CONSUMERS DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
9/12-14/2011
I can practically hear them chant that line these days. I can practically see them make a case for it wherever they go.
Administration allies cum apologists-- from “evil” society personalities like Riza Hontiveros and Walden Bello to NGOs like the Philippine Legislators’ Committee for Population and Development (PLCPD), whose offices are questionably located in Congress and enjoy easy access to formidable foreign financial resources, not to mention alliances with the local conglomerate of NGOs, foremost of which is the infamous CodeNGO--all demand that government subsidizes condoms for the poor and underprivileged.
Not once will you hear them call for any subsidy for free medicines or even life-saving hospitalization for the crying thousands who regularly languish in public or private hospitals.
PeNoy and Mar
All these, in spite of the fact that PeNoy and Mar Roxas are now set to remove what they would like the public to believe are government “subsidies” for MRT/LRT commuting students, blue and white collar workers, professionals, managers, and other citizens.
I am, of course, enraged.
And I get even more enraged whenever I hear Roxas on radio aggressively trying to convince Filipino audiences that the fares being shelled out by MRT/LRT commuters are unfair to the rest of the non-NCR taxpaying public -- like the people of the provinces, or the farmers in the bukid, and fishermen out at sea -- who do not use the mass transit system.
As fuel meets my rage, all I can say to him is: “P-I mo! Your disingenuous justifications are insulting to the public’s intelligence.”
Who subsidizes?
Let me make this clear: MRT/LRT commuters are NOT being subsidized.
It is the MRT/LRT commuters and Filipino taxpayers who have long subsidized the elite colleagues of Mar Roxas, namely, the Roxas family’s fellow oligarchs, the Sobrepeñas, Ayalas, Agustines, et al., who carted away billions in sovereign guarantee-covered profits even before the railway system (in this case, the MRT) started running.
Here’s the story:
The original consortium that had Ayala Land, Anglo-Philippine Holdings, Fil-Estate, Ramcar, and Greenfield Development Corp. as stakeholders later sold its interests in the secondary market to such buyers as Goldman Sachs and other private creditor-banks, including the Philippine Bank of Communications, Bank of Commerce, and United Coconut Planters Bank.
Last year, the Land Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines bought back the commuter train operations to relieve government of cases over unpaid arrears filed by foreign shareholders in Washington and Singapore -- which cases stemmed from the “failure” of government to deliver the 15-percent guaranteed rate of return of investment of the private operator (or the consortium).
Reverse Privatization
While the government gave the assurance that the buy-out was not a “reverse privatization,” it should make everyone wonder what is indeed so bad about “reverse privatization,” especially when this would mean that no one -- most of all, those greedy corporations -- will be allowed to profit from commuters’ fares.
At any rate, let us examine the things that government is reportedly losing on against annual revenues of $39.56 million: $130 million per year for equity rental payments; maintenance rental payments, and operating and administrative costs for the elevated railway.
But just what are “equity payments” if not mere financial costs incurred by those sovereign guarantees, making up the biggest portion at $130 million?
Then, what on earth are maintenance rental payments?
Shouldn’t maintenance be part of the operating cost?
Deluge of Lies
Apparently, these were also the issues raised by one consumer advocacy group, whose name I have tried to get from the Department of Transportation and Communication but no one would give.
It was told by representatives of MRT management that the MRT actually breaks-even on operations; but the financial costs are the ones draining its viability.
If PeNoy and Mar Roxas really wanted to do good for the people, they should’ve investigated these issues first.
But with their deluge of lies, various newspaper reports even give this account: “Finance officials said another option if government fails to privatize MRT 3 is to raise fares.
Based on a government study presented by the DBP, fares should be increased from an average rate of P12.50 to P60.50 to make MRT 3 profitable.”
A Major Debacle
But why should the MRT be profitable when it is a public utility and service intended to help the people boost their economic efficiency and productivity?
Certainly, no other major commuter group in the entire nation has to travel distances of 15 to 50 kms everyday just to get from home to work (or school) and back.
This is in stark contrast to, say, a large provincial capital where it is normal for home and work to be just one ride (or a few kilometers) away.
With the kind of fare increase PeNoy and Roxas are bracing the public for, commuters are to face a major debacle.
And yet, the so-called “subsidy” this administration wants to withhold only amounts to some P7 billion as against the subsidies built into the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that already amount to a minimum of P10 billion.
They’re at it Again
But then, as the RH bill “promotors” won’t let the issue rest, they definitely are at it again.
Take the case of Walden Bello’s hypochondriac and hyperbolic “Rwanda in the Pacific,” which is filled with nothing but fear-mongering on how the growing Philippine population can lead to a Rwandan genocide -- even misusing the respected anthropologist Jared Diamond’s studies to fit a Rwandan parallel to a totally different Philippine scene.
It seems the need to justify these advocates’ foreign funding is really primordial, over-riding even simple common sense.
Had they not chosen to call for subsidizing the wrong things, such as condoms and mendicancy, and put the country’s resources into making people truly productive, instead of handing dole-outs or “conditional cash transfers” to the tune of P25 billion (and rising to P35 billion) that are so much more than the P7 billion in commuters’ support, we just might listen to them.
But then, their inanity just craves for the blessings of their foreign benefactors.
And they haven’t even bothered to check the plight of weeping mothers whose children have died of dengue for lack of money for medicines.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8 on “Science and Engineering vs. 9/11 Lies”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Monday, September 12, 2011
If I were 'P-Noy'
YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
9/12-14/2011
If I were P-Noy, on the eve of my second visit to the USA, I would be very worried. I have lost most of the moral high ground that I inherited from my parents, Hero Ninoy and Saint Cory, and that the people raised, reinforced and maintained for me.
My twin campaign slogans, “Walang Mahirap Pag Walang Korap!” and “Matuwid na Daan!” (or something sounding like so) are in tatters. They are now embarrassing to recall.
My poor governance has slowed the economy down.
My government is hoarding fiscal resources while at the same time raising taxes contrary to my promise of no new taxes.
Blown Beyond Proportion
The morale of my appointees has gone down because of unabated internal intrigues.
I have parted with a few of my key none-“Ka …” appointees in messy firings or resignations.
Balay and Samar refuse to disappear.
The mainstream mass media holds my administration in contempt.
My Communications Group is adding to our perception problems instead of solving them.
Our accomplishments are not communicated and seen.
The smallest of our mistakes are blown beyond proportion.
Vengeance, not Reform
We have lost the perception game.
We have lost the survey wars no matter how high our scores are.
The only thing we have improved on a lot is in the persecution and prosecution of our enemies.
However, due to the long stalled anti-corruption efforts, the enemy was able to recover, delay and fight back.
Our efforts are seen as mere vengeance and no longer as reform.
The business community derives no satisfaction from these drives. They want me to move on.
But how can I? This is what I know.
From Regular to Zero, vice versa
Our efforts have aroused the persecuted and prosecuted.
From an initial defensive posture they may and have actually assumed an offensive posture.
They have manipulated the media from the very beginning. That is why I never had the luxury of a honeymoon.
Already, elements of both the old administration and old opposition are getting together in a combined effort to sabotage our efforts.
If, as I put it, my love life, like Coca Cola, has gone from Regular to Zero, my political life has remained close to Zero.
I have to change my lifestyle and workstyle in order to go from Zero to Regular.
I have to extricate myself from the Ka … How can I let go of Jojo, Rico, Virginia and the likes of them.
My narrow experience and small world of existence do not make it easy for me to trust others.
OJT Forever
I need a paradigm shift to mature politics.
I and my Administration cannot remain at “On-the-Job Training” forever.
Governance is not a student council.
I have to extricate myself from family and friends and operate in the political realm of my political party and its political alliances.
I have to recognize, accept and trust strangers.
I have to see through my kabarkada, kabarilan, kaklase, kamaganak, etc…
Political Dwarf
I need a top-to-bottom overhaul in my anemic administration.
I have to start with my Executive Secretary and the Cabinet Secretaries.
I chose most of them when I was still a boy.
Now, although late, I have to become a man. I have to choose stout-hearted men rather than boys with big egos and pockets.
I now have to think, “What would Dad Ninoy and Mom Cory, rather than me, Noynoy, the boy, have done?”
I now realize that being a political dwarf myself, standing on the shoulders of another political dwarf, Midget President Paquito Jojo Ochoa, still makes the two of us shorter than my predecessors.
This is very clear in relation to Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Manuel A. Roxas, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., Carlos P. Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Cory S. Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos, and Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada .
There were Men, only
Even the diminutive Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a giant in corruption.
I fail to tower over her. Only my parents’ shadow can look down on her.
In the realm of economics, I still look up to her as when she was my teacher with me seated on my desk and she standing short but walking about.
However, my hard-headedness and pride prevent me from using the lessons I learned from her.
When we make comparisons at the level of the Executive Secretary, just imagine, how does Jojo Ochoa compare with Eddie Ermita, Bert Romulo, Rene de Villa, Edong Angara, Ronnie Zamora, Alexander Aguirre, Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Peter Garrucho, Oscar Orbos, Catalino Macaraig, Joker Arroyo, Alejandro Melchor, Ramon Diaz, ……, Jorge Vargas? Sorry, if I forgot the others, I was still a boy or unborn during their era.
What I do know is that there were no boys in government then, only men.
Kitchen Cabinet
Before I fire another one of my officials, I have to learn to fire then straight to their faces and not through intrigues, rumours and the media.
I will start with my 24/7 kabarkada, Jojo Ochoa. I will ask him to please understand. I have to sacrifice him for the common welfare as well as for my administration’s survival.
Then, in the long run, I will be able to save him too.
However, I will give him another position. I will transfer him from the Palace to the Park across the Pasig River. He will be the Chief of the Kitchen Cabinet.
Since I’m male and I don’t have a First Lady, my Kitchen Cabinet can be composed mostly of males and third-sexers.
We can limit females to just a very few.
Then, I don’t have to fire anyone anymore. I will just transfer them across the Pasig River.
More Suitable E.S.
Then, I will appoint a more suitable Executive Secretary based on political considerations rather than my familial and friendship relations.
I will do the search, interview and selection from among the candidates myself.
Search committees are bullshit.
We only end up with more CESO’s than even my Ateneo classmates (CESOs are Classmates of Executive Secretary Ochoa).
“Mas masahol ang kapatas kaysa sa haciendero.”
My own selection process has come up with a short list of possible successors.
As soon as I talk to Jojo, I will float their names and get feedback.
Learning from Past Mistakes
I will learn from my mistakes of the past.
I can go back to the original plan: I will keep on playing while Mar Roxas does 80 % of the work.
After all, in his two and a half months as DOTC Secretary, he has recruited Liberals more sparingly than Jojo recruited CESO’s.
If I want the Islands of Batanes to become bigger than Luzon, then I will appoint Secretary Butch Abad as the new Executive Secretary.
He is very good at saving money.
When there were crises in the Middle East and North Africa, he was still able to save money from the DFA’s “Aid to Nationals” fund.
When there was a crisis in ferreting out waste and corruption, Butch Abad slashed the COA’s budget.
Bachelor’s Quarters
Even when the DSWD’s capacity to absorb a massive injection of Conditional Cash Transfer funds was limited, he managed to double, triple, quadruple its budget.
He had the same blind faith in the CCT program and in the DSWD as he has in Dinky.
He believes that Dinky can grow and become a giant. He believes that CCT and Dinky will save us from an EDSA IV just as they saved GMA.
Then, I will review the performance of all the line Cabinet Secretaries.
I will look for round pegs in square holes and vice versa.
So, the first thing is to do a rigodon. It is not at all expensive.
No one is fired. Those who are neither round nor square will cross the Pasig River.
Ochoa will take care of them.
The savings we derive out of their transfers can go to expanding my bachelor quarters.
Linggoy Alcuaz
9/12-14/2011
If I were P-Noy, on the eve of my second visit to the USA, I would be very worried. I have lost most of the moral high ground that I inherited from my parents, Hero Ninoy and Saint Cory, and that the people raised, reinforced and maintained for me.
My twin campaign slogans, “Walang Mahirap Pag Walang Korap!” and “Matuwid na Daan!” (or something sounding like so) are in tatters. They are now embarrassing to recall.
My poor governance has slowed the economy down.
My government is hoarding fiscal resources while at the same time raising taxes contrary to my promise of no new taxes.
Blown Beyond Proportion
The morale of my appointees has gone down because of unabated internal intrigues.
I have parted with a few of my key none-“Ka …” appointees in messy firings or resignations.
Balay and Samar refuse to disappear.
The mainstream mass media holds my administration in contempt.
My Communications Group is adding to our perception problems instead of solving them.
Our accomplishments are not communicated and seen.
The smallest of our mistakes are blown beyond proportion.
Vengeance, not Reform
We have lost the perception game.
We have lost the survey wars no matter how high our scores are.
The only thing we have improved on a lot is in the persecution and prosecution of our enemies.
However, due to the long stalled anti-corruption efforts, the enemy was able to recover, delay and fight back.
Our efforts are seen as mere vengeance and no longer as reform.
The business community derives no satisfaction from these drives. They want me to move on.
But how can I? This is what I know.
From Regular to Zero, vice versa
Our efforts have aroused the persecuted and prosecuted.
From an initial defensive posture they may and have actually assumed an offensive posture.
They have manipulated the media from the very beginning. That is why I never had the luxury of a honeymoon.
Already, elements of both the old administration and old opposition are getting together in a combined effort to sabotage our efforts.
If, as I put it, my love life, like Coca Cola, has gone from Regular to Zero, my political life has remained close to Zero.
I have to change my lifestyle and workstyle in order to go from Zero to Regular.
I have to extricate myself from the Ka … How can I let go of Jojo, Rico, Virginia and the likes of them.
My narrow experience and small world of existence do not make it easy for me to trust others.
OJT Forever
I need a paradigm shift to mature politics.
I and my Administration cannot remain at “On-the-Job Training” forever.
Governance is not a student council.
I have to extricate myself from family and friends and operate in the political realm of my political party and its political alliances.
I have to recognize, accept and trust strangers.
I have to see through my kabarkada, kabarilan, kaklase, kamaganak, etc…
Political Dwarf
I need a top-to-bottom overhaul in my anemic administration.
I have to start with my Executive Secretary and the Cabinet Secretaries.
I chose most of them when I was still a boy.
Now, although late, I have to become a man. I have to choose stout-hearted men rather than boys with big egos and pockets.
I now have to think, “What would Dad Ninoy and Mom Cory, rather than me, Noynoy, the boy, have done?”
I now realize that being a political dwarf myself, standing on the shoulders of another political dwarf, Midget President Paquito Jojo Ochoa, still makes the two of us shorter than my predecessors.
This is very clear in relation to Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Manuel A. Roxas, Ramon Magsaysay, Jr., Carlos P. Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Cory S. Aquino, Fidel V. Ramos, and Joseph “Erap” Ejercito Estrada .
There were Men, only
Even the diminutive Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a giant in corruption.
I fail to tower over her. Only my parents’ shadow can look down on her.
In the realm of economics, I still look up to her as when she was my teacher with me seated on my desk and she standing short but walking about.
However, my hard-headedness and pride prevent me from using the lessons I learned from her.
When we make comparisons at the level of the Executive Secretary, just imagine, how does Jojo Ochoa compare with Eddie Ermita, Bert Romulo, Rene de Villa, Edong Angara, Ronnie Zamora, Alexander Aguirre, Teofisto Guingona, Jr., Peter Garrucho, Oscar Orbos, Catalino Macaraig, Joker Arroyo, Alejandro Melchor, Ramon Diaz, ……, Jorge Vargas? Sorry, if I forgot the others, I was still a boy or unborn during their era.
What I do know is that there were no boys in government then, only men.
Kitchen Cabinet
Before I fire another one of my officials, I have to learn to fire then straight to their faces and not through intrigues, rumours and the media.
I will start with my 24/7 kabarkada, Jojo Ochoa. I will ask him to please understand. I have to sacrifice him for the common welfare as well as for my administration’s survival.
Then, in the long run, I will be able to save him too.
However, I will give him another position. I will transfer him from the Palace to the Park across the Pasig River. He will be the Chief of the Kitchen Cabinet.
Since I’m male and I don’t have a First Lady, my Kitchen Cabinet can be composed mostly of males and third-sexers.
We can limit females to just a very few.
Then, I don’t have to fire anyone anymore. I will just transfer them across the Pasig River.
More Suitable E.S.
Then, I will appoint a more suitable Executive Secretary based on political considerations rather than my familial and friendship relations.
I will do the search, interview and selection from among the candidates myself.
Search committees are bullshit.
We only end up with more CESO’s than even my Ateneo classmates (CESOs are Classmates of Executive Secretary Ochoa).
“Mas masahol ang kapatas kaysa sa haciendero.”
My own selection process has come up with a short list of possible successors.
As soon as I talk to Jojo, I will float their names and get feedback.
Learning from Past Mistakes
I will learn from my mistakes of the past.
I can go back to the original plan: I will keep on playing while Mar Roxas does 80 % of the work.
After all, in his two and a half months as DOTC Secretary, he has recruited Liberals more sparingly than Jojo recruited CESO’s.
If I want the Islands of Batanes to become bigger than Luzon, then I will appoint Secretary Butch Abad as the new Executive Secretary.
He is very good at saving money.
When there were crises in the Middle East and North Africa, he was still able to save money from the DFA’s “Aid to Nationals” fund.
When there was a crisis in ferreting out waste and corruption, Butch Abad slashed the COA’s budget.
Bachelor’s Quarters
Even when the DSWD’s capacity to absorb a massive injection of Conditional Cash Transfer funds was limited, he managed to double, triple, quadruple its budget.
He had the same blind faith in the CCT program and in the DSWD as he has in Dinky.
He believes that Dinky can grow and become a giant. He believes that CCT and Dinky will save us from an EDSA IV just as they saved GMA.
Then, I will review the performance of all the line Cabinet Secretaries.
I will look for round pegs in square holes and vice versa.
So, the first thing is to do a rigodon. It is not at all expensive.
No one is fired. Those who are neither round nor square will cross the Pasig River.
Ochoa will take care of them.
The savings we derive out of their transfers can go to expanding my bachelor quarters.
A decade of agnotology
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
9/12/2011
"You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.” — Joseph E. Levine
That may well be the guiding tenet of those at the helm of the Philippines’ energy sector today. But after 10 years of running circles around millions of power consumers and taxpayers, many now seem to be wising up to their grand scam.
A chorus of indignation against RP’s privatized power industry is now echoing from almost all sectors, including major business groups like PhilExport (Philippine Exporters Confederation) and Ecop (Employers Confederation of the Philippines), as well as others who have joined anti-power oligarchy crusaders in condemning the “highest power cost in Asia.”
Provincial power consumers are also up in arms. The Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (Agap) party-list, for one, recently concluded an hour-long “lights off” campaign at 9 p.m. last Friday to protest the illegal collection of millions of so-called MCCs (members’ contribution for capital expenditure) by the electric cooperatives.
The biggest electric power swindle abetted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), however, is still here in Metro Manila, together with the adjacent towns and cities under the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) franchise area.
Under the cover of the post-Edsa II power privatization law, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), both the ERC and Meralco have created the highest power cost in Asia almost with impunity. It seems the duo has almost proven wrong the P.T. Barnum adage (“You cannot fool all of the people all of the time”) by a decade of near total “agnotological” management of media information. For those who still don’t know, “agnotology” is the science of creating ignorance.
Like the electric cooperatives, the ERC and Meralco have been charging consumers the power distributor’s capital requirements in advance each year amounting to some P8 billion to P9 billion, with claims of increasing electricity demand. Yet in last Friday’s edition of The Daily Tribune, Meralco was said to have disclosed that recent “power demand went down one percent year-on-year.” Now isn’t that damning evidence against them?
Soon, the ERC and Meralco will be caught in their own web of lies, as Frost warned in his poem, “When we first learn to deceive…” While other power crusaders’ groups prepare more “lights out” campaigns (the Freedom from Debt Coalition will have its own on Oct. 11, 2011, from 7:30 to 8 p.m.), the power advocates group with Sulo ng Pilipino (my mother organization) and individuals like former Mayor Jun Simon (Quezon City Electricity Consumers for Reforms), former Assemblyman Bono Adaza, Mang Naro Lualhati (our P39-billion Meralco refund champion), columnist Butch Junia, Jimmie Regalario (Kilusan para sa Makabansang Ekonomiya), and hundreds of others will be filing a series of court cases in late September against the power predators. In the end, truth will prevail over advertising and its budgets.
Meanwhile, another major lie the past 10 years (deemed the largest lie in all of human history) that we must train our eyes on is the 9/11 World Trade Center “terror demolitions.” As it was an event blamed on 19 terrorists, few actually know that 14 of them had Saudi passports arranged by the CIA.
Also, we must recall that in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, George W. Bush said in a chance interview, “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.” And while brandishing a golf club, he continued, “Now, watch this drive.” Before long, the whole world was made to witness a progression of wars, from Afghanistan to Iraq. And now, with the Western powers’ push in Libya underway, can Syria, and then Iran or Venezuela, be that far away?
The 10 years of deception surrounding 9/11 could have been an unquestioned success if not for the architects and engineers for 9/11 Truth, with over 1,500 qualified members, and the families of 9/11 victims. You can learn more by watching on YouTube, “Architects and Engineers — Solving the Mystery of WTC 7” by AE911Truth.org.
A May 2011 poll by Siena Research Institute extended to 643 New Yorkers, including respondents in all of New York City’s five boroughs found that 48 percent were in favor of a new investigation into the collapse of WTC (World Trade Center) 7. The survey was commissioned by “Remember Building 7,” a transparency group led by 9/11 family members, NYC Coalition for Accountability Now (NYC Can), and Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth).
Building 7 is a vital key to understanding the fraud that is the official US government investigation. As the third major, almost 50-story, building in the WTC complex, Building 7 collapsed hours after the North and South towers, despite it not being hit by any airplane. And although a minor fire did occur, it had already been put out before Larry Silverstein (the WTC’s new buyer), in his words, issued an order to “pull it” (in controlled demolition lingo).
Truly, we live with created ignorance everyday. We get it on TV, on radio, in print and on the Internet. Agnotology abounds on a host of subjects — from Libya, Syria and Iran; to our local issues on privatization and escalating rates, or the real reasons why the MRT/LRT, tollways, and government fees will be raised by the PeNoy government even when these are unjust and unnecessary. We are not being told, for instance, that such measures are all because of the dictates of the US Embassy and IMF-WB — the same way the US generics framework was maneuvered into our cheaper medicines law to apply patents where none should.
In response, we should turn this second decade of the 21st century into a decade of “sciometology” (a term I coined) to allow everyone to say, “I know.” This can only be achieved with the help of non-commercial, dedicated, truth-seeking journalists and media. And that’s why we’re here.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8 on “WTC 7: The Tell-tale Mystery”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
9/12/2011
"You can fool all the people all the time if the advertising is right and the budget is big enough.” — Joseph E. Levine
That may well be the guiding tenet of those at the helm of the Philippines’ energy sector today. But after 10 years of running circles around millions of power consumers and taxpayers, many now seem to be wising up to their grand scam.
A chorus of indignation against RP’s privatized power industry is now echoing from almost all sectors, including major business groups like PhilExport (Philippine Exporters Confederation) and Ecop (Employers Confederation of the Philippines), as well as others who have joined anti-power oligarchy crusaders in condemning the “highest power cost in Asia.”
Provincial power consumers are also up in arms. The Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (Agap) party-list, for one, recently concluded an hour-long “lights off” campaign at 9 p.m. last Friday to protest the illegal collection of millions of so-called MCCs (members’ contribution for capital expenditure) by the electric cooperatives.
The biggest electric power swindle abetted by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), however, is still here in Metro Manila, together with the adjacent towns and cities under the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) franchise area.
Under the cover of the post-Edsa II power privatization law, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), both the ERC and Meralco have created the highest power cost in Asia almost with impunity. It seems the duo has almost proven wrong the P.T. Barnum adage (“You cannot fool all of the people all of the time”) by a decade of near total “agnotological” management of media information. For those who still don’t know, “agnotology” is the science of creating ignorance.
Like the electric cooperatives, the ERC and Meralco have been charging consumers the power distributor’s capital requirements in advance each year amounting to some P8 billion to P9 billion, with claims of increasing electricity demand. Yet in last Friday’s edition of The Daily Tribune, Meralco was said to have disclosed that recent “power demand went down one percent year-on-year.” Now isn’t that damning evidence against them?
Soon, the ERC and Meralco will be caught in their own web of lies, as Frost warned in his poem, “When we first learn to deceive…” While other power crusaders’ groups prepare more “lights out” campaigns (the Freedom from Debt Coalition will have its own on Oct. 11, 2011, from 7:30 to 8 p.m.), the power advocates group with Sulo ng Pilipino (my mother organization) and individuals like former Mayor Jun Simon (Quezon City Electricity Consumers for Reforms), former Assemblyman Bono Adaza, Mang Naro Lualhati (our P39-billion Meralco refund champion), columnist Butch Junia, Jimmie Regalario (Kilusan para sa Makabansang Ekonomiya), and hundreds of others will be filing a series of court cases in late September against the power predators. In the end, truth will prevail over advertising and its budgets.
Meanwhile, another major lie the past 10 years (deemed the largest lie in all of human history) that we must train our eyes on is the 9/11 World Trade Center “terror demolitions.” As it was an event blamed on 19 terrorists, few actually know that 14 of them had Saudi passports arranged by the CIA.
Also, we must recall that in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, George W. Bush said in a chance interview, “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.” And while brandishing a golf club, he continued, “Now, watch this drive.” Before long, the whole world was made to witness a progression of wars, from Afghanistan to Iraq. And now, with the Western powers’ push in Libya underway, can Syria, and then Iran or Venezuela, be that far away?
The 10 years of deception surrounding 9/11 could have been an unquestioned success if not for the architects and engineers for 9/11 Truth, with over 1,500 qualified members, and the families of 9/11 victims. You can learn more by watching on YouTube, “Architects and Engineers — Solving the Mystery of WTC 7” by AE911Truth.org.
A May 2011 poll by Siena Research Institute extended to 643 New Yorkers, including respondents in all of New York City’s five boroughs found that 48 percent were in favor of a new investigation into the collapse of WTC (World Trade Center) 7. The survey was commissioned by “Remember Building 7,” a transparency group led by 9/11 family members, NYC Coalition for Accountability Now (NYC Can), and Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth).
Building 7 is a vital key to understanding the fraud that is the official US government investigation. As the third major, almost 50-story, building in the WTC complex, Building 7 collapsed hours after the North and South towers, despite it not being hit by any airplane. And although a minor fire did occur, it had already been put out before Larry Silverstein (the WTC’s new buyer), in his words, issued an order to “pull it” (in controlled demolition lingo).
Truly, we live with created ignorance everyday. We get it on TV, on radio, in print and on the Internet. Agnotology abounds on a host of subjects — from Libya, Syria and Iran; to our local issues on privatization and escalating rates, or the real reasons why the MRT/LRT, tollways, and government fees will be raised by the PeNoy government even when these are unjust and unnecessary. We are not being told, for instance, that such measures are all because of the dictates of the US Embassy and IMF-WB — the same way the US generics framework was maneuvered into our cheaper medicines law to apply patents where none should.
In response, we should turn this second decade of the 21st century into a decade of “sciometology” (a term I coined) to allow everyone to say, “I know.” This can only be achieved with the help of non-commercial, dedicated, truth-seeking journalists and media. And that’s why we’re here.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8 on “WTC 7: The Tell-tale Mystery”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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