populist measures that do damage, individual measures that do damage

8/18/2019 Populist measures that do damage, Individual measures that do damage

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Dizon, Kurt Zeus L. February 3, 2016

MA Political Science 1 Soc St 1!

Po"ulist #easures t$at %o %a#a&e, 'n%i(i%ual #easures t$at %o %a#a&e

In such policy situation, populist measures or actions would result to economic outcomes

- whether positive or negative. For the level of amount of salaries or wages as an example: if you

are the worker, it is your incentive to make your wage higher because you will gain more

happiness through gaining more; however if you are the employer you are more likely to oppose

such salary increases because it will effect on such expenditures and loses in the savings of the

business due to the shift of some amount that icat stated that !excessive direct interventions

have led to the loss of "ob and many labor-using industries to other countries, thereby the

prevalence of many poor, unemployed Filipinos. #icat, $%&'()

*opulist measure such as the motives of our lawmakers to increase the pension by

$,%%%.%% is a good sign that our lawmakers shows empathy to our people especially the retirees₱

and the elderlies. +he $,%%%.%% increase is a huge help for them especially for their needs such₱

as the increase of medicines, medical maintenance and other expenses. avao ity ayor and

*residential /spirant 0ody uterte said: with our current situation, the need to raise the pensions

is a must because most pensioners are now elderly who need regular maintenance medicines that

are very expensive. 1owever the increase would be a threat to the institution #/lconaba, $%&'(.

+he main reason why *resident /2uino had vetoed the bill is that the funds would be

drained if the pension increase was allowed to proceed. 3ith more funds needed for the pension,

this would increase deficit of funds that could result to the bankruptcy of the institution. 4ust

like icat said: 5f what use is a measure that proposes to do good if it destroys the veryinstitution that produces the goodie6 on7t kill the goose that lays the golden egg8

3ith icat7s opinion about populist measures do the damage; honestly he may be true

about his notion that the increase of the pension would later on kill the institution due to the

deficit of funds. +he institution cannot afford the shortage of funds that will be needed for the

increase. In a newspaper it was said that if implemented, there would be $' billion deficit for ₱

this year alone and as the number of pensioners grows, the initial *9' billion in additional benefit

outlay per year would increase, which in turn contributes to the rising annual deficit or net loss

incurred by #eyco, $%&'(. In terms of the principle of check and balances, the president

show how he can exercise this power and how he can "ustify it. /lso icat has mentioned the populist measures that are being used by politicians to gain more fame and support especially

this coming election. /lthough this may not be the main motive by some, but it seems that a lot

of our congress lawmakers uses the issue as a tool to gain more patrons and exposures.

ore likely the deficit of funds would make the government inefficient. 3e cannot say that the

government would shoulder the deficit of funds because first and foremost it is illegal that

putting directly the eneral /ppropriation /ct funds to the pensioners "ust like in the case of



/* and */F < and if possibly happen would again be a cause of political patronage. /lso it

would be very inefficient because is a government-owned and controlled corporation, which

means that the conducts both commercial and non-commercial activity, will still

receive subsidies from the government however the main goal of is to gain more profit for

the government by paying its dividend to the government. 3ith all the statements, we could see

that the *resident /2uino is "ust trying to save the from bankruptcy and damages. 1owever

we could also mention the corporate thinking of our government towards in handling their

institutions=agencies. +hey may forget the government is primarily a civic or public intended

institution rather than a private or corporate entity. 3e also shall see our state principles and

policies 2uoting /rticle II ection 9 of our &>?@ constitution which states !the promotion of the

general welfare).

+he problem with *resident /2uino is that should have made a compromise and not

simply vetoes the bill. +here were some suggestions in order to have a win-win situation is that

instead of $%%% it will be &%%% or even suggested 9%% that according to them the could₱ ₱ ₱

sustain the fund. /lso regarding the process of the bill, there is somehow a miscommunication

between the legislature and the executive. It may sound to be a good example of separation of

powers; however the harmonious relationship could be in danger. +he legislature body 2uoting

the lower and upper house in making bills, undoubtedly they conducted intensive and deep

research before passing the final reading of the bill. 3ith the two houses, it should been furnish,

it has been tackled and debate regarding some issues and probably the issue about the fund has

been mentioned during their debates. /lso one thing is that the *resident7s party- the iberal

*arty have the ma"ority seats in the lower house by A?.'B or estimate of $=9 of the chamber

#5CC-ay $%&A elections(. /nd also 2uoting the leadership in the two houses: peaker of

the 1ouse 0ep. Feliciano Delmonte and enate *resident enator Franklin rilon, it seems thatthere has been a miscommunication regarding the lawmaking process.

/lso some especially enator and Eice-*resident /spirant Dongbong arcos suggested

that there is a problem regarding the management, that the people on top are the reasons of the

mismanagement #allaveria, $%&'(. /lso if we look at the salaries of executives, the salaries

ranges from $- million which some would claim to be corrupt, une2ual, and in"ustice for a

person employed in a government owned and controlled corporation. /nd importantly the money

is from the people especially the workers and the subsidy is also from the tax money. +hey

worked, earned and paid for it. +he essence of promoting general welfare is at threat and the

downfall of our social welfare system is beginning to die due to the less empathy of our heads inthe government, the populist measure instead of a measure to help the public is already seen as a

tool for power, influence and patronage that makes our citiGens cheap in the eyes of the greedy

politicians.

ometimes populist actions or measure can do damages especially in terms of economic

outcomes. icat may agree that our *resident did the right thing when he exercised his veto

power to re"ect a !very popular) measure passed by ongress that would exactly do damage to



the institution that the country has set up to provide social security. 1owever I disagree that he

left the pensioners dying to buy their own medicines, that he may compromise but he "ust simply

veto, and really left the pensioners with nothing. +he problem is that the institution is providing

funds that are already insufficient with our present economic situation, that the goose is not

already laying golden eggs, although it is laying but today it is "ust eggs with a low value

comparing it with the golden egg with high value. It is the *resident or the lawmakers7 "ob on

how they can make the geese produce again the golden eggs. 3hatever actions that has been

done, there will always been damage. For the decision of the *resident, his measure surely

damaged the hearts of the pensioners.

)or*s +ite%

List of Candidates With Votes Obtained for Partylist . #$%&9, 4une &(. 0etrieved from

5CC.gov.ph: http:==www.comelec.gov.ph=6rH/rchives=0egularClections=$%&AC=0esults=partylist$%&A

/lconaba, . #$%&', 4anuary &>(. Duterte on SSS pension hike: When there’s a will, there’s a

way. 0etrieved from In2uirer.net: http:==newsinfo.in2uirer.net=@9'A'=duterte-on-sss-

pension-hike-when-theres-a-will-theres-a-way

eyco, . #$%&', 4anuary &'(. Vetoed save SSS . 0etrieved from anila Dulletin:

http:==www.mb.com.ph=veto-saved-sss=

allaveria, . #$%&', 4anuary $$(. SSS isana!ed, says "on!bon! . 0etrieved from In2uirer.net:

http:==newsinfo.in2uirer.net=@9@'>@=sss-mismanaged-says-bongbong

icat, . #$%&', 4anuary $%(. Populist easures that do daa!e: SSS pension in#rease without

the eans. 0etrieved from *hiltar Dusiness:

http:==www.philstar.com=business=$%&'=%&=$%=&9$'&=populist-measures-do-damage-

sss-pension-increase-without-means

populist measures that do damage, individual measures that do damage

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