Don’t just believe; think!

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

5/25/2012

At the recent anti-North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) rallies in Chicago, a placard captured on TV and the Internet that caught my attention read: "Don't believe them again!"

The US has invited more than 80 heads-of-state and heads-of-government to the Nato meet in Obama's hometown. Rick Rozoff, journalist and "Stop Nato" movement manager, reports that the matters to be discussed range from how to close the book on the now Vietnam-like quagmire of the Afghan war — Nato's first ground war and the US' longest armed conflict to date; to the alliance's defense capabilities as well as the US-Nato missile "defense" system; and to the expansion of the military bloc's global military partnerships that would lead up to the consolidation of a Nato-oriented global intervention force. But not tabled for the talks is why Nato, an organization formed expressly for the defense of Europe, is in a war 5,583 kilometers away in Afghanistan, and why the US invited over 50 non-members to its summit.

Suspicions have been raised that the Nato Chicago summit is the beginning of the Global Nato, a fear that is very well-founded given the extra-European theater wars the US is bringing Nato into — from Afghanistan in Asia to Libya in Africa. Nato's former secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has denied the allegations of a planned "global policeman" role, pointing to a lack of material resources, which is the same problem befogging today's secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen as European countries suffer economic debacles while spending billions in Afghanistan and angering constituencies back home.

But that still won't stop US Conservative think-tanks from continuing to argue and lay the basis for US shepherding of Nato into its global misadventures, such as in the case of Foreign Affairs magazine contributors, Ivo Daalder and James Goldgeier, who wrote: "The advent of a new global politics after the Cold War has led Nato to expand its geographic reach and the range of its operations. Now, Nato must extend its membership to any democratic state that can help it fulfill its new responsibilities. Only a truly global alliance can address the global challenges of the day."

In September of 2010, Rick Rozoff reports that Daalder, also the US permanent representative to Nato, told Indian journalists visiting Nato's Brussels headquarters: "I think it is important to have a dialog (with India) and deepen that dialog. It is through dialog, through understanding each other's perceptions and perhaps by working on misperceptions that may exist, that we can strengthen the relations between India and Nato," bluntly suggesting that India should abandon its policy of neutrality and collaborate with the US and Nato in developing an international interceptor missile system.

Last December, US President Obama declared the "re-balancing" of his country's presence in Asia, announced US Marine deployment in Australia, followed in March by initiatives for a missile defense shield in Asia, with Japan, South Korea and even the Philippines ostensibly guarding against the North Korean "threat." In Africa, Nato has been enticing the African Union to sign a partnership agreement and reinforcing the African Standby Force (ASF) which saw action in the Côte d'Ivoire coup against a sitting president in favor of an IMF man (reminds us of the parliamentary coup in Greece and Italy where Goldman Sachs men grabbed power).

It is no wonder that a placard imploring people to "Don't believe them anymore" — a small but powerful message — has been suppressed violently, with over 300 protesters arrested in a martial law-like atmosphere in Obama's hometown. The protests, attended even by a delegation of Afghan children, shows the world doesn't believe the global powers anymore and has learned to think.

In the Philippines, we have countless formal and informal spokesmen for US geopolitical interests, starting with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense chief Voltaire Gazmin, supported by a cast of hundreds in media and other institutions. One media talking head, for instance, said over radio that "Anyone who thinks of sharing the China Sea with China is a traitor," with him, of course, saying nothing about the US-British swindle of the Filipinos in Malampaya, or the larceny that is about to happen in the Reed Bank with Monte Oro Corp. and MVP where nothing will be left for the Filipino nation — all invariably backed by Western mafias (like Carlyle or Goldman Sachs) that have been culprits in many Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) deals that have shortchanged the nation. So is such posturing patriotic or a build-up to the acceptance of an Asian Nato?

As the global and local Establishment — the mainstream — is absolutely no longer credible, thinking Filipinos should thus declare, "Don't believe them anymore," as my radio program audience did in their texts.

The mainstream's attitude is typified by what certain quarters have on the Corona impeachment trial, especially the forces pushing it, from Malacañang to the Ombudsman; to the haven of Harvey Keh, the Ateneo de Manila University and its Jesuits; to the Yellow evil society (who counts the ham-acting Heidi Mendoza as a member) worthy of being sued by the defense panel; and, most of all, Benigno Aquino III, who has not a shred of integrity and reliability as a democratic leader after two years of absolutely incompetent governance.

And since we ought to not believe them, too, something must be done about this, the sooner the better.

(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.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)

P 7.11-M rehab fixes P 60-B crisis

CONSUMERS' DEMAND!

Herman Tiu Laurel

5/21-27/2012

The 2012 Mindanao power crisis is estimated to have cost P 60-B loss to economy of Mindanao, and government itself claimed to have lost P 15-B over the years to purchase power to fill in the shortfall every year.

But last May 9 the state-run National Power Corporation completed its fast-tracked rehabilitation of Pulangi IV hydroelectric power plant in Bukidnon, allowing it to generate power to its installed capacity of 250MW from half of that before this latest rehabilitation. The rehabilitation started mid-April at the height of the Mindanao power crisis, a hurried response to the uproar from Mindanaoans who suffered the crippling brownouts and believed the crisis was deliberate. The estimated power shortfall causing the crisis was between 100-150MW, the Pulangi rehab cost only P 7.11-M and restored at least over 100MW. Why didn't Secretary Rene Almendras of the DoE order this done in early 2010 when he took charge of the DoE? Negligence or sabotage? Either way, those responsible must be investigated and prosecuted to set the example; but nothing doing with BS Aquino III.

Estimates of the power shortfall in Mindanao power range from DoE's Asirit on record saying that the shortfall was only 100MW, while other reports have placed it at the high of 200MW. If Pulangi IV alone had been maintained properly at such a minimal cost early on and the rest of the Agus-Pulangi system rehabilitated as well two years earlier, there would not have been any Mindanao power crisis. Instead of the rehabilitation of these existing capacities the BS Aquino III, its DoE officials and politicians such as Sen. Serge Osmeña the past two years have been repeatedly claiming instead that a power crisis existed in Mindanao which can only be solved by installing new coal-fired and other power plants. Senator Angara, author of the RE (Renewable Energy) law in turn has repeatedly claimed that solar and wind power for Mindanao is the answer, hiding the fact that his RE law charges P 20/kWh for solar and wind generated power to hydro's P 2/kWh.

Each and every politician and DoE and ERC official have a lobbyist's angle: Serge Osmeña has schemed for the privatization of Agus-Pulangi and other hydro-resources of Mindanao to the oligarchs which include his Lopez kin as well as the Aboitizes, Alcantaras, and Ayalas. The DoE officials are with the coal-power lobby, while Angara is with the RE lobby which include the foreign energy companies in partnership with the usual suspects – Ayala, Aboitiz, Lopez et al who are already in RE projects. What is made clear from these historical facts in the power sector is that national policy on this matter has been ruled by lobby interests working through the entire polical power structure. Not a single of the officials act with responsibility and concern for the genuine interest of the people of Mindanao and the nation as a whole leading to the situation today that has produced the "highest power cost in Asia" and devastated Philippine industry and quality-of-life.

Our recent program on Destiny Cable channel 8, GNN show featured Mr. Jojo Borja of Iligan Light and Power, and Atty. Homobono Adaza, to report to the nation how the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) tired again to pull a fast one on the anti-Power Plunder advocates and the public. They reported how notices of a crucial ERC hearing on the case of the MAP (Maximum Allowable Price) petition of Meralco, arrived on a Sunday at the legal counsel, Adaza's residence a day before the hearing and on the Friday before the Monday hearing for the petitioner Borja. Suffice it to say that the Meralco petition for MAP was postpone again, saving the 6-million Meralco consumers from an early approval of a very onerous power rate base that is 100% over what Meralco should be charging for its distribution rate. The present rate is based on what Borja proves are Meralco equipment overpricing as high as 900%.

Mang Naro Lualhati, octogenarian consumer activist laid the basis for the case that Borja and Adaza are locking horns with Meralco over at the Court of Appeals, hence ERC should not have tried to move to resolve Meralco's petition in its sala. Lualhati, on his end, has filed a Motion for Reconsideration on ERC's dismissal of his opposition to Meralco's MAP of around P 1.60/kWh which according to the accountant-oppositor Lualhati should only be P 0.90/kWh and Jojo Borja provided solid evidence - facts, figures and documents – proving Lualhati's charges. If Lualhati, Borja et al win their epic struggle Meralco customers can win as much as 50% of the distribution charges it pays, and certainly more if other issues such as the PBR and its perks' 17% are eventually defeated and overturned to go back to the RORB rate system's 12% rate base.

During our GNN program Borja highlighted another fact that should make everybody stop and take seriously the predatory power victimization of millions of Filipinos, informing us: "To this day, Iligan Light and Power (ILPI) is charging only P 5.50/kWh retail on a customer base of 60,000 electricity connections while Meralco is charging P 11 to P12 (fluctuates with monthly changes) on a customer base of 6-Million electricity connections." Whatever happened to the principle of "economies-of-scale" where the bigger the market and operation of an enterprise the lower its prices for products and services could and should be?

(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.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives) 

50% power cut, not wage hike

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

5/21/2012

The newspapers have just reported that the Metro Manila Wage Board approved a P30-minimum wage hike to be factored into the "cost-of-living allowance" and given in two tranches. Some labor groups that demanded a P125-daily minimum wage increase described the wage board's decision as "loose change."

Acting president of the Employers' Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) Rene Soriano questioned the move, asking, "Will the wage increase create jobs? The resounding answer is no," adding that the increase would, in fact, worsen the conditions of vulnerable workers.

This tit-for-tat between the labor and business sectors goes on every year with the same predictable outcome — an unhappy compromise where both lose and the employable unemployed lose even more.

According to Dr. Rosalinda Pineda-Ofreneo, professor of the UP College of Social Work and Community Development, the entire informal sector constitutes around 24.6 million informal workers and operators, or 76.34 percent of the country's labor force. Well, the recent minimum wage hike just pushed that figure higher.

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) claims that workers have no reason to be happy with the small wage hike granted by the wage board. Its secretary-general Roger Saluta says, "It's another reason to intensify the struggle for a legislated wage hike." So, every year, the KMU revs up for the perfunctory "struggle" then settles for the predictable "loose change" while continuing to charge fees from its members to keep itself going.

The unionized labor force in the Philippines, according to one report in Bulatlat.com, has dropped from a high of 2.97 million 20 years ago to 319,408 in 2010 or 10 percent of the wage earners in the country and less than one percent of the country's labor force. The underground economy is now reported to be 70 percent of the national economy; and of the more or less 40 million labor force, 35 million are invisible to the formal, legal system of wages, incomes, social security and benefits. Workers and employees in the underground economy have a free-wheeling, negotiated wage system — and maybe that's why this sector is thriving and growing at the expense of the formal economy.

During the discussions and debates on the latest wage hike petition, one focus of interest was the comparative levels of minimum wages in the Asean and Asian regions, with the employers' side highlighting the $10 per day in the Philippines in relation to Vietnam's $2.20, Cambodia's $2, Indonesia's $5.20 to 5.90, and China's $3.75 to $5.

KMU reacts saying most Asean and Asian counterparts may be receiving lower minimum wages but their living conditions are way better because of lower local commodities and services costs, and higher purchasing power. Moreover, in reaction to BS Aquino III's rejection of his group's wage hike demand, KMU chairman Elmer Labog adds, "The problem with the President is that he is always taking the viewpoint of the foreign investors, never of Filipino workers."

The problem with both of them — Aquino and Labog — is that they never take the viewpoint of the real engine — the drivers and workers of the real economy — the SMEs (small and medium enterprises), which constitute 95 percent of Philippine businesses and employ the vast majority of both formal and informal sector workers.

Every year, this charade among the three parties in the wage issue — government, labor and employers' representatives — is played out without ever resolving the matter to the benefit of our people and economy. The growing hardships of the working class are never solved in any wage boards since there are more fundamental problems that the decision makers know of but have nary the guts nor will to confront decisively.

Of course, foremost of these problems is our country's "highest power rate in Asia" that's debilitating every aspect of Philippine life and livelihood. Hernan Nicdao admitted this much on a GNN show. After reciting labor's mantra, the talk shifted to the Filipinos' standard of living and, inevitably, to the price of electricity.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) had already demanded government action on this problem late last year. But as it was unfortunately not sustained, then it's back to the old charade.

Jojo Borja of Iligan Light and Power called me last weekend to report that their power utility company's retained earnings the past year alone exceeded their authorized capital despite an electricity rate of only P5.50 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) and a customer base of only 60,000, which from all angles, is a fantastic, if not immoral, return for the company that Borja blames on the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).

Thus, Borja also wonders how much more a giant utility company such as the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is raking in since it charges P12 per kwh with a customer base of almost 6 million and with the majority of industry and commerce situated in its 9,337-square kilometer-franchise area, where the concentration of the national economy is.

It is very clear from the example of Iligan Light and Power that electricity rates in the country can be brought down dramatically and radically — if only the will to demand and achieve it is there. That will certainly do all the workers of the Philippines — in both the formal and informal sectors — greater good than all the past and future tripartite wage negotiations can ever hope to attain.

(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.; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)