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You can judge the preoccupation of the
President—any president—by the frequency of the word she uses in
everyday language and in her memos to the staff. I was told
recently—and this was confirmed by a recent memo she sent to all
the Cabinet—that her favorite word these days has something to do
with the future. That word is legacy.
Building a legacy. Paving the way
for legacy. These are the phrases she uses in her memo. For
instance, in a recent order for the mass resignation of all GOCCs,
the word was mentioned several times. Which can only mean that she
wants the next three years to be devoted to creating that legacy.
In comparison, there was a time
when the language she used was related to fulfilling “SONA
promises.” This means that for the next few months after
delivering her routine report to Congress, she would compel her
Cabinet to come up with how they can fulfill that legislative
promise. One source told that the SONA promises were listed on a
cartolina in her office.
Between now and 2010 would be
time for legacy building. A Cabinet member told me that President
GMA would like to have a balanced budget, a propelled privatization
and an infrastructure program that would entice more investments.
Tall order, but that is the nature of legacies. They are hard to
fulfill, but they create history.
Take note that the “three
points of attention” of GMA does not include political reforms.
Well, according to Lakas spokesman Heherson Alvarez, the President
won’t risk losing her economic reforms just because some people
want change before 2010. This may be the reason why Speaker Jose de
Venecia had to stop his unpopular agitation for renewed Charter
change.
There is, of course, a new
element in this coming three years. And this is the overwhelming
presence of a hostile Senate. Knowing that this new Senate is now
dominated by Erap and composed of many presidentiables, President
GMA would have a problem of carrying out an agenda that requires
unity on the purposes of the national budget.
But knowing a GMA that is
stubborn and focused on her goals, she would treat the Senate as
just one of the obstacles. She has two choices: She can either
ignore the Senate, or negotiate for power-sharing. But definitely,
there is no way she can be stopped on her three main goals.
Buñag versus Teves?
Rumors have it that Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves wants to fire Mr. Jose Mario Buñag as
chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). If true, that would
be ignoring the obvious: The BIR achieved an unprecedented growth
rate of 20 percent last year.
BIR collected as taxes P652
billion in 2006, which was P114 billion in excess of its 2005
collection. That figure was not something to scoff at, as he faced a
collection deficit posted by his predecessor in the first half of
the year.
The BIR’s performance in 2006
was its best in 10 years as it even eclipsed by P30 billion what
should have been the real collection target of the bureau for 2006.
But despite the glowing numbers,
no less than Finance Secretary Margarito Teves had to put a damper
on the BIR’s accomplishments in 2006 by refusing to reconsider the
unrealistic tax collection goal of P675.4 billion it set for the BIR.
Under Teves, the finance
department ignored a BIR protest that P27 billion should be removed
from its tax goals since that particular item was the job of the
Bureau of Customs. The BIR added that its tax goal for 2006 was also
bloated by P26 billion considering the low interest and inflation
rate that prevailed during the year.
BRIEF NOTES. It has not been
officially announced, but the Philippine Chronicle, one of the
newest Manila-based broadsheets, closed down on Saturday, June 16. A
general interest paper with a slant toward more business stories, it
is a joint venture of the Singson family of Ilocos Sur and Toti Cariño
of Pasig City…
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