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Coffee-shop wiseacres were quick to dispute critics
of President Arroyo’s decision to name former Sen. Ralph Recto as
secretary general of the National Economic Development Authority (Neda).
“Who would you rather have her name?” one kapihan habitué asked
with tongue firmly embedded in cheek. “Singson? Aquino-Oreta?
Kiram? Pichay? Magsaysay? Montano?”
The roll call of the
spectacularly unsuccessful Team Unity slate in last year’s
senatorial elections merely acknowledged a time-honored tradition in
this country. Losing candidates who belong to the ruling coalition
can expect to be named to some state sinecure as soon as the
one-year ban on their appointment lapses.
Thus, the installation of Michael
Defensor as Task Force NAIA 3 boss, Vicente Sotto III as Dangerous
Drugs Board chairman and Recto as Neda head, with the Cabinet title
of Socio-Economic Planning Secretary, should surprise only the
politically uninitiated. The other failed Team Unity bets can expect
to get their appointment papers from the Palace soon enough.
Recto may not have the academic
credentials of an economist, but neither did at least one of his
predecessors. Romulo Neri majored in marketing and finance—and
became an authority of sorts in economics only after his eight-year
stint as chief of the Congressional Planning and Budget, thanks to
his one-time political patron, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
Recto is not an economist
although he has a business administration degree from De La Salle
University, Master’s degrees in Public Administration from the
University of the Philippines in Diliman and Strategic Business
Economics from the University of Asia and the Pacific. He also
finished a Leadership Scholarship Course at the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University in Boston.
In his three terms as congressman
representing the Fourth District of Batangas and his Senate stint
from 2001 to 2007, Recto focused mainly on economic issues. He
championed the expanded-value added tax law. It probably cost him
his re-election bid last year although many economists and
businessmen now admit—even if not always openly—that E-VAT has
proved to be a life raft for the nation during these economically
turbulent times.
As Neda chief, Recto now has
President Arroyo’s ear in making economic decisions for the
country, as well as approving big-ticket government projects worth
P500 million and above—such as the $329-million national broadband
network (NBN) project.
The dictionary defines
“sinecure” as a job or position that provides a regular income,
but requires little or no work. In the case of the workaholic Recto,
he has the unique opportunity to define his mission and set his
tasks.
In this regard, a critique of
Neda under Neri published in the BusinessMirror last year offers
valuable insight—especially for Recto.
The critique said: “Neri marginalized
the fine organization he led, downplayed its importance and,
therefore, rendered it inutile as an institution of
governance—making it, whether he admits this or not, a stamp pad
for projects from vested interests.”
In order to prevent the
recurrence of questionable contracts such as the National Broadband
Network and Cyber Education Program, “and improve governance in
this country, we need to reform, strengthen and revamp Neda. We
could start by having a . . . Neda director general with the right
qualification and a strong moral certitude. We need someone
competent and willing to reassert Neda’s role in the scrutiny and
approval of projects.”
As a political appointee, the
critique said, “Neri may have simply been pressured into
submission by Malacañang to approve those onerous deals. But such
political pressures could have had no impact had all Neda procedures
been open and transparent to the media and the general public. So
part of the reforms should be making all Neda procedures
transparent. Legislators could do this by enacting the Freedom of
Information Act similar to those being implemented in the United
States and other democratic societies. With a setup like this, a
Neda chief can always tell his superiors, if he is being pressured
to go against his better judgment, that such a transaction might not
withstand public scrutiny.”
More immediately, the critique
proposed, “strengthening Neda would mean exempting it from the
salary standardization law so it can afford to pay top money to
talented graduates from the best schools. Sadly, technical expertise
has inevitably suffered as Neda steadily lost some of its best
employees the past two decades.”
The critique added: “Who knows?
Projects that proved disadvantageous to the public (example: the MRT,
privatization of water distribution to Maynilad, the Macapagal
highway, NBN, CEP and energy projects peddled by independent power
producers, among others) could have been blocked if Neda, backed by
solid technical expertise to properly screen projects, were more
assertive. And when those projects failed miserably, the government
always ended up bailing out the private proponents (Maynilad Water
and MRT), meaning that the Department of Finance would have to shell
out money that came from people’s taxes.”
In conclusion, the critique
pointed out: “In sum, it’s not just graft that destroys
governance. Incompetence arising from politics-based appointments,
or from an inability to keep people because of low budgets, could be
just as ruinous.”
That is the sort of advice that
Recto, as Neda chief, would be wise to heed. As a worthy descendant
of the illustrious Don Claro, Ralph should do no less.
dansoy26@yahoo.com
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