The surprised visit of the Commission on Audit (COA) at the Iloilo City Treasurer’s Office (CTO), has created panic to all departments heads. What’s funny is that mere news of COA’s dropping to their offices has depicted them already badly beaten by their looks!

In fact, the day after the COA’s invasion of the CTO, some department heads began packing things for a flight to Hong Kong. According to some employees, the department heads are cramming like passengers catching the last plane out!

Perhaps they fear Presidential Decree No. 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines, that says, all payments out of government funds shall be supported with complete documentation. Not only that, Section 39(1) of the above states that “COA shall have the power, for purposes of inspection, to require the submission of the original of any order, deed, contract or other document which any collection of, or payment from government funds maybe made, together with any certificate, receipt, or other evidence in connection therewith. If an authenticated copy is needed for record purposes, the copy shall upon demand be furnished.”

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In the watershed Pulse Asia survey of Jan. 22-26, the ground under the presidential race shifted violently, changing completely the panorama of the 2010 election and making it more volatile, less than three months into the polls.

The survey showed the front-runner since September 2009, Sen. Benigno Aquino III, locked in a statistical tie with Sen. Manuel Villar. Aquino polled 37 percent and Villar, 35 percent, as the first choice of respondents.

The obvious picture from the survey is that Villar made a remarkable leap-frog, gaining 12 percentage points from the December 2009 survey, while Aquino declined by 8 percentage points. The survey marked the turning point of the resurgence of Villar and the decline of Aquino.

Less obvious but as important is the result that while Aquino’s rating was falling, that of his running mate, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, was rising.

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Despite questionable survey results bombarding readers every day, students of the Ateneo de Manila University gave substance to ominous signs of things to come. A major broadsheet reported yesterday that in a mock election conducted at the Ateneo, presidential contender Gibo Teodoro convincingly won “hands down” over his cousin, Noynoy Aquino—despite Noynoy and his father being Ateneans—and over the rest of the “presidentiables.” And this is not just in Ateneo.

Reports from various colleges and universities all over the country, according to various dailies last week, showed that Gibo Teodoro is surging from the blind side in mock elections held in those academic institutions. The organizers of these mock elections were surprised at the results showing that despite the legacy of Noynoy’s parents, Gibo Teodoro is still the choice of students all over the country. Gibo is the youngest among the presidential candidates and this, many believe, is a major pogi point; add to that the fact that he is a Bar topnotcher. In the latest surveys, Gibo also registered an improvement over his last showing, which reflected the slowing down in the popularity of Noynoy Aquino and his closest rival, Manny Villar.

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AMONG the candidates running for president, administration candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro is in the most interesting predicament. He has behind him the formidable backing of the current administration, giving him tremendous advantage over his opponents. According to Lakas-CMD-Kampi, 60 percent of local officials – representatives, governors, mayors, vice-mayors are with them and solidly behind Teodoro.

Given Teodoro’s awesome political backing, he should be one of the strongest contenders for the presidency. Yet since October, 2009 when his name was included in the surveys, his dismal rating has not gone beyond 5 percent. In fact his rating even dipped to 4 percent in the recent Pulse Asia survey conducted in the third week of January, 2010.

Despite his mestizo bearing, impressive academic background and articulateness, he failed to connect with the voters. There is only one reason behind Teodoro’s miserable esteem in the eyes of the Filipino people. He is the officially anointed candidate of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA). A Pulse Asia survey conducted in October, 2009 revealed 79 percent of the voters said they will reject the candidate of the President indicating that PGMA’s endorsement is a “kiss of death.”

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CROSSING borders in the present political fight for the 2010 elections is starting to rear its head.

For instance, there are supporters of Noynoy Aquino for President who recently made known their support for the tandem Noynoy-Binay, instead of the Noynoy-Roxas of the Liberal Party.

These supporters said Jejomar Binay, now running for Vice President under the United Opposition, was a loyal supporter of the late President Cory Aquino, mother of Noynoy. And they feel he would be an asset to the Presidency of Noynoy should he win.

In fact, Binay was not surprised a bit when told of this move of some Cory loyalists. “They must not have forgotten how I faithfully served President Cory during her time,” he even said.

In Iloilo City, there are similar moves. There are groups and individuals here that are campaigning for Mayor Jerry P. Treñas for Congressman and Usec Larry Jamora for Mayor.

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THE HEAVY ELECTION SPENDING OF SEN. Manuel Villar on political advertisement seized the spotlight at the official start last Tuesday of the 2010 presidential election. It overshadowed the issue stemming from the Senate report recommending censure for Villar for unethical conduct in connection with the C-5 road extension project traversing his real estate properties in Paranaque and Las Piñas. It has become the defining theme of the campaign.

Villar’s rivals drew blood on the spending issue at the Inquirer-sponsored forum of eight presidential candidates at the University of the Philippines by taking turns in lacerating him for his political ads swamping the mass media, including TV and prime-time shows.

The issue was the hottest item in a wide range of issues taken up in the forum and evoked lusty applause from the audience. Sen. Jamby Madrigal, who initiated the Senate investigation of Villar’s interventions in the transactions of his real estate companies, started the fireworks by confronting Villar, “The use of actors—you had to pay P30 million to endorse you—is an insult to the Filipino intelligence.”

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This article is reflexively against the condoning immorality of provincial officials in converting 12 public hospitals in Iloilo into economic enterprise. These hospitals will now charge the patients for services rendered which is supposed to be free as mandated by law.

Mr. Manuel “Boy” Mejorada, an employee of the Provincial Capitol disclosed that subsidy of these hospitals will soon be cut-off. On why, we have yet to know. But this disclosure of the “man-friday” of Gov. Niel Tupas, Sr. is what got us so irked about.

Rouan Gomez who learned about this in my previous column, cited the Constitutional role of the national government in this issue. “Section II, ART. III of the 1987 Constitution – The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost. There shall be priority for the needs of the under-privileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women and children. The States shall endeavor to provide free medical care to paupers.”

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A RECENT visit at the slaughterhouse of San Fernando, Pampanga has re-underscored the need for local government units (LGUs) to find creative ways of sourcing funds for local development. There are certainly good practices on this yet most of our LGUs are still grappling with modalities to allocate scarce financial resources to finance daily operations and fulfill their public service mandate.

Local governance research literatures suggest that nearly two decades after the enactment of the Local Government Code of 1991, most of our LGUs are still highly dependent on their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) to finance everything. This is true both with small and big LGUs.

The same studies show that most of our local government leaders have not utilized, much less optimized, the economic powers they’ve been vested with by the Code. They have lingered much in the realm of political power and have failed to move beyond it, forgetting that money – a great deal of it – is needed in the exercise of political powers. When an LGU relies heavily on its IRA, it can only do so much, which is not enough to yield meaningful impacts on the lives of constituents and in the local community in general.

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LOCAL politics in the Philippines is a family affair. One on end, there are the political dynasties with multiple members of the family occupying different elective positions simultaneously or interchangeably across time. These families have made a business out of politics; they often have no sources of income other than largesse pilfered from state coffers. In many cases, these monies are parlayed into legitimate businesses and legal enterprises. These families are deeply entrenched in the community and keep close and comfortable relationships with the local elites, businessmen, favored suppliers and contractors, members of high society, and even national level politicians. They move in the same circles and get invited to each others’ parties. More formal social ties are formed through marriages and baptisms, and the blown-up Filipino concept of the “compadre” (or kumpare in Filipino).

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SCULPTURED by the ebb and flow of tide and time. That was how a website that featured Willy’s Beach Resort in Boracay described Willy’s Rock, dubbed as the “most photographed spot” on the island.

It is on this group of coralline rocks where a statue of the Virgin Mary stood for over 20 years until last week when it was removed upon orders of the same person who had it erected there.

That person is Socorro Ruchanie Gadon, owner of Willy’s Beach Resort who left her Catholic faith and moved to a Born-Again Christian church in 1992.

Gadon may own the resort but certainly not the rock formation protruding by the beach of Boracay, across her business establishment. Nature put it there, not her. She may have enhanced the rock formation by erecting a grotto there using her own money but what it has become for the people is already beyond her caprice.

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