Punchline

By April 18, 2011Opinion, Punchline

Political will or political savvy?

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

A TEST of his political will is what now confronts Guv Spines in the real property tax issue. At least that’s how Guv Spines seems to be taking it.

What started as a brush-fire in the cold days of January quickly spread to become a monster political forest fire that can no longer be doused with a pail of political cool water.  Even his known close ally, Rosendo So of Abono Partylist, is already on the other side of the fence fueling the fire. His known allies among the mayors are beginning to show streaks of yellow in their eyes, refusing to help explain and justify the 300% increase in the RPT schedule for fear of political tsunami in their towns.

But amid the avalanche of criticism, you have to hand it to Guv Spines for standing up to shoot back, braving the arrows like he was General Custer of the 7th Cavalry.  Under siege, he took the occasion to demonstrate what political will means in his vocabulary.

Alas, when a political will is brought to a test as in Guv Spines’ case on the RPT issue, he will have to weather the continued siege until it is shown that the end justifies the means. And, for his sake, I hope that the justifiable end does not come too late for him in 2013.

Nobody loves a taxman until it is shown where the taxes went.

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As I read Guv Spines’ statements in defense of the increase, one cannot reasonably deny the validity of his position. Postponing the increase in 2009 on seeing how the province was battered by 3 super typhoons is laudable.

Given his clarification, it was obvious that, indeed, the scheduled increase was not whimsical on his part. It was studied and calculated to be implemented at a better time…and the better time was adduced to be 2011.

So what went wrong?

It was inevitable for the whole thing to turn sour when the provincial board decided to hold two semblances of public hearings instead of holding a series of frank consultations with stakeholders. Naturally, the discovery of a 300% hike (a level contested by provincial assessor because he says it’s only 100%) by landowners on waking up one morning in 2011 immediately created pandemonium.

Then came the news that the provincial board members were gifted with brand new SUVs each even before the brush fire on the RPT could be put out. That certainly grated the taxpaying public’s nerves. The suspicious among the stakeholders could not help but wonder if the SUVs were the promised rewards for the surprise and uncontroversial passage of the deadly tax ordinance in December after two hearings?

The initial refusal of members of the provincial board to justify the timing of the implementation further incensed the stakeholders.

Guv Spines’ calculation went awry because the delivery of the package was suspect and the timing was awfully wrong.

And worse, the Aquino government has not shown the way out of the oil price crisis that already triggered increases in food and transport has aggravated the situation for Guv Spines.

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While Guv Spines has justified the tax package to be within the purview of the law, he must also understand that not everything legal makes an abhorring proposition   acceptable.

To date, what Guv Spines simply established is that the tax increase is imperative but the public is still up in arms owing to the very bad timing.

I believe this is not the time for Guv Spines to deliver on his political will. Instead I believe the crisis in his hands now relies on his political savvy. He must find a win-win situation for both the provincial government and his constituents.

As a member of the Society of Self-Appointed Unsolicited Advisers, I have this one proposition for him.  Consider suspending the collection till 2012 with a clear understanding with the stakeholders that it’s the last line of defense for the provincial government to keep its programs afloat. Then to show sensitivity to the call for austerity, he should recall the SUVs issued to the board members and simply give the latter the first option to buy these vehicles on preferred terms, i.e, monthly installments till 2013 with no interests.

*   *   *   *   *

PUT UP OR SHUT UP.  The decision of the majority in the Dagupan sanggunian to be a no-show at the face-off set by the Pangasinan Press Club’s Media in Action forum was damaging for them at the very least.

Theirs was an opportunity to belie the claims of Mayor Benjie Lim that the drastic cut in the proposed budget was politically motivated, and instead point out how the city hall miserably failed to defend an ill-prepared budget.

It was a good opportunity to retell how their discovery of anomalies in the use of public funds came about to impress upon the public that an effective check-and-balance mechanism augurs well for the city.

It was a chance for them to prove that they were not remiss at any time in looking after the interests of the people.

But they let all that opportunity slip away thinking their “noble” intention to put an end to the protracted war of sorts between them and the city hall would be perceived as “positive”. How wrong they were to misjudge the situation.

By their no-show, the Lim camp (represented by the mayor’s son, Councilor Brian) exploited the opportunity and quickly took the high ground, shooting down everything that moved against them. It provided the mayor’s office to go on a full offensive without having to worry about a return fire from their detractors who dared not face them in public.

Then, ironically, the burden of proof was suddenly shifted to the majority councilors who earlier held the high moral ground for their astute understanding of the budget process, when Councilor Brian dared his colleagues to file cases against those whom they suspect to have committed the anomalies in the disbursement of public funds.  He was clearly emboldened to hurl the challenge at the majority “to put up or shut up” sensing that his colleagues in the council are deadly afraid of his father. And as expected, Councilor Brian went in for the kill giving the perception that their no-show was an indication of their inability to prove their clams and a sign of guilt for being “anti-people”.

So, the majority will now have to decide whether to put up or shut up, at the bidding of Councilor Brian…when it should have been the other way around. Tsk-tsk.

The majority councilors were sorely ill-advised not to speak up at the forum.

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