their country, but which profoundly
Non-Voter
affects the rest of the world as well. The turnout of voters in the
supposedly halcyon days of Philippine democracy before the war
Hope and Elections in points to a defining characteristic of our democracy, which is that a
Payatas sizeable majority of Filipinos have put, and continue to put, great stock
in the voting process. The difference is that the predictable nature of
our political and national development before the war was ended by a
series of shocks and disappointments: the national trauma that was
THE LIGHTER SIDE
World War II.

Making (Non)Sense of
Politics Between 1941 and 1946, the Philippines went through six heads of
government: Manuel L. Quezon, Jorge Vargas, Jose P. Laurel, Sergio
Election Lexicon
Osmeña, and Manuel Roxas, within that five-year period having two
leaders contesting the title of legitimate president of the Philippines
(Laurel sponsored by the Japanese at home; Quezon then Osmeña
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane
sponsored by the Americans in exile). Taking sides was no longer a
political business, it was a bloody business. There were collaborators
and guerrillas, officials in exile and officials in the hills, officials in
All these from i’s special
election issue
Manila claiming to be secret guerrillas or who were overtly pro-
Japanese.

The end of World War II, and the first national elections held after the
wartime trauma, set the stage for elections as we know them today.
The pretense of political virtue, so carefully nurtured prior to the war,
was difficult to sustain in a nation for which voting was a life-or-death
matter. Before World War II, elections were like water in that they took
on a sacramental aspect, the anointing of a leader by his people. After
World War II, elections were like water in that they were viewed as not
only a means to cleanse away filth, but as a fundamental requirement
for survival. Voters torn and divided, who were guerrillas, fake
guerrillas, genuine collaborators or unfairly accused as such, landlords
Order your copy now!
who had fled their estates to seek refuge behind Japanese bayonets
(and who now clung to America for dear life), disgruntled peasants-
whatever their circumstances, survivors all-now had a desperate stake

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Elections are like Water

discuss this in the outcome of elections.

article
in our e-forum In the elections of 1946, genuine guerrillas, radicals, and leaders
ruthlessly defeated during the two decades of Quezon's ascendance in
national life, fought desperately for their time in the sun. Behind Roxas
rallied the orphaned apparatus of Quezon's party machine, both
guerrilla and collaborator, but most importantly those accused of
collaboration for whom political survival offered their only prospects for
rehabilitation and not disgrace. Both sides courted a destitute nation
that viewed independence with mixed excitement and dread, having
been conditioned to think of 1946 as the year in which the carefully-
built-up development of the prewar years would find fruition, only to find
independence would a flag waving over ruins emanating the stench of
death and decay.

A nation literally parched, its infrastructure in ruins, its population

decimated, its ideals proven woefully hollow by the war, viewed
elections like water: And like parched people, the fight for the elections
was desperate. 1946 saw no landslide, but a simple majority. It also
saw vote buying, allegations of vote rigging, and election related
violence on a scale previously inconceivable. It would only get worse in
1949, when Elpidio Quirino won in an election that achieved shocking
notoriety around the world for even raising the dead and drafting flora
and fauna to cast votes. Yet in 1953, the much-anticipated deluge
came, when Ramon Magsaysay beat Quezon's 1935 record by getting
68.9 percent of the votes. But by 1957 Magsaysay was dead; his
successor became the first president by plurality, in a period when the
Philippines of today was being born.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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Between Tinsel and Trapo

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 7 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
The current fixation with celebrities has crowded out the
THE CAMPAIGN trapo, who remain very much alive and kicking.

First-World Techniques, by Sheila S. Coronel

Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story ANYONE who looks at

of Activists-Turned Philippine elections today is
Political Consultants
dazzled by the glitter of
celebrity. How can they not
With a Little Help from be? There are so many stars,
(U.S.) Friends and they shine so brightly, we
all have stardust in our eyes.
Much Ado about
Numbers Although movie stars have
taken part in elections past,
Campaigning, Filipino never in the history of
Style Philippine elections have there
been so many of them
Spinning the News
contesting so many national
and local posts, from the
presidency down to the
Campaigns on the High- mayoralty and vice mayoralty Artwork by Sonny Ramirez
Tech Road of many cities and towns,
including key ones in Metro Manila, where some stars are vying even
Songs in the Key of for the barangay council. The celebrities-from the movies, television,
Politics radio, and sports-are such a high-profile and glittering presence on the
stage of national politics that they crowd out all the others.

PHOTO ESSAY This invasion by tinseltown has made for giddy, fan-club politics.
Blinded by the klieg lights, we find it difficult to see clearly. The
mainstream thinking is that the showbiz domination of our starstruck
The Presidency as
Image
politics shows an unbridled populism, a democracy gone totally
celebrity-mad. Unsurprisingly, foreign commentaries on the Philippines
have found it difficult to take the country seriously. They focus instead

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Between Tinsel and Trapo

ELECTION on the craziness of our politics, its superficiality and utter inability to
PERSPECTIVES focus on platforms and issues. In Singapore, Malaysia, and elsewhere,
the Philippine is considered a laughing stock, the best argument
Elections are like Water against democracy, a living example of everything that can go wrong
with too much freedom. Local commentators, meanwhile, despair about
the masa, who they say have been seduced by silver-screen messiahs
The Enigma of the
who offer deliverance from the afflictions of real life.
Popular Will

But the runaway populism, the democracy gone berserk is just half the
story. The problem with the Philippines is not that we have too much
VOTER'S VOICE democracy. It is that we have too little of it. It is not that the masa have
too much power. It is that they are so bereft of it. Over the years, power
First-time Voter and wealth have remained so concentrated that the dissonance
between an overdeveloped electoral politics and an underdeveloped
Regular Voter
social base for democracy has become very stark indeed.

Non-Voter In the Philippines, the social pyramid is very skewed: The richest 20
percent of the population account for nearly 55 percent of the national
income (up from 52 percent in 1985), while the poorest 20 percent
Hope and Elections in
have just 4.7 percent (down from 4.8 percent in 1985). At the same
Payatas
time, political power is monopolized by the wealthy and the privileged.
The only power that the poor have is that of numbers, and only recently
have they wielded it as a class.
THE LIGHTER SIDE
The political system therefore is being pulled in two directions at the
Making (Non)Sense of same time: a raucous and inchoate populism on one side and a
Politics deepening inequality on the other. The push and pull in opposite
directions has so strained the system that it is in danger of coming
Election Lexicon apart. Sooner or later, something has to give.

Quickie Quiz for the The opposites, however, are also intimately linked and mutually
Politically Insane reinforcing. The electorate is star-crazed precisely because old-style
politics and politicians have only caused them so much grief. Left out of
All these from i’s special the loop, the poor seek deliverance from outside the system that has
election issue excluded them. The current popularity of the likes of movie king
Fernando Poe Jr. among the lowest social strata is not so much fan-
club hysteria as it is a rebellion against the wealthy and the powerful. It
is therefore inaccurate to say that this election, like the ones before it,
is not about issues. The celebrity vote is essentially a protest vote-an
expression of deeply held aspirations for a more inclusive political
system.

Why such class rebellion should take the form of a movie-star

millenarianism has been explained in terms of the profound changes
that are taking place in the Philippine polity. Rapid urbanization,
increasing media penetration, the decline of agriculture and of
Order your copy now! traditional patrons such as landlords, and the rise of new social forces
and movements are changing the way in which elections are fought.
Voters are searching for new leaders, and the election of celebrities
discuss this reflect their as yet amorphous aspirations. The preference for

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Between Tinsel and Trapo

article celebrities reflects populist choices based on media exposure and the
in our e-forum projection of images on the cinema or television screen.

The mass media have taken a large share of the blame for the
"celebritification" of Philippine politics. They are the ones, after all, who
celebrate the cult of celebrity and benefit from the commerce generated
by it. By encouraging debate and exposing the rot in political life, they
have also made people cynical about politics and demonized traditional
politicians, or trapo, in the public's eyes. Thus, voters have eschewed
education, political experience, and old wealth as criteria for electing
national officials. Given weak political parties unable to organize class
constituencies and to offer alternative leaders and platforms, the poor
are drawn toward celebrity instead.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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The Enigma of the Popular Will

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 7 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories

THE CAMPAIGN Filipinos have tended to vote to the Senate leaders with
diverse interests and ambitions, allowing that body to serve
First-World Techniques, as a "tempering platform" where extreme views find a middle
Third-World Setting
ground.
The X-Men: The Story
by Patricio N. Abinales
of Activists-Turned
Political Consultants

WHEN it comes to
With a Little Help from
(U.S.) Friends
elections, academics and
opinion makers are often
divided between those who
Much Ado about see these exercises as
Numbers
rituals that defend the
interests of the most
Campaigning, Filipino undemocratic elements in
Style society, and those who
credit elections for
Spinning the News deposing autocratic
leaders and restoring the
democratic "rules of the
Campaigns on the High-
game." Political analyst
Tech Road
Jennifer Franco, however, Artwork by Arnold Beroya
suggests a third option. In
Songs in the Key of her exceptional-but-largely-unappreciated book, Campaigning for
Politics Democracy: Grassroots Citizenship Movements, Less-than-Democratic
Elections and Regime Transition in the Philippines (2001), Franco
argues that elections embody discrepant features: their corrupt and
PHOTO ESSAY
politically instrumentalist currents co-exist and sometimes even blend
with more progressive and ethically-driven elements.
The Presidency as
Image Elections are therefore not simply episodes in vote buying or
intimidation; they are also occasions when reformists can gain the
upper hand against entrenched patronage-driven or authoritarian

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The Enigma of the Popular Will

ELECTION opponents. These moments of transformative potential, Franco points

PERSPECTIVES out, are particularly prominent during periods of crisis in which elections
are one of the means employed by contending forces.
Elections are like Water
The classic example that fits Franco's hypothesis is People Power I in
Between Tinsel and 1986, where a variety of forces formed a broad alliance to support the
Trapo candidacy of Corazon Aquino against Ferdinand Marcos. On both sides
of the barricade, political instrumentalism and opportunism intermingled
with progressive intentions. This dynamic was equally played out at the
local level. In Franco's research area site, Cotabato province, a leftwing
VOTER'S VOICE politician backed by the underground communist movement, the
Roman Catholic Church, nongovernmental organizations, and citizens'
First-time Voter groups was able to win a 1987 congressional seat against political
clans rich in largesse and backed by their own "private armies."
Regular Voter
Franco is not alone. Political scientist Benedict Kerklviet, in a 1996
Non-Voter essay titled "Contested Meanings of Elections in the Philippines,"
likewise notes that elections are not mere exercises where those with
the "guns, goons and gold" are expected to win. Filipinos had in fact
Hope and Elections in
tried to make elections be "about legitimacy, fairness and democratic
Payatas
processes." Kerklviet cites a couple of cases where voter-organized
volunteer movements "to keep watch over the polls in all precincts"
have turned out "clean and honest elections." While these efforts may
THE LIGHTER SIDE be limited cases, he says, they nevertheless reveal "people trying to
preserve or create some integrity and honesty in elections and to turn
them into expressions of actual sentiments or evaluations of candidates
Making (Non)Sense of
Politics and issues." Kerklviet concludes: "In so trying, they engage and
oppose those who have different, often sinister understandings of what
elections are all about. From time to time, these conflicting views of
Election Lexicon
elections burst onto the national scene as major confrontation."
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane

FRANCO and Kerklviet anchor their reconsiderations on what U.S.

All these from i’s special
election issue
political scientists call "periods of critical realignment," i.e., when
electoral results signal a fundamental shift in either popular political
preferences (from Democratic to Republican and vice-versa) or in the
manner of governance (from a political system of states, courts, and
parties, to a different one anchored on the powers of the federal
government). But they need not limit themselves to these unusual
(episodic?) conjunctures to prove their point. For in fact, even "normal"
elections themselves are occasions where voters with discrepant but
overlapping motives often send to the halls of power leaders with
diverse interests and ambitions. The trend is particularly evident in the
Senate, whose at-large members are elected in nationwide campaigns.

While conservatives may have dominated the Senate, Filipinos have

Order your copy now!
also elected liberals, leftwing sympathizers, actors and comedians,
orators, demagogues, and military officers frequently enough to pose a
challenge to entrenched conservative elites. And while in other
discuss this societies, some nationalists also turned out to be corrupt or

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The Enigma of the Popular Will

article opportunistic, the case histories of leading Filipino nationalist senators

in our e-forum show, among other things, that they were voted to the Senate because
of their perceived incorruptibility. Kerklviet writes that in a scan of the
"landscape of national elected officials, one sees Senators Jose
Diokno, Jovito Salonga, and Lorenzo Tañada, among others, whose
campaigns, while not devoid of distasteful practices, were generally
respectable and upright. These politicians attracted genuine support
and enthusiasm for their stances on issues, their character, and their
reputations as decent and fair public servants."

The politics inside the Senate have, in turn, come to reflect this
diversity. Alongside blatantly interest-driven, reactionary, and frivolous
laws passed by the chamber have been the most progressive
ordinances of the country's legal system. Alongside laws that renamed
streets after politicians or families, the Senate has also approved one
of the most stringent regulations against rape and domestic abuse in
Asia. Already the anti-rape law has sent a once-powerful northern
Mindanao congressman to a two-life jail term. A family legal code
contains some conservative provisions that represent the powerful
influence of the Roman Catholic Church (anti-divorce), but it also
includes provisos that strongly protect the rights of the child.

A chamber often dominated by men, the Senate, along with the House
of Representatives, could pass laws against human trafficking and the
violence against women. And while the country's legislature has
generally sided with the president when it comes to maintaining the
close alliance between the United States and the Philippines, the
Senate had also shown remarkable independence at certain periods-it
voted in 1991 to terminate the military bases agreement between the
two countries despite the intense lobbying of then President Aquino for
its retention.

More importantly, the Senate has functioned as a "tempering platform"

where extreme and antagonistic political interests are compelled to find
the middle ground in order to pass a law, define the parameters of a
debate, or conduct a legislative inquiry. For a politician or reformist to
succeed, he or she must learn how to scale down his or her objectives.
The Senate represents voters' desire that their political representatives
reach a middle ground to enable the country's politics to move forward.
A leader who would continue to stand by his or her extremist political
position (e.g., openly advocate the overthrow of the state either by
radical revolution or the coup) generally never survived the electoral
process. In the Senate, the radical is often compelled to learn the art of
accommodation and negotiation with more conservative counterparts in
order to prepare bills and pass laws.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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The Enigma of the Popular Will

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Voter's Voice | First-time Voter

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
by Rachelle Grace San Pedro
THE CAMPAIGN 19 years old
College student, Ateneo de Manila University
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
THE MOMENT my form was put inside the "Registered Voters" box, I
The X-Men: The Story of felt ecstatic. Come election day, I would be heard. Me, a simple
Activists-Turned Political teenager just trying to get through school, a girl who can't even decide
Consultants on what to wear for the day, could actually make a difference.

With a Little Help from When I was a younger, I looked with envy at the adults and their purple-
(U.S.) Friends marked fingers. My dad let me tag along with him to the voting precinct
and although it was always hot and crowded, I didn't mind. I always
Much Ado about peeked to see whom my dad voted for and I'd ask him a lot of
Numbers questions. Afterward, we would go to the family home and the entire
San Pedro clan would follow the poll newscasts and vote counting. I'd
ask my aunts and uncles whom they voted for and make my own tally.
Campaigning, Filipino
Style
Guessing who would win was such an interesting game for me. I
listened to the adults as they debated the merits and demerits of
certain candidates. Elections excited me. Although I didn't understand
Spinning the News much, I felt involved and smart just the same.

Half-Truths in Now I am actually going to be a part of the big event. Enduring the
Advertising
agony of registering was no mean feat. The lines were annoyingly long
and a lot of people cut in. The Comelec representatives and volunteers
Campaigns on the High- weren't much help, and a process that was supposed to take just five
Tech Road minutes took me half a day to complete. I'm not surprised that a lot of
my friends didn't even bother to register. I personally believe in
Songs in the Key of exercising the right of suffrage but now I understand why registering
Politics and voting fails to appeal to teenagers. If the choice is between
spending a day at an air-conditioned mall or at crowded city hall, which
do you think teenagers would pick?
PHOTO ESSAY
But since I've gone through the chaos they call registration, I want to
The Presidency as
make sure that my vote would be an intelligent one. Early on, I'd set out

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Voter's Voice | First-time Voter

Image to determine the candidates I would support. I helped organize a

political awareness project at school, caught television shows that
featured the candidates and their representatives, read about the
campaigns and the muckraking in the newspapers, etc. Honestly, I
ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES
think the campaign efforts are a bit too much-especially the
commercials with the songs that appeal to the masses and the celebrity
endorsements. And then there's all the mudslinging. People are not
Elections are like Water
dumb. We know the reason why so many issues about current
"presidentiables" are being given concern now is because of the
Between Tinsel and plotting of their rivals. And surveys? They are being released to
Trapo "condition" the minds of the masses.

The Enigma of the Now I realize that voting — more so voting intelligently — isn't all that
Popular Will easy. The more I get to know about the candidates, the harder it has
become deciding whom to vote for. I admit to excluding particular
politicians from my shortlist but I have since reconsidered. Initially, I
also was leaning toward a certain presidential candidate, but after a
VOTER'S VOICE
more objective and less fanatic assessment, I saw some loopholes in
the platform and even the character of my former idol.
Regular Voter

I'm really starting to see how there is so much politics, so much porma.
Non-Voter
Candidates will do everything to win. Of course they are running to win,
but I think they should also show who they really are to the people in
the process. There is so much hype. They are all building images.
THE LIGHTER SIDE People want a real president. Choosing who would lead our country is
much more complicated than taking a pick among suitors. It's not just a
Making (Non)Sense of
personal choice. It involves the rest of the Philippine population.
Politics
The country is facing a myriad of problems, all of which need attention.
Election Lexicon But I personally believe we can't solve the other problems if we don't
start from the roots. Structural reformation/structural adjustment is my
Quickie Quiz for the main concern. The bureaucracy should be made more efficient (fight
Politically Insane corruption/cut red tape). Policies for the preservation of law and order
should be enforced. Citizens' welfare should be promoted, primarily
All these from i’s special through education.
election issue
Considering the country's situation, we can't have just a popular
president. We need someone who could really effect changed, and for
me a leader could only do that if he or she has the intellect-experience-
character combo.

Right now, my dilemma is that the person I'd like to vote for is different
from the one I deem to be the most qualified. There is also the issue of
winnability. Should I make a statement and vote for a candidate even if
he or she is unpopular or should I cast a "productive" vote and choose
the winnable lesser evil? The categories by which to judge the
candidates are also problematic. Voters have to compromise; it seems
Order your copy now! intelligence, experience, heart, and character cannot be found in just
one candidate. All the issues, the platforms, the words said, and the
things done are all so confusing. Those who claimed voting is a big

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Voter's Voice | First-time Voter

discuss this responsibility were not joking.

article
in our e-forum On May 10, I am going to cast my very first ballot. I'm still not sure
whom I would vote for but I am sure of some things: I will still peek at
my dad's ballot. I will tally my aunts' and uncles' votes. The entire family
will watch the election special. But this time, I will understand what the
election really means. I now recognize that polls are not the glamorous
festivities I had thought them to be when I was a child. And so, I will be
looking at the national elections from a different, more real, and more
meaningful perspective-one of a responsible first-time voter.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Voter's Voice | Regular Voter

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 9 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories

THE CAMPAIGN by Bobby Valentin

56 years old
First-World Techniques, Graduate school professor, De La Salle University
Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story of THIS MAY, I will once more be casting my precious vote to seek a
Activists-Turned Political president. This has become a ritual for me, just like the annual
Consultants Christmases and Holy Weeks of Christendom, although the presidential
election now comes every six years. But this ritual has another twist: I
With a Little Help from
am king in it, and I have always been so in the previous eight or nine
(U.S.) Friends
times that I have gone through it.

Much Ado about I am king in each election because every time, I choose who will lead
Numbers me and my country. It is a duty I take very seriously, and I want not
only for my vote to be counted, but also for it to be a product of prudent
study.
Campaigning, Filipino
Style
I have always tried to be very careful about whom I vote for, and so far
I have had no regrets. This time around, I will once again exercise
Spinning the News
judicious caution in my selection — to elect someone who will lead our
country out of this quagmire of myriad problems that make us the sick
Half-Truths in man of Asia. I want to elect a leader who will protect specific national
Advertising interests like education, peace and order, senior-citizen and youth
welfare, the economy, and health services, and prioritize these in
Campaigns on the High- accordance with the circumstances that prevail.
Tech Road

All candidates will understandably be wooing the citizenry's vote. So

Songs in the Key of far, candidates for national posts are conducting spirited but very
Politics professional campaigns. When the campaign period begins for the
local elections, however, I expect things to get dirtier.

PHOTO ESSAY It is incumbent upon me to look at the candidates' social, economic and
political platforms, their convictions in life, their way of thinking, even
The Presidency as their jargon, so that I will be able to cast what I hope to be an intelligent

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Voter's Voice | Regular Voter

Image vote. I know it is every Filipino's dream that someday, our country will
rise and progress to the heights of prosperity — a tiger economy, so to
speak — and provide a superior quality of life for all of us. I believe that
this is possible if the electorate goes all out in its efforts to come up
ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES
with a wise decision. Through the years I have found that it pays to do
some research and conduct informal queries — asking everyone, from
my own family to my students, to even mall salespersons and ambulant
Elections are like Water
vendors — to help me come up with a selection that balances idealism
with reality. If we set aside our initial biases and do some spadework,
Between Tinsel and however crude, we can all go to that polling booth with confidence and
Trapo conviction.

The Enigma of the I will vote because I believe it is my civic duty to do so. I will even
Popular Will encourage all members of our household, including those providing
support services, as well as neighbors and friends, to vote. Voter
turnout is an important measure of this democratic process we call
elections. Low-voter turnout means a lot to political analysts, crystal
VOTER'S VOICE
ball readers, media practitioners, and stock speculators. Some of these
people may claim, for instance, that because of low-voter turnout, the
First-time Voter
election results do not reflect the true sentiment of the electorate, and
that therefore the just-concluded voting was simply a sham. "We
Non-Voter deserve whom we elect," political pundits would say. Each of these
people is of course entitled to his own opinion. As for me, I want the
election results to be fully representative of the nation's will.
THE LIGHTER SIDE
I will vote because I love my country that has nurtured me since birth. I
Making (Non)Sense of
will not allow someone who is mediocre, incompetent, and/or corrupt to
Politics hold the reins of government and bring the country to ruin. If I do not
vote, this type of candidate may eventually win. By then, the only thing I
Election Lexicon
would be able to do would be to accuse myself of apathy and
negligence — and of being party to the perdition and chaos that may
ensue. I think of our children and our country's future each time I queue
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane
up at the election precinct to fill up my ballot. Voting means putting the
right people to the proper positions of the government of the country
that you love and owe allegiance to. I wish to one day help break the
All these from i’s special
election issue
Quezonian prophecy by electing a government "run like heaven by
Filipinos." Ludicrous dream, you may say, but I believe that this is not
as impossible as it may seem.

Of course I will vote because I want my candidate to win, whoever he

or she may be. Like any other voter, I fantasize that my candidate
would win by a tremendous landslide. But reality often comes too soon,
when the initial canvassing returns are published in the papers. Yet, in
the last two decades, I have had no reason to despair because I
always did what a responsible Filipino should do: I accepted being king
for a day and participated in the shaping of my country's future.

Order your copy now!

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Voter's Voice | Regular Voter

discuss this Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

article PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
in our e-forum

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Voter's Voice | Non-Voter

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 9 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories

THE CAMPAIGN by Katrina Stuart Santiago

27 years old
First-World Techniques, Freelance researcher/writer/editor
Third-World Setting

The X-Men: The Story of NO, THIS isn't about apathy and a lack of interest in my country's
Activists-Turned Political affairs. Neither is this simply about how the roster of candidates and
Consultants their non-platforms have so stupefied me, I can't bring myself to even
think of voting. While the start of election season has seen me going
With a Little Help from
through varying degrees of dismay, disgust, and distress, it's not just
(U.S.) Friends
these that have made me decide not to take part in the May elections.
Truth is, long before GMA flip-flopped on her decision not to run, ever
since Edsa Dos when the unified mob that stood up against Erap
Much Ado about
decided to go their separate ways — some home, some with Cardinal
Numbers
Sin to pray, some with the Left to Mendiola — I have been finding many
reasons not to vote, not least of which are the worsening poverty
Campaigning, Filipino alongside a ballooning foreign debt, and the escalating presence of
Style America in our land.

Spinning the News But the main reason goes beyond government and politics and into the
state of our minds. I've decided not to vote because over the last three
Half-Truths in years I've realized that we — the so-called "educated," the middle to
Advertising upper class "intelligent" and "enlightened" sector, the ones who read
and write essays like this, including politicians — are actually all in over
Campaigns on the High-
our heads, unable to make sense of our political and economic
Tech Road troubles, and incapable of working together toward real change. Worse,
we actually think we are doing enough for the nation when we blindly
Songs in the Key of
accept and promote the Establishment's propaganda that we need to
Politics
celebrate our democracy with the vote even when the choices for
president are all questionable.

How can we be at fault, you may ask. After all, we are the print and
PHOTO ESSAY television personalities who fashion ourselves (or are fashioned) as
"intellectuals" (sometimes academics) and who make it our business to
The Presidency as be critical and to look out for the nation. We are the entrepreneurs who

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Voter's Voice | Non-Voter

Image provide jobs, the individuals who build NGOs to help neglected sectors.
We stood up to the Marcos dictatorship and stopped tanks in 1986,
then marched again to Edsa in 2001. We would like to think that we
work and live for self and nation. The question is, are our efforts getting
ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES
the country anywhere near the goal of a happier, prouder democracy?

Elections are like Water Nowhere near, I would say, considering that even the Philippine Daily
Inquirer's Conrado de Quiros only goes as far as saying that we are
responsible for the ignorant masa, but doesn't tell us what he thinks we
Between Tinsel and
should do about it. Talk shows, like ANC's "Talkback" with Tina
Trapo
Monzon Palma can only ask questions like "Do political ads affect your
vote?" as if the answer weren't obvious. And on GMA 7, "Debate's"
The Enigma of the Pareng Oca and Mareng Winnie are still stuck, still asking if a
Popular Will candidate's personal life is important, as if there weren't other, more
important, questions begging to be asked.

VOTER'S VOICE The middle and upper classes happily go their separate shallow ways,
content to do some good for some marginalized sector or other, but not
First-time Voter to work on the flawed system to which it belongs. We've become so
swift to label each other (Communist! Rejectionist! Sell-out! even
Fascist!) as though this were the be-all and end-all of any person,
Regular Voter
never mind that his or her proposed solution to a national problem may
have merit. And for fear of being labeled ourselves and lose our
readers/fans/supporters — even present and future jobs — we have
THE LIGHTER SIDE become very careful of what we say, and who or what we endorse, in
public. It's self-censorship at its best.
Making (Non)Sense of
Politics This is why we can celebrate democracy at the same time that we
allow government to trample on it by disallowing rallies. We can moan
Election Lexicon about the how big the foreign debt is, but we can't bring ourselves to
insist that something be done about it. We say we're pro-Pinoy yet we
Quickie Quiz for the refuse to demand a pro-Pinoy platform of our presidential candidates.
Politically Insane Worse, we do not seem to care, if we've noticed at all, that most of
these candidates have charter change, specifically, changes in
All these from i’s special economic provisions, in their agenda, which should be freaking out
election issue serious pro-Pinoys!

Rightfully so, we are critical and wary of the wholistic solutions

espoused by the extreme Left (communist rule) and the extreme Right
(military rule). Yet we in the middle have yet to come up with a
coherent alternative, a political and economic strategy that would
institute radical changes not only in the way we use and share the
nation's resources and do business among ourselves (Christian and
Muslim alike), but also in the way we share our resources and do
business with the rest of the world. And when someone actually comes
up with something important, a must-read, like Walden Bello's recent
two-part essay on the Philippine economy and what we have been
Order your copy now! doing wrong compared to the rest of tiger Asia ("The tragic
consequences of doctrinaire economics," posted on www.inq7.net,
December 24, 2003), no one prints it, no one reads it, no one takes it
up for discussion.

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Voter's Voice | Non-Voter

discuss this
article Like political analyst Joel Rocamora, I thought for a while that maybe
in our e-forum we could unite behind one candidate (my bet was Roco) and beat FPJ.
But common sense and reality tell me otherwise. As de Quiros says,
along with ABS-CBN and GMA 7 ads, voting is a personal thing. To
vote is an act of conscience, an act of citizenship and freedom.
Unfortunately for this country, this only really means voting for whom
we personally think will do something for us as individuals and our
corresponding ideologies. It's about self-centered concerns, and it
means helping put in the highest position of the land someone who
does not truly measure up.

A boycott may not solve anything, but would voting? The fact is, we
need more than an election to save us from our troubles, and we need
more than an "enlightened" electorate to get a good president. That we
cannot even get ourselves a nationalist candidate is a reflection of how
little we have come to demand of our leaders, and of ourselves. Too
often, we have become like the politicians we complain about-we've
started to believe our own propaganda and think we are doing enough.

At least, if come May 10 enough registered voters boycott the exercise

(which turnout statistics would reflect), it would send the message to
the president-elect that he or she only got the vote and confidence of
the inadequately informed and the politically naive.

In 1992 I campaigned for Salonga in the first-ever election I was

interested in. I was too young to vote, and he lost, but it was the only
election I felt good about.

I voted for Erap in '98 because I believed in his pro-poor program and
his anti-America stand; because too many academics and NGO people
campaigned for him, some even appearing on his lists of advisers;
because I believed then that it was either him or Joe de Venecia, and I
wasn't about to vote for someone who was FVR's anointed candidate
since that would mean having the same kind of governance. Erap was
pretty much the least among all the evils who were running, and he had
all the rhetoric to back him up Three years later, I participated in an
Edsa that did nothing but put GMA in power.

I refuse to put my country through the consequences of another of my

mistakes. I owe it to my country not to vote. This time, I will not settle
for the least among the evils.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

JANUARY - JUNE 2004

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
The residents of Metro Manila's infamous garbage dump are
THE CAMPAIGN
hopeful about elections and the future.
First-World Techniques,
Third-World Setting
by Romel M. Lalata

The X-Men: The Story of

Activists-Turned Political IF THERE ever were such
Consultants a thing as the best time to
go campaigning at the vote-
rich Payatas dumpsite, this
With a Little Help from
summer would be it, when
(U.S.) Friends
the sun is fierce enough to
burn away the usual
Much Ado about miasma hovering over the
Numbers colossal mound of
compacted garbage, and
Campaigning, Filipino when dry winds sweep in
Style constantly to dispel
whatever noxious gases
Spinning the News
the heap belches out. On
days like these, candidates
can campaign freely with
Half-Truths in
no accompanying stink.
Advertising It's too early to tell if dumpsite communities
like Payatas will deliver as much votes to FPJ
Still, it's a riveting sight as they did to Erap back in 1998. For one, FPJ
Campaigns on the High- is not Erap, as some fans of the ousted
even for those who think
Tech Road president have been saying. For another,
that they've seen Payatas today is hardly the dump it once was.
everything, and a national [photo by Sonny Yabao]
Songs in the Key of candidate or two just might
Politics falter somewhere in the middle of a speech because of the scene lying
right before him (or her). After all, the Payatas dumpsite really is the
granddaddy of them all, towering over trees and houses and spread
over some 22 hectares, a behemoth that could easily swallow any of
PHOTO ESSAY
the country' s biggest malls and still have room enough for seconds. It's
a huge, slumbering beast, patiently feeding on as much as a third of
The Presidency as

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

Image Metro Manila's 6,000 tons of garbage everyday, its skin of brown earth
and shredded plastic on a perpetual molt.

ELECTION "It didn't use to be so big," says 50-year-old Lisa Cauding of the
PERSPECTIVES dumpsite, which is just a few steps away from her home. Her family
has lived in the Lupang Pangako, one of the small communities within
Elections are like Water sprawling Payatas, for 14 years now, and she says that "way back
then, it was much farther away and much, much smaller. We couldn't
even see it. "
Between Tinsel and
Trapo
"Just a few years ago, you could still even glimpse jeeps traversing the
road from where we stand," says her husband Jake as he fills up
The Enigma of the
containers with water from a hose snaking from a neighbor's faucet.
Popular Will

The dump was just an unimpressive eyesore in the late 1980s,

although even then it already had the potential to outstrip its more
VOTER'S VOICE notorious ilk in Tondo, Manila-the late, great Smokey Mountain-
because there was just so much space for it to expand into. Only a
First-time Voter couple of bulldozers and few scavengers worked the mound then.
Houses were few and far between, the roads wet and muddy even in
Regular Voter high summer. Communities like Lupang Pangako or Land of Promise
were just a few clumps of houses rising in the distance.
Non-Voter
Now Payatas has about 80,000 residents, with more added to its
population every day. And families like the Caudings have found
themselves living under the garbage dump's shadow, literally.
THE LIGHTER SIDE

It's no wonder action-film-star-turned-presidential-candidate Fernando

Making (Non)Sense of Poe Jr. has great hopes for Payatas, at least in the sense that he
Politics
expects to get a lot of support from this Quezon City barangay of
44,000 registered voters. It is masa, it is poor, it is the kind of
Election Lexicon community that candidates like to say they will lift up and save from the
jaws of destitution and desperation. Already, Poe's recruitment
Quickie Quiz for the headquarters is the most conspicuous-if not the only one-of its kind
Politically Insane there. In February, FPJ also said he would agree to debate with
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo only if it were held in Payatas,
All these from i’s special where people (his supporters obviously) could step in and ask
election issue questions.

FPJ's bosom buddy, former movie actor and deposed President

Joseph 'Erap' Estrada, is still popular with the people there, even after
three years in detention and numerous exposes on the extent of his
corruption. Strategic infusions of government funding by his
administration and simple gestures by Erap himself had seen to that.
Andrew, one of the teenagers loitering near the passenger jeep
terminal, says a bit wistfully, "Erap used to come here often, and not
just during elections."

But it's too early to tell if dumpsite communities like Payatas will deliver
Order your copy now!
as much votes to FPJ as they did to Erap back in 1998. For one, FPJ is

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

not Erap, as some fans of the ousted president have been saying. For
another, Payatas today is hardly the dump it once was.
discuss this
article
in our e-forum
ON THE morning of July 10, 2000, after 15 days of rain, a chunk of the
Payatas dumpsite slid off and buried more than 200 mostly sleeping
residents of Lupang Pangako under tons of muck. Dozens of bodies
remain unrecovered to this day. The tragedy sent the nation reeling in
shock, devastated the career of then Quezon City Mayor Ismael
Mathay Jr., and left the metropolis stinking to high heavens as the
dumpsite was temporarily shut down. It was reopened in November of
the same year only after the Metro Manila Development Authority failed
to find an alternative place for the capital's trash.

Horrible though it was, some good did come out of the July 2000
tragedy. An outpouring of sympathy from the guilt-ridden public and
private sectors eventually saw social services and utilities making their
way into many corners of the communities around the dump. Electricity
became available to almost every household three years ago. The
Caudings now have access to potable, running water as of last year
and it's not at all an issue that it comes from their neighbor's tap. And
even though the pipes cough up water only every other day and only
from two a.m. to 10 a.m. at that, they're not ones to complain. In fact,
they're even glad.

"We used to buy water up there at P5 per container," says Jake,

referring to the main road some 100 meters away. "Now we pay only
P2 to our neighbor for every jug we fill up."

This has had a profound impact on people who have never had it as
easy before, and the resulting shift in attitude toward government is
rather palpable. Oh, residents still have their laments when talk swings
over to the way the country is being run, but these are spoken of matter
of factly now rather than with rancor, or worse, helplessness. To think
that in May 2001, Payatas sent an angry contingent of Estrada
supporters to join the tens of thousands of the city's poor who charged
to Malacañang and threatened the then four-month-old Arroyo
administration.

Visibly shaken, President Arroyo, in her first state-of-the-nation address

a couple of months later, took three children from Payatas and made
aggressive promises to uplift their lives, offering them as a showcase
for the country's poor. Subsequent news reports say that the children
have continued to receive financial assistance and this in turn has
silenced some of the Arroyo government's critics in Payatas. In 2003,
the president herself promised that she would negotiate with private
landowners to buy out the dumpsite property and parcel it out among
the families affected by the July 2000 disaster. The offer was received
with mixed emotions, with some families saying perhaps money would
be better.

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

Nothing has come out of that promise so far. But something has been
taking place in Payatas nevertheless. Even at a glance, Lupang
Pangako, the community closest to the dump, is today suspiciously
unlike the picture of material and spiritual deprivation it has long been
painted to be. The roads are wide and paved and while alleyways are
not, these are at least swept clean by residents themselves at the crack
of dawn. Lot sizes aren't bad; some are even outright enviable. Many of
the houses may be a bit rundown and made up of a hodgepodge of
materials, but they're lovingly kept neat and clean — even the homes
nearest the dump. One can also tell that people began tending gardens
and planting trees almost as soon as they moved in- there are a few
mangoes just putting out their first fruits for the summer and coconut
trees rise straight and tall. There is order here and a good-natured
ambience difficult to find in any part of Metro Manila, bar none. Even
the scavengers have IDs and register themselves with the dumpsite
authorities.

Economic activity has picked up. Near the jeep terminal is a small wet
market, a grocery, and a store selling mineral water. There's a
newspaper stand that carries the major broadsheets. Even scavenging,
though still backbreaking work, brings in more money now.

"They're buying everything these days," explains 19-year-old Andrew of

the ubiquitous junkshops dotting the dumps boundaries. "Someone as
young as I am can easily earn P300 scavenging the whole day and
even as much as P400."

That shouldn't really come as a surprise. Despite the doom and gloom
dished out by the country's newspapers, the economy isn't performing
all that badly. Sure, there's the continuing poor performance of the
peso against the dollar and a dip in government spending due to fiscal
difficulties. But gross domestic product (GDP) was up by 4.5 percent in
2003. Gross national product or GNP, plus income from abroad, hit 5.5
percent growth, higher than the upper end of government's band target
of 4.5 to 5.4 percent.

Plus, this is a community that never gave up in working to better itself.

And in doing so, it seems to have fallen into better times.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

VOTER'S VOICE
— HOPE AND ELECTIONS IN PAYATAS

YET when they first came here, most of the

present residents had little choice.

"This is where government chucked us in

1988," recalls Orlando Wong, 42 and married
with four kids. He used to live along Quezon
Boulevard in the area where the Bantayog ng
mga Bayani and a driving range now stand.
"This was all grassland then," he says, "only
the grass grew as high as the roof. The street
JANUARY - JUNE 2004
was all mud then, you had to go barefoot
Special Election Issue every time you stepped out of the house."

But he decided to stay on, even when the

dump started to grow and spread. There were
Featured Sections times, he says, when they couldn't eat
because it smelled so bad. But he now has a
home standing on a 76-square-meter lot, and
THE CAMPAIGN
for years has been earning his keep
subcontracting the production of baseball
First-World Techniques, Third- gloves for a leather-goods company based in
World Setting Rizal province. The hitch is that the work is
seasonal, lasting only from July to January.
The X-Men: The Story of Activists- But he's not one to complain.
Turned Political Consultants

Wong has also been consistently voting and

With a Little Help from (U.S.) says that elections do bring about some
Friends change. "Our community has become a
magnet for all kinds of social services, more
Much Ado about Numbers so after the disaster struck," he says. When
asked if he still has hope for the country, he
unhesitatingly replies, "The Philippines is
Campaigning, Filipino Style
going to walk the path of growth and
development."
Spinning the News

But he follows through with a mild rebuke.

Half-Truths in Advertising "The problem with our government though is
that there's too much politicking," Wong says
Campaigns on the High-Tech in a calm, measured voice. "Too much politics
Road and too little action."

Songs in the Key of Politics Wong and the Cauding couple belong to a
growing segment of the Payatas population

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

that is finding out that eking out a livelihood

PHOTO ESSAY isn't as difficult as it once was and that their
children now have better options and access
The Presidency as Image to education and even to a life outside of the
dump.

Like Wong, Lisa and Jake have already made

ELECTION PERSPECTIVES
up their minds over whom to vote for president
and are just as pat with their choices among
Elections are like Water the local politicians. Their recently widowed
neighbor, Felicidad Calumang, 52, however, is
Between Tinsel and Trapo still mulling over which of the candidates she'll
pick. She's in no hurry, though. "After all," she
The Enigma of the Popular Will says, "the elections are still far off."

Calumang's indecision may be a consequence

of politicians skipping the dumpsite. According
VOTER'S VOICE to Andrew, none of the presidential candidates
— not even FPJ — has turned up yet to sell
First-time Voter themselves to voters here. And among the
"senatoriables," he says, only film actor and
Regular Voter Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid has so far
passed the closest on his way to a sortie
somewhere else. But national candidates may
Non-Voter
be missing more than potential votes by
bypassing the country's biggest dumpsite
community.
THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of Politics

AN IMPROVING pocket economy isn't the
Election Lexicon
only thing going on in Payatas these days that
merits a closer look. Residents, or the poor in
general for that matter, have had a tradition of
Quickie Quiz for the Politically
Insane
turning out in droves during elections, largely
motivated by partisan politics at the local level
and swayed by populist promises and
All these from i’s special election
issue
charisma a t the national level. But for many of
them now, there is a new impetus to go out
and vote because of a sense of personal duty
to country and to God. For probably the first
time in history, Payatas will be seeing a united
evangelical Christian vote emerging, catalyzed
by the decision of Brother Eddie Villanueva,
spiritual director and international president of
the Jesus is Lord church ministry, to run for
president.

In February this year, Villanueva surprised

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

Order your copy now! everyone by holding the biggest election-

related political rally at the Rizal Park. Initially,
the Western Police District estimated the
number of the rallyists at 2.8 million, but later
revised the figure downward to 981,000. Even
at the lower figure, though, Villanueva's rally
still is undeniably impressive.

Some members of The Breath of Life

Tabernacle Church, one among dozens of
relatively small Bible-based groups in Payatas
(there's even a ragtag church on the dump
itself), were among those who cheered
Villanueva as he gave his political speech
there. Basilio Ocinar, 53 years old and part of
that congregation, wasn't able to make it to
the rally. But he is no less passionate about
what he believes in. "It's our right to vote. As
citizens of our country, we have to vote," he
says, and immediately segues into a more
ardent call. "What this country needs is a true
Christian to finally put an end to corruption, for
a man who has the fear of God in him will do
no sin."

It isn't easy to dismiss the dumpy Ocinar as

someone who has simply had too much of
The Word of God in his diet. He hails from
Samar and — just like Brother Eddie — in his
youth was active in the underground
communist movement. Ocinar was a frontline
organizer, whipping up support for the New
People's Army and quoting passages from
Mao Zedong's Little Red Book. He fled to
Manila and fell into a life of crime that
eventually landed him in jail, earning him a
tattoo on his right hip as a member of the
Batang City Jail gang. He's been into every
vice, from gambling to drugs. Now he is a firm
believer that the key to personal upliftment is
hard and honest work. So though his faith may
color his choices, it may not necessarily cloud
his judgment.

If Ocinar is typical of Villanueva's actively

Christian supporters in Payatas (which he
probably is), then the spiritual leader can very
well give FPJ and GMA, survey topnotchers
both, a run for their money in what many still

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

consider to be solidly Erap — and therefore,

FPJ — country.

On December 31, 2003, the Social Weather

Stations released the result of a survey taken
in November of the same year showing that
90 percent of Filipinos said that they would
enter the New Year with hope. Hope then was
registered highest among the rich and middle
class at 92 percent. It was 91 percent for
Group D.

But sometime into 2004, the paths of group

ABC on the one hand, and that of the poor on
the other, took a fork in the road. If newspaper
columns are at all reflective of middle-class
thinking, one would think that this nation has
sunk into despair and that an FPJ win in the
coming elections will only drive it in deeper.

This is quite a contrast to the mood and the

sentiments of a female member of the Gino
family who lost eight relatives to the Payatas
dumpsite July 2000 tragedy, including her
parents, youngest sister, baby daughter,
parents-in-law, a nephew, and a cousin. "I
have faith in the elections," she says, although
FPJ is not her candidate. "Anyway, God's will
will prevail. I hope there will be a change, my
only wish being that there would be a clear
resolution to our case."

Even 46-year-old scavenger Irma Dina, who

looks old beyond her years, is going to vote,
although up to now she is unsure of her
candidates. Dirty and burnt by the sun, the
migrant from Leyte has been scratching a
living from the dumpsite for last eight years,
sometimes with the help of her asthmatic
husband and asthmatic children. Today she is
alone, since everyone is bedridden; Dina thus
expects to take home only P50, enough to buy
just rice for her family. But she is close to
being content as she'll ever be. Her home has
electricity and water.

Truth to tell, elections have been distracting us

from the best-kept secret of Payatas: that
throughout the years it's not only garbage

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Hope and Elections in Payatas

that's been making its way into the

community. Change, too, has been smuggling
itself in. People there may not know it but
they've been improving their lives although in
such small increments that it's hardly been
noticed by anyone. But now it can be told:
Payatas is bucking the odds stacked against
it, from garbage, poverty, manipulation, and
neglect to campaign promises made and
broken. There is no anger now, only
determination. You can smell it a mile away.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE
JOURNALISM

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Election Lexicon

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 10 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories
POLITICS does strange things to people, especially during elections. In
THE CAMPAIGN the Philippines, among the strangest effects of politics is that people
start talking funny even if they mean to be very serious. The following
First-World Techniques,
are some samples of Pinoy politalk, and what they could mean. Those
Third-World Setting
with asterisks are words that exist only in this country, and used only by
misguided beings:
The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned ● aggrupation* - a constipated term for grouping used by those
Political Consultants who could use some milk of magnesia

With a Little Help from

(U.S.) Friends
● debate - in other lands, an exercise where two sides present
opposing arguments and defend their respective stances; in
Pinoylandia, a roundtable discussion in which clueless
Much Ado about
participants are asked insipid questions, to which they give
Numbers
equally insipid, and sometimes truly idiotic, replies.

Campaigning, Filipino
Style ● earmark - Joe de Venecia's term for allocating pork

Spinning the News

● earned media* - PR-speak for the times candidates say or do
Campaigns on the High- something that is actually newsworthy, thereby meriting
Tech Road coverage without any money changing hands; a fantasy worth
J.K. Rowling's attention.
Songs in the Key of
Politics
● fiscalizer* - not to be mistaken for a type of battery; supposedly
means someone who acts as a monitor or watchdog-two very
good terms that do exist and should be used instead of a made-
PHOTO ESSAY up word like "fiscalizer."

The Presidency as
Image ● makeover - the effort to transform a candidate or official into
something he or she is not, and call it an "improvement"; can
also apply to Max Soliven (although in his case it would be

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Election Lexicon

ELECTION more of a resurrection)

PERSPECTIVES

Elections are like Water ● nuisance candidate - actually a redundant phrase; someone
who wants to run for public office but is likely to run out of
Between Tinsel and
steam even before the race begins
Trapo

● paid media* - another product of PR-speak, meaning

The Enigma of the
advertising, also used to allude to corrupt media practitioners;
Popular Will
not to be confused with underpaid media, which describes the
execrable salary scales in the profession (at least of print).

VOTER'S VOICE
● platform - something constructed by a committee of borrowed
First-time Voter minds so that in case journalists ask, "What's your platform?"
you can whip it out and say, "Here!"
Regular Voter

● pork - the real reason why people run for Congress

Non-Voter

Hope and Elections in ● presidentiable* - supposedly refers to those aiming for

Payatas
Malacañang, and therefore covers even those who really may
not be able to perform the duties of a president should he or
she get elected.
THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of ● presidential timber* - meant to refer to someone's qualities

Politics that would merit him or her a shot at the presidency; probably
propagated by a reporter who spent too much time covering the
DENR, but may have become popular because of the
Quickie Quiz for the
increasing number of deadwood in politics.
Politically Insane

All these from i’s special ● showbiz - launching pad for political office
election issue

● solon - Julius Caesar-era term for legislator still used by

Philippine newspapers

● survey - what candidates use to entertain the people while

waiting for the main circus to start

● trapo* - shortcut for "traditional politician," or that species of

political animal that should be extinct.
Order your copy now!

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Election Lexicon

discuss this Favorite phrases of politicians and their probable

article translations
in our e-forum
● "If the people want me..." - I want to run.

● "I am my own man/woman." - I am sure of one thing: my

gender.

● "Pinag-aaralan pa natin 'yan (We're still studying that)." - I

have no idea what you're talking about. (Where the hell is my
spokesman?)

● "I challenge you." - I'm so tired of talking to myself; also, Give

me a chance to confuse the issues some more.

● "Ako ang may pinakamaraming nagawa para sa sector ng...

(I have done the most in..)" - You mean you still don't like me?

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Quickie Quiz For the Politically Insane

JANUARY - JUNE 2004 [posted 10 May 2004]

Special Election Issue

Featured Stories

THE CAMPAIGN 1. Where does Raul Roco buy cloth to make his flowery shirts?

First-World Techniques, a. Dangwa bus station

Third-World Setting

b. SM's table linen section

The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned
Political Consultants
c. Shell Canvas

With a Little Help from

d. Kamuning market
(U.S.) Friends

2. Why is there a perpetual frown on Ping Lacson's face?

Much Ado about
Numbers
a. a. He hasn't heard of Botox injections.
Campaigning, Filipino
Style b. Jose Pidal and Ed Angara can really get on your nerves.

Spinning the News c. If you had the same survey ratings, would you smile?

Campaigns on the High- d. You don't want to know.

Tech Road

Songs in the Key of 3. Which broadcaster/TV personality is NOT running in the elections?
Politics
a. Jay Sonza

PHOTO ESSAY b. Ted Failon

The Presidency as c. Noli de Castro

Image
d. Loren Legarda

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Quickie Quiz For the Politically Insane

ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES 4. Which Eddie is not in politics?

Elections are like Water a. Eddie Ramos

Between Tinsel and b. Eddie Gil

Trapo

c. Eddie Mesa
The Enigma of the
Popular Will
d. Eddie Villanueva

VOTER'S VOICE 5. Why is Jamby Madrigal holding up her forefinger in her commercial?

First-time Voter a. She just had a brilliant thought-drop out of the race.

Regular Voter b. She's testing the wind.

Non-Voter c. She's calling her chauffeur/majordomo/husband.

Hope and Elections in d. To signify being Number One…in what, she's not telling.
Payatas

6. Who is John Osmeña's favorite textmate?

THE LIGHTER SIDE
a. Dodong Nemenzo
Making (Non)Sense of
Politics
b. Lito Osmeña
Election Lexicon
c. Madame Auring
All these from i’s special
election issue
d. None of the above (secret!)

7. Who is Loren Legarda's mysterious "man without a brain"?

a. Victor Corpuz

b. FPJ

c. Noli de Castro

Order your copy now!

d. Tony Leviste

8. What is Fernando Poe Jr.'s real name?

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Quickie Quiz For the Politically Insane

discuss this
article a. Edgar Allan Pe
in our e-forum
b. Ronald Allan Poe

c. Shin Dong Pa

d. Mano Po

8. What is Fernando Poe Jr.'s real name?

a. Edgar Allan Pe

b. Ronald Allan Poe

c. Shin Dong Pa

d. Mano Po

9. Who are the top three in the presidential race, according to the
surveys?

a. Tatlong Itlog

b. Tito, Vic, and Joey

c. Arroyo, Poe, Lacson

d. Coco, Roco, Co

10. Why did the chicken cross the road?

a. Yet another motorcade was headed its way.

b. To avoid getting the bird flu.

c. To avoid answering quizzes like this one.

d. Ayaw masabing manok siya ng kung sinong kandidato.

PROBABLY CORRECT ANSWERS: 1. d 2. d 3. b 4. c 5. d 6. d 7. c 8.b

9. c. 10. a (although a neighborhood rooster says it's really d). Give

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Quickie Quiz For the Politically Insane

yourself 10 points for each correct answer and -10 points for each
incorrect response. Best played as a multi-way contest. Whoever
cheats wins a toilet seat.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

THE LIGHTER SIDE — MAKING (NON)SENSE OF POLITIC

S

MAYBE Philippine politics is like a school for special children. Raul Roco is the
special ed teacher. The special kids are GMA, FPJ, Ping, and Eddie, who used
to have a twin, Eddie.

GMA is the class president and wants to be class president forever. Ping is the
class bully who is forever staging a fight with FPJ, the prom king, while Eddie
prays forever and ever. Amen.

Roco, said to be the most cerebral of the candidates (he plans to make the
balagtasan a national program), is also the most temperamental (he has been
JANUARY - JUNE 2004 made an honorary woman). As former education secretary, he behaved like a
Special Election Issue
school principal and cleaned up the department of corruption. This resulted in
cheaper textbooks and desks, which made a lot of corrupt officials poor, and
Roco unpopular. He raised teachers' salaries, but he also introduced a new
curriculum that focused on reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and patriotism.
Featured This required more work from the teachers who demanded more pay. He
Sections scolded the teachers and told them their priority is teaching. This didn't sit well
with a lot of teachers and in a few months, Roco was out.
THE CAMPAIGN
No, wait: Philippine elections is like a mental asylum. Eddie Gil, who was
First-World Techniques, released just recently, was the patient who thought he was a higher investment
Third-World Setting banker, who said he's the son of Ferdinand Marcos, no — just a relative of
Marcos, scratch that — he's now just a friend of Marcos, but really, he's Elvis,
which explains the big hair.
The X-Men: The Story
of Activists-Turned-
Political Consultants Eddie Gil was considered a bother, a nuisance candidate, which makes you
wonder, what the hell was the Commission on Elections thinking before it
With a Little Help from finally got knocked on the head and woke up?
(U.S.) Friends
Bother (sic) Eddie is cult leader of Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa. He is said to have
Campaigning, Filipino enticed members — pyramid style — with promises of cash, free education,
Style housing, hospitalization, and maternity and retirement benefits. He claims to be
the country's biggest foundation with 13.6 million members, and second
biggest in the world. He ran for senator in 1999 and lost, with votes numbering
Spinning the News
at the bottom of the heap.

Campaigns on the High-

The existence of Bother Eddie had upset Brother Eddie Villanueva, founder of
Tech Road
Jesus is Lord Church, with a membership of about seven million, the biggest
born-again Christian group in the country, and, some say, in the world. Brother
Songs in the Key of Eddie said the Filipinos might miss writing the "R" in Brother Eddie and this
Politics would stray into Bother Eddie's votes. In the name of divine justice and correct
spelling, Brother Eddie made motions to have Bother Eddie disqualified. He
must have prayed, too, and now his prayers have been answered.

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

PHOTO ESSAY
There are other patients in the mental asylum: GMA suffers from short-term
The Presidency as memory loss, FPJ is narcissistic, Ping is passive-aggressive, while Roco sees
Image the world through rose-colored Hawaiian shirts.

But really: Philippine politics is like the movie "The Passion of Christ," and
Brother Eddie Villanueva is Mel Gibson, director of the movie.
ELECTION
PERSPECTIVES
Mel said he survived a near-suicidal period in his life by meditating on Jesus'
Elections are like Water suffering, which is why the former star of "Mad Max" made his latest movie so
bloody gory.
Between Tinsel and
Trapo Brother Eddie said one morning he was stuck in rush hour traffic and saw a
family of five under the Balintawak Bridge in Quezon City. The father, a
vendor, sold sticks of cigarettes to cars, jeepneys, and buses roaring by. The
The Enigma of the
mother was beside him, breast-feeding a baby, who couldn't be more than a
Popular Will
year old. Nearby were two other children, ages three and four, munching their
breakfast of biscuits, most likely tossed over by well-meaning passersby.

VOTER'S VOICE Suddenly, Brother Eddie had a vision: The three street urchins — thin, dirty
and dressed in rags — are the products of corruption and are the future of the
First-time Voter country.

Regular Voter At that moment he realized this, too, must pass. I mean, change. This is why
he's running for president.
Non-Voter
From a leftist, Marx-quoting student leader who did not believe in the existence
Hope and Elections in of a higher being, Brother Eddie transformed himself into a moralist, Bible-
Payatas quoting church leader. Now he wants to reinvent himself and become
president of the Philippines.

Forget Mel. Eddie Villanueva is Charlton Heston in the "Ten Commandments."

THE LIGHTER SIDE
He plays Moses, who parted the Red Sea, led the Israelites to the Promised
Land, and got the two tablets of stone straight from God. And what did he do
Election Lexicon when he had them? He threw them at the people and they broke in a million
pieces.
Quickie Quiz for the
Politically Insane Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

THE LIGHTER SIDE

Making (Non)Sense of
Politics

Election Lexicon

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Making (Non)Sense of Politics

Quickie Quiz for the

Politically Insane

All these from i’s special

election issue

Order your copy now!

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PCIJ launches mobile game

PCIJ launches mobile game

Who was the first president of the Philippine Republic? Can a

convicted criminal run for public office? Can Kris Aquino run
for senator?

Testing your and your friends' political IQ has never been

more fun!

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism announces

the launching of politIQ, a mobile phone game that can be
played by one or more players. Developed by Dalirium
Games and Entertainment Corp. and carried by Smart Communications Inc., politIQ is
the first political mobile phone game of its kind.

Those who have a java-enabled phone can download politIQ this way:

1. Connect to the Smart wap site: http://wap.smart.com.ph.

2. Select Java Applications.

3. Select Politics.

4. Select PolitIQ.

And you can then start enjoying the game!

Watch out for the game's SMS version, coming soon.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | online bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

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PCIJ launches mobile game

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Journalism that Makes an Impact

The Philippine Center for Investigative

Journalism (PCIJ) is an independent, Lorna Kalaw-Tirol
nonprofit media agency that specializes in Sheila S. Coronel
investigative reporting. It was founded in 1989 Marites Dañguilan-Vitug
by nine Filipino journalists who realized, from Malou Mangahas
their years on the beat and at the news desk, Howie G. Severino
the need for newspapers and broadcast David Celdran
agencies to go beyond day-to-day reportage. Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

While the Philippine press is undoubtedly the

liveliest and freest in Asia, deadline
pressures, extreme competition and Jose V. Abueva
budgetary constraints make it difficult for Jose F. Lacaba
many journalists to delve into the causes and Cecilia Lazaro
broader meanings of news events. Tina Monzon-Palma
Sixto K. Roxas
Jose M. Galang
The Center believes that the media play a
crucial role in scrutinizing and strengthening
democratic institutions. The media
could—and should—be a catalyst for social Sheila S. Coronel
debate and consensus that would redound to Executive Director
the promotion of public welfare. To do so, the
media must provide citizens with the bases for
Yvonne T. Chua
arriving at informed opinions and decisions.
Training Director

The Center was set up to contribute to this Luz Rimban

end by promoting investigative reporting on Broadcast Director
current issues in Philippine society and on
matters of large public interest. It does not Alecks P. Pabico
intend to replace the work of individual Online Manager
newspapers or radio and television stations,
but merely seeks to encourage the
Fausta G. Cacdac
development of investigative journalism and
Office Manager
to create a culture for it within the Philippine
Get a press.
Vinia M. Datinguinoo
subscription
Head Researcher
now for only The Center funds investigative projects for
P400 a year. both the print and broadcast media. It puts out

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Journalism that Makes an Impact

books on current issues and publishes i, an Avie M. Olarte

Or join the
investigative reporting magazine. In addition, Researcher
PCIJ Club! PCIJ organizes training seminars for
journalists and provides trainers for news Ruth S. Cruz
organizations in the Philippines and Sales Coordinator
Southeast Asia. It also conducts seminars
and studies on issues involving the media and Marjorie S. Busto
information access. Business Manager

In the ten years since its founding, PCIJ has Kathleen Geslani
published over 180 articles in major Philippine Information Specialist
newspapers and magazines, produced five
full-length documentaries, and launched over Edgar Abugan
a dozen books. It has also won major awards, Driver/Messenger
including nine National Book Awards, a
Catholic Mass Media Award, and more than Yolanda Nicolas
Administrative Staff
two dozen awards and citations from the
Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Investigative
Journalism.

PCIJ stories make an impact. Well-

researched and well-documented, these
reports have contributed to a deeper
understanding of raging issues, from politics
to the environment, from health and business
to women and the military. Some of these
reports have prodded government action on
issues like corruption, public accountability
and environmental protection.

5-8 August 2002. The PCIJ exposed how

politically well-connected independent power
plant (IPP) contractors wangled sweetheart
deals with various governments, resulting in
higher electricity costs for consumers.

2-3 April 2001. The PCIJ reported how, four

days after it assumed office, the Arroyo
government gave the final approval, in the
form of a Department of Justice ruling, to a
controversial power plant contract ran by the
Argentine firm IMPSA. That report raised
questions about the propriety of the ruling
issued by Justice Secretary Hernando Perez
and was used in a Senate investigation on the
case held in January 2003.

July to October 2000. The PCIJ released

three reports on President Estrada's
unexplained wealth and the mansions he was
building for his mistresses. All three became
part of the impeachment suit filed against the
President in November 2000.

11 March 1996. We reported that Health

Secretary Hilarion Ramiro was responsible for
large-scale anomalies in the Department of
Health and was skimming off as much as 40
percent from government contracts. Two
weeks later, Ramiro was forced to resign.

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Journalism that Makes an Impact

4-6 December 1995. We wrote about how

jueteng continues to thrive in Pangasinan, the
home province of then President Fidel V.
Ramos. A few days later, Ramos ordered an
investigation into the allegations and asked
local police and government officials to put a
stop to jueteng in the province.

10 July 1995. We exposed how the then

Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC)
tortured two 12-year-old boys suspected of
involvement in a kidnapping. Two days later,
the Commission on Human Rights ordered a
probe of the incident. Later, lawyers filed
charges against the PACC.

11 October 1993. PCIJ wrote about Rose

Marie "Baby" Arenas, alleged presidential
paramour, and her supposed influence on the
affairs of state. Three days later, the
Securities and Exchange Commission took
over a disputed one-third of the shares of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer, the only paper that
ran the story.

17 August 1993. PCIJ reported that the

House Speaker, Jose de Venecia, left a trail
of unpaid debts amounting to P5 billion, when
he was head of the Landoil conglomerate in
the 1980s. One week later, the Senate began
an investigation of Landoil Resources
Corporation.

28 January 1993. PCIJ reported that the

most senior Supreme Court justice faked
authorship of a decision upholding the PLDT's
(telecommunications giant Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Company) right to block
the operation of an international gateway by
its rival, Eastern Telecoms. After four days,
Justice Hugo Gutierrez resigned from the
Court.

14 December 1992. PCIJ exposed how

dolphins are being slaughtered and eaten by
fishermen. Two weeks later, the environment
department issued an order banning the
killing of these marine mammals.

4 April 1990. PCIJ began a series on how a

seaweed farm was threatening Tubbataha
reef, a national marine park in the Sulu Sea.
Seven weeks later, a Philippine Navy team
demolished the farm, enforcing an eviction
order by the environment department.

PCIJ Board and Staff

The Center is run by a 13-person staff headed
by the executive director who administers the
Center's day-to-day affairs. The staff includes
five journalists who write investigative reports
and oversee the various components of the

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Journalism that Makes an Impact

Center's work. An office manager supervises

the Center's administrative work and a
marketing coordinator is in charge of selling
PCIJ productions. The Center also employs a
researcher and a librarian.

A board of editors, composed mostly of

PCIJ's founders, meets every month to guide
and assess the Center's operations. A board
of advisers, composed of men and women
chosen for their probity, independence and
integrity, helps determine the broad directions
of the Center.

PCIJ receives foundation support for its work.

It earns a modest income from its
publications, which is plowed back into the
Center's operations.

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PCIJ Writing Fellowships

Writing Fellowships
The Center offers fellowships for investigative
reportage to full-time reporters, freelance
journalists and academics. Their reports are
syndicated in major Philippine newspapers
and magazines or aired in broadcast stations.
Reports by fellows who are staff reporters are
published or aired exclusively by the agencies
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PCIJ stories make an impact. Well-

researched and well-documented, these
reports have contributed to a deeper
understanding of raging issues, from politics
to the environment, from health and business
to women and the military. Some of these
reports have prodded government action on
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Applicants for investigative reporting

fellowships are required to submit a written
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The Center's board of editors evaluates

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Get a considered.
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PCIJ Writing Fellowships

production costs. The Center also pays

Or join the
writer's and director's fees. It can extend
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PUBLIC EYE

Controversy hounds Justice Secretary Hernando Perez. Read on...

SOCIETY

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The Web is the new battleground of organizations fighting malfeasance. Read

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Metro Manila’s garbage problems are rooted in money and politics.

IN BLACK & WHITE

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The Politics of Justice

JAN - MARCH 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 1

Controversy hounds Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.

Featured Sections
Find them here: by Malou C. Mangahas
OK

discuss this THE FILIPINO values pride as

article much as life itself. But to the brave
in our e-forum if rowdy Batangueño, like Justice
Secretary Hernando 'Nani' B.
Perez, one lives for so long as one
does not lose pride, and face.

The Nani Perez psyche is all that,

friends and foes alike say.
Explaining why the moustachioed
secretary seems oblivious to the
pile of charges of case-fixing,
politicking, infighting among his
protégés and major bungling by his
department, one associate quips, "Mawala na ang lahat, huwag lang
ang yabang (Everything be damned, except pride)."

Another lawyer friend seconds that, although he elaborates that aside

from pride, what Perez fears losing the most are power and pelf. Yet
another buddy says Perez actually agonizes less over the allegations
against him and his office and more over losing the respect of his four
grown-up children, and receding from the limelight and into the dark yet
again, as had happened a few years back.

After years of basking in glory and light, Perez, a dapper dresser quick
with quips and with seemingly boundless energy for flirting with women
and crowds, suddenly found himself living in political blight. This came
after his stunning defeat in the 1998 congressional elections, on his
first bid for a Senate seat. Perez lost big—not just money but also the
fealty of friends and allies. According to those who stuck it out with him,
those dark days prompted Perez to restructure his loans, let go of
some of his former staff in Congress, and trade meals in expensive
restaurants for sandwich lunches in his office. He also soon figured in a

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The Politics of Justice

serious car accident that sent him to hospital for days, and left a scar
on his pretty-boy face.

But today, as the head of one of the more powerful departments in the
country, Perez is back bigtime.

The problem, observers say, is that Perez is so much an unabashed

political peacock that every day at his office unfolds like it is always
showtime for Nani Perez the politician. It is common to have interview
schedules fixed at the same time that the Secretary is supposed to
meet with three or four other parties. And just as he has become a
veteran of press conferences, so too is Perez a fixture in coffee shops
around town and in cocktail circuits. Now more than a year old in his
job, Perez has yet to call a decent meeting of all his bureau and
program chiefs and share with them his vision and policy-reform goals
for the department. What he has done, say his critics, is centralize
discretion and decision-making in himself and his few most trusted
appointees, virtually immobilizing the Department of Justice (DOJ),
which traces its beginnings to a decree issued on September 26, 1898
by President Emilio Aguinaldo.

The department has both a grand tradition and a grave mandate to

"uphold the rule of law and ensure the effective and efficient
administration of justice." Indeed, it is vested with broad powers and
functions as "the principal law agency… and legal counsel and
representative" of the government. Its functions nclude investigating
crimes, prosecuting offenders, and administering jails. It is also
supposed to aid poor litigants, oversee land registration, and arbitrate
land disputes involving small landowners and indigenous peoples. The
DOJ runs the immigration and naturalization-regulatory services and
implements laws governing citizenship and the admission and stay of
aliens. Moreover, it acts as lawyer for the national government and its
subsidiaries.

The justice secretary himself manages a huge organization with a

budget of P1.72 billion this year, with millions of pesos allocated for
intelligence, confidential, and extraordinary expenses. He appoints and
disciplines public prosecutors and fiscals across the nation. He
administers the Witness Protection Program, including its P84-million
budget that does not have to undergo rigorous audit, as well as the
Commission for the Protection of Children and the Victims
Compensation Program. He presides over the country's national
prosecution service and jails. He is boss of the bosses of the National
Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Pardons and Parole, Bureau of
Corrections, Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, Public Attorney's
Office, Land Registration Authority, Commission on the Settlement of
Land Disputes, Office of the Solicitor General, and Office of the
Government Corporate Counsel.

Appeals and complaints of any and all sorts may be submitted for

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The Politics of Justice

review by the justice secretary. Over 400 cases are pending review at
any given time, ranging from the simplest to the most complex criminal
and civil suits, and involving the lowliest to the most prominent litigants.
A most powerful weapon he wields—the DOJ opinion—can reverse
decisions of the lower courts, stop investigation into an alleged
corruption case dead on its tracks, or even grant performance
guarantees or undertaking for government contracts with the private
sector.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Politics of Justice

PUBLIC EYE —
THE POLITICS OF JUSTICE

WITH SUCH wide latitude for discretion,

secretaries who do not rate well in the integrity
meter had been so tempted by money and favors
that some litigants and other concerned parties
offer. But most presidents so far have seemed to
fail to appreciate the paramount role the justice
department plays in promoting the rule of law,
especially on behalf of poor litigants, and thus
appear to have given not much thought on whom to
appoint as its chief. And although those who have
occupied the post obviously possessed law
JAN - MARCH 2002 degrees at least—with most even having
VOL. VIII NO. 1
considerable legal experience—many were
politicians first and last, among them those
appointed since 1986: Sedfrey Ordoñez, Teofisto
Guingona, Franklin Drilon, Silvestre Bello III and
Featured Sections Serafin Cuevas. All of them were distracted by
Find them here: things that did not necessarily have anything to do
with seeing that justice is served. Perhaps the only
OK nonpolitical DOJ head in the last two decades was
Perez's immediate predecessor, Artemio Tuquero,
who was plucked by then President Joseph Estrada
from the Court of Appeals to become justice
secretary.

A DOJ longtimer singles out Bello as being the

most similar to Perez. Bello, he says, had long lines
outside his office and had his staff working through
the night entertaining guests. "There were many
referrals," says the DOJ insider. "That's the same
with Perez. But during Bebot's (Bello's nickname)
time, the bureaucracy was working, there were well-
defined policies. Now, they're all waiting for Nani.
Career officials are idle, disenfranchised. The
others are very scared of Pamela."

'Pamela' is Pamela Lazatin-Escobar, DOJ chief of

staff and member of the executive committee
composed mainly of Perez's trusted appointees,
whom reporters have dubbed collectively as the
"Ateneo Mafia" because they are all the justice
secretary's former students at the prestigious
Ateneo College of Law. Last November, reports of
alleged case fixing involving the "Mafia" members

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The Politics of Justice

broke out, prompting Perez to announce that he

would henceforth personally take charge of running
the DOJ. He also stripped Escobar of most of her
discretionary powers, and said he would investigate
the allegations of anomalies. But that was just
about as far as it got, say insiders.

Escobar meanwhile says that the authority and

decision-making at the DOJ is actually
"compartmentalized," not centralized. "They
thought I was so powerful,'' she says. "(But)
everything is cleared with the Secretary. That's why
I was very cautious…I even double-check when I
clear things with him….I give him all the options
and it's still him who decides."

Agnes Devanadera, a former student of Perez's

who rose to become one of his partners in a law
firm before she quit to run as mayor in Sampaloc,
Quezon in the late 1980s, describes Perez as being
very "impulsive," his opinions " sometimes clouded
by some people there." She also observes that
Perez's problems in administering the DOJ are
replicated in many other departments precisely
because the Arroyo administration had to move into
position in a rush. Says Devanadera, who is also
with Lakas-NUCD, Perez's present party: "Biglaan
kasi agad. Nakakaawa rin yung mga taong
nalalagay. (It was all very sudden. You'd also
sympathize with the people who were appointed.)"

Perez, however, is no legal lightweight. Lawyers

who knew him when he was still in active practice
say that if he puts his mind to it, Perez can easily
run circles around many of their colleagues who are
themselves now holding public office. After
graduating from the Ateneo de Manila Law School
in 1961, Perez started teaching law at the Ateneo,
the University of the East, and the University of
Batangas, which is owned by his family and that of
former Batangas Governor Vicente Mayo. In 1982,
Perez, now 62, also obtained an MBA from the
Ateneo. These while being a member of a law firm
that later became known as Balgos & Perez Law
Offices, and in which he became partner in 1970.
Before he was drawn to politics, he had already
built a career as a corporate litigator.

His former students also remember him as a

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The Politics of Justice

brilliant teacher. Corporate lawyer Perry Pe, who

took classes under him at the Ateneo in the 1980s,
says Perez the teacher was "loved and feared and
hated all the same." Pe recalls that Perez would
always come prepared for class and loved quizzing
and interrogating students on the spot.

It is precisely because of his quite impressive legal

background that some of his friends and former
students are now wondering why Perez and his
department are being hounded by undue delays
and unexplained reversals of rulings on a number
of cases. The gravest of these include the
seemingly interminable investigation by the justice
department of the BW Resources insider-trading
case (despite a Perez promise last February that
the work would be done in 45 days and a new case
would be filed) and the dismissal of the complaint
against Westmont Securities boss Edgardo Espiritu
and his son, also regarding insider trading.

Many are surprised as well why a former law

professor and court veteran like Perez has made
what look like legal slips. One came just two days
after Perez was appointed justice secretary: he
issued an opinion that removed the legal obstacles
to a much-criticized $470-million hydropower plant
contact awarded to the Argentine firm IMPSA
(Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona Sociedad
Anonima). He later drew flak for acting in what
seemed to be undue haste in removing the
hindrances to the project and thereby allowing
IMPSA to take over what is considered to be the
most strategic power facility in Luzon.

Less than a month after Perez issued the IMPSA

opinion, the justice department admitted three close
associates of ousted President Estrada as state
witnesses in the plunder and graft cases to be filed
against the former movie actor: Carlos 'Chuckie'
Arellano, ex-president and chief executive officer of
the Social Security System (SSS); Federico
Pascual, former general manager of the
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS);
and businessman Willy Ng Ocier, vice chair and
director of Belle Corporation.

The government is believed to have lost billions of

pesos because of questionable investments made

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The Politics of Justice

by the SSS and GSIS, then under Arellano and

Pascual, in firms including Belle Corp. Yet, when
they finally testified this January in the plunder trial
of Estrada, Arellano, Pascual, and Ocier notably
failed to help the prosecution nail Estrada even as
they saved their own skins. Until December, he
also kept secret from private prosecutors the
existence of three other Arellano affidavits and two
other Pascual affidavits on Equitable PCIBank,
Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Co., and
Waterfront Phils.

Legal experts note as well that the three were all

processed in a manner that was the reverse of the
procedures as prescribed by the Rules of Court.
The normal process is a case or cases had already
been filed in court, and an accused—who is not the
most guilty of the offense—comes forward to
submit an offer of testimony to be admitted as a
prosecution witness. The three Estrada associates
were admitted as witnesses a full two months
before the Ombudsman filed the plunder and graft
charges against Estrada.

Interestingly, Arellano, Pascual, and Ocier were all

represented at Estrada's plunder trial by the same
lawyer, who was recommended to them by Perez.
Arellano has also known Perez for at least two
decades: the two are poker buddies.

The justice secretary may also have more than an

official interest in the case. Perez has publicly
admitted that he had served in the early 1990s as
chair of Belle Corp., a fact that had been known to
the prosecution panel even during Estrada's
impeachment trial at the Senate. In his latest
statement of assets and liabilities (SAL) filed March
8, 2001, though, Perez disclosed that he has been
a stockholder of Belle Corp. from 1978 to "the
present"—or up to the time that he decided to admit
Ocier as a state witness.

Perez's SAL did not specify the peso value of his

stockholdings in Belle but merely stated that his
shares in 14 companies, including Belle, amount to
P19.2 million, or 80 percent of his other assets
worth P23.7 million as of this year, apart from
P16.7 million in land and real estate that he also
owns.

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The Politics of Justice

Belle, however, may not be the only corporation

tying Perez to Ocier. In 2000, the Perez family-
owned Malvarosa Ventures, an orchid and poultry
concern, received a P2.2-million infusion from
Alfred Cu and his wife Rosa Yang H.C. Cu. A
daughter-in-law of the Cus happens to be the sister
of Ocier's wife. Too, like Ocier, the Cus belong to
the top 20 stockholders of Belle.

Responding to a three-part series published by the

PCIJ in January, Perez failed to address the issue
of possible conflict of interest and the curious
processing of the three witnesses. Instead, he
merely said "judging from the slant of the article,
they (the PCIJ) interviewed people who were not
really in the know." He also denied still having
stocks in Belle Corp., and added that the
government had strong evidence in the Belle case,
including the testimonies of Arellano, Pascual, and
Ocier.

As for the IMPSA issue, which was the subject of

another PCIJ story last year, Perez said in part in a
lengthy letter he sent to newspaper editors:
"(There) was no haste in the rendering of the legal
opinion. It is the duty of the Justice Department and
all government offices for that matter to act with
dispatch on matters presented before it for
resolution. The project was impressed to
substantially benefit the power condition and
development of Luzon and there was no reason to
delay the opinion there being no pending issue or
complaint from any of the agencies involved." This
letter was actually prepared by IMPSA's press
relations office and adopted almost en toto by
Perez, DOJ insiders say.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Politics of Justice

PUBLIC EYE —
THE POLITICS OF JUSTICE

APPOINTED JUSTICE Secretary on January 22,

2001, Perez's confirmation was not acted upon until
the new Congress opened in July 2001. He was
bypassed once in December 2001, when Senator
Sergio Osmeña III questioned his being seemingly
too quick to the draw with the IMPSA opinion.

But Perez's confirmation was assured this January

after Senator Panfilo 'Ping' Lacson, who had earlier
boasted that he had documents that would help
JAN - MARCH 2002
convict the justice secretary of plunder, suddenly
VOL. VIII NO. 1 lost his tongue and spunk. The supposed reason
why the ex-police chief suddenly shut up was to
come weeks later, when 130 of the 220 members
of the House of Representatives and 19 of the 24
senators filed separate resolutions supporting
Featured Sections Estrada's request to be allowed to go to the United
Find them here: States for knee surgery.
OK
Insiders in the administration and opposition parties
say the resolutions were the product of a deal
struck between the Estrada camp and the Arroyo
government, and brokered by the Iglesia ni Kristo, a
voting bloc that is about two-million strong. They
say that Estrada himself spoke with Iglesia leaders
and Lacson to let Perez's Commission on
Appointments (CA) confirmation pass, in exchange
for government's assurance that the former
president would be allowed to go abroad for
treatment.

The message was communicated to Malacañang,

and after a few days, Perez's appointment was
endorsed by both administration and opposition
lawmakers in the CA, say the insiders. Throughout
his confirmation hearings, senior deputies of Iglesia
ni Kristo leader Eraño Manalo monitored the CA
hearings in the Senate. Weeks later, the resolutions
were circulated in the House by Estrada ally
Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen and
Estrada's wife, Senator Luisa Pimentel Ejercito.

The insiders even go on to argue that since seven

administration senators signed the Estrada

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The Politics of Justice

resolution, the President Arroyo herself must have

been in on the deal.

The President probably has little choice but to

stand by her man at the justice department, who
has been christened in jest by Palace reporters as
the "First Boyfriend," but who in reality is probably
more like her "First Mentor" in realpolitik, now that
her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal,
is gone.

Because Arroyo came to power with a huge cloud

of doubt hanging over her administration's legal
basis for existence, it was Perez as justice
secretary who worked to settle the issue before the
Supreme Court. When the government was
threatened by the mutinous forces of EDSA Tres in
May 2001, Perez raised the legal arguments, no
matter infirm, to justify the detention of the pro-
Estrada rallyists. It was Perez as well who had to
strike deals with Estrada cronies, decide on who to
prosecute and who to let go—with carte-blanche
authority from Mrs. Arroyo - in the interest of
keeping the political peace as her government
wobbled and wandered in search of stability.

The Arroyo-Perez political liaison goes back to

1987. Over the years, they've joined and jumped
from one political party to another, like political
butterflies in parallel flight.

In 1988, they ran—he for congressman and she for

senator—under the Laban ng Demokratikong
Pilipino party organized by Corazon Aquino's
younger brother Jose 'Peping' Cojuangco and the
late Ramon Mitra Jr. They were reelected, he in
1992 and 1995 and she in 1995, also as Laban
candidates. They bolted Laban in 1997 and signed
up with Fidel Ramos's Lakas-NUCD party so she
could run as vice president of Speaker Jose de
Venecia, and he as senatorial candidate, in the
1998 elections.

Arroyo won, got a Cabinet post, and struck a

modus vivendi with new President Joseph Estrada,
while Perez receded briefly into political oblivion.
But they kept in touch, on occasion partying with
common friends in Batangas. Like him, she carries
a drink very well and could shame other men less

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The Politics of Justice

inclined.

Like her, Perez had a politician for a father,

although his never went beyond local politics.
Lawyer Francisco G. Perez was one of the longest
serving members of the Batangas provincial board.
His son aimed higher, even though he began his
political career as Batangas City board member in
1979. Batangas City Prosecutor Mario Atienza
recalls that Perez first animated audiences in 1983
when he resisted an order from the Marcos-
controlled Commission on Elections for ballot boxes
in his district to be brought to a military camp for
counting. Perez was then running for a seat in the
Marcos-era Batasang Pambansa.

"He vehemently refused and he said that the ballot

boxes can be only brought to the camp over his
dead body,'' recounts Atienza. "And the news
spread around that here is a man who can stand
against a provincial commander during the martial-
law regime."

Votes and fans soon swamped him. "From that

time on his political stock began to rise," Atienza
says. "Imagine, ha, I heard news, I heard stories
about women swooning over him, ano ha, when he
begins to speak and he is a good speaker."

Perez was one of the noisier opposition members

of the Batasan when the first "people power" revolt
was staged. He was appointed secretary of the
Ministry of Transportation and Communications
during the Aquino administration, but quit early on
to run for Congress. Perez secured three three-
year terms in the House of Representatives, and by
1998, he had served as minority floorleader and
deputy speaker—while changing parties three
times.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

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The Politics of Justice

PUBLIC EYE —
THE POLITICS OF JUSTICE

LIKE OTHER politicians, Perez has been the

subject of rumors of pay-offs, although no one has
come forward publicly to accuse him of such, much
less offer any evidence. Save for Ping Lacson, of
course, who, before he became literally one of the
Senate's silent minority, was loudly telling anyone
and everyone that he had proof Perez had been
paid $2 million in exchange for the IMPSA opinion,
and that the amount had been coursed through a
Hong Kong bank account of businessman Ernesto
Escaler, who later transferred most of the money to
JAN - MARCH 2002 another Hong Kong bank account, which was under
VOL. VIII NO. 1
the name of Perez's brother-in-law Ramon Arceo.

A report from the Hong Kong police obtained

independently by i shows that $2.5 million was
Featured Sections transferred to Escaler's account in two tranches,
Find them here: the first in February 2001 and the second three
months later, and that part of the money was
OK
issued as a bank draft payable to Arceo last May.
The police report, however, said, "We have no
evidence of what the money is, (whether it is)
legitimate or otherwise, only that some of the
transfers alleged by Lacson are true."

Perez, for his part, denied these allegations, and

challenged Lacson to present evidence, which the
ex-PNP head has yet to do. The secretary, though,
is far from being as poor as a church mouse,
having started in life as a member of a well-off
Batangas family. In 1959, he and his siblings
inherited a sizable estate from their parents, with
Perez's share including eight parcels of land and
shares in the University of Batangas and St.
Patrick's Hospital in Batangas.

But it was during his years in politics, when he

received pittance for monthly salary as a
congressman and Cabinet member, that Nani
Perez grew in wealth.

In 1994, he declared a net worth of just a little over

P4 million. But this expanded by a phenomenal 800
percent to P32.6 million in 2001. This even as a

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The Politics of Justice

financial crisis buffeted Asia in 1997, and again in

2000. Perez's latest declared net worth may also
not reflect the real extent of his riches, since, for
one, it covers only the grossly understated
acquisition value—and not fair market value—of the
real estate he admits owning.

Those in the know say Perez the businessman is

shrewd, acquisitive, and constantly on the lookout
for real-estate bargains. Finicky with money, he
blows his top when staff assistants sent on errands
forget to return loose change. "You cannot steal
even a peso from him," says one.

His March 2001 SAL lists ownership of 18 pieces of

real estate. Of the 10 parcels of land he says he
began acquiring in 1956, three have houses while
one has a building. Eight of the 10 were also
purchased between 1985 and 1995, or at the height
of Perez's political career. The crown jewel of his
estate is the over 1,000-square meter Perez family
home in Ayala Heights in Diliman, which he said he
bought in 1995 for P14 million. Perez did not report
the fair market value of his Ayala Heights house,
nor disclose the value of the improvements he has
made on all his properties. If his SAL were to be
used as basis, his 17 other properties would only
have a fair market value of P8.3 million.

Perez's SAL also says that his shares of stocks

acquired from 1978-1999 were altogether worth
P19.2 million. The stockholdings include those in
nine family-held corporations and five big
corporations owned by his former clients—Belle
Resources Corp., BPI Securities, Manila Bulletin,
Robinsonland, and Alaska Milk.

But Perez left out his stockholdings in yet another

company in which he serves to this day as
president—Radiant Spring Realty Inc—which lists
its office address at the Perezes' house on Emerald
Lane, Mountview Subdivision, Batangas City.

Curiously enough, Radiant Spring is the only Perez

family-owned company that turned a profit - it
raised revenues of P7.7 million (including P7.39
million in "sales of property") and a gross income of
P2.44 million in 1998, as of its latest financial
statement filed with the Securities and Exchange

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The Politics of Justice

Commission. The rest of the family's' companies,

all organized between 1987 and 1995, have
consistently declared net losses: Malvarosa
Ventures, Malvarana Ventures, Heroes Ventures
Inc, Heroes Realty Inc, Twin Rivers Realty and
Development Inc., Greenpeace Development Corp.
and Ports of Paradise Realty Inc.

There are other interesting material data not

disclosed in Perez's SAL. Such omissions are
significant because the justice secretary was one of
those who had accused Estrada of committing
perjury in the declaration of assets he filed when he
was president. For instance, Perez declared that he
owns just a "car" acquired in 1989 supposedly
worth P700,000, even though the garage of his
Mountview Park house in Batangas City showed a
fleet of luxury vehicles, including a camper, some
with vanity plates brandishing his initials "HBP."
Too, it is open secret among Batangas folk that the
secretary owns—and frequently visits—his beach
resort in Calaca town, a fishpond in Lemery town,
and a lanzones farm in Baramgay Mataas na
Kahoy, and a newly acquired but now fenced-in
fruit farm in Barangay Sto. Domingo, Batangas
City.

For some reason, it seems, the blustery

Batangueño reins in his yabang when it comes to
his SAL.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Other Mindanao

JAN - MARCH 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 1

In a land where war is the norm, the occasional story of

Featured Sections progress and peace-making is the more significant story.
Find them here:
by Howie G. Severino
OK

discuss this
article (photos taken from video
in our e-forum footage shot by Severino
and Egay Navarro)

KABACAN,
Cotabato—Last time I
was here, in 1997, a
body was dumped by the Army in front of the municipal hall, while
nearly a dozen truckloads of troops rumbled by. A battle with Moro
fighters had flared along the highway, creating smaller skirmishes in
the fields and marshes around this town. One of them claimed the life
of the man before me, wrapped in a malong awaiting his relatives, his
bare farmer's feet hanging out.

A crowd of usiseros eventually parted for family members, picking up

the latest casualty in an unrecorded count. Since Islamic practice
mandates Muslim burials within 24 hours of death, it is difficult to verify
Muslim fatalities. The Christian dead you could easily find at wakes that
lasted days. I had never before then seen a Muslim fatality.

I followed the relatives as they carried the body through the onlookers. I
got the name and age of the dead man—Musa Lampukan, 30—but that
was nearly all I could find out before the relatives turned away, loaded
him onto a jeepney and drove off. Did he have children? Was he also a
rebel? Did he have ambitions?

Like other Christian-born reporters covering Mindanao, I always felt I

had limited access to Muslim communities. Almost all Muslims I
interviewed were either evacuees or rebels. I never got the stories of
anyone trying to live normal lives in ordinary Muslim communities,

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The Other Mindanao

including casualties. But I'd always wondered what a Muslim journalist

could have found out about Musa Lampukan. I had long wanted to see
Muslim Mindanao as a society, and not just as a "critical area."

So when I had a chance to direct a documentary on "the other side of

war" in Mindanao, I recruited a Muslim cultural guide and on-cam host,
the Maranao journalist Samira Ali Gutoc. She called herself a "peace
journalist," covering efforts to restore harmony, as opposed to war
reporters who focus on conflict. Samira, just 27, had a been a
Philippine Daily Inquirer correspondent based in Marawi City, where
she reported on Muslims involved in conducting orderly elections,
Christians learning about Islamic practices, and other subjects that had
little to do with making war and much to do with building a peaceful,
democratic society. She developed a following, especially among
Muslim readers, across the country. "There is already so much
negative imagery of Muslims in the media," Samira said. "I just want to
counter that."

That's how we found ourselves with a camera crew this January in this
town's dusty rural interior, in Barangay Molao, a Maguindanao
community controlled by a former MNLF commander. Located near the
heart of Mindanao's fertile rice-growing plains, Molao's poblacion is a
bumpy, hour-long jeepney ride from Kabacan's town center. Christian
settlement in areas along the highway had long pushed Muslim
communities toward the outskirts of town like this place, which few
government services have ever reached.

With Samira doing most of the talking, we got the cooperation of the
commander and his constituents in the town, where we recorded the
work of two Maguindanao community organizers, Mona and Ismael,
young Muslims who had graduated from Notre Dame University, a
Catholic-run institution in Cotabato City that is respected as well by the
Muslim community.

Mona had been a Montessori teacher before she decided she wanted
to work with communities; Ismael aspired to be a radio broadcaster and
would practice by interviewing us, their guests, on his mini-cassette
recorder. They were among the Muslims we met on this journey who
did not fit the stereotypes of Muslims—the rebels, bandits and
victims—that dominate the Manila-based media.

MORE THAN a year after the Philippine military assaults in central

Mindanao displaced hundreds of thousands by mid-2000, there have
been some efforts at rebuilding Muslim communities. Samira helped us
gain access to a few of these areas, so we could document Muslims
helping each other. Working with a Mindanao-based NGO, Mona and
Ismael were teaching the community how to determine their needs and
develop plans to meet them.

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The Other Mindanao

Gathering women in a nipa hut for a focus-group discussion, the veiled

Mona began by leading the group in Islamic prayer, their hands
outstretched, palms facing upward, like my own veiled Roman Catholic
mother in church. Then the women discussed, among other things,
their coping strategies for times when the men in their communities
would be absent for days or weeks at a time.

Many here were evacuees from a neighboring barangay that had

become a grassy battleground. They have now resettled in this
community where they had fled. I had been told that evacuees often
could not return to their original homes even after the end of the
violence because new occupants had moved into their land. These
were usually people from even more marginalized and war-torn
communities who were willing to take the risks of living in another
dangerous place.

But here in Barangay Molao, the new settlers came under the wing of
Datu Valentino Mantawil, a former commander of the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF). After many years in Jolo and elsewhere
battling government forces, he was semi-retired from fighting following
the 1996 peace agreement between the government and the MNLF.
Modest and soft-spoken, Datu Mantawil offered the evacuees the use
of some of the idle land he had inherited from his father, so his new
constituents could grow food. The datu shrugged off the importance of
what he was doing. "I'm willing to help anyone, Muslim or Christian," he
said.

There are, however, some returns for this generosity. Our documentary
team accompanied an evacuee couple as they paid a visit to the site of
their former home, near the boundary with a rival MNLF commander.
Datu Mantawil came along for the walk over rolling terrain with three
armed escorts, one of them the evacuee husband who had now
apparently become part of the datu's forces.

The couple's home had been burned down in mid-2000 by Army

soldiers after they fled, presumably to prevent it from being used as a
hiding place for guerrillas of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
The site was now overgrown with cogon, and a rock was the only
evidence of what was once a home.

Along the way, we chatted with other new settlers tending beds of rice
seedlings and preparing fields for planting. Aside from land, there was
little else in these parts to help people with the hazards of living. "When
we were in the evacuation center, we had some health care from the
government. Here there are no services," said Keybutsa Pataru, as he
watched his young son Anji fetch dirty drinking water from a shallow
well. Three of his other children died of measles and tetanus, both
preventable through a government immunization program that had not
yet reached his community.

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The Other Mindanao

After our chat, he went to his land, on loan from the datu, where he
started uprooting bright green rice seedlings from their bed for
transferring to a nearby field. Finally, I had reached a "critical area" in
Muslim Mindanao and saw what real people did aside from flee or fight
a war. They helped each other, focused on growing food, and worried
about the future of their children. And sometimes they made peace.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

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The Other Mindanao

S O C I E T Y — THE OTHER MINDANAO

IN A tense town called Buluan in Maguindanao

province, where the municipal hall was a burnt-out
shell, we took a ride in a narrow, outrigger-less
banca down the Buluan River, a main thoroughfare
for a number of Muslim communities along the
banks. The waterway was also the dividing line
between two warring clans that had recently called
a truce. At the height of the conflict a few years
ago, a foot bridge across the river was destroyed to
prevent one side from attacking the other. Since the
truce, a single bamboo pole was laid across a
portion where the wooden planks of the bridge had
JAN - MARCH 2002
VOL. VIII NO. 1
been, parallel another bamboo pole for use as a
hand rail. To get to the other side, we had to
balance ourselves precariously on the pole with all
of our equipment, wondering whether the truce was
just as perilous as the crossing.
Featured Sections
Find them here: In
OK

Mindanao, the political conflicts between the

government and various rebel groups hog the
headlines. But generally unreported are the many
minor wars between fellow Muslims, feuding
families that started fighting over a boundary
dispute or a crime committed against a member of
another family. Courts are either absent or barely
functioning in many places in Muslim Mindanao;
revenge is the main form of justice.

But sometimes families just get tired of it all,

especially the risks for family members who had
nothing to do with the dispute except be related by
blood to someone directly involved. The peace
makers also see the wider benefits of compromise,

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The Other Mindanao

such as the stability that can lead to economic

opportunities. Rido is a well-known word in
Mindanao for feud; but much less familiar is the
term kanduli, which means festive occasion for
making peace, among other reasons. In places
wracked by rido, the occasional kanduli can result
in radical changes.

For years, tensions between the Mangudadatu clan

of Buluan and the Paglas family of the adjoining
Datu Paglas municipality threatened to erupt into
armed confrontations. In early January, elders from
both sides met over a kanduli and agreed to ease
the hostility.

"Kinausap namin sila, at nakiusap din sila sa amin

na kung pupuwede hintuin na natin ito kasi walang
nadadamay kung hindi maliliit na tao (We talked to
them, and they also asked us if it were possible to
stop feuding because the only ones who got hurt
were the innocent and the powerless)," said Totoy
Paglas, his town's two-term mayor. "E kami,
nagkikita kami sa labas, parang wala lang sa amin.
Pero pag nandito, nagaaway-away kami (We'd see
each other outside, and everything would be fine.
But once we were here, we'd fight)."

The mayor was driving our team around Datu

Paglas as he talked, perhaps the only politician in
these parts who drove himself and without any
escorts. His municipality, named after his
grandfather, had become known outside Mindanao
as having remained peaceful even during the
height of the government-MILF war of 2000 that
raged in the towns around it.

Mayor Paglas didn't have a complex explanation for

the general safety in his town's streets: constant
dialog involving elders, initiating compromise, and
livelihood. "Ang talagang nakapagbago sa isip ng
mga tao dito nung una yung pagdating ng National
Irrigation Administration, noong ma-implement yung
irrigation sa amin (What really changed the way
people thought here was the coming of the National
Irrigation Administration, when irrigation came to
our place)," he said. "Nawala na yung gulo-gulo...
nakapagtrabaho lahat ng tao (Trouble
disappeared…all the people had work)."

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The Other Mindanao

Increased livelihood, he explained, lessened

criminal activities. The improved peace-and-order
situation in turn attracted investors who saw the
potential of the region's rich soil. That created more
jobs, so that even former kidnappers are gainfully
employed, the mayor said.

The town's showcase today is La Frutera, a

modern banana plantation and processing plant
that employs 2,000 men and women, and exports
to Saudi Arabia, Japan, and very soon, Iran. One of
the fastest growing enterprises in central Mindanao,
La Frutera was started by Mayor Paglas's brother
Toto, a former mayor who ran and lost in last year's
election for governor of the Autonomous Region for
Muslim Mindanao.

On the day of our visit to the plant, I listened in as

Samira interviewed Kulaypa S. Mamangcas, a
pregnant Maguindanao woman who is a supervisor
in La Frutera. Mamangcas talked about how the
plant had changed the lives of women there.
"Kakaunti lang ang trabaho na puede sa babae rito
sa amin (There was little work available for women
here)," she said, as rows of women washed
bananas and put them on a conveyor belt enroute
to boxes. But now, she said, "nakapunta pa ako sa
Japan para pag-aralan ang market namin (I was
even able to go to Japan to study our market)."

A happy woman in a supervisory position working

in a modern company in a peaceful rural town in
Muslim Mindanao—how many stereotypes can be
broken in a single sentence? In a land where bad
news is the norm, perhaps the occasional story of
progress and peace-making is the more significant
news. Documented and reported, these kinds of
stories might have a better chance of recurring.
Alas, the pregnant supervisor's experience and that
of Datu Paglas are still exceptions to the rule.

But they weren't the only exceptions. We met more

than a few along the way—among them, young
community organizers who chose a different way to
Muslim empowerment, a land owner who shared
his land, a mayor who traveled unarmed, and a
peace journalist who thought a bridge of
reconciliation was just as important a story as the
conflict that ended with the laying of a single

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The Other Mindanao

bamboo pole.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

JAN - MARCH 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 1

The Web is the new battleground of organizations fighting

Featured Sections malfeasance.
Find them here:
by Alecks P. Pabico
OK

discuss this
article
in our e-forum IT'S JUST two years old and still a somewhat
small operation, but no one can say that India's
Tehelka.com is obscure. At least not after it
caused the resignation last year of that country's two top officials. Equipped
with hidden cameras, some of the journalists working for the investigative
online news site posed as arms manufacturers and caught the president of
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Bangaru Laxman, on video counting bribe
money in exchange for cornering a deal in their favor. The report, including
the damning footage later shown on national television, so enraged Indians
that Laxman and George Fernandes, the defense minister, were forced out
of their posts.

Tehelka.com did take some flak for using questionable methods, including
the use of sex workers (which editor Tarun Tejpal later acknowledged as a
"transgression") to compromise Indian army officers involved in the arms
deal. But it has since gone on to expose widespread anomalies in national-
security projects and other government deals in a country that independent
surveys rank along with China and Vietnam as the most corrupt in Asia. In so
doing, it has helped rouse the Indian citizenry long lulled into accepting
corruption as part and parcel of the affairs of government.

Tehelka's online efforts are but Indian renderings of what global corruption
watchdog Transparency International (TI) chair Peter Eigen calls a
worldwide "anti-corruption eruption." In fact, TI, the erstwhile lone voice in the
civic anti-corruption wilderness, now has over 100 national chapters
worldwide, fighting corruption at the national level. Many of the national
chapters also boast of Internet presence that helps popularize TI's
groundbreaking work in curbing corruption, like binding governments and
business entities to the Integrity Pact, a tool TI developed to govern the
award of public contracts.

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

Here in Southeast Asia, "anti-

corruption" as a key political battlecry
emerged in the wake of the 1997
financial contagion that saw most
Asian economies tumble. It did not
take long before the "socially
conscious" applications of the Internet
and other technologies became
crucial tools in ferreting out the
corrupt in the bureaucracy.

Weak transparency and accountability in governance, fertile breeding

grounds for corruption, were largely acknowledged to have exacerbated the
Asian economic crisis. Indeed, in recent years, multimillion-dollar corruption
scandals involving some of the region's leaders—Indonesian presidents
Suharto and Abdurrahman Wahid, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
and our very own Joseph Estrada—helped fire up the popular outrage
against corruption. Of those mentioned, only Thaksin has not been pushed to
resignation or ouster from office. But especially in Indonesia and the
Philippines, the Internet played a key role in exposing official wrongdoing.

Many cybercrusaders in the region and elsewhere make special mention of

TI as being more than helpful in their anti-corruption effort. TI, for one,
maintains a Corruption On-Line Research and Information System or CORIS
Portal, which is acknowledged as one of the most comprehensive databases
on corruption and governance. Ease of access to materials is guaranteed by
a fully searchable bibliography (of about 8,000 documents) and with more
than 200 corruption-specific keywords. Online researchers are also treated to
full-text documents, best practice examples, and a listing of the "best of"
essential corruption readings.

With its national chapters, TI likewise provides the public with a host of
initiatives from which they can derive inspiration. A "Corruption Fighters' Tool
Kit," downloadable from its site, compiles such diverse efforts as introducing
corruption controls in public procurement, monitoring of election-campaign
financing, monitoring of public institutions, awareness raising and education
through seminars, conducting surveys on corruption, strengthening access to
information, doing civic and investigative journalism.

Then there is its Integrity Pact, which is meant to ensure that bidders/
contractors abstain from bribe paying, and that government offices reduce
what TI claims as the "high cost and distortionary effect" of corruption. At
present, features of the Integrity Pact are being adopted in key cities in
Argentina, Colombia, Italy, Korea, and in municipalities of Nepal, Panama,
and Argentina.

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

ONLINE — ANTI-CORRUPTION CYB

ERCRUSADERS

OUTSIDE
OF
Transparency
International's
immediate
sphere of
influence,
civil-society
groups have
not been
any less spirited in combating corruption in
JAN - MARCH 2002 cyberspace. In Latin America, for instance, the
VOL. VIII NO. 1
Respondanet, a bilingual website sponsored by
the U.S. Aid for International Development
(USAID), serves up documents, surveys, and
reports on accountability and anti-corruption
Featured Sections initiatives in the Latin America and Caribbean
Find them here: region. Launched in 1998, Respondanet also hosts
Anticorrupción Sin Fronteras (Anti-corruption
OK Without Borders), a listserv forum that allows civil-
society groups to exchange information and ideas
on anti-corruption activities.

Other Latin American countries like the Dominican

Republic, Mexico, and Argentina have also began
to publish on the Web the entry and exit assets of
public officials. The Dominican Alliance Against
Corruption even publishes officials' bank account
numbers, national identification numbers, and
home addresses on its site to help citizens detect
possible fraudulent acts committed while in office.
In Peru, a nongovernment anti-corruption initiative
is spearheaded by Sincorrupción.

Another Latin American independent organization,

Probidad (Probity), is another pioneer in the use of
Internet resources for anti-corruption projects in the
region. As El Salvador's oldest nongovernment
watchdog, it has employed email to disseminate
anti-corruption information to local and international
organizations. In addition, Probidad, which is
actually the originator of the Anti-corruption Without
Borders mailing list, administers a dynamic and

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

interactive listserv of 500 Latin American journalists

for the regional Periodistas Frente a la Corrupción
(Journalists Against Corruption) project. The list is
lauded for providing journalists with a wealth of
resources and services that help enhance media
investigations of corruption and protect journalists
facing threats for their coverage of corruption,
among others.

Each month, Probidad also highlights a web site

exemplifying a "best-practice" use of the Internet to
expose or curb corrupt acts. It has since compiled a
vast compendium of online anti-corruption
initiatives in Latin America and elsewhere.

Over at the vast African continent—where the TI's

latest Corruption Perception Index indicate high
levels of perceived corruption in public
administration and governance in many
countries—Kenya's Information Technology
Standards Association (ITSA) also uses the
Internet and email as channels for reporting corrupt
practices. Its pilot project on Electronic Graft
Management (EGM) provides the public with an
online site where they can fill up forms for their
complaints, which are then forwarded to the Kenya
Anti-Corruption Authority for action.

Other commendable efforts include the Institute for

Democracy in South Africa's (Idasa) Open
Democracy Advice Center (ODAC) and the
Rhodes University's Public Service
Accountability Monitor (PSAM). ODAC monitors
government compliance with the Access to
Information Act and dispenses advice and
assistance to potential whistleblowers. PSAM
compiles and conducts investigations into reports of
misconduct, corruption, and maladministration by
South African public officials. Findings of the probe
are subsequently published online.

Central and Eastern Europe are similarly abuzz

with corruption watches gone cyber. The Anti-
Corruption Network's website is the main hub for
discussion and dialogue among anti-corruption
groups in both the public and private realms. It is
also the repository of corruption-related resources,
such as research, surveys, and reports.

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Similar
independent
initiatives
are being
pushed in
each
country. In
Bulgaria, a
public-
private
partnership fighting corruption has given birth to
Coalition 2000. Its anti-corruption action plan calls
for implementing an awareness campaign and
monitoring system that are primarily serviced by its
bilingual website. An electronic notification system
distributes data about the coalition's activities to
journalists across the country.

In the Slovak Republic, the nonprofit E-Society has

initiated a project allowing Internet users to monitor
and to control the work of state authorities through
the creation of an online information server. In
Romania, anti-corruption civil-society groups and IT
professionals and enthusiasts have jointly
established the Internet Communications and
Resource Center for Nongovernmental
Organizations (CRCI-ONG). The project provides
Internet access, Internet orientation courses for
NGOs, web hosting on its server, as well as
technical support for NGOs wanting to go online.

Back here in Asia, civic groups in South Korea took

to the Internet in April 2000 to influence the
outcome of the National Assembly elections. Some
470 groups formed the Citizens' Alliance for the
2000 General Elections (CAGE) to launch rejection
campaigns through email and the Web against
"unfit" candidates with past involvements in
corruption scandals and resistance to democratic
and anti-corruption reforms. The outcome of the
elections was considered a landmark in civic
empowerment as voters junked 70 percent of
blacklisted candidates.

In the Philippines, the USAID-funded Transparent

Accountable Governance project, through its
website, has integrated survey research,

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

investigative reports, case studies, and discussions

to raise public awareness and better understanding
of the extent and impact of corruption in Philippine
society.

International development organizations, lending

and research institutions also continue to lend
theoretical, financial, and technical support for
global anti-corruption programs. The Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD)'s Anti-Corruption Division, for instance,
manages AnCOrR Web, the Anti-Corruption Ring
Online to supplement efforts to harmonize legal
instruments concerning bribery of foreign officials in
international business transactions. The information
center offers more than 5,000 selected references
to books, journals, papers, reports, and other
documents, as well as a large number of
downloadable resources on corruption and bribery.

Significantly, the United Nations Development

Program has granted the seed capital for the initial
operations of the new Partnership for
Transparency Fund (PTF). The organization gives
grants of up to US$20,000 for civil society-initiated
anti-corruption programs. Information on application
procedures and types of funded activities can be
found on its website.

Since adopting a comprehensive anti-corruption

policy framework in 1997, the World Bank has
assisted governments requesting help in fighting
corruption. The Bank's Anti-Corruption
Knowledge Center offers resources on corruption
(like a downloadable Internet handbook for African
journalists to enhance research and reporting on
corruption), strategies to reduce corruption, and
regular updates on its anti-corruption activities.

Ironically though, its Development Gateway Internet

site project became the subject of a corruption
complaint filed by prominent Uruguayan civil
society representatives last July. Critics alleged the
misuse of Bank funds for a website whose
operation was intended more for public relations
than developing an independent Internet portal.
The complaint further pointed to donors being
misled to grant funds to the foundation supposed to

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

manage the site but was in all likelihood a mere

appendix of the Bank.

THOUGH NOT necessarily thought of as being

inherently good or evil, technology does facilitate
corruption as in the case of the Internet's use in
effecting money transfers to easily hide laundered
funds. But technology can also prevent corruption
by promoting transparency and accountability, good
governance principles that some reformist
governments have started to operationalize online.

The Mexican government, for instance, has

transferred the processing of government contracts
online to prevent bribery, which accounted for $52
billion in lost revenues last year. In Argentina, a
new law mandates its 23 provincial governments to
post all official transactions-budget, contracts,
payroll information-on the Net for public scrutiny.
Chile has also begun to modernize its tax-collection
system in response to pervasive corporate tax
evasion by requiring its citizens to file their taxes
online.

In an
extreme
display of
transparency,
the finance
minister of
Latvia went
to the extent
of setting up
a Web
camera in his office to allow citizens to view his
activities.

The metropolitan government of Seoul in South

Korea recently developed an online system to
review permit applications and decisions on such
applications in an effort to rid the city of its
longstanding reputation as a hotbed of corruption.
The Web-based system, called Online Procedures
Enhancement for Civil Applications or OPEN,
enables citizens to monitor in real-time details of
the handling their applications, the procedures
involved in their approval and review, and when the

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Anti-corruption Cybercrusaders

permits are expected to be awarded. The

application is being touted as Seoul's next most
important export.

Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against

Corruption is one super agency in a league
entirely its own, combating corruption on three
fronts: investigation, prevention, and popular
participation. Its investigations are backed by a
computer forensics and information technology
research section that provides expertise in the
search, recovery, and analysis of computer
evidence.

Its website is known for its rich content and

functional tools like corruption-prevention materials
in the following categories: Public Sector, Business
Sector, Youth and Moral Education, Building
Management, Mainland Liaison, and Elections, all
available for downloading as pdf (Adobe portable
document format) files. Any private company,
government agency or organization wanting to
draw up corruption prevention measures and
seminars—for free—can just visit the ICAC site, fill
in a service request form, and await the prompt
action of the respective department officers'
concerned.

Many governments have already embarked on

putting up or improving their information technology
infrastructure as a way of fostering transparency in
governance, although few have managed to go
beyond having local area networks (LAN) or
websites. Still, the situation is not too bad, as the
information governments provide on the Internet
facilitates citizens' access to public documents—a
right authorities otherwise deny summarily in a
nontechnology-enhanced environment.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Hard Times for the Media

JANUARY - MARCH 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 1

Crisis hits the media industry, leaving many newspapers and

Featured Sections broadcast networks reeling from layoffs, cost cuts and
Find them here: closures.
OK
by Luz Rimban
discuss this
article
in our e-forum HE HAD arrived early that day
for his three-to-midnight shift,
expecting only good news. After
working for a year at the daily
Singaporean newsmagazine
Project Eyeball, Filipino
journalist Bert Tan (not his real
name) was finally about to get
his appointment papers as its
sub-editor, as well as sign a
brand-new contract. Touted as
Singapore's "first integrated print
and cyberspace news
magazine," Project Eyeball,
owned by the Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH), was barely two years
old, but Tan was already drawing a salary that was six times his pay as
a writer in Manila, and with a housing allowance to boot.

By the time his shift started, Tan was the paper's newest regular
employee. Little did he know that his first day as a bonafide Project
Eyeball worker would also be his last.

At four o'clock pm that same day, the editors and publishers of the
magazine came down from their offices to announce tearfully that the
publication had to be shut down because it wasn't earning and that the
initial funding had run out. Press releases would later blame the closure
on "severe market conditions."

To soften the blow, a handful of Project Eyeball's more senior staff

were given other jobs at sister publication, the daily Straits Times. Tan

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Hard Times for the Media

himself got a generous separation package and a promise that his

record would be kept on file for future placement in other SPH
companies. But that proved to be cold comfort for the journalist. Tan
even says that because he was one of the handful who put the
magazine to bed nightly, he felt like he was participating in a surreal
tragicomedy as he walked out of the newsroom to go home that gloomy
evening last June and literally bid Project Eyeball goodbye.

Five months later, financial troubles would spread to SPH's broadcast

arm, SPH MediaWorks, which would lay off 73 employees or almost 20
percent of its 380-strong work force. Company executives said they
had to cut costs "in the face of a weak advertising market." By
December 2001, those who stayed on at SPH companies were forced
to take salary cuts of as much as 12 percent.

This is only one of the big media stories that journalists never get to
tell. All over the world this past year, newspapers, radio and television
stations, and even online publications have either been closing down or
downsizing. Hundreds if not thousands of journalists have been thrown
out into the streets after being retrenched or deemed redundant. As
Project Eyeball's experience shows, even before the events of
September 11, many media organizations have had to throw
manpower overboard to stay afloat and ride the tides of recession, a
decline in advertising revenues, falling readerships, and high overhead
costs.

For newspapers, round-the-clock news from radio, television, and the

Internet kept pulling readers away, making it even more difficult for the
print media to hang on to their shrinking markets. Not even the
supposedly big and stable names were spared the storm. Lay-offs
swept the New York Times, the Tribune Co. and the Knight Ridder
group of publications in the United States as well as the Guardian and
the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom, to name a few.

September 11 only made the situation worse, especially when it came

to advertising. The travel industry-airlines and hotels-as well as IT and
financial services firms cut back on advertising severely, affecting many
of the world's newspapers and magazines. In Hong Kong, all 80
employees of the regional newsmagazine Asiaweek were laid off last
November after what Time editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine called a
brutal "downturn in advertising." Unable to keep up with its main
competitor Far Eastern Economic Review, the 26-year-old Asiaweek
had to close along with two other AOL Time Warner Inc magazines,
Family Life and On.

Part of the reason for the financial crunch hitting the media world is the
fast growth of the industry itself. The number of newspapers,
magazines, radio, and television and cable programs as well as online
sources of information has multiplied so rapidly in the last few years
that it has become harder for a media organization to find—and

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Hard Times for the Media

keep—its niche in the crowded market.

Singapore's Project Eyeball, for instance, was among the many

publications that rode on the dotcom boom. It was envisioned to be a
magazine about the Internet catering to the yuppie segment. But the
dotcom crash sent it searching for another niche. In fact, it was as a
political news magazine that Project Eyeball met its end.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Hard Times for the Media

MEDIA — HARD TIMES FOR THE

MEDIA

HERE IN Manila, the

Pinoy Times seemed
to have finally found
that niche after
months of
meandering. Set up in
September 1999, the
paper had set out to
be an intelligent
tabloid written in the
language of the man
JANUARY - MARCH 2002 on the street, but was
VOL. VIII NO. 1
having trouble
attracting a steady
audience. That
changed in mid-2000,
Featured Sections when it began to gain tremendous following for its
Find them here: gutsy reportage of the controversies that
surrounded then President Joseph Estrada, his
OK mansions and mistresses. Pinoy Times was filling a
void in Philippine society - publishing articles that
the broadsheets refused to run at that time,
because they feared either an Estrada reprisal or
an advertiser boycott similar to what the Philippine
Daily Inquirer experienced in 1999.

The public's craving for the controversial stories

about Estrada became so great that the Pinoy
Times put out weekly Special Editions—fashioned
after the pre-EDSA I Special Editions of the Mr and
Ms magazine—that were devoted mostly to articles
about the then President. These Special Editions
reached a peak circulation of 300,000 during the
Estrada impeachment trial, or more than ten times
the circulation its parent edition had started out
with.

After Estrada was ousted, however, the circulation

of Pinoy Times went into a freefall. Rues the
paper's publisher Vic Tirol: "People stopped buying
because they felt the problem (Estrada) was gone.
There was no need to keep in step with the details."

In truth, with Estrada gone, Pinoy Times seemed to

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have lost its edge. "If there is nothing there that

they cannot read in other publications or see on TV,
why will… people continue to buy that?" asks
Angelito Pangilinan, chairman of the Association of
Accredited Advertising Agencies or 4A's.

Five days before Christmas 2001, Pinoy Times

rolled off the presses for the last time. Among the
50 people who had to go were journalists and
columnists carried over from the Gokongwei-owned
Manila Times, who were being paid salaries almost
at par with those offered by the broadsheets. As a
result, Pinoy Times' staff salaries contributed to the
paper's high operating costs.

When Pinoy Times was launched in September

1999, owner Eugenia Apostol had been in a hurry
to put the paper out. The Manila Times had just
been shut down, and that politically restive period
was also seeing protests against charter changes.
At that time, those immediately available were the
former Manila Times staff, some of country's best
writers and columnists who had been getting
competitive salaries.

Although the presence of reputable columnists

could be an added attraction for readers, they could
also be a drain on the paper's budget. Indeed, a
month after the Pinoy Times closure, the
broadsheet Manila Standard admitted that it was
experiencing similar financial difficulties; not
surprisingly, among the first it let go were veteran
columnists Nestor Mata and Larry Sipin, as well as
Mahar Mangahas of the Social Weather Stations.

Salaries, however, were just one item in the Pinoy

Times's list of big expenses. Much of whatever
money it made went to printing and the cost of
newsprint, which increased just after the "thinking
tabloid" first hit the streets. Thus, it was still barely
breaking even when its circulation shot up in late
2000. "Paper was a big expense," explains Tirol.
"So the only ones making money were the paper
supplier and the printer."

The cost of paper is a major outlay for any print

publication. In the last few years, to cut down on
paper costs, broadsheets in the United States
began shifting from 54-inch to what is known as the

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50-inch web or a "baby broadsheet" size that slices

an inch off a page's width. The country's leading
newspaper, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, has
already made that shift, starting with its January 25,
2002 edition.

"Paper is the single most expensive expense in the

making of a newspaper," said Inquirer editor-in-
chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc in a message
explaining the daily's resizing to readers. The
Inquirer, she said, was simply going the way of 300
newspapers in the United States.

Yet as their overheads continue to soar, print-

media organizations have been seeing a decline in
their readership. Even the market leader, the
Inquirer, saw its circulation dropping to 220,000
after it soared to 260,000 in the run up to and
immediately after EDSA II. Dwindling readership
has complicated the financial problems of the print
media. Although they count on advertisements for
income, they rely on these less than radio and
television, and depend more on circulation or sales
to keep them going.

In the Philippines, newspaper readership is

traditionally low and rises dramatically only in times
of political and economic upheaval. But the
economic crunch has made Filipinos all the more
reluctant to shell out money for a newspaper. Like
other people elsewhere in the world, Filipinos
consider the newspaper as one of those things they
can do without when they have less to spend. Tirol
concedes, "Between buying Pinoy Times and food,
the choice was clear."

A study conducted in April 2001 for a select group

of food and consumer companies and the Asian
Institute of Management bears this out. Done by
AIM Professor Ned Roberto, its results confirmed
that newspapers, magazines, and even comics are
among the first to be deleted in a consumer's
shopping list in times of crisis. In Metro Manila,
around 20 percent of the study's respondents from
all income classes said they had stopped buying
magazines and comics altogether, although the
figure is less for newspapers. In Cebu, 40 percent
of the DE class or lower-income segment
eliminated newspapers from their list of daily

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Hard Times for the Media

needs, while in Davao the figure was 25 percent.

A year 2000 survey called "Trimedia Exposure

Study," this time by the Manila-based Asia
Research Organization, also found that two out of
three respondents had not read any newspaper at
all for one full week.

It is presumably this remaining third of the reading

population that the country's 20 broadsheets and
tabloids have to fight over. Magazines, which, since
they cater to specific groups, have less volatile
readerships, are feeling the pinch as well. No
doubt, every publication is either applying or about
to apply cost-cutting measures, if not repositioning
or repackaging itself to attract a bigger share of
readers. For instance, the weekly magazine
Newsbreak, which just turned a year old in January,
became a fortnightly publication beginning March 4
as part of a reformatting plan. It has also gone full
color, and added more pages. Moreover,
Newsbreak has merged with the three-year-old
magazine Market Watch, which focused on
investment opportunities in the Philippines.

These measures are being undertaken even if

Newsbreak's circulation and sales figures are on
the rise. Associate editor Chay Florentino-Holifeña
says the magazine has been successful so far
mainly because it has established itself as having
inside stories on current issues. Newspapers don't
offer that, she says. And, she adds, there is also
the problem of "decreased credibility of
newspapers and sensationalism among the
broadsheets."

But Hofileña and the rest of the Newsbreak staff

have no time to pat themselves on the back. As
Pangilinan of 4As points out, more and more
people are giving up reading because "radio and
TV have become more aggressive in news
gathering. Now, you have a 24-hour news channel,
more sophisticated news gathering, so you
practically don't have to buy a newspaper."

Pangilinan notes that unlike newspapers or

magazines, which consumers would have to pay for
daily or weekly, TV sets are one-time purchases
that provide a steady source of news, information

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Hard Times for the Media

and entertainment. In fact, Roberto's study found

that 97 percent of DE respondents in Metro Manila
owned color TV sets, now considered a household
priority more important than a refrigerator or a bed.
(Only 74 percent had refrigerators, and 82 percent,
beds).

"A newspaper is a losing proposition these days,"

says veteran business journalist Emeterio Sd.
Perez. He probably already knew that when he
joined the broadsheet Manila Meteor as its
assistant business editor last September. At the
time, however, the paper was oozing with cash
from investors, attracting experienced journalists
like Perez from now-defunct dailies such as the
Philippine Post, the Manila Chronicle, and the
Sun.star Daily. The newspaper managed to snag
some advertisements, but even when combined
with the initial investment, the income from these
was just not enough to cover the cost of running the
paper. On November 15, Meteor employees got
their paychecks for the last time. But they would
continue to come to work and put out the
newspaper until the last week of January, echoing
an experience that former Post employees went
through during that paper's final months.

Perez recalls some employees coming to work

even after the Meteor had already suspended
operations and begging for transportation money to
be able to cover their beats. "These people were
willing to come to the office, as long as they had
money for fare," he says.

But if the Meteor employees were so insistent on

showing up for work, it was not only because they
were hoping to collect whatever of their salaries
was still unpaid. They also wanted to keep
believing that investors would step in anytime and
get the paper going again. After all, most of them
had nowhere else to go, at least not in an industry
where freeze hiring had become the norm. As it is,
newspapers are seeing their numbers dwindling.
Last year there were 12 broadsheets; today there
are nine.

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Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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MEDIA — HARD TIMES FOR THE

MEDIA

SOME PRINT journalists have probably been

cursing themselves for not going into broadcast
media instead, especially television, which in the
Philippines seems to have borne minimum impact
from the prolonged recession. Between print and
broadcast, advertisers on average pour more
money into the latter. Pangilinan, who is also
general manager of the ad agency Campaigns and
Grey, says that of the total P27 billion spent by ad
agency clients in 2001, 66 percent went to
television, 18 percent went to radio, and 16 percent
JANUARY - MARCH 2002 to print.
VOL. VIII NO. 1

Still, he says
that when
advertising
Featured Sections budgets
Find them here: shrink, as
they had the
OK
past year,
"there is a
flight to
quality," or a
tendency to go where the advertising money will
yield optimum results. This means it is the smaller
ones that hurt because the ad money goes to the
bigger networks with the wider reach.

Pangilinan estimates that practically half of the

advertising budget for television last year went to
industry leader ABS-CBN, which enjoys a lion's
share of 40 percent of the audience in a field of six
television networks. Ironically, though, it is ABS-
CBN that has had the most displacements so far as
a result, it says, of the economic crisis.

Last December, ABS-CBN sought the Department

of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) approval for its
redundancy program, which was part of a cost-
reduction campaign. Some 150 employees in ABS-
CBN and its subsidiaries ABS-CBN News Channel,
Star Cinema, and ABS-CBN Interactive were to be
initially covered by the redundancy plan, while
another 100 would follow.

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Hard Times for the Media

ABS-CBN can claim to be in the same boat as the

country's other beleaguered media companies, but
only to a certain extent. A publicly listed company, it
has profit levels to surpass, and not just maintain.
ABS-CBN earned P1.3 billion in the first nine
months of 2001. Industry reports say this was four
times what GMA Channel 7, its closest competitor,
earned for the same period. But the figure was
almost 20 percent less than what ABS-CBN made
during the comparative period in 2000—causing
much alarm within the company.

Pangilinan also reveals that things were bad for

ABS-CBN in 2001 because it faced a very serious
challenge from GMA 7, whose audience share rose
dramatically following an aggressive
reprogramming. Last year also saw both networks
confronted by IBC Channel 13 blocktimer Viva
Television, which put out the high-rating game
shows that were later copied by almost all the other
networks.

To top it all off, it was ABS-CBN that had to bail out

sister companies Bayantel and Maynilad Water
Services Inc., the two utilities firms in the Lopez
empire that have suffered heavy losses in the last
few years. Earlier last year, ABS-CBN made cash
advances to prop up the two ailing companies. The
perception in the advertising and broadcast
industries is that ABS-CBN simply didn't know how
to manage its profits, and its business in general.

But ABS-CBN isn't the only big broadcast network

with such a problem. Publicly-listed Manila
Broadcasting Company (MBC), which owns radio
station DZRH, laid off scores of its employees in at
least two rounds of retrenchments over the past
year. In March 2001, 179 DZRH employees were
given their walking papers, ostensibly because the
station was losing money. Employees questioned
this, since DZRH had then just purchased four
outside-broadcast (OB) vans. Their grumblings
were ignored, however, and this January, another
40 or so employees, some of them senior
broadcast journalists, were laid off in yet another
cost-reducing scheme.

More are to lose their jobs at DZRH if a stock-

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Hard Times for the Media

sharing scheme proposed by MBC chair Fred

Elizalde will push through. Under the arrangement,
Elizalde, whose family is the majority stockholder of
MBC, keeps anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of
gross profits. The employees get whatever
remains, with which all operating expenses,
including salaries, would be paid. DZRH
employees, fearing the scheme would burden them
with running the radio stations while leaving
Elizalde sitting pretty, have raised questions over
the plan's propriety and feasibility.

This year, advertising revenues are expected to

stay at 2001 levels. That's bad news for the
broadcast industry. But there are still optimists who
say an economic rebound is a possibility that could
have the ad industry, and the media, back on a
steady financial course again.

In the meantime, most of those displaced by the

upheavals in media are still out on job hunts. Bert
Tan for one had a brief stint with a monthly
magazine in Singapore before moving to Bangkok
where he was slated to replace a journalist on the
way out of a leading Thai broadsheet. But hard
times forced the journalist to stay put, and Tan
found himself in between jobs again.

He is now home, where he has resorted to

freelancing, writing lifestyle articles and movie or
book reviews for a leading local broadsheet. But
freelance journalism in the Philippines doesn't pay
that much. For every article he contributes to the
broadsheet, Tan gets only P1,500, and his
expenses doing the story are his own to bear.

For now, his separation package from Project

Eyeball keeps him alive. He has also taken up a
new hobby: keeping tabs on other publications with
familiar end-of-the-road experiences now lying in
the media industry's morgue.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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PCIJ e-Community

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The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate
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The PCIJ Guide to The Right to Know: Access Patrimony: Six Case In the 15 years since its
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Asia Politics and the published more than a
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The Right to Know: Access to Information in Southeast Asia

The Rulemakers
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This book tells the story of the Philippine legislature by examining the men Or join the
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This book also shows how lawmakers have employed their powers to further
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The Right to Know: Access to Information in Southeast Asia

The PCIJ Guide to Government

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the structure of, and the key processes or procedures followed in, thos
© 2003 i on the net
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320 pages
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ISBN 971-8686-37-1
with implementing infrastructure and other projects. At the end of each
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Malacañang. The book pinpoints what citizens should watch out for, where
the potential for abuse and malfeasance can occur.
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Investigating Corruption

Investigating Corruption
A Do-It-Yourself Guide
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The PCIJ recently released its latest book, Investigating Corruption: A Do-It-
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publishing since 1995, is a how-to manual that instructs those interested in PCIJ Club!
corruption—whether they are journalists, activists, government officials,
academics, researchers, or plain concerned citizens—how to probe various
forms of malfeasance.
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Investigating Corruption is a user-friendly manual that is based largely on the
404 pages
experiences of PCIJ journalists. Among others, it gives tips on investigating i-site.ph
ISBN 971-8686-36-3
officials, including checking their assets, lifestyles, and behavior. A special
section in the book describes how the PCIJ uncovered former President i on the net
Estrada's millions and mansions.
Price: PhP 250
US$ 8
(exclusive The book also provides a guide to various human sources and documents
of mailing cost) that corruption investigators can use. The government's complex
procurements system is explained in the book, which also includes tips on
how to spot whether anomalies in public biddings and the negotiation of
contracts for government purchases. For the numerically inclined, the book
explains how the scale and impact of corruption can be measured using
various mathematical and statistical tools.

Other chapters provide instruction on probing corruption in the courts and in

the environment sector. A guide to government agencies tasked with
Click here for the
investigating graft, including the specific functions of these agencies, is also Copyright © 2002
Introduction.
included. The last chapter of the book lists the NGOs involved in curbing All rights reserved.
corruption. PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Investigating Corruption

Investigating Corruption
A Do-It-Yourself Guide
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User's Guide
This book is for those who are interested in corruption, whether they are links
© 2002 journalists, activists, government officials, academics, researchers, or plain pcij.org
404 pages concerned citizens. What you have in your hand is a how-to manual, a
practical guide intended for those who wish to understand how corruption i-site.ph
ISBN 971-8686-36-3 takes place and the damage it has wrought. It is also for those who want to i on the net
venture beyond understanding to doing actual investigations of corrupt acts
Price: PhP 250 and officials.
US$ 8
(exclusive
of mailing cost) Investigating corruption requires skill, patience, and a nose for wrongdoing.
This manual is intended to make the task less daunting and to provide a map
for those who are embarking on the effort. It is hard to navigate blindly the
corridors of power and malfeasance. This book was written with the certainty
that with a manual such as this, even first-timers can take on the task. It is our
hope that the numerous examples contained in this book of how wrongdoing
has been unraveled will inspire others to do their own investigations.

The chapters in this volume were written in such a way that they can be read
Click here for the in any order, depending on what readers are interested in or on what they are
Introduction. looking for. The first chapter provides a broad overview, based largely on the Copyright © 2002
existing literature on the definition, types, and consequences of corruption. All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
The chapter also provides a listing of what Philippine laws define as corrupt
INVESTIGATIVE
acts. Those who want more practical advice on investigating corruption can
JOURNALISM
skip Chapter 1, but they should know that a grasp of legal and academic
definitions as well as a grounding in the academic literature can help set the Webweaving by
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Chapters 2, 3, and 4 describe the techniques that can be used for

investigating corruption in the public sector. These techniques are based
largely on the experience of journalists who have worked on corruption
investigations for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
Chapter 2 is an overview of investigative strategies; Chapter 3 describes the
techniques that can be used for investigating officials; and Chapter 4 looks at
the sources - human and documentary - that can be tapped for corruption
investigations. Many of the investigations cited in these chapters are
contained in the PCIJ's anthology, Betrayals of the Public Trust: Investigative
Reports on Corruption. Published in 2000, the book describes how the
authors of the reports included in the collection investigated wrongdoing, and
is therefore a handy companion for this manual.

Chapter 5 lists the various ways in which corruption has been measured by
survey groups, governments, donor agencies, and NGOs. This chapter is
useful for readers with a statistical bent or for those who want to arrive at an
estimate of the scale and cost of corruption. The chapter explains in detail the
different methods used to measure corruption, including methods that can be

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Investigating Corruption

used by researchers, journalists, and citizens' groups who can invest only
modest staff and financial resources in the effort.

Chapters 6 to 8 examine corruption in specific sectors. Each chapter starts

out with an overview of the functions and structure of a sector before going on
to explain how corruption has taken place there and how malfeasance has
been investigated by journalists and researchers as well as official bodies.

Chapter 6 explains the complex issue of public procurement or how national

and local government units purchase goods and services and contract out
public works. The chapter describes the procedures followed in government
procurement and shows how corrupt contractors and bureaucrats have gone
around these procedures to steal public funds. The chapter also lists the "red
flags," the signs that indicate that bribery is likely taking place and that
investigators should look out for when probing government contracts and
purchases.

Chapter 7 describes the structure of the Philippine judicial system and

provides tips on investigating corruption in the courts. Chapter 8 does the
same for the environment sector and lists guide questions for investigating
corruption in the environment.

Chapters 9 and 10 describe the efforts being undertaken to curb corruption.

Chapter 9 looks at all the government bodies that are tasked with
investigating and prosecuting corruption in the public sector. This is useful for
those who wish to know which government agency is responsible for probing
the corrupt act or official they are interested in, the powers of this agency, and
the way in which it is structured. Finally, Chapter 10 describes the work of
nongovernmental groups in campaigning for good governance, researching
corruption, and probing malfeasance.

Because each chapter was written with the idea that it can be read
independently of the others, acronyms are spelled out and the complete
names of individuals and agencies are given the first time they are used.
Readers who go through the entire book will find that there are some
repetitions, as the writers do not presume that those who read, say, Chapter 6
had already gone through Chapter 3. There are also natural overlaps in the
sections: Chapter 3, for example, describes lifestyle and asset checks as one
way of investigating officials. Asset checks are also tackled in Chapter 5, as
they are one way of measuring the scale of corruption. To make it easier for
readers, however, each chapter has references (enclosed in square brackets
and italicized) to other sections and chapters in the book where the same
subject is tackled. At the end of this volume, there is a list of the books,
articles, and other reference material that were used in writing each chapter.

This is a manual, after all, and it is designed to make it easy for users to find
what they want. For this reason, the headers on each page indicate the
section in the chapter to which that page belongs, while the notations on the
right or left margin of every page indicate the chapter title. In addition, the
main sections in each chapter are listed in the table of contents.

Investigating Corruption was designed to be user friendly. We hope it is really

so.

Sheila S. Coronel

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Investigating Estrada: Millions, Mansions and Mistresses

Investigating Estrada
Millions, Mansions and Mistresses
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THE PHILIPPINE Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) began its
research on President Joseph Estrada's wealth in the first quarter of 2000. Or join the
The direction of our research was determined by what could be documented. PCIJ Club!
Thus, one track of our investigation focused on the acquisition of real estate
and the construction of houses. The second track focused on the formation of
corporations by members of President Estrada's various families.
Finalist: links
National Book Award for
Journalism (2000) What we found was a President who accumulated so much money in his first pcij.org
two-and-a-half years in office that he was able to purchase, through dummies i-site.ph
© 2000 and shell companies, over P2 billion worth of real estate for his various wives
196 pages and children. We also found a pattern of corporate formation by presidential i on the net
mistresses. We uncovered 66 companies in which Estrada, his wives and
ISBN 971-8686-29-0 children were listed as incorporators or board members.

Price: PhP 250 Fourteen of these companies alone have assets of over P600 million. Yet the
US$ 6.25
President declared a net worth of only P35.8 million in 1999 and a net income
(exclusive
of mailing cost) of only P2.3 million that same year.

Click here to place your Our findings on President Estrada's unexplained wealth and his propensity for
acquiring real estate and building mansions were published in a series of
articles in the second half of 2000. In October 2000, three of the PCIJ's
reports were included in the impeachment complaint against the President.

Investigating Estrada collects in one volume the PCIJ's groundbreaking Copyright © 2001
investigations on Estrada's wealth. It also includes articles that examine the All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
President's unorthodox lifestyle, his keen appreciation of the perks of public
INVESTIGATIVE
office, his "Midnight Cabinet," and his use of the powers of the presidency to
JOURNALISM
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Betrayals of the Public Trust: Investigative Reports on Corruption

Betrayals of the Public Trust

Investigative Reports on Corruption
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THE INVESTIGATIVE reports in this book were written between 1990 and
2000, a decade that spanned the administrations of three democratically Or join the
elected presidents. During that period, the integrity of democratic institutions, PCIJ Club!
which were re-established after the fall of Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986, was
challenged by charges of corruption and malfeasance. Virtually no office,
including the Supreme Court and the Office of the President, was spared.
links
Winner: The reports included in this volume show the range of corruption that can be pcij.org
National Book Award for found in various areas of governance: from high-level political corruption in
Journalism (2000) i-site.ph
Malacañang and Congress to low-level corruption in local governments.
i on the net
© 2000
318 pages This book shows how the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
(PCIJ) has researched and put together investigative reports on corruption.
ISBN 971-8686-27-4
All the articles in this collection come with an explanation of the research and
reporting methods that were used by the journalists who wrote them. The
documents that were obtained, the interviews conducted, and the other
Price: PhP 280
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sources for the story are listed. The use of other techniques, such as
(exclusive computer databases or immersion in communities, is also explained. In
of mailing cost) addition, how stories are developed—by, for example, using case studies or
establishing a pattern of irregularities—is discussed. The impact of the reports
Click here to place your is also mentioned.

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Pork and other Perks: Corruption and Governance in the Philippines

Pork and other Perks

Corruption and Governance in the Philippines
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CORRUPTION is an issues as old as governance itself. Filipinos therefore
tend to be cynical about corruption in government. They are shocked that Or join the
public officials are corrupt, although they may sometimes marvel at the PCIJ Club!
magnitude of the thievery.

Yet more and more Filipinos are now raising issues about the effectiveness of links
government performance, the accountability of government institutions, and
Winner:
the transparency of government agencies. They have realized that pcij.org
National Book Award for
Journalism (1998) democracy in itself does not ensue that government officials and institutions i-site.ph
are immune to the corruption that plagued authoritarian regimes.
i on the net
© 1998
293 pages
This book tries to address these concerns. In nine well-documented case
studies, some of the country’s best investigative reporters show why
ISBN 971-8686-18-5 corruption persists and what is being done to stop it. These case studies
reveal the fallibility of individuals and institutions. They also show how
Price: PhP 290 democratization, economic growth, and liberalization bring about new
US$ 7.25 temptations and new forms of abuse.
(exclusive
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Pork and other Perks is a pioneering work. It exposes the many facets of
corruption in the Philippines and pinpoints who is responsible. But this book
Click here to place your goes beyond muckraking to examining the social structures and the
institutions that breed graft. It also examines what can be done about it.

Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Pork and other Perks: Corruption and Governance in the Philippines

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Robbed: An Investigation of Corruption in Philippine Education

Robbed
An Investigation of Corruption in Philippine Education
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THE DEPARTMENT of Education Culture and Sports (DECS) provides a
classic case of corruption in the Philippines. Nearly all forms of corruption Or join the
described in academic textx can eb found in the department: from low-level PCIJ Club!
bureaucratic corruption to high-level political corruption involving education
officials, legislators, and Cabinet secretaries. The result is an education
bureaucracy so ridden with graft that it is barely able to deliver the most basic
educational services to the country’s 15 million public school students. links

Winner:
pcij.org
National Book Award for This investigation shows in graphic detail how corruption permeates all levels i-site.ph
Journalism (1999) of the public educational system, from the DECS central office in Pasig to the
school on a remote island in the fringes of the archipelago. Corruption i on the net
© 1999 assumes various forms, from petty or survival corruption engaged in by lowly
172 pages clerks who sit on papers until suppliers cough up grease money to top-level
corruption where policy-makers at the Pasig or regional offices change, bend
ISBN 971-8686-26-6 or breach the rules to favor suppliers that come up with bribes.

Price: PhP 160 The areas most vulnerable to corruption are procurement and recruitment.
US$ 4
(exclusive
Money changes hands at nearly every stage of procurement, from the
of mailing cost)accreditation to the payment of suppliers. Money is also given out from the
time a teacher applies for a job up to the time she requests for a change in
assignment or works for a promotion. In some cases, expensive gifts replace
Click here to place your
money in cash-less transactions that take place in the education bureaucracy.

Embezzlement, nepotism, influence peddling, fraud and other types of Copyright © 2001
corruption also flourish. Corruption has become so institutionalized that All rights reserved.
payoffs have become the lubricant that makes the education bureaucracy run PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
smoothly. The result: an entire geenration of Filipino students robbed of their INVESTIGATIVE
right to a good education. JOURNALISM

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Robbed: An Investigation of Corruption in Philippine Education

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Boss: 5 Case Studies of Local Politics in the Philippines

Boss
5 Case Studies of Local Politics in the Philippines
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FOR THE last hundred years, politicians have died, and killed, for the perks of
local office—including control of substantial revenues, as well as cuts from Or join the
pork barrel funds, government contracts, even jueteng and smuggling PCIJ Club!
operations.

In 1991, Congress passed the Local Government Code which devolved links
power to local government units. The Code shifts the locus of power from
Winner: manila to the regions. For the first time in Philippine history, local pcij.org
National Book Award for
Journalism (1995)
governments now have the authority and potentially, also the resources, to i-site.ph
become independent power centers.
i on the net
© 1995
199 pages
These changes also mean that local office is now more lucrative than ever.
That is why local elites are contesting municipal and provincial government
ISBN 971-8686-08-8 posts with renewed intensity.

out of print Boss looks at five areas in the Philippines and examines what is at stake in
the struggle for local office. It describes the political and economic geography
of these areas and explains why, despite urbanization and economic growth,
local clans, warlords and politicians remain powerful.

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Boss: 5 Case Studies of Local Politics in the Philippines

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The Right to Know: Access to Information in Southeast Asia

The Right to Know

Access to Information in Southeast Asia
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edited with an introduction by Sheila S. Coronel now for only
P400 a year.
PUBLISHED jointly by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
(PCIJ) and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa), this book examines Or join the
the state of the media in these countries and the obstacles faced by PCIJ Club!
journalists and citizens who wish to obtain access to public records.

The book includes the findings of a cross-country survey that ranked the links
countries according to their openness. The Philippines and Thailand rank as
the most transparent countries in Southeast Asia. Cambodia is third, although pcij.org
© 2001
270 pages citizens rarely attempt to obtain information from the government, which they i-site.ph
think is authoritarian and inaccessible Moreover, the information infrastructure
is in shambles after the ravages of the Khmer Rouge. i on the net
ISBN 971-8686-34-7

Price: PhP 300 In Indonesia, Suharto-era restrictions on information disclosure remain in

US$ 7.50 place, although the press is free and able to report on areas of public life
(exclusive previously closed to scrutiny.
of mailing cost)

In Singapore and Malaysia, paternalistic but restrictive governments keep

Click here to place your citizens in thrall while giving them a taste of the good life. In recent years,
there has been some opening up in information access in these countries as
governments responded to the demands of global business for more
economic information in the wake of the crisis that struck East Asia in the late
1990s. At the same time, however, these governments have refused to be
more forthcoming in releasing information on other aspects of political and
social life. Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
In Vietnam, the Communist Party dominates the media and wide areas of PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
INVESTIGATIVE
public life. The least transparent country in the region is Burma, where all
JOURNALISM
media are mouthpieces of the junta and virtually no information is available to
the public. Burma also has the most restrictive press laws in the region, and Webweaving by
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For the longest time, the rulers of Southeast Asia maintained political control
through information control. Since the late 1980s, however, such stranglehold
has been challenged by democracy movements, technological advances and
the increasing integration of regional economies into global trade and finance.
In Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, the media have played an
important role in providing citizens information on the excesses of
authoritarian regimes. Today, in these countries, a free press provides a
steady stream of information on corruption, the abuse of power and assorted
forms of malfeasance.

The Southeast Asian experience has shown that the struggle for freedom of
information cannot be taken separately from the struggle for democracy. The
most significant openings in information access have come about as part of a
package of democratic reforms. These reforms, in turn, were the product of
citizens' involvement in pro-democracy movements; they would not have
been possible if left to the initiative of leaders or legislatures.

"Southeast Asian governments do not open up of their own accord," says the

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The Right to Know: Access to Information in Southeast Asia

book. "They have to be pried open."

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Drugs, Death and Disease: Reporting on AIDS in Southeast Asia

Drugs, Death and Disease

Reporting on AIDS in Southeast Asia
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edited by Cecile C.A. Balgos now for only
P400 a year.
THE MEDIA tend to sensationalize AIDS, often focusing on the more
scandalous aspects of the private lives of those with HIV/AIDS victims, Or join the
without shedding light on the complexity of the contagion. Often, those with PCIJ Club!
the disease are portrayed as the culprits behind the spread of the disease,
thus contributing to the social ostracism that people with AIDS suffer.
Sometimes, reporters even get it wrong, propagating wrong notions about the
© 2001 links
148 pages disease and contributing to the public's misinformation about HIV/AIDS.
pcij.org
ISBN 971-8686-33-9 Even when journalists get it right and take a more holistic view, they have i-site.ph
tended to look at the epidemic in a one-dimensional way: as a public health
problem, or as an issue related to the sex industry, drug use or military i on the net
Price: PhP 150
US$ 3.75 prostitution. AIDS is all of these, but also more than all of these. To succeed
(exclusive in the battle against AIDS, the epidemic must be viewed in a multidimensional
of mailing cost) way, as a phenomenon rooted in society and tightly linked to social ills.

Click here to place your This is not easy to do, given the tight deadlines that journalists generally have
to work with and the inadequate information that is available to them. This
book aims to help Southeast Asian journalists grapple with the complex
issues related to HIV/AIDS.

It is intended to be a map, a guide, a tool for reporters who write on this and
related health and social issues. It is helpful to others as well, including
officials, policymakers, activists and citizens who wish to know more about an
epidemic that is claiming lives, sucking up resources, and undermining the Copyright © 2001
efforts of many Southeast Asian societies to provide a better life for their All rights reserved.
peoples. PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Investigating Local Governments

Investigating Local Governments

A Manual for Reporters
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edited by Cecile C.A. Balgos now for only
P400 a year.
THIS MANUAL attempts to provide journalists with a local governance
roadmap that would guide them in their day-to-day coverage of the news. But Or join the
it is useful to others as well -officials, researchers, activists and ordinary PCIJ Club!
citizens who wish to know more about governance at the local level.

© 2001 This book begins with a scrutiny of the community press and its unique links
279 pages features and problems. It then dissects how local governments work (or are
supposed to work) and includes helpful hints on how journalists can make pcij.org
ISBN 971-8686-31-2 sense of what is going on at the local level. In a simple but exhaustive i-site.ph
discussion on local fiscal administration, one of the chapters shows how
reporters and citizens can follow the money trail in their pursuit of i on the net
Price: PhP 250
US$ 6.25 wrongdoing. Another chapter focuses on the basic services that have been
(exclusive devolved to local government units, and points out the kinds of leads and
of mailing cost) sources a reporter can use to explain all these to the average reader.

Click here to place your The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism put out this book in
recognition of the fact that community journalists have to deal with a difficult
terrain that is marked by political pressures, limited resources, intimidation
and threats. But there is also a lack of understanding among community
journalists of what local governance is all about and how local governments
work. It is hoped that this book will help deepen their understanding and
encourage them to blaze new trails in reporting.

Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
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From Loren to Marimar: The Philippine Media in the 1990s

From Loren to Marimar

The Philippine Media in the 1990s
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edited by Sheila S. Coronel now for only
P400 a year.
THIS COLLECTION is must reading for anyone interested in how one of the
most influential sectors in philippine society operates: the media. The 35 Or join the
articles in this anthology examine the structure of Philippine newspapers and PCIJ Club!
television, describe Filipino forays into the World Wide Web, and probes such
problems as ethics and ownership. They also trace how, in just a decade, the
media in the Philippines have become as powerful as they are now. One of
the things this collection explains is why media peronalities have found their links
way into politics and why politicians are lining up to be news anchors or talk pcij.org
Winner:
National Book Award for Media show hosts. i-site.ph
(1999)
This anthology paints a portrait of the Philippine media in the 1990s: rowdy, i on the net
© 1999 free and noisy but also vulnerable to pressure and harassment. These
206 pagesarticles, first published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
(PCIJ) in newspapers and in i magazine, provide a fresh perspective on the
ISBN 971-8686-24-X problems and issues that confront the philippine media at the turn of the
millennium. Trenchant and well-researched, they focus an unflinching eye on
Price: PhP 200 the strengths and weaknesses of the media.
US$ 5
(exclusive
of mailing cost)This book is emant for students, media users, researchers, officials and
ordinary citizens who wish to udnerstand the often anarchic way in which one
of the most powerful institutions in out society works. From Loren to Marimar
Click here to place your
does not mince words. These articles were written by jorunalists who have
harnessed their investigative skills to examine their own trade. They did not
always like what they found.
Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
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News for Sale: The Corruption of the Philippine Media

News for Sale

The Corruption of the Philippine Media
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by Chay Florentino-Hofileña now for only
P400 a year.
MEDIA CORRUPTION is not an easy subject for jorunalistic investigation. In
this unprecedented work, Chay Florentino-Hofileña looks at the history of Or join the
media corruption in the Philippines, probes corrupt practices in the 1990s, PCIJ Club!
and discovers how a free press can be bought.

This study shows that compared to the past, media corruption in the post- links
Marcos era is costlier, more pervasive, and even more systemic. It is also
disturbingly sophisticated, and in some cases, even institutionalized. The pcij.org
Finalist: organized way in which corruption takes place—through a network of
National Book Award for i-site.ph
Journalism (1998)
jorunalists reporting to other journalists or to professional public relations or
PR people—makes it seem almost like the operation of a criminal syndicate, i on the net
a mafia of corrupt practitioners.
© 1998
147 pages
News for Sale takes a close look at journalistic corruption during the 1998
ISBN 971-8686-20-7 presidential elections. Its findings are shocking, but it also shows what efforts
are being taken to address the problem.
Price: PhP 150
US$ 3.75
(exclusive
of mailing cost)

Click here to place your

Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Uncovering the Beat: The Real-World Guide to Reporting on Government

Uncovering the Beat

The Real-World Guide to Reporting on Government
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subscription
edited by Yvonne T. Chua now for only
P400 a year.
This easy-to-use reference book compiles information on the workings of key
government institutions: the presidency, Congress, the courts, the police, the Or join the
agencies that regulate the economy and the environment, and those that PCIJ Club!
provide education and health services.

It describes the structure of these institutions and the laws that govern them. links
Finalist: It explains how these agencies work and untangles the often arcane
National Book Award for procedures taht govern their operation. Government is a maze, and pcij.org
Journalism (1997)
Uncovering the Beat is a guide to that maze. i-site.ph
© 1997 i on the net
332 pages A road map, survival guide and security blanket, this book is meant for
reporters, journalism students and others who wish to learn more about the
ISBN 971-8686-15-0 current practice of day-to-day journalism—and also day-to-day
gopverning—in the Philippines. It is a practical guide that goes into what the
President of the Republic can do, how a law is made and how the criminal
Price: PhP 200
US$ 5 justice system is supposed to operate. Uncovering the Beat lays down the
(exclusive rules as they are written in the books, but it also gets real, by describing how
of mailing cost) the rules are bent, mangled, ignored in courtrooms, jails, even the august
halls of Congress.
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Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
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The Electronic Trail: Computer-assisted Research and Reporting in the Philippines

The Electronic Trail

Computer-assisted Research and Reporting in the Philippines
Get a
subscription
by Danilo A. Arao, Yvonne T. Chua and Alecks P. Pabico now for only
P400 a year.
THE DIGITAL revolution has had profound consequences on the way of
doing journalism. Computers and modems have made it possible to transmit Or join the
almost instantaneously large amounts of information from anywhere on the PCIJ Club!
planet with a telephone. But more than that, the new technology has also
made available to journalists a whole new world of research and reporting
possibilities.
links

This book provides reader-friendly guides to using available computer pcij.org

Finalist: software and maximizing the use of electronic databases, online libraries, i-site.ph
National Book Award for email, newsgroups, electronic bulletin boards, listservs, and of course, the
Journalism (1997) land of promise called the World Wide Web. The Electronic Trail also cites the i on the net
real-life examples of journalists who have done trail-blazing research and
© 1997 reporting using precisely these resources.
207 pages

Although addressed specifically to journalists, this manual is also intended for

ISBN 971-8686-16-9
other researchers—in schools, companies, government and NGOs—who are
interested in using the full potential of their computers for their work.
out of print

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News in Distress: The Southeast Asian Media in a Time of Crisis

News in Distress
The Southeast Asian Media in a Time of Crisis
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edited by Cecile C.A. Balgos now for only
P400 a year.
WHILE OFFICIALS and experts are still arguing about the real causes of
what is now called the “Asian crisis,” one thing seems clear: There was lack Or join the
of information that would have allowed officials, businesspeople and ordinary PCIJ Club!
citizens to anticipate the crisis, understand its causes, and deal with its
impacts.

Finalist:
links
How such paucity of information could exist in the so-called “Information Age”
National Book Award for pcij.org
Documentation (1999) points to the contradictions in Southeast Asian societies. On one hand, the
booming countries of the region had opened their economies to transnational i-site.ph
capital flows, encouraged foreign investments and embarked on an ambitious
© 1999 i on the net
132 pages path to growth based on integration into the global economy. On the other
hand, in many of these countries, long reigning leaders have tried to keep
their citizens on a tight leash, restricting freedom of expressionang flows of
ISBN 971-8686-22-3
information that they think would threaten their regimes.
Price: PhP 250
US$ 6.25 News in Distress looks at the problems facing the Southeast Asian media in
(exclusive this era of economic contagion, examining such issues as State control, the
of mailing cost)tyranny of anarchic media markets, and the challenges and opportunities
brought about by democratizatyion, globalization and market deregulation on
Click here to place your the region’s mass media.

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All rights reserved.
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Patrimony: 6 Case Studies on Local Politics and the Environment in the Philippines

Patrimony
6 Case Studies on Local Politics and the Environment in the
Philippines Get a
subscription
now for only
edited with an introduction by Sheila S. Coronel P400 a year.

IN 1995, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) published Or join the
the award-winning Boss: 5 Case Studies of Local Politics in the PCIJ Club!
Philippines. In Patrimony, some of the country’s best investigative reporters
focus their investigative skills on the link between local politics and the
environment, examining how democratization and devolution have affected links
the way resources are managed at the local level. Patrimony looks at the
pcij.org
Winner: structures of local power and explains how those who hold local office use
National Book Award for their power to exploit, or in some cases protect, natural resources. i-site.ph
Journalism (1996)
i on the net
This collection ventures into new territory by identifying emerging trends and
© 1996 social forces augur well for the environment. Ten years since the fall of
173 pages
Ferdinand Marcos, democracy and decentralization have unleashed positive
changes. The Local Government Code, enacted in 1991, has empowered
ISBN 971-8686-12-6 communities, giving them the clout to protect their resources. But they have
also enhanced the prerogatives of local officials, some of whom are the
out of print biggest resource-exploiters in their areas.

Democracy has allowed Green groups to organize freely and given free rein
to an unmuzzled press that has exposed environmental abuse. Increasing
public pressure, especially in the wake of major natural disasters, has also
prompted the government to act, in many instances, as an impartial arbiter of
environmental disputes.
Copyright © 2001
But the struggle is far from over. Very real stumbling blocks—entrenched All rights reserved.
economic interests, unsustainable development strategies and bureaucratic PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
INVESTIGATIVE
inertia—stabd in the way of correcting the way in which natural resources are
JOURNALISM
managed.
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Power from the Forest: The Politics of Logging

Power from the Forest

The Politics of Logging
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by Marites Dañguilan-Vitug now for only
P400 a year.
THE PHILIPPINE forests have been the most coveted among its natural
resources, and the few who have been granted the privilege of taming Or join the
portions of them have reaped power and wealth. PCIJ Club!

Power from the Forest is the story of logging in the Philippines, the story of
the exercise of power—who wields it, who beenfits from it and how. links
pcij.org
Winner: The dangerous intertwine of forests and politics was most glaring under
National Book Award for Ferdinand Marcos. In bestowing upon himself the pwoer to grant and revoke i-site.ph
Journalism (1993) logging licenses, Marcos deftly used the forests as a political tool.
i on the net
© 1993
296 pages
The insurgency war had bred new logging interests—the rebels and the
military who have made the forests their battleground and their sources of
income.
ISBN 971-8686-01-0

out of print
But amidst this gloomy foreboding, there are shafts of light. The indigenous
peoples and rural folk who have lived in or around these forests are starting to
stir as well as a growing number of nongovernmental organizations and
concerened individuals.

Marites Dañguilan-Vitug harnesses her investigative skills to tell us the tragic

story of the Philippine forests, the people who continue to plunder them and
those who are trying to protect them.
Copyright © 2001
All rights reserved.
PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Saving the Earth: The Philippine Experience

Saving the Earth

The Philippine Experience, 4th edition
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edited by Cecile C.A. Balgos now for only
P400 a year.
SAVING THE Earth us mostly about what happens when humans abuse
nature. In the philippines, the problem has become two-fold. For more than Or join the
three decades, the country’s environment crisis consisted mainly of the PCIJ Club!
effects of almost half a century of unrestricted logging. Efforts to rehabilitate
the uplands have been stalled by bureaucratic ineptitude and corruption.
Mining has also contributed its share of blight, but the industry’s area of
operations has so far been more limited than logging’s. links
Winner: pcij.org
National Book Award for
Anthology (1992) While authorities and communities are still wrestling with this “first geenration” i-site.ph
environmental crisis, the second geenration of problems has arrived, in the
form of pollution, land conversion and the other consequences of economic i on the net
© 1997
254 pages growth. This double whammy of upland degradation and urban decay
threatens to overwhelm the government brueaucracies tasked to deal with
ISBN 971-8686-13-4
both simultaneously. Lacking resources, officials will concentrate only on
those issues that the public is most agitated about.
out of print
This book seeks both to describe the effects and analyze the causes of some
Click here to place your
of the greatest environmental afflictions bedeviling the nation. It contains 37 of
the best environment reports published by the Philippine Center for
Investigative Jorunalism (PCIJ) from 1989 to 1997.

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The Green Guide: A Sourcebook on the Philippine Environment

The Green Guide

A Sourcebook on the Philippine Environment, 2nd edition
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subscription
edited by Howie G. Severino now for only
P400 a year.
THE GREEN Guide is the most comprehensive reference manual on the
Philippine environment. Published by the Philippine Center for Investigative Or join the
Journalism (PCIJ), this book is an essential guide for environmental reporters, PCIJ Club!
but should just be as useful for researchers, students, activists, and others
interested in the country’s environment. In addition to essays by journalists
Marites Dañguilan-Vitug and Howie G. Severino, and environmental lawyers
links
Ipat G. Luna and Armand Mejia, the book contains:
Finalist:
pcij.org
National Book Award for
Environment (1995) ■ directories of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, i-site.ph
international environment groups, international financing institutions,
© 1998 environment experts, industry associations, consultancy firms, and i on the net
220 pages resource centers
■ lists of endangered species
ISBN 971-8686-19-3 ■ an index of Philippine laws pertaining to the environment
■ a guide to the Internet as a research tool
Price: PhP 250 ■ a glossary of relevant terms
US$ 6.25 ■ various maps
(exclusive ■ a bibliography of selected environment reference books
of mailing cost)

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Investigating Corruption

Memory of Dances
Get a
edited Photographs by Sonny Yabao subscription
Text by Sheila S. Coronel now for only
P400 a year.
This is the story of the Tagbanua of Coron, Palawan, the Bugkalot and Igorot
of Nueva Vizcaya, and the Manobo of Mount Apo. All of them are Or join the
impoversihed peoples ranged against forces much more powerful than they PCIJ Club!
© 2002
— mining in Nueva Vizcaya, mass tourism in Palawan, a geothermal plant on
144 pages Mount APo. In all these places, the viability of indigenous communities is
being challenged by business entities and government agencies, by the ever-
increasing intrusion of the market and the state. links
ISBN 971-8686-35-5
pcij.org
Price: The story of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines is a chronicle of loss. i-site.ph
Many of them have been dispossessed of their land, their culture destroyed,
(exclusive their forests and seas exploited by outsiders. Some tribes face extinction: i on the net
of mailing cost)
their numbers are rapidly dwindling because the land and forests that
sustained them have been taken by outsiders.

But theirs is not just a story of tragedy and loss. It is also one of recovery and
hope. In all the places we visited, we found peoples who were intensely
engaged with the world outside, fighting and negotiating, constantly
improvising as they sought to change the terms of their engagement with the
world outside. We saw the importance of culture and memory in breathing life
Click here for the
into communities that once stood on the edge of disintegration and despair.
Introduction.
To indigenous peoples, the meory of dances — of their bodies swaying to the
rhthym of ancient gongs — keeps their hope alive that one day they will
recover the sacred ground that is the homeland of their ancestors. This book Copyright © 2002
chronicles their struggle to change the course of the history that confines All rights reserved.
them. PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR
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Women in Brackets: A Chronicle of Vatican Power and Control

Women in Brackets
A Chronicle of Vatican Power and Control
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by Marilen J. Dañguilan, MD now for only
P400 a year.
MARILEN Dañguilan has been a warrior in a war of liberation, and this book
is a chronicle of that war—the war for women’s bodies, women’s rights, and Or join the
women’s choices. PCIJ Club!

The stories that Marilen tells may bear familiar outlines, especially for those
who followed the back-and-forth between Church and State around the time links
of the Cairo and the Beijing women’s conference. But her accounts of these
© 1997 skirmishes acquire an entertaining edge by the deft way she sketches pcij.org
230 pages
characters, her sense of irony and the telling detail, and the way she builds up i-site.ph
suspense as the fraying edges of public opinion threaten to rip apart the
out of print social fabric. i on the net

This account of the struggles for the high ground of public opinion and policy
on the issue of reproductive rights is not just informative and entertaining. It is
important. And it is important because reproductive rights is a central issue for
women. If we do not have the freedom to make basic decisions about
whether, when, how often and by whom we will get pregnant, all our other
liberties are imperilled as well.—Rina Jimenez-David

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Her Stories: Investigative Reports on Filipino Women in the 1990s

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about this article.
2002

● Teenagers Perish in Davao’s Killing Fields

● A Dangerous Place to be a Journalist
● Lakas Contributor to Get P700-Million Windfall
● Trail of Power Mess Leads to Ramos
● Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec Google Search
● Unregulated Fish Pen and Cage Operations Mess Up Coastal Ecosystems
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● Iglesia ni Cristo: Church at the Crossroads
● Young Filipino is King of Boiler Rooms
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● Another Disaster Looms in Marinduque
● Garbage Problem Rooted in Money and Politics
● The Estrada Plunder Case, Year 1: Trial of the Century May Take Ages to Finish
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2001 Match ANY

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● Bribery Charges, Unpaid Debts Hound Luke Roxas

● Political Clans Make a Comeback
● GSIS Insurance Monopoly: 'A Never-ending Scam'
● Native Titles Spark Indigenous Revival
● Anti-Money Laundering Bill: Legislators Protect Themselves and their Friends
● Rockwell's Dirty Secret
● 11 Years After the Gulf War, Filipino Victims are Still Fighting for Compensation
● 30-Year-Old C-130s Anyone?: Giant US Defense Contractor Squats on Clark Sans
Deal
● In Haste, Arroyo Government Approves Controversial IMPSA Deal
● The Ties Still Bind: Families Remain Strong in Congress, but their Influence is Waning
● Firm Linked to Estrada Got Metro Manila Garbage Contract

2000

● Cronies Scramble to Get Clark Casino for Estrada

● An Embarrassment of Houses
● Baguio Forest Cut Down to Build “Cronyville”
● Estrada’s Fronts: Cronies and Attorneys
● The Estrada’s Three Dozen Houses: First Family’s Firm Flouts the Law
● The State of the President’s Finances: Can Erap Explain His Wealth?
● Ten Years After the Earthquake, Baguio is a Disaster Waiting to Happen
● BIR Provides a “Rich Broth” for Corruption
● Big Companies Steal Water
● Agriculture is Weighed Down by Corruption and Waste
● Harsh Jail Terms Make No Dent on the Drug Trade

1999

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Archive of Past Investigative Reports

● The RAM Boys: Where are They Now?

● Teenagers Sell Sex in Malls
● For Many OFWs, Home is Where the Hurt Is
● Appointments Body: A 'Horse-trading' Agency
● Green Menace Blamed on Lucio Tan Brewery
● Centennial Expo: Cover for Election Fundraising
● Philippine Seahorse Victim of Overfishing
● Single Mothers Leave Kids in Orphanages
● TNC Dumps Waste, Responsibility in Marinduque
● Government's Women's Budget Goes to Waste
● Up to 65% of Textbook Funds Goes to Bribes
● "Invisible" Women Workers Fail to Escape Crisis

1998

● No Justice for Women Raped in Jail

● Corruption in DECS Culture
● Cerilles Gets 'Midnight' ECC from DENR
● Biak-na-Bato Headed for Ecological Disaster
● Landmark Law on Tribal Rights Hits a Dead End
● Ombudsman Cases 'Lie and Die There'
● Unkindest Cut of All: Unnecessary Caesareans
● Privatization of Sequestered Media
● When Going Gets Tough, Mothers Go Hungry
● Tagbanua Win Ancestral Waters Claim
● Luxury Hotel Rises on CARP Land
● The Perils of Pork
● Dirty Tricks Win in Local Politics
● Free for All Renders Ad Ban Useless
● Running for their Lives
● PEA-Amari: The Grandmother of All Scams
● Bohol Frets while Cebu Thirsts

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 The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

3-4 MAY 2004

Print this article

by CHAY F. HOFILEÑA and ARIES RUFO

us your views and comments

We all know that the media are playing an important role in this about this article.
election. What is seldom discussed is how candidates and
parties are attempting to influence media coverage and the
means that they employ in order to skew reporting in their favor. SEE ALSO:
Spinning the News

In this two-part series, the PCIJ discusses something new in the

2004 elections: the unprecedented involvement of the PREVIOUS ELECTION
entertainment media in the coverage of candidates and elections. REPORTS:
The result, as the first part of this series reports, is a national The Poor Vote is a Thinking
race marked by the entry of entertainment PRs into what used to Vote
be the exclusive domain of political spin doctors as well as the Filipino Voting Attitudes and
increasing presence of politicians in the entertainment sections of Opinions
newspapers and broadcast news. All these come with a price.
Hope and Elections in Payatas
Fame and Family Dominate
As reported in this series, many in the entertainment press Senatorial Race
consider accepting envelopes of cash and other freebies as the The 2004 elections has marked the
How Representative is
norm and do not deem it corruption. The series, however, does unprecedented involvement of the
not taint all news organizations and points out that many entertainment media in the coverage of Congress?
journalists are immune to corruption. But it says that the "new" candidates and elections.
forms of corruption coexist with old forms, including subsidized
THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
coverage and allowances given to political reporters covering candidates.
PCIJ

THE MEDIA have always been a major player in Philippine elections, more so now with the
pervasiveness of television. But there is a twist in this year's elections: the increasing
influence of the entertainment media and of showbiz celebrities in the campaign. And that, of
course, comes with a price tag.

Well aware of the power of television and entertainment to sway votes, politicians who are
losing out to celebrities have started to feature more entertainers and talk about showbiz
issues in their campaigns. They have also been cultivating relations with the entertainment The Rulemakers: How the
Wealthy and Well-Born
press. Indeed, as celebrities flood the political field, career politicians have found it necessary Dominate Congress
to engage the services of members of the showbiz media, which have made stars and icons
of otherwise ordinary people.
ORDER your copy now.

The result is a national race marked by the entry of entertainment PRs into what used to be
the exclusive domain of political spin doctors as well as the increasing presence of politicians
in the entertainment sections of newspapers and broadcast news. In addition, entertainers are
becoming important as endorsers of candidates even as the candidates themselves, in an
effort to win the masa vote, have been seen playing cameo roles in TV sitcoms and
telenovelas.
Google Search
But all these cost money and often involve lucrative deals between media people and PR
operators. These new methods of media corruption also come on top of traditional methods of Web pcij.org
influencing coverage, such as subsidized coverage and allowances and "wholesale and retail"

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2004/media.html (1 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:27:23 PM]

The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

payoffs for journalists reporting on candidates. Search our Site

In general, many in the entertainment media have always seen any "gift" given to their
members as part of a purely commercial transaction, for which the giver would then get in
exchange a mention in an article or an entire story. Most do not see anything wrong with this Find!
practice, so that the notions of what is corrupt, who is corrupt, and who is corrupted become Match ANY
entirely blurred and confused. powered by FreeFind

What is certain, however, is that ever since the landslide victory of Joseph Ejercito Estrada as
president in 1998, politicians have realized that the showbiz press has the ability to raise a
politician's stock, says Lolit Solis, a top showbiz manager who maintains a stable of stars and
also co-hosts an entertainment show on TV.

"Ano ba ang unang binabasa ng masa sa mga tabloid (What does the mass audience read
first in a tabloid)?" she asks. "'Di ba ang entertainment stories at columns? Dati 'di pinapansin
ang mga entertainment writers, pero nung nanalo si Erap, suddenly ang daming pulitikong
nagpapatulong (Isn't it the entertainment stories and columns? Whereas before entertainment
writers were taken for granted, there was a sudden rush of politicians who sought their help
when Erap won)."

Solis says the entertainment press is the best way for a politician to create mass awareness.
She cites the case of Senator Manuel Villar, whom she helped win in the 2001 senatorial
elections through the "Sipag at Tiyaga" TV ads that featured one of her wards, sexy star
Rosanna Roces. From somewhere in the 15th to 20th place in pre-election surveys, Villar
eventually rose to the No. 7 slot.

If the 2001 elections' winner via celebrity endorsement was Villar, this year it is senatorial
opposition candidate Maria Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, who has a celebrity campaigner
in popular young star Judy Ann "Juday" Santos.

From No. 19 in February surveys, Madrigal is now at No. 8, a showing that many political
analysts credit to Juday's endorsement of Jamby's "Kontra Pulitika" campaign.

Aside from appearing on Madrigal's print and TV ads, Santos also joins her candidate in
political rallies. Solis, who is not Santos's manager, says that the package she offers politician-
clients includes her stars' appearances in rallies and motorcades as well as appearances by
the politician in sitcoms or shows starring her wards. All for a handsome fee, of course.

Aside from Roces, Solis's talents include Rudy Fernandez and his wife Lorna Tolentino,
Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. and wife Lani Mercado, Christopher de Leon and wife Sandy
Andolong, Tonton Guiterrez, Amy Austria, and director Chito Roño. Solis is also helping
Revilla, who the surveys say is topping the senatorial race.

Beyond these celebrities, Solis counts four politicians — Villar and his wife Cynthia, Manila
Mayor Lito Atienza, and Senator Teresa "Tessie" Aquino-Oreta — as among her clients.

A media handler says it is common practice for entertainment columnists who are also
showbiz TV hosts or talent managers to be paid commissions from the political endorsements
of their wards. The stars are paid easily in the millions and the commissions that are passed
on to their managers-cum-columnists are regarded as nothing but a part of a business deal.

As PR for the entertainment press, Solis from time to time arranges press conferences for her
political clients and ensures the attendance of 25 or so entertainment writers whom she has a
direct line to. "Si Villar, at least four times a year. Si Senator Oreta, once in every three
months," she says.

The presscons are very informally structured. "Parang get-together although medyo formal
ang mga tanong ng mga reporters compared sa mga tanong nila sa mga artista (They're like
get-togethers although reporters tend to ask more formal questions compared to the kinds of
questions they ask celebrities)," says Solis.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2004/media.html (2 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:27:23 PM]

The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

The topics, however, are often related to the entertainment sector — the easier for the
entertainment reporters to mention the politicians in their columns or articles. This has
prompted Raul Roco supporter Yolanda Villanueva Ong, group chairperson of the advertising
agency Campaigns and Grey, to see the limits of involving the showbiz press in an election
campaign. She notes, "We can't elevate the content of entertainment reports beyond
discussing what a candidate can do for the movie industry."

During such press conferences, too, freebies such as gift certificates, cakes, and envelopes of
cash are commonly distributed.

One staff of a Solis political client confesses, "I suffered from culture shock the first time I
attended a presscon for the entertainment writers. If the distribution of envelopes is rather
discreet in the political beat, for the entertainment press it's out in the open. As Nanay Lolit
said, 'Naku, in the entertainment press you don't need to hide anything.'"

PR handlers say that entertainment writers for tabloids normally receive P500 while some of
the biggies get double or quadruple the amount for attending press conferences. Some of the
Class A scribes get as high as P5,000 in envelopes just for attendance.

Dondon Sermino, entertainment editor of Abante, admits that payolas or envelopes containing
money are almost always expected during presscons and most members of the entertainment
press see nothing wrong with it.

As Sermino explains it, celebrities are no different from films being publicized, and the
envelopes are therefore part of promotion expenses. "Ang tingin namin, 'yung envelope does
not necessarily mean they are trying to bribe us."

There is no conflict of interest involved, he argues. "How can there be when the ones we are
covering are not the policymakers?"

Solis, according to her client's staff, also helps monitor entertainment stories and "praise
releases." She does damage control, quickly finding out reasons for negative stories.

Solis herself does not see any conflict of interest between her role as manager and PR for
stars and hosting an entertainment talk show. She is also not the only showbiz PR who has
been tapped by politicians to boost their stock. In 2001, according to a senator's media
handler, another prominent showbiz publicist was paid in the hundreds of thousands to
shepherd showbiz reporters to press conferences, making sure these were well attended.

In a way, the inroads made by showbiz managers, hosts, and columnists in the political arena
have become a bane for political PRs. "These biggies have become our competitors," says
Peter Singh, former Senate media liaison officer and an ex-member of the media operations
group of presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. "They have taken over the task of building
up politicians on the entertainment side."

Political PR people and analysts say that it is bad enough that the big number of celebrities
participating in this year's elections has meant that the content of election campaigns has
remained stuck with personalities and intrigue.

Projected as bigger than life by the entertainment media, these idolized icons, says Singh, are
shielded from "the microscopic scrutiny" that politicians are usually subjected to and are
therefore able to represent themselves as far less tainted than ordinary politicos.

Still, the new showbiz approaches to political campaigns this year has not meant a total end to
the more traditional strategies of influencing media coverage. While many journalists remain
honest and above board in their reporting, others have not been immune to inducements
offered by well-funded campaigns.

On the campaign trail, the expenses of many reporters are subsidized, meaning hotel, food,

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The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

transportation, use of the Internet, and take-home gifts are all given for free, according to
Marcial Reyes of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). On average, the
KNP spends at least P2,500 per reporter for a two-day campaign. The amount rises when
reporters need to be transported by plane.

Assuming regular coverage by 15 reporters, the organization spends from P18,000 to

P20,000 a day for the media on the campaign trail for subsidized expenses alone. Whenever
a provincial campaign supporter takes care of the food or local transportation, the party is able
to save more money.

"They are able to help us anyway by giving us space in their media outfits," reasons Reyes.
"Others are even quite critical of us, but the idea was to let them see first-hand how the
campaign is going."

The arrangement is not exactly frowned upon by many media outfits that cannot afford to
cover the entire campaign. And since there are no explicit policies about these in the codes of
ethics adapted by these news organizations, "subsidized" reporting has become acceptable to
many. Only the bigger or more principled media firms insist on paying their own way.

Thus, during the 2001 election campaign, many reporters for national news organizations
were reportedly paid P1,000 each for the coverage of political rallies in Metro Manila. In
nearby provinces, the coverage fee was said to be P1,500 while some journalists from the
local or community press were given P500 each. But out-of-town coverage that required
reporters to be away for several days merited rates as high as P3,000 a day, per head, says
media operative Sammy Martin.

Some of the more senior reporters received between P5,000 to P10,000. "The reporters
remember me because I was generous," Martin says.

Another media handler says that in this election, they keep on retainer select political
reporters and desk persons. Money is given in cash. Some reporters — both print and
broadcast — get a minimum P5,000-monthly retainer, the handler says. But a desk editor
from a major daily gets P20,000 a month.

Some of the reporters on payroll did not ask for the money, the handler clarifies. But he adds,
"They were offered and they agreed." Without preconditions, these reporters are merely
expected to get their patron's side when a negative story runs and oblige when requested to
print "press release stories."

The showbiz element in the current campaign, however, has meant money that is far more
serious. One publicist, for instance, says he was willing to pay producers "up to P200,000" for
a cameo appearance of a politico in a popular television show, provided his candidate had a
speaking role with the show's top-rating star and that they had a say on the script. Other
publicists, though, say personal relations cultivated through the years were enough to get
them by.

But no one denies that the star-studded, media-driven 2004 elections have left non-celebrity
candidates scrambling to get a share of showbiz glitter. One example is former Trade
Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, who is on the administration's senatorial lineup and has
appeared in the comedy show "Ok, Fine, Whatever."

He has also used the "Mr. Palengke" image to appeal to the masses even as his handlers
have linked him romantically to TV/radio news anchor Korina Sanchez.

Sanchez had endorsed Roxas on her morning radio show. But neither has categorically
spelled out exactly what is going on between them, preferring to play coy. In the meantime,
Roxas jumped to No. 2 in an April Social Weather Stations survey, up from the No. 17 post in
mid-January.

Not to be outdone, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been interviewed by talent

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The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

manager Boy Abunda in his Sunday entertainment news show, "The Buzz." (Abunda however
says that his support for Arroyo is "contextual" and that he is not being paid for it. He has also
appeared on commercials endorsing Arroyo's presidential bid.)

To show how much she cares about the survival of the entertainment industry, Arroyo even
signed the Optical Media Act or the anti-piracy law during her proclamation rally last February.
Celebrities led by TV host Kris Aquino graced the event.

The "celebritification" of Philippine politics can be traced back to the political ad ban imposed
in 1986 and lifted in 2001, says Campaigns and Grey's Ong.

Without political ads, new politicians had no means to get their names recognized by mass
voters. This opened the doors of politics for the first time in 1992 to the likes of comedian
Vicente Sotto who topped the Senate race then, followed by action star Ramon Revilla. TV
personality and former basketball player Freddie Webb placed 12th.

By 1998, there were five celebrities in the Senate. Former news anchor Loren Legarda led the
list of freshly elected senators, followed by lawyer and TV/radio host Renato Cayetano, and
then Sotto. Another former basketball star, Robert Jaworski, and his father-in-law,
reelectionist Revilla, claimed the No. 9 and 10 spots respectively.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

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The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

[posted 2 May 2004]

The Showbiz Press Gets into

Politics
by CHAY F. HOFILEÑA and ARIES RUFO

THE MEDIA have always been a major player in Philippine elections,

more so now with the pervasiveness of television. But there is a twist
in this year's elections: the increasing influence of the entertainment
media and of showbiz celebrities in the campaign. And that, of course,
comes with a price tag.

Well aware of the power of television and entertainment to sway votes,

politicians who are losing out to celebrities have started to feature
more entertainers and talk about showbiz issues in their campaigns.
They have also been cultivating relations with the entertainment press.
Indeed, as celebrities flood the political field, career politicians have
found it necessary to engage the services of members of the showbiz
media, which have made stars and icons of otherwise ordinary people.

The result is a national race marked by the entry of entertainment PRs

into what used to be the exclusive domain of political spin doctors as
well as the increasing presence of politicians in the entertainment
sections of newspapers and broadcast news. In addition, entertainers
are becoming important as endorsers of candidates even as the
candidates themselves, in an effort to win the masa vote, have been
seen playing cameo roles in TV sitcoms and telenovelas.

But all these cost money and often involve lucrative deals between
media people and PR operators. These new methods of media
corruption also come on top of traditional methods of influencing
coverage, such as subsidized coverage and allowances and
"wholesale and retail" payoffs for journalists reporting on candidates.

In general, many in the entertainment media have always seen any

"gift" given to their members as part of a purely commercial
transaction, for which the giver would then get in exchange a mention
in an article or an entire story. Most do not see anything wrong with
this practice, so that the notions of what is corrupt, who is corrupt, and
who is corrupted become entirely blurred and confused.

What is certain, however, is that ever since the landslide victory of

Joseph Ejercito Estrada as president in 1998, politicians have realized
that the showbiz press has the ability to raise a politician's stock, says
Lolit Solis, a top showbiz manager who maintains a stable of stars and
also co-hosts an entertainment show on TV.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/media.html (1 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:27:28 PM]

The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

"Ano ba ang unang binabasa ng masa sa mga tabloid (What does the
mass audience read first in a tabloid)?" she asks. "'Di ba ang
entertainment stories at columns? Dati 'di pinapansin ang mga
entertainment writers, pero nung nanalo si Erap, suddenly ang daming
pulitikong nagpapatulong (Isn't it the entertainment stories and
columns? Whereas before entertainment writers were taken for
granted, there was a sudden rush of politicians who sought their help
when Erap won)."

Solis says the entertainment press is the best way for a politician to
create mass awareness. She cites the case of Senator Manuel Villar,
whom she helped win in the 2001 senatorial elections through the
"Sipag at Tiyaga" TV ads that featured one of her wards, sexy star
Rosanna Roces. From somewhere in the 15th to 20th place in pre-
election surveys, Villar eventually rose to the No. 7 slot.

If the 2001 elections' winner via celebrity endorsement was Villar, this
year it is senatorial opposition candidate Maria Ana Consuelo "Jamby"
Madrigal, who has a celebrity campaigner in popular young star Judy
Ann "Juday" Santos.

From No. 19 in February surveys, Madrigal is now at No. 8, a showing

that many political analysts credit to Juday's endorsement of Jamby's
"Kontra Pulitika" campaign.

Aside from appearing on Madrigal's print and TV ads, Santos also

joins her candidate in political rallies. Solis, who is not Santos's
manager, says that the package she offers politician-clients includes
her stars' appearances in rallies and motorcades as well as
appearances by the politician in sitcoms or shows starring her wards.
All for a handsome fee, of course.

Aside from Roces, Solis's talents include Rudy Fernandez and his wife
Lorna Tolentino, Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. and wife Lani Mercado,
Christopher de Leon and wife Sandy Andolong, Tonton Guiterrez, Amy
Austria, and director Chito Roño. Solis is also helping Revilla, who the
surveys say is topping the senatorial race.

Beyond these celebrities, Solis counts four politicians — Villar and his
wife Cynthia, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, and Senator Teresa "Tessie"
Aquino-Oreta — as among her clients.

A media handler says it is common practice for entertainment

columnists who are also showbiz TV hosts or talent managers to be
paid commissions from the political endorsements of their wards. The
stars are paid easily in the millions and the commissions that are
passed on to their managers-cum-columnists are regarded as nothing

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/media.html (2 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:27:28 PM]

The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

but a part of a business deal.

As PR for the entertainment press, Solis from time to time arranges

press conferences for her political clients and ensures the attendance
of 25 or so entertainment writers whom she has a direct line to. "Si
Villar, at least four times a year. Si Senator Oreta, once in every three
months," she says.

The presscons are very informally structured. "Parang get-together

although medyo formal ang mga tanong ng mga reporters compared
sa mga tanong nila sa mga artista (They're like get-togethers although
reporters tend to ask more formal questions compared to the kinds of
questions they ask celebrities)," says Solis.

The topics, however, are often related to the entertainment sector —

the easier for the entertainment reporters to mention the politicians in
their columns or articles. This has prompted Raul Roco supporter
Yolanda Villanueva Ong, group chairperson of the advertising agency
Campaigns and Grey, to see the limits of involving the showbiz press
in an election campaign. She notes, "We can't elevate the content of
entertainment reports beyond discussing what a candidate can do for
the movie industry."

During such press conferences, too, freebies such as gift certificates,

cakes, and envelopes of cash are commonly distributed.

One staff of a Solis political client confesses, "I suffered from culture
shock the first time I attended a presscon for the entertainment writers.
If the distribution of envelopes is rather discreet in the political beat, for
the entertainment press it's out in the open. As Nanay Lolit said, 'Naku,
in the entertainment press you don't need to hide anything.'"

PR handlers say that entertainment writers for tabloids normally

receive P500 while some of the biggies get double or quadruple the
amount for attending press conferences. Some of the Class A scribes
get as high as P5,000 in envelopes just for attendance.

Dondon Sermino, entertainment editor of Abante, admits that payolas

or envelopes containing money are almost always expected during
presscons and most members of the entertainment press see nothing
wrong with it.

As Sermino explains it, celebrities are no different from films being

publicized, and the envelopes are therefore part of promotion
expenses. "Ang tingin namin, 'yung envelope does not necessarily
mean they are trying to bribe us."

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/media.html (3 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:27:28 PM]

The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

There is no conflict of interest involved, he argues. "How can there be

when the ones we are covering are not the policymakers?"

Solis, according to her client's staff, also helps monitor entertainment

stories and "praise releases." She does damage control, quickly
finding out reasons for negative stories.

Solis herself does not see any conflict of interest between her role as
manager and PR for stars and hosting an entertainment talk show.
She is also not the only showbiz PR who has been tapped by
politicians to boost their stock. In 2001, according to a senator's media
handler, another prominent showbiz publicist was paid in the hundreds
of thousands to shepherd showbiz reporters to press conferences,
making sure these were well attended.

In a way, the inroads made by showbiz managers, hosts, and

columnists in the political arena have become a bane for political PRs.
"These biggies have become our competitors," says Peter Singh,
former Senate media liaison officer and an ex-member of the media
operations group of presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. "They
have taken over the task of building up politicians on the entertainment
side."

Political PR people and analysts say that it is bad enough that the big
number of celebrities participating in this year's elections has meant
that the content of election campaigns has remained stuck with
personalities and intrigue.

Projected as bigger than life by the entertainment media, these

idolized icons, says Singh, are shielded from "the microscopic
scrutiny" that politicians are usually subjected to and are therefore able
to represent themselves as far less tainted than ordinary politicos.

Still, the new showbiz approaches to political campaigns this year has
not meant a total end to the more traditional strategies of influencing
media coverage. While many journalists remain honest and above
board in their reporting, others have not been immune to inducements
offered by well-funded campaigns.

On the campaign trail, the expenses of many reporters are subsidized,

meaning hotel, food, transportation, use of the Internet, and take-home
gifts are all given for free, according to Marcial Reyes of the opposition
Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). On average, the KNP
spends at least P2,500 per reporter for a two-day campaign. The
amount rises when reporters need to be transported by plane.

Assuming regular coverage by 15 reporters, the organization spends

from P18,000 to P20,000 a day for the media on the campaign trail for

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The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

subsidized expenses alone. Whenever a provincial campaign

supporter takes care of the food or local transportation, the party is
able to save more money.

"They are able to help us anyway by giving us space in their media

outfits," reasons Reyes. "Others are even quite critical of us, but the
idea was to let them see first-hand how the campaign is going."

The arrangement is not exactly frowned upon by many media outfits

that cannot afford to cover the entire campaign. And since there are no
explicit policies about these in the codes of ethics adapted by these
news organizations, "subsidized" reporting has become acceptable to
many. Only the bigger or more principled media firms insist on paying
their own way.

Thus, during the 2001 election campaign, many reporters for national
news organizations were reportedly paid P1,000 each for the coverage
of political rallies in Metro Manila. In nearby provinces, the coverage
fee was said to be P1,500 while some journalists from the local or
community press were given P500 each. But out-of-town coverage
that required reporters to be away for several days merited rates as
high as P3,000 a day, per head, says media operative Sammy Martin.

Some of the more senior reporters received between P5,000 to

P10,000. "The reporters remember me because I was generous,"
Martin says.

Another media handler says that in this election, they keep on retainer
select political reporters and desk persons. Money is given in cash.
Some reporters — both print and broadcast — get a minimum P5,000-
monthly retainer, the handler says. But a desk editor from a major daily
gets P20,000 a month.

Some of the reporters on payroll did not ask for the money, the handler
clarifies. But he adds, "They were offered and they agreed." Without
preconditions, these reporters are merely expected to get their
patron's side when a negative story runs and oblige when requested to
print "press release stories."

The showbiz element in the current campaign, however, has meant

money that is far more serious. One publicist, for instance, says he
was willing to pay producers "up to P200,000" for a cameo
appearance of a politico in a popular television show, provided his
candidate had a speaking role with the show's top-rating star and that
they had a say on the script. Other publicists, though, say personal
relations cultivated through the years were enough to get them by.

But no one denies that the star-studded, media-driven 2004 elections

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The Showbiz Press Gets into Politics

have left non-celebrity candidates scrambling to get a share of

showbiz glitter. One example is former Trade Secretary Manuel "Mar"
Roxas II, who is on the administration's senatorial lineup and has
appeared in the comedy show "Ok, Fine, Whatever."

He has also used the "Mr. Palengke" image to appeal to the masses
even as his handlers have linked him romantically to TV/radio news
anchor Korina Sanchez.

Sanchez had endorsed Roxas on her morning radio show. But neither
has categorically spelled out exactly what is going on between them,
preferring to play coy. In the meantime, Roxas jumped to No. 2 in an
April Social Weather Stations survey, up from the No. 17 post in mid-
January.

Not to be outdone, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been

interviewed by talent manager Boy Abunda in his Sunday
entertainment news show, "The Buzz." (Abunda however says that his
support for Arroyo is "contextual" and that he is not being paid for it.
He has also appeared on commercials endorsing Arroyo's presidential
bid.)

To show how much she cares about the survival of the entertainment
industry, Arroyo even signed the Optical Media Act or the anti-piracy
law during her proclamation rally last February. Celebrities led by TV
host Kris Aquino graced the event.

The "celebritification" of Philippine politics can be traced back to the

political ad ban imposed in 1986 and lifted in 2001, says Campaigns
and Grey's Ong.

Without political ads, new politicians had no means to get their names
recognized by mass voters. This opened the doors of politics for the
first time in 1992 to the likes of comedian Vicente Sotto who topped
the Senate race then, followed by action star Ramon Revilla. TV
personality and former basketball player Freddie Webb placed 12th.

By 1998, there were five celebrities in the Senate. Former news

anchor Loren Legarda led the list of freshly elected senators, followed
by lawyer and TV/radio host Renato Cayetano, and then Sotto.
Another former basketball star, Robert Jaworski, and his father-in-law,
reelectionist Revilla, claimed the No. 9 and 10 spots respectively.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

26-27 APRIL 2004

Print this article

by the PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

us your views and comments

This two-part series tries to describe the characteristics of the so- about this article.
called "poor vote." The first part, based on the findings of the
Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC), lists the qualifications that poor
voters look for in their candidates and the factors that influence SEE ALSO:
their vote. Filipino Voting Attitudes and
Opinions
Hope and Elections in Payatas
Based on the results of 16 focus-group discussions in rural and
urban poor communities throughout the country, the IPC study
shatters stereotypes about the poor voter. It's key findings include: THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
PCIJ
■ The poor ranked education, experience, platform, and
track record as among the most important criteria for
choosing candidates.
■ They do not necessarily have high regard for the wealthy
and powerful. What they do have are idealistic notions of
leadership, valuing qualities such as piety (makadiyos),
helpfulness, sincerity, and responsibility.
■ Celebrities are not necessarily preferred by poor voters.
Many said they value educational qualifications, but they
were also suspicious about those with superior education. Poor people take the vote seriously,
They said experience and good intentions more than seeing in the process an opportunity to
compensate for a lack of college education. bring about change. [photo by Sonny
■ The most import sources of influence in the choice of Yabao] The Rulemakers: How the
candidates among the poor are, in declining order: the Wealthy and Well-Born
media, the family, the church, and political parties. Surveys come in last on the list. Dominate Congress

ORDER your copy now.

THE POOR, who make up the bulk of Filipino voters, have been blamed for the sorry state of
electoral politics and the low level of election discourse. Pundits, analysts, and media
commentators say that because of poverty, many voters are vulnerable to patronage, vote
buying, and simplistic messages. The masa vote is popularly perceived to be dumb,
unthinking, and prone to manipulation.

But the results of 16 focus-group discussions conducted by the Institute of Philippine Culture Google Search
(IPC) of the Ateneo de Manila University shatter these stereotypes. Instead, the discussions, Web pcij.org
which were held in urban and rural poor communities in various parts of the country in March
and April, show that the poor vote is a thinking vote.
Search our Site
The poor ranked education, experience, platform, and track record as among the most
important criteria for choosing candidates. Contrary to common belief, they do not necessarily
have high regard for the wealthy and powerful. What they do have are idealistic notions of Find!
leadership, valuing qualities such as piety (makadiyos), helpfulness, sincerity, and Match ANY
responsibility.
powered by FreeFind

Poor people take the vote seriously and while they are drawn to the fiesta atmosphere of

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

elections and have negative perceptions of this political exercise as one that is prone to
cheating and manipulation, they also see the process as legitimate and consider their
participation as an opportunity to bring about change.

If there is anyone to blame, the IPC findings indicate, fingers should be pointing at the
politicians who do not live up to the poor's expectations as well as an electoral system that is
flawed and offers citizens a paucity of choices.

"Contrary to some quarters that question the intelligence of the poor, this study shows that the
poor know what kind of leader they want," says the IPC report. "However, the electoral
process often fails to provide them with the good leaders they seek. The value of good
leadership is often watered down by the pragmatics of elections. They see through the
negative aspects of elections, yet recognize its importance in the life of the nation."

Another problem the poor have, though, is that they take their cues on the suitability of
candidates mainly from the mass media, which do not always give a complete or accurate
picture of the qualifications of the contenders. The IPC findings thus confirm the perception of
political parties and campaign staff that the media are emerging as the main electoral arena.

The poor as a category is variously defined. According to official statistics, 39.5 percent of
Filipinos, or more than five million families, lived below the poverty threshold in 2000. Survey
organizations, however, refer to lower-income groups as belonging to "D" and "E" classes that
are estimated to make up as much as 93 percent of some 43 million Filipino voters. According
to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the D class, which makes up 60 percent of all voters,
comprises lower-middle class households "who have some comfort and means but basically
thrive on a hand-to-mouth existence." The E class, comprising 33 percent of households, is
the extremely lower class "who evidently face great difficulties in meeting their basic survival
needs."

The monthly income of a Class D household is P8,000 to P14,999 if living in Metro Manila and
P4,000 to P9,999 elsewhere. That of a Class E household is below P8,000 if living in Metro
Manila and below P4,000 outside the capital.

The first time in the post-Marcos era that the poor vote was seen as significant was in the
1998 presidential elections. The SWS's May 11, 1998 exit poll found that class, more than
age, gender, or geography determined the vote. The great majority (91.1 percent) of voters in
the D and E classes voted for Joseph Estrada.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, however, also owed many of her votes to the lower and poorest
classes. At the time a vice-presidential candidate, Arroyo enjoyed an absolute majority of the
votes among the lower and poorest classes-D (51.1 percent) and E (52.4 percent).

Interestingly, unlike in 1998, there does not appear to be a distinct poor vote in 2004. Despite
the popular conception that the poor will choose the movie-star candidate like they did six
years ago, the surveys so far show that the poor vote is split among the various presidential
contenders. The polls show that even the top two candidates are each getting only roughly a
third of the D and E votes, with the remaining third split among those preferring other
contenders and the undecided.

The findings of the April 10-17 SWS survey say that both Arroyo and movie actor Fernando
Poe Jr. each have a 36-percent share of the Class E vote, while Arroyo leads in Class D with
a 34-percent share compared to Poe's 31 percent. Moreover, Arroyo's share of the E vote
increased four points t from the 32-percent share of the E vote she scored in the March 21-29
poll.

Table 1. Most frequently mentioned qualities of a good leader

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

Makadiyos (God-fearing) 34 34 0 16 18 13 5

Matulungin (Helpful) 23 16 7 8 15 8 7

Matapat (Loyal) 19 16 3 8 11 8 3

Responsable (Responsible) 18 18 0 8 10 10 0

Matalino (Intelligent) 14 4 10 0 14 4 10

Masipag (Hardworking) 13 10 3 2 11 7 4

Maprinsipyo (Principled) 10 10 0 2 8 8 0

Tumutupad sa pangako (Keeps

10 8 2 5 5 2 3
promises)

Mapagkakatiwalaan
9 3 6 3 6 4 2
(Trustworthy)

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings made by each focus
group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with the first rank was given a score of 5; the
item with the second rank was given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al
of the 16 groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

The surveys, however, show a distinct upper-class preference for Arroyo, who got a 43-
percent share of the A, B, and C votes in the latest SWS survey compared to only 10 percent
for Poe. Roco also rated high among upper-middle class voters.

In addition, the SWS survey shows a significant number of undecided voters. In the D class,
11 percent, and in E, nine percent, were undecided whom to vote for president, compared to
eight and seven percent, respectively, in the polls taken in mid-March.

This year's candidates for both national and local posts could mine the IPC report for insights
on what poor voters are thinking and what may happen on May 10. As the late U.S. political
consultant Lee Atwater once said, the conversations in focus groups "give you a sense of
what makes people tick and a sense of what is going on in people's minds and lives that you
simply can't get with survey data."

The IPC's focus-group discussions-intensive two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half-hour

discussions with ordinary citizens-were held by trained social scientists in the cities of Metro
Manila, Baguio, Cebu, and Zamboanga and in rural Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Davao del Sur.
Those taking part were not community or political leaders but were more or less typical
residents representative of the profiles of their communities-urban participants were blue-
collar workers with high school to college education, while the rural poor were mainly farmers
with elementary to high school education.

Each discussion involved on average 10 persons. Six groups were made up of all male
participants aged 30 years or more. Five were adult females 30 years old and above, while
young voters below age 30 made up another five groups.

The discussions indicated that celebrities are not necessarily preferred by poor voters and
that the rich and famous do not necessarily have the edge. Neither do the educated. In fact,
while many among the focus-group participants said they value educational qualifications,
they were also suspicious about those with superior education.

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

Many said that experience and good intentions more than compensate for a lack of college
education, which may explain the Erap vote in 1998. After all, Estrada was not just a film star,
but had served as mayor of San Juan, Metro Manila for decades before becoming senator
and then vice president.

At the same time, the value attached to a leader's education is conditional: This is seen as
important only when the leader has integrity, vision, and wisdom as well.

Table 2. Most frequently mentioned qualities of a bad leader

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

Kurakot (Corrupt) 64 37 27 24 40 20 20

Sinungaling (Liar) 16 12 4 7 9 2 7

Sakim (Greedy) 14 8 6 4 10 9 1

Iresponsable (Irresponsible) 12 12 0 5 7 7 0

Makasarili (Selfish) 12 12 0 9 3 3 0

Abusado (Abusive) 10 8 0 3 7 7 0

Mabisyo (Has vices) 9 5 4 0 9 0 9

Tamad (Lazy) 9 6 3 2 7 4 3

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings made by each focus
group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with the first rank was given a score of 5; the
item with the second rank was given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al
of the 16 groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

The IPC noted that while the discussions on leadership elicited positive responses, the
discussions on elections got overwhelmingly negative responses. Elections are widely viewed
as a game of chance, a gamble. This view is not peculiar to the poor. But, as the IPC study
pointed out, "this perspective allows them to go through the campaign period… and come to
terms with election outcomes without, in a sense, losing hope in the system. Any game of
chance entails risks-there are only two possibilities for one's candidate: either win or lose. And
every game of chance involves cheating. The poor are resigned to such realities of life.
Hence, regardless of the outcome, life will go on."

Thus, the ambivalence of the poor about elections. The focus-group discussions show they
are wise-and wizened- enough to know that the exercise involves fraud and deception. Yet
elections to them are also the only legitimate means to choose leaders. So they take part
wholeheartedly in the process. For this reason, the poor vote in their numbers in every
election: The voter turnout among the poor in the Philippines has historically been higher than
that among the more affluent classes.

This finding has implications for armed groups like the New People's Army, which remain
unyielding in their vision of people's war and of radical change through armed revolution.
Similarly, the findings seem to indicate that extraconstitutional attempts to overthrow
governments, like those launched by rebellious military officers, are not likely to find support
among the poor. This could also partly explain why the "people power" uprisings were mainly
middle-class events and saw only little participation from poorer social sectors.

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

While elections are seen as a spectator sport, the poor are not passive spectators. They
cheer on or boo and take part wholeheartedly. "Perhaps their ambivalent attitudes toward
elections are subsumed by the notion of a game of chance, which provides elections with an
inherent validity as well as entertainment value," says the IPC report. "Hence, they will
participate in it by following certain criteria and principles. Most are not swayed by survey
results. But, given their material needs, they will also take advantage of the money and goods
that circulate widely at this time, if they can somehow escape the consequences."

These contradictory views of elections — one instrumentalist (getting from the exercise
whatever benefits they can) and the other, more idealistic (elections as the means to effect
change) — seem to coexist happily.

This contradiction is evident as well in the views of the poor on vote buying. All those who
took part in the focus-group discussions believe that vote buying is wrong. Yet another
consensus was that they would accept the money and vote whomever they preferred, as long
as they are assured there was no way that their actual vote could be checked.

The ambivalence is also marked in the way in which the focus-group participants believe that
cheating and deception are part of elections, even as they accept the process as legitimate
and are generally resigned to the outcomes.

The contradiction is seen again in how they believe in what the media report and project,
while at the same time intensely decoding what they see and hear from media reports.

But there was hardly any ambivalence in how the participants saw surveys in relation to how
they would vote. Their responses debunk the notion that voters are taken in by the
bandwagon effect of survey results-that is, they are likely to vote for the perceived leader in
the race.

Most of the participants, despite age, gender and geographical differences, said that surveys
were irrelevant to their choice of candidates. There were two reasons cited for this: the first
was a distrust of surveys and the other is the conviction that one should vote for candidates
based on qualifications and track record, regardless of what the surveys say.

"The relative unimportance of surveys among the poor," says the IPC report, "raises the
question: Are surveys significant primarily for the middle and upper classes? The answer will
probably vary depending on the exact configuration of each election. Still, in the game of life,
one can say that perhaps the rich are used to winning, while the poor are accustomed to
losing. It would be ironic if, 'as losers,' the poor turn out to be the more principled voters when
compared with the highly educated middle and upper classes."

Table 3. Factors in choosing a candidate

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

May pinagaralan (Educated) 48.5 28 20.5 13 35.5 18 17.5

Karanasang mamuno
48 34 14 16 32 17 15
(Experience)

May plataporma (Platform) 35.4 18.9 16.5 4.9 30.5 16 14.5

Marangal (Decent) 35 19 16 7 28 17 11

Tulong sa bayan (Helps the

34.9 24.9 10 15.9 19 12 7
people)

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

Mabait (Good) 15 7 8 7 8 4 4

Mahusay makisama (People

6 2 4 0 6 0 6
skills)

Responsable (Responsible) 5 5 0 0 5 5 0

Kamaganak (Relatives) 0.9 0.9 0 0.9 0 0 0

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings made by each focus
group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with the first rank was given a score of 5; the
item with the second rank was given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al
of the 16 groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

Indeed, the report shows that overall, the most import sources of influence in the choice of
candidates among the poor are, in declining order: the media, the family, the church, political
parties. Surveys come in last on the list. The much-vaunted influence of the established
churches may therefore be overstated, even though poor voters value piety (makadiyos)
among their leaders.

Urban voters rated the media as the most crucial in influencing their vote while rural voters
tended to give slightly more importance to family and church. The media were seen as crucial
in providing information about candidates even before the campaign period, such as what
incumbent officials have accomplished.

"The poor analyze the images projected by candidates, whether they are heard on the radio or
seen on TV to gauge the character of a person. For instance, rural women try to observe how
a candidate speaks, especially if the person 'speaks with respect,'" says the IPC report. "Rural
males also assess a candidate's manner of speaking; they gaze at the face of the candidate;
and observe how the candidate stands up or walks, and how the person deals with people.
Urban participants similarly obtain cues about character by observing the manner of speaking
and the person's physical appearance."

Some young voters, meanwhile, say they can glean character from the way the candidate
looks at the camera and their manner of speaking or responding to questions during a debate.
One youth apparently tries to observe if the candidate "can look you straight in the eye. They
say liars have unstable eye movements."

But the poor think they do not get enough information from the media, especially on
candidates running for national positions. As one woman resident of an urban poor community
said, "News reveals only what candidates did the particular day of the campaign and not what
they want to do, what they have already done, what they have accomplished or want to
accomplish."

There was a gender gap when it came to how much family influenced voting. Women deemed
discussions among family members as very influential in determining the vote. Urban women,
in particular, were adamant that the family should not be divided on its choice of candidates.
But urban men did not have a consensus on whether the family should have a unified vote.
Observes the IPC: "The gender differential appears to enter the picture, with women acceding
to the men in order to avert conflict. Men, on the other hand, tend to take pride in their
seeming autonomy at making electoral choices."

The youth, meanwhile, asserted their right to choose their own candidates even as they
identified the family as an important factor influencing their votes. Some rural youths said they
would choose their parents' candidates to preserve family. This indicates that there may be no
such a thing as a homogeneous youth vote, leading the IPC report to conclude that,
"assertions concerning a 'youth vote' ought to be subjected to further examination."

Another conclusion that can be drawn from the IPC findings is that raising the quality of

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

Philippine elections does not have to wait until Filipinos are lifted from poverty. The reverse
seems to be true: Electoral and political reforms, rather than increased affluence of the poor,
appear to be the key to improving the country's political and economic life. — Sheila S.
Coronel and Yvonne T. Chua

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

by the PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

THE POOR, who make up the bulk of Filipino voters, have been blamed
for the sorry state of electoral politics and the low level of election
discourse. Pundits, analysts, and media commentators say that because
of poverty, many voters are vulnerable to patronage, vote buying, and
simplistic messages. The masa vote is popularly perceived to be dumb,
unthinking, and prone to manipulation.

But the results of 16 focus-group discussions conducted by the Institute of

Philippine Culture (IPC) of the Ateneo de Manila University shatter these
stereotypes. Instead, the discussions, which were held in urban and rural
poor communities in various parts of the country in March and April, show
that the poor vote is a thinking vote.

The poor ranked education, experience, platform, and track record as

among the most important criteria for choosing candidates. Contrary to
common belief, they do not necessarily have high regard for the wealthy
and powerful. What they do have are idealistic notions of leadership,
valuing qualities such as piety (makadiyos), helpfulness, sincerity, and
responsibility.

Poor people take the vote seriously and while they are drawn to the fiesta
atmosphere of elections and have negative perceptions of this political
exercise as one that is prone to cheating and manipulation, they also see
the process as legitimate and consider their participation as an opportunity
to bring about change.

If there is anyone to blame, the IPC findings indicate, fingers should be

pointing at the politicians who do not live up to the poor's expectations as
well as an electoral system that is flawed and offers citizens a paucity of
choices.

"Contrary to some quarters that question the intelligence of the poor, this
study shows that the poor know what kind of leader they want," says the
IPC report. "However, the electoral process often fails to provide them with
the good leaders they seek. The value of good leadership is often watered
down by the pragmatics of elections. They see through the negative
aspects of elections, yet recognize its importance in the life of the nation."

Another problem the poor have, though, is that they take their cues on the
suitability of candidates mainly from the mass media, which do not always
give a complete or accurate picture of the qualifications of the contenders.
The IPC findings thus confirm the perception of political parties and

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

campaign staff that the media are emerging as the main electoral arena.

The poor as a category is variously defined. According to official statistics,

39.5 percent of Filipinos, or more than five million families, lived below the
poverty threshold in 2000. Survey organizations, however, refer to lower-
income groups as belonging to "D" and "E" classes that are estimated to
make up as much as 93 percent of some 43 million Filipino voters.
According to the Social Weather Stations (SWS), the D class, which
makes up 60 percent of all voters, comprises lower-middle class
households "who have some comfort and means but basically thrive on a
hand-to-mouth existence." The E class, comprising 33 percent of
households, is the extremely lower class "who evidently face great
difficulties in meeting their basic survival needs."

The monthly income of a Class D household is P8,000 to P14,999 if living

in Metro Manila and P4,000 to P9,999 elsewhere. That of a Class E
household is below P8,000 if living in Metro Manila and below P4,000
outside the capital.

The first time in the post-Marcos era that the poor vote was seen as
significant was in the 1998 presidential elections. The SWS's May 11,
1998 exit poll found that class, more than age, gender, or geography
determined the vote. The great majority (91.1 percent) of voters in the D
and E classes voted for Joseph Estrada.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, however, also owed many of her votes to the
lower and poorest classes. At the time a vice-presidential candidate,
Arroyo enjoyed an absolute majority of the votes among the lower and
poorest classes-D (51.1 percent) and E (52.4 percent).

Interestingly, unlike in 1998, there does not appear to be a distinct poor

vote in 2004. Despite the popular conception that the poor will choose the
movie-star candidate like they did six years ago, the surveys so far show
that the poor vote is split among the various presidential contenders. The
polls show that even the top two candidates are each getting only roughly
a third of the D and E votes, with the remaining third split among those
preferring other contenders and the undecided.

The findings of the April 10-17 SWS survey say that both Arroyo and
movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. each have a 36-percent share of the Class
E vote, while Arroyo leads in Class D with a 34-percent share compared to
Poe's 31 percent. Moreover, Arroyo's share of the E vote increased four
points t from the 32-percent share of the E vote she scored in the March
21-29 poll.

Table 1. Most frequently mentioned qualities of a good

leader

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

Makadiyos (God-
34 34 0 16 18 13 5
fearing)

Matulungin
23 16 7 8 15 8 7
(Helpful)

Matapat (Loyal) 19 16 3 8 11 8 3

Responsable
18 18 0 8 10 10 0
(Responsible)

Matalino
14 4 10 0 14 4 10
(Intelligent)

Masipag
13 10 3 2 11 7 4
(Hardworking)

Maprinsipyo
10 10 0 2 8 8 0
(Principled)

Tumutupad sa
pangako (Keeps 10 8 2 5 5 2 3
promises)

Mapagkakatiwalaan
9 3 6 3 6 4 2
(Trustworthy)

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings
made by each focus group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with
the first rank was given a score of 5; the item with the second rank was
given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al of the 16
groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

The surveys, however, show a distinct upper-class preference for Arroyo,

who got a 43-percent share of the A, B, and C votes in the latest SWS
survey compared to only 10 percent for Poe. Roco also rated high among
upper-middle class voters.

In addition, the SWS survey shows a significant number of undecided

voters. In the D class, 11 percent, and in E, nine percent, were undecided
whom to vote for president, compared to eight and seven percent,
respectively, in the polls taken in mid-March.

This year's candidates for both national and local posts could mine the IPC
report for insights on what poor voters are thinking and what may happen
on May 10. As the late U.S. political consultant Lee Atwater once said, the
conversations in focus groups "give you a sense of what makes people tick
and a sense of what is going on in people's minds and lives that you

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

simply can't get with survey data."

The IPC's focus-group discussions-intensive two-and-a-half to three-and-a-

half-hour discussions with ordinary citizens-were held by trained social
scientists in the cities of Metro Manila, Baguio, Cebu, and Zamboanga and
in rural Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Davao del Sur. Those taking part were
not community or political leaders but were more or less typical residents
representative of the profiles of their communities-urban participants were
blue-collar workers with high school to college education, while the rural
poor were mainly farmers with elementary to high school education.

Each discussion involved on average 10 persons. Six groups were made

up of all male participants aged 30 years or more. Five were adult females
30 years old and above, while young voters below age 30 made up
another five groups.

The discussions indicated that celebrities are not necessarily preferred by

poor voters and that the rich and famous do not necessarily have the
edge. Neither do the educated. In fact, while many among the focus-group
participants said they value educational qualifications, they were also
suspicious about those with superior education.

Many said that experience and good intentions more than compensate for
a lack of college education, which may explain the Erap vote in 1998. After
all, Estrada was not just a film star, but had served as mayor of San Juan,
Metro Manila for decades before becoming senator and then vice
president.

At the same time, the value attached to a leader's education is conditional:

This is seen as important only when the leader has integrity, vision, and
wisdom as well.

Table 2. Most frequently mentioned qualities of a bad

leader

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

Kurakot (Corrupt) 64 37 27 24 40 20 20

Sinungaling (Liar) 16 12 4 7 9 2 7

Sakim (Greedy) 14 8 6 4 10 9 1

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

Iresponsable
12 12 0 5 7 7 0
(Irresponsible)

Makasarili (Selfish) 12 12 0 9 3 3 0

Abusado (Abusive) 10 8 0 3 7 7 0

Mabisyo (Has
9 5 4 0 9 0 9
vices)

Tamad (Lazy) 9 6 3 2 7 4 3

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings
made by each focus group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with
the first rank was given a score of 5; the item with the second rank was
given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al of the 16
groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

The IPC noted that while the discussions on leadership elicited positive
responses, the discussions on elections got overwhelmingly negative
responses. Elections are widely viewed as a game of chance, a gamble.
This view is not peculiar to the poor. But, as the IPC study pointed out,
"this perspective allows them to go through the campaign period… and
come to terms with election outcomes without, in a sense, losing hope in
the system. Any game of chance entails risks-there are only two
possibilities for one's candidate: either win or lose. And every game of
chance involves cheating. The poor are resigned to such realities of life.
Hence, regardless of the outcome, life will go on."

Thus, the ambivalence of the poor about elections. The focus-group

discussions show they are wise-and wizened- enough to know that the
exercise involves fraud and deception. Yet elections to them are also the
only legitimate means to choose leaders. So they take part wholeheartedly
in the process. For this reason, the poor vote in their numbers in every
election: The voter turnout among the poor in the Philippines has
historically been higher than that among the more affluent classes.

This finding has implications for armed groups like the New People's Army,
which remain unyielding in their vision of people's war and of radical
change through armed revolution. Similarly, the findings seem to indicate
that extraconstitutional attempts to overthrow governments, like those
launched by rebellious military officers, are not likely to find support among
the poor. This could also partly explain why the "people power" uprisings
were mainly middle-class events and saw only little participation from
poorer social sectors.

While elections are seen as a spectator sport, the poor are not passive
spectators. They cheer on or boo and take part wholeheartedly. "Perhaps

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

their ambivalent attitudes toward elections are subsumed by the notion of

a game of chance, which provides elections with an inherent validity as
well as entertainment value," says the IPC report. "Hence, they will
participate in it by following certain criteria and principles. Most are not
swayed by survey results. But, given their material needs, they will also
take advantage of the money and goods that circulate widely at this time, if
they can somehow escape the consequences."

These contradictory views of elections — one instrumentalist (getting from

the exercise whatever benefits they can) and the other, more idealistic
(elections as the means to effect change) — seem to coexist happily.

This contradiction is evident as well in the views of the poor on vote

buying. All those who took part in the focus-group discussions believe that
vote buying is wrong. Yet another consensus was that they would accept
the money and vote whomever they preferred, as long as they are assured
there was no way that their actual vote could be checked.

The ambivalence is also marked in the way in which the focus-group

participants believe that cheating and deception are part of elections, even
as they accept the process as legitimate and are generally resigned to the
outcomes.

The contradiction is seen again in how they believe in what the media
report and project, while at the same time intensely decoding what they
see and hear from media reports.

But there was hardly any ambivalence in how the participants saw surveys
in relation to how they would vote. Their responses debunk the notion that
voters are taken in by the bandwagon effect of survey results-that is, they
are likely to vote for the perceived leader in the race.

Most of the participants, despite age, gender and geographical differences,

said that surveys were irrelevant to their choice of candidates. There were
two reasons cited for this: the first was a distrust of surveys and the other
is the conviction that one should vote for candidates based on
qualifications and track record, regardless of what the surveys say.

"The relative unimportance of surveys among the poor," says the IPC
report, "raises the question: Are surveys significant primarily for the middle
and upper classes? The answer will probably vary depending on the exact
configuration of each election. Still, in the game of life, one can say that
perhaps the rich are used to winning, while the poor are accustomed to
losing. It would be ironic if, 'as losers,' the poor turn out to be the more
principled voters when compared with the highly educated middle and
upper classes."

Table 3. Factors in choosing a candidate

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL
VALUES
POINTS Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

May pinagaralan
48.5 28 20.5 13 35.5 18 17.5
(Educated)

Karanasang
mamuno 48 34 14 16 32 17 15
(Experience)

May plataporma
35.4 18.9 16.5 4.9 30.5 16 14.5
(Platform)

Marangal (Decent) 35 19 16 7 28 17 11

Tulong sa bayan
34.9 24.9 10 15.9 19 12 7
(Helps the people)

Mabait (Good) 15 7 8 7 8 4 4

Mahusay
makisama (People 6 2 4 0 6 0 6
skills)

Responsable
5 5 0 0 5 5 0
(Responsible)

Kamaganak
0.9 0.9 0 0.9 0 0 0
(Relatives)

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings
made by each focus group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with
the first rank was given a score of 5; the item with the second rank was
given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al of the 16
groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

Indeed, the report shows that overall, the most import sources of influence
in the choice of candidates among the poor are, in declining order: the
media, the family, the church, political parties. Surveys come in last on the
list. The much-vaunted influence of the established churches may
therefore be overstated, even though poor voters value piety (makadiyos)
among their leaders.

Urban voters rated the media as the most crucial in influencing their vote
while rural voters tended to give slightly more importance to family and
church. The media were seen as crucial in providing information about
candidates even before the campaign period, such as what incumbent
officials have accomplished.

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

"The poor analyze the images projected by candidates, whether they are
heard on the radio or seen on TV to gauge the character of a person. For
instance, rural women try to observe how a candidate speaks, especially if
the person 'speaks with respect,'" says the IPC report. "Rural males also
assess a candidate's manner of speaking; they gaze at the face of the
candidate; and observe how the candidate stands up or walks, and how
the person deals with people. Urban participants similarly obtain cues
about character by observing the manner of speaking and the person's
physical appearance."

Some young voters, meanwhile, say they can glean character from the
way the candidate looks at the camera and their manner of speaking or
responding to questions during a debate. One youth apparently tries to
observe if the candidate "can look you straight in the eye. They say liars
have unstable eye movements."

But the poor think they do not get enough information from the media,
especially on candidates running for national positions. As one woman
resident of an urban poor community said, "News reveals only what
candidates did the particular day of the campaign and not what they want
to do, what they have already done, what they have accomplished or want
to accomplish."

There was a gender gap when it came to how much family influenced
voting. Women deemed discussions among family members as very
influential in determining the vote. Urban women, in particular, were
adamant that the family should not be divided on its choice of candidates.
But urban men did not have a consensus on whether the family should
have a unified vote. Observes the IPC: "The gender differential appears to
enter the picture, with women acceding to the men in order to avert
conflict. Men, on the other hand, tend to take pride in their seeming
autonomy at making electoral choices."

The youth, meanwhile, asserted their right to choose their own candidates
even as they identified the family as an important factor influencing their
votes. Some rural youths said they would choose their parents' candidates
to preserve family. This indicates that there may be no such a thing as a
homogeneous youth vote, leading the IPC report to conclude that,
"assertions concerning a 'youth vote' ought to be subjected to further
examination."

Another conclusion that can be drawn from the IPC findings is that raising
the quality of Philippine elections does not have to wait until Filipinos are
lifted from poverty. The reverse seems to be true: Electoral and political
reforms, rather than increased affluence of the poor, appear to be the key
to improving the country's political and economic life. — Sheila S. Coronel
and Yvonne T. Chua

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The Poor Vote is a Thinking Vote

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 Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

26-27 APRIL 2004

Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions Print this article

DO MOST Filipinos decide for themselves on whom to vote? us your views and comments
about this article.
On this point, wealthy and poor voters agree: Most think they do. At least, that's according to a
national survey conducted in April 2001 by the polling outfit Social Weather Stations. THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
PCIJ

This and other findings on the Filipino electorate since the 1980s have been compiled by
SWS into a publication titled "Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions: Selected Findings from
SWS 1984-2001 National Surveys."

The PCIJ mined the compilation for selected data on voting behavior, especially that of the
lower-middle (Class D) and poor (Class E) sectors.

■ 1. Commission on Elections

More members of Class D (66 percent) and Class E (65 percent) showed a fair The Rulemakers: How the
Wealthy and Well-Born
amount to a great deal of confidence in the Commission on Elections compared to Dominate Congress
Class ABC (55 percent). There were also more from the poorer classes (68 percent of
D and 63 percent for E) that perceived the election information provided by Comelec
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to be either very reliable or completely reliable compared to the upper-middle classes
(50 percent).-November 1997 survey

Class D (84 percent) and E (86 percent) also outnumbered Class ABC (66 percent) in
agreeing with the statement, "The Comelec performed its job independently without
favoring any candidate or group" in the May 1998 elections. But they tended to think
that Comelec personnel were not able to run an orderly election in their place (52
percent for D, 54 percent for E versus 44 percent for ABC).-July 1998 survey
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■ 2. National Citizens Movement for Free Elections or Namfrel (July 1998 survey)
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Classes D and E exhibited a lower level of confidence in Namfrel than in the Comelec.
Only 45 percent of D and 49 of E agreed with the statement, "The Namfrel performed
its job independently without favoring any candidate or group." Voters who were aware
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■ 3. Political parties (1995 survey)

Asked if "political parties formed alliances or coalitions only to win in the coming
elections and not in order that they might better serve the country," there were fewer in
the D (44 percent) and E (40 percent) classes that agreed with the statement than
those in ABC (55 percent). But the number of undecided respondents in the lower

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

classes (31 percent for D and 32 for E) was more than in the upper-middle classes (22
percent of ABC).

■ 4. Voting (April 2001 survey)

There were more in Class ABC (90 percent) who believed that a person should vote
according to his or her conscience than in Class D (82 percent) and E (77 percent).
Instead, more of those in the poorer classes (18 percent for Class D and 23 percent in
Class E) than in the upper-middle class (10 percent) felt one should vote for the
person he or she think would win.

The number of respondents who believed that most people decide for themselves on
whom to vote was more or less the same in all classes (87 percent in ABC, 85 percent
in D and 85 percent in E).

Respondents who said they will vote for the candidate with views closest to theirs,
regardless, whether or not he/she is popular, were slightly fewer in Classes D (86
percent) and E (88 percent) than in Class ABC (92 percent).

On whether their vote, along with the votes of other citizens, had a big influence in
determining what kind of government Filipinos would have, 66 percent of Class E and
72 percent of Class D said yes, compared to 83 percent of Class ABC. One-fifth of the
poorer classes appeared uncertain.

■ 5. Vote buying (April 2001 survey)

There were far more among the lower-middle class (30 percent) and the poor (40
percent) than in the upper-middle classes (8 percent) who believed it was not bad to
accept money provided one votes according to one's conscience.

Respondents who believed that "candidates with money and influence will most
probably win over candidates who are competent but without money and influence"
were fewer in Classes D (41 percent) and E (39 percent) than in ABC (52 percent).

■ 6. Senatorial candidates (June 1997 survey)

On the specific characteristics they were looking for in choosing a senatorial

candidate, respondents in all classes listed the top three answers as: (1) helps the
poor, (2) has good principles, and (3) approachable.

Members of Class E, however, attached greater importance to a candidate having

many accomplishments (their No. 4 answer) than to a candidate not involved in any
anomalies (the No. 4 answer of ABC and D). The No. 6 characteristic was "comes
from a prominent family." A few respondents from Classes D (2 percent) and E (3
percent) also believed a senatorial candidate must be good-looking.

■ 7. Sources of information on elections (November to December 1997 survey)

While the upper to the middle-classes (66 percent for ABC and 44 percent for D) relied
chiefly on television as their main source of information about elections, the poor or E
class (40 percent) depended mainly on radio, followed by television (27 percent).
Radio was the second most important source of information on elections for Class D
(27 percent), but not for Class ABC which relied next on newspapers (24 percent).

When gathering information about the election process, however, both Classes D (31
percent) and E (38 percent) identified radio as the top source of information, followed

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

by television in Class D (29 percent) and both television and the Comelec in Class E
(21 percent each). The upper-middle classes depended on television (50 percent),
followed by newspapers (19 percent), Comelec (13 percent) and radio (8 percent).

■ 8. Influence of the media (March 1998 survey)

There were differences on how the media helped voters from different classes choose
their senatorial candidates. Class ABC said what they read in the papers or
magazines (58 percent) helped them a lot, followed by what they saw on television (55
percent) and what they heard on radio (46 percent). For Class D, all three had more or
less the same influence. In Class E, though, the top answer was what they saw on
television (41 percent), followed by what they heard on radio (35 percent) and lastly,
what they read in the papers or magazines (33 percent).

■ 9. The Church (April 1998 survey)

There were more respondents in Class ABC (63 percent) who believed "personnel of
any church should not support any candidate in any election" than in Class D (59
percent) and Class E (54 percent).

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

Filipino Voting Attitudes and

Opinions
DO MOST Filipinos decide for themselves on whom to vote?

On this point, wealthy and poor voters agree: Most think they do. At
least, that's according to a national survey conducted in April 2001 by
the polling outfit Social Weather Stations.

This and other findings on the Filipino electorate since the 1980s have
been compiled by SWS into a publication titled "Filipino Voting
Attitudes and Opinions: Selected Findings from SWS 1984-2001
National Surveys."

The PCIJ mined the compilation for selected data on voting behavior,
especially that of the lower-middle (Class D) and poor (Class E)
sectors.

■ 1. Commission on Elections

More members of Class D (66 percent) and Class E (65

percent) showed a fair amount to a great deal of confidence in
the Commission on Elections compared to Class ABC (55
percent). There were also more from the poorer classes (68
percent of D and 63 percent for E) that perceived the election
information provided by Comelec to be either very reliable or
completely reliable compared to the upper-middle classes (50
percent).-November 1997 survey

Class D (84 percent) and E (86 percent) also outnumbered

Class ABC (66 percent) in agreeing with the statement, "The
Comelec performed its job independently without favoring any
candidate or group" in the May 1998 elections. But they tended
to think that Comelec personnel were not able to run an orderly
election in their place (52 percent for D, 54 percent for E
versus 44 percent for ABC).-July 1998 survey

■ 2. National Citizens Movement for Free Elections or

Namfrel (July 1998 survey)

Classes D and E exhibited a lower level of confidence in

Namfrel than in the Comelec. Only 45 percent of D and 49 of E

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

agreed with the statement, "The Namfrel performed its job

independently without favoring any candidate or group." Voters
who were aware of Namfrel's quick count of votes were fewer
in Class D (84 percent) and Class E (78 percent) than in Class
ABC (95 percent).

■ 3. Political parties (1995 survey)

Asked if "political parties formed alliances or coalitions only to

win in the coming elections and not in order that they might
better serve the country," there were fewer in the D (44
percent) and E (40 percent) classes that agreed with the
statement than those in ABC (55 percent). But the number of
undecided respondents in the lower classes (31 percent for D
and 32 for E) was more than in the upper-middle classes (22
percent of ABC).

■ 4. Voting (April 2001 survey)

There were more in Class ABC (90 percent) who believed that
a person should vote according to his or her conscience than in
Class D (82 percent) and E (77 percent). Instead, more of
those in the poorer classes (18 percent for Class D and 23
percent in Class E) than in the upper-middle class (10 percent)
felt one should vote for the person he or she think would win.

The number of respondents who believed that most people

decide for themselves on whom to vote was more or less the
same in all classes (87 percent in ABC, 85 percent in D and 85
percent in E).

Respondents who said they will vote for the candidate with
views closest to theirs, regardless, whether or not he/she is
popular, were slightly fewer in Classes D (86 percent) and E
(88 percent) than in Class ABC (92 percent).

On whether their vote, along with the votes of other citizens,

had a big influence in determining what kind of government
Filipinos would have, 66 percent of Class E and 72 percent of
Class D said yes, compared to 83 percent of Class ABC. One-
fifth of the poorer classes appeared uncertain.

■ 5. Vote buying (April 2001 survey)

There were far more among the lower-middle class (30

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

percent) and the poor (40 percent) than in the upper-middle

classes (8 percent) who believed it was not bad to accept
money provided one votes according to one's conscience.

Respondents who believed that "candidates with money and

influence will most probably win over candidates who are
competent but without money and influence" were fewer in
Classes D (41 percent) and E (39 percent) than in ABC (52
percent).

■ 6. Senatorial candidates (June 1997 survey)

On the specific characteristics they were looking for in

choosing a senatorial candidate, respondents in all classes
listed the top three answers as: (1) helps the poor, (2) has
good principles, and (3) approachable.

Members of Class E, however, attached greater importance to

a candidate having many accomplishments (their No. 4
answer) than to a candidate not involved in any anomalies (the
No. 4 answer of ABC and D). The No. 6 characteristic was
"comes from a prominent family." A few respondents from
Classes D (2 percent) and E (3 percent) also believed a
senatorial candidate must be good-looking.

■ 7. Sources of information on elections (November to

December 1997 survey)

While the upper to the middle-classes (66 percent for ABC and
44 percent for D) relied chiefly on television as their main
source of information about elections, the poor or E class (40
percent) depended mainly on radio, followed by television (27
percent). Radio was the second most important source of
information on elections for Class D (27 percent), but not for
Class ABC which relied next on newspapers (24 percent).

When gathering information about the election process,

however, both Classes D (31 percent) and E (38 percent)
identified radio as the top source of information, followed by
television in Class D (29 percent) and both television and the
Comelec in Class E (21 percent each). The upper-middle
classes depended on television (50 percent), followed by
newspapers (19 percent), Comelec (13 percent) and radio (8
percent).

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Filipino Voting Attitudes and Opinions

■ 8. Influence of the media (March 1998 survey)

There were differences on how the media helped voters from

different classes choose their senatorial candidates. Class
ABC said what they read in the papers or magazines (58
percent) helped them a lot, followed by what they saw on
television (55 percent) and what they heard on radio (46
percent). For Class D, all three had more or less the same
influence. In Class E, though, the top answer was what they
saw on television (41 percent), followed by what they heard on
radio (35 percent) and lastly, what they read in the papers or
magazines (33 percent).

■ 9. The Church (April 1998 survey)

There were more respondents in Class ABC (63 percent) who

believed "personnel of any church should not support any
candidate in any election" than in Class D (59 percent) and
Class E (54 percent).

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 In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

26-27 APRIL 2004

Print this article

by the PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

us your views and comments

This series focuses not on the candidates but on the voters. The insights from this report can be mined by about this article.
candidates, as well as analysts, as they question preconceived notions about a "dumb" and unthinking masa
vote. Indeed, what this series shows is that it is not the poor who are to blame for the current state of politics and
election discourse. Instead, it is our electoral system and the candidates who take part in the polls who have not SEE ALSO:
lived up to the expectations of the poor. Filipino Voting Attitudes and
Opinions
Hope and Elections in Payatas
The second part of the report focuses on Payatas, site of Manila's biggest garbage dump, and describes what
seem to be the hopefulness of people there. Although the middle class tends to be depressed about the country
and the prospects for the elections, the poor believe they can rely only on their own resourcefulness to carve out THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
a better life. PCIJ

LUPANG PANGAKO, PAYATAS, QUEZON CITY — Orlando Wong lives in the shadow of
the huge dumpsite here, and there are times that he and his family can't eat because of the
stink of the place. But Wong, 42, is surprisingly optimistic about his future and that of the
country. "The Philippines," he says, "is going to walk the path of growth and development."

Like many of the 80,000 residents here in Payatas, the country's biggest dumpsite community,
Wong believes in elections, which he says do bring about change. According to popular
The Rulemakers: How the
thinking, Wong and many of his neighbors would probably vote for someone who is Wealthy and Well-Born
charismatic and popular-like former President Joseph Estrada, perhaps. Dominate Congress

Supporters of Estrada's bosom buddy, action-movie-star-turned-presidential-candidate ORDER your copy now.

Fernando Poe Jr. certainly hope — and think — so. After all, Estrada remains popular here
even after three years in detention and numerous exposés on the extent of his corruption. The
reasoning then is that since this is Erap country, it is probably going to be pro-FPJ.

But FPJ is not Erap, as some fans of the ousted president have been saying. And as the
findings of a new study by the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) of the Ateneo de Manila
indicate, the so-called "dumb masa vote" may be more myth than reality.
Google Search
The IPC conducted 16 focus-group discussions in selected urban and rural poor communities Web pcij.org
across the country in March and April. Three of these discussions were in Barangay
Commonwealth in Quezon City, which is near Payatas. According to the two youth focus
groups that took part in the Commonwealth discussions, Estrada is an example of a bad
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leader, whom they defined as, among other things, selfish, corrupt, irresponsible,
untrustworthy, lazy, and abusive.
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Table 4. Sources of influence on voting decision Match ANY
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LOCATION AGE GENDER

TOTAL

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In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

VALUES POINTS
Non-
Urban Rural Youth Male Female
Youth

Media 24.5 16.5 8 9.5 15 8 7

Family 17 8 9 7 10 1 7

Church 17 10 7 7 10 3 7

Political party 12 3 9 1 11 6 5

Own influence/None 12 12 0 0 12 12 0

Survey 7 5 2 2 5 4 1

School 2.5 2.5 0 2.5 0 0 0

Organization/Employer 2 2 0 0 2 2 0

Artista (Movie star) 1 1 0 1 0 0 0

* Non-youth is disaggregated into male and female

** The weighted scores were arrived at by assigning points to the rankings made by each focus
group discussion. In a list of five factors, the item with the first rank was given a score of 5; the
item with the second rank was given a score of 4; etc. The scores were then aggregated for al
of the 16 groups.
Source: Institute of Philippine Culture

Estrada remains popular among Payatas residents largely because of the strategic infusions
of government funding by his administration and the simple gestures the then president had
made. As one teenager here says, a bit wistfully even, "Erap used to come here often, and not
just during elections."

But it is uncertain if he would garner as many votes as before in Payatas if he were to run
again for president today. Although Payatas operates on a fairly different set of dynamics
compared to neighboring Commonwealth, chances are that residents here would hardly find
fault with what the three focus groups, including one made up of adults participating in the IPC
study, said: a good leader is God-fearing, principled, responsible, honest in work, trustworthy,
and nationalistic.

The findings yielded by the Commonwealth focus groups hew very closely to the general
results of the IPC study. According to the Commonwealth groups, they look at a candidate's
track record and experience and whether or not he or she has a platform. Many of the
participants also look for leaders with educational attainments that are commensurate to the
positions they are seeking. They said that their selection of a leader was dependent as well on
the candidate's integrity.

While the Commonwealth participants said popularity and charisma could give a candidate an
edge, they said they would still base their vote on the candidate's qualifications. They said
survey results or the "winnability" of a candidate had no bearing on the choices they would
make on election day. They were also one in saying that it is the right and obligation of every
Filipino to vote.

The Filipino poor have had a tradition of turning out in droves during elections. Payatas
residents are apparently no different, with even scavenger Irma Dina, who is 46 but looks
decades older, saying that she will be voting on May 10. Dirty and burnt by the sun, she
admits though that up to now she is unsure of her candidates.

Dina is hardly an exception. Many Payatas residents say they will be casting their ballots just
a couple of weeks from now, but they remain uncertain whose names they will be writing

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In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

down.

Their indecision may be a consequence of politicians skipping the dumpsite. According to one
teenager, as late as March, none of the presidential candidates — not even FPJ — had
turned up to sell themselves to voters here. Among those running for senator, only film actor
and Pampanga Governor Lito Lapid had passed the closest to Payatas, although he was on
his way to a sortie somewhere else.

Voters, of course, want to see candidates up close — the better to scrutinize them and study
their body language. Some of the Commonwealth focus-group participants even said that they
appreciate candidates who consult with them — "bumababa sa lugar" — more than those who
don't. Barring such visits, poor voters have tried to make do with whatever information they
get from the media, which in the IPC study emerged as the participants' top source for data on
candidates.

But there seems to be a new impetus for many Payatas residents to go out and vote. For
probably the first time in history, Payatas will be seeing a united evangelical Christian vote
emerging, catalyzed by the decision of Brother Eddie Villanueva, spiritual director and
international president of the Jesus is Lord church ministry, to run for president.

Some members of The Breath of Life Tabernacle Church, one among dozens of relatively
small Bible-based groups in Payatas (there is even a ragtag church on the dump itself), were
among those who cheered Villanueva as he gave his political speech in Rizal Park last
February.

Basilio Ocinar, 53 years old and part of that congregation, wasn't able to make it to the rally.
But he is no less passionate about what he believes in. "It's our right to vote. As citizens of our
country, we have to vote," he says, and immediately segues into a more ardent call. "What
this country needs is a true Christian to finally put an end to corruption, for a man who has the
fear of God in him will do no sin."

Interestingly, the IPC found that the church ranked third among the poor as an institution that
influenced their choice of a candidate, following media and family.

Table 5. Determinants of Vote

1995 STUDY 2003 STUDY

1. Sikat at Popular (Popularity) 1. Public Servant Image

● Pagiging sikat at popular ● Madaling lapitan (Approachable)

(Popularity) ● Malinis na pagkatao (Decent)
● Pagiging artista (Being an ● Matulungin sa nangangailangan (Helps
actor/actress) the needy)
● Pag-endorso ng artista ● Nagtataguyod ng programa ng goberyno
(Endorsement by an actor/actress) para sa kaunlaran (Supports
● Maraming poster at streamer (A lot government development programs)
of posters and streamers) ● Nagtataguyod ng alternatibong program
● Mahusay magtalumpati (Good para sa kaunlaran (Support alternative
public speaker) development programs)

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In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

2. Endorsement of traditional network 2. Political Machinery

and organization
● Pagiging kabilang sa oposisyon (Member
● Pag-endorso ng simbahan (Church of the opposition)
endorsement) ● Partidong kinabibilangan ng kandidato
● Pag-endorso ng political leader sa (Candidate's political party)
komunidad (Endorsement by ● Maraming poster at streamer (A lot of
political leader in the community) posters and streamers)
● Pag-endorso ng organisasyon ● Mahusay magtalumpati (Good public
(Endorsement by organization) speaker)
● Pag-endorso ng pamilya o kamag- ● Nagbabahay-bahay sa panahon ng
anak (Endorsement by family or kampanya (House-to-house campaign)
relatives)

3. Characteristics that can be of 3. Popularity

benefit to the voter
● Pagiging artista (Being an actor/actress)
● Madaling lapitan (Approachable) ● Pagiging sikat at popular (Popularity)
● Malinis na pagkatao (Decent) ● Pag-endorso ng artista (Endorsement by
● Matulungin sa nangangailangan an actor/actress)
(Helps the needy)
● Maraming poster at streamer (A lot
of posters and streamers)
● Mahusay magtalumpati (Good
public speaker)

4. Party program 4. Endorsement of traditional network and

organization
● Nagtataguyod ng programa ng
goberyno (Supports government ● Pag-endorso ng pamilya o kamag-anak
programs) (Endorsement by family or relatives)
● Nagtataguyod ng alternatibong ● Pag-endorso ng simbahan (Church
program para sa kaunlaran endorsement)
(Support alternative development ● Pag-endorso ng samahan/organisasyon
programs) (Endorsement by organization)
● Pag-endorso ng lider (Endorsement by
leader)

Source: Psychographics Study on Voting Behavior of the Filipino Electorate, Institute of Political
and Electoral Reform (IPER)

Payatas, however, may no longer exemplify the desperation people associate with
impoverished communities. Even at a glance, Lupang Pangako, the community closest to the
dump, is today suspiciously unlike the picture of material and spiritual deprivation it has long
been painted to be. The roads are wide and paved and while alleyways are not, these are at
least swept clean by residents themselves at the crack of dawn.

Many of the houses may be a bit rundown and made up of a hodgepodge of materials, but
they are lovingly kept neat and clean-even the homes nearest the dump. One can also tell
that people began tending gardens and planting trees almost as soon as they moved in-there
are a few mangoes just putting out their first fruits for the summer and coconut trees rise
straight and tall. There is order here and a good-natured ambience difficult to find in any part
of Metro Manila, bar none. Even the scavengers have IDs and register themselves with the
dumpsite authorities.

Economic activity has picked up. Near the jeep terminal is a small wet market, a grocery, and
a store selling mineral water. There's a newspaper stand that carries the major broadsheets.
Even scavenging, though still backbreaking work, brings in more money now.

"They're buying everything these days," explains 19-year-old Andrew of the ubiquitous
junkshops dotting the dumps boundaries. "Someone as young as I am can easily earn P300
scavenging the whole day and even as much as P400."

That shouldn't really come as a surprise. Despite the doom and gloom dished out by the

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In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

country's newspapers, the economy isn't performing all that badly. For sure, there is still the
continuing poor performance of the peso against the dollar and a dip in government spending
due to fiscal difficulties. But gross domestic product (GDP) was up by 4.5 percent in 2003.
Gross national product or GNP, plus income from abroad, hit 5.5 percent growth, higher than
the upper end of government's band target of 4.5 to 5.4 percent.

Plus, this is a community that never gave up in working to better itself. And in doing so, it
seems to have fallen into better times.

But Wong himself points out, "Our community has become a magnet for all kinds of social
services, more so after the disaster struck."

Wong is referring to the tragedy that came to Payatas on the morning of July 10, 2000. After
15 days of rain, a chunk of the Payatas dumpsite slid off and buried more than 200 mostly
sleeping residents of Lupang Pangako under tons of muck. Dozens of bodies remain
unrecovered to this day.

The incident sent the nation reeling in shock, devastated the career of then Quezon City
Mayor Ismael Mathay Jr. and left the metropolis stinking to high heavens as the dumpsite was
temporarily shut down. It was reopened in November of the same year only after the Metro
Manila Development Authority failed to find an alternative place for the capital's trash.

But some good did come out of that horrible day. An outpouring of sympathy from the guilt-
ridden public and private sectors eventually saw social services and utilities making their way
into many corners of the communities around the dump. Electricity became available to
almost every household three years ago. Families like those of the Wongs and Jake and Lisa
Cauding now have access to potable, running water as of last year. Even scavenger Dina
says her humble home has electricity and water.

In the case of the Caudings, it's not at all an issue that the water comes from their neighbor's
tap. And even though the pipes cough up water only every other day and only from two a.m.
to 10 a.m. at that, they're not ones to complain. In fact, they're even glad.

"We used to buy water up there at P5 per container," says Jake Cauding, referring to the main
road some 100 meters away. "Now we pay only P2 to our neighbor for every jug we fill up."

This has had a profound impact on people who have never had it as easy before, and the
resulting shift in attitude toward government is quite palpable. Although residents still have
their laments when talk swings to the way the country is being run, these are spoken matter of
factly rather than with rancor, or worse, helplessness. To think that in May 2001, Payatas sent
an angry contingent of Estrada supporters to join the tens of thousands of the city's poor who
charged Malacañang and threatened the then four-month-old Arroyo administration.

A shaken President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in her first state-of-the-nation address a couple
of months later, took three children from Payatas and made aggressive promises to uplift their
lives, offering them as a showcase for the country's poor. Subsequent news reports say the
children have continued to receive financial assistance and this in turn has silenced some of
the Arroyo government's critics in Payatas.

In 2003, the president herself promised that she would negotiate with private landowners to
buy out the dumpsite property and parcel it out among the families affected by the July 2000
disaster. The offer was received with mixed emotions, with some families saying perhaps
money would be better.

Nothing has come out of that promise so far. But at least in Commonwealth, Arroyo seems to
have been perceived as doing some good, since the adult focus group there named her as
one of their examples of a good leader, along with the late President Ramon Magsaysay
(visited poor and gave them livelihood projects), Senator Noli de Castro (against corruption in
his radio and TV programs), Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista (long experience in
public service, has never broken the law), Senator Juan Flavier (morally upright), and Senator
Gregorio Honasan.

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In Payatas, the Poor are Hopeful

Then again, it also said she was a bad leader because of her alleged involvement in "illegal
dealings such as the PIATCO scandal, the (Commission on Elections) computerization
(fiasco), Subic smuggling, and the Jose Pidal case."

They lumped her together with people ranging from former President Fidel Ramos ("we do not
know where the money went" in Fort Bonifacio) to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos
(stayed too long, corrupt) to convicted rapists Romeo Jalosjos, a former congressman, and
Antonio Sanchez, ex-mayor of Calauan, Laguna.

One of the youth focus groups also said Arroyo "did not honor her words" and was therefore a
bad leader, as were Estrada (broke the law), former senator Miriam Defensor Santiago
(neither here nor there), and presidential candidate Raul Roco (perceived as corrupt).

This youth focus group's examples of a good leader included Marcos ("during his stint the
peso was equivalent to the dollar"), former tourism secretary Richard Gordon (for his WOW
Philippines project), and Aquilino Pimentel (showed his moral uprightness during the
impeachment trial of Estrada).

It would be interesting to see who Payatas residents would consider as "good" and "bad"
leaders. Many of them, though, would probably agree with Wong's view that there is simply
"too much politics and too little action" going on in government right now.

The same cannot be said about Payatas residents themselves. People here may not be
aware of it because they are doing it in such small increments, but they have been busy
improving their lives, with or without government help. That is why they can be optimistic
despite the daily sight of a growing heap of raw, steaming trash: they know change is
possible. — Romel Lalata and Cecile C.A. Balgos

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

19 APRIL 2004

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by the PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

Our latest one-part article dissects the composition of the current contenders for the Senate and projects what
us your views and comments
kind of Senate will likely be in place after the May elections.
about this article.

The article says that the two main determinants of a Senate seat appear to be fame (i.e. celebrity status) and
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family. It starts off with two candidates — the oldest, Juan Ponce Enrile, 80, and Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., 37 —
PCIJ
who represent the two poles of candidates. Enrile comes from a traditional political clan that has been in public
office for three generations, while Revilla is from a new showbiz family.

The article was put together from a database collected by the PCIJ on all 48 senatorial candidates, and it
describes various characteristics of the contenders: gender (mostly male), age (average age is 57), education
(nearly half have a law degree), and geographical origin (63 percent were born in Manila and Luzon).

This means that the 13th Senate that will be inaugurated in June will likely not be different from its predecessor.
The current Senate is mostly male (only three of the 24 senators are women) and middle aged (the average age
in 2001 was 59). And law is the most preferred field of study among senators, with a third of them having law
degrees.

The Rulemakers: How the

In addition, 40 percent of the 12th Senate are either celebrities themselves or married to one. It is likely that the Wealthy and Well-Born
13th Senate will be as filled with media and showbiz personalities as the current one. Dominate Congress

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JUAN Ponce Enrile, a two-term senator,

billionaire businessman, ex-congressman,
and former defense secretary, is 80 years
old. He is the oldest among the 48
contenders vying for 12 Senate seats in
May.
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The youngest is the swashbuckling action Web pcij.org

star Ramon "Bong" Revilla, 37, a former
Cavite governor who now wants to take Search our Site
over the Senate seat held for two terms by It is likely that the 13th Senate that will be
his father, action film star Ramon, who is inaugurated in June will be no different from its
already 77 years old. predecessor — male-dominated, middle-aged, and as
filled with media and showbiz personalities. Find!
In many respects, Enrile and Revilla are polar opposites, representing the two categories of Match ANY
candidates who want to make it to the 13th Senate of the Republic. On one pole are the old, powered by FreeFind
traditional politicians trained mainly in law and belonging to political families. On the opposite
pole are the celebrities whose national renown makes it possible for them to aim for a slot in
the Senate.

Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano, the 38-year-old daughter of the recently deceased Senator
Renato "Rene" Cayetano straddles both poles. Born in Michigan, she is, like her father, both a
lawyer and a talk show host. A political neophyte, her main claim to a Senate seat is that she

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

is her father's daughter.

She is not alone, indicating that a generational shift is taking place in the Senate, with parents
making way for sons and daughters. Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, another celebrity senatorial
contender, makes much of the fact that his father Joseph was senator and president. Not that
Erap was outstanding in either post, but the name recall and the former president's residual
popularity are boosting the poll ratings of Jinggoy, an actor and former mayor of San Juan,
Metro Manila.

Even former trade secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, despite a campaign anchored on his
being "Mr. Palengke," also has commercials trumpeting the fact that his father was once
senator and his grandfather, a former president.

Fame and family: These about sum up the main characteristics of those who want to be in the
24-member, nationally elected Senate, which is considered to be a training ground for future
presidents. From independence up to the fall of Marcos in 1986, all but one of the presidents
were lawyers and former senators. The exceptions were Ramon Magsaysay, a commerce
graduate who became defense secretary and congressman before becoming president in
1953, and Diosdado Macapagal, who was the vice president of Carlos P Garcia, whom he
later defeated in the 1961 presidential elections.

Platforms and performance seem to matter little in the race for Senate seats. So far, the poll
surveys and the campaign commercials show that this year's senatorial race is a contest that
will largely be won by those who have lineage or celebrity — or both.

The incoming Senate, therefore, is likely to be a replica of the current one. Apart from family
and celebrity, the present Senate is also a very wealthy one, with a quarter having assets of
more than P100 million. In addition, it is mostly male (only three of the 24 senators elected in
2001 are women) and middle aged (the average age in 2001 was 59). And law is the most
preferred field of study among senators, with a third of them having law degrees.

The profile of the current contenders is very similar. Most — 77 percent — are more than 50
years old. The average age is 57, although the minimum age for qualifying for the Senate is
35. The candidates are also mostly men (only 10 of the 48 are women). Moreover, 42 percent,
or nearly one in every two senatorial candidates, has a law degree.

The great majority — 30 candidates or 63 percent — were born in either Metro Manila (25
percent) or Luzon (38 percent). In the current Senate, the proportion is 83 percent, with nine
of the 24 senators having been born in Manila and 11 in Luzon, leaving the Visayas and
Mindanao underrepresented in the Upper House.

Since 1946, the Senate has been the most powerful assembly of men and women in the
country. Thus the composition of the Senate is the best indicator of the class, demographic,
and other characteristics of the most exclusive section of the Philippine elite.

In the past, the premium was on family, with those who come from wealthy families that have
been in public office for generations having the edge in senatorial races. With voters having to
write out the names of candidates on a ballot, instead of ticking them from a list, or voting for
parties rather than individuals, those with names associated with public office have
traditionally performed better in the polls.

That remains true up to now. Yet since the fall of Marcos, celebrity status — whether from the
cinema, television, or sports — has also been making the difference in senatorial elections.
While the House of Representatives remains the bastion of local power and of families with a
local political base, the Senate is a contested field where, at the moment, celebrity power
dominates, easing out the traditional political clans and paving the way for the entry of new
men and women to that most exclusive elite assembly.

Half of the members of the current Senate are still from political families. Unsurprisingly, 18 of
the 48 senatorial contenders, or about 38 percent, have at least one relative in an elective

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

post.

Five senatorial bets, in fact, have parents who were in the Senate themselves. The fathers of
Bong Revilla, Estrada, Roxas, and Sergio "Serge" Osmeña III were senators, as was Amina
Rasul's mother Santanina, who was elected in 1987 and 1992.

The grandfathers of Osmeña, 61, and Roxas, 46, were also senators, as were those of
Didagen Dilangalen, 50, and Maria Ana Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, 46.

Meanwhile, the father-in-law of Senator Robert Jaworski, who also wants another term in the
Upper House, is the outgoing senator Ramon Revilla.

Jaworski, however, is a celebrity in his own right, having been a star basketball player and
coach before making a big leap to the Senate in 1998. He is one of the prime examples of the
"celebritification" of that chamber, a trend that can be interpreted as the democratization of an
exclusive body once reserved only for the wealthy, the well-born, or the intellectually brilliant.
At the same time, though, this trend introduces a new kind of exclusivity in that most exclusive
House: the exclusivity of stardom.

Judging from the poll ratings, it is likely that the 13th Senate will be as packed with celebrities
as the outgoing one. Five contenders are from show business. Macho stars Bong Revilla,
Jinggoy Estrada, and Lito Lapid are in the top 10, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.
Lower down in the ratings are actresses Boots Anson Roa and Pilar Pilapil.

In addition, three candidates are currently in broadcasting: Pia Cayetano, talk show host Jose
"Jay" Sonza, and commentator-lawyer Melanio "Batas" Mauricio. Two are former
broadcasters: Orlando Mercado and Eddie Ilarde. Three others are politicians who currently
host or until recently hosted their own radio or TV chat shows: top contender and former
Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, former senator Ernesto Maceda, and former Nueva Vizcaya Rep.
Carlos Padilla.

In all, eight candidates, about 17 percent, are in broadcasting. These, together with the five
showbiz contenders, add up to 14 wannabes from media and showbiz, or 30 percent of all
candidates.

In the current Senate, nine senators (nearly 40 percent) owed their election to celebrity power,
either because they were celebrities themselves or were married to one. Aside from Jaworski,
these included Ramon Revilla and comedian/TV host Vicente Sotto III, TV anchors Noli de
Castro and Loren Legarda (both of whom are now running for vice president), and the late TV
host and lawyer Renato Cayetano.

Those who married into celebrity were lawyer Francis Pangilinan, whose wife is "megastar"
Sharon Cuneta; former Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto, who married movie actress Vilma
Santos; and medical doctor Luisa Ejercito, who is the spouse of action film star-turned-
politician Joseph Estrada.

Thus, in the 12th Senate, the established clans have been eclipsed by newer showbiz-and-
media-based political families like the Estradas, Revillas, and Cayetanos. But since Edsa I,
yet other sources of senators have emerged: the military and the police, which now compete
with big business and law. Each of these services has two "representatives" in the Senate:
Rodolfo "Pong" Biazon and Gregorio "Gringo" Honasan for the military, and Robert Barbers
and Panfilo "Ping" Lacson for the police. In the May elections, Biazon and Barbers are
seeking reelection while Lacson is gunning for the presidency.

The likes of Biazon and Barbers already have a foot in the Senate door, if only because those
who have held public office have better chances of being elected. Judging from past
Congresses, neophytes rarely make it to the Upper House unless they have fame or family.

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

In the 12th Senate, there were few newcomers, as even the celebrities who had been elected
to that body in previous years were by then on their second or third terms. The only really new
faces elected to the Senate in 2001 were Noli de Castro and Loi Ejercito, again an indication
that the new blood that is being infused into the Upper House comes from the world of
celebrity. The others on their first Senate term were either from the House, like Joker Arroyo,
or the military and police, like Lacson.

Unsurprisingly, 13 (27 percent) of the current crop of candidates are either incumbent and
former senators, many of whom will likely be reelected, if only because of the name recall
factor: Heherson Alvarez, Barbers, Biazon, Enrile, Ernesto Herrera, Ilarde, Jaworski, Maceda,
Mercado, Osmeña, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Miriam Defensor Santiago, and Francisco Tatad.

Five of the candidates are from the military or the police: Apart from reelectionists Barbers
and Biazon, these are Alfredo Lim, Ramon Montaño, and Ismael Aparri.

Career-wise, senators tend to go up the ranks of public office. Thus, it is not surprising that 56
percent of this year's contenders have held a government post. Apart from the former
senators, 25 percent were former representatives and 27 percent were local officials. In
addition, 38 percent held executive posts: Three were secretary of interior and local
government (Barbers, Lim, and Pimentel); two were defense secretary (Enrile and Mercado);
and two more headed the environment department (Alvarez and Maceda).

Wealth is another characteristic that sets senators apart. In the post-Marcos Congress, the
net worth of senators is about 60 percent more than the average net worth in the House. In
the current Congress, one in every four senators has assets of over P100 million, compared
to only one in 10 representatives.

And while the business interests in the Senate are as diverse as the interests in the House of
Representatives, most of the senators — especially those elected in more recent years —
come from new wealth rather than old, as indicated by the relatively small percentage who
own agricultural land. In comparison, nearly half of all representatives in the post-Marcos
Houses own agricultural land.

Nearly all the senators — 75 percent in the 12th Congress — have interests in real estate, a
much bigger proportion than in the House, where real estate is also the dominant interest.
Only three senators in the 12th Congress did not declare any business interest.

Today's senators are richer than their predecessors. The average assets of the members of
the current Senate is P59.4 million, compared to only P32.9 million in the previous Senate.

In terms of education, all but two of the 24 current senators have college degrees, the
exceptions being Blas Ople (recently deceased) and Sergio Osmeña III (John Osmeña's
cousin), both self-taught men who are acknowledged to be among the most conscientious and
well-prepared among the senators.

Similarly, the data currently available show that all but two of the 48 senatorial contenders
have college degrees. The two candidates who finished only high school — actors Bong
Revilla and Lito Lapid — are also likely to be among the newest senators of the land.

Unlike Ople and Osmeña, however, the two actors are less prepared for the legislative work
ahead of them. They may have to lessen the swaggering and do a lot more homework if they
want to catch up with their colleagues. — Sheila S. Coronel and Yvonne T. Chua with
additional research by Vinia M. Datinguinoo and Avigail Olarte.

(For more information on senatorial and other candidates, log on to www.i-site.ph.)

Profile of 48 Senatorial Candidates

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

NUMBER PERCENTAGE (%)

Average age 57

Gender

Male 38 79%

Female 10 21%

Member of political clans 18 38%

Civil status

Single 3 6%

Married 42 88%

Separated 2 4%

Widower 1 2%

Place of birth

Metro Manila 12 25%

Luzon (except Metro Manila) 18 38%

Visayas 7 15%

Mindanao 10 21%

Others (U.S.) 1 2%

Education

No college degree 2 4%

Law 20 42%

Business and Economics 4 8%

Arts, Communication and Social Science 6 13%

Engineering and Science 4 8%

Medicine 2 4%

No data 10 21%

Career

Government official 27 56%

º Senator 13 27%

º Representative/assemblyman 12 25%

º Local official 13 27%

º Executive/appointive 18 38%

º Police/military 5 10%

Showbusiness 5 10%

Broadcasting 8 17%
SOURCE: PCIJ research. See www.i-site.ph for more information on candidates

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

19 APRIL 2004

Fame and Family Dominate

Senatorial Race
by the PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

JUAN Ponce Enrile, a two-term senator, billionaire businessman, ex-

congressman, and former defense secretary, is 80 years old. He is the
oldest among the 48 contenders vying for 12 Senate seats in May.

The youngest is the swashbuckling action star Ramon "Bong" Revilla,

37, a former Cavite governor who now wants to take over the Senate
seat held for two terms by his father, action film star Ramon, who is
already 77 years old.

In many respects, Enrile and Revilla are polar opposites, representing

the two categories of candidates who want to make it to the 13th
Senate of the Republic. On one pole are the old, traditional politicians
trained mainly in law and belonging to political families. On the
opposite pole are the celebrities whose national renown makes it
possible for them to aim for a slot in the Senate.

Pilar Juliana "Pia" Cayetano, the 38-year-old daughter of the recently

deceased Senator Renato "Rene" Cayetano straddles both poles.
Born in Michigan, she is, like her father, both a lawyer and a talk show
host. A political neophyte, her main claim to a Senate seat is that she
is her father's daughter.

She is not alone, indicating that a generational shift is taking place in

the Senate, with parents making way for sons and daughters. Jose
"Jinggoy" Estrada, another celebrity senatorial contender, makes
much of the fact that his father Joseph was senator and president. Not
that Erap was outstanding in either post, but the name recall and the
former president's residual popularity are boosting the poll ratings of
Jinggoy, an actor and former mayor of San Juan, Metro Manila.

Even former trade secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, despite a

campaign anchored on his being "Mr. Palengke," also has
commercials trumpeting the fact that his father was once senator and
his grandfather, a former president.

Fame and family: These about sum up the main characteristics of

those who want to be in the 24-member, nationally elected Senate,
which is considered to be a training ground for future presidents. From
independence up to the fall of Marcos in 1986, all but one of the

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

presidents were lawyers and former senators. The exceptions were

Ramon Magsaysay, a commerce graduate who became defense
secretary and congressman before becoming president in 1953, and
Diosdado Macapagal, who was the vice president of Carlos P Garcia,
whom he later defeated in the 1961 presidential elections.

Platforms and performance seem to matter little in the race for Senate
seats. So far, the poll surveys and the campaign commercials show
that this year's senatorial race is a contest that will largely be won by
those who have lineage or celebrity — or both.

The incoming Senate, therefore, is likely to be a replica of the current

one. Apart from family and celebrity, the present Senate is also a very
wealthy one, with a quarter having assets of more than P100 million. In
addition, it is mostly male (only three of the 24 senators elected in
2001 are women) and middle aged (the average age in 2001 was 59).
And law is the most preferred field of study among senators, with a
third of them having law degrees.

The profile of the current contenders is very similar. Most — 77

percent — are more than 50 years old. The average age is 57,
although the minimum age for qualifying for the Senate is 35. The
candidates are also mostly men (only 10 of the 48 are women).
Moreover, 42 percent, or nearly one in every two senatorial
candidates, has a law degree.

The great majority — 30 candidates or 63 percent — were born in

either Metro Manila (25 percent) or Luzon (38 percent). In the current
Senate, the proportion is 83 percent, with nine of the 24 senators
having been born in Manila and 11 in Luzon, leaving the Visayas and
Mindanao underrepresented in the Upper House.

Since 1946, the Senate has been the most powerful assembly of men
and women in the country. Thus the composition of the Senate is the
best indicator of the class, demographic, and other characteristics of
the most exclusive section of the Philippine elite.

In the past, the premium was on family, with those who come from
wealthy families that have been in public office for generations having
the edge in senatorial races. With voters having to write out the names
of candidates on a ballot, instead of ticking them from a list, or voting
for parties rather than individuals, those with names associated with
public office have traditionally performed better in the polls.

That remains true up to now. Yet since the fall of Marcos, celebrity
status — whether from the cinema, television, or sports — has also
been making the difference in senatorial elections. While the House of
Representatives remains the bastion of local power and of families

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

with a local political base, the Senate is a contested field where, at the
moment, celebrity power dominates, easing out the traditional political
clans and paving the way for the entry of new men and women to that
most exclusive elite assembly.

Half of the members of the current Senate are still from political
families. Unsurprisingly, 18 of the 48 senatorial contenders, or about
38 percent, have at least one relative in an elective post.

Five senatorial bets, in fact, have parents who were in the Senate
themselves. The fathers of Bong Revilla, Estrada, Roxas, and Sergio
"Serge" Osmeña III were senators, as was Amina Rasul's mother
Santanina, who was elected in 1987 and 1992.

The grandfathers of Osmeña, 61, and Roxas, 46, were also senators,
as were those of Didagen Dilangalen, 50, and Maria Ana Consuelo
"Jamby" Madrigal, 46.

Meanwhile, the father-in-law of Senator Robert Jaworski, who also

wants another term in the Upper House, is the outgoing senator
Ramon Revilla.

Jaworski, however, is a celebrity in his own right, having been a star

basketball player and coach before making a big leap to the Senate in
1998. He is one of the prime examples of the "celebritification" of that
chamber, a trend that can be interpreted as the democratization of an
exclusive body once reserved only for the wealthy, the well-born, or
the intellectually brilliant. At the same time, though, this trend
introduces a new kind of exclusivity in that most exclusive House: the
exclusivity of stardom.

Judging from the poll ratings, it is likely that the 13th Senate will be as
packed with celebrities as the outgoing one. Five contenders are from
show business. Macho stars Bong Revilla, Jinggoy Estrada, and Lito
Lapid are in the top 10, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.
Lower down in the ratings are actresses Boots Anson Roa and Pilar
Pilapil.

In addition, three candidates are currently in broadcasting: Pia

Cayetano, talk show host Jose "Jay" Sonza, and commentator-lawyer
Melanio "Batas" Mauricio. Two are former broadcasters: Orlando
Mercado and Eddie Ilarde. Three others are politicians who currently
host or until recently hosted their own radio or TV chat shows: top
contender and former Manila mayor Alfredo Lim, former senator
Ernesto Maceda, and former Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla.

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

In all, eight candidates, about 17 percent, are in broadcasting. These,

together with the five showbiz contenders, add up to 14 wannabes
from media and showbiz, or 30 percent of all candidates.

In the current Senate, nine senators (nearly 40 percent) owed their

election to celebrity power, either because they were celebrities
themselves or were married to one. Aside from Jaworski, these
included Ramon Revilla and comedian/TV host Vicente Sotto III, TV
anchors Noli de Castro and Loren Legarda (both of whom are now
running for vice president), and the late TV host and lawyer Renato
Cayetano.

Those who married into celebrity were lawyer Francis Pangilinan,

whose wife is "megastar" Sharon Cuneta; former Batangas Rep. Ralph
Recto, who married movie actress Vilma Santos; and medical doctor
Luisa Ejercito, who is the spouse of action film star-turned-politician
Joseph Estrada.

Thus, in the 12th Senate, the established clans have been eclipsed by
newer showbiz-and-media-based political families like the Estradas,
Revillas, and Cayetanos. But since Edsa I, yet other sources of
senators have emerged: the military and the police, which now
compete with big business and law. Each of these services has two
"representatives" in the Senate: Rodolfo "Pong" Biazon and Gregorio
"Gringo" Honasan for the military, and Robert Barbers and Panfilo
"Ping" Lacson for the police. In the May elections, Biazon and Barbers
are seeking reelection while Lacson is gunning for the presidency.

The likes of Biazon and Barbers already have a foot in the Senate
door, if only because those who have held public office have better
chances of being elected. Judging from past Congresses, neophytes
rarely make it to the Upper House unless they have fame or family.

In the 12th Senate, there were few newcomers, as even the celebrities
who had been elected to that body in previous years were by then on
their second or third terms. The only really new faces elected to the
Senate in 2001 were Noli de Castro and Loi Ejercito, again an
indication that the new blood that is being infused into the Upper
House comes from the world of celebrity. The others on their first
Senate term were either from the House, like Joker Arroyo, or the
military and police, like Lacson.

Unsurprisingly, 13 (27 percent) of the current crop of candidates are

either incumbent and former senators, many of whom will likely be
reelected, if only because of the name recall factor: Heherson Alvarez,
Barbers, Biazon, Enrile, Ernesto Herrera, Ilarde, Jaworski, Maceda,
Mercado, Osmeña, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Miriam Defensor Santiago,

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

and Francisco Tatad.

Five of the candidates are from the military or the police: Apart from
reelectionists Barbers and Biazon, these are Alfredo Lim, Ramon
Montaño, and Ismael Aparri.

Career-wise, senators tend to go up the ranks of public office. Thus, it

is not surprising that 56 percent of this year's contenders have held a
government post. Apart from the former senators, 25 percent were
former representatives and 27 percent were local officials. In addition,
38 percent held executive posts: Three were secretary of interior and
local government (Barbers, Lim, and Pimentel); two were defense
secretary (Enrile and Mercado); and two more headed the
environment department (Alvarez and Maceda).

Wealth is another characteristic that sets senators apart. In the post-

Marcos Congress, the net worth of senators is about 60 percent more
than the average net worth in the House. In the current Congress, one
in every four senators has assets of over P100 million, compared to
only one in 10 representatives.

And while the business interests in the Senate are as diverse as the
interests in the House of Representatives, most of the senators —
especially those elected in more recent years — come from new
wealth rather than old, as indicated by the relatively small percentage
who own agricultural land. In comparison, nearly half of all
representatives in the post-Marcos Houses own agricultural land.

Nearly all the senators — 75 percent in the 12th Congress — have

interests in real estate, a much bigger proportion than in the House,
where real estate is also the dominant interest. Only three senators in
the 12th Congress did not declare any business interest.

Today's senators are richer than their predecessors. The average

assets of the members of the current Senate is P59.4 million,
compared to only P32.9 million in the previous Senate.

In terms of education, all but two of the 24 current senators have

college degrees, the exceptions being Blas Ople (recently deceased)
and Sergio Osmeña III (John Osmeña's cousin), both self-taught men
who are acknowledged to be among the most conscientious and well-
prepared among the senators.

Similarly, the data currently available show that all but two of the 48
senatorial contenders have college degrees. The two candidates who
finished only high school — actors Bong Revilla and Lito Lapid — are
also likely to be among the newest senators of the land.

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

Unlike Ople and Osmeña, however, the two actors are less prepared
for the legislative work ahead of them. They may have to lessen the
swaggering and do a lot more homework if they want to catch up with
their colleagues. — Sheila S. Coronel and Yvonne T. Chua with
additional research by Vinia M. Datinguinoo and Avigail Olarte.

(For more information on senatorial and other candidates, log on to

www.i-site.ph.)

Profile of 48 Senatorial Candidates

PERCENTAGE
NUMBER
(%)

Average age 57

Gender

Male 38 79%

Female 10 21%

Member of political clans 18 38%

Civil status

Single 3 6%

Married 42 88%

Separated 2 4%

Widower 1 2%

Place of birth

Metro Manila 12 25%

Luzon (except Metro Manila) 18 38%

Visayas 7 15%

Mindanao 10 21%

Others (U.S.) 1 2%

Education

No college degree 2 4%

Law 20 42%

Business and Economics 4 8%

Arts, Communication and Social

6 13%
Science

Engineering and Science 4 8%

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Fame and Family Dominate Senatorial Race

Medicine 2 4%

No data 10 21%

Career

Government official 27 56%

º Senator 13 27%

º Representative/assemblyman 12 25%

º Local official 13 27%

º Executive/appointive 18 38%

º Police/military 5 10%

Showbusiness 5 10%

Broadcasting 8 17%
SOURCE: PCIJ research. See www.i-site.ph for more information on candidates

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 How Representative is Congress?

22-24 MARCH 2004

Print this article

by SHEILA S. CORONEL

Our latest series summarizes some of the key findings of a two-year-study conducted by the PCIJ on Philippine
us your views and comments
legislatures which are published in an upcoming book called, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born
about this article.
Dominate Congress.

THE LATEST OFFERING FROM

The first part of the series deals with the composition of the legislature. We found that 18 years after the fall of
PCIJ
Marcos, Congress has not become a more representative institution. Today?s legislators are richer now than
ever before. While poverty levels since 1986 have remained at roughly between 30 to 40 percent of the
population, lawmakers have become wealthier.

In 1992, the average net worth of congressmen was P8 million. By 2001, it was P28 million. In the Senate, the
average net worth increased from P33 million in 1998 to P59 million in 2001. A quarter of all senators today have
a net worth of above P100 million.

Today's legislators are also older and better educated and tend to stay in office longer than their predecessors.
Moreover, the great majority of lawmakers come from political families. In the House of Representatives, two in
every three members come from political families.

The Rulemakers: How the

Wealthy and Well-Born
Dominate Congress

EIGHTEEN years after the fall of Marcos,

Congress is not becoming a more ORDER your copy now.
representative institution. In fact, today's
legislators are richer now than ever before.
While poverty levels since 1986 have
remained at roughly between 30 and 40
percent of the population, lawmakers have
become wealthier.

They are also older and better educated. As Google Search

the results of a two-year PCIJ study of Web pcij.org
legislatures since 1898 show, members of
the post-Marcos Congress tend to stay in
office longer than their predecessors.
Speaker Jose de Venecia and other leaders of the Search our Site
12th House of Representatives

Moreover, most lawmakers come from political families, meaning that they have relatives who
are currently holding or once held elective posts. In the House of Representatives, two of Find!
every three are members of political clans. The vast majority of these are second- and third-
Match ANY
generation politicians with parents and grandparents who had been elected to public office.
powered by FreeFind

In less than two months, Filipinos will be voting for a new set of legislators. Senatorial
candidates have been campaigning since February. This week, they will be joined by those
vying for seats in the House. If the results of previous elections are a guide, then the likelihood
is that most of the legislators who will assume their seats in July would be so unlike the
people who voted them to power.

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How Representative is Congress?

The typical representative or senator cannot be more unlike the typical Filipino. The legislator
is likely to be male, middle aged, and college educated, most likely with a degree in law. He
has previously held a local government post and there is one chance in two that he is related
to a former member of Congress.

He is also into business and has multiple income sources. He has property for rent, earns
salary from a profession, and has investments in company shares. He is well off, with a net
worth (most likely understated in his statement of assets) in millions of pesos. And the
likelihood is that the longer he stays in Congress, the richer he becomes.

In 1962, only 27 percent of representatives were classified as upper class. In 1992, it was 44
percent. Over time, the assets of legislators have grown. In 1992, the average net worth of
congressmen was P8 million. By 2001, it was P22 million. In the Senate, the average net
worth increased from P33 million in 1998 to P59 million in 2001. A quarter of all senators
today have a net worth of above P100 million.

The typical Filipino, meanwhile, is likely to be below 35, with a few years of high-school
education, and an annual income of about P150,000 in 2000. The demographic profiles
couldn't be more unmatched.

Legislators are Getting Richer

AVERAGE NET WORTH (P) AVERAGE NET WORTH (P)

TERM
OF REPRESENTATIVES OF SENATORS

9th Congress (1992-95) 8,401,072.28 -

11th Congress (1998-2001) 20,589,862.25 32,908,657.45

12th Congress (2001-2004) 21,914,669.72 59,358.557.06

Five congresses — the Eighth to the 12th — have been constituted since the fall of Ferdinand
Marcos in 1986. The legislators elected to these bodies have hardly been representative of
those they represent. In that sense, they have not been different from the past, when
members of Congress were drawn from a narrow elite in terms of property, education (since
1898, they have been trained mainly in law) and social standing.

There have been changes, though. There are now many more women in Congress than there
have been in the past. In the current House, there are 40 women, about 18 percent of the
body, compared to only one percent in 1946, six percent in 1965, and 11 percent in 1992.

Today's legislators are also better educated than their predecessors, with 27 percent of all
representatives boasting of postgraduate degrees, compared to only 18 percent in 1965.

The sources of their wealth are more diverse, indicating that many more business interests
are represented in Congress, which can no longer be described as "landlord-dominated"
legislature. The caciques of old have been replaced by real-estate developers, bankers,
stockbrokers, and assorted professionals and businesspeople.

The changes reflect the changes in the Philippine economy, with the decline of agriculture and
extractive industries (logging, mining) and the increasing importance of manufacturing, trade,
and services. The changes have been obvious since the 1960s, when new men from
business and the professions were elected to the legislature.

The rise of these new legislators mirrored the increasing political assertiveness of new
sections of the business elite and the upper professional class that emerged in the 1950s and
60s. That period saw the birth of a manufacturing sector that produced previously imported
goods for the local market. While many of those who became part of the manufacturing
capitalists were large landowners, there were also those from the professional middle class
and local traders who joined the ranks of the new rich and then sought seats in Congress.

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How Representative is Congress?

Philippine legislatures have been hospitable to the entry of the newly affluent. Their ranks
have been open to the constant infusion of new blood. The post-Marcos Congress is even
more diverse in composition than its predecessors. It includes, aside from the old landowning
families that have been in legislatures for 100 years, also new entrepreneurs, especially those
in construction, real estate, and services that emerged among the fastest-growing economic
sectors in the late 1980s and 1990s; middle-class professionals, especially lawyers from
leading law firms; and leaders of nongovernmental organizations.

The legislature also has local officials or government bureaucrats able to build a base in their
districts even if they are not backed by old wealth. In addition, the halls of Congress have
recently accommodated celebrities from the movies, the mass media, and sports.

The legislature has traditionally opened to its members a world of privilege that enables the
enterprising among them to take advantage of moneymaking opportunities and to accumulate
wealth. A Congress seat can be used as a passport to the land of dealmaking, allowing
aspiring politicians entry to the bastions of great wealth and privilege. In this sense, the
legislature can be said to be an agent of mobility, allowing talented aspirants from the lower
and middle classes entry to the narrow corridors of power and the most exclusive enclaves of
the very rich.

Such mobility, however, is still limited to a narrow range of Philippine society. For sure, the
more occupationally diverse membership from the more modern sectors of business, the
mass media, and civil society means a wider range of perspectives and interests than at any
time in the past. The trend toward increasing diversification that was noted in the 1960s
continues today.

Moreover, the entry of party-list representatives in the 11th and 12th Congress enlarged that
range, as it gave representatives of marginalized social sectors seats in the legislature.
Despite this, however, Congress remains a fortress of privilege, its gates open to the new and
aspiring rich, but closed — except for some narrow openings — to the poor and powerless.

The route to Congress, for the most part, is still via local government posts. Although recently,
some have taken a shortcut, either through the media or the movies, or inherited their posts
directly from a relative facing the three-term limit, the usual route is still for prospective
legislators, even those who come from political families, to vie for "lesser" elective posts.

This trend was evident from the start. Political office in the Philippines has always been
hierarchical: Aspiring politicians went up the political ladder from local to national office, from
the House to the Senate, and from the Senate to the presidency. The upheavals caused by
martial law disrupted this flow. The formula no longer works for those aspiring for the Senate
and the presidency. But the path from local office to the House remains well trodden, although
it has been fast-tracked for many because of the three-term limit.

In the 12th House that assumed office in 2001, 138 representatives — 61 percent — had
been in public office prior to their first election to a post-Marcos House. Fewer representatives
now come from the executive branch. Most of them — 49 percent of all representatives or 81
percent of those who had held public posts — had been elected to local office.

This shows the importance of a local political base in winning a House seat. Political families
have the edge, because they can mobilize local patronage and political networks for their
electoral forays. The same is not true of the Senate, however, because name recognition is
more important in that chamber, allowing celebrities from the media and the movies to win
hands down in national races even if they don't have a base in their districts. There are fewer
celebrities in the House, although that is changing.

The passing on of a legislative seat from one generation to another provides evidence of the
caste-like structure of the legislative elite. Four in every ten representatives in all the post-
Marcos Congresses had relatives in previous legislatures. A third had parents who were in
public office.

These are unusually high percentages and are an important index of the extent of real

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How Representative is Congress?

"democratization" that has taken place. But they still show, though, that Congress is not
closed to those who do not come from powerful families. The flipside of the equation — six in
every 10 representatives are not related to former legislators and seven out of 10 do not have
parents who were in public office — should not be overlooked.

Once in Congress, however, legislators tend to stay there. The pattern since 1946 is for the
number of first-termers in the House to decrease as time goes by, as congressmen hang on
to their seats, using the perks and the powers available to their office to perpetuate
themselves in power. Conversely, the number of those with multiple terms increases with
time.

The trend is evident in the post-Marcos House as well, where the turnover rates would have
been faster, as shown in the steep decline in the number of first-termers from the Eighth to the
10th House. By the 10th Congress, only 17 percent of representatives were on their first term,
compared to 72 percent in the Eighth House.

This rapid decline was stemmed by the constitutional prohibition on more than three
consecutive terms. The impact of the ban is evident in the sudden rise to 60 percent of the
number of first-termers in the 11th House, only to decline again when a new House came to
power in 2001.

Taken altogether, however, the turnover rate in the post-Marcos Congress is slower than that
in pre-martial law years, despite term limits. From 1946 to 1961, an average of 51 percent of
all members of Congress were new. The average for all the five post-Edsa congresses is only
46 percent. It would seem that there is less mobility in the post-Edsa legislature.

Political Families Rule Congress

% WITHOUT
HOUSE NUMBER %
PARTY LIST*

8th (1987-1992) 122 62% 62%

9th (1992-1995) 128 64% 64%

11th Congress (1998-2001) 136 62% 65%

12th Congress (2001-2004) 140 61% 65%

*Party-list representatives were elected only since the 11th Congress.

Looking at the history of the Philippine legislatures from the 1898 Malolos Congress, it would
seem that families, not parties, are their most enduring feature. Regimes come and go but the
families remain. Political parties are formed and disbanded but the clans that make them up
stay on.

Families survive wars, dictatorships, and uprisings. The most enduring political families are
the best evidence of this: The Aquinos and Cojuangcos of Tarlac, the Osmeñas of Cebu, the
Romualdezes of Leyte, and the Marcoses of Ilocos Norte, among others, have been in
Philippine legislatures for four generations. Some families eventually go into decline after
successive electoral defeats or the death of a powerful patriarch, but others, stronger and
more resilient, hang on and flourish.

Data gathered for the PCIJ study show the persistence of political families since the fall of
Marcos. The reality is still that politicians are elected largely by mobilizing their kinship
networks and family assets (e.g. money, name recall, connections). Once in office, they pave
the way for other relatives to be either appointed to the bureaucracy or elected to government
posts. Within a few years, a newly elected legislator will likely have kin in local office, various
government agencies, and state-owned corporations. Before long, the next generation takes
over.

Two-thirds of the legislators in the post-Marcos Congress are members of political families. Of

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How Representative is Congress?

these, 70 percent are second and third-

generation politicians. Nearly all of them
also have multiple relatives in public office.

In the Eighth Congress, the first post-

Marcos legislature, 61 percent or 122 of 198
representatives were from political clans.
The proportion has remained pretty much
the same since then, despite the entry of
party-list representatives in the 11th and
12th House. In the 12th Congress, which
was elected in 2001, 61 percent or 140 of
Tarlac Rep. Gilberto Teodoro of the enduring
228 representatives came from political Cojuangco clan
clans. In the 11th House, it was 62 percent.
If the percentages are computed without the party-list representatives, however, the numbers
increase to 65 percent for the 11th House and 66 percent for the 12th.

The figures indicate that term limits set by the 1987 Constitution, which banned
representatives from seeking more than three consecutive terms, did not make a dent on clan
power. Representatives who were elected in the Eighth House, for example, could sit only up
to the 10th Congress. And yet, the number of political family members in the 11th House is
not much different from the ones before it. In many cases, the clans simply fielded other family
members to replace those who faced term limits. In other cases, rival clans merely took the
place of the incumbent ones.

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the book, The Rulemakers: How
the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate Congress.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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How Representative is Congress?

How Representative is
Congress?
by SHEILA S. CORONEL

EIGHTEEN years after the fall of Marcos, Congress is not becoming a

more representative institution. In fact, today's legislators are richer
now than ever before. While poverty levels since 1986 have remained
at roughly between 30 and 40 percent of the population, lawmakers
have become wealthier.

They are also older and better educated. As the results of a two-year
PCIJ study of legislatures since 1898 show, members of the post-
Marcos Congress tend to stay in office longer than their predecessors.

Moreover, most lawmakers come from political families, meaning that

they have relatives who are currently holding or once held elective
posts. In the House of Representatives, two of every three are
members of political clans. The vast majority of these are second- and
third-generation politicians with parents and grandparents who had
been elected to public office.

In less than two months, Filipinos will be voting for a new set of
legislators. Senatorial candidates have been campaigning since
February. This week, they will be joined by those vying for seats in the
House. If the results of previous elections are a guide, then the
likelihood is that most of the legislators who will assume their seats in
July would be so unlike the people who voted them to power.

The typical representative or senator cannot be more unlike the typical

Filipino. The legislator is likely to be male, middle aged, and college
educated, most likely with a degree in law. He has previously held a
local government post and there is one chance in two that he is related
to a former member of Congress.

He is also into business and has multiple income sources. He has

property for rent, earns salary from a profession, and has investments
in company shares. He is well off, with a net worth (most likely
understated in his statement of assets) in millions of pesos. And the
likelihood is that the longer he stays in Congress, the richer he
becomes.

In 1962, only 27 percent of representatives were classified as upper

class. In 1992, it was 44 percent. Over time, the assets of legislators
have grown. In 1992, the average net worth of congressmen was P8

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How Representative is Congress?

million. By 2001, it was P22 million. In the Senate, the average net
worth increased from P33 million in 1998 to P59 million in 2001. A
quarter of all senators today have a net worth of above P100 million.

The typical Filipino, meanwhile, is likely to be below 35, with a few

years of high-school education, and an annual income of about
P150,000 in 2000. The demographic profiles couldn't be more
unmatched.

Legislators are Getting Richer

AVERAGE NET
AVERAGE NET WORTH (P)
TERM WORTH (P)
OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF SENATORS

9th Congress
8,401,072.28 -
(1992-95)

11th Congress
20,589,862.25 32,908,657.45
(1998-2001)

12th Congress
21,914,669.72 59,358.557.06
(2001-2004)

Five congresses — the Eighth to the 12th — have been constituted

since the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. The legislators elected to
these bodies have hardly been representative of those they represent.
In that sense, they have not been different from the past, when
members of Congress were drawn from a narrow elite in terms of
property, education (since 1898, they have been trained mainly in law)
and social standing.

There have been changes, though. There are now many more women
in Congress than there have been in the past. In the current House,
there are 40 women, about 18 percent of the body, compared to only
one percent in 1946, six percent in 1965, and 11 percent in 1992.

Today's legislators are also better educated than their predecessors,

with 27 percent of all representatives boasting of postgraduate
degrees, compared to only 18 percent in 1965.

The sources of their wealth are more diverse, indicating that many
more business interests are represented in Congress, which can no
longer be described as "landlord-dominated" legislature. The caciques
of old have been replaced by real-estate developers, bankers,
stockbrokers, and assorted professionals and businesspeople.

The changes reflect the changes in the Philippine economy, with the
decline of agriculture and extractive industries (logging, mining) and

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How Representative is Congress?

the increasing importance of manufacturing, trade, and services. The

changes have been obvious since the 1960s, when new men from
business and the professions were elected to the legislature.

The rise of these new legislators mirrored the increasing political

assertiveness of new sections of the business elite and the upper
professional class that emerged in the 1950s and 60s. That period saw
the birth of a manufacturing sector that produced previously imported
goods for the local market. While many of those who became part of
the manufacturing capitalists were large landowners, there were also
those from the professional middle class and local traders who joined
the ranks of the new rich and then sought seats in Congress.

Philippine legislatures have been hospitable to the entry of the newly

affluent. Their ranks have been open to the constant infusion of new
blood. The post-Marcos Congress is even more diverse in composition
than its predecessors. It includes, aside from the old landowning
families that have been in legislatures for 100 years, also new
entrepreneurs, especially those in construction, real estate, and
services that emerged among the fastest-growing economic sectors in
the late 1980s and 1990s; middle-class professionals, especially
lawyers from leading law firms; and leaders of nongovernmental
organizations.

The legislature also has local officials or government bureaucrats able

to build a base in their districts even if they are not backed by old
wealth. In addition, the halls of Congress have recently accommodated
celebrities from the movies, the mass media, and sports.

The legislature has traditionally opened to its members a world of

privilege that enables the enterprising among them to take advantage
of moneymaking opportunities and to accumulate wealth. A Congress
seat can be used as a passport to the land of dealmaking, allowing
aspiring politicians entry to the bastions of great wealth and privilege.
In this sense, the legislature can be said to be an agent of mobility,
allowing talented aspirants from the lower and middle classes entry to
the narrow corridors of power and the most exclusive enclaves of the
very rich.

Such mobility, however, is still limited to a narrow range of Philippine

society. For sure, the more occupationally diverse membership from
the more modern sectors of business, the mass media, and civil
society means a wider range of perspectives and interests than at any
time in the past. The trend toward increasing diversification that was
noted in the 1960s continues today.

Moreover, the entry of party-list representatives in the 11th and 12th

Congress enlarged that range, as it gave representatives of

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How Representative is Congress?

marginalized social sectors seats in the legislature. Despite this,

however, Congress remains a fortress of privilege, its gates open to
the new and aspiring rich, but closed — except for some narrow
openings — to the poor and powerless.

The route to Congress, for the most part, is still via local government
posts. Although recently, some have taken a shortcut, either through
the media or the movies, or inherited their posts directly from a relative
facing the three-term limit, the usual route is still for prospective
legislators, even those who come from political families, to vie for
"lesser" elective posts.

This trend was evident from the start. Political office in the Philippines
has always been hierarchical: Aspiring politicians went up the political
ladder from local to national office, from the House to the Senate, and
from the Senate to the presidency. The upheavals caused by martial
law disrupted this flow. The formula no longer works for those aspiring
for the Senate and the presidency. But the path from local office to the
House remains well trodden, although it has been fast-tracked for
many because of the three-term limit.

In the 12th House that assumed office in 2001, 138 representatives —

61 percent — had been in public office prior to their first election to a
post-Marcos House. Fewer representatives now come from the
executive branch. Most of them — 49 percent of all representatives or
81 percent of those who had held public posts — had been elected to
local office.

This shows the importance of a local political base in winning a House

seat. Political families have the edge, because they can mobilize local
patronage and political networks for their electoral forays. The same is
not true of the Senate, however, because name recognition is more
important in that chamber, allowing celebrities from the media and the
movies to win hands down in national races even if they don't have a
base in their districts. There are fewer celebrities in the House,
although that is changing.

The passing on of a legislative seat from one generation to another

provides evidence of the caste-like structure of the legislative elite.
Four in every ten representatives in all the post-Marcos Congresses
had relatives in previous legislatures. A third had parents who were in
public office.

These are unusually high percentages and are an important index of

the extent of real "democratization" that has taken place. But they still
show, though, that Congress is not closed to those who do not come
from powerful families. The flipside of the equation — six in every 10
representatives are not related to former legislators and seven out of

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How Representative is Congress?

10 do not have parents who were in public office — should not be

overlooked.

Once in Congress, however, legislators tend to stay there. The pattern

since 1946 is for the number of first-termers in the House to decrease
as time goes by, as congressmen hang on to their seats, using the
perks and the powers available to their office to perpetuate themselves
in power. Conversely, the number of those with multiple terms
increases with time.

The trend is evident in the post-Marcos House as well, where the

turnover rates would have been faster, as shown in the steep decline
in the number of first-termers from the Eighth to the 10th House. By
the 10th Congress, only 17 percent of representatives were on their
first term, compared to 72 percent in the Eighth House.

This rapid decline was stemmed by the constitutional prohibition on

more than three consecutive terms. The impact of the ban is evident in
the sudden rise to 60 percent of the number of first-termers in the 11th
House, only to decline again when a new House came to power in
2001.

Taken altogether, however, the turnover rate in the post-Marcos

Congress is slower than that in pre-martial law years, despite term
limits. From 1946 to 1961, an average of 51 percent of all members of
Congress were new. The average for all the five post-Edsa
congresses is only 46 percent. It would seem that there is less mobility
in the post-Edsa legislature.

Political Families Rule Congress

% WITHOUT
HOUSE NUMBER %
PARTY LIST*

8th (1987-1992) 122 62% 62%

9th (1992-1995) 128 64% 64%

11th Congress (1998-2001) 136 62% 65%

12th Congress (2001-2004) 140 61% 65%

*Party-list representatives were elected only since the 11th Congress.

Looking at the history of the Philippine legislatures from the 1898

Malolos Congress, it would seem that families, not parties, are their
most enduring feature. Regimes come and go but the families remain.
Political parties are formed and disbanded but the clans that make
them up stay on.

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How Representative is Congress?

Families survive wars, dictatorships, and uprisings. The most enduring

political families are the best evidence of this: The Aquinos and
Cojuangcos of Tarlac, the Osmeñas of Cebu, the Romualdezes of
Leyte, and the Marcoses of Ilocos Norte, among others, have been in
Philippine legislatures for four generations. Some families eventually
go into decline after successive electoral defeats or the death of a
powerful patriarch, but others, stronger and more resilient, hang on
and flourish.

Data gathered for the PCIJ study show the persistence of political
families since the fall of Marcos. The reality is still that politicians are
elected largely by mobilizing their kinship networks and family assets
(e.g. money, name recall, connections). Once in office, they pave the
way for other relatives to be either appointed to the bureaucracy or
elected to government posts. Within a few years, a newly elected
legislator will likely have kin in local office, various government
agencies, and state-owned corporations. Before long, the next
generation takes over.

Two-thirds of the legislators in the post-Marcos Congress are

members of political families. Of these, 70 percent are second and
third-generation politicians. Nearly all of them also have multiple
relatives in public office.

In the Eighth Congress, the first post-Marcos legislature, 61 percent or

122 of 198 representatives were from political clans. The proportion
has remained pretty much the same since then, despite the entry of
party-list representatives in the 11th and 12th House. In the 12th
Congress, which was elected in 2001, 61 percent or 140 of 228
representatives came from political clans. In the 11th House, it was 62
percent. If the percentages are computed without the party-list
representatives, however, the numbers increase to 65 percent for the
11th House and 66 percent for the 12th.

The figures indicate that term limits set by the 1987 Constitution, which
banned representatives from seeking more than three consecutive
terms, did not make a dent on clan power. Representatives who were
elected in the Eighth House, for example, could sit only up to the 10th
Congress. And yet, the number of political family members in the 11th
House is not much different from the ones before it. In many cases,
the clans simply fielded other family members to replace those who
faced term limits. In other cases, rival clans merely took the place of
the incumbent ones.

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the

book, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate
Congress.

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How Representative is Congress?

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

22-24 MARCH 2004

Print this article

by YVONNE T. CHUA

us your views and comments

about this article.
Our latest series summarizes some of the key findings of a two-year-study conducted by the PCIJ on Philippine legislatures
which are published in an upcoming book called, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate Congress.
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Part Two of the series describes how expensive Congress has become. In 2002, taxpayers spent nearly P1 million every month
on each senator and close to P500,000 on each congressman. Moreover, even as most government agencies tightened their
belts, Congress continues to legislate increases for itself. On the average, the upkeep of legislators has risen 10 percent every
year since 1994. In 1999, this leaped to as high as a 60-percent increase in the House and a 72-percent increase in the Senate
compared to the previous year's.

IN 2002, taxpayers spent P939,472.47 every month on each senator

and P429,601.79 on each congressman, based on published reports.

The Rulemakers: How the

Shocking as these amounts may sound, they reflect only part of what Wealthy and Well-Born
Filipinos pay for their legislators' upkeep. Government auditors Dominate Congress
themselves say they are in the dark over how Congress spends most
of its money, in part because there is hardly any paper trail to help ORDER your copy now.
them scrutinize how lawmakers use public funds.

What they do know is this: On the average, the upkeep of legislators

has risen 10 percent every year since 1994. In 1999, this leaped to as
high as a 60-percent increase in the House and a 72-percent increase
in the Senate compared to the previous year's.

The hefty rise was due to the fact that lawmakers gave themselves a Google Search
raise. Their basic salaries were upped that year. In addition, there
Web pcij.org
were significant increases in the budget for foreign travel in both
chambers as well as in local travel among congressmen. The Philippine Congress
Search our Site
Even as allocations for basic services such as education and public health have increased by only small
increments in the last decade, Congress has used the power of the purse to put much more money into its
own coffers. Find!
Match ANY
The Rising Congress Budget powered by FreeFind
Rate of Increase in the General Appropriations Act and the Budgets of the House of Representatives and
the Senate, 1994-2003

GENERAL
FISCAL % HOUSE OF % %
APPROPRIATIONS SENATE
YEAR INCREASE REPRESENTATIVES INCREASE INCREASE
ACT

1994 332,694,974,004 - 1,171,924,000 - 472,000,000 -

1995 387,397,933,000 16% 1,264,282,000 8% 516,670,000 9%

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

1996 394,855,182,000 2% 1,477,000,000 17% 562,926,000 9%

1997 433,817,543,000 10% 1,530,424,000 4% 703,084,000 25%

1998 546,743,816,000 26% 1,841,184,000 20% 918,648,000 31%

1999 585,097,506,000 7% 1,827,486,000 -1% 900,302,000 -2%

2000 665,094,141,000 14% 2,380,624,000 30% 1,008,295,000 12%

2001 665,094,141,000 0% 2,380,624,000 0% 1,008,295,000 0%

2002 575,123,728,000 -14% 2,625,952,000 10% 1,046,598,000 4%

2003 609,614,730,000 6% 2,833,574,000 8% 2,833,574,000 28%

AVERAGE 7% 11% 13%

Source: General Appropriations Acts, 1994-2003

Since the early 1990s, it has legislated generous increases for its own budget, which includes not only the
basic pay of the lawmakers and their staff, but also their travel expenses, allowances, expenses of various
congressional bodies, as well as the salaries of officers such as the Senate president and speaker of the
House and the budgets of their respective offices.

From 1994 to 2003, the General Appropriations Act or GAA, which sets the national budget for a fiscal
year, increased annually by an average of seven percent. In comparison, the House budget had an 11-
percent average yearly increase; that of the Senate posted an average 13-percent rise.

In 2002, when the total national budget shrank by 14 percent, Congress raised its own budget -by 10
percent in the House and four percent in the Senate.

Yet the increasing sums for the legislature have not been matched by a rise in the number of laws passed.
Since the 11th Congress, the legislative mill has churned slower and slower. Congress's efficiency hit an all-
time low in the years 2001 to 2004, when the legislature approved a measly 76 bills, compared to an
average of 400 to 500 laws enacted in previous three-year congressional terms.

The slide began in the 11th Congress, although it is the 12th Congress that deserves the slacker's prize. It
boasts of a record low not only in the number of laws approved, but also in terms of the total number of bills
filed. In addition, the percentage of bills filed to the number of bills passed is a mere one percent, compared
to the three percent chalked up by earlier legislatures.

Before martial law, the Constitution fixed the annual compensation of senators and congressmen at P7,200
each, unless otherwise provided by law. The amount included per diems and other allowances, excluding
only traveling expenses to and from their districts of congressmen, and to and from their places of
residence of senators, when attending sessions of Congress.

There is no similar provision in the 1987 Constitution. Instead, the charter leaves it to the law (meaning the
lawmakers themselves) to determine the salaries of members of Congress. It only prohibits any increase
from taking effect until after the full term of all members of the Senate and the House approving such a
raise has expired.

There is, however, a provision in the constitution that is supposed to guarantee the public access to
information regarding the other sums legislators get from the government. That is why every last quarter of
each year, the Commission on Audit (COA) publishes an "itemized list of amounts paid to expenses
incurred" for each senator and for each congressman in a leading daily.

But the published COA lists apparently fall short of real Congress figures. The lists from 1994 to 2002, for
example, represent only 47 percent of the total House budget published in the GAA and 26 percent of the
Senate budget. Where the rest of the budgets went is unclear, because COA provides no such details.

Various reports and legislators themselves talk about amounts congressmen receive as officers or chairs of
committees and "allowances" from the speaker, as well as cash advances and reimbursements for official
activities. But these items are nowhere in the list of expenses of the House.

Increasingly Costly Lawmaking

Budgets of 1st to 12th Congress*

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

BILLS BUDGET/BILLS
CONGRESS SESSION YEAR CONGRESS BUDGET (P)
PASSED PASSED (P)

1st 1946-1949 428 15,106,160.00 35,294.77

2nd 1949-1953 543 24,825,219.68 45,718.64

3rd 1953-1957 1,078 30,122,930.00 27,943.35

4th 1957-1961 1,401 50,916,263.00 36,342.80

5th 1961-1965 1,192 150,318,700.00 126,106.29

6th 1965-1969 1,481 157,889,900.00 106,610.33

7th 1969-1972 512 210,625,556.00 411,378.04

8th 1987-1992 1,000 4,498,495,562.00 4,498,495.56

9th 1992-1995 534 4,634,149,000.00 8,678,181.65

10th 1995-1998 573 6,054,386,000.00 10,566,118.67

11th 1998-2001 415 8,876,539,000.00 21,389,250.60

12th 2001-February 6, 2004 76 11,231,882,000.00 147,787,921.05

*Budgets for each Congress are computed by adding the full legislative budgets for the first to the second to the last years of
each congressional term. The budget of the last year of each term is excluded; instead this is computed as the first year's budget
of the next Congress.

Source: General Appropriations Acts (1946-2003) and Congress of the Philippines

In the Senate, amounts received by senators for similar duties are indistinguishable from other expenses
such as advertising. According to a state auditor assigned to that chamber, these are lumped under the
heading "Other MOE (maintenance and operating expenses)."

The auditor says though that the expenses of senators in the performance of their duties as officers and
committee chairs are incorporated into COA's published itemized list of amounts paid to and expenses
incurred for each legislator.

But this does not seem to be the case. For instance, the amounts that appear in the Senate records for the
senators' settled MOOE (maintenance, operating, and other expenses), including foreign travel in 2002
were, on the average, 112 percent more than the figures published by COA. In short, the COA list reflected
only about half the senators' MOOE that year, when the government paid a total of P77.5 million for the
overseas travel of 173 congressmen and 11 senators.

COA's published list also showed that Senate President Franklin Drilon spent P6 million in MOOE that
year. But the Senate's ledger showed he accounted for P21 million or 250 percent more than what COA
released to the public. The COA list also did not state the Senate president's expenses for foreign travel in
2002, which added up to P1.3 million.

Moreover, Senate records pinpointed certain committees for which some senators drew additional MOOE.
This means the discrepancy between the COA list and the Senate accounts was even bigger for these
lawmakers.

Outgoing senator Ramon Revilla, for example, was given P21 million in additional MOOE in connection
with his functions as chairman of the committee on labor, employment and human resources development.
The late senator Renato Cayetano drew an extra P19 million as the Senate's representative to the Joint
Congressional Power Commission of the two chambers of Congress.

In 1997, the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption (PCAGC) observed that many items in
the Congress budget "are not liquidated and audited in the same manner as expenses of public funds by all
other government officials where proofs, documents, receipts, contracts, vouchers, and other pertinent
documents required by law, rules and regulation are submitted to justify these expense before COA would
pass them in audit."

"There is no mechanism," continued the PCAGC, "by which they (members of Congress) are made to
account for funds they received in the same manner as all other government officials are periodically made
to account for the funds entrusted to them, either through the regular or special audit of COA or by

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

Congress during budget hearings or in the committee investigations conducted 'in aid of legislation.'"

As a general rule, the law demands that public officials submit receipts, contracts, and other documentary
proof when they liquidate cash advances or ask to be reimbursed for expenses. There are exceptions, of
course, among them the representation and transportation (local) allowances or RATA given to certain
public officials - chief of division up - for official functions.

Given as direct payment to the official concerned or as a cash advance drawn by the cashier and
supported by an approved payroll listing the officials entitled to RATA, these are considered "commutable,"
therefore nontaxable and not subject to liquidation. All COA demands is a certification that the public official
spent the money for the purpose.

Another exception, although not as all-encompassing, are "extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses"
authorized under the GAA for activities ranging from meetings, official entertainment, or public relations, to
membership in government associations, contribution to charitable institutions, or office equipment and
supplies. Unlike RATA, these expenses are supposed to be paid on a reimbursement basis.

COA does allow public officials to submit either receipts and other documents as proof of disbursement or a
certification by the public official before he or she is reimbursed. The rule, however, applies only to national
government agencies. And extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses cannot be used for salaries, wages,
allowances, and intelligence and confidential expenses.

Intelligence and confidential funds are paid through a cash advance to the agency head. To pass in audit,
the project officer is simply required to submit a liquidation voucher directly to the COA chairman. The rules
allow the voucher to be supported only by a photocopy of the paid disbursement voucher of the cash
advance, a certification of the agency head, and approval of the president (plus the Special Allotment
Release Order and Allotment and Obligation Slip in the case of a national government agency). No
receipts, contracts, or other proof are demanded.

Because the bulk of the published MOOE of representatives is consolidated with the basic pay in the
payroll, they are no longer required to liquidate the lump sum of more than P200,000 released to each of
them at the start of every month. They simply acknowledge receipt of the money. They do not even sign a
certification the money was used for the purposes for which it was meant for, says a senior COA auditor.

Apparently to go around the liquidation and taxation requirements, the House avoids classifying MOOE as
"cash advances" or "allowances," even if this is the way members of the chamber commonly see them.
Instead, the House classifies them as "monthly allocations" or "outright expenses." As a result,
congressmen get away with not having to submit any document to account for these funds.

They are not expected to submit a payroll of their district staff or report their functions, salaries, and
withholding taxes. No one starts asking if they do not produce a report on the research their offices should
supposedly undertake. There is no demand for them to produce the list of consultants they have hired, as
well as the contracts they draw up for those whose services they need. As far as the current rules go, how
the legislators spend their public affairs fund is their business, and their business alone.

In the Senate, maintenance and operating expenses or MOOE are released through separate vouchers.
But the only supporting document that is often demanded is a certification signed by the senator or his chief
of staff that the amount was spent in the discharge of official function.

The sums are based on a voucher signed by the senator or his chief of staff, supported by an approved
expenditure program for the month and a certification by the senator concerned that the budget for the
previous month had been spent. "Extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses" are also lumped together in
the MOOE and released as cash advances, not on a reimbursement basis.

COA personnel acknowledge that the standard rule in all other government offices is to liquidate cash
advances that are sourced from MOOE, including petty cash, as well as travel and field operating activity
expenses. Except for salaries, they say, the rest of the money paid to a representative should fall under this
rule. But since these objects of expenditures are disbursed as "monthly allocations" or "outright expenses,"
and not as cash advances, to a congressman, the government auditors say this frees the lawmaker from
the obligation to liquidate the expenses.

An auditor who has been detailed at the House defends the setup: "The concept is, they (the congressmen)
will spend the MOOE. How they operate their offices is up to them. They have the discretion because of the
peculiar demands of their (district) office."

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

COA, says the auditor, presumes good faith on the part of the congressman and regularity in the use of his
monthly allocations. He adds that state auditors can only assume congressmen will abide by government
rules on hiring, procurement, travel, meetings, and activities or projects.

But a supervising auditor of COA insists that the arrangement at the House is not sanctioned at all by law.
No law or COA circular authorizes a representative's expenses for supplies and other items for the
maintenance of his or her office as "outright expenses" to be paid through payroll, he says. Other COA
personnel, including auditors assigned to the House, admit as much. (The Senate, unlike the House, does
not consider MOOE as "outright expenses.")

"The system is defective," laments the supervising auditor. "These are clear lapses in accounting and
auditing procedures. How do we know if the congressman spent the money if he doesn't account for it?
What if he pocketed it?"

"If you really want transparency, congressmen must liquidate all the money that is released to them," a
veteran legislative officer remarks. "But they don't. Well, even if they did, we know a lot would be
fabricated."

One auditor, though, is more forthright regarding why COA essentially leaves the House of Representatives
alone. "The House is a political body," he says. "We don't want to get into trouble."

Many of his colleagues agree. For instance, they point out, while COA is a constitutional body, the
appointment of its chairman needs to be confirmed by the 25-member Commission on Appointments
consisting of legislators from both the House and the Senate.

COA also finds itself at the mercy of Congress when budget time comes: The legislature wields the power
of the purse. Horsetrading becomes inevitable, especially in the assignment of auditors. One senior
congressman, for example, threatened to bypass the COA chairman's appointment unless an auditor, who
turned out to be a personal friend, was reinstated in a Metro Manila town. COA caved in.

Another auditor is even more blunt, saying, "We're scared of congressmen, we're scared of the system.
Babalikan kami (They'll seek revenge). We don't want to tolerate corruption, but nothing happens to our
reports. We just become subjects of harassment, and other people even make money out of our reports."

Auditors who question irregular or corrupt practices in the agency — which is part of their work - are often
quickly reassigned. — With additional reporting by Avigail Olarte and Booma Cruz

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the book, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy
and Well-Born Dominate Congress.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

by YVONNE T. CHUA

IN 2002, taxpayers spent P939,472.47 every month on each senator and P429,601.79 on each
congressman, based on published reports.

Shocking as these amounts may sound, they reflect only part of what Filipinos pay for their legislators'
upkeep. Government auditors themselves say they are in the dark over how Congress spends most of its
money, in part because there is hardly any paper trail to help them scrutinize how lawmakers use public
funds.

What they do know is this: On the average, the upkeep of legislators has risen 10 percent every year since
1994. In 1999, this leaped to as high as a 60-percent increase in the House and a 72-percent increase in
the Senate compared to the previous year's.

The hefty rise was due to the fact that lawmakers gave themselves a raise. Their basic salaries were upped
that year. In addition, there were significant increases in the budget for foreign travel in both chambers as
well as in local travel among congressmen.

Even as allocations for basic services such as education and public health have increased by only small
increments in the last decade, Congress has used the power of the purse to put much more money into its
own coffers.

The Rising Congress Budget

Rate of Increase in the General Appropriations Act and the Budgets of the House of Representatives and
the Senate, 1994-2003

GENERAL
FISCAL % HOUSE OF % %
APPROPRIATIONS SENATE
YEAR INCREASE REPRESENTATIVES INCREASE INCREASE
ACT

1994 332,694,974,004 - 1,171,924,000 - 472,000,000 -

1995 387,397,933,000 16% 1,264,282,000 8% 516,670,000 9%

1996 394,855,182,000 2% 1,477,000,000 17% 562,926,000 9%

1997 433,817,543,000 10% 1,530,424,000 4% 703,084,000 25%

1998 546,743,816,000 26% 1,841,184,000 20% 918,648,000 31%

1999 585,097,506,000 7% 1,827,486,000 -1% 900,302,000 -2%

2000 665,094,141,000 14% 2,380,624,000 30% 1,008,295,000 12%

2001 665,094,141,000 0% 2,380,624,000 0% 1,008,295,000 0%

2002 575,123,728,000 -14% 2,625,952,000 10% 1,046,598,000 4%

2003 609,614,730,000 6% 2,833,574,000 8% 2,833,574,000 28%

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

AVERAGE 7% 11% 13%

Source: General Appropriations Acts, 1994-2003

Since the early 1990s, it has legislated generous increases for its own budget, which includes not only the
basic pay of the lawmakers and their staff, but also their travel expenses, allowances, expenses of various
congressional bodies, as well as the salaries of officers such as the Senate president and speaker of the
House and the budgets of their respective offices.

From 1994 to 2003, the General Appropriations Act or GAA, which sets the national budget for a fiscal
year, increased annually by an average of seven percent. In comparison, the House budget had an 11-
percent average yearly increase; that of the Senate posted an average 13-percent rise.

In 2002, when the total national budget shrank by 14 percent, Congress raised its own budget -by 10
percent in the House and four percent in the Senate.

Yet the increasing sums for the legislature have not been matched by a rise in the number of laws passed.
Since the 11th Congress, the legislative mill has churned slower and slower. Congress's efficiency hit an all-
time low in the years 2001 to 2004, when the legislature approved a measly 76 bills, compared to an
average of 400 to 500 laws enacted in previous three-year congressional terms.

The slide began in the 11th Congress, although it is the 12th Congress that deserves the slacker's prize. It
boasts of a record low not only in the number of laws approved, but also in terms of the total number of bills
filed. In addition, the percentage of bills filed to the number of bills passed is a mere one percent, compared
to the three percent chalked up by earlier legislatures.

Before martial law, the Constitution fixed the annual compensation of senators and congressmen at P7,200
each, unless otherwise provided by law. The amount included per diems and other allowances, excluding
only traveling expenses to and from their districts of congressmen, and to and from their places of
residence of senators, when attending sessions of Congress.

There is no similar provision in the 1987 Constitution. Instead, the charter leaves it to the law (meaning the
lawmakers themselves) to determine the salaries of members of Congress. It only prohibits any increase
from taking effect until after the full term of all members of the Senate and the House approving such a
raise has expired.

There is, however, a provision in the constitution that is supposed to guarantee the public access to
information regarding the other sums legislators get from the government. That is why every last quarter of
each year, the Commission on Audit (COA) publishes an "itemized list of amounts paid to expenses
incurred" for each senator and for each congressman in a leading daily.

But the published COA lists apparently fall short of real Congress figures. The lists from 1994 to 2002, for
example, represent only 47 percent of the total House budget published in the GAA and 26 percent of the
Senate budget. Where the rest of the budgets went is unclear, because COA provides no such details.

Various reports and legislators themselves talk about amounts congressmen receive as officers or chairs of
committees and "allowances" from the speaker, as well as cash advances and reimbursements for official
activities. But these items are nowhere in the list of expenses of the House.

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

Increasingly Costly Lawmaking

Budgets of 1st to 12th Congress*

BILLS BUDGET/BILLS
CONGRESS SESSION YEAR CONGRESS BUDGET (P)
PASSED PASSED (P)

1st 1946-1949 428 15,106,160.00 35,294.77

2nd 1949-1953 543 24,825,219.68 45,718.64

3rd 1953-1957 1,078 30,122,930.00 27,943.35

4th 1957-1961 1,401 50,916,263.00 36,342.80

5th 1961-1965 1,192 150,318,700.00 126,106.29

6th 1965-1969 1,481 157,889,900.00 106,610.33

7th 1969-1972 512 210,625,556.00 411,378.04

8th 1987-1992 1,000 4,498,495,562.00 4,498,495.56

9th 1992-1995 534 4,634,149,000.00 8,678,181.65

10th 1995-1998 573 6,054,386,000.00 10,566,118.67

11th 1998-2001 415 8,876,539,000.00 21,389,250.60

12th 2001-February 6, 2004 76 11,231,882,000.00 147,787,921.05

*Budgets for each Congress are computed by adding the full legislative budgets for the first to the second to the last years of
each congressional term. The budget of the last year of each term is excluded; instead this is computed as the first year's budget
of the next Congress.

Source: General Appropriations Acts (1946-2003) and Congress of the Philippines

In the Senate, amounts received by senators for similar duties are indistinguishable from other expenses
such as advertising. According to a state auditor assigned to that chamber, these are lumped under the
heading "Other MOE (maintenance and operating expenses)."

The auditor says though that the expenses of senators in the performance of their duties as officers and
committee chairs are incorporated into COA's published itemized list of amounts paid to and expenses
incurred for each legislator.

But this does not seem to be the case. For instance, the amounts that appear in the Senate records for the
senators' settled MOOE (maintenance, operating, and other expenses), including foreign travel in 2002
were, on the average, 112 percent more than the figures published by COA. In short, the COA list reflected
only about half the senators' MOOE that year, when the government paid a total of P77.5 million for the
overseas travel of 173 congressmen and 11 senators.

COA's published list also showed that Senate President Franklin Drilon spent P6 million in MOOE that
year. But the Senate's ledger showed he accounted for P21 million or 250 percent more than what COA
released to the public. The COA list also did not state the Senate president's expenses for foreign travel in
2002, which added up to P1.3 million.

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

Moreover, Senate records pinpointed certain committees for which some senators drew additional MOOE.
This means the discrepancy between the COA list and the Senate accounts was even bigger for these
lawmakers.

Outgoing senator Ramon Revilla, for example, was given P21 million in additional MOOE in connection
with his functions as chairman of the committee on labor, employment and human resources development.
The late senator Renato Cayetano drew an extra P19 million as the Senate's representative to the Joint
Congressional Power Commission of the two chambers of Congress.

In 1997, the Presidential Commission Against Graft and Corruption (PCAGC) observed that many items in
the Congress budget "are not liquidated and audited in the same manner as expenses of public funds by all
other government officials where proofs, documents, receipts, contracts, vouchers, and other pertinent
documents required by law, rules and regulation are submitted to justify these expense before COA would
pass them in audit."

"There is no mechanism," continued the PCAGC, "by which they (members of Congress) are made to
account for funds they received in the same manner as all other government officials are periodically made
to account for the funds entrusted to them, either through the regular or special audit of COA or by
Congress during budget hearings or in the committee investigations conducted 'in aid of legislation.'"

As a general rule, the law demands that public officials submit receipts, contracts, and other documentary
proof when they liquidate cash advances or ask to be reimbursed for expenses. There are exceptions, of
course, among them the representation and transportation (local) allowances or RATA given to certain
public officials - chief of division up - for official functions.

Given as direct payment to the official concerned or as a cash advance drawn by the cashier and
supported by an approved payroll listing the officials entitled to RATA, these are considered "commutable,"
therefore nontaxable and not subject to liquidation. All COA demands is a certification that the public official
spent the money for the purpose.

Another exception, although not as all-encompassing, are "extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses"
authorized under the GAA for activities ranging from meetings, official entertainment, or public relations, to
membership in government associations, contribution to charitable institutions, or office equipment and
supplies. Unlike RATA, these expenses are supposed to be paid on a reimbursement basis.

COA does allow public officials to submit either receipts and other documents as proof of disbursement or a
certification by the public official before he or she is reimbursed. The rule, however, applies only to national
government agencies. And extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses cannot be used for salaries, wages,
allowances, and intelligence and confidential expenses.

Intelligence and confidential funds are paid through a cash advance to the agency head. To pass in audit,
the project officer is simply required to submit a liquidation voucher directly to the COA chairman. The rules
allow the voucher to be supported only by a photocopy of the paid disbursement voucher of the cash
advance, a certification of the agency head, and approval of the president (plus the Special Allotment
Release Order and Allotment and Obligation Slip in the case of a national government agency). No
receipts, contracts, or other proof are demanded.

Because the bulk of the published MOOE of representatives is consolidated with the basic pay in the

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

payroll, they are no longer required to liquidate the lump sum of more than P200,000 released to each of
them at the start of every month. They simply acknowledge receipt of the money. They do not even sign a
certification the money was used for the purposes for which it was meant for, says a senior COA auditor.

Apparently to go around the liquidation and taxation requirements, the House avoids classifying MOOE as
"cash advances" or "allowances," even if this is the way members of the chamber commonly see them.
Instead, the House classifies them as "monthly allocations" or "outright expenses." As a result,
congressmen get away with not having to submit any document to account for these funds.

They are not expected to submit a payroll of their district staff or report their functions, salaries, and
withholding taxes. No one starts asking if they do not produce a report on the research their offices should
supposedly undertake. There is no demand for them to produce the list of consultants they have hired, as
well as the contracts they draw up for those whose services they need. As far as the current rules go, how
the legislators spend their public affairs fund is their business, and their business alone.

In the Senate, maintenance and operating expenses or MOOE are released through separate vouchers.
But the only supporting document that is often demanded is a certification signed by the senator or his chief
of staff that the amount was spent in the discharge of official function.

The sums are based on a voucher signed by the senator or his chief of staff, supported by an approved
expenditure program for the month and a certification by the senator concerned that the budget for the
previous month had been spent. "Extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses" are also lumped together in
the MOOE and released as cash advances, not on a reimbursement basis.

COA personnel acknowledge that the standard rule in all other government offices is to liquidate cash
advances that are sourced from MOOE, including petty cash, as well as travel and field operating activity
expenses. Except for salaries, they say, the rest of the money paid to a representative should fall under this
rule. But since these objects of expenditures are disbursed as "monthly allocations" or "outright expenses,"
and not as cash advances, to a congressman, the government auditors say this frees the lawmaker from
the obligation to liquidate the expenses.

An auditor who has been detailed at the House defends the setup: "The concept is, they (the congressmen)
will spend the MOOE. How they operate their offices is up to them. They have the discretion because of the
peculiar demands of their (district) office."

COA, says the auditor, presumes good faith on the part of the congressman and regularity in the use of his
monthly allocations. He adds that state auditors can only assume congressmen will abide by government
rules on hiring, procurement, travel, meetings, and activities or projects.

But a supervising auditor of COA insists that the arrangement at the House is not sanctioned at all by law.
No law or COA circular authorizes a representative's expenses for supplies and other items for the
maintenance of his or her office as "outright expenses" to be paid through payroll, he says. Other COA
personnel, including auditors assigned to the House, admit as much. (The Senate, unlike the House, does
not consider MOOE as "outright expenses.")

"The system is defective," laments the supervising auditor. "These are clear lapses in accounting and
auditing procedures. How do we know if the congressman spent the money if he doesn't account for it?
What if he pocketed it?"

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An Expensive - and Unaccountable - Legislature

"If you really want transparency, congressmen must liquidate all the money that is released to them," a
veteran legislative officer remarks. "But they don't. Well, even if they did, we know a lot would be
fabricated."

One auditor, though, is more forthright regarding why COA essentially leaves the House of Representatives
alone. "The House is a political body," he says. "We don't want to get into trouble."

Many of his colleagues agree. For instance, they point out, while COA is a constitutional body, the
appointment of its chairman needs to be confirmed by the 25-member Commission on Appointments
consisting of legislators from both the House and the Senate.

COA also finds itself at the mercy of Congress when budget time comes: The legislature wields the power
of the purse. Horsetrading becomes inevitable, especially in the assignment of auditors. One senior
congressman, for example, threatened to bypass the COA chairman's appointment unless an auditor, who
turned out to be a personal friend, was reinstated in a Metro Manila town. COA caved in.

Another auditor is even more blunt, saying, "We're scared of congressmen, we're scared of the system.
Babalikan kami (They'll seek revenge). We don't want to tolerate corruption, but nothing happens to our
reports. We just become subjects of harassment, and other people even make money out of our reports."

Auditors who question irregular or corrupt practices in the agency - which is part of their work — are often
quickly reassigned. — With additional reporting by Avigail Olarte and Booma Cruz

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the book, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy
and Well-Born Dominate Congress.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

22-24 MARCH 2004

Print this article

by YVONNE T. CHUA

us your views and comments

about this article.
Our latest series summarizes some of the key findings of a two-year-study conducted by the PCIJ on Philippine
legislatures which are published in an upcoming book called, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born
Dominate Congress. THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
PCIJ
Congress has remained a notoriously unaccountable institution, its members flouting government auditing rules.
As Part Three shows, congressmen actually earn much more than what most Filipinos think. The take-home pay
of each representative is close to P250,000 every month. Most of that is tax-free.

CONGRESS formally opened on July 23,

2001, when his secretary handed him the
cash equivalent of his very first paycheck as
a member of the House of Representatives.
The Rulemakers: How the
Wealthy and Well-Born
The legislator had not looked at the amount Dominate Congress
on the check when he asked his secretary
to cash it for him. Like most members of the ORDER your copy now.
public, he had assumed lawmakers aren't
paid all that well.

Senators in session
But his secretary had returned from the
bank with a bulging envelope, and when the congressman counted its contents, he was
astounded: The total amounted to P247,500.

"Why is this so much?" he recalls asking his secretary. She replied that although his salary Google Search
was actually just P26,000 a month after taxes, there was also an "allowance" for his trips back Web pcij.org
to his district, plus other sums meant to cover the rent of a house in Manila, consultations
fees, and research expenses. He was getting all these at one go.
Search our Site
The secretary also told her incredulous boss, "If you don't want to spend it, that's up to you.
You don't have to account for it."
Find!
But that was only the beginning. More money would be coming his way fairly regularly, leaving Match ANY
the congressman with the surprising realization that he was practically rolling in cash. He has powered by FreeFind
since realized that the salary and perks he gets can match those of executives in medium to
large companies. But legislators are even better off than most business executives: Only a
fraction of their monthly take - the P35,000-basic monthly salary - is taxed. All the rest is not. It
is public money spent much like personal funds.

The entitlements to public funds and the lack of financial accountability of members of
Congress have long been a source of real worry to the public and even to sectors within the

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

government. Even though the average legislator is already wealthy, he is assured that such
wealth would not be diminished by his years in public service.

From the Eighth to the 10th Congress, each lawmaker received a basic salary of P17,000 a
month, or P204,000 a year. The basic pay has since been adjusted twice: to P26,000 a month
in 1998 and to P35,000 the following year. Yet just by being present at the plenary hall can
already earn a congressman thousands more as "appearance fee."

What a Representative Can Receive

PURPOSE AMOUNT

Salary P35,000 a month

Published expenses P200,000 a month

Allowance from the Speaker P50,000-100,000 a month

Christmas gift from the Speaker P100,000-200,000

Occasional gift from Malacañang (Christmas) P100,000-150,000

Election for the speakership as much as P200,000

Attendance in a plenary session to vote on P50,000 (can go up to 500,000 for urgent,

selected national bills controversial measures)

Special occasions (e.g. barangay elections) P50,000

Foreign travel $300 per diem

As officer or committee chairman Varies, depending on expenses

Pork barrel (Priority Development Assistance

P65 million a year
Fund and Public Works Fund)

*Salaries are fixed by law. Foreign travel per diem is set by the House leadership. Pork barrel fund is fixed by the
General Appropriations Act. The other amounts are based on interviews with former and current congressmen
and House staff members.

A congressman can also count on other sources of funds, including the House speaker
himself. Bills incurred as a result of official activities, including trips abroad, are footed by the
government as well.

Government auditors point to two provisions in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) that,
when invoked, often unleashes a flood of money headed straight into the pockets of
legislators and their staff. As a result, what congressmen and their personnel take home are
way above the published amounts of what they are supposed to be receiving.

One of these provisions authorizes the Senate president, with respect to the Senate and the
Commission on Appointments, the speaker, with respect to the House of Representatives,
and the respective chairmen of the Senate and the House electoral tribunals "to augment any
item in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from savings in other items of
their respective appropriations."(Without this provision, such acts would be tantamount to fund
juggling, according to government audit rules.)

The other provision authorizes the same set of congressional officials "to formulate and
implement the organizational structures of their respective offices, to fix and determine the
salaries, allowances, and other benefits of their respective members, employees and
consultants… and whenever public interest so requires, make adjustments and reorganization
of positions in the regular personnel with the corresponding transfer of items of appropriations
or create new ones in their respective offices…"

Although the two provisions have never been vetoed, they have always merited special
mention as one of the "observations" in the president's veto message. Without fail, the
president each year has had to affirm his or her trust that the leadership of Congress would

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

"faithfully observe, particularly on the aspect of compensation, the letter and spirit of the
constitutional principle of salary standardization which Congress itself enshrined as a state
policy" and ensure that its operations are "circumscribed by the salary rates, allowable level of
allowances and other benefits prescribed or authorized by law."

Indications are that Congress leaders pay little heed to this declaration of trust. According to
some observers, part of the reason for this is because they are too busy trying to run a
fractious House of Representatives.

The speaker himself has to find ways to please members of the House in order to remain in
power. One legislator's chief of staff even says that one of the first perks a congressman gets
is a "payoff" during the race for the speakership. In one previous contest, sums reached as
high as P200,000 for every vote, discloses the legislative staff member.

And once the speaker is in place, more money begins pouring out of the so-called speaker's
discretionary fund.

Sources of the fund are said to include items in the House budget, such as its savings,
although the money can come from elsewhere. Drawn from it are sums for the Christmas and
other bonuses of congressmen, as well as their monthly allowances, which supposedly vary in
amount, depending on the legislator's closeness to the speaker.

Congressmen who do not belong to the ruling coalition and party-list representatives are said
to receive P50,000 a month, while "favored" congressmen reportedly get double or even triple
that.

As with the other money that comes their way in Congress, there is no need to liquidate any
amount coming from the fund. This is even though Article 25 Section 6 of the Constitution
provides that "discretionary funds appropriated for particular offices shall be disbursed only for
public purposes to be supported by appropriate vouchers and subject to guidelines as may be
prescribed by law."

The speaker's fund is nothing new. In the 1960s, its size was estimated to be equivalent to the
total budget for the House of Representatives minus those for salaries and personnel. Today,
it is believed to be roughly equal to the total budget for the House of Representatives minus
those for salaries and personnel and regular expenses of its members and committees.
Although the exact amount is hard to estimate, the fund could easily be in the hundreds of
millions.

Aside from the monthly allowance, congressmen also receive a bonus from the speaker
before the Christmas break. This ranges from P100,000 to P200,000. (Occasionally,
legislators receive a Christmas bonus from Malacañang or a business tycoon.) Another bonus
lands on their laps before they go into a long recess.

The idea, say legislators, is so they would have something to spend in their districts during the
long vacation. A party-list representative says, "I accepted the regular Christmas gift and gave
it to my constituents."

The party-list representative recalls that they were initially left out of the speaker's list in the
11th Congress and had to demand their inclusion among the beneficiaries of the allowances.
Some succeeded in getting paid on a cumulative, retroactive basis, the legislator adds.

One young congressman says he takes what the speaker offers, but he says he had to do
some soul-searching in the beginning. "What we have is an underground governance
structure," he says. "Congress is largely a private-based sphere where you outsmart the
system of laws. Gift giving validates the fact that nakisama ka (you tried to be with the group).
Every congressman expects bonuses. You walk the tightrope daily. You have to know if you
should succumb."

The representative justifies accepting money from the Speaker's discretionary fund, saying

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

members of the House spend from 50 to 80 percent of their time in their districts. "I have a big
overhead," he says, pointing out that he has a staff of three at his central office and even
more in the district.

A chief of staff who has had various lawmakers as boss also talks of "constituents who look at
congressmen as if these were bank on wheels, ATM machines." Fiesta time alone can be
very expensive, he says, noting, "If you have 300 barangays, you give P5,000 per fiesta,
that's P1.5 million a year. And even then they'd curse you and call you a skinflint."

Some of those who expend a lot of effort getting into "choice" congressional bodies also cite
their need to fulfill their constituents' demands as their main motive for a committee seat.

Take Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco, who chose to be the vice chairman of the subcommittee on
agriculture of the committee on appropriations rather than chairman of the agriculture
committee in the 12th Congress. Syjuco says the subcommittee on agriculture is powerful
because it has influence in the 29 agencies of the Department of Agriculture. That means his
constituents would be better served, he says.

"Sa 'yo dumadaan ang pera; binibigyan ka ng proyekto (The money goes through you, you
get the projects)," he explains. "As vice chair, I could get about P200 million a year (in
projects) for my district; as agriculture committee chair, I could bring home at most P100
million a year."

But many observers and House insiders say legislators are also enticed by the more personal
benefits of congressional committees. According to several members of the House, a
congressman can draw about P20,000 to 30,000 more for expenses each month as chairman
of a committee. The chairman of the powerful appropriations committee is said to draw an
even bigger amount.

The appropriations committee is one of the most contested bodies in the House. The others,
says a two-term congressman, are the committees on ways and means, accounts, franchises,
games and amusement, and transport and communication. Their attraction lies not only in the
extra allowances of the chairmen - as well as the members - but also in the other perks, most
of which are monetary in nature, too.

The committee on public works and the subcommittee on public works of the appropriations
committee are on equal footing, though. Many congressmen strive to get into the committee
or the subcommittee not only for the projects for their districts, but also for the contracts they
can lay their hands on, says a chief of staff of one congressman. More than half of
representatives are engaged in property development and real estate, and a tenth in
construction. The contracts they get can only assure business for their firms.

Also coveted are slots in the committee on transportation and communication and the
committee on games and amusement. Both screen applications for franchises, some of them
involving millions of pesos.

It is no wonder then that P50,000 is sometimes not enough to lure congressmen to the
session hall whenever an important bill is tabled for voting. Apparently preoccupied largely
with local interests, few legislators show up to constitute a real quorum in plenary sessions.
This has forced the speaker to occasionally resort to giving "appearance fees" to those who
attend and stay long enough to be counted.

A quorum is needed to pass a bill or vote on a resolution. There is a quorum only if there is a
majority of House members present, or a minimum of 115 congressmen. But Syjuco says,
"We have the worst quorum problems in the House now. Sometimes they even list as present
those who are not there. They are listed as present even when they had already left."

A potential lack of quorum is feared most by the House leadership when it is time to vote on
important bills of national application, such as those on the budget, absentee voting, power
reform, money laundering, and electoral reform. "To be credible," says the party-list
representative, "these measures have to be passed with a real quorum."

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

Yet even with the promise of a P50,000-fee, many congressmen still fail to make it to the
session hall. Says one legislator: "When the time for voting comes, bells start ringing like
those for ice cream. Nagtatawag ng quorum. The ringing lasts for one or two hours."

The appearance fee, however, has been known to escalate in proportion to the urgency of the
measure. In the 11th Congress, members openly talked about the P500,000 many of them got
to show up during the voting on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira). The money
supposedly came from the speaker's kitty as well, although it was sourced from another
government agency. - With additional reporting by Avigail Olarte

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the book, The Rulemakers: How
the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate Congress.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and

other Perks of Lawmaking
by YVONNE T. CHUA

CONGRESS formally opened on July 23, 2001, when his secretary

handed him the cash equivalent of his very first paycheck as a
member of the House of Representatives.

The legislator had not looked at the amount on the check when he
asked his secretary to cash it for him. Like most members of the
public, he had assumed lawmakers aren't paid all that well.

But his secretary had returned from the bank with a bulging envelope,
and when the congressman counted its contents, he was astounded:
The total amounted to P247,500.

"Why is this so much?" he recalls asking his secretary. She replied

that although his salary was actually just P26,000 a month after taxes,
there was also an "allowance" for his trips back to his district, plus
other sums meant to cover the rent of a house in Manila, consultations
fees, and research expenses. He was getting all these at one go.

The secretary also told her incredulous boss, "If you don't want to
spend it, that's up to you. You don't have to account for it."

But that was only the beginning. More money would be coming his
way fairly regularly, leaving the congressman with the surprising
realization that he was practically rolling in cash. He has since realized
that the salary and perks he gets can match those of executives in
medium to large companies. But legislators are even better off than
most business executives: Only a fraction of their monthly take - the
P35,000-basic monthly salary - is taxed. All the rest is not. It is public
money spent much like personal funds.

The entitlements to public funds and the lack of financial accountability

of members of Congress have long been a source of real worry to the
public and even to sectors within the government. Even though the
average legislator is already wealthy, he is assured that such wealth
would not be diminished by his years in public service.

From the Eighth to the 10th Congress, each lawmaker received a

basic salary of P17,000 a month, or P204,000 a year. The basic pay
has since been adjusted twice: to P26,000 a month in 1998 and to

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

P35,000 the following year. Yet just by being present at the plenary
hall can already earn a congressman thousands more as "appearance
fee."

What a Representative Can Receive

PURPOSE AMOUNT

Salary P35,000 a month

Published expenses P200,000 a month

Allowance from the Speaker P50,000-100,000 a month

Christmas gift from the Speaker P100,000-200,000

Occasional gift from Malacañang

P100,000-150,000
(Christmas)

Election for the speakership as much as P200,000

P50,000 (can go up to 500,000

Attendance in a plenary session to
for urgent, controversial
vote on selected national bills
measures)

Special occasions (e.g. barangay

P50,000
elections)

Foreign travel $300 per diem

As officer or committee chairman Varies, depending on expenses

Pork barrel (Priority Development

Assistance Fund and Public Works P65 million a year
Fund)

*Salaries are fixed by law. Foreign travel per diem is set by the House leadership.
Pork barrel fund is fixed by the General Appropriations Act. The other amounts are
based on interviews with former and current congressmen and House staff
members.

A congressman can also count on other sources of funds, including

the House speaker himself. Bills incurred as a result of official
activities, including trips abroad, are footed by the government as well.

Government auditors point to two provisions in the General

Appropriations Act (GAA) that, when invoked, often unleashes a flood
of money headed straight into the pockets of legislators and their staff.
As a result, what congressmen and their personnel take home are way
above the published amounts of what they are supposed to be
receiving.

One of these provisions authorizes the Senate president, with respect

to the Senate and the Commission on Appointments, the speaker, with

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

respect to the House of Representatives, and the respective chairmen

of the Senate and the House electoral tribunals "to augment any item
in the general appropriations law for their respective offices from
savings in other items of their respective appropriations."(Without this
provision, such acts would be tantamount to fund juggling, according
to government audit rules.)

The other provision authorizes the same set of congressional officials

"to formulate and implement the organizational structures of their
respective offices, to fix and determine the salaries, allowances, and
other benefits of their respective members, employees and
consultants… and whenever public interest so requires, make
adjustments and reorganization of positions in the regular personnel
with the corresponding transfer of items of appropriations or create
new ones in their respective offices…"

Although the two provisions have never been vetoed, they have
always merited special mention as one of the "observations" in the
president's veto message. Without fail, the president each year has
had to affirm his or her trust that the leadership of Congress would
"faithfully observe, particularly on the aspect of compensation, the
letter and spirit of the constitutional principle of salary standardization
which Congress itself enshrined as a state policy" and ensure that its
operations are "circumscribed by the salary rates, allowable level of
allowances and other benefits prescribed or authorized by law."

Indications are that Congress leaders pay little heed to this declaration
of trust. According to some observers, part of the reason for this is
because they are too busy trying to run a fractious House of
Representatives.

The speaker himself has to find ways to please members of the House
in order to remain in power. One legislator's chief of staff even says
that one of the first perks a congressman gets is a "payoff" during the
race for the speakership. In one previous contest, sums reached as
high as P200,000 for every vote, discloses the legislative staff
member.

And once the speaker is in place, more money begins pouring out of
the so-called speaker's discretionary fund.

Sources of the fund are said to include items in the House budget,
such as its savings, although the money can come from elsewhere.
Drawn from it are sums for the Christmas and other bonuses of
congressmen, as well as their monthly allowances, which supposedly
vary in amount, depending on the legislator's closeness to the
speaker.

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

Congressmen who do not belong to the ruling coalition and party-list

representatives are said to receive P50,000 a month, while "favored"
congressmen reportedly get double or even triple that.

As with the other money that comes their way in Congress, there is no
need to liquidate any amount coming from the fund. This is even
though Article 25 Section 6 of the Constitution provides that
"discretionary funds appropriated for particular offices shall be
disbursed only for public purposes to be supported by appropriate
vouchers and subject to guidelines as may be prescribed by law."

The speaker's fund is nothing new. In the 1960s, its size was
estimated to be equivalent to the total budget for the House of
Representatives minus those for salaries and personnel. Today, it is
believed to be roughly equal to the total budget for the House of
Representatives minus those for salaries and personnel and regular
expenses of its members and committees. Although the exact amount
is hard to estimate, the fund could easily be in the hundreds of
millions.

Aside from the monthly allowance, congressmen also receive a bonus

from the speaker before the Christmas break. This ranges from
P100,000 to P200,000. (Occasionally, legislators receive a Christmas
bonus from Malacañang or a business tycoon.) Another bonus lands
on their laps before they go into a long recess.

The idea, say legislators, is so they would have something to spend in

their districts during the long vacation. A party-list representative says,
"I accepted the regular Christmas gift and gave it to my constituents."

The party-list representative recalls that they were initially left out of
the speaker's list in the 11th Congress and had to demand their
inclusion among the beneficiaries of the allowances. Some succeeded
in getting paid on a cumulative, retroactive basis, the legislator adds.

One young congressman says he takes what the speaker offers, but
he says he had to do some soul-searching in the beginning. "What we
have is an underground governance structure," he says. "Congress is
largely a private-based sphere where you outsmart the system of laws.
Gift giving validates the fact that nakisama ka (you tried to be with the
group). Every congressman expects bonuses. You walk the tightrope
daily. You have to know if you should succumb."

The representative justifies accepting money from the Speaker's

discretionary fund, saying members of the House spend from 50 to 80
percent of their time in their districts. "I have a big overhead," he says,
pointing out that he has a staff of three at his central office and even
more in the district.

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

A chief of staff who has had various lawmakers as boss also talks of
"constituents who look at congressmen as if these were bank on
wheels, ATM machines." Fiesta time alone can be very expensive, he
says, noting, "If you have 300 barangays, you give P5,000 per fiesta,
that's P1.5 million a year. And even then they'd curse you and call you
a skinflint."

Some of those who expend a lot of effort getting into "choice"

congressional bodies also cite their need to fulfill their constituents'
demands as their main motive for a committee seat.

Take Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco, who chose to be the vice chairman of
the subcommittee on agriculture of the committee on appropriations
rather than chairman of the agriculture committee in the 12th
Congress. Syjuco says the subcommittee on agriculture is powerful
because it has influence in the 29 agencies of the Department of
Agriculture. That means his constituents would be better served, he
says.

"Sa 'yo dumadaan ang pera; binibigyan ka ng proyekto (The money

goes through you, you get the projects)," he explains. "As vice chair, I
could get about P200 million a year (in projects) for my district; as
agriculture committee chair, I could bring home at most P100 million a
year."

But many observers and House insiders say legislators are also
enticed by the more personal benefits of congressional committees.
According to several members of the House, a congressman can draw
about P20,000 to 30,000 more for expenses each month as chairman
of a committee. The chairman of the powerful appropriations
committee is said to draw an even bigger amount.

The appropriations committee is one of the most contested bodies in

the House. The others, says a two-term congressman, are the
committees on ways and means, accounts, franchises, games and
amusement, and transport and communication. Their attraction lies not
only in the extra allowances of the chairmen - as well as the members -
but also in the other perks, most of which are monetary in nature, too.

The committee on public works and the subcommittee on public works

of the appropriations committee are on equal footing, though. Many
congressmen strive to get into the committee or the subcommittee not
only for the projects for their districts, but also for the contracts they
can lay their hands on, says a chief of staff of one congressman. More
than half of representatives are engaged in property development and
real estate, and a tenth in construction. The contracts they get can
only assure business for their firms.

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

Also coveted are slots in the committee on transportation and

communication and the committee on games and amusement. Both
screen applications for franchises, some of them involving millions of
pesos.

It is no wonder then that P50,000 is sometimes not enough to lure

congressmen to the session hall whenever an important bill is tabled
for voting. Apparently preoccupied largely with local interests, few
legislators show up to constitute a real quorum in plenary sessions.
This has forced the speaker to occasionally resort to giving
"appearance fees" to those who attend and stay long enough to be
counted.

A quorum is needed to pass a bill or vote on a resolution. There is a

quorum only if there is a majority of House members present, or a
minimum of 115 congressmen. But Syjuco says, "We have the worst
quorum problems in the House now. Sometimes they even list as
present those who are not there. They are listed as present even when
they had already left."

A potential lack of quorum is feared most by the House leadership

when it is time to vote on important bills of national application, such
as those on the budget, absentee voting, power reform, money
laundering, and electoral reform. "To be credible," says the party-list
representative, "these measures have to be passed with a real
quorum."

Yet even with the promise of a P50,000-fee, many congressmen still

fail to make it to the session hall. Says one legislator: "When the time
for voting comes, bells start ringing like those for ice cream.
Nagtatawag ng quorum. The ringing lasts for one or two hours."

The appearance fee, however, has been known to escalate in

proportion to the urgency of the measure. In the 11th Congress,
members openly talked about the P500,000 many of them got to show
up during the voting on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).
The money supposedly came from the speaker's kitty as well, although
it was sourced from another government agency. — with additional
reporting by Avigail Olarte

The findings of the PCIJ's study of Congress are published in the

book, The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-Born Dominate
Congress.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Fat Salaries, Big Allowances and other Perks of Lawmaking

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 In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

3-4 MAY 2004

Print this article

by CHAY F. HOFILEÑA and ARIES RUFO

us your views and comments

Part Two of the report examines the special deals and packages offered by radio stations to candidates. For a about this article.
set price (usually in the millions of pesos), a candidate can be assured of full coverage by a radio network during
the entire campaign. The report quotes campaign managers as well as radio station managers who describe the
practice and try to justify it in some way. They say such packages put a stop to "retail" corruption — i.e. cash SEE ALSO:
being given to individual reporters — and reimburse the networks for expenses incurred in the coverage of a Spinning the News
campaign.
PREVIOUS ELECTION
REPORTS:
The Poor Vote is a Thinking
CAN ELECTIONS really be an even battleground?
Vote
Filipino Voting Attitudes and
That is a question that campaign strategists and media organizations have to grapple with, Opinions
given the caps on election spending and the limits set by the Fair Elections Act on campaign Hope and Elections in Payatas
advertising and media exposure. Fame and Family Dominate
Senatorial Race
In this election, as in the 1998 presidential polls and the 2001 senatorial race, radio networks How Representative is
are striking million-peso deals with campaign managers that allow candidates and parties to Congress?
circumvent legal limits on advertising and media exposure. These deals involve "commercial
packages" offered to candidates that include a guaranteed number of press releases, daily THE LATEST OFFERING FROM
interviews, and rally coverage aired on the networks concerned. PCIJ

These packages cleverly fuse paid-for political ads, which are allowed by election laws, with
common newsgathering methods that are not supposed to have a price. The problem is that
they deceive the listening audience who are led to believe they are hearing legitimate news,
not paid-for press releases.

In the last decade, the media — especially TV and radio — have become crucial ingredients
in political campaigns. Political analysts and campaign insiders say that at present, one-third
of the campaign budget goes to the media. As media costs rise, campaigns have also
become even more expensive and more innovative, prompting candidates to seek ways that
The Rulemakers: How the
will give them more bang for their buck. Wealthy and Well-Born
Dominate Congress
These have included the "wholesale" deals they strike with a few enterprising broadcast
outfits, even as "retail" arrangements between some politicos and many individual journalists ORDER your copy now.
persist. The result is not only the violation of the Fair Elections Act, which limits election
spending by candidates and parties, but also the continued corruption of the media.

Top advertising executive and Raul Roco supporter Yolanda Ong, for instance, says that in
2001, the People Power Coalition (PPC) spent about P87 million on TV ads alone. But, she
adds, the "unreceipted amounts were four to five times more."

That same year, the PPC spent roughly P2 million to P3 million a month on one radio station Google Search
alone, recalls a campaign insider. The amount covered the PPC's entire senatorial slate and Web pcij.org
included arrangements for radio spots and interviews for a set fee.

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

Insiders say the "commercial packages" offered by some radio stations first evolved as a
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means to circumvent the political ad ban that was lifted only in 2001. Originally designed as
an option for candidates who wanted access to the airwaves without resorting to direct
advertising, such packages have remained part of the menu offered to candidates even now Find!
that the ban has been lifted.
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In the beginning, the entry of political ads resulted in roughly a 10-percent annual increase in
billings, according to Ruperto Nicdao Jr., president of the Manila Broadcasting Company that
operates the radio giant DZRH. But, he adds, "it's picking up now because it's a tight contest.
In 2001, there was no mad scramble at the end of the campaign. Now there is that mad
scramble especially for the 'senatoriables,' because the eighth to 16th slot are up for grabs.
They are jockeying for 'top-of-mind' awareness."

ABS-CBN vice president for news and public affairs Ricardo Puno says they got only
insignificant "incremental revenue" in the early part of the campaign. But TV insiders say that
the last-minute scramble for advertising is evident in television as well.

The first time some radio stations tried to circumvent the ad ban by offering candidates
"commercial packages" was in 1998. Despite the lifting of the ban, however, these radio
stations are offering the same packages they did in previous elections.

Ong, group chairperson of advertising agency Campaigns and Grey, says that one radio
station has offered some candidates — among them Ong's client, Raul Roco — P20-million
packages to cover the 90-day campaign. Ong was told similar offers were made to at least
two senatorial candidates and two other presidential contenders.

The contract guaranteed three interviews a week, call-ins that are favorable to the candidate,
an "embedded" reporter, and a package of radio ad spots. Though supposedly a contract, the
offer did not come with an official receipt.

When she complained about what she thought was an irregular deal to a columnist, the radio
station brought the price down to P11 million and offered to give her a receipt. Ong refused to
approve the deal.

But Nicdao sees nothing really wrong with such an arrangement. He says that DZRH itself
offers candidates a package of discounted radio ad spots and a reporter to cover rallies,
particularly the miting de avance or proclamation rally.

He estimates that the station would need about P200,000 to cover production costs, airtime,
and a two-hour miting de avance coverage.

"It's an arms-length commercial transaction," says Nicdao, who is also president of the
Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas. "We provide the facilities…I don't think this is
unethical or in violation of the ethics code. This is equal opportunity for everybody…It serves a
social purpose: to inform the public about what candidates are espousing."

Considering the cost of placing a political ad, these packages are tempting to candidates.
DZRH commands P20,000 per 30 seconds for political ads. A 30-seconder on prime time TV,
meanwhile, can drain a candidate's wallet of as much as P230,000.

A candidate running for national office would need "at least P28 million" for national coverage
in about five key radio stations located in major vote-rich areas, according to Nicdao's rough
estimates.

The Fair Elections Act allows candidates seeking a national post 180 minutes for each radio
station and 120 minutes for each TV station, subject to the limitations on campaign expenses
set by the Omnibus Election Code. The Code says that a candidate may spend no more than
P1.50 for every registered voter within his or her jurisdiction. The same cap is set for spending
by political parties.

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

The Act also mandates TV stations to offer candidates a 30-percent discount and radio 20
percent over average rates charged during the first three quarters of the year preceding the
elections.

Even if a candidate were to follow the law's limits on spending, he or she would be spending a
maximum of P5.76 million per radio station if the ad were run for the entire duration of the
campaign. A TV ad campaign may mean up to P82 million per station (180 minutes at
P230,000 per 30 seconds).

Out-and-out ads, however, simply do not have the same impact on listeners or viewers as a
news piece that sings praises of a candidate or an interview that allows a politico to go on and
on without much challenge from anyone.

It would therefore not be surprising if the commercial packages offered by some stations have
many takers.

Aside from DZRH, Radio Mindanao Network or RMN also offers various package proposals
that include, among others, a certain number of interviews, radio spots, a number of press
releases a month, and jingle playbacks.

A candidate can opt for a nationwide, already discounted P5-million package or a lower
nationwide P2.5-million package to cover a month's campaign only.

The actual cost of the P5-million package is over P21 million, an RMN proposal says,
accounting for a 76-percent savings. This includes four 30-second spots a day for one month
in the station's satellite news program that is aired simultaneously in 30 AM and FM stations.

In addition, a candidate is supposed to get two interviews a month aired on the nationwide
news program and eight interviews a month on any provincial station of choice. Plus, the
candidate gets eight press releases a month on the nationwide news time slots — "this is an
opportunity to mention the candidate's accomplishments as a news item," the pay-before-
broadcast proposal says.

A candidate is likewise entitled to 12 press releases a month in "Pila Balita," an hourly

newsbreak of RMN Manila, two features in the station's "Know Your Candidate" segment that
will include a two- to three-minute interview, 80 jingle playbacks for a month across all its 22
FM stations nationwide, "one liner in a month in all FM stations," and one interview in all its
FM stations.

RMN-Davao also sent several presidential candidates a proposal itemizing a P30,000- "media
mileage" package. It covered a 15-minute evening interview, two spots a day for 15 days of
"Araw ng Davao" greetings, and "air plugs through ad lib from jocks" in the morning and
afternoon or evening.

Ely Saludar, RMN Manila's OIC station manager, says the network's account managers
package the deals so they could offer something more attractive to their clients. But he
justifies the arrangements, saying, "We're just doing what is allowed by the Comelec
(Commission on Elections)."

Less well-known networks have taken the cue from the bigger stations. The ironically named
The Credible Media Network or CMN, for example, has a P3.78-million package that covers
its 29 provincial stations.

The most expensive among the six deals it offers candidates, the package includes 360 30-
second radio spots per station for the entire campaign period, press releases or at least thrice
a week regular interviews of the candidate or his spokesperson between Monday to Saturday
at prime time hours with a 24-hour notice, response interview in case of negative issues, and
live coverage by a local CMN station in case of on-site campaigns.

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

The proposal specifies that a candidate provide the newscast feeds, "call or arrange to be
called during the designated prime time hour to avail of the interviews and call-in reply to
issues."

Asked about what he thought of such "wholesale" trading in airtime, Mike Enriquez, senior
vice president for radio operations and president and CEO of RGMA (which manages GMA-7
stations in provincial areas), goes only as far as commenting, "These packages are part of
free enterprise. We could do it if we wanted to but we choose not to."

"They're not something we live or die for," he adds. "We have our own share of political
business."

Such a stance may perhaps be expected of a network as huge and as profitable as GMA-7.
Unfortunately, some people with questionable media credentials now also want a share of the
wholesale trade.

Some supposed journalists, for example, have been offering "tri-media" services — an
approach also used in previous elections and resurrected this year. Just this February, a
group calling itself the Minsupala Integrated Journalists Association Inc. submitted a proposal
to one of the presidential candidates.

Composed of newspaper publishers, columnists, reporters, TV station managers,

newscasters, and radio broadcasters from Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, the group offered a
package price of P3.72 million. In exchange, the candidate would get radio coverage up to
election day, a maximum of three three-minute stories a week for 12 weeks on local TV, and
special supplements about his or her platform and various accomplishments in the papers of
the group's member-publishers.

The allotted take for the eight radio broadcasters in the group was about P150,000 each,
while a local TV news anchor was to get P360,000. The nine newspaper publishers who
made up the rest of the group, however, were to collect the remaining P2.16 million.

All these, however, have not put a stop to the retail side of the broadcast media's shady
dealings. Campaign insiders say that retail media financing, particularly for radio, remains
heavy, especially for Visayas and Mindanao. For provincial sorties, say insiders, an hour's air
time would cost between P10,000 to P20,000, covered by a contract. For live coverage, the
anchor gets P2,000 while the reporter gets P500.

One political operator estimates that at the local level, a high of P70,000 covers expenses for
a rally, six interviews at the rally, plus a press conference. The presscon facilitator — usually
from the local media — gets P5,000.

For simple rally coverage, some radio reporters get P1,000, as do cameramen and their
assistants. The rates triple for out-of-town coverage.

To control coverage and keep it from going negative, six-month to one-year retainer
agreements are forged with some broadcast people. On-board radio commentators can get
from P10,000 to P20,000 a month, the operator says.

These are all part of the "goodwill" political camps try to build and maintain all the way to
election day.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

[posted 2 May 2004]

In these Elections, the Airwaves

are for Sale
by CHAY F. HOFILEÑA and ARIES RUFO

CAN ELECTIONS really be an even battleground?

That is a question that campaign strategists and media organizations

have to grapple with, given the caps on election spending and the
limits set by the Fair Elections Act on campaign advertising and media
exposure.

In this election, as in the 1998 presidential polls and the 2001

senatorial race, radio networks are striking million-peso deals with
campaign managers that allow candidates and parties to circumvent
legal limits on advertising and media exposure. These deals involve
"commercial packages" offered to candidates that include a
guaranteed number of press releases, daily interviews, and rally
coverage aired on the networks concerned.

These packages cleverly fuse paid-for political ads, which are allowed
by election laws, with common newsgathering methods that are not
supposed to have a price. The problem is that they deceive the
listening audience who are led to believe they are hearing legitimate
news, not paid-for press releases.

In the last decade, the media — especially TV and radio — have

become crucial ingredients in political campaigns. Political analysts
and campaign insiders say that at present, one-third of the campaign
budget goes to the media. As media costs rise, campaigns have also
become even more expensive and more innovative, prompting
candidates to seek ways that will give them more bang for their buck.

These have included the "wholesale" deals they strike with a few
enterprising broadcast outfits, even as "retail" arrangements between
some politicos and many individual journalists persist. The result is not
only the violation of the Fair Elections Act, which limits election
spending by candidates and parties, but also the continued corruption
of the media.

Top advertising executive and Raul Roco supporter Yolanda Ong, for
instance, says that in 2001, the People Power Coalition (PPC) spent
about P87 million on TV ads alone. But, she adds, the "unreceipted
amounts were four to five times more."

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

That same year, the PPC spent roughly P2 million to P3 million a

month on one radio station alone, recalls a campaign insider. The
amount covered the PPC's entire senatorial slate and included
arrangements for radio spots and interviews for a set fee.

Insiders say the "commercial packages" offered by some radio stations

first evolved as a means to circumvent the political ad ban that was
lifted only in 2001. Originally designed as an option for candidates who
wanted access to the airwaves without resorting to direct advertising,
such packages have remained part of the menu offered to candidates
even now that the ban has been lifted.

In the beginning, the entry of political ads resulted in roughly a 10-

percent annual increase in billings, according to Ruperto Nicdao Jr.,
president of the Manila Broadcasting Company that operates the radio
giant DZRH. But, he adds, "it's picking up now because it's a tight
contest. In 2001, there was no mad scramble at the end of the
campaign. Now there is that mad scramble especially for the
'senatoriables,' because the eighth to 16th slot are up for grabs. They
are jockeying for 'top-of-mind' awareness."

ABS-CBN vice president for news and public affairs Ricardo Puno
says they got only insignificant "incremental revenue" in the early part
of the campaign. But TV insiders say that the last-minute scramble for
advertising is evident in television as well.

The first time some radio stations tried to circumvent the ad ban by
offering candidates "commercial packages" was in 1998. Despite the
lifting of the ban, however, these radio stations are offering the same
packages they did in previous elections.

Ong, group chairperson of advertising agency Campaigns and Grey,

says that one radio station has offered some candidates — among
them Ong's client, Raul Roco — P20-million packages to cover the 90-
day campaign. Ong was told similar offers were made to at least two
senatorial candidates and two other presidential contenders.

The contract guaranteed three interviews a week, call-ins that are

favorable to the candidate, an "embedded" reporter, and a package of
radio ad spots. Though supposedly a contract, the offer did not come
with an official receipt.

When she complained about what she thought was an irregular deal to
a columnist, the radio station brought the price down to P11 million
and offered to give her a receipt. Ong refused to approve the deal.

But Nicdao sees nothing really wrong with such an arrangement. He

says that DZRH itself offers candidates a package of discounted radio

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

ad spots and a reporter to cover rallies, particularly the miting de

avance or proclamation rally.

He estimates that the station would need about P200,000 to cover

production costs, airtime, and a two-hour miting de avance coverage.

"It's an arms-length commercial transaction," says Nicdao, who is also

president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas. "We
provide the facilities…I don't think this is unethical or in violation of the
ethics code. This is equal opportunity for everybody…It serves a social
purpose: to inform the public about what candidates are espousing."

Considering the cost of placing a political ad, these packages are

tempting to candidates. DZRH commands P20,000 per 30 seconds for
political ads. A 30-seconder on prime time TV, meanwhile, can drain a
candidate's wallet of as much as P230,000.

A candidate running for national office would need "at least P28
million" for national coverage in about five key radio stations located in
major vote-rich areas, according to Nicdao's rough estimates.

The Fair Elections Act allows candidates seeking a national post 180
minutes for each radio station and 120 minutes for each TV station,
subject to the limitations on campaign expenses set by the Omnibus
Election Code. The Code says that a candidate may spend no more
than P1.50 for every registered voter within his or her jurisdiction. The
same cap is set for spending by political parties.

The Act also mandates TV stations to offer candidates a 30-percent

discount and radio 20 percent over average rates charged during the
first three quarters of the year preceding the elections.

Even if a candidate were to follow the law's limits on spending, he or

she would be spending a maximum of P5.76 million per radio station if
the ad were run for the entire duration of the campaign. A TV ad
campaign may mean up to P82 million per station (180 minutes at
P230,000 per 30 seconds).

Out-and-out ads, however, simply do not have the same impact on

listeners or viewers as a news piece that sings praises of a candidate
or an interview that allows a politico to go on and on without much
challenge from anyone.

It would therefore not be surprising if the commercial packages offered

by some stations have many takers.

Aside from DZRH, Radio Mindanao Network or RMN also offers

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

various package proposals that include, among others, a certain

number of interviews, radio spots, a number of press releases a
month, and jingle playbacks.

A candidate can opt for a nationwide, already discounted P5-million

package or a lower nationwide P2.5-million package to cover a
month's campaign only.

The actual cost of the P5-million package is over P21 million, an RMN
proposal says, accounting for a 76-percent savings. This includes four
30-second spots a day for one month in the station's satellite news
program that is aired simultaneously in 30 AM and FM stations.

In addition, a candidate is supposed to get two interviews a month

aired on the nationwide news program and eight interviews a month on
any provincial station of choice. Plus, the candidate gets eight press
releases a month on the nationwide news time slots — "this is an
opportunity to mention the candidate's accomplishments as a news
item," the pay-before-broadcast proposal says.

A candidate is likewise entitled to 12 press releases a month in "Pila

Balita," an hourly newsbreak of RMN Manila, two features in the
station's "Know Your Candidate" segment that will include a two- to
three-minute interview, 80 jingle playbacks for a month across all its 22
FM stations nationwide, "one liner in a month in all FM stations," and
one interview in all its FM stations.

RMN-Davao also sent several presidential candidates a proposal

itemizing a P30,000- "media mileage" package. It covered a 15-minute
evening interview, two spots a day for 15 days of "Araw ng Davao"
greetings, and "air plugs through ad lib from jocks" in the morning and
afternoon or evening.

Ely Saludar, RMN Manila's OIC station manager, says the network's
account managers package the deals so they could offer something
more attractive to their clients. But he justifies the arrangements,
saying, "We're just doing what is allowed by the Comelec (Commission
on Elections)."

Less well-known networks have taken the cue from the bigger stations.
The ironically named The Credible Media Network or CMN, for
example, has a P3.78-million package that covers its 29 provincial
stations.

The most expensive among the six deals it offers candidates, the
package includes 360 30-second radio spots per station for the entire
campaign period, press releases or at least thrice a week regular
interviews of the candidate or his spokesperson between Monday to

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

Saturday at prime time hours with a 24-hour notice, response interview

in case of negative issues, and live coverage by a local CMN station in
case of on-site campaigns.

The proposal specifies that a candidate provide the newscast feeds,

"call or arrange to be called during the designated prime time hour to
avail of the interviews and call-in reply to issues."

Asked about what he thought of such "wholesale" trading in airtime,

Mike Enriquez, senior vice president for radio operations and president
and CEO of RGMA (which manages GMA-7 stations in provincial
areas), goes only as far as commenting, "These packages are part of
free enterprise. We could do it if we wanted to but we choose not to."

"They're not something we live or die for," he adds. "We have our own
share of political business."

Such a stance may perhaps be expected of a network as huge and as

profitable as GMA-7. Unfortunately, some people with questionable
media credentials now also want a share of the wholesale trade.

Some supposed journalists, for example, have been offering "tri-

media" services — an approach also used in previous elections and
resurrected this year. Just this February, a group calling itself the
Minsupala Integrated Journalists Association Inc. submitted a proposal
to one of the presidential candidates.

Composed of newspaper publishers, columnists, reporters, TV station

managers, newscasters, and radio broadcasters from Mindanao, Sulu,
and Palawan, the group offered a package price of P3.72 million. In
exchange, the candidate would get radio coverage up to election day,
a maximum of three three-minute stories a week for 12 weeks on local
TV, and special supplements about his or her platform and various
accomplishments in the papers of the group's member-publishers.

The allotted take for the eight radio broadcasters in the group was
about P150,000 each, while a local TV news anchor was to get
P360,000. The nine newspaper publishers who made up the rest of
the group, however, were to collect the remaining P2.16 million.

All these, however, have not put a stop to the retail side of the
broadcast media's shady dealings. Campaign insiders say that retail
media financing, particularly for radio, remains heavy, especially for
Visayas and Mindanao. For provincial sorties, say insiders, an hour's
air time would cost between P10,000 to P20,000, covered by a
contract. For live coverage, the anchor gets P2,000 while the reporter
gets P500.

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In these Elections, the Airwaves are for Sale

One political operator estimates that at the local level, a high of

P70,000 covers expenses for a rally, six interviews at the rally, plus a
press conference. The presscon facilitator — usually from the local
media — gets P5,000.

For simple rally coverage, some radio reporters get P1,000, as do

cameramen and their assistants. The rates triple for out-of-town
coverage.

To control coverage and keep it from going negative, six-month to one-

year retainer agreements are forged with some broadcast people. On-
board radio commentators can get from P10,000 to P20,000 a month,
the operator says.

These are all part of the "goodwill" political camps try to build and
maintain all the way to election day.

Copyright © 2004 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Nonoy Marcelo (1939-2002)

OCT - DEC 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 4

Looking for
past i articles?
Find them here:
SEVERINO 'Nonoy' Marcelo liked to keep
OK late hours. His body clock was on New
York time. He started working when most
discuss this everyone else was already preparing for
article bed and called it quits when most people
in our e-forum were just getting up. So when he took on
the task of being i magazine's first ever
art director in 1995, the rest of us were
forced to keep vampire hours. But Nonoy managed to keep us awake
— with outrageous jokes and stream-of-consciousness-style
perorations on politics, people, and just about everything else.

To tell the truth, it was difficult to keep track of what he was saying. For
one, he slurred his speech and swallowed his words, sounding like
Marlon Brando would if he grew up in wartime Malabon like Nonoy did.
But following Nonoy was doubly difficult because he had such an active
and lively mind that his talk typically leaped from thought to thought,
strung together by the most tenuous of threads.

Nonoy took pride in being different, which he certainly was. To his

mother, a schoolteacher widowed during the war, he was a difficult
child with prodigious talent, one who liked to believe that he was
unappreciated and misunderstood. Apocryphal though it may be, the
story is that the young Nonoy planted rice on the roof of the family
home, an act that remained hidden until the roof nearly caved in from
the little paddy that had been put on it. Nonoy, however, soon outgrew
the narrow confines of his hometown, and became, in his 20s, the toast
of more cosmopolitan Manila. His cartoon strip, Tisoy, published in the
popular Manila Times was at the cutting edge of the 1960s youth
culture, articulating the rebelliousness and raw idealism of his
generation.

Nonoy was, above all, an irreverent chronicler of the times. His Ikabod

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Nonoy Marcelo (1939-2002)

comic strip, with its portrayal of Dagalandia, a world of mice ruled by

the despotic cat Bos Myawok, was a metaphor for the Philippines
under Marcos. The editorial cartoons he drew for the Manila Chronicle
in the years after Marcos's fall, and for Pinoy Times in the months
preceding the uprising against Estrada, were clever portrayals of
periods rich in drama, irony, and to Nonoy, also comedy.

For i magazine, Nonoy drew portraits of personalities in the news —

ranging from gambling lord Bong Pineda, whom he portrayed juggling
jueteng balls, to TV personality-turned-senator Loren Legarda, whom
he cast, tongue in cheek, as the Filipina wonder woman Darna. As
shown in this spread, Nonoy had not only a good hand but a perceptive
intelligence.

He was also a voracious reader, trivia collector, and news addict, as

anyone who has been to his Quezon City studio - overflowing with
newspapers, books, and magazines stacked according to some logic
only he could fathom - would attest. He immersed himself in Philippine
history and would call friends unexpectedly to argue some fine point
about the 19th century. His last major work was a lovingly illustrated
cartoon history of the Malabon that he never really left.

Nonoy was generous to a fault. He always had some hanger-on

hovering around him, someone he sheltered and fed and somehow
made useful. Young cartoonists were drawn to him like a magnet,
reveling in his wit and his generosity. In the early days of i, he always
had this burly companion around. As far as we could tell, all he did was
sleep on the office couch — and snore, loudly. In the wee morning
hours while we worked, Nonoy would join him on the couch, and
sometimes, they would sleep together arm in arm, snoring in unison.

Strays — human and otherwise — found in him a sympathetic and

helpful friend, and maybe also a fellow traveler of sorts, sensing in the
cartoonist a restlessness and unsettledness that matched their own.
This was somewhat strange because Nonoy, especially in the last
years of his life, rarely left his apartment, rarely even left his room, even
if he had a vagabond soul.

In the months before he died, his son Dario recounted, Nonoy offered a
room to a neighbor who had been evicted from her unit at the U.P.
BLISS, the rundown government housing project in Diliman, Quezon
City. Soon afterward, the neighbor brought her children to stay with her,
and later, her good-for-nothing husband. Finally, even the family dog
joined the entourage of strays who had made Nonoy's cluttered
apartment their home. Such laidback generosity was typical of Nonoy,
who once left his own apartment because he could no longer work
there after the woman he was then living with brought along various
relatives to stay with her.

Nonoy did things on impulse. He bought a car, and only because the

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Nonoy Marcelo (1939-2002)

showroom in Cubao where he purchased the vehicle used to be the

site of his favorite girlie bar, and he was overcome by nostalgia when
he saw the place. The car was a lemon, it was always breaking down,
and after a while, Nonoy stopped registering it even if he kept using it
anyway.

Nonoy, as those closest to him would say after he died of diabetes and
various other ailments on October 22, wove a funny, absurd, and
magical world where strange things happened and where even the
most gruesome tragedy can be somehow funny. His music idols were
Mozart and Mick Jagger, and his own life was marked by many of the
excesses of both. He was, in many ways, a reflection of both Pinoy
madness and genius.

His magic lives on.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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A Journalist Worth His Salt

APRIL - JUNE 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 2

Featured Sections (JOURNALISM, according to Armando J. Malay, is "perfect for the

Find them here: young, vigorous person with a flair for adventure and the dramatic."
But, he said, "if you're just a reporter and not a columnist or editorial
OK writer, your influence is desultory."

discuss this
article Malay should know. In the
in our e-forum 1940s, his Manila Chronicle
column, "With a Grain of Salt,"
was the most popular and
certainly the most read of its
genre. It came to an end all too
soon, but Malay would go on
to work for other papers.

In April, PCIJ training director

Yvonne T. Chua and i
magazine occasional
contributor Marites N. Sison
launched, Armando J. Malay: Malay poses for a photograph just before
leaving for a reporting trip in the 1940s.
A Guardian of Memory, a
biography of the journalist and
activist based largely on his own diaries. The following are excerpts
dwelling on Malay's days at the 'Chronicle.')

Cum Grano Salis, Latin for "with a grain of salt," means to accept a
statement with a certain amount of reserve or caution. That was just
what Malay did, especially with regard to official pronouncements
coming from Malacañang and Congress.

His columns often took a dig at the powers-that-be: "The Avelino

convention was held in a nightclub; Laurel's in a racetrack; and
Quirino's will be held in a cabaret. To keep up with this, Racuyal should
hold his convention in an opium den." But it was Elpidio Quirino, the
second president of the Philippine Republic, whom Malay relentlessly
attacked in his columns.

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A Journalist Worth His Salt

Malay said he did not like Quirino, who had a reputation for being
extravagant and easy with the people's money. Rumors had circulated
that Quirino owned a golden orinola (chamberpot), but his supporters
denied this, saying what he had was made of stainless steel. Still, the
chamberpot cost P500, quite a sum for an orinola even by today's
standards.

Quirino was also said to have bought a bed for P5,000 using taxpayers'
money. Malay and other columnists had a field day: In one column,
Malay wrote:

Explaining why a new bed (which cost only P5,000) had to be

purchased for the Malacañan bedroom, interior decorator Amalia
Pastor said Thursday evening that President Quirino used to see
ghosts whenever he occupied the bed once used by President Quezon.

The Filipino people are lucky it was only in President Quezon's bed that
the incumbent chief executive used to see ghosts. Supposing Mr.
Quirino saw ghosts all over Malacañan! We would have to build a new
palace altogether!

Malay and his fellow columnists at the Chronicle relished their

adversarial, though liberal but not radical role. As the Chronicle was
entering its fifth year in 1948, Malay wrote about what he considered
the paper's formula for success in his column:

…Maybe the Chronicle's staying power is due to just

good luck. Then again it may be due to the spirit that
animates the men that put it out-the men and women in
the editorial, the business, circulation, and mechanical
departments. I prefer to think that it is due to the
second.

That spirit is compounded of a number of things, but first

and foremost is the intellectual freedom that the
Chronicle writers enjoy. The realization that one can
write everything and anything under the sun, without
running the risk of being fired for it or his attention called
by the management, spurs a newspaperman to giving
his best.

There are no sacred cows as far as the Chronicle is

concerned. There are no toes too tender or too precious
that we could not step on if we wanted to. No man is too
high that we could not drag him down if in our opinion
he deserved dragging down.

…We in the Chronicle realize that where the issue is

one of right and wrong, there can be no choice.

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A Journalist Worth His Salt

Righteousness of a cause, or its lack, is the only

consideration taken into account when we sit down to
write editorials and columns.

But Malay spoke too soon. A dramatic shift occurred in the editorial
desk of the Chronicle when Quirino heeded a call by his advisers to tap
the brother of Manila Chronicle publisher Eugenio Lopez Sr., as his
vice presidential running mate in the 1949 elections. Quirino personally
favored Jose Yulo, a rival of Eugenio Lopez, to be his running mate,
but was persuaded to take in Fernando Lopez in order to silence the
Chronicle, Malay said.

At first Malay was simply asked to "tone down" his columns. When he
ignored the request, the censorship began. On September 28, 1949,
more than a month before the elections, Malay tendered his
resignation. "I refused to knuckle under, but also realized that I couldn't
win. Lopez owned the Manila Chronicle lock, stock, and barrel, and I
was just a paid employee," Malay said.

In his letter to Lopez, Malay said that while he was initially free to write
his column "the way I saw fit, mincing no words and exposing many
conditions-inside and outside of government-which formed the basis for
many news stories," he was now subjected to "rigid censorship."
Criticisms of the acts of Quirino and other government officials were
hushed. Malay also said the list of subjects considered taboo in his
column had grown longer. "Comments on the practices of businessmen
were deleted on the dubious reason that they were advertisers. I was
told to guard against offending 'certain religious groups' even though
the basis of my comments on them was not their religious doctrine but
actuations which had some public interest."

Malay wrote in his diary: "This packing after a resignation or a dismissal

or a separation is always a traumatic experience. On that fateful day, I
bade goodbye to the newspaper for which I had worked body and soul,
and which saw the flowering of my reportorial and column-writing
career."

Lopez accepted Malay's resignation with a note that gave a perfunctory

"thank you."

It was clear, Malay said, that the reason Lopez decided to buy a
newspaper after Liberation was "to have a weapon, not only to protect
and promote his business empire, but also to promote the political
ambition of his younger brother, Fernando." Fernando Lopez had
begun his political career as mayor of their native Iloilo City before
training his sights on national politics.

"Lopez was a smart financial man. He enlarged his enterprise-those he

already owned and controlled before World War II- financed by loans
from government banks like the Philippine National Bank," Malay said.

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A Journalist Worth His Salt

"He was no doubt very wealthy, but he 'rolled' his capital from one
enterprise to another."

According to Malay, Lopez had used the Manila Chronicle "to serve
notice on Roxas that he and his Visayan group of capitalists wanted
Fernando to be treated right; that Lopez enterprises were to be
protected." The newspaper was "ideal for this purpose," for even before
Lopez bought it, it had already gained a reputation for opposing the
policies of the Roxas administration, particularly on the issues of parity
amendment, the U.S. bases, and the Mutual Defense Treaty.

Roxas showed that he could be just as ruthless. He struck back by

ordering PNB to foreclose some of the Lopez mortgages and the latter
"faced an uncertain future," Malay said. But luck was on Lopez's side.
Roxas died and a more pliant Quirino took over.

By letting his paper's most popular columnist go, Lopez proved he was
not one to brook any disobedience to his wishes. Malay also recounted
a message passed on to him by his friend I.P. 'Yeyeng' Soliongco:
"Yeyeng said this is what Lopez told him, 'Tell Malay that I'm not
earning a centavo from the Chronicle and if I, as owner, can't say what
I want with it, I might as well close it!"

Lopez was essentially telling the truth: The Chronicle was losing money
during that period. Yet the reality was also that "Lopez needed the
paper to protect all his other multifarious vulnerable businesses," said
Malay. Then again, the journalist said, perhaps the reason the
newspaper was losing money was that it had been transformed into a
pro-administration paper once Fernando Lopez became vice president.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Triumph of Illusion

JULY - SEPT 1998

VOL. IV NO. 3

Democracy and demography have made the media and the

movies a prime recruitment ground for politics.
Looking for
past i articles? by Sheila S. Coronel

Find them here: IN 1987, WHEN he was newly

OK elected to the Senate, Joseph
‘Erap’ Estrada was considered
discuss this a joke, a has-been movie
article actor barely noticed by the
in our e-forum world-weary men who had
been elected to the Upper
House of the first post-Marcos
Congress.

Most of the senators then

carried names that were
gilded by their association with the 1960s’ pre-Marcos legislature or the
1980s’ era of protest. They were old and learned like Jovito Salonga
and Raul Manglapus or young and audacious like Wigberto Tañada,
Rene Saguisag, and Orlando Mercado. Or else theirs were names that
had been embedded in the public memory because, although they
were Marcos’s associates, they were also the shrewdest and smartest
among the former president’s men: Juan Ponce Enrile, Ernesto
Maceda. Estrada was the odd man out.

In their foggy remembrance of what had been the order of things before
Ferdinand Marcos upset them, the Senate remained, in the minds of
many Filipinos, an august chamber. It was the closest Philippine
politics ever came to the sublime. The Senate once had revered names
like Claro M. Recto, Jose W. Diokno and Lorenzo M. Tañada—men of
such rectitude and wisdom that they are, till now, hailed as models to
which modern-day politicians could only aspire. To be sure, the pre-
martial law Senate had its share of scalawags as well (for wasn’t
Marcos once Senate president himself?), but in the post-Edsa glow, no
one cared to remember the sins of the pre-Marcos past.

After the fall of Marcos, pre-martial law institutions were revived, their

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The Triumph of Illusion

reincarnation inspired by a middle-class nostalgia for, and idealization

of, the politics of old, before Marcos tampered with the system and
corrupted it beyond repair. The middle class was the driving force of
Cory Aquino’s rise to power. Its stamp was all over the new
government. Nowhere was this more clear than in the Senate. The
House was and had always been the bastion of clan politics; that
Aquino and her advisers conceded. But the Senate, because it was a
nationally elected body, could aspire to something greater.

The Senate slate that Aquino handpicked and that was eventually
elected was largely made up of men who were deemed worldly and
wise, or at the very least, occasionally capable of lofty thought. Who
would have doubted Salonga’s sagacity or Manglapus’s oratorical
skills? From 1987 to 1992, the Senate was the home of good, old-
fashioned English, flowery speeches, polysyllabic pontificating.
Oratorical flourish was important, even if sometimes substance was
not. Equally crucial was a mastery of the English tongue. Thrust into
such company, Estrada was clearly out of his league

But how things have changed. And looking back, Estrada was the
precursor of a new trend, the personification of the power of media over
memory, of mass appeal over muddled, middle-class idealism. He was
the shape of things to come.

DEMOCRACY AND DEMOGRAPHY. These two factors, more

than any other, account for the rise of Erap Estrada and the train of
movie stars and media personalities that followed his track. Democracy
unleashed a free press, revived electoral politics, and let loose a flood
of demagogues. The media became particularly powerful and
influential, whatever they served lapped up by a public hungry for news
and information. The power of the post-Marcos media is best illustrated
by the rise of ABS-CBN, the broadcasting conglomerate that dominates
Philippine television. The Lopez-owned news network was the first to
sense the broad appeal of news and public affairs programs and
through savvy marketing and glitzy packaging, ABS-CBN made news
sell like never before.

The appetite for news was whetted in large measure by the media
suppression during the Marcos era. But the public’s media hunger was
also shaped by the new demographics. First of all, more Filipinos are
living in urban areas now than ever before, and it is in the cities where
newspapers and radio and TV broadcasts are most easily accessible.
In 1960, only 30 percent lived in cities; by 1995, the figure had risen to
49 percent.

The mass media became a pervasive presence in city life. Up to now,

the bulk of the circulation of national newspapers is sold in Manila, and
the major audiences of TV and radio shows are in the cities. During the

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The Triumph of Illusion

tumult of the Aquino years, urbanites relied on the media to tell them
about coup attempts, disasters and the endless infighting in
Malacañang. The politics of the new democracy was increasingly being
played out in the media: in the endless number of newspaper columns,
talk shows, live news coverages, and public affairs shows.

The media expansion since 1986 has been dramatic. There are
currently 25 newspapers publishing out of Manila; there were less than
10 before Marcos fell. In addition, there are 402 radio and 156
television stations throughout the country, many times more than there
were 15 years ago. The media audience swelled during the economic
growth of the 1990s. During this period, appliance dealers were selling
as many as 500,000 new TV sets a year and cable television
experienced unprecedented growth. The expansion in advertising that
came with a rising economy meant more money for the media as well,
and many more new media outlets.

Because there were virtually no constraints on the press, such rapid

growth brought about unbridled competition and a race for the
sensational. Politicians reacted to the new reality by playing up to the
media gallery. News, in both television and print, became increasingly
tabloid. Politics, given the prevailing political culture and the race for
the spoils of public office, was not much inclined toward the sublime
either. The tabloidization of the news came side by side with the
tabloidization of politics.

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Triumph of Illusion

PUBLIC EYE — THE TRIUMPH OF ILLUSION

AND INDEED, why not? The best of the politicians cast in the 1960s’ mold
were decent men but by the 1990s, they were not offering anything really new.
The worst of the lot were truly execrable. The bankruptcy of pre-martial law
style politics was evident to anyone who read newspapers or watched
television. To the media savvy, it seemed obvious that most politicians were
capable only of wheeling-dealing, greasy oratory and empty promises. By the
1992 elections, just six years after Edsa and the restoration of 1960s-style
politics, the word trapo had become embedded in the national vocabulary and
had come to signify all that was wrong with Philippine political life.

There was a vacuum. The Left, with its stilted ideology and inability to come to
JULY - SEPT 1998 terms with democracy, was splintered and unappealing. Occasionally, there
VOL. IV NO. 3 were one-day wonders like Miriam Defensor-Santiago who cleverly used the
media to touch a sympathetic nerve among the jaded public. But overall, there
was a cynicism toward politics and politicians. All Erap Estrada had to do was
stagger into this vacuum. He repackaged his inadequacies and offered a new
Looking for myth: that of a simple man with a heart for the poor. It was as basic a message
past i articles? as there could ever be, but it appealed to a public that had grown weary of the
doublespeak of both the trapo and the Left. Asiong Salonga triumphed over
Find them here: Joe de Venecia and Joma Sison.
OK
Erap came at the right time. By articulating an inchoate dissatisfaction with
traditional politics, he echoed the popular cynicism with the educated elite that
had ruled the country for decades. He mocked the elite by speaking in Tagalog
and making fun of their college education. He offered jokes in place of oratory.
He was simply being himself, and was a hit if only because Filipinos had not
seen much sincerity in public life.

But much more than this, the movies had made Erap larger than life. For such
are the mass media’s power to magnify, to create illusions of potency. Never
mind if, off screen, Estrada spent more time drinking in bars than defending the
poor and the oppressed. His image far outstripped the reality of his happy-go-
lucky life and rather lackluster political career. There were few others on the
stage of our politics who seemed as compelling, largely because they had not
had the benefit of media magnification that Erap and other movie and TV stars
had.

Estrada stands at the apex of a phenomenon that includes stars like Ramon
Revilla, Loren Legarda and Rene Cayetano. Revilla, whose best-known movie
role was that of the amulet-armed hood Nardong Putik, essentially snored his
way through his first Senate term, yet he has been reelected to a second one.
Legarda’s journalistic career, her colleagues claim, was based on unrelenting
self-promotion, but she topped the senatorial race largely because she gained
fame as ABS-CBN’s news anchor for over a decade. Cayetano was the sad

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The Triumph of Illusion

sack of the legal profession, but managed to wing it to the Senate only
because he played a hotshot attorney in a popular radio and TV program
dispensing legal advice, also on ABS-CBN.

The media, especially television, is the new kingmaker. Never has television
been as pervasive in the Philippines as it is now, when as many as 80 percent
of Filipinos have access to a television set, even if they don’t actually own one.
One of the most surprising results of a recent survey done on the urban poor in
Manila was the high percentage of TV viewers, of whom 52 percent said they
tried not to miss news and public affairs programs. Ask any pundit: In the
1990s, constant TV exposure is a sure-fire guarantee of electoral success.

The downside is that TV is such a seductive medium and such a clever

manufacturer of illusions that the electorate may be deceived. Because of their
pervasive presence, TV and movie stars may crowd out other contenders who
are more serious and more committed to the public welfare. TV is an unfair
medium, with a bias for the articulate and the telegenic. As the following
articles on Legarda and Cayetano show, television also has a genius for
sleight-of hand tricks that make its talents look much more delightful and
discerning than they actually are.

The upside is this. TV and the movies are infusing new blood into electoral
politics, where there is too much old blood, too much inbreeding. The curse of
Philippine politics is the long-entrenched control of clans who have been in
power for generations. Clan control, particularly at the local level, stunts
democratization and prevents the entry of other forces into the still-exclusive
domains of public office. But who would have thought just 10 years ago that
the greatest challenge to clan domination would come from TV and the
movies?

THE REALITY in all this that politics in the Philippines is becoming far less
predictable. In the 12 years since the fall of Marcos, we have had a housewife,
a general and now a movie star for president. It is difficult to draw patterns as
far as the presidency is concerned. The recruitment field for the highest office
of the land is far and wide, no longer limited to the male world of lawyers and
legislators, from where all former presidents had come prior to Aquino. (The
only non-lawyer was Ramon Magsaysay, but even he had a Congress stint.)
For one thing, the party system is in disarray, every new president birthing an
unwieldy coalition that collapses as soon as a new tenant takes over
Malacañang.

Media and movie stars thrive in such disarray. Where there is nothing else that
binds—not platform or ideology or even merely party loyalty—why not sheer
popularity? Why not fan clubs in lieu of political parties? It was not surprising
that strong parties like the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and the Nationalist
People’s Coalition sacrificed their ambitions to Erap’s. And even the once-
formidable Lakas offered senatorial seats to Legarda and Cayetano.

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The Triumph of Illusion

Where no principles are at stake, elections are mere popularity contests. And
they will remain so as long as electoral politics is played this way, as long as
people’s choices are narrowed to that between trapo and guapo. It is far too
easy to blame an undiscriminating electorate for this state of affairs. Yet,
looking back, Filipinos have tended to choose wisely. It is simply that they have
not been offered much of a choice and the media have scant space for the
serious and sensible.

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Myth of Ang Panday

OCT - DEC 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 4

Featured Sections Fernando Poe Jr. has created a mythic, on-screen persona
Find them here: that has continuing appeal to millions of Filipinos.
OK
by Uro Q. dela Cruz
discuss this
article
in our e-forum (This essay explores the
mass appeal of action-
movie legend Fernando
Poe Jr. from the point of
view of a self-confessed
fan, who also happens to
be a director of films and
of the popular Bubble
Gang gag show on GMA-
7. With the 2004 elections
just more than a year
away, Poe — more
popularly known as FPJ
— is looming large as a
See also possible presidential
candidate, even if he has
Star-Studded Politics yet to divulge whether or
not he has any political
by Luz Rimban
plans at all. In the past,
he has repeatedly said
that he had no intentions
of following the footsteps Fernando Poe Jr., the king of Philippine movies, has
of his bosom buddy, declared his intention to run for the presidency.
Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada, [photo courtesy of U.P. Film Center]
who parlayed a
successful film career into various political positions, including the presidency — only
to later fall in deep disgrace. But there is now a FPJ for President Movement and
Erap himself has made it known that he wants his friend to run. Even Malacañang is
said to be worried over the prospects of Ang Panday as a candidate in the next
presidential polls. The Palace and the ruling coalition have reason to fret; as the
companion piece to this story shows, Filipino voters have a history of seemingly being
unable to distinguish the real from the reel.)

I GREW up in Lucban, Quezon in the late 1950s just as the old guards
of Filipino movies — Efren Reyes Sr., Johnny Monteiro, Tony Marzan,
Rogelio de la Rosa, Armando Goyena, Ric Rodrigo — were giving way

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The Myth of Ang Panday

to a new generation of swashbuckling leading men. Most of the

newcomers were members of the Lo’ Waist Gang, among them
Fernando Poe Jr. Joseph Estrada, Zaldy Zhornack, Bob Soler, and the
Salvadors. Separately, these young actors appeared in movies that
dealt with the fast life in urban Manila and its gamut of gang wars,
neighborhood rumbles, crime syndicates, and smuggled contraband.
Their love affairs were mostly patterned after a successful formula: the
Manila version of the Capulets and the Montagues. But we
probinsiyanos found their problems too distant, too alien. The women
were mostly fallen angels — unwilling prostitutes. The men were
literally bastards trying to gain respect through guts and their ability to
handle a gun or to engage anybody in a fistfight. Living the bucolic
provincial life, we simply did not understand their lumpen-proletariat
situation.

Then, one of the new matinee idols got out of urban Manila and rode
on a horse into a mythical Filipino landscape — the Filipino Western.
All conflicts became classic conflicts, the fight between good and evil,
freedom against bondage. Those problems we understood. We had
also grown up with Francisco V. Coching’s timeless komiks world of the
lone warrior and seeing one come to life on the silver screen was sheer
magic.

The cinematic Pinoy cowboy was Fernando Poe Jr. as Daniel Barrion.
Immediately we became his fans, even if he himself took his sweet time
to establish, in a series of films, the distinctive persona that became a
legend: soft-spoken, unassuming, clear-headed in the face of all kinds
of adversity and always willing to sacrifice his own safety to save
someone else’s life. It was this FPJ that at least two generations of
Pinoys growing up from the 1960s to the 80s would admire: the hero
who would never start a fight or be provoked into one, and who would
even allow himself to be ground to the ground, to the point where the
audience would already be begging, please fight back. And that would
be the only time that he would.

MOVIE after movie, FPJ played the strong, silent hero who was given
to occasionally spouting nuggets of folk wisdom. I would learn much
later that he would usually come to a meeting for his latest movie, open
his black notebook, and say something like, “I want these lines in the
film.” And that would be it, the script would be done. After all, the plots
of FPJ movies are nearly all the same, and the scripts would merely be
written around a collection of memorable one-liners such as “Kapag
puno na ang salop, kailangan kalusin (When the container is full, it
needs to be leveled).” Said in a whispered but gravelly voice, the
cryptic lines seemed soothing to those he was protecting, yet
threatening to his enemies.

Whether playing a farmer or a rebel, the FPJ movie hero was always
the perfect gentleman whom my friends and I tried to copy. We dealt
with our girlfriends as though we were FPJ. In most situations, we

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The Myth of Ang Panday

would first ask ourselves, what would FPJ do? At least I did. You wait
on the side, having announced that you liked the girl. This
announcement is never verbal. There is an FPJ attitude that you could
emulate to telegraph this message. You never looked the girl in the
eye. You drank a bottle of beer with friends but you stared in the
distance, head low, thinking of her. You became embarrassed when
she acknowledged your existence. You never raised your voice when
speaking to her. You kept yourself in the sidelines all the time. During
confrontations, you always took steps backward when your
overpowering opponent moved against you. In front of your loved one,
you’d take a beating, even to the point that you are already crawling on
the ground, losing the respect of a young boy who idolized you. But you
exploded with seething rage should somebody lay as much as a finger
on your girl’s hair.

When alone with the girl, you

never said I love you. You just
used your instinct. When the
time was right, you grabbed
her, lifted her off the ground
and kissed her hard — but for
just a few seconds, never
prolonging it, never moving
your lips. But intense. Then
you released her and then
turned away slowly, feigning
embarrassment, ready to kill
yourself at the slightest hint
that the girl was offended. That
was the FPJ way.

Those used by the other movie FPJ was always the gallant hero saving
damsels from distress, and a perfect, if
actors just didn’t cut it. Erap mostly silent, gentleman in his movie
Estrada would kiss the girl roles. [photo courtesy of U.P. Film Center]
then wink at the audience, as if
saying “Nakaisa ako (I scored).” Or Tony Ferrer would linger, suck the
face of the girl, feeling pogi afterwards even as you saw the girl’s face
turning red. And there was Jess Lapid Sr., the other Pinoy cowboy
whose idea of kissing was tonguing. So unlike FPJ, who came off so
humble, yet so cool.

My friends even started to dress up like him — the low-waisted jeans

with a leather belt, a collared plain shirt (never a T-shirt), leather boots
(never rubber shoes, that’s Erap). When FPJ discovered the young Jay
Ilagan and began making movies with him, that new image of him stuck
in our minds. In fact, it somehow confused us; we wanted to be FPJ,
but we also wanted to be Jay Ilagan, because, actually, we were Jay’s
age. One of us, the son of the owner of the only movie house in our
town, hired a young boy to always accompany him to complete the FPJ
look.

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The Myth of Ang Panday

Significantly, in the late 1960s and early 70s FPJ moved away from his
Daniel Barrion image and tried becoming a Muslim warrior, (in Perlas
ng Silangan — Pearl of the Orient — co-starring Susan Roces as his
Muslim princess, whom he would later marry in real life, starting a trend
in the industry of popular action stars marrying popular actresses), a
guilt-ridden guerilla fighter (in a Lino Brocka drama), and then into
political history as Southern Tagalog rebel Asedillo, directed by Celso
Ad. Castillo.

Asedillo proved memorable for me, because this was during martial
law, and FPJ was playing a dissenter. There is a scene in the movie in
which he enters a town and everyone closes their windows. FPJ then
says, “Huwag ninyo akong talikuran, ako ay isda, kayo ang aking
dagat. (Don’t turn your backs on me, I am a fish, and you are my
ocean).” In one fell swoop, my hero had managed to merge Chairman
Mao and Merlin the Magician. Mao Tse Tung once said, “The guerrilla
is like a fish in the sea.” In Camelot, Merlin turned King Arthur into a
fish, so that he could look at life from a nonhuman point of view.

Yet by that time, my friends and I had moved on. Time for college. It
seemed that suddenly, FPJ had become insignificant. By looking at the
ads, we learned that he started doing police roles and they did not
interest us, until Celso Ad. Castillo did the quintessential FPJ movie,
Ang Alamat (The Legend). Being a probinsiyano himself, Castillo
understood what we were looking for. Set in a timeless, region-free,
and mythical Filipino rural community, Ang Alamat brought back the
lone warrior, spiritually wounded by a previous war, seeking solace
then suddenly pushed into the familiar situation of injustice, violence
and abuse of power. After watching him save the town and then say
goodbye to practically each of its residents, we realized that this was
going to be the last great FPJ movie.

I was already writing scripts by then. When I was growing up, I had
always dreamt of doing one for FPJ. But after watching Ang Alamat, I
decided that my FPJ movie had already been done. There was nothing
more to contribute to the saga. He would later make the highly popular
Ang Panday (The Blacksmith) series, but to me, Ang Alamat was it.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Star-Studded Politics

OCT - DEC 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 4

Featured Sections Even if they don't always give stellar performances, movie
Find them here: stars shine in the theater of Philippine politics.
OK
by Luz Rimban
discuss this
article
in our e-forum BEFORE the 1960s, the only actor to have conquered national politics
was popular matinee idol Rogelio de la Rosa, who won a seat in the
Senate in 1957. Four years later, he ran for president as an
independent candidate against reelectionist President Carlos P. Garcia
of the Nacionalista Party and top-notch lawyer and congressman
Diosdado Macapagal of the Liberal Party.

De la Rosa withdrew from the presidential race a few days before the
election, ostensibly because his campaign had run out of funds.
Personal ties were also likely to have prevailed: De la Rosa gave up his
own ambitions to make way for Macapagal, his brother-in-law and
boyhood friend from Lubao, Pampanga.

Rogelio de la Rosa was the kind of leading man packaged as dashing,

debonair and decent. Keeping up his showbiz image, he did what he
probably thought was the proper thing to do: turn his back on a fight he
knew he wasn't going to win.

These days, it would be

unthinkable for an actor to come
that close to the presidency and
walk away from it. Then again,
showbiz and politics have
changed some since the 1950s.

By the latter years of that

decade, the movie studios were
replacing the Rogelio de la Rosa-
types with the rough and gruff type of bidas embodied by the likes of
Joseph Estrada. This new breed of lead stars was packaged as

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Star-Studded Politics

unschooled underdogs who never backed away from battles. In the

world spun on the silver screen, these actors would get their fair share
of beatings but end up victorious against even the most powerful
enemies.

These were the kind of celebrities the growing number of masa

identified with at a time of social upheaval and rapid change. Toward
the end of the turbulent 1960s, Estrada would himself venture into
politics, running for mayor of San Juan town, which he would rule for 16
years.

In 1987, exactly 30 years later, Estrada would reprise de la Rosa's

entry into the Senate. Although martial law had by then irreversibly
changed Philippine society and politics, Filipinos expected the Senate
to remain what it was before 1972: an arena where de la Rosa would
be at home but where Estrada would be way out of his league. Yet
most Filipinos also had the nagging feeling that Estrada the underdog
would survive, just like he always did in his movies.

Everyone now knows how Estrada's political story ended. But even
after he fell, it was he, and not de la Rosa, who would serve as a model
for succeeding generations of celluloid world-celebrities aspiring to
break into the world of politics.

With the exception of Ramon Revilla, most of the current crop of

showbiz personalities entered politics through local government. It is
here where they build up a base of mass support, learn the ropes of
governance, or exploit their positions for media mileage.

A seat in local politics — the path Estrada opened — remains the route
of choice, as seen by the number of actors and actresses who ran for
councilor, vice-mayor, mayor, or for seats in provincial government in
the last two elections. A limited geographical area and number of
voters, as well as highly personalized politics make the local arena the
easiest entry point for showbiz celebrities hoping to make the shift to
the real world.

There was another factor in the Estrada formula that helped others win:
their being action stars, the ultimate screen heroes. For all his flaws,
Estrada will always be the goon-punching Asiong Salonga or
Kumander Alibasbas to the Filipino movie-going and voting public, in
the same way that Revilla will always be remembered as the hero
wielding anting-anting (amulets) against the forces of evil. In a male-
dominated society where the macho always wants to have the last
word (or punch), Estrada and his kind inspired generations of Filipino
toughies ready to pick a fight or even pull a trigger at the flimsiest
excuse.

The worst aspects of Philippine politics rubbed off on Estrada, too. He

established his own dynasty in San Juan, something that Ramon

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Star-Studded Politics

Revilla hopes to replicate in his home province Cavite, and Lito Lapid,
in Pampanga.

To be sure, not all show biz personalities succeed at politics. There are
many more who sought but didn't find roles in the political theater, for
various reasons. And then there is an area off-limits to actors — the
House of Representatives, which remains the bastion of clan and
patronage politics, where seats are mostly inherited from family
members or won by doling out huge amounts of campaign funds.

Having a household name, however, remains a movie or TV

personality's most enviable asset, one that can win a place in national
politics as Estrada has demonstrated or one that can fight political
machinery and money in places like Kalookan or Cavite where
strongmen have found their match in movie stars.

It is difficult to build an unblemished reputation in politics these days,

when many others compete for the limelight and where the unrelenting
nose of modern-day media could sniff out scandal and strike down
those with the smallest secrets to hide. But Pinoys seem to be more
forgiving and tolerant of showbiz personalities with their scandal-ridden
lives.

Years ago, political parties simply rode on these stars' names by hiring
them to entertain voters in the mitings de avance or political rallies of
election campaigns. Today politicians either marry into showbiz names
to boost their chances or political parties attempt to "own" these names
by recruiting stars into the fold, the better to sprinkle party-mates with
the pixie dust of fame.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Star-Studded Politics

PUBLIC EYE — STAR-STUDDED POLITICS

ROGELIO DE LA ROSA
Government positions held: Senator and Diplomat
Previous employment: Actor

Rogelio de la Rosa was the first actor to rise to national prominence as a

politician. Although three decades separated him and his successor Joseph
Estrada, it was de la Rosa who first proved that actors could make the crossing
from film, theater, and later television, to the Senate, a chamber then thought
to be the exclusive domain of the erudite.

De la Rosa came from a breed of movie stars the likes of which the country no
OCT - DEC 2002
VOL. VIII NO. 4
longer sees, in the same manner that the pre-martial law Senate that
welcomed him is a far cry from what it is today. In his time, senators were
eloquent orators, the perfect company for de la Rosa, who is said to have been
a champion debater and orator in his college years.

Featured Sections
De la Rosa was elected to the Senate in 1957 and served until 1965. He ran
Find them here: for president in 1961, but withdrew shortly before election day, stacking the
OK odds in favor of his brother-in-law, Diosdado Macapagal, whose first wife
Purita was de la Rosa's sister.

His early Senate record shows that he filed bills relating to fisheries and
agriculture, such as the nationalization of the rice and corn mills and the
gradual nationalization of the rice and corn industry. De la Rosa co-authored
the bill creating the Board of Censors for Motion Pictures, the precursor of
today's MRTCB (Movie and Television Review and Classification Board).

After his stint at the Senate, de la Rosa shifted to the foreign service where he
became dean of the diplomatic corps. He was appointed ambassador to
Cambodia, the Netherlands, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. He tried returning to
Congress by running for a seat in the Batasang Pambansa in 1984 but lost. He
died in 1987.

JOSEPH ESTRADA
Government positions held: Mayor, Senator, Vice President, President
Previous employment: Action Star

Joseph Estrada remains the best argument against electing actors to public
office, or at least letting them walk the corridors of absolute power.

He entered politics at the height of his career in the movies, where he was
packaged as a man for the masses who, in the end, always managed to beat
his oppressors. Estrada capped his nearly 30-year political career - as mayor,

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Star-Studded Politics

senator, and vice president - with 30 months of one of the most decadent
presidencies the country has ever seen.

By the time he reached Malacañang, he had perfected the political art of

illusion: he managed to make people believe, for two and a half years, that he
was fulfilling the duties of the presidency when in fact he was attending only to
the perks that went with it.

Filipinos will probably never know the actual extent to which Estrada and his
cronies damaged the economy, but it is believed that what is now publicly
known barely scratches the surface - filching tobacco excise taxes and social
security funds, taking bribes from illegal gambling operations, getting
commissions from businessmen-friends doing deals with government, living a
lavish lifestyle, and flaunting his many mistresses.

These, however, were enough for Congress to initiate impeachment

proceedings against Estrada, the only president so far to have undergone that
experience. Hints of Estrada's complicity in smuggling and illegal drugs
surfaced during the impeachment trial, but his allies in the Senate prevented
impeachment lawyers from any further pursuit of those charges.

Estrada, however, was thrown out of office and has been detained in a
government hospital suite for 19 months now as he faces charges of plunder.
Already, the Department of Justice has presented more than 40 witnesses to
testify against the former actor, with 25 more to go till prosecutors rest their
case.

Despite his political misfortune, Estrada's name and legacy live on. He
managed to establish his own dynasty in his hometown San Juan, where a
son, Jose Victor (JV) is the incumbent mayor. JV inherited the post from his
half-brother, Jinggoy, who himself followed in their father's footsteps as action
star-turned-politician-turned-detainee.

VICENTE SOTTO III

Government positions held: Vice Mayor, Senator
Previous employment: Comedian, songwriter, recording company executive

By the time the 1992 elections were held, the post-Marcos mass media had
flourished, Joseph Estrada had logged five years as senator, and the public
was getting used to the idea of showbiz personalities running for public office.
That year, two were elected to the Senate: comedian Tito Sotto and action star
Ramon Revilla.

Sotto's four-year stint as vice mayor of Quezon City became the springboard
for his senatorial ambitions. Even then, he had packaged himself as a crusader
against illegal drugs and campaigner for youth welfare.

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Star-Studded Politics

Sotto topped the 1992 race for the Senate, where he brought with him his
causes, especially the one on illegal drugs. But as he set his sights on higher
political ground, Sotto was cut down by a scandal from which he has never
quite recovered.

In 1997, while he was chairman of the Senate committee on illegal drugs,

Sotto and his aide were accused of harboring links with the drug lord Alfredo
Tiongco, who is alleged to have financed the senator's 1992 campaign. Sotto
denied any ties, although he did admit seeking police protection for Tiongco
who, the senator said, approached him after allegedly receiving death threats.

Before the Tiongco fiasco, Sotto's name was being floated as a possible
presidential candidate who could be fielded against Joseph Estrada in the
1998 elections, or at the very least, as a contender for the vice presidency. The
drug scandal scuttled his plans for higher office. In his next run for the Senate
in 1998, he fell to number five spot.

Sotto remained one of Estrada's closest allies in the Senate and stood by the
fallen president through his last days.

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Star-Studded Politics

PUBLIC EYE — STAR-STUDDED POLITICS

RAMON REVILLA
Government positions held: Customs Officer, Senator
Previous employment: Action Star

Ramon Revilla could have joined Joseph Estrada in the 1987 Senate had he
used his screen name and not his real name, Jose Bautista. Because he failed
to have his movie name accredited, the Commission on Elections threw out the
votes meant for Ramon Revilla. This experience taught aspiring showbiz
politicians that come election day, voters will write down the name they know
and remember, bogus though it may be.

OCT - DEC 2002

VOL. VIII NO. 4
Revilla gained fame for playing do-gooders whose amulets gave them a cloak
of invincibility. Unlike the others, he did not start his political career in local
government, although he held the position of senior intelligence officer of the
Bureau of Customs from 1965 to 1972.

Featured Sections
Little is known of how he fared as Customs intelligence officer but a later
Find them here: scandal betrayed hints of how he must have performed. In his early days at the
OK Senate, Revilla was accused of skipping taxes and customs duties for the
importation of gamecocks. Revilla is a known cockfighting aficionado and has
been running a cockfighting arena in his hometown of Imus, Cavite.

Apart from his involvement in a few scandals, such as the recent debacle over
his failure to return an official Pajero he borrowed eight years ago from the
Department of Public Works and Highways, and his legislative support for the
movie industry, Revilla the senator is known as nothing more than a silent
benchwarmer. Although he had little to show for his first six years in office,
Revilla, like Sotto, was elected for a second six-year Senate term in 1998.

Revilla took the cue from Estrada and tried to build his own dynasty in Cavite,
with help from the ruling party Lakas. In 1995, the party fielded the senator's
actor-son Ramon Jr., otherwise known as Bong, to be vice governor to former
National Bureau of Investigation Chief Epimaco Velasco who ran for governor.
The tandem beat longtime Cavite strongman Governor Juanito Remulla.

In 1998, Bong Revilla ran for the top provincial post and won, but his fortunes
changed three years later when he failed to get reelected. His wife, actress
Lani Mercado, also lost her bid to become mayor of Bacoor town. His brother
Edwin, a.k.a. Strike, however, is now member of the provincial board. A few
months ago, Bong Revilla himself was appointed head of the Videogram
Regulatory Board where he carries out a real-life role hunting down video
pirates.

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Star-Studded Politics

LITO LAPID
Government positions held: Vice Governor, Governor
Previous employment: Action Star

Lito Lapid and Rey Malonzo belong to a younger generation of action stars
who probably idolized Joseph Estrada. What the two actors also have in
common is that they pursued their political careers under parties opposing that
of Estrada's, eventually earning them the ire of the senior ex-star. Lapid and
Malonzo both played antiheroes to the Estrada presidency, much like the
villains Estrada used to conquer in his movies.

Lapid first entered politics as vice governor of Pampanga in 1992. He moved

up to governor in 1995, a post to which he was re-elected twice. In the 1998
presidential elections, he was blamed for Estrada's resounding defeat in the
province, something that Lapid eventually paid for.

Under the Estrada presidency, the Ombudsman filed three graft charges
against Lapid: the illegal collection of taxes from lahar quarrying, the alleged
illegal purchase of real estate in San Fernando town, and Lapid's alleged
failure to account for over P2 million in cash advances. In November 1999, the
Ombudsman meted Lapid a one-year suspension for the lahar quarrying case.
Lapid took the case to the appellate court, but his appeal was thrown out.

Lapid endeared himself to Estrada's successor, President Gloria Macapagal

Arroyo — who comes from the same province. The governor, after all, had
appeared in two movies with Arroyo's son Juan Miguel (Mikey) and taken him
in as vice-gubernatorial candidate in the 2001 local elections. During the Edsa
3 uprising of May 2001, Arroyo allowed Lapid to exact sweet revenge on
Estrada by giving him the authority to post bail for, and take custody of,
arrested Estrada loyalists.

Lapid hopes to build his own dynasty in Pampanga. He is grooming his son
Mark to be an action star-turned-politician like him. The elder Lapid even
directed Mark in one action movie. In 2001, Mark Lapid won a seat as
barangay captain in their hometown of Porac and went on to head the
influential provincial association of barangay captains. Lapid the governor
hopes this will be his son's stepping stone for higher political office in
Pampanga.

REY MALONZO
Government positions held: Mayor
Previous employment: Action Star

Unlike other political actors who belonged to the elite of show business, Rey
Malonzo has no acting award to boast of, although he made a name appearing
in a slew of mostly forgettable martial arts movies playing essentially the same
types of roles that made Joseph Estrada famous.

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Star-Studded Politics

In 1995, Malonzo ran for mayor of Kalookan, defeating Macario 'Boy'Asistio, a

member of the moneyed and well-entrenched political family that has ruled the
city for decades. The Asistios never forgave him for that. In 1996, barangay
captains loyal to the Asistios filed a recall petition against Malonzo and
demanded new elections, saying the mayor had lost the trust and confidence
of his constituents for allegedly misusing funds meant for the city's teachers. A
recall election was held and Malonzo won, allowing him to continue ruling
Kalookan City.

But Malonzo's woes only worsened after he was reelected in the 1998 polls,
the same elections that brought Estrada, a close friend of the Asistios, to
Malacañang. In March 1999, the Office of the President ordered the
suspension of Malonzo and several other Kalookan City officials for graft, for
realigning P39 million of the city budget. Malonzo was suspended for 20 days.

In 2001, Malonzo won a third term, this time against former congressman Luis
'Baby' Asistio, whose family continued to make things difficult for the mayor.
Luis Asistio filed a protest against Malonzo for declaring himself winner even
before the Commission on Elections had issued its proclamation. Because of
the case, Malonzo had to wait four months before assuming his seat.

Malonzo continues to generate controversy. Earlier this year, he wanted the

historic Bonifacio Monument in Balintawak transferred to the city of Manila to
decongest his side of the metropolis. This earned him the ire of historians and
politicians. More recently, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigated
past and present Kalookan city officials, Malonzo included, for selling city
property to the Gotesco family at a price disadvantageous to government.

In a recent interview, Malonzo was quoted as saying he was planning to run for
the Senate in 2004.

JOEY MARQUEZ
Government positions held: Mayor
Previous employment: Pro basketball player, Comedian

Joey Marquez had a short-lived career as a professional basketball player. He

shifted to show business where doors were opened for him, being the son of
movie director Artemio Marquez and brother of beauty queen-actress Melanie
Marquez.

Marquez started out carving a niche for himself as an action star-comedian

appearing in movies, although he would later stick to just making people laugh,
on television. Marquez entered politics around the same time as Lito Lapid,
running first for vice mayor of the predominantly middle class town of
Parañaque — and winning. He became mayor in 1995.

One of the earliest controversies involving Marquez the mayor was the holding
of the Michael Jackson concert in Parañaque. Sometime in 1997, the

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Star-Studded Politics

Ombudsman decided to file charges against Marquez for allowing — through a

hastily approved town council resolution — the concert organizers to pay
amusement taxes of only two percent of gross receipts, when internal revenue
rules mandated 30 percent.

A few years later, the Commission on Audit recommended the filing of graft
charges against Marquez and other city officials before the Ombudsman, this
time for malversation of city funds amounting to more than P600 million.

Marquez gained notoriety earlier this year for carrying on an affair with former
presidential daughter and TV personality Kris Aquino even before his marriage
to actress Alma Moreno was annulled. He denied allegations he intended to
use the affair for a purported senatorial candidacy in 2004.

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Star-Studded Politics

PUBLIC EYE — STAR-STUDDED POLITICS

HERBERT BAUTISTA
Government positions held: Vice-mayor
Previous employment: Comedian

Just in his 30s, Herbert Bautista is already a showbiz veteran, having first
appeared in movies and television as a child and taking on comedy roles in his
older years. He often acted as sidekick to leading men, whether dramatic
actors, comedians, or action stars.

Bautista has been playing the role of junior star or supporting actor even in his
political career. His route into politics was first through the Kabataang
OCT - DEC 2002
VOL. VIII NO. 4
Barangay, which he presided for six years. He then won a seat in the Quezon
City Council and then became vice mayor, the position once held by fellow
comedian Tito Sotto.

Featured Sections In 1998, Bautista aligned himself with the Lapian ng Masang Pilipino or LAMP,
the coalition formed to support Joseph Estrada's candidacy for president. He
Find them here: got LAMP's blessings to run for mayor but was unable to defeat third-termer
OK and seasoned politician Ismael Mathay for the post. While he was president,
Estrada named Bautista National Youth Commissioner.

Bautista continued to aspire for higher office. At one point, he was said to be
contemplating running for the congressional seat in Quezon City once
occupied by another youth leader, Mike Defensor.

In the 2001 elections, however, Bautista again had to step aside to allow action
star Rudy Fernandez, another Estrada supporter, to fulfill his political
ambitions. Bautista became running mate and vice-mayoralty bet to
Fernandez, who ran for mayor. Bautista won even if Fernandez didn't and
continues to play sidekick to former House Speaker and present Quezon City
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte.

VILMA SANTOS
Government positions held: Mayor
Previous employment: Dramatic Actress

The two most prominent female show biz celebrities-turned politicians -

Lipa City Mayor Vilma Santos and Camarines Sur Vice Governor Imelda Papin
- manage to avoid the limelight. Both quietly hold local positions in turfs far
from Metro Manila and the prying eyes of the Manila-based press and are
believed not to be interested in publicity en route to national positions.

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Star-Studded Politics

The public knows all too well that Vilma Santos entered politics because of her
husband, Ralph Recto, grandson of the late nationalist Senator Claro M.
Recto. Santos ran for and won the mayoralty in the Rectos' hometown in 1998,
the same year her husband won a congressional seat in Batangas province.

Being one of the country's A-list actresses assured her of media attention. It
also kept the public constantly reminded of her husband, who was then
hatching plans to run for the Senate. During the 2001 senatorial race, Santos
campaigned vigorously for Recto as did fellow actress Sharon Cuneta for her
husband Francis Pangilinan.

But while Pangilinan landed in the upper rungs of the winners' ladder, Recto
barely made it. Pangilinan could claim to being a lawyer; in comparison, Recto
had no expertise nor experience in a particular field to boast of, and the
increasingly youthful voting population had all but forgotten the name of his
illustrious forebear. Although the Recto name still carries some cache and
recall, Ralph Recto's more bankable asset was a name not his own: Vilma
Santos.

Santos herself was thrust into politics because of her affinity with the Rectos
and has cultivated the image of being a politician interested in good
governance. Right after winning the 1998 elections, Santos embarked on a
crash course on public administration at the University of the Philippines. She
has adopted a variety of causes ranging from agriculture to the environment,
although she had, at one point, gotten much flak for spending only half her
time in Batangas and neglecting her official duties to be with her family in
Manila.

Santos has fared much better in politics than the other star of her generation,
Nora Aunor, who ran for governor of Camarines Sur in 2001. Not even Aunor's
name nor her belated denunciation of ex-lover Joseph Estrada during the Edsa
2 gatherings could charm the voting public in Camarines Sur.

IMELDA PAPIN
Government positions held: Vice Governor
Previous employment: Singer

Singer Imelda Papin did better than the bigger singer and superstar Nora
Aunor in Camarines Sur.

Papin is a former "Jukebox Queen" who became famous in the 1970s and 80s
for singing teary Tagalog love songs. She openly admits that she was named
after former First Lady Imelda Marcos, with whom she has become good
friends. The two even recorded an album together, a limited edition cassette
that had the title, "Imelda Papin featuring Imelda Romualdez Marcos, " which
included the older Imelda's signature songs "Dahil Sa Iyo" and "Feelings."

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Star-Studded Politics

When Papin ran for vice governor in 1998, however, her name was no longer a
byword. But she still commanded a following, at least among the masa in the
Bicol region, and she won. Longtime politician Luis Villafuerte of the Laban ng
Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), meanwhile, got the top provincial post. Papin
soon learned that being a member of the rival political party Lakas-NUCD was
an obstacle, at least in her getting things done. She realized that funds for her
projects were being blocked simply because she did not belong to the
province's ruling party.

By the time she sought reelection three years later, Papin had wizened up to
politics. Instead of fighting the provincial capitol, she joined it. Papin enlisted in
the LDP and became Villafuerte's running mate in the 2001 elections. It was
the Villafuerte-Papin team that defeated Nora Aunor and her running mate
Emmanuel Llaguno.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

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The Myth of Ang Panday

PUBLIC EYE —THE MYTH OF ANG PANDAY

STRANGELY enough, there is little I

know about Ronnie Poe, the real-life FPJ.
Unlike his best friend Erap, whose life is
an open secret, Ronnie Poe has
managed to remain a mystery man even
to his fans. The few facts that are known
about him only help his image: as a
teenager, he stood as padre de familia to
his mother and siblings following the
death of his movie actor father, Fernando
Sr.; he is still married to Roces after all
OCT - DEC 2002 these years; he is an award-winning actor
VOL. VIII NO. 4 and director; and he is a loyal friend.
True, there have been rumors of
indiscretions with a variety of women and
drinking binges, but unlike Erap who
Featured Sections would even revel in such tales, Ronnie
Poe has preferred to remain tight-lipped.
Find them here: Fernando Poe Jr. created a mythical
landscape in the Filipino Western
OK Lately, I have been introducing FPJ to my where all conflicts were a struggle
children. But it is proving to be quite between good and evil. [photo
difficult. I realize that you have to grow up courtesy of U.P. Film Center]
with FPJ to really appreciate him. The
problem lies in the difference between my children’s image of him and the
legend that I keep in my head. They don’t see him as the ageless hero that I
do. Yet I have to concede that while he helped me grow out of my boyhood, his
films did not help me deal with adulthood. His most memorable movies did not
deal with fatherhood. Or, let’s face it, with being a grandfather, a role my
children think he should be doing now. After all, aren’t the maidens-in-distress
in his past films now doing grandmother roles?

Even Clint Eastwood, the “American” FPJ is not afraid to show his age. His
roles take him to emergency room because of heart attacks. In Eastwood’s
latest film, he even undergoes a heart transplant.

But then perhaps it’s not fair to compare FPJ with Clint Eastwood, whose
famous line, “Go ahead, make my day” could not have been uttered by the
king of Philippine cinema. That line and the attitude that went with it belonged
to another hero of Philippine movies, Erap.

FPJ and Erap may have been the best of chums on- and off-screen, but their
public images could not have been more different. Even in the films they made
together, Erap was the bomb about to explode while FPJ always kept the
coolest of heads. As FPJ showed a mastery of restraint, Erap burst into

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The Myth of Ang Panday

rampages, getting him into a lot of

trouble, which added excitement and
complications to the plot. Erap would
be the one who would cross the line,
the one who would be temporarily
tempted by the Dark Force. FPJ would
always be the one to enter the
hornets’ nest to save Erap, so that
they could fight side-by-side until the
final victory. It was a tandem that had
enthralled moviegoers for almost two
decades. The question now is if In his films, FPJ liked to spout nuggets of
Ronnie Poe would be willing to reprise folk wisdom, especially to young people.
that role in the real rough-and-tumble [photo courtesy of U.P. Film Center]
world of politics. Or maybe, what he
waiting for is for Filipinos to say, please fight.

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Like a Shooting Star

JULY - SEPT 1998

VOL. IV NO. 3

Loren Legarda has moored her political career on her long-

time stint as a TV anchor.
Looking for
past i articles? by Luz Rimban

Find them here: IT TERRIFIES me,

OK the venerable Walter
Cronkite once said,
discuss this that anyone should
article suggest that “a
in our e-forum person, just because
he anchors an
evening broadcast,
might be qualified to run for public office.”

“There’s no relation between those two things,” said Cronkite, the US

media icon who delivered the evening news to generations of viewers
on the CBS television network until he retired in 1981, at the age of 65.
“It shows how skewed our values have become.”

What worried Cronkite was the excessive promotion and over-

glorification of news anchors whose only job is to look and sound good
on television. In reality, he said, they are nothing more than news
presenters who read what other people write and voice other people’s
views.

Yet in his heydey, anchors—though nothing more than

newsreaders—could hold their own in the fast-paced world of
broadcast news. TV news then was the domain of the brilliant, quick-
thinking, and eloquent, as exemplified by Cronkite himself. Here in the
Philippines, such qualities could also be found in the likes of the late
Jose Mari Velez.

These days, say seasoned local TV journalists, the networks prefer

them younger and prettier, even if they are less cerebral. And the
danger Cronkite had warned about is not only imminent, it is already
here.

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Like a Shooting Star

Through the wizardry of television merchandising and promotion,

broadcast networks—with the television giant ABS-CBN at the
forefront—are transforming anchorpeople into crusaders and
superheroes, and even getting people to elect them into public office.

“I don’t think ABS-CBN is in the business of creating political kings and

queens,” says Salvii Casino, chief image designer of the country’s
largest network and master of the art of television gimmickry. “That’s
not a conscious effort. But it’s a conscious business effort to build
superstars to whom we can later assign shows that will rate and sell.”

The consumer-oriented ABS-CBN knows only too well that there is a

market for superstars and heroes here. The network has invested
heavily in promoting its news stars through constant exposure, glitzy
plugs, and publicity blitzes. Taking advantage of high-profile news
events, the station has not only sold news, it has created a cult of
anchors as well. Before ABS-CBN, Noli de Castro was just another
booming voice on radio and Korina Sanchez a junior-ranked
newsreader on a government TV station.

No other network has gone so far in promoting its anchors. But then no
other media organization has grasped the concept of news as
commodity as much as ABS-CBN has. Its executives know that to sell
news, anchors must have not only star appeal but also a semblance of
credibility and authority. And they must be perceived to be hard-hitting.

Today, news anchors—whose faces appear on TV screens rain or

shine, good times and bad—are about the only people the public
believes. To the public, they tell it like it is; they are courageous
crusaders who do not shirk from criticizing the highest officials of the
land and from exposing any wrongdoing. To the public eye, news
anchors are superheroes who brave the worst disasters and uncover
the most scandalous scams in this catastrophe-hit and corruption-
ridden country.

Casino thinks the world is seeing the era of superstar broadcast

journalists. “So many things are happening,” he points out. “Abroad
there was Tiananmen Square, Bosnia, the Gulf War.” Constantly-
evolving state-of-the-art technology is bringing these events—and with
them the broadcast journalists—to every living room across the globe.

“Here, we were lucky,” says Casino, even if ABS-CBN’s good fortune

meant misery to the rest of the country. “There was the (December
1989) coup, the killer quake, Pinatubo—there were natural and
manmade calamities that gave opportunities for our people in News
and Public Affairs to shine.”

The network has continuously crafted attention-grabbing

advertisements to drum the names and faces of ABS-CBN’s news

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Like a Shooting Star

personalities into the viewers’ heads. It is through these creative

promos, says Casino that “we were able to tell the public that these
people are really good and you have to trust us, to believe us.”

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

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Like a Shooting Star

PUBLIC EYE — LIKE A SHOOTING STAR

VOTERS OBVIOUSLY did. In the May 1998 elections, 15 million of

them—nearly half the nation’s electorate—voted into the Senate Loren
Legarda, one of ABS-CBN’s most popular anchors.

“I’m not a politician, you know. I just came out of nowhere like a shooting star!”
says Legarda in an interview, assessing her triumph as Senate topnotcher.

A statement clouded perhaps by heady victory, but not quite accurate. While
Legarda may be a political neophyte, she did not exactly appear out of
nowhere. Almost every night for the last 12 years, she has been seen and
heard on television anchoring ABS-CBN’s nightly English news program “The
JULY - SEPT 1998
VOL. IV NO. 3
World Tonight.” Viewers saw her an extra hour at least one night every week,
when she hosted a public affairs program, at first the travelogue-type
magazine show “Pep Talk,” which was later replaced by “The Inside Story.”
Legarda, in short, had a 12-year headstart over many of the 70 other senatorial
candidates.
Looking for
past i articles? Name recall, almost everyone now agrees, was what made Legarda win. “It’s
Find them here: just like brand awareness,” says entertainment columnist Edmund Sicam of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Voters rely a lot on brand awareness. And they
OK
(people at ABS-CBN) are very good at merchandising.”

Indeed, Casino likens present-day elections to the merchandising or

advertising wars that were formerly the domain of business. Given the huge
number of candidates ushered in by the multiparty system, only the popular
survived.

“Like in a supermarket, ang daming gatas, ang daming softdrinks, sabon,

margarine, so kung sino ang may pinakamalaking advertising budget na
palaging nakikita sa TV yung brand, image, kulay, siya ang magiging mas
mabili (Like in a supermarket, you see so many brands of milk, softdrinks,
soap, margarine. The one backed up by the biggest advertising budget which
is often seen on TV is the one that people buy),” Casino explains. And
because Legarda’s was one of the most popular names on the political shelf,
political parties fell over themselves trying to “own” it. Political operators would
have drafted ABS-CBN mainstays Noli de Castro and Dong Puno as well, had
they made themselves available as candidates, but only Loren grabbed the
invitation to run for public office.

Once she did, the station began stacking the odds in her favor. Just prior to the
campaign period, the network produced gratis 30-second TV ads on Legarda,
and the other ABS-CBN talent who ran for the Senate, lawyer Rene Cayetano.
The commercials were aired for free on the network primetime hours. Other

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Like a Shooting Star

candidates had coughed up millions producing their plugs, and millions more
getting them aired. At the time, ABS-CBN was charging rates of as high as
P95,000 per 30-second slot for political advertisements on primetime.

Legarda had an edge over Cayetano, apart from the fact that she looked like a
movie star and he didn’t. “She has a video file of all political big names in the
world whom she had already interviewed,” says Casino who wrote the script
for the plug and took charge of producing it. “Magandang tingnan yon. Pag
pinagtabi mo siya sa malalaking tao (That’s nice to see. When you put her
beside important people), she would look big also.”

Basically, continues Casino, “we showed the things that have already been
shown about Loren in previous ‘Inside Story’ plugs. So we were not saying
anything new. Except that when I wrote the script, edited, put in music, we
gave it a new life.”

The advertisement “isolated” and projected Legarda’s perceived good points:

her youth, her long experience as a broadcast journalist, her being a model
wife and mother, bright and incorruptible. It also showed her rubbing elbows
with world leaders like Nelson Mandela. The resulting image, a larger-than-life
Loren, was fed to a public already accustomed to uncritically accepting what
news anchors say and do.

Soon after May 11, however, ABS-CBN found itself parrying criticism that it
had given Legarda and Cayetano undue advantage over their rivals in the
Senate race. It also had to fend off requests from other politicians who wanted
their own shows aired by the station.

Shortly thereafter, ABS-CBN president Gabby Lopez was said to have issued
an informal directive banning politicians from joining any show on the network.
“I will not allow this network to be used by people with political ambitions,” an
ABS-CBN insider quotes Lopez as saying. That meant barring Cayetano and
Legarda’s return to Channel 2.

A story that has gone around the ABS-CBN newsroom says Legarda left in a
huff after being informed of the decision at a breakfast meeting. “Had I known I
would not be allowed to return,” Legarda supposedly fumed, “I would never
have run for public office!”

“Maybe the Lopezes didn’t want to throw political soil on the image of ABS-
CBN which is the most admired media company in Asia,” ventures Casino.
“Now, she’s on her own. And that means if she’s really good, it will show. It’s
up to her now.”

To be fair, Legarda deserves as much credit for her own success as ABS-CBN
does. Those who know her from her school days and her long stint at ABS-
CBN describe her as an ambitious and resourceful person who will do what is
necessary to get what she wants. What Loren demands, she gets. Just

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Like a Shooting Star

recently, despite the Lopezes’ earlier objection, Legarda was promised a still-to-
be conceptualized show on the network, possibly a monthly special that will
tackle issues on the environment.

That was something Cayetano, a Johnny-come-lately in the broadcast

industry, could not have wangled. “Rene Cayetano had to go,” Legarda says.
“I’ve been there 12 years. TV is my life and ABS-CBN is my home.”

Legarda will feel equally at home at the Senate. Although she insists she isn’t
really cut out for politics, she seems to have taken well to the grueling election
campaign and the political limelight. And if colleagues and former classmates
are to be believed, a political career is something she must have had her
sights on all along, if one were to look at what they call her love for the
limelight.

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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Like a Shooting Star

PUBLIC EYE — LIKE A SHOOTING STAR

GOOD LOOKS, an old-rich name and connections ensured Legarda’s easy

entry into television when she co-hosted the variety show “Discorama” and
appeared on TV commercials during her teens. When she entered the
University of the Philippines in 1977, Legarda quickly became a dazzling
campus presence. No one at the state university doubted that she would make
a name for herself somehow, someday.

That’s also because she never kept her ambitions secret. Classmates recall
that at the start of each semester, she would announce to her teachers that
she was running for honors, some sort of advance notice that she was out to
get high grades.
JULY - SEPT 1998
VOL. IV NO. 3
“She approached me to find out if she could do extra work to boost her
grades,” remembers Sicam, who was also her teacher in broadcast writing at
the UP Institute (now College) of Mass Communication. But Sicam turned her
down because, he says, that would have been unfair to her classmates.
Looking for
past i articles?
Legarda managed to graduate cum laude in 1981, despite submitting a
Find them here: thesis—a content analysis of Vicente Manansala’s paintings—better suited for
OK the College of Fine Arts rather than the Institute of Mass Communication.
Years later, Legarda would boast of her UP honors and did nothing to stop
overeager emcees who announced during the 1998 campaign sorties that she
had topped her class and graduated summa cum laude. The truth is that
several other students had beaten Loren to the top.

Throughout her life, Legarda tried her damnedest best to get there. Her second
marriage to politician and wealthy businessman Antonio Leviste gave her a
partner who was used to the wheeling-dealing worlds of business and politics.
Leviste is very much the man behind Legarda, financing her political career
and deftly plotting her political maneuvers.

Legarda’s own persistence, however, should not be underestimated. At the

National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), where she obtained her
masters degree in national security administration, she was determined to top
the class, no matter what it took. “She came to me twice questioning why her
grade is like this and like that,” says retired Navy Captain Marciano Agustin,
course director at the NDCP, who swears he always stood by the grades he
gave her, which were not the highest.

But her classmates complained that the NDCP was playing favorites with
Legarda, who was already a big TV name when she enrolled at the college in
1992. For instance, she was only 32 years old at the time, clearly three years
short of the minimum age of 35 that the NDCP requires its graduate students

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Like a Shooting Star

to have. According to Legarda, then Defense Secretary Renato de Villa agreed

to bend the rules because “I topped the entrance exam.”

Agustin recalls that because of her hectic schedule, and the fact that she was
pregnant at that time, Legarda failed to meet some graduation requirements,
including study trips here and abroad. Yet unlike other equally busy
classmates who accepted their limitations, Legarda pushed her teachers to
allow her to make up for her deficiencies. To this day, Loren tells everyone that
she graduated valedictorian from the NDCP.

“I don’t know kung saan nakuha ni Loren yung valedictorian niya,” wonders
Agustin. The elite NDCP does not give out citations for valedictorian and
salutatorian. What the College does give out, says Agustin, are medals for
academic excellence, which Legarda and some others got. She also received
an award for best thesis.

Legarda’s problem, say both a former schoolmate and an ex-Channel 2

colleague, is that she is too loose with labels. On top of that, they say, she is
not too eager to share credit with others.

It was an open secret among the “Inside Story” staff that the show’s
researchers did much of the data gathering for her NDCP thesis. Such help is
not uncommon for NDCP graduate students—among them officials from local
governments, Congress and the bureaucracy—who also get the privilege of
hiring research staff. But an “Inside Story” scriptwriter reportedly wrote the
script for the audio-visual presentation that she submitted as part of her thesis,
which dealt on national security and the media.

PEP Talk (The Book), a collection of scripts from her TV show, also made it
look like it was authored by Legarda. The truth, say former “PEP Talk” staffers,
was that she did not write any script in the book nor even the short
introductions to each script. She did include the writers in her
acknowledgment, but did not identify them as authors.

“She loves being identified as the best this, top that,” says someone who
knows her well. One of her more recent, and more hilarious, claims though
actually came from her PR people, who labeled her Princess Diana reincarnate
because of the adulation (and the flowers) she got from the public during the
campaign period.

To her credit, Legarda has received over 30 awards for her programs. That is
why the phrase “multi-awarded broadcast journalist” is always tacked on to her
name. But these accolades•should be shared by the hardworking crews who
put out these programs.

The fact is that on “The World Tonight,” Legarda was just someone who gave
a face to TV news and hardly did any writing herself. Anchors like Legarda are
the last in the assembly line that churns out TV news. The term “anchor” is

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Like a Shooting Star

derived from the sports term that means the last runner in a relay race. In TV
news, reporters, writers, and producers do most of the work.

Legarda did take active part in the production and conceptualization of “PEP
Talk” and “The Inside Story” in their earlier days, when she was both host and
executive producer. But that didn’t last long, and she became just a host who
showed up, coiffed and dressed, usually when everything was all set for an
interview, or a few seconds’ standupper wherever the crew was filming a story.
An exception was Muslim Mindanao, one of Legarda’s favorite destinations,
and where she would spend more time. But most of the time, it was not for her
to get down and dirty, which is not how television wants its stars anyway. In
this sense, TV is not much different from the movies.

ABS-CBN and Legarda herself have always promoted “The Inside Story” as “a
program that can rate, sell, win awards, survive, and bring back credibility to
the television industry.”

Complaints about the show, however, often questioned its very credibility and
sense of responsibility. In 1992, the Philippine Women’s University
lambasted “The Inside Story” for showing pictures of its students in a special
report on prostitution, thereby implying—intended or not—that the PWU
students were mixed up in the sex trade. Critics also noted that in a 1997
episode, Legarda’s voice had been spliced over that of the real interviewer (a
social worker) of the 11-year-old victim of convicted rapist, Rep. Romeo
Jalosjos. Another episode had women’s groups in shock as Legarda
proclaimed that Maria Theresa Carlson led a happy married life with Ilocos
Norte Governor Rodolfo Fariñas—a few weeks after Carlson escaped his
beatings.

And contrary to Legarda’s image as a hard-hitting broadcast journalist, she had

her own sacred cows. Former “Inside Story” scriptwriters say Legarda would
blow her top when they wrote negative things about her personal friends in
government or social circles.

The bottomline is that Legarda is a true-blue child of television as myth-maker

and image-builder. Therein lies the medium’s danger: People see and believe
only what TV allows them to, which may not be the whole truth.

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

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Like a Shooting Star

PUBLIC EYE — LIKE A SHOOTING STAR

FOR THE NEXT, six years, Legarda will mostly be in the thick of the all-too-
real wheeling-and-dealing of Philippine politics instead of the make-believe
world of television.

While she may not be in the league of revered statesman Jovito Salonga, who
was numero uno in the 1987 senatorial race, Legarda is expected to perform
better than the likes of ex-variety show host Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, who placed
first in 1992, as well as talisman-wielding actor Ramon Revilla, who reportedly
spends his session hours doodling on sheets of paper. No matter what she
does in the future, though, Legarda the senator is proof that the trend Cronkite
had warned against has already started. Asked once whether he would run for
JULY - SEPT 1998 president, Cronkite, considered at one time the most trusted man in the United
VOL. IV NO. 3 States, replied that he feared the trust the public had in him would disappear if
he did so.

“I would hate to see a situation in which people who have made their name as
Looking for television journalists use that as a platform to run for office,” added Cronkite.
past i articles? “What then happens is that all journalists on television would be suspect in
Find them here: their reporting. (People would think) they were trying not to report the news but
to build a platform for future runs for office.”
OK

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Coming of Compañero

JULY - SEPT 1998

VOL. IV NO. 3

Rene Cayetano is not exactly a shining star of the legal

profession, but media exposure made him a legal luminary
Looking for and elected him to the Senate.
past i articles?
by Cecile C.A. Balgos
Find them here:
OK THE WOMAN caller was obviously upset.
Her son had been arrested on charges of
discuss this illegal possession of a firearm and was
article now in jail. The caller said her son had
in our e-forum been out drinking with friends, one of
whom had brought along a gun. But their
boys’ night out had been disrupted by an
unexplained interest in their group by
some policemen, who had approached
them, sending the gun-toting drinking
buddy in an apparent panic fit. Somehow,
it was the caller’s son who got caught
with the weapon.

The woman sounded desperate, but

Renato Cayetano, co-host of the popular radio program “Compañero y
Compañera,” knew just what to say. After making sure the caller’s son
was not the gun’s real owner, “sabi niya, ‘May lusot ho diyan,
maaabsuwelto yan (He said, ‘There’s a way out of that, he can get
off’),’” recounts a prominent Makati-based lawyer who had happened to
tune in to the show that night. “He said if there is no intent to commit a
crime, you cannot be convicted.”

Of course the woman was overjoyed, says the lawyer, “at pasalamat
nang pasalamat (she kept on saying thank you).” Unfortunately, he
says, there was one hitch: illegal possession of firearms in itself is
already a crime, no matter who owns the weapon. But the woman
didn’t know that. Adds the lawyer: “You can be sure that her whole
family voted for Cayetano last May.”

Cayetano is now one of the newest members of the Philippine Senate,

courtesy of the more than 13 million votes he got in the last polls. That

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The Coming of Compañero

total afforded him second ranking in a very crowded senatorial race. It

is also, says his pleased campaign manager, the third highest number
of votes a senatorial candidate ever got in Philippine election history.

It is undoubtedly an impressive showing for someone who was vying

for a national post for the very first time, and whose reputation among
his colleagues in the tightly knit legal community was—and still is—less
than stellar. Then again, those who voted for him may not have been
familiar at all with the Rene Cayetano who is known in legal circles
least for his courtroom skills, and most for being a coffee shop habitue
and the perennial sidekick of Big Men. Rather, millions of voters cast
their ballots for Compañero, fast-thinking dispenser of free legal advice
and defender of the downtrodden.

For that is how Cayetano had been portrayed in his nightly radio
program and, later, in his Sunday primetime TV show. Both carried by
the broadcast giant ABS-CBN, the shows, which Cayetano co-hosted
with Gel Santos-Relos, one of the network’s more established news
and public affairs talents, had been hits (although the TV version was
less so than the radio program). This was not exactly surprising, since
ABS happens to have the best technology in the business,
guaranteeing it unequal reach. The station is also known to go all out in
the promotion of its shows, giving even the lousiest of them a sheen of
quality and respectability.

That this is a country where justice is often elusive most especially for
the poor seems to have clinched it all the more for “Compañero y
Compañera.” Indeed, in a 1994 survey conducted by the Social
Weather Stations (SWS), only 48 percent of the Metro Manila lawyer-
respondents agreed with the statement, “Poor people can get justice in
our judicial system.” In turn, according to Johannes Ignacio, formerly of
the legal group Alterlaw, many of the poor also think it is difficult to find
a lawyer “sympathetic to their cause and who really understands their
problems.”

The pre-Compañero Cayetano seemed unlikely to fit this description as

well, despite his humble beginnings. The son of a mechanic and a
public school teacher, he had managed to transform himself into a Big
Firm Attorney, albeit not the kind who would spend hours hunched over
legal documents and plotting courtroom strategies. Instead, many of his
colleagues say, Cayetano had excelled in socializing and liaison work,
or making sure clients, especially the major ones, were happy.

Still, by the time he began fielding questions in the DZMM version of

“Compañero” in 1994, Cayetano had already gotten considerable
media mileage out of his involvement as prosecutor in celebrated
cases such as the Manila Film Festival Awards scam in which actress
Ruffa Gutierrez and talent manager Lolit Solis were the defendants. He
was also a private lawyer of Lauro Vizconde, whose wife and two
daughters had been murdered allegedly by a gang led by a senator’s

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The Coming of Compañero

son.

Cayetano’s name, therefore, already had more than a bit of recall with
many people. His being the lawyer of the victims in cases played up in
media probably led many to conclude that he was an arduous advocate
for the rights of the wronged. That he was packaged by the country’s
biggest network as one of the nation’s top lawyers certainly helped
enhance that perception, as well as boost his credibility as a source of
sound legal advice.

Many of his colleagues, however, contest that claim and have trouble
with the public’s perception of Cayetano. Even those who describe
themselves as his friends say Cayetano is simply not the legal luminary
the public seems to think he is.

After all, Cayetano was the co-defense counsel who had actually
helped score points for the prosecution in the libel case then President
Corazon Aquino filed against journalist Louie Beltran. In the order
denying the demurrers (motions to dismiss) filed by the lawyers of
Beltran and his co-accused, the court noted that prior to Cayetano’s
cross-examination of two witnesses, “there was no evidence” proving
libel. Cayetano as “cross-examiner proved what the People’s lawyers
failed to establish,” said the court.

Then again, as one lawyer who has known him for decades comments
cryptically, Cayetano “can get what he wants in a process that only he
can take to.”

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

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The Coming of Compañero

PUBLIC EYE — THE COMING OF COMPAÑERO

IN MANY WAYS, Cayetano the private practitioner was not what people like to
call an abogado de campanilla, although he styled himself as one and
commanded high fees like other corporate lawyers who made company
boardrooms and courts their second homes. Colleagues say Cayetano was
more like an abogado de kape, given the hours he spent in hotel lobbies and
restaurants, chatting with clients and influential friends over cups and cups of
coffee.

Not that there was anything wrong with that; many law firms usually have at
least one lawyer who does much of the office PR, which may call for
massaging the egos of prospective or current clients or sweet-talking certain
JULY - SEPT 1998 individuals who may help win a case. But while some lawyers may resist
VOL. IV NO. 3 devoting much of their time in such tasks, Cayetano apparently didn’t. More
precisely, says a former co-worker, he enjoyed it.

Thus, at the powerful Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law
Looking for Offices (ACCRA), where he rose to become senior partner in the late 1970s,
past i articles? Cayetano did little litigation and was not even known for his work in labor law,
Find them here: his supposed field of expertise. What occupied much of his time there, was
“going around with big shots” such as then Makati Mayor Nemesio Yabut and
OK
Fiscal B. Jose Castillo of Rizal, partly because the partners thought he would
be of most use to the firm doing that. Later, the partners also assigned him to
liase with the firm’s “special friend,” then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.

It was Enrile who brought Cayetano his first taste of being in the media
spotlight, via the Pepsi Paloma rape case in 1982. The teenage starlet, who
said she had been raped by three hosts of a popular noontime TV show, had
approached the defense minister for help. Enrile decided to refer the matter to
ACCRA, and contacted Cayetano.

“Ang sabi sa ‘kin, ‘Rene, I’m sending Pepsi over to you,’” recalls Cayetano in
an interview. “Kako, ‘I don’t drink Pepsi, I drink Coke.’”

“Seryoso ako,” he says. “I didn’t know who she was.”

The case is often among those cited by Cayetano whenever he is queried

about his trial work. According to a lawyer who was privy to the case, though,
Cayetano never got to be directly involved in litigating it. He had little trial
experience, says the lawyer. “It was the litigation group that made the
assignment of lawyers, and he was not assigned to handle the trial. His role
was to handle the media because ACCRA trial lawyers don’t like being
interviewed.”

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To be sure, it was not as if Cayetano was not academically prepared for the
work demanded by ACCRA of most of its lawyers. A University of the
Philippines law school graduate (Class of ’59), he had gone on to the
University of Michigan to earn two master’s degrees—one in public
administration and the other in law (with a thesis in collective bargaining)—as
well as a doctorate in law. But many of those who know him personally agree
that much of his talents lie not in the courtroom but in relating to people.

“Marunong kasi siyang pumulso, humanap ng kiliti (He knows how to relate to
people, what makes them tick),” concedes Jesus Manalastas, a colleague at
ACCRA who is now a senior partner at the Ponce Enrile Reyes & Manalastas
(PECABAR) law offices that Cayetano helped found in 1983. “He’s a born
politician, he really likes dealing with people.”

But at PECABAR, says Manalastas, Cayetano took on more management

responsibilities and became more active in assisting corporate clients during
collective bargaining agreement negotiations. Senior partner Edwin Gastenes,
who was also Cayetano’s campaign manager in the May elections, adds:
“Contrary to some observations that he does not do legal work, Rene sets the
tone and contributes his own theories. He’s there in the thick of the fight. Rene
handled most of the foreign banks that retained us, and dealt with their
unions.”

Yet both admit that “social skills” remained a serious matter for Cayetano, who
considered these essential in getting and keeping clients. He encouraged
PECABAR lawyers to loosen up, at one point even setting aside Friday
afternoons for ballroom dancing. The lawyers were also urged to take up
sports, especially golf.

Cayetano at least was one who took his own advice—and it ended up serving
him very well. It was at the Alabang Country Club golf greens, for example,
that he often bumped into then President Fidel V. Ramos, who later offered
him the post of presidential legal counsel in 1996. It was also in between putts
at the club course that he and ABS-CBN bigwig Freddie Garcia first agreed to
put “Compañero y Compañera” on radio.

He was already anchoring a radio program at a client-owned station by then. In

the program, he and other PECABAR lawyers took queries on legal matters
from phone callers. But the station had a very weak signal; although based in
Makati, just a few floors above the PECABAR offices at Salcedo Village, its
broadcast could not even reach Alabang.

While Cayetano says he was overwhelmed by the response the show was
getting, his absences from it soon got more frequent. He now says that he was
simply growing tired of the program, which he was doing without pay. Yet he
would later adopt some of its features on his DZMM show, which took the 7:00
to 8:00 p.m. timeslot.

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The Coming of Compañero

The format of “Compañero y Compañera,” which he also did for free, was
simple: On Mondays, callers could phone in their questions, which would be
answered live by Cayetano. Santos-Relos would try to translate any legalese
into layman’s terms, and provide follow-up questions that a non-lawyer would
probably want to ask. From Tuesday to Friday, Santos-Relos would read a
letter or two, and Cayetano would give his legal opinion on them. It was only
on Mondays that Cayetano would be at the station and giving advice off the top
of his head. The letters Santos-Relos read the rest of the week were pre-
selected. Copies were given to Cayetano, who would then turn them over to
PECABAR lawyers to study. By broadcast time, Cayetano would be armed
with copies of the letters and the lawyers’ research—and bantering with his co-
host by remote from his office, the gym or yet another hotel lobby.

Admittedly, the set-up was not very innovative. But with many Filipinos having
no access at all to lawyers and yet were wondering just where they stood
legally in a gamut of situations, it worked just fine. As for giving Rene
Cayetano, esquire, a public voice matched by a flattering public image, it
worked even better.

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

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The Coming of Compañero

PUBLIC EYE — THE COMING OF COMPAÑERO

BY HIS OWN estimate, Cayetano says 60 percent of the more than 30 million
voters who went to the polls last May 11 “became aware of me because of the
(radio and TV) programs.” He also does not deny that his image as
Compañero did much to catapult him next to the number one position in the
Senate race. But he says while having radio and TV shows gave him an edge
over many of the other candidates, these were not enough to ensure his win.
That he did so well, says Cayetano, was also largely because he had
succeeded in “bringing my message to the people, na dapat pagandahin ang
administration ng criminal justice (that the administration of criminal justice
should be improved).”

JULY - SEPT 1998 It dovetailed neatly with what “Compañero” the show seemed to champion.
VOL. IV NO. 3 Whether or not that was intended is unclear, although Cayetano’s campaign
manager Gastenes says harping on a single theme was part of their camp’s
strategy. He also says the decision to focus on ensuring “swift and fair delivery
of justice for all” stemmed from Cayetano’s “knowledge of the process of
Looking for litigation.”
past i articles?
Find them here: Until now, however, legal observers say they still have a hard time with the
image of Cayetano as Compañero, champion of the poor. They point out that
OK neither of the two law firms that he was part of has a reputation for
representing the unwashed (although both in all probability handle some pro
bono cases, as do many lawyers). Rightly or wrongly, both are seen as having
political connections to thank for their lucrative practice, and observers say
Cayetano is very much the microcosmic version of these firms.

The good news is that for now, Cayetano has seen it fit to follow through with
his campaign theme at the Senate. He says his first bill contains the stipulation
that all successful bar examinees will have to render free legal aid to the poor.
“I see hundreds of indigents in jail,” says Cayetano, “(and they are there) for
two reasons: they have no money and they have no lawyers.”

“If Rene will put his heart into it, he could be a good fiscalizer,” observes a
Lakas partymate who also ran for the Senate last May but lost. “And if I’m
going to take into account the qualifications of everyone in the Senate, I would
consider him in the top 50 percent. Among those who won, top 30.”

The assessment has some basis. Aside from being Ramos’s legal adviser,
Cayetano was also co-vice chairman of the Presidential Anti-Crime
Commission (PACC). He was an assemblyman during the Marcos
administration, as well as trade and industry deputy minister and administrator
of the Export Processing Zone Authority.

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The Coming of Compañero

Yet despite all these, Cayetano still fails to impress—and elicit confidence
from—those who should know him better than most: his colleagues in the legal
community.

Why many of them do not take him seriously partly comes from his reputation
for being a master of malapropisms. Some even say the infamous phrase
“landscape victory” attributed to President Joseph Estrada was actually first
uttered by Cayetano, who was announcing the election of his then mentor-
friend and ACCRA boss Edgardo Angara as president of the Integrated Bar of
the Philippines. “He also says things like, ‘It’s raining cat or dog,’” says a
former officemate. “In one office meeting pa nga he said, very seriously, ha,
‘We’re facing a blank wall. Let’s climb it very high.’”

In a profession where precise language is a must, such slips, although petty,

are nearly unforgivable. But Cayetano’s saving grace, say his colleagues, is
that he is able to laugh at himself.

MANY SAY IT IS NOT REALLY HIS PROPENSITY

to mangle the English language that makes them unable to give him
professional respect. The reason, they say, lies in the manner in which he
manufactured his climb. While most of his legal colleagues agree that
Cayetano deserves to be credited for working hard to get where he is, there is
little admiration for what they say is his penchant to latch on to people with
clout, and his habit, as one lawyer put it, of “seizing every opportunity to make
himself look good.”

Most of the lawyers interviewed for this piece, for example, believe Cayetano
“volunteered” for many, if not all, of the media-attractive cases he was involved
in, such as Vizconde and Beltran. Cayetano himself acknowledges that his
participation in such “sensational” cases enabled the public to get acquainted
with him. But he insists that he had not gone out of his way to offer his services
in any of these cases. According to Cayetano, it was either one of the litigants
sought his help or he was simply lucky enough to be at the right place at the
right time.

“In the Manila Film scam, I remember I was delivering an invitation for Louie
Beltran at DZRH for my daughter’s wedding,” says Cayetano, explaining that
Beltran was a very good friend and was going to be one of the wedding
sponsors. “When I got there, I saw (Manila) Mayor (Alfredo) Lim, and he was
being interviewed. And suddenly (station manager) Joe Taruc pulled me aside
and on the air said, “O, meyor, eto nang abogado mo (Mayor, here’s your
lawyer).”

“To tell you frankly I was so flabbergasted because I didn’t know what it was all
about,” Cayetano says, “except that I was listening to DZRH on my way there
about this Manila Film scam.” Lim, whom he says is another good friend, later

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The Coming of Compañero

invited him to participate in the public hearing being held that same day.

“To a lot of people, he’s all fake Cayetano,” says his former UP law school
classmate Ismael Kahn. “But I think a lot of the criticisms against him have
been unfair. They say he’s shallow, but he’s gotten this far, so maybe there’s
something.”

Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Cult of Celebrity

JANUARY - MARCH 2001

VOL. VII NO. 1

Entertainment and media personalities are dominating the

Featured Sections elections, easing out the trapos of old.
Find them here:
by David Celdran
OK

discuss this
article SO A former action filmstar-turned-President was forced to leave the
in our e-forum Palace more than three years too soon (for him at least). But if the
latest surveys are any indication, this has done little to dampen the
enthusiasm of entertainers aspiring to join the exclusive enclave of
politics. In fact, surveys also show that TV personalities running in the
May elections are doing particularly well. Joseph 'Erap' Estrada may
have bungled the greatest script of his life, but Filipinos do not seem
ready yet to write off the denizens of showbusiness as potential public
officials.

That Filipinos are preoccupied with celebrity and entertainment is

nothing new. Entertainment is the subject of our conversations, the
See also obsession of our media and, some might argue, a reflection of our
national values. And the fact that celebrities capitalize on this
phenomenon to embark on political careers while traditional politicians
The Third Party
by Luz Rimban
repackage themselves in the language and image of show business no
longer comes as a surprise.

What is amazing though, is the steady growth in the number of

entertainers seeking public office and successfully cornering political
power—as well as the apparent new role of Filipinos as a very forgiving
audience. What is happening is more than just the trivialization of our
political values, but also the rise of a new power elite in society - what
we shall call, for lack of a better term, "celebritocracy." Unlike the
traditional elite and political clans of the country, the celebritocracy's
control of power is based less on ownership and access to land and
capital. Their currency is fame and their capital is the means by which
to produce and transmit it.

The rise of the celebrity elite was, as they say in showbiz, no overnight
sensation. Laughed off as nothing more than novelties by the country's
elite, entertainers entering politics used to be treated as outsiders in a

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The Cult of Celebrity

game reserved for the powerful and pedigreed. All that changed with
the rise to power of Estrada, and a horde of other showbiz and media
personalities. In the Philippine Senate alone, close to a third of the
sitting senators launched their political careers by way of television and
the movies.

There was, of course, no deliberate campaign among the entertainers

to seize political power. The emergence of the celebritocracy is nothing
less than a product of the traditional elite's own failure to provide
effective governance to the public. Turned off by generations of corrupt
leadership and empty promises, the masses lost trust and affection for
the families that once lorded over Philippine politics. Increasingly,
candidates with political pedigree and those who fashion themselves
after the politicians of the past find themselves rejected by voters as
trapos, ostensibly short for "traditional politicians" but also the Tagalog
term for rags.

For the most part, showbiz and media personalities are perceived as
the opposites of trapos. Since most have neither track record nor
political experience to brag about, they conveniently evade the scrutiny
of voters tired of corrupt and incompetent politicians. And with little
historical baggage to carry around, they reinvent themselves to suit the
public in the same way performers create an act to please their
audience.

Another explanation for the rise of the celebrity-turned-politician is the

somewhat cynical view that Filipinos have always treated elections as a
popularity contest. The logic being that since politics and politicians
have done little to improve their standard of living, the masses have
learned to transform the electoral exercise into a competition not all too
different from the local beauty pageant or cock-fight. The overriding
objective, therefore, is not so much to determine a winner, but the
entertainment value of such a process. This explains the festive and
carnival-like atmosphere that accompanies every election and what
many critics lament as the vulgarization and trivialization of Philippine
elections. If such an observation were true, and indeed elections were
merely vaudeville, then naturally, it is the entertainers and showmen
that stand a better chance of victory at the polls.

But there's another factor that has catapulted showbiz personalities to

political power: the Filipino's penchant to idealize movie and TV stars.
In an entertainment-obsessed culture like ours, celebrities have
embedded themselves so deeply in our collective consciousness that
many feel, if not swear, of a personal relationship with them. After all, it
is not unusual for fans to speak of their screen idols as if they were
family and close friends—complete with imaginary tampuhan (mutual
hurt) and true feelings of romantic love. And while the phenomenon of
fan-culture is not unique to the Philippines, it is nevertheless expressed
differently in the way it emerges in the local political system. In such a
system, personal ties and loyalties are valued more than a candidate's
stand on issues. Celebrities thus operate in an environment that is not

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The Cult of Celebrity

only familiar to them, but where they enjoy a clear advantage as well.

But when Estrada performed so dismally at Malacañang, not a few

expected major changes in this script. Unfortunately, it now looks like
there are many in the audience who see Estrada's shameful
Presidential stint as having little to do with the fact that he had no
credentials, training, discipline, principles or any business whatsoever
in playing Chief Executive. To these people, Erap's exit fits the
archetypal fall from grace of the hero figure. Or in the realm of
showbusiness, it is the story of the star victimized by hubris. Erap is the
hero corrupted by the 'system' - and wine and women, quite literally, his
undoing. The tragedy of Estrada, therefore, is an indictment of the
business itself and not necessarily its heroes. If there is any lesson
here, in fact, it is that showbiz stars should stay true to their fans and
connected to their humble beginnings to avoid the temptations of fame
and its destructive properties. Thus, the show goes on.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Third Party

APRIL - JUNE 2001

VOL. VII NO. 2

by Luz Rimban
Featured Sections
Find them here: FORGET the People Power Coalition and the Puwersa ng Masa. If
there's one party that emerged victorious from the May 14 polls, it is
OK Partido ABS-CBN.
discuss this
article The ABS-CBN bloc in the Senate is now formidable, with the election to
in our e-forum the Upper House of former news anchor Noli de Castro, lawyer-radio
commentator Francis Pangilinan and reelectionist Sergio Osmeña III
(who is known to be close to the Lopezes, network's owners). The
three senators join the network's public affairs host Loren Legarda and
erstwhile ABS-CBN talent Rene Cayetano. At the Lower House, ABS is
amply represented by its former news personalities: Teddy Boy Locsin,
until recently the host of "Assignment" and now Makati congressman;
DZMM news anchor Ted Failon, now Leyte representative; and
reporter Gilbert Remulla who now represents the second district of
Cavite in the House.

So what else is new? According to ABS-CBN insiders, what many don't

see is the huge investment the network poured into the elections, an
investment that will surely pay off handsomely in the years to come.

For example, the network gifted de Castro, Osmeña and their fellow
ABS-CBN candidates with free commercial spots on primetime
television. These cost P88,000 for every 30-second ad. The candidates
were also given radio spots gratis. In addition, the network helped their
campaigns by providing manpower, vehicles and various other
logistical needs. As if these were not enough, there were cash
contributions from the Lopez Foundation.

Returns on these electoral investments are expected from the new

lawmakers when legislation affecting the Lopez enterprise comes up
for deliberation in Congress. One of these is the power reform bill. It is
no secret that the Lopez family has huge investments in the generation
and distribution of electricity and its near-monopoly control of the power
sector has been criticized by citizens' groups. Unless President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo pushes for an early approval of the bill—which

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The Third Party

means it is still the old Congress that will decide the measure—the
ABS-CBN bloc is bound to make itself heard on this matter.

The talk, however, is that this early, the network is already aiming
higher and looking to 2004, when its star anchor de Castro is expected
to make a go for the presidency. ABS-CBN has been investing for
years in the Senate topnotcher who started out in the network as an off-
cam announcer for gossip queen Inday Badiday's program. Since
1986, ABS-CBN has made de Castro over and packaged him as a man
of the masses. For 15 years, he was an omnipresent figure on
television, where he hosted the top-rating evening news program "TV
Patrol" from Monday to Friday and the prime-time public affairs
program "Magandang Gabi Bayan" on Sunday. De Castro was a
dominant presence on radio as well, as he had a daily morning
program on DZMM, which is part of the Lopez stable. The buzz in the
network is that while ABS-CBN is grooming de Castro for Malacañang,
it is also hoping that Legarda, the network talent who topped the
senatorial race in 1995, would be his running mate.

That team would likely be the one to beat in 2004. The last two
elections have shown that popularity and media exposure are important
for candidates running for national positions. That was true for Joseph
Estrada. Voters did not see him face-to-face and it was largely his
movie persona that they were familiar with and voted for. Observes
Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiros, "With the media,
particularly television, invading the lives of Filipinos everywhere, guns,
goons and gold had become a cost-ineffective way of winning votes on
a national scale."

The same, however, cannot be said for local politics, where well-oiled
electoral machines can defeat television or showbiz appeal. In the
Quezon City mayoralty race, for example, action star Rudy Fernandez
took a beating from rival Sonny Belmonte, a former congressman and
Estrada impeachment prosecutor who has painstaking built a
grassroots-based campaign organization in one of the country's biggest
cities. Other first-time showbiz candidates suffered Fernandez's fate:
Superstar Nora Aunor who ran for governor in Camarines Sur, action
star Philip Salvador who wanted to become vice mayor of
Mandaluyong and one-time matinee idol Tirso Cruz III who sought a
city council seat in Las Piñas.

All three were political neophytes, but even those movie stars with
political experience got trounced. In Cavite, Bong Revilla—who won the
governorship by a landslide in 1998—claimed to have been cheated by
rival Ireneo Malicsi in his reelection bid, although Revilla later conceded
defeat with tears welling in his eyes. Movie star Edu Manzano, who
was the Makati vice mayor, took his beating from comebacking mayor
Jejomar Binay grim-faced.

Then again, there was Kalookan City, where Rey Malonzo, another

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The Third Party

action star, was reelected mayor despite facing the well-entrenched

mass base of rival Macario Assistio, a veteran politician. But then
Malonzo had latched on to the administration coalition. Lito Lapid, yet
another one of those bang-bang actors, won a second term as
Pampanga governor, but that was also because he had no a strong
rival—and had the President's son for a running mate. And if comedian
Joey Marquez laughed all the way to the polls in Parañaque, where he
is now set to serve his third term as mayor, it was in no small part to his
being a Lakas-NUCD loyalist.

What it boils down to at the local level is that popularity is still no match
for money and machinery. This the likes of Alfredo Lim, Fernandez and
Salvador, who tried to earn extra vote-earning fame through top-rating
TV docudramas, now realize.

"You run for mayor, governor or congressman, you deal with an

infinitely smaller geographical space," de Quiros says. And it's a space
that can be controlled and won through an entrenched network - not
the broadcast kind, but one of ward leaders and barangay captains
who, at the local level, still determine the fate of a local candidate.

Meanwhile, trust ABS-CBN to show "goodwill," at least in places where

it has interests. Like, say, Quezon City, where the network's main
studios and transmitter are located. According to network insiders,
Belmonte was one of a few select local candidates who got free
commercial spots on the country's Number One TV station.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Cult of Celebrity

MEDIA — THE CULT OF CELEBRITY

CANDIDATES AND their managers realize that likeability and

approachability—coincidentally the same qualities movie producers and
network executives look for in would-be stars—are what voters look for most.
And on the campaign trail, these personal ties are called upon to draw the
crowds and eventually the votes on election day. Nowhere is this more evident
than in a national campaign where face to face campaigning is simply not
possible. Instead, personal ties, or the illusion of it, are manufactured through
the mass media—television in particular.

Since entertainment or the ability to grab the attention of viewers is the

overarching principle of television programming, stars and celebrities running
JANUARY - MARCH 2001 for office edge out the more serious candidates from precious airtime. Even
VOL. VII NO. 1 news coverage, which claims to emphasize information over entertainment, is
determined less by political ideology and more by what news producers
consider as amusing and attractive to the audience. In the boardrooms of
network executives, election coverage is planned out like a drama mini-series
Featured Sections with emphasis on action and conflict and where politicians play the stars.
Those that don't have the star-power to sustain the ratings are dropped from
Find them here:
the script.
OK
An example of this was the wildly popular presidential campaign of Miriam
Defensor-Santiago in 1992. Her natural talent for attracting attention and
amusing the public propelled her to superstar status overnight. As the cameras
followed her every move and recorded her every phrase, so did the voters.
Little wonder that without a serious party or national machinery, Santiago, a
relatively unknown bureaucrat just a year before the election, finished second
in the closest presidential race in the country's history. Candidates like the
septuagenarian Senate President Jovito Salonga who were slow to adapt to
the cruel medium of close-ups and sound bites found themselves with little
airtime left to make any serious impression on the electorate.

It was called the 'Miriam phenomenon' then, but the more precise way of
putting it was that it was proof of the increasing influence of electronic media
on voters. Since then, candidates have taken the cue and tried to reinvent
themselves for the medium. Those who lack the star-appeal and showbiz
experience compensate by weaving controversy and shock-value around their
campaigns. Candidates desperate for even a sliver of the spotlight adopt
extremist politics with the hope of attracting media attention. Others resort to
more demeaning tactics like dancing and serenading on stage. For the
hopelessly devoid of talent, professional entertainers are flown in to take the
candidate's place on stage.

The power of television is also seen in its ability to fabricate images and
illusions that resonate with viewers. One of the most enduring and successful

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The Cult of Celebrity

stereotypes is that of the avenging hero. Estrada manufactured an entire

political career around this illusion and so have several action stars after him.
But hero worship is no longer the monopoly of actors and actresses.
Newscasters and broadcast journalists are fast edging them off center stage.

Using the real world as their stage and real life as their material, news anchors
have ascended into the pantheon of cultural superstars. And because reality
when reported in the evening news or when presented live and unedited is
invariably more entertaining than fiction itself, news anchors and star reporters
then become the master showmen of our time. Many of them have taken their
roles a step further and challenged the traditional function of politicians and
public servants. Today, news personalities are called upon by a public jaded
with official incompetence to expose corruption, correct injustice, and in an
increasing number of cases even to act as negotiators in hostage crises.

The overwhelming victory of ABS-CBN star anchor Loren Legarda in the 1998
senatorial elections as well as the pace-setting performance of the same
station's popular news anchor Noli de Castro and public affairs host Francis
'Kiko' Pangilinan in the current senatorial race, exposes the modern day
phenomenon of the news presentor as newsmaker (former ABS-CBN host
Atty. Ricardo 'Dong' Puno and GMA Network's Solita 'Mareng Winnie' Monsod
are also doing well in the surveys). Kabayang Noli's decision to run for the
Senate was even the headline of his very own 'TV Patrol' news program.

Many news anchors and public affairs hosts of course spend more time in the
make-up room than in the field—if they decide to step out of the studio at all.
Many also do not write their own scripts. But because the news profession
allows the anchor privileged access to important events and personalities, their
presence in the epicenter of every national drama has etched their image in
the national memory. This exposure translates to a high level of public
awareness and trust, and naturally, votes.

What political candidates and strategists are therefore learning from the
celebrity elite in the age of television is the central role of stagecraft. And as
politics shifts to stagecraft, advertising executives and PR specialists are
teaching their clients to choose the right wardrobe, develop one-liners, crack
jokes, apply make-up and learn the latest dance steps. Politicians are thus
spending more time behaving like actors before a performance than
candidates in an election. In many ways, sensation, the basis of all
entertainment, has become the basis of Philippine politics as well.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Cult of Celebrity

MEDIA — THE CULT OF CELEBRITY

THE NEW politics of celebrity is now a recognition on the part of the candidate
and his strategists that traditional debts and political alliances are of less
importance in winning an election. While money and machinery continue to
play a major role, more so in local races where dole-outs are indispensable,
celebrity is fast emerging as the decisive factor for victory. This has allowed
stars with national recognition to side step the costly and time-consuming
process of building a countrywide machinery. As past elections have proven,
the mystique of celebrity can be transmitted faster and cheaper by television to
vote-rich urban centers across the nation.

The new politics is a shift away from traditional power brokers who command
JANUARY - MARCH 2001 and control the machinery of a ground campaign—the ward leaders, private
VOL. VII NO. 1 armies and local and political clans. With media as the new battleground,
elections are starting to look less like a ground war and more like an air war,
with battles fought and won in the airwaves where the new powerbrokers are
the media and advertising executives, publicists, talent managers, PR
Featured Sections specialists, and celebrity interviewers. In short: anyone with the ability and
resources to confer celebrity status on individuals.
Find them here:
OK Aware of this development, politicians and those wanting to be like them are
finding ways to access the keys to the gates of the celebritocracy. For those
unable to gain entrance to this new elite club by virtue of their own star-value
and talent, marrying into celebrity has become a fashionable and politically
rewarding option.

A closer look at the celebrity families of the Philippines will show a complex
web of interlocking marriages with political families. Old political dynasties
threatened by extinction are resurrecting their fortunes by mixing celebrity in
the bloodline. The Recto line of Batangas and the Romualdez clan of Leyte,
both original members of the old aristocracy, are—thanks to highly publicized
celebrity marriages—bonafide members of the powerful celebritocracy.
Congressman Ralph Recto is married to dramatic actress Vilma Santos while
Congressman Alfred Romualdez is married to former sexy starlet Kring-Kring
Gonzalez. Already, Recto's senatorial bid is reaping the goodwill of his union
with Ate Vi, who seems to have equaled her success in films in her stint as
mayor of Lipa City in Batangas. Kring-Kring Gonzalez-Romualdez, meanwhile,
is also said to be running as mayor of Tacloban.

Not to be outdone, other families of the old elite are jumping on the bandwagon
and offering their children on the altar of celebrity. The Cojuangcos of Tarlac
are taking the lead with the politically active Kris Aquino, herself a morning
show host at ABS-CBN, and her cousins, sometime actress Mikee and models
China and Mai-Mai. Even the Marcoses of Ilocos have established a foothold
in GMA celebrity interviewer Paolo Bediones—a grand nephew of the late

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The Cult of Celebrity

dictator. All eyes are also on Presidential son Mikey Arroyo, a part-time actor
(his last role was as sidekick to jukebox king April 'Boy' Regino) who is
interested in running for vice governor of Pampanga.

And just like the political clans of the past, the celebrity elite has its own
version of political dynasties. There is retired actor and three-term Senator
Ramon Revilla whose action star son Ramon Jr., otherwise known as 'Bong,' is
running for re-election as governor of Cavite. Their competition in the dynastic
war is the Ejercito clan of San Juan. With Estrada forced into retirement by
EDSA II, wife Loi will try to reclaim lost power in the Senate, while his son by
mistress Guia Gomez is a shoo-in for mayor of San Juan. The former
President and First Lady's first-born, current San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada,
has settled for the role of king-maker to fellow action stars Rudy Fernandez, a
strong contender for mayor of Quezon City, and Philip Salvador, likewise a
formidable bet for vice mayor of Mandaluyong.

This is what we have been reduced to: a republic of entertainment. And from
the looks of it, we are doomed to suffer celebrity dynasties, which will multiply
and flourish through intermarriage and alliances with the established elite,
forming a new strain of politics. Amusement can only triumph over serious
discourse in this new politics, and the illusion of action will replace genuine
public service. And like the curtain that separates the stars from the audience,
the great divide between the powerful few and the powerless majority will
remain.

In the end, the new politics will be no different from the past—but at least, it
could be fun to watch.

Copyright © 2001 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The FPJ Bomb in a Populist Lamp

9 FEBRUARY 2004

Google Search
RIZAL'S Simoun would be happy. Whether or not FPJ
wins the presidency in May, he is a harbinger of disaster. Web pcij.org
FPJ is Simoun's bomb hidden in a populist lamp. If he is
disqualified by the Supreme Court, his supporters will Search our Site
attempt to bring down the government. If he loses in May
and there is even the slightest doubt about his defeat,
destabilization attempts will intensify. If he wins,
destabilization will follow in the wake of an economic Find!
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Erap forces.
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Disaster can be averted only if enough of the forces for

political and economic reform, - if those who mobilized for
EDSA 1 and EDSA 2 understand what is happening and
mobilize to prevent an FPJ victory. FPJ has to be
'defeated' before the May elections. This can be done
only if the political meaning of the FPJ candidacy is
exposed. FPJ can be 'defeated' before May 2004 only if
Fernando Poe Jr.
we can break the debilitating hesitations which have
effectively tied our hands behind our backs.

FPJ and the Populist Temptation

Why have we hesitated to denounce the FPJ candidacy? One reason is that we perceive FPJ
as a decent person and we do not want to attack him personally. Of course, it does not make
sense to attack him personally. That would be unfair. And it would only endear him even more
to his movie fans. But 'Da King' has now become 'Da Candidate'. It is what FPJ represents as
a candidate that has to be exposed. To do that we have to begin with 'Da King', with the
cinematic myth which is FPJ's main vehicle to the presidency.

FPJ will win if people believe he will win. More than anything else that is the campaign line of
the KNP. Sumama na kayo dahil seguradong panalo ang kandidato namin. Get on the
bandwagon. Our candidate is a sure winner. This is based on nothing more than the
assumption that FPJ's movie popularity is automatically translatable to votes. But there is no
evidence that this is true because FPJ has never run for anything. The only way to test this
before the May election is to compare him to other movie personalities, most importantly his
bosom buddy Erap.

Because of the way Pilipino movies are made, the more popular actors get to shape their
roles according to how they see themselves. Reel colonizes real. Joseph Estrada becomes
Erap, FPJ 'Da King'. Erap is the upper class man/boy who enjoys the company of kanto boys
who love to drink, gamble, fool around with women. When Erap and his barkada see that
oppression is too much, they say "Tama na, sobra na" and they fight. Erap fights together with
his lower class friends. He becomes not just their leader. He is their intermediary, a bridge
across the class divide.

People equate FPJ and Erap. If Erap won elections because of his movie popularity, FPJ will

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The FPJ Bomb in a Populist Lamp

also win. But FPJ's movie persona is actually radically different from that of Erap. Erap is
quintessentially 'human'; flawed but willing to admit, even boast about his flaws. So it is easy
for his fans to identify with him. The FPJ of his movies is radically different. The Aguila, the
Panday is 'supra-human'. He is a demigod, an archetype. He appears from out of nowhere,
returns just as suddenly to god knows where. When he fights, he fights alone. People watch,
but from hastily closed windows. I cannot imagine Erap agreeing to becoming a 'savior'. FPJ
was reportedly persuaded to run for president by politicians because they convinced him that
he is the only one who can 'save' the country.

FPJ's movie popularity apparently can be converted to votes if the surveys are to be believed.
The question is whether the demigod FPJ image can stand the rough and tumble of campaign
politics. It appears that FPJ understands this problem. That's why he has so far chosen not to
say very much. Demigods do not have platforms. They come from heaven with tablets of
stone. The platform issue can probably be papered over by his advisers once they are
identified. Besides people do not pay attention to platforms in elections for the simple reason
that voters know platforms are almost never followed.

What could be damaging are issues which show the santo has feet of clay. FPJ movies have
no sex. The non-issue of FPJ's out-of-wedlock son, and reportedly two other daughters might
be more damaging than his not knowing how the peso loses its value. Indian gods had lots of
it, but can demigods in our Christian tradition have sex? Whether FPJ likes it or not, his
personal life and habits will be trotted out for all to see. There is no such thing as a private,
shy presidential candidate. Erap was not vulnerable to this kind of attack because he would
just laugh them off. If FPJ gets obviously impatient, this will work against him.

FPJ and His Handlers

The FPJ camp would have us believe he is his own man. They are even circulating stories
about his having chewed out Tito Sotto for making public statements without clearing it with
him. This is the KNP's response to FPJ's gaping vulnerability: the company he keeps. The
KNP's Senate slate says it all. It is made up of recycled Marcos cronies from Enrile, to
Maceda, to Tatad. An attempt to distance FPJ from Erap backfired when FPJ ended up
getting Jinggoy Estrada on his Senate slate after all. Even Jamby Madrigal and Boots Anson
Roa have Marcos and Erap in their past.

Lets say it like it is. An FPJ presidency would restore the people behind both Marcos and
Estrada. Remember? These are the two presidents we kicked out in EDSA 1 and EDSA 2. In
all of our history, these two presidents are the most corrupt. Marcos still holds the record for
human rights violations. There is a chance that after 18 years there will be a judicial
accounting for Marcos era crimes. Erap will likely be convicted of gross corruption. All this will
be reversed if FPJ becomes president. What little we have achieved in our fight against
human rights violations and corruption will be wiped out in an FPJ presidency.

We hesitate to use FPJ's lack of education and experience against him. We feel that doing so
would somehow betray our rural and urban poor because they too do not have the education
and experience. But they are not the ones running for president. They are not the ones who
will have to preside over cabinet meetings to discuss monetary policy. It is obvious that FPJ
does not understand even the basics of economic and other policies he will have to deal with
as president. What will happen then is that the Marcos and Erap cronies who have decades of
experience manipulating the government for their own ends will run rings around FPJ. An FPJ
administration will be an Enrile-Maceda administration.

There is yet another aspect to a possible FPJ victory that we should worry about. When it was
already clear that Erap would win in 1998, business was willing to factor him into their
business plans. This time it is already clear that an FPJ victory will result in a severe
economic downturn. Media, the academe, and church groups will subject a new FPJ
administration to immediate criticism. This will create conditions that will tempt groups who are
just waiting for an excuse to seize power through extra constitutional means. How will a
president who thinks of himself as a 'savior' react? 'Saviors' make poor democrats. They are
easily tempted by authoritarian solutions.

Crisis and Reform

There are groups on the Left who are negotiating coalitions, varieties of accommodation with

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The FPJ Bomb in a Populist Lamp

the KNP. They use waiting for FPJ to tell them what his platform is as a cover for discreet
negotiations. Other more well meaning individuals are helping to craft such a platform. But
they all know that it is a rare politician who pays attention to platforms. The experience in the
Erap administration does not exactly encourage thinking that progressives will be able to
overcome the well honed skills of the Enriles and Macedas to secure reform.

We are indeed deep in crisis. Our electoral system and form of government has lost its
capacity to elect our leaders, to mobilize the requirements of governance and political reform
in the coming years. I challenge those who support FPJ to explain how FPJ will lead us
towards solutions to these severe problems. Whoever the real FPJ is, it is clear that he is
being used by Marcos and Erap cronies to get back into power. Electing yet another movie
actor, especially one without even the experience of his friend Erap, is not a solution. A
President FPJ will push our crumbling political system over the brink.

Whoever we support for president, I believe that we should work together to prevent the
looming disaster of an FPJ presidency. We have worked to make Marcos and Erap
accountable for human rights violations and for corruption. We need to continue this work by
preventing an FPJ presidency. We have worked for economic and political reform. We can
only have these reforms in a future without a President FPJ. Decisions on who to support can
be a matter of personal and organizational decisions. But preventing an FPJ presidency is
work we have to do for our country, and for our people.

Visit the Institute for Popular Democracy site.

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Poe and Arroyo: Tweedledum and Tweedledee

27 FEBRUARY 2004

Google Search
THE intelligentsia is agitated. We dread the scenario of
the ascendancy of Fernando Poe, Jr. or FPJ. The Web pcij.org
commentators among us have written sophisticated
pieces that appeal to an already convinced middle class Search our Site
to reject FPJ. But there is something missing in the
analysis.

Take the paper of Joel Rocamora titled "The FPJ Bomb Find!
in a Populist Lamp," which was widely circulated through Match ANY
the internet and which was published by the Inquirer (22 powered by FreeFind
February 2004) in a recycled version ("Can FPJ translate
reel into real?"). The gist of Rocamora's paper is that we
must ensure the defeat of FPJ and we should pounce on
every weakness of FPJ.

However, Rocamora's article is of note not just for what

he states, but more so for what he leaves unsaid. We
need to fill in the blanks of his analysis so that we may Fernando Poe Jr.
have a more balanced discussion of the issues,
something that is so sorely lacking in the run-up to the May elections.

We are writing this at a time when the surveys and some political analysts are predicting a
one-on-one fight between FPJ and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA). Having known Rocamora
for his political savvy, we hope that the implied endorsement of GMA in his article is not lost
on him. Whatever his partisan leanings may be, we thought that we would clear up ethical
grounds by stating that none of us support either candidacy. In fact we have no unity about
whom we will vote for or even whether we will vote for any presidential candidate. So let us
look at the "GMA side" of the FPJ-GMA battle.

If Rocamora is alarmed that FPJ's victory would result in national disaster and destabilization,
we are appalled by the damage that GMA is inflicting on our institutions. The former is a
possibility, but the latter is already happening. Take for example, GMA's partisan
appointments to the COMELEC and her deployment of the Carpio-Villaraza group in sensitive
public offices, the re-enactment of the 2003 budget to augment the discretionary funds for
electioneering, the mobilization of public officials (Manapat and Corpus) for political
demolition, and the use of the whole state apparatus for her campaign. These brazen actions
undermine democratic institutions and hence are as pernicious as Gringo's aborted putsch.

Whereas Rocamora points out that the FPJ party is made up of Marcos-Erap forces, we
would like to remind everyone that GMA has likewise accommodated Marcos-Erap-Danding
interests. And may we add how she has embraced Jose Pidal, as well as Nani Perez. She
likewise stabbed party comrade Lozada just to accommodate the other Jose Pidal in the same
manner that she stabbed kabalen Canlas to please another Jose.

While Rocamora fears the destabilization arising from an FPJ victory, we should equally fear

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Poe and Arroyo: Tweedledum and Tweedledee

GMA's squid tactics that are a cause of destabilization.

He wrote: "FPJ has to be 'defeated' before the May elections." And so he states: "The non-
issue of FPJ's out-of-wedlock son, and reportedly two other daughters might be more
damaging than his not knowing how the peso loses its value." Oh, this is as immaculate as
what the Forniers are insinuating-that FPJ's mom was a pakawala and FPJ's father was a
pindeho. We agree that these issues are not to be taken lightly. But so far, none of the
commentaries about this matter have gone beyond the usual moralistic condemnation on the
one hand, or the equally disgusting condonation of male privilege on the other.

As for the truly important issues of sexuality and reproductive rights that are the more
appropriate policy concerns touched on by this alleged "non-issue", GMA's health policies are
just as bent on impregnating as many women as possible as FPJ's libido. Perhaps FPJ in this
sense may be a little better. He may yet agree that women may choose artificial contraception
as long as they are not his lovers. Professed sinner that he is, we doubt that he would come
to the presidency proclaiming that he is a "good son of the Church" ala GMA, and then
proceed to rule over a soft theocracy where laws, policies and programs on certain issues
(divorce, reproductive health and sexual health, for example) are tailored according to the
precepts of only one religious denomination and tradition. Talk about hypocrisy! GMA brags
about a strong state then she weakens its very core by her inability to uphold the separation of
church and state.

Rocamora urges us to "work together to prevent the looming disaster of an FPJ presidency."
He is obviously trying to scare his readers into voting for someone else, yet he does not tell
his readers who that someone else should be. He must tell his readers who should be left
standing in the wreckage of FPJ's candidacy. He need not be ashamed of publicly endorsing
his choice.

In the interest of fair play we believe Rocamora should have stated for us whether he is in
truth endorsing GMA, which is the end result of his article. That disclosure would have made
the article infinitely more valuable because it empowers those who read it to contextualize
Rocamora's claims with greater objectivity.

For reformers, an anti-FPJ vote should not translate into a vote for GMA. FPJ's friend is Jose
Velarde; GMA's lover is Jose Pidal.and she is very willing to be the friend of Jose Velarde if it
would boost her candidacy. FPJ has Jinggoy and Dingaling; GMA has Sonny O and Miriam.
FPJ and GMA are Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Visit the Action for Economic Reforms site.

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FPJ received most coverage, CMFR monitor of TV and newspapers reveals

ELECTIONS: CITIZENS' MEDIA MONITOR PROJECT

Google Search
Web pcij.org
ACTOR Fernando Poe Jr. received the most coverage in
six TV news programs and one public affairs show, as
well as in the top three Manila newspapers during the first
Search our Site
three weeks of the current campaign period.

This was the principal finding of a Center for Media Find!

Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) project that is
Match ANY
monitoring TV and newspaper coverage of the elections.
powered by FreeFind

CMFR is issuing reports of its monitor every two weeks.

While CMFR has monitored media coverage of elections
in the past, this is the first time that the results are being
made public during the research period itself. Also for the
first time, CMFR has engaged trained volunteers to
broaden election monitoring to include television news
programs. The monitor calls attention to the critical
influence of the press on politics; a role that has escaped
close public scrutiny. Fernando Poe Jr.

The project, launched last February 10, will continue until May 10. CMFR has engaged as
partners Caucus of Development NGO (CODE-NGO), Pagbabago@Pilipinas and University
of the Philippines Professors Luis V. Teodoro and Danilo Arao. They are assisted by about 40
selected students. Volunteers from civil society groups came from the ranks of:

■ Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP)

■ Caucus of Development NGO (Code-NGO) Secretariat
■ Concerned Women of the Philippines (CWP)
■ Educational Research and Development Assistance (ERDA) Foundation
■ Metro West Network/Sun for All Children
■ Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)
■ Philippine Partnership for Development of Human Resources and Rural Areas
(PhilDHRRA)
■ Union of Journalists of the Philippines - UP (UJP-UP)
■ University of the Philippines Journalism Club (UPJC)

CMFR is monitoring six TV news programs (ABS-CBN's TV Patrol and Insider; GMA 7's
Frontpage and Saksi; Studio 23's News Central, and ABS-CBN News Channel's The World
Tonight) and the public affairs program Dong Puno Live (ABS-CBN), and the newspapers
Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Philippine Star.

The mass media focus on Poe during the first three weeks after February 10, said CMFR, was
not surprising, because of public interest in the disqualification case against him.

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FPJ received most coverage, CMFR monitor of TV and newspapers reveals

The reports on Poe also included stories on his "love child" by a movie actress and on
whether or not he or Senator Panfilo Lacson will be the opposition standard bearer.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was second in terms of the number of reports on her in
both print and broadcast coverage. Raul Roco ranked third in print and fifth in broadcast;
Lacson, fourth in print and third in broadcast; Eddie Villanueva, was fifth in print and fourth in
broadcast; and Eddie Gil, ranked sixth in both broadcast and print.

The stories over both TV and the newspapers monitored focused on the candidates'
campaign sorties, Poe's citizenship, the plans to hold a debate among the candidates, and the
survey results. None of the reports mentioned the candidates' platforms except in passing.
There was also little mention of issues.

The project results can be accessed at the Elections: Citizens' Media Monitor page . CMFR is
also transmitting the results to the media organizations monitored, and will upon request make
them available to interested groups.

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The Politics of Spoils | Keynote Speech, FOCAP, 16 February 2004

PROSPECTS FOR 2004

Sheila S. Coronel
Google Search
WHEN the board of the Foreign Correspondents Association Web pcij.org
asked me out to lunch late last year, I knew something was up.
Journalists, you see, rarely treat others to lunch. Usually it is
the other way around: Others treat them. Search our Site

I should have known that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

It was in the course of the meal that I was asked to keynote Find!
today’s event. My first reaction was: You are scraping the
bottom of the barrel. They agreed with me. For all our faults, Match ANY
journalists — sorry for the colorful language — do not give powered by FreeFind
each other shit. We get enough of that from the people we
cover.
Sheila S. Coronel, PCIJ
executive director
Like many among you, I have in the last week been glued to
the election campaign. I’ve been watching the caravans of movie stars and listening to the
catchy jingles. I have been reading about the barbed exchanges among various contenders
and viewing the attention-grabbing advertisements that are in fashion in the current political
season.

All this is very entertaining. But it is also nothing new. Politics has been about entertainment
for a long time. Even before Joseph Estrada came along, bread-and-circus types of political
campaigns have been the norm. The only difference is that, in the past, politicians brought
entertainers to their rallies. Today the entertainers are taking over politics.

In terms of entertainment value, our political system is top of the line. But it fails in many other
respects. It is no longer responsive to the needs of a country that is very young and very
troubled. The Philippines is like the bright kid in a class who underperforms because he has
attention-deficit disorder. While the hardworking and less gifted ones around him make
progress, achieving prosperity and aspiring for even more, the perpetually distracted child
lags behind.

We are attention-challenged because our politics is so distracting. The distractions are

manufactured because they hide the awful truth. And that truth is that we are trapped in a
political system whose organizing principle is the division of spoils. In such a system, elections
are fundamentally about determining who gets to feast in the public larder for the next three or
six years.

This may be too harsh an indictment. After all, for all its faults, the system is enduring and
resilient. It is a system that has driven us close to the edge, that is true, but has also
prevented us from falling into the abyss. It has mired us in a rut, for sure, but it has also
snatched us from the jaws of anarchy and civil war.

We have been through this cycle before. In the 1960s, an electoral and political system that
was based on patronage and spoils was breaking apart at the seams. Elections were getting
more and more expensive, more and more violent. The rivalries among competing elites were

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The Politics of Spoils | Keynote Speech, FOCAP, 16 February 2004

increasingly more vicious. Meanwhile, the discontent of the poor primed them for recruitment
by a nascent communist movement. Something had to give. The system was ripe for either a
rebellion of the poor or an authoritarian takeover. Democracy was digging its own grave.

In 1972, the system gave. Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and made himself dictator.
Fourteen years later, the first Edsa happened. It resurrected from the grave a system that was
very old and very feeble. People Power I and II were like blood transfusions into a weak body
politic. They are temporary measures. Popular uprisings have not rid us of the roots of our
malaise.

EARLIER this month, I was invited to speak at the Ayala Young Leaders Conference, which
included the best and the brightest among our students. No one in the group was older than
25. When I asked them whether they were satisfied with the way Philippine democracy works,
only two raised their hands and said yes. All the rest expressed a deep dissatisfaction.

Yet all of them also had faith in democracy and believed it was the best system for the
country. But like the youth in the 1960s, they perceived that democracy was digging its own
grave. The question I was asked, again and again, when I sat down with some of them over
dinner was, Is there still hope?

In this election, we face a crossroads. One route is toward a movie-star millenarianism

exemplified by the emergence of a silver-screen messiah, a man on horseback who promises
salvation. We took this road not too long ago. It was a perilous journey, but it remains an
attractive option to the poor who have been left out of the loop for so long. This millenarianism
is their rebellion against a system that has not served them well.

The second road is the authoritarian alternative. The days of military adventurism, for one,
don’t yet seem to be over. In addition, certain sectors of the business community and the
middle class are attracted to the idea of strongman rule. We have also taken this route before,
also with disastrous results. But because other options have not provided the solutions we
need, authoritarianism remains a seductive alternative.

The third route being offered is the same system reformed, either by a shift to a parliamentary
form of government or through measures that will bring about better and more effective
governance. This may look like the safest route to take. Its greatest danger, however, is that
the system will remain fundamentally unchanged, that we will only be postponing the
resolution of problems of mass poverty and gross inequity.

The very real possibility is that whichever of the three routes we take, we’ll still end up trapped
in the politics of spoils. We’ve taken all three routes in the past and we are still where we are
now.

The reality is that every new president who is sworn into office brings with him or her a retinue
of supporters and contributors. Many of these are only too eager to dip their snouts in the
public trough.

All presidents have invariably said, I am my own man or my own woman. But all of them, even
those who were elected without the support of big business or political groups, have
succumbed to the politics of spoils. Sooner or later, appointments, policies, laws, executive
issuances, contracts, and other perks are distributed to meet the demands of the politics of
patronage.

If the head of state is unable to mobilize a coalition based on a solid platform and a clear
vision, the politics of patronage will prevail. The president can get laws passed in Congress
and compel the bureaucracy to perform — but only if he or she divides the spoils among
politicians and bureaucrats who demand the perks of power.

For the longest time, the tradition of spoils, of horsetrading and dealmaking has disabled
public office and made it primarily a tool for delivering patronage. Otherwise, it was a disaster

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The Politics of Spoils | Keynote Speech, FOCAP, 16 February 2004

in terms of catalyzing reforms and bringing about development. For decades, law and
policymaking have been ad hoc and incoherent. The horizons of public officials have been
narrow, their interests, short-term, and their attention spans, even shorter.

No matter how smart or how competent the new president will be, unless our political system
is reformed, the struggle for spoils will remain the main organizing principle of political life.
Patronage may be the glue that keeps an unjust and unproductive political system together,
but the impact of the politics of patronage has so weakened the system that it is in danger of
coming unhinged.

Today, we are trapped in a chain of perverse behaviors. Politicians use their powers to bring
benefits to their constituents and supporters and to amass funds for their reelection.
Constituents, in turn, make continued supplications, knowing that officials will use their office
to deliver. Governance is distorted to meet these demands. Broader development and reform
goals are forgotten. In the end, a system that mires the people in poverty is further entrenched
and officials are stuck in the role of fighting for spoils so they could deliver the proceeds to
demanding constituents.

Unless we break out of this cycle, the blame throwing will continue. Citizens will still blame the
politicians for the dire state of the nation. The politicians, in turn, will blame citizens for
demanding so much from them — jobs, money, basketball courts, whatever — and
compelling them to be corrupt so they can give voters what they want. The media will of
course blame everyone, but will refuse to see how the media themselves contribute to driving
down the level of public discourse, thereby making it difficult for citizens to have any clarity
about the state of the nation. This is neurotic and dysfunctional and we all know it.

The new president should therefore make political and electoral reforms the priority. The
lesson from the Ramos presidency is instructive. President Ramos’s leadership made
possible economic reforms, including those liberalizing key industries. But further reform was
stymied by the need to cut deals with congress and other political actors, whose concern was
short-term personal or family gain rather than long-term national interest.

The deals presidents make with lawmakers and local officials have only entrenched in power
the same politicians that have brought us to this state. As a study we are doing shows, two of
every three representatives in the 8th to the 12th Congress are members of political families.
Most of these families have used the benefits of public office to hold on to power for two, three
or more generations.

Many of them have also blocked tax reforms, land reform, and other redistributive measures
that would allow government to respond to the needs of the poor. Yet, thanks to the politics of
patronage, they are elected to office again and again.

Our political system since 1986 is becoming more and more regressive. The turnover in the
legislature is slower, despite term limits. From 1946 to 1961, an average of 51 percent of all
members of Congress were new. The average for all the five post-Edsa congresses is only 46
percent.

In 1962, only 27 percent of representatives were classified as upper class. In 1992, it was 44
percent. Over time, the assets of legislators have grown. In 1992, the average net worth of
congressmen was P8 million, today it is P28 million. In the Senate, the average net worth
increased from P33 million in 1998 to P59 million in 2001. A quarter of all senators today have
a net worth of above P100 million. One should consider that many legislators under declare
what they own.

Can we blame our young people if they believe that democracy has so far benefited and
enriched mainly the politicians?

The last Congress has examined measures that would make the political playing field more
open. We need a system that will distribute power-and the benefits of power-more equitably.
Unfortunately, our lawmakers are not too keen on enacting fundamental reforms. Congress
has not acted on measures that would impose party discipline, ban turncoatism, and ensure

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The Politics of Spoils | Keynote Speech, FOCAP, 16 February 2004

accountability and transparency in campaign contributions. Why should politicians want to

overhaul a system that has been so good to them?

Yet few will dispute that our political system needs a drastic makeover. It takes more than a
president to make this possible, and perhaps it will take more than one generation. But the
president will have to start us off on this journey, lead us, and show us the way.

Let us therefore vote wisely. I am sorry that I cannot end on anything more profound than this.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

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 Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

22-23 JULY 2002

Print this article

by MALOU C.MANGAHAS

This two-part story investigates the new Comelec chairman, Benjamin S. Abalos. Our report says that Abalos
us your views and comments
has brought partisan politics back to the Comelec and faces thorny conflict-of-interest issues.
about this article.

To begin with, he still sits in the national directorate of the Lakas-NUCD, the party of President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo. While the Comelec has had its share of commissioners who were politicians, it is the first time in the
country’s history that an active political party leader is at the poll body’s helm.

This early, questions are being raised whether or not the Comelec can remain independent under the helm of
Abalos, who is not only known for his unflagging loyalty to the Lakas-NUCD, but who also acknowledges a close
friendship with First Gentleman Miguel ‘Mike’ Arroyo, as well as with siblings of the president herself.
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In addition, Abalos admits having personal ties with the owners of the Photokina Marketing Corporation, Web pcij.org
contractor of the controversial P6.5 billion Voter Registration and Identification System (VRIS) project awarded
during the time of President Joseph Estrada.
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In an interview with the PCIJ, Abalos said that he is a godfather of two children of the Chua family, which owns
Photokina. He also said that in the past, he had served as lawyer of the Chuas, handling “one or three cases for
them. That was between 1981 to 1984.”
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DAYS AFTER he was appointed chair of the Commission on Elections last June 9, Benjamin
S. Abalos moved quickly to settle the incessant bickering among the poll body’s
commissioners, and proceeded to court his staff ardently.

During the brief term of his immediate predecessor, Alfredo Benipayo, a war had raged in the
Comelec, with the combatants no less than the commissioners themselves.

Today, calm has finally descended once more on the Comelec, and there are those who
credit that to the appointment of a politician to chair the body. Even Felipe Miranda, president
of the private survey firm PulseAsia, remarks, “Abalos has been able to tame for the
meantime temperaments that have a tendency to turn ballistic.”

To be sure, the affable Abalos apparently knows just how to soothe ruffled feathers and tend
toes that have been stepped on. Yet having him head the Comelec may turn out to be not that
good an idea at all. After all, the former chief of the Metro Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) still sits in the national directorate of the Lakas-NUCD, the party of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo. While the Comelec has had its share of commissioners who were
politicians, it is the first time in the country’s history that an active political party leader is
serving as the poll body’s top gun, a fact that can give rise to questions regarding conflicts of
interest during elections.

According to the Constitution, the Comelec is supposed to be “an independent constitutional

body capable of giving substance and meaning, through the electoral process, to the
democratic principle that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2002/abalos.html (1 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:43:38 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

emanates from them.”

This early, though, questions are being raised whether or not the Comelec can remain
independent under the helm of Abalos, who is not only known for his unflagging loyalty to the
Lakas-NUCD, but who also acknowledges a close friendship with First Gentleman Miguel
‘Mike’ Arroyo, as well as with siblings of the president herself.

In addition, he admits having personal ties with the owners of the Photokina Marketing
Corporation, contractor of the controversial P6.5-billion Voter Registration and Identification
System (VRIS) project awarded during the time of President Joseph Estrada — the very same
contract that was the center of one of the bigger disputes that erupted between Benipayo and
some of the commissioners.

In an interview with the PCIJ, Abalos said that he is a godfather of two children of the Chua
family, which owns Photokina. He also said that in the past, he had served as lawyer of the
Chuas, handling “one or three cases for them. That was between 1981 to 1984.”

As for the First Gentleman, Abalos said that Mike Arroyo, a lawyer, used to appear as counsel
of litigants in his sala. A 1957 law graduate of the Manuel L. Quezon University, Abalos
became auxiliary judge of Makati and Pasay in 1963. The following year, President Arroyo’s
father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, appointed him Manila fiscal, and later, lone
municipal judge of Pasig. He retired as a judge in 1979.

Abalos said that he and Arroyo had “built a common bond because we are both golfers.” He
added that last March, “while we were in Shanghai, Mike talked to me and told me, ‘Would
you consider if the President would consider you for the position of Comelec chairman?”

At the time, Benipayo was still Comelec chief.

Abalos also enjoys friendships with other members of the president’s family. He is the
godfather of the son of President Arroyo’s half-sister, Cielo Salgado. Abalos told the PCIJ that
he is “close to Arthur,” the president’s brother.

Lakas-NUCD insiders described Abalos as someone who can be counted on, “a good party
man” who “delivers the votes.” One of them went as far as saying that Abalos “will not betray
the party” as Comelec chair, and that “he could even be the eyes and ears of the party in the
Comelec.”

Abalos himself conceded, “No man has no bias. We all have our leanings.” But he added that
“when somebody takes his oath of office, it is that oath that binds him to the position. It is that
oath that really separates you, even from friends and relatives.”

Abalos said that even when he was still a member of the bench, there was “no instance” when
he was “branded as a biased judge.”

He said that he had readily accepted the post of Comelec chair because it had been “my
obsession, my dream.” According to Abalos, his experience of being cheated in two of his bids
for public office, as well as his having “political savvy,” qualify him to head the Commission.

So far, however, the 66-year-old has yet to adjust his work habits to fit the long, lonely hours
of poring over documents that are required by the position. A man given to cognac and
whiskey until recently, Abalos likes to frequent coffee shops in the mornings, and as a norm
hies off to his seven fishponds on weekends. Now into his first month in office, Abalos visits
the Comelec usually after lunch, stays for a few hours and leaves late afternoon — a work
pattern too short and too irregular.

The self-proclaimed “father of the Comelec” has also astounded Commission insiders and
observers alike with his generosity, which has already depleted the body’s savings of millions
of pesos. On his first week at work, Abalos had authorized a performance incentive pay
equivalent to one month’s salary for all of the Comelec’s 5,200 personnel. At an average

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Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

salary of P10,000 per personnel, that financial windfall given before last week’s election
translates to some P52 million.

Abalos also approved the purchase of seven new cars for the commissioners, at the cost of
P1.2 million each. This is despite their having been already issued two to four cars each,
including Grandias, Chevrolet Ventures and Stratas.

Gone too are the days when snacks served at Comelec meetings consisted of mere crackers
or fastfood meals at best. Nowadays, Abalos calls commissioners to session at uppity
restaurants at posh hotels, and at least once last month, at one of his properties in Iloilo.

As Abalos sees it, though, he is doing only what is necessary. He also said, “I came from the
field. I know the hows of elections, how cheats operate. If you are a technocrat, you don’t
know the realities of politics.”

Abalos had run for vice mayor of Mandaluyong in 1963, but lost to a scion of a political family.
He spent the next several years in a so-so career in the bench — although he himself says he
was named outstanding judge for 10 straight years — before returning to politics, aided
largely by a partnership he forged with the late Senate President Neptali Gonzalez, then an
opposition leader. He ran for mayor of Mandaluyong in 1980. Abalos claims he won in the
count, but that the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos had prevented him from serving as
mayor.

With Marcos ousted, President Corazon. Aquino installed Abalos as Mandaluyong’s Officer-in-
Charge (OIC). In the next 12 years, he would hold on to the post of Mandaluyong mayor,
courtesy of three poll victories in a row. In May 2001, Abalos’s son Benhur, ran and won as
mayor of Mandaluyong. Benhur belongs to the Lakas-NUCD. He is determined to run again
as mayor, while another Abalos son plans to run for councilor or congressman, in 2004. When
asked how he would handle the situation, Abalos replied: “I could always make somebody
else in charge of Mandaluyong.”

Abalos had become part of Lakas-NUCD in 1991, when he and the rest of Gonzalez’s group
bolted from the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino over a Senate leadership rivalry with Sen.
Edgardo Angara. To this day, Abalos remains an active and avid Lakas party leader, and has
since never lost an election — or complained about cheating.

“Parang poetic justice,” he told the PCIJ. “What is happening to me is parang kusa ng Diyos
(as if God had meant it to happen). As if He is saying, ‘Ben, I’m putting you there because you
have experienced how it is to be cheated.’”

“In 1963, I was cheated,” said Abalos. “In 1980, I was cheated. Then I became mayor of
Mandaluyong for 12 years, at may interest pa — my son was elected mayor. Bakit ganoon
ang Diyos, lahat ng dasal ko sinasagot (Why is God like that, He is answering all my
prayers)?”

Abalos admits he is not exactly prayerful or particularly religious. But he says he prays direct
to his God. And, indeed, Abalos has a lot to be thankful for.

Born to poverty in Pangasinan on September 21, 1935, he had supported himself through
college by working as a janitor, factory worker, and caddy at the exclusive Wack-Wack Golf
and Country Club. But today, Abalos is a powerful and rich man — although the extent of his
wealth is not fully reflected in his statement of assets and liabilities (SALs). In his latest filing
for the year 2001, when he served as administrator of the Metro Manila Development
Authority, Abalos declared total assets of P21.7 million (including P6.56 million in real
properties and P15.2 million in personal and other properties), and total liabilities of P3.67
million.

This means a net worth of only P18.0 million, including P4.1 million in land and improvements
and fishponds, and P2.4 million in building and properties. The amounts declared seem much
too low for the expanse of Abalos’s fishponds. In the interview with PCIJ, he said his fishpond
in Paombong, Bulacan, alone measures 240 hectares, a property he said he acquired in the

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Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

’80s, after retiring from the bench.

In a newspaper interview in 2001, Abalos said he had also acquired about 250 hectares of
fishponds in several towns of Iloilo province, where the Comelec held its en banc session a
fortnight ago. Five other fishponds that Abalos has admitted he owns are located in Dagupan,
Binmaley and Lingayen in Pangasinan; Lubao, Pampanga; and Pilar, Bataan.

Abalos’s 2001 SAL includes the following companies among his business interests: Love-Joy
Commercial Corporation based in Mandaluyong and engaged in trading; Corben Farms Inc.,
based in Baras, Rizal, and engaged in operating livestock farms; and BSA Fishpond, based in
Balanga, Bataan. In all three companies, Abalos is a major stockholder.

But when asked if he also owns corporate assets or equity, Abalos, a lawyer seemingly
oblivious to the concept of conjugal property, gave a curious reply: “Not me, but my wife
does.”

One apparent material omission in Abalos’ s SAL, though, is his share in the Wack-Wack Golf
and Country Club, which he acknowledges to be worth at least P7 million.” It used to be worth
P26 million but it went down after the financial crisis,” he said.

Abalos in fact is president of the Club that also counts the First Couple as members. Former
President Fidel V. Ramos has been an Abalos golfing buddy for years. Abalos readily admits
that the greens are often where the biggest political deals are made.

“In all these (golf) clubs, deals and transactions are conducted, some relationships are made,”
he said.

Last June 27, the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club under Abalos, who by then was already
the Comelec chair, hosted the First Gentleman’s Cup to mark the birthday of Mike Arroyo, and
to benefit a group called OYSTER, supposedly composed of the families of policemen.

Abalos reported that through corporate sponsorships organized by Antonio Cabangon-Chua,

a retired military officer and magazine publisher, the golf event raised P40 million. The
Comelec chief made clear that any political implications of the gathering are immaterial to him.
He said, “Is it bad to help somebody who is willing to give up his life for you? Bakit ayaw
nating tulungan (Why shouldn’t we help)? Why condemn this activity?”

It is a response that can perhaps only be expected from someone called by a Lakas stalwart
and presidential adviser as “Mr. Collegiality.” The adviser also said that Abalos’s humility is no
put-on, and that while the Comelec chief may be a politician, “this is in a positive sense.”

“If he could make that work not just within the Commission but also within the electoral
community, that would be good,” said the presidential adviser.

PulseAsia’s Miranda, however, seems to want something more. He noted that since 1998,
when turf wars and effete leadership started to shake up the Comelec, there has been a
progressive decline in the poll body’s public approval rating.

“I think what you should have there is a person who knows the law, has the stature of a
Supreme Court justice who can assert his independence,” he said. Unfortunately, said
Miranda, “most of the time presidents look for somebody you can hold by the nose, so the
Comelec has become politicized. The Comelec has become a post for political lieutenants,
not even captains.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2002/abalos.html (4 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:43:38 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2002/abalos.html (5 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:43:38 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

Abalos Brings the Party to the

Comelec
by MALOU C.MANGAHAS

DAYS AFTER he was appointed chair of the Commission on Elections

last June 9, Benjamin S. Abalos moved quickly to settle the incessant
bickering among the poll body’s commissioners, and proceeded to
court his staff ardently.

During the brief term of his immediate predecessor, Alfredo Benipayo,

a war had raged in the Comelec, with the combatants no less than the
commissioners themselves.

Today, calm has finally descended once more on the Comelec, and
there are those who credit that to the appointment of a politician to
chair the body. Even Felipe Miranda, president of the private survey
firm PulseAsia, remarks, “Abalos has been able to tame for the
meantime temperaments that have a tendency to turn ballistic.”

To be sure, the affable Abalos apparently knows just how to soothe

ruffled feathers and tend toes that have been stepped on. Yet having
him head the Comelec may turn out to be not that good an idea at all.
After all, the former chief of the Metro Manila Development Authority
(MMDA) still sits in the national directorate of the Lakas-NUCD, the
party of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. While the Comelec has
had its share of commissioners who were politicians, it is the first time
in the country’s history that an active political party leader is serving as
the poll body’s top gun, a fact that can give rise to questions regarding
conflicts of interest during elections.

According to the Constitution, the Comelec is supposed to be “an

independent constitutional body capable of giving substance and
meaning, through the electoral process, to the democratic principle
that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them.”

This early, though, questions are being raised whether or not the
Comelec can remain independent under the helm of Abalos, who is
not only known for his unflagging loyalty to the Lakas-NUCD, but who
also acknowledges a close friendship with First Gentleman Miguel
‘Mike’ Arroyo, as well as with siblings of the president herself.

In addition, he admits having personal ties with the owners of the

Photokina Marketing Corporation, contractor of the controversial P6.5-
billion Voter Registration and Identification System (VRIS) project

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (1 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

awarded during the time of President Joseph Estrada — the very

same contract that was the center of one of the bigger disputes that
erupted between Benipayo and some of the commissioners.

In an interview with the PCIJ, Abalos said that he is a godfather of two

children of the Chua family, which owns Photokina. He also said that in
the past, he had served as lawyer of the Chuas, handling “one or three
cases for them. That was between 1981 to 1984.”

As for the First Gentleman, Abalos said that Mike Arroyo, a lawyer,
used to appear as counsel of litigants in his sala. A 1957 law graduate
of the Manuel L. Quezon University, Abalos became auxiliary judge of
Makati and Pasay in 1963. The following year, President Arroyo’s
father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, appointed him Manila
fiscal, and later, lone municipal judge of Pasig. He retired as a judge in
1979.

Abalos said that he and Arroyo had “built a common bond because we
are both golfers.” He added that last March, “while we were in
Shanghai, Mike talked to me and told me, ‘Would you consider if the
President would consider you for the position of Comelec chairman?”

At the time, Benipayo was still Comelec chief.

Abalos also enjoys friendships with other members of the president’s

family. He is the godfather of the son of President Arroyo’s half-sister,
Cielo Salgado. Abalos told the PCIJ that he is “close to Arthur,” the
president’s brother.

Lakas-NUCD insiders described Abalos as someone who can be

counted on, “a good party man” who “delivers the votes.” One of them
went as far as saying that Abalos “will not betray the party” as
Comelec chair, and that “he could even be the eyes and ears of the
party in the Comelec.”

Abalos himself conceded, “No man has no bias. We all have our
leanings.” But he added that “when somebody takes his oath of office,
it is that oath that binds him to the position. It is that oath that really
separates you, even from friends and relatives.”

Abalos said that even when he was still a member of the bench, there
was “no instance” when he was “branded as a biased judge.”

He said that he had readily accepted the post of Comelec chair

because it had been “my obsession, my dream.” According to Abalos,
his experience of being cheated in two of his bids for public office, as
well as his having “political savvy,” qualify him to head the

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (2 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

Commission.

So far, however, the 66-year-old has yet to adjust his work habits to fit
the long, lonely hours of poring over documents that are required by
the position. A man given to cognac and whiskey until recently, Abalos
likes to frequent coffee shops in the mornings, and as a norm hies off
to his seven fishponds on weekends. Now into his first month in office,
Abalos visits the Comelec usually after lunch, stays for a few hours
and leaves late afternoon — a work pattern too short and too irregular.

The self-proclaimed “father of the Comelec” has also astounded

Commission insiders and observers alike with his generosity, which
has already depleted the body’s savings of millions of pesos. On his
first week at work, Abalos had authorized a performance incentive pay
equivalent to one month’s salary for all of the Comelec’s 5,200
personnel. At an average salary of P10,000 per personnel, that
financial windfall given before last week’s election translates to some
P52 million.

Abalos also approved the purchase of seven new cars for the
commissioners, at the cost of P1.2 million each. This is despite their
having been already issued two to four cars each, including Grandias,
Chevrolet Ventures and Stratas.

Gone too are the days when snacks served at Comelec meetings
consisted of mere crackers or fastfood meals at best. Nowadays,
Abalos calls commissioners to session at uppity restaurants at posh
hotels, and at least once last month, at one of his properties in Iloilo.

As Abalos sees it, though, he is doing only what is necessary. He also

said, “I came from the field. I know the hows of elections, how cheats
operate. If you are a technocrat, you don’t know the realities of
politics.”

Abalos had run for vice mayor of Mandaluyong in 1963, but lost to a
scion of a political family. He spent the next several years in a so-so
career in the bench — although he himself says he was named
outstanding judge for 10 straight years — before returning to politics,
aided largely by a partnership he forged with the late Senate President
Neptali Gonzalez, then an opposition leader. He ran for mayor of
Mandaluyong in 1980. Abalos claims he won in the count, but that the
late strongman Ferdinand Marcos had prevented him from serving as
mayor.

With Marcos ousted, President Corazon. Aquino installed Abalos as

Mandaluyong’s Officer-in-Charge (OIC). In the next 12 years, he would
hold on to the post of Mandaluyong mayor, courtesy of three poll
victories in a row. In May 2001, Abalos’s son Benhur, ran and won as

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (3 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

mayor of Mandaluyong. Benhur belongs to the Lakas-NUCD. He is

determined to run again as mayor, while another Abalos son plans to
run for councilor or congressman, in 2004. When asked how he would
handle the situation, Abalos replied: “I could always make somebody
else in charge of Mandaluyong.”

Abalos had become part of Lakas-NUCD in 1991, when he and the

rest of Gonzalez’s group bolted from the Laban ng Demokratikong
Pilipino over a Senate leadership rivalry with Sen. Edgardo Angara. To
this day, Abalos remains an active and avid Lakas party leader, and
has since never lost an election — or complained about cheating.

“Parang poetic justice,” he told the PCIJ. “What is happening to me is

parang kusa ng Diyos (as if God had meant it to happen). As if He is
saying, ‘Ben, I’m putting you there because you have experienced how
it is to be cheated.’”

“In 1963, I was cheated,” said Abalos. “In 1980, I was cheated. Then I
became mayor of Mandaluyong for 12 years, at may interest pa — my
son was elected mayor. Bakit ganoon ang Diyos, lahat ng dasal ko
sinasagot (Why is God like that, He is answering all my prayers)?”

Abalos admits he is not exactly prayerful or particularly religious. But

he says he prays direct to his God. And, indeed, Abalos has a lot to be
thankful for.

Born to poverty in Pangasinan on September 21, 1935, he had

supported himself through college by working as a janitor, factory
worker, and caddy at the exclusive Wack-Wack Golf and Country
Club. But today, Abalos is a powerful and rich man — although the
extent of his wealth is not fully reflected in his statement of assets and
liabilities (SALs). In his latest filing for the year 2001, when he served
as administrator of the Metro Manila Development Authority, Abalos
declared total assets of P21.7 million (including P6.56 million in real
properties and P15.2 million in personal and other properties), and
total liabilities of P3.67 million.

This means a net worth of only P18.0 million, including P4.1 million in
land and improvements and fishponds, and P2.4 million in building and
properties. The amounts declared seem much too low for the expanse
of Abalos’s fishponds. In the interview with PCIJ, he said his fishpond
in Paombong, Bulacan, alone measures 240 hectares, a property he
said he acquired in the ’80s, after retiring from the bench.

In a newspaper interview in 2001, Abalos said he had also acquired

about 250 hectares of fishponds in several towns of Iloilo province,
where the Comelec held its en banc session a fortnight ago. Five other
fishponds that Abalos has admitted he owns are located in Dagupan,

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (4 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

Binmaley and Lingayen in Pangasinan; Lubao, Pampanga; and Pilar,

Bataan.

Abalos’s 2001 SAL includes the following companies among his

business interests: Love-Joy Commercial Corporation based in
Mandaluyong and engaged in trading; Corben Farms Inc., based in
Baras, Rizal, and engaged in operating livestock farms; and BSA
Fishpond, based in Balanga, Bataan. In all three companies, Abalos is
a major stockholder.

But when asked if he also owns corporate assets or equity, Abalos, a

lawyer seemingly oblivious to the concept of conjugal property, gave a
curious reply: “Not me, but my wife does.”

One apparent material omission in Abalos’ s SAL, though, is his share

in the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club, which he acknowledges to
be worth at least P7 million.” It used to be worth P26 million but it went
down after the financial crisis,” he said.

Abalos in fact is president of the Club that also counts the First Couple
as members. Former President Fidel V. Ramos has been an Abalos
golfing buddy for years. Abalos readily admits that the greens are often
where the biggest political deals are made.

“In all these (golf) clubs, deals and transactions are conducted, some
relationships are made,” he said.

Last June 27, the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club under Abalos,
who by then was already the Comelec chair, hosted the First
Gentleman’s Cup to mark the birthday of Mike Arroyo, and to benefit a
group called OYSTER, supposedly composed of the families of
policemen.

Abalos reported that through corporate sponsorships organized by

Antonio Cabangon-Chua, a retired military officer and magazine
publisher, the golf event raised P40 million. The Comelec chief made
clear that any political implications of the gathering are immaterial to
him. He said, “Is it bad to help somebody who is willing to give up his
life for you? Bakit ayaw nating tulungan (Why shouldn’t we help)? Why
condemn this activity?”

It is a response that can perhaps only be expected from someone

called by a Lakas stalwart and presidential adviser as “Mr.
Collegiality.” The adviser also said that Abalos’s humility is no put-on,
and that while the Comelec chief may be a politician, “this is in a
positive sense.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (5 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

“If he could make that work not just within the Commission but also
within the electoral community, that would be good,” said the
presidential adviser.

PulseAsia’s Miranda, however, seems to want something more. He

noted that since 1998, when turf wars and effete leadership started to
shake up the Comelec, there has been a progressive decline in the
poll body’s public approval rating.

“I think what you should have there is a person who knows the law,
has the stature of a Supreme Court justice who can assert his
independence,” he said. Unfortunately, said Miranda, “most of the time
presidents look for somebody you can hold by the nose, so the
Comelec has become politicized. The Comelec has become a post for
political lieutenants, not even captains.”

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos.html (6 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:45 PM]

 Abalos May Yet Be Comelec Contractor’s Champion

22-23 JULY 2002

Print this article

by MALOU C. MANGAHAS

us your views and comments

JUST A month ago, when he was only days into his new post as chief of the Commission on about this article.
Elections, Benjamin Abalos said he would inhibit himself from deciding on a controversial
project in which the winning company was owned by some close friends.

But Abalos seems to have since changed his mind. In a recent interview with the PCIJ, he
said that the Comelec is now inclined to implement a modified Voter Registration and
Identification System (VRIS), and that “if the solution we’re offering fits the scheme of
Photokina, then probably we could renegotiate.”
Google Search
The VRIS project, which is supposed to be part of the efforts to modernize the country’s
Web pcij.org
elections, had been awarded to the Photokina Marketing Corporation (PMC) during the
Estrada administration.
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Although the Comelec’s budget for the project had been only about P1.2 billion, Photokina’s
bid of P6.58 billion was declared winner because it was the lowest among the bidders and
had also gained the highest technical weighted points over those submitted by Ultimate and Find!
Strategic Alliance Development Corporation (Stradec). Both Ultimate and Stradec had
submitted bids of more than P7 billion each. Match ANY
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But because of opposition from within the Comelec itself, all that Photokina had obtained in
October 2000 had been a notice of award, and not a perfected contract with a specific budget
and timetable. Former Sandiganbayan justice Harriet Demetriou, who was appointed Comelec
chair after the bidding was already over, also later decided to nullify that notice of award. She
reasoned that the law states that an appropriation measure must first be obtained before a
government agency may enter into a contract with any party. In this case, the P1.2-billion fund
allotted for the project is a mere fraction of the Photokina deal.

Now, though, it looks like Photokina may yet get that contract, although the one offering a
“solution” may be caught in a situation involving a conflict of interest.

Abalos, after all, admits to being friends with the Chua family, who owns Photokina. This was
precisely why he had initially said that, “for delicadeza,” he would inhibit himself if “that issue”
were to be brought to his attention.

A few weeks after saying this, Abalos confirmed to the PCIJ that he was the godfather of two
of the Chua children and had even acted as lawyer of the family in the early 1980s. Yet he
also said that despite a pending case filed by his immediate predecessor in the Supreme
Court seeking to block Photokina’s efforts to get the contract, he was now willing to consider a
solution that would involve his friends’ company.

Abalos argued, “We do not want to be held hostage by a court case. What if they win in the
Supreme Court? If this will be resolved in the earliest possible time, the sooner we can have
acceptable, credible elections.”

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Abalos May Yet Be Comelec Contractor’s Champion

As late as July 18, however, Assistant Solicitor General Magdangal de Leon, who has been
assigned to the Comelec case against Photokina, had yet to receive any advisory from Abalos
on what to do next. But he was not discounting a compromise because, de Leon said, “Abalos
seems more flexible. If they agree on something, if they ask us as counsel, we’ll see if it’s
legally possible.”

But De Leon was apparently unaware that Abalos could have a conflict of interest regarding
the project because of his ties with Photokina’s proprietors. “We didn’t know that,” he said.
“The OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) can of course always oppose any compromise.”

He also noted, “There is no contract in the first place, and the notice of award is void because
the approved budget for the project was only P1.2 billion.” He added that modifications in the
VRIS project may prompt a new bidding.

The PCIJ sought but was denied an interview with Photokina senior vice president Renato
Chua. But in an interview for a 12-page cover story published in Graphic Magazine last May,
Chua said, “the disagreement among the commissioners is really the big problem.”

“We complied with the bidding,” he said. “We gave them a good solution at a good price, and
we won the award. We just can’t understand why we, who have done no wrong, are the ones
being penalized by this.”

A faction among the commissioners, headed by Luzviminda Tancangco, had pushed hard for
giving the contract to Photokina, which actually represented a consortium that includes the
U.S. firms Unisys, Digimarc ID Systems (formerly Polaroid ID Systems), IBM, and James
Martin + Co. Philippines, and the French company Sagem. Tancangco was then chair of the
election modernization committee at the time of the bidding.

But then Demetriou opposed the deal, as did her successor, Alfredo Benipayo. In fact, the
VRIS/Photokina project had been one of the major sources of friction between Benipayo and
the Estrada appointees, including Tancangco, in the body.

When Benipayo was unceremoniously replaced by Abalos last month, after having been
bypassed for the nth time by the Commission on Appointments, the VRIS/Photokina issue
was still unresolved.

Yet by then, Photokina had already gained some crucial ground. On February 7, acting on a
motion for mandamus filed by Photokina, Quezon City Judge Luisa Quijano Padilla compelled
the Comelec to negotiate a contract with the firm. In an eight-page resolution, Padilla directed
Comelec officials to “immediately resume negotiations to formalize execution of the contract”
with the Photokina group.

Padilla had earlier decided to deny Photokina’s petition for a writ of mandatory injunction
against the Comelec. But then the judge reversed herself in her February ruling. She junked
the Comelec’s motion to dismiss the case, saying, “a thorough review of the facts and the
laws applicable in this issue clearly indicated the matter deserved a second look.”

The Comelec under Benipayo, represented by the OSG, appealed Padilla’s ruling before the
Supreme Court. Interestingly enough, within just a few days, the Tancangco group filed a
manifestation with the high court stating that they were not opposing what Photokina wanted.

By many accounts, the company owned by the Chua family does not lack for friends in high
places. By all indications, the Chuas, who also own the company that makes the “Red Bull”
energy drink, the Red Bull Basketball team, and a string of French cuisine restaurants, wield
considerable clout.

Indeed, no less than the U.S. embassy had sent Benipayo a letter, urging action on the
Photokina deal, which has supposedly cost one U.S. partner of Photokina, Digimarc ID
systems, to incur expenses worth $700,000. The owner of a big national daily, which has

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Abalos May Yet Be Comelec Contractor’s Champion

obtained some equipment from Photokina, has also sent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo a
letter urging approval of the Photokina contract.

To top it all, a number of President Arroyo’s senior political allies in Congress and local
government, and now, Abalos himself, are at the very least friends of the Chuas.

Some Comelec insiders say that speculations were also rife that Photokina had nosed its way
into the VRIS project through the help of one of then President Joseph Estrada’s mistresses,
Guia Gomez, who was also alleged to be among its silent financiers. But Renato Chua denied
this in his interview with the Graphic. The magazine stated, “Photokina insists Ms. Gomez is a
client, but not its financial backer.”

The 28-year-old imaging company that ranks among the country’s top 1,000 corporations, is
the exclusive distributor of Agfa and Minolta cameras and Maxell batteries. The firm, which
now counts six affiliated companies in food and drinks, technical imaging services, insurance
and IT systems, told Graphic magazine that its annual sales were hitting P700 million.

A check by the PCIJ with the Securities and Exchange Commission, however, showed that
this claim is a bit of a stretch. In its latest financial statement, Photokina Marketing Corp.
declared net sales of P646.8 million in 1999, and a lower P629.6 million in 2000. But minus
cost of goods sold/cost of sales of over P460 million for both years, and administrative,
general and other expenses, Photokina declared pithy net income levels.

For 1999, the company said it realized only P6.1 million in net income before tax, and for
2000, a much-reduced P1.5 million.

Although it belongs to the charmed circle of the Philippines’ largest companies, Photokina
paid income tax of only P2.02 million in 1999, and an even lower P463,000 in 2000.

Despite the decline in the company’s fortunes, the year 2000 saw Photokina’s paid-up capital
of only P128 million grow to P200 million, with a fresh infusion of money from Evangeline G.
Chua, possibly also a relative of the original incorporators Jaime, George, Haydee and Rosita,
all surnamed Chua. The year 2000 was also when the Comelec gave Photokina its notice of
award of the VRIS project.

In the meantime, a draft proposal obtained by the PCIJ shows that for fiscal year 2003, the
Comelec wants to secure P6.2 billion in new appropriation for the modernization of the
elections. This amount includes provisions of P3.8 billion for VRIS, P2 billion for the
automated election system/ACCORS, P200 million for “basic infrastructure equipment and
renovation,” and P100 million each for “organizational change and management” and for
“advocacy and research.”

In all, the proposal seeks to increase the Comelec’s total budget three-fold — or from P2.87
billion in 2002 to P10.3 billion in 2003, on account largely of the still legally challenged VRIS
project.

Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, however, told the PCIJ that as of July 17, the Comelec
had yet to submit its budget proposal. The Constitution requires the president to submit a
General Appropriations Act proposal, within 30 days from the opening of Congress’ regular
session. “We cannot allow one agency to delay the budget,” said Boncodin, adding that they
may be forced to send the GAA, without the Comelec’s new proposal, to the president, for
submission to Congress. Without this, the 2003 GAA proprosal would allot only P500 million
for the modernization program, the annual increment due the Comelec for the modernization
law.

If the poll body fails to submit its new proposal on time, Boncodin said, the “Comelec would
need a supplemental budget.” And as the law requires, a supplemental budget must also
include specific proposals on revenue sources to be tapped, something that the deficit-
saddled administration might find hard to identify.

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Abalos May Yet Be Comelec Contractor’s Champion

The Congress last enacted a supplemental budget in 1991 during an emergency situation. It
set aside P10 billion for the Mount Pinatubo Rehabilitation Commission. Back then, the
Treasury certified to the existence of the funds.

If the Comelec fails to secure approval for its budget proposal, or even Congressional support
for a supplemental budget, modernized elections might face further delays. Under the
modernization laws (Republic Act 8189 on Continuing Registration, Clean, Computerized
Voters’ List and RA 8436 on Automated Vote Counting), modernized elections should have
been conducted as far back as 2001.

In Abalos’s estimate, the next 18 months prior to the start of the 2004 election period may still
be adequate time. That means, he said, that by September, the poll body would have finished
all studies on the modified VRIS and automated count, decide in the last quarter of the year
whether or not to conduct bidding, and “by January next year, we could start everything.”

But when it comes to Photokina, Abalos’s best option may be to ignore it, because the law
practically puts him in a “damned if you, damned if you don’t” position.

Under the Abalos Comelec, the rule that only the chair can call en banc meetings has been
restored. If Abalos calls one to deliberate on the Photokina case, he may yet cross over
forbidden territory in anti-graft laws for “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary
interest on any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or
takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law
from having any interest.”

Yet Abalos may not be off the hook even if he chooses not to participate in any decision on
Photokina. Again, anti-graft laws state that among what may be considered “corrupt practices
of public officials” is “directly or indirectly becoming interested, for personal gain, or having a
material interest in any transaction or act requiring the approval of a board, panel or group
which he is a member, and which exercises discretion in such approval even if he votes
against the same or does not participate in the action of the board, committee, panel or
group.”

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2002/abalos2.html (4 of 4) [5/11/2004 6:43:52 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

Abalos May Yet Be Comelec

Contractor’s Champion
by MALOU C.MANGAHAS

JUST A month ago, when he was only days into his new post as chief
of the Commission on Elections, Benjamin Abalos said he would inhibit
himself from deciding on a controversial project in which the winning
company was owned by some close friends.

But Abalos seems to have since changed his mind. In a recent

interview with the PCIJ, he said that the Comelec is now inclined to
implement a modified Voter Registration and Identification System
(VRIS), and that “if the solution we’re offering fits the scheme of
Photokina, then probably we could renegotiate.”

The VRIS project, which is supposed to be part of the efforts to

modernize the country’s elections, had been awarded to the Photokina
Marketing Corporation (PMC) during the Estrada administration.

Although the Comelec’s budget for the project had been only about
P1.2 billion, Photokina’s bid of P6.58 billion was declared winner
because it was the lowest among the bidders and had also gained the
highest technical weighted points over those submitted by Ultimate
and Strategic Alliance Development Corporation (Stradec). Both
Ultimate and Stradec had submitted bids of more than P7 billion each.

But because of opposition from within the Comelec itself, all that
Photokina had obtained in October 2000 had been a notice of award,
and not a perfected contract with a specific budget and timetable.
Former Sandiganbayan justice Harriet Demetriou, who was appointed
Comelec chair after the bidding was already over, also later decided to
nullify that notice of award. She reasoned that the law states that an
appropriation measure must first be obtained before a government
agency may enter into a contract with any party. In this case, the P1.2-
billion fund allotted for the project is a mere fraction of the Photokina
deal.

Now, though, it looks like Photokina may yet get that contract,
although the one offering a “solution” may be caught in a situation
involving a conflict of interest.

Abalos, after all, admits to being friends with the Chua family, who
owns Photokina. This was precisely why he had initially said that, “for
delicadeza,” he would inhibit himself if “that issue” were to be brought
to his attention.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (1 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

A few weeks after saying this, Abalos confirmed to the PCIJ that he
was the godfather of two of the Chua children and had even acted as
lawyer of the family in the early 1980s. Yet he also said that despite a
pending case filed by his immediate predecessor in the Supreme
Court seeking to block Photokina’s efforts to get the contract, he was
now willing to consider a solution that would involve his friends’
company.

Abalos argued, “We do not want to be held hostage by a court case.

What if they win in the Supreme Court? If this will be resolved in the
earliest possible time, the sooner we can have acceptable, credible
elections.”

As late as July 18, however, Assistant Solicitor General Magdangal de

Leon, who has been assigned to the Comelec case against Photokina,
had yet to receive any advisory from Abalos on what to do next. But he
was not discounting a compromise because, de Leon said, “Abalos
seems more flexible. If they agree on something, if they ask us as
counsel, we’ll see if it’s legally possible.”

But De Leon was apparently unaware that Abalos could have a conflict
of interest regarding the project because of his ties with Photokina’s
proprietors. “We didn’t know that,” he said. “The OSG (Office of the
Solicitor General) can of course always oppose any compromise.”

He also noted, “There is no contract in the first place, and the notice of
award is void because the approved budget for the project was only
P1.2 billion.” He added that modifications in the VRIS project may
prompt a new bidding.

The PCIJ sought but was denied an interview with Photokina senior
vice president Renato Chua. But in an interview for a 12-page cover
story published in Graphic Magazine last May, Chua said, “the
disagreement among the commissioners is really the big problem.”

“We complied with the bidding,” he said. “We gave them a good
solution at a good price, and we won the award. We just can’t
understand why we, who have done no wrong, are the ones being
penalized by this.”

A faction among the commissioners, headed by Luzviminda

Tancangco, had pushed hard for giving the contract to Photokina,
which actually represented a consortium that includes the U.S. firms
Unisys, Digimarc ID Systems (formerly Polaroid ID Systems), IBM, and
James Martin + Co. Philippines, and the French company Sagem.
Tancangco was then chair of the election modernization committee at
the time of the bidding.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (2 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

But then Demetriou opposed the deal, as did her successor, Alfredo
Benipayo. In fact, the VRIS/Photokina project had been one of the
major sources of friction between Benipayo and the Estrada
appointees, including Tancangco, in the body.

When Benipayo was unceremoniously replaced by Abalos last month,

after having been bypassed for the nth time by the Commission on
Appointments, the VRIS/Photokina issue was still unresolved.

Yet by then, Photokina had already gained some crucial ground. On

February 7, acting on a motion for mandamus filed by Photokina,
Quezon City Judge Luisa Quijano Padilla compelled the Comelec to
negotiate a contract with the firm. In an eight-page resolution, Padilla
directed Comelec officials to “immediately resume negotiations to
formalize execution of the contract” with the Photokina group.

Padilla had earlier decided to deny Photokina’s petition for a writ of

mandatory injunction against the Comelec. But then the judge
reversed herself in her February ruling. She junked the Comelec’s
motion to dismiss the case, saying, “a thorough review of the facts and
the laws applicable in this issue clearly indicated the matter deserved
a second look.”

The Comelec under Benipayo, represented by the OSG, appealed

Padilla’s ruling before the Supreme Court. Interestingly enough, within
just a few days, the Tancangco group filed a manifestation with the
high court stating that they were not opposing what Photokina wanted.

By many accounts, the company owned by the Chua family does not
lack for friends in high places. By all indications, the Chuas, who also
own the company that makes the “Red Bull” energy drink, the Red Bull
Basketball team, and a string of French cuisine restaurants, wield
considerable clout.

Indeed, no less than the U.S. embassy had sent Benipayo a letter,
urging action on the Photokina deal, which has supposedly cost one
U.S. partner of Photokina, Digimarc ID systems, to incur expenses
worth $700,000. The owner of a big national daily, which has obtained
some equipment from Photokina, has also sent President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo a letter urging approval of the Photokina contract.

To top it all, a number of President Arroyo’s senior political allies in

Congress and local government, and now, Abalos himself, are at the
very least friends of the Chuas.

Some Comelec insiders say that speculations were also rife that
Photokina had nosed its way into the VRIS project through the help of

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (3 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

one of then President Joseph Estrada’s mistresses, Guia Gomez, who

was also alleged to be among its silent financiers. But Renato Chua
denied this in his interview with the Graphic. The magazine stated,
“Photokina insists Ms. Gomez is a client, but not its financial backer.”

The 28-year-old imaging company that ranks among the country’s top
1,000 corporations, is the exclusive distributor of Agfa and Minolta
cameras and Maxell batteries. The firm, which now counts six affiliated
companies in food and drinks, technical imaging services, insurance
and IT systems, told Graphic magazine that its annual sales were
hitting P700 million.

A check by the PCIJ with the Securities and Exchange Commission,

however, showed that this claim is a bit of a stretch. In its latest
financial statement, Photokina Marketing Corp. declared net sales of
P646.8 million in 1999, and a lower P629.6 million in 2000. But minus
cost of goods sold/cost of sales of over P460 million for both years,
and administrative, general and other expenses, Photokina declared
pithy net income levels.

For 1999, the company said it realized only P6.1 million in net income
before tax, and for 2000, a much-reduced P1.5 million.

Although it belongs to the charmed circle of the Philippines’ largest

companies, Photokina paid income tax of only P2.02 million in 1999,
and an even lower P463,000 in 2000.

Despite the decline in the company’s fortunes, the year 2000 saw
Photokina’s paid-up capital of only P128 million grow to P200 million,
with a fresh infusion of money from Evangeline G. Chua, possibly also
a relative of the original incorporators Jaime, George, Haydee and
Rosita, all surnamed Chua. The year 2000 was also when the
Comelec gave Photokina its notice of award of the VRIS project.

In the meantime, a draft proposal obtained by the PCIJ shows that for
fiscal year 2003, the Comelec wants to secure P6.2 billion in new
appropriation for the modernization of the elections. This amount
includes provisions of P3.8 billion for VRIS, P2 billion for the
automated election system/ACCORS, P200 million for “basic
infrastructure equipment and renovation,” and P100 million each for
“organizational change and management” and for “advocacy and
research.”

In all, the proposal seeks to increase the Comelec’s total budget three-
fold — or from P2.87 billion in 2002 to P10.3 billion in 2003, on
account largely of the still legally challenged VRIS project.

Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, however, told the PCIJ that as of

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (4 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

July 17, the Comelec had yet to submit its budget proposal. The
Constitution requires the president to submit a General Appropriations
Act proposal, within 30 days from the opening of Congress’ regular
session. “We cannot allow one agency to delay the budget,” said
Boncodin, adding that they may be forced to send the GAA, without
the Comelec’s new proposal, to the president, for submission to
Congress. Without this, the 2003 GAA proprosal would allot only P500
million for the modernization program, the annual increment due the
Comelec for the modernization law.

If the poll body fails to submit its new proposal on time, Boncodin said,
the “Comelec would need a supplemental budget.” And as the law
requires, a supplemental budget must also include specific proposals
on revenue sources to be tapped, something that the deficit-saddled
administration might find hard to identify.

The Congress last enacted a supplemental budget in 1991 during an

emergency situation. It set aside P10 billion for the Mount Pinatubo
Rehabilitation Commission. Back then, the Treasury certified to the
existence of the funds.

If the Comelec fails to secure approval for its budget proposal, or even
Congressional support for a supplemental budget, modernized
elections might face further delays. Under the modernization laws
(Republic Act 8189 on Continuing Registration, Clean, Computerized
Voters’ List and RA 8436 on Automated Vote Counting), modernized
elections should have been conducted as far back as 2001.

In Abalos’s estimate, the next 18 months prior to the start of the 2004
election period may still be adequate time. That means, he said, that
by September, the poll body would have finished all studies on the
modified VRIS and automated count, decide in the last quarter of the
year whether or not to conduct bidding, and “by January next year, we
could start everything.”

But when it comes to Photokina, Abalos’s best option may be to ignore

it, because the law practically puts him in a “damned if you, damned if
you don’t” position.

Under the Abalos Comelec, the rule that only the chair can call en
banc meetings has been restored. If Abalos calls one to deliberate on
the Photokina case, he may yet cross over forbidden territory in anti-
graft laws for “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary
interest on any business, contract or transaction in connection with
which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he
is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any
interest.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (5 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

Abalos Brings the Party to the Comelec

Yet Abalos may not be off the hook even if he chooses not to
participate in any decision on Photokina. Again, anti-graft laws state
that among what may be considered “corrupt practices of public
officials” is “directly or indirectly becoming interested, for personal
gain, or having a material interest in any transaction or act requiring
the approval of a board, panel or group which he is a member, and
which exercises discretion in such approval even if he votes against
the same or does not participate in the action of the board, committee,
panel or group.”

Copyright © 2002 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/abalos2.html (6 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:43:57 PM]

GMA's Campaign Expenses and Contributions

View documents (in pdf

format) of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo’s
campaign expenses and
contributions after she ran
for vice president in 1998.
PCIJ RESEARCH
● Certificate of
EARLIER this week, Sen. Panfilo Lacson accused First Candidacy
● Statement of
Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of siphoning off P270
Election
million in the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's
Contributions and
excess campaign contributions and "parking them" in a Expenditures
foundation and secret bank accounts. ● Summary of
Contributions
The PCIJ re-examined the declaration of campaign ● Summary of
contributions and expenses that President Arroyo filed at Expenses
the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after she ran
for vice president in 1998. These records show no Further Read
indication of the huge amounts of money that Lacson Investigating Campaign
claimed she received during the campaign. But they shed Funds
light on who Arroyo's biggest contributors were: her family
and her lawyers. Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and
First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo

Arroyo's husband, her mother Evangeline Macapagal and her other relatives forked out
P27,461,432 or more than half of the P50,211,432 million she raised for her campaign.

Lawyers at the Carpio Villaraza and Cruz law office, known more popularly these days as
"The Firm" because of the clout it supposedly wields over Arroyo, accounted for P11.5 million Google Search
or close to one-fourth of the contributions, according to the Comelec report. The Lakas- Web pcij.org
NUCD, the party under which Arroyo ran, contributed P1 million to her campaign kitty.
Search our Site
Family members whom Arroyo said contributed to her campaign were her husband,
P5,711,432; mother, P2 million; brother Diosdado Macapagal Jr., P5 million; daughter Ma.
Lourdes, P250,000; and brother-in-law Ignacio Arroyo Jr., P5 million. Her husband's family
corporation, the LTA Inc., donated P9.5 million. Find!

Match ANY
Lawyers at "The Firm" listed as Arroyo's donors were senior partners F. Arthur Villaraza, P5 powered by FreeFind
million; Avelino J. Cruz Jr., P5 million; Raoul Angangco, P750,000; and Simeon V. Marcelo,
P750,000.

Also in the list of contributors were lawyer Manuel A. Barcelona Jr., principal partner of the
Barcelona, Barcelona and Magdamit Law Offices, and his son Manuel Barcelona III, who
donated P500,000 and P100,000, respectively; and Helen Osias, whose contribution totaled
P500,000.

When she became president in January 2001 following the second "people power" uprising
that toppled then president Joseph Estrada, Arroyo named a number of her contributors to
government positions.

Cruz is now the presidential chief legal counsel. Marcelo was initially appointed solicitor
general; he is now Ombudsman. Osias was given a seat in the board of the United Coconut
Planters Bank. Although his name does not appear among the contributors, Antonio Carpio,

http://www.pcij.org/HotSeat/gmacampaign.html (1 of 2) [5/11/2004 6:44:10 PM]

GMA's Campaign Expenses and Contributions

"The Firm's" founding partner, was appointed Supreme Court justice.

According to Arroyo's report, she spent everything she raised. A total of P24.46 million or
close of half went to the printing of her posters and streamers.

Arroyo's declared contributions and expenses were P1.03 million shy from the limits set by the
Comelec on campaign spending. The electoral law allows a candidate to spend P1.50 for
every voter and a political party to spend as much. There were 34,163,465 registered voters
in the 1998 elections. This means a candidate for national office (president, vice president or
senator) could have spent as much as P51,245,197.50.

However, the limits set by law apply to expenditures and contributions only during the 90-day
campaign period. The Philippines has no laws regulating political finance outside the 90-day
campaign period, including limits on spending or contributions. Politicians and political parties
are known to be continuously raising funds long after an election has been concluded, in
preparation for the next race.

Some politicians are also known to form foundations that accept donations purportedly for
their projects, but accounting of these funds has always been problematic, as in the case of
Estrada's Erap Muslim Youth Foundation, which received P200 million from jueteng proceeds,
and now Arroyo's Lualhati Foundation, which Lacson claimed received over P40 million in
contributions from various individuals.

In 1999, the Lualhati Foundation got P8 million from Mark Jimenez, at the time a business
associate of Estrada who was wanted in the U.S. on fraud and tax evasion charges. Jimenez
later successfully ran for a seat in the House of Representatives, representing Manila's sixth
district, but was subsequently extradited to the U.S.

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Investigating Campaign Funds

Related Story
GMA's Campaign Expenses
and Contributions

from i magazine's 1998 special election issue View documents (in pdf
format) of President Gloria
FOR ALL THE loose tongues in the campaign circuit, it is highly unlikely that a journalist Macapagal Arroyo’s
campaign expenses and
would be lucky enough to match names and faces with the amounts that pour into campaign contributions after she ran
coffers. In the U.S., investigative journalists have had a heyday putting together databases for vice president in 1998.
that match campaign contributors with how legislators voted on specific bills. There have also
been recent exposés of legal and conflict of interest issues posed by Asian donors who ● Certificate of
contributed to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. Candidacy
● Statement of
Out there, where candidates are so casual about filing a list of their campaign contributors, the Election
reporter’s work is more difficult. Even those patient enough to wait for the statement of Contributions and
expenses and contributions each candidate is required to submit to the Comelec within 30 Expenditures
days after the elections will find slim pickings. As Comelec’s Borra said in a March statement ● Summary of
full of irony: “We are the only country where our politicians are the most law-abiding. No one Contributions
has ever admitted that they overspent. Either they underspent or have made expenditures ● Summary of
within the limits of the law.” Expenses

But that in itself may be the story. Candidates make their statements of expenses and
contributions under oath, and any proof that they have been less than forthright makes them
legally liable.

According to the law, the statement a candidate should submit is supposed to include:
Google Search
1. the amount of every contribution, date of receipt, and the full name and exact address
of the donor; Web pcij.org

2. the amount of every expenditure and the date it was made, the full name and exact Search our Site
address of the person to whom payment was made, and the purpose of the
expenditure;
Find!
3. any unpaid obligation, its nature and amount, and to whom said obligation is due. Match ANY
powered by FreeFind
Those who fail to submit the statement may be fined by up to P30,000. Any misfiling makes
the candidate liable for perjury.

According to Section 98 of Article XI of the Omnibus Election Code, contributors to any

candidate are also required to file with the Commission not later than 30 days after the
elections a report under oath stating the amount of each contribution, the name of the
candidate, agent of the candidate or political party receiving the contribution, and the date of
the contribution.

But with the practicality shutting out most of those capable of making a substantial
contribution, it is useless to expect that anyone would file such a report.

The Code prohibits the following from making campaign contributions:

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Investigating Campaign Funds

1. public or private financial institutions (read: banks);

2. public utilities and holders of licenses to exploit natural resources;

3. individuals or corporations that have contracts or sub-contracts to supply the

government or any of its divisions and subdivisions or to perform construction or other
works;

4. individuals or corporations that have been granted franchises, incentives, exemptions,

allocations or similar concessions by the government or any of its divisions and
subdivisions, including state-owned or controlled corporations;

5. individuals or corporations that, within one year before the election, have been granted
loans or other accommodations in excess of P100,000 by the government or any of its
divisions or subdivisions, including government-owned or controlled firms;

6. educational institutions that have received grants of public funds amounting to no less
than P100,000;

7. officials and employees in the Civil Service, or members of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines;

8. foreigners and foreign corporations.

While coffeeshop talk is full of rumors about banks, government firms and foreign companies
contributing to the war chests of certain candidates, it is often difficult to find documentary
proof that such contributions have indeed been made. But there may be ways of smoking out
corporate money.

Big businesses are known to make donations “in body” to campaigns as well, and a clue as to
which campaign a company is supporting is the presence of one or more of its executives in a
candidate’s advisory committee. Find the body, find the company.

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How Much is the President Worth?

View documents (in pdf

format) of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo’s
statements of assets and
liabilities since she became
PCIJ RESEARCH senator in 1992.

● 2002 SAL page 1|

All government officials and employees are required to file annual statements of assets and liabilities. These page 2
documents are intended to track the accumulation of wealth by officials. They have recently been used in the ● 2001 SAL page 1|
lifestyle checks on customs, highways, and internal revenue employees conducted by the Transparency Group page 2
in Malacañang Palace. ● 2000 SAL page 1|
page 2
The PCIJ routinely uses statements of assets in investigating officials, including then President Joseph Estrada ● 1999 SAL page 1|
in 2001. In May this year, the PCIJ released a three-part investigation on the extravagant lifestyles of page 2
personnel at the Bureau of Internal Revenue. ● 1998 SAL page 1|
page 2
Asset declarations are an important starting point for doing further research on what officials own. The PCIJ has ● 1997 SAL page 1|
also used them to put together a database on the assets of members of the House of Representatives. The page 2
database yielded information on the dominant business interests in Congress ● 1996 SAL page 1|
page 2
Below is an analysis of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's asset statements since she became senator in ● 1995 SAL page 1|
1992. page 2
● 1994 SAL page 1|
page 2
● 1993 SAL page 1|
page 2 | 2a
SINCE her election to the Senate, President Gloria Macapagal ● 1992 SAL page 1|
Arroyo's net worth has increased more than tenfold, or from page 2
P6.7 million in 1992 to P72 million last year, according to
statements of assets and liabilities she has been filing with the
Ombudsman. Further Read
Investigating Public
Officials
The bulk of the increase, averaging an annual 29 percent,
presumably came from the interest earnings in her bank
deposits, the sale and purchase of real property and stocks,
and property inheritance.

The steepest increase in her net worth was recorded in 1997, a

year before she ran for vice president, rising by 71 percent from
the previous year's P15.3 million to P26.1 million. Google Search
Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

It was the year her cash in hand and in the banks rose fourfold from P704,540 to P2.86 Web pcij.org
million, she bought an agricultural lot in Nasugbu, Batangas, and she inherited property from
her father, former President Diosdado Macapagal, valued at P5.4 million. It was also the year Search our Site
she bought a Kia Besta van for which she took out a bank loan of P341,434.

Arroyo also reported sharp increases in her net worth in 1998, the year she was elected vice Find!
president, and in 2000, a year before she assumed the presidency. Her net worth rose by P10
million (42 percent), from P26.1 million to P37 million, in 1998 and by P18 million (48 percent), Match ANY
from P39.5 million to P58.3 million, in 2000. powered by FreeFind

Gloria Arroyo’s Networth, 1992-2002

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How Much is the President Worth?

Networth Networth
Assets Liabilities Networth
Year increase increase
(in pesos) (in pesos) (in pesos)
(in pesos) (in %)

2002 75,548,559.88 3,500,000.00 72,048,559.88 5,263,619.52 8%

2001 70,284,940.36 3,500,000.00 66,784,940.36 8,409,701.33 14%

2000 58,375,239.03 - 58,375,239.03 18,835,055.05 48%

1999 41,540,183.98 2,000,000.00 39,540,183.98 2,513,661.98 7%

1998 38,116,336.00 1,089,814.00 37,026,522.00 10,871,566.00 42%

1997 26,496,390.00 341,434.00 26,154,956.00 10,833,424.00 71%

1996 15,321,532.00 - 15,321,532.00 2,708,862.00 21%

1995 12,783,880.00 171,210.00 12,612,670.00 3,081,696.00 32%

1994 9,940,194.00 409,220.00 9,530,974.00 1,150,575.00 14%

1993 9,323,410.00 943,011.00 8,380,399.00 1,650,206.00 25%

1992* 6,974,120.00 243,936.00 6,730,193.00 - -

Source: Arroyo's Statements of Assets and Liabilities

*Statement for 1992 failed to include real property in computation for total assets. If computed
properly, total assets should read P8,132,497.00 and networth P7,888,561.00. Networth increase
from 1992 to 1993 should therefore be P1,158,368.00 or 6 percent.

In 1998, the increase was apparently the outcome of her increased investments in stocks (P6
million to P11 million), jewelry (from P1.2 million to P2 million), and law books (from 1.5 million
to P2.5 million). That year, she acquired a Toyota Revo van and a Mitsubishi GLI sedan
through financing.

Arroyo's cash in hand and on bank jumped from a mere P3.8 million to P36.3 million in 2000
following what appeared to be the sale of her condominium unit in Ayala, Makati. The unit,
with a declared current market fair value of P13.4 million in 1980, was purchased in 1980 for
P619,825. She also appeared to have disposed of a substantial volume of her stocks that
year, causing the value to drop to P7.5 million from the previous year's P14 million.

The condominium unit was among the five pieces of property Arroyo had declared in her SAL
when she was elected to the Senate in 1992. The others were a house and lot in Baguio City
bought in 1977, an island in Cagayan bought in 1970, a residential lot in Antipolo bought in
1986, a residential lot in Las Piñas in 1989.

In 1995, the island in Cagayan and Las Las Piñas were dropped from her SAL. In their stead
were a commercial lot she bought in Tayabas, Quezon for P1 million and an agricultural lot in
Bulacan for P1.17 million. She bought her Nasugbu property two years later.

There were quite a few notable changes in Arroyo's declaration when she became president
in 2001. One, she stopped listing First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's businesses like
LTA Inc. and LTA Realty in Makati City and JJ Agricultural Corp. in Bacolod City in her
financial statements. Two, she disposed of her race horses which she acquired on various
dates for P600,000. Third, she identified more relatives in government positions than she did
when she was senator and vice president.

Arroyo had declared her husband's three companies in her statements for 1993, year after
she was elected senator. Her declaration for 1999 also listed her husband's law firm, the
Arroyo Law Office, and his directorship in Reynolds Philippines Corp., from which he resigned
on March 6, 2000.

Also in 1993, Arroyo declared their joint interests in the family-run DM Press, as well as her

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How Much is the President Worth?

husband's ownership of Aviatica Management and Travel Corp., a travel agency based in
Makati. Interestingly, she also listed the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Scholarship Foundation Inc.
she and her husband established that year.

Coincidentally, the Lualhati Foundation, a charitable organization identified with the First
Couple, was founded that same year by members of the Makati Rotary Club to which First
Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike'' Arroyo belongs.

Neither President Arroyo nor her husband are members or officers of the foundation, although
the foundation has received donations for Arroyo's projects, including P8 million from Mark
Jimenez in 1999, at the time a business associate of Estrada who was wanted in the U.S. on
fraud and tax evasion charges.

In 2001, Jimenez was elected to the House of Representatives, representing Manila's sixth
district, but was subsequently extradited to the U.S.

While race horses no longer appeared in Arroyo's declarations as president, she reported the
purchase of a Toyota Lexus in 2001, which is covered by a P3.5 million loan from the Export
and Industry Bank.

Arroyo's husband and their son, Pampanga Vice Gov, Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, are known
for their love for horses, according to an Aug. 18 article that appeared in the fortnightly
Newsbreak.

Newsbreak said Mikey owns a horse farm, Franchino Farms Inc., which has no less than 20
local and imported race horses in its stables.

When she was senator, Arroyo had listed the following relatives as holding government
positions: her half-sister Cielo M. Salgado, Pampanga vice governor; cousin Ramon Guico Jr.,
mayor of Binalonan, Pangasinan; and cousin Edith Demetria, member of the Pangasinan
sangguniang panlawiwigan.

When she was vice president, her list comprised solely of her brother, Arthur Macapagal, who
was with the Clark Development Corp.

During her two years in Malacañang, she identified the following relatives as being in
government: her son Mikey, Pampanga vice governor; half-sister Cielo Salgado, Philippine
National Bank board director; cousin Erlinda M. B. de Leon, special assistant to the President
(confidential secretary); cousin Demetrio P. Macapagal, Quezon City regional trial court judge;
cousin-in-law Carlos L. De Leon, Supreme Court assistant court administrator; and cousin-in-
law Anthony A. Cortex, deputy executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board.

Another cousin-in-law, Sophia M. Macapagal, who was listed in her declaration for 2001 as a
member of the Movie and Television Review Classification Board since 1995, no longer
appears in her latest statement.

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 BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

12-14 MAY 2003

Print this article

by TESS BACALLA

For the past six months, a team of PCIJ researchers led by PCIJ contributor Tess Bacalla, has been doing a
us your views and comments
lifestyle check on BIR personnel. The research yielded a wealth of information on the grand houses and
about this article.
expensive vehicles of BIR officials and employees who earn only a modest income. We found, from a check of
25 officials at various levels, that many of them cannot explain how they acquired their assets, including shares
in businesses and companies. See also
One BIR regional director, for example, lives in a big house in posh Ayala Alabang, yet he earns less than
BIR Provides a "Rich Broth"
P300,000 a year. Parked in his garage on the day PCIJ visited were a Ford Expedition, a Toyota Land Cruiser
and a brand new BMW. A Revenue District Officer whose annual salary is P270,000 has two weekend houses in for Corruption
Calamba and lives during the week in a Greenhills condominium.

We found that BIR postings are so lucrative that many BIR personnel petition the Civil Service Commission to
change their birth records so they can advance their dates of birth and delay their retirement. We found 24 such
applications for a change in birth records from 1989 to the first quarter of 2001 alone.

The three-part series concludes by looking at the breakdown in the system of checks and balances in the BIR
and the lack of transparency, oversight and accountability that contribute to making the bureau one of the most
corrupt government agencies.
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LIKE MANY of its neighbors, the house at
266 Cuenca St. in posh Ayala Alabang
Village looks like a multimillionaire's home.
Find!
Expensive orchids adorn its landscaped
front lawn while the house itself is imposing, Match ANY
the use of the best materials evident. powered by FreeFind
Recently seen parked in its garage were
luxury vehicles, including a white Land
Cruiser, a blue Ford Expedition and a new
blue BMW.

The occupants of 266 Cuenca, however,

are not movie stars or business moguls. Lucien Sayuno, Makati regional director of the BIR
lives in this house in posh Ayala Alabang Village.
Instead, it is the home of a government Parked in his garage are a Ford Expedition, a Toyota
official whose annual salary is less than Land Cruiser, and a brand new BMW. [PCIJ Photo]
P300,000.

Lucien E. Sayuno, former regional director of San Pablo City and the recently appointed
Makati regional director of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), lives there, as do his wife
Amelita, and their two children. They also own a house in Dasmariñas, Cavite. According to
records at the Securities and Exchange Commission, they own businesses that include the
Agricultural Services, Inc., La Immaculada Trading Corp., and Limtra Homes Development
Corp.

Not too long ago, Amelita Sayuno also put up the Summit Rural Bank in Lipa, Batangas, says

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

one of her distant relatives. She and her husband, said a friend who knows them well, have a
lavish lifestyle that includes frequent trips abroad.

Such a lush life is not unusual in the BIR, which gives rise to the popular perception that it is a
cesspool of corruption. According to the World Bank, half of every peso that can be collected
is lost to corruption. The Department of Finance also says that the total annual tax leakage
adds up to about P240 billion.

While there are those who openly display their extravagant way of life, the more circumspect
BIR officials and personnel try to hide their ill-gotten wealth. But these, too, are well known to
BIR insiders. Says one: "Walang sikreto sa BIR. (There are no secrets here)." A Makati-based
businessman who has frequent dealings with tax personnel scoffs that their lifestyles are
"totally disproportionate to their salaries."

In the course of six months, a team of PCIJ researchers did a search of assets of about 25
BIR officials and employees — including assistant commissioners, regional directors,
assistant regional directors, examiners and division chiefs — across the country. These are
some of the most lucrative BIR posts because they deal directly with taxpayers, especially
during tax audits, which present opportunities for extortion or collusion. Examiners exercise a
great deal of discretion when it comes to tax assessments and are therefore prone to
corruption.

Individuals in these positions were chosen for scrutiny based on information culled from more
than a dozen informants, including officials of the bureau. Not all of those investigated,
however, had a reputation for being "notoriously corrupt"; some were chosen based on the
availability of documents attesting to their assets.

The PCIJ team looked for land and corporate records and checked vehicle registrations as
well as their annual Statements of Assets and Liabilities (SALs). The investigation shows that
the bureau that repeatedly admonishes people to be honest about their annual tax
declarations has officials who have no qualms about underreporting their own assets and net
worth and using dummies to hide their ownership of lucrative properties.

BIR postings are so lucrative and BIR officials so used to tampering official records that they
try to delay retirement by "correcting" — pushing forward — their dates of birth. The PCIJ's
research uncovered that from 1989 to the first quarter of 2001 alone, 24 BIR personnel have
petitioned the Civil Service Commission to change their birth records.

Anyone who wants to run a lifestyle check on BIR officials and employees need only to go to
the parking lots of the bureau's main and branch offices. There one would find cars that cost
way beyond the annual salary of an official of the bureau, much less one of its personnel. A
staff member of a Metro Manila district office also observes, "They change cars so often."

Driving in Luxury
Cars Used by BIR Officials

CAR MODEL PLATE NO. BENEFICIAL OWNER REGISTERED OWNER

Sulpicio S. Bulanon Jr.

Edwin Abella
1817 Jordan Plains Subd.,
Nissan Patrol WES 202 BIR Reg'l Director,
Quezon City (listed address of
Quezon City
Abella in his SALs)

Merrick Abella (son of Abella)

Suzuki Grand Vitara XAH 435 Ditto 24 Xavierville, Loyola Heights,
Quezon City

Elizabeth S. Buendia
Nissan Cefiro UUW 742 Ditto
152 Road 8, Pag-asa, Quezon City

Lucien E. Sayuno
Limtra Dev. Corp.
BMW AMS 101 BIR Reg'l Director,
Zone 4, Dasmariñas, Cavite
Makati City

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

Marie Rachel D. Meneses

BMW WAM 807 Ditto c/o Metrocor and Holdings, G&F,
Makati City

Danilo A. Duncano Daniel Anthony P. Duncano

Honda Accord EPM 168 BIR Reg'l Director, 2618 JP Rizal, New Capital Estate,
Quezon City Quezon City

Corazon P. Pangcog
Alberto P. Pangcog (husband)
Mitsubishi L200 WHL 897 Asst. Reg'l Director,
B2 L23 Lagro Subd., Quezon City
Valenzuela City

Alberto P. Pangcog
Honda CR-V WAY 786 Ditto 9 Ricardo St., Carmel 1 Subd.,
Quezon City

Honda CR-V XEH 459 Ditto Ditto

Flordeliza P. Villegas Charito P. Sico

BMW MPV 343 Revenue District Officer, 8 Ma. Elena St., Carmel 1 Subd.,
Cabanatuan City Quezon City

It is telling though that when residents of the BIR Village in Fairview, Quezon City, were told
that they only had to present their car registrations to get a gate pass, many complained.
"Umalma (They raised a howl)!" laughs a BIR insider recounting the story. The idea was
promptly set aside, because most of the car registrations were not in the residents' names.

Lucien Sayuno, in a written reply to PCIJ's query, denied owning the Ayala Alabang home and
a fleet of expensive vehicles. But records at the Land Transportation Office show that the
spanking new BMW in his garage, which has a vanity plate "AMS 101" (after his wife's initials)
and is worth over P1.5 million, is registered in the name of Limtra Development Corp., a
Sayuno company.

Not quite in his 50s, Lucien Sayuno is still years away from retirement. But he is among the
BIR officials whose SALs contain incomplete information. Not one of the companies recorded
by the SEC as belonging to him and his wife, for instance, appears in his SAL.

Neither does the Ayala Alabang house, which the village guard calls the Sayuno residence. In
addition, the telephone book lists Amelita Sayuno's address as 266 Cuenca St. And when
Lucien Sayuno went overseas in 1998, he wrote down the same address in his immigration
form.

Land records show that the house is registered in the names of Minerva C. Castillo, wife of
Bacoor, Cavite mayor Jessie Castillo, and Elsie H. Mercado (now Sosa), younger sister of
Amelita and a resident of Lipa.

Sayuno says the Castillos are "family friends." He failed to say, though, that Minerva Castillo
is also a business partner, being one of the stockholders of the Sayunos' Agricultural Services
Credit, Inc. Based on the company's general information sheet filed last year with the SEC,
Minerva's address is 13 Malvar St., Ayala Alabang, Lucien Sayuno's 126 P. Campos St.,
Dasmariñas, Cavite, and Amelita's Mataas na Lupa, Lipa City.

Like Sayuno, most of the BIR officials and personnel who replied to written queries from the
PCIJ denied owning valuable pieces of property, many of which are in the multimillion range.
Novaliches revenue district officer (RDO) Ernesto Kho, though, had a unique explanation for
continuing to list his old Tondo address in his SAL despite having moved to another house in
upscale New Manila, Quezon City in 1983.

According to Kho, brother of Masbate governor Antonio Kho, his "superior" instructed him to
stick to his old address to avoid complications. But, he says, his true address is reflected in
his income tax returns.

Kho has a declared net worth of only P947, 231. This, however, appears to be an
underdeclaration, considering his wife and children's business interests, as well as the family's
properties. Based on his 2001 SAL, Kho owns nine pieces of real estate, most of which are in

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

Masbate. SEC records also show several companies where his wife and/or his children are
listed as incorporators; two of these were not included in his SAL.

One of the smallest declared net worth encountered by the PCIJ was that of Nieto Racho,
who had a paltry P198,758 in 1998 and P203,758 in 1999. But Racho, chief for the Special
Investigation Division of the Revenue District Office in Talisay, Cebu, left out key items in his
SALs.

For instance, the papers of Angelsons Lending and Investors filed with the SEC in April 1999
list Racho and his wife Lourdes among the firm's officers, incorporators, and stockholders, all
of whom are surnamed Racho and carry the same middle initial as Nieto. Racho never
reported this company, which has its office in Tagbilaran City, in his 1999 SAL.

n November 9, 2002, DYHP Balita Action Team of the Radio Mindanao Network wrote then
BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez about Racho's bank deposits totaling P5.8 million. Attached
to the letter were certifications from three banks that said the BIR official had deposits with
them of more than P1 million each. One of the banks said Racho had P2.93 million in his
account.

Asked to explain himself, Racho replied by saying the same issue was already being
investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. He asked that any administrative
investigation be withheld pending the resolution of the case with the Ombudsman's Office.
The case, however, is still in the preliminary investigation stage.

In the meantime, Taguig-Pateros RDO

Rosemarie Ramos Ragasa told the PCIJ
that she still had "to complete the
documents needed" to answer queries
about the choice properties she is said to
own. Ragasa, a widow who has an annual
salary of about P250,000, is acknowledged
by residents of the Maria Makiling
Greenheights subdivision in Calamba,
Laguna, as part-owner of two houses there.

One of the houses is really grand: a white

mansion with a roof deck and swimming Rosemarie Ragasa, the BIR revenue district officer
pool on a sprawling piece of land. The for Taguig-Pateros, is said to own this vacation home
visitor enters it through a winding, concrete in Calamba. [PCIJ Photo]
driveway with a tiled design and which leads
to a rotunda decorated with a white fountain. The other house, painted sunshine yellow, is
more modest. Both are commonly referred to as the "BIR houses," even by the subdivision's
guards. A neighbor says the white house is refurbished every year.

One of Ragasa's acquaintances says the BIR officer and her constant companion Victor
Manlongat visit the properties almost every weekend. "She's very luxurious," said a retired
BIR official who has personally witnessed Ragasa's lifestyle.

A check with the City Assessor's Office in Calamba yielded no property declarations in the
name of Ragasa or Manlongat, a retired BIR employee. But three parcels of land that
correspond to Ragasa's alleged Greenheights properties show that they belong to two
couples who share the same surname: Artemio and Josefina M. Mercado, and Josefino and
Violeto G. Mercado.

There is no Maria Makiling Greenheights property listed in Ragasa's SALs. In her earlier years
in the BIR, Ragasa's listed address was 615 Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong. After her contractor-
husband died, it became Sto. Niño, Meycauayan, Bulacan. A check with the City Assessor in
Meycauayan, however, showed no records of real property tax payment in her name.

On weekdays, Ragasa is said to stay at a condominium in Richbelt Towers on Annapolis St.,

Greenhills, an upmarket residential area in San Juan. The monthly rental of a three-bedroom

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

apartment there is about P32,000. The going rate for condominiums in the area ranges from
P35,000 to 40,000 per square meter. When the PCIJ called her there, the woman who
answered the phone said, "Dati ho dito s'ya nakatira pero hindi na ngayon (She used to live
her but not anymore)." Ragasa, however, never declared Richbelt Towers as her address in
any of the records that are in her 201 employment file at the BIR.

BIR insiders say, however, that Edwin Abella, formerly Assistant Commissioner of the Large
Taxpayers Service and recently appointed regional director of Quezon City, easily beats many
of them when it comes to property ownership. He has a house in 1817 Job St., Jordan Plains,
Novaliches — his listed address — but his mother-in-law, who now lives there reportedly with
a sister-in-law and her family, says "he only comes here on weekends."

He has another house Xavierville Avenue in Quezon City that has its own security guard.
When visited by PCIJ, the house was being refurbished.

Widely known in the BIR as a cockfighting enthusiast, Abella owns a cock farm in Norzagaray,
Bulacan. The property is known as Strike Eagle Farm, but Abella's SALs indicate it only as
"pasture" land. Someone who has visited the property, though, says the only animals he saw
there were fighting cocks. A senior tax examiner in the national office also confirms that some
of his BIR colleagues frequent Abella's cock farm.

Abella's declared net worth has grown steadily from P3.8 million in 1999, to P4.3 million 2000,
P4.6 million in 2001, to P8.4 million in 2002. In a faxed reply to PCIJ's queries, however,
Abella said his total income for 2001 was actually a mere P902,000, derived not only from
salaries from the BIR and the University of the Philippines (where he teaches at the College of
Law), but also from lecture fees as a reviewer in various law schools, honoraria from lectures
in seminars, "plus a modest income from agricultural products."

In 2002, his "sweepstake winnings" added to his family income, said Abella.

"While I was able to purchase properties during my stint with the BIR, these properties
acquired were all within my legal means," Abella wrote.

His name, however, has been dragged in a number of controversial tax-related cases and
issues in the bureau. One of these was the Joaquin O. Ramirez estate tax return case, which
became the subject of an investigation by the bureau in 1989 and 1991. It was also the target
of a privileged speech delivered by then former Senator Ernesto Maceda, who denounced the
case as an example of anomalies in the BIR.

The estate tax case involved some P344 million in tax deficiencies that arose from the "the
fraudulent estate tax return" filed by Marisol T. Ramirez, daughter of the late Joaquin Ramirez.
The amount covered a 50-percent statutory surcharge for filing a fraudulent estate tax return
and a 20 percent interest covering three years.

The P344-million tax deficiency assessed was eventually reduced to P1.6 million, upon the
recommendation of Abella and fellow revenue examiner Felix Sumbillo, both of whom took on
the case despite the absence of a Letter of Authority authorizing them to do so. At the time
Abella and Sumbillo were revenue examiners for the BIR's banks, financing and insurance
division.

An anti-graft case was consequently filed by a private individual with the National Bureau of
Investigation against the BIR officials and employees involved in the processing and
investigation of the Ramirez estate tax return. The case remains unresolved.

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

BIR Officials Amass

Unexplained Wealth
by TESS BACALLA

LIKE MANY of its neighbors, the house at 266 Cuenca St. in posh
Ayala Alabang Village looks like a multimillionaire's home. Expensive
orchids adorn its landscaped front lawn while the house itself is
imposing, the use of the best materials evident. Recently seen parked
in its garage were luxury vehicles, including a white Land Cruiser, a
blue Ford Expedition and a new blue BMW.

The occupants of 266 Cuenca, however, are not movie stars or

business moguls. Instead, it is the home of a government official
whose annual salary is less than P300,000.

Lucien E. Sayuno, former regional director of San Pablo City and the
recently appointed Makati regional director of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR), lives there, as do his wife Amelita, and their two
children. They also own a house in Dasmariñas, Cavite. According to
records at the Securities and Exchange Commission, they own
businesses that include the Agricultural Services, Inc., La Immaculada
Trading Corp., and Limtra Homes Development Corp.

Not too long ago, Amelita Sayuno also put up the Summit Rural Bank
in Lipa, Batangas, says one of her distant relatives. She and her
husband, said a friend who knows them well, have a lavish lifestyle
that includes frequent trips abroad.

Such a lush life is not unusual in the BIR, which gives rise to the
popular perception that it is a cesspool of corruption. According to the
World Bank, half of every peso that can be collected is lost to
corruption. The Department of Finance also says that the total annual
tax leakage adds up to about P240 billion.

While there are those who openly display their extravagant way of life,
the more circumspect BIR officials and personnel try to hide their ill-
gotten wealth. But these, too, are well known to BIR insiders. Says
one: "Walang sikreto sa BIR. (There are no secrets here)." A Makati-
based businessman who has frequent dealings with tax personnel
scoffs that their lifestyles are "totally disproportionate to their salaries."

In the course of six months, a team of PCIJ researchers did a search

of assets of about 25 BIR officials and employees — including
assistant commissioners, regional directors, assistant regional

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

directors, examiners and division chiefs — across the country. These

are some of the most lucrative BIR posts because they deal directly
with taxpayers, especially during tax audits, which present
opportunities for extortion or collusion. Examiners exercise a great
deal of discretion when it comes to tax assessments and are therefore
prone to corruption.

Individuals in these positions were chosen for scrutiny based on

information culled from more than a dozen informants, including
officials of the bureau. Not all of those investigated, however, had a
reputation for being "notoriously corrupt"; some were chosen based on
the availability of documents attesting to their assets.

The PCIJ team looked for land and corporate records and checked
vehicle registrations as well as their annual Statements of Assets and
Liabilities (SALs). The investigation shows that the bureau that
repeatedly admonishes people to be honest about their annual tax
declarations has officials who have no qualms about underreporting
their own assets and net worth and using dummies to hide their
ownership of lucrative properties.

BIR postings are so lucrative and BIR officials so used to tampering

official records that they try to delay retirement by "correcting" —
pushing forward — their dates of birth. The PCIJ's research uncovered
that from 1989 to the first quarter of 2001 alone, 24 BIR personnel
have petitioned the Civil Service Commission to change their birth
records.

Anyone who wants to run a lifestyle check on BIR officials and

employees need only to go to the parking lots of the bureau's main
and branch offices. There one would find cars that cost way beyond
the annual salary of an official of the bureau, much less one of its
personnel. A staff member of a Metro Manila district office also
observes, "They change cars so often."

Driving in Luxury
Cars Used by BIR Officials

PLATE BENEFICIAL REGISTERED

CAR MODEL
NO. OWNER OWNER

Sulpicio S. Bulanon
Jr.
Edwin Abella 1817 Jordan Plains
Nissan Patrol WES 202 BIR Reg'l Director, Subd.,
Quezon City Quezon City (listed
address of Abella in
his SALs)

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

Merrick Abella (son

of Abella)
Suzuki Grand
XAH 435 Ditto 24 Xavierville,
Vitara
Loyola Heights,
Quezon City

Elizabeth S. Buendia
Nissan Cefiro UUW 742 Ditto 152 Road 8, Pag-
asa, Quezon City

Lucien E. Sayuno Limtra Dev. Corp.

BMW AMS 101 BIR Reg'l Director, Zone 4,
Makati City Dasmariñas, Cavite

Marie Rachel D.
Meneses
BMW WAM 807 Ditto c/o Metrocor and
Holdings, G&F,
Makati City

Daniel Anthony P.
Danilo A. Duncano Duncano
Honda Accord EPM 168 BIR Reg'l Director, 2618 JP Rizal, New
Quezon City Capital Estate,
Quezon City

Corazon P.
Alberto P. Pangcog
Pangcog
(husband)
Mitsubishi L200 WHL 897 Asst. Reg'l
B2 L23 Lagro Subd.,
Director,
Quezon City
Valenzuela City

Alberto P. Pangcog
9 Ricardo St.,
Honda CR-V WAY 786 Ditto
Carmel 1 Subd.,
Quezon City

Honda CR-V XEH 459 Ditto Ditto

Flordeliza P.
Charito P. Sico
Villegas
8 Ma. Elena St.,
BMW MPV 343 Revenue District
Carmel 1 Subd.,
Officer,
Quezon City
Cabanatuan City

It is telling though that when residents of the BIR Village in Fairview,

Quezon City, were told that they only had to present their car
registrations to get a gate pass, many complained. "Umalma (They
raised a howl)!" laughs a BIR insider recounting the story. The idea
was promptly set aside, because most of the car registrations were not
in the residents' names.

Lucien Sayuno, in a written reply to PCIJ's query, denied owning the

Ayala Alabang home and a fleet of expensive vehicles. But records at
the Land Transportation Office show that the spanking new BMW in
his garage, which has a vanity plate "AMS 101" (after his wife's initials)
and is worth over P1.5 million, is registered in the name of Limtra

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

Development Corp., a Sayuno company.

Not quite in his 50s, Lucien Sayuno is still years away from retirement.
But he is among the BIR officials whose SALs contain incomplete
information. Not one of the companies recorded by the SEC as
belonging to him and his wife, for instance, appears in his SAL.

Neither does the Ayala Alabang house, which the village guard calls
the Sayuno residence. In addition, the telephone book lists Amelita
Sayuno's address as 266 Cuenca St. And when Lucien Sayuno went
overseas in 1998, he wrote down the same address in his immigration
form.

Land records show that the house is registered in the names of

Minerva C. Castillo, wife of Bacoor, Cavite mayor Jessie Castillo, and
Elsie H. Mercado (now Sosa), younger sister of Amelita and a resident
of Lipa.

Sayuno says the Castillos are "family friends." He failed to say,

though, that Minerva Castillo is also a business partner, being one of
the stockholders of the Sayunos' Agricultural Services Credit, Inc.
Based on the company's general information sheet filed last year with
the SEC, Minerva's address is 13 Malvar St., Ayala Alabang, Lucien
Sayuno's 126 P. Campos St., Dasmariñas, Cavite, and Amelita's
Mataas na Lupa, Lipa City.

Like Sayuno, most of the BIR officials and personnel who replied to
written queries from the PCIJ denied owning valuable pieces of
property, many of which are in the multimillion range. Novaliches
revenue district officer (RDO) Ernesto Kho, though, had a unique
explanation for continuing to list his old Tondo address in his SAL
despite having moved to another house in upscale New Manila,
Quezon City in 1983.

According to Kho, brother of Masbate governor Antonio Kho, his

"superior" instructed him to stick to his old address to avoid
complications. But, he says, his true address is reflected in his income
tax returns.

Kho has a declared net worth of only P947, 231. This, however,
appears to be an underdeclaration, considering his wife and children's
business interests, as well as the family's properties. Based on his
2001 SAL, Kho owns nine pieces of real estate, most of which are in
Masbate. SEC records also show several companies where his wife
and/or his children are listed as incorporators; two of these were not
included in his SAL.

One of the smallest declared net worth encountered by the PCIJ was

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

that of Nieto Racho, who had a paltry P198,758 in 1998 and P203,758
in 1999. But Racho, chief for the Special Investigation Division of the
Revenue District Office in Talisay, Cebu, left out key items in his SALs.

For instance, the papers of Angelsons Lending and Investors filed with
the SEC in April 1999 list Racho and his wife Lourdes among the firm's
officers, incorporators, and stockholders, all of whom are surnamed
Racho and carry the same middle initial as Nieto. Racho never
reported this company, which has its office in Tagbilaran City, in his
1999 SAL.

n November 9, 2002, DYHP Balita Action Team of the Radio

Mindanao Network wrote then BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez about
Racho's bank deposits totaling P5.8 million. Attached to the letter were
certifications from three banks that said the BIR official had deposits
with them of more than P1 million each. One of the banks said Racho
had P2.93 million in his account.

Asked to explain himself, Racho replied by saying the same issue was
already being investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas.
He asked that any administrative investigation be withheld pending the
resolution of the case with the Ombudsman's Office. The case,
however, is still in the preliminary investigation stage.

In the meantime, Taguig-Pateros RDO Rosemarie Ramos Ragasa told

the PCIJ that she still had "to complete the documents needed" to
answer queries about the choice properties she is said to own.
Ragasa, a widow who has an annual salary of about P250,000, is
acknowledged by residents of the Maria Makiling Greenheights
subdivision in Calamba, Laguna, as part-owner of two houses there.

One of the houses is really grand: a white mansion with a roof deck
and swimming pool on a sprawling piece of land. The visitor enters it
through a winding, concrete driveway with a tiled design and which
leads to a rotunda decorated with a white fountain. The other house,
painted sunshine yellow, is more modest. Both are commonly referred
to as the "BIR houses," even by the subdivision's guards. A neighbor
says the white house is refurbished every year.

One of Ragasa's acquaintances says the BIR officer and her constant
companion Victor Manlongat visit the properties almost every
weekend. "She's very luxurious," said a retired BIR official who has
personally witnessed Ragasa's lifestyle.

A check with the City Assessor's Office in Calamba yielded no

property declarations in the name of Ragasa or Manlongat, a retired
BIR employee. But three parcels of land that correspond to Ragasa's
alleged Greenheights properties show that they belong to two couples

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

who share the same surname: Artemio and Josefina M. Mercado, and
Josefino and Violeto G. Mercado.

There is no Maria Makiling Greenheights property listed in Ragasa's

SALs. In her earlier years in the BIR, Ragasa's listed address was 615
Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong. After her contractor-husband died, it
became Sto. Niño, Meycauayan, Bulacan. A check with the City
Assessor in Meycauayan, however, showed no records of real
property tax payment in her name.

On weekdays, Ragasa is said to stay at a condominium in Richbelt

Towers on Annapolis St., Greenhills, an upmarket residential area in
San Juan. The monthly rental of a three-bedroom apartment there is
about P32,000. The going rate for condominiums in the area ranges
from P35,000 to 40,000 per square meter. When the PCIJ called her
there, the woman who answered the phone said, "Dati ho dito s'ya
nakatira pero hindi na ngayon (She used to live her but not anymore)."
Ragasa, however, never declared Richbelt Towers as her address in
any of the records that are in her 201 employment file at the BIR.

BIR insiders say, however, that Edwin Abella, formerly Assistant

Commissioner of the Large Taxpayers Service and recently appointed
regional director of Quezon City, easily beats many of them when it
comes to property ownership. He has a house in 1817 Job St., Jordan
Plains, Novaliches — his listed address — but his mother-in-law, who
now lives there reportedly with a sister-in-law and her family, says "he
only comes here on weekends."

He has another house Xavierville Avenue in Quezon City that has its
own security guard. When visited by PCIJ, the house was being
refurbished.

Widely known in the BIR as a cockfighting enthusiast, Abella owns a

cock farm in Norzagaray, Bulacan. The property is known as Strike
Eagle Farm, but Abella's SALs indicate it only as "pasture" land.
Someone who has visited the property, though, says the only animals
he saw there were fighting cocks. A senior tax examiner in the national
office also confirms that some of his BIR colleagues frequent Abella's
cock farm.

Abella's declared net worth has grown steadily from P3.8 million in
1999, to P4.3 million 2000, P4.6 million in 2001, to P8.4 million in
2002. In a faxed reply to PCIJ's queries, however, Abella said his total
income for 2001 was actually a mere P902,000, derived not only from
salaries from the BIR and the University of the Philippines (where he
teaches at the College of Law), but also from lecture fees as a
reviewer in various law schools, honoraria from lectures in seminars,
"plus a modest income from agricultural products."

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BIR Officials Amass Unexplained Wealth

In 2002, his "sweepstake winnings" added to his family income, said

Abella.

"While I was able to purchase properties during my stint with the BIR,
these properties acquired were all within my legal means," Abella
wrote.

His name, however, has been dragged in a number of controversial

tax-related cases and issues in the bureau. One of these was the
Joaquin O. Ramirez estate tax return case, which became the subject
of an investigation by the bureau in 1989 and 1991. It was also the
target of a privileged speech delivered by then former Senator Ernesto
Maceda, who denounced the case as an example of anomalies in the
BIR.

The estate tax case involved some P344 million in tax deficiencies that
arose from the "the fraudulent estate tax return" filed by Marisol T.
Ramirez, daughter of the late Joaquin Ramirez. The amount covered a
50-percent statutory surcharge for filing a fraudulent estate tax return
and a 20 percent interest covering three years.

The P344-million tax deficiency assessed was eventually reduced to

P1.6 million, upon the recommendation of Abella and fellow revenue
examiner Felix Sumbillo, both of whom took on the case despite the
absence of a Letter of Authority authorizing them to do so. At the time
Abella and Sumbillo were revenue examiners for the BIR's banks,
financing and insurance division.

An anti-graft case was consequently filed by a private individual with

the National Bureau of Investigation against the BIR officials and
employees involved in the processing and investigation of the Ramirez
estate tax return. The case remains unresolved.

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

17-19 APRIL 2000

Print this article

by TESS BACALLA

CERTIFIED PUBLIC Accountant Boni Santos (not his real name) prided himself in keeping
us your views and comments
his company's books in order. But a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) examiner said his firm, about this article.
a fastfood franchise, had racked up some P3 million in tax deficiencies.

Santos arranged a meeting with the tax officer at a nearby restaurant. Convinced that his
company's records could stand scrutiny, Santos asked the examiner to take a closer look at
its books. The BIR man, however, refused to do so, and instead insisted that his assessment
was correct. Santos recalls being told in the process, "You're deficient here, you're disallowed
here."
Google Search
Santos says the meeting, which took place several years ago, was his first encounter with a Web pcij.org
BIR examiner. To this day, he insists, "We were paying taxes honestly." But he says he still
found himself haggling with the examiner. In the end, his firm agreed to pay a pared down
"assessment" of P320,000. Of this, only P20,000 appeared on the receipt handed to Santos; Search our Site
the rest ended up with the examiner and his friends.

Paying taxes is a chore no one relishes doing, which is partly why many people usually wait Find!
until the deadline to file their income tax returns—today, for tax year 1999-and why no one
Match ANY
expects the BIR to reach its target collection of P387.8 billion for this year.
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But even BIR insiders say a major reason why taxpaying has become so onerous a task in
this country is because of the widespread perception that the Bureau is corrupt, and that
much of the money a taxpayer hands over goes not to the government but into the pockets of
unscrupulous BIR officers. The insiders also say tax audits such as the one undergone by
Santos's former employer provide one of the most lucrative opportunities for corruption in the
Bureau, and have become tools of harassment by BIR personnel.

Several BIR officials, both past and present, interviewed for this series by the PCIJ confirm
that too many flaws in the system have made the practice of rigging tax assessments all too
common. For instance, they say, the procedures for the conduct of tax assessment are
unclear.

There is also too much discretion left in the hands of BIR examiners. "There's a lot of
expenses that they can disallow," says one businessman, referring to the alleged arbitrary
manner by which examiners forbid certain company expenses from being deducted from the
taxable income, raising the tax due. "That's why," he adds, "you negotiate."

The delineation of functions among various BIR units is vague as well, which means a
company can be audited by the tax fraud division of the national office and a revenue district
office for the same taxable period-supposedly a no-no based on BIR guidelines.

Worse, there is hardly any monitoring being done to check any abuse. Not by the Commission
on Audit or by Congress anyway, much less by BIR top officials, some of whom may even be

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

accomplices to this malfeasance. And while there have been attempts to reform the system
and at least limit the abuses, there is apparent resistance from within. Remarks Romulo Neri,
director-general of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office (CPBO): "It is a very rich
broth for corruption to thrive."

A recent study by the Transparency International (Philippines) in fact shows that for every
P2,000 tax collectible, only P1,000 is actually collected because P500 goes to corruption and
collusion, while the remainder goes to "defects" in collection.

But these figures may even be generous. According to an examiner at the Bureau's tax fraud
division, 50 percent of assessed deficiencies or tax liabilities going to public coffers is already
considered huge. Other BIR insiders confirm this, saying that whenever there is collusion
between revenue personnel and business taxpayers in particular, the liabilities could be
reduced by as much as 90 percent, which leaves a measly 10 percent for the government
purse.

The irony is that tax audits are supposed to be conducted precisely to enhance voluntary tax
compliance and encourage the correct reporting of taxes.

Not all tax returns, of course, are supposed to be subjected to audit. Under BIR's 1999 Audit
Program for revenue district offices (embodied in Revenue Memorandum Order No. 67-99),
which took effect on Sept. 1, 1999, there are two categories of selection criteria for the 1998
internal revenue tax returns to be audited: mandatory and priority target taxpayers. Included in
the first category are estate/donors tax returns with a gross estate/gift above P5 million, and
claims for tax credit/refund exceeding P20,000 and with gross sales/receipts exceeding P5
million.

Among the priority target taxpayers, meanwhile, are those who did not avail of the Economic
Recovery Assistance Program (ERAP); the top 100 taxpayers in the district in terms of gross
sales/receipts "where there is no VAT or percentage tax payment for the current year and the
immediately preceding year; the top 100 direct and indirect exporters in terms of gross sales/
receipts; and the taxpayers belonging to the top two industries within the respective area of
jurisdiction of the RDO "with the lowest percentage of tax compliance...."

Tax audits can only proceed upon the issuance of a Letter of Authority (LA) to pre-selected
taxpayers by authorized BIR examiners within 30 days from its release. LAs are letters issued
by the BIR Commissioner authorizing revenue district officers (RDOs) to examine certain
taxpayers' records in relation to their tax liabilities for a specified taxable year.

Where there are indications of fraud, RDOs are required to transmit the records of the case to
the Special Investigation Divisions (SIDs) at their respective regional offices. The SIDs, in
turn, can refer certain cases to the Tax Fraud Division at the national office, which also has
jurisdiction over cases referred to it by the BIR Commissioner.

In other words, several units within the Bureau are authorized to serve LAs on taxpayers. But
"to preclude multiple issuance of LAs to the same taxpayer for the same taxable year," the
BIR also has another set of clear steps to follow that goes from the RDOs up to the Assistant
Commissioner for Assessment Service.

In addition, BIR's audit guidelines state that LAs from the national office, which are signed by
no less than the Commissioner, should automatically supersede LAs issued by regional
directors. Yet even then, some RDOs and SIDs will not readily give way, especially if they
have done considerable work on the audit, says a high-ranking official who used to be based
at the BIR's regional office at the Atrium in Makati. To budge will mean putting their work to
waste, she says. And "waste" here means passing up a chance to collect, which counts a lot
in the region's "performance."

Says another former top BIR official: "Their functions overlap because they don't want to go
by the rules."

One result of this is described in a 1998 letter sent by retired BIR examiner Socrates

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

Aguinaldo to then Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu. According to Aguinaldo, a taxpayer

had told him of being issued three LAs for the same tax period. One came from "the Tax
Fraud (Division), another from the SID, and the third from the district," wrote Aguinaldo, who
worked in the BIR for 33 years and who has come to be known in the Bureau for his "self-
imposed" crusade to rid it of corruption. "The taxpayers are confused," he also noted in the
letter.

Even the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been prompted to comment
in a report on the Philippine Tax Administration Assistance Project it did jointly with the
Internal Revenue Service of the United States: "The current situation is that various
organizational units...within the Bureau are fighting over the jurisdiction to audit taxpayers."
The result, according to USAID, "is inequitable treatment of taxpayers, even less control about
how taxpayers are selected for audit, and the potential for integrity compromises."

A former BIR top official who declines to be named admits that not only are there overlapping
functions among the auditing units, but there is also "competition" among these units or
divisions to issue LAs. "They race against each other," he says.

The "winner" gets to set the rules in "auditing" the taxpayer. While the BIR's own handbook on
audit procedures stipulates the "examination of a taxpayer's books and records in sufficient
depth," Bureau employees and businessmen say there are instances when no examination
takes place at all. Says an examiner at the national office: "Pinag-uusapan na lang (The terms
are just discussed)."

Former BIR Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato says there are some examiners who do
make an effort of at least looking at the gross sales on which to base the business taxpayer's
tax liabilities. But then, says Chato, "examiners would say, 'No opening of books, just give one
or two percent of your gross.'"

"You might as well pay the minimum corporate income tax to the government," says the ex-
BIR chief. "People don't even have to pay that (much) if they know how to look at their books."

But another former BIR top official hints that it is just not that simple. "Kawawa ang taxpayer
(The taxpayer is at their mercy). Even if you know what's correct, wala kang laban, kasi
pahihirapan ka (you can't put up a fight because things are just going to get more difficult."

Cases involving collusion during tax audits may actually arise from any one of a number of
factors other than outright tax fraud. An accountant-lawyer who belongs to a major auditing
firm says these range from excessive deductions or claims of tax exemptions, to ignorance of
BIR rules and sheer negligence, which many small taxpayers are guilty of.

He also says many businesspeople do not keep systematic records—if at all—of their
transactions. Indeed, some do not even have accountants, he says. With no records or
incomplete data to justify their tax returns, these people are almost always forced to yield to
extortion, if not initiate settlements.

"Besides," says the accountant, "he (the business taxpayer under audit) knows he also
cheated the government, so why should he dispute the examiner's assessment?" These, he
says, are the kinds of business taxpayers corrupt examiners like to audit, because they can
finish their "work" in no time at all.

To be sure, large business taxpayers are generally in a better position to contest tax
assessments in comparison with the small-time taxpayer. After all, they usually keep a record
of all their transactions. They also have staffs, as well as the ample financial resources
required to pursue a tax case.

Yet many businesspeople often elect to "settle" their tax liabilities even if they know that the
assessments are incorrect, because of what they claim to be the tedious process involved in
pursuing a tax case. "You can't have a chance, because you will then have to spend a lot of
time trying to solve that problem, not only time but money," says an industry leader who sits

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

on the board of several big business groups in the country. "By the time you get a court
resolution on your case, you've actually spent more."

Chato, though, sees the situation this way: "The justification is that they will give to the (BIR
tax) auditor anyway."

But the truth is that the more scheming the business taxpayer, the more vulnerable he is to
corrupt examiners.

A case in point is a Makati-based company where Edgar Mariano (not his real name) works
as finance manager. In 1998, Mariano's firm was assessed P600,000 in tax deficiencies,
which he says was intended for delayed payment of certain taxes in 1997. Mariano says his
company's cash position was low at the time, so it could not pay the supposed tax liabilities.
Besides, he says, the firm had a "history" of paying off BIR examiners.

"Thus your bargaining point weakens," he says, "kasi alam na nila eh (because they already
know)." So even if a company has every reason to dispute an assessment, says Mariano, it
usually would not do so, fearful of being subjected to further harassment.

Knowing this, some revenue officers will not even wait for the taxpayer to come across, but
will initiate a settlement. This was exactly what the examiner assigned to audit Mariano's
company at the time did; he cut to the chase and offered to lower his assessment to
P150,000, of which only P50,000 would appear on the official receipt.

As soon as Mariano, who had his boss's blessings, handed the money inside the examiner's
office, he got the tax certificate that cleared his company of any tax deficiency. "It's Binondo-
style, kaliwaan (a quick exchange)," he says. "You give me the money, I'll give you the tax
certificate. No more questions asked."

But there may be a record of what transpired somewhere. BIR insiders say examiners keep
personal records of all "collections" from "cooperative" taxpayers. These records, say the
insiders, will be passed on to whoever will be assigned to the same taxpayers in the coming
years, assuming these companies or individuals will continue to be audited.

BIR policies prohibit an examiner from investigating a taxpayer for two consecutive tax
periods "except when there is only one Group Supervisor or at most four Revenue Officers in
one district." But the existence of "collection" files makes any taxpayer who had "settled" in
the past to be a very easy target for even a new, but corrupt, examiner.

At the same time, there are also businesspeople who do not wait to be audited for them to
take out their wallets. The accountant-lawyer mentioned earlier recounts how some 100 or so
small businessmen in Laoag, Ilocos Sur fork out P500 to P2,000 each a month to the BIR
examiners in their revenue district. This is not so much to guarantee that they would not be
audited anymore, says the accountant, as it is to keep examiners from harassing them as they
audit their tax returns.

They still give grease money during the audit, though, the accountant says. But the Laoag
businessmen think that because they have organized themselves into an informal association
of sorts, they have a "voice" in dealing with the examiners. They can also monitor how much
money is being asked from each of them, thereby preventing the BIR auditors from collecting
more from the others.

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

BIR Provides a 'Rich Broth' for

Corruption
by TESS BACALLA

CERTIFIED PUBLIC Accountant Boni Santos (not his real name)

prided himself in keeping his company's books in order. But a Bureau
of Internal Revenue (BIR) examiner said his firm, a fastfood franchise,
had racked up some P3 million in tax deficiencies.

Santos arranged a meeting with the tax officer at a nearby restaurant.

Convinced that his company's records could stand scrutiny, Santos
asked the examiner to take a closer look at its books. The BIR man,
however, refused to do so, and instead insisted that his assessment
was correct. Santos recalls being told in the process, "You're deficient
here, you're disallowed here."

Santos says the meeting, which took place several years ago, was his
first encounter with a BIR examiner. To this day, he insists, "We were
paying taxes honestly." But he says he still found himself haggling with
the examiner. In the end, his firm agreed to pay a pared down
"assessment" of P320,000. Of this, only P20,000 appeared on the
receipt handed to Santos; the rest ended up with the examiner and his
friends.

Paying taxes is a chore no one relishes doing, which is partly why

many people usually wait until the deadline to file their income tax
returns—today, for tax year 1999-and why no one expects the BIR to
reach its target collection of P387.8 billion for this year.

But even BIR insiders say a major reason why taxpaying has become
so onerous a task in this country is because of the widespread
perception that the Bureau is corrupt, and that much of the money a
taxpayer hands over goes not to the government but into the pockets
of unscrupulous BIR officers. The insiders also say tax audits such as
the one undergone by Santos's former employer provide one of the
most lucrative opportunities for corruption in the Bureau, and have
become tools of harassment by BIR personnel.

Several BIR officials, both past and present, interviewed for this series
by the PCIJ confirm that too many flaws in the system have made the
practice of rigging tax assessments all too common. For instance, they
say, the procedures for the conduct of tax assessment are unclear.

There is also too much discretion left in the hands of BIR examiners.

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

"There's a lot of expenses that they can disallow," says one

businessman, referring to the alleged arbitrary manner by which
examiners forbid certain company expenses from being deducted from
the taxable income, raising the tax due. "That's why," he adds, "you
negotiate."

The delineation of functions among various BIR units is vague as well,

which means a company can be audited by the tax fraud division of
the national office and a revenue district office for the same taxable
period-supposedly a no-no based on BIR guidelines.

Worse, there is hardly any monitoring being done to check any abuse.
Not by the Commission on Audit or by Congress anyway, much less
by BIR top officials, some of whom may even be accomplices to this
malfeasance. And while there have been attempts to reform the
system and at least limit the abuses, there is apparent resistance from
within. Remarks Romulo Neri, director-general of the Congressional
Planning and Budget Office (CPBO): "It is a very rich broth for
corruption to thrive."

A recent study by the Transparency International (Philippines) in fact

shows that for every P2,000 tax collectible, only P1,000 is actually
collected because P500 goes to corruption and collusion, while the
remainder goes to "defects" in collection.

But these figures may even be generous. According to an examiner at

the Bureau's tax fraud division, 50 percent of assessed deficiencies or
tax liabilities going to public coffers is already considered huge. Other
BIR insiders confirm this, saying that whenever there is collusion
between revenue personnel and business taxpayers in particular, the
liabilities could be reduced by as much as 90 percent, which leaves a
measly 10 percent for the government purse.

The irony is that tax audits are supposed to be conducted precisely to

enhance voluntary tax compliance and encourage the correct reporting
of taxes.

Not all tax returns, of course, are supposed to be subjected to audit.

Under BIR's 1999 Audit Program for revenue district offices (embodied
in Revenue Memorandum Order No. 67-99), which took effect on Sept.
1, 1999, there are two categories of selection criteria for the 1998
internal revenue tax returns to be audited: mandatory and priority
target taxpayers. Included in the first category are estate/donors tax
returns with a gross estate/gift above P5 million, and claims for tax
credit/refund exceeding P20,000 and with gross sales/receipts
exceeding P5 million.

Among the priority target taxpayers, meanwhile, are those who did not

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

avail of the Economic Recovery Assistance Program (ERAP); the top

100 taxpayers in the district in terms of gross sales/receipts "where
there is no VAT or percentage tax payment for the current year and
the immediately preceding year; the top 100 direct and indirect
exporters in terms of gross sales/ receipts; and the taxpayers
belonging to the top two industries within the respective area of
jurisdiction of the RDO "with the lowest percentage of tax
compliance...."

Tax audits can only proceed upon the issuance of a Letter of Authority
(LA) to pre-selected taxpayers by authorized BIR examiners within 30
days from its release. LAs are letters issued by the BIR Commissioner
authorizing revenue district officers (RDOs) to examine certain
taxpayers' records in relation to their tax liabilities for a specified
taxable year.

Where there are indications of fraud, RDOs are required to transmit

the records of the case to the Special Investigation Divisions (SIDs) at
their respective regional offices. The SIDs, in turn, can refer certain
cases to the Tax Fraud Division at the national office, which also has
jurisdiction over cases referred to it by the BIR Commissioner.

In other words, several units within the Bureau are authorized to serve
LAs on taxpayers. But "to preclude multiple issuance of LAs to the
same taxpayer for the same taxable year," the BIR also has another
set of clear steps to follow that goes from the RDOs up to the Assistant
Commissioner for Assessment Service.

In addition, BIR's audit guidelines state that LAs from the national
office, which are signed by no less than the Commissioner, should
automatically supersede LAs issued by regional directors. Yet even
then, some RDOs and SIDs will not readily give way, especially if they
have done considerable work on the audit, says a high-ranking official
who used to be based at the BIR's regional office at the Atrium in
Makati. To budge will mean putting their work to waste, she says. And
"waste" here means passing up a chance to collect, which counts a lot
in the region's "performance."

Says another former top BIR official: "Their functions overlap because
they don't want to go by the rules."

One result of this is described in a 1998 letter sent by retired BIR

examiner Socrates Aguinaldo to then Finance Secretary Edgardo
Espiritu. According to Aguinaldo, a taxpayer had told him of being
issued three LAs for the same tax period. One came from "the Tax
Fraud (Division), another from the SID, and the third from the district,"
wrote Aguinaldo, who worked in the BIR for 33 years and who has
come to be known in the Bureau for his "self-imposed" crusade to rid it

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

of corruption. "The taxpayers are confused," he also noted in the letter.

Even the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has

been prompted to comment in a report on the Philippine Tax
Administration Assistance Project it did jointly with the Internal
Revenue Service of the United States: "The current situation is that
various organizational units...within the Bureau are fighting over the
jurisdiction to audit taxpayers." The result, according to USAID, "is
inequitable treatment of taxpayers, even less control about how
taxpayers are selected for audit, and the potential for integrity
compromises."

A former BIR top official who declines to be named admits that not
only are there overlapping functions among the auditing units, but
there is also "competition" among these units or divisions to issue LAs.
"They race against each other," he says.

The "winner" gets to set the rules in "auditing" the taxpayer. While the
BIR's own handbook on audit procedures stipulates the "examination
of a taxpayer's books and records in sufficient depth," Bureau
employees and businessmen say there are instances when no
examination takes place at all. Says an examiner at the national office:
"Pinag-uusapan na lang (The terms are just discussed)."

Former BIR Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato says there are

some examiners who do make an effort of at least looking at the gross
sales on which to base the business taxpayer's tax liabilities. But then,
says Chato, "examiners would say, 'No opening of books, just give one
or two percent of your gross.'"

"You might as well pay the minimum corporate income tax to the
government," says the ex-BIR chief. "People don't even have to pay
that (much) if they know how to look at their books."

But another former BIR top official hints that it is just not that simple.
"Kawawa ang taxpayer (The taxpayer is at their mercy). Even if you
know what's correct, wala kang laban, kasi pahihirapan ka (you can't
put up a fight because things are just going to get more difficult."

Cases involving collusion during tax audits may actually arise from any
one of a number of factors other than outright tax fraud. An accountant-
lawyer who belongs to a major auditing firm says these range from
excessive deductions or claims of tax exemptions, to ignorance of BIR
rules and sheer negligence, which many small taxpayers are guilty of.

He also says many businesspeople do not keep systematic records—if

at all—of their transactions. Indeed, some do not even have
accountants, he says. With no records or incomplete data to justify

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

their tax returns, these people are almost always forced to yield to
extortion, if not initiate settlements.

"Besides," says the accountant, "he (the business taxpayer under

audit) knows he also cheated the government, so why should he
dispute the examiner's assessment?" These, he says, are the kinds of
business taxpayers corrupt examiners like to audit, because they can
finish their "work" in no time at all.

To be sure, large business taxpayers are generally in a better position

to contest tax assessments in comparison with the small-time
taxpayer. After all, they usually keep a record of all their transactions.
They also have staffs, as well as the ample financial resources
required to pursue a tax case.

Yet many businesspeople often elect to "settle" their tax liabilities even
if they know that the assessments are incorrect, because of what they
claim to be the tedious process involved in pursuing a tax case. "You
can't have a chance, because you will then have to spend a lot of time
trying to solve that problem, not only time but money," says an industry
leader who sits on the board of several big business groups in the
country. "By the time you get a court resolution on your case, you've
actually spent more."

Chato, though, sees the situation this way: "The justification is that
they will give to the (BIR tax) auditor anyway."

But the truth is that the more scheming the business taxpayer, the
more vulnerable he is to corrupt examiners.

A case in point is a Makati-based company where Edgar Mariano (not

his real name) works as finance manager. In 1998, Mariano's firm was
assessed P600,000 in tax deficiencies, which he says was intended
for delayed payment of certain taxes in 1997. Mariano says his
company's cash position was low at the time, so it could not pay the
supposed tax liabilities. Besides, he says, the firm had a "history" of
paying off BIR examiners.

"Thus your bargaining point weakens," he says, "kasi alam na nila eh

(because they already know)." So even if a company has every reason
to dispute an assessment, says Mariano, it usually would not do so,
fearful of being subjected to further harassment.

Knowing this, some revenue officers will not even wait for the taxpayer
to come across, but will initiate a settlement. This was exactly what the
examiner assigned to audit Mariano's company at the time did; he cut
to the chase and offered to lower his assessment to P150,000, of
which only P50,000 would appear on the official receipt.

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BIR Provides a "Rich Broth" for Corruption

As soon as Mariano, who had his boss's blessings, handed the money
inside the examiner's office, he got the tax certificate that cleared his
company of any tax deficiency. "It's Binondo-style, kaliwaan (a quick
exchange)," he says. "You give me the money, I'll give you the tax
certificate. No more questions asked."

But there may be a record of what transpired somewhere. BIR insiders

say examiners keep personal records of all "collections" from
"cooperative" taxpayers. These records, say the insiders, will be
passed on to whoever will be assigned to the same taxpayers in the
coming years, assuming these companies or individuals will continue
to be audited.

BIR policies prohibit an examiner from investigating a taxpayer for two

consecutive tax periods "except when there is only one Group
Supervisor or at most four Revenue Officers in one district." But the
existence of "collection" files makes any taxpayer who had "settled" in
the past to be a very easy target for even a new, but corrupt,
examiner.

At the same time, there are also businesspeople who do not wait to be
audited for them to take out their wallets. The accountant-lawyer
mentioned earlier recounts how some 100 or so small businessmen in
Laoag, Ilocos Sur fork out P500 to P2,000 each a month to the BIR
examiners in their revenue district. This is not so much to guarantee
that they would not be audited anymore, says the accountant, as it is
to keep examiners from harassing them as they audit their tax returns.

They still give grease money during the audit, though, the accountant
says. But the Laoag businessmen think that because they have
organized themselves into an informal association of sorts, they have
a "voice" in dealing with the examiners. They can also monitor how
much money is being asked from each of them, thereby preventing the
BIR auditors from collecting more from the others.

Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

Print this article

THE PERSONNEL of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have an interesting term for the
amount of money that goes to the government whenever tax audits are done: "RP," for
Republic of the Philippines, of course. But they also have a special term for the remainder of
the funds collected: "PR," or Public Relations, which in most cases far surpasses the RP.
us your views and comments
about this article.
The business taxpayers who give the PR would rather call it by other names-"nuisance fee" or
"foot" or "coffee" money. For all these colorful euphemisms, PR is really nothing more than a
bribe that enriches corrupt BIR personnel and deprives the government of needed revenue.

If the purchases made by some BIR personnel are to be any indication, the amounts involved
are nothing to scoff at. A retired examiner, for instance, recalls attending the wake of a
departed fellow examiner and seeing the latter's stately dwelling for the first time. He says he
could only wonder how the person could have amassed so much wealth in his lifetime on a Google Search
paltry government salary, which for an examiner at the Bureau comes to anywhere between
P9,121 and P14,538 a month, depending on his rank. Web pcij.org

In an August 1999 letter to then BIR Commissioner Beethoven Rualo, retired senior examiner- Search our Site
turned-anti-corruption crusader Socrates Aguinaldo wrote of a regional director "who has been
alternately displaying his (three) brand-new cars: a Honda Civic, a RAV 4, and a Mitsubishi."
All these vehicles cost more than P500,000 each. A regional director's monthly salary is only Find!
P19,499.
Match ANY
Aguinaldo says another regional director at least suffered a fit of generosity and spent powered by FreeFind
hundreds of thousands of pesos of "her own personal funds" to renovate her district office.

Obviously, the examiner who does the actual audit on a taxpayer is not the only one who gets
to enjoy a ride on the PR gravy train. While he is the first BIR officer to get a hold of the
money, he is often not the last to put his hands on it. Insiders say other examiners partake of
the pot, as does their immediate superior. This boss in turn will set aside a substantial share
for the powers-that-be at the national office.

A high-ranking BIR official says he would be a hypocrite to deny the existence of the sharing
scheme inside the agency, but categorically denies that any one of them ever gets a share of
the PR money. A retired BIR official, however, attests that the money indeed goes far as the
top levels in the bureau. Other insiders also say that the "sharing" usually happens once a
week, or whenever a tax case is closed or an audit has been purportedly finished. They add
that even secretaries and clerks get a portion of the PR in the form of a weekly allowance
from their superiors.

A tax fraud division senior examiner describes the way the sharing system works, at least in
his territory: A taxpayer whose liabilities have been fixed will usually send someone to bring
the PR to whichever examiner is auditing his case. The examiner will then either bring the
whole amount to the head of the division or immediately deduct his or her share.

According to the tax fraud examiner, 30 percent goes to the examiners of the group assigned
to audit a taxpayer while the supervisor's share is 15 percent. The division chief and the
assistant chief each get 20 percent. The rest of the PR goes to the higher officials such as the
commissioner, the assistant commissioner, and deputy commissioner in charge of the group
doing the assessment.

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

Sometimes, other BIR personnel say, the examiner and the taxpayer may choose to meet
outside the office, such as at a restaurant or a hotel. But wherever the PR is handed over, it is
always in cash.

One insider says the scheme cuts across all regions. But he says the proportion of the cuts
each officer gets varies and depends heavily on what the "jefe" or chief thinks is "best" for
everyone.

Aguinaldo, who spent more than three decades at the Bureau before he finally retired in June
1994, says the sharing scheme used to be either 50-50 or 60-40 in favor of the revenue
district officers (RDOs) and regional directors. But that is no longer the case, he says. In a
November 1998 letter to his fellow revenue officers still in the Bureau, Aguinaldo, said this
"revenue regulation" governing the sharing system in BIR has been "amended."

He wrote that the proportions are now 70-30. "Under the 70-30 scheme," said Aguinaldo, "30
percent goes to the regional director, 30 percent to the revenue district officers, 10 percent to
the chief of the assessment division of the regional office, and the remaining 30 percent to the
supervisor and his examiners."

Aguinaldo also used this example to illustrate just how much those involved in such a sharing
scheme could be hauling home: Assume that one region has five revenue districts, each with
40 examiners. Assume also that each of these 200 examiners gets a PR take of P200,000 a
month. This means in that region, the total monthly PR would be a P40 million. Following the
70-30 sharing system, the loot would be distributed thus:

Regional director—30 percent or P12M Revenue District Officers—30 percent

or P12M Chief, Assessment—10 percent or P 4M Supervisors/examiners—30
percent or P12M

Actually, say BIR insiders, the PR "sharing" is supposed to go only as high as the regional
directors. After all, when it comes to who does some work on tax assessment reports, the
directors are as far as the papers go. They approve the reports that also pass through the
district officers.

Still, these regional directors give money to their bosses at the national office anyway, if only
to secure their positions from which they could be booted out any time or transferred to a less
"lucrative" jurisdiction. This is why regional directors give to their superiors at the national
office not only after the completion of tax audits, but also during impending revamps, say BIR
personnel.

The tax fraud division examiner also says that regional directors lobby for the retention of their
posts or for promotion to higher positions by making "representations" with the appointing
committee, which includes the BIR Commissioner. Asked what "representation" means, the
examiner replies, "bribe money." He also says that the standard "representation" is P5 million.

"Of course, magpapapapel sila, otherwise aalisin sila (they will try to ingratiate themselves,
otherwise they will lose their jobs)," says the tax fraud examiner, who also admits, "I am a
party to (the crime). I give (a share of the PR money) to them."

A former BIR top official confirms this. In fact, when this writer spoke to him again recently, the
official disclosed that he had just received a call from a regional director in Mindanao who, in
the course of their conversation, admitted to just having given money to a bigwig at the
national office.

There are, however, times when the PR is not shared. A senior examiner at the BIR national
office says these are when the taxpayer selected for audit happens to be a friend or relative of
someone with powerful political connections. Appeals are then made to a high official at the
Bureau. According to the examiner, the PR will go directly to the official who was approached.

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

"Hindi na 'yan maidi-distribute sa baba (Those below don't get a share)," he says. What do
reach those in the lower levels are instructions on how to handle the audit, he adds,
explaining that the investigating unit responsible for the audit would perhaps be told to
prepare papers that would make it appear that the concerned taxpayer has only so much
deficiencies to settle.

The BIR's brand of PR has become so popular especially among the agency's officials that
some of them have been known to cling to their posts even after reaching the compulsory
retirement age of 65.

In yet another letter, this time to Sixto Esquivias, BIR Deputy Commissioner for the Legal
Enforcement Group, the indefatigable Aguinaldo cited the "proliferation of highly questionable
extension of services of BIR officials beyond the mandatory age of retirement."

Writing in 1997, Aguinaldo pointed to the case of Atty. Delano Valera, director of Revenue
Region 2 (CAR), whose services were extended for a period of six months beyond his 65th
birthday, March 4, 1999. The extension order was covered in a CSC (Civil Service
Commission) Resolution No. 983145 dated Dec. 17, 1998.

Citing two more cases involving other BIR officials who were similarly favored by the CSC
upon the recommendation of Rualo, Aguinaldo asked, being presidential appointees, "would
not the approval of their services' extension upon the recommendation of Commissioner
Rualo constitute a usurpation of authority, as the power to appoint rests solely (in) the
President?"

A July 19, 1999 memorandum to the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) that was written
by Charito Elegir of the President Personnel Group Secretariat (PPGS) in fact says that "only
the President can approve/authorize the extension of services of Presidential appointees upon
the recommendation of the Department Secretary."

The PPGS, which processes recommendations for presidential appointments, had found that
CSC was also processing and approving requests for extension of services of officials,
including presidential appointees, who had reached their compulsory retirement age. It cited
as a concrete case the same CSC resolution mentioned by Aguinaldo in his letter to
Esquivias. Put another way, the answer to Aguinaldo's query is "yes."

Another government agency, meanwhile, also found itself worrying about the goings-on at the
BIR. A former undersecretary at the Department of Finance says that some months ago, then
Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu had been "very angry" over the high number of Letters of
Authority (LAs) being issued by the BIR. LAs are needed before any tax audit-which are done
only on taxpayers that meet very specific criteria-can take place.

The ex-finance undersecretary recalls that Espiritu was upset because "he saw so many
letters of authority (being) issued." He says the Secretary wanted the BIR to tell him just how
many cases "had actually been brought to court, and how much had been collected from
assessed investigations of tax liabilities."

The former undersecretary claims that the Finance Department also wanted to "start looking
at the audit procedures. We wanted to review all the rulings. We wanted to be able to project
an image that the BIR can be trusted." He says they were planning to conduct a random
sampling of assessments and review dockets. Before he got out of the Department, the official
says he had even been talking personally to some revenue district officers. He says that he
was hoping that they were sending "enough signals to the Bureau—'(get) your act together.'"

But BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Romeo Panganiban does not seem worried at
all by such fuss over the audits and the LAs, and the underlying concerns about corruption at
the Bureau. He says the "bigger damage" is if tax collections are misspent and not so much
the potential losses from tax auditors who collude with or extort from business taxpayers.

He notes that the BIR's 1998 total collection reached P337.177 billion. This represented a
share of 80.9 percent in the government's total tax revenue in 1998 as opposed to only 63.4

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

percent in 1993. Huffs Panganiban: "Dapat hangaan din kami (We should be admired)."

What Panganiban does not say is that the Bureau was actually P17.89 billion short of its
target for that year. The BIR's 1998 annual report also acknowledges that the collection of
corporate income taxes was 18.6 percent short of the goal.

Tax year 1999 may not show much improvement. Media reports early this year said that the
failure of 18 regional revenue offices to meet their collection targets had already added up to a
shortfall of P28 billion.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

by TESS BACALLA

THE PERSONNEL of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have an

interesting term for the amount of money that goes to the government
whenever tax audits are done: "RP," for Republic of the Philippines, of
course. But they also have a special term for the remainder of the
funds collected: "PR," or Public Relations, which in most cases far
surpasses the RP.

The business taxpayers who give the PR would rather call it by other
names-"nuisance fee" or "foot" or "coffee" money. For all these colorful
euphemisms, PR is really nothing more than a bribe that enriches
corrupt BIR personnel and deprives the government of needed
revenue.

If the purchases made by some BIR personnel are to be any

indication, the amounts involved are nothing to scoff at. A retired
examiner, for instance, recalls attending the wake of a departed fellow
examiner and seeing the latter's stately dwelling for the first time. He
says he could only wonder how the person could have amassed so
much wealth in his lifetime on a paltry government salary, which for an
examiner at the Bureau comes to anywhere between P9,121 and
P14,538 a month, depending on his rank.

In an August 1999 letter to then BIR Commissioner Beethoven Rualo,

retired senior examiner-turned-anti-corruption crusader Socrates
Aguinaldo wrote of a regional director "who has been alternately
displaying his (three) brand-new cars: a Honda Civic, a RAV 4, and a
Mitsubishi." All these vehicles cost more than P500,000 each. A
regional director's monthly salary is only P19,499.

Aguinaldo says another regional director at least suffered a fit of

generosity and spent hundreds of thousands of pesos of "her own
personal funds" to renovate her district office.

Obviously, the examiner who does the actual audit on a taxpayer is not
the only one who gets to enjoy a ride on the PR gravy train. While he
is the first BIR officer to get a hold of the money, he is often not the
last to put his hands on it. Insiders say other examiners partake of the
pot, as does their immediate superior. This boss in turn will set aside a
substantial share for the powers-that-be at the national office.

A high-ranking BIR official says he would be a hypocrite to deny the

existence of the sharing scheme inside the agency, but categorically

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

denies that any one of them ever gets a share of the PR money. A
retired BIR official, however, attests that the money indeed goes far as
the top levels in the bureau. Other insiders also say that the "sharing"
usually happens once a week, or whenever a tax case is closed or an
audit has been purportedly finished. They add that even secretaries
and clerks get a portion of the PR in the form of a weekly allowance
from their superiors.

A tax fraud division senior examiner describes the way the sharing
system works, at least in his territory: A taxpayer whose liabilities have
been fixed will usually send someone to bring the PR to whichever
examiner is auditing his case. The examiner will then either bring the
whole amount to the head of the division or immediately deduct his or
her share.

According to the tax fraud examiner, 30 percent goes to the examiners

of the group assigned to audit a taxpayer while the supervisor's share
is 15 percent. The division chief and the assistant chief each get 20
percent. The rest of the PR goes to the higher officials such as the
commissioner, the assistant commissioner, and deputy commissioner
in charge of the group doing the assessment.

Sometimes, other BIR personnel say, the examiner and the taxpayer
may choose to meet outside the office, such as at a restaurant or a
hotel. But wherever the PR is handed over, it is always in cash.

One insider says the scheme cuts across all regions. But he says the
proportion of the cuts each officer gets varies and depends heavily on
what the "jefe" or chief thinks is "best" for everyone.

Aguinaldo, who spent more than three decades at the Bureau before
he finally retired in June 1994, says the sharing scheme used to be
either 50-50 or 60-40 in favor of the revenue district officers (RDOs)
and regional directors. But that is no longer the case, he says. In a
November 1998 letter to his fellow revenue officers still in the Bureau,
Aguinaldo, said this "revenue regulation" governing the sharing system
in BIR has been "amended."

He wrote that the proportions are now 70-30. "Under the 70-30
scheme," said Aguinaldo, "30 percent goes to the regional director, 30
percent to the revenue district officers, 10 percent to the chief of the
assessment division of the regional office, and the remaining 30
percent to the supervisor and his examiners."

Aguinaldo also used this example to illustrate just how much those
involved in such a sharing scheme could be hauling home: Assume
that one region has five revenue districts, each with 40 examiners.
Assume also that each of these 200 examiners gets a PR take of

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

P200,000 a month. This means in that region, the total monthly PR

would be a P40 million. Following the 70-30 sharing system, the loot
would be distributed thus:

Regional director—30 percent or P12M Revenue

District Officers—30 percent or P12M Chief,
Assessment—10 percent or P 4M
Supervisors/examiners—30 percent or P12M

Actually, say BIR insiders, the PR "sharing" is supposed to go only as

high as the regional directors. After all, when it comes to who does
some work on tax assessment reports, the directors are as far as the
papers go. They approve the reports that also pass through the district
officers.

Still, these regional directors give money to their bosses at the national
office anyway, if only to secure their positions from which they could
be booted out any time or transferred to a less "lucrative" jurisdiction.
This is why regional directors give to their superiors at the national
office not only after the completion of tax audits, but also during
impending revamps, say BIR personnel.

The tax fraud division examiner also says that regional directors lobby
for the retention of their posts or for promotion to higher positions by
making "representations" with the appointing committee, which
includes the BIR Commissioner. Asked what "representation" means,
the examiner replies, "bribe money." He also says that the standard
"representation" is P5 million.

"Of course, magpapapapel sila, otherwise aalisin sila (they will try to
ingratiate themselves, otherwise they will lose their jobs)," says the tax
fraud examiner, who also admits, "I am a party to (the crime). I give (a
share of the PR money) to them."

A former BIR top official confirms this. In fact, when this writer spoke to
him again recently, the official disclosed that he had just received a
call from a regional director in Mindanao who, in the course of their
conversation, admitted to just having given money to a bigwig at the
national office.

There are, however, times when the PR is not shared. A senior

examiner at the BIR national office says these are when the taxpayer
selected for audit happens to be a friend or relative of someone with
powerful political connections. Appeals are then made to a high official
at the Bureau. According to the examiner, the PR will go directly to the
official who was approached.

"Hindi na 'yan maidi-distribute sa baba (Those below don't get a

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

share)," he says. What do reach those in the lower levels are

instructions on how to handle the audit, he adds, explaining that the
investigating unit responsible for the audit would perhaps be told to
prepare papers that would make it appear that the concerned taxpayer
has only so much deficiencies to settle.

The BIR's brand of PR has become so popular especially among the

agency's officials that some of them have been known to cling to their
posts even after reaching the compulsory retirement age of 65.

In yet another letter, this time to Sixto Esquivias, BIR Deputy

Commissioner for the Legal Enforcement Group, the indefatigable
Aguinaldo cited the "proliferation of highly questionable extension of
services of BIR officials beyond the mandatory age of retirement."

Writing in 1997, Aguinaldo pointed to the case of Atty. Delano Valera,

director of Revenue Region 2 (CAR), whose services were extended
for a period of six months beyond his 65th birthday, March 4, 1999.
The extension order was covered in a CSC (Civil Service Commission)
Resolution No. 983145 dated Dec. 17, 1998.

Citing two more cases involving other BIR officials who were similarly
favored by the CSC upon the recommendation of Rualo, Aguinaldo
asked, being presidential appointees, "would not the approval of their
services' extension upon the recommendation of Commissioner Rualo
constitute a usurpation of authority, as the power to appoint rests
solely (in) the President?"

A July 19, 1999 memorandum to the Presidential Management Staff

(PMS) that was written by Charito Elegir of the President Personnel
Group Secretariat (PPGS) in fact says that "only the President can
approve/authorize the extension of services of Presidential appointees
upon the recommendation of the Department Secretary."

The PPGS, which processes recommendations for presidential

appointments, had found that CSC was also processing and approving
requests for extension of services of officials, including presidential
appointees, who had reached their compulsory retirement age. It cited
as a concrete case the same CSC resolution mentioned by Aguinaldo
in his letter to Esquivias. Put another way, the answer to Aguinaldo's
query is "yes."

Another government agency, meanwhile, also found itself worrying

about the goings-on at the BIR. A former undersecretary at the
Department of Finance says that some months ago, then Finance
Secretary Edgardo Espiritu had been "very angry" over the high
number of Letters of Authority (LAs) being issued by the BIR. LAs are
needed before any tax audit-which are done only on taxpayers that

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The Taxmen Share their 'Loot'

meet very specific criteria-can take place.

The ex-finance undersecretary recalls that Espiritu was upset because

"he saw so many letters of authority (being) issued." He says the
Secretary wanted the BIR to tell him just how many cases "had
actually been brought to court, and how much had been collected from
assessed investigations of tax liabilities."

The former undersecretary claims that the Finance Department also

wanted to "start looking at the audit procedures. We wanted to review
all the rulings. We wanted to be able to project an image that the BIR
can be trusted." He says they were planning to conduct a random
sampling of assessments and review dockets. Before he got out of the
Department, the official says he had even been talking personally to
some revenue district officers. He says that he was hoping that they
were sending "enough signals to the Bureau—'(get) your act
together.'"

But BIR Deputy Commissioner for Operations Romeo Panganiban

does not seem worried at all by such fuss over the audits and the LAs,
and the underlying concerns about corruption at the Bureau. He says
the "bigger damage" is if tax collections are misspent and not so much
the potential losses from tax auditors who collude with or extort from
business taxpayers.

He notes that the BIR's 1998 total collection reached P337.177 billion.
This represented a share of 80.9 percent in the government's total tax
revenue in 1998 as opposed to only 63.4 percent in 1993. Huffs
Panganiban: "Dapat hangaan din kami (We should be admired)."

What Panganiban does not say is that the Bureau was actually P17.89
billion short of its target for that year. The BIR's 1998 annual report
also acknowledges that the collection of corporate income taxes was
18.6 percent short of the goal.

Tax year 1999 may not show much improvement. Media reports early
this year said that the failure of 18 regional revenue offices to meet
their collection targets had already added up to a shortfall of P28
billion.

Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir002.html (5 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:55:40 PM]

The BIR is Resisting Reform

Print this article

BUSINESSWOMAN LINDA Tan (not her real name) says she simply wanted "to sin no more,"
although she also admits that her new accountant at that time refused to have anything to do
with any illegal deal. Whatever the real reason, Tan's company in 1997 suddenly decided it
would finally start paying the right amount of taxes, after years of paying off revenue auditors
assigned to scrutinize its books. us your views and comments
about this article.

But first, it wanted to contest an assessment of P2 million in tax liabilities for the year 1995.
This figure was already a "compromise" of sorts offered by a group of auditors from the tax
fraud division of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The original assessment—computed
by hand on a piece of ruled paper—had been P4.3 million. A million was later lopped off from
the amount following a fierce protest by Tan's firm, after which the assessment was reduced
some more when Tan and her staff still refused to budge.
Google Search
On the advice of her accountant, Tan sought the help of then Bureau of Internal Revenue
(BIR) Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato. Tan says she merely wanted a fair Web pcij.org
assessment of her company's tax deficiencies. Yet she knew it was a "suicidal" move, as she
and her company would be exposing their past wrongdoing in the process. But, she says, "We Search our Site
just wanted to start anew."

It helped that the Voluntary Assessment Program (VAP) was in place at the time. The VAP Find!
allowed taxpayers to voluntarily file amended tax returns to correct the declared income and
tax in return for the removal of surcharges, penalties, and in some instances, interest on the Match ANY
additional tax. In the case of Tan's company, the assessment was reduced to a little over powered by FreeFind
P652,000. Tan says that no negotiation of the kind she had had on many occasions with
corrupt examiners ever took place at Chato's office.

Despite what cynics think, Tan the honest taxpayer is actually not that much of a rarity. An
accountant-cum-lawyer who has handled numerous tax-related cases says that he personally
knows of business taxpayers who make an effort to pay the right taxes even in the face of
offers from tax examiners to reduce their tax dues in exchange for a bribe. But the problem,
he says, is that too many people inside the Bureau resist any reforms that could encourage
taxpayer confidence in the BIR.

Indeed, unscrupulous BIR personnel have somehow managed to stonewall attempts to

computerize the agency, streamline its operations and professionalize its ranks. This in turn
has left the honest personnel at the BIR demoralized and desperate—and many taxpayers
angry and frustrated.

Consider what has become of the BIR's much-ballyhooed five-year tax computerization
project (TCP), which was funded by the World Bank to the tune of $42 million. By the BIR's
own definition, the TCP is a five-year modernization project that aims to provide BIR "with
integrated national taxation administration systems, operations and trained personnel that will
enable the Bureau "to become an efficient and more modern revenue agency." The project
kicked off in 1993 and was supposed to have ended in December 1999.

In its July 1999 Progress and Benefits Report on the TCP, the Bureau claimed that its
integrated tax system (ITS) had already "automated many crucial tasks, particularly those
related to case generation and resolution." As such, it said, the ITS had eliminated human
discretion in the performance of these tasks...." Furthermore, said the report, the ITS had

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

enhanced monitoring of personnel actions, with "an audit trail facility where it can trace the
history of transactions made by all BIR personnel."

But BIR insiders and observers alike belie this claim. In truth, even the selection of companies
for audit is still processed manually, making it highly subjective and open to abuse. Several
examiners also say that the TCP has yet to support an automated audit system.

Under the original plan, the TCP was supposed to cover 13 applications. But project manager
Tess Yuyek of Andersen Consulting, which developed the systems for the BIR, says changes
have been made since. By November 1999, only seven applications-albeit all of them core-
had been "rolled out."

According to former BIR Commissioner Chato, what the BIR "did not roll out were the ones
that would allow for integration and transparency," such as auditing. A U.S. consultant based
in the Philippines also confirms that a computerized audit system "is one of the functionalities
that fell by the wayside," so that the selection of taxpayers to audit is still based on "personal
judgment." Another foreign consultant says this "allows them (the examiners) more discretion"
and greater opportunity "to cover their tracks."

Given such a situation, some tax experts argue that offering tax amnesties may not exactly be
that viable as a means of encouraging people to come clean with their taxes. In an article
published in 1998 in the Staff Memos: Policies and Issues Perspective publication of the
University of Asia and the Pacific, tax advisor Victor Abola pointed out: "A tax amnesty may
work only when it is viewed to be the beginning of a real change in tax administration.
Because if tax evaders perceive a change that will result in a higher probability of detection,
and large penalties, there would be a greater incentive to avail of the amnesty and start
afresh."

Abola says that more than gimmickry, what the country needs are significant changes in tax
administration, or better yet, drastic measures.

One such measure may be for the BIR to finally yield itself to a revenue scrutiny by the
Commission on Audit (COA), since some of the major issues plaguing the BIR today are the
numerous complaints on tax assessments and the concomitant irregularities being
perpetuated by some taxpayers and auditors.

In January 1995, COA passed Resolution No. 95-208 asserting its power to audit no longer
just the expenditures but also the revenues of all government agencies. The resolution was
based on the observation that since the BIR uses the cash-basis accounting system (where
income is recognized only when collected), its tax assessments are not recorded in the books
of accounts.

According to the COA circular prescribing the accounting and auditing guidelines and
procedures on the recording of the BIR tax assessments, this practice "does not leave an
audit trail for the proper verification, monitoring and disposition of the assessment."

In the June 1999 issue of its publication Policy Brief, the Congressional Planning and Budget
Office (CPBO) also observed that a revenue audit would ensure that taxes are properly
"assessed, collected, and accounted for." Why, it said, even the International Organization of
Supreme Audit Institutions has increasingly emphasized the importance of a revenue audit.

The Bureau of Customs, another agency perceived to be ridden with graft and corruption, had
agreed to the COA proposal. But the BIR had strongly opposed the resolution; in May 1995,
the Bureau successfully obtained from the Supreme Court a temporary restraining order that
prevented the COA from enforcing it.

The Bureau argued that tax collection was the sole prerogative of the Executive Branch
through the BIR. It also said that the plan violated the National Internal Revenue Code, which
guarantees the secrecy of tax returns. Chato, who had flatly rejected the proposal of COA
during her term, explains her position at the time by saying, "What assurance do we have that
COA would not also be corrupted?"

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

Former COA Commissioner Sofronio Ursal, who was the proponent of the resolution, for his
part says that the COA would not audit the taxpayer, but would review the procedures
followed by the assessing and collecting officers of BIR. The Commission will not even talk to
the taxpayer directly or indirectly to preclude any harassment or multiple investigations, he
says. The main question that COA wants to address in the conduct of the review audit, Ursal
says, is whether BIR personnel are exercising their discretion within limits.

Apparently convinced of the need for COA to conduct a review audit on BIR, President
Joseph Estrada on October 30, 1998 issued Executive Order No. 38 directing the Finance
Department and the BIR to coordinate with the Commission to adopt measures that will
facilitate the audit of assessments, revenues and receipts at the Bureau. As though taking its
cue from the president's action, the Supreme Court lifted the TRO on Jan. 19, 1999. Yet, more
than a year later, the review audit has yet to commence.

In the absence of this review, however, there is another measure that could provide checks
and balances on BIR's tax administration system, particularly the conduct of tax audits: the
activation of a fully functional congressional oversight committee, which the Tax Reform Act of
1997 (RA 8424) requires.

This committee has the power to require the BIR to submit vital records like industry audits,
collection performance data, and status reports on criminal cases initiated against individuals.
As the CPBO describes it, "The oversight function stipulated in RA 8424 is an attempt by
Congress to make a more conscious effort to monitor and ensure the proper implementation
of tax reforms/programs."

RA 8424 also obligates the BIR to provide a semestral report on its power to compromise to
the chairs of the Committees on Ways and Means of both chambers of Congress. But as late
as last June, the CPBO says BIR had yet to submit any such reports. To think that by then
two years had already gone by since the passage of the law.

In the face of all these, there are still some optimists who hope that newly appointed BIR chief
Dakila Fonacier will implement needed reforms in the revenue agency.

At the very least, Fonacier has been said to be thinking of tapping the services of action star
and presidential buddy Fernando Poe Jr. for a campaign aimed at greater voluntary tax
compliance.

But while Poe has a good public image, perhaps the new BIR chief should instead seek help
among the likes of businessman Antonio Sebastian, who is determined not only to pay the
right amount of tax he owes the government, but also to take on any revenue officer who
attempts to dissuade him from doing so.

Several years ago, in fact, the Makati-based Sebastian caused the apprehension of an
extorting BIR examiner by the operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation. After going
through the records of Sebastian's company, the auditor had declared that the businessman
owed the BIR P.5 million in tax liabilities. He offered to "sort it out" for Sebastian for a sum of
P250,000.

"I knew I've always paid the right taxes," says Sebastian. But he pretended to accept the deal
so he could have the auditor trapped.

Sebastian got his wish. Soon after he handed the BIR examiner the money—which had been
drizzled with ultraviolet powder—in a five-star hotel, NBI agents stepped in to take the auditor
in custody. Sebastian says he has not forgotten the name of the man: Euripides Regala, who
was convicted after seven hearings at the Sandiganbayan and handed a 20-year sentence.
But Sebastian says Regala managed to post bail, thanks to the revenue examiners'
association, which raised the bail bond for the beleaguered examiner.

"They're a bunch of crooks," snaps Sebastian, referring to Regala's helpful colleagues. "Why

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

would they pay the bond of a fellow thief?"

But Sebastian refuses to give up. Together with a few fellow businessmen, he has organized
the Bigay sa Bayan Foundation, which aims not only to entrap corrupt BIR officials but also to
educate people of their rights so they would not fall prey to corrupt government personnel.

Meanwhile, another group, the Fellowship of Christians in Government (FOCIG), has been
seeking permission from the BIR to set up a Service Desk for Taxpayers in revenue district
offices. The Desk, which would be manned by duly designated CPAs and lawyers, would
evaluate the tax returns of taxpayers who want to pay the correct amount of taxes to the
government.

Its draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) submitted to the Bureau says FOCIG will stamp
all tax returns evaluated through its Desk and assist the taxpayer in making the payment at
any bank of his or her choice or with the authorized collection officer within the district.

FOCIG chair Niels Riconalla says they had submitted the draft document to then BIR
Commissioner Beethoven Rualo, but got no response. They submitted it again after Fonacier
took over. Up to now, they are still waiting for a reply.

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2000/bir3.html (4 of 4) [5/11/2004 6:55:56 PM]

The BIR is Resisting Reform

The BIR is Resisting Reform

by TESS BACALLA

BUSINESSWOMAN LINDA Tan (not her real name) says she simply
wanted "to sin no more," although she also admits that her new
accountant at that time refused to have anything to do with any illegal
deal. Whatever the real reason, Tan's company in 1997 suddenly
decided it would finally start paying the right amount of taxes, after
years of paying off revenue auditors assigned to scrutinize its books.

But first, it wanted to contest an assessment of P2 million in tax

liabilities for the year 1995. This figure was already a "compromise" of
sorts offered by a group of auditors from the tax fraud division of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). The original
assessment—computed by hand on a piece of ruled paper—had been
P4.3 million. A million was later lopped off from the amount following a
fierce protest by Tan's firm, after which the assessment was reduced
some more when Tan and her staff still refused to budge.

On the advice of her accountant, Tan sought the help of then Bureau
of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato.
Tan says she merely wanted a fair assessment of her company's tax
deficiencies. Yet she knew it was a "suicidal" move, as she and her
company would be exposing their past wrongdoing in the process. But,
she says, "We just wanted to start anew."

It helped that the Voluntary Assessment Program (VAP) was in place

at the time. The VAP allowed taxpayers to voluntarily file amended tax
returns to correct the declared income and tax in return for the removal
of surcharges, penalties, and in some instances, interest on the
additional tax. In the case of Tan's company, the assessment was
reduced to a little over P652,000. Tan says that no negotiation of the
kind she had had on many occasions with corrupt examiners ever took
place at Chato's office.

Despite what cynics think, Tan the honest taxpayer is actually not that
much of a rarity. An accountant-cum-lawyer who has handled
numerous tax-related cases says that he personally knows of business
taxpayers who make an effort to pay the right taxes even in the face of
offers from tax examiners to reduce their tax dues in exchange for a
bribe. But the problem, he says, is that too many people inside the
Bureau resist any reforms that could encourage taxpayer confidence in
the BIR.

Indeed, unscrupulous BIR personnel have somehow managed to

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir003.html (1 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:56:00 PM]

The BIR is Resisting Reform

stonewall attempts to computerize the agency, streamline its

operations and professionalize its ranks. This in turn has left the
honest personnel at the BIR demoralized and desperate—and many
taxpayers angry and frustrated.

Consider what has become of the BIR's much-ballyhooed five-year tax

computerization project (TCP), which was funded by the World Bank to
the tune of $42 million. By the BIR's own definition, the TCP is a five-
year modernization project that aims to provide BIR "with integrated
national taxation administration systems, operations and trained
personnel that will enable the Bureau "to become an efficient and
more modern revenue agency." The project kicked off in 1993 and was
supposed to have ended in December 1999.

In its July 1999 Progress and Benefits Report on the TCP, the Bureau
claimed that its integrated tax system (ITS) had already "automated
many crucial tasks, particularly those related to case generation and
resolution." As such, it said, the ITS had eliminated human discretion
in the performance of these tasks...." Furthermore, said the report, the
ITS had enhanced monitoring of personnel actions, with "an audit trail
facility where it can trace the history of transactions made by all BIR
personnel."

But BIR insiders and observers alike belie this claim. In truth, even the
selection of companies for audit is still processed manually, making it
highly subjective and open to abuse. Several examiners also say that
the TCP has yet to support an automated audit system.

Under the original plan, the TCP was supposed to cover 13

applications. But project manager Tess Yuyek of Andersen Consulting,
which developed the systems for the BIR, says changes have been
made since. By November 1999, only seven applications-albeit all of
them core-had been "rolled out."

According to former BIR Commissioner Chato, what the BIR "did not
roll out were the ones that would allow for integration and
transparency," such as auditing. A U.S. consultant based in the
Philippines also confirms that a computerized audit system "is one of
the functionalities that fell by the wayside," so that the selection of
taxpayers to audit is still based on "personal judgment." Another
foreign consultant says this "allows them (the examiners) more
discretion" and greater opportunity "to cover their tracks."

Given such a situation, some tax experts argue that offering tax
amnesties may not exactly be that viable as a means of encouraging
people to come clean with their taxes. In an article published in 1998 in
the Staff Memos: Policies and Issues Perspective publication of the
University of Asia and the Pacific, tax advisor Victor Abola pointed out:

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir003.html (2 of 6) [5/11/2004 6:56:00 PM]

The BIR is Resisting Reform

"A tax amnesty may work only when it is viewed to be the beginning of
a real change in tax administration. Because if tax evaders perceive a
change that will result in a higher probability of detection, and large
penalties, there would be a greater incentive to avail of the amnesty
and start afresh."

Abola says that more than gimmickry, what the country needs are
significant changes in tax administration, or better yet, drastic
measures.

One such measure may be for the BIR to finally yield itself to a
revenue scrutiny by the Commission on Audit (COA), since some of
the major issues plaguing the BIR today are the numerous complaints
on tax assessments and the concomitant irregularities being
perpetuated by some taxpayers and auditors.

In January 1995, COA passed Resolution No. 95-208 asserting its

power to audit no longer just the expenditures but also the revenues of
all government agencies. The resolution was based on the observation
that since the BIR uses the cash-basis accounting system (where
income is recognized only when collected), its tax assessments are
not recorded in the books of accounts.

According to the COA circular prescribing the accounting and auditing

guidelines and procedures on the recording of the BIR tax
assessments, this practice "does not leave an audit trail for the proper
verification, monitoring and disposition of the assessment."

In the June 1999 issue of its publication Policy Brief, the

Congressional Planning and Budget Office (CPBO) also observed that
a revenue audit would ensure that taxes are properly "assessed,
collected, and accounted for." Why, it said, even the International
Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions has increasingly
emphasized the importance of a revenue audit.

The Bureau of Customs, another agency perceived to be ridden with

graft and corruption, had agreed to the COA proposal. But the BIR had
strongly opposed the resolution; in May 1995, the Bureau successfully
obtained from the Supreme Court a temporary restraining order that
prevented the COA from enforcing it.

The Bureau argued that tax collection was the sole prerogative of the
Executive Branch through the BIR. It also said that the plan violated
the National Internal Revenue Code, which guarantees the secrecy of
tax returns. Chato, who had flatly rejected the proposal of COA during
her term, explains her position at the time by saying, "What assurance
do we have that COA would not also be corrupted?"

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

Former COA Commissioner Sofronio Ursal, who was the proponent of

the resolution, for his part says that the COA would not audit the
taxpayer, but would review the procedures followed by the assessing
and collecting officers of BIR. The Commission will not even talk to the
taxpayer directly or indirectly to preclude any harassment or multiple
investigations, he says. The main question that COA wants to address
in the conduct of the review audit, Ursal says, is whether BIR
personnel are exercising their discretion within limits.

Apparently convinced of the need for COA to conduct a review audit

on BIR, President Joseph Estrada on October 30, 1998 issued
Executive Order No. 38 directing the Finance Department and the BIR
to coordinate with the Commission to adopt measures that will
facilitate the audit of assessments, revenues and receipts at the
Bureau. As though taking its cue from the president's action, the
Supreme Court lifted the TRO on Jan. 19, 1999. Yet, more than a year
later, the review audit has yet to commence.

In the absence of this review, however, there is another measure that

could provide checks and balances on BIR's tax administration
system, particularly the conduct of tax audits: the activation of a fully
functional congressional oversight committee, which the Tax Reform
Act of 1997 (RA 8424) requires.

This committee has the power to require the BIR to submit vital
records like industry audits, collection performance data, and status
reports on criminal cases initiated against individuals. As the CPBO
describes it, "The oversight function stipulated in RA 8424 is an
attempt by Congress to make a more conscious effort to monitor and
ensure the proper implementation of tax reforms/programs."

RA 8424 also obligates the BIR to provide a semestral report on its

power to compromise to the chairs of the Committees on Ways and
Means of both chambers of Congress. But as late as last June, the
CPBO says BIR had yet to submit any such reports. To think that by
then two years had already gone by since the passage of the law.

In the face of all these, there are still some optimists who hope that
newly appointed BIR chief Dakila Fonacier will implement needed
reforms in the revenue agency.

At the very least, Fonacier has been said to be thinking of tapping the
services of action star and presidential buddy Fernando Poe Jr. for a
campaign aimed at greater voluntary tax compliance.

But while Poe has a good public image, perhaps the new BIR chief
should instead seek help among the likes of businessman Antonio
Sebastian, who is determined not only to pay the right amount of tax

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

he owes the government, but also to take on any revenue officer who
attempts to dissuade him from doing so.

Several years ago, in fact, the Makati-based Sebastian caused the

apprehension of an extorting BIR examiner by the operatives of the
National Bureau of Investigation. After going through the records of
Sebastian's company, the auditor had declared that the businessman
owed the BIR P.5 million in tax liabilities. He offered to "sort it out" for
Sebastian for a sum of P250,000.

"I knew I've always paid the right taxes," says Sebastian. But he
pretended to accept the deal so he could have the auditor trapped.

Sebastian got his wish. Soon after he handed the BIR examiner the
money—which had been drizzled with ultraviolet powder—in a five-star
hotel, NBI agents stepped in to take the auditor in custody. Sebastian
says he has not forgotten the name of the man: Euripides Regala, who
was convicted after seven hearings at the Sandiganbayan and handed
a 20-year sentence. But Sebastian says Regala managed to post bail,
thanks to the revenue examiners' association, which raised the bail
bond for the beleaguered examiner.

"They're a bunch of crooks," snaps Sebastian, referring to Regala's

helpful colleagues. "Why would they pay the bond of a fellow thief?"

But Sebastian refuses to give up. Together with a few fellow

businessmen, he has organized the Bigay sa Bayan Foundation,
which aims not only to entrap corrupt BIR officials but also to educate
people of their rights so they would not fall prey to corrupt government
personnel.

Meanwhile, another group, the Fellowship of Christians in Government

(FOCIG), has been seeking permission from the BIR to set up a
Service Desk for Taxpayers in revenue district offices. The Desk,
which would be manned by duly designated CPAs and lawyers, would
evaluate the tax returns of taxpayers who want to pay the correct
amount of taxes to the government.

Its draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) submitted to the Bureau

says FOCIG will stamp all tax returns evaluated through its Desk and
assist the taxpayer in making the payment at any bank of his or her
choice or with the authorized collection officer within the district.

FOCIG chair Niels Riconalla says they had submitted the draft
document to then BIR Commissioner Beethoven Rualo, but got no
response. They submitted it again after Fonacier took over. Up to now,
they are still waiting for a reply.

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The BIR is Resisting Reform

Copyright © 2000 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

12-14 MAY 2003

Print this article

by TESS BACALLA

us your views and comments

AT THE Bureau of Internal Revenue, some about this article.
officials and even lower-ranking personnel
have been trying to appear younger than
they really are. Between 1989 and the first See also
quarter of 2001, in fact, 24 BIR personnel
filed a petition with the Civil Service BIR Provides a "Rich Broth"
Commission for a change of their birth for Corruption
records.

This has nothing to do with vanity. Rather,

bureau officials seem reluctant to let go of
their posts at the mandatory retirement age
of 65. The requests for the change in the This mansion with a swimming pool at Maria
Makiling Greenheights subdivision in Calamba is
birth records, if approved, would mean that
said to be owned by Rosemarie Ragasa, a BIR
the petitioners' stay at the BIR would be revenue district officer whose annual salary is Google Search
extended by one to five years. P250,000. [PCIJ Photo]
Web pcij.org

Unfortunately, indications are that such reluctance has less to do with the desire to serve the
public but more with the addiction to lifestyles that can be afforded only by those who rake in Search our Site
millions of pesos a year.

Like most government officials and personnel, the top monthly salaries at the BIR do not go Find!
beyond five figures. Thus, if a tax bureaucrat relies on just salary alone, it is unlikely he or she
Match ANY
will be able to accumulate very much. Says retired BIR assistant commissioner Rizalina
powered by FreeFind
Magalona, who is well known in the bureau for her honesty: "Even P1 million (net worth) for us
(in government) is big."

Yet several BIR officials are declaring net worths in the millions, while some personnel are
now under official investigation for their alleged unexplained wealth. In most cases, these are
personnel who deal directly with the taxpayers.

Take Beverly S. Milo, chief of the assessment division in Revenue District 8, Baguio City, who
had a declared net worth of only P45,100 in 1990, when she joined the BIR as a revenue
accountant. By 2001, this had grown to P2.6 million, which according to her detractors, may
be an understatement.

At the very least, a preliminary investigation conducted by the BIR national office showed Milo
as having "a massive increase in net worth for the years 1997 and 1998, and a decrease in
2001." It was further noted that she was appointed OIC of the Assessment Division on 1996.

The investigation was prompted by an anonymous complaint on Milo's allegedly having

amassed numerous properties since she became a bureau employee. But Milo has denied all
allegations against her, saying they are "malicious imputations which are intended to destroy

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BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

not only me but also my family, friends and relatives."

Percival T. Salazar, Assistant Commissioner for Enforcement Service, had a declared net
worth of P2.3 million in 2000 and P2.5 million in 2001. His asset statements for both years
listed four properties-two in Novaliches, one in San Fernando, Pampanga, and another in
Babac, Davao.

Salazar wrote the PCIJ that these are "well within my financial capacity income." He added
that his wife has had her own source of livelihood since their marriage in 1958, "in the forms of
rentals and agricultural income." Both of Salazar's 2000 and 2001 SALs, however, listed only
one business in his SAL - Printing Phoenix Phils., where his wife is a stockholder.

In his 2000-2001 SALs, Salazar also described his Novaliches properties as residential in
nature. A visit to his address in San Bartolome, Novaliches, however, revealed a three-story
commercial building (although the third floor appeared to be the family's residence) that had a
"For Rent" sign on it.

Salazar was also reported to have another property in Tungko, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan,
consisting of a house and a mango orchard. But the BIR official denied this, saying that a
"check with the Assessor's Office in Bulacan" would prove him right.

True enough, there was no record of Salazar owning property there. But a friend of the
Salazars insisted that the family does own property in Tungko. A Tungko resident also said
she was privy to the Salazars acquisition of the property, detailing how Salazar and his wife
Remedios purchased two hectares of land in 1994 for P80 per square meter. Some time later,
she said, the Salazars bought another parcel of land, measuring 2.5 hectares for P100 per
square meter, in the same area. Total: P4.1 million.

Salazar, who is the president of the BIR Revenue Employees' Association or BIREA,
explained that he has four children working in China and one in the United States. "They all
remit part of their earnings for family projects," he wrote in a letter to PCIJ.

Former assistant commissioner Magalona says that a relatively higher net worth can still be
grossly underdeclared, especially for someone known for having expensive hobbies. She
cites the case of a former revenue district officer in Makati who signed up for membership with
the Subic Yacht Club. At the time, she recounts, the membership fee was about P1 million.

Arnel A. Bernardo, formerly chief of the Tax Fraud division in BIR and now technical assistant
to the regional director of Zamboanga, is a multimillionaire. He has the biggest declared net
worth-P12.4 million in 1999 that leaped to P21 million in 2001 - among those whose SALs
were obtained and examined by the PCIJ.

His cash on hand and bank deposits amounted to P3.6 million in 1999 and a whopping P10.4
million in 2001. His personal properties jumped from P5.3 million in 1999 to P12.1 million two
years hence. No businesses appear in his SALs for 1999 and 2001, even though he listed his
wife's occupation as "businesswoman."

Bernardo, who receives an annual salary of P269,000, has a three-story residential and
commercial building in Sampaloc, Manila. "My net worth is a matter of record, and therefore
something I never intended to hide," he said in a letter to PCIJ. "If I am confident to declare it
for the public to know and verify, rest assured that the sources of whatever assets my wife
and I presently have are completely legal."

Critics of the BIR say that given the amount of wealth being amassed by those working there,
it is no wonder that many do not want to retire, at least not at the mandatory age.

David Alarcon, revenue district officer of Paco-Sta. Ana-Pandacan-San Andres, said though
that all he was doing was rectifying a typo on an information slip when he petitioned the CSC
to correct his birth record, and change the date from December 1, 1934 to December 1, 1939.

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BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

The information slip that contained what Alarcon said was the wrong date became the basis
for his being included in the retirement list of BIR personnel for 1999. But because the CSC
granted his petition, he will retire next year yet.

Alarcon claimed that "all my scholastic records" from Grade One to college and other records
"clearly indicate that my date of birth is December 1, 1939."

But in a 2001 memorandum to then BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez, Inspection Service
Assistant Commissioner Linda Simple pointed out that for years, Alarcon himself was writing
different birth dates in official documents.

Observed Simple: "In an affidavit executed on January 4, 1960, Alarcon stated that his date of
birth was December 1, 1935. In his Sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Networth for
1961, he indicated that he was born on December 1, 1937. In his Personal Data Sheet (PDS)
dated January 3, 1973, his date of birth was December 1, 1935, while [in] his PDS for 1996 . .
. he stated that he was born on December 1, 1939."

The PCIJ also obtained a copy of a certification from the Land Transportation Office, dated
January 30, 2003, that indicated Alarcon's birth date as December 1, 1935.

Another interesting case is that of Juanito Valdecantos, chief revenue officer III with the BIR's
Taxpayers Assistance Service. In a transcript of the judicial hearing on the reconstitution of
his birth record, Valdecantos was quoted as saying that his court petition to have his date of
birth changed from June 26, 1935 to June 26, 1938 had been prompted by a requirement for
him by the Department of Foreign Affairs to submit a birth certificate every time he traveled
abroad. He said he tried to secure a certificate of live birth from his hometown, only to find out
that records had been burned during the war.

Valdecantos said that two of his neighbors told him that his real birth year was 1938 and not
1935, something which they swore to in an affidavit. One of those neighbors turned out to be
Gervacio Perez, father of Lema P. Valdecantos, the widow of Juanito Valdecantos's brother.

Lema is now reportedly Valdecantos's live-in partner. (A 1999 passport application for a child
surnamed Valdecantos listed the parents as Juanito and Lema Valdecantos.)

Yet when Juanito Valdecantos applied for a renewal of his passport in July last year, he wrote
down June 26, 1935 as his birthday. The same is true of a certification issued to him by LTO
on February 7, 2003, which carries his original date of birth.

Going by his 1935 birth date, Valdecantos should have retired three years ago. Instead, he
will retire next month, thanks to his rectified record of birth.

But the case of Aguinaldo L. Miravalles, acting regional director of Tuguegarao, Cagayan, is
even more curious. Miravalles, who had a declared net worth of P4.38 million in 1999, is the
former RDO of Caloocan City. In 1992, the CSC granted his petition to have his birth record
changed from December 16, 1934 to December 16, 1938.

In his petition, Miravalles had said that he could get neither a birth certificate from the civil
registrar in his hometown nor a baptism certificate. He then decided to secure an affidavit
from his godparents, "who willingly certified that as far as they could remember, I was really
born on December 16, 1938."

The PCIJ has a record from the National Archives certifying that Miravalles was born on
December 15, 1932, which would make him 70 this year, way beyond the mandatory
retirement age of 65. If he were born in 1935, he would be 68. But because the CSC granted
his 1992 petition, the BIR considers Miravalles eligible for retirement only by December 16
this year.

On top of this, Miravalles does not even have civil service eligibility and is therefore not
qualified to take his post. The CSC has issued a certification saying so, even if his Personal

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BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

Data Sheet at the BIR claims he is eligible for the civil service. (Miravelles refused to answer
PCIJ's questions.)

In her memorandum to Bañez, Simple quoted Atty. Raquel Buensanita of the CSC's Legal
Affairs Office as saying that the granting of requests for change of birth records at the
Commission is "pro forma, and does not usually take much time. She said that if the request is
accompanied by the requisite documents . . ., the Legal Affairs Office will immediately draft a
Resolution for the approval and signature by the Chairman and two Commissioners or at least
by any two Commissioners."

Simple then proposed specific measures to "prevent unwarranted requests of revenue officers
and employees" for correction of records of birth.

One such measure is to require the parties concerned to notify the BIR before filing their
petition in court "so that it can coordinate with the Office of the Solicitor General or Fiscal's
Office for any possible opposition." Another is to direct them to furnish the BIR with their
request for correction "so it can submit its comment/opposition if the request appears
unwarranted as shown by documents on file with the Bureau."

To date, not one of Simple's suggested measures have been adopted. Says a high-ranking
BIR official: "Everything is status quo."

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Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.

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http://www.pcij.org/stories/2003/bir2.html (4 of 4) [5/11/2004 6:56:29 PM]

BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

BIR Officials Delay Retirement

by Faking their Birth Records
by TESS BACALLA

AT THE Bureau of Internal Revenue, some officials and even lower-

ranking personnel have been trying to appear younger than they really
are. Between 1989 and the first quarter of 2001, in fact, 24 BIR
personnel filed a petition with the Civil Service Commission for a
change of their birth records.

This has nothing to do with vanity. Rather, bureau officials seem

reluctant to let go of their posts at the mandatory retirement age of 65.
The requests for the change in the birth records, if approved, would
mean that the petitioners' stay at the BIR would be extended by one to
five years.

Unfortunately, indications are that such reluctance has less to do with

the desire to serve the public but more with the addiction to lifestyles
that can be afforded only by those who rake in millions of pesos a
year.

Like most government officials and personnel, the top monthly salaries
at the BIR do not go beyond five figures. Thus, if a tax bureaucrat
relies on just salary alone, it is unlikely he or she will be able to
accumulate very much. Says retired BIR assistant commissioner
Rizalina Magalona, who is well known in the bureau for her honesty:
"Even P1 million (net worth) for us (in government) is big."

Yet several BIR officials are declaring net worths in the millions, while
some personnel are now under official investigation for their alleged
unexplained wealth. In most cases, these are personnel who deal
directly with the taxpayers.

Take Beverly S. Milo, chief of the assessment division in Revenue

District 8, Baguio City, who had a declared net worth of only P45,100
in 1990, when she joined the BIR as a revenue accountant. By 2001,
this had grown to P2.6 million, which according to her detractors, may
be an understatement.

At the very least, a preliminary investigation conducted by the BIR

national office showed Milo as having "a massive increase in net worth
for the years 1997 and 1998, and a decrease in 2001." It was further
noted that she was appointed OIC of the Assessment Division on
1996.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir2.html (1 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:35 PM]

BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

The investigation was prompted by an anonymous complaint on Milo's

allegedly having amassed numerous properties since she became a
bureau employee. But Milo has denied all allegations against her,
saying they are "malicious imputations which are intended to destroy
not only me but also my family, friends and relatives."

Percival T. Salazar, Assistant Commissioner for Enforcement Service,

had a declared net worth of P2.3 million in 2000 and P2.5 million in
2001. His asset statements for both years listed four properties-two in
Novaliches, one in San Fernando, Pampanga, and another in Babac,
Davao.

Salazar wrote the PCIJ that these are "well within my financial capacity
income." He added that his wife has had her own source of livelihood
since their marriage in 1958, "in the forms of rentals and agricultural
income." Both of Salazar's 2000 and 2001 SALs, however, listed only
one business in his SAL - Printing Phoenix Phils., where his wife is a
stockholder.

In his 2000-2001 SALs, Salazar also described his Novaliches

properties as residential in nature. A visit to his address in San
Bartolome, Novaliches, however, revealed a three-story commercial
building (although the third floor appeared to be the family's residence)
that had a "For Rent" sign on it.

Salazar was also reported to have another property in Tungko, San

Jose del Monte, Bulacan, consisting of a house and a mango orchard.
But the BIR official denied this, saying that a "check with the
Assessor's Office in Bulacan" would prove him right.

True enough, there was no record of Salazar owning property there.

But a friend of the Salazars insisted that the family does own property
in Tungko. A Tungko resident also said she was privy to the Salazars
acquisition of the property, detailing how Salazar and his wife
Remedios purchased two hectares of land in 1994 for P80 per square
meter. Some time later, she said, the Salazars bought another parcel
of land, measuring 2.5 hectares for P100 per square meter, in the
same area. Total: P4.1 million.

Salazar, who is the president of the BIR Revenue Employees'

Association or BIREA, explained that he has four children working in
China and one in the United States. "They all remit part of their
earnings for family projects," he wrote in a letter to PCIJ.

Former assistant commissioner Magalona says that a relatively higher

net worth can still be grossly underdeclared, especially for someone
known for having expensive hobbies. She cites the case of a former

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BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

revenue district officer in Makati who signed up for membership with

the Subic Yacht Club. At the time, she recounts, the membership fee
was about P1 million.

Arnel A. Bernardo, formerly chief of the Tax Fraud division in BIR and
now technical assistant to the regional director of Zamboanga, is a
multimillionaire. He has the biggest declared net worth-P12.4 million in
1999 that leaped to P21 million in 2001 - among those whose SALs
were obtained and examined by the PCIJ.

His cash on hand and bank deposits amounted to P3.6 million in 1999
and a whopping P10.4 million in 2001. His personal properties jumped
from P5.3 million in 1999 to P12.1 million two years hence. No
businesses appear in his SALs for 1999 and 2001, even though he
listed his wife's occupation as "businesswoman."

Bernardo, who receives an annual salary of P269,000, has a three-

story residential and commercial building in Sampaloc, Manila. "My net
worth is a matter of record, and therefore something I never intended
to hide," he said in a letter to PCIJ. "If I am confident to declare it for
the public to know and verify, rest assured that the sources of
whatever assets my wife and I presently have are completely legal."

Critics of the BIR say that given the amount of wealth being amassed
by those working there, it is no wonder that many do not want to retire,
at least not at the mandatory age.

David Alarcon, revenue district officer of Paco-Sta. Ana-Pandacan-San

Andres, said though that all he was doing was rectifying a typo on an
information slip when he petitioned the CSC to correct his birth record,
and change the date from December 1, 1934 to December 1, 1939.

The information slip that contained what Alarcon said was the wrong
date became the basis for his being included in the retirement list of
BIR personnel for 1999. But because the CSC granted his petition, he
will retire next year yet.

Alarcon claimed that "all my scholastic records" from Grade One to

college and other records "clearly indicate that my date of birth is
December 1, 1939."

But in a 2001 memorandum to then BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez,

Inspection Service Assistant Commissioner Linda Simple pointed out
that for years, Alarcon himself was writing different birth dates in
official documents.

Observed Simple: "In an affidavit executed on January 4, 1960,

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir2.html (3 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:35 PM]

BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

Alarcon stated that his date of birth was December 1, 1935. In his
Sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Networth for 1961, he
indicated that he was born on December 1, 1937. In his Personal Data
Sheet (PDS) dated January 3, 1973, his date of birth was December 1,
1935, while [in] his PDS for 1996 . . . he stated that he was born on
December 1, 1939."

The PCIJ also obtained a copy of a certification from the Land

Transportation Office, dated January 30, 2003, that indicated Alarcon's
birth date as December 1, 1935.

Another interesting case is that of Juanito Valdecantos, chief revenue

officer III with the BIR's Taxpayers Assistance Service. In a transcript
of the judicial hearing on the reconstitution of his birth record,
Valdecantos was quoted as saying that his court petition to have his
date of birth changed from June 26, 1935 to June 26, 1938 had been
prompted by a requirement for him by the Department of Foreign
Affairs to submit a birth certificate every time he traveled abroad. He
said he tried to secure a certificate of live birth from his hometown,
only to find out that records had been burned during the war.

Valdecantos said that two of his neighbors told him that his real birth
year was 1938 and not 1935, something which they swore to in an
affidavit. One of those neighbors turned out to be Gervacio Perez,
father of Lema P. Valdecantos, the widow of Juanito Valdecantos's
brother.

Lema is now reportedly Valdecantos's live-in partner. (A 1999 passport

application for a child surnamed Valdecantos listed the parents as
Juanito and Lema Valdecantos.)

Yet when Juanito Valdecantos applied for a renewal of his passport in

July last year, he wrote down June 26, 1935 as his birthday. The same
is true of a certification issued to him by LTO on February 7, 2003,
which carries his original date of birth.

Going by his 1935 birth date, Valdecantos should have retired three
years ago. Instead, he will retire next month, thanks to his rectified
record of birth.

But the case of Aguinaldo L. Miravalles, acting regional director of

Tuguegarao, Cagayan, is even more curious. Miravalles, who had a
declared net worth of P4.38 million in 1999, is the former RDO of
Caloocan City. In 1992, the CSC granted his petition to have his birth
record changed from December 16, 1934 to December 16, 1938.

In his petition, Miravalles had said that he could get neither a birth
certificate from the civil registrar in his hometown nor a baptism

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir2.html (4 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:35 PM]

BIR Officials Delay Retirement by Faking their Birth Records

certificate. He then decided to secure an affidavit from his godparents,

"who willingly certified that as far as they could remember, I was really
born on December 16, 1938."

The PCIJ has a record from the National Archives certifying that
Miravalles was born on December 15, 1932, which would make him 70
this year, way beyond the mandatory retirement age of 65. If he were
born in 1935, he would be 68. But because the CSC granted his 1992
petition, the BIR considers Miravalles eligible for retirement only by
December 16 this year.

On top of this, Miravalles does not even have civil service eligibility
and is therefore not qualified to take his post. The CSC has issued a
certification saying so, even if his Personal Data Sheet at the BIR
claims he is eligible for the civil service. (Miravelles refused to answer
PCIJ's questions.)

In her memorandum to Bañez, Simple quoted Atty. Raquel Buensanita

of the CSC's Legal Affairs Office as saying that the granting of
requests for change of birth records at the Commission is "pro forma,
and does not usually take much time. She said that if the request is
accompanied by the requisite documents . . ., the Legal Affairs Office
will immediately draft a Resolution for the approval and signature by
the Chairman and two Commissioners or at least by any two
Commissioners."

Simple then proposed specific measures to "prevent unwarranted

requests of revenue officers and employees" for correction of records
of birth.

One such measure is to require the parties concerned to notify the BIR
before filing their petition in court "so that it can coordinate with the
Office of the Solicitor General or Fiscal's Office for any possible
opposition." Another is to direct them to furnish the BIR with their
request for correction "so it can submit its comment/opposition if the
request appears unwarranted as shown by documents on file with the
Bureau."

To date, not one of Simple's suggested measures have been adopted.

Says a high-ranking BIR official: "Everything is status quo."

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

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 Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

12-14 MAY 2003

Print this article

by TESS BACALLA

IN HER 38 years at the Bureau of Internal

Revenue, Rizalina Magalona, whose last us your views and comments
post was that of assistant commissioner, about this article.
had an unsullied reputation as a public
official. Until her retirement in 1999, she
lived in a modest apartment in Quezon City.
See also
She managed to buy a car only after she
had left the bureau, using a portion of her BIR Provides a "Rich Broth"
retirement benefits. for Corruption

Other than the car, the little property she

calls her own she inherited from her
parents, like the ancestral home in Iloilo,
where she now lives. At the time of her In Calamba, this place is known as the 'BIR house'
retirement, Magalona’s net worth was because its beneficial owner is Rosemarie Ragasa, a
considerably less than P1 million. BIR revenue district officer whose friends describe
her lifestyle as 'luxurious.' [PCIJ Photo] Google Search
But BIR insiders themselves admit that Magalona is a rarity in one of the two government Web pcij.org
agencies that the public associates most with graft and corruption.
Search our Site
That corruption in the BIR remains unchecked may in part be due to the failure of its top
officials to enforce established checks and balances. Another reason is the insidious system
of “booty-sharing,” which, by keeping practically everyone happy, means lower risks of having
whistleblowers. Find!

Match ANY
In a study on the BIR published in the Philippine Journal of Public Administration in 1979, powered by FreeFind
Leonor Magtolis-Briones wrote that “when an employee makes a killing,” he usually shares his
loot with his “less enterprising officemates (and even with his bosses) through blowouts,
celebrations and even direct dole outs.”

Two decades later, insiders say not much has changed — except perhaps the amounts
involved. In the BIR’s regional office in Valenzuela, for instance, insiders say some of the
personnel each get a weekly allowance ranging from P200 to P500 — sometimes even more.

To be sure, there could be a perfectly good reason for such generosity. But both Nestor S.
Valeroso, acting regional director for Valenzuela and Corazon C. Pangcog, assistant regional
director, deny they are showering their staff with cash. Valeroso said, “There is no such
happening in my office.”

Yet BIR insiders also say that last December, Valeroso and Pangcog gave each member of
their staff P1,000, contained in what looked like a pay envelope, but one made out of light
yellow linen paper. The envelope also sported a traditional Christmas design, aside from the
two officials’ pictures and signatures and their holiday greetings.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2003/bir3.html (1 of 3) [5/11/2004 6:56:46 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

BIR officials, including RDOs and regional directors are also known to hold excessive
celebrations, especially on their birthdays.

One insider says, however, that the parties nowadays are no longer as lavish as they were a
few years ago. Yet judging from the latest birthday bash of Valeroso, who reportedly turned 51
last February 26, there is still little evidence of penny-pinching going on.

For almost the whole day, Valeroso was feted by friends and BIR employees, who feasted on
a catered buffet lunch. Gifts also came pouring in, including at least four roasted pigs (down
from about seven the previous year, said a member of Valeroso’s staff) and a big box of fruit
from Caloocan City RDO Eduardo T. Bajador, who emceed a special show put together for
the celebrator.

Aside from birthdays of officials, BIR employees also look forward to summer, when they not
only get to go to the beach, but are also able to gorge themselves on an abundant supply of
food and drink and vie for generous cash prizes in the games. At their office’s outing in Subic
last year, for instance, Valeroso’s staff competed for prizes that ranged from P300 to P500.

Not one member of the staff was asked to contribute a single centavo. The government did
not have to fork over any money for the outing either. The people who combine their
“resources” to make extravagant celebrations in BIR’s premises possible took care of all the
expenses.

Indications are that such festivities at the BIR may be curbed, if not stopped altogether, if only
its chief made monitoring of the bureau’s own people among its top priorities.

One BIR official, however, echoes some observers’ sentiments in saying that current BIR
Commissioner Guillermo Parayno is too “short-term” in his approach to the problems ailing the
agency.

“Puro siya press release,” says the official, who also expressed dissatisfaction with Parayno’s
seeming preoccupation with collection-related activities at the expense of other programs
requiring his attention.

The BIR chief, however, told the PCIJ that he is putting in place programs that “although
mainly intended to enhance revenues also address corruption through the use of information
technology.” These include computerizing the data on large taxpayers, electronic transmission
of tax payments and an automated tax verification system, which allows for easy validation of
tax identification numbers or TINs.

The BIR, however, has yet to act on a draft memorandum that would authorize the post-audit
or “revalida” after almost six years of its nonenforcement. The draft was submitted for
approval in October 2002, but Parayno has yet to sign it. He said, however, that the revalida
will be among the projects that will be implemented this year.

“As a management tool, revalida is the most feared, in fact the only, check-and-balance
mechanism, to the wild and nefarious activities of Revenue Officers (ROs), supervisors,
revenue district officers, and . . . need we mention the rest?” Magalona said in a 2002 report
she prepared as the BIR consultant of Agile, a USAID-funded agency.

“Revalida and continuing management performance audits are strong deterrents to the
proliferation of unreported and prescribed cases for which collections may no longer be
effected,” she added. “Only through an in-depth review/audit of tax dockets submitted by ROs,
as what is done in a ‘revalida,’ can one get the real picture of the quality or lack of it, of the
field examinations conducted.”

“Clearly,” Magalona also observed, “revalida is unable to take off because it appears not to be
among the priorities of the BIR-the Internal Audit Division where it is expected to be
institutionalized is in total disarray due to gross mismanagement and in fact fails to perform
even its simplest functions.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2003/bir3.html (2 of 3) [5/11/2004 6:56:46 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

The draft memorandum on the revalida, however, is not the only proposal gathering dust on
Parayno’s desk. Similarly on the back burner is a draft revenue administrative order (RAO)
authorizing the issuance of revenue bulletins that will regularly update taxpayers on tax-
related laws, regulations and rulings that are inconsistent with, or have been superseded by,
other issuances. A lack of knowledge of these laws and policies makes taxpayers vulnerable
to harassment by BIR personnel.

Another is a draft memorandum order seeking to provide “no-ruling areas.” Such a

memorandum will prevent unnecessary requests for rulings by providing taxpayers with
appropriate guidelines. Tax rulings, say insiders and former bureau personnel, have been a
source of tax leakages in the BIR, given the agency’s power to interpret tax laws, which has
either been abused or applied improperly.

Both past and present BIR officials and personnel, however, agree that corruption in the
agency could also be traced to a host of outside factors.

These include the failure of the Congressional oversight committee to fully exercise its
functions, as mandated by the Tax Code of 1997. The committee has the power to monitor
the BIR’s tax administration system, particularly the conduct of tax audits. It is composed of
the chairpersons of the Committee on Ways and Means of the Senate and House of
Representatives and four additional members from each house, who are designated by the
House Speaker and the Senate President.

According to the Congressional and Planning and Budget Office (CPBO), a revenue audit
would ensure that taxes are properly “assessed, collected, and accounted for.”

It describes the Committee’s function this way: “The oversight function stipulated in RA 8424
(or the 1997 Tax Reform Act) is an attempt by Congress to make a more conscious effort to
monitor and ensure the proper implementation of tax reforms/programs.”

Another unused anti-corruption tool is the Commission on Audit (COA) Resolution No. 95-208,
which asserts COA’s power to audit not only government expenditures but also revenues.
Almost a decade after it was issued, the resolution remains unenforced. During his term,
President Joseph Estrada signed Executive Order No. 38, which directed the BIR and the
Department of Finance to work with COA to enforce the resolution.

Former Audit Commissioner Sofronio Ursal, the resolution’s proponent, clarified that COA
would not audit the taxpayer but would review the procedures followed by the BIR’s assessing
and collecting officers. This makes it very similar in principle to the proposed revalida.

Some BIR insiders believe the COA cannot conduct a review audit of the BIR because the
commission does not have the capability to do so.

Former BIR Commissioner Efren I. Plana, who launched an anti-corruption campaign during
his stint in the BIR in the 1970s, sees it differently. He points out that during his stint as BIR
chief, “I even asked for the help of COA.”

“I do not believe,” he adds, “in the BIR being an independent republic.”

H O M E | who we are | what we do | i on the net | e-community | e-bookshop

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.

PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

http://www.pcij.org/stories/2003/bir3.html (3 of 3) [5/11/2004 6:56:46 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

Lack of Checks Abets

Corruption in the BIR
by TESS BACALLA

IN HER 38 years at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Rizalina

Magalona, whose last post was that of assistant commissioner, had an
unsullied reputation as a public official. Until her retirement in 1999,
she lived in a modest apartment in Quezon City. She managed to buy
a car only after she had left the bureau, using a portion of her
retirement benefits.

Other than the car, the little property she calls her own she inherited
from her parents, like the ancestral home in Iloilo, where she now
lives. At the time of her retirement, Magalona’s net worth was
considerably less than P1 million.

But BIR insiders themselves admit that Magalona is a rarity in one of

the two government agencies that the public associates most with graft
and corruption.

That corruption in the BIR remains unchecked may in part be due to

the failure of its top officials to enforce established checks and
balances. Another reason is the insidious system of “booty-sharing,”
which, by keeping practically everyone happy, means lower risks of
having whistleblowers.

In a study on the BIR published in the Philippine Journal of Public

Administration in 1979, Leonor Magtolis-Briones wrote that “when an
employee makes a killing,” he usually shares his loot with his “less
enterprising officemates (and even with his bosses) through blowouts,
celebrations and even direct dole outs.”

Two decades later, insiders say not much has changed — except
perhaps the amounts involved. In the BIR’s regional office in
Valenzuela, for instance, insiders say some of the personnel each get
a weekly allowance ranging from P200 to P500 — sometimes even
more.

To be sure, there could be a perfectly good reason for such

generosity. But both Nestor S. Valeroso, acting regional director for
Valenzuela and Corazon C. Pangcog, assistant regional director, deny
they are showering their staff with cash. Valeroso said, “There is no
such happening in my office.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir3.html (1 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:50 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

Yet BIR insiders also say that last December, Valeroso and Pangcog
gave each member of their staff P1,000, contained in what looked like
a pay envelope, but one made out of light yellow linen paper. The
envelope also sported a traditional Christmas design, aside from the
two officials’ pictures and signatures and their holiday greetings.

BIR officials, including RDOs and regional directors are also known to
hold excessive celebrations, especially on their birthdays.

One insider says, however, that the parties nowadays are no longer as
lavish as they were a few years ago. Yet judging from the latest
birthday bash of Valeroso, who reportedly turned 51 last February 26,
there is still little evidence of penny-pinching going on.

For almost the whole day, Valeroso was feted by friends and BIR
employees, who feasted on a catered buffet lunch. Gifts also came
pouring in, including at least four roasted pigs (down from about seven
the previous year, said a member of Valeroso’s staff) and a big box of
fruit from Caloocan City RDO Eduardo T. Bajador, who emceed a
special show put together for the celebrator.

Aside from birthdays of officials, BIR employees also look forward to

summer, when they not only get to go to the beach, but are also able
to gorge themselves on an abundant supply of food and drink and vie
for generous cash prizes in the games. At their office’s outing in Subic
last year, for instance, Valeroso’s staff competed for prizes that ranged
from P300 to P500.

Not one member of the staff was asked to contribute a single centavo.
The government did not have to fork over any money for the outing
either. The people who combine their “resources” to make extravagant
celebrations in BIR’s premises possible took care of all the expenses.

Indications are that such festivities at the BIR may be curbed, if not
stopped altogether, if only its chief made monitoring of the bureau’s
own people among its top priorities.

One BIR official, however, echoes some observers’ sentiments in

saying that current BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno is too “short-
term” in his approach to the problems ailing the agency.

“Puro siya press release,” says the official, who also expressed
dissatisfaction with Parayno’s seeming preoccupation with collection-
related activities at the expense of other programs requiring his
attention.

The BIR chief, however, told the PCIJ that he is putting in place

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir3.html (2 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:50 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

programs that “although mainly intended to enhance revenues also

address corruption through the use of information technology.” These
include computerizing the data on large taxpayers, electronic
transmission of tax payments and an automated tax verification
system, which allows for easy validation of tax identification numbers
or TINs.

The BIR, however, has yet to act on a draft memorandum that would
authorize the post-audit or “revalida” after almost six years of its
nonenforcement. The draft was submitted for approval in October
2002, but Parayno has yet to sign it. He said, however, that the
revalida will be among the projects that will be implemented this year.

“As a management tool, revalida is the most feared, in fact the only,
check-and-balance mechanism, to the wild and nefarious activities of
Revenue Officers (ROs), supervisors, revenue district officers, and . . .
need we mention the rest?” Magalona said in a 2002 report she
prepared as the BIR consultant of Agile, a USAID-funded agency.

“Revalida and continuing management performance audits are strong

deterrents to the proliferation of unreported and prescribed cases for
which collections may no longer be effected,” she added. “Only
through an in-depth review/audit of tax dockets submitted by ROs, as
what is done in a ‘revalida,’ can one get the real picture of the quality
or lack of it, of the field examinations conducted.”

“Clearly,” Magalona also observed, “revalida is unable to take off

because it appears not to be among the priorities of the BIR-the
Internal Audit Division where it is expected to be institutionalized is in
total disarray due to gross mismanagement and in fact fails to perform
even its simplest functions.”

The draft memorandum on the revalida, however, is not the only

proposal gathering dust on Parayno’s desk. Similarly on the back
burner is a draft revenue administrative order (RAO) authorizing the
issuance of revenue bulletins that will regularly update taxpayers on
tax-related laws, regulations and rulings that are inconsistent with, or
have been superseded by, other issuances. A lack of knowledge of
these laws and policies makes taxpayers vulnerable to harassment by
BIR personnel.

Another is a draft memorandum order seeking to provide “no-ruling

areas.” Such a memorandum will prevent unnecessary requests for
rulings by providing taxpayers with appropriate guidelines. Tax rulings,
say insiders and former bureau personnel, have been a source of tax
leakages in the BIR, given the agency’s power to interpret tax laws,
which has either been abused or applied improperly.

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir3.html (3 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:50 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

Both past and present BIR officials and personnel, however, agree that
corruption in the agency could also be traced to a host of outside
factors.

These include the failure of the Congressional oversight committee to

fully exercise its functions, as mandated by the Tax Code of 1997. The
committee has the power to monitor the BIR’s tax administration
system, particularly the conduct of tax audits. It is composed of the
chairpersons of the Committee on Ways and Means of the Senate and
House of Representatives and four additional members from each
house, who are designated by the House Speaker and the Senate
President.

According to the Congressional and Planning and Budget Office

(CPBO), a revenue audit would ensure that taxes are properly
“assessed, collected, and accounted for.”

It describes the Committee’s function this way: “The oversight function

stipulated in RA 8424 (or the 1997 Tax Reform Act) is an attempt by
Congress to make a more conscious effort to monitor and ensure the
proper implementation of tax reforms/programs.”

Another unused anti-corruption tool is the Commission on Audit (COA)

Resolution No. 95-208, which asserts COA’s power to audit not only
government expenditures but also revenues. Almost a decade after it
was issued, the resolution remains unenforced. During his term,
President Joseph Estrada signed Executive Order No. 38, which
directed the BIR and the Department of Finance to work with COA to
enforce the resolution.

Former Audit Commissioner Sofronio Ursal, the resolution’s

proponent, clarified that COA would not audit the taxpayer but would
review the procedures followed by the BIR’s assessing and collecting
officers. This makes it very similar in principle to the proposed revalida.

Some BIR insiders believe the COA cannot conduct a review audit of
the BIR because the commission does not have the capability to do
so.

Former BIR Commissioner Efren I. Plana, who launched an anti-

corruption campaign during his stint in the BIR in the 1970s, sees it
differently. He points out that during his stint as BIR chief, “I even
asked for the help of COA.”

“I do not believe,” he adds, “in the BIR being an independent republic.”

http://www.pcij.org/stories/print/bir3.html (4 of 5) [5/11/2004 6:56:50 PM]

Lack of Checks Abets Corruption in the BIR

Copyright © 2003 All rights reserved.

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