IN A COUNTRY RUN BY THEIR CONSTITUTION - How government operated during the Martial Law years and SHOULD OPERATE under our current Constitution How government operates is usually defined in the constitution. In our present and past constitution this has been detailed quite well. Let me share with you what I personally knew, saw and experienced how the government under Pres. Marcos’ martial law operated. I was myself a government employee then and had a direct hand in the distribution of GOVERNMENT monies, EITHER FROM TAXES OR LOANS. I was also one of the recipients of these monies, either as salary or as honorarium or whatever it was called then. First, Pres. Marcos appointed men and women who were of known and proven calibre in their respective fields. Like Marcos, they were SUCCESSFUL GENIUSES (MY WORD) in their respective fields. Example, on infrastructure, the dean from the UP college of engineering who also received honorariums from conducting various research studies of particular interest to private corporations/United Nations related agencies. Cesar Virata in particular was a dean of the UP college of engineering who eventually completed further studies from Wharton College of the University of Pennsylvania, and did various studies in his field. Gerardo Sicat, who was my professor in economics, also implemented the thoughts and ideas he shared with us, as his students in Eco 11, when he became head of NEDA. Second, How was this done? The Marcos constitution had earlier put in place the NEDA, National Economic Development Agency. NEDA had for its members the cabinet of Marcos, a NEDA DIRECTOR, and a secretariat. As I had previously written, these were the geniuses of the Philippines. At that time, they were called TECHNOCRATS. These men and women with Pres. Marcos, who was himself an expert in the field/on the ground, being himself, a politician. discussed and designed a master development plan for the Philippines. NEDA had a secretariat who took in the dirty work, writing the details, editing, and publishing of the master plans. During my time, the secretariat of the NEDA only hired young men and women with “laudes” to their names. They were also HIGHLY PAID, to ensure that the office wouldl only get the very best of the very best of the Philippines. A friend and I myself applied there for the HIGH SALARY, but failed in the rigorous exam, which was 100 times more difficult than those exams I hurdled successfully in my UNDEGRADUATE YEARS in the UP. I personally met one or two of them who I later heard had “laudes” to their names when they graduated from college. These men and women were “laudes” of outstanding universities in the Philippines and abroad. Third, each of these department head would meet each KBL assemblymen to instruct, to inform, to convince the assemblymen to approve these plans. These usually entailed long days/hours of intense discussions between the KBL assemblymen and the respective cabinet heads-geniuses. These GENIUSES needed the feedback of the KBL assemblymen who had been politicians in the field, who actually knew the realities on the ground. These GENIUSES based their ideas on studies they had conducted themselves, but they had researchers who did the actual gathering of data. Fourth, after weeks and nights of intense discussion and debate between and among the KBL assemblymen and the GENIUSES, a final copy of the development plans were finally born. These were then returned to the NEDA Secretariat for FINAL EDITING. Fifth, when the “FINAL-FINAL” edition was completed by the NEDA secretariat, the secretariat would submit copies to the GENIUSES – the head of the cabinet, for the “FINAL-FINAL” MAKE OVER…. Sixth, when the GENIUSES approved it, they would send copies to the KBL assemblymen plus a schedule for a new meeting for the “FINAL-FINAL” master plan. The KBL assemblymen who headed or members of various committees would receive their copies and were expected to have read them before the meeting with the GENIUSES. Seven, when the KBL assemblymen were satisfied with the FINAL-FINAL master plan, they would then bring the plan to the Batasang Pambasa for approval, otherwise, back to square one. Eigthth, anyway, I presume, the reader of this novel, got the idea. So, let me proceed. Nineth, Batasang Pambansa would meet as a body. President Marcos would open the BATASANG PAMBANSA with a state of the nation address and his master plan. (The next step is a short cut.) Tenth, The then Prime Minister Virata would divide the BATASANG PAMBANSA to meet in committees to discuss the MASTER PLAN. (The committees would have KBL assemblymen and Assemblymen from the opposition to discuss, debate and vote for the passage of the plan. In one of these committees I attended, AN opposition assemblymen raised no OBJECTION about the plan itself (did he even listen?...hmmm) . During the votation, he exclaimed “abay talo a ako dyan, mas marami kayo sa akin.” A KBL assemblymen then nodded, and told , “this is a democracy. We happened to be the majority,,so there being no other issue, the floor is open for votation ..etc..” T The rest is history for that master plan. BTW, this master plan is not a bible. This was evaluated every year and went through the same processes as I discussed previously. Tenth, the Department/Ministry of Information, which if I remember correctly, also had the publishing office, would cause the printing of several copies of these master plans. Eleventh, each ministry/agencies/bureaus-line and staff – would have copies of these master plans. Towards the end of the year, each department would operationalize the MASTER PLAN by designing their own projects and programs. Twelfth, I worked in the staff –Management section of the then National Manpower and Youth Council. Beth, my fellow employee in the department asked me to design a projects for our section. I just graduated from my MPA then, so I said..”ah, gusto ninyo may trabaho tayo, eh, di sigue”..Saan nga iyong 5 year development plan..? hmmm.. I designed three projects which I did not do it alone, btw. Beth, who was an accountant, did the budget side, a guy, who was a writer, did the final editing of our project. The third one did the final reading for general understanding of the project proposals. Thirteenth, as the management department, we also made a letter to all the other sections and offices in the regions to make their own proposals/projects, signed by our director general, the head of NMYC. Fourthteenth, we collated all the proposals of the entire NMYC, put them into a more general NMYC budget proposal for the year _____. 15th, we submitted it to our finance section who edited it further..in the sense, that they followed the correct format. The staff there were in their senior years and knew the nitty-gritty details of government laws on how to make a budget proposal. The finance section submitted NMYC budget proposal to the budget section for final make over..”Tama ba pagkasagot ng UP-graduate na iyan..na hindi ata nature-an sa UP kung paano mag fill up ng budget form..” 16th The finance and budget section representatives then sent the NMYC proposal to the Budget Commission, in particular to a friend, who was my classmate sa UP-public administration. 17th..Sabi ng Financial and Management Chief ng NMYC,,Oh, di, approve na ang lahat ng iyan,,kaklase mo pala si Corabel. 18th..Sagot ng kaklase ko..”aba-aba, Sir, babasahin ko muna ito, at saka hindi ko alam kung magkano talaga ang collection ng government., I had to call the finance department pa, ano..magkano ang collection ng government..Aba kahit tawagan pa ni Corabel si Pres. Marcos, ganoon din ang sagot sa inyo, ho.” 19th…a week after..tumawag ang friend ko sa Chief namin…who came to me..”Sabi ng kaklase me,,iyong hiningi na budget natin, akala natin tayo lang ang government office sa Pilipinas..at saka hindi department level ang NMYC..council lang daw tayo.. Bakit, Corabel, hindi ba iyan tinuro sa UP?.. 20th…Me: HINDI..at kung tinuro man, absent siguro ako. Tinuro ba sa kanya iyan ni Professor….? 21st..Sina-uli ng kaklase ko ang NMYC budget proposal..uulitin daw..Dios Ko..alam ba niya kung anong hirap ang pagkagawa ng PALPAK na ito? Sana naman sinabihan tayo kung magkano talaga ang allotted sa NMYC ano..Tawag ang head naming sa Budget Commission..”Magkano ba ang sa NMYC talaga, at itapat na lang daw ng kaklase mo ang budget ng NMYC” 22nd.Kakalse ko:..Teka, tatawag ko sa Department of Finance.. 23rd..Kaklase ko: Next day..Wala pang sagot..ginagawa pa ang data ng actual collection,,baka next week tapos na sila. 24th.Kaklase ko: .”____________pesos lang ang pwede sa buong NYMC” 25th..Me: Dios Mio..kasya ba iyan sa buong NMYC? Hindi nga kasya iyan sa central office..aabot pa ba iyan sa region..??” 26th..Chief ng Deparment: This is beyond our capability now..I will raise the issue to the Director General.. 27th..Chief ng Department: Ah, nag apply na pala tayo ng loan sa UNDP. The loan was already approved by NEDA. The director-general is just waiting for NEDA’s to confirm UNDPs approved money..We have to wait for two weeks..for the processing and all..In the meantime, the budget that was approved, tuloy na lang..ang line agencies natin ang recipient sa UNDP loan..kasi direct to the people ang service nila..” 28th..When NMYC along with all the government department/ministries/agencies have submitted their proposal to the Budget Commission (BC) , the BC will submit the entire government budget to the Batasang Pambansa for further discussion, debate and final approval.. 29th The assemblymen through this budget proposal would know what projects, how much, what department/bureaus etc..was planned for their respective regions. 30th In reality, unahan na iyan ng follow up for their regions..kc..ang collection was always short than projected. Bureau directors/chiefs would meet with the assemblymen to follow up the approval of their respective officies’ budget so projects can be implemented ASAP. Assemblymen merely open and close projects they had no hand with the monies!!!!! 31st In my own reality, out of the three proposals we made, isa lang ang nagawa namin. BTW, the aims of the NMYC, among others, was to equip the out of school youth with industrial skills necessary for the eventual industrialization of the Philippines. I pray that those readers of this article already had the idea of how the martial law government operated..On the question on pagnanakaw ni Marcos,,iyon ay hindi ko masasagot kasi hindi ko alam. Also, the assemblyman I mentioned was my father. My kaklase, my department Chief and my father all passed away. Although I am already in my senior years, I am of course still alive..he he he he
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 23:33:29 +0000