Who will get more votes, Koko or Migz?

Sen. Koko Pimentel is earning plaudits for his decision to leave the senatorial ticket of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) because he cannot campaign with another UNA senatorial bet, former Sen. Migz Zubiri, whom he accused of having cheated him in the 2007 elections out of his Senate seat for four years. Migz resigned last year after the Senate Electoral Tribunal, hearing Koko’s election protest, found massive cheating in Maguindanao. Migz denied any involvement in the cheating.

But Migz has also been earning plaudits for his gentlemanly behavior during all the time that Koko was attacking him in the media. Migz has not said a bad word against Koko and took all the attacks patiently. With Koko’s departure, Migz is now definitely in the UNA ticket while Koko may be a guest candidate either of the Liberal Party or the Nacionalista Party. Koko had said repeatedly that he would never leave his party, the PDP-Laban. So it would be a return bout between Koko and Migz in next year’s senatorial race. What would be interesting is to see who of them would get more votes.

In the May 20 to 26 Pulse Asia survey of 2013 senatorial preferences, Migz landed in the top 10. Six of those in the top 10 are incumbent senators seeking reelection: Chiz Escudero, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Koko Pimentel and Antonio Trillanes.

The others in the top 10 are two sitting congressmen (Jackie Enrile and JV Ejercito) with very well-known fathers (Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former President Joseph Estrada), and a former senator and now Cabinet member: Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas, who ran for vice president in 2010 but lost.

Judging from Migz’s strong performance, voters are apparently prepared to go out of their way and reward him for his ethical feat 10 months ago, when he became the first sitting Philippine senator to gracefully vacate his seat.

Migz could have desperately clung to his Senate post and, a few months later, could have reached a political bargain using his vote in the impeachment trial. He would have been free to keep his Senate seat, unmolested by the powers-that-be.

But Zubiri chose the road not traveled by traditional politicians. He gave up the considerable resources that come with being a sitting senator. His integrity obviously earned him the admiration of voters.

With his integrity seemingly intact, Migz is now free to seek a fresh mandate.

Three of the nation’s veteran political leaders—Vice President Jejomar Binay, Estrada and Enrile—have included Migz in their coalition’s senatorial ticket, which prompted Koko to leave. UNA candidates are bound to get a great help from the coalition’s heavyweight backers.

In the Pulse Asia survey, Binay ranked as the nation’s most appreciated and trusted public official, with approval and trust ratings of 81 percent and 78 percent, respectively.

The survey also indicates that Binay and Estrada wield considerable influence over voters, with 73 percent of respondents saying they would vote for senatorial candidates endorsed by Binay, while 51 percent said they would vote for Erap’s nominees.

President Aquino emerged as the second top endorser in the survey with 66 percent of respondents saying they would vote for his candidates.

* * *

The decision by the Department of Labor and Employment to require bus owners to pay their drivers and conductors fixed salaries should have been done a long time ago. The boundary system for buses, jeepneys and taxicabs has been one of the main causes of the traffic chaos in Metro Manila. (The other cause is too many vehicles on the streets.)

In the boundary system, the drivers and conductors, instead of being paid fixed salaries, pay the bus or jeepney operator a fixed amount for the use of his vehicle. What is left of the earnings after deducting the boundary is the driver and conductor’s take-home pay.

In order to earn more and take home bigger earnings, the driver is forced to violate traffic rules—overspeeding, overtaking and driving recklessly, swerving to pick up passengers, overstaying in the loading zone to wait for passengers, etc. It is also this behavior that causes traffic congestion and traffic accidents.

With fixed salaries, drivers don’t have to do that anymore. No matter how much they earn during the day, they get the same pay.

I have a comment, though, on the DOLE’s “part-fixed, part-performance based compensation scheme” for drivers and conductors. Under this arrangement, the drivers/conductors get a fixed minimum wage. After that, the performance-based compensation scheme will take over at a rate mutually agreed upon by the operators and workers. This is where the whole scheme may “backslide” to the boundary system.

The operators may give their workers a quota of earnings for the day. If they bring home less than the quota, they may be penalized with deductions from their salaries. If they go above it, they may be rewarded with bonuses or commissions.

This is where the total scheme may fail and the same behavior of violating traffic rules may continue in order to get more passengers and avoid penalties or earn a bonus. Therefore, fixed minimum salaries will not change the situation.

Instead there must be fixed salary scales, depending on past performance. Drivers with perfect records (no accident, no traffic violation) get the highest rate. Poor performers naturally get the lowest rate. The size of the day’s earnings must not come into the picture. It is this flaw that has made the boundary system a failure.