A Repost From Thea Alberto Of Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Aquino: ‘Puwede na muling mangarap’

By Thea Alberto – July 26th, 2010

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By Thea Alberto, Yahoo! Southeast Asia

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is confident that he could revive hope in government, which has been rocked by anomalies and corruption.

Aquino’s first State of the Nation Address was peppered with figures and accusations of missing funds and wasteful spending against the previous administration.

Hoping to the correct the wrongs of the past administration, Aquino said many of these problems had been “kept secret” from the public.

He exposed anomalies in some agencies including exorbitant bonuses of the Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the supposed “30 months” pay of most of its employees.

“Sa suma total po, aabot ang lahat ng dalawa’t kalahating milyong piso kada taon sa bawat miyembro ng Board maliban sa pakotse, technical assistance, at pautang. Uulitin ko po. Lahat ng ito ay ibinibigay nila sa kanilang mga sarili habang hindi pa nababayaran ang mga pensyon ng kanilang mga retirees,” Aquino added.

He also exposed the growing government budget deficit.

“Sa unang anim na buwan ng taon, mas malaki ang ginastos ng gobyerno kaysa sa pumasok na kita. Lalong lumaki ang deficit natin, na umakyat na sa 196.7 billion pesos. Sa target na kuleksyon, kinapos tayo ng 23.8 billion pesos; ang tinataya namang gastos, nalagpasan natin ng 45.1 billion pesos,” Aquino said.

He said that of the total budget left for 2010, only six and a half percent remained, leaving the country with only one percent of the budget allotted for each month.

“Saan naman po dinala ang pera [Where did the money go]?” Aquino said.

Aquino also enumerated spending faults of his predecessor, including the release of calamity funds to Pampanga, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s town, while Pangasinan province that was heavily ravaged by typhoon Pepeng only got a meager amount.

Aquino also exposed anomalies in the National Food Authority were tons of rice supply have gone to waste due to excess buying but poor distribution.

“Ang masakit nito, dahil sobra-sobra ang binibili nila taun-taon, nabubulok lang pala sa mga kamalig ang bigas,” he added.

In an interview with TV5, Congress Dato Arroyo said the figures cited by Aquino were “inconsistent,” as he cited some of the reactions of former Cabinet officials.

Former President Joseph Estrada, for his part, stressed that Aquino only exposed the small anomalies, not the bigger cases of corruption.

Reposted From Thea Alberto Of Yahoo! Southeast Asia