News Roundup 13 September 2023
Sep 13, 2023 • 5 min Read
Probe sought on Marcos admin’s ‘contradictory’ rice policies | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Perceived flip-flops in the Marcos administration’s economic strategy to curb soaring rice prices have prompted Sen. Risa Hontiveros to file a Senate resolution seeking a probe into the government’s policies on rice regulation.
In filing Senate Resolution 794, Hontiveros described the actions and proposals of the Marcos administration — particularly the setting of a price ceiling and removal of tariffs on rice — as “uncoordinated” and “contradicting.”
“There is an evident lack of leadership, coordination and cohesion in the country’s policies on rice regulation, to the grave risk and detriment of the people,” the Senate resolution read.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on September 1 ordered the imposition of a price ceiling on rice ranging from P41 per kilogram (regular milled) to P45 per kilogram (well-milled).
The price ceiling was the government’s answer to an increase in the price of locally produced and imported rice, according to Executive Order 29, with prices going up by 4% to 14% in August.
Following the implementation of EO 39, the Department of Finance made a proposal to temporarily reduce rice tariff rates to zero percent with the hopes of bringing in a huge volume of rice imports amid fears of a shortage of the food staple.
Price caps, tariffs
Marcos did not consult with his economic managers before issuing EO 39 or the rice price ceiling, Hontiveros pointed out in her Senate resolution.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who has defended the price cap despite economists’ criticisms that it would result in rice retailers’ loss, recently bared that he was “shocked” when the measure was announced on August 31.
Hontiveros also cited a former undersecretary of the agriculture department — which Marcos heads concurrently — who said that the price cap would lead to a shortage of the household staple.
This would make rice “even less rice even less accessible and risking critical supply gaps which hurt the poorest of Filipinos most,” Hontiveros added.
The opposition senator also criticized the DOF’s proposal to temporarily drop tariff rates to court more rice imports, saying that this goes against the administration’s past pronouncements bolstering the need for “government-to-government” importation of rice.
Full Story at: Probe sought on Marcos admin’s ‘contradictory’ rice policies | Philstar.com
DICT seeking P300M confidential funds to go after scammers | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology is the latest government agency to justify its allocation of confidential funds in the proposed 2024 budget, saying that the P300 million lump sum would be used to go after scammers.
DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy in a press briefing Wednesday said that the confidential funds are “essential” to successfully identify and investigate scammers who use a number of tactics to avoid detection.
“Our hands are tied if we don’t have the proper tools to go after them. And many of these tools and many of these methodologies require confidential funds to do it,” Uy said in Filipino.
Uy added that the individuals or groups running the scams are “very well-funded, very well-organized and very highly technical.”
The DICT has one of the lowest budget utilization rates among agencies, so far being able to spend only 5.6% of its budget in 2023, according to the Department of Budget and Management.
Full Story at: DICT seeking P300M confidential funds to go after scammers | Philstar.com
Hiding COA memos fuels corruption, say groups | INQUIRER.NET – Activist groups and a think tank questioned on Tuesday why the country’s “top graft buster” was advocating for “greater opaqueness rather than transparency” after Ombudsman Samuel Martires urged Congress to remove provisions in the annual national budget that require the publication of Commission on Audit (COA) reports on government agencies.
In separate statements, Bayan Muna chair Neri Colmenares, Bayan secretary general Mong Palatino and Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay also expressed concern over Martires’ claim that the submission of receipts for the usage of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) was unnecessary despite a 2015 joint circular from the COA and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) regarding their release, use and audit.
“It reflects how arrogance and abuse of power are being normalized in the top layers of the bureaucracy,” Palatino said. “It’s just disappointing and infuriating [especially since] the Ombudsman is supposed to keep in check erring officials and not enable abuse.”
For Colmenares, it was surprising that Martires, a former Supreme Court associate justice, was not aware of the joint circular and had even reasoned out that submitting receipts would defeat the purpose of confidential funds.
The joint COA-DBM circular requires government agencies to submit to state auditors and other government offices concerned quarterly reports, including detailed accounting, on how they spent their confidential and/or intelligence funds and to post these reports on their official websites.
Full Story at: Hiding COA memos fuels corruption, say groups | Inquirer News
Stop publishing annual audit reports? Castro tells Martires that’s even worse | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro has claimed that Ombudsman Samuel Martires’ clarification — that he is actually seeking for the non-publication of annual audit reports (AARs) — appears to be worse than his original statement, saying media workers and anti-corruption watchdogs rely on this.
Castro said on Wednesday that she was shocked by Martires’ clarification — that he is referring to the Commission on Audit (COA) AARs and not the audit observation memorandum (AOM) itself — as scrutiny of AARs has led to huge discoveries of alleged corruption.
“This is even worse than his initial statement when he said that the COA should not publish its Audit Observation Memorandum (AOM). The AARs are normally used by media, non-government organizations, and other corruption watchdogs to see if indeed government agencies and officials are using taxpayer’s money judiciously and are not enriching themselves,” Castro said.
“In fact many anomalies in government were exposed due to the COA AARs like that of the Pharmally scam, the DepEd laptop overpricing, and even the P125 million unauthorized OVP confidential fund,” she added.
Full Story at: Stop publishing annual audit reports? Castro tells Martires that’s even worse | Inquirer News
