Breaking News

24 July 2006

MIRIAM AFTER SONA

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, an administration senator seated front and center, described President Arroyo’s state of the nation address (SONA) as “bouyant, chatty, and downright oratorical at the end.”

Santiago said that the president took her audience “on a virtual tour of the future” in terms of large-scale infrastructure projects in the so-called super regions of the country.

“What saved the speech from becoming a kilometric wish list were the passing pronouncements of President Arroyo that: she is leaving the presidency in 2010; that she expects the Constitution to be amended to provide for a federal form of government; and that she favors the liberalization of the investment climate for global competition,” Santiago said.

Santiago said that in refusing to dwell on impeachment and other threats by her critics, President Arroyo was showing the commendable attitude of “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

“President Arroyo is usually didactic, but this time she was particularly inspired. She was in and out of the session hall on a wave of high-pitched enthusiasm among her audience,” the senator said.

The senator said that President Arroyo showed a “consummate grasp” of local politics and politicians by singling out mayors, governors, and generals in the audience and mentioning their infrastructure projects.

“All politics is local, and President Arroyo has mastered local politics. In that field she is invincible and her tenure is assured,” Santiago said.

Sen. Santiago said that the first thing she will do, as Senate energy committee chair, to help implement the president’s super region project, is to steer the Biofuels Act through the period of amendments, for which it is scheduled on the Senate floor.

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Breaking News

24 July 2006

MIRIAM ON SENATE REORG

The Senate is now dominated by a mutant majority. The core group of 13 who elected Villar as senate president is composed of both administration and opposition senators. Thus, the new Senate majority is an aberration at birth. If it were a car, it would be a hybrid. If it were a horse, it would be a piebald. Wonders never cease in politics. What we are seeing is the art of the political deal.

With Sen. Drilon stepping down, the Cory Aquino opposition group has lost its chief challenger to President Arroyo. As senate president, Drilon was third in succession.

As an ordinary senator, he is no longer even qualified to run for reelection in 2007. It might be the end of the presidential road for him and the Aquino group.

Drilon’s loss of the Senate presidency weakens the Drilon wing of the LP, and strengthens his rival. If Manila Mayor Lito Atienza runs for senator, the Atienza wing of the LP can only get stronger, and might even devour the Drilon wing.

With Sen. Villar as new Senate President, the Senate will have a rainbow coalition in the majority. Hence, the Senate majority will be toeing a precariously independent line. It is a motley mix of pro-Gloria and anti-Gloria senators.

The pro-Gloria senators in the majority are: Villar, Flavier, Arroyo, Recto, Lapid, Enrile, Revilla, and myself.

The anti-Gloria senators in the majority are: Pangilinan, Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Luisa Estrada, and Lim.

There are anti-Gloria senators who are outside Villar’s core group, but reportedly decided to support him after he had already sewn up the 13 votes required to win. They are hoping to retain or get major committee chairs. They are Sen. Magsaysay, Gordon, and Biazon.

At present, Villar trumps Sen. Roxas as the strongest potential presidential candidate for 2010. Villar will easily win reelection next year, and will be expanding the political base of the NP which he heads.

Further, Villar stands a good chance of being endorsed in 2010 by President Arroyo. Roxas hopes to lead the anti-Arroyo coalition. If it will be Villar versus Roxas, it will be new money versus old money; self-made entrepreneur versus the scion of the privileged elite. The 2010 elections will be a battle of the big bucks, and a candidate who does not have at least P5 billion need not apply.

In his first month in office, Villar will busy himself playing musical chairs with committee chairmanships. Pursuant to tradition, his core group of 13 senators will have first pick. The process calls for delicate diplomacy, but Manny’s middle name is “Patience.”

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Breaking News

24 July 2006

MIRIAM ON SONA
All Economy, No Governance

As a lawyer and political scientist, I respectfully submit that the speech is lopsided. First, it is all economy and virtually no governance. Second, its focus is on urban, and hardly on rural areas.

I would have wanted a pronouncement on voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. These are the come-ons of foreign investment. The level of direct foreign investment is directly proportional to the quality of governance. To concentrate on the economy without mentioning governance is a skewed order of priorities.

The speech is like a first-time Sona, instead of a midterm Sona. It is a list of promises on large-scale infrastructure projects, but it does not quantify the cost of all these projects. What will be the nature of the funding – foreign or domestic; and public sector or private sector?

I am skeptical, because in the last five years, infrastructure spending as a share of GDP has steadily declined. I do not see any guarantee that this trend can be reversed. The speech provides no motivation for private sector investors to get involved in the provision of public infrastructure. The speech does not mention the NAIA 3 fiasco, and what government will do to resolve it. Insofar as foreign investment is concerned, the festering problem of NAIA 3 is an albatross around the neck, and until it is resolved, direct foreign investment in our country will remain insignificant.

In my humble opinion, government should focus on labor-intensive rural infrastructure, and not on large-scale urban infrastructure.

Number Crunchers on Employment are Misleading

It is true that in 2005, the economy generated 750,000 new jobs, but the number crunchers failed to add that the new jobs were not enough for the one million new entrants to the labor force.

It is true that 750,000 new jobs were generated, but the quality of jobs has deteriorated. More than half of new jobs went to unpaid family workers, mostly in the agricultural sector; and the rest went to the self-employed in the underground economy.

Of the 750,000 new jobs, most are informal employment. This means that the number of those who are formally employed (meaning wage and salary workers) is shrinking.

Further, more than one-third of the employed workers last year were only part-timers.

Don’t Bash Imperial Manila

Why should imperial Manila be an object of opprobrium instead of economic concern? It has its own social and economic problems. Metro Manila has the highest unemployment rate of 15 percent, about twice the national average.

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The Senator in the News

From Inq7.net:

10 Senators Won’t Be at SONA

By Veronica Uy
Posted date: July 24, 2006

TEN senators, including former Senate president Franklin Drilon, will not attend the joint session of Congress where President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

Aside from Drilon, the others who will not be at the SONA are Senators Joker Arroyo, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Panfilo Lacson, Luisa Ejercito Estrada, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Alfredo Lim, Sergio Osmeña III, Ana Consuelo Madrigal, and Edgardo Angara.

Osmeña and Angara were also absent at the changing of the guard at the Senate Monday morning, when Drilon handed over the presidency of the chamber to Senator Manuel Villar.

Asked why he was not attending the SONA, Drilon, laughing, said: “Because it’s raining.”

Although aligned with the administration, Arroyo usually does not attend SONAs.

The opposition in the Senate also traditionally shies away from the SONA. Oppositionist Madrigal said she did “not want to listen to the same pack of lies.”

Aside from Villar, those who indicated they will be present at the SONA are Senators Juan Flavier, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Ralph Recto, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Manuel Roxas II, Rodolfo Biazon, Ramon Magsaysay Jr., Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Juan Ponce-Enrile, and Richard Gordon.

At the first Senate session on Monday morning, the Upper Chamber also passed a resolution for SONA attendance.

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