“If he was offended at the offer of ‘may 200 ka diyan,’ wouldn’t he be as offended if ordered to take millions from the workers’ trust fund for political purposes?”
by Ducky Paredes
If you had a curriculum vitae that includes a rich background in fiscal and monetary policies, finance, budget planning, management of corporate investments, corporate trouble shooting, risk management, financial and cash planning, negotiations on loans and money placements, preparation of project studies, and corporate financial analysis and job experiences that, among others, includes having been Director General of the National Economic & Development Authority (NEDA) and concurrent Secretary of Economic Planning, Director-General of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office for 12 years under six different Speakers of the House, associate professor of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), Corporate Planning Manager of Canlubang Sugar Estate, Canlubang Pulp and Manufacturing Corp. and CJ Yulo and Sons, Planning Coordinator of the Luzon Stevedoring Corporation and of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) as Assistant Treasurer and Assistant Finance Manager and Financial Analyst of Mobil Oil Philippines, tell me, would you qualify to head the Social Security System (SSS) of the Philippines?
On top of all these, the new appointee — Romulo Neri — holds an MBA, Major in Finance and International Management from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). He is a BSBA (marketing) Magna Cum Laude graduate from U.P.
Yet, a lot of people (congressmen and senators who are less qualified and with less impressive CVs) are kicking him around, simply because he has been appointed as new Administrator of the Social Security System.
Bayan Muna party list Rep. Teodoro Casiño says that Neri’s appointment “assures GMA that she has an SSS head that will look the other way and keep silent as she and her minions plunder the pension fund of the private sector workers.”
Another party list congressman, Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis said that “Neri’s tendency to conceal details of the NBN-ZTE scandal for the benefit of Mrs. Arroyo is a strong basis for the working class not to entrust their hard-earned money to him.” This is a statement that virtually accuses Neri of thievery, when what got him into trouble was precisely that he was offended at being offered “may 200 ka diyan” if he agreed to approving the ZTE-NBN deal.
Other opposition figures who lambasted Neri’s appointment are Senators Jamby Madrigal, Nene Pimentel, Mar Roxas, Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano and Panfilo Lacson.
They all aired their displeasure over Neri’s refusal to reveal details of his conversation with President Arroyo on the aborted NBN-ZTE contract. Cayetano, said that “Neri’s credibility is under a cloud of doubt because he did not spill the beans on President Arroyo and her allies in connection with the controversial national broadband network deal.” Yet, as head of SSS, what Neri needs is not his political credibility but his capabilities to run a trust fund.
The criticisms against Neri stem from the fact that, under intense pressure, he still refused to bring down the government by doing what the opposition hoped he would give them — explosive revelations that would help further discredit the already beleaguered Arroyo administration.
In all of this, Neri’s critics, Mar Roxas in particular, seem to be unaware or have chosen to ignore Neri’s work experience, background and qualifications. Roxas characterized the incoming SSS head as “someone with minimal, real life work experience in the marketplace to sit atop the SSS which has nearly 30 million members.” Tsk, tsk. That has to be the unkindest cut of all!
Clearly, the SSS position is right along Neri’s alley. And all these should belie Senator Roxas’ claim that Neri has “minimal, real life work experience in the marketplace.” Mulong Neri ought to do well as head of the SSS. All he has to watch for is if Malacanang actually has plans to raid the SSS treasury. If he was offended at the offer of “may 200 ka diyan,” wouldn’t he be as offended if ordered to take millions from the workers’ trust fund for political purposes?
What got Neri into trouble was when the word went around that he had been offered 200 whatever while in a golf cart at Wack-Wack. Had he accepted that 200 whatever, there would have been no talk at all and not even the Senate would have noticed him. The fact was that his sense of propriety caused him to tell a few friends about the offer. This is what brought him before the Senate. That he would not help the opposition senators bring down the government also shows that he is the man for the SSS. Would you rather have a political adventurer in charge of our workers’ trust funds?
In fairness to outgoing SSS chief Corazon dela Paz-Bernardo, she refused to be stampeded into contributing to the attacks on Neri’s character and, instead, only had good words for him. She appealed to all of us to give that Neri a chance to show what he can do at the SSS.
Predictably, administration allies came to Neri’s defense. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Neri is well qualified, a sentiment shared by Senator Edgardo Angara who also urged that “the appointee should be judged on the basis of merit and qualification.”
The most glowing words came from Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol who invites those in the opposition to question Neri’s new designation as SSS president “till kingdom come, but none of them can match, much less surpass his impressive credentials.”
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“Our system here is called pay-as-you-go. You pay into the system through your payroll taxes, and the government spends it. It spends the money on the current retirees, and with the money left over, it funds other government programs. And all that’s left behind is file cabinets full of IOUs.” – President George W. Bush on the state of the U.S. Social Security Administration.
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hvp 07.17.08)
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