Businessmen's agenda.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

BEWARE of businessmen bearing gifts, especially of the recycled kind. Last week, the so-called Presidential Business Agenda for the First 100 Days was presented, to some fanfare. Some presidential candidates immediately welcomed the four proposals at the center of the agenda: the legalization of jueteng, a 50-percent cut in pork barrel funds, continued public executions and a tax on text messages.

We realize that, by its very nature, the agenda is short-term: It consists of objectives that are meant to be achieved between June 30 and mid-October this year. We cannot help but think, however, that the mountain of big business has labored mightily, only to bring forth a mouse.

The four proposals are a strange mix. Two deal with generating additional revenue for the government, one with cutting government spending. A fourth relates directly to law and order problems, or more specifically, to perceptions of law and order. Three of the four require not only legislative cooperation, but a mastery of the give-and-take of lawmaking. One will be certain to ignite a consumer revolt, another the high-profile opposition of religious groups.

All told, the four proposals are a recipe for presidential frustration. The agenda will not give the new president a head start, but a false one.

Let's start with the least problematic of the lot: a halving in pork barrel allocations. In theory, this is something devoutly to be wished for. We cannot understand how a P200-million allocation for each senator and a P50-million fund for each congressman can be considered essential to governance.

But lawmakers newly elected or returned to both chambers will be loath to part with the money they think already belongs to them. If the budget secretary keeps a tight hold on the government purse, using the bureaucracy's processes to slow down the fund releases, we can realistically expect a less-than-cooperative Congress, at the exact time it is needed to turn the other proposals into law. We think reducing the pork barrel is in order, but it cannot be done in the first 100 days of the next administration.