‘By that time, we will have to guard against the new thieves.’
THE opposition is right in warning against the possible misuse of the P12 billion fund for the rehabilitation of infrastructure damaged by typhoons "Ondoy" and "Pepeng." The sticky-fingered people are now counting the last two minutes of the Arroyo administration. They would steal as much as they could. A total of P12 billion in quick release funds is a temptation they would gladly succumb to and quickly embrace.
And no, the money would not be used to buy the 2010 elections. The handwriting on the wall is clear. For the opposition, however fragmented, the elections are as good as won. Gloria and Mike and the rest are now on exit mode. Their concern now is how to take as much as they could carry on their way out.
The Senate version of the resolution shifting to the calamity fund P12 billion in unprogrammed funds is a good start. It provides for a congressional oversight committee that will review the spending on damaged infrastructure. With transparent disbursement of funds, the elbow room for the reincarnations of former agriculture secretary Joc Joc Bolante of the P700 million fertilizer scam will be very tight.
That said, sure as the sun will rise tomorrow in the east, the usual "25 percenters" will exact their share. That has been institutionalized during the long reign of the outgoing thieves. We cannot expect them to moderate their greed as they ride into the sunset.
On the proposed P50 billion rehabilitation bond, however, the opposition should not rise to Gloria’s flashy bait. That P50 billion bond conceivably could fly. But that would not take place between now and June 30.
The National Development Corp. is supposed to issue the bonds. The borrowing presumably will carry a sovereign guarantee. Despite the sweetener, no investor is likely to buy a corporate IOU unless there is reasonable assurance the borrowings will go into self-liquidating projects.
Can the NDC come up with a package offering returns sufficient to pay for the principal and interest on the P50 billion borrowing in the twilight of the Arroyo administration? That’s an utter impossibility.
Top of the head, the project we can see that may viably be funded by a P50 billion borrowing is a massive rehabilitation program for the Laguna de Bay. The lake, the largest in Southeast Asia, can be transformed into a tourism and leisure center. A circumferential road along its shoreline can be driver for the growth of well-planned communities around it.
The value created will be more than enough to cover the massive development cost. That proposed P50 billion NDC bond will not be enough. It will take more repeated floats. When these take place, Gloria and Mike will just be a memory. By that time, we will have to guard against new thieves.
Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/oct16/edit.htm
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