DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/19/2011
Just as we said that Gloria Arroyo was not president when she was declared such in 2001 by Davide and again in 2004 by Congress (in an election where the Cojuangco-Aquino clan endorsed her wholeheartedly), so it is increasingly the case with the current Malacanang occupant.
When BS Aquino III became an accidental candidate in 2009 upon the death of his mother, Cory Aquino (an event played up to launch his campaign), the election that followed was soon hounded by suspicions on the PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines of Smartmatic and the Commission on Election (Comelec)s removal of vital voting safeguards. Many became aware that the UV light ballot authentication, the digital signature of the Boards of Election Inspectors (BEI), and the voters receipt were all done away with. Even the highly irregular recall of 76,000 CF (Compact Flash) cards just a week before the polls raised a huge red flag.
Today, many of those suspected criminal acts are now confirmed, thanks to the findings of citizens election watchdogs, CenPEG (Center for People Empowerment in Governance) and AES (Automated Election System) Watch, after year-long investigations.
The following conclusions, which I abridge below, have been borne out of the painstaking efforts of information technology (IT) academics and experts alike:
On May 10, 2010, (Comelec) made available to the public the election results by precinct, town/city, district, province, and nation (via the Web site) http://electionresults.comelec.gov.ph/. A few months later this Web site was taken down. We believe that it is governments duty to make election data from this Web site publicly and freely available, because it is THE STORY of how the Smartmatic-Comelec partnership carried out the computerization of our elections, and whether the computerization exercise was successful or not (As such) we have decided to publish our mirror of this Web site, so that the data are available even if they are not anymore available (That) Web site is: http://curry.ateneo.net/~ambo/ph2010/electionresults/...
A number of researchers have begun work on the data in this Web site (discovering) many serious errors like: 1) 371 precinct election results with 10 voters or less, when the actual number of voters is 400 to 1000 for each of those precincts, 2) 8,939 precincts with no data at all, indicating a possible failure of transmission of data from the precinct to Comelec, 3) of the 67,162 precinct election results which contain data, 25,530 precinct election results have missing data in one elective position, or two or three or more (Such) missing data in one or more elective positions is a clear indicator of the presence of serious bugs which SysTest Labs already pointed out in its certification report to Comelec, which bugs the Technical Evaluation Committee and Comelec conveniently chose to ignore
(The researchers cannot) stand by while Comelec makes another serious mistake in re-using the Smartmatic technology. First, Smartmatic has to install a substantial number of bug fixes in their system before they can get it to work for our elections. Second, Smartmatic cannot do these bug fixes by its lonesome self, since it does not own the technology the copyright to the software is by Dominion Voting Systems of Canada, and Smartmatic is not allowed to make any changes in the source code, and must wait for Dominion to write the bug fixes in its own good time. Third, the PCOS hardware is not adequate to implement the security features required by RA 9369, like: 1) the requirement of digital signatures by the BEI and 2) the planned fingerprint/biometric reader to be installed on the PCOS
Kudos to experts Dr. Pablo Manalastas, Dr. Felix Muga and Dr. Philip Truscott of the Ateneo de Manilas computer science and mathematics departments for trawling data originally posted on the Comelec Web site, which had been inexplicably taken down.
Out of all the major findings, the most significant centers on the missing data in 25,520 precincts, which indicates that there were at least two different canvassing programs in use during the 2010 elections, one that was used in the 41,632 precincts that had a complete set of data and another that was used in the 25,530 precincts that had missing sets of data
So they ask: How come there was more than one program in play? The obvious answer is that the original program that was supposed to canvass votes and transmit the results from those 25,530 precincts was replaced by another program
As a result, The only way of discovering the actual results would be to open the ballot boxes in those 25,530 precincts and count or feed them into pre-tested PCOS counting machines. The results can then be compared to the results reported by the substituted software In the set up by Smartmatic, the consolidating computers apparently had no hand-shaking protocols that would have allowed them to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate sources (which means) the canvassing computers could have added to, subtracted from, or otherwise altered election results and then transmitted bogus returns.
The late IT expert Manuel Alcuaz had repeatedly stressed in the many forums he spoke, including my TV show, that the cheating in elections is not at the precinct level, where local and party officials are focused on, but at the municipal canvassing level, where the totals are very conveniently and easily manipulated with spurious inputs. Knowing this, he was thus incensed as the precinct level computerization was a big rip-off. Since past Comelec officials (including its then legal chief) allegedly derived pecuniary benefits from Smartmatics PCOS machines, so are the present crop of Comelec commissioners and their supposed politician-clients perceptibly pushing for this patently fraudulent automated system for 2013 and 2016.
In the meantime, the political elite and its darling chief executive are creating political circuses left and right all to divert attention from the most crucial issues, including the question, Is PeNoy simply a Hocus-PCOSed president?
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Monday, December 19, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Impeach all: Merry Xmas!
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/16/2011
Except for the very sparse Christmas spirit in the air, I bet one wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference between this December season and months past. Everyone is pretty much aware of how life has progressively gotten harder each passing year. But, just when I was just about to give up on the holidays, an early and unexpected present seems to be coming our way, with the moro-moro war among the Yellow factions now getting so heated up that it’s becoming somewhat real.
Of course, the acrimony as of now involves only words, which don’t break bones. However, in the event that somebody gets pikon and starts throwing real punches, the ruffling of the feathers can lead to some blood being drawn or worse. Even if real issues, such as the widely believed power plunder conspiracy between Malacañang, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the oligarchs, and other similar Big Business abuses, are set aside for a while, I am hoping that enough pandemonium will manage to drag in truly vital issues into the fray.
For starters, somebody could raise the issue of the oligarchs’ control of certain members of the Supreme Court (SC), whether appointed by PeNoy or Gloria. In fact, one of the appointees of the present dispensation, Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, was the ponente of a decision favoring the ERC and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on the crucial approval of a 2009 Performance Based Regulation rate-setting scheme that raised power rates and Meralco’s profits — based on, of all things, a flimsy technicality of a supposed failure of consumer advocates to attend an ERC hearing.
Sereno apparently glossed over the fact that there was an oppositor present in that hearing (Mr. Uriel Borja of Iligan Light and Power), who interposed his objection and was amply prepared to present the evidence of the alleged massive overpricing of Meralco of its power rate proposals, but whom the ERC, in its usual pro-Meralco manner, gagged on the technicality that he was not registered as an “intervenor.”
As a result, the public has been penalized. They are now charged almost double the P0.90 per kilowatt-hour cost, which was shown by another petitioner, Mang Naro Lualhati, to be the rightful rate.
Moreover, as we narrated in a previous column, the ERC again apparently conspired with Meralco to confuse power consumer advocacy groups about the exact schedule of a recent hearing, hoping that the latter would be declared in default. Even while the advocates persisted, waited, and had siesta in the hearing room until the new appointed time, the issue that Mang Naro was to raise in a subsequent hearing was resolved in favor of Meralco since the ERC sent the advice for the later date to an old address of Lualhati which he, of course, never got. If this is brought to the SC, I have no doubts that Lualhati’s petition would be thrown out again.
Further, who can forget that another widely perceived Meralco-leaning lawyer was appointed to the high court by PeNoy? According to the news recap sent by Ferdie Pasion of the history of this magistrate’s appointment, “Court of Appeals Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who once served as finance manager of a security agency owned by President Aquino’s family, was appointed as the newest Supreme Court justice… Reyes served as vice president and finance manager from 1987 to 1990 of Best Security Agency Inc., a security agency set up by Benigno Aquino III and his uncle, construction magnate Antolin Oreta.” But that’s not all.
“Reyes was appointed Supreme Court justice despite having been reprimanded by the high court in 2008 for signing a decision favoring Manila Electric Co. even before Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez could decide which of the court’s two divisions should resolve the case.”
The report added: “The Meralco-GSIS case exposed serious ethical issues, prompting the Supreme Court to investigate accusations of bribery. Reyes then faced a Supreme Court panel that eventually reprimanded him for simple misconduct. Reyes’ appointment filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Eduardo Nachura” (the former congressman who allegedly did dirty jobs for the Arroyo government as its Solicitor General).
It will be argued that such appointments passed through the Judicial Bar Council composed of politicians and leaders of the legal community. But ask any non-partisan and apolitical members of the community and they will tell you the extent of the horse trading that goes on in that body. That’s why political lackeys get appointed there in the first place. The ordinary folks and consumers will only get a better shake if we impeach all the justices of the present SC and fill the slots with a People’s Court.
That People’s Court can then also take the function of the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan to prosecute both houses of Congress and the Executive branch, replacing them with a People’s Congress and a “participative-ly” elected Executive structure.
That People’s Democratic Government can then prosecute the dozen or so oligarchs who have been behind the sham democracy in the country and put them in prison with their darling Gloria Arroyo and all her henchmen; same with PeNoy and company for the murders at Hacienda Luisita, the continuing jueteng operations, and the plunder in Quezon City and all over government.
That would be a wonderful Xmas indeed and an even better and happier New Year!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/16/2011
Except for the very sparse Christmas spirit in the air, I bet one wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference between this December season and months past. Everyone is pretty much aware of how life has progressively gotten harder each passing year. But, just when I was just about to give up on the holidays, an early and unexpected present seems to be coming our way, with the moro-moro war among the Yellow factions now getting so heated up that it’s becoming somewhat real.
Of course, the acrimony as of now involves only words, which don’t break bones. However, in the event that somebody gets pikon and starts throwing real punches, the ruffling of the feathers can lead to some blood being drawn or worse. Even if real issues, such as the widely believed power plunder conspiracy between Malacañang, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), and the oligarchs, and other similar Big Business abuses, are set aside for a while, I am hoping that enough pandemonium will manage to drag in truly vital issues into the fray.
For starters, somebody could raise the issue of the oligarchs’ control of certain members of the Supreme Court (SC), whether appointed by PeNoy or Gloria. In fact, one of the appointees of the present dispensation, Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, was the ponente of a decision favoring the ERC and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on the crucial approval of a 2009 Performance Based Regulation rate-setting scheme that raised power rates and Meralco’s profits — based on, of all things, a flimsy technicality of a supposed failure of consumer advocates to attend an ERC hearing.
Sereno apparently glossed over the fact that there was an oppositor present in that hearing (Mr. Uriel Borja of Iligan Light and Power), who interposed his objection and was amply prepared to present the evidence of the alleged massive overpricing of Meralco of its power rate proposals, but whom the ERC, in its usual pro-Meralco manner, gagged on the technicality that he was not registered as an “intervenor.”
As a result, the public has been penalized. They are now charged almost double the P0.90 per kilowatt-hour cost, which was shown by another petitioner, Mang Naro Lualhati, to be the rightful rate.
Moreover, as we narrated in a previous column, the ERC again apparently conspired with Meralco to confuse power consumer advocacy groups about the exact schedule of a recent hearing, hoping that the latter would be declared in default. Even while the advocates persisted, waited, and had siesta in the hearing room until the new appointed time, the issue that Mang Naro was to raise in a subsequent hearing was resolved in favor of Meralco since the ERC sent the advice for the later date to an old address of Lualhati which he, of course, never got. If this is brought to the SC, I have no doubts that Lualhati’s petition would be thrown out again.
Further, who can forget that another widely perceived Meralco-leaning lawyer was appointed to the high court by PeNoy? According to the news recap sent by Ferdie Pasion of the history of this magistrate’s appointment, “Court of Appeals Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who once served as finance manager of a security agency owned by President Aquino’s family, was appointed as the newest Supreme Court justice… Reyes served as vice president and finance manager from 1987 to 1990 of Best Security Agency Inc., a security agency set up by Benigno Aquino III and his uncle, construction magnate Antolin Oreta.” But that’s not all.
“Reyes was appointed Supreme Court justice despite having been reprimanded by the high court in 2008 for signing a decision favoring Manila Electric Co. even before Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez could decide which of the court’s two divisions should resolve the case.”
The report added: “The Meralco-GSIS case exposed serious ethical issues, prompting the Supreme Court to investigate accusations of bribery. Reyes then faced a Supreme Court panel that eventually reprimanded him for simple misconduct. Reyes’ appointment filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Eduardo Nachura” (the former congressman who allegedly did dirty jobs for the Arroyo government as its Solicitor General).
It will be argued that such appointments passed through the Judicial Bar Council composed of politicians and leaders of the legal community. But ask any non-partisan and apolitical members of the community and they will tell you the extent of the horse trading that goes on in that body. That’s why political lackeys get appointed there in the first place. The ordinary folks and consumers will only get a better shake if we impeach all the justices of the present SC and fill the slots with a People’s Court.
That People’s Court can then also take the function of the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan to prosecute both houses of Congress and the Executive branch, replacing them with a People’s Congress and a “participative-ly” elected Executive structure.
That People’s Democratic Government can then prosecute the dozen or so oligarchs who have been behind the sham democracy in the country and put them in prison with their darling Gloria Arroyo and all her henchmen; same with PeNoy and company for the murders at Hacienda Luisita, the continuing jueteng operations, and the plunder in Quezon City and all over government.
That would be a wonderful Xmas indeed and an even better and happier New Year!
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
BSA III PSALMs off P75-B
CONSUMERS DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/12-18/2011
“Palm off: to conceal in the palm of the hand, as in cheating at dice or cards or in a sleight-of-hand trick; to dispose of or pass off by deception…”
If you’ve been carried away by the massive PR operation to keep your eyes and ears glued to the ongoing BS Aquino vs. Gloria Arroyo media saga, with a side trip to the BS Aquino vs. Renato Corona royal rumble, then you are certain to miss some of the more gargantuan swindles of the people being perpetrated by the current corporatocratic-bureaucratic conspiracy between Big Business and its captive government.
One of the scams being palmed off involves P75 billion by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), an agency tasked by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 to privatize the nation’s energy sector, specifically the sale of the National Power Corp. (Napocor)’s power generating assets.
The already established scandal is that after 10 years and at least 80% of Napocor’s assets privatized, PSALM has still not erased Napocor’s original debt of $18 billion, which we taxpayers are saddled with. Worse, just last week, we learned that PSALM has sought approval from the Finance Department to borrow P75 billion for 2011 and P85 billion for 2012 to finance its operations, which Secretary Cesar Purisima will undoubtedly oblige.
PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., appointed under the present government, is from Big Business. A banker, former managing director and country head of the Royal Bank of Canada, he is only one of many corporate gofers heading the different departments of government today. The others include Energy Secretary Rene Almendras from the Ayala and Aboitiz companies; Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson who’s worked for Maynilad and was a director of Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC); while Trade Secretary Gregorio Domingo had ties with the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the Sys, Meralco, and a list of banks from Chase to Mellon Bank. Transportation and Communications is, of course, headed by cacique investment banker Mar Roxas, whom Senate staffers say can’t hold back his “mata pobre” streak; while Tourism used to be headed by Bertie Lim of the Makati Business Club, then replaced by Ramon Jimenez who used to sell ice cream and burgers but can’t seem to come up with anything so far to sell the country’s vast tourism advantages. See what I mean by a corporatist-captured government?
Ledesma justifies the PSALM palm off by claiming that his agency is already unable to meet its working capital and cash flow requirements. But what are the tasks of PSALM that it should require these billions to operate? The EPIRA tasks it to “take ownership of all existing (Napocor) generation assets, liabilities, IPP (independent power producer) contracts, real estate and all other disposable assets… formulate and implement a program for the sale and privatization of (these) assets and IPP contracts and the liquidation of (Napocor) Debts and Stranded Contract Costs… calculate the amount of the Stranded Debts and Stranded Contract Costs of NPC… (and) assume all outstanding financial obligations of… government agencies arising from their respective Rural Electrification Program.”
But didn’t the sale of 80% of Napocor’s assets raise any funds for PSALM? Where did all the proceeds go and why is the nation still saddled with an $18-billion debt exactly as it was 10 years ago?
And we haven’t even factored in the sale of Napocor’s vast transmission grid that stretches north to south, carrying power generated from its many plants across the country. If you will recall, the grid was renamed TransCo after the EPIRA was passed; it was sold off in 2008 to a group led by Monte Oro--associated with FVR and regular crony-oligarch Enrique Razon--which brought China State Grid into the picture, with the help of the Ramos-affiliated Carlyle Group. Sometime later, the Henry Sy group took over and it is now named the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
That sale alone should have fetched $3.95 billion but look at what PSALM says now: “The proposed prepayment of NGCP privatization proceeds, Ledesma said, would allow PSALM to meet its cash flow requirements and avoid incurring additional loans for payment of maturing obligations. The shortfall in cash flow, he said, arises due to the mismatch in the timing of the collection of these receivables and the maturity of debt obligation payments.”
TransCo was earning around P18 billion (or $400 million) per annum when it was sold and if this had kept flowing in for PSALM, it would have lightened the burden of government and taxpayers considerably.
The sale of TransCo was supposed to bring in cash to the country’s coffers, unburdening the taxpayer; but instead, the people now have to shoulder almost a hundred billion pesos more every year. Meanwhile, the privatized transmission grid now earns $400 million for the new owners.
No wonder when San Miguel’s Ramon Ang (another gofer) was asked for advice by Henry Sy Jr., this was what he (who also got a piece of the action) said, “SMC did not spend even one peso to join that transaction; if I have then I would have to disclose that… I just advised (Sy and Coyiuto) that… it’s a super deal, but I did not participate.” In that same news report, Sy Jr. said that the acquisition will be funded “from equity and debt arranged by a foreign financial institution.”
While they are arranging the debt and earning from NGCP already, we taxpayers are made to pay PSALM to keep it going, with no cash out from the NGCP buyers at all!
Filipino middle class and masa consumers should wise up to the palming off by the oligarchy and corporatist-controlled system of government (the plutocracy or corpo-bureaucracy) of our hard earned moneys in public utilities and tax payments, and stashing them into their private and corporate bank accounts.
If we no longer allow ourselves to be misled by corporate mainstream media, then we will all see the massive exploitation and abuse we are being subjected to and scream out loud that we won’t take it anymore. Only when this reverberates loud enough will the Walls of the Corporate Jericho fall.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Herman Tiu Laurel
12/12-18/2011
“Palm off: to conceal in the palm of the hand, as in cheating at dice or cards or in a sleight-of-hand trick; to dispose of or pass off by deception…”
If you’ve been carried away by the massive PR operation to keep your eyes and ears glued to the ongoing BS Aquino vs. Gloria Arroyo media saga, with a side trip to the BS Aquino vs. Renato Corona royal rumble, then you are certain to miss some of the more gargantuan swindles of the people being perpetrated by the current corporatocratic-bureaucratic conspiracy between Big Business and its captive government.
One of the scams being palmed off involves P75 billion by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), an agency tasked by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 to privatize the nation’s energy sector, specifically the sale of the National Power Corp. (Napocor)’s power generating assets.
The already established scandal is that after 10 years and at least 80% of Napocor’s assets privatized, PSALM has still not erased Napocor’s original debt of $18 billion, which we taxpayers are saddled with. Worse, just last week, we learned that PSALM has sought approval from the Finance Department to borrow P75 billion for 2011 and P85 billion for 2012 to finance its operations, which Secretary Cesar Purisima will undoubtedly oblige.
PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr., appointed under the present government, is from Big Business. A banker, former managing director and country head of the Royal Bank of Canada, he is only one of many corporate gofers heading the different departments of government today. The others include Energy Secretary Rene Almendras from the Ayala and Aboitiz companies; Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson who’s worked for Maynilad and was a director of Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC); while Trade Secretary Gregorio Domingo had ties with the Bankers Association of the Philippines, the Sys, Meralco, and a list of banks from Chase to Mellon Bank. Transportation and Communications is, of course, headed by cacique investment banker Mar Roxas, whom Senate staffers say can’t hold back his “mata pobre” streak; while Tourism used to be headed by Bertie Lim of the Makati Business Club, then replaced by Ramon Jimenez who used to sell ice cream and burgers but can’t seem to come up with anything so far to sell the country’s vast tourism advantages. See what I mean by a corporatist-captured government?
Ledesma justifies the PSALM palm off by claiming that his agency is already unable to meet its working capital and cash flow requirements. But what are the tasks of PSALM that it should require these billions to operate? The EPIRA tasks it to “take ownership of all existing (Napocor) generation assets, liabilities, IPP (independent power producer) contracts, real estate and all other disposable assets… formulate and implement a program for the sale and privatization of (these) assets and IPP contracts and the liquidation of (Napocor) Debts and Stranded Contract Costs… calculate the amount of the Stranded Debts and Stranded Contract Costs of NPC… (and) assume all outstanding financial obligations of… government agencies arising from their respective Rural Electrification Program.”
But didn’t the sale of 80% of Napocor’s assets raise any funds for PSALM? Where did all the proceeds go and why is the nation still saddled with an $18-billion debt exactly as it was 10 years ago?
And we haven’t even factored in the sale of Napocor’s vast transmission grid that stretches north to south, carrying power generated from its many plants across the country. If you will recall, the grid was renamed TransCo after the EPIRA was passed; it was sold off in 2008 to a group led by Monte Oro--associated with FVR and regular crony-oligarch Enrique Razon--which brought China State Grid into the picture, with the help of the Ramos-affiliated Carlyle Group. Sometime later, the Henry Sy group took over and it is now named the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).
That sale alone should have fetched $3.95 billion but look at what PSALM says now: “The proposed prepayment of NGCP privatization proceeds, Ledesma said, would allow PSALM to meet its cash flow requirements and avoid incurring additional loans for payment of maturing obligations. The shortfall in cash flow, he said, arises due to the mismatch in the timing of the collection of these receivables and the maturity of debt obligation payments.”
TransCo was earning around P18 billion (or $400 million) per annum when it was sold and if this had kept flowing in for PSALM, it would have lightened the burden of government and taxpayers considerably.
The sale of TransCo was supposed to bring in cash to the country’s coffers, unburdening the taxpayer; but instead, the people now have to shoulder almost a hundred billion pesos more every year. Meanwhile, the privatized transmission grid now earns $400 million for the new owners.
No wonder when San Miguel’s Ramon Ang (another gofer) was asked for advice by Henry Sy Jr., this was what he (who also got a piece of the action) said, “SMC did not spend even one peso to join that transaction; if I have then I would have to disclose that… I just advised (Sy and Coyiuto) that… it’s a super deal, but I did not participate.” In that same news report, Sy Jr. said that the acquisition will be funded “from equity and debt arranged by a foreign financial institution.”
While they are arranging the debt and earning from NGCP already, we taxpayers are made to pay PSALM to keep it going, with no cash out from the NGCP buyers at all!
Filipino middle class and masa consumers should wise up to the palming off by the oligarchy and corporatist-controlled system of government (the plutocracy or corpo-bureaucracy) of our hard earned moneys in public utilities and tax payments, and stashing them into their private and corporate bank accounts.
If we no longer allow ourselves to be misled by corporate mainstream media, then we will all see the massive exploitation and abuse we are being subjected to and scream out loud that we won’t take it anymore. Only when this reverberates loud enough will the Walls of the Corporate Jericho fall.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
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