Arangkada for August 31, 2005

         NGANONG TAK-OM?

        Ang team leader sa Commission on Audit (COA) sa Cebu State College of Science and Technology (CSCST), Sonia L. Dejacto, ug ang iyang mga sakop gipasanginlang nagpabaya sa ilang trabaho.  Maong napakyas ang COA pagbaraw sa gikuwestiyon nga pagdawat sa mga opisyal ug mga kawani sa CSCST og dagkong honorarium gikan sa mga klase nga giingong wa nila serbisyohi.
        Nagduda pa gani ang presidente sa System Association of Faculty and Employees (SAFE) Cebu City Campus Chapter, si Dr. Godofredo A. Loremia, nga puwerteng tak-oma ang COA auditors tungod sa pabor nga ilang nadawat gikan sa kadagkoan sa CSCST pinaagi sa paghatag nila og teaching loads ug mga posisyon para sa ilang mga anak ug mga paryente.
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        Si Dejacto niangkon nga nanawat sila og part time teaching loads gikan sa kadagkoan sa CSCST pero gihimo ni nila human na sa oras nga tingtrabaho.  Pero niinsistir siya nga legal ang ilang pagtudlo sa eskuylahan aron makakuha og dugang kita para sa nagtubo nga mga panginahanglan sa ilang mga pamilya.
        Niangkon sab si Dejacto nga ang ilang mga anak ug mga paryente gipanghatagan og mga posisyon sa CSCST.  Giklaro hinuon niya nga wa sila manghangyo nga hatagan og trabaho ang ilang mga kadugo.  Gawas pa, nidugang siya, propesyonal ang ilang mga paryente ug qualified sa ilang mga puwesto.  Gipasabot niya nga daghan pang ubang kawani sa CSCST nga mga anak sa mga ginikanan nga unang nagtrabaho sa eskuylahan.
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        Samtang gitugotan ang COA auditors pag-praktis sa ilang propesyon human sa office hours, salikwaot tan-awon nga silang Dejacto ug kaubanan nagdawat og suholan ug mga benepisyo gikan sa CSCST nga ilang gibantayan.  May sukaranan ang pagduda ni Dr. Loremia:  Peligrong magpangikog na silang Dejacto bugti sa mga pabor nga ilang nadawat.
        Si Atty. Roy Ursal, ang regional director sa legal ug adjudication office sa COA 7, nisaad pagsusi sa bakikaw nga sitwasyon nilang Dejacto ug kaubanan.  Niangkon si Ursal nga ngil-ad tinuong tan-awon nga nagdawat og suholan ug mga benepisyo ang mga auditors gikan sa ahensiya nga ilang gi-audit.
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        Si Loremia nangutana sa Department of Budget and Management legal bang pagamit sa Special Trust Fund pagbayad sa honoraria para sa mosunod nga mga opisyal ug mga kawani nga maoy labing dagkog nadawat isip lecturer ug teaching assistant sa mga klase nga gibuak-buak og 28 ka higayon:
·        Dr. Jose Sal Tan:  P125,000;
·        Dr. Victor Villaganas:  P107,000;
·        Dr. Rodolfo Burgos:  P100,101;
·        Panfilo Ciriaco:  P60,040;
·        Cecilia De Los Reyes:  P52,500;
·        Corazon Soco:  P45,100;
·        Hercules Allera:  P44,600;
·        Cynthia Sy:  P39,420;
·        Cecilio Baga:  P38,750; ug
·        Teresita Rojas:  P26,000.  [30]  leo_lastimosa@abs-cbn.com

Inquirer Editorial

Editorial : Holiday politics

WHAT'S going on here? Last Friday, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said it was "definite": Monday would be a regular working day. Malacañang would not declare the day a special holiday, he said, because Republic Act 3827 specifies that National Heroes Day be observed on the last Sunday of August. He went on to explain that the situation was different from that of other holidays whose dates are fixed (such as June 12 for Independence Day). When such a holiday happens to fall on a Sunday, the following Monday has been traditionally declared as a special (non-working) holiday.

Bunye had historical precedent to support his view. The Monday after National Heroes Day had never been declared as a special holiday. Not even after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her advisers came up with "holiday economics," a quaint theory that says that an extended workless weekend made possible by moving the observance of certain official holidays to the closest weekend is a boost to domestic tourism and therefore the economy.

On Saturday, however, Bunye took back his announcement. He then joined Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in saying that Monday would be a special holiday after all. Ermita said the President would issue a proclamation declaring Monday to be a holiday.

The proclamation was released Sunday, though it was dated Aug. 27, Saturday, and what it declared was some kind of semi-holiday. According to Proclamation No. 901, which was signed by Ermita "By authority of the President," Aug. 28 was being declared as "a special (non-working) holiday in the public sector (except the Bureau of Customs) as well as all schools, both public and private, at all levels, in commemoration of National Heroes Day." One short (awkward and ungrammatical) paragraph sought to explain the issuance of the proclamation by saying "it is fitting that this day (National Heroes Day) be given its [sic] importance especially by the public sector as well as all schools." No attempt was made to explain why only students and public servants were being given the opportunity to honor our national heroes, both known and unknown.

If anyone among those who had been given one additional day to do so spared one moment to honor the memory of our heroes, no one seems to have heard about it. In fact, the official commemoration was held on Sunday -- as scheduled -- at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, with Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga leading the rites attended by about 100 people, most of them World War II veterans.

Thus, if making Monday a limited holiday was supposed to make the commemoration of National Heroes Day more meaningful, it didn't achieve the purpose. Neither could there have been even the tiniest increase in domestic tourism, given the short notice Malacañang gave to potential holidaymakers. Besides how many government employees or students can afford to go on holiday tours or vacations in these hard economic times?

The fact is that after going gung-ho for holiday economics during its first two years, the administration seems to have grown cold to the idea. Since it moved the 2003 Independence Day from Thursday to Friday, it has transferred the commemoration of only one other holiday (Aug. 21, 2004) to give workers and students a three-day weekend.

But if it was not for holiday economics, what for was the extra day off given to students and government workers yesterday? How about politics? On Tuesday last week, more than a month after 42 congressmen signed the impeachment complaint against the President, five more affixed their signatures to it. Three days later, two more congressmen joined the move to impeach the President. Although one party-list representative withdrew his signature at about the same time, the group working for her impeachment had a net gain of six votes.

Was Malacañang perhaps worried that the impeachment move may be gaining some momentum? And did it declare a holiday to check that momentum or to have an extra day to rally its forces as the House justice committee moves closer to voting on the complaint? That possibility may seem remote to some people, but to those who have been observing closely how Malacañang is responding to the impeachment threat, it is not far-fetched. The President and her allies seem too willing and able to do anything and everything to save her presidency, even at the risk of demonstrating how inept, clumsy and panicky they can be.