GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Friday, April 4, 2008
I thought so — it’s wrong for government men to go on “official” trips abroad without a sponsoring foreign agency. So officials of Metro Manila Development Authority are violating austerity rules in touring North and South America courtesy of a World Bank loan. More so since the loan, from which the $200,000 (P8 million) travel budget came, will be repaid by us citizens. Reacting to my piece Wednesday, a state auditor explains:
E.O. 248, issued May 29, 1995, governs domestic and foreign travels by state officials. Sec. 7g at first authorized the use of portions of foreign loans for foreign trips. But then, E.O. 248-A amended the original on Aug. 14, 1995; Sec. 7g was deleted. In effect, trips from loans were disallowed. Must not the MMDA junketeers return the $200,000, or else face graft raps?
The MMDA officials left Monday for the two-week “familiarization tour” with counterparts from the public works department and some local governments. The usual rule is for only one official to go on a “study tour”, and upon return just brief the others. Also, personnel from the same office are not allowed to join the same trip to avoid expense duplication. Not in this case, where the bosses and their favorites cornered the chance to junket to the US, Mexico and Guatemala. Some of them are even meeting up with families while there, to vacation using official per diem and pabaon from contratistas.
But I’ll bet nothing will happen — not in this sleazy admin.
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Meantime, readers have more complaints about MMDA activities. “Spongklong (harebrained),” Jobel Solano calls the ultra-wide but needless U-turn lanes cemented off on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. The money could have been better spent erecting more pedestrian overpasses on the country’s widest road, Mar Shi says. The U-turn lanes defeat the purpose of Commonwealth’s recent widening, Edgardo B. Tan adds, then asks if MMDA chief Bayani Fernando’s weakening law enforcement has to do with his plan to court presidential votes in 2008.
An e-mailer decries breaches by MMDA men of their own sidewalk-clearing rules: “Driving to their depot on Scout Reyes Street, QC, you see squatter shanties on sidewalks — painted MMDA blue.” Reader Lorna notes that MMDA has been ignoring DPWH suggestions to build an interchange at the Kalayaan-C5 crossing to ease traffic flow. She decries the “irrational transfer” of the U-turn break at C5-Green Meadows all the way to the end of Libis, QC. Retired Col. A. Cortes pleads for simple MMDA enforcement of traffic laws by jeepney drivers: “Gather them all to a seminar on road courtesy and discipline. Discuss the penalties. Perhaps, impose a three-strike rule, like cancellation of driver’s license on the third apprehension for loading or unloading in the middle of the road.”
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Admin hecklers try to belittle reports of kickbacks from rice imports. But the records speak for themselves.
The admin itself admitted paying $707 per metric ton of Vietnam rice last month. It said the price hasn’t changed much from past years. And on the basis of $707, it declared plans to buy 2 million more tons from Vietnam for $1.414 billion, or P58.7 billion.
But a Google-search of “Vietnam rice export price” will reveal the real rates. One of the first articles that will pop up on screen, dated Mar. 6, 2008 by the online newspaper VietNamNet, says export prices range from $430 to $460 pmt. And that’s already up $50-$70 from Feb., and 53 percent from the same period last year. Another VietNamNet article, dated Aug. 10, 2007, stated then that Vietnam rice export rates were already high at $305-$307 pmt for 5-percent broken, and $209 pmt for 25-percent broken. FOB HCM (freight on board Ho Chi Minh City), the rates were already $30-$40 pmt higher than the previous two months. More articles, same low rates.
A Google-search of “Thailand rice export price” shows pretty much the same from the world’s largest exporter. An article yesterday on Oryza reported the rates at the start of the week: $620-$625 pmt for Thai Grade B; $610-$615 pmt for 5-percent broken; and $660-$670 pmt for parboiled (partially precooked). FOB, these prices were $40-$50 higher than last week’s.
So why in the world did the admin pay $707 pmt for Vietnam rice that was much lower weeks ago? Someone definitely made a killing and still will – $600 million from a kickback of $300 pmt on 2 million tons.
How come Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia can export rice while RP is always short by about 2 million tons per year since the ’90s? Kickback from imports is the only answer. The commissions come not only from the purchase per se, but also from hiring of ships. Then, there’s the jute sack racket. Two million tons of rice would require 40 million sacks. At a dirty markup of 15¢ per sack (at ’80s rates), the importing official nets $6 million, or P240 million.
Congress passed in 1995 the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act to improve, among others, rice yields. At least $145 billion has been poured into food production, on top of $44 billion a year for the agriculture department. But no real improvements came. The government preferred to go on importing rice each year.
Double whammy, the government also wasted money on pointless fraudulent projects. If not exposed, the admin would have sunk in $330 million (P17 billion) for an unnecessary broadband network instead of real rice productivity.
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I forgot to plug last Wednesday: a tour of Cagayan de Oro is never complete without white water rafting, mild or wild. Red Raft Tours charges P1,100 per head for raft and gear, guide, meals, and video. The thrill is free.
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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com
