An Interesting Look at SOPs

Comments by Joe Joson , USA
(Article titled 'Cong Cesar junks the SOP' was published in  the Catanduanes Tribune March 10, 2011)


An Open-Letter, Commentary on the article on SOPs below

ROSULO

Cong Cesar junks the SOP

Cong Cesar left me in a puzzle last week when he said he was pushing through a policy of not accepting any SOP in the numerous projects he has lined up for the province. SOP, literally “standard operating procedure”, is as we all know a common but widely condemned lingo in the bureaucracy or the corporate world referring to any commission, bribe or lagay appended to any funded contract.

Comments: It is now my turn to be puzzled at  why the decision NOT to accept any SOP in the numerous projects considered puzzling.  I thought that this was the right thing to do.

I am no devil’s  advocate, but my impulse was to throw back to the congressman the question as to where and to whom will the proverbial porciento go since public contracts, no matter how big or small, are by tradition already loaded with SOPs at the outset. My calculations gave me an approximate of P50 million in congressional and other special releases for Catanduanes Cong Cesar has already worked out or is working out for the past nine months of his term. Another intuitive mind on the side, could be seeing a couple of million or probably more in SOPs tucked into the fund releases, the normal order of things considered.

Comments:  I appreciate the openness of the author by stating the following:

1. That the ‘proverbial’ porciento does exist

2. Public Contracts are by ‘tradition’ already loaded with SOPs at the outset.

3. SOPs tucked into fund releases, the NORMAL order of things…wow…

The congressman was forthright. Frankly he said he was waiving any personal benefit or gain from public projects, particularly those funded by his congressional funds, and as a matter of policy, would plow them back to the projects. This means that contracted projects will be implemented without the usual 10 or 15 percent set aside by contractors as SOPs for the congressman or those in authority over the projects. Needless to say, the effect of such selfless decision is that more money will be devoted to the project, ergo, more quality in the projects. 

Comments:

1.       “Frankly he said he was ‘waiving’ any personal benefit or gain from public projects…”

Waiving a personal benefit sounds like the Congressman  is giving up on an automatic entitlement. Sounds a lot like the ‘entitlements’ of pabaon and pasalubong to me. The Congressman’s decision to forgo on his ‘entitlements’ could very well be a result of the investigations at the AFP where receiving entitlements of ‘traditional’ pabaons were routine. 

2.       “This means that contracted projects will be implemented ‘without the usual 10 or 15 percent’ set aside by contractors as ‘SOPs for the congressman’ or those in authority over the projects.”

I find these statements to be very direct and it is a wide-open declaration of the existence of a corrupt practice. Very interesting indeed!!!! SOP’s for the Congressman is a fact according to this author!  I suppose this must not come as a shock to anyone on the island but it is downright appalling to others observing from a distance! This would make headlines in many places!

The SOP and the notoriety of its use has since time immemorial been a principal cause of corruption in government. Its unrestrained practice has been a scourge not only for the constituency but among civil works contractors who are forced to save on costs to recover what they set aside for SOPs, at the expense of the quality of public projects. It is an accepted fact that most of those in the bureaucracy to include many members of Congress and the Senate, over decades, have been deep into the evil SOP practice so that the people do not find it funny anymore every time the legislature is caricatured as the house of “buayas”, “senatong” or “tongressmen.”

Comments:  No kidding!  We must therefore not be puzzled over one’s decision to ‘junk’ the SOP if we call  it evil.

 -----

Except for one or two, I hardly know of any member of the legislature in recent times who have despised the notorious culture in the use of the pork barrel funds now redolently disguised as “congressional development funds” or the so-called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Comments: Above statement is telling us that except for one or two, ‘everyone in the legislature’ LOVES THE PORK! That is a lot of guilty SOP recipients based on the 10 to 15 percent take on contracts! Too bad the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives cannot investigate itself! The information we have here is plenty fodder for our investigating ‘committee’.

 Senator Ping Lacson is one, only that he over-dramatized his abhorrence of the pork barrel by waiving altogether his P200 million yearly CDF. And he lost most of his constituency in the process.

Comments: Lesson learned from Ping Lacson, don’t give up your SOP or you lose your constituents! If anything, Lacson showed courage when he did what he did. He was setting a great example as a leader.

Of course I am not saying that Cong Cesar should follow Sen. Lacson’s example. There is much to be done in our poor province. There is still a good use for CDFs or PDAFs with the uncertainty in the sourcing of other public funds that can be tapped to alleviate the economic difficulties we are in. If put to good use, the P70 million-a-year for our lone district would mean a big lift from harsh life.  And what better way to maximize the benefits of these funds if they are made available without passing through the barberos (para gunting).

Comments: Better still, be nice to see pork go to projects that help alleviate hunger on the island!

-----

Cong Cesar is on the right track in using his congressional funds for small impact projects. Among them are the scholarship programs benefiting 1,500 students in the province, the P1 million direct subsidy for poor patients at the EBMC, the P100,000-per-town subsidy for patients at the various district hospitals, the water wells, irrigation systems and Tesda  training. I was told that before the school season ends, at least 15 multi-purpose centers costing about P1 million each will sprout simultaneously all over the province to provide venues for community projects or activities. Rain or shine, our only collective enjoyment in life, the baile, can now be held to our satisfaction.

Comments: Amen! And while we are at it, EBMC does not have a single dialysis machine that is functional. Perhaps that Pork can be used to  help fix this challenge?

-----

And the big-ticket projects are coming. The P600 million for the Viga-Pandan phase of the circumferential roads is already assured in the 2011 budget. The Ro-Ro port improvement in Codon is underway for that anticipated tourism linkup between Catanduanes and Caramoan “paradise” in Cam Sur.  Also it will be a matter of time before the Japanese loan funds will be ready to complete the eastern road links, a much awaited project that will lay bare the tourism potentials in the Pacific side of the province.

Comments: The ‘big ticket’ projects will do well to get implemented without any portion of it going to SOPs.

Cong Cesar provides a very consoling element as he takes the odd challenge of breaking tradition in the SOP culture, something that would seem strange for all of us. Over the years, what has been laid before us, with impunity, is corruption that has crept into all LGU levels with every official down to the kagawad shamelessly asserting his or her claim to the embedded SOP and every contractor or supplier rummaging around for cash to be advanced to the project proponent.

Comments: It has been said that leaders will NEVER rise above the limitations of their character. As the Commander-in-Chief leads the nation with leadership running under his flagship of integrity, ALL his underlings must take a solid position behind him, that is if we want to rise above our very mediocre state as a nation.

My worries subsided soon as I came out from that wholesome chat with Cong Cesar on the new moral tack he will be taking in his projects. I myself have been a long political practitioner in the province and being a pragmatist, I was about to put into him my sense that in Catanduanes, money determines the destiny of politicians. But feeling the sincerity and resoluteness of a young leader out to make a difference in our lives and aspirations, I forthwith set aside, at least for now, my long-time biases against Catandungeno congressmen. 

Comments: It took courage, despite everything, for the Congressman to junk his ‘percentage’ from the Pork. It took courage to announce that to the public by a friend. While it is deemed that it  was not an open admission to any guilt by anyone, we are happy to see that the fight against corruption is making inroads in this small part of the Motherland.

Perhaps all potential recipients of SOPs on the island will take the hint and follow suit and ‘waive’ their ‘proverbial’ and ‘traditional’ take from the people’s coffers.

Better still, despite the fact that pork is supposed to be a discretionary fund, it would be proper to see an accounting of these funds, once utilized, to let the people, the taxpayers, know just what we spent it on. This includes the ‘calculated’ P50M that is being or has been worked out for the last 9 months according to the author. 


Isn’t full transparency called for by the President? We would all like to believe that he does!!!

-----

ROSULO welcomes your comments via email: rosmanlangit@yahoo.com

With all due respect!

Joe Joson

USA