Bridge construction to resume — finally

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, June 30, 2008

Just when one of government’s rare successful projects is about to be revived, envious contractors are badmouthing it. It’s a classic example of crab mentality, of pulling down the successful in order to rise. Intriguing in official and media circles, the contractors are claiming that the President’s Bridges Program is about to use untested steel technology. In the process, though, they accidentally might expose their own poor design and works.

Begun in 1995, the Bridges Program has run under three Presidents. Its engineering took off from the post-Liberation Bailey bridges, but with improved technology. Using snap-on steel sheets and rails, construction time was cut to only a month or two. More than that, the bridges were sturdy enough to withstand raging floodwaters, resisted rust, and had no moving parts that could be stolen. The only constraint to work speed was fund availability. Other urgent priorities competed for attention. So soft loans were obtained from the European Union or single members depending on what provinces the foreign governments wished to help. More than a thousand rivers and ravines were spanned in 11 years.

And yet the Bridges Program has barely scratched surface. Regional and national officials in the early ’90s, consulting with local businessmen, had identified at least 15,000 bridges needing to be built then. But with funding always scarce, the construction score has been less than a tenth of target. Then, works abruptly ended in early 2006 reportedly due to quality decline from a British supplier. Complaints of neglect naturally began to mount from rural folk who were left behind. Bridges in adjacent barrios had spurred commerce that put more money in the pockets of fellow-farmers. Not to mention, getting their children to school dry instead of wading across streams.

In Feb. a new steelmaker was found, courtesy of a French agency that would provide fresh financing. Improvements were made in the old design to cut the costs of fabrication, delivery and site assembly. No longer will the steel frame be overlaid with concrete that tends to crack from shrinkage, but with a durable special resin coating. Installation time would take only weeks. The span can hold up to 60-80 tons, and the maker is guaranteeing a lifespan of 100 years with two million vehicle cycles. With the entry of the new French constructor, the quick-assembly steel spans finally will resume.

With still more than 13,000 bridges needing to be built, there’s more than enough room for everybody in the business to participate. That is, so long as they meet public works standards and bidding rules. But some envious contractors wish to ease out the steel technology in favor of their old concrete-encased spans using Japanese know-how. Perhaps they fear that the sample steelwork in bridges eventually will compete as well in the construction of seaports, another growing need in the wake of roll on-roll off transport.

The track record of steel bridges is established, though. The Bridges Program exceeded its original target of 1,128 bridges by 75 units, for a total of 1,203. The additional spans were built from savings from the first batch. The excess weren’t just short spans over narrow creeks; one was the 210-meter Alternate Quirino Delta Bridge connecting Cotabato City to Sultan Kudarat province.

The virtual 106.65-percent accomplishment rate was done cheaply too. Most of the steel bridges cost P480,000 per linear meter, 12 percent lower than the closest foreign bid of P555,000 (which the government later took on when a funder came along). That cost is only a fifth of concrete builders’ prices, at a tenth of the construction time.

Notably most of the envious contractors are also the poorest workers. Cost overruns of 39 to 87 percent mar the spans they are constructing at present, according to a May 2008 report of the President’s Bridges Program. Those doing repair and maintenance have overshot their own bids by three to 43 percent; flood control ways are above budget by 9 to 63 percent. Not one of the steel bridges in the past decade ever exceeded its cost limit.

In fairness, some of the concrete works funded by Saudi Arabia, Korea and Japan also are within budgets and schedules. Only the sluggards are yakking against the silent workers.

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Those who experienced the fury of Typhoon Frank and survived must imagine the misery of countrymen who lost homes, farms or loved ones. Donations are pouring in, but the victims still need clothes; ready-to-cook food; cold, cough and diarrhea medicines; and cash. Search your cabinets for other items for normal living that you can share: kitchen and dining utensils, beddings, toys, musical instruments, and carpentry tools. Many media and church organizations have organized collection drives, so you can go to the one nearest you. You’d feel grat about yourself.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Only 21 lighthouses for 7,100 islands

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, June 27, 2008

Reader Herminia Rosales Fajardo asks the question many Filipinos have in mind about the sinking of a passenger ship just off Sibuyan Island. Why, if the vessel was so close to shore as most survivors noted, were they unaware so? Is there no lighthouse on the isle that is clearly on a shipping route? Or if there is, was it malfunctioning as most government facilities are? And have old lighthouses been replaced, apparently insufficiently, with radars and sonar from which government officials make kickbacks?

It will surprise habitual congressional investigators to know that this archipelago of 7,083 islands has only 21 lighthouses. And that the Coast Guard, tasked to man the facilities, is so poor that it put them up for adoption by private firms this time last year. The government intends to replace the lighthouses with movement and sound detectors. But transport growth — along with the number of ship passengers and fishing boats — has far outpaced the modernization.

All 21 relic lighthouses were built during the Spanish and American regimes. Today’s ships navigate by satellite. But millions of fishing bancas, unequipped even with handheld global positioning system, have no option. Same with sea commuters like the more than 800 missing passengers of the capsized Princess of the Stars. For them, the good old reliable lighthouses are lifesavers, not those thingamajigs.

Legislators invariably will come to that conclusion. But will they take the next logical step of allocating funds to erect and maintain lighthouses? That’s another question in the minds of most Filipinos who are tired of congressional probes after each of those frequent sea disasters.

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Another reader, Eddie B., wonders why a 23,000-ton ship went belly-up in internal seas rated as “moderate to rough.” The marine inquiry into the operations of Sulpicio Lines Inc., he says, must look into the possibility of cargo overloading. He gives two tips: one friend confided having lost millions of pesos in goods packed in container vans, while another friend was shipping five brand-new cars to Cebu. “It is possible that the cars or container vans moved due to the big waves, causing the ship to list as officially reported,” the reader says.

Overfilling of commuters and cargo are usual in Philippine maritime transport. No one gets punished for breaking the rules. Dozens of marine inquiries have led to mere slaps on the wrists of negligent shipmasters. Survivors and relatives of fatalities are left begging for financial help with hospital or burial bills. And regulators continue to squeeze grease money from ship owners.

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While we’re at it, here’s a reaction from reader Danny Durmaza to my piece Friday about the new passports:

“What’s with those new machine-readable passports? My cousin here in Florida found out he needed to renew his passport. He logged onto the website to download the application form for mailing — the way it goes in America. But there was a notice that as of June 2 all passport renewals must be made in person. We called the consulate in Ft. Lauderdale a thousand times. When finally we plugged someone there for information, my cousin was told that he needed to go to the embassy in Washington, D.C.: “Wala ho tayong magagawa, batas ’yan.” This is the simple explanation why hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the States needing new passports have to fly or drive many miles and spend incidentals for a personal appearance at the capital. And yet we also found out later that applicants won’t get their new passports from the Washington embassy either. The embassy does not have special machines for it. So the application forms have to be sent to Manila, in a process that would take six long weeks. What gives?”

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Reader Nomer Obnamia seems to have the answer:

“In tyranny of taxation, the Philippine government concocts revenue schemes not to improve services but to fund pork barrels. The new passport scam is one of them.”

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Don’t let’s end on a negative note. So here’s a reaction, one of many to my piece Wednesday on the Virgin Mary’s house, from Hernan Hormillosa of Elmshurst, New York:

I’ve been reading your columns since your ZTE exposé. Your latest on the Blessed Mother is very informative. I first heard of Mary’s house in Ephesus from a dear departed friend who was instrumental in my present life progress in faith. She went there too and was inspired by what she saw. Your column has given me more info and inspired me too. Your writings reveal both your courage and faith.”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

CHED mananagot ba kung salbahe ang review center?

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, June 27, 2008

DALAWANG beses nang in-extend ng Commission on Higher Education (CHED) ang deadline sa pagrehistro ng review centers. Unang cut-off nu’ng Nov. 28, 2007. Pero nagpalugit ng anim na buwan, hanggang May 28, 2008, sa hiling ng Review Center Association of the Philippines para sa 800 kompanya. Pero nu’ng malapit na ang time limit, humingi uli ang RECAP ng anim pang dagdag na buwan, hanggang Nov. 28, 2008. Pumayag ang CHED.

Umangal ang 30 rehistrado nang kasapi ng Federation of Accredited Review Centers of the Philippines. Kasama ang 50 pang nakapag-file na ng application bago deadline, anila dapat nang isara ang 800 delingkuwente. Hindi raw kasi matupad ng mga ito ang kundisyon sa accreditation — ang mag-tie-up sa isang accredited din na kolehiyo para mase­gurong mahusay ang pagtuturo. Dinudungisan daw nila umano ang reviewing industry.

Sagot ng RECAP, maselan at magastos ang pakikipag-partner sa basta-basta lang na kolehiyo — kaya hinay-hinay lang sila. Mga malinis at disenteng educators daw karamihan ng 800. Nais din daw nila linisin ang kanilang hanay kaya sineseguro nila ang pagtupad sa CHED rules.

Pero may lehitimong tanong ang mga graduates na nais mag-review para sa board exam. Paano raw nila matu­tukoy kung ano’ng review center ang matino sa kanilang pook — gayung 50 lang sa buong bansa ang nakatupad sa CHED deadline at 800 ang hindi pa lisensiyado?

Kailangan nila ng sagot dahil magre-review na sila. Takot silang mangyari sa kanila ang sinapit ng 1,067 nursing at 21 midwifery graduates sa kamay ng Northcap-Baguio. Nakapag-tuition na ang bawat isa ng tig-P75,000 para sa tatlong buwang review simula Marso. Nagbayad pa sila ng tig-P1,125 sa nursing at P800 sa midwifery para ipalista sila ng Northcap sa Professional Regulatory Commission, na ang singil lang ay P800 at P600. Aba’y ibinulsa ng may-ari ng Northcap ang pera. Wala tuloy ni isang nakapag-exam. Nawalan ng saysay ang P75,000-tuition.

May garantiya ba ang reviewers na babantayan ng CHED ang review centers, gayung sobrang malambot ang ahensiya sa deadlines.

The house where Mary spent her last years

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

MERYEMANA — Steeped in Marian lore, Filipino Catholics in Turkey invariably visit this village believed to be the last home of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yet not only Catholics but also Muslims, who venerate the Mother of Jesus Christ as symbol of submission to God, come on pilgrimage. In Marian revival, Protestants too trek to this fringe of the ancient city of Ephesus.

Meryem’ana means House of Mary, Meryem in the local tongue. An inscription at the shrine entrance prefaces the story. St. John in his Gospel tells us that Jesus before dying on the Cross entrusted to him the care of Mary, saying, “Here is your Mother.” From then on John took her as his own. The Acts of the Apostles relate how, after Christ’s death, His followers were persecuted in Jerusalem. St. Stephen was stoned in 37 AD; St. James was beheaded in 42 AD. The rest divided the world among them to preach the Word, and apostle John was given Asia Minor. Amidst the persecutions, John probably brought Mary with him to Ephesus, capital of the Roman province.

Religious historians point to two pieces of evidence of the relocation. One is John’s entombment in Ephesus. The other is the erection of the first ever basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In the early days of the Christian church, places of worship were only consecrated to persons who had lived or died in the locality.

The Ecumenical Council of 431 was held in the basilica in Ephesus to define the dogma of the Divine Motherhood of Mary. Nestorius, a council father, wrote then: “…after arriving in Ephesus, where John the Theologian and the holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God….” Oral tradition of Kirkindje villagers, Christian descendants of Ephesus, further confirm the journey. Passed from generation to generation is the belief of Mary’s “death” in the area. To this day they observe Mary’s Assumption into Heaven every 15th of August.

Anna Catherine Emmerich, a stigmatized nun, made some startling revelations in the 19th century. As narrated in the book Life of the Blessed Virgin, the invalid who never left Germany saw visions of Mary spending her last years in a small stone house in the hills of Ephesus. Accordingly, two scientific expeditions were organized, and they found the place exactly as she had described. Experts determined that what is now a multi-faith chapel was built between the first and fourth centuries. Part of the building is of the seventh century, and the last restoration took place in 1951.

The Filipinos I came with were mostly Catholics, with two Baptists, and a Tausog, a Maranao and a Maguindanao from Muslim Mindanao. We prayed separately but to one God, and for Mary the Virgin Mother to intercede for our families. Also in the dimly lit room were a Turkish couple, the wife in traditional Muslim veil, a Caucasian nun in gray, and a monk in brown.

Muslims regard Jesus as one of the greatest prophets of Islam, and Mary as the most chaste and virtuous woman. No other woman is accorded more attention than the Virgin Mother. The entire 19th sura (chapter), out of 114 in all, recounts her life of piety and obedience to God’s wish. Mary is one of only eight persons who have a sura named after them. The 19th includes the miraculous births of God’s Elects: Yahya (John the Baptist) to an aged woman Elizabeth, and Isa (Jesus) to her virgin cousin Mary.

Of late, Evangelical Christian and mainstream Protestant leaders have been drawing from the story of Mary inspiration in faith and good works. The Marian regeneration is growing, with more and more denominations joining Catholics in common veneration of the Blessed Mother as a path to ecumenism. More striking, Anglican and Vatican theologians agreed in 2005 that Marian dogmas are in consonance with Scripture, and so must be spread with each other’s help. Their differences were brought about by 16th-century politics, when Rome excommunicated Henry VIII, whose followers in turn ransacked churches and smashed statues of Mary.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Ancient city reaches out to modern Asia

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, June 23, 2008

EPHESUS – Two late nights last week Turkish citizens burst into the streets rejoicing. First was Sunday the 15th, after their national soccer team scored thrice in the last minutes to beat the Czechs and enter the European Cup’s quarterfinals. Again on Friday the 20th it crushed Croatia to make it to the semis. “Insha’Allah (God willing),” the Turkish pray, they will defeat Russia, Germany, and Spain or Italy to become the continent’s champion. The last time Turkey came this close to ruling Euro-soccer was when it also reached the knockout round in 2000. It then landed third in the World Cup 2002.

Those were banner years for Turkey’s economy as well. Anticipating a financial storm in 2000, Turkey borrowed from the IMF-World Bank for damage control. Inflation still hit 49 percent and interest rates 63 percent, bashing consumers like footballs. But it could have been worse had Turkey not swiftly reformed. The government took over insolvent banks and pried into their operations. Several key executives were arrested, including the nephew of a former president, for siphoning off funds in collusion with corrupt regulators. By 2002 the economic weather cleared, brightening the land with a phenomenal five-year rise. Per capita GDP doubled by 2007 from $7,000 to $15,000. “Insha’Allah,” says Rizanul Meral, president of Turkey’s Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists, this will reach $20,000 in two more years. (Philippine per capita GDP, or purchasing power parity, hovered at $4,600-$5,000 in 2002-2007.)

Manufacturing and construction are booming these days. Turkish textiles, televisions, and trucks dominate Europe and Central Asia; road and rail builders are expanding to Asia-Pacific. But tourism remains a top income grosser. More than half of Turkey’s 23 million visitors last year proceeded to this historic city in Izmir province facing the Aegean Sea. The ancient ruins offer an insight not only on Turkish grit but also on western civilization.

The olden city of Ephesus lies in the outskirts of the industrial city of Selçuk. Founded around 2000 B.C., it served as a key port of the Ionian Greeks and capital of Asia Minor (province of Asia). Archeological digs in the sprawling ruins reveal that the colony was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic Period (6000 B.C.). Scholars believe the city was built in the early Bronze Age from the village of Apasa. Legend has it that Prince Androklos founded Ephesus upon leaving Athens on the death of his father King Kadros. The Oracle of Delphi came true on the site: “a fish and a boar will show you the way.” Androkos banished the native inhabitants and united his people with the remainder to join the twelve cities of the Ionian League. He and his dog are depicted on the fresco of Hadrian’s Gate, erected during the Roman conquest. Later visiting historians and poets Pausanias, Strabo, Kallinos and Herodotus assigned the city’s mythological founding to Ephos, queen of the Amazons. (Surrounding Izmir region supposedly got its name from Smyrna, the Amazon princess whose great beauty Aphrodite envied.)

At the center of Ephesus is the Temple of (Greek goddess) Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The many-breasted Lady of Efes, also associated with the Anatolian (old Turkish) goddess Kybele, was venerated in the tall stone shrine. The settlement held other wonders. There was a giant open theater lined with fountains. Public toilets were ranged side by side without partitions. Ephesus housed the first brothel, with etchings on the marble sidewalk of a left foot, a heart and a woman’s head as road signs to veer to the city’s left side to find the woman of your desire. Lysimachus, Alexander the Great and Emperor Constantine had had to rebuild the city in 1000 B.C., 334 B.C., and 330 A.D. from ravages of war. The Ephesians later abandoned the great port as the sea receded from accretion. The ruins are located about eight kilometers inland.

A millennium later the Ottoman Empire emerged and reigned 700 years till 1923. Centered in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) in the north, it spanned three continents, controlling much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Turks then numbered only 11 million over 150 million conquered peoples. How did they maintain their rule? “Certainly not through despotism,” educator Sami Sahinduran recounts, “but deference to foreign cultures, strengthened by trade and education.”

Today Turkey is reasserting itself in European and Asian trade via a combined initiative of government and private sector leaders. At national and local levels, officials and businessmen talk of nothing but exchanging goods and joint venturing with other lands. Turkish businesses pitched in to build two elementary and high schools in Metro Manila and Zamboanga grounded in Math and Sciences. Fountain International School director Yusuf Ozdemir says it is his country’s contribution to Philippine progress.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Earn as you search the net

CHED bakit pabaya sa review centers?

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, June 23, 2008

NU’NG Mayo 17 pumutok ang balita: Tinangay ng may-ari ng Northcap Review Center sa Baguio ang P1.2 milyong siningil mula sa 1,067 nursing graduates na nagre-review para sa board exams nitong Hunyo. Pang-rehistro sana nila ang tig-P1,125 para makapag-test, pero dahil hindi umabot sa Professional Regulatory Commission ang bayad, hindi sila pinapag-exam. Nasayang din tuloy ang ibinayad nilang tig-P75,150 para sa tatlong buwang review classes na nauwi sa wala.

Sino ang dapat managot?

Isang krimen ang pagnakaw ng pera ng reviewers. Dapat iharap ng pulis at prosecutors ang salarin sa husgado. Pero hindi sana nakapanloko ang review center kung mahigpit itong sinusubaybayan ng Commission on Higher Education. Tungkulin ng CHED na i-accredit, regulahin at bantayan ang review centers. Matapos ang June 2006 nursing exam leakage mula sa tatlong review centers (sa Baguio rin), inutos ni President Gloria Arroyo na ipailalim sa CHED lahat ng review centers. Ginawa pang kondisyon sa pag-accredit sa kanila ang pag-tie-up nila sa mga accredited din na kolehiyo, para nga naman mahusay ang pagtuturo.

Ani Dr. William Medrano mismo bilang CHED executive director, naiwasan sana ang panloloko ng Northcap. Pero hindi na niya itinuloy ang sasabihin. Marahil naisip niya ang malaking kasalanan ng ahensiya niya.

Nu’ng Nob. 28, 2007 kasi dapat ang deadline na ibinigay ng CHED sa halos 800 review centers na magpa-accredit. Pero nang malapit na ang petsa, in-extend ng CHED ang deadline nang anim na buwan, hanggang Mayo 28, 2008. Nakalusot tuloy ang Northcap sa supervision ng CHED.

Nang i-extend ang deadline, 30 nang matitinong centers ang na-accredit at 50 pa ang nag-file ng application.

Sa huli na lang nakita ng CHED ang pagkakamali. Hindi lang pala 1,067 nursing reviewers kundi 21 midwifery graduates din ang dinidal ng Northcap. Siningil nang tig-P800 ang midwifery examinees at P1,125 ang nursing, gayong P600 at P800 lang pala ang singil ng PRC sa pagrehistro.

Who will protect board reviewers?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The 1,067 nursing board reviewers in Baguio found out only in mid-May. Northcap Review Center, which solicited P1,500 from each one to be signed up for the June professional exam, had run away with their money. No one could take the test scheduled on June 1-2. That meant an even bigger loss: the P75,000 they each paid for the three-month review would go to waste. Northcap reportedly has since refused to talk about the case. Up to now the would-be nurses are at a loss. Fraud is a crime; they want to sue to get justice and their money back. But they don’t know whom to run after as Northcap owner or officer. The agency that is supposed to regulate review centers, the Commission on Higher Education, has no record at all of the Baguio outfit.

No less than the CHEd appeared to have set up the reviewers for duping. Because of a an earlier bigger fraud – the nursing exam leakages from three outfits also in Baguio in June 2006 – the agency was supposed to compel all the country’s 800 or so review centers to register with it by Nov. 2007. But it hemmed and hawed. In Oct., as accreditation deadline approached, the CHEd suddenly extended it to May 2008. And in Apr., after warning review centers that they risked closure if left unregistered, the CHEd postponed it a second time to Nov. this year. It was as if the agency deliberately and unreasonably was delaying its duty to oversee the industry. Thus did most review centers escape scrutiny. Only 30 dutifully secured CHEd accreditation, by tying up as required with equally accredited colleges. Fifty more were able to beat the filing deadline, and are now awaiting CHEd action on their applications. The 720-plus others – and more review centers are being set up each day to cash in on the huge number of raw graduates needing board review, somehow because of another CHEd lapse in imposing quality in college education – are still beyond CHEd’s hands.

The Northcap scam could have been prevented, though. Atty. Rebene Carrera, president of the Federation of (the only 30) Accredited Review Centers of the Philippines, says that sleazy outfits would have been weeded out had CHEd been on the ball. Himself an owner of a review center, Rebene found the agency’s registration process, issued in Nov. 2006, firm but fair. “We are legitimate, genuine educators, so we complied with the new rules at once,” he explains. Dr. William Medrano, CHEd executive director, acknowledged days after the Northcap story broke that his office could have prevented trouble. But that was far as he would go about admitting liability. Chairman Romulo Neri repeatedly had claimed in Feb. and Mar. that there would no longer be any extension of accreditation dates, so the review centers had better submit their papers. He had no coherent explanation for the subsequent flip-flop. Erstwhile economic planning secretary, Neri had been moved to the CHEd in Aug. 2007, a month before he was summoned to the Senate about his approval of the scandalous NBN-ZTE deal. During the hearing he invoked confidentiality of presidential conversations to avoid answering crucial questions. Since then he has been awaiting return to the Cabinet from the CHEd post that he considered “only temporary, hopefully only for six months.”

In Sept. 2006 President Arroyo had directed the CHEd to put all review centers under its wings. The industry previously was unregulated. No one checked the fairness of enrollment fees and other charges. Three months before, in the June 2006 nursing board, three review centers in Baguio allegedly had promised and did deliver to their reviewers leakages purchased from corrupt examiners. Northcap’s review fee of P75,000 for three months is typical in the unregulated industry. It charged reviewers in nursing P1,500 each and in midwifery P800 for exam enlistment with the Professional Regulation Commission. But the latter’s official fees are only P900 and P600, respectively.

Some of the unregistered outfits have banded together under a Review Center Association of the Philippines. A website explains that the members are genuine educators and professionals who only want to improve the industry, and so worked on the CHEd deadline extensions preparatory to a review of the rules. That may be so. But the question persists: how will the hundreds of thousands of board reviewers be protected in an unregulated industry?

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Akusadong pulis hindi puwede ilipat

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Tuesday, June 17, 2008

NAAALALA n’yo ba ‘yung kaso kamakailan ng limang pulis-Maynila na sapilitang pinakain ng shabu ang isang hotel chef na kinikikilan nila? Inalis ng nagngingitngit na pamunuan mula sa mobile patrol unit sina Sr. Insp. Rolando Mendoza, Insp. Nelson Lagasca, at Officers Nestor David, Wilson Gavino at Roderick Lopena. Ihinabla sila sa korte nang robbery, extortion, grave threats at physical injury, at sa National Police Commission nang pag-abuso sa awtoridad. Tapos, ipinatapon sila sa Mindanao, kung saan, ayon sa pamunuan, makatagpo sana nila ang katapat na kriminal.

Sa unang tingin, tila makatarungan ang pasya. Pero heto ang siste: Ipinagbabawal ng Napolcom ang paglipat ng pook ng pulis habang nililitis pa ang kasong administratibo.

Ayon sa Rule 17, Section 11 ng Napolcom Circular No. 2007-001 petsa Mar. 6, 2007, pinamagatang Uniform Rules of Procedure Before the Administrative Disciplinary Authorities and the Internal Affairs Service of the Philippine National Police: “Prohibition of Reassignment of Respondent During the Pendency of an Administrative Case. — A respondent PNP member shall not be reassigned or transferred to another city/municipal police station or unit during the pendency of the case, unless the concerned disciplinary authority or IAS certifies that the presence of the respondent is no longer necessary. Any superior who violates this provision shall be administratively liable for Irregularity in the Performance of Duty.”

Malinaw ang saklaw ng alituntunin: Mga pulis na nasasakdal sa kasong administratibo. Malinaw din ang pakay: kailangang parating available ang sakdal sa paglilitis ng Napolcom. (Kung sa kasong kriminal, maaring ipa-detain ng huwes ang sakdal o kaya’y pagpiyansahin. Kung witness naman, maaari siyang obligahin ng huwes na sumipot sa hearing.)

Ibalik dapat sa Maynila ang limang akusado, pero ilayo sila sa patrol section kung saan maaari nilang gamitin ang impluwensiya para baliin ang kaso. Kailangan ito para malapatan ng hustisya ang mga kawatan.

Will we repeat in 2010 the mistakes of 2004?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, June 16, 2008

Though long retired as national security adviser, Joe Almonte finds it his duty to warn of dangers facing the land. In late 2002 he popped back to public scene with portentous vision. The poor were getting poorer, leaders were doing nothing, and Filipinos were losing hope. The Republic needed rescue from further decline. Presidential-congressional-local elections were just 18 short months away. Malacañang, Congress and the Comelec must lay down a series of reforms to ensure that votes are counted right. If not, people will all the more be alienated from the system of the political and economic elite. Dire consequences would follow.

Nobody listened. Gloria Arroyo at first begged off from that election but ran all the same with help from Virgilio Garcillano and Jocjoc Bolante. Fighting for the top prize of pork barrels, candidates from both admin and opposition fell back on foul electioneering and dagdag-bawas. Provincial and town kingpins employed violence to retain or gain seats. A useless Comelec allowed all that, even after a Supreme Court rebuke for a sham automation that wasted P1.3 billion. Today’s political strife, killings, hunger and greed as in the NBN-ZTE scam can be traced back to the farcical balloting of 2004.

Elections are again around the corner. Conditions that marked the last national-local voting have worsened. Almonte is back with solutions for those who’d care to act. During the recent launching of his book, To Put Our House in Order, We Must Level the Playing Field, he chatted up past and present government officials on choosing a Malacañang candidate. “Make sure he’s a reformist now, because if not he will never be a reformist when he becomes President,” he brought the issue down to basics. On speaking tours, he painstakingly explains the need for a modernizing national leader to match a growing number of achievers in local levels. “In our country, only the President has that kind of transformative political power,” he told Galing Pook members, among them governors and mayors, last weekend.

Almonte has no illusion of a white knight, though. Raising such an exceptional President is beyond the capability of our present-day politics which, he says, rests on long-established patronage. And so he pounds back on the need for electoral reforms. Cleaning up the voting process will not bring deliverance overnight. But it will encourage new leaders to try their hand in public service, and restore people’s faith in democratic exercises. Even just a handful of legislators and local officials can force some of the major electoral changes, to produce still more reformists.

Almonte adds four other urgent reforms of the political economy:

• Open up the economy and reduce state intervention — both to cut down oligarchic influence and to curb opportunities for rent seeking.

• Professionalize the civil service, by raising salaries into rates competitive with the private sector; installing a meritocracy through service grades set by examinations; and stabilizing tenures by transferring the appointing power for officers from the President to the civil service system.

• Strengthen political parties, the best way for which is to switch from presidential to parliamentary.

• Recapture the nation’s political center from oligarchic control, starting with putting in place a system of public financing for presidential elections.

The improvements Almonte advocates are bite-size, not pipe dreams. Serious political parties would do well to adopt them.

* * *

Are big electricity users ready for open access and retail competition? The organization of electrical engineers doesn’t think so. Sure, managers of factories and power-intensive facilities know their bills will drop if given the choice of electricity distributors. But they still have to take the crucial steps in preparing to buy wisely from electric retailers.

Two years of info drives by the engineers showed that potential beneficiaries of open access have been too slow to do what’s needed. Why, even electric cooperatives that distribute to small locales admit they don’t know how to buy from the existing wholesale electricity spot market. Too, of 494 factories, hospitals and facilities in Luzon consuming at least one megawatt, only ten have availed of Meralco’s customer choice program.

Open access requires hiring of electrical engineers adept in plotting the big user’s electricity needs 24/7, then buying electricity futures based on anticipated ebb and peak hours. For this, the users need five engineers for round-the-clock shifts with one day-off per week. First order of the day is to review the user’s electricity consumption for the past year or two, and analyze where to cut power costs through smart buying.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Compressed natural gas imbis diesel sa mga bus

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, June 16, 2008

ITINANGGI ni Chairman Tomas Lantion ng Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board ang pagprangkisa sa 2,400 dagdag na bus sa EDSA mula nang maupo siya nu’ng 2007. Aniya 1,097 lang ang idinagdag niya sa 2,487 bus na pinahintulutan ni dating chair Len Bautista sa masikip na main highway ng Metro Manila. Sa 1,097, aniya, 902 ay mga naiwan ni Bautista na naka­bimbing late applications for franchise, at 195 ay mga biyaheng roll on-roll off sa barko patungong Visayas at Mindanao. Kabuuang 3,584 bus ang nasa EDSA ngayon, aniya, kumpara sa 5,127 bago mag-rationalization si Bautista nu’ng 2002.

Mas malaking balita, ani Lantion, ay ang pagpasok ng unang 22 units ng bus na tumatakbo hindi sa imported diesel kundi sa lokal na compressed natural gas (CNG). Ang 22 ay pag-aari ng dalawang bus operators sa Southern Tagalog. Ginarantiya umano ng Dept. of Energy na P14.70 kada litro lang ang benta ng Pilipinas Shell ng natural gas mula sa Malampaya Well, Palawan. Dagdag ang gastos sa pag-compress at transport sa mainland Luzon, papalo sa P20 lang kada litro, Malaking kamurahan ito sa P48 kada litro ng diesel ngayon. Hindi na kailangan ang huling taas-pasahe na inaprubahan ng LTFRB. Lalaki ang kita ng operators at tsuper. Ito ang sagot sa tumataas na presyo ng krudo.

Problema, iisa pa lang ang filling station ng CNG — sa Shell-SLEX Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Kaya ng istasyon na kargahan ang 70 bus araw-araw. Pero para sa mga biyahe hanggang Mall of Asia-Baclaran, Valenzuela, at Nova­liches-San Jose del Monte, natural lang na naisin ng operators at tsuper na may filling stations din sa kabilang dulo ng mga ruta. At lalong mas mainam kung meron ding mobile stations — mga trak ng CNG na puwedeng mag­karga sa mga bus sa tabing-kalye lang.

Bakit ang tagal naman ipasada ang 22 CNG buses, tanong ko kay Lantion. Aniya, bagong teknolohiya kasi ito, kaya wala pang standards at regulations. Kailangan makialam sa simula lahat ng ahensiyang sangkot, tulad ng Department of Science and Technology at Bureau of Fire Prevention.

They belittle yet fear JDV

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc , The Philippines Star, Friday, June 13, 2008

“Noah’s Ark” subsidies, better called crisis alms, will cost P316 billion over three years — till Gloria Arroyo steps down in 2010. That money can be better used for basic education and skills training. Since 2001 experts have been saying the educational system is deteriorating and needed a one-time shot of P65 billion to start fixing things. The admin never paid heed. Now it turns out Arroyo can block off five times the amount to give away to the disgruntled poor. Worse, the P316 billion can be just the start of an extra-early election campaign. Meaning, the money will just be secretly given to political allies.

* * *

Didn’t Arroyo allies just sneer that ex-Speaker Joe de Venecia has no credibility? Didn’t Malacañang repeatedly say he has nothing provocative to reveal about his visit with Gloria and Mike Arroyo to ZTE’s China HQ in Nov. 2006?

So why did Palace factotums cook up a newspaper ad decrying JDV’s threat to “bare all” about the ZTE deal when Congress reopens in July? And why did the ad have to attack JDV’s wife Gina and unrelated personalities? Do they think JDV still has sting after all, so they’re using a cannon to swat their pesky fly?

The ad began by raking up JDV’s past: “machinations” for parliamentary, and “overpriced” Northrail and Southrail projects. (Hmm, since Gloria Arroyo backed all those, shouldn’t they hold her liable too?) It even mentioned a “Landoil fiasco”, as if JDV is to blame for a 1981 Iran-Iraq war that caught his conglomerate’s workers in the crossfire.

Then it called ZTE scam whistle-blowers Joey de Venecia, Jun Lozada and Dante Madriaga “shady characters”. (Oh, but survey respondents say they believe the trio, while calling Arroyo, with minus-36 trust rating, dirtier than Marcos.)

Allegedly it was Gina, not Rolex Suplico’s secret witness codenamed “Alex”, who gave the press those telling photos of the Shenzhen trip. (But didn’t Malacañang already harrumph that she wasn’t there?} They seem to know who and where “Alex” is now, after he broke contact with Suplico in fear for his life.

Lastly, it claimed that Jueteng-gate witness Sandra Cam, ex-Cabinet member Dinky Soliman of Hyatt 10, Carol Araullo of Bayan, Sister Mary John Mananzan of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, Bishop Oscar Cruz of Pangasinan, and Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez of Caloocan have been meeting in JDV’s house to “plot his coming out party.”

About five-dozen unknown chapter officers of unknown provincial clubs signed the ad. The concocter intended to make it look like little people were disgusted with JDV’s forthcoming “lies”. But it’s inconsistent. How can such little people be so conversant about goings-on in the big city?

Soliman, just home from a long trip abroad, wondered how they can ascertain where she allegedly goes and with whom she meets? Was she in this supposed democracy being tailed by sinister forces, which then inform the omniscient signatories? For those who’ve seen the trick before, the claims read like an “intel report” drafted to wheedle money from a gullible recipient.

Araullo and Mananzan denied ever meeting in JDV’s house to plot. Like Soliman, they deem JDV big enough a politico to go his own way.

Lawyer Suplico dared the signatories to come forward and prove their charges. Which they can’t and won’t, of course.

As for JDV, before flying off to the US for a health check. he moaned that the hatchet job has begun even before he could talk on NBN-ZTE. But he whispered who exactly concocted the ad — a Palace operator whom he had watched in action before. He knows the knave’s name, financier, and tendency to brag about “secret missions” for the First Couple. Assisting was an ex-President’s publicist who has wriggled his way into the inner circle of the present one.

JDV recognized the modus operandi too. It was in the pattern of the ad barrage by appointees praising Arroyo while the public was seething over Lozada’s abduction in February. It is said that Arroyo was losing heart back then, so worried cronies had to do something to prop up her morale. The operator must think JDV still packs a wallop to warrant an attack ad. Recent reports in Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune derided his boss Arroyo’s transactional Presidency — quoting none other than the supposedly incredible has-been JDV.

Tellingly, Malacañang agrees with the factotum’s implicit appraisal that their situation requires pre-emptive strike before JDV talks. That’s why it allowed the ad. Perhaps they foresee that the gimmicks of P500 per poor family for electric bills and P1,500 per farmer for fertilizers and P2-per-liter for jitney drivers won’t work. Things can only get worse and people will be blaming Arroyo for the economic woes.

Moreover, Jocjoc Bolante is about to be deported from the US, and he may have to finally tell the Senate about his P728-million electioneering for Arroyo. NEDA officers are raring to divulge damning documents on admin misdeeds. And an impeachment rap awaits Arroyo in October.

Admin operators must be feeling uneasy sitting on a powder keg about to explode with more exposés of its thievery.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Limos imbis na kilos

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, June 13, 2008

‘YAN lang ba ang magagawa ng Arroyo admin sa harap ng krisis pang-kabuhayan — maglimos sa mahihirap? Hindi ba kaya maglunsad ng mga proyektong mag-aangat sa hene-henerasyon? Ni hindi naman kanila ang perang ipinamimi-gay, kundi sa atin. Nagpapapogi sila, pero gastos natin.

Pampalubag-loob ang tig-P500 pang-kuryente sa 4 milyon pamilya. Pantakip lang ang P2 bilyon sa pagkabigo ng admin ibaba ang presyo ng kuryente, na ipinangako noon pang 2001. Kukunin ito sa buwis na natin. Tayo rin ang bumabalikat ng “lifeline rates” ng mahihirap na electricity users. Pero ni hindi tayo sigurado kung ang bebe­ nepisyuhan kuno ng P2 bilyon ay may mga koneksiyong kuryente. Ang sigurado lang: Ayaw alisin ng gobyerno ang 40% royalty nito sa local natural gas — sanhi ng mahal na kuryente. Pambayad kasi ang royalty sa foreign loans na may kickback.

Kaduda-duda ang tig-P1,500 pam-fertilizer ng magsa­saka. Malaking ingay ang pag-anunsiyo nito ng Malaca­ñang — pero hindi masabi kung ilan at saan ang magsasa­kang tatanggap. Animo’y pampakalma lang sa mga hindi nakapagbenta ng palay sa magandang presyo nitong nakaraang ani dahil sa raids ng admin sa mga guniguning hoarders. Pero dahil walang totoong talaan ng mga bibi­yayaang magsasaka, malamang ay nakawin lang ang pondo. Hindi pa sila nakuntento sa P728 milyong kinupit sa pamamagitan ng ghost fertilizer deliveries ni Jocjoc Bolante nu’ng 2004 at P2 bilyon mula sa ghost swine dispersal nu’ng 2007.

Nagkunwaring abala ang Malacañang sa mga unang ipinang-limos. Pinantakip ang murang NFA rice sa mababang ani dahil sa pagkalulong ng admin sa kickback mula sa imported cereals. Pantakip din ang P2-per-liter discount sa diesel ng jeepney drivers na hindi matulu- ngang magpa-convert sa de-bateryang makina. Iba pang panakip-butas: Hiwalay na P500 kada pamilya para pagkain at P300 kada anak, wala nang uniforms sa public schools, walang dagdag-tuition sa state colleges, at pagpuwersa sa mga pribadong grupo na ilibre ang text-messaging at highway toll.

Marangal maglimos. Pero mga obispo mismo’y kontra sa paglilimos ng admin na walang pangmatagalang reporma, dahil nagbubunsod ito ng kulturang palaasa o isip-pulubi.

Is EPIRA fight really for ‘open access’?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star,Wednesday, June 11, 2008

All good attorneys know: “If your case is strong on facts, pound on the facts; if it is strong in law, pound on the law. But if your case is weak, pound the table.” Last week three eminent admin lawyer-senators did just that — slam fists on desks — upon running out of arguments in their own arranged hearing on electricity rates.

Object of ire was the Joint Foreign Chambers, whom Miriam Santiago called to the inquest as head of the committee on energy. Juan Ponce Enrile has a bill to amend the 2001 Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). Investors from the US, Japan, Korea, Canada, Europe and Australia-New Zealand oppose any revision. Enrile wanted to know why they had written President Arroyo instead of the Senate where his bill pends. The guests began to read in reply their self-explanatory letter to the highest official who promises open ears. Santiago cut them off, demanding only answers she wanted to hear. Joker Arroyo, once Enrile’s nemesis against martial law and frequent admonisher against going ballistic, joined the bashing as the foreigners “had it coming.”

And yet it’s all there in the May 28 letter. Enrile’s amendments center on “open access and retail competition,” and the foreigners debunk the need for revisions to make it happen. Both sides avow intentions to bring down power rates. Exchanging views, not browbeating invited resource persons, is the tack for parties with similar aims.

“Open access” would enable big users to buy from power suppliers of their choice via “retail competition.” Under EPIRA, factories and facilities that burn at least 750 kilowatt-hours a month should be able to buy cheap straight from retailers. They will just pay rent for the use of transmission lines, which too can be by free pick. The state-run wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) will be their venue for trading, based on buyers’ hourly needs and sellers’ predicted supply. Businesses can adjust operations based on cheap power periods, while power producers can sell excess supply. Buyers save on power bills; generators run on optimum capacities.

The EPIRA initially estimated a “contestable” market for open access at 25 percent of the entire electricity clientele. Examples: electronics makers, airports, hospitals. The other 75 percent is a “captive” market of homes and offices that use moderate electricity. But smart residential and commercial subdivisions can bid too as homeowners’ associations and store chains.

Open access-retail competition should have commenced three years after EPIRA’s passage, subject to five conditions: (1) founding of the WESM, (2) unbundling of transmission and distribution charges, (3) removal of cross subsidies for generation, (4) privatiza-tion of at least 70 percent of Napocor generators in Luzon and Visayas, (5) transfer of management of at least 70 percent of power plants under contract with Napocor to a private-run IPP Administrator.

Only the first three have been met. Open access-retail competition has been delayed four years because Napocor was too slow to sell off its plants. Enter Enrile with an amendment to lower the open access threshold from 75- to only 50-percent sale of Napocor generation assets. It could spell relief long sought by businessmen who have been bearing for the highest power rates in Asia next to Japan’s. Immediately public hearings were set.

Coincidentally, however, Arroyo launched a squeeze play against the Lopez family that controls Meralco, the biggest power distributor. Senators accused the utility of illegally passing on systems losses to users, although allowed by the EPIRA and so approved by energy regulators. Congressmen led by the President’s son Mikey, House energy chair, flayed “sweetheart deals” of Lopez-owned generators with Meralco.

Energy firms, mostly members of foreign chambers of commerce, grew apprehensive. Congress moves to open the EPIRA may not end with lowering the 75-percent threshold, but touch as well on deals inked under the Emergency Power Act of 1992. Testimonies in the first Senate hearing bolstered suspicions. No less than Jose Ibazeta, chief auctioneer of Napocor plants, swore that his Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. already has sold 48 percent. Moreover, the state firm can bid out up to 82 percent of remaining plants by yearend. There was clearly no need to amend the EPIRA threshold. The foreign chambers and other industry groups wrote to Malacañang and the energy department to say they could even start retail trading at once.

But Napocor continued to press for lower threshold. Industry men wondered if this was to retain its managers’ control of coal purchases for Luzon plants. In Apr. 2007 and Feb. 2008 the Napocor brass imported coal on “emergency” at billions of pesos costlier than market rates. The senators must have heard of this reason for resistance to EPIRA revisions. But the foreigners were not about to confirm it.   

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Dagdag-bus hindi na kaya ng EDSA

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon. Tuesday, June 10, 2008

HINDI lang sa isyu ng e-jeepney kontra-pelo ang DOTC officials. Pati sa pagpapaluwag ng EDSA at pagpapa­unlad sa Southern Tagalog, basag din.

Maaalalang sobrang trapik dati sa EDSA. Mahigit 4,800 ang bus, kalahati ang kolorum na walang prangkisa mula sa Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. Ang tagal ng paghihintay ng mga pasahero sa pagpuno ng mga biyahe. At nalulugi ang mga operator.

Nang mapuwesto sa LTFRB si Len Bautista, nagsa­gawa siya ng Metro Bus Routes Rationalization Program. Batay sa masusing pag-aaral, napag-alaman na dapat ay 3,500 bus lang ang payagan sa EDSA para maba­wasan ang trapik (at polusyon), maginhawahan ang pasahero, at kumita ang mga lehitimong operators. Pero 2,900 lang ang prangkisa ng bus na aktwal na inapru­bahan — dahil ‘yon lang ang malilinis ang papeles, at kaya nang isakay lahat ng pasahero.

Inalis bigla si Bautista nu’ng 2006. Ibinasura ng kapalit ang route rationalization. Sa dahilang kaya pa naman daw magdagdag ng bus sa EDSA, nag-apruba ito ng 2,400 pang prangkisa bukod sa naunang 2,900. Pati mga prangkisang mahigit dalawang taon nang abandonado, binuhay. Ipinagmalaki ng LTFRB na wala nang kolorum — dahil may prangkisa na lahat, pati mga nagpapaupa lang ng franchise sa malalaking operators.

Kaya ngayon, 5,300 ang nagsisiksikang bus sa EDSA. Balik ang trapik; nalulugi ang operators. Hindi na naman magkandaugaga si MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando sa pagsasaayos ng trapik.

Samantala, kailangang-kailangan ng mga bus na magdadala ng manggagawa sa mga pabrika sa Sta. Rosa at paligid na bayan sa Laguna, mula sa Quezon, Batangas at Cavite. Dito sana nagbukas ng bagong ruta ang LTFRB, para umunlad ang Southern Tagalog at mabawasan ang paninikip sa Metro Manila.

Hindi maasahan ang transport officials na gawin ang tama. Sa pag-classify lang ng e-jeepneys, na kailangan para mairehistro ito, inabot nang sampung buwan para lang maisip ang itatawag na “low-speed vehicle.”

Doles in lieu of real work

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, June 6, 2008

Is that all Arroyo officials can do in the face of economic crisis — give alms to the poor? Can’t it undertake projects that truly uplift generations? It’s not even their money they’re giving away, but ours. They’re trying to earn brownie points at our expense.

Their latest doles reek of gimmickry. The P500 each for four million families, P2 billion in all, to pay electricity bills is meant to mollify the city poor. At the same time, it serves to screen the admin’s failure to bring down power costs as promised since 2001. The money will come from taxes borne mostly by the middle class. That same middle class, the bulk of electricity users, already subsidize lesser users with “lifeline rates”. It’s even uncertain if the P2-billion’s intended beneficiaries have power connections. One thing sure, though, the admin refuses to slash its royalties from local natural gas and thus reduce power rates by P2 per kilowatt-hour. It needs the levy to repay foreign loans, contracted in secrecy in breach of the Constitution, and from which kickbacks were extracted.

The P1,500 for farmers to buy fertilizers is even sleazier. Malacañang announced it with much fanfare Wednesday, but couldn’t say how many farmers and where would receive the handout. At first you’d think it’s to appease rice planters who were prevented from selling high during the recent harvest because of admin raids of imagined hoarders. But with no list of verified recipients, you’d realize that the usual admin thieves are just out to steal the outlay. The P780 million they snatched in 2004 thru Jocjoc Bolante’s ghost fertilizer deliveries has not sated them. Neither has the P2 billion in 2006 from ghost swine distribution.

Malacañang tried to look busy with a swirl of earlier doles. Its cheap subsidized rice papers over its failure to raise palay harvests, due to greed for kickbacks from importing cereals. A P2-per-liter diesel grant for jeepney drivers, still to be implemented, obscures its inability to help them convert to battery-powered engines. Other “Band-Aid solutions” to crisis: a separate P500 per family for food and P300 per child, shedding of uniforms in public schools, freezing of tuition in state colleges this semester, and forcing telcos to un-charge text messages and builders to lower highway tolls.

Giving to the poor is a virtue. But even the bishops are frowning on admin giveaways. They know that doles, because unmatched by projects with long-lasting effects, only breed mendicancy.

* * *

Metro Manila bus operators are grumbling. Their EDSA route is once more a mess. Previously unlicensed buses are crowding out legitimate ones. It’s all because the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has a silly way of promoting new routes.

An earlier LTFRB leadership already had put EDSA in order in 2003. Guided by studies, it decided to limit the route to only 3,500 buses to lessen traffic, pollution, passenger waiting time, and cutthroat competition. But it actually approved only 2,900 franchises since the rest had stayed unfilled for years by influence-peddling holders.

A new team took over LTFRB in 2006. Within a year, it increased the number of buses on EDSA 83 percent with 2,400 permits. The buses aren’t new though, just old “colorums” that plied the route with no franchise and so were eased out in 2003. LTFRB now cites a purported study that the present 5,300 units are just right for EDSA.

Still the operators who dutifully paid franchises all these years groan that they were never consulted. Metro officials are having headaches enforcing a new single-ticketing scheme because the additional 2,400 buses were not part of the original traffic scheme.

Meanwhile, new routes await opening where truly needed. A few dozen kilometers from EDSA are Laguna’s booming industrial zones. Employees need to be transported to work from surrounding Batangas, Cavite and Quezon provinces. Yet the LTFRB is more bent on clogging up Metro Manila than boosting suburbia.

* * *

Patria Buenaflor Deocampo reacts to my piece Monday on historical accounts from Raul Rodrigo’s book, The Saga of the Lopez Family:

“I am concerned about the name of my father, Tomas Buenaflor. A story in El Tiempo’s issue of Oct. 2, 1929 alleged that Gov. Mariano Arroyo and police chief Marcelo Buenaflor, brother of Congressman Tomas Buenaflor, were receiving protection money from illegal gambling. I am the only surviving daughter out of 12 children who can testify to my father’s character. I knew him as a person of integrity and public servant of Dumangas. He began his political career as municipal councilor, 1912-1916, and municipal president, 1916-1922. He was congressman of Iloilo City’s 4th district, 1928-1941. Constituents loved him for his relentless and dedicated service. I never knew him to have been bribed by anyone, particularly from jueteng.”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Matagal nang hidwaan inuulit sa away-Meralco

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, June 6, 2008

TILA ang banggaan ng Malacañang at Meralco ay away talaga ng angkang Arroyo at Lopez. Sumiklab nang akusahan ni Gloria Arroyo ang Lopezes, imbis na ang mga mangongotong niya sa Napocor, na sanhi ng mahal na kuryente. Sagot naman ng Lopez spokesmen, sinasakal ng Arroyos ang Meralco para gantihan ang kritikong ABS-CBN media network nila.

Walong dekada noon nang unang magtunggali ang pamilya Lopez at Arroyo. Taon 1929 sa Iloilo City binuhay ni Eugenio “Eñing” Lopez, 28, ang diyaryo El Tiempo ng yumaong ama. Agad nitong in-expose ang jueteng sa pamumuno ni Tsinong si Sualoy, na protektado nina Gov. Mariano Pidal Arroyo, police chief Marcelo Buenaflor at kapatid na Congressman Tomas Buenaflor.

Pinaka-makapangyarihang tao si Arroyo sa Iloilo, ani Raul Rodrigo sa librong The Saga of the Lopez Family. Kapatid siya ni yumaong Sen. Jose Pidal Arroyo, kaibigan ni Senate President Manuel Quezon. Pero hindi natinag si Lopez sa pagtuligsa. Napansin siya ng opisyales sa Maynila. Marso 1930, ni-raid ng Konstabularyo ang vice den ni Sualoy; kinulong at pagkatapos ay dineport siya sa China. Umigting ang labanan. Ginulpi ng goon ni Arroyo ang editor-in-chief ng El Tiempo. Dinemanda rin ni Arroyo ng libel si Lopez, na nagsampa naman ng administrative charges.

Nilayuan nina Quezon at mga Nacionalista si Arroyo dahil sa tindi ng exposés. Pina-imbestigahan ni Governor General Dwight Davis ang gusot. Pinawalang-sala si Lopez. Pero sinibak si Arroyo sa puwesto nu’ng Oktubre 1930 dahil sa matinding katiwalian.

Nu’ng dekada-’50 tinatag ni Lopez ang diyaryong Chronicle at ABS-CBN, at binili ang Meralco. Pinamunuan ng anak na Eugenio Jr. at Oscar ang negosyong pamilya. Nag-chairman ng Meralco ang anak na Manuel.

Lumipat ang bumagsak na angkang Arroyo sa Negros Occidental. Isa sa mga anak ni Jesusa Lacson, biyuda ng Senador Jose, ay si Ignacio — ama ni First Gentleman Mike at Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr. Ama si Mike ni Rep. Mikey Arroyo. Nasangkot sila kamakailan sa jueteng payola.

E-jeepney can withstand weekly gas price spike

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Obviously high fuel prices are here to stay. The factors that pushed crude oil rates to $135 per barrel will remain. Fast-growing China and India will continue to gulp down more oil. Searches for alternative fuels will still be slow. Oil powers will continue to hoard dollars and euros with which to buy the world’s largest food, pharmaceutical and electronics companies. Oil may even hit $200 by early 2009.

So what’s the government doing to ease the jab of fuel price spikes on consumers? Nothing. On the contrary, it even raised jeepney and bus fares to appease its transport sector allies. And it has rejected calls to lower the taxes on imported fuel and royalties on local ones. Cabinet men appear to have lost the creativity they displayed in hiding from the public the details of the fertilizer, NBN-ZTE and swine scams.

One feasible solution is staring them in the face. Oddly they haven’t noticed. The usual “kickbackers” probably see no money in it.

The electric jeepney has been in operation for a year now. Deployed in Makati, Baguio, Puerto Princesa and Bacolod in April to October, it has proved to drivers and commuters its practicability in the face of weekly fuel price hikes. The 15-seater e-jeepney runs not on the usual diesel or gasoline but on battery power. All it needs is an eight-hour charge overnight of its special battery, and it can run 100-120 km at a safe top speed of 40 kph. That means that on a usual five-km jeepney route, say Washington-Ayala in Makati, the e-jeepney can run up to three days on a single battery charge — costing only P110-P140, in lieu of the usual P1,500 a day for fossil fuels.

The savings not only can improve the drivers’ incomes, but also be passed on to commuters.

There are other benefits. The e-jeepney does not emit toxic fumes that cause lung cancer, chronic cough and other respiratory ailments. It does not smog up the city. It does not deplete foreign reserves the way oil imports do.

And since it’s assembled cheap on funding by the environmentalist Green Renewable Independent Power Producer (GRIPP), there’s no room for bribes. The e-jeepney does not induce corruption, and that’s probably why government isn’t so hot about it.

It took the Department of Transportation and Communication all of ten months to classify the e-jeepney and so enable its registration as a road vehicle. The classification was by no means sophisticated, as in rating jet liners for weight and consequent load on airport runways. The DOTC was simply too slow to come up with a unique English term for the e-jeepney: “low-speed vehicle”. Hooray!

Fortunately, the private sector is filling the void left by do-nothing government, Sen. Pia Cayetano reports. The Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines has linked up with GRIPP to produce four-dozen e-jeepneys locally. That will be further foreign currency savings, as the e-jeepneys are presently assembled in China. It can also be an economic booster as well.

But the government doesn’t see that. In has always been slow to support new energy-saving ideas. As far back as 2002, for instance, Shell had announced that it could supply and compress natural gas from Palawan’s Malampaya well to run public transport vehicles. Operators sounded out the Development Bank of the Philippines for loans to convert diesel bus engines into CNG and set up filling stations at depots. Everyone was enthusiastic, except the DOTC.

* * *

Coconut farmers never had it so good. With new but simple know-how, they can now extract three types of biofuels: ethanol from tuba (coco-wine), methane from the decomposing shell, and biodiesel from copra. All three products have ready markets, and mean added cash in the pockets of coco planters. That’s why the Cooperative of Coconut Development Farmers and Expansion Workers is resisting plans to suspend the biofuels program.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Premature campaigning minana natin sa US

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Miyerkoles, June 4, 2008

HINDI lang pala sa Pilipinas asal ng pulitiko na kumilos batay lang sa planong kandidatura. Gan’un din sa United States. At nilantad ‘yan sa bagong libro ng walang iba kundi si dating White House spokesman Scott McClellan, tungkol kay President George W. Bush.

Anang dating loyalistang McClellan, puro pansariling propaganda imbis na kapakanan ng mamamayan ang ina­atupag ng amo. Permanente silang nangangampanya, aniya, mula nang sumali sa admin nu’ng 2002, matapos ang unang taon sa unang termino ni Bush. Minanipula nila ang opinyong publiko para suportahan ang mga masa­samang desisyon, tulad ng paglusob sa Iraq at pag­waldas ng perang pangkalusugan. Aniya, isang mata ni Bush ay palaging nakasulyap sa kalendaryo — sa kampanya nu’ng 2002 para sa Kongreso, at nu’ng 2004 para sa ikalawang termino niya.

Dinetalye ni McClellan ang pagpo-propaganda. Tuwing umaga, nagkakaisa sila kung ano ang magiging opisyal na linya sa partikular na isyu. Tapos, ikakalat ‘yon sa pamamagitan ng e-mail. conference calls at briefings para sa Cabinet, ambassadors, kaibigan sa Kongreso, media at civil society. Kung may lumihis sa linya, sinisibak o sinasabon ni Bush. Gusto niya ayos palagi lahat para sa kampanya.

Dito sa Pinas, pinupuna ni Sen. Miriam Santiago ang mga kapwa pulitiko na lumalabas na endorsers sa product ads. Isang paraan ito ng premature campaigning aniya, dahil ipinapaskel ang mga mukha ng pulitiko sa billboards, TV at pahayagan. Paglabag daw ito sa Omnibus Election Code, kaya hiningan niya ng opinyon ang Comelec.

Aba’y hindi pa nakakasagot ang commissioners, bigla nang sumabat ang Comelec spokesman. Inopinyon niya na walang paglabag ang mga pulitikong product endorsers kung hindi pa sila nagpa-file ng certificate of candidacy. Kapag may certificate na pero nangampanya miski hindi pa nagsisimula ang campaign period, saka lang daw maaring kasuhan.

Makitid na pananaw ‘yun. Sinabi na nga ni Santiago na takpan sana ng Comelec ang loophole sa batas. Kaya lang humaharang si spokesman.

Meralco squabble relives earlier Lopez-Arroyo clash

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, June 2, 2008

The Malacañang-Meralco tiff looks more like a fight between the Arroyo and Lopez families. Gloria Arroyo drew first blood in blaming the Lopezes, instead of her mulcting Napocor appointees, for costly electricity. Lopez spokesmen countered that the Arroyos were squeezing Meralco to get back at their other controlled firm, critical media giant ABS-CBN. Full-blown war then escalated in the courtroom, boardroom and newsroom.

Eight decades ago in 1929 a similar battle raged between the Lopezes and Arroyos. Setting: Iloilo, the fastest rising city in the Visayas. Self-rule was top issue nationwide. A National Assembly of Filipino legislators had just convened in Manila under Senate President Manuel Quezon, of Partido Nacionalista. New technologies were spurring changes in traditional sugar regions. Among the young entrepreneurs caught up in the modernization tide was Eugenio “Eñing” Lopez, 28.

Iloilo, as all other cities, had a seamy side. A Chinese mestizo named Luis Sañe, alias Sualoy, operated jueteng with impunity. Bribes to civilian and police officials exempted him from law enforcement. It so happened that Eñing was then reviving his late father Benito’s Spanish-language newspaper El Tiempo. Immediately in Sept. 1929 the paper launched a crusade against vice that corrupted the Iloilo government. The jueteng winning numbers were published each day on the front page, playing up official inaction. Personally leading the fight, Eñing came out with one exposé after another, pointing to the highest officials as Sualoy’s protectors. “Eñing did not choose lightweight opponents,” Raul Rodrigo recounts in the book, Phoenix: the Saga of the Lopez Family. They were no less than Governor Mariano Pidal Arroyo, city police chief Marcelo Buenaflor, and congressman-brother Tomas Buenaflor.

Writes Rodrigo: “Marcelo Arroyo was the most powerful man in the province. He was the brother of the late Jose Arroyo, a Nacionalista senator and good friend of Quezon. As the public’s outrage over the corruption began to mount, Arroyo issued a statement saying that jueteng did not exist in Iloilo. That it did and that local officials benefited from it were matters of public knowledge in the city. The question was not what needed to be done, but who had the courage to do it. It turned out, Eñing Lopez did.”

El Tiempo stepped up the pressure. National authorities began to take notice. In Mar. 1930 the Constabulary stormed Sualoy’s vice den, finding enough evidence to jail and eventually deport him to China. The fight narrowed down to Eñing and Arroyo. As El Tiempo became a hot seller, tension gripped Iloilo. A thug known to be close to the governor beat up the editor-in-chief. Arroyo sued for libel; Eñing in turn filed administrative charges. The Lopez clan worried that local violence that abruptly ended his father’s life might befall Eñing too.

Rodrigo continues: “Fortunately, news of the case reached Manila and attracted the attention of Governor General Dwight F. Davis. Governor Arroyo and his cohorts came under minute scrutiny. As a result of the scandals, the Nacionalistas and Quezon began backing away from Arroyo. When Arroyo asked Quezon to recommend to Davis that he be acquitted of the administrative charges, Quezon refused. Instead, Davis swiftly dispatched Judge Manuel Moran (later chief justice of the Supreme Court) to investigate the libel case. After a series of hearings, Moran established that Arroyo and police chief Buenaflor were in fact heavily involved in illegal gambling. They even ran a gambling den as a means of generating money for the upcoming 1931 elections. Moran concluded that Eñing and El Tiempo had not been guilty of libel.”

More evidence of sleaze turned up in Arroyo’s administrative trial. A compadre testified that the governor coddled jueteng runners not only for bribes but also as political ward leaders. In Oct. 1930 Davis sacked Arroyo for corruption.

It is said that the disgraced political family quietly moved to Negros Occidental. Joining them was Jesusa Lacson Arroyo, widow of Senator Jose Pidal Arroyo, the fallen governor’s brother. One of Jesusa’s sons, Ignacio, became the father of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” and Rep. Ignacio Jr. “Iggy. Mike would in turn sire Reps. Juan Miguel “Mikey” and Diosdado “Dato”.

Eñing would later establish the newspaper Chronicle and broadcaster ABS-CBN, and buy out the Americans from Meralco. The fruit does not fall far from the tree. Eñing’s sons, first Eugenio Jr. and then Oscar, would lead the family holdings company. Third son Manuel would chair Meralco.

Mike and Mikey would themselves be linked to jueteng payola. Exposed for owning a secret bank account under alias “Jose Pidal”, Mike would deny knowing anybody with such name, but Iggy would own up to it. Gloria Arroyo would then claim it as her excess campaign contributions.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

E-jeepney sagot sa mahal na gas

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, June 2, 2008

SUBOK na ito sa Makati, Baguio, Puerto Princesa at Ba­ colod: E-jeepney (electric jeepney) ang sagot sa nagma­mahalang gasolina at lubricants. Malinis pa ang hangin.

Disenyong Pinoy pero gawa sa Tsina ang e-jeepney. Imbis diesel o gasolina, umaandar ito sa pamamagitan ng rechargeable battery. Ipa-plug lang ang baterya sa charger na de-kuryente, tapos puwede na pumasada. Tahimik ang makinang de-baterya. At dahil walang sinusunog na langis, wala ring usok at nakalalason na emissions ang e-jeepney.

Nu’ng Abril hanggang Oktubre 2007, nag-assemble ng ilang e-jeepneys para i-test run sa apat na nabanggit na lungsod. Ang sasakyang “animan” — ibig sabihin, anim na pasahero sa bawat upuan sa likod, at tatlo sa harap, o kabuoang 15 — ay kayang umarangkada nang hanggang 40 kph. Tamang-tama ito para sa mga purok na masikip ang trapik.

Sa isang charge lang ng baterya, na inaabot nang walong oras sa magdamag, kayang tumakbo ng e-jeepney nang 100-120 km. Kung pamilyar kayo sa ka­ raniwang ruta sa siyudad na limang kilometro, maku­kuwenta niyo ang efficiency. Makakailang biyahe ang e-jeepney sa halaga lang ng P110-P140 kada charge, hindi libo-libong piso na halaga ng imported diesel.

Panukala ni Sen. Pia Cayetano na puhunanan ng mga city hall ang pagpapakalat ng e-jeepneys. Sila na mismo ang umorder sa assembler, tapos ibenta sa mga jeepney cooperatives nang installment. Natuwa nga siya sa pasya ng Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines na makiisa sa Green Renewable Independent Power Producer para bumuo agad ng 45 e-jeepneys.

Sa huli, makakatipid ang city halls sa gastusing pag­papagamot ng mga mamamayan. Isa sa bawat pumapa­sadang tsuper, at karamihan ng malimit magbiyaheng estudyante o empleyado ay ubuhin o may sakit sa baga dahil sa vehicle emissions. Pero kung lilinis na ang hangin dahil de-baterya na imbis na de-gasolina ang jeepneys, ligtas na sila.