Speaking before the personnel of the Philippine National Police during the flag-raising ceremony at their headquarters on July 03, 2023, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong temporarily set aside his manuscript and gave an extemporaneous speech that earned applause from the public.
Magalong's talk centered on corruption as the major culprit on the ballooning government debt which is already at P13.86 trillion, as announced in April. Fighting corruption, he said, is a 'lonely battle' with only a few people raising the issue, as if 'corruption is becoming a norm in government.'
Here is part of Mayor Magalong's speech:
"Let me temporarily set aside my manuscript. Instead, let me speak from my mind & from my heart. Let me give you some facts about what's happening in the entire country today.
Last April, news came out that our national debt is already at P13.86 trillion.
Remember that when we started, when President Duterte started his administration as President of the Philippines, our national debt was at ₱5.7 trillion, accumulated for decades.
In just a matter of 7 years, our national debt increased by as much as 142%. We're now at P13.86 trillion!
In short, we are already above the 60% debt-to-GDP ratio. Ang ibig sabihin niyan, each and every Filipino kapapanganak pa lang, may utang na na P113,000.
According to Karl Chua, our ability to pay our debt would depend on our ability to manage our financial leakages. And so I asked, ano ba yung financial leakage? And no less than the former Secretary of NEDA said, 'ang final leakage na sinasabi ko, a big chunk of that goes to corruption.'
And surprisingly, when the news came out na ang utang pala natin is already at P13.86 trillion, only very, very few members of our legislative branch, people from Congress, raised hell. Ulitin ko, only very few raised hell. It is at this backdrop, or against this backdrop, that I would like to share with you this narrative.
Last year, I was invited by the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Interior Local Government to talk before newly elected officials, twice. In one session, there are about 150 mayors, and in the second session, about 200 mayors.
Last March, I was given a chance again to talk to about 1,100 municipal mayors, all members of the League of Municipalities. 3 weeks ago, I had the chance to talk and speak before vice governors of the different provinces.
In all occasions, my topic was technology and governance. Basically, how do you use technology in enhancing the way we govern, the way we process, the way we manage our local government union.
For the first 15 minutes, everybody was just so enthusiastic, listening to me, looking at my impressive presentation. And then I start talking about good governance. I start talking about traditional politics. I start talking about corruption. It’s a direct correlation with poverty. And when I start doing that, they also start looking at their cellphones. Are we not going to ask ourselves, is corruption now becoming a norm in government? Is good governance becoming an exception?
Nakakalungkot na meron na nga silang tinatawag na porsyento sa bawat project, hindi pa nagsawa. May porsyento na nga sila, sila pa yung contractor… sila pa rin yung supplier.
Unfortunately, only few people raise this issue.
Tayo sa Philippine National Police, I've been talking to your CESPO (Chief Executive Senior Police Office) Louie Makilan and all the other RESPO. When they visited me 2 weeks ago, that was about 3 weeks ago, we are willing to give or contribute a reasonable percentage of our pension plan or of our pension to national government to address this big issue.
Pero nakakalungkot, nothing have we heard from our legislators that they are willing to give up their pork barrels. Kahit man lang sana sabihin nila na bawasan niyo yung pork barrel. But nobody, for some reason, nobody would admit na meron pala silang pork barrel. But now that I'm with local government, the fact remains that there is still pork barrel.
Tayo, in the uniformed service, both from the Armed Forces and from the Philippine National Police, we risk our life. We risk a quality time with our family. And we are willing to give up a small amount of our pension just to help national government, just to address this huge deficit. Just to address this big national debt.
Hintayin natin kung anong sasabihin ng ating mga magigiting na legislators. Hintayin natin silang magsalita. Hopefully, one of them will come out in the open and tell us it is about time that legislators should also give a big contribution to address national government issue, especially on our financial debt."
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