Aliens over our rural banks II

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

6/12/2013

Daily Tribune

In our last column we reported the very quiet passage of RepublicAct (RA) 10574, which opens Philippine rural banks to 60 percent foreign ownership, signed into law by BS Aquino last May 24. A former head of a rural bank association in the country whom I interviewed sounded the alarm that foreign interests with ominous intentions will now gain not only a foothold but control of the grassroots credit network of rural banks, allowing them to push programs that may be totally harmful to the Philippine economy and Filipino people, such as those of US food giant Monsanto, which can fast track the insertion of genetically modified organism seeds and ancillary products such as pesticides and fertilizers into our food chain. This law will ultimately prove immensely deleterious to the nation, especially for future generations.

Moreover, Philippine rural banks suddenly found themselves undercapitalized when the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) introduced new rules under Basel III imposing higher capital requirements for all banking institutions the world over. The BIS has been severely criticized in the past for failing to monitor or anticipate the crises that arose from abuses committed by global banking and financial institutions of their financial powers and businesses, such as the Wall Street collapse in 2008 which caused the financial armageddon still bedeviling the US and European economies. The BIS has detractors aplenty, including US law scholar, economics researcher, and public banking advocate Ellen Brown, who wrote the article, "The Tower of Basel," which likens the BIS abuse of power, arrogance and corruption to the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, at the same time exposing the international body's plan to issue and control the global currency.

A global currency to replace the US dollar today may be a relished prospect for many, but does anybody (except the global bankers) believe in having a band of secretive, elitist, unelected and unaccountable powers, such as the BIS, define and control such a global currency? For most Filipinos who invariably don't know a thing about how their peso is controlled, much less manipulated, by alien elements, these issues do not matter. For this reason, the Philippine economy is one of the most badly victimized by the global currency manipulators. Every cycle of Philippine economic collapse has been precipitated by massive currency devaluations caused by global manipulations — from the decontrol by Diosdado Macapagal in the 1950s, which destroyed our incipient industrialization, to the 1970s devaluation that collapsed the Lopez empire, as well as the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis.

Back to RA 10574 or the Foreign Equity bill allowing 60 percent voting stocks ownership of Philippine rural banks by foreign interests, one rural bank association official said, "Now that foreign investments are allowed, rural banks are… in a better financial position to reach out and serve both the unbanked and under-banked through improved banking services." But the fact that stares at anyone who cares to open his eyes is, the Philippines, along with its banking system, is awash with cash, which only needs to be redirected by Philippine financial and banking authorities to rural banks. This is evidenced by the repeated headlines in the business papers, such as "Cut in SDA rate seen to be just a matter of time," which means the further reduction of interest rates, from four percent just months ago to two percent today and even lower in the weeks ahead, for the P2-trillion Special Deposit Account (SDA) with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

What is the BIS' role in this? It's none other than to raise the equity requirements for all banks in the world under its aegis. Rich and powerful countries such as China would have no problem with it as they are awash with cash and are still able to retain control over their currency while maintaining public ownership and management of all major financial and banking institutions. For Philippine rural banks, however, no matter how well run, the requirement simply compels them to look for new sources of equity. Basel III is a key to pushing small rural banking systems of many Third World countries to control by foreign funds. What can and will surely follow is the rape of their economies.

The crafters of RA 10574 must have done their homework on how to justify the 60 percent foreign ownership of rural banks, which still ought to be subject to the constitutional provision protecting Filipino control; but we'll do our part now with pro bono lawyers to examine the constitutionality of this law.
Slowly but surely, the Philippines is coming under the New World Order run from the centers of Western finance (i.e. the City of London; Basel, Switzerland; Wall Street), under the direction of the unelected and unelectable oligarchs of money and power circles, e.g., the Bilderberg Group (whose last meeting at Grove Hotel, Hertfordshire, England on June 9, came complete with a no-fly zone).

But that should no longer come as a surprise since everything in the Philippines, from the top — its president, the entire banking system — down to the grassroots level (rural banks), is being unquestioningly placed under the control of those whom financial critic Max Keiser calls the global financial "banksters."

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Aliens over our rural banks

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

6/10/2013

Daily Tribune

While countless half-conscious thinking Filipinos (most of whom are not even thinking anymore) were being distracted by the antics of self-serving senators dramatizing their "sacrifices" for principles and country, countless more foreign exploiters continued to extract their pound of flesh from the Malacañang occupant whom they conspired to boost to power in 2010 through the Smartmatic Hocus-PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines.

So, as expected, BS Aquino delivered fast on many items on these foreign interests' wish list. The earliest was the implementation of the value-added tax (VAT) on toll fees, put off by PeNoy's predecessor Gloria Arroyo for five years after the forced passage in 2005 of the so-called rVAT (deformed, not reformed).
Lately, we again picked up one little known concession to these aliens that managed to creep surreptitiously through Congress but has now suddenly turned into law, reportedly allowing foreigners 60-percent ownership of Philippine rural banks.

That law was signed by BS Aquino on May 24. When I called my rural banker-friends about this, their reactions confirmed my worst fears. A former head of a rural bank association in the country has sounded off the alarm that foreign interests with ominous intentions will now gain not only a foothold but control of the grassroots credit network of rural banks, allowing them to push programs that may be totally unhealthy for the Philippine economy and the Filipino people.
One example he cited has to do with control of rural financing and its access to farmers. Under the new law, foreign companies such as Monsanto can now fast track their insertion of genetically modified organism seeds and ancillary products such as pesticides and fertilizers into our food chain that will ultimately prove immensely harmful to the nation, especially for future generations that may be irreversibly damaged by these perilous products, which countless other countries are already rejecting today.

I picked up the information about BS Aquino's signing of RA 10574 from one of the dozen or so foreign newspaper columnists spread throughout print media. This one I read from Ben Kritz of The Manila Times, who described the law BS Aquino signed allowing majority foreign control of Philippine rural banks as "Only a gesture, but a welcome one." Kritz is a very good business writer and I have quoted him once before when his view of the Fitch's and other ratings upgrades supported the correct view (which I have been impressing on the Filipino public's mind) that these are just come-ons to get the Philippines to borrow more without really being investment-drivers. This new item from him, though, reflects the core mission of all foreign columnists in our mainstream and second line print media — advancing foreign access into and control of the Philippine economy.

Kritz describes the Philippine rural banking sector as "troubled." Yet those troubles would not be there if not for the unhelpful policies of the Western—controlled international banking community and institutions. The most recent imposition on the Philippine rural banking system comes all the way from Basel, Switzerland via the Basel III Accord around supposedly "global, voluntary regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk… agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010 to 2011… scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2015…"

Basel III supposedly strengthens bank capital requirements by increasing bank liquidity and leverage. But as a consequence, the vast majority of Philippine rural banks (no matter how well and professional these are run) are finding themselves undercapitalized.
Basel is the base for the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). What emanates from it has come to be known at Basel I, II, and now III. It's also known as the central bank of central banks. While few even know of this body, it rules with the power of life and death over hundreds of millions of people.
In the great, voluminous book by historian and theorist on the evolution of civilization, Dr. Carroll Quigley "Tragedy and Hope: A History of Our Time," he writes of the international bankers behind the BIS:

"I know of the operations of this network because I … was permitted … to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments… The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations." (Continued on Wednesday.)

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Our smiling coast guard

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

6/5/2013

Daily Tribune

Our May 20 column, "Strike three: Noy's out," dwelt on the incidents involving the Philippines that have roiled the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The latest of these was, of course, the Balintang mishap where a Taiwanese fisherman was killed by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

In the ensuing tit-for-tat of charges, the PCG claimed it had a video that would vindicate it. That video, I wrote, should have been released to the public posthaste so as to spare all the great acrimony in the quest to find a quick resolution to the conflict. To this day, the public is still kept in the dark even as the said video has been turned over to Taiwanese authorities for examination.

Not surprisingly, leaks of what the Taiwanese saw later surfaced, with reports saying that the PCG gunmen were gleefully laughing while firing at the Taiwanese fishing boat. The PCG, as expected, defended itself a day later. Strangely, though, it did so only by saying that "smiling" is not laughing--as if that would mitigate the appalling implications of its alleged trigger-happiness.

Taiwan and RP's "parallel investigations" may be holding off the video showing for now; but the longer it is kept from the public, the more damage it does. In defending what certain people believe is our coastal protection force's action, answering an eye-for-an-eye Taiwanese vituperations, such as when the flag burning in Taiwan was answered by retired police super-patriot Abner Afuang's Taiwanese flag burning in Manila, flag-waving has now deteriorated into xenophobia.

On Philippine TV discussions, even the brightest Filipino analysts fall into chauvinism in describing Taiwan as a "puny island" while claiming that the PCG only grazed the fishing boat, despite pictures clearly showing dozens of puncture holes (and despite the fact that one fisherman was indeed killed).

The morning of the report of the PCG commander's hair-splitting between "smiling" and "laughing," my youngest son, the journalist, chuckled, "As if 'smiling' would make a difference." I lamented the embarrassment Filipinos will face once the video that portrays the PCG treating the deadly business of strafing a fishing boat with frivolity is finally shown to one and all.

I fault many of our countrymen for using simplistic patriotism to deliberately blind themselves to the facts of the case--that a Taiwanese fisherman was killed; that there were more than enough bullets fired and holes left as evidence; and that there is incoherence in the PCG's story, enough to question its version of events. For many, it is a case of "My country right or wrong."

"But shouldn't that be the case?" my son retorted. His mother almost chimed in to agree but held her tongue probably after a quick second thought. I certainly made myself very clear: That never should the concept of "country" be above what is morally correct--for nations have a greater duty. That greater duty is to human civilization built stone by stone on truth and justice. How else does civilization improve itself?

The reason the US of A is today in irredeemable socio-economic-political crisis is because it has lost its moral moorings after getting intoxicated with unlimited power upon achieving victory in the Cold War. Thus, to maintain its power, the US persecutes men of conscience, such as Iraq whistleblower Sgt. Bradley Manning and info freedom champions like Julian Assange; tortures prisoners without being held by any charge in Gitmo; and kills innocents all over with its drones.

While the US is going to the dogs, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) nation-states are setting the moral standard of multipolarism, non-aggression, and peaceful coexistence. They are also setting up the multibillion financial BRICS bank to aid developing nations while leading the struggle to neutralize US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aggression.

BRICS countries are vastly improving the lives of their citizens while US and Western societies crumble, with their people impoverished as their ruling classes prosper like never before in history.

The Philippines as a US appendage will only suffer worse social crises and collapse, as its elite amasses fortunes at the expense of the nation's future. Taiwan, for all its faults, takes care of its people. Thus, the life of a single, aging fisherman is still valuable to its leaders.

In the Philippines today, children abandoned by their mothers (and their government) graze the streets with empty stomachs--this, in a nation of 20 million hungry people where police kill police, students commit suicide for lack of tuition, and the ruling elite constantly lie to the people. You'll find hardly any of these in Taiwan.

And as Taiwanese fishermen work hard fishing in overlapping RP-Taiwan economic zones, Filipino fishermen don't fish there as their country's capitalists and government do nothing to provide financing.

Many things are terribly wrong in Philippine society---the reason the country relies on Taiwan for jobs for 89,000 Filipinos.

So let's stop blaming others. Let's seriously look at the truths about our country. For starters, here's one truth we should face squarely: Some PCG bosses are paid P200,000 per Taiwanese fishing boat for the right to fish on the Balintang Channel. Such deals are made in a small hotel along Roxas Blvd. convenient for the PCG's top brass. Clearly, it may no longer be easy to smile after this.

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The election economy

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

6/3/2013

Daily Tribune

The NSCB (National Statistical Coordination Board) report on the "fantastic" 2013, 1st quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.8 percent attributes the growth to "manufacturing, construction and consumer spending." But what is the fountainhead contributing to all these three sectors? Was there a great surge in production of some goods, commodities exported or a great surge in employment generation that formerly jobless Filipinos started earning income to splurge in three months? Some enthused about "the good news," columnist BSA (not Aquino) who wrote, "Best of all, we just beat China's 7.7 percent growth and Indonesia's 6 percent and Thailand's 5.3 percent growth. This was quite unexpected because the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) expected only a six or seven percent growth." How shallow, I thought.

Like the "fantastic" 7.9 percent growth rate in 2010 Gloria Arroyo apologists, like former Greece ambassador, wrote about and cited in pooh-poohing BSA III's earlier 2012 boast of 6.6 percent GDP: "… on track to restoring the growth of 7.9 percent she attained…" Both Arroyo and Aquino share one thing — pambobola, both think all Filipinos are fools like that columnist comparing the growth rates of China, Thailand and Indonesia to this latest Philippine growth data. Gloria and PeNoy's "fantastic" growth rates are both based on "election campaign spending" which does not produce anything except inflation and neither does it produce jobs needed by the hordes of Filipino unemployed. Around 45,000 candidates for senator to local councilman spent untold billions that boosted consumption by 33 percent.

This year's public works election period ban started on May 29, hence the first quarter government public works splurge figured heavily in the boost. Much of these naturally went into the income stream of temporary construction workers which also boosted the consumer spending. Thus, the 33 percent rise in consumer spending claimed by the NSCB is not surprising, but hardly any of these are "real" growth that can be considered productive, sustainable and jobs generating. Now, how can one compare these with the rise in genuine production of goods for China (the world's factory), Thailand (which still produces MPV such as vans and pick-ups, while RP doesn't even produce its own paper clip) and Indonesia exports oil. One real statistics that should worry RP is this: Just two days before the GDP hype the business headlines blared — 7.4 percent drop in imports.

For the Philippines' import dependent export industry sector the drop in imports is an indicator of slowing exports such as microchips and other electronic goods. Then, a day after the GDP hype the PSEi (Philippine Stock Exchange index) dropped by 4 percent or the second largest one day drop in PSEi's history. What do the two BSAs say about these? If I am very hard on these two BSAs and their deliberate or simply ignorantly innocent misleading of the reading the GDP figures it is because their shallow and distorting interpretation of the performance causes the Filipino public's mind to be befuddled with wrong notions about what constitutes real economic growth. Even more demeaning is their shallow braggadocio about beating the other countries, a bragging right that has never been earned.

My GNN TV show last Saturday night serendipitously featured the topic "BSP losses, Jobless GDP" and my guests Dr. Rene Ofreneo, business forensics Hiro Vaswani and Solidarity Economic's advocate Ben Quinones, had a field day discussing the GDP claims and the real situation of the economy. What stood out in the discussion was Ofreneo's reference to the "enabling environment" of industrialization that simply isn't present, citing the exorbitant power costs in the country. There was unanimity in this. All recalled the Golden Age of incipient R.P. industrialization during Central Bank Mike Cuaderno's time of "currency and capital controls" and the monetary finance of Tetangco today generating losses.

Final conclusion: no real GDP growth without industrialization, but Neda is still keeping RP OFW, BPO and failing exports dependency. Some "Filipino" businessmen of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry are pushing for economic legislation "… to relax some restrictions in the entry of foreign capital and in the practice of certain professions ….to attract more investments…. also ….to raise the cap on foreign ownership of industries from 40 percent." RP economic managers have depended on "foreign investments" for decades and all they can show for it is still the "sick man of Asia." If foreign investors, especially Western, were so good then their own countries wouldn't be in such crises. What is absent in our national economic discourse is "re-nationalization" of basic utilities and industries to enable the revival of manufacturing for "import substitution" and jobs generation. Election economics we need like a hole in the head.

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