IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR REFUND OF RATES FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS IN THE AMOUNT OF PHP 39.00 BILLION FOR THE YEAR 2004-2007.
(For a higher resolution, click on the images.)
Saturday, February 12, 2011
ERC Case No. 2008-092 CC
REITERATION OF MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR REFUND OF RATES FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS IN THE AMOUNT OF PHP 39.00 BILLION FOR THE YEAR 2004-2007.
(For a higher resolution, click on the images.)
IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR REFUND OF RATES FOR RESIDENTIAL CONSUMERS IN THE AMOUNT OF PHP 39.00 BILLION FOR THE YEAR 2004-2007.
(For a higher resolution, click on the images.)
Friday, February 11, 2011
The root of RP’s systemic corruption
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/11/2011
I checked the Chan Robles Internet law library and found Republic Act 9166 of June 2002 defining the lawful salary of a general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), under “Section 2. Pay Schedule,” as: General, P30,000 (a month); Lieutenant General, P29,000; Major General, P28,000; Brigadier General, P27,000; and so on.
An AFP officer confirmed these figures’ continuing validity today. Thus, with a few extra compensation, such as combat pay, the total take would bring the general’s legal income to only about P50,000 a month. Given this, can any AFP general, commodore, or admiral expect to maintain a standard of living that befits a member of the top echelons of society?
That would be ridiculous to expect. Though some generals and navy brass do live on their meager incomes — which is why nothing irregular is heard of them — others find unseemly ways to attain what they believe they deserve.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is another such case, where the directors generals’ and various superintendents’ official salaries will never be able to compete with those of Makati junior executives by any stretch. Hence, the necessity of underground activities such as jueteng becoming part of their regular unofficial payroll, from the national down to the local level.
Election upon election promises and threats of damnation from politicians and a long list of Catholic prelates alike have not stopped these jueteng operations from flourishing. Not even the much-vaunted Yellow saint Cory Aquino or her “heirs” have been able to put a lid on the wellspring of jueteng payola going to the PNP and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government).
Why? An insight into this can be gleaned from an encounter between a scion of the oligarchy and the anti-jueteng crusader, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, where the former was said to have told the bishop to “go easy on jueteng.” My thesis is that the oligarchy consciously wants illicit money sources such as jueteng to thrive in order to contribute largely to the unofficial real income of police generals and government officials. Otherwise, these dogs may just bite their master’s hands if he has nothing to feed them.
A president of the Philippines today officially earns P95,000 a month, which wouldn’t amount to, say, the cost of a brand new Porsche over a six-year term. Although that is 65 percent higher than the immediate predecessor’s monthly pay of P57,750 a month (with the increase signed by the predecessor just before the end of her term), the fact is, it is still low. Since the President’s pay is Salary Grade 33 in the official government pay schedule, the highest in government, all the rest necessarily have to be below that — except for institutions with special pay scales such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), where janitors can get as much as AFP generals.
Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gets $2.8 million today, once made a widely reported tongue-in-cheek comment about a Philippine president’s salary being among the lowest in the world. Even so, a Philippine president can still rake in amounts that rival the highest incomes in the world — but from under-the-table “proceeds.”
If one were to follow government corruption like a maze and work back to its starting point, one may well find this ridiculous government pay schedule as the root of it all. An AFP or PNP general, or even a Cabinet official, with just an official monthly salary that approximates the take home pay of a veteran call center agent doesn’t make sense.
So it has become a way of life among those in government to accept these unofficial incomes as a natural part of the job — as natural as MWSS personnel getting their 30-month bonuses from water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad, as if they aren’t supposed to regulate these firms; and as natural as the secretary of Finance cashing in on the CodeNGO deal with fat commissions! You see, it’s not only the generals.
The entire government pay scale is designed to institutionalize dependency on the unofficial, underground and illegal to augment our officials’ pauper-level pays. Whenever I suggest to politicians to do as Singapore does, I always find inexplicable their non-appreciation of the logic. Perhaps it’s because it takes away their excuse for continuously promoting the graft?
After all, the situation is perfect for those who want unlimited graft revenues, where oligarchs control the political leadership through all sorts of bribes or blackmail (as carried out by their media outlets), or even their influence over US-controlled anti-corruption watchdogs such as Transparency International.
Generals Garcia, Rabusa, Ligot, et al.; the PNP and DILG jueteng roster; and lest we forget, regulatory bodies like the Energy Regulatory Commission and the MWSS, ad infinitum, are all controlled by the oligarchy and its foreign partner, the US (the one that really exposed Garcia), through this system that’s designed for corruption.
Understandably, the AFP is flogging itself for the mire of corruption it is in. But to continue doing so, without probing deeper, will just be unfair to the institution. Our AFP men and women should start aiming their sights on the real culprits — the oligarchy and the structure of corruption it has institutionalized through its politicians and media. Such is the root of systemic corruption in this land!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “The Roots of RP’s Systemic Corruption;” visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/11/2011
I checked the Chan Robles Internet law library and found Republic Act 9166 of June 2002 defining the lawful salary of a general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), under “Section 2. Pay Schedule,” as: General, P30,000 (a month); Lieutenant General, P29,000; Major General, P28,000; Brigadier General, P27,000; and so on.
An AFP officer confirmed these figures’ continuing validity today. Thus, with a few extra compensation, such as combat pay, the total take would bring the general’s legal income to only about P50,000 a month. Given this, can any AFP general, commodore, or admiral expect to maintain a standard of living that befits a member of the top echelons of society?
That would be ridiculous to expect. Though some generals and navy brass do live on their meager incomes — which is why nothing irregular is heard of them — others find unseemly ways to attain what they believe they deserve.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) is another such case, where the directors generals’ and various superintendents’ official salaries will never be able to compete with those of Makati junior executives by any stretch. Hence, the necessity of underground activities such as jueteng becoming part of their regular unofficial payroll, from the national down to the local level.
Election upon election promises and threats of damnation from politicians and a long list of Catholic prelates alike have not stopped these jueteng operations from flourishing. Not even the much-vaunted Yellow saint Cory Aquino or her “heirs” have been able to put a lid on the wellspring of jueteng payola going to the PNP and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government).
Why? An insight into this can be gleaned from an encounter between a scion of the oligarchy and the anti-jueteng crusader, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, where the former was said to have told the bishop to “go easy on jueteng.” My thesis is that the oligarchy consciously wants illicit money sources such as jueteng to thrive in order to contribute largely to the unofficial real income of police generals and government officials. Otherwise, these dogs may just bite their master’s hands if he has nothing to feed them.
A president of the Philippines today officially earns P95,000 a month, which wouldn’t amount to, say, the cost of a brand new Porsche over a six-year term. Although that is 65 percent higher than the immediate predecessor’s monthly pay of P57,750 a month (with the increase signed by the predecessor just before the end of her term), the fact is, it is still low. Since the President’s pay is Salary Grade 33 in the official government pay schedule, the highest in government, all the rest necessarily have to be below that — except for institutions with special pay scales such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), where janitors can get as much as AFP generals.
Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gets $2.8 million today, once made a widely reported tongue-in-cheek comment about a Philippine president’s salary being among the lowest in the world. Even so, a Philippine president can still rake in amounts that rival the highest incomes in the world — but from under-the-table “proceeds.”
If one were to follow government corruption like a maze and work back to its starting point, one may well find this ridiculous government pay schedule as the root of it all. An AFP or PNP general, or even a Cabinet official, with just an official monthly salary that approximates the take home pay of a veteran call center agent doesn’t make sense.
So it has become a way of life among those in government to accept these unofficial incomes as a natural part of the job — as natural as MWSS personnel getting their 30-month bonuses from water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad, as if they aren’t supposed to regulate these firms; and as natural as the secretary of Finance cashing in on the CodeNGO deal with fat commissions! You see, it’s not only the generals.
The entire government pay scale is designed to institutionalize dependency on the unofficial, underground and illegal to augment our officials’ pauper-level pays. Whenever I suggest to politicians to do as Singapore does, I always find inexplicable their non-appreciation of the logic. Perhaps it’s because it takes away their excuse for continuously promoting the graft?
After all, the situation is perfect for those who want unlimited graft revenues, where oligarchs control the political leadership through all sorts of bribes or blackmail (as carried out by their media outlets), or even their influence over US-controlled anti-corruption watchdogs such as Transparency International.
Generals Garcia, Rabusa, Ligot, et al.; the PNP and DILG jueteng roster; and lest we forget, regulatory bodies like the Energy Regulatory Commission and the MWSS, ad infinitum, are all controlled by the oligarchy and its foreign partner, the US (the one that really exposed Garcia), through this system that’s designed for corruption.
Understandably, the AFP is flogging itself for the mire of corruption it is in. But to continue doing so, without probing deeper, will just be unfair to the institution. Our AFP men and women should start aiming their sights on the real culprits — the oligarchy and the structure of corruption it has institutionalized through its politicians and media. Such is the root of systemic corruption in this land!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “The Roots of RP’s Systemic Corruption;” visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Critiquing the critics
CRITIC'S CRITIC
Mentong Laurel
2/7-13/2011
OpinYon has enthusiastically acceded to introduce into this opinionated weekly a section that focuses on society's high and mighty critics by turning the microscope on them to scrutinize what they say and do, and to uncover whatever skeletons they may have in their closet.
The opening salvo is to be tackled by yours truly, Herman Tiu Laurel, a self-described nationalist and anti-imperialist crusader; self-employed; frequent political detainee since Martial Law all the way to the Manila Pen siege (with Trillanes, Danny Lim et al); part-time entrepreneur; consumer advocate; anti-Meralco crusader; and full-time guerrilla information warrior. The worse that can be said about me is that I'm an obnoxious, self-righteous pain-in-the-neck; an occasional anti-social who's also an intolerant Holocaust denier, ad nausea--all of which is true. But let me stress that, above all, I'm very studious with the issues I tackle as I am a dedicated truth seeker.
Now why do we turn our guns on the opinions of writers, especially those of major mainstream media dailies and broadcast networks? Because they lord it over with their opinions that are often wrong, shallow, self-serving, servile, infused with conflicts of interest, and immune from right-of-reply by virtue of their media's size, despite their downright misleading information.
The first on our crosshairs is the recent Feb. 1 column of Philippine Star's Billy Esposo where he lambasted Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Antonio Trillanes IV as "...boorish and seemed more like delinquents instead of Senators of the Republic," claiming that the manner of questioning by the two of former AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Chief-of-staff and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes "unwittingly generated public sympathy for (him) instead (and was) counterproductive."
Esposo never bothered to check out his points with the two senators, which I did with Trillanes. When I asked Sen. Trillanes about his agressive interrogation of Reyes (a PMA upperclassman who's at least 20 years his senior), he told me, "I tried to hold my punches... but when Reyes started from a very offensive and arrogant posture, which I believe was a tactic to intimidate the audience and the interrogators, I had to turn the tables on him."
Indeed, the other senators had a tendency to be deferential, as they often are to other high level colleagues whom they had associated with in government service.
As for Sen. Jinggoy, I haven't had any opportunity to ask him about this but his reply to Esposo's charges that he harbors a grudge on Reyes "for abandoning his father, the convicted former President Estrada" was that his father had, in fact, helped Reyes get confirmed by the Commission on Appointments--despite Reyes' open treachery at the height of Edsa II.
The one who really has a record of harboring a lot of unexplained and seemingly bigoted resentments against selected individuals is Esposo. Take his adjective for President Estrada as the convicted former president that oozes with malice.
It is historical fact that Erap's conviction was a politically-motivated act by a Kangaroo Court established by what is now unfolding to be a thoroughly corrupt and malevolent Gloria Arroyo regime. Esposo, of course, was one of the members of the conspiratorial group named COPA (Council of Philippine Affairs), which counts among its members such checkered characters as Peping Cojuangco (alleged lord of the Northern Alliance of jueteng) and Pastor Boy Saycon (known for being part of the FVR campaign and the bayong of jueteng cash from the late Gen. Rene Cruz). The only achievement of COPA was the Edsa II regime of Mrs. Arroyo, which history has now judged to be the most corrupt in the Philippines EVER.
But if this section can criticize negatively, it can also give positive critiques such as with with Butch del Castillo's Business Mirror column entitled, "NFA's 'reason for being' still eludes Abad."
Butch Abad has been trying to abolish the National Food Authority from Day One of the Aquino III administration. Del Castillo says, "...He was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying it is folly to think that the NFA--a virtual monopoly--could function both as a regulator and a trader. He declared that, henceforth, the state-owned agency would no longer provide subsidized rice to the poor as 'this role would be transferred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).' He tried to justify by citing World Bank figures purportedly showing that only 31 percent of NFA rice (reach) the poorest of the poor in this country... I am afraid, he does not understand that the flooding of the retail market with subsidized rice is broadly intended to serve as a market-dampening tool."
Abad should already be a well-known quantity to every well-informed Filipino. A Jesuit protégé, he's a main proponent of electricity privatization during his time in Congress via his Omnibus Power Bill (that eventually became the EPIRA), which brought us the highest power cost in Asia, if not the world.
Power privatization, as part of globalization, is a World Bank-Asian Development Bank initiative. The elimination of the NFA is also part of this sinister campaign the the WB-ADB to remove the pillar of food security that suports the sovereignty of each nation. We are glad that such enlightened views on the issue of the vitality of the NFA to the nation's economic welfare and food security continues to find advocates in columnists such as Butch del Castillo.
As we end this week's "Critic's Critics," let me trail off with a few potshots: Babes Romualdez of the Philippine Star in "PCOS, smart option" makes a plug for the P2-billion purchase of the Smartmatic machines, saying it will save us P18 billion for those "world class machines." He obviously hasn't even read up on the findings of RP's top computer experts (from CenPeg, UP, DLSU, etc.) on that machine. Is this a "Hocus-PCOS" in media too? Meanwhile, Jake Macasaet of Malaya on Feb. 2 wrote that "Subsidy discourages rice production." Well, he should tell that to the Americans and Europeans who directly subsidize their farmers to the tune of $20 billion a year under their "farm price stabilization" measures.
Mentong Laurel
2/7-13/2011
OpinYon has enthusiastically acceded to introduce into this opinionated weekly a section that focuses on society's high and mighty critics by turning the microscope on them to scrutinize what they say and do, and to uncover whatever skeletons they may have in their closet.
The opening salvo is to be tackled by yours truly, Herman Tiu Laurel, a self-described nationalist and anti-imperialist crusader; self-employed; frequent political detainee since Martial Law all the way to the Manila Pen siege (with Trillanes, Danny Lim et al); part-time entrepreneur; consumer advocate; anti-Meralco crusader; and full-time guerrilla information warrior. The worse that can be said about me is that I'm an obnoxious, self-righteous pain-in-the-neck; an occasional anti-social who's also an intolerant Holocaust denier, ad nausea--all of which is true. But let me stress that, above all, I'm very studious with the issues I tackle as I am a dedicated truth seeker.
Now why do we turn our guns on the opinions of writers, especially those of major mainstream media dailies and broadcast networks? Because they lord it over with their opinions that are often wrong, shallow, self-serving, servile, infused with conflicts of interest, and immune from right-of-reply by virtue of their media's size, despite their downright misleading information.
The first on our crosshairs is the recent Feb. 1 column of Philippine Star's Billy Esposo where he lambasted Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Antonio Trillanes IV as "...boorish and seemed more like delinquents instead of Senators of the Republic," claiming that the manner of questioning by the two of former AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) Chief-of-staff and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes "unwittingly generated public sympathy for (him) instead (and was) counterproductive."
Esposo never bothered to check out his points with the two senators, which I did with Trillanes. When I asked Sen. Trillanes about his agressive interrogation of Reyes (a PMA upperclassman who's at least 20 years his senior), he told me, "I tried to hold my punches... but when Reyes started from a very offensive and arrogant posture, which I believe was a tactic to intimidate the audience and the interrogators, I had to turn the tables on him."
Indeed, the other senators had a tendency to be deferential, as they often are to other high level colleagues whom they had associated with in government service.
As for Sen. Jinggoy, I haven't had any opportunity to ask him about this but his reply to Esposo's charges that he harbors a grudge on Reyes "for abandoning his father, the convicted former President Estrada" was that his father had, in fact, helped Reyes get confirmed by the Commission on Appointments--despite Reyes' open treachery at the height of Edsa II.
The one who really has a record of harboring a lot of unexplained and seemingly bigoted resentments against selected individuals is Esposo. Take his adjective for President Estrada as the convicted former president that oozes with malice.
It is historical fact that Erap's conviction was a politically-motivated act by a Kangaroo Court established by what is now unfolding to be a thoroughly corrupt and malevolent Gloria Arroyo regime. Esposo, of course, was one of the members of the conspiratorial group named COPA (Council of Philippine Affairs), which counts among its members such checkered characters as Peping Cojuangco (alleged lord of the Northern Alliance of jueteng) and Pastor Boy Saycon (known for being part of the FVR campaign and the bayong of jueteng cash from the late Gen. Rene Cruz). The only achievement of COPA was the Edsa II regime of Mrs. Arroyo, which history has now judged to be the most corrupt in the Philippines EVER.
But if this section can criticize negatively, it can also give positive critiques such as with with Butch del Castillo's Business Mirror column entitled, "NFA's 'reason for being' still eludes Abad."
Butch Abad has been trying to abolish the National Food Authority from Day One of the Aquino III administration. Del Castillo says, "...He was quoted by the Philippine Star as saying it is folly to think that the NFA--a virtual monopoly--could function both as a regulator and a trader. He declared that, henceforth, the state-owned agency would no longer provide subsidized rice to the poor as 'this role would be transferred to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).' He tried to justify by citing World Bank figures purportedly showing that only 31 percent of NFA rice (reach) the poorest of the poor in this country... I am afraid, he does not understand that the flooding of the retail market with subsidized rice is broadly intended to serve as a market-dampening tool."
Abad should already be a well-known quantity to every well-informed Filipino. A Jesuit protégé, he's a main proponent of electricity privatization during his time in Congress via his Omnibus Power Bill (that eventually became the EPIRA), which brought us the highest power cost in Asia, if not the world.
Power privatization, as part of globalization, is a World Bank-Asian Development Bank initiative. The elimination of the NFA is also part of this sinister campaign the the WB-ADB to remove the pillar of food security that suports the sovereignty of each nation. We are glad that such enlightened views on the issue of the vitality of the NFA to the nation's economic welfare and food security continues to find advocates in columnists such as Butch del Castillo.
As we end this week's "Critic's Critics," let me trail off with a few potshots: Babes Romualdez of the Philippine Star in "PCOS, smart option" makes a plug for the P2-billion purchase of the Smartmatic machines, saying it will save us P18 billion for those "world class machines." He obviously hasn't even read up on the findings of RP's top computer experts (from CenPeg, UP, DLSU, etc.) on that machine. Is this a "Hocus-PCOS" in media too? Meanwhile, Jake Macasaet of Malaya on Feb. 2 wrote that "Subsidy discourages rice production." Well, he should tell that to the Americans and Europeans who directly subsidize their farmers to the tune of $20 billion a year under their "farm price stabilization" measures.
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