Sen. Miriam Santiago to shame vain politicians thru ‘anti-epal’ bill

By Christian V. Esguerra Philippine Daily Inquirer

Credit belongs to the taxpayers, so take those billboards with your big smiling face somewhere else.

This, in essence, is the message of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago in Senate Bill No. 1967, her version of what the man in the street would call an “anti-epal” measure, as it is directed at politicians or bureaucrats who claim credit for projects built with public funds.
“Epal” is slang for “mapapel,” a  Filipino term for attention grabbers, scene stealers, or people who crave a role (papel) in affairs that are not necessarily theirs to handle or decide.
The term originated from the streets to become a buzzword in political circles especially last year, when President Benigno Aquino III initiated a shame campaign against such annoying public officials.
Currently undergoing committee deliberations, Santiago’s “anti-epal” bill is formally titled “An Act Prohibiting Public Officers from Claiming Credit through Signage Announcing a Public Works Project.”
The senator maintained that public officials have no business claiming credit for projects funded by taxpayers’ money.

Prevalent practice
“It is a prevalent practice among public officers, whether elected or appointed, to append their names to public works projects which were either funded or facilitated through their office,” she said in the bill’s explanatory note.
“This is unnecessary and highly unethical” and “promotes a culture of political patronage and corruption,” said Santiago, who is also busy campaigning for a seat as judge in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The bill imposes a jail term of between six months and one year on a public official who would have his or her name or image printed on a “signage announcing a proposed or ongoing public works project.”
The prohibition also applies to existing government projects that are undergoing maintenance or rehabilitation.

Agency name, logo OK
The bill only allows signs that bear the name, image or logo of the local or national government agency handling the project.
Santiago said allowing incumbents or appointees to grab undue credit “diminishes the importance that the public needs to place on supporting government officials, not because of their popularity, but because of their essential role in policy determination, whether on the local or national level.”
“Secondly, it diminishes the concept of continuity in good governance in the mind of the public,” she said.
If the bill gets passed into law, the Department of Public Works and Highways, in coordination with the interior department and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, has three months from the day of the law’s effectivity to remove “all existing signages” that violate its provisions.

government as law breaker

Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.
      - Louis D. Brandeis,  part of his dissent in the case "Olmstead v. United States", 277 U.S. 438, 485 (1928)

A judicial pronouncement of just another sad symptom of the dysfunctions that plague our country: those who enforce the law have become the law-breakers.

CORRUPTION:

Corruption can be defined as the paying and receiving of bribes for preferential treatment

For years we have all known that our once efficient civil service was slowly breaking down. Money or connections slowly but surely became a necessity to get past any government red tape.

Corruption indexes are introduced by Transparency International. They have a special criteria to measure the corruption through 13 independent surveys in any country or nation or governments. The rankings of the countries which can be the most corrupt in the world in 2010 and 2011 are following.

No.	Flags	Country	Score	Location
1.		Somalia	1.1	Africa
2.		Myanmar	1.4	Asia
3.		Afghanistan	1.4	Asia
4.		Iraq	1.5	Middle East
5.		Uzbekistan	1.6	Central Asia
6.		Turkmenistan	1.6	Central Asia
7.		Sudan	1.6	Africa
8.		Chad	1.7	Africa
9.		Burundi	1.8	Africa
10.		Equatorial Guinea	1.9	Africa

Factors To Measure Corruption In Public Sector In Any Country

1. Rank Cause of corruption Index
2. Lack of sanctions or impunity 0.93
3. Inertia and inaction 0.86
4. Desire for personal enrichment 0.84
5. Lack of transparency 0.81
6. Lack of motivation due to the drop in purchasing power 0.81
7. Arbitrary career promotion 0.79
8. Abuse of power by public offi cials 0.78
9. Poor functioning of the administration 0.7
10. Lack of clear rules and standards of conduct 0.66
11. Pressure from superiors/high-ranking persons 0.57
12. Excessive patronage and tutelage 0.53
13. Everyone else does it 0.44

Although the Philippines is not in the above list,  In a World Bank report,the Philippines is cited with increasing frequency (by business surveys, the media, and anticorruption watchdog agencies) as a country where corruption is a factor that inhibits foreign and domestic investment and which may be eroding the country’s
competitive position. Such investment is vital to economic growth and social well being. Nearly $2 billion dollars, or roughly 13 percent of the Philippines' annual budget, is lost to corruption in the country each year, according to the United Nations Development Program.

Corruption in the Philippines is a large problem and integrated in the society for years. Everybody seems to accept it. Corruption has penetrated every level of government, from the Bureau of Customs down to the traffic police officers who pull over motorists to demand bribes.

As for the police, it has likewise been a similar tale of sliding into ignominy. there was a time when you could trust the men and women who swore to enforce the law of our land. unfortunately, the police have now fallen to the level where the only thing we expect when stopped by an officer is to be asked for a bribe, and where we are wont to suspect wrongdoing whenever the police are involved.

 HUMAN RIGHTS
 

The human rights situation is worsening worldwide and especially in the important emerging economies of Pakistan, China, Russia, Colombia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Philippines and Mexico. These are the findings of the Human Rights Risk Atlas 2011 that calculates and maps the risk of complicity in human rights abuses for companies operating worldwide.

It is the emerging economies which cause most concern, as many multinational companies and investors now have considerable interests centred there and strong economic growth is not being translated into improving human rights, posing a range of legal, reputational, operational and strategic challenges for business.

Most significantly for business, given it plays a major role in supply chains, China has fallen two places in the ranking from last year to 10th. China joins DR Congo (1), Somalia (2), Pakistan (3), Sudan (4), Myanmar (5), Chad (6), Afghanistan (7), Zimbabwe (8), and North Korea (9) as the countries with the worst human rights records. Russia (14), Colombia (15), Bangladesh (16), Nigeria (17) India (21), Philippines (25) and Mexico (26) have also seen their scores worsen and are featured in the ‘extreme risk’ category.

A 2006 US State Department  Report found that although the government generally respected human rights, some security forces elements—particularly the Philippine National Police—practiced extrajudicial killings, vigilantism, disappearances, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention in their battle against criminals and terrorists. Prison conditions were harsh, and the slow judicial process as well as corrupt police, judges, and prosecutors impaired due process and the rule of law. Besides criminals and terrorists, human rights activists, left-wing political activists, and Muslims were sometimes the victims of improper police conduct. Violence against women and abuse of children remained serious problems, and some children were pressed into slave labor and prostitution

What can P-Noy do now?

Benigno Aquino III, the son of the late president Corazon Aquino, swept to power in the May presidential elections on a platform of fighting corruption and promoting justice for victims of crime.Perhaps P-Noy  will mean what he said immediately after the election: "I will not only not steal, but I'll have the corrupt arrested."Perhaps his campaign promise to investigate his predecessor former presindent GMA, on allegations of corruption will not backfire, setting off yet more political strife in a country that cannot afford such distraction. Perhaps his promise to crack down on the nation's blatant tax evaders will not bring these powerful clans and families down on his neck. Perhaps the new president will stand up for those who elected him and against those who spawned him.

If Aquino indeed is the opposite of Arroyo, as he had hinted throughout the campaign, stopping the killings of activists, peasants, journalists, human-rights workers, to name a few, by ending the culture of impunity in the Philippines should be a top priority.