One
of Frank Sinatra’s popular songs goes this way, “the
party’s over…it’s time to call it a day. They’ve
burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away. It is time
to wind up the masquerade…the piper must be paid…”
Yes, the month-long party of
the country celebrating Christmas and welcoming the New Year
is over. The entire month was spent in parties, parties, parties.
There were the innumerable Christmas parties for office, for
church, family and friends. There were the numerous weddings.
There were the anniversaries and birthday celebrations. And
of course, the inevitable family reunions - for immediate families
and for clans.
The dark clouds hovering in the horizon were blithely ignored.
December is the month for celebrations and nothing could stop
these, not even the threat of an economic recession.
I believe that Christmas and New Year must be continue to be
celebrated, no matter what the political, economic and social
situation. These are family, church and community events which
form part of the warp and woof binding our society. However,
excessiveness and waste at a time of increasing difficulties
must be criticized.
Celebrating frenziedly before plunging into gloom and threats
of doom is part of the Filipino psyche. It finds echoes in the
elaborate Mardi Gras celebrations in Latin American countries
just before the penitence of the Lenten season.
Frank Sinatra continues crooning, “The party’s over,
the candles flicker and dim. You danced and dreamed through
the night…Now you must wake up, all dreams must end. Take
off your make-up, the party’s over, its over, my friend.”
It is not just “time to call it a day” now that
2009 is upon us. It is time to work. And hard. Expecially the
government.
Hunger amidst holiday
plenty?
Last December, Social Weather Stations came out with its Fourth
Quarter Survey on hunger. It was hardly noticed amidst frenetic
preparations for Christmas.
SWS reported that involuntary hunger had already reached a record
high of 23.7% of families. Of this, 18.5% suffered from moderate
hunger and 5.2% from severe hunger.
The above percentage translates to 4.3 million households. Assuming
that each household has five members, this figure translates
to 21.5 million individuals!
For the past ten years, hunger stood at an average of 12.6%
of families. The current rate of 23.5% is a full 11 points higher.
Hunger average for 2008 is 18.5%, higher than the average for
2007 at 17.9%.
SWS also reports that for the past four years, the country has
been suffering double-digit hunger. Perhaps this helps explain
why the news about more difficulties in 2009 did not come as
a surprise to many.
The crisis started much earlier for millions of Filipinos than
the rest of the world.
Governance
issues for 2009: who makes budget realignments?
Now that the party is over, 2009 budget is the most urgent policy
issue which must be resolved soon. Both houses will reconvene
by January 19.
Much is expected from the Senate which has to meet with the
House in the Bicameral Committee. Those campaigning and advocating
for more spending for social development and less funds for
wasteful expenditures, look to the Senate to push for their
advocacies.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda who is also billed as “Malacañang’s
economic adviser,” has proposed a P114 billion “fiscal
stimulus package” which will be financed from budget realignments.
This is presumably different from the P100 billion fund which
is supposed to be funded by the government corporate and private
sectors.
There is general agreement that the government must spend more
for economic and social development to weather a possible recession.
At this point in time, Malacañang has no business making
budgetary realignments. The 2009 budget is still in the hands
of the legislature. It is Congress which will make the realignments,
unless it will allow itself to be a toady of Malacañang.
One curious proposal is the advice to slash revenue targets
of BIR and Customs by P35billion and P26 billion respectively.
This amounts to P61 billion. Now, where will the funding of
the P114 billion come from? More borrowings?
Additional expenditures cannot be proposed without identifying
what expenditures should be sacrificed to make way for the “fiscal
stimulus” package.
There is also a proposal to increase the conditional cash transfer
program from P5 billion to P25 billion. While these transfers
have been done on a limited scale, there is a need to evaluate
the effectiveness of the program.
On the other hand, the dead Cha-Cha horse is being revived in
Congress. Citizens groups need to marshal their troops once
more.
Corruption continues to fester. In the meantime, more food must
be produced to feed 21.5 million Filipinos suffering from involuntary
hunger.
Its over, the party’s over. Actually.
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