Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Francis Escudero have criticized Morales for rewarding himself and his office staff, from directors to clerks, with a total of P537 million (P402 million in cash and P135 million in non-cash benefits) after the BOC revenue collections hit P198.2 billion in 2006, or P2.2 billion in excess of its target of P196 billion.

Enrile and Escudero said that Morales, who got the highest single reward of P5.3 million, did not deserve the reward because the improved collections were achieved not from better performance but from advance VAT payments for 2007 of the oil companies.

Morales is unperturbed by the criticism, insisting that the 2006 reward and the expected bonanza at the end of the year have a basis in the Lateral Attrition Law which provides for rewards and penalties for the BOC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to encourage their staffs to boost revenue collections.

The Bureau of Customs system allowing the use of one certificate of payment (CP) for a batch of car importation has resulted the smuggling of between 8,000 to 13,000 vehicles into the country, Senator Francis Escudero said Wednesday.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means, gave this estimate of the number of vehicles that may be running around the country with questionable papers outside an ongoing Senate hearing on smuggling.

Most of the bills of Escudero were incorporated in reports passed by the Committees on Justice and on Ways and Means, which he heads. These two committees were also the most productive in the First Regular Session with 24 and nine committee reports, respectively. The output of these two committees is more than one-third of the 78 committee reports churned out by the 35 standing committees of the Senate in the First Session.

Among the more noteworthy bills of Escudero are: Photo and Video Voyeurism, Decriminalization of Vagrancy, Anti-Torture Act, Private Property Rights, Amusement Tax Exemption, Anti-Child Pornography Act, Exemption of Minimum Wage Earners from Paying Income Tax, Good Conduct Time Allowance for Prisoners, Presentation of Suspects in Press Conference, and the Judiciary Retirement Act.

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Friday slammed Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes for acting like a virtual “spokesperson” of Petron, Shell and Chevron-Caltex instead of protecting the public interest in the face of the unabated increases in fuel pump prices.

“What is saddening is that our own Secretary of the Department of Energy has sounded like a spokesperson for the giant oil companies. They speak the same things and they just echo each other’s thoughts,” said Escudero in an interview with reporters.

“I had it installed when gas was at P57 per liter just recently, around three weeks ago,” Escudero said of his little more than P70,000 investment in his 1997 Chevrolet Suburban that runs on a 5.2-liter, eight-cylinder engine.

Escudero said that the SUV's consumption of an estimated 4.75 kilometers to the liter is the same with the LPG kit installed.

“But the price of the fuel is 60 percent off,” Escudero said. He said that when he had the cost-saving device installed in his car, the price of gasoline was P57 per liter while LPG was P26 per liter.

“Let's say the car uses up P5,000 worth of gasoline a week, that's P20,000 a month. With LPG at half the price, that's already P10,000 a month in savings,” Escudero said.

Sen. Francis Escudero criticized the intelligence unit’s inclusion in the super body that will monitor the local food and energy situation.

Intelligence groups are best deployed against criminals who kidnap and rob people, not on supposed victims of government inaction who suffer because of the high prices of oil, rice and other basic goods, Escudero said.

“There is no need to spy on the people to know what they feel during these hard times for their pain is palpable, and their discontent is evident,” he added. “A government that opts for the surveillance of people, instead of solutions to the heavy burden on our backs is either ignorant of our hardships or insensitive to it, or worse, both.”

He also supports the removal of the E-VAT on oil “because that is the clamor of the people.”

“It is not our job to tell the people that they are wrong. It is our duty to articulate their sentiments,” he contended.

He added that it is because of the people’s overwhelming sentiments that he favors the removal of E-VAT on oil. He said that he is firm in his stand against new taxes and against the existing E-VAT on oil.

“They can remove me as chairman but they will have to contend with me on the floor,” he said.

The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights was the most productive among all 35 standing committees of the Upper Chamber in the recently concluded First Regular Session of the Fourteenth Congress.

The committee, headed by Sen. Francis Escudero, came out with 24 reports, or almost one-third of the 78 produced by the First Regular Session.

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means, also headed by Escudero, is the second-most productive committee with nine reports.

Note: The article deals with Senator Francis Pangilinan's resentment of early 2010 pairings. But this one line below should stir shockwaves among potential candidates.

Escudero said he would make a formal announcement only on October 10, 2009, when he turns 40.

Senator Francis Escudero III na may isa lamang na pag-absent.

In this sense, yes, a Chiz candidacy will be Obama-like – a generational challenge as well as a mark of a generational shift. By 2010 Chiz will only be a shade above 40 – definitely the youngest ever to be elected vice president (should he run for that post and win) and in that position the youngest to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. With his youth, people hope, will come the energy needed to help stir the pot, to challenge parts of the status quo that need challenging, to dare shake the tree of tradition that oftentimes imprisons our politics and our society. It will not be a naïve youth anyway, Chiz having been honed by nine years in the House of Representatives which saw him take the lead in many battles against an incumbent president. Of course in those battles some saw a streak of pragmatism and realpolitik that they felt was too much a hallmark of traditional politics in Chiz – but I cannot imagine how an idealist will ever survive without at one point or another having to agree to trim one’s sails, hold one’s punches, maybe even turn the other cheek, if not in fact a blind eye, in a calculated move of one step back, two steps forward.

Senator Francis Escudero has criticized Neri's appointment, saying the official has a record of "covering up" for the President in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) agreement.

Senator Francis Escudero said that Neri had already proved that he placed the interest of Ms Arroyo above the interest of the public when he refused to divulge what the President had told him after telling her that he was offered P200 million to favor the overpriced ZTE Corp. contract for the $329-million NBN deal.

Earlier, opposition Senator Francis Escudero said Neri's appointment raises fears about the possibility of Malacañang influencing the handling of SSS funds.

Escudero also cited Neri's track record of "covering up" for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) mess.

Neri, who was the former director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), was widely criticized for his reluctance to divulge information on the NBN deal other than saying that resigned Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos offered him a bribe for the approval of the $329.5 million project.

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero likewise echoed the belief that Neri was given a new position to keep silent on the deal.

“Minsan nang pinatunayan ni Sec Neri na nilagay niya ang interes ng pangulo nang mas mataas kaysa interes ng sambayanan nang kanyang kinubli ang katotohanan at ginamit ang executive privilege,” said Escudero.

The law that exempts minimum wage earners from paying income tax and increases the exemptions for other salaried workers took effect Tuesday, Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero said.

Escudero urged the government to ensure the law’s implementation because inflation -- the rate of increase in the prices of basic commodities -- has effectively erased the wage increases recently granted to workers in the Philippines.

Senator Francis Escudero said Teves had played deaf to mounting calls for the suspension of the VAT on oil largely because it would affect the collection of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs, which stand to receive hefty bonuses should their collections exceed this year’s targets.

Following reports of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Romulo Neri’s appointment as the next Social Security System (SSS) president, an opposition senator on Wednesday expressed fears about the “influence" Malacañang might have in the handling of the agency's funds.

In a radio interview, Senator Francis Escudero scored Neri's appointment, citing the official's track record of "covering up" for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) mess.

Neri, who was the former director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), was widely criticized for his reluctance to divulge information on the NBN deal other than saying that resigned Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos offered him a bribe for the approval of the $329.5 million project.

Escudero on Monday rejected any possibility that he and Legarda will be rivals for the same post. Supposedly, there have been comments that with his competitive ranking in surveys, he would be titillated enough to run against Legarda for President.

“For whatever reason, Loren and I will always be together. In running, we won’t be apart,” Escudero said during an exclusive interview with The Manila Times.

If he were to choose who would be his presidential candidate, he added, it would be Legarda.

Legarda expressed elation when she learned of Escudero picking her as his bet for Chief Executive in the 2010 polls.

“That’s great! We belong to a mutual-admiration society. But he never told me that before!” she said in mock protest.

Senator Francis Escudero concurred with Roxas, noting that it would be foolhardy to stick to a zero-budget deficit program this year when the assumptions made in the budget were “all wrong and inapplicable.”

Escudero said the 2008 General Appropriations Act pegged the peso at 42 to the dollar, crude oil at between $62 and $70 per barrel and inflation rate at single-digit levels.