Distrusted

Of all the sectors of our society, government enjoys the least trust of our people. This is the sad finding of the Philippine Trust Index (PTI), a survey-based study produced by public relations firm Eon.

Across all of government, Congress enjoys the least trust. The presidency enjoys only marginally better ratings. The trust ratings of both the Executive and Legislative branches of government eroded markedly in the two years since the PTI was done.

While both houses of Congress are most distrusted by our people, the Senate fares even worse than the House. The Senate enjoys the dubious distinction of being the least trusted institution in our society.

This is remarkable. It used to be that the Senate was highly esteemed by our people. It was understood as the chamber of independent minds, the hall that housed the most articulate representatives of every viewpoint in our society.

The House, by contrast, used to pale in comparison to the more illustrious upper chamber of statesmen. Congressmen were seen as greedy, self-serving traditional politicians. It was the chamber for wheeling and dealing, for betraying the people at every turn.

How things have changed. The Senate is now the cesspool of our politics.

The change in places between the House and the Senate in the universe of distrusted institutions might be attributable to the scandal over the pork barrel that simmered over the past year.

Senators may not be more rapacious than their colleagues in the larger chamber — but they do have much more pork at their disposal. They are vastly more visible in the manner they strut about, displaying their power with crudeness and immodesty. They horse-trade on a scale that makes congressmen look petty. Most tellingly, three senators are now in jail, charged with plunder.

Correlate that datum about the Senate being the least trusted public institution and the latest findings of voter preference surveys.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, the only senator perceived to be in active play for the 2016 presidential contest, used to have a 5% share of voter preference. In the last survey, the number of voters who said they will choose him for the presidency dropped to barely 1%.  His base of voters basically evaporated.

The drop is Cayetano’s numbers was so dramatic, the senator was quoted in one report as saying he would focus his energies in the near term on producing a baby.  His presidential run appears to have been aborted. We wish him a healthy baby, however.

The only thing that might explain Cayetano’s drastic loss of support is his participation in the three-man inquisition panel going after Vice-President Jejomar Binay. The hearings conducted by a runaway “subcommittee” may provide weekly grist for the scandal mill, but the partisan conduct of the hearings appears to have alarmed the public. If the second highest official of the land can be given the kangaroo court treatment, what is there to protect ordinary citizens?

On perceptive analyst put it well. “The process of investigation, of inquiry,” he says, “is being compromised by the demeanor of the senators in the subcommittee.” The hearings, if the perpetrators of this carnival have not realized it yet, warped our shared idea of fair procedures.

We do not want a society where witnesses are bullied and threatened, where it becomes the burden of the accused to prove his innocence against the presumption of guilt. This is the essence of tyranny, never of democracy.

Cleared

It is green and go for the inauguration of Central Luzon’s first world-class medical facility, The Medical City-Clark. The 150-bed facility will be inaugurated by the early part of December.

The Medical City-Clark is the first locator in a 177-hectare leased property at the former US airbase called the Global Gateway Logistics City (GGLC). The property will be developed through a $3 billion principally Kuwaiti investment.

The development of the GGLC was put under a shadow of doubt when a legal tangle between the Kuwait-based investors and the original contracting firm, Peregrine Development International, Inc., hired to oversee construction activities in the project site.

The Kuwaiti investors in Global Gateway Development Corp. (Global) terminated its contract with Peregrine for cause. Peregrine, in turn, filed a case at the international arbitration court in Singapore to prevent contract termination. In addition, Peregrine sought and won a temporary restraining order from the sala of Judge Omar Viola of the Regional Trial Court in Angeles City. On the strength of that TRO, Peregrine tried to prevent entry to the project site, threatening to upset the construction schedule for the project.

Global sought relief from the Court of Appeals (CA). As the investor in this huge project, it reserved the right to terminate contractors found wanting.

On October 21, the CA  issued a resolution imposing a preliminary injunction on the TRO issued by Judge Viola. This resolution, while it does not affect the arbitration case in Singapore, effectively prevents Peregrine from using TROs from the local courts to hamper development activity at the project site. Global is now free to continue construction activities without the uncertainty of TROs.

This is a beneficial turn of events for all of us. It allows the massive logistics city project to continue building without judicial impediment. Judge Viola’s TRO, after all, preempts the arbitral court in Singapore that is hearing the case filed by Peregrine.

Global City, envisioned to be the country’s main air transport logistical hub, will open numerous opportunities for our economy. At the site itself, it is anticipated that the logistical hub that will soon rise will create 300,000 quality jobs.