News Roundup 01 September 2022
Sep 01, 2022 • 4 min Read
Former VP Leni Robredo gets Harvard Kennedy School invite as Hauser Leader | INQUIRER.NET – The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at the Harvard Kennedy School has selected former Vice President Leni Robredo to become a Hauser Leader, where she will have a series of engagements with students and other members of the Harvard community. Robredo made the announcement on Thursday through a Facebook post, expressing her gratitude for the invitation. “A huge honor to be invited to Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership as one of its Hauser Leaders for the Fall 2022 semester,” said Robredo. According to the CPL’s website, Robredo will be joined by leaders like former U.S. representative Jane Harman and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. “At a time when many challenges stem from leadership shortcomings, these Hauser Leaders bring to campus living examples of principled and effective public leadership,” said CPL co-director Deval Patrick in a statement. During their time there, Robredo and other Hauser leaders will lead public events, give lectures and engage with students directly. “I’m both thrilled and humbled [to] be given this space to share my advocacies and experiences, alongside this roster of distinguished leaders from various fields and sectors,” said Robredo. Last Saturday, Robredo was also conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics by the Ateneo de Manila University.
‘Unprogrammed’ appropriations abused, hidden from Congress, public scrutiny – solon | INQUIRER.NET – Malacañang had been abusing the “unprogrammed” appropriations (UA) category in the national budget with items being placed there to escape scrutiny from Congress and the public, House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Partylist Representative France Castro said Thursday. The teacher solon added that this had been the practice for years. Castro gave as an example the ‘SIPSP’ or “support for infrastructure projects and social programs” requests for P149.7 billion for 2023, which was introduced into the budget books during the time of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Insiders, however, claim that SIPSP programs will be funded through clinched loans after the General Appropriations Act (GAA) is passed, so they will not be scrutinized by Congress, Castro said. “SIPSP is fattened by P136.5 B, or more than 1,000%, from the current year’s P13.19 B. We are interested why the Marcos administration proposed such an increase and considering that it also proposed huge cuts and measly increases in vital items for education, health, and other basic social services,” said the solon. The Deputy Minority leader also said the “support for foreign assisted projects” which has a proposed budget of P380.6 billion, is another “unclear and undefined” portion of the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP) under the unprogrammed appropriations. “We should also examine where the funds for this come from or does it just follow the same modus for the SIPSP,” the Deputy Minority leader added. Additionally, there were statements, particularly from House Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto, pointing out that the main goal in placing items under the UA is to hide them from Congress’ examination and the funds for them are already prepared. “As of now ang call ay mas maging transparent ang Malacañang o ang Department of Budget and Management (DBM) sa budget process” Castro said in a separate Viber statement sent to Inquirer.net. (As of now, the call is to Malacañang and DBM to be more transparent in the budget process) Castro also emphasized that they should submit all the details concerning the unprogrammed funds from 2016 to the present, together with the fund sourcing and allocations.
Hontiveros questions continued absence of Rodriguez in Senate sugar mess probe | PHILSTAR.COM – Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Thursday that the continued absence of Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez from the Senate Blue Ribbon panel’s investigation into the attempt to bring in sugar into the country raises more questions and doubts about his role in the botched importation plan. “As long as ES does not face us, doubts continue to arise. Dodging does not answer any questions,” Hontiveros said in Filipino in a statement. After the Senate’s first hearing on the sugar mess, Hontiveros moved to invite Rodrigurez back as she still wanted to ask him more questions, including on whether he knew about the draft of Sugar Order No. 4 or the controversial order to import 300,000 metric tons of sugar into the country ultimately declared illegal by Malacañang for supposedly not being approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who also heads the agriculture department. But Rodriguez no longer appeared during the second hearing, with Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles saying that a Cabinet meeting was scheduled at the same time as the Senate probe. “Why would ES Rodriguez be an exemption? It hasn’t even been 100 days, there’s already an excuse letter? He just needs to attend and yet he can’t do it. Is he afraid of recitation?” Hontiveros said. “The Executive Secretary should present himself before the Blue Ribbon,” she added. “I hope we get a chance to carry out our mandate because our agriculture industry and the Filipino people are awaiting an explanation.” Hontiveros said she hopes that the Blue Ribbon panel no longer has to resort to issuing a subpoena just for Rodriguez to show up.
