Millions Of Pesos Spent On Indecent Exposure
Vice President Noli De Castro must really be full himself. At the hearing today of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs, he justified his participation in those Pag-Ibig Fund advertisements by saying that his credibility makes the dissemination of information more effective. That’s a load of crap. Everyone knows De Castro and other government officials grace these so-called infomercials to promote themselves in preparation for the possibility of running for an elective post. Ikaw naman vice ginagawa mo pa kaming engot.
With that out of the way let’s now examine why these infomercials exist in the first place. What is their purpose anyway? The obvious answer those behind these infomercials will have us believe is that these are tools used to inform the public about projects and achievements.
Hmmm, let’s see. Government projects? I don’t really care to hear about government projects especially those that do not really provide any significant benefit to anyone. Achievements? I’d much prefer that I be the one to judge if this or that government agency really achieved anything.
I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way about government infomercials. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just a big waste of resources. At today’s hearing, the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs was able to get how much various government agencies have spent for these silly infomercials. I’m not sure about the accuracy of the figures I got from the news report I saw but here are the numbers:
- Department of Health – P32.4M (this year)
- Department of Education – P5.7M (this year)
- Pagcor – P82M (this year)
- MMDA – P5.8M (this year)
- Pag-Ibig Fund – P172M (since 2007)
Now, is that any way to spend taxpayers money? There’s just no way spending that much for cheezy ads can be sufficiently justified.
There’s another side to this issue one that President Gloria Arroyo’s lawyer Attorney Romulo Macalintal so eloquently pointed out in response to a completely unrelated topic. In defending Mrs. Arroyo against criticisms over the alleged extravagant dinners she and other officials had in the United States, the good lawyer criticized the media for raising the issue of morality while it continues to profit by accommodating political ads.
Just to be clear, I don’t agree with Macalintal’s diversionary tactic. But, just the same, I will pick up from his comment. First off, I pose this rather naive question. Isn’t media also a public service? When I was a whole lot younger, I often saw advertisements on TV followed by the line “A Public Service Announcement Of __________ And This Station.” I’m not sure if this is the case but I think public service ads back then were aired by media companies for free. What I’m driving at is that mainstream media should really consider providing free airtime or column space for truly legitimate public service ads from the government. Perhaps, they should also consider doing the same for political ads during the duly approved campaign period just to even up the playing field for poor yet deserving candidates. That would be real public service as far as I’m concerned.
Going back to today’s Senate committee hearing. Committee chair Senator Miriam Santiago has ordered the concerned government officials to refrain from airing or publishing their infomercials by the end of the month. For incentive, she threatened them with charges before that bastion of real public service, the Office of the Ombudsman.
Come to think of it. Why not charge them for indecent exposure, now?
actually, the correct (or better) argument here would be: why the timing? why advertise projects, or whatever, months before the elections?
aren’t projects for the whole term of the administration?
if the projects are rolled out only now, that would be weird too.
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lpgd Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
yes that would be the ultimate in weirdness.
as far as i’m concerned, government infomercials especially those featuring officials should not be aired at all. i’d let it slide only if the infomercial is for a really important announcement such as those concerning calamities, disasters, and other emergencies. i just can’t accept the fact that so much money is wasted on infomercials. the government should know that if its projects are really good it won’t really need to advertise.
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Macalintal did have a point; the media here behave like everyone else, when government money is involved, they charge a premium for their services. Still and all, the ads are a flimsy cover for campaigning, and not necessary any time. The PSA’s you remember are probably the ones like we used to see in the states, with some kind of real information: “having trouble talking to your kids about drugs? call the such-and-such hotline for helpful tips.” and so on. Not “hey look at us”.
@GabbyD, you can’t seriously be mystified by the timing, are you? Things get done in predictable 3-year cycles here. It’s a little early yet, but soon, streets will start getting resurfaced, a lot of things will get a fresh coat of paint, some sad sacks will get detailed to go clean out the drainage ditches. In our neighborhood, they have a predilection for punching wells in public locations; there’s already been two so far, “priority projects” of some yahoo or another. Another couple of months, and they’ll start handing out actual food and money. Whatever it takes, I guess.
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lpgd Reply:
August 19th, 2009 at 6:04 am
to ben k,
i’m really disappointed with these media companies. surely those big tv networks can afford to spare a few minutes everyday for real public service advertisements.
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Imagine that if a mere 10% of the Php297.9M spent on useless “public service” announcements (total of the expenditure you listed above), which is about Php29.8M, were properly utilized to fund things that matter like food and meds for the indigent, or pension for our ageing WW2 veterans (or their widows), or support funds for calamity victims.
Imagine what 20% of that can do, or 30%.
Their having wasted all that money just really pisses me off. I may have said this another time in this same blog, heck I’ll say it again – I dunno why I even bother to pay my taxes kung ganyan din lang waldasin ng mga pulitiko. And all they could say to justify it is that they’re allowed naman to do so.
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lpgd Reply:
August 21st, 2009 at 6:37 am
i feel your pain. it’s really infuriating. money wasted.
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These sort of things makes me think about what kind of crap the Philippines is crumbling into…
For the sake of the country, please VOTE WISELY
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i also notice that spending so much money in their political ads. instead of using that money to provide jobs and also support for the needy. for those who spend so much money for their political ads they are another face of Pres. Gloria Arroyo. lots of deception. i don’t think people is smart enough to choose for the right president. i don’t intrust my future for those spending so much money for their political ads because this is not the first time i saw them promising changes and we still saw more poverty. if i’m the president i will tell them that “mas gusto ko pang itulong sa mahihirap kaysa gastusin ang pera para lang sa political ads.”
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instead of spending those money for the ads, why not give it to the poor to uplift their lives.. gastos lang ‘yan…
kilala na rin naman sila ah.. it is better to give than wasting your money…
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