PNOY ‘DI AATRAS SA ESKANDALO!

Binigyan-diin kahapon ng Malacañang na si Pangulong Benigno Aquino III ang tatayong chief communicator ng national government at ngayon pa lamang ay hayagan umano nitong kakaharapin ang anumang eskandalo ng kanyang administrasyon, taliwas sa na ging istratehiya ng nakaraang administrasyon ni da ting Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Ito ang tiniyak kahapon ni Communications Group Secretary Herminio Coloma na nagsabing bagama’t nakapwesto na ang mga opisyal ng ComGroup ay si Aquino pa rin, sa pangkalahatan, ang tatayong chief communicator nila kung saan wala umanong plano ang huli na lumikha ng media gimmicks at magsinungaling para lamang mapag-usapan o makalusot sa anumang kontrobersya.

“No gimmicks. We will tackle controversies. We’re not in the business of manufacturing stories, of spinning. Iiwas kami na magkaeskandalo pero kung mangyayari, we will apply the twin values of transparency and accoun tability,” ani Coloma.

Magpapakatotoo umano si Aquino sa pagbibigay ng impormasyon sa taumbayan sa pamamagitan ng ComGroup at iiwas na magkaroon ng special treatment sa anumang media group o entity.

Samantala, inamin naman ng ComGroup na malaking hamon sa kanila ang mataas na popularidad ni Aquino at kung papaano ito mamantini ngunit ito ay papatunayan nila sa pamamagitan ng magandang performance. Wala rin umanong intensyon na i-project si Aquino bilang isang “masa President” dahil kung ano umano ang nakikita ng taumbayan dito ay pawang totoo dahil wala umanong pretensyon sa sarili ang chief executive.

Kumpiyansa si Coloma na ang pagiging totoong tao umano ni Aquino ang makakapagmantini sa mataas nitong popularidad tulad ng 85% trust ratings nito sa Pulse Asia survey.

Samantala, maliban sa social networking na tweeter at facebook ay balak din umano ng ComGroup na gamitin ang text messa ging sa pagpapakalat ng impormasyon sa taumbayan ngunit isinasaayos pa nila ang istraktura para rito.

Pinag-aaralan din umano ng ComGroup ang pagkakaroon ng closure sa sequestration ng mga government TV\radio stations kundi man ay papaunlarin ang kapasidad ng mga ito.

Analyst: Aquino’s SONA lacks substance

By Thea Alberto, Yahoo! Southeast Asia

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s speech lacked substance and was practically “rehashed,” a political analyst said, reacting to State of the Nation Address.

“It’s not a reform speech, it’s basically a rehash of an old speech,” Casiple told Yahoo! Southeast Asia in a phone interview.

Although Casiple lauded Aquino’s willpower to fight corruption, the political analyst said Aquino did not provide concrete solutions to major issues like poverty, environment, land reform, among others.

“They were elite solutions to what is otherwise the problem of the poor people,” said Casiple.

Meanwhile, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said they appreciated Aquino’s expose against his predecessor, now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“We appreciate the exposes on corruption. We hope though that concrete actions will be taken against Arroyo,” said Renato Reyes, Bayan Secretary-general.

Reyes said Aquino should make moves soon to freeze Arroyo’s assets and to issue a hold departure order against those responsible against wasteful spending.

He said Aquino also failed to provide a concrete program on job generation.

European Community to help Pangasinan strengthen its Public Finance Management

LINGAYEN--- The European Community represented by Michel Ligthart recently met with the budget and finance officers of the province to find ways on how to help Pangasinan strengthen further its Local Government Units Public Finance Management.

Ligthart , a consultant of the European Community, said the EC intends to give some technical assistance on the strengthening of LGU PFM since Pangasinan is a recipient of a grant from the EC under the Health Sector Policy Support Program (HSPSP) of the Department of Health.

Atty. Janet Abuel, Regional Director of the Department of Budget Management said Pangasinan received a grant of some 4 million euro from the EC for training purposes for the LGU PFM as a support to the health sector.

As a requirement, there is a need to strengthen the LGU PFM on the usage of funds, planning and disbursement.

The EC is concerned with the strengthening program of the provice on how to uplift the health sector because Pangasinan will serve as a representative of all the provinces in the country.

The group visited only two provinces, Pangasinan and Cavite and the EC have chosen Pangasinan as the pilot province for the implementation of the various programs of the health sector under the HSPSP.

Abuel noted that the EC was impressed with the performance of the LGU PFM even as they have realized that the LGUPFM can function well even without the grant so the EC wanted to extend the assistance to other programs not related to health.

Towards this end, the European Community is now planning to give an independent funding for the strengthening program.

Meanwhile, Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr, said this is a welcome development to the health program of Pangasinan.

Being one of his priority programs, the province has embarked on various health care programs one of which is the enrollment of indigent families to Philhealth to enable the poor Pangasinense avail of medical services.

This is the first time in the history of Pangasinan that the province has taken steps for a universal enrollment of all indigent heads of families.

In two and a half years, phenomenal results were achieved because Pangasinan has become number one in Philhealth universal coverage besting Cebu and Bukidnon who used to be number one.

From a total of 27,000 enrolees in July 2007, we now have a total number of 260,000 indigent Pangasinenses covered by health insurance.

The 14 hospitals in the province have also undergone various stages of improvement and upgrading and established a dialysis center with 12 dialysis machines.

Aside from hospital and curative health care, the provincial government has also pursued an aggressive public health program and strengthened its capability for disease prevention and promotion of healthy lifestyles and practices in our communities. (PIO/Angeline D. Villanueva)