The best-liked administration, so far

By: Mahar Mangahas

Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE MOST notable finding in the new SWS ratings of public satisfaction released this week, in my view, is that the present administration—as distinguished from the President as a single official—is the best-liked of all administrations ever since the ratings began in 1989.

The June 2011 net +46 satisfaction in the personal performance of President Noynoy Aquino, though on the upper end of the Good range (+30 to +49), is not special compared to the personal ratings of Presidents Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada at the same point in their terms, which were all Very Good and well into the +60s.

On the other hand, the June 2011 net +45 satisfaction in the performance of the national administration (administrasyong nasyonal in Filipino) is higher than all the administration ratings throughout the times of Estrada (peak of +36 in November 1998) and Ramos (peak of +32 in September 1992).  The ratings of Cory Aquino’s administration started in February 1989, at its peak of +23.  The GMA’s administration’s best was +27.

The national administration’s new net rating of +45 is derived by comparing the 62 percent satisfied with the 17 percent dissatisfied with its overall performance.  It concerns the entire team, not just its leader.

The boses of the Bosses.  Each quarterly Social Weather Survey also asks respondents to rate the national administration’s performance on a number of issues—17, in the June 2011 survey.

The collection of these ratings make up the administration’s report card on the 17 subjects, as graded by the people.   It shows Filipinos as predominantly satisfied on 13 subjects, with mixed feelings on three subjects, and dissatisfied on only one subject.

The people’s grades are Good on five subjects: Being prepared for strong typhoons (net +46; first-time rated), Helping the poor (net +44), Foreign relations (net +43), Promoting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (net +41; new record high), and Fighting terrorism (+30).

The grades are Moderate, i.e. between +10 and +29, on eight subjects: Implementing housing projects for the poor (net +27), Reconciliation with Muslim rebels (net +26), Reconciliation with communist rebels (net +23), Fighting crimes (net +23), Prosecuting tax evaders (net +22; new record high), Deciding quickly on important problems (net +22), Suppressing private armies in Mindanao (net +17), and Eradicating graft and corruption (net +16).

SWS uses the term Neutral for single-digit net ratings, between -9 and +9, since these are not significantly different from zero. In June 2011, these were the grades on three subjects: Fighting inflation (net +4), Ensuring that no family will be hungry (net +4), and Ensuring that oil firms don’t take advantage of oil prices (net zero; first-time rated).

In June 2011, the P-Noy administration got a Poor grade (from -10 to -29) on only one subject, namely Resolving the Maguindanao case with justice, which got a -16, termed Poor (between -10 and -29).

For years, the three failing subjects of the report card have been Eradicating corruption, Fighting inflation, and Ensuring that no family goes hungry.  However, P-Noy’s administration has no negative grade on any of these subjects so far.

Fighting corruption.  In its first four quarters, the grades on anti-corruption of P-Noy’s administration have been +22, +22, +14, and +16, or four Moderates, i.e. all significantly positive.

These come after the GMA administration’s anti-corruption grades of three Neutrals, twenty-two Poors, and nine Bads (between -30 and -49).  Its best was +8; its worst was -40.

For its part, the Estrada administration got one Moderate, four Neutrals, and five Poors during its short existence.  Its best was +12, and its worst was -21.

The Ramos administration collected one Moderate, six Neutrals, thirteen Poors, and four Bads, with +10 at best, and  -38 at worst.

The Cory administration once got a record Very Good +65 for fighting corruption, back in the euphoria of 1986.  Afterwards, it collected one Moderate, two Neutrals, six Poors, and one Bad, with a low point of -39.

Fighting inflation.  In its first four quarters, the grades of P-Noy’s administration have been +19, +7, 0 and +4, or one Moderate and three Neutrals, but with no negatives. In contrast, none of the previous administrations ever got a positive grade on fighting inflation.

On this matter, the GMA administration’s grades were four Neutrals, eighteen Poors and twelve Bads, ranging from -3 at best to -43 (in three quarters) at worst.

The Estrada administration had two Neutrals, four Poors, and four Bads, ranging from -6 at best to -40 at worst.

The Ramos administration had two Neutrals, nine Poors, eight Bads, and two Very Bads (-50 or worse).  Its best was -7, and its worst was -51 (in two quarters).

The Cory administration, rated on this matter starting 1991, got three Poors, ranging from -13 to -28.

Fighting hunger.  The grades of P-Noy’s administration on this subject in four quarters have been +19, +11, +5, and most recently +4, i.e. two Moderates falling to two Neutrals, but still positive as of June 2011.

The SWS survey ratings on this subject began in 2004, during the GMA administration.  Up to mid-2010, its grades included eighteen Poors and three Bads, at best -13, and at worst -39.

Getting the best grades on the problem subjects is a good achievement for the team.

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Contact SWS: www.sws.org.ph or mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.

Comelec men tied to manufacture, switch of fake ERs

By Nancy C. Carvajal

Philippine Daily Inquirer

JUSTICE TO THE RESCUE Justice Secretary Leila de Lima (back to corner) meets the Batasan break-in team led by (extreme left) Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago and his men at the Inquirer editor’s lounge last Tuesday. Their only request for De Lima was to secure them. The other police officers with Santiago are Rudy Gahar, Alan Layugan, Rodel Tabangin, Trifon Laxamana and Norman Duco. ARNOLD ALMACEN

Third of a series

Employees of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) were among the civilians involved in the manufacture and switching of fake election returns (ERs) at the Batasang Pambansa complex in January-February 2005, according to whistle-blower Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago.

Six years after the fact, Santiago said this information was relayed to him by Ruel “El” Bello, a son of former election supervisor Roque Bello.

Both father and son were implicated by Santiago and his men in the ER-switching operation. But the elder Bello has denied involvement and said he and his son were “ready to face any investigation.”

The Bellos have “a reputation as election operators,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“In one of my conversations with El, he mentioned that some of those involved in his operation are Comelec employees,” Santiago told the Inquirer.

When asked if he knew the names of the persons in question, he replied in the negative. “They were not introduced to us, and even if they were, I doubt that they would be using real names. They knew what they were doing was illegal,” he said.

The Inquirer was able to gather the names of those allegedly “employed” by Roque and El Bello in their operations nationwide from a source who claimed to be also an election operator, and who asked not to be identified for security reasons.

Big and risky op

The source estimated the cost of the Batasang Pambansa operation, which involved at least 6,000 election returns, as “monumental.”

“The operation was big and risky,” the source said. “The money involved could not be less than P100 million.”

Costs vary depending on the requirement of the client, according to the source. “In the Batasang Pambansa operation, the cost can be easily placed at P2,000 or P3,000 per ER  because of the volume of the requirement,” the source said.

And each “employee” has his own expertise, the source said, adding: “These people are known in the circuit, and election lawyers also know them to be mostly employed by the Bellos.”

The source provided 14 names, of which three were purported Comelec employees and one was the younger Bello’s “right-hand man.”

“[One of the Comelec employees] provides the paraphernalia, like padlocks, ER forms and indelible ink, depending on the need of the operator,” the source said.

The only task of two of those named is to purchase and take custody of blank election returns, the source said. “Sellers deal only with these two. Otherwise, no transaction and no ER.”

The others named are experts in ensuring that “revisions” in the ERs tally with the primary evidence, the ballot, the source said.

Pilfered ERs and other documents are shredded or burned to wipe out the paper trail, the source said.

The source likewise said El Bello’s purported contact in the Comelec also provided him the data on the election return that would be manufactured.

“It was not only the election returns. The markings on a ballot box indicating the area where it came from should also be corrected to avoid suspicion of it being tampered when it is opened in case of a recount,” the source added.

Mindanao ballot boxes

In his recollection, Santiago said the 10 civilians who were part of the operation were precise in their job.

“They were fast, and they knew what ballot box to look for and open, and its contents replaced with the manufactured ERs,” he said. “They were quiet, probably knowing that what they were doing was illegal.”

Santiago said that in his conversations with the Special Action Force (SAF) team that entered the Batasang Pambansa’s South Wing and served as escorts of five of the civilians, he learned that the latter were also experts at “picking locks.”

“They worked with only the light of a small flashlight they carried and lock picks,” he said.

Santiago quoted Inspector Ramon Garcia, one of the SAF men who entered the complex, as saying that the civilians were “very familiar with the position of the ballot boxes.”

“They immediately proceeded to the area where the Mindanao ballot boxes were stored,” he quoted Garcia as saying. “They knew what to look for.”

Santiago added that in 2008, he and his men contemplated coming out with what they knew.

But they ultimately decided against doing so because of fear that they would just be treated as another “trouble for the government,” he said.

First posted 12:06 am | Saturday, July 30th, 2011

UP Visayas students win int’l biz management competition

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.

Inquirer Visayas

ILOILO City, Philippines—The Philippines, represented by students of the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in Iloilo, topped an international business management competition, besting 16 other countries.

The team Scions of the UPV College of Management won the 2011 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Global Business Challenge held in Chengdu, China, on July 23-24.

The GBC is an international competition among young business leaders, which gives them the opportunity to showcase their talent on a global platform, according to a CIMA statement.

The annual competition was first held in 2009 by CIMA, the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, with 183,000 members and students in 168 countries.

The UPV team is composed of senior accountancy students Jerard Megg Cordero, Marra Francillan Cordero, Dominique Dabad and Ordisi Osonio. Prof. Arthur Barrido Jr. is the team’s adviser.

They bested nearly 9,000 international applicants to emerge as global champions at the GBC finals.

“This is the fruit of the team’s hard work. We prepared hard for six months for the national and global finals,” Barrido said.

The other competing countries included China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates.

Case Crackers from Singapore came in second while Eva Consulting of Australia was third.

CIMA said the Scions “provided innovative and feasible solutions that balanced attention to detail with the appreciation of broad strategic issues.”

The Scions presented a business case that was assessed by a panel of experts from international business organizations including Barclays, Shell, L’Occitane en Provence, Tangs Department Store, TRW and CIMA.

Andrew Harding, CIMA managing director and head of this year’s judging panel, lauded the team Scions.

“I would like to commend team Scions on their outstanding performance and on becoming this year’s CIMA GBC champions … It has been exceptionally difficult to judge at times as the level of business skill in evidence has been striking. Team Scions really stood out for us because of their outstanding and solid performance,” Harding said in a statement.

Baguio Koreans pay back city hospitality

Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY—The summer capital’s Korean community has made education a bridge to give back to its host city.

Last week, 31 Koreans belonging to the nongovernment group, Good Hands in Luzon Philippines, met with the 31 indigent college students whose education they are financing.

These Korean sponsors are mostly professionals and businessmen who have been living and running various establishments in Baguio for more than 10 years now. The city is home to about 10,000 Koreans, many of them students learning the English language here.

Husky Ryu, Good Hands chair, said supporting the education of poor but deserving Filipino students is a way of uplifting their lives.

“We are very happy to do this because we really want to share our blessings. Koreans have been wanting to help and they have been doing that individually. But now, we have a group, so it is easier to extend what we want to share to the people of Baguio,” said Ryu.

Jung Gyu Choo, a restaurant owner, is supporting the education of Edson Soriano, 18, a Kankana-ey student from Bakun, Benguet.

“This scholarship grant means a lot to me because I grew up in a very poor family, with a hand-to-mouth existence. We are 14 in the family, and I was the only one who reached college so the expectation is too high,” said Soriano, a junior accountancy student at the University of the Cordilleras (UC).

“My parents could not send my other siblings to school because they do not have money. My other siblings did not even finish elementary and high school,” he said.

Soriano promised to help Good Hands after he graduates to return the kindness and generosity that he received.

His sponsor, Jung, said: “I do not speak English that much, but I want to say that I am happy to help.”

Another beneficiary, Kevin Kenneth Mitas, 17, a business administration student at the University of Baguio, promised not to squander the opportunity given by the Koreans. “We will keep moving forward to be somebody someday,” he said.

Ryu said he was not expecting financial pledges from many Koreans for the scholarship program since the original target was to help only 12 students.

Each student receives P12,000 a year. The scholars come from UB, UC, Baguio Central University, Benguet State University, Easter College, King’s College of the Philippines, Philippine Women’s University, Saint Louis University, University of the Philippines Baguio and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda).

Ryu said the scholars are required to keep good grades and are encouraged to join Good Hands’ outreach and community projects. “We want to grow together with our scholars,” he said. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon