Polevu

Hypocrisy and the lack of support to Filipino athletes

Victory has a hundred fathers but defeat is an orphan.
John F. Kennedy

Several Congressmen have filed House Resolutions that give recognition to Bince Rafael Operiano, the 9-year old Albayano chess prodigy who lorded the East Asian Chess tournament in Thailand. Bince bagged four medals and a trophy for being the champion of the tourney and is set to be conferred the title of National Chess Master when he turns 10. But, will the House Resolutions change the journey that led Bince to win in Thailand?

In a Facebook post of Albay’s Third District Congressmen Didi Cabredo, “Due to limited funds and while waiting for the plane ticket sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Bince and his father spent 3 nights at the airport with those benches as their bed. The little boy had to travel first to Thailand without his father, Mr. Ben Operiano.”

Bince lost his first game and was crying alone in a foreign country with no father nor trainer beside him — all because the Philippine Government is remiss of its obligation to at least support, if not develop, the potential of its citizens particularly the yourh and “promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being” (Article 2 Section 13, 1987 Philippine Constitution.

Picture Credit: Cong. Didi Cabredo

2022 Galing Pook Awards Finalists

One of the prestigious awards for local government units (LGUs) in the Philippines is the Galing Pook Awards. Bagging the Galing Pook Awards means passing through a needle in a three-layered screening process. Hence, only a few dares to compete and only ten would come out victorious.

No special treatment?

From the Golden Era — that is, where prices of commodities have been increasing like the value of gold — the attention of the Filipinos has been diverted to the arrest of Juanito Jose Remulla III, the son of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, for importation and illegal possession of marijuana. Opinions have been increasing on the special treatment of Juanito and the public have been mounting calls for the Justice Secretary to resign.

But, is there really a special treatment? And, should the Secretary resign?

Renewable Energy Congress and Exhibit

Every now and then, we are being threatened by electric power price hikes or, in places outside Metro Manila, brownouts. Worse, some interesting individuals also threaten electric power distribution utilities as communists or communist supporters.

Well, it is time to rethink our approach and it is time to shift to renewable energy. On October 12, 2022, individuals and organizations from various movements and sectors are converging to offer the agenda of making renewable energy a reality for all. The event, “RE Congress and Exhibit: Making the REAL deal happen”, will be held at the Institute of Civil Engineering at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The effect of the Mandanas-Garcia ruling: A Northern Samar case study

The Mandanas-Garcia Ruling mandates the expansion of the income base for the computation of the national tax allocation (NTA) for local government units (LGUs) to include not only internal revenue collections but also customs collections. This assures LGUs with an additional 24% revenue share, aside from the 13.9% increase due to the increase in internal revenue collections. The figures look attractive especially for NTA-dependent LGUs like the barangays.

But how does this really look like in its first year’s implementation? Will the amount be enough to cover the devolved functions and services that the barangays need to deliver by virtue of the Executive Order No. 138?

To answer these questions, I look into Northern Samar as a focus province. Northern Samar is one of the provinces in the Philippines known for reducing poverty incidence from 51.8% in 2015 to 25.1% in the first semester of 2021. As a result, the province was stricken off the list of the top 20 poorest provinces in the country.

Northern Samar has readily available barangay-level national tax allocations data for fiscal years 2021 and 2022, making a pre- and during-the Mandanas-Garcia Ruling comparison possible.