Split DILG Powers Flawed

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee asked on Wednesday President Benigno S. Aquino III to correct his flawed policy of dividing the powers of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary and undersecretary as it is “confusing” and generates “mis-coordination” in running the government.

Sen. Teofisto L. Guingona III, committee chairman, said the policy violates the Revised Administrative Code.

In a statement before the resumption of the inquiry on the controversial “jueteng” (illegal numbers game) payola at the Senate session hall, Guingona said that past hearings revealed “a lot of possible improvements in the system on how to run the government… that laws have to be passed and what’s to be done.”

Guingona was referring to the controversial division of labor at the DILG where Secretary Jesse Robredo was given the responsibility of taking care of the local government units (LGUs) and DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno over the Philippine National Police (PNP).

The division of labor between Robredo and Puno surfaced during the Aug. 23 hostage-taking incident where eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.

Robredo later on disclosed that the President gave him powers over the LGUs and Puno over the PNP. Thus, he had nothing to do with the hostage-taking incident.

Guingona said the flawed policy of dividing the DILG powers affected the running of government adversely as the decisions of the undersecretary go directly to the President although under the law, the DILG has to power to review and revise all decisions of his subordinates.

“This policy violates the Revised Administrative Code. I call on the Executive to correct this policy,” Guingona said.

Guingona also cited a recent rejection by the PNP leadership of a decision by Robredo creating a special projects group to go after illegal gambling and illegal drugs because current laws already give such responsibility to the PNP.

“I agree that this is surplus sage,” Guingona said.

AMLC powerless against jueteng
Guingona also said that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) law is powerless in going after those operating ‘’Jueteng’’ and other illegal activities because there is a Supreme Court decision which requires the AMLC to first inform the person that he would be under investigation before it could check his bank deposits.

This admission presents an opportunity for Congress to amend the law creating the AMLC, he said.

Guingona also cited the difficulty being experienced by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in conducting lifestyle checks on persons alleged or suspected to be enjoying the fruits of illegal activities.

“We need a law that will give more teeth to the BIR on its lifestyle checks,” he said.

Guingona said the last two hearings on jueteng showed that there are solutions to the illegal numbers game menace: legalize it or go all out against it, which means that the state-operated STL (small town lottery) should be strengthened to topple it.

A third, according to Guingona, is for government to act like a Pontius Pilate which is to wash its hands and throw the problem to the LGUs.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a Defense minister of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, said that stopping jueteng operation is a losing battle as long as the “masa” (the lower income class) will continue to bet.

Enrile, who favors the legalization of jueteng, said there is no way that government could stop it.

True, jueteng could be stopped in a day, a week or months but “it will come back again, again, again, and again,” he said.

“Sen. Gregorio ‘Gringo’ Honasan II, chairman of the Senate public order and illegal drugs committee that is supporting the Guingona panel in conducting the jueteng inquiry, also supported the position of Enrile in having jueteng legalized.

He also said that the Senate should now terminate its hearings because “we are not law enforcement people… we are lawmakers and we have enough data to make a judgment to adopt a policy.”

Enrile said he is ready to debate on his position favoring the legalization of the decades-old “jueteng” operations rather than to leave it as it is.

Mario Casayuran, Manila Bulletin