On Business Reporting

Business reports have never been easy to write; they have never been easy to read too, especially when you know little about businesses, investments, stocks and the like. You read the newspaper everyday but do you actually read the business section or skip it? Maybe you’d prefer skipping it. If not, you see numbers but do you actually understand them? Maybe not.
Business reports are really hard to understand, maybe except for the people from the business sector who could make sense of all the numbers and the words.
But besides the importance of the readers’ understanding and appreciation of business reports, there’s one more important thing that should be considered:
Are journalists willing to write business reports?
“But we need to ensure that it keeps on keeping on. We need to ensure that there's a steady flow of eager young reporters who like poring through 10-Ks. How can we do that most efficiently?” George Harmon said in his article, Grading Business Journalism.
Business reporters still do exist but are relatively small as compared to reporters in other beats. I admit even I am not planning to take business writing as my journalism elective, what more to write for the business section after I graduate.
In order to be a good business reporter, you need to understand what businessmen are talking about. You have to understand their language, just as they understand each other. How could you relay the information to the public effectively if even you, yourself, don’t know what you’re talking about? You have to understand how stocks and money work. That’s your job.
If there are no business reporters, how would we know who the countries’ wealthiest are and about the existence of the National Anti-Poverty Commission?
At first, all these may seem irrelevant to people like us, who know little about business stuff. But then we begin to wonder… How do these people earn so much while most of us earn just enough and some just barely enough? Where does our money go when we pay taxes? What happens when we buy and sell bonds? How does money circulate around us?
All of these, as we see, affect us. And I believe what affects our lives are surely important to us.

How much are police earning today?

“Baka mas malaki pa nga baon mo sa take home pay ko eh,” Supt. Teofilo Andrada said.
Andrada has been a police officer since 1991. He first served as a lieutenant for the Armed Forces of the Philippines on 1985. His starting salary was 700 pesos, including his allowance.
As a superintendent, his total earnings a month sum up to 43,565 pesos. This includes his overtime pay and allowances. These are subsistence, clothing and laundry allowances, amounting to 3,050 pesos plus the quarter allowance which is 800 pesos. Subsistence pay is for his personal things while the quarter allowance is the money given for rents.
“Pero ‘di naman makatotohanan ‘di ba? Wala ka namang mauupahan ng 800 lang eh,” he said.
A police’s total earnings may seem large, but with all the deductions from loans and insurances, Andrada’s take home pay is only 3,000 pesos a month.
Since Andrada loaned one million pesos from Savings and Loans Association to put up a motor shop, 21, 476 pesos is deducted from his total earnings a month. This amount will be deducted from his earnings for 44 months more.
Andrada said, “Mahirap kung aasa ka lang sa sweldo. Kanya-kanyang diskarte lang ‘yan. ‘Di naman kasi yayaman sa sweldo namin. Pero siyempre, makikita mo ‘yung ibang officials mayayaman. Kasama na siguro corruption dun.”
Compared to an airport police corporal who works under the Civil Service Commission, Andrada earns less than Cpl. Domingo Caballero whose take home pay is 6, 400 a month. Caballero also gets every 21st of the month his overtime pay which is usually approximately 10,000 pesos.
Caballero also gets up to 18th month bonus, unlike Andrada who receives only 13th month pay.
Andrada also receives a hazard pay of 240 pesos, which is relatively small, considering the police’s job is risky. But police officers receive money if ever they get injuries from police operations or duties.
A police’s total earnings, excluding all deductions from insurances and loans, range from 18,000 to 50,000 pesos. That is from the lowest position, police officer 1 or PO1, to the highest, the director general.
After retirement, a police receives pension every month, the money coming from all the leaves not used up by a police.
But if dismissed from duty due to a criminal offense, a police receives nothing.
“Parang kay Mendoza, dishonorable charge kasi yan eh,” Andrada said.
But if ever charges against a police are lifted, he will be given back salaries and allowances or “a portion of the appropriation authorized herein for payment of prior years’ salaries and allowances,” as stated in the Department of Interior and Local Government’s Official Gazette, General Appropriations Act, FY 2010.
Sheila Reytas, administrative officer in the budget office of DILG, said, “In fairness to us, transparent naman kami.” But she did not want to be interviewed and instead gave documents containing DILG’s budget allocations for the Philippine National Police.
PNP’s expenses include personal services, maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlays. Personal services are for salaries and allowances, MOOE for trainings and travelling expenses, and capital outlays for weapons, trucks, facilities are anything that is bought by the PNP.
For operations and support to operations which include the material developments, health and logistical services, and intelligence and investigation services, plus projects such as construction of police stations, and acquisition of rescue and relief operations equipment, DILG’s budget is approximately 49B pesos.
This money is supposedly intended to improve police’s operations, weapons, facilities, and to facilitate police trainings.
Andrada said, “Ang laki-laki ng budget. Puro sa papel lang naman. Kaya ibig sabihin ng SWAT, ‘Sorry Wala Akong Training’.”
“’Di naman natin masasabi kung kinukurakot nga, pero parang ganun na nga siguro,” he added.
Even if there’s budget for police trainings, Andrada said that when they trained abroad at San Francisco and Los Angeles, they were the ones who spent for their fares, hotels, everything. There were also no reimbursements.
He said, “Supposed to be gastos nila ‘yan. Training nga eh. Ngayon pinapakita sa tv, nagttraining ‘yung SWAT. Ngayon pa eh tapos na ‘yung hostage taking. Matatawa ka na lang eh.”