TODAY,
President Arroyo will deliver her last State of the Nation
Address (Sona). She will end her term on June 10, 2010. The
next Sona will be delivered by the newly elected president.
GMA will deliver her Sona today amid calls
that this should be her last address, as mandated by the Constitution.
She will render her report on the state of the nation amid
alternative Sonas submitted by civil-society organizations,
think tanks, academic institutions, progressive organizations
and opposition groups. Whatever she says will be benchmarked
against the people’s Sonas.
Most of the alternative Sonas warn against
amending the Constitution, cancellation of elections and illegal
seizure of power. The Former Senior Governmant Officials (FSGO)
has demanded that she relinquish all power at noon of June
30, 2010; that she not allow any effort to alter, amend or
rewrite the Constitution before June 30, 2010; that she ensure
clean, honest, free and orderly elections; and that she not
impose emergency rule or martial law.
Other alternative Sonas assess the performance
of GMA’s administration, using her famous “beat
the odds” formula which she unveiled in the 2005 address.
These stand for: balanced budget, education for all, automatic
elections, transport and digital infrastructure, termination
of hostilities, healing the wounds of Edsa 1,2 and 3, electricity
and water for all barangays, opportunities to create 6 million
to 10 million jobs, decongesting Metro Manila and developing
Subic and Clark.
Talk shows, radio programs and think tanks
have been busy at the weekend computing and averaging GMA’s
performance in these areas. Interestingly, governance is not
necessarily included in the assessment. It is probably because
the letter “g” is not in the “beat the odds”
formula!
Without governance, “beat the odds”
is reduced to a mere list of goals and empty recitation of
statistics without a vision and strategy.
Sona
and governance
The word “governance” is usually
associated with fighting corruption. This is an important
part of governance but there are equally important dimensions.
Governance is all about the use of power to achieve national
development goals. The basic elements of governance are people’s
participation, predictability, transparency and accountability.
Each of the items in the “beat the odds”
list must be assessed in terms of the elements of governance.
It must also be noted that three important Millennium Development
Goals—health, education and gender equality are not
in the list.
People’s
participation
Participation of different sectors of society
is indispensable in the formulation and implementation of
national policy. Under the present administration, while lip
service is paid to people participation, they are not actually
consulted on many important national issues.
The best example is the contentious issue
of constituent assembly. Congress, which claims to represent
the people, is poised to morph itself into a constituent assembly,
with the obvious support of the Executive. Public clamor is
against this move, as shown by surveys, civil-society consultations,
assemblies and protests. Nevertheless, the present administration
is set to ram this issue down the people’s throats.
Another policy decision of the present administration
is the aborted memorandum of agreement with the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) which sparked incendiary debates all
over the country. The government promised concessions which
require consulting with affected local government units and
various indigenous peoples.
Still another glaring example of minimal people’s
participation is the budget process itself. The public is
excluded from decisions on budget priorities and sectoral
allocations. By the time the budget is brought to Congress
for approval, the magnitude of the budget has already been
determined, the macroeconomic assumptions formulated and the
agency budgets firmed up.
It is not surprising therefore, that the share
of social expenditures as a percentage of the national budget
has steadily declined, even as the debt service is rising.
This is particularly true of the budgets for education and
health. In 1999, social services accounted for 33.81 percent
of the budget. By 2006, this had gone down to 27.91 percent.
As a result of relentless lobbying by the
Alternative Budget Initiative convened by Social Watch Philippines,
significant additions have been appropriated for education,
health, agriculture and the environment in the 2007, 2008
and 2009 budgets. This was achieved with the support of progressive
congressmen and senators.
Nonrelease of budget allocations GMA has not
released important expenditure allocations crucial to health.
For example, the 2008 Appropriations Act contains P100-million
allocations for autoclaves, vital equipment for the sterilization
of hospital instruments and disposal of hospital waste.
One can imagine the number of babies, mothers,
elderly and other patients whose lives will be spared because
they will be protected from infection!
GMA’s priorities are not necessarily
the people’s priorities. These are fairly simple: education
for all, reduction of infant and maternal mortality, increase
in agricultural productivity and protection of the environment.
Predictability
Citizens expect government policies to be
stable and predictable. In particular, the business sector
needs to plan and strategize within a framework of predictable
policies. The citizens likewise expect a stable political
environment.
Promises,
promises
Citizens have not forgotten GMA’s promise
not to run for reelection in 2006. Her contrite “I am
sorry” still rings in their ears. Her refusal to keep
these promises has resulted in loss of trust and confidence
in her. Thus, policy pronouncements and promises are viewed
with suspicion and skepticism. The atmosphere of unclear public
policies creates an unstable environment for political as
well as economic decisionmaking.
Transparency
Filipinos take pride in declaring to the world
that the Philippines is a vibrant democracy. Transparency
is a bulwark of a democratic system. The people’s right
to public information is enshrined in the Constitution.
GMA’s executive order requiring presidential
clearance for her Cabinet members to appear before the Congress
is a blow to transparency. This has served as a signal to
the various executive offices to withhold information from
the citizens they are supposed to serve.
Lack of transparency exacerbates the propensity
for gossip and speculation. Media, researchers and serious
students of government have to expend energy and creativity
in accessing data which they are entitled to, in the first
place. Often, multilateral institutions have more information
on government operations.
Because the public does not have access to
public information, scandals erupt when these could have been
prevented by public monitoring and action. The World Bank
decision to delist specific contractors from its projects
illustrates the need for transparency.
Accountability
Accountability is closely linked to people
participation, predictability and transparency. At the end
of the day, the government has to be accountable. The Philippines
has earned the dubious reputation of being one of the most
corrupt countries in the world. Ask Transparency and Accountability
Network. Ask the multilaterals. Ask the taxi and “padyak”
drivers.
At the end of the day, it’s not “beat
the odds” which will reveal the state of the nation.
One can see it in the number of babies and mothers who die
of preventable causes, the children who are unable to go to
school, the increasing number of unemployed, the hungry, and
those deprived of human rights. It is all about governance.
