DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/13/2012
Jovito Palparan is supposed to be the “butcher,” “serial murderer,” and “berdugo” accused of hunting, killing, or making countless communists and New People’s Army (NPA) adherents “disappear” through the years. Nobody as yet epitomizes the notion of human rights violators in the Philippines more than the retired army general. In fact, a reward for information leading to his capture in connection with the reported torture and disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño has now been raised to P1 million. But, as the courts have yet to try the case, howls of protests against his “conviction by publicity” and “demonization” have also been raised by certain quarters in the military.
Indeed, Palparan, with his beady eyes and sharply angled, bony mien (resembling a skull face), strikes many people with instinctive horror. And this has led to nothing short of a propaganda boon to the anti-military Left and human rights groups.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, a fellow named Danilo “Danny” Cordero, a far lesser known historical figure in Philippine political and military history, is no less controversial--that is, if his supposed deeds were to be ventilated as much as Palparan’s alleged atrocities.
Danny, according to various accounts from many former leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA that I have heard myself, was deceased--or should I say, killed--in the communist purges of the late 1980s. Some say this was done to silence the history of what really transpired at Plaza Miranda--a bombing that killed nine and injured 95 others, including many Liberal Party candidates except Ninoy Aquino.
Accounts that trace Danny’s liquidation to the highest leadership of the CPP-NPA have been found credible by the likes of former Senator Jovito Salonga (who was one of the bombing victims in 1971), especially as these come from Cordero’s former comrades, Ruben Guevarra and Ariel Almendral.
As soldiers trained to fight those deemed by their higher political and military authorities as enemies, Palparan and Cordero certainly share many things in common. Both apparently carried out their duties with unquestioning zeal and dedication. Both risked their lives in the endeavors they chose and followed the dictum, “Theirs not to make reply / Theirs not to reason why / Theirs but to do and die,” from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (which won me in my youth a first prize in declamation at St. Stephen’s High School).
Yet, both of them share also one tragic commonality that highlights their shared dilemma: The masters they served later on turned out to be their tormentors and executioners after the need to cover up the indefensible evils, which they were ordered to commit, became greater. And this is a scenario that should make all combatants from all sides pause and think.
While the CPP-NPA and Jose Ma. Sison have persistently denied any responsibility for the Plaza Miranda bombing to gain a propaganda coup against Marcos, testimonies from former CPP-NPA members themselves (including some personal friends) provide the preponderance of proof.
We had to establish the basis for the charge against Cordero in order to draw another comparison: Did Danny Cordero’s killing of nine totally innocent individuals, including a five-year old child, with the two grenades he lobbed at Plaza Miranda constitute less of a crime than the disappearance of two UP students, which investigators and activists attribute to Palparan and his men?
While the Human Rights Commission and the Department of Justice have called Palparan to account, shouldn’t they also, even posthumously, formally investigate the Plaza Miranda-Cordero case?
Bringing justice to victims of human rights violations is good for as long as authorities remain fair and consistent. Thus, this demand for consistency brings us to so many cases that have not been taken up with any zeal, like the killings at Hacienda Luisita, where, in the most recent instance, 14 farm workers from the United Luisita Workers Union and Central Azucarera de Tarlac and their kin (including two children) were killed.
Yes, there is pressure to safeguard human rights via the West and the US’ support of many Left-leaning human rights groups in the Third World. But these Western human rights bodies should also look fairly at the charges from other countries, such as those coming from Russia’s Foreign Ministry that lambast Guantanamo abuses and innocent death row executions, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s civilian killings in Libya, ad nausea.
Cordero, once touted as one of the best of the CPP-NPA cadres, was sacrificed at the altar of a failed communist revolution. Palparan is on the run and may soon have to face an ignominious surrender to the government he served in the anti-communist cause.
Palparan’s life was never easy, I know. One of our family drivers, who once drove for the man, tells us of his elaborate daily security rigors--and it’s not a normal life that anyone would want. And yet, he is now being sacrificed at another altar--the altar of human rights, which every regular human being is required to uphold, except for those who are on top of the totem pole or the food chain. In the case of the Philippines, its chief violator is its so-called Big Brother, the US, which supplies arms to our Armed Forces while channeling various legal foundation and covert funds to the Left, the Right, as well as the Church, in tandem with the oligarchs who run our politics and government.
As I have said on my cable TV show with (Ret.) Commodore Rex Robles, Filipinos should debate to the death but never kill each other (except maybe those nasty foreign interlopers). Until we learn this, there will be more “useful idiots” sacrificed at the altar of causes and crusades that serve only those who divide and rule.
(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, with this week’s topic, “Electric Power Piracy 2012;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
New Year, old fight
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/9/2012
I got this text from Butch Junia last Jan. 5 on the rate reset application of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC): “The first hearing on… ERC case 2011-088 is set on 16 January at 2pm. This is the first hearing on merits after ERC granted provisional authority in Oct. 2011, to take effect July 1, 2012. The rate granted is P1.58/kWh BUT consumers led by Naro Lualhati say it’s only P0.90/kWh. ERC up to now has not addressed consumer opposition. Let us build awareness/interest/involvement of the public. Also work up media coverage. Can we also solicit help/appearance of Alan and Bono? Thank u.”
Not even a week of the New Year has passed and our consumer crusaders are back on the ball again, raring to engage the “enemies of the people” in the continuing war to bring public interest and consumer welfare back to the top of the nation’s priorities. It will be a daunting task for sure, as we need to overcome the oligarchy and mainstream media’s mass mind manipulation with “red herring” issues such as that “Little Girl” and Corona.
Still, we have to doggedly go at it, lest Meralco has another year of bonanzas courtesy of the “provisional authority” granted to it by the ERC. We must remember that this provisional authority is granted even before issues meant to protect consumers are threshed out, which means that these are almost never resolved. And in the few times that they are, such as in the P30-billion Meralco refund case won by consumers in 2003, almost a decade passes and still the money owed by Meralco doesn’t get to be entirely paid. Worse, there is even an allegation that the power giant actually gets money for these payments from its hapless customers--an issue that remains unresolved to this day.
To refresh our memories, Mang Naro Lualhati had already questioned in 2010 the ERC-approved Performance Based Regulation (PBR) rate-setting scheme due to the fact that “overstated annual capital requirements” actually become the basis for massively distorted rate translations, which, in turn, discriminate against residential consumers who have to pay as high as P4/kWh (in distribution rates) while overwhelmingly favoring industrial/commercial users who only pay as low as P0.30/kWh--this, as the ERC-approved rate of over 15 percent is far beyond the legal reasonable 12-percent limit set by the Electric Power industry Reform Act (Epira), among other issues.
Jojo Borja, part owner of power company, Iligan Light, and now recognized as an “oppositor” by the ERC, has also charged Meralco with overpricing many components of its service--from its transformers and electric poles priced five times higher to its substation installations with an even higher overprice--facts that the foreign consultants of the ERC and Meralco had even admitted to.
And, as we transition from the old to the New Year, let us examine the many economic year-enders that have attempted to trace our economic problems. I included Ben Diokno’s “2012 will be better but…,” “Economic lessons from 2011” by Sonny Africa, “Riding out the turbulence” (Malaya editorial), Raul Fabella’s “Elite capture,” and many others. Yet none (except my own in various publications) has ever mentioned “the highest power cost in Asia” as a major root of our country’s economic problems.
I don’t know if they are actually being deliberate in missing this, but industry leaders, from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce to the Confederation of Philippine Exporters and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, to name a few indicative groups, have already identified the exorbitant power rates in the country as the major hindrance to encouraging investments and, hence, industry and employment.
Tragically, BS Aquino III has not made a single quip on this problem in the past 20 months, preferring to make a mountain out of an alleged P14-million condo unit of Corona instead of the P14-billion annual larceny in the power distribution sector and hundreds of billions in the other power units (such as the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, which owes government $4-billion in payments for the transmission grid that was earning government P18 billion annually before), compelling the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to borrow and burden taxpayers with P85 billion more in loans for 2012, after getting P75 billion in 2011.
The current year will usher in more “magic” for the power sector as four Napocor (National Power Corp.) power barges (101 to 104) are set to be privatized while a power shortage is created in Mindanao (see Jan. 5 headline “Rotating outages to hit south-central Mindanao”). At the blink of an eye, these four power barges sold off to oligarchs are sure to suddenly come on line at the opportune time. But wait. There is another momentous event coming in the power sector that we should brace for.
Little noticed was the recent creation of a new agency, the “institutionalization of an independent market operator (IMO) that shall oversee the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm)… (assuming) vast powers in the approval of market rule changes and in the appointment of board memberships.” What we are about to see is a concentration of power over policies and prices in a body that the public has no control over, which is likely beyond what the Epira had ever envisioned.
The members to the five-man IMO are required not to have any relations with any member of the Wesm, or the private power companies, at least two years prior; but that’s a joke since even today many Cabinet officials have conflicts-of-interest with their former (and prospective) corporate employers.
What we need is a body with members who are unquestionably on the side of the consumers and taxpayers--something that we will never see under the present dispensation.
(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
1/9/2012
I got this text from Butch Junia last Jan. 5 on the rate reset application of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC): “The first hearing on… ERC case 2011-088 is set on 16 January at 2pm. This is the first hearing on merits after ERC granted provisional authority in Oct. 2011, to take effect July 1, 2012. The rate granted is P1.58/kWh BUT consumers led by Naro Lualhati say it’s only P0.90/kWh. ERC up to now has not addressed consumer opposition. Let us build awareness/interest/involvement of the public. Also work up media coverage. Can we also solicit help/appearance of Alan and Bono? Thank u.”
Not even a week of the New Year has passed and our consumer crusaders are back on the ball again, raring to engage the “enemies of the people” in the continuing war to bring public interest and consumer welfare back to the top of the nation’s priorities. It will be a daunting task for sure, as we need to overcome the oligarchy and mainstream media’s mass mind manipulation with “red herring” issues such as that “Little Girl” and Corona.
Still, we have to doggedly go at it, lest Meralco has another year of bonanzas courtesy of the “provisional authority” granted to it by the ERC. We must remember that this provisional authority is granted even before issues meant to protect consumers are threshed out, which means that these are almost never resolved. And in the few times that they are, such as in the P30-billion Meralco refund case won by consumers in 2003, almost a decade passes and still the money owed by Meralco doesn’t get to be entirely paid. Worse, there is even an allegation that the power giant actually gets money for these payments from its hapless customers--an issue that remains unresolved to this day.
To refresh our memories, Mang Naro Lualhati had already questioned in 2010 the ERC-approved Performance Based Regulation (PBR) rate-setting scheme due to the fact that “overstated annual capital requirements” actually become the basis for massively distorted rate translations, which, in turn, discriminate against residential consumers who have to pay as high as P4/kWh (in distribution rates) while overwhelmingly favoring industrial/commercial users who only pay as low as P0.30/kWh--this, as the ERC-approved rate of over 15 percent is far beyond the legal reasonable 12-percent limit set by the Electric Power industry Reform Act (Epira), among other issues.
Jojo Borja, part owner of power company, Iligan Light, and now recognized as an “oppositor” by the ERC, has also charged Meralco with overpricing many components of its service--from its transformers and electric poles priced five times higher to its substation installations with an even higher overprice--facts that the foreign consultants of the ERC and Meralco had even admitted to.
And, as we transition from the old to the New Year, let us examine the many economic year-enders that have attempted to trace our economic problems. I included Ben Diokno’s “2012 will be better but…,” “Economic lessons from 2011” by Sonny Africa, “Riding out the turbulence” (Malaya editorial), Raul Fabella’s “Elite capture,” and many others. Yet none (except my own in various publications) has ever mentioned “the highest power cost in Asia” as a major root of our country’s economic problems.
I don’t know if they are actually being deliberate in missing this, but industry leaders, from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce to the Confederation of Philippine Exporters and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, to name a few indicative groups, have already identified the exorbitant power rates in the country as the major hindrance to encouraging investments and, hence, industry and employment.
Tragically, BS Aquino III has not made a single quip on this problem in the past 20 months, preferring to make a mountain out of an alleged P14-million condo unit of Corona instead of the P14-billion annual larceny in the power distribution sector and hundreds of billions in the other power units (such as the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, which owes government $4-billion in payments for the transmission grid that was earning government P18 billion annually before), compelling the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to borrow and burden taxpayers with P85 billion more in loans for 2012, after getting P75 billion in 2011.
The current year will usher in more “magic” for the power sector as four Napocor (National Power Corp.) power barges (101 to 104) are set to be privatized while a power shortage is created in Mindanao (see Jan. 5 headline “Rotating outages to hit south-central Mindanao”). At the blink of an eye, these four power barges sold off to oligarchs are sure to suddenly come on line at the opportune time. But wait. There is another momentous event coming in the power sector that we should brace for.
Little noticed was the recent creation of a new agency, the “institutionalization of an independent market operator (IMO) that shall oversee the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (Wesm)… (assuming) vast powers in the approval of market rule changes and in the appointment of board memberships.” What we are about to see is a concentration of power over policies and prices in a body that the public has no control over, which is likely beyond what the Epira had ever envisioned.
The members to the five-man IMO are required not to have any relations with any member of the Wesm, or the private power companies, at least two years prior; but that’s a joke since even today many Cabinet officials have conflicts-of-interest with their former (and prospective) corporate employers.
What we need is a body with members who are unquestionably on the side of the consumers and taxpayers--something that we will never see under the present dispensation.
(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)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
What to do with Corona
BACKBENCHER
Rod Kapunan
1/7-8/2012
The upcoming trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona initiated by this implacably self-righteous government of President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino will either be one of “for show” or end up as “no show” at all. Such is the anticipation of many. Either way it goes the public would not like it. That then would expose the truth that either the Aquino government is bluffing it has an airtight case against what it insists as a known lackey of Mrs. Arroyo or that it simply bungled the whole thing.
No doubt the beleaguered Chief Justice is a callous protégé of one who for almost 10 years styled herself President of this God-forsaken land of ours. Even if we are to take it that his appointment was beyond cavil legal, the hitch is, was the person who appointed him vested with the legal authority? Of course, that is no longer the issue the Senate Impeachment Court will resolve. Besides, that has been decided by the same collegial body long before this foamingly vindictive government came to power by the electronic magic of computerization. What causes this good-for-nothing administration to have his tantrum is it cannot stomach seeing Corona a minute sitting behind the bench.
Do doubt, Corona is also feeling the heat of the vexatious charges that have been lined up against him, although from a strict legal standpoint they will never touch first base. Nonetheless, his predicament of being impeached by the House by the same midnight maneuvering process serves as a moral lesson that it will not do good to anybody to be appointed by photo finish as race aficionados would put it, especially from one whose status is as equally questionable.
Yes, Corona could insist his appointment was perfectly legal and valid, and the best proof he could cite was the same collegial decision upholding his appointment on a case specifically lodged against him. The problem is, in his alacrity to get hold of the post, even breaking the tradition of seniority of by-passing many who were appointed ahead of him to the High Court, he cannot now say no iota of impropriety marred his appointment.
His appointment may not warrant a reversal by the same court of that opprobrious decision, but definitely the case against him now has its focus on public opinion that in the end could magnify his integrity. It may not be a crime or a violation, but certainly it could hamper his credibility and that now puts him on equal footing with the one now languishing in her detention center.
Corona being scrutinized and judged on his credibility is no doubt beyond the realm of legality, and there is no way he can fight back like saying let us to stick to the rules. For then that would only heighten the cynical perception of the people towards the judiciary. Besides, impropriety can never be rectified by the expediency of securing a declaration to make an immoral act legal. It is on this pivotal aspect where many of our miserable and pathetic justices and judges failed to discern. It is the same persistent attitude of claiming that what they do is always in accordance with law that tore down the credibility of the judiciary.
For this equally arrogant administration to redeem itself from the embarrassment the best it could have done was to impeach altogether those pusillanimous justices who voted to ratify Corona’s coronation as Chief Justice. For upholding that morally questionable appointment, their removal altogether would suffice that they acted not with impropriety, but conspired to commit an act of impropriety. That could put to a crucible test the hullabaloo called checks and balance in our system of government. It could also put to an end the presidential prerogative and those arrogant termites called the Judicial and Bar Council who wants a share of that power in reducing those supposedly independent-minded judges and justices to that of shameless minions of the President. Booting out all of them is to use their weapon of voting by collegiality to kick out all those remnants who voted to ratify an appointment that was at the outset morally wrong.
As it is, the political centurions of this administration want to punish Chief Justice Corona for his bias in favor of his former boss in Malacañang, specifically for allowing Mrs. Arroyo to seek medical treatment abroad. That approach manifests this administration’s preoccupation on the vagary of amor propio because the real issue remains about the inappropriateness of the appointment.
To question him why he voted with the rest of his pro-GMA colleagues in the Supreme Court is to acquiesce to the validity of the power of the one who appointed him. Corona has a point at least from this compartmentalize legal standpoint; that he cannot be faulted for voting with the rest of the majority. Rather, the administration should have booked all those justices for impeachment, and that could have put to an end the wrangle of who is right and who is legal.
Adding complication is the fact that the Supreme Court then lorded by the minions of the political hijacker legalized that brazen act of political vandalism. Yes, the issue is now water under the bridge, but looking back, the appointee cannot be made more guilty as the one who appointed him, especially if she only had with her a fake cloak of people’s mandate. President Aquino should have sorted out this possibility of overhauling the entire judicial system for only then could he erase those infamous blot marks that made our jurisprudence something of a big joke. The problem however is that the Aquino government is having second thoughts in not wanting to spoil everything.
Finally, because the administration doubts it could pull the number to convict Corona, the tongue of those spokesmen now waggles about their so-called “Plan B.” Maybe there is no such thing as double jeopardy in impeachment even if the accused was acquitted for failure to obtain the necessary vote, but should these cretins crying for blood be permitted to take that drastic approach would the administration not appear silly? In such event, it would confirm the long-drawn suspicion that indeed something is wrong with this administration.
(rodkap@yahoo.com.ph)
Rod Kapunan
1/7-8/2012
The upcoming trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona initiated by this implacably self-righteous government of President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino will either be one of “for show” or end up as “no show” at all. Such is the anticipation of many. Either way it goes the public would not like it. That then would expose the truth that either the Aquino government is bluffing it has an airtight case against what it insists as a known lackey of Mrs. Arroyo or that it simply bungled the whole thing.
No doubt the beleaguered Chief Justice is a callous protégé of one who for almost 10 years styled herself President of this God-forsaken land of ours. Even if we are to take it that his appointment was beyond cavil legal, the hitch is, was the person who appointed him vested with the legal authority? Of course, that is no longer the issue the Senate Impeachment Court will resolve. Besides, that has been decided by the same collegial body long before this foamingly vindictive government came to power by the electronic magic of computerization. What causes this good-for-nothing administration to have his tantrum is it cannot stomach seeing Corona a minute sitting behind the bench.
Do doubt, Corona is also feeling the heat of the vexatious charges that have been lined up against him, although from a strict legal standpoint they will never touch first base. Nonetheless, his predicament of being impeached by the House by the same midnight maneuvering process serves as a moral lesson that it will not do good to anybody to be appointed by photo finish as race aficionados would put it, especially from one whose status is as equally questionable.
Yes, Corona could insist his appointment was perfectly legal and valid, and the best proof he could cite was the same collegial decision upholding his appointment on a case specifically lodged against him. The problem is, in his alacrity to get hold of the post, even breaking the tradition of seniority of by-passing many who were appointed ahead of him to the High Court, he cannot now say no iota of impropriety marred his appointment.
His appointment may not warrant a reversal by the same court of that opprobrious decision, but definitely the case against him now has its focus on public opinion that in the end could magnify his integrity. It may not be a crime or a violation, but certainly it could hamper his credibility and that now puts him on equal footing with the one now languishing in her detention center.
Corona being scrutinized and judged on his credibility is no doubt beyond the realm of legality, and there is no way he can fight back like saying let us to stick to the rules. For then that would only heighten the cynical perception of the people towards the judiciary. Besides, impropriety can never be rectified by the expediency of securing a declaration to make an immoral act legal. It is on this pivotal aspect where many of our miserable and pathetic justices and judges failed to discern. It is the same persistent attitude of claiming that what they do is always in accordance with law that tore down the credibility of the judiciary.
For this equally arrogant administration to redeem itself from the embarrassment the best it could have done was to impeach altogether those pusillanimous justices who voted to ratify Corona’s coronation as Chief Justice. For upholding that morally questionable appointment, their removal altogether would suffice that they acted not with impropriety, but conspired to commit an act of impropriety. That could put to a crucible test the hullabaloo called checks and balance in our system of government. It could also put to an end the presidential prerogative and those arrogant termites called the Judicial and Bar Council who wants a share of that power in reducing those supposedly independent-minded judges and justices to that of shameless minions of the President. Booting out all of them is to use their weapon of voting by collegiality to kick out all those remnants who voted to ratify an appointment that was at the outset morally wrong.
As it is, the political centurions of this administration want to punish Chief Justice Corona for his bias in favor of his former boss in Malacañang, specifically for allowing Mrs. Arroyo to seek medical treatment abroad. That approach manifests this administration’s preoccupation on the vagary of amor propio because the real issue remains about the inappropriateness of the appointment.
To question him why he voted with the rest of his pro-GMA colleagues in the Supreme Court is to acquiesce to the validity of the power of the one who appointed him. Corona has a point at least from this compartmentalize legal standpoint; that he cannot be faulted for voting with the rest of the majority. Rather, the administration should have booked all those justices for impeachment, and that could have put to an end the wrangle of who is right and who is legal.
Adding complication is the fact that the Supreme Court then lorded by the minions of the political hijacker legalized that brazen act of political vandalism. Yes, the issue is now water under the bridge, but looking back, the appointee cannot be made more guilty as the one who appointed him, especially if she only had with her a fake cloak of people’s mandate. President Aquino should have sorted out this possibility of overhauling the entire judicial system for only then could he erase those infamous blot marks that made our jurisprudence something of a big joke. The problem however is that the Aquino government is having second thoughts in not wanting to spoil everything.
Finally, because the administration doubts it could pull the number to convict Corona, the tongue of those spokesmen now waggles about their so-called “Plan B.” Maybe there is no such thing as double jeopardy in impeachment even if the accused was acquitted for failure to obtain the necessary vote, but should these cretins crying for blood be permitted to take that drastic approach would the administration not appear silly? In such event, it would confirm the long-drawn suspicion that indeed something is wrong with this administration.
(rodkap@yahoo.com.ph)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
