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People’s wish will prevail in final report –Con-Com

By DANNY O. SAGUN

CALASIAO – While members of the Consultative Commission may have their personal views on Constitutional changes, it is the actual pulse and sentiments of the people that will be held paramount and respected in coming out with the commission’s final report for submission to President Macapagal-Arroyo.

The seven commissioners attending last Friday’s Charter change consultation-dialogue at the Regency Hotel here thus assured their Pangasinense audience as they belied beliefs and allegations that the consultation activities were just a “formality” and that a final draft of proposed changes in the 1987 Constitution has already been prepared ahead.

Led by lawyer Raul Lambino and Dagupan City Vice-Mayor Alvin Fernandez, the Con-com members said that results of the consultations from all parts of the country that kicked off in October will all be collated to come out with a final report to be submitted to the President and later to Congress for final action.

The group first met the local media in a press conference and then held the consultations and workshop with different sectors of society to include local officials, educators, businessmen and many others.

Proposed changes in the 1987 charter include the shift of government system and structure from the present unitary-bicameral to federal-parliamentary as well as economic reforms and national patrimony.

Lambino said that he and his colleagues will not waste their time and efforts and even their resources if there was already a final draft ready for submission. He also noted that discussions over proposed changes are very lively and extensive leading to revisions or adjustments in the drafts prepared personally by the commissioners themselves.

He and Fernandez said that the draft prepared by Con-com chair Jose Abueva was treated just as “talking points” and has undergone several amendments so far as proposed by the other members.

Fernandez also bared that the process involved now is very much different from what happened in the past when the 1935, 1973 and 1987 Constitutions were pre-drafted. Now, he pointed out, people are consulted and their sentiments given due consideration.

While the Charter change could not solve the country’s problems overnight, they said that in a way such changes would  bring about reforms and economic progress. They also pointed out that election of national leaders in a parliamentary government does not entail so much expense and thus prevent corruption. Under the present presidential system, a presidential candidate has to spend P4 to P5 billion to win, an expensive exercise that breeds corruption, the commissioners said.

Joining the two Pangasinense commissioners were lawyer Rita Linda Jimeno, Rey Teves, former Congressman Oscar Rodriguez, Luz Soriano, and Liberato Laus. (PIA/DOS).

Alvin: No pay parking city ordinance yet

THERE is no pay parking ordinance passed by the city council yet. That’s according to Dagupan City Vice-Mayor Alvin Fernandez, presiding officer of the sangguniang panlungsod.

Fernandez, reacting to the banner story of Pangasinan Star last week, called up to clarify that what the sangguniang panlungsod passed last November 14 was “just an ordinance designating the parking areas.” He claimed that the body has yet to prescribe the fees and penalties in the use of such parking areas by motorists which, he inferred, could be subject of another ordinance.

This paper reported last week that the pay parking measure was deemed defective due to lack of quorum when it was passed which factor was also noted by the city legal officer in a radio interview. Another major factor that effectively deemed the measure void was the absence of thorough consultation thru public hearings before the measure was passed.

The vice-mayor maintained however that there was quorum during that session. Based on sanggunian records, seven members answered the roll call including the vice-mayor while six were absent including Alex de Venecia who was in the United States. There are 10 regular councilors and two ex-officio members.

De Venecia, being out of the country, was ruled out in the determination of quorum as per the rules, the vice-mayor explained.

Since the ordinance did not involve any appropriation or imposition of fees and penalties, a simple majority was required, he added.

A close scrutiny of Ordinance No. 1853-2005 authored by Councilor Luis Samson, Jr. showed otherwise. Prescribed in it was a parking fee of P20 for the first hour and P5 for every hour afterwards for light vehicles, and P30 for medium vehicles for the first hour and P5 afterwards. A prepaid monthly season parking fee or pass was also set as an option for vehicle owners – P1,000 for light vehicles, and P1,500 for medium vehicles. A fine of P500 was also prescribed as penalty for violators.

Apparently, the vice-mayor failed to notice such provisions in the ordinance.

Samson, it was learned, actually prepared a draft amendment to the ordinance a few days later which sought to raise the monthly season pass to P1,500 for light vehicles, and P3,500 for medium vehicles.

Fernandez, who admitted he was out when the measure was being discussed in the previous sessions being a member of the Consultative Commission for the proposed Charter Change, said that there was no pay parking ordinance to talk about yet. “Pag-uusapan pa yang mga fees and penalties,” he told the Pangasinan Star in a cell phone interview.

The sanggunian thru the concerned committees are expected to call public hearings for the purpose, he said.

The sanggunian was roundly criticized for not fully disclosing the matter to the public, considering that it carried fees and penalties.

EVAT accepted by public, says BIR commissioner

By DANNY O. SAGUN

THE public has so far accepted the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) as a necessary measure for government to generate more revenues and stay away from the old practice of borrowing funds from international creditors, the commissioner of Bureau of Internal Revenue observed Tuesday.

Lawyer Jose Mario C. Bunag also noted that taxation is no longer viewed by the people as a burden. Instead, it is one way for them to contribute to the government for the latter to deliver basic goods and services, he pointed out.

After the initial protests by militant sectors against the tax measure, the public, he said, appeared to have accepted it. “Wala namang gulo o pag-aalsa na nangyayari, di ba?” he told mediamen later.

Bunag graced the Expanded VAT roadshow at the Leisure Coast Resort in Bonuan Binloc last Tuesday where he addressed some 2,000 participants that included lawyers, certified public accountants, mediamen, students and many others from various sectors who gathered to learn more about the tax measure.

In his brief message, the former bar topnotcher expressed hope that by the end of the year taxpayers would have filed and paid their respective taxes. “Sa dami ng taong naririto ngayon, inaasahan din natin na ganito rin karami ang magbabayad ng kanilang buwis,” he said.

Facing the local media after his speech, Bunag said the bureau expects to meet its targeted collections including some P82 billion from EVAT thru efficient collection efforts.
EVAT seeks to bring in more funds for government to deliver basic services in education, health insurance, environmental conservation and agricultural modernization by earmarking 20 percent of the incremental VAT collection.

In more concrete terms, 521 single-story buildings with five classrooms will be built in 2006, health insurance premiums will benefit 3.1 million indigents, 9,190 hectares will be reforested, and 1,012 kilometers of farm-to-market roads will be laid out.

The VAT law has been in effect since 1988 but the EVAT law (RA 9337) expanded the coverage to petroleum products, power and electric cooperatives, services of doctors and lawyers, non-food agricultural products, works of art, literary and musical compositions, and domestic carriage of passengers by air and sea.

The VAT rate of 10 percent is set to increase to 12 percent in 2006.

Representatives of the departments of finance, agriculture, trade and industry, energy, and BIR took turns explaining the law to the audience.

Meanwhile, the regional BIR office headed by officer-in-charge Romeo P. Buan reported to the BIR chief that it has exceeded by 102 million its collection target as of October 25. Revenue District Office no. 4 based in Calasiao under Joseph M. Catapia also surpassed its target by P11 million for the same period. 

Murdered lady judge's son hits dismissal of case vs. suspects
 
TAYUG--The lawyer son of murdered Pasig City Judge Estrellita Paas has deplored the trial court judge’s action dismissing the cases filed against the two persons accused of killing his mother.

In a resolution issued last Nov. 30, Regional Trial Court Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan of Branch 51 dismissed the cases for murder and theft filed against accused Jornald Vargas and Elmer Cabilles.

Lawyer Ronald Paas, private prosecutor said the resolution of Butuyan is unfair to the prosecutors and the family because this was issued haphazardly, noting that "it took him (Butuyan) only nine days to throw away the case."

Judge Paas was brutally killed inside their home in Natividad sometime in the afternoon of September this year. At that time, her husband, Renerio, a retired Ombudsman, was attending a school activity.

Vargas and Cabiles were arrested by joint elements of the Natividad Police in Balungao town and Lupao, Nueva Ecija. Vargas is now out on bail for a separate case of illegal possession of firearm while Cabilles is detained at the Bureau of Management and Penology district jail in Urdaneta for another crime of murder.

Admitting  he has not yet received the resolution of Judge Butuyan dismissing the cases against the accused, lawyer Paas said he might go up to the Supreme Court and file a case against Butuyan whom he accused of “biasness”  and partiality during the preliminary investigation of these cases last Nov. 21 after the judge declined to issue warrants of arrest for the accused.

In that preliminary investigation, Paas filed an oral motion asking Butuyan to inhibit himself from hearing the cases but he only filed a formal motion to that effect on  Dec. 2 or two days after Butuyan had already dismissed the same.

Butuyan said he waited in his sala till the afternoon of Nov. 30 for such motion but it never came, thus he had to dismiss the cases on the ground of lack of probable cause against the accused, or else  he would be accused of being lazy  and slow in his job.

When the motion did come at 9:30 a.m. of December 2, Butuyan issued an order stating that the Court finds no compelling reason to address the issues raised by Paas but nevertheless  noted it.

In his resolution dismissing the cases against Vargas and Cabiles, Judge Butuyan stated the
inability of the prosecution to present their witnesses, including the accused themselves, and even the complainant, Reneiro Paas, husband of the victim and father of lawyer Paas.

Paas said although the accused through their counsel did not file a motion to dismiss Butuyan conducted the hearing and dismissed the cases despite being questioned on his partiality and biasness.

He maintained that the police as well as the office of the Provincial Prosecutor conducted a thorough investigation on the matter but that Butuyan ignored their findings.

"He should have deferred from doing anything on the case as there was an earlier motion to inhibit that was orally manifested," Paas fumed (PNA)

Bleak Christmas for city’s EWs

MANY of the 300 emergency workers of the city government face a bleak Christmas after the city government trimmed down their number due to shortage of funds.

As a result, only a few of the EWs assigned in various offices have remained, grossly affecting the capacity of these offices to deliver the services expected of them by the public.

A report said only those carrying out vital functions, such as street and park cleaners, garbage collectors, traffic enforcers and a few others were retained. All the others were terminated effective Nov. 15.

The EWs were the first casualties of an apparent serious financial crisis besetting the city since October this year.

City Administrator Rafael Baraan earlier said that before the city government hired the EWs,l they were informed that their salaries were dependent on the availability of cash in the city coffer.

Baraan earlier said that they did not fill up vacant positions in the city government, anticipating that salaries for these positions can be reappropriated for wages of EWs.

To date, the city government is pressed for cash as shortfall in expected collection of revenues totaled P14 million as of October 31. This may go higher before the end of the year.

Baraan said the city government missed its revenue projections because of uncertain times, and on account of the fluctuating prices of oil.

The laid-off  workers rued their termination only few more weeks before Christmas, foreseeing they will surely end up with no food on their dining table midnight of Dec. 24.

They said it is disheartening that they were the first to go when in fact there were consultants who are receiving fat monthly salaries in the hire of the city who were not touched. (PNA)

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