Pnoy's fight against graft is getting stronger and bearing fruit

Contrary to popular perception, the fight against graft and corruption is actually gaining ground, thanks to the tireless efforts of these men and women who now serve the Aquino administration. 

For one, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) thru the leadership of Commissioner David has managed to lessen the incidence of graft in the bureau by rotating their personnel and keeping in the freezer or filing cases against erring personnel. David, a military man, has already kept in check, numerous cases of graft in the bureau.

The Immigration bureau also successfully conducted entrance examinations meant to hire new blood for the bureau. Years ago, when the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) decided to put a stop on graft, they hired new blood and re-organized themselves. Now, the BIR is now one of the agencies with less graft and corruption cases. Fact is, in the graft and corruption fight, the BIR right now is the model to emulate. 

The DOTC or the Department of Transportation and Communication is now a very highly organized and highly efficient organisation, thanks to the efforts of Mar Roxas, Jeary Sison and the bunch of undersecretaries who now put in check the previous graft practices of people there. 

The only blight spot in the DOTC is the Land Transportation Office (LTO) whose personnel continues to do their graft-y ways. 

There are still some form of graft at the Department of Agriculture, yet, compared with the previous dispensation, operators there are now afraid of entering into multi-million deals. 

Other agencies who have turned a new leaf is the Department of Energy, the Tesda, the POEA and the OWWA. Yes, procedures at the POEA and the OWWA remain underpar, but they are in the right direction.

I highly commend the men and women of the Social Security System or SSS, the GSIS or the Government Service Insurance System and the Department of Foreign Affairs passport division for improving their services. Yes, the long lines are still there at peak hours, yet, they are manage-able. I just applied for an SSS ID and it only took me about ten minutes to get one. Kudos to the patriotic men and women of the SSS!

I will restrain my praise to the Bureau of Customs. Some say I criticize the bureau because of personal interests. What? I am a private citizen with no business whatsoever at the bureau. The information I get come from Patriots working inside the bureau of Customs. They are the ones who tell me about what's happening there. And I write about it--without adding anything, even an opinion. 

Lucky 09 and the SSS

Will 2009 be a lucky year for Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Will she finally get her wish to be able to extend her term at least, a year? Sources say Arroyo and her henchmen, especially Ronnie Puno, want the elections deferred for at least a year, meaning, make it 2011. That's their minimum desire. Why? For three reasons. One, they would want the Constitutional Convention formed by that time and they would use this argument to bolster their case before Congress re-opening on January 20. Second, that would also provide more funds for the ruling party and third, that would coincide with the formation of a bigger economic block led by Arroyo. Question---will 2009 be Arroyo's luckiest year as yet?

The country faces extreme challenges next year, especially in the export industries sector. As early as August 2008, the export industries have suffered tremendous blows due to low job orders. The US market has begun slowing down at that time and it continues to further slide. After the US meltdown, other European markets and even the Japanese market fell like dominoes.

Next will definitely be the tourism-related services industry. With more Westerners opting to save rather than splurge on a holiday, the tourism industry will likely slow down as well. I have'nt seen the World Tourism Association (WTA) projections but this will most likely be down by about 15 to 20% at the most.

Now, depending on what US President-elect Barack Obama will announce on January 20, 2009, the BPO sector will continue its robust growth. Why? Even if Obama decides to encourage US companies to just make their BPO in the mainland instead of offshore, more companies will still decide to continue their overseas operations because it is still cheaper to operate a BPO here than in the US. Obama will likely find a way to exploit other sectors in their economy instead of dipping his hands in the global BPO market.

Another critical sector would be the small and medium sized entreprises. If government, especially the BSP will hesitate to further widen the credit markets, it would put the entire economy to further risk since SME's rely on banks and government financial institutions for their capital infusions. For example, in my case, I want my own business but I lack capital. Will government extend its loan portfolio further to cover those in-between job cases like myself?

I went to SSS thru the help of its very efficient SVP Susie Bragante and found out that yes, I can get a loan but I need to land another employment to secure one. Whatthe? Its policy. Well, if I elect to continue my SSS membership, I have to pay a sum. Fine. I'll pay it. But, before I can loan, I have to wait for a month just to post that payment. Whatthef..ck! Paging SSS head Secretary Romulo Neri. You need to create another loan portfolio for the following:

1. Those SSS members who want to start their own businesses but lack capital and resigned from their jobs because they want to be entrepreneurs. And SSS should AT LEAST be able to give them the maximum loan amount equivalent to three times their former monthly pay. Look, Madame Arroyo urges everyone to be an entrepreneur and when we, citizens, do want to make our dreams come true, government fails in its obligation to at least extend us some loan.

2. OFWs. (I think government already provided 2 billion pesos worth of loanable funds for displaced OFWs. By the way, these OFWs are twice displaced--when they went abroad, they are classified as economically displaced. When they're busted from their jobs, they went displaced again.)

The secret so that we all would survive the global economic crisis in 2009 would be the following:

1. Expansion of credit facilities
2. Lowering of BSP interest rates
3. Lowering of BSP credit rates
4. Expansion of government assistance to SME's