Kapihan de Zamboanga
By Hader Glang
The perks of our House representatives
I think many people in Zamboanga City still are not aware about the enviable perks enjoyed by our House of representatives or congressmen. So let me just spread the information I found that is worth reading for the people to know and understand what these politicians are doing with the taxpayers money.
You know, during the 14th Congress orientation of the first-term legislators on the budgeting process, a former representative who once chaired the powerful House appropriations committee remarked, “How wonderful it is to be a congressman: You have flexible time. You may or may not go to work, yet still get your salary.”
Then, he warned them not to make the mistake of paying for meals and drinks at the Batasan Pambansa’s South Lounge as it is their privilege to be served free food. The former solon may have meant everything as a joke, only that speaking of the privileges that legislators enjoy in such manner was hardly amusing, especially given a quorum-challenged legislature that has been passing fewer and fewer laws each year despite the ever increasing budgetary allocation to lawmaking.
Based on the information I gathered, when the 13th Congress formally closed last June 30, 2007 it managed to pass only 148 laws, setting a new record-low in the history of the Philippine legislature. That is no laughing matter. Yet, House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. announced even more entitlements for members of the Lower House, in particular, an annual P1-million foreign travel allotment, and allocations for additional staff and maintenance of their respective district offices as well as a new building to house new offices for the neophyte congressmen.
What the public commonly knows is that his or her district representative gets a monthly salary of P35, 000, plus, of course, yearly pork-barrel allocations amounting to P70 million — P20 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and P50 million as congressional allocation for public works projects. What is seldom known are the amounts corresponding to their other entitlements, apart from salary and pork barrel.
As gleaned from the Commission on Audit’s annual published itemized lists, include expenses for district staff allocation, contractual consultants, research, consultative local travel, communication, and supplies. There are also allocations for a public affairs fund, central office staff, equipment/furniture and fixtures, and other maintenance and operating expenses (MOE).
Data from the PCIJ book, The Rulemakers, shows that the annual upkeep of each congressman had almost doubled from P2.83 million in 1994 to P5.16 million in 2002. Latest data culled from the published expenses of the 13th House point to a continuing trend, with the annual upkeep pegged at P5.7 million each congressman in 2005, or P480,880.36 a month — the highest to date.
While there has not been any increase in their basic salary since 1999, and most of the other entitlements have remained at their 2001 levels, each House member’s district staff allocation has been increased to P650,000 annually. MOE also ballooned to P600,000 in 2005 from the previous year’s P411,000. Meanwhile, expenses on consultative local travel and central office staff were at their highest in the same year at over P788,000 and close to P2 million, respectively, per congressman.
Foreign travel expenses in 2005 also was doubled compared to the 2004 amount at an average of P221,000 each House member. The total bill paid for by the government for the overseas trips of 170 congressmen was P59,413,412.
What’s more, as reported in The Rulemakers: “They are not expected to submit a payroll of their district staff or report their function, salaries and withholding taxes. No one starts asking if they do not produce a report on the research their offices should supposedly undertake. There is no demand for them to produce the list of consultants they have hired, as well as the contracts they draw up for those whose services they need. As far as the current (lack of) rules go, how the legislators spend their public affairs fund is their business and business alone.”
The generous perks do not end there. The House Speaker is himself a source of funds with a vast discretionary largesse at his disposal. From this are mostly drawn the representatives’ monthly allowances (which can range from P50,000 to P100,000), Christmas bonuses (P100,000 to 200,000), as well as the “payoffs” for votes during speakership contests and “appearance fees” (P50,000 as minimum) for attending plenary sessions to vote on crucial national bills.
The question now: “Isn’t it high time that the public demanded greater financial accountability from their representatives?” Tell this to other people you know. So the public should be informed of what our congressmen are doing to our lives!
I understand that our two House representatives (I’m referring to 1st District Congresswoman Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco and 2nd District Congressman Erbie Fabian) are pushing for the creation of a third legislative district. But what for the milking cow of the few? It is not a realistic move because it does not benefit the whole people of Zamboanga City, it only expands the power and influence of the “dynasts.”
Why should our two representatives not consider the proposal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) ZambaSulTa Chapter for the creation of a new province? This has been the issue that the people want them to act on and it is more viable than pushing for a third legislative district, where we are not even sure if the city’s population is qualified for. As what our lady representative said earlier “let’s wait and see” because the National Statistic Office (NSO) has not released yet the result of the 2007 census.
The IBP proposes the creation of a province by converting some of the 98 barangays outside the radius of 13 kilometers in the east coast and 7 kilometers in the west into municipalities with Zamboanga City remaining as charter city. I don’t believe that the IBP’s move will stall the city’s development. It will even transform the city into a highly urbanized one and speed up its development and delivery of essential services and construction of facilities.
By Hader Glang
The perks of our House representatives
I think many people in Zamboanga City still are not aware about the enviable perks enjoyed by our House of representatives or congressmen. So let me just spread the information I found that is worth reading for the people to know and understand what these politicians are doing with the taxpayers money.
You know, during the 14th Congress orientation of the first-term legislators on the budgeting process, a former representative who once chaired the powerful House appropriations committee remarked, “How wonderful it is to be a congressman: You have flexible time. You may or may not go to work, yet still get your salary.”
Then, he warned them not to make the mistake of paying for meals and drinks at the Batasan Pambansa’s South Lounge as it is their privilege to be served free food. The former solon may have meant everything as a joke, only that speaking of the privileges that legislators enjoy in such manner was hardly amusing, especially given a quorum-challenged legislature that has been passing fewer and fewer laws each year despite the ever increasing budgetary allocation to lawmaking.
Based on the information I gathered, when the 13th Congress formally closed last June 30, 2007 it managed to pass only 148 laws, setting a new record-low in the history of the Philippine legislature. That is no laughing matter. Yet, House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. announced even more entitlements for members of the Lower House, in particular, an annual P1-million foreign travel allotment, and allocations for additional staff and maintenance of their respective district offices as well as a new building to house new offices for the neophyte congressmen.
What the public commonly knows is that his or her district representative gets a monthly salary of P35, 000, plus, of course, yearly pork-barrel allocations amounting to P70 million — P20 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and P50 million as congressional allocation for public works projects. What is seldom known are the amounts corresponding to their other entitlements, apart from salary and pork barrel.
As gleaned from the Commission on Audit’s annual published itemized lists, include expenses for district staff allocation, contractual consultants, research, consultative local travel, communication, and supplies. There are also allocations for a public affairs fund, central office staff, equipment/furniture and fixtures, and other maintenance and operating expenses (MOE).
Data from the PCIJ book, The Rulemakers, shows that the annual upkeep of each congressman had almost doubled from P2.83 million in 1994 to P5.16 million in 2002. Latest data culled from the published expenses of the 13th House point to a continuing trend, with the annual upkeep pegged at P5.7 million each congressman in 2005, or P480,880.36 a month — the highest to date.
While there has not been any increase in their basic salary since 1999, and most of the other entitlements have remained at their 2001 levels, each House member’s district staff allocation has been increased to P650,000 annually. MOE also ballooned to P600,000 in 2005 from the previous year’s P411,000. Meanwhile, expenses on consultative local travel and central office staff were at their highest in the same year at over P788,000 and close to P2 million, respectively, per congressman.
Foreign travel expenses in 2005 also was doubled compared to the 2004 amount at an average of P221,000 each House member. The total bill paid for by the government for the overseas trips of 170 congressmen was P59,413,412.
What’s more, as reported in The Rulemakers: “They are not expected to submit a payroll of their district staff or report their function, salaries and withholding taxes. No one starts asking if they do not produce a report on the research their offices should supposedly undertake. There is no demand for them to produce the list of consultants they have hired, as well as the contracts they draw up for those whose services they need. As far as the current (lack of) rules go, how the legislators spend their public affairs fund is their business and business alone.”
The generous perks do not end there. The House Speaker is himself a source of funds with a vast discretionary largesse at his disposal. From this are mostly drawn the representatives’ monthly allowances (which can range from P50,000 to P100,000), Christmas bonuses (P100,000 to 200,000), as well as the “payoffs” for votes during speakership contests and “appearance fees” (P50,000 as minimum) for attending plenary sessions to vote on crucial national bills.
The question now: “Isn’t it high time that the public demanded greater financial accountability from their representatives?” Tell this to other people you know. So the public should be informed of what our congressmen are doing to our lives!
I understand that our two House representatives (I’m referring to 1st District Congresswoman Maria Isabelle “Beng” Climaco and 2nd District Congressman Erbie Fabian) are pushing for the creation of a third legislative district. But what for the milking cow of the few? It is not a realistic move because it does not benefit the whole people of Zamboanga City, it only expands the power and influence of the “dynasts.”
Why should our two representatives not consider the proposal of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) ZambaSulTa Chapter for the creation of a new province? This has been the issue that the people want them to act on and it is more viable than pushing for a third legislative district, where we are not even sure if the city’s population is qualified for. As what our lady representative said earlier “let’s wait and see” because the National Statistic Office (NSO) has not released yet the result of the 2007 census.
The IBP proposes the creation of a province by converting some of the 98 barangays outside the radius of 13 kilometers in the east coast and 7 kilometers in the west into municipalities with Zamboanga City remaining as charter city. I don’t believe that the IBP’s move will stall the city’s development. It will even transform the city into a highly urbanized one and speed up its development and delivery of essential services and construction of facilities.
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