The Philippine Online Chronicles

I was at a small gathering of bloggers and media people last Saturday, Nov. 7, at Annabel’s with Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero.

While I had not yet made up my mind as to who my Presidential bet would be, Chiz had always struck me as a good possibility. He was an idealist, a fighter for what I saw were the right values, young (and hopefully, not yet tainted by dirty politics), and he had great ideas. So his decision to leave NPC, after what many of us thought was a sure campaign in the works with TV ads being shown already, blew my mind as I did not see it coming. Even more strange was that I could not understand why he would leave a party with the machinery and funds to go it alone, or at least that was what it looked like. If (and that’s the big IF as of now) he will still run.

To his credit, Chiz gamely responded to the many questions we fielded, including the very hot issue of whether he would finally run or not.  His quick answer to this was that he would internally decide by November 15 (November 30 midnight is the deadline for filing of certificates of candidacy) but that is probably no comfort to many of his supporters who are waiting for signs of the confident, self-assured Chiz of months past.

Since he did not categorically say NO to running, I was still interested in knowing what was foremost in the mind of this young senator if he did decide to run for President.

Here’s a glimpse into what a  Chiz administration could be like in the first few months.

When asked to enumerate 3 things he was likely to do first, he gave this list:

1. Limit Presidential appointees. He said that about 10,000 campaigners are almost sure of good jobs once their Presidential candidate wins. Chiz believes that only 10% or about 1,000 people should be appointed, and only to some major departments such as Finance, Defense, DILG, DFA. These appointments must be co-terminus with the President’s term. All other departments should have career officers to ensure the continuity of the government’s program.
2. Operationalize the budget for 2011 within the first 180 days so that there will be no 2-year delay. The government calls for budget reviews between February to March of each year. So by June 30, 2010, the budget approved would have still been prepared by the GMA administration. Chiz wants his own budget for 2011 ready for presentation to Congress right after the June SONA, around end-July 2010, in order that it will be this budget which will be operational by 2011.
3. Institutionalize a mechanism that will do 2 things. The first is to get sufficient information on the lifestyles of government officials. He explained that even in a span of just 30 days, enough information can be gathered on how a certain government official lives just by observing where he goes, what cars he uses, where he lives, etc. Secondly, he wants to identify areas of discretion in the functions of government as this, to his mind, is tantamount to corruption. Discretion cannot be totally eliminated but it can be limited. He believes that if it can be limited particularly to revenue-generating agencies, the government will have the funds to do whatever it has to do.

So there you have it –what could be, can still be, part of the platform of Chiz Escudero if he does decide to run.

The only question left is: Chiz, will you run?

Photo by author. Some rights reserved.