DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/29/2010
Our last column outlined the “power plunder” being inflicted on the people by the collusion between Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), as well as by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, with Therma Marine Inc. of the Aboitiz group.
All told, their profits increased between 60 and 100 percent in the span of just one year, and they were able to manipulate the rate-setting mechanisms to escalate the cost of our energy use by up to 300 percent!
A few days after the said column came out, yet another confirmation of this profiteering was headlined by BusinessWorld: “Meralco powers past Petron in BW’s Top 1,000.”
Meralco came up with a “red herring” to mitigate any adverse reaction to the No. 1 ranking by saying that this came despite “a 2.8-percent drop in gross revenues to P183.7 billion due to reduced generation and transmission charges last year.”
In truth, generation and transmission charges had nothing to do with Meralco’s net income jumping midway this year by 82.3 percent (from P3.15 billion from the same period last year to P5.8 billion so far), as well as with the company’s 2009 P7.7 billion net income surpassing its target of P11 billion for 2010. In fact, Meralco had been raking in this doubling of profits since 2008 when its net income jumped from P3.5 billion to P7.7 billion in 2009.
All through these periods, there was not any real increase in the size and volume of the market. Meralco has taken great pains to hide this with its so-called statistics of 11 to 17 percent growth in the volume of its sales.
What has actually happened was that the massive increases came as a result of the shift from the old Return-on-Rate Base (RoRB) to the new Performance-Based Rate (PBR) setting mechanism that increased allowable returns from the previous 12 percent to the current 15.8 percent!
On top of this, we are faced with the massive overcharging of electricity consumers. The Commission on Audit has already found that Meralco overcharged us by at least P7 billion in 2004 and 2007 alone, which indicates the strong likelihood that the same has happened for the intervening years and beyond.
In fact, an 81-year-old veteran of the Lawyers Against Monopolies (LAMP), Genaro Lualhati, who has fought against this overcharging and won for us 4 million Meralco consumers P28 billion in refunds, filed another petition in 2008 for the power firm to refund another P35 billion worth of overcharges in the past 10 years.
But even as the ERC is obliged by law to resolve the issue within 30 days, it took the regulatory body three long years to issue a decision, and only after Lualhati pressed further. It was revealed in our GNN program by Mang Naro, as Lualhati is called, that the ERC deliberately dilly-dallied and dwelt on irrelevant issues, only to declare his petition “moot and academic.”
Not be deterred, Mang Naro’s one demand is for the other crusaders in this fight to be active again. With Mang Naro on my show was Butch Junia, who came out of retirement for this fight, as well as Pete Ilagan of Nasecore, former QC Mayor Jun Simon, Jojo Borja of Mindanao and many others.
Volunteer lawyers have since been recruited to take all these issues to court so that someday we may finally see ERC pay for its betrayal of public trust.
Butch Junia updated us on the comparative electricity rates of different countries, such as Tokyo’s $0.20/kWh compared to Meralco’s $0.23/kWh, making the Philippines the highest in Asia in terms of power cost today.
Our rates are simply astronomical compared to Jakarta’s $0.06/kWh; Kuala Lumpur’s $0.06/kWh; Paris’ $0.11/kWh; Shanghai’s $0.07/kWh; and even Singapore’s $0.21/kWh.
Few places, in fact, can beat Meralco’s rate; with the only possible exception being New York’s $0.29/kWh — but then, how can you compare the two?
Worse, the situation of Meralco’s 4 million electricity consumers is further aggravated by the formula where regular consumers pay up to P3/kWh in distribution cost while the very large consumers, such as malls and big industries, pay only as low as P0.28/kWh.
As the public is made aware of these facts, the momentum for the consumer campaign is sure to grow.
Action plans have been drawn up, with a “soft launch” on Nov. 1 of the “lights out protest.” The plan calls on all Meralco consumers to turn off their lights from 7 to 7:10 p.m. every Monday.
As people are made aware, then the number of “lights out” days will be increased, helping consumers save money while at the same time synergizing neighborhoods toward the cause. This action has been done before but this new initiative shows the growing support for the struggle. All sectors should thus “volt-in” for a nuclear chain reaction.
Media workers can help in the information campaign; even the UP Law Department can help while businessmen can donate stickers, tarps, and posters to spread the word.
Remember: Lights out every Monday 7 to 7:10 p.m. Let’s knock the lights out of those power plunderers!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Electrocuting Power Consumers: The ERC-Meralco Collusion, Part II” with former mayor Jun Simon, Pete Ilagan, et. al on Politics Today with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Hustisya para kay Trillanes, hustisya para sa lahat
Pagsasalin sa P/filipino ng "Justice for Trillanes, justice for all"
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/18/2010
Isinalin noong ika-27 ng Oktubre, taong 2010
Naaalala niyo pa ba ang kaso ng "Alabang Boys" na may kinalaman sa droga't panunuhol na sangkot ang tagapaglitis na si John Resado? Naalala niyo pa ba noong taong 2009 nang tumama ang tae sa bentilador ng Department of Justice (DoJ) nang akusahan ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) si Resado na ilegal na pinakawala anf mga suspek na si Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph at Joseph Tecson dahil sa di-umano'y "depekto" sa kaso ng PDEA?
Noong panahon na iyon, sumama ang mga tagapaglitis ng DoJ kay Resado. Pagkatapos ay nagpalitan ng akusasyon ang dalawang ahensya. Napilitan ang gobyerno noon na magsagawa ng malayang imbestigasyon na kung saan nakita nito ang kahina-hinala't hindi maipaliwanag na Php800,000 na deposito sa account ni Resado sa araw na inilagda niya ang kadusta-dustang resolusyon.
Mabuti na lang at may nagtaguyod sa kaso ni Resado at ng mga Alabang Boys. Pinahanga ng ahente ng PDEA na si Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino ang bayan nang tumindig siya sa intimidasyon ng noo'y pinuno ng DoJ na si Raul Gonzales at ng iba pang "top brass" sa DoJ.
Samantala, kailangan matandaan rin natin ang kaso na tumama sa internasyonal na pahayagan na may headline na "Philippine judge sacked, another suspended over bribery scandal" na sangkot ang mga hukom na si Justice Vicente Roxas at Associate Justice Jose Sabio, habang ang tatlong iba pang hukom ang sinuspinde nang hindi ginawa ang nararapat na aksyon.
Lumabas ang iskandalo na ito pagkatapos isiwalat ni Sabio ang Php10 milyon na suhol mula sa abogado ng Meralco ngunit hindi niya ito iniulat ng mga ilang buwan, samantalang si Roxas ay sinibak nang mag-alay siya ng palsipikadong transkrip ng deliberasyon sa review panel na nag-iimbestiga sa iskandalong iyon at nang maglathala ng desisyon sa petisyon nang hindi muna sumangguni sa nasangkot na hukom ng Court of Appeals.
May malaking bolyum ng dekadenteng kasaysayan ang ating sistema ng hudikatura at ng hustisya. Kaya nang marinig ko ang pagrereklamo ng mga abogado ng DoJ tungkol sa mga teknikalidad sa amnestiya sa mga Magdalo, napaisip ako na: "Sino sila para magsalita?"
Sila, sa lahat nga mga tao ang dapat malaman na ang kapangyarihan na magbigay ng amnestiya sa ipinagkaloob sa Opisina ng Pangulo - ang opisina, hindi ang indibidwal - ay tiyak. Nakita ng mga pinagbunga ng tradisyon ng Kanluraning (o Amerikanong) konstitusyonal ang potensyal na pagiging depektibo ng kahit anong sistema ng batas at pamamahala. Kaya sa ilalim ng prinsipyo ng "checks and balances" ay ipinamahagi nila sa pinakamataas na halal na opisyal na kumakatawan sa makapangyarihang mamamayan na maresolba ang mga ganitong isyu sa ngalan ng taong-bayan mismo.
Kaya lang, ang anomalya sa kasulukuyang sistemang pulitikal at kultura ay ang kapangyarihan ay inaagaw mula sa kamay ng mga mamamayan ng mga pulitiko at ng mga burukrata, karamihan sa kanila'y nakurop at kontrolado ni Gloria Arroyo, mga makapangyarihang oligarkyo, at ng dayuhang interes. At ito lamang ang dahilan kung bakit hindi pa rin makakaupo si Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV sa Senado sa kabila ng masugid na pagsusumikap ng kanyang 11 milyong botante.
Sa katunayan, ang pagpupunyagi ni Trillanes ay ang pagpupunyagi ng mamamayan para maibalik ang kapangyarihan, sa mapayapa at legal na pamamaraan, na dapat ay nasa kanila, sa kabila ng lahat ng paghahadlang na inilagay ng mga pulitikal at burukratikong mang-aagaw ng kapangyarihang iyon.
Kunin natin ang isyu ng paghawak ng korte ng Makati sa kaso ni Trillanes na kung saan, sa kabila ng higit pitong taon na pagdinig at deliberasyon, ay hindi pa rin nareresolba hanggang sa kasalukuyan. Habang maituturi ng karamihan na normal ang ganitong nakakamatay na mabagal na pag-usad ng hustisya sa mga korte ng bansang ito, ang dalawang taon ay maituturing na pagkait sa pangunahing karapatan ng akusado na patas at mabilis na paglilitis sa pandaigdigan na pamantayan, na kung mailulutas ito ay diretsahang pag-dismiss sa kaso.
Subalit ang trahedya sa ating lipunan ay tanggap na ang mga depekto at kahinaan ng sistema dahil sa matagal na itong gumagambala sa atin. Sayang nga lang sa mga bumabalewala sa kaapihan ni Trillanes dahil sinusumpa nila ang sarili nila na magdudusa sila sa parehas na tadhana sa darating na panahon.
Narinig ko ang mga tagapaglitis ng DoJ na nagrereklamo sa kanilang "mahirap at mahaba na pagtatrabaho sa pitong taon na ito sa paghahanda at pagtatalo" sa kaso laban kay Trillanes. Ngunit naisip ba talaga nila ang mga paghihirap na dinanas ni Trillanes at ng kanyang pamilya't kasamahan sa loob ng pitong taon at pitong buwan na pagkakabilanggo at sa hindi niya kayang lumakbay sa 10-kilometrong kalaparan na humahantong sa Senado na kung saan siya'y hinalal ng mga mamamayan na maglingkod?
Ang mga partido na namimintas sa amnestiya, katulad na lamang sa mga "hindi napapangalanang legal na eksperto" na sinipi ng maka-Arroyo na dyaryo nang maganap ang protesta sa Oakwood, ay hindi karapat-dapat ng seryosong konsiderasyon dahil hindi sila namahagi sa pagtindig sa pagkurop ng sistema katulad ng ginawa ng grupong Magdalo at ni Trillanes, o nakipagsapalaran sa kanilang propesyon, katulad na lang ng ginawa ni Alan Paguia nang punahin niya ang pagsuway ng pinakamataas na korte sa lupa sa Edsa II.
Hindi ako nabibigla sa mataas na katanyagan na ibinibigay sa kritisismo ng amnestiya mula sa mga iba't-ibang grupo ng mga walang saysay na tao. Alam ko na ang partido na pinakamarami ang mawawala kapag ang amnestiya para kay Trillanes ay perpekto na, i.e. ni Gloria Arroyo at ng kanyang mga kasabwat, ay ang paggalaw nila na itago ang pagpuna sa mga totoong isyu na nahantong sa protesta sa Oakwood at ng kamangha-manghang pagkapanalo ni Trillanes sa mga maperang kandidato ni Arroyo noong 2007: Ang 'di-mapapantayang lebel ng kataksilan at kuropsyon ng rehimeng iyon, na nagpapatuloy sa kasalukuyan sa paghari ni Arroyo sa Kongreso at ng kanyang mga alagad na nakadikit sa burukrasya ng gobyerno.
Para naman sa puna ni Teddy Te, nauunawaan ko ang kanyang paniniwala sa kanyang infallability, subalit dapat niya rin aminin na ang sistema ay ganap nang kurop - katulad ng isang Kryptonite na kahit ang kanyang super legal brain ay hindi kayang daigin.
Kailangang kumilos na ang buong bansa, kasama ang 11 milyon na bumoto kay Trillanes, upang maisigaw pababa ang mga boses ng mga bulok na diktador na nagtatangkang agawin ang kapangyarihan at ng diwa ng hustisya ng taong-bayan.
Mag-text na sa radyo at sa telebisyon; maglagay na ng poster sa inyong mga bintana at mga sasakyan; simulan na ang teach-in sa mga paaralan; at ideklara sa mundo na ang "Hustisya para kay Trillanes, hustisya para sa lahat!"
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/18/2010
Isinalin noong ika-27 ng Oktubre, taong 2010
Naaalala niyo pa ba ang kaso ng "Alabang Boys" na may kinalaman sa droga't panunuhol na sangkot ang tagapaglitis na si John Resado? Naalala niyo pa ba noong taong 2009 nang tumama ang tae sa bentilador ng Department of Justice (DoJ) nang akusahan ng Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) si Resado na ilegal na pinakawala anf mga suspek na si Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph at Joseph Tecson dahil sa di-umano'y "depekto" sa kaso ng PDEA?
Noong panahon na iyon, sumama ang mga tagapaglitis ng DoJ kay Resado. Pagkatapos ay nagpalitan ng akusasyon ang dalawang ahensya. Napilitan ang gobyerno noon na magsagawa ng malayang imbestigasyon na kung saan nakita nito ang kahina-hinala't hindi maipaliwanag na Php800,000 na deposito sa account ni Resado sa araw na inilagda niya ang kadusta-dustang resolusyon.
Mabuti na lang at may nagtaguyod sa kaso ni Resado at ng mga Alabang Boys. Pinahanga ng ahente ng PDEA na si Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino ang bayan nang tumindig siya sa intimidasyon ng noo'y pinuno ng DoJ na si Raul Gonzales at ng iba pang "top brass" sa DoJ.
Samantala, kailangan matandaan rin natin ang kaso na tumama sa internasyonal na pahayagan na may headline na "Philippine judge sacked, another suspended over bribery scandal" na sangkot ang mga hukom na si Justice Vicente Roxas at Associate Justice Jose Sabio, habang ang tatlong iba pang hukom ang sinuspinde nang hindi ginawa ang nararapat na aksyon.
Lumabas ang iskandalo na ito pagkatapos isiwalat ni Sabio ang Php10 milyon na suhol mula sa abogado ng Meralco ngunit hindi niya ito iniulat ng mga ilang buwan, samantalang si Roxas ay sinibak nang mag-alay siya ng palsipikadong transkrip ng deliberasyon sa review panel na nag-iimbestiga sa iskandalong iyon at nang maglathala ng desisyon sa petisyon nang hindi muna sumangguni sa nasangkot na hukom ng Court of Appeals.
May malaking bolyum ng dekadenteng kasaysayan ang ating sistema ng hudikatura at ng hustisya. Kaya nang marinig ko ang pagrereklamo ng mga abogado ng DoJ tungkol sa mga teknikalidad sa amnestiya sa mga Magdalo, napaisip ako na: "Sino sila para magsalita?"
Sila, sa lahat nga mga tao ang dapat malaman na ang kapangyarihan na magbigay ng amnestiya sa ipinagkaloob sa Opisina ng Pangulo - ang opisina, hindi ang indibidwal - ay tiyak. Nakita ng mga pinagbunga ng tradisyon ng Kanluraning (o Amerikanong) konstitusyonal ang potensyal na pagiging depektibo ng kahit anong sistema ng batas at pamamahala. Kaya sa ilalim ng prinsipyo ng "checks and balances" ay ipinamahagi nila sa pinakamataas na halal na opisyal na kumakatawan sa makapangyarihang mamamayan na maresolba ang mga ganitong isyu sa ngalan ng taong-bayan mismo.
Kaya lang, ang anomalya sa kasulukuyang sistemang pulitikal at kultura ay ang kapangyarihan ay inaagaw mula sa kamay ng mga mamamayan ng mga pulitiko at ng mga burukrata, karamihan sa kanila'y nakurop at kontrolado ni Gloria Arroyo, mga makapangyarihang oligarkyo, at ng dayuhang interes. At ito lamang ang dahilan kung bakit hindi pa rin makakaupo si Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV sa Senado sa kabila ng masugid na pagsusumikap ng kanyang 11 milyong botante.
Sa katunayan, ang pagpupunyagi ni Trillanes ay ang pagpupunyagi ng mamamayan para maibalik ang kapangyarihan, sa mapayapa at legal na pamamaraan, na dapat ay nasa kanila, sa kabila ng lahat ng paghahadlang na inilagay ng mga pulitikal at burukratikong mang-aagaw ng kapangyarihang iyon.
Kunin natin ang isyu ng paghawak ng korte ng Makati sa kaso ni Trillanes na kung saan, sa kabila ng higit pitong taon na pagdinig at deliberasyon, ay hindi pa rin nareresolba hanggang sa kasalukuyan. Habang maituturi ng karamihan na normal ang ganitong nakakamatay na mabagal na pag-usad ng hustisya sa mga korte ng bansang ito, ang dalawang taon ay maituturing na pagkait sa pangunahing karapatan ng akusado na patas at mabilis na paglilitis sa pandaigdigan na pamantayan, na kung mailulutas ito ay diretsahang pag-dismiss sa kaso.
Subalit ang trahedya sa ating lipunan ay tanggap na ang mga depekto at kahinaan ng sistema dahil sa matagal na itong gumagambala sa atin. Sayang nga lang sa mga bumabalewala sa kaapihan ni Trillanes dahil sinusumpa nila ang sarili nila na magdudusa sila sa parehas na tadhana sa darating na panahon.
Narinig ko ang mga tagapaglitis ng DoJ na nagrereklamo sa kanilang "mahirap at mahaba na pagtatrabaho sa pitong taon na ito sa paghahanda at pagtatalo" sa kaso laban kay Trillanes. Ngunit naisip ba talaga nila ang mga paghihirap na dinanas ni Trillanes at ng kanyang pamilya't kasamahan sa loob ng pitong taon at pitong buwan na pagkakabilanggo at sa hindi niya kayang lumakbay sa 10-kilometrong kalaparan na humahantong sa Senado na kung saan siya'y hinalal ng mga mamamayan na maglingkod?
Ang mga partido na namimintas sa amnestiya, katulad na lamang sa mga "hindi napapangalanang legal na eksperto" na sinipi ng maka-Arroyo na dyaryo nang maganap ang protesta sa Oakwood, ay hindi karapat-dapat ng seryosong konsiderasyon dahil hindi sila namahagi sa pagtindig sa pagkurop ng sistema katulad ng ginawa ng grupong Magdalo at ni Trillanes, o nakipagsapalaran sa kanilang propesyon, katulad na lang ng ginawa ni Alan Paguia nang punahin niya ang pagsuway ng pinakamataas na korte sa lupa sa Edsa II.
Hindi ako nabibigla sa mataas na katanyagan na ibinibigay sa kritisismo ng amnestiya mula sa mga iba't-ibang grupo ng mga walang saysay na tao. Alam ko na ang partido na pinakamarami ang mawawala kapag ang amnestiya para kay Trillanes ay perpekto na, i.e. ni Gloria Arroyo at ng kanyang mga kasabwat, ay ang paggalaw nila na itago ang pagpuna sa mga totoong isyu na nahantong sa protesta sa Oakwood at ng kamangha-manghang pagkapanalo ni Trillanes sa mga maperang kandidato ni Arroyo noong 2007: Ang 'di-mapapantayang lebel ng kataksilan at kuropsyon ng rehimeng iyon, na nagpapatuloy sa kasalukuyan sa paghari ni Arroyo sa Kongreso at ng kanyang mga alagad na nakadikit sa burukrasya ng gobyerno.
Para naman sa puna ni Teddy Te, nauunawaan ko ang kanyang paniniwala sa kanyang infallability, subalit dapat niya rin aminin na ang sistema ay ganap nang kurop - katulad ng isang Kryptonite na kahit ang kanyang super legal brain ay hindi kayang daigin.
Kailangang kumilos na ang buong bansa, kasama ang 11 milyon na bumoto kay Trillanes, upang maisigaw pababa ang mga boses ng mga bulok na diktador na nagtatangkang agawin ang kapangyarihan at ng diwa ng hustisya ng taong-bayan.
Mag-text na sa radyo at sa telebisyon; maglagay na ng poster sa inyong mga bintana at mga sasakyan; simulan na ang teach-in sa mga paaralan; at ideklara sa mundo na ang "Hustisya para kay Trillanes, hustisya para sa lahat!"
Monday, October 25, 2010
Consumer revolt overdue
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/25/2010
Last Sept. 29, Meralco announced the strong likelihood of its exceeding the company’s core net income target of P11 billion for 2010. Set on top of its reported P7-billion income for 2009, this is already well beyond a whopping 60-percent profit growth that’s sure to signal a lot more happier days for the power firm.
Meralco’s chief financial officer highlighted the company’s power sales volume growth of 11.7 percent in an attempt to justify its astronomical earnings. The official statement says that “volumes are much higher on an accumulative basis… (and that) today it’s greater than last year in terms of energy sold… (therefore, making it) the main driver.” But frankly, this is a load of BS.
First of all, virtually all sectors have been tightening up on power consumption. My own business, for instance, has had to shut down some huge kitchen exhaust fans and office air-conditioners to cut down on power bills. In my home, I have rationed everyone’s use of air-conditioning and replaced our old side-by-side no-frost ref with a smaller manual defrost one that saves on consumption by almost half. Secondly, neither industrial nor commercial, nor any household statistics, can buttress that alleged 11.7-percent jump — which, honestly, is still 50 percent short of the projected income growth.
Meralco’s claim is simply a big fat lie to cushion the impact of its obscene profit. It also adds: “Another reason that contributes to the growth is the mix of our customers. There is a difference to their rates.”
But then, after all these diversionary claims, the true reason for the shoot-up, which is hardly covered by media, finally surfaced when “the official also cited the rate increases granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) as another reason for the growth in income.” Ahh!
Meralco’s distribution charge was hiked twice since 2009 (P0.27 and P0.269/kWh) for a cumulative increase of almost 50 percent granted by the ERC under the new Performance-Based Rate (PBR) setting mechanism.
The PBR allows Meralco to charge rates based on “projected investments and operating expenses related to the distribution of electricity,” or rates based on investments and costs it has yet to make or incur years into the future.
It’s like vegetable vendors charging the prices of next year today, by citing equipment purchases yet to be made as well as fertilizer cost hikes and typhoon damages still to come. The thing is, with such mercenary vendors, we can just give them “the finger” and proceed to the next stall that prices its goods based on today’s costs.
But with the monopoly of electricity in the Meralco franchise area, we have no choice but to buy power from that company no matter how onerous, exploitative, abusive, exorbitant and oppressive its rates are — thanks to the ERC.
Last Oct. 13, Aquino III’s Energy Secretary Jose Almendras announced that government had “solved” the Mindanao power shortage. But most do not know the big “1-2-3” behind that claim:
An El Niño weather crisis was predicted by meteorologists in 2009 for the current year, which the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. was well aware of. Despite this, the National Power Corp. was given the green light to sell power barges (PB) 117 and 118 at about the same time to the Aboitiz group.
It’s as if nobody thought that Mindanao was going to be effectively deprived of some 200 megawatts of power from these PBs, especially since these were instrumental in easing the power crisis during Cory and Ramos’ time when they were acquired in 1994.
So when the El Niño drought finally fell upon Mindanao in February 2010, the depletion of water in hydro plants Agus and Polangui resulted in five- to eight-hour brownouts that led to terrible losses in business and employment.
Thereafter, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which took control of the publicly-owned Transmission Corp. or TransCo after privatization, immediately entered into a so-called Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA) with Aboitiz-owned Therma Marine Inc. (TMI), wherein the latter, with the use of PB117 and PB118, would supply “additional” power to the Mindanao grid.
The NGCP then applied for a power rate adjustment as part of the ASPA application; afterwhich, the ERC gave it a provisional authority (PA) to raise its rates. This way, TMI will get paid as the monies will have to be collected from the electric utilities and consumers’ pockets.
But that’s not all. The capital recovery fee of $30 million calculated by TMI for the two barges when these were purchased was raised to $84.7 million — or increased threefold after being transferred from the government to the private sector, for a windfall of P3 billion!
Furthermore, the new ASPA charges were set over 10 times higher than the average 2009 NGCP monthly rates. These are aside from the fact that there was no competitive bidding at all in favor of TMI and little public consultation prior to the issuance of the PA.
A coalition of Mindanao congressmen thus reported on the real cost of this claimed “solution” by Almendras: “The electricity bills in Mindanao have virtually doubled from March to April and May this year. In 2009, we paid P49.70 per kWh/month. However, last April we paid P360 per kWh/month and P606 per kWh/month in May 2010. This had caused untold sufferings and hardships to our people in Mindanao, especially the poor.”
At about the same time as that Almendras boast, consumer advocates Pete Ilagan of Nasecore, maverick power entrepreneur Jojo Borja from Mindanao, lawyer Nelson Loyola of CCI, 89-year-old Lamp leader Mang Naro Lualhati, and writer Butch Junia, who called for the abolition of the ERC recently, were all at the hearing on ERC Case No. 2010-069-RC — on the, hold your breath… “Application for Approval of the Annual Revenue Requirement and Performance Incentive Scheme for the Third Regulatory Period” — in other words, the proposed Meralco rates for years 2011-2015.
In the proposal, four million of us ordinary consumers will be slapped with an additional P2.8564/kWh while Meralco’s large customers, including mall owners such as SM, Robinsons, Ayala and Rockwell will be charged only P0.2205/kWh, or 10 times less!
With ABS-CBN and TV5 in the power oligarchs’ hands, plus the fact that Meralco stockholders are the biggest advertisers in media, the power consuming public may never get hold of these facts. It’s time all of us realize how we are being fleeced as consumers for our revolt has long been overdue!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Power Consumers’ Revolt Long Overdue!” with Pete Ilagan, Butz Junia, and Mang Naro on Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/25/2010
Last Sept. 29, Meralco announced the strong likelihood of its exceeding the company’s core net income target of P11 billion for 2010. Set on top of its reported P7-billion income for 2009, this is already well beyond a whopping 60-percent profit growth that’s sure to signal a lot more happier days for the power firm.
Meralco’s chief financial officer highlighted the company’s power sales volume growth of 11.7 percent in an attempt to justify its astronomical earnings. The official statement says that “volumes are much higher on an accumulative basis… (and that) today it’s greater than last year in terms of energy sold… (therefore, making it) the main driver.” But frankly, this is a load of BS.
First of all, virtually all sectors have been tightening up on power consumption. My own business, for instance, has had to shut down some huge kitchen exhaust fans and office air-conditioners to cut down on power bills. In my home, I have rationed everyone’s use of air-conditioning and replaced our old side-by-side no-frost ref with a smaller manual defrost one that saves on consumption by almost half. Secondly, neither industrial nor commercial, nor any household statistics, can buttress that alleged 11.7-percent jump — which, honestly, is still 50 percent short of the projected income growth.
Meralco’s claim is simply a big fat lie to cushion the impact of its obscene profit. It also adds: “Another reason that contributes to the growth is the mix of our customers. There is a difference to their rates.”
But then, after all these diversionary claims, the true reason for the shoot-up, which is hardly covered by media, finally surfaced when “the official also cited the rate increases granted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) as another reason for the growth in income.” Ahh!
Meralco’s distribution charge was hiked twice since 2009 (P0.27 and P0.269/kWh) for a cumulative increase of almost 50 percent granted by the ERC under the new Performance-Based Rate (PBR) setting mechanism.
The PBR allows Meralco to charge rates based on “projected investments and operating expenses related to the distribution of electricity,” or rates based on investments and costs it has yet to make or incur years into the future.
It’s like vegetable vendors charging the prices of next year today, by citing equipment purchases yet to be made as well as fertilizer cost hikes and typhoon damages still to come. The thing is, with such mercenary vendors, we can just give them “the finger” and proceed to the next stall that prices its goods based on today’s costs.
But with the monopoly of electricity in the Meralco franchise area, we have no choice but to buy power from that company no matter how onerous, exploitative, abusive, exorbitant and oppressive its rates are — thanks to the ERC.
Last Oct. 13, Aquino III’s Energy Secretary Jose Almendras announced that government had “solved” the Mindanao power shortage. But most do not know the big “1-2-3” behind that claim:
An El Niño weather crisis was predicted by meteorologists in 2009 for the current year, which the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. was well aware of. Despite this, the National Power Corp. was given the green light to sell power barges (PB) 117 and 118 at about the same time to the Aboitiz group.
It’s as if nobody thought that Mindanao was going to be effectively deprived of some 200 megawatts of power from these PBs, especially since these were instrumental in easing the power crisis during Cory and Ramos’ time when they were acquired in 1994.
So when the El Niño drought finally fell upon Mindanao in February 2010, the depletion of water in hydro plants Agus and Polangui resulted in five- to eight-hour brownouts that led to terrible losses in business and employment.
Thereafter, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which took control of the publicly-owned Transmission Corp. or TransCo after privatization, immediately entered into a so-called Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA) with Aboitiz-owned Therma Marine Inc. (TMI), wherein the latter, with the use of PB117 and PB118, would supply “additional” power to the Mindanao grid.
The NGCP then applied for a power rate adjustment as part of the ASPA application; afterwhich, the ERC gave it a provisional authority (PA) to raise its rates. This way, TMI will get paid as the monies will have to be collected from the electric utilities and consumers’ pockets.
But that’s not all. The capital recovery fee of $30 million calculated by TMI for the two barges when these were purchased was raised to $84.7 million — or increased threefold after being transferred from the government to the private sector, for a windfall of P3 billion!
Furthermore, the new ASPA charges were set over 10 times higher than the average 2009 NGCP monthly rates. These are aside from the fact that there was no competitive bidding at all in favor of TMI and little public consultation prior to the issuance of the PA.
A coalition of Mindanao congressmen thus reported on the real cost of this claimed “solution” by Almendras: “The electricity bills in Mindanao have virtually doubled from March to April and May this year. In 2009, we paid P49.70 per kWh/month. However, last April we paid P360 per kWh/month and P606 per kWh/month in May 2010. This had caused untold sufferings and hardships to our people in Mindanao, especially the poor.”
At about the same time as that Almendras boast, consumer advocates Pete Ilagan of Nasecore, maverick power entrepreneur Jojo Borja from Mindanao, lawyer Nelson Loyola of CCI, 89-year-old Lamp leader Mang Naro Lualhati, and writer Butch Junia, who called for the abolition of the ERC recently, were all at the hearing on ERC Case No. 2010-069-RC — on the, hold your breath… “Application for Approval of the Annual Revenue Requirement and Performance Incentive Scheme for the Third Regulatory Period” — in other words, the proposed Meralco rates for years 2011-2015.
In the proposal, four million of us ordinary consumers will be slapped with an additional P2.8564/kWh while Meralco’s large customers, including mall owners such as SM, Robinsons, Ayala and Rockwell will be charged only P0.2205/kWh, or 10 times less!
With ABS-CBN and TV5 in the power oligarchs’ hands, plus the fact that Meralco stockholders are the biggest advertisers in media, the power consuming public may never get hold of these facts. It’s time all of us realize how we are being fleeced as consumers for our revolt has long been overdue!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Power Consumers’ Revolt Long Overdue!” with Pete Ilagan, Butz Junia, and Mang Naro on Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 22, 2010
RP’s currency and socio-political puzzle
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/22/2010
In June 2010, South Korea and Indonesia issued several currency policy measures. The former announced a series of controls to protect its economy from external shocks while the latter devised ways of capping short-term capital inflows and outflows. Earlier in October 2009, Brazil instituted a 2 percent tax on foreign portfolio investments. During this period, Taiwan also restricted overseas investors from buying time deposits.
The Philippines, in contrast, has being the doing the reverse under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s open mole, Cesar Purisima, by ushering in the flood of foreign moneys. In particular, Purisima exempted the dollar bond disguised as the “peso bond” from any taxes because, according to him, the bond “…has to be structured in such a way that there will be no tax issues.”
So with our gates wide open to predatory finance, the Shylocks that deluge the local market with dollars that couldn’t even earn 1 percent domestically are in today for a bonanza with Purisima’s 5 to over to 6 percent interest! Why, the IMF gofer even proclaims, “Our position is that we (the government) take the tax exposure.”
And yet, what he doesn’t say is that deluging the local market with dollars further appreciates the peso, causing our OFWs and exporters to get less pesos for the dollars they earn; thus, depressing their lives and incomes as well as those of others, such as the BPO sector.
And as Philippine exports are made more expensive in the international market, imports will become cheaper and more purchases from abroad will be made, which will depress our local industries even more, putting a great deal more pressure on social and national equitability. Already, we are hearing the cries of our OFWs and exporters.
Leaders everywhere are worried, too. Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega declares: “We are in the midst of an international currency war, a general weakening of currency. This threatens us because it takes away our competitiveness.”
Today is an era of shrinking global demand. Issuers of reserve currencies, such as the US, adopt monetary expansion to cheapen their exports while non-issuers, such as Brazil, correctly respond with currency intervention. Those who do not do so, such as the Philippines, only find their currencies soaring to their detriment.
Brazil is touted today as one of the best stories of impressive economic growth. This is attributed, first of all, to the growth of its domestic production capacity, whereby products, such as cars and other vehicles, produced in Brazil are substituted for imports; and second, to the massive surge in Brazilian raw material sales to China — which mean a further breaking away from US and Western diktats on politics, finance, and the economy.
Purisima is leading this country into its final financial and economic ruin, and that is not surprising for one whose loyalty is to the foreign financial powers, and not the Filipino nation. He remains a governor of the World Bank (WB) Group and the Asian Development Bank and alternate governor for the IMF for the country, as one recent editorial of the Tribune revealed. So why would he bat an eyelash in sacrificing the welfare of this nation to prop up the US dollar, as we are seeing him do today?
It is the supreme irony that treason — both political and economic — not only goes unpunished but is richly rewarded; while patriotism and nationalism such as that of Senator Trillanes continues to be punished by the system (although we are happy that the Senate has finally concurred with the amnesty, over the dead political body of Joker Arroyo).
We have been educating our people to be concerned about the nation’s financial and monetary policies over politics and personalities. With regularity, we have brought our readers back to the time of Presidents Quirino and Garcia when capital and currency controls spurred a fledgling program of Philippine industrialization to gain a headstart over the rest of Asia.
These policies have to be restored to restore economic justice to our people. Only then can domestic agriculture and industry, not to mention employment and growth, be revived.
Aquino III’s government is a puppet regime of the US and the IMF, having several IMF-WB and US Embassy lackeys appointed to every key position in the Cabinet. It will not be more than two years before this predation and its disastrous impact will compel the people to react explosively to compel a reversal of policies.
The zarzuela between the “warring” Aquino III and Gloria Arroyo camps is exposed in the charades, such as in the meeting between the Budget chief with Arroyo supposedly to clarify the “cash transfer” program’s operations, the basis of which both are actually in agreement over. All told, these players are simply part of the continuing implementation of the US and Western plan of institutionalizing mendicancy in our people.
The Truth Commission of Davide is another such distraction. As we can see, it is clearly obfuscating the real issues against the Arroyo regime by stirring the pot with extraneous cases, such as Manuel Villar’s alleged budget-land manipulation schemes. The Davide commission is obviously intending to divert the cases away from the courts where they should be pursued, and with a certainty of success over time. But truth will out, as it now appears in the Glorietta bombing case.
Retired Army Col. Allan Sollano, Army Explosive and Ordnance Disposal unit leader at the Glorietta blast scene last Tuesday reaffirmed his original findings: “From… the dome in the roof of the basement and the damaged steel ladder… it was caused by a very, very powerful blast effect of a high explosive.”
He also recounted a meeting in Malacañang, attended by his men, where Gloria Arroyo supposedly told the generals to make the Glorietta blast a methane gas explosion. So it’s absolutely strange that the FBI team sent by the US concurred with the methane gas theory. Was there a quid pro quo there?
Gloria’s Noberto Gonzales was acting Defense chief at that time and destabilization was suspected. The massive defeat in May 2007 of Gloria’s senatorial slate was followed by the beheading of over a dozen Marines in Basilan in July. Two months later, the Glorietta blast occurred. It happened just days after Fidel Ramos issued veiled threats against Gloria that went kaput after the blast. And in November, a bomb exploded in Congress, killing Gonzales’ buddy and suspected brains behind the Basilan massacre, Rep. Wahab Akbar. Oh, how the pieces are coming together!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Privatization of Irrigation” on Politics Today, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., Tuesday, on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/22/2010
In June 2010, South Korea and Indonesia issued several currency policy measures. The former announced a series of controls to protect its economy from external shocks while the latter devised ways of capping short-term capital inflows and outflows. Earlier in October 2009, Brazil instituted a 2 percent tax on foreign portfolio investments. During this period, Taiwan also restricted overseas investors from buying time deposits.
The Philippines, in contrast, has being the doing the reverse under the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s open mole, Cesar Purisima, by ushering in the flood of foreign moneys. In particular, Purisima exempted the dollar bond disguised as the “peso bond” from any taxes because, according to him, the bond “…has to be structured in such a way that there will be no tax issues.”
So with our gates wide open to predatory finance, the Shylocks that deluge the local market with dollars that couldn’t even earn 1 percent domestically are in today for a bonanza with Purisima’s 5 to over to 6 percent interest! Why, the IMF gofer even proclaims, “Our position is that we (the government) take the tax exposure.”
And yet, what he doesn’t say is that deluging the local market with dollars further appreciates the peso, causing our OFWs and exporters to get less pesos for the dollars they earn; thus, depressing their lives and incomes as well as those of others, such as the BPO sector.
And as Philippine exports are made more expensive in the international market, imports will become cheaper and more purchases from abroad will be made, which will depress our local industries even more, putting a great deal more pressure on social and national equitability. Already, we are hearing the cries of our OFWs and exporters.
Leaders everywhere are worried, too. Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega declares: “We are in the midst of an international currency war, a general weakening of currency. This threatens us because it takes away our competitiveness.”
Today is an era of shrinking global demand. Issuers of reserve currencies, such as the US, adopt monetary expansion to cheapen their exports while non-issuers, such as Brazil, correctly respond with currency intervention. Those who do not do so, such as the Philippines, only find their currencies soaring to their detriment.
Brazil is touted today as one of the best stories of impressive economic growth. This is attributed, first of all, to the growth of its domestic production capacity, whereby products, such as cars and other vehicles, produced in Brazil are substituted for imports; and second, to the massive surge in Brazilian raw material sales to China — which mean a further breaking away from US and Western diktats on politics, finance, and the economy.
Purisima is leading this country into its final financial and economic ruin, and that is not surprising for one whose loyalty is to the foreign financial powers, and not the Filipino nation. He remains a governor of the World Bank (WB) Group and the Asian Development Bank and alternate governor for the IMF for the country, as one recent editorial of the Tribune revealed. So why would he bat an eyelash in sacrificing the welfare of this nation to prop up the US dollar, as we are seeing him do today?
It is the supreme irony that treason — both political and economic — not only goes unpunished but is richly rewarded; while patriotism and nationalism such as that of Senator Trillanes continues to be punished by the system (although we are happy that the Senate has finally concurred with the amnesty, over the dead political body of Joker Arroyo).
We have been educating our people to be concerned about the nation’s financial and monetary policies over politics and personalities. With regularity, we have brought our readers back to the time of Presidents Quirino and Garcia when capital and currency controls spurred a fledgling program of Philippine industrialization to gain a headstart over the rest of Asia.
These policies have to be restored to restore economic justice to our people. Only then can domestic agriculture and industry, not to mention employment and growth, be revived.
Aquino III’s government is a puppet regime of the US and the IMF, having several IMF-WB and US Embassy lackeys appointed to every key position in the Cabinet. It will not be more than two years before this predation and its disastrous impact will compel the people to react explosively to compel a reversal of policies.
The zarzuela between the “warring” Aquino III and Gloria Arroyo camps is exposed in the charades, such as in the meeting between the Budget chief with Arroyo supposedly to clarify the “cash transfer” program’s operations, the basis of which both are actually in agreement over. All told, these players are simply part of the continuing implementation of the US and Western plan of institutionalizing mendicancy in our people.
The Truth Commission of Davide is another such distraction. As we can see, it is clearly obfuscating the real issues against the Arroyo regime by stirring the pot with extraneous cases, such as Manuel Villar’s alleged budget-land manipulation schemes. The Davide commission is obviously intending to divert the cases away from the courts where they should be pursued, and with a certainty of success over time. But truth will out, as it now appears in the Glorietta bombing case.
Retired Army Col. Allan Sollano, Army Explosive and Ordnance Disposal unit leader at the Glorietta blast scene last Tuesday reaffirmed his original findings: “From… the dome in the roof of the basement and the damaged steel ladder… it was caused by a very, very powerful blast effect of a high explosive.”
He also recounted a meeting in Malacañang, attended by his men, where Gloria Arroyo supposedly told the generals to make the Glorietta blast a methane gas explosion. So it’s absolutely strange that the FBI team sent by the US concurred with the methane gas theory. Was there a quid pro quo there?
Gloria’s Noberto Gonzales was acting Defense chief at that time and destabilization was suspected. The massive defeat in May 2007 of Gloria’s senatorial slate was followed by the beheading of over a dozen Marines in Basilan in July. Two months later, the Glorietta blast occurred. It happened just days after Fidel Ramos issued veiled threats against Gloria that went kaput after the blast. And in November, a bomb exploded in Congress, killing Gonzales’ buddy and suspected brains behind the Basilan massacre, Rep. Wahab Akbar. Oh, how the pieces are coming together!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Privatization of Irrigation” on Politics Today, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., Tuesday, on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Monday, October 18, 2010
Justice for Trillanes, justice for all
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/18/2010
Remember the “Alabang Boys” drug and bribery case involving state prosecutor John Resado? Remember the shit that hit the Department of Justice (DoJ) fan in 2009 when Resado was accused by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of illegally releasing drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson because of purported “defects” in PDEA’s case?
The DoJ prosecutors at that time rallied around Resado. The two agencies then traded charges. Government was thus compelled to conduct an independent investigation, where it found a suspicious, unsatisfactorily explained P800,000 deposit in Resado’s account on the same day he signed that infamous resolution.
Good thing someone pursued the Alabang Boys and Resado cases. PDEA agent Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino at that time impressed the nation by standing up to the browbeating of then DoJ Chief Raul Gonzalez and other DoJ top brass.
Meantime, let us be reminded too, of the case that hit international news with the headline, “Philippine judge sacked, another suspended over bribery scandal,” involving Justice Vicente Roxas and Associate Justice Jose Sabio, where three other justices were suspended for not taking the appropriate action.
The scandal arose after Sabio revealed a P10-million bribe offer by a lawyer of Meralco but which he didn’t report until months after, whereas Roxas was dismissed for offering fabricated transcripts of deliberations to a review panel investigating that scandal and writing a ruling on the petition without first consulting the Court of Appeals justice involved.
There is a large volume of seamy stories on our justice and judicial system. So when I heard the DoJ’s lawyers quibbling about technicalities in the amnesty for the Magdalos, I thought: “Who are they to talk?”
They of all people should realize that the power to grant amnesties bestowed upon the Office of the President — the office, not the person — is absolute. The progenitors of our Western (or American) constitutional tradition recognized the potential of any system of laws and government to be flawed. Thus they provided the power, under the checks and balance principle, to the highest elected official representing the almighty people to resolve such issues in behalf of the people themselves.
The anomaly though in our current political and cultural set-up is that power is being wrested from the people’s hands by the politicians and bureaucrats, many of whom have been corrupted and controlled by the powerful oligarchs, Gloria Arroyo, and foreign interests. And this is the only reason Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has not been able to sit in the Senate despite the earnest efforts of his 11 million voters.
For truly, the struggle of Trillanes is the struggle of the people to wrest back the power that is supposedly theirs, peacefully and legally, despite all the obstacles put in place by the bureaucratic and political usurpers of that power.
Take this issue of the Makati trial court’s handling of Trillanes’ case which, despite having taken over seven years of hearings and deliberations, has not been resolved to this day. While most perceive this murderously slow grind as normal for this country’s courts, by international standards, two years is already a denial of the fundamental right of the accused to “a fair and speedy trial,” the rectification of which should be an outright dismissal.
But the tragedy of our society is that the flaws and infirmities of the system have been so accepted because they have plagued us so long. Alas, those who shrug the injustice to Trillanes off are really condemning themselves to suffer that same fate soon.
I heard the DoJ prosecutors complaining about having “labored long and hard these seven years preparing and arguing” the case against Trillanes. But have they actually thought of the hardships the senator, his wife and children, his family, friends and comrades underwent over seven years and seven months of being behind bars, and of being unable to travel the 10-kilometer stretch leading to the halls of the Senate where he was elected by the people to serve?
The parties carping against the amnesty, such as those “unnamed legal experts” quoted by a mainstream pro-Arroyo paper when the Oakwood protest occurred, are undeserving of serious consideration because they have not done their share in standing up to the corruption of the system as the Magdalos and Trillanes have, or risked their whole profession, as what Alan Paguia laid on the line when he criticized the Edsa II transgression of the highest court of the land.
The high prominence being given to criticism of the amnesty from a motley crew of non-entities does not surprise me. I am aware that the party with the most to lose when the amnesty for Trillanes is perfected, i.e. Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts, is moving to fan the criticisms to cover the real issues that led to the Oakwood protest and the astonishing victory of Trillanes over Arroyo’s moneyed candidates in 2007: The unprecedented levels of perfidy, treason and corruption of that regime, which continues today with Arroyo’s reign in Congress and her factotums ensconced in the government bureaucracy.
As for Teddy Te’s comment, I understand his belief in his infallibility, but even he must admit that it is the system that is corrupt through and through — like a Kryptonite that even his super legal brain cannot overcome.
The entire nation, with the 11 million voters of Trillanes, must take action now to shout down the voices of petty tyrants who are attempting to usurp the power and the sense of justice of the people.
Text to radio and TV programs; start hanging posters in your windows and vehicles; start the teach-ins in schools; and declare to the world, “Justice for Trillanes, justice for all!”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Justice for Trillanes, Justice for All” on Politics Today, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., Tuesday, with Teofisto Guingona, RG Guevarra and co-host Abby Aquino on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http:hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/18/2010
Remember the “Alabang Boys” drug and bribery case involving state prosecutor John Resado? Remember the shit that hit the Department of Justice (DoJ) fan in 2009 when Resado was accused by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) of illegally releasing drug suspects Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson because of purported “defects” in PDEA’s case?
The DoJ prosecutors at that time rallied around Resado. The two agencies then traded charges. Government was thus compelled to conduct an independent investigation, where it found a suspicious, unsatisfactorily explained P800,000 deposit in Resado’s account on the same day he signed that infamous resolution.
Good thing someone pursued the Alabang Boys and Resado cases. PDEA agent Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino at that time impressed the nation by standing up to the browbeating of then DoJ Chief Raul Gonzalez and other DoJ top brass.
Meantime, let us be reminded too, of the case that hit international news with the headline, “Philippine judge sacked, another suspended over bribery scandal,” involving Justice Vicente Roxas and Associate Justice Jose Sabio, where three other justices were suspended for not taking the appropriate action.
The scandal arose after Sabio revealed a P10-million bribe offer by a lawyer of Meralco but which he didn’t report until months after, whereas Roxas was dismissed for offering fabricated transcripts of deliberations to a review panel investigating that scandal and writing a ruling on the petition without first consulting the Court of Appeals justice involved.
There is a large volume of seamy stories on our justice and judicial system. So when I heard the DoJ’s lawyers quibbling about technicalities in the amnesty for the Magdalos, I thought: “Who are they to talk?”
They of all people should realize that the power to grant amnesties bestowed upon the Office of the President — the office, not the person — is absolute. The progenitors of our Western (or American) constitutional tradition recognized the potential of any system of laws and government to be flawed. Thus they provided the power, under the checks and balance principle, to the highest elected official representing the almighty people to resolve such issues in behalf of the people themselves.
The anomaly though in our current political and cultural set-up is that power is being wrested from the people’s hands by the politicians and bureaucrats, many of whom have been corrupted and controlled by the powerful oligarchs, Gloria Arroyo, and foreign interests. And this is the only reason Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV has not been able to sit in the Senate despite the earnest efforts of his 11 million voters.
For truly, the struggle of Trillanes is the struggle of the people to wrest back the power that is supposedly theirs, peacefully and legally, despite all the obstacles put in place by the bureaucratic and political usurpers of that power.
Take this issue of the Makati trial court’s handling of Trillanes’ case which, despite having taken over seven years of hearings and deliberations, has not been resolved to this day. While most perceive this murderously slow grind as normal for this country’s courts, by international standards, two years is already a denial of the fundamental right of the accused to “a fair and speedy trial,” the rectification of which should be an outright dismissal.
But the tragedy of our society is that the flaws and infirmities of the system have been so accepted because they have plagued us so long. Alas, those who shrug the injustice to Trillanes off are really condemning themselves to suffer that same fate soon.
I heard the DoJ prosecutors complaining about having “labored long and hard these seven years preparing and arguing” the case against Trillanes. But have they actually thought of the hardships the senator, his wife and children, his family, friends and comrades underwent over seven years and seven months of being behind bars, and of being unable to travel the 10-kilometer stretch leading to the halls of the Senate where he was elected by the people to serve?
The parties carping against the amnesty, such as those “unnamed legal experts” quoted by a mainstream pro-Arroyo paper when the Oakwood protest occurred, are undeserving of serious consideration because they have not done their share in standing up to the corruption of the system as the Magdalos and Trillanes have, or risked their whole profession, as what Alan Paguia laid on the line when he criticized the Edsa II transgression of the highest court of the land.
The high prominence being given to criticism of the amnesty from a motley crew of non-entities does not surprise me. I am aware that the party with the most to lose when the amnesty for Trillanes is perfected, i.e. Gloria Arroyo and her cohorts, is moving to fan the criticisms to cover the real issues that led to the Oakwood protest and the astonishing victory of Trillanes over Arroyo’s moneyed candidates in 2007: The unprecedented levels of perfidy, treason and corruption of that regime, which continues today with Arroyo’s reign in Congress and her factotums ensconced in the government bureaucracy.
As for Teddy Te’s comment, I understand his belief in his infallibility, but even he must admit that it is the system that is corrupt through and through — like a Kryptonite that even his super legal brain cannot overcome.
The entire nation, with the 11 million voters of Trillanes, must take action now to shout down the voices of petty tyrants who are attempting to usurp the power and the sense of justice of the people.
Text to radio and TV programs; start hanging posters in your windows and vehicles; start the teach-ins in schools; and declare to the world, “Justice for Trillanes, justice for all!”
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Justice for Trillanes, Justice for All” on Politics Today, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., Tuesday, with Teofisto Guingona, RG Guevarra and co-host Abby Aquino on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http:hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Sweet, bitter and tasteless
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/15/2010
Today I prefer to start with the sweet than the bitter because a homecoming to freedom is a joy beyond compare. I have been behind bars before and know of its oppressiveness. Last time I was “in,” I was a fellow detainee of the civilian and military protestors of the Manila Peninsula standoff. I was released after only five days, though I thought I would stay for years.
I left behind young courageous military officers who had started their protests way back in 2003 at Oakwood against the corruption and illegality of the former regime. When the Manila Pen standoff took place in 2007, we were carted off to jail altogether. Three years later, all were released except one, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. For those he has inspired with his steadfast principles, the political amnesty signed for him a few days ago can only be the sweetest news in quite a long time.
There is, however, a slightly bitter aftertaste when one considers that this amnesty should not have been needed at all if only all the legalistic crap that stood in the way of immediate freedom for those that stood up to the former regime was never taken seriously.
The bitter aftertaste even becomes a very bitter sense of indignation when one recalls the history of the past 10 years, beginning with the brazen subversion of the nation’s Basic Law by a motley group of conspirators from the Legislature, the Judiciary, the military and police, the Catholic Church, and the evil “civil society,” with foreign elements that deposed a duly-constituted government to install a regime of their own of unprecedented corruption, oppression, and usurpation of power.
Bitterness then almost turns to nausea when one sees that not one of the conspirators has been punished as most are even in the perches of power today.
More bitter irony in that Gloria Arroyo, who now sits in the legislature, participates in crafting laws, and disposes national budgets after insulting the whole nation with her lies, from the Impsa scam to the “Hello Garci” cheating, down to the ZTE-NBN scandal; while Aquino III assures her impunity by creating a mock investigative commission and placing at its helm her chief cohort in the 2001 Edsa II abomination.
Irony overflows as Joker Arroyo continues to throw inane arguments to frustrate justice for Trillanes, who is absolutely free of scandal, while he still has not answered charges of misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds in the 2001 elections, as well as his illegal walkout in the impeachment hearings that denied President Estrada his day in court.
Irony never ends as the Lord of all Lords Chavit Singson, Edsa II rogues Ebdane, Esperon et al. still lord it over, with the list of the vile ruling in style becoming endless.
I look forward to the day soon after the final release of Senator Trillanes to bring about a long deserved meeting between him and the inspiration of the entire anti-Gloria, anti-oligarchy, pro-masa struggle, President Joseph Estrada, who himself served six years and six months of unjust incarceration under the oppressive, illegal regime of Gloria Arroyo and the oligarchy behind her.
Although the two have not met in the past decade, I have always believed that Estrada and Trillanes represent genuine leadership for the nation and the Republic — being individuals (and leaders) of the highest order, and being truly patriotic and never subservient.
Unlike all other politicians on the present political stage, the two have never compromised their most fundamental principles of service to the people and the laws of the Republic in exchange for any quarter from the powerful oligarchs, corrupt tyrants or their prison guards.
Of the events surrounding this amnesty for Trillanes, there is one that seems very tasteless, to say the least. I am referring to the prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DoJ) who said, “We are disappointed… because we had wanted to know what the court will say… We concede that these are political offenses but we have a problem with the timing. If you want to respect the rule of law, we should have waited for the promulgation.”
Such is the farce of our judicial system where the criminals run free while the conscientious objectors, protestors, and dissenters are imprisoned, with the state’s lawyers totally helpless in helping the latter and prosecuting the former. The court trying the Magdalo and Trillanes case has taken too long to absolve the innocent and has proven to be inutile, too, in going after the guilty. Almost everything of vital importance in this society is decided by politics and not the law.
But the tasteless DoJ prosecutors’ comments only echo their secretary’s candid declaration that resignation has indeed crossed her mind after Malacañang tampered with the Incident Investigation and Review Committee’s findings.
Resignation is not something said but done. Her saying it while not doing it is hypocrisy and doubletalk—typical of the posturing of Aquino III’s Cabinet such as Robredo’s being Department of Interior and Local Government secretary but not really; Puno’s not taking jueteng bribes but not apprehending the bribers; and Defense chief Gazmin’s talk of an assassination plot against Aquino but not really offering any proof or follow through.
Meanwhile, my final “tasteless” award, though not related to the Trillanes case, goes to the Pasig River marathon led by “philanthropist” Gina Lopez who raised multi-million sums, not from her own pockets, but from tens of thousands of university students who forked out P100-registration fees and P150-T-shirts, and by compelling government to fund policemen and soldiers to join, while her family raises electricity rates again by another 30 centavos per kilowatt hour this month. This hypocritical kind of elite philanthropy, together with the tastelessness of the current political leadership, is what ought to go into the Guinness Book of World Records!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “The Trillanes Saga” on Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http:hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/15/2010
Today I prefer to start with the sweet than the bitter because a homecoming to freedom is a joy beyond compare. I have been behind bars before and know of its oppressiveness. Last time I was “in,” I was a fellow detainee of the civilian and military protestors of the Manila Peninsula standoff. I was released after only five days, though I thought I would stay for years.
I left behind young courageous military officers who had started their protests way back in 2003 at Oakwood against the corruption and illegality of the former regime. When the Manila Pen standoff took place in 2007, we were carted off to jail altogether. Three years later, all were released except one, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. For those he has inspired with his steadfast principles, the political amnesty signed for him a few days ago can only be the sweetest news in quite a long time.
There is, however, a slightly bitter aftertaste when one considers that this amnesty should not have been needed at all if only all the legalistic crap that stood in the way of immediate freedom for those that stood up to the former regime was never taken seriously.
The bitter aftertaste even becomes a very bitter sense of indignation when one recalls the history of the past 10 years, beginning with the brazen subversion of the nation’s Basic Law by a motley group of conspirators from the Legislature, the Judiciary, the military and police, the Catholic Church, and the evil “civil society,” with foreign elements that deposed a duly-constituted government to install a regime of their own of unprecedented corruption, oppression, and usurpation of power.
Bitterness then almost turns to nausea when one sees that not one of the conspirators has been punished as most are even in the perches of power today.
More bitter irony in that Gloria Arroyo, who now sits in the legislature, participates in crafting laws, and disposes national budgets after insulting the whole nation with her lies, from the Impsa scam to the “Hello Garci” cheating, down to the ZTE-NBN scandal; while Aquino III assures her impunity by creating a mock investigative commission and placing at its helm her chief cohort in the 2001 Edsa II abomination.
Irony overflows as Joker Arroyo continues to throw inane arguments to frustrate justice for Trillanes, who is absolutely free of scandal, while he still has not answered charges of misuse of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office funds in the 2001 elections, as well as his illegal walkout in the impeachment hearings that denied President Estrada his day in court.
Irony never ends as the Lord of all Lords Chavit Singson, Edsa II rogues Ebdane, Esperon et al. still lord it over, with the list of the vile ruling in style becoming endless.
I look forward to the day soon after the final release of Senator Trillanes to bring about a long deserved meeting between him and the inspiration of the entire anti-Gloria, anti-oligarchy, pro-masa struggle, President Joseph Estrada, who himself served six years and six months of unjust incarceration under the oppressive, illegal regime of Gloria Arroyo and the oligarchy behind her.
Although the two have not met in the past decade, I have always believed that Estrada and Trillanes represent genuine leadership for the nation and the Republic — being individuals (and leaders) of the highest order, and being truly patriotic and never subservient.
Unlike all other politicians on the present political stage, the two have never compromised their most fundamental principles of service to the people and the laws of the Republic in exchange for any quarter from the powerful oligarchs, corrupt tyrants or their prison guards.
Of the events surrounding this amnesty for Trillanes, there is one that seems very tasteless, to say the least. I am referring to the prosecutors of the Department of Justice (DoJ) who said, “We are disappointed… because we had wanted to know what the court will say… We concede that these are political offenses but we have a problem with the timing. If you want to respect the rule of law, we should have waited for the promulgation.”
Such is the farce of our judicial system where the criminals run free while the conscientious objectors, protestors, and dissenters are imprisoned, with the state’s lawyers totally helpless in helping the latter and prosecuting the former. The court trying the Magdalo and Trillanes case has taken too long to absolve the innocent and has proven to be inutile, too, in going after the guilty. Almost everything of vital importance in this society is decided by politics and not the law.
But the tasteless DoJ prosecutors’ comments only echo their secretary’s candid declaration that resignation has indeed crossed her mind after Malacañang tampered with the Incident Investigation and Review Committee’s findings.
Resignation is not something said but done. Her saying it while not doing it is hypocrisy and doubletalk—typical of the posturing of Aquino III’s Cabinet such as Robredo’s being Department of Interior and Local Government secretary but not really; Puno’s not taking jueteng bribes but not apprehending the bribers; and Defense chief Gazmin’s talk of an assassination plot against Aquino but not really offering any proof or follow through.
Meanwhile, my final “tasteless” award, though not related to the Trillanes case, goes to the Pasig River marathon led by “philanthropist” Gina Lopez who raised multi-million sums, not from her own pockets, but from tens of thousands of university students who forked out P100-registration fees and P150-T-shirts, and by compelling government to fund policemen and soldiers to join, while her family raises electricity rates again by another 30 centavos per kilowatt hour this month. This hypocritical kind of elite philanthropy, together with the tastelessness of the current political leadership, is what ought to go into the Guinness Book of World Records!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “The Trillanes Saga” on Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http:hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Doublespeak
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/11/10
Headlines last Saturday focused on the doubling of the congressional “pork barrel” through an extra P50 million allocated for each congressman, over and above the regular P70-million take, in exchange for “looking the other way on Aquino’s non-transparent lump sum appropriations in the tens of billions.” Also highlighted was the gargantuan concession by the Palace to now Rep. Gloria Arroyo — ostensibly for the same reason — of P2.2 billion in public works “pork” while adjacent congressional districts got measly amounts of a million or two.
These latest adjustments in the pork barrel already included amounts to appease several Visayan congressmen who earlier stonewalled the approval of the budget when they decried the “raw deal” they got from being left out of the huge pie. But that’s not all: All congressmen (save for those from the party-lists) will now get P25 million each from the Road Users Tax!
Everybody in Congress, especially that grimacing little Gloria, is now very happy — except for the public that’s sure to seethe over this. But getting mad is not going to change things unless there’s a physical revolt.
At least Aquino III is fulfilling his promise of “change,” except that it is not the “change” people expected of him during the campaign. As one Yellow mainstream daily headlined, Aquino III is sure to face the challenge of “Changing (the) old system;” but he’s doing it only for the worse — with more pork, more compromises with his avowed target, and more doublespeak than Gloria ever uttered in her first 100 days in 2001.
So what’s the point of forming the “Truth Commission” when even this early, Aquino III is already engaged in heavy horse trading with Gloria to get Malacañang’s lump sum appropriations through Congress? That’s another confirmation that Arroyo exercises tremendous clout in the Lower House; and I am not surprised, as the Speaker is an Arroyo crony himself.
All told, the whole system is a system of doublespeak, and the Filipino people would do well to put that in their minds and totally dismiss anything the caboodle of politicians, particularly the top honchos, will ever again say to the public.
My purpose of engaging in a continuing public discourse through radio, cable TV, and writing is to expose the doublespeak, the lies, which people are subjected to each and every moment of the day. A nation simply cannot survive on doublespeak; as vision cannot arise from lies. It is my hope that the Filipino people and the various social leaderships that are not party to this system of lies may come together and exterminate the lowlifes that have wormed their way into the corridors of power.
Last Friday night, in our celebration with close friends, one of the subjects that came up was the budget cut of P1.2 billion from the University of the Philippines, described by former UP president Dodong Nemenzo as “paralyzing.” This was discussed alongside the “K+12” plan of Aquino I+2II’s Bro. “Damaso,” Armin Luistro, that was heavily criticized as the increase in the overall education budget of P2 billion will only go to such a scheme that is overwhelmingly rejected by parents and public school teachers alike. We all agreed that since Luistro admonishes parents to look at “K” not as a burden but as an investment, he should first become a parent to know what he’s preaching about.
Ultimately, arguments for “K+12” center on “conforming to international practice” — yet another euphemism for globalization. So the best counter argument: Adding two years to poor quality education is still two more years of poor quality education!
Speaking of education, a surefire budget for “wrong education” is found in the huge increase for the Arroyo-esque “cash transfers” program. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will feed himself forever,” it appears that neither Aquino III nor Dinky Soliman wants the Filipino poor to learn how to fish. By slashing the budget that higher education rightfully deserves, only to divert this to dole outs, thus “dumbing” down the people, the DSWD should now be called the “Department of Social Welfare Dependency.”
But wait: Given the huge increase in its budget, the DSWD now even has a housing component. As a result, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council must be crying over scraps while Dinky thanks her lucky stars profusely. Why, she now has the wherewithal to buy several 4x4 pick-ups to spread her dole outs. And even as she continues to deny that these are SUVs (only “trucks,” without ever mentioning the brand), any idiot will know that a 4x4 pick-up is also an SUV! Another doublespeak again.
PS — I lost my main cellphone last week and won’t be able to respond nor act on requests for a while. I committed to see some visitors to Manila from Mindanao referred by Dionisio Lopez of Zamboanga. Although I am very eager to meet with them, I hope Diony will understand my predicament. If the visitors are still in Manila by the time this column reaches Diony, he can text me at 0922-8797627. Regular texters can also send their reactions and suggestions to this number, especially those who send their views for our radio program discussions.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/11/10
Headlines last Saturday focused on the doubling of the congressional “pork barrel” through an extra P50 million allocated for each congressman, over and above the regular P70-million take, in exchange for “looking the other way on Aquino’s non-transparent lump sum appropriations in the tens of billions.” Also highlighted was the gargantuan concession by the Palace to now Rep. Gloria Arroyo — ostensibly for the same reason — of P2.2 billion in public works “pork” while adjacent congressional districts got measly amounts of a million or two.
These latest adjustments in the pork barrel already included amounts to appease several Visayan congressmen who earlier stonewalled the approval of the budget when they decried the “raw deal” they got from being left out of the huge pie. But that’s not all: All congressmen (save for those from the party-lists) will now get P25 million each from the Road Users Tax!
Everybody in Congress, especially that grimacing little Gloria, is now very happy — except for the public that’s sure to seethe over this. But getting mad is not going to change things unless there’s a physical revolt.
At least Aquino III is fulfilling his promise of “change,” except that it is not the “change” people expected of him during the campaign. As one Yellow mainstream daily headlined, Aquino III is sure to face the challenge of “Changing (the) old system;” but he’s doing it only for the worse — with more pork, more compromises with his avowed target, and more doublespeak than Gloria ever uttered in her first 100 days in 2001.
So what’s the point of forming the “Truth Commission” when even this early, Aquino III is already engaged in heavy horse trading with Gloria to get Malacañang’s lump sum appropriations through Congress? That’s another confirmation that Arroyo exercises tremendous clout in the Lower House; and I am not surprised, as the Speaker is an Arroyo crony himself.
All told, the whole system is a system of doublespeak, and the Filipino people would do well to put that in their minds and totally dismiss anything the caboodle of politicians, particularly the top honchos, will ever again say to the public.
My purpose of engaging in a continuing public discourse through radio, cable TV, and writing is to expose the doublespeak, the lies, which people are subjected to each and every moment of the day. A nation simply cannot survive on doublespeak; as vision cannot arise from lies. It is my hope that the Filipino people and the various social leaderships that are not party to this system of lies may come together and exterminate the lowlifes that have wormed their way into the corridors of power.
Last Friday night, in our celebration with close friends, one of the subjects that came up was the budget cut of P1.2 billion from the University of the Philippines, described by former UP president Dodong Nemenzo as “paralyzing.” This was discussed alongside the “K+12” plan of Aquino I+2II’s Bro. “Damaso,” Armin Luistro, that was heavily criticized as the increase in the overall education budget of P2 billion will only go to such a scheme that is overwhelmingly rejected by parents and public school teachers alike. We all agreed that since Luistro admonishes parents to look at “K” not as a burden but as an investment, he should first become a parent to know what he’s preaching about.
Ultimately, arguments for “K+12” center on “conforming to international practice” — yet another euphemism for globalization. So the best counter argument: Adding two years to poor quality education is still two more years of poor quality education!
Speaking of education, a surefire budget for “wrong education” is found in the huge increase for the Arroyo-esque “cash transfers” program. As an old Chinese saying goes, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will feed himself forever,” it appears that neither Aquino III nor Dinky Soliman wants the Filipino poor to learn how to fish. By slashing the budget that higher education rightfully deserves, only to divert this to dole outs, thus “dumbing” down the people, the DSWD should now be called the “Department of Social Welfare Dependency.”
But wait: Given the huge increase in its budget, the DSWD now even has a housing component. As a result, the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council must be crying over scraps while Dinky thanks her lucky stars profusely. Why, she now has the wherewithal to buy several 4x4 pick-ups to spread her dole outs. And even as she continues to deny that these are SUVs (only “trucks,” without ever mentioning the brand), any idiot will know that a 4x4 pick-up is also an SUV! Another doublespeak again.
PS — I lost my main cellphone last week and won’t be able to respond nor act on requests for a while. I committed to see some visitors to Manila from Mindanao referred by Dionisio Lopez of Zamboanga. Although I am very eager to meet with them, I hope Diony will understand my predicament. If the visitors are still in Manila by the time this column reaches Diony, he can text me at 0922-8797627. Regular texters can also send their reactions and suggestions to this number, especially those who send their views for our radio program discussions.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 8, 2010
7,748 plus 100 days of Yellow infamy
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/08/2010
Aquino III is but a continuation of Gloria Arroyo, as Arroyo was an extension of Fidel Ramos, who, in turn, carried over policies of Cory Aquino, the first Yellow puppet to have kicked off the globalist neo-colonial counter-revolution against Ferdinand Marcos’ national economic development program spearheaded by past nation-building presidents, Quirino and Garcia.
Simply put, Aquino III cannot be seen in any other light. Apart from not having his own agenda, he and his Cabinet have only upheld a policy of mendicancy, dependency, and enslavement to the oppressive Washington cabal (that subsidizes its crony oligarchs around the Makati Business Club), while taxing and exploiting the people, pulling economic support out from under them, and negating initiatives toward self-reliance and self-sustaining productivity.
Grading Aquino III from this exploitative angle, one can indeed agree with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 90-percent score for him. On the other hand, if, like most of the 90 million or so Filipinos, the gauge will be faithfulness to such campaign promises as honesty, integrity and change (from Gloria’s deceitfulness, complicity in corruption and crime, cronyism, nepotism, competence, disservice to the people, alleviation of their burdens, better governance, etc.), then there are not enough Ds and Es to write down on PeNoy’s report card.
A very good example is the Malacañang Press Corps which has, among its ranks, the nearest yet objective people around the official Cabinet and their boss. In an informal survey among them, 17 Palace reporters gave Aquino III a C, seven a D, while two gave him a B and one an E.
From what I can see in my interviews with the common folk, these Palace reporters reflect the rest of the country’s views. Although they may be polite, they’re unwilling to give even an overall passing mark. Reality, however, has a way of being distorted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) of Mahar Mangahas when it comes to the rescue of the Yellows’ political pets through manipulated popularity surveys whenever needed.
The latest SWS survey from Sept. 24 to 27 puts Aquino III’s satisfaction rating at 71 percent satisfied against 11 percent dissatisfied. This, as office secretaries, guards and janitors I come across are all one in rating Aquino III far worse than how the Palace reporters graded him. Well, this SWS survey is just a repeat of how the Yellow myth was earlier buttressed when Aquino III’s trust rating in July zoomed to 83 percent, even when over half of the nation voted against him.
The myth of Aquino’s popularity has to be maintained by the ruling class of oligarchs, their media and their minions to effectively follow the diktats of their foreign patrons. We often hear from the spokesmen of Aquino III the mantra of “sacrificing political capital to implement harsh measures” whenever they raise taxes and fees on toll ways, remove senior citizens’ VAT exemptions, pull out subsidies for public utilities such as the MRT, penalize farmers by eliminating price subsidies, as well as help Aquino III cover up serious transgressions of ethics, morality and trust (from the complicity of Aquino III’s lieutenants in the increasingly rampant jueteng operations to his direct personal failures, such as in the Hong Thai hostage tragedy, ad nausea).
For sure, the powers-that-be still have to stretch that illusory political capital as more pains are to be inflicted, such as the looming MRT fare hike in a month’s time.
Like the first two years of Gloria Arroyo, the Establishment is maintaining the perception that “while the lieutenants may be fouling up, Aquino III is still personally a good leader.” Hence, they’re postponing the day when the people would eventually blame the top honcho himself — or so they think.
In this light, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill brouhaha, supposedly pitting Aquino III versus the Catholic hierarchy, has become a PR manna from heaven for Malacañang’s spin masters for now. Aquino III is cast as an underdog against the archaic Church, while the continuing jueteng and other scandals, plus issues of economic hardship, are conveniently set aside.
I believe that in spite of the Catholic hierarchy knowing the RH bills to be antiquated, the bishops are only too happy to figure in this moro-moro with their Yellow santa’s only son. It’s a farce made more glaring by the fact that the Yellows, who are now protesting Church intervention against their dummy, celebrated the same when it was used against Marcos and Erap.
In the final analysis, since the first 100 days is not a grading period but a moment for taking the nation’s bearings, we ask: Where is the helmsman taking the ship? Lao Tse said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step. But where is that first step headed? Or where is RP’s ship of state headed to?
Aquino III’s sails may be billowing but the anchors are still down! Even if he reached the malls of America and the steps of the UN building, in policy matters, he is merely running stationary, going nowhere. His first 100 days is just more added to the 7,748 days (24 years less Estrada’s two-and-a-half) of the same political-economic paradigm that Cory set in 1987, with the country being fed on a lot of wind, getting poorer, and ever more dependent on rice imports and manpower exports, with ever-growing debt and demoralization of the people.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/08/2010
Aquino III is but a continuation of Gloria Arroyo, as Arroyo was an extension of Fidel Ramos, who, in turn, carried over policies of Cory Aquino, the first Yellow puppet to have kicked off the globalist neo-colonial counter-revolution against Ferdinand Marcos’ national economic development program spearheaded by past nation-building presidents, Quirino and Garcia.
Simply put, Aquino III cannot be seen in any other light. Apart from not having his own agenda, he and his Cabinet have only upheld a policy of mendicancy, dependency, and enslavement to the oppressive Washington cabal (that subsidizes its crony oligarchs around the Makati Business Club), while taxing and exploiting the people, pulling economic support out from under them, and negating initiatives toward self-reliance and self-sustaining productivity.
Grading Aquino III from this exploitative angle, one can indeed agree with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 90-percent score for him. On the other hand, if, like most of the 90 million or so Filipinos, the gauge will be faithfulness to such campaign promises as honesty, integrity and change (from Gloria’s deceitfulness, complicity in corruption and crime, cronyism, nepotism, competence, disservice to the people, alleviation of their burdens, better governance, etc.), then there are not enough Ds and Es to write down on PeNoy’s report card.
A very good example is the Malacañang Press Corps which has, among its ranks, the nearest yet objective people around the official Cabinet and their boss. In an informal survey among them, 17 Palace reporters gave Aquino III a C, seven a D, while two gave him a B and one an E.
From what I can see in my interviews with the common folk, these Palace reporters reflect the rest of the country’s views. Although they may be polite, they’re unwilling to give even an overall passing mark. Reality, however, has a way of being distorted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) of Mahar Mangahas when it comes to the rescue of the Yellows’ political pets through manipulated popularity surveys whenever needed.
The latest SWS survey from Sept. 24 to 27 puts Aquino III’s satisfaction rating at 71 percent satisfied against 11 percent dissatisfied. This, as office secretaries, guards and janitors I come across are all one in rating Aquino III far worse than how the Palace reporters graded him. Well, this SWS survey is just a repeat of how the Yellow myth was earlier buttressed when Aquino III’s trust rating in July zoomed to 83 percent, even when over half of the nation voted against him.
The myth of Aquino’s popularity has to be maintained by the ruling class of oligarchs, their media and their minions to effectively follow the diktats of their foreign patrons. We often hear from the spokesmen of Aquino III the mantra of “sacrificing political capital to implement harsh measures” whenever they raise taxes and fees on toll ways, remove senior citizens’ VAT exemptions, pull out subsidies for public utilities such as the MRT, penalize farmers by eliminating price subsidies, as well as help Aquino III cover up serious transgressions of ethics, morality and trust (from the complicity of Aquino III’s lieutenants in the increasingly rampant jueteng operations to his direct personal failures, such as in the Hong Thai hostage tragedy, ad nausea).
For sure, the powers-that-be still have to stretch that illusory political capital as more pains are to be inflicted, such as the looming MRT fare hike in a month’s time.
Like the first two years of Gloria Arroyo, the Establishment is maintaining the perception that “while the lieutenants may be fouling up, Aquino III is still personally a good leader.” Hence, they’re postponing the day when the people would eventually blame the top honcho himself — or so they think.
In this light, the Reproductive Health (RH) bill brouhaha, supposedly pitting Aquino III versus the Catholic hierarchy, has become a PR manna from heaven for Malacañang’s spin masters for now. Aquino III is cast as an underdog against the archaic Church, while the continuing jueteng and other scandals, plus issues of economic hardship, are conveniently set aside.
I believe that in spite of the Catholic hierarchy knowing the RH bills to be antiquated, the bishops are only too happy to figure in this moro-moro with their Yellow santa’s only son. It’s a farce made more glaring by the fact that the Yellows, who are now protesting Church intervention against their dummy, celebrated the same when it was used against Marcos and Erap.
In the final analysis, since the first 100 days is not a grading period but a moment for taking the nation’s bearings, we ask: Where is the helmsman taking the ship? Lao Tse said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step. But where is that first step headed? Or where is RP’s ship of state headed to?
Aquino III’s sails may be billowing but the anchors are still down! Even if he reached the malls of America and the steps of the UN building, in policy matters, he is merely running stationary, going nowhere. His first 100 days is just more added to the 7,748 days (24 years less Estrada’s two-and-a-half) of the same political-economic paradigm that Cory set in 1987, with the country being fed on a lot of wind, getting poorer, and ever more dependent on rice imports and manpower exports, with ever-growing debt and demoralization of the people.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Entrepeneurship vs mendicancy
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/04/2010
The Aquino III “working visit” to the US lasted for eight days. The daily reports of his hotdogs and hamburgers, photo ops of his walking in front of landmarks, and one or two gatherings with US-based Filipinos streamed into Manila’s front pages everyday that week. What is clear is that the PR machinery was working; but was Aquino III really working at all?
Three items highlighted that trip: (1) the US dole out agency, Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), and its so-called $434 million grant (spread over five years) “for Aquino III’s compliance with anti-corruption standards;” (2) his seven minutes of glory chatting with Obama; and (3) the so-called $2.8 billion “investments” he claims to have brought home.
That the five-year MCC grant was released due to Aquino III’s anti-corruption credentials is an outright lie. This dole out has been flowing since 2003, going primarily to Mindanao projects where the US runs “conflict resolution” and “better governance” programs through the MCC, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and groups such as the US Institute for Peace (USIP) led by J. Robinson West as Chairman, who is also head of PFC Energy (the US’ largest energy advisor).
If anything, this only reveals the pincer moves toward Uncle Sam’s goal: The capture of the oil, natural gas, and other resources of Mindanao through “peace” with the MILF and the establishment of a BangsaMoro Juridical Entity which Aquino III has given a positive spin lately.
Meanwhile, the promise of $2.8 billion in investments by a country that is now on the brink of financial and economic collapse is only fool’s gold, and Aquino III is bandying it about as if he had birds in hand. Well, his little birdies should have told him that the US’ promises to the Philippines have all been broken from the day it held sway over this Malay nation that was the first to succeed in an anti-colonial revolution, only to be betrayed when it was sold for $20 million.
Over the century that has passed, the US has already siphoned gold and other riches from the Philippine archipelago; utilized its strategic sea passages and harbors for imperial dominance and used our people as cannon fodder for the Second World War; aside from aborting the nation’s efforts toward industrialization through the Quirino, Garcia, and Marcos governments.
As we cringe at how Philippine media echoed the crowing of the Aquino III begging entourage, I am particularly incensed at one radio tandem that enthused over the reported $1-billion investment an American softdrink firm is supposed to make for “strengthening marketing execution and enhancing system logistics and delivery capabilities in order to better serve its expanding customer and consumer base” in the Philippines — which can only mean the proliferation of more diabetics in the Philippines!
Why, confusion even attended this announcement as Gloria Arroyo also boasted of a $1-billion investment in August of 2009. So the only thing new in this is the “press release.” And that’s why the soft drink company and Ricky Carandang stumbled over themselves to assure that it’s a new $1 billion coming.
It has often been said that “beggars cannot be choosers;” and that promises and illusions tide over the hunger by helping someone escape his dire realities. These are probably the reasons mendicancy, dependency, and escapism have become Aquino III’s answer to the national economic crisis, given the importance his government has placed on the begging-cum-propaganda mission.
Yet that’s what Filipinos have done decade after decade — waiting for manna from the Big Apple’s heaven while the rest of Asia started sailing away to become tiger economies in the 1980s and 1990s. This they’ve precisely done by shunning the beggar’s mindset while striving for self-reliance and economic development.
And as these are also the hallmarks of entrepreneurship, we ask: What if PeNoy never left for the US to gulp its hotdogs and burgers and just rolled up his sleeves to work on the nation’s farms and industries?
What if Aquino III sat down with the Philippine coconut industry and tapped the 330 million coconut trees for more than its crude oil, by adding nutra-ceuticals, pharmaceuticals, as well as industrial and ecological materials into the product mix, to multiply by five times the sector’s present $1-billion output?
What if Aquino III rolled up the hem of his pants and walked the rice paddies to figure out how to match China’s rice productivity of 6.6 tons per hectare and raise Philippine output from the present 3.8 tons?
What if Aquino III hunkers down with industrial and residential electricity consumers to formulate a plan to narrow the gap of electricity prices in the Philippines with that of our Asian neighbors to spur manufacturing and employment growth?
What if, instead of allowing Cesar Purisima to increase the national debt with bonds issued to his banker-masters, Aquino III sat down with groups such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition and worked on auditing the debt to cut down RP’s debt-servicing?
What if the country had an entrepreneurial instead of a mendicant political leadership? Wouldn’t that offer us a more dignified, promising, and progressive Philippines, especially for the next generation? Ah, but can a mendicant see beyond the crumbs laid out before him?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, October 1, 2010
The war for truth rages on
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/01/2010
The administration is on a continuing PR blitz to extract very ounce of propaganda gain it can from the recent US trip of Aquino III. After the so-called $434-million five-year Millennium Challenge Corp. “grant” (of roughly $87 million per year) — explained in our previous column as a “mirage” when stacked against our annual $17.8-billion debt service, which Aquino III isn’t squeaking about — now comes the so-called $2.4 billion in “investments” as pabaon.
Ado Paglinawan, one of the organizers of the “Solidarity for Sovereignty” movement exposing the Hocus-PCOS in the last elections, who has frequent tit-for-tat exchanges with US-based Yellows on the Internet, deftly answered a certain Mon Ram’s crowing about Aquino III’s alleged “huge investments” with this letter:
“Dear Mon,
“Of course, you know better than being swept your feet by this toy president.
“This is what a blogger among us, not I, once called ‘political masturbation.’
“You see, I worked for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for seven years under Ambassador Pelaez.
“Before Cory Aquino came to the US and Eddie Ramos after her (I was in charge of press protocol for these three visits), the whole Embassy, especially the economic and trade sections, was busy padding up hallelujahs in millions of dollars, even if they were still on paper or under negotiation or were already on the roll. The entire Philippine diplomatic mission in the US, including those in the UN, gets organized and makes a ‘praise list’ to play on public perceptions.
“Remember the multilateral aid initiative under Ambassador Elliot Richardson that was inspired and proposed by Ambassador Pelaez to serve as a mini-Marshall plan for the Philippines after being ‘ravaged’ by Marcos rule? That was billed at $3 billion (when the exchange was still P20:$1) from 19 countries and multilateral institutions.
“Know what? Less than half of it was used by the Philippines. Reason? We did not have the absorptive capacity to use all of it. $100 million of that money donated by the Sultan of Brunei, intended to build a state-of-the-art satellite receiving station in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo, was even diverted by Cory Aquino to fuel the government’s budgetary requirements for salaries. Had that facility been built, we could have better prepared for ‘Ondoy.’
“The only thing that really made sense was the $800 million the Philippine Embassy lobbied through (the US) Congress, capitalizing on Cory’s home-run speech… But this was because the Americans themselves managed the project using Korean contractors in building the airport complex, the seaport and related infrastructure, the four-lane circumferential road around the Sarangani Bay, and financing for farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. None of that money was lost to corruption, diversion or incompetence. Try visiting General Santos City and see what I mean. The second visit of Cory Aquino and the first visit of Eddie Ramos were basically fruitless.
“This is to say that PeNoy has nothing whatsoever to do with this $2.4-billion talking point that he is barking about in terms of US investments. He just read this from his teleprompter. In fact, I question this hot air because who would invest in a country where tourists are being mowed down by the police? (The millennium fund, of course, is also not his but in fairness, Gloria Arroyo’s legacy, even if that is hard for me to admit. The release of the fund is just happening during the toy president’s watch.)
“These billions that PeNoy is crowing about (are) merely a praise report to supplant: (1) his incompetent appointments; (2) his family’s Hacienda Luisita land-grabbing; and (3) the Rizal Park hostage-taking where the PNP’s ‘friendly’ fire massacred in cold blood innocent Chinese tourists.
“As PeNoy returns to the Philippines, he is still without any brownie point and his lackadaisical 100 days is about to end. I have not even verified yet if Enrico Puno and Tony ‘Boy’ Cojuangco are meeting him at the airport to give him a reality check. LOL!”
Frankly, I have long given up on such online debates with US-based Yellows. In fact, I’ve already opted out of the Worldwide Filipino Association forum led by a certain Cesar Torres who claims to have a thousand subscribers, most of whom are either Yellows or mere hecklers not interested in the truth.
The “Mon Ram” that Ado had his tit-for-tat with is just one of a number of confirmed Yellows. We can’t even tell if they’re for real or just part of a PR team hired to constantly prop up the Yellow argument.
During the last election campaign where debates on the Web got intensely acrimonious as tons of disinformation were being dished out, I challenged a certain Perry Diaz for a real square-off via an open and media-covered debate in Manila. After a long period of heehawing, Diaz accepted it only if it were held in Hawaii, which is really saying that he didn’t care enough to come home to his native land, which he supposedly cares so much for, to exhaustively ferret out the truth.
Well, it seems many of these US-based Fil-Am bloggers are only there to show off their sites to State Department people to gain points for their citizenship.
We’re just glad the fight for truth is alive and well for some noted US-based Filipinos such as Ado Paglinawan, who are still bravely manning the ramparts.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
10/01/2010
The administration is on a continuing PR blitz to extract very ounce of propaganda gain it can from the recent US trip of Aquino III. After the so-called $434-million five-year Millennium Challenge Corp. “grant” (of roughly $87 million per year) — explained in our previous column as a “mirage” when stacked against our annual $17.8-billion debt service, which Aquino III isn’t squeaking about — now comes the so-called $2.4 billion in “investments” as pabaon.
Ado Paglinawan, one of the organizers of the “Solidarity for Sovereignty” movement exposing the Hocus-PCOS in the last elections, who has frequent tit-for-tat exchanges with US-based Yellows on the Internet, deftly answered a certain Mon Ram’s crowing about Aquino III’s alleged “huge investments” with this letter:
“Dear Mon,
“Of course, you know better than being swept your feet by this toy president.
“This is what a blogger among us, not I, once called ‘political masturbation.’
“You see, I worked for the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC for seven years under Ambassador Pelaez.
“Before Cory Aquino came to the US and Eddie Ramos after her (I was in charge of press protocol for these three visits), the whole Embassy, especially the economic and trade sections, was busy padding up hallelujahs in millions of dollars, even if they were still on paper or under negotiation or were already on the roll. The entire Philippine diplomatic mission in the US, including those in the UN, gets organized and makes a ‘praise list’ to play on public perceptions.
“Remember the multilateral aid initiative under Ambassador Elliot Richardson that was inspired and proposed by Ambassador Pelaez to serve as a mini-Marshall plan for the Philippines after being ‘ravaged’ by Marcos rule? That was billed at $3 billion (when the exchange was still P20:$1) from 19 countries and multilateral institutions.
“Know what? Less than half of it was used by the Philippines. Reason? We did not have the absorptive capacity to use all of it. $100 million of that money donated by the Sultan of Brunei, intended to build a state-of-the-art satellite receiving station in Barotac Nuevo in Iloilo, was even diverted by Cory Aquino to fuel the government’s budgetary requirements for salaries. Had that facility been built, we could have better prepared for ‘Ondoy.’
“The only thing that really made sense was the $800 million the Philippine Embassy lobbied through (the US) Congress, capitalizing on Cory’s home-run speech… But this was because the Americans themselves managed the project using Korean contractors in building the airport complex, the seaport and related infrastructure, the four-lane circumferential road around the Sarangani Bay, and financing for farmers and fishermen’s cooperatives in South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces. None of that money was lost to corruption, diversion or incompetence. Try visiting General Santos City and see what I mean. The second visit of Cory Aquino and the first visit of Eddie Ramos were basically fruitless.
“This is to say that PeNoy has nothing whatsoever to do with this $2.4-billion talking point that he is barking about in terms of US investments. He just read this from his teleprompter. In fact, I question this hot air because who would invest in a country where tourists are being mowed down by the police? (The millennium fund, of course, is also not his but in fairness, Gloria Arroyo’s legacy, even if that is hard for me to admit. The release of the fund is just happening during the toy president’s watch.)
“These billions that PeNoy is crowing about (are) merely a praise report to supplant: (1) his incompetent appointments; (2) his family’s Hacienda Luisita land-grabbing; and (3) the Rizal Park hostage-taking where the PNP’s ‘friendly’ fire massacred in cold blood innocent Chinese tourists.
“As PeNoy returns to the Philippines, he is still without any brownie point and his lackadaisical 100 days is about to end. I have not even verified yet if Enrico Puno and Tony ‘Boy’ Cojuangco are meeting him at the airport to give him a reality check. LOL!”
Frankly, I have long given up on such online debates with US-based Yellows. In fact, I’ve already opted out of the Worldwide Filipino Association forum led by a certain Cesar Torres who claims to have a thousand subscribers, most of whom are either Yellows or mere hecklers not interested in the truth.
The “Mon Ram” that Ado had his tit-for-tat with is just one of a number of confirmed Yellows. We can’t even tell if they’re for real or just part of a PR team hired to constantly prop up the Yellow argument.
During the last election campaign where debates on the Web got intensely acrimonious as tons of disinformation were being dished out, I challenged a certain Perry Diaz for a real square-off via an open and media-covered debate in Manila. After a long period of heehawing, Diaz accepted it only if it were held in Hawaii, which is really saying that he didn’t care enough to come home to his native land, which he supposedly cares so much for, to exhaustively ferret out the truth.
Well, it seems many of these US-based Fil-Am bloggers are only there to show off their sites to State Department people to gain points for their citizenship.
We’re just glad the fight for truth is alive and well for some noted US-based Filipinos such as Ado Paglinawan, who are still bravely manning the ramparts.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
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