Campaigning? Just doing job, say politicians

Perhaps feeling alluded to by groups seeking to file graft cases against “epal” politicians, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Monday a video recently aired on television where he spoke about the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) was “not really an ad.”

“If you see [it], it’s an ‘ulat ng bayan’ (report to the nation) because all the people I talked to are asking what happened to the BBL,” Marcos told reporters.

The only son and namesake of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, the senator is expected to seek reelection in May 2016.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista has urged civil society and poll watchdog groups to be more active against “premature” campaigning.

On Sunday, poll watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections responded to his call, offering its services to anyone who wants to pursue graft cases against “epal” politicians.

“Epal” is Filipino slang for a scene-stealer or an attention-seeker.

Audit of funds

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the public could hold the politicians accountable by seeking an audit of the funds used to pay for their early advertisements and by filing graft cases against them.

The Commission on Audit and the Office of the Ombudsman can pursue criminal action against the politicians through the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for entering into contracts grossly disadvantageous to the government, according to Macalintal.

Told that the Comelec had stated that TV ads were a form of premature campaigning, Marcos said, “For me, I just need to explain [the BBL] because many incorrect reports are coming out.”

“So, it’s better to explain. I myself will tell the people about my stand, my plans next week,” said Marcos, head of the local government committee handling the Senate’s BBL hearings.

Binay, Roxas

In Legazpi City, Albay province, a human rights group said Vice President Jejomar Binay and several Cabinet officials were using government funds for early campaign sorties in the Bicol region in the guise of attending to official functions.

Paul Vince Casilihan, Karapatan-Bicol spokesman, said the officials were using millions of pesos in government funds to bankroll projects that were actually meant to bolster their image because they want to run for President or for a Senate seat in 2016.

Casilihan said his group was particularly critical of the “political gimmick” of Binay and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Director General Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Francis Tolentino, chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

Binay has openly declared his intention to run for President under the United Nationalist Alliance, while Roxas is the presumptive standard-bearer of the administration’s Liberal Party.

Petilla, Villanueva and Tolentino are on the list of prospective senatorial candidates of the administration coalition.

Political gimmick

“The bugging question is why are these projects being introduced, implemented in a period when the elections are fast approaching,” Casilihan said in a phone interview on Monday.

“This is pure deception and political gimmickry. Poor people indeed need help but they are taking advantage of their positions at the expense of the government,” he added.

He said Kaparatan was calling on these officials to resign for “deceiving the people [with] their self-proclaimed achievements to advance their political ambitions.”

Casilihan noted that Binay had been using his position as “housing czar” when he made his rounds last month in the island-province of Catanduanes for speaking engagements and to “consult” local government executives.

Roxas, he said, visited the provinces of Albay and Sorsogon twice over the past months. The secretary inaugurated his department’s Performance Challenge Fund projects, such as the P5-million Legazpi City Food Court and water systems in Camalig in Albay and Prieto Diaz in Sorsogon.

Roxas, who also chairs the National Police Commission, returned on Friday to distribute police patrol jeeps.

Albay visits

Tolentino was in the city last month as guest at the Mutya ng Daragang Magayon search and to hand over traffic lights donated by the MMDA.

Petilla, in coordination with National Power Corp., held a “power caravan” in Albay last month and organized a “Youth Environment Advocates” group.

Last week, it was Villanueva’s turn to visit Albay and Camarines Sur during the Tesda-sponsored graduation ceremonies. He gave away sewing machines and welding tool kits to the graduates and announced the granting of 500,000 Tesda scholarships in the Bicol region.

These officials also arranged radio interviews and even placed preelection jingles and paid testimonials in various local radio stations in the region, according to Casilihan.

In the Senate, Marcos said he saw the need to explain the BBL because the people he had spoken to were not aware of the developments in the proposed law that would establish a new region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“It is necessary that the BBL would be clear to the entire Philippines because what we are doing is important and all will be affected here,” the senator said two days before Congress goes on adjournment sine die.

He underscored the importance of public awareness of the BBL as well as his position on the issue so that the process of coming up with the Senate version and its passage would be smooth.

Substitute bill

Marcos earlier said he would not support the draft BBL in its present form in the Senate and would come out with a substitute bill.

He cited, among other issues, constitutional infirmities in the draft and the non-inclusiveness of the proposed law.

His pronouncements left the Senate unable to meet the June 11 deadline for Congress to pass the BBL. But the senator said he intended to come up with the substitute bill before Congress resumes sessions on July 27.

Marcos told reporters that the bill would propose to “simply amend the Organic Act for the ARMM.” This would address the constitutional infirmities in the draft BBL because this would no longer require the creation of a new autonomous region, he said.

In a statement he later issued, Marcos said the systematic weaknesses in the ARMM could be “fixed.”

“There’s no need to throw out the baby with the bath water, as they say. We look at the system, see where the failings are, the weaknesses are and fix those,” he said.

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