Antonio C. Abaya - Big Ad Spenders

My favorite senator, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, is to be congratulated for waging what looks like total war against big ad spenders among presumed and self-proclaimed candidates for national offices in the coming 2010 elections. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 25, 2009)

In a privilege speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Miriam accused ten government officials of spending a total of P218 million in public funds since last year for "infomercials" that they starred in and which Sen. Miriam said - and most people would agree â€“ are nothing but premature campaigning for the 2010 elections.

Based on a report submitted to her by the Commission on Audit (COA), the top ten big spenders on "infomercials" in government were identified by her as follows:

Augusto Syjuco Jr., chair of the Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA), presumed candidate for the Senate, has spent P28.3 million in public funds for his "infomercials."

Jejomar Binay, mayor of Makati City and self-proclaimed candidate for the presidency (P23.4 million).

Noli de Castro, vice-president and chair of HUDCC and presumed candidate for the presidency or the vice-presidency (P18.1 million).

Ephraim Genuino, chair of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) and presumed candidate for the Senate (P14,1 million).

Health Secretary Francisco Duque and presumed candidate for the Senate (P13.2 million).

Bayani Fernando, chair of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and self-proclaimed candidate for the presidency (P7.4 million).

Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz, presumed candidate for the Senate (P5.7 million).

Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane, presumed candidate for the Senate, P3.8 million).

Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, presumed candidate for the Senate, (P2.4 million).

Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno, self-proclaimed candidate for the vice-presidency, (P900,000).

Miriam also mentioned Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, self-proclaimed candidate for the presidency, who has come out with "infomercials" allegedly "paid for by friends" but which she stressed constituted indirect bribery.

The irrepressible Miriam, whom I supported in her bid for the presidency in 1992, called these government officials "rhinoceroses" for their "greed for and abuse of power."

The rhinoceros, she said, is a powerful, herbivorous, thick-skinned perissodactyl mammal with two horns" and has become a "template for Cabinet members and other executive officials who use public funds, or gifts from so-called friends to campaign for next year's elections.

"They are all thick-skinned and should be shot on sight," Santiago said. Huwag naman, Miriam. The rhinoceros is an endangered specie, especially since the Chinese consider powdered rhinoceros horn an aphrodisiac. Ikulong nalang, Miriam.

Miriam had previously warned that Cabinet officials with infomercials should stop showing them by the end of the August, or else she would file charges against them for premature campaigning.

What makes Miriam's current advocacy praise-worthy is the fact that most of those ten violators are government officials and will presumably be candidates of the Lakas-Kampi CMD coalition, the Palaka Coalition, loyal to President Arroyo, with whom Miriam has allied herself. Her going against the grain of her own coalition therefore makes her campaign credible and deserving of support from the electorate.

The electorate can support Miriam by blacklisting these violators. If they fail to comply with Miriam's end-of-August deadline, then voters should publicly announce that they will not vote for Syjuco, Binay, de Castro, Genuino, Duque, Fernando, Lapuz, Ebdane, Pangandaman, Puno and Teodoro.

It is as simple as that. Desist, or we will resist!

And it is not just the erring government officials who should be the objects of Miriam's thunderbolts. Opposition politicians who likewise insist on spending astronomical amounts of money in their pursuit of national offices, should get a similar message, beginning with Manny Villar who is said to have already spent P600 million in "infomercials" even though the campaign period has not even officially begun.:

Insist, and we will resist!

Premature campaign spending and astronomical campaign spending constitute the biggest single generator of government corruption in this country.

It is inconceivable that any politician who spends tens or hundreds of millions of pesos to run for an elective position is motivated purely by an altruistic desire to give away his or her money.

It is more realistic to assume that such a big ad spender intends to recoup that expenditure many times over once that office is won, either by direct rent-seeking, or by giving his or her financial backers favored treatment in the farming out of fat government contracts.

Either way, corruption is the inevitable by-product of big ad spending. The bigger the ad expenditure, the bigger the corruption.

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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

TONY ABAYA on YouTube

7 Interview with Harry Tambuatco, Aug. 12, 2009. On Revolution Yesterday and Today. Cory Aquino was elevated to the presidency by a revolution, not by victory in the snap elections; 1987 Constitution was drafted by a non-elected body; is there a knight in shining armor out there?; second round vote or run-off elections; plans for revolutionary governments by Erap, Honasan, Abat, Norberto Gonzales, Gen. Yano and Reynato Puno; Le Cirque menu was not a bill; what has Noynoy Aquino accomplished to merit the presidency?; Manny Villar and C-5; bloodless revolution in Eastern Europe in 1989.

part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7hl65nCIuE
part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_YexIbujR4
part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuS_x51c_ow

To access earlier (no. 1 to 6) episodes of Tony Abaya on YouTube, please go www.tapatt.net.