Of the 12 senators elected to a six-year term last May 10, only two are first-time senators (Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Teofisto Guingona III) while seven will serve their second term, and three others are returnees, or had previously served in the Senate.

But even the neophyte senators, who are namesakes of their fathers, are not exactly novatos in politics. Marcos had served as congressman and governor of his home province of Ilocos Norte. Guingona had finished his three-term limit in the House. Both their parents had served as senators. Marcos’s father, the late strongman Ferdinand, ruled as president for 20 years, including 14 under martial law. Guingona’s father, Teofisto Jr., was handpicked to served as vice president to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from 2001 to 2004.

Re-elected to a second six-year term were Senators Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Franklin Drilon, Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Ejercito, Manuel “Lito” Lapid and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. Then, too, there are the Senate returnees - Sergio Osmena III, Ralph Recto and Vicente “Tito” Sotto.

Three of the re-elected senators (Defensor-Santiago, Drilon, and Enrile) are, in fact, returnees twice over. Enrile was at the Senate in 1987 to 1992 and in 1995 to 2001. He took a break to serve as congressman representing Cagayan province, and then returned to the Senate in 2004.

In the House of Representatives, there are 95 first-time district congressmen, including former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who took the district represented in the previous Congress by her elder son, Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, and former Senator Rodolfo Biazon, who ran and won in the district that his son, Rozzano Rufino, had represented in the last nine years.

The elder Biazon had reached his two-term limit at the Senate while the younger Biazon ran for the Senate to take his father’s place but lost.

Celebrities

Celebrities from politics and entertainment litter the list of the House members. Apart from former President Arroyo and former Senator Biazon, the flamboyant former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and Georgina Perez-de Venecia, wife of five-time Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. are also representatives of Leyte and Pangasinan, respectively.

Not to be left out, boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, congressman of the lone district of Sarangani province, lifted from Frost in a privilege speech on the second session day to spell out his plans in the next three years.

Beauty and star-appeal have been added, too, courtesy of Lucy Torres-Gomez (Leyte) and Jesusa Victoria H. Bautista a.k.a Lani Mercado-Revilla (Cavite).

Except for Romualdez-Marcos, this is the first time for De Venecia, Pacquiao, Torres-Gomez and Mercado-Revilla to sit in Congress. De Venecia and Mercado-Revilla, however, had always been immersed in politics and public service, if unofficially, through their respective spouses, Speaker De Venecia and Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Ahead of the opening of Congress last Monday, Pacquiao, Torres-Gomez and Mercado-Revilla had enrolled in short programs for new legislators conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines and the University of the Philippine National College of Public Administration and Governance.

Clans still rule

The cast of characters has changed somehow for the party-list groups. Of the 35 party-list representatives who had taken their oath as of July 27, only one of the 16 first-termers had served before in Congress. In addition, 13 party-list representatives are on their second term, and six, on their third and last term.

Politics remains a family affair in many congressional districts where the political clans have held steadfastly on to their seats.

There are 18 House returnees, or members who had previously served in the same districts they now represent. They are retaking their posts from a spouse, son, daughter, or another close relative who had precisely warmed the seat for a term or two to keep political rivals out of their turf.

In lieu of at least 41 representatives who had either reached their three-term limit or ran for another elective position, close relatives had come in as substitute players. That reads as either spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, or in-law.

At least 33 other members of the 14^th Congress had been replaced by their spouse, son or daughter, brother or sister, in-law, or political protégé and surrogate. A few others had run for another position and fielded a relative to take over their congressional seats. An example is Exequiel Javier who had reached his three-term limit as congressman of Antique, and is now governor of the province. His son, Paulo Everardo Javier, took over his House seat.

They might claim to have won the votes but in truth, a good number of the members of Congress belong to political clans that have kept politics and business in their city, town, district, province, or region under tight grip for decades.

Winners, losers

To be sure, a reversal of fortunes, and thus a few changes, had unfolded in the House, albeit in musical chairs fashion. Hitherto in the political minority, the Liberal Party of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has forged a multi-party coalition and turned majority.

Former President Arroyo has slid down to join her two sons in the House, and together they would play their new role as opposition lawmakers. She now sits as representative of the Pampanga district that her elder son Juan Miguel had occupied for two terms; he now sits as first-term nominee of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy.

Younger son, Diosdado Ignacio, is a second-term solon from Camarines Sur, representing a
new congressional district that Congress has had to create to accommodate Arroyo’s budget secretary, Rolando Andaya Jr. whose district Diosdado Ignacio had represented earlier.

Andaya had served for three terms in the first district of Camarines Sur, the same seat that his father and namesake, RolandoSr., had occupied for three terms from 1987 to 1998.

Apart from Andaya, at least six other former “stars” of the old regime are now simply House members. They are former agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, who ran unopposed as congressman of the third district of Bohol; former presidential spokesman Anthony Golez, representing the lone district of Bacolod City; former presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol, who reclaimed the second district of Leyte from his wife; former TESDA chief Augusto Syjuco, who replaced his wife to represent the second district of Iloilo; former housing executive Romero Federico Quimbo, Marikina City’s second district; and former agriculture undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel M. Paras, Bukidnon’s first district.

Whether or not they will take on the role of opposition or fiscalizer might also depend in large measure on how far they will go to defend the Arroyo administration from sundry allegations of irregularities and midnight deals.

In truth, while some Arroyo government officials won, a few other big names lost big in the May 10 elections. Among them were former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, who lost to Tomas Apacible in the first congressional district of Batangas; former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who was defeated in the mayoralty race in Iloilo City. Gonzalez’s son and namesake, Raul Jr., also lost in his re-election bid as congressman of Iloilo City.

Jailed, died

The quaint casting of characters in the House continues to evolve and amaze still. Even before it could convene last Monday, one member had been arrested and jailed, while another had succumbed to an illness.

Before he could assume his second term as congressman of Ilocos Sur’s first district, Rep. Ronald V. Singson found himself behind bars in Hong Kong for possession of 26.1 grams of cocaine and two tablets of valium when he arrived at the airport on July 11.

An article on Singson’s website described the 41-year-old lawmaker as “a fair-haired boy” of his controversial father, Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson and as “a young man who has the distinction of having a father whose daring exploits including that of being the central figure behind the unseating of a President may find no parallel in the future.”

Meanwhile, third-term Cagayan Rep. Florencio L. Vargas, 78, died of leukemia on July 22. He was governor of the province from 1998 to 2001.

Year after year, the House of Representatives has been expanding its membership. From less than 200 legislative districts 10 years ago, the House now has 228 districts, including nine created by the 14^th Congress, and a growing roster of party-list representatives.

Thanks to the previous Congress, Cavite politicians now have more positions to fill. From three legislative districts, the province now has seven. The provinces of Agusan del Sur and Camarines Sur have one more each, while Iligan City, Lapu-Lapu City and Navotas now have their own legislative districts.

Parking place

The House has also become a convenient “parking” place for senators, governors, and mayors who have reached their term limits set under the 1987 Constitution. Others are bench-warmers for a parent, brother or sister, son or daughter, in-law, or political patron or protégé. In some instances, two members of a family or leaders of two controlling families in a locality have simply switched positions to make sure their rivals won’t have a chance to get into power.

At least nine of the incumbent congressmen were provincial governors in the previous term. They are: Angelica Amante-Matba of Agusan del Norte, Ma. Valentina Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Rogelio Espina of Biliran, Joselito Mendoza of Bulacan, Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar, Raul Daza of Northern Samar, Milagrosa Tan of Western Samar, Aurora Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur and Loreto Ocampos of Misamis Occidental.

Seven members of the previous House of Representatives are now provincial governors. They are: Abraham Mitra of Palawan, Exequiel Javier of Antique, Alfonso Umali Jr. of Oriental Mindoro, Edgar Chatto of Bohol, Paul Daza of Northern Samar, Carmencita Reyes of Marinduque, and Herminia Ramiro of Misamis Occidental.

There are at least six incumbent congressmen who were city or municipal mayors in their previous term. They are: Tobias Tiangco of Navotas, Jerry Trenas of Iloilo City, Feliciano Belmonte Jr of Quezon City, Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan, Sigfrido Tinga of Taguig City and Tomas Osmena of Cebu City.

At least two former congressmen are now mayors: Ma. Laarni Cayetano of Taguig and Del de Guzman of Marikina City. Cayetano defeated former congressman and Supreme Court Associate Justice Dante Tinga, father of Sigfrido Tinga who ruled Taguig City as mayor for three terms before becoming a congressman.

While there is one former senator in the House, the Senate has two former congressmen in its roster: Teofisto Guingona III and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Their colleagues: Rodolfo Plaza of Agusan del Sur, Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa, Nereus Acosta of Bukidnon, Risa Hontiveros of party-list Akbayan and Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza of Bayan Muna party-list lost in their bid to the Senate.

Also, there are two retired police generals in the House: Romeo M. Acop of Antipolo City’s second district, and Leopoldo N. Bataoil of Pangasinan’s second district. Acop used to be with PNP’s Criminal Investigation Service while Bataoil headed the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

All in the family

Seven senators have immediate family members in the House: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is the father of Cagayan Rep. Juan Ponce Enrile Jr.; Sen Edgardo Angara is the father of Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara; Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. is the father of Las Pinas City Rep. Mark A. Villar; Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Bukidnon Rep. Jose Zubiri III are brothers; Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is a son of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda R. Marcos; Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is a half-brother of San Juan City Rep. Joseph Victor Ejercito; and, Sen. Ramon Revilla and Cavite Rep. Lani Mercado are a couple.

These do not count yet cousins, in-laws, and other relatives in Congress.

There are also siblings and mother-son tandems in the same legislative body. At the Senate, Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano are siblings, while former President Arroyo is with her two sons at the House: Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Arroyo and Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo of party-list Ang Galing Pinoy.

Lanao del Norte’s two districts are now represented by the mother-daughter tandem of Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo and Fatima Aliah Q. Dimaporo. Two of Cebu’s six districts have the father and son tandem of Pablo P. Garcia and Pablo John F. Garcia.

In Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay, three relatives of convicted child rapist and former congressman Romeo Jalosjos are occupying House seats: nephew Frederick Seth Pal Jalosjos and brother Cesar Jalosjos in the first and third districts of Zamboanga del Norte, respectively, and son Romeo Jalosjos Jr. in Zamboanga Sibugay.

Malabon City Rep. Josephine Veronique Lacson-Noel is the wife of An Waray party-list Rep. Florencio “Bem” Noel while Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is an elder brother of Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr.

President Benigno Aquino III has at least three relatives in the present Congress: Carmen Cojuangco of Pangasinan (wife of second cousin Marcos Cojuangco); Enrique M. Cojuangco of Tarlac (brother of businessman Eduardo Cojuangco who is an estranged first cousin of the President’s late mother); and Tarlac third district’s Jeci Aquino Lapus, a second-degree uncle.

At least three congressmen have immediate family members in the Aquino Cabinet: Batanes Rep. Henedina R. Abad is the wife of Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad; Quezon Rep. Irvin Alcala is a son of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala; and Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo is a son of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

The secretaries of budget and agriculture had served as congressmen while Romulo was at the Senate from 1987 to 1998. Then President Arroyo tapped him as finance secretary in January 2001, then as executive secretary in May 2001 until he was moved in 2004 to the Department of Foreign Affairs. - PCIJ, July 2010

Like the rest of the nation, employees of a government agency yesterday watched and listened in to Aquino’s debut SONA. They are, after all, the workforce that is expected to deliver on most of Aquino’s SONA promises.

“Hindi naman talaga shocking kasi expected nang sasabihin nya ang mga inabutang problema,” says Rorie, a researcher in a government agency based in Quezon City.

While Aquino was delivering the SONA, Rorie’s colleagues were even joking, “Mali pala ang agency na napasukan natin,” referring to the fat bonuses that Aquino disclosed officials and employees of the Metroplitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) had awarded themselves. A government-owned and controlled corporation, the MWSS was one of several agencies that got special mention in Aquino’s SONA, albeit in a bad light for supposed overspending and misspending.

To most employees of the government research agency, there was hardly anything new in Aquino’s revelations, says Chester, a researcher of seven years.

Chester and Rorie are part of a group of young civil servants in their mid-20s to early 30s who revealed their thoughts on the SONA to PCIJ on condition of anonymity.

A third employee, Anne, said she thought Aquino’s SONA was not only lacking in proposed solutions to the problems he cited but also offered nothing substantially new to what he had discussed in his inaugural speech last June 30.

“Pero wala pa naman kasing one month mula nang naupo sya sa pwesto (Of course, he has not been one month in office),” Anne says.

Sergio, also a researcher, notes that if anything, Aquino’s SONA was admirable for being “fearless” yet also “swift and short.”

His colleagues agree.

While Aquino may not be “as intellectually eloquent” as his contemporaries in politics with gift of gab, the researchers say the President succeeded in delivering his SONA in a manner that spoke “even to kanto boys” (street thugs).

In his speech, Aquino repeatedly used the term ‘pakikilahok’ (participation), indicating that he puts a premium on people’s participation and the need for cooperation from all sectors to make change possible.

This statement, as well as his earlier pronouncement that the people are his ‘boss,’ points at Aquino’s ability to rekindle the sense of nationalism and cooperation among Filipinos, according to Anne.

Aquino has a knack for swaying people to his side, Anne says, adding that she wonders though if the President’s positive trait could be “translated into action.”

“Where will he get the money to fund his programs?” Rorie asks, citing that Aquino had earlier claimed that the Arroyo administration had precisely spent in its last six months more than half of the 2010 budget.

This matter is, to Sergio, a serious cause for alarm: “Kung one percent per month na lang ang natitira sa budget, paano na tayo? Paano ‘pag nagka-Ondoy ulit?” (If all that’s left of the budget is one percent per month, what would happen to us? What if there’s another Ondoy?)

Despite his extended rendering of the alleged anomalies in the past regime, the researchers find it uncanny that Aquino’s SONA skipped discussion of a number of equally vital issues, such as the Maguindanao massacre.

Sergio says, even as Aquino said he had solved half of the cases of “extra-legal killings” committed since he took office, the President kept mum about agrarian reform, including the pending case of the distribution of Hacienda Luisita,

Additionally, they cite that other big issues like the NBN-ZTE scandal, Charter change, pork barrel, and the Truth Commission were not discussed in Aquino’s first SONA.

On top of it all, however, the one issue that the group had hoped the President would address was the “rationalization plan for the executive.” It is the issue that hits home among civil servants as it deals with the unfinished task of “streamlining” the bureaucracy.

“Lahat ng casuals na-lay off na sa office namin. Sana nabanggit kung anong options ang pwedeng i-offer sa mga na-lay-off,” Chester says.

(All the casual employees in our office were already laid off. I was hoping that the possible options that could be offered to those who were laid off would be mentioned.)

Despite the oversight, Chester and his colleagues remain optimistic that the new President would deliver positive change. It is, however, an optimism that is tempered with their experience of working for the government for so many years.

“I’m optimistic that the government will indeed be clean,” says Chester, “but it seems hard to believe that everything Aquino promised to do would be accomplished in six years.”

“It’s a tall order,” Sergio agrees.

Yet, of the litany of allegations and promises Aquino made in his SONA, a single phrase struck a chord with Chester: “Pwede na muling mangarap.” (One can start dreaming again.)

Says Chester: “’Pag sa gobyerno ka kasi nagtatrabaho, parang hopeless, ’di ba? Wala kang patutunguhan. Pero sa administrasyon na ito, parang pwede na uli kaming mangarap.”

(If you are working in government, it often seems a hopeless situation. You’re getting nowhere. But with this administration, yes, it seems like we can start dreaming again.) – PCIJ, July 2010

Organized, creative, and always prompt, the mainstream left or the so-called reaffirmist (RAs) groups were the early birds out on the street for President Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Carrying a 12-foot effigy of P-Noy clad in yellow with a matching star-spangled cape and a bubble machine attached to the dummy’s left hand, some 8,000 leftist activists assembled at 9 a.m. in front of the Diliman Preparatory School along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, and marched to St. Peter’s Parish.

At 12 noon, the rallyists who occupied the road from Ever Gotesco to Capitol Estate started their program dubbed “Peryante Pinas (Philippine fair),” where several speakers, artists, and musicians, including Chikoy Pura’s “The Jerks” performed on an eight-wheeler truck that was turned into a stage.

“We called the program Peryante Pinas because we want to remind the people that this isn’t the time to rejoice just because 85 percent of Filipinos trust the new president. Di dapat managinip o mag-ilusyon. Baka kasi nanaginip tayo (We can’t daydream or believe in an illusion). We have a new duly elected president but the problems are the same, joblessness, widespread poverty, landlessness, human rights violation,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan international officer Rita Baua told PCIJ a day before the SONA.

Though the leftists believe that P-Noy will eventually fail in addressing the country’s core socio-economic problems, they promised that their protest will not end with the usual effigy-burning.

“Bago kasi s’ya, kaya pagbibigyan. Di katulad dati lahat na yata ng animal sa zoo na effigy ni GMA (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) ay nagamit at sinunog namin (He’s new so we’re giving him a chance. Unlike before when we burned all the effigies of President Arroyo that were modelled after all the animals in the zoo),” Baua said.

Though their innovative ways of launching street protests seem to remain unmatched by other leftists, some of the mainstream left’s old rituals and rhetoric prove to be hard habits to break.

Effigies still include Uncle Sam’s head with a message, “Ibagsak ang Imperyalismo (Down with Imperialism)!” Speakers still start their speeches with a grim and determined greeting of “Isang taas-kamaong pagpupugay (I salute you with a raised clenched fist),” followed by “Sisikat ang pulang araw (The red sun will rise),” and concluded with, “Ang tao, ang bayan, ngayon ay lumalaban (The people, the country, are now fighting).”

There’s nothing wrong in mouthing those slogans, Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. tells the PCIJ. “We have to say it as such because that is what it is.”

Nonetheless, Reyes admits that if his group wants an effective response from the still uncaptive audience, it needs to craft statements that are more quotable than slogans crafted during the time of Ferdinand Marcos.

Perhaps, in certain instances, the left needs slogans that have more wit and humor to get into the popular consciousness of Pinoys. Reyes believes he could learn some from watching telenovelas such as ABS-CBN’s “Iisa Pa Lamang.”

“Ikaw mang-aagaw ka ng lupa, dapat bigyan ka ng paso (You are a landgrabber, you should be given a flowerpot)” Aura played by Susan Roces tells villainess Isadora played by Cherry Pie Pichache, who responded by saying, “Haciendera ako, hindi hardinera (I’m an haciendera, not a gardener).”

Watching a President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) has never been this intense, especially for members of the UP Teachers Village Tricycle Operators and Drivers Association (UPTV-TODA). In fact, it was even a wonder that the tricycle drivers even bothered to watch a President give a lengthy speech before the assembled members of Congress.

Yet, the drivers stood transfixed at their terminal along Maharlika street in Quezon City, watching the President on a battered old color television set hanging from the ceiling of their covered terminal. Some appeared rooted on the spot in wonder, with mouths agape, hanging on to every word. Sometimes, they had to be reminded that there were already passengers waiting for a ride: “Hoy, pasahero!”

At various times, they cheered, clapped, and howled as the President spoke with the clarity of the language of the “every man” about the issues that his government now faced.

When the President castigated MWSS officials for building houses inside the La Mesa Watershed and called for their resignation, several drivers clapped loudly.

“Kung mayroon pa silang kahit kaunting hiya na natitira, sana kusa na lang silang magbitiw sa pwesto,” the President said.

“Tama yun! Tama yun!,” shouted one driver.

“Tanggalin ang mga kawatan!” shouted another.

One could hardly get this much emotion from watching a soap opera. But this was one soap opera that they were watching from the street, over the roar of passing trucks and the rattle of badly maintained motorcycle engines.

When President Aquino started spouting huge numbers and talking about the billions lost to corruption, eyes started glazing over. After all, these were people who would fight each other to earn a seven peso fare. The figures were too breathtaking to comprehend. But still, the rhetoric was clear because they were issues that everyone could relate to: debt, excesses, one-upmanship, and plain and simple corruption.

“Kaya hindi umattend si Gloria, kasi patama kay Gloria lahat iyan eh,” one driver said.

“Hindi ko magawang pakinggan lahat,” one driver said of the President’s speech. “Masyado akong kinilabutan. Umalis ako dahil sobra ang dami, sobra ang ano kay Gloria, sobra ang gigil!”

The President won a lot of points with this crowd, not just for his message, which rang with clarity, but with his medium, which to them resonated with sincerity. After all, he chose to deliver his entire speech in Filipino, the language of the common tao. To them, this was a man who stood in front of the coiffed and perfumed, but chose to address his message to the sweaty and dirty.

One driver could not hide his glee: “Ang mga mangmang kagaya ko, gustong maintindihan iyan. Puro tagalog ang speech nya eh, maliwanag sa akin! Nasa Pilipinas tayo, hindi sa Amerika.”

He seemed like one of them, even though everyone knew he was not. When President Aquino coughed and reached out for a glass of water, several drivers laughed. “Hindi kasi pwede ang yosi, tubig nalang!”

“Mukhang sinsero naman,” one driver said.

“Sana ang mga sinabi nya, magkatutuo para yung mga kabataan, hindi gaya naming matatanda na. Sana may pakinabang pa.”

But one driver said something that seemed to speak for everyone.

“Maganda ang speech niya. Ngayon, sana maging totoo iyan. Huwag lang yung, ika nga, props.”

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) is looking for an executive director of its Secretariat based in Bangkok, Thailand, with the following qualifications:

• Has leadership and management skills in administering the secretariat, programs, finances, fund-raising, networking and advocacyactivities of SEAPA and its network members;
• Has at least five years’ relevant experience and in-depth understanding of media, press freedom, freedom of information and freedom of expression issues across the ASEAN region;
• Has very strong command of spoken and written English, journalism, and communication and media work across platforms.

Applicants should email a one-page letter of introduction and a two-page curriculum vitae to board@seapa.org not later than August 20, 2010.

Only short-listed applicants will be notified via email.

But the figure slides down to a pithy 48, if only those who contributed P10 million and more are counted.

This report by PCIJ fellow Roel R. Landingin, senior correspondent of The Financial Times of London, kickstarts a series of stories about the findings of the PCIJ’s audit of the Statement of Electoral Contributions and Expenditures (SECEs) that the top candidates for president and vice president and the political parties had filed with the Commission on Elections as of the June 25, 2010 deadline.

Big-money operations that they are, elections afford the candidates a chance to court all sorts of donors — big, small, open, and secret. But in Philippine political culture, any discussion of money remains taboo.

For this, apparently a seminal report on donors and candidates, we interviewed fund-raisers and business leaders, researched on the corporate assets of the big donors, and compared the lists of donors submitted to the Comelec with the registers of the most affluent Filipinos, including the top taxpayers’ list of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, as of 2008.

Our interviewees agree on quite a number of things: the lists of donors submitted to the Comelec are grossly understated and conceal the identities of other bigger donors. But whether motives good or bad drive donors to shell out millions of pesos to candidates is a debatable matter.

Some say some donors are true believers in what their candidates stand for.

Still others say that election campaigns are funded in the manner and mold of financing for risky business start-ups.   Money comes mostly from personal funds, family members, and friends rather than a wide network of supporters of the political party, organization, or movement.

In business, these private-equity sources of funding are ideal for ventures with low success rates but high pay-offs that are usually shunned by banks and the capital markets.You might say that yet again, the May 2010 elections rolled out well, thanks to the generosity of a mixed but small circle of true believers and “political venture capitalists.”

OUR ELECTIONS are far from perfect, but recent encounters with friends from Burma remind us we still have a lot to be thankful for. The PCIJ played host to some Burmese visitors a few months ago, and just last week, we also hied off to Bangkok to conduct a workshop for Burmese journalists. Our Burmese friends have been asking us: What are elections like? How do you cover them?

And the most crucial, yet quite poignant, question: What happens when you vote?

The innocence is staggering, but the determination is breathtaking; an entire generation has grown up with no knowledge or experience in elections.

You see, in a month, maybe two, or maybe even never, the people of Burma – renamed ‘Myanmar’ by the ruling junta — will come out and vote for the first time in 20 years. And a day after that, or maybe two days, or maybe never, the people of Burma will have a new set of members for their local and national parliaments, also known as Legislative Bodies, or Pyithu Hluttaws.

Burma’s elections, if they do take place, are more than just an occasional exercise of quasi-democracy; they are also an exercise in speculation and wishful thinking.

Consider these:

-The ruling Junta announced the holding of elections for the Pyithu Hluttaws this year; exactly when this year is a gambler’s guess. It was supposed to be in May; now there is talk of having it in October. Given that the last election on Burmese soil was held in 1990, the Junta appears to treat the election as a very trivial pursuit.

-The 1990 elections weren’t encouraging anyway. The opposition won majority of the seats in Parliament in the 1990 elections, but rather than quibble with election protests, the junta simply nullified the results and threw the opposition in jail. No more arguments, problem solved.

-The other, more recent political exercise was not very encouraging either. In 2008, while Myanmar teetered on the brink of a breakdown because of Typhoon Nargis, the junta decided to hold a referendum for a new Constitution. Unsurprisingly, the new Constitution was ratified with 92.48 percent in favor of the charter. Unsurprisingly, too, voter turnout was a high of 91.8 percent, says the Burmese junta. It is enough to put our Commission on Elections to shame.

-While the political lines are clearly drawn between the junta and the opposition symbolized by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, voters are at a quandary because no one from the opposition is running. The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has announced a boycott of the elections, fearing that the polls would just legitimize the junta’s rule. At the same time the junta has prohibited anyone who has ever been arrested or convicted from running in the elections, effectively banning the entire opposition from the polls.

There are many more reasons why elections in the magical kingdom of Myanmar would be surreal.

To begin with, the Constitution which the people of Myanmar apparently wholeheartedly ratified after staggering out of the mud and waste of Typhoon Nargis, reserved 25 percent of the seats in both houses of the national parliament for the military. As if that were not enough, the Constitution also reserves one-third of the seats in the parliaments of the 14 states and regions of the country for the exclusive use of the military. In other words, while the Burmese people are still confused as to when they will cast their votes, one out of every four parliamentarians has already been appointed by the military. People want to vote, after having been deprived of this right for 20 years. But what do you do when you don’t have anyone to vote for except the junta?

Talk to a Burmese about the referendum for the Constitution, and you are likely to get a blank stare. Despite the apparently magnificent turnout, few people really know what happened. That’s because journalists are not allowed 300 feet from the voting centers. There are no such things as observers, and watchdogs are those little mongrels with four legs that are meant to guard prisons. More than that, no one is allowed to watch or observe while the government’s election commission counts the votes. It is government’s way of saying, trust us, you have no choice. We have already won anyway.

Yet Burmese journalists intend to cover the supposedly upcoming polls, even if their government swats at them like seditious little fleas. Recently, a Burmese journalist was sentenced to 20 years in prison for violating the so-called Electronics Act. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) identified the journalist as Hla Hla Win, who was arrested for interviewing monks for the anniversary of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. The CPJ says there are at least nine Burmese journalists in prison that the group knows of, although there are probably many more.

Burmese are under no illusions that the previous referendum, or the coming elections, are going to be clean. When we told some Burmese of the phenomenon of “flying voters” in the Philippines, where people are paid to go from one voting precinct to another to vote using fake IDs, one Burmese remarked that they had “swimming voters.” Apparently, people who had drowned during Typhoon Nargis had still been able to “cast their votes” in the 2008 referendum for the Constitution. One would wish that politics could breath new life to people in a different way.

This figure implies that Mrs Arroyo, in the twilight of her presidency, was signing on to 162 appointment papers per month, or over six appointments per day.

By all accounts, precipitate haste and political accommodation – of friends, allies and benefactors – drove most of the appointments.

Mrs Arroyo was unusually productive on three days in particular – March 1, 2010 when she signed 41 appointments; March 5, another 52; and March 9, another 24 appointments. March 9 was the eve of the Constitutional ban on signing appointments during an election period.

Authored by PCIJ Training Director Tita C. Valderama, an expert pen on politics and governance, this report consolidates the various lists of Arroyo’s “midnight” appointments to positions in the executive agencies, as well as in the more lucrative boards of government-owned and –controlled corporations. Attached to this report is an indicative list of the “midnight” appointments that Arroyo made from February to May 2010 in the Office of the President and GOCCs.

Ongtangco furnished the PCIJ with her 2009 letter and the 2010 CESB resolution of her appointment.

The full letter follows.

This is with reference to the article entitled “13 appointments made on June 10” published in the Philippine Star dated 12th of July 2010. This article has categorically stated that 13 appointments were made on the eve of an election ban by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

PCIJ boasts of well-researched and well documented stories that aim to contribute to the various issues of our society. However, it was unfortunate that the undersigned was included in this blanket list of “midnight appointments” without the writer (Mr. Lingao) having made a diligent effort to conduct a proper research on each person included in this list.

Please be informed that as early as June 2, 2009, I have submitted a letter addressed to the Office of Chairman Abesamis of CESB of my request for promotion to the higher Career Executive Service Rank (CESO Rank III) after complying with the requirements provided by the same office.  This includes the residency requirement of at least three (3) years in my CES rank since I was promoted to CESO Rank IV on June 6, 2006.

No action was made on this application. It was only after I made a follow-up of my previous application this year that I was informed that my documents were misplaced and that I should resubmit all the documentary requirements since all my clearances have already lapsed.  Last 2nd of June 2010, I have received CESB Resolution Number 873 wherein it indicates the recommendation to the President the promotion in CESO ranks of only two (2) Career Executive Service Officers including the undersigned and Director Belas of DTI Region VIII.

Lastly, I also believe in the role of media in strengthening the democratic institution of our country. Nonetheless, such role must be coupled with a responsibility to the public of informing them of the truth. I believe that I have carried my duties as a public servant with competence and dignity, I therefore would like to request that this error be rectified immediately and my name be cleared from this blanket list of midnight appointments.

Attached herewith are the supporting documents for your perusal.

Sincerely yours,

(original signed)
REMEDIOS E. ONGTANGCO, CESO III
Regional Director

This report authored by Ed Lingao, PCIJ’s Multimedia Director, shows that Arroyo’s appointment of the 13 officials to higher ranks in the career executive service also constitutes a violation of the Constitution.

Article VII, Section 15 states: “Two months immediately before the next Presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”

Arroyo signed the appointments even as dusk had settled on her presidency, and in obvious disregard for the integrity of the career executive service. Her 13 appointees “to rank” include three department undersecretaries, four regional directors, and several directors of various agencies.

Early on, Arroyo had already come under fire for naming an army of appointees – by the most reliable count about 200 at least – to various government positions, including lucrative directorships in government-owned and controlled corporations.

The eight-person Career Executive Service Board had come to Arroyo’s defense, however.  Last June 2, the board passed a resolution “clarifying” that the ban on appointments does not cover the “appointment to rank” that Arroyo made.

The catch though is this: Three members of the board who signed the resolution – Defense Undersecretary Proceso Domingo, Public Works Regional Director Angelito Twano, and Presidential Management Staff Director Susan Solo – are among the 13 Arroyo appointees who benefited from the resolution.

The long and short of it: The three signed the resolution that exempted their own appointments from the election ban. This is a case of real conflict of interest as real could get.