‘Let’s reduce the pork barrel’

Francisco Ashley Acedillo
Independent

What legislation do you want to introduce immediately and why?

I have a five-point legislative agenda. In the first 100 days of my tenure, if ever, I would like to introduce a Cebu City Comprehensive Development Plan. It’s a long-term plan; in fact, it’s a 15-year development plan, covering seven priority areas—economy, education, environment, public health, urban revitalization, participatory governance and public safety.

All of these seven cover substantial areas kon diin daghan kayo ug problema ang siyudad (where the city has many problems)…I do not believe a city ordinance is enough to ensure the continuity of these priority areas and these projects, because when there are as many elections, magbag-o bag-o man god ang priorities (the priorities also change). We need to have fixed priorities over a fixed period of time…

Second, we see a problem in the rapid urbanization of the city, which is why even residential developments have run to the mountain barangays. We need a Metro Cebu Forest Protection Act. This is to declare our forested areas in and around Cebu City as protected land and inalienable land. Di na sila pwede ibaligya (They should not be sold).

There’s a pending bill in Congress and I would like to re-file it, and that’s an Anti-Dynasty Bill. The Constitution provides there should be a law preventing or even dismantling political dynasties. That has not been passed in close to 23 years of existence of the Constitution. We’d like to make that a reality in the 15th Congress.

I also have two more legislative proposals. One is a bill to reconcile a pending Senate Bill of Sen. (Antonio) Trillanes (IV) abolishing the National Disaster Coordinatng Council (NDCC). Why do we propose that? We are proposing to create a separate crisis and management agency. The NDCC, as the name implies, is a coordinating agency. Funds are not released if there is no disaster. There’s an inherent weakness to this because it keeps local governments and national agencies from making contingency plans and undergoing disaster management training…

Last, and I think this will bear a lot of criticism and provoke resistance, is to mandate a strategic planning and performance management system not only for local government units but for all executive departments.

For every administration, there is a five-year Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. There’s a folly to this because there are parts of the development agenda that should be pursued for the long term, not just for five years, not just during the term of one president.

Do you favor or oppose moves to amend the 1987 Constitution? If yes, which provisions should be amended, and if not, why not?

I will favor moves to revise certain provisions but I do not favor a total re-write of the Constitution. Doing so opens a Pandora’s box because it will allow certain vested interests, for example, to extend their term of office. The term limits as they are, I favor them. They should remain but certain provisions, I think, are infirm or weak provisions that need to be reviewed.

I’m referring to the provision on whether the president can seek office after his or her term.

It’s not clear, and this allowed someone like GMA (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) to demean the presidency and run for a lower office. The bar against reelection should cover all positions.

Second, there are provisions pertaining to land ownership. I am not saying there should be no restrictions on foreign ownership of land. Do you know that in Singapore, 80 to 90 percent of the land is owned by foreigners? Ngano di man sila mahadlok? (Why are they not afraid?) Because they know this is the only way to encourage the foreigners to plunk in more of their money. If only to encourage investments into the country, I will favor foreign ownership of land but with certain controls and this can be achieved through legislation again.

There is also a problem in the Commission on Appointments (CA). For all appointments— I’m talking about appointments of military officers from colonel, up to
general—the officers are required to go through the CA. In principle, nindot man unta ni (it’s good)…But the problem is, this has become a tool of politicians with vested interests to block those they do not like.

Those are just some of the provisions that I’d like to be reviewed. All the others, I will have to go over them given some time.

I’m not in favor of a change from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government. Binuang na (That’s foolishness).

If elected, how will you apportion your pork barrel?

We know that the pork barrel amounts to P70 million annually. That’s 210 million in one term. I favor a gradual reduction of the pork barrel: 10 percent each year for the
next three years. Why do I say that? This is in tandem with the bill that I want to propose for a strategic planning and performance management system, nga diri klarohon gyud nato kon unsa’y buhatonon sa ahensiya (which will clearly spell out what each agency is supposed to do). In doing so, we mitigate the need for congressmen to always have funds nga pwedeng ibulsa (that can be pocketed). There are very few control mechanisms on the legislative pork barrel…I would like to tie up the expenditure of the pork barrel to the Cebu City Comprehensive Development Plan.

We will allocate also a budget for the Cebu City Medical Center, but that’s under the comprehensive development plan.

How prepared are you for the challenges in Congress? What traits or habits will help you?

Na-priso kog lima katuig and gawas sa pagdeprive nato ani sa atong freedom, (I was imprisoned for five years, and while I was deprived of my freedom) this also allowed me the opportunity to go into a serious study of what ails the nation and what ails the city. And I did this not only through informal means but I also did this through formal means. I studied development communication; this is using the tools of communication to bring grassroots development. Being a soldier has exposed me to the different areas diri sa ating nasud (in our country). I was also involved in an NGO (non-government organization) that taught governance reform to local government units (LGUs).
I was program director of 25 LGUs; we’re talking about 22 cities, two provinces and one municipality. I handled their strategic planning and performance management system training. This is based on a Harvard balanced scorecard system, which has been around for almost two decades now. This is a very good system which has been adopted by the private sector.

And this is what I plan to introduce, not only in the city. If Cebu City pioneers this Comprehensive Development Plan and legislates that plan, it will be unprecedented. Wouldn’t that be a feather in the cap of the city if that is actually done?

Who are your most trusted advisers?

Some of them I cannot name but of course I’ve had lot of advice on politics from Senator Trillanes. On several occasions that I was able to visit him and sit down with him in Camp Crame, I get a lot of advice from him. I also get some advice from former politicians. Of course my family; my father is not a politician, he is also a retired military officer, but he also has his ideas on local government. But most of the time, I rely on my instincts and my gut feel in navigating the murky world of politics.

What do you think of the proposed creation of a third congressional district for Cebu City?

On the surface, there’s nothing wrong. The law provides that a legislative district is created out of a base population of 250,000. The north district far exceeds that population requirement. Now, ang syudad sa Sugbu nagkadako (Cebu City is getting bigger). If it becomes apparent that lawmakers cannot serve a large district well, then by all means (let’s create a third district).

But if this is another way of perpetuating certain families in the city in power, then it would be similar to the Sugbuak (the filing in 2005 of three bills seeking to create three new provinces in Cebu). I see a lot of similarities, but on the surface, again, if it meets the legal requirement for the base population of 250,000, then why not?