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SUNDAY: JULY 19, 2015
editorial@the standard.com.ph
HIGHER SPENDING CAP PUSHED By Maricel V. Cruz
CONGRESS will ask President Benigno S. Aquino III to certify as urgent a measure that would raise the campaign spending limit for candidates in local and national elections. Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro, chairman of the committee on electoral reforms and suffrage, stressed the need for the House of Representatives and the Senate to work double time in passing House Bill 5928 as there are only about 10 months before the May 2016 elections. “We will ask the President to certify the bill as urgent,” Castro said. Castro authored HB 5928 that seeks to amend Republic Act No.
7116 or the or the Synchronized Election Law of 1991. Castro said that Congress has to amend the 24-year old RA 7166 “in keeping with the current consumer price index (CPI) so as to encourage candidates to declare their actual campaign expenses in the interest of transparency.” Republic Act 7166 which provides for the authorized expenses of candidates and political parties during election campaign periods based on a per registered voter
basis. House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. had earlier vowed that the House leadership would prioritize the passage of the measure which some lawmakers said would promote “transparency” among candidates in terms of their actual elections expenses. Castro proposed to increase to P50 from P10 campaign spending limit per voter of candidates for president; and P35 from P10 vice president. HB 5928 also proposes P30 campaign spending limit for senatorial candidates for every registered voted as well as for congressman and other local candidates for provinces, cities and municipalities for every voter currently registered in the con-
stituency where he filed his or her certificate of candidacy. This from the current P3 per voter as provides under RA 7166 Castro also proposed that a candidate without any political party to support him/her may be allowed to spend P35 for every voter. This from the current P5 per voter. Castro said the current campaign finance law is “unrealistic and insufficient to say the least based on the many national and local elections in the past.” “The actual finance expenditures of any candidate mounting an election campaign are a violation of the present limitations. The law compels filing a report that is a distortion, if not suppression, of the actual figures,” Castro said.
NORTHBOUND.
A travel-tourism event dubbed ‘NLEX: TARA NA SA NORTE’ has just been launched in elaborate opening ceremonies Friday at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City. From left: Arthur Tugade, president of the Clark Development Corporation; Arnel P. Casanova, president of the Bases Conversion Development Authority; Rodrigo Franco, president of Manila North Tollways Corporation; and Glennifer Perigo, Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2010. On display are native products of indigenous people from Northern Luzon. MANNY PALMERO
PRO-WORKER BETS TO GET LABOR BLOC SUPPORT A BIG labor group on Saturday pledges to support a presidential candidate and six senatorial bets who are ready to champion labor. “We will endorse in 2016 the presidential candidate who is best prepared to champion the rights and welfare of workers. We will not support a candidate who is simply labor-friendly. We do not want a friend. We already have many friends. We want a champion,” said former senator and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) president Ernesto Herrera. “We are tired and sick of presidential and senatorial runners who pay lip service to labor during the campaign season. We will reject false hopes and empty promises,” Herrera said. “TUCP will give its support to just six senatorial contenders so that our endorsement will carry greater weight, and we will distribute our own sample ballots to our union members,” he said. The labor group is determined to rally around candidates who are able and willing to pledge in writing to the passage of specific measures, and to the adoption of definite policies and programs, that will help workers in a big way, according to Herrera. “And we will ask the candidates to fulfill their promises within the first 365 days of assumption of office,” the former senator said. He said TUCP leaders are now in the process of drawing up the list of clear-cut measures. The measures may include a substantial, one-time legislated pay increase for the country’s more than five million minimum wage earners, plus the doubling of the monthly Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA) of all government employees from P2,000 to P4,000, Herrera said. “We may also push for highly improved paid maternity and paternity leave benefits, the absolute exemption of all overtime and night differential pay from income taxes, and greater health insurance protection for all workers,” the former senator said. Vito Barcelo
UP STUDENT COUNCIL CHAIR FACES IMPEACHMENT INCUMBENT UP Diliman Student Council Chairperson JP Delas Nieves is no stranger to challenges, but he just might be facing one of the biggest in his life. Delas Nieves first captured the public’s imagination with his inspiring life story—his father works as a tricycle driver and his mother sells vegetables to support his education—but against these odds, he won in the student council elections as vice-chairperson in 2014 and again as chairperson in 2015 in the country’s premier state university. This time, he faces a different kind of challenge. On July 3, Delas Nieves was unceremoniously removed from UP Alyansa, the same student political party he carried to victory in campus elections just a few months earlier. On the same day, an impeachment complaint seeking his removal as student council chair was filed against him by one of his erstwhile party mates. His removal from the party and the call for his impeachment stems from alleged bouts of fraternity violence on
campus. On June 16, a member of Upsilon Sigma Phi, the fraternity to which Delas Nieves belongs, was beaten up with lead pipes by masked men. Two days later, a member of Alpha Sigma was also mauled by masked men wielding lead pipes. “Nung nalaman ko po, ni-report ko po agad yung mga insidente kay VC Santillan (UP Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Neil Santillan) kasi opisina niya po ang may kapangyarihan magimbistiga at umaksyon dyan, at sa ilan din pong miyembro ng konseho,” Delas Nieves said, when asked what he did upon learning of the incidents. (When I found out, I immediately reported the incidents to VC Santillan, because his office has the power to investigate and act on them, and also to some members of the student council.) Despite his actions, Delas Nieves said he was suspended by the student council for one month for his alleged failure to report the violent incidents. He was then removed from his party after refusing to comply with an ultimatum to resign from
his fraternity. Now, he faces an impeachment complaint. How does he feel about the turn of events? “Syempre, masakit po. Personal, kasi parang nahusgahan na po ako na may pagkakasala kahit wala. Pero mas mahirap po bilang Chair, kasi alam kong hindi ko po lubusang magampanan yung mandato at tiwala na binigay sakin ng mga estudyante kasi suspendido po ako,” Delas Nieves shared. (Of course, it hurts. Personally, I feel like I was judged to have done something wrong when I have not. But it’s more difficult as Chair, knowing I cannot fully carry out the mandate and trust the students gave me because I’m currently suspended.) Delas Nieves won by more than a thousand votes against his closest opponent for chair, Mico Pangalanan, who, incidentally, is a member of the Alpha Sigma Fraternity. But despite these challenges, Delas Nieves says he remains hopeful and positive—that he can overcome the impeachment complaint, that he can
help find a lasting solution to fraternity violence, and that he can deliver on his program of action for UP students before the end of his term. “Mataas po ang kumpiyansa ko na malalampasan ‘yung impeachment complaint. Sa totoo lang, wala naman po kasing basehan para ma-impeach ako. Ang mas malaking pagsubok para sakin ay ‘yung makahanap ng pangmatagalang solusyon sa problema ng fraternity violence na higit singkwentang taon narin sigurong problema. Buo po ang paninindigan ko na dapat tuluyan na ‘yang mawakasan, at isa po ‘yan sa mga priority ko bilang Chair lalo’t pagkatapos nung mga nangyari noong mga nakaraang linggo,” Delas Nieves asserted. (I am confident that I will overcome the impeachment complaint. Honestly, there is really no basis for my impeachment. The bigger challenge for me is to find a lasting solution to the problem of fraternity violence, which has persisted for over fifty years. I am firmly committed to finally finding an end to it, and
DELAS NIEVES
I will make it one of my priorities as Chair especially after all that has happened in the past weeks.) “Bukod pa dito, gagawin ko po ang lahat ng aking makakaya para mabuo muli ang council namin, para naman matupad namin yung mga programa naming hinanda para sa mga estudyante bago matapos ang aming termino,” he added. (Aside from this, I will do everything I can to reconcile our student council, so that we can implement the programs we’ve prepared for the students before our term ends.)