BACKBENCHER
Rod P. Kapunan
2/25-26/2012
Things are getting nastier by the day for those raving hound dogs of Malacañang. Practically all their allegations have crumbled. It may not be a case of “losing the war, but not the battle”, but they already lost the war even before judgment came. They already lost much of their credibility, even the possibility of being re-elected or of their ambition for a higher office by their grandstanding that ended up in unexpected fiasco.
The perception is that it would be next to impossibility to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona. Doing that could even trigger an avalanche of possible backlash. Whatever will be their argument about the impeachment proceedings as political, criminal or civil no longer has value because that process has been shattered to bits. The biggest casualty is no less than the mastermind who would not mind the ethics of legality just to satisfy his lust for revenge. His credibility went down the drain by buffoonery of his cocker-spaniels in handling the impeachment trial.
In the case of Article 3, it was obvious the prosecution could not proceed to present and argue about that Platinum Card and the other privileges given by PAL to Corona, and for allegedly engaging in shopping spree at Rustan’s using the Judiciary Development Fund, and bringing along witnesses to testify, for as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile pointed out, they were already imputing a crime of bribery which they failed to include in their complaint.
In their last ditch attempt to salvage that item, the prosecution insisted it is covered by their allegation of “betrayal of public trust.” Again, defense counsel Serafin Cuevas reminded them that betrayal of public trust is a conclusion of fact. Enrile has to trash their evidence and disallow their witnesses to testify because they would, in effect, be presenting evidence and witnesses testifying on something not included in the complaint.
In fact, nobody has yet attempted to cross their carefully crafted line to ask who among the “Goodfellas” in that division received a Platinum Card handed by PAL to a court where it has pending cases. As said, that now is water under the bridge because that issue has been shut off by their ineptness to charge Corona and company for the crime of bribery.
Likewise, the Senate impeachment court can never proceed to investigate the bank account of Corona, unless the court issues an order for the bank to do so. The irreparable snag came when suddenly Supreme Court granted the petition of the defense for a temporary restraining order reiterating the long-adhered principle of disallowing one from engaging in fishing expedition. The prosecution were bluntly forbidden from using the impeachment court, with the collusion of some hypocritical senator-judges, as their instrument to gather for them the evidence in support of their allegation, and not that they have at hand evidence to support their specific allegation.
Their insistence in letting the officials of PSBank, led by its president Pascual Garcia III, to testify based on spurious documents with one poppycock senator-judge insisting of just comparing those documents that were surreptitiously taken out from the bank without its certification, delivered the final coup de grace to that article. Most serious, it opened the Pandora’s Box of Malacañang’s complicity in prying into the bank account of depositors. That was clear in the admission made by Garcia that only Bangko Sentral and the Anti-Money Laundering Council have access to open the dollar and foreign accounts of their clients, including that of Justice Corona.
Surely, BSP and AMLC would have no interest in getting to know the dollar account of Corona had they not been ordered to get a copy with two silly congressmen, Reynaldo Umali and Jorge “Bolet” Banal, presenting them with all their pretensions of ignorance they were holding on to a stolen document.
In fact, the possible involvement of AMLC has put in line why that imperialist-dictated law was in the first place enacted. The role of AMLC would come in only if there was an illegal transfer of fund from the Philippines to other countries, and vice versa, with suspicion that said transfer is being used to erase all traces that the fund came from an illegal source. A mere dollar account without a movement, except that it was deposited by one not under suspicion of having committed any of those crimes enumerated in Section 3 (i) of R.A. No. 9160, necessitated the need to shred for good Article 2.
Finally, what good will it do to for the impeachment court to go along with those sycophants-turned-stupid clowns if that would mean the court’s involvement in a crime by their acceptance of evidence they know was illegally sourced? Should somebody point to PNoy as the one who ordered to prey on Corona’s account, that means, no less, he committed a culpable violation of the Constitution. Of course, PNoy can always rely on his bloated popularity injected by the Western media to show that the Filipino people are that stupid and contended in having a happy-go-lucky character like Bombolini in that old movie the “Secret of Santa Vittoria” govern them.
(rodkap@yahoo.com.ph)
Saturday, February 25, 2012
A shameful economy
CONSUMERS' DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/20-26/2012
The Argentine economy has grown 94% in the past decades since it defaulted on its debt to global bankers.
Those were years 2002-2011, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research (which has Joseph Stiglitz on its board).
It was called the “fastest growth in the Western Hemisphere for the period.”
Argentina’s growth is seen as double that of Brazil, a country already much admired especially by the present Aquino III government which has been emulating its program like the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) and the PPP (Public-Private Partnerships).
It is vital to note, on Brazil, that it does not borrow to fund its CCT and this is a world of difference from the disastrous Aquino III CCT here.
But back to Argentina. Compared to Argentina’s average annual growth of 8%, the Philippine’s average growth is Lilliputian 4.8% in the past 10 years, just a little over half of Argentina’s and shameful.
The Philippine Senate has made a mountain out of the molehill of the incident involving Argentine boxing fans that roughed up Filipino boxer John Riel Casimiro, making what was purely a fight incident into a diplomatic issue.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile wanted the Philippine ambassador to Argentina recalled, Sotto called the incident a “black eye” on Argentinians and Lito Lapid wanted to know what the weight class of Casimiro’s opponent, Jose Alberto Lazarte, as he may fight him.
The Argentine government, of course, had nothing to do with the incident and it was purely an “utak boksingero” outburst which often happens in emotionally charged fights – especially for Latin spirited South American cultures.
We’ve seen this happen before and such incidents will happen again but these do not reflect any government policy so why should it be treated as a diplomatic incident?
The Argentine ambassador has made the perfunctory apology after the Senate whipped up the imbroglio over it, but the Senate and its senators appear all smaller to me as I watched the incident put the pettiness of our senators on the spotlight.
The Senate has not expressed outrage over the growth in hunger that puts 26 million Filipino infants, children, mothers and grandparents and fathers to sleep with growling stomachs.
The Philippine Senate has never taken the step that new Argentine political leaders finally did in 2001 – default on the unjust, oppressive and destructive predatory debts imposed by the Western powers.
The Philippine Senate has not even tackled the biggest economic drag on the country, the “highest power rate in Asia” that beset our nation’s economic potential. They’ve spend two weeks on a pointless impeachment but not a second on these issues.
Argentina’s economy is projected to grow by 6% in 2012 its central bank announced and, Dow Jones reports “… a healthy pace but down from the blistering growth seen in recent years due to an expected downturn in the global economy”, the Philippines’ economic planning body Neda said in early February it saw a 3% to 5% growth rate for the country in 2012; a figure of 40% variance simply shows they do not know where this economy will be going.
The reason for this is that the Philippines does not plan its economy and waits for the economic winds blowing from the West to dictate where it goes – and out policy leaders in the Senate or anywhere else in government are not doing anything about this.
But they’ll have time to react to a boxing incident, and engage in the diarrhea of legalese in the impeachment hearing to impress the shallow public with court jargon while presiding over the unmitigated economic collapse now going on for over two decades.
Bernie Villegas, Cory Aquino’s “prophet of boom,” said at the Asia CEO Forum that the Philippine economy can grow “by 7 to 10%” in the next 10 years. Is he saying that it can grow by 7% to 10% annually, or did he mean that it will grow by that aggregate in the next 10 years?
Given the realities, he must mean the latter, and if that is what he means then let’s compare it with Argentina’s 94% aggregate growth from 2002 to 2011.
The difference is obvious, and the singular act that made Argentina achieve the “miracle” is the debt default its post-2001 revolt against the IMF and international predatory creditors.
If Villegas is right that the Philippines will only grow by 10% at the end of this decade, then we should see Zimbabwe catch up with the Philippines; and at the rate our Philippine national political, financial and economic leaders are conducting themselves, with “utak boksingero,” maybe we’ll even see Burkina Faso catch up with us. They are all shameless frauds and charlatans.
The Philippines still has to reach the heights of public and national outrage that Argentina saw in 2001 when it finally dawned on the people that their leaders at that time were simply taking them for a ride while serving as tools for the plunder of their economy.
The outrage and indignation were such that Argentines were spitting at their politicians when they were seen in public, such as restaurants, and the “caserolleros” (from casserola) banged their pots and pans everyday to oust those dirty politicians.
That’s the kind of politicians we have in our Congress these days, in both houses, as well as in Malacañang and the entire Cabinet.
While the people are still made by media to ooh and aah over the antics of these politicians at the Senate impeachment hearings and on such trivial incidents as the boxing brawl, we’ll not get to the point of building enough disgust to throw them all out and their corrupt system with them.
Let’s shout at these “utak boksingero” again: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
(Tune in to 1098AM, DWAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Hocus PCOS, new evidence? visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.comfor our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/20-26/2012
The Argentine economy has grown 94% in the past decades since it defaulted on its debt to global bankers.
Those were years 2002-2011, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research (which has Joseph Stiglitz on its board).
It was called the “fastest growth in the Western Hemisphere for the period.”
Argentina’s growth is seen as double that of Brazil, a country already much admired especially by the present Aquino III government which has been emulating its program like the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) and the PPP (Public-Private Partnerships).
It is vital to note, on Brazil, that it does not borrow to fund its CCT and this is a world of difference from the disastrous Aquino III CCT here.
But back to Argentina. Compared to Argentina’s average annual growth of 8%, the Philippine’s average growth is Lilliputian 4.8% in the past 10 years, just a little over half of Argentina’s and shameful.
The Philippine Senate has made a mountain out of the molehill of the incident involving Argentine boxing fans that roughed up Filipino boxer John Riel Casimiro, making what was purely a fight incident into a diplomatic issue.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile wanted the Philippine ambassador to Argentina recalled, Sotto called the incident a “black eye” on Argentinians and Lito Lapid wanted to know what the weight class of Casimiro’s opponent, Jose Alberto Lazarte, as he may fight him.
The Argentine government, of course, had nothing to do with the incident and it was purely an “utak boksingero” outburst which often happens in emotionally charged fights – especially for Latin spirited South American cultures.
We’ve seen this happen before and such incidents will happen again but these do not reflect any government policy so why should it be treated as a diplomatic incident?
The Argentine ambassador has made the perfunctory apology after the Senate whipped up the imbroglio over it, but the Senate and its senators appear all smaller to me as I watched the incident put the pettiness of our senators on the spotlight.
The Senate has not expressed outrage over the growth in hunger that puts 26 million Filipino infants, children, mothers and grandparents and fathers to sleep with growling stomachs.
The Philippine Senate has never taken the step that new Argentine political leaders finally did in 2001 – default on the unjust, oppressive and destructive predatory debts imposed by the Western powers.
The Philippine Senate has not even tackled the biggest economic drag on the country, the “highest power rate in Asia” that beset our nation’s economic potential. They’ve spend two weeks on a pointless impeachment but not a second on these issues.
Argentina’s economy is projected to grow by 6% in 2012 its central bank announced and, Dow Jones reports “… a healthy pace but down from the blistering growth seen in recent years due to an expected downturn in the global economy”, the Philippines’ economic planning body Neda said in early February it saw a 3% to 5% growth rate for the country in 2012; a figure of 40% variance simply shows they do not know where this economy will be going.
The reason for this is that the Philippines does not plan its economy and waits for the economic winds blowing from the West to dictate where it goes – and out policy leaders in the Senate or anywhere else in government are not doing anything about this.
But they’ll have time to react to a boxing incident, and engage in the diarrhea of legalese in the impeachment hearing to impress the shallow public with court jargon while presiding over the unmitigated economic collapse now going on for over two decades.
Bernie Villegas, Cory Aquino’s “prophet of boom,” said at the Asia CEO Forum that the Philippine economy can grow “by 7 to 10%” in the next 10 years. Is he saying that it can grow by 7% to 10% annually, or did he mean that it will grow by that aggregate in the next 10 years?
Given the realities, he must mean the latter, and if that is what he means then let’s compare it with Argentina’s 94% aggregate growth from 2002 to 2011.
The difference is obvious, and the singular act that made Argentina achieve the “miracle” is the debt default its post-2001 revolt against the IMF and international predatory creditors.
If Villegas is right that the Philippines will only grow by 10% at the end of this decade, then we should see Zimbabwe catch up with the Philippines; and at the rate our Philippine national political, financial and economic leaders are conducting themselves, with “utak boksingero,” maybe we’ll even see Burkina Faso catch up with us. They are all shameless frauds and charlatans.
The Philippines still has to reach the heights of public and national outrage that Argentina saw in 2001 when it finally dawned on the people that their leaders at that time were simply taking them for a ride while serving as tools for the plunder of their economy.
The outrage and indignation were such that Argentines were spitting at their politicians when they were seen in public, such as restaurants, and the “caserolleros” (from casserola) banged their pots and pans everyday to oust those dirty politicians.
That’s the kind of politicians we have in our Congress these days, in both houses, as well as in Malacañang and the entire Cabinet.
While the people are still made by media to ooh and aah over the antics of these politicians at the Senate impeachment hearings and on such trivial incidents as the boxing brawl, we’ll not get to the point of building enough disgust to throw them all out and their corrupt system with them.
Let’s shout at these “utak boksingero” again: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
(Tune in to 1098AM, DWAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Hocus PCOS, new evidence? visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.comfor our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Computing the oligarchy's plunder
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/24/2012
As I continued my pencil pushing on the power plunder that has raged on for over 10 years--now with a particularly renewed ferocity in Mindanao, I realize that the P80,000 per electricity consumer I computed in my last column speaks only half the story.
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corp. debt today stands at $18 billion (P800 billion), despite 10 years of privatizing National Power Corp. (Napocor) assets by almost 90 percent. As it is, authorities are now in a quandary as to how to charge this to us consumers without blowing the lid on the swindle of the century. Their latest attempt, therefore, is to charge 20 percent of this to government, which, of course, means the taxpayers. As for the rest, well, the shysters at Psalm are still working with Congress on passing this on to consumers via a so-called Universal Charge. In short, they will try to make 10 million electricity customers pay for all this by hook or by crook. But that’s not all.
The other half of the story involves the oligarchs who got these $18 billion worth of Napocor assets that we as taxpayers and power consumers paid for since the state power company was established by government in 1936.
What Filipino power consumers have really been plundered of is not only P80,000 per paying customer and, to a lesser extent, per individual taxpayer (as even the consumption of candies, diapers etc. have VAT included). Because we are being made to pay for P80,000 through the various surreptitious means that Psalm is devising with the corrupt bureaucracy, including Malacañang, the Upper and Lower Houses of Congress, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the judiciary, the oligarchs on the other hand are already enjoying cash flow benefits and profits from collections on power generating assets they have taken over.
Since the private conglomerates now “owning” our erstwhile public assets took them over on credit, based on sovereign guarantees and guaranteed payments from consumers, we are also actually paying for those assets now in list of acquisitions. This is a classic lagaring Hapon on us as each consumer is actually going to pay double the amount at P180,000!
Some of these asset transfers--such as the national transmission grid that used to be under the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) but now in the hands of the private National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which was supposed to have brought in $4 billion for Psalm and the government--have not been paid since their turnover in January 2009.
In fact, we, the taxpayers, have had to foot the bill for Psalm’s operations to the tune of P75 billion to P85 billion each year since the state agency has had to borrow for its operational funds, with the approval of Congress.
You see, we are being cooked in our own fat while the oligarchs are fattening themselves, also on our monthly payments.
And while we are computing and discovering the mounting sums which the oligarchs and their corrupt political agents in government are plundering from the nation’s electricity consumers and taxpayers, Mindanaoans are at present beginning to feel the full force of the power swindle in their area.
“Power curtailment” of four to eight hour-brownouts regularly hit parts of Mindanao today. I have been receiving reports from our colleagues there, particularly Mr. Jojo Borja, early this week that Mindanaoans are now up in arms over the situation since the rains have not stopped and the hydro-electric plants that include the vast Agus-Pulangui complex should already be supplying enough power.
At the same time, Mindanaoans are well aware that there are four emergency power barges with Napocor that can immediately be deployed to supply emergency power there. Yet, the Department of Energy (DoE) and Psalm refuse to do so, as both await the privatization of these barges by March.
Confirming Borja’s report was the appeal aired last Sunday by the Mindanao business community and the island’s 33 electric cooperatives (led by the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives) to look into the region’s power crisis. They say that it is not only due to the reduced capacity of the hydro-electric plants which have not been maintained properly but also because of the “derating” or control of other power plants in Mindanao.
The two power barges privatized to the Aboitizes in 2009 are not generating power because the electric cooperatives (ECs) cannot buy from them through NGCP as the grid’s power rates are not affordable to Mindanao consumers. The ECs, thus, bear the brunt of power consumers’ anger when they pass on the generation charge from Therma Marine Corp., also of the Aboitiz Group.
Meanwhile, Malacañang, the Senate, and the House merely display their grandstanding antics in the Corona impeachment hearings.
When Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. came out with a bill against what he calls the negative typecasting of Philippine solons as crooks, I remembered asking: What was the vote of his fellow congressmen on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira)? Weren’t they reported to have each received a P500,000-payola for the onerous law’s approval, as exposed by Rep. Rene Magtubo in 2001? How about the P10-million National Electrification Administration (NEA) projects per congressman ordered released by Gloria Arroyo to those who voted favorably for the measure?
Another one of Gonzales’ harebrained colleagues, sadly, seconded him, saying there are many “crabs” among the public dragging the reputation of congressmen down out of envy. These legislators should instead look at themselves and see that they are the ones dragging the entire country down with their constant scrambling for huge scraps of pork and other large morsels from the national budget for themselves. We challenge these whining solons to a face-to-face debate anytime, anywhere on who the crabs really are--the public or their ilk--so that they can be put in their proper places.
(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Hocus PCOS: New proof of cheating?;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/24/2012
As I continued my pencil pushing on the power plunder that has raged on for over 10 years--now with a particularly renewed ferocity in Mindanao, I realize that the P80,000 per electricity consumer I computed in my last column speaks only half the story.
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corp. debt today stands at $18 billion (P800 billion), despite 10 years of privatizing National Power Corp. (Napocor) assets by almost 90 percent. As it is, authorities are now in a quandary as to how to charge this to us consumers without blowing the lid on the swindle of the century. Their latest attempt, therefore, is to charge 20 percent of this to government, which, of course, means the taxpayers. As for the rest, well, the shysters at Psalm are still working with Congress on passing this on to consumers via a so-called Universal Charge. In short, they will try to make 10 million electricity customers pay for all this by hook or by crook. But that’s not all.
The other half of the story involves the oligarchs who got these $18 billion worth of Napocor assets that we as taxpayers and power consumers paid for since the state power company was established by government in 1936.
What Filipino power consumers have really been plundered of is not only P80,000 per paying customer and, to a lesser extent, per individual taxpayer (as even the consumption of candies, diapers etc. have VAT included). Because we are being made to pay for P80,000 through the various surreptitious means that Psalm is devising with the corrupt bureaucracy, including Malacañang, the Upper and Lower Houses of Congress, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the judiciary, the oligarchs on the other hand are already enjoying cash flow benefits and profits from collections on power generating assets they have taken over.
Since the private conglomerates now “owning” our erstwhile public assets took them over on credit, based on sovereign guarantees and guaranteed payments from consumers, we are also actually paying for those assets now in list of acquisitions. This is a classic lagaring Hapon on us as each consumer is actually going to pay double the amount at P180,000!
Some of these asset transfers--such as the national transmission grid that used to be under the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo) but now in the hands of the private National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), which was supposed to have brought in $4 billion for Psalm and the government--have not been paid since their turnover in January 2009.
In fact, we, the taxpayers, have had to foot the bill for Psalm’s operations to the tune of P75 billion to P85 billion each year since the state agency has had to borrow for its operational funds, with the approval of Congress.
You see, we are being cooked in our own fat while the oligarchs are fattening themselves, also on our monthly payments.
And while we are computing and discovering the mounting sums which the oligarchs and their corrupt political agents in government are plundering from the nation’s electricity consumers and taxpayers, Mindanaoans are at present beginning to feel the full force of the power swindle in their area.
“Power curtailment” of four to eight hour-brownouts regularly hit parts of Mindanao today. I have been receiving reports from our colleagues there, particularly Mr. Jojo Borja, early this week that Mindanaoans are now up in arms over the situation since the rains have not stopped and the hydro-electric plants that include the vast Agus-Pulangui complex should already be supplying enough power.
At the same time, Mindanaoans are well aware that there are four emergency power barges with Napocor that can immediately be deployed to supply emergency power there. Yet, the Department of Energy (DoE) and Psalm refuse to do so, as both await the privatization of these barges by March.
Confirming Borja’s report was the appeal aired last Sunday by the Mindanao business community and the island’s 33 electric cooperatives (led by the Association of Mindanao Rural Electric Cooperatives) to look into the region’s power crisis. They say that it is not only due to the reduced capacity of the hydro-electric plants which have not been maintained properly but also because of the “derating” or control of other power plants in Mindanao.
The two power barges privatized to the Aboitizes in 2009 are not generating power because the electric cooperatives (ECs) cannot buy from them through NGCP as the grid’s power rates are not affordable to Mindanao consumers. The ECs, thus, bear the brunt of power consumers’ anger when they pass on the generation charge from Therma Marine Corp., also of the Aboitiz Group.
Meanwhile, Malacañang, the Senate, and the House merely display their grandstanding antics in the Corona impeachment hearings.
When Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. came out with a bill against what he calls the negative typecasting of Philippine solons as crooks, I remembered asking: What was the vote of his fellow congressmen on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira)? Weren’t they reported to have each received a P500,000-payola for the onerous law’s approval, as exposed by Rep. Rene Magtubo in 2001? How about the P10-million National Electrification Administration (NEA) projects per congressman ordered released by Gloria Arroyo to those who voted favorably for the measure?
Another one of Gonzales’ harebrained colleagues, sadly, seconded him, saying there are many “crabs” among the public dragging the reputation of congressmen down out of envy. These legislators should instead look at themselves and see that they are the ones dragging the entire country down with their constant scrambling for huge scraps of pork and other large morsels from the national budget for themselves. We challenge these whining solons to a face-to-face debate anytime, anywhere on who the crabs really are--the public or their ilk--so that they can be put in their proper places.
(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Hocus PCOS: New proof of cheating?;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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