“I
owe, I owe, so off to work I go.”
That
is a bumper sticker, a parody of “Heigh Ho” made famous in Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs. What has this got to do with the
(Philippine) pork barrel scam? Perhaps this is just the congressmen'
and senators' ditty?
In
a regional election in the mid-90s, we were told that lenders were
ready for anyone who wanted funds. Back then the post
for mayor in very rural Mindanao cost as much as 6 million
pesos. This would be paid back through the internal revenue allotment
(IRA). Monthly tranches, shares to the local government from the
national coffers, would first go to the financier until the debt and
interest are fully paid. The IRA formed part of the local pork
barrel.
The
cost of getting elected has gone up since. It is higher when the rivalry is strong, and even higher in densely populated areas, and when size of the constituency is broader.
Perhaps
the biggest expense is on patronage. These are the monies used
to secure support, among which are for buying individual votes
or manipulating the results. In a recent article in the Philippine Star, Rep Lani Mercado Revilla (Cavite 2) elaborated some of the other costs for us. [http://bit.ly/1aEKsc9]
The Philippine Center for
Investigative Journalism reports that in 2012 among the "33 candidates for
senator and the 12 political parties that nominated them, a total of
P2.28 billion was spent on the campaign, 90 percent of which went to
political advertising on television, radio, newspapers, and online
media during the official 90-day campaign period.
[http://bit.ly/1aEKsc9] I believe that patronage dwarfs these
costs and are, unfortunately, not well tracked as the advertising expenses.
With the huge amounts advanced on getting elected, there must be a number of recovery mechanisms somewhere, don't you think?
Luneta here we come!
