I am surpeised that not one candidate for President in the coming 2010 elections has explain ho he/she would impprove the conditions of the country once elected. If I were the President of the Philippines, this is how I will solve the current problems of our country:

• Peace and order. The Philippines has been troubled by secessionist movements, rebels, terrorists, and various forms of crimes for many decades. These undesirable elements have caused miseries to the majority of the population, undetermined loss of lives, properties, business opportunities, investments, etc., have eroded the economy, and have stunted the progress of the Philippines.

The first step that I should do is to boost the strength and quality of the armed forces of the Philippines, both the army and the police, in order to make them adequately capable of maintaining peace and order on the land, on the seas, and in the air. After achieving this, the government should enact a law that would specifically make the mere possession, safekeeping, and ownership of a firearm(s)(with the exception of members of the armed forces, the national police, and persons who, after rigid investigation and scrutiny, would qualify to be issued a license to possess and carry a firearm for personal protection by the proper authority) would be a crime punishable by 20 years of imprisonment without parole. Then after said law is in place, a vigorous and rigorous campaign against illegal firearms shall be launched jointly by the armed forces and the national police nationwide until there will be not a single loose firearm remaining in the hands of unauthorized persons. Without any loose firearm in the country, no heinous crime could be committed against the citizenry, and everyone can pursue their livelihood and normal activities without fear and enjoy life any time of the day or night. Moreover, the peaceful atmosphere in the country will lure foreign investors and tourists to put up businesses that can provide livelihood for our countrymen.

• Food sufficiency. Ever since I can remember, our country has been importing rice from the very countries we taught how to grow good varieties of rice. Our importation has progressively grown through the years as the population increases, and a large portion of the government resources is wasted every year in this operation on subsidy, on kickbacks and on commissions of people involved in this activity. As a result of these irregularities, the number of hungry Filipinos multiply every day because the cost of imported rice is no longer affordable to the poor.

Before anything else, I will cause the enactment of a new law that would replace the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which has not improved the lives of poor Filipinos. This new law would ensure the implementation of comprehensive land reform. The law that I propose will limit the ownership of arable lands to three hectares per family or association, and would ban the conversion of arable lands into industrial, residential, or recreational purposes such as housing subdivisions, golf courses, parks, etc. When this is done, the government will acquire all privately owned arable lands in excess of such limitation from their owners through expropriation by paying them the price prevailing at such locations. Then the government will distribute all the acquired lands, together with those arable lands currently owned by the government including public domains, to landless families throughout the country (including the families of criminals that have surrendered and have pledged allegiance to the government of the Philippines) at the rate of two hectares per family for free, on condition that the grantee shall cultivate such land in order to yield sufficient rice and vegetables. In addition, the government will provide minimal loans to those grantees to start up their new livelihood. Failure of such grantees to produce sufficient yield without justifiable reason, as will be determined by the Department of Agriculture, will cause the government to recall those grants and award the lands to other families who are willing and able to produce the desired yields.

Based on available data, the land area of the Philippines is 300,000 square kilometers and 70 percent of those lands are arable. It is also a known fact that current population of the Philippines is 90,000,000, more or less, and that the average members of a family is five persons. It is also known that a hectare planted with rice can yield 60 cavans of palay, and a milled cavan of palay will give 25 kilograms of rice. Based on these assumptions, it can be deduced that the total area of arable lands is 21,000,000 hectares, to be distributed among 10,500,000 families composed of 52,500,000 people or about 58 percent of the current population. Each harvest will yield l,260,000,000 sacks of palay equivalent to 31,500,000 metric tons of rice. In 2003, the annual consumption of rice in the Philippines was 9,105,000 metric tons. Assuming that the current consumption has doubled since that time, this would amount to 18,210,000 metric tons, therefore we can still have a surplus of 13,300,000 metric tons which we can export to other countries.

The whole impact of this proposal on the economy is that we can achieve self sufficiency in rice and vegetable so that we can maintain the price thereof within the reach of the poor, use the dollars normally intended for rice imports to payment of foreign debts, and provide livelihood (farming and husbandry) and eradicate the poverty of 52 million Filipinos.

• Budget Deficit. Traditionally, the government’s budget is overshot annually because of the government’s wanton expenditures which are not properly regulated. Other causes may be attributed to corruption and the clamoring of influential officials of the government to gain access to government resources for personal gain. A large chunk of the budget is wasted on corruption through the conspiracy between officials and suppliers resulting in bloated appropriations, inferior or unnecessary infrastructures, or unfinished projects that were abandoned.

To correct these prevalent irregularities concerning the budget, certain reforms need to be implemented.

First, we should overhaul the operating structures of the national government, from the Office of the President to the smallest bureau or unit, in order to minimize expenditures on personnel, supplies, utilities, communications, etc. and to improve the efficiency of the services to the people. This would entail the streamlining of functions and conversion of procedures into automated systems.

Second, we should abolish the House of Representatives completely and do away with the traditional huge budgets for salaries, operating expenses, and pork barrels for that office. After all, we have already enough laws in place and all that is needed to ensure abidance to the constitution and protect human rights is to enforce those laws properly. Furthermore, the lower house is the seat of corruptions that drains the government’s resources to the pockets of the culprits.

In its place, we shall increase the number of senators so that each province will be represented by at least one senator depending on it’s population. The senators, in addition to their primary duty of enacting, repealing, or amending laws, shall serve as liaison between the provincial and the national governments with respect to infrastructures and social services.

Third, we shall abolish the pork barrel of senators and, in its place, a commission made up of cabinet members as commissioners will meet at least twice or once a week to discuss and decide which of the infrastructures requested by the provincial governments, with the concurrence of the senators representing such province, will be implemented and based on most reasonable estimates provided by bidders. The commission will then forward the approved project, together with all supporting documents required by law, to the Budget Commission for allocation and release of funds.

Fourth, according to the SWS’s survey of business managers in 2009, corruption in the public sector is happening in the national level and progressively decreasing in severity at the provincial, city, and barangay levels. Sixty-one percent of business managers surveyed admitted that their companies were solicited by someone in the government for bribes.

Agencies graded “poor” by the managers are the Department of Budget and Management, Philippine National Police, Department of Agriculture, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

Agencies graded “bad” are the Department of Transportation and Communications, Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, House of Representatives, Land Transportation Office, and the Office of the President.

Agencies graded “very bad or worst” are the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Bureau of Customs.

The President should appoint National Marshals from people with reputable competence and integrity who shall oversee these “bad and worst agencies” for any anomaly and to report its findings directly to the President of the Philippines.

The laws against bribery should be stiffened to include 20 year imprisonment without parole for both giver and recipient of bribes in whatever forms.

• Allegiance. Filipinos are, by nature, beholden to the person who did him something good or a favor. For this reason, the recipient of such a good deed or favor believes that he/she has a bounden obligation to do something to benefit or please the giver in return. This is the main root of all injustices and corruptions perpetrated in all offices of the government.

To remove this bad tradition or practice in the governance of our political subdivisions, every position in the government that carries with it enough power to subvert the laws and moral values of people in government service shall not be appointed by any higher official or office, but instead should be elected by the people during a national elections. These positions shall, at the minimum, include all commissioners, directors, heads of government corporations, justices of the supreme court, judges in all lower courts, prosecutors, fiscals, military leadership, national police leadership, etc. just like how it is done in the United States. If we have to elect a barangay kagawad, how much more should we need to elect higher officials than that?

Supreme Court. We regard the Supreme Court as the last bastion of human rights and the ultimate interpreter of the laws in the event of any controversy. As such, it should be composed only of people proven to have the highest degree of integrity and competence. If that should be the case, why then did the incumbent President appoint justices in the supreme court who could not even uphold the real intents of the Philippine Constitution which was written in very simple English language? Instead, they have their own interpretations that are swayed to please and support someone whom they felt beholden to.

The constitution should be amended to provide a provision that all the members of the Supreme Court should be between the ages of fifty and sixty when they will be elected by the people during national election for a fixed term of ten years unless impeached earlier for whatever cause.

• Moslem Separatists and New People’s Army. In order to induce those criminals to come to the fold of the law so that they could become useful citizens and contribute to the progress of the country, the government should grant each of their families two hectares of arable land, for free, that they could cultivate and call their own, together with minimal government assistance to start them up with their new lives. If this generous offer, in exchange for their allegiance to the Philippine constitution is still rejected by them, then there will be no other recourse left but to capture and lock them up in jail with all the might and resolve of the Philippine government.

PEDRO C. ALBEA
PeteandCel@aol.com