Acoustics

It can only be described as “populist acoustics,” the cynical sounds that emanates from Sen. Bam Aquino.

Aquino will be trying hard to win a second term at the Senate. He will probably be running independently, his party having been severely dissipated.

It should be understandable that his public relations machinery has become hyperactive of late, positioning the senator on the populist side of every issue it might contrive. What is understandable, however, is not necessarily excusable.

Last heard, the senator was advocating the suspension of the TRAIN law, blaming it for the spike in the inflation rate. He proposes, in particular, the suspension on excise taxes on fuel when oil prices reach a specific threshold.

To begin with, TRAIN is not the culprit in the current inflationary surge. Several items have been identified as the main drivers of domestic inflation: the devaluation of the peso, the sharp rise in global oil prices and the spike in the price of rice after the buffer stocks the NFA was supposed to maintain simply disappeared.

The devaluation of the peso is due to the exit of hot money, the sharp rise in imports because of the increase in the purchase of capital goods and our economy’s chronically weak capacity to export. Some economists see the devaluation as a good thing.

Global prices of oil are beyond our control. The other day, oil climbed to $77 per barrel and will likely rise even more as a consequence of the restoration of US economic sanctions on Iran.

The disappearance of cheap rice from the shelves is entirely due to NFA’s incompetence. Rice is a basic commodity figuring prominently in inflation calculations.

In a word, we could scrap TRAIN but the inflation spike will not go away. By scrapping a key reform measure, we will only bankrupt our own government. That will make things worse.

Nor can we turn excise taxes on and off like a light bulb. The revenue agencies are large and complex organizations that cannot turn on a dime. Besides, revenue expectations are built into the present spending plan, including the billions handed out as subsidies to such things as across-the-board free tertiary education – a most unwise law that Bam claims credit for.

Of course, Bam Aquino is free to make all the populist acoustics he wants to make in aid of reelection. But in the process, he should not make idiots of us all.

Local politics

Nonoy Andaya must be gunning for the governorship of Camarines Sur, a much larger fiefdom than the province’s 1st District he now represents. Only that could explain his strange behavior of late.

The congressman recently signed up for the administration party PDP-Laban, although he is said to have forged an alliance with Leni Robredo who holds sway over the vote of Naga City. Politics always makes for strange bedfellows.

Last April 18, Andaya figured in an ugly tussle with ElRay Villafuerte, former governor and father to the present one. Fortunately, the tussle was only verbal and resulted in no casualties. The incident figured prominently on television news since media crews were present to document the heated exchange of words.

The media crews were not present, however, earlier in the day when Andaya and his men physically and verbally abused local government volunteers at the site of the Pili airport. The volunteers, some injured and others complaining their phones were taken from them, trooped to the police station to register their complaints.

The site in question is designated for the expansion of the airport. The expansion was given the go-signal by the DOTr. A writ of possession of the land was issued last July by the regional trial court. The upgrade of the airport will be a boon to Camarines Sur’s booming tourism industry.

Not all the farmers affected by the upgrading of the airport are pleased about being obliged to sell their land to government. Andaya appears to have allied himself with the farmers, even as Pili town is outside his congressional jurisdiction.

Confrontations like this happen all the time when government projects require reuse of the land and farmers refuse to vacate. Such confrontations need to be worked out peaceably instead of inflamed even more by the clash of politicians with conflicting agendas.

The farmers are complaining that earthmoving machines piled soil on the barangay road, hampering their access to their farms. But the writ of possession had removed from them the right to continue to use the land designated for the airport project. There was no justification for Andaya to threaten and even harm the local government personnel securing the project site.

When the victims of Andaya’s abusive behavior trooped to the police station to lodge their complaints, the congressman stormed after them. By chance, Villafuerte was in the same station to look after his people. That was when the near-clash happened.

At least four of the local government workers complained to the police that Andaya poked a knife at them and threatened them with further harm if they did not leave the province immediately. This is alarming behavior by someone who wants to lead the whole province.

If, by any chance, Andaya become governor of Camarines Sur, will he now dismantle the airport project so that the farmers may be restored to their rustic occupation? Will he keep this province, one of the nation’s poorest, in its present state?

Or is he simply making a cynical play for the votes of these farmers only to abandon them later?