ANNOUNCEMENT FROM EPIRMA’S CENTRAL COMMITTEE Hello, dear ePIRMA colleagues and friends. We are happy to tell you that the meeting in Cebu City last week between our delegation and those from the Cebu Coalition, Makabayan, Picad, and other groups went well and resulted in the finalization of the schedule for the next People’s Congress, PEOPLES CONGRESS II, along with a working draft of our anti-pork barrel initiative. And now it can be announced: The PEOPLE’S CONGRESS II and LAUNCHING OF THE PEOPLE’S INITIATIVE VERSUS CORRUPTION AND PORK BARREL POLITICS is set for August 23, 2014 in Cebu City. And just to make sure our coordination with CC and the other groups remains smooth, the ePIRMA central committee initially appointed the following members to represent ePIRMA in the following sub-committees or functions for the said coming congress: Mary Jean Quiambao Reyes to the program committee; Rick IV Fulgencio to the finance committee; Jojo Soria de Veyra and Alfredo Liongoren to the education and communication committee; Lambert Tan and Leo Esquillo to the logistics committee; Rey Callope Sabio, Mary Jean Quiambao-Reyes and Manueldatu Rebueno to the operations committee, Atty. Judd Roy et al to the legal team, Dexter Briñas Amoroso to the international committee (Asia and Australia), Merit Salud to the US East Coast liaison division, Abraham Dusty Valdez to the US West Coast liaison division, Jp Velasco to the Europe liaison division, and Erick San Juan for media relations. Please be clued-up that we now need to start consolidating our ranks and to prepare our list of provincial and sectoral delegates to the event. The qualifications for delegates are as follows: 1. Must be a registered voter; 2. Espouses anti-pork barrel politics sentiments; and 3. Aligned with and supportive of ePIRMA. In the meantime, we will be checking all the names of those who participated in the last people’s congress so we could also send each of them an official invitation. Also, please be informed that presently we are in continuing remote conference with the Cebu Coalition, Makabayan, Picad, and the other groups and are discussing two pending ePIRMA issues with the initiative document for early resolution (please refer to the text of the document earlier posted on this wall - read here: https://facebook/groups/pirma/permalink/720073168058391/). Our two proposals are as follows: 1. Inclusion of a specific provision for the determination and depository of all public funds, in order to plug revenue loopholes and address the problem of identified corrupt practices in said area of public finance. We are proposing that the depository of all public funds, including Malampaya, Pagcor, PCSO, recovered ill-gotten wealth, (coconut levy?), etc. shall be the General Fund/National Treasury as enshrined in the Constitution. At present, directing payment of the government’s share of earnings from the GOCCs to the National Treasury is practiced inconsistently. Economic experts who have attested to the necessity of legislative guidelines to mitigate corrupt practices in this area of public finance include our economic adviser Dean Mayo G. Lopez of the Asian Institute of Management, Ms. Solita Monsod of the University of the Philippines and Ms. Leonor Briones of the National Treasury; 2. Substitution of the phrase ‘disaster management’ instead of the phrase ‘relief and rescue’, the former phrase being the one used in the UN Disaster Management Protocol to which the Republic of the Philippines is a signatory. Our failure to amend the phrase would be tantamount to emasculating executive and LGU powers as envisioned in the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Act and Local Government Code—in short, there would be conflict of laws if rescue and relief is used not consistent with UN disaster protocol, the DRRM Act and the Local Govt. Code. Should that failure happen, also, which would result in limiting and hindering NDRRMC operations, then we can expect political resistance from motivated professional disaster management groups. We believe that disaster management is a technical matter best left to experts, who may have better knowledge of the country’s many-decades-delayed mitigation and preparation program and its need for prioritization, flexibility, and adoption of best practices in saving lives and property. Despite all of the above and the finalization of the working draft, the document will still be up for open source discussion at the next People’s Congress, with the Cebu Coalition serving as our hosts this time. We might remember that ePIRMA organized and hosted the First People’s Congress successfully last year. But after subscribing to the appeal of Archbishop Jose S. Palma of Cebu to launch a single People’s Initiative that would be closer to success, we soon found ourselves in a happy path that shall now culminate in a second People’s Congress that will be more inclusive and thus larger, surer, and stronger. As a word of caution, however, we would like to inform you that, as ePIRMA’s central committee and the Cebu Coalition, Makabayan, and Picad agreed, subject to the groups’ final approval, the People’s Initiative Congress’ orientation will not take the form of a political rally charged with entertainment numbers and shall be congressional in character devoid of theatrics. Most importantly, the Congress has the primary objective of incorporating, as agreed, well-thought-out provisions such as the one-fund concept proposed in the first Congress and expert opinion we received regarding disaster management. Media mileage will not be our primary concern. In short, in this event we would like to source all expert opinion available within our membership for a better and stronger document. To supplement the committees with more ePIRMA volunteers and expertise, may we therefore now solicit anyone’s responsible volunteerism to assume regional coordination at this early stage and provide additional contact numbers? Kindly endorse prospective delegates, as well, to the said People’s Congress. Your participation as ePIRMA delegate will be dependent on the proposed amendments as presented in the above ePIRMA resolutions using the One Fund Concept to make the initiative more responsive, with constitutional viability a general concern. Other proposals the ePIRMA central committee is sympathetic include those concerned with development councils and their potential function in participatory allocation. We also need to insert the above proposed amendments, along with other corrections on what may strike us as legal infirmities, into our version of the final draft, for presentation, comparison, or an interlace with the other groups’ versions, thus our need for volunteers with expertise in this department. Kindly send all confirmation as official ePIRMA delegate, volunteer, legal volunteer, and list of recommended qualified delegates (pending the group’s final decision) via email to epirmaph@gmail or via text to 0917-958-2735 or 0929-854-4913. Please indicate your complete name, voting address, region, province and the congressional district or sector you wish to represent, and contact information. Your participation and support is crucial for the advancement of our country and people. In closing, gentlemen and ladies, let us remind each other that the People’s Initiative is an opportunity to effect real change and reform in the Philippines. Corruption is a malady that affects everyone. Lets not waste this opportunity to be part of this historic undertaking to legislate directly to effectively address corruption and abolish the pork barrel system. For it has been said that from those who are more blessed with discernment society expects more. Nobody is too great or irrelevant to be part of this undertaking. Mabuhay to the nearing realization of the people’s embrace of the people’s initiative as their direct democracy instrument for real empowerment!
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:43:24 +0000
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