Another one bites the dust

One of the highlights of the budget hearings of 2016 was the encounter between the Congressmen and one Judy Taguiwalo, then freshly minted Secretary of Social Welfare and Development. We vividly recall Sec. Taguiwalo’s defiant defense of a circular – the emancipation of her department from slavery to Congressional post-enactment preferences.  I remember thinking: (1) welcome to Government Sec. Judy; and (2) her goose is cooked.

Sec. Judy was astonished to find congressmen who failed in their reelection bid at her doorstep, months after the May election. Temerity does not begin to describe the sense of entitlement as they railed for the balance of their “allocation” for the rest of the year. Undoubtedly, these were among the formative experiences that drove her to stonewall at her committee hearing and tell off the Congressmen who insisted on the status quo. She maintained this defiant posture at her Department for the past year. For Sec. Judy, it was really only a matter of time before it hit the fan.

Her intransigence is one of several theories that have surfaced on why the Commission on Appointments gave her the boot. Others are: her outspoken opposition to the Tax Reform package as being anti-poor; the gutsy  condemnation of the wave of extra-judicial killings; the alleged participation of the Communist Party of the Philippines in the distribution of conditional cash transfer funds.

Only one thing is certain. Judy Taguiwalo is not the Secretary of Social Welfare and Development because, unlike the CA members who rejected her, she refused to “hide her vote.”

First to ratify. The International Labor Organization (ILO) noted how the Philippines is the first country in Asia to ratify ILO Convention 151, a.k.a. Public Service Convention, 1978. The Senate, in a unanimous vote, concurred in the ratification of the historic treaty last August 14. The ILO highlighted the commitment of the Philippine government to extend to civil servants the right of freedom of association and to engage in all other forms of social dialogue, including collective bargaining. 

Last to ratify. In stark contrast to the Senate’s gung ho ILO action, there has been a failure to concur in the ratification of the Minamata convention which took effect last Aug 16. The Philippines has been a signatory since 2013 but the Senate seems to be tarrying on its concurrence duties in this one.

With recent scares of mercury found in skin whitening products and in the poisoning discovered in residents of two Palawan barangays, namely Sta. Lourdes and Tagburos, there is no better time than now for the Senate to finally act. This could be another Minamata, or even worse. Minamata is the town in Japan that contributed its name to the gruesome neurological disease caused by the uncontrolled discharge of mercury by Chisso Corporation into Minamata bay.

Lessons of history. The issue was delivered unto world consciousness by powerful images courtesy of W. Eugene Smith. In my own memory is seared the black and white photograph from Life magazine of Kamimura Tomoko, tenderly cradled by her mother in the bath. The child was born deaf, blind and a paraplegic because of mercury which entered through her mother’s placenta.

In the Palawan barangays, we are seeing elevated levels of mercury in their blood. Readings have gone as high as 10.0 ppm (part per million) in hair samples, far exceeding the USFDA allowable ceiling of 1.0 ppm. 40 percent of those tested are considered chronically poisoned. Even tissue samples from fish found in the 3 ha. lake that was once the Palawan Quicksilver Mines open pit show excessive mercury levels. The fish are being sold at the Puerto Princesa public market to unsuspecting consumers together with equally unhealthy fish from Honda bay where a wharf was built using tailings from the abandoned mine.

Free education. At the Universidad de Manila which has pioneered free education at the tertiary level, courtesy of the city government of Manila and the taxes of Manila residents, approximately 15,000 applicants – mostly from Manila’s public high schools – vie annually for 2,500 freshman places.  With the passage of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, this figure is expected to increase dramatically accompanied by a stark change in applicant demographic, i.e. equal amounts of graduates from the better equipped private high schools.

This is but one of the indicators of how qualified higher education institutions (HEIs) will be beset by dilemmas once the law becomes effective. One interpretation is provided by CHED commissioner Prospero de Vera, echoing DBM secretary Benjamin Diokno and Senior Senator Ralph Recto: this free lunch goes to the deserving. For them, this means stricter admission and stricter retention policies. But this also confirms the merit based nature of the subsidy and bears out the critics’ fear that, just like the government’s tax reform package, this program is not pro-poor. Another obvious question for qualified local colleges and universities: can you limit admission to city residents when the funding now comes from the national government?

Avian Flu. It is always a gut wrenching ordeal to decide at which point to go public with a disease like the Avian Flu. During the Mad Cow scares in the United Kingdom and the United States, their meat industries really took a wallop. This is why groups like SINAG and affected local officials offer resistance and conscientiously invoke the protocols for confirmatory testing before any announcements are made. In a 2005 case, an initial positive test turned out to be negative after confirmatory testing. Even the protocols of the World Organization for Animal Health allow countries to first fully confirm the virus’ presence before mandated reporting.

Yes, we agree that in situations like these, better safe than sorry is always a good excuse. But those with enormous investments in this industry do deserve to have their concerns on confirmatory testing addressed by the authorities.