Just answer the charges

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Caloocan City Rep. Oscar Malapitan began with the right words. With his son and brother accused of gang-raping two minors, he declared: “If any of my constituents are unjustly treated, I will fight for them. If any of my kin are guilty, I will let them rot in jail.”
People thought Malapitan had the makings of a statesman. But then he just had to add, “Those rape charges are politically motivated, I’m sure.”
Gosh! The police conducted the investigation very quietly precisely because a congressman’s close kin were involved. The girls, aged 14 and 16, at first were afraid to complain. A certain Larry had tried to buy the silence of the victims’ families for P20,000. In the end, the girls decided to go to court. They took the requisite medical checks, recounted the events to the police, then identified from file photos the eight barangay officers who on Apr. 12 had arrested them for curfew violation then abused them in a hotel. Only then did the cops announce readiness to file court charges. It is this two-week silence between crime commission and complaint filing that Malapitan cites as proof of political machination.
Told by reporters he was the political rival Malapitan was referring to, Mayor Enrico Echiverri could only shake his head: “How can I induce two young teenagers I don’t know to get themselves arrested and raped?”
By imputing partisan politics, Malapitan is trying to either spread the guilt around or soften the public blow of his son and brother’s involvement. Either way, it’s unfair to the two. Rape is a no-bail heinous offense. They need to put up a good legal defense fast, with family help. Shouting politics can lull them into complacency.
Besides, ascribing political motives is a worn-out excuse. One who does it looks guiltier than ever. That too is unfair to the presumably innocent accused.
It’s best for Malapitan to follow the example of Manila Mayor Fred Lim. Lim’s son was nabbed recently for pushing shabu to undercover cops. The mayor praised the narcs for a good job, told his son to face the music, and let the justice system move uninfluenced.
* * *
Dir. Carmelo Alfiler replies to my piece Monday on x-ray shortage at the Philippine General Hospital:
“Your article comes in the midst of our aggressive efforts to modernize, upgrade and rehabilitate 20- to 100-year-old PGH facilities, including infrastructure and equipment, to be able to deliver quality health services. PGH needs a lot of funds for repair and preventive maintenance of serviceable units, especially big-ticket items. It needs more to purchase new state-of-the-art hospital and medical machines. We thank the National Government’s executive and legislative branches and attached agencies for assisting us greatly, especially in the last three to four years, with increased budgetary allocation for maintenance and operating expenses and capital outlay. We are also thankful to the private sector for providing additional support in areas where government subsidy is lacking.
“This is the status of our x-ray machines: 12 are functional (three bucky and two fluoroscopy units at the outpatient department, one digital machine at the radiology department, five portable units — one each for the Central Block, Medical ICU, Central ICU, OR-Surgical ICU and Neurosurgical ICU — and two C-arms at the OR). Two high-end portable x-ray machines will be arriving soon. Eleven need repair; spare parts are costly and are being imported. We have been looking into repairing them at reasonable cost and satisfactory after-service guarantees.
“While it is true that we have had problems with the Central Block’s air-conditioning, now significantly solved, which caused our sensitive x-ray equipment to malfunction, we have instituted contingency measures in the exigency of service. The rest of our radio-diagnostic equipment, CT scans, MRI and ultrasound machines, are functioning.”
* * *
I hope the reply doesn’t come across as glossing over my report on emergency and inpatients sharing Radiology’s one remaining x-ray unit. Because if so, people will not see the gravity of PGH’s need for funds. A local Rotary Club chapter, with strong international contacts, wrote about its willingness to help, as it already has for other public hospitals. I can relay the contact details if PGH is interested.
My piece aimed only to show the government’s muddled priorities. While the poor are in dire need of health services, it enters into a $330-million overpriced, unnecessary telecom deal that it refuses to explain. Not only PGH but all government hospitals are struggling to make ends meet, pay staff salaries and have running water in toilets. Thieves in high places do not seem to care.
* * *
E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

PGH has only one last x-ray machine

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, April 28, 2008

A call from a legislator usually is enough for executive officials to act. Not at the Dept. of Transport and Communication, most notorious for red tape. Officials there have been sitting nearly a year on the classification of electric jeepneys as public utility vehicles. Fed up, Sen. Pia Cayetano has filed a resolution for them to speed up such listing, so that the eco-friendly jeepneys finally can operate as mass transport. It now has to take common action by senators to make bureaucrats do the right thing — if they will.

“The e-jeepney may be the best thing to happen to public transport,” Cayetano says, citing the invention’s smoke- and noise-free test runs. But delay in its PUV classification, a mere formality, has prevented the needed registration and plate numbering for mass transport use.

The environmentalist-senator stresses the e-jeepney’s potential to clean up the city air. It runs on battery power, and thus does not emit toxic fumes that scientists blame for rising incidence of respiratory illness among drivers and commuters. In the process it helps slow down climate change.

Aside from health and environment, the e-jeepney offers other pluses for society. If all jeepneys turn to rechargeable cells, the resulting clean air will encourage private motorists to commute, and so decongest city traffic. And there’s the much-needed relief from soaring oil prices. The e-jeepney can run 100-120 km on a single battery charge of eight hours. If a unit plies the five-kilometer Ayala Avenue-Washington Street route in Makati, it can run at least three days on that one charge, costing P110-P140. The benefits can be passed on to passengers in terms of lower fares. The e-jeepney can carry 12-15 passengers.

Cayetano cannot fathom why the DOTC is delaying the classification. E-jeepney pioneer Green Renewable Independent Power Producer and its partners Greenpeace and Solar Energy Co. had applied for categorizing in July. But the papers have languished on the desk of DOTC Dir. Ildefonso Patdu, Cayetano laments. “I had even written DOTC Sec. Leandro Mendoza last March, but our office hasn’t received a reply even if my staff kept following up,” she says.

* * *

What’s happening to the Philippine General Hospital? The country’s premier tertiary hospital lacks x-ray machines. And anxious doctors can’t go anywhere but to the press for relief.

The Radiology Department’s air-con conked out months ago, so the equipment broke down one by one from overheat. Since ten days back only one x-ray machine has been left functioning. The Emergency Room and the In-Patient Ward must now share that one remaining unit. There are only two other x-rays at sprawling PGH, both old, one at the Out-Patient Department and a portable for the Operating Room.

The Radiology Department’s one machine is being used more for emergency patients, and only for chest x-rays. Doctors must pull in-patients up, whether paying or charity, to have vital x-rays taken at nearby clinics or other hospitals. At times even emergency patients who can are directed to go to the clinics outside, rather than wait too long in line inside.

PGH doctors have alerted their colleagues in other hospitals and private clinics: if they must refer patients to the PGH, please have their x-rays taken elsewhere before going. Reminder: even if a patient’s “injury and medical clearance examination” is complete, PGH doctors still might need to prescribe special x-rays. Yet the PGH has no more traction films, stress films, or special views. The docs can handle patients that will not need such x-rays. Those who do, they painfully advise to go to other medical centers.

X-rays may not seem to be lifesaving. But these are crucial for doctors to make exact diagnoses, prescriptions and surgeries. X-rays form part of basic treatments of pulmonary, cardiac and orthopedic ailments. Hopefully, PGH can find the funds to repair or replace the radiology gear and air-con.

PGH treatment is cheap, which is why the poor go there. Needless to say, the docs are top-rate and dedicated. Some docs even pay for the meds and meals of indigent patients. But they can only do so much without basic facilities for good medical work. If the foremost state hospital suffers from equipment shortage, what more the smaller public clinics? To think that government was ready to plunk $330 million in an overpriced but needless broadband network.

* * *

Whatever happened to Amin Boratong, indicted operator of the Pasig City shabu flea market busted in 2006? Ask NBI agents why his trial isn’t proceeding, and they’ll pull you aside to whisper that he’s untouchable. He contributed big to a high politico’s campaign in 2004, and is being shielded from prosecution.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

PGH kapos sa x-rays

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc. Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, April 28, 2008

ANO itong nangyayari sa Philippine General Hospital sa Ermita, Manila? Ang pangunahing tertiary public hospital ay kapos sa x-ray machines, At dahil walang malapitan ang mga balisang doktor, sa media sila dumulog.

Ilang buwan na kasing hindi umaandar ang aircon sa Radiology Department, at dahil sa init ay bumigay ang mga ekuwipo. Mula Abril 18 isang x-ray machine na lang ang gumagana, at naghahalinhinan dito ang Emergency Room at in-patients (nagbabayad man o charity). May dalawa pang x-ray sa PGH, pero ang isa ay nasa Out-Patient Department, at ang portable ay para sa Opera-ting Room.

Mas pinagagamit ang nag-iisa na lang na x-ray ng Radiology Dept. sa emergency patients, pero pang chest lang ito. Napipilitan ang mga doktor na pabangunin ang in-patients, pay o charity ward man, para magpa-x-ray sa mga paligid na klinika. Kung minsan ka, pati emergency patients na hindi naman grabe ang kalagayan ay sa labas na nila itinuturo para lang ma-x-ray agad at hindi na pumila nang matagal.

Nananawagan na ang mga doktor sa PGH sa mga kasamahan sa ibang ospital o klinika. Kung magpapadala raw ng pasyente sa PGH, payuhan daw na magpa-x-ray na at bitbitin ang resulta. Tandaan daw na miski kumpleto ang “injury and medical clearance examinations,” mahi­hirapan pa rin ang PGH doctors na magreseta ng espesyal na x-rays, tulad ng traction films, stress films, special views, atbp. ‘Yung ibang pasyente nga raw, pinapayuhan na lang nila na sa ibang ospital tumungo.

Sa unang tingin iisipin ng iba na hindi naman pangsalba ng buhay ang x-ray machine, kaya hindi ito mahalaga. Pero kung tutuusin ay sa x-ray madalas nakikita ng doktor kung ano eksakto ang sakit ng pasyente, kung ano ang lunas, at kung saan ooperahan kung kailangan. Mahalaga rin ito sa mga may karamdaman sa puso, baga at buto. Kaya sana ay mapondohan agad ng PGH ang pag-repair o bili ng bagong radiology equipment.

Mura sa PGH at iba pang government hospitals, kaya doon nagpupunta ang mahihirap nating kababayan. Hindi ko na kailangan ulitin na mahuhusay at dedicated ang mga doktor doon.

Across-the-board kaysa porsiyento

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, April 25, 2008

DAHIL sa nagtataasang presyo ng pagkain at gasolina, dalawang uri ng wage increase ang hinihingi ngayon. Hinain ng Trade Union Congress of the Philippines sa Kongreso at regional wage boards ang across-the-board na P60 kada araw; ang Kilusang Mayo Uno, P125 kada araw.

Kung kukuwentahin ang nais ng TUCP, papatak ito ng P1,800 kada buwan (P60 x 30 araw) para sa lahat ng emple­yado — pribado man o gobyerno, hepe man o clerk. ‘Yung sa KMU, P3,750 kada buwan sa lahat.

Samantala, nagpanukala si Rep. Edcel Lagman ng 10% dagdag-sahod sa mga taga-gobyerno, kasama na ang pulisya at militar. Ani Budget Sec. Rolando Andaya, iaanunsiyo din daw ni President Gloria Arroyo sa Labor Day ang 10% umento sa gobyerno. Ito’y dahil sa inflation na 6.4% nitong Marso, pinakamataas mula nu’ng Agosto 2006.

Pinag-isipan kaya nang husto ang 10% increase sa gobyerno? Sa palagay ko’y hindi. Kasi kung pinag-aralan ito, makikita nina Lagman, Andaya at Arroyo na hindi porsiyento kundi across-the-board ang pinaka-mabisang paraan ng dagdag-sahod.

Kung 10% ang itataas ng sahod, P800 lang ito para sa tumatanggap ng P8,000 kada buwan. Pero P2,500 ito — mahigit tatlong beses — para sa sumusuweldo ng P25,000 kada buwan.

Ani Andaya, ang iaanunsiyo ni Arroyo na 10% increase sa May 1 ay magiging effective simula July 1. Uubos daw ang gobyerno ng P12 bilyon para sa umento hanggang katapusan ng taon, o P2 bilyon kada buwan.

Kung hahatiin ang P2 bilyon sa isang milyong kawani sa national government, magkaka-P2,000 sana sila kada buwan. Pero dahil porsiyento ang umento imbis sa across-the-board, ang karamihan ay wala pang P1,000 kada buwan ang matitikman, samantalang ang iilang matataas ay mag-uuwi ng bulto ng increase na tig-P2,500 pataas.

Huling nag-umento sa gobyerno nu’ng Marso 2007 (dala­wang buwan bago mag-eleksiyon). Gan’un din: 10% ang ibinigay ni Arroyo. Nagkalayu-layo lalo ang salary grades sa gobyerno.

Playing hero to mask faults

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Friday, April 25, 2008

It’s the same every year as Labor Day approaches. Malacañang brags of having kept food and fuel prices down, so there’s no need to hike wages. But this time they’re singing a different tune. During a factory visit last week Gloria Arroyo declared a 10-percent raise in the government starting July, and hoped minimum pay in private firms will expand too. Congress allies then warned the regional wage boards to issue higher salary rates by mid-May, or else face abolition.

The admin obviously has lost to inflation, although it’s not admitting so. The Palace is pointing to a slew of “outside forces beyond our control” that suddenly kicked up gas and rice prices: OPEC cartelism and oil speculation, increased demand for cereals and meat in China and India, global warming. And, oh, there’s one domestic fault too, a Cabinet man added: Filipinos are so careless they waste on average one teaspoon of rice each meal.

With everyone else to blame except the admin, Malacañang then set out to show how it heroically was doing everything to aid the poor. Everyday it did something new, to shock and awe. First, it pulled cheap government-milled rice out of public marts, supposedly due to mislabeling as pricier varieties. Then it began selling the rice thru truck stores, churches, in slums, and soon in schools. Import deals were rushed with Vietnam and the US. The National Food Authority upped its palay buying rate and lifted the ban on private importation of grains. At least five warehouses in Luzon were raided for hoarded rice. And so on.

As usual it was all for photo-ops. Malacañang was also only looking for scapegoats.

Why vendors would mix expensive rice with inexpensive but smelly government stocks is incredible, to begin with. Consumers buy from their suki, who wouldn’t dare pull a fast one and forever lose their business, since mixed rice ends up gooey from longer cooking time. If government rice is disappearing from market stalls, it’s because there isn’t much to begin with. The NFA can buy up only one percent of palay harvests; hence, only one-half percent of rice.

Selling through churches was meant to mask the true causes of rising prices, astute bishops soon found out. Winding queues under the hot sun for a measly ration of three kilos from the rice trucks only demeaned the poor all the more. The social welfare secretary had to warn slum dwellers not to fall prey to politicking in the issuance of ration coupons.

Panic buying from Vietnam and the US backfired on the Palace. It only bolstered consumers’ suspicions of a rice crisis, not the price crisis that the admin is striving to make them believe. It also drove world prices higher than before news broke in March of global grains shortage.

Yawns met the boast of helping farmers via higher palay prices — precisely because the cash-strapped NFA buys inconsequentially little. There were no takers to NFA’s opening of rice importation by private traders.

Raiding warehouse was most ominous. The justice secretary and his NBI chief called the Chinese-Filipino owners rapacious hoarders. Their proof: high inventories by the thousands of sacks, and receipts of palay purchases higher than NFA rates, which all allegedly meant the Chinamen were scheming to sell high.

Phooey! In the rice trade, stocking up thousands of sacks only means good capitalization — not hoarding. The trader will have to sell sooner or later, lest his stocks rot. Buying palay high is never a crime; in fact, it helps the farmers. An intent to sell high, assuming the raided traders were so thinking, is not a crime either. It’s like wishing dead the reckless cabbie that just cut into your lane, which is very far from actually killing him.

The raids also backfired. Other traders stopped buying palay, lest they too be mechanically accused of hoarding. Farmers ended up losers.

But the admin’s true intention was accomplished. It laid the blame of rising prices and shortage of cheap rice on the Chinese among us. This will come in handy in case the crisis worsens as some forecast. Like in Indonesia a decade ago, a dying admin will unleash mobs-for-hire against the Intsik.

Niftily forgotten through all this are the real reasons for the shortage: official incompetence and corruption. For seven years now RP has been short of two million tons of rice per year. The admin response has been to import the deficiency instead of improving yields — basically because kickbacks from imports come quicker in two months, compared to a year from irrigation works and none from hybrid research. Forgotten too was the waste of P780 million by Malacañang favorite Jocjoc Bolante on ghost fertilizer deliveries as Arroyo was preparing to run for President in 2004. About that same time, the Quedancor under the Office of the President also filched P1.7 billion from farcical hog dispersal.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Obfuscating the swine scam and Perez case

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Malacañang’s stock answer to cries of sleaze in the executive branch is beginning to sound silly. “Present evidence in court, not in the press,” presidential spokesmen jeer Atty. Harry Roque about unearthed fraud in the hog dispersal project. They forget that Roque is citing official findings of the Commission on Audit. Meaning, since the COA itself sees felony in the P1.7-billion deal, then Malacañang must help indict the crooks. More so since it’s the President’s sworn duty to uphold the law.

The state-owned Quedan Rural Credit Guaranty Corp. is under the executive. President Gloria Arroyo appointed its CEO Nelson Buenaflor in 2001. During the years 2003-2004 under COA review, Quedancor was in fact attached to the Office of the President, having been moved from (then returned to) the agriculture department. Malacañang thus shares responsibility for Quedancor’s payment of P1.7 billion for ghost supplies of swine by four companies with meager means. More so if its spokesmen obfuscate instead of publicly explain the matter.

The swine scam occurred the same time as Agriculture Usec. Jocjoc Bolante’s P780-million ghost delivery of fertilizers to admin political allies. The modus operandi was identical, perhaps the motive too of doling cash to legislators and governors preparatory to Arroyo’s 2004 presidential run.

From reports, Quedancor in late 2003 contracted four favored piglet suppliers. Metro Livestock Inc., BIRKS Agri-Livestock Inc., New Gold Agri-Vet Co., and Silver Rock Resources Corp. allegedly had paid-up capital of less than P1 million each. Yet they were awarded contracts up to 500 times their worth, way beyond the government limit of only tenfold. Quedancor even paid the firms in advance, although they showed no proof of having delivered to farm cooperatives or local governments.

Evidently in a hurry to filch the public funds, Quedancor and cohorts carried out the scam so messily. From papers in COA hands, the same guy fronted for three of the suppliers. Genuine bidders were eased out of the contracting. Supposed beneficiary-farmers never got the piglets; some were paid P200-P300 to sign false delivery reports. Quedancor in turn booked the P1.7 billion as “bad debts” to thousands of chiselers.

This month Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol tried to fool the public into thinking it was illicit to identify the farmers. He fibbed that Quedancor operates as a bank and thus is bound by the Bank Secrecy Law. The agency, he claimed, may not disclose its withdrawers sans court order.

In truth, however, Quedancor is a mere conduit of funds from true state banks like Land Bank and Development Bank of the Philippines. Part of the COA report in fact took to task Quedancor for functioning as a bank in the hog dispersal venture, without the requisite banking license. And, oh, bank secrecy bars the exposure of depositors, not borrowers; Apostol thinks Filipinos stupid to not know that.

Not only are Palace factotums muddling the issue by taunting Roque to go to court. There is also no effort at all in Malacañang to go after the Quedancor felons. The Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, usually keen to proclaim accomplishments, has yet to investigate Buenaflor.

* * *

Maybe people shouldn’t believe Palace spokesmen. Not even the President’s men do. Like, they stated that Malacañang would not meddle in the Ombudsman’s graft indictment of former justice secretary Nani Perez. Promptly the next day present justice secretary Raul Gonzalez interloped that the case is weak because the principal accuser has lost interest.

Gonzalez was faking, though, about the effect of Mark Jimenez’s 2006 decision to forgive Perez of alleged $2-million extortion. Here are the facts. The Ombudsman filed four criminal cases against Perez, numbered 08-0265 to 08-0268: corruption, robbery, falsification of public document, and hiding $1.7 million from his Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Co-accused in the first two are Perez’s wife Rosario, brother-in-law Ramon Arceo, and trade partner Ernest Escaler.

The four raps stemmed from an incident at Jimenez’s Forbes Park mansion in Feb. 2001, days after Gloria Arroyo’s ascendancy. Perez, new in the Cabinet, threatened to jail Jimenez, there to die of boils or in the hands of toughies. Instead of squealing on cronies of ousted President Joseph Estrada, Jimenez obeyed Perez’s order to put $2 million in Escaler’s bank in Hong Kong, en route to Rosario and Arceo’s Swiss account.

Jimenez naturally is listed as witness in the four complaints. If ever his case pullout impaired any, it’s robbery where he’s eyewitness (along with wife and son). In the other cases, there are witnesses like Wendy Lee Wing Tak of Coutts Bank-Hong Kong, Wayne Patrick Walsh of Hong Kong’s justice department, Vladimir Stemberger of EFG Bank-Geneva, and more.

The cases seem solid. But then, Gonzalez may know something we don’t, that’s why he’s conditioning the public mind this early for Perez’s acquittal.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

More of what General and Mrs. Garcia said

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc , The Philippine Star, Monday, April 21, 2008

Voluble Clarita D. Garcia wanted back the $100,000 cash that U.S. Customs confiscated from her sons in Dec. 2003. But she felt that she and her husband, AFP Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, hadn’t explained enough. So on Apr. 6, 2004, she handwrote Customs agent van Dyke (presented as is):

“This statement is in addition to justify how we were able to accumulate the $100,000. As on the papers submitted by my husband, he just showed his income tax return from his earnings, which showed insufficient funds to accumulate the amount brought by our two sons. Aside from my husband’s declared income, he did not mention his other income from his travel and schooling allowances, honorariums and gratuities given to him due to his added duties and functions designated for his position as Major General in the Philippine Armed Forces.

“For example, honorarium benefits: My husband holds different chairmanship and directorship with different Armed Forces institutions and he receives money allowances for every meeting that he attends weekly.

“Travel allowances: As a comptroller, J6 Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Comptrollership, he is a member of the Management Team of Projects. For example: A certain foreign company wins a bidding from the Bids and Awards Committee for selling military hardware. This procurement is approved by the Secretary of National Defense and Office of the President. Then a team committee is formed in the Armed Forces to oversee the implementation of the contract. Since my husband’s office is under the Department of Budget and Management that holds the budget of the whole government, his office is part of the inspection team. In one of the provisions of the contract, a team of committee will oversee the implementation of the contract before, during and after. During the ‘before’ portion of the contract, my husband goes to inspect the site or location of the plant of the contracted party. Then during the ‘during’ portion of the contract, he goes back to the contracted country to see the actual products. During the ‘after’ portion of the contract, he returns to the contracted country to accept the finished product. During these travels, my husband always brings me along and we are each given travel allowances by the proponents/host country. He is also by his office stipend and allowances to be used at his discretion. As a wife, I am also given an envelope as they called ‘shopping money’ that I can use for my own discretion, no receipt of how we use the stipends are ever required. Business class airfare/first class accommodations and transportation are provided by the host/proponents and this happens on every trip since 1993 to present. Our meals, purchase of souvenirs and cost of visiting sites are also paid for by our host. As a result, our allowances are not used and we are allowed to keep them. I am unable to provide the exact amount of each stipend/allowances because it varies from country to country we are assigned to visit.

“When my husband is assigned to travel domestically in the Philippine Islands to conduct inspection on different military camps, he is also given stipend/allowances and also often given gratuities.

“With regards to expenses such as salaries for our drivers, security guards, their wages are paid for by the government. My husband’s office is provided with government vehicles, free gasoline, housing allowances and lots of gratuities, gifts received from colleagues. This is again part of the PERKS that my husband receives from holding a key position in the Philippine Armed Forces.

“Also, when he was sent for schooling abroad, his salaries and allowances go to his savings. The counterpart country also gives him stipend and housing allowance. For example: when he took his Master’s Degree at Monterey Post Naval Graduate School, CA 1993-95; for those period he was given allowances from his country and counterpart country. Since I am a license registered nurse in California, I was able to work for two years as a nurse that also contributed to our income. This money was not only accumulated for 1-2 years but this is our accumulated savings for the past years.

“With regards to my income from the resort and orchard that came from my parents inheritance, Philippine laws allow the reporting of income, for the first two years of operation, as a loss. Then even though the corporation made profits since its start of operations, we reported a loss the first two years of operation.

“As an American given or accumulating peso funds, I always change these peso funds to dollar money, including all the profits of our corporations that accumulated through the years.

“(Signed) Clarita D. Garcia, 4/6/04.”

* * *

The general has since been acquitted in two of four charges of perjury in concealing his wealth from his Statements of Assets and Liabilities.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Back to top

Mrs. Carlos Garcia: ‘Mayaman kami’ (1)

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, April 21, 2008

DIS. 19, 2003, hinarang ng U.S. Customs ang dalawang mag­kapatid na kalalapag lang sa California airport mula Manila. Hindi dineklara nina Ian Carl Garcia, 26, at Juan Paolo Garcia, 23, ang dala-dalang $100,000 cash — isang krimen. Pinahayag ng dalawa na US citizens sila at di alam ang bigat ng pagkakasala. Ani Ian, nakatulog siya kaya ipinaubaya sa kapatid ang pagpuno sa Customs form. Ani Juan, umiiwas lang siya sa gulo dahil inusisa din dalawang buwan lang ang nakalipas kung paano nakaka-biyaheng first class gayong college student lang siya.

Kinumpiska ng U.S. agents ang $100,000. Nakiusap si Clarita D. Garcia, ina ng dalawa, na isoli ang pera. Su­mumpa siya sa U.S. Customs nu’ng Abr. 6, 2004 sa mga sumusunod:

• Pang-down payment ang $100,000 sa New York condo na titirhan ng bunsong si Timothy, na umuupa ng apartment na $3,000 isang buwan. Inatasan niya ang mga anak na ideklara ang pera, kaso sutil ang spoiled na si Juan. Pero siya (Clarita) ay masunurin sa batas: dineklara ang ipinasok na pera nu’ng 1993 at 1995. Dineklara muli ang $100,000 na ipinasok nu’n lang Dis. 17, 2003, at $200,000 nung Enero 2003.

• Apat ang pinagkakakitaan ng pamilya: dalawang kompanya, isang daycare, at trabaho ng asawa bilang two-star heneral sa Armed Forces ng Pilipinas. Kumikita sila buwanan nang $8,000 sa dalawang kompanya at $10,000 sa daycare, pero hindi nila ito dinedeklara para lusot sa buwis.

• Deklarado ang suweldo para sa buwis ng asawang Carlos Garcia, Comptroller hanggang Abril 4, 2004. Bukod dito, tumatanggap si Carlos ng pambiyahe at panggastos na labis sa libu-libong dolyares. Sumasama siya (Clarita) sa biyahe at pinababaunan ng $10,000-$20,000. Mula lahat ‘yon sa mga military contractors sa Europa, Asya at Pilipinas.

• Bilang asawa ng heneral, meron siyang 4,000-gallon gas allowance kada buwan, limang tsuper, security detail, at cook na piyanista rin.

Nu’ng nakaraang linggo inabsuwelto ng korte si Garcia sa di-pagdeklara ng mga kayamanan sa Statements of Assets and Liabilities. Bakit!?! (Itutuloy)

Lamang dagat nasasaid na

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, April 18, 2008

NU’NG bata pa ako, dekada ’60 at kokonti pa ang tao sa Pilipinas, gapalad ang laki ng ordinaryong sapsap, at gabinti ang bangus. Apat na daliri ang lapad ng tatampal (alupihang dagat), at banye-banyera ang itinitindang alimasag sa palengke.

Matuling dumami ang populasyon, at nalaspag ang pangisdaan sa walang-humpay na pagdidinamita, pagla­lason at panunuro. Samantala, mabagal ang gobyerno sa pagpapalago ng pakain. Ngayon ang sapsap ay malaki lang nang konti sa piso — kung merong nahuhuli — at ang bangus ay inaani na sa palaisdaan nang tatlong piraso sa isang kilo. Kung may makita ka mang tatampal, dalawang daliri lang ang lapad, at ang alimasag ay kasingliit na lang ng talangka. Maliliit pa ang lamang dagat, hinuhuli na ng nagugutom na populasyon.

Ngayon ay napipinto umano ang krisis sa pagkain sa buong mundo. Lumalaki ang populasyon sa mga umu­unlad na bansa, at ang mga palayan at ginagawang baha­yan. Kumokonti rin ang ani ng bigas, trigo, mais at iba pang staple dahil sa bagyo’t tagtuyot na dala ng climate change. Kasabay nito, nilalaspag na rin ng ibang bansa ang laman-dagat: Ang Japan ay patuloy ang pag-hunting ng balyena, at ang China ay sa Pilipinas nagpo-poach ng isdang bawal tulad ng mameng.

Nahahawa ang Pilipinas sa ugali ng China. Nauuso na rin dito ang pagkain ng uri ng pating na banderahan. Napaulat kamakailan na inaagad ang kawan ng pating sa Batangas. Nangangamba ang conservationists na mau­ubos na ang uri na nilistang “vulnerable” dahil malapit na maging “endangered”. Kapag nangyari ‘yon, masisira ang balanse ng buhay-dagat, at maaring mangamatay ang iba pang uri ng isda.

Pinagmamalaki ng gobyerno na lumalaki umano ang ini-invest ng pribadong sektor taun-taon sa aquaculture — kaya huwag daw umanong mangamba sa supply. Pero sa totoo lang, 70% ng aquaculture ay sa seaweeds. Hindi naman ito nakakain; para ito sa pharmaceuticals, beauty products, at industrial uses.

Lest we forget, this was what she said

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc , The Philippines Star, Friday, April 18, 2008

On Dec. 19, 2003 US Customs detained two brothers who had just landed at San Francisco Airport from Manila. Ian Carl Garcia, 26, and Juan Paolo Garcia, 23, did not declare their $100,000 cash, a federal offense. On questioning, they swore to be US citizens but didn’t know the gravity of the misdeed. Ian owned up to the mistake, saying he had fallen asleep and let his brother fill up the Customs form. Juan said he only wanted to avoid questioning, having been accosted in a similar trip two months earlier for flying first class though only a college kid. Unmoved, the US agents confiscated the cash.

Their mother came to the rescue. Pleading for return of the money, she submitted a sworn statement on Apr. 6, 2004, to wit:

“I, Clarita D. Garcia, date of birth Dec. 3, 1950, swear the following are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.

“On or about Dec. 19, 2003, I instructed my sons Juan Paulo and Ian Carl to bring cash in the amount of $100,000 into the US from our home in the Philippines. I told both my sons to declare the money when entering the US. The money was to be used as down payment for a condominium in New York City where my son Timothy would live while going to school. Timothy was paying the amount of $3,000 per month to rent an apartment. My son Juan Paulo told me he didn’t declare the money because ‘it was too much hassle.’ I always declare the money when I bring it into the US. I declared the money in 1993, in 1995 when I had a medical operation. I declared $100,000 on Dec. 17, 2003. I also declared $200,000 in Jan. 2003. My son Juan Paulo is a risk-taker and is very spoiled.

“Source of Funds: My family’s income is from four sources, two corporations, a daycare school, and my husband’s job as a Two Star General in the Philippine Military. My family has 80% interest in the two corporations and we may earn a monthly income equivalent to US$8,000. The daycare brings in more money, perhaps $10,000 per month. However, based on Philippine tax laws regarding both the corporations and daycare, we are allowed to declare zero income. The income received from these businesses was not reported as a basis for tax liability. The two corporations, IJT Mango Orchard Inc. and IJT Katamnan Corp., were incorporated on March 22, 2002.

My husband Carlos Garcia (Two Star General in the Armed Forces) was assigned to the Comptroller’s Office until Apr. 4, 2004. He receives a salary that is declared as income for tax purposes. In addition, Carlos receives travel money and expenses in excess of several thousands of dollars. I often travel with my husband on business and my travel, expenses and shopping money in excess of US$10,000 to $20,000 is provided to me. He often receives cash for travel and expenses from the businesses that are awarded contracts for military hardware. These businesses are in Europe and Asia. He also receives gifts and gratitude money from several Philippine companies that are awarded military contracts to build roads, bridges and military housing.

“As the comptroller, my husband handles all budgets for the Armed Forces. My husband prepared the budget for the armed forces based on the requests from each branch of the military. The budget is sent to the Secretary of National Defense and it is sent to the Senate for approval. The Armed Forces Committee reviews each contractor’s bids. Once the bids are approved and the review committee has checked out the companies, my husband’s is the final signature for funding the contracts.

“The expense money, gratitude money and shopping money are not declared as income.

“My husband will always thank the person that provides the gratitude. If someone stops by the house with a gift or gratitude, my husband insists that their name and telephone number be taken so they may be called and personally thanked. As the wife of a general, I am afforded several privileges including a 4,000-gallon per month gasoline allowance, security detail and five drivers. I have a military cook that also provides piano music upon request.

“My husband’s position in the Armed Forces is one of privilege. The gratitude money that he receives is common and unsolicited. Contracted companies and personnel from the different branches of the armed services are grateful for my husband’s assistance and timely payments for contracted work. In addition, I provided Agent Van Dyke with a four-page handwritten statement that explains my husband’s job and our additional source of funds. Signed: Clarita D. Garcia. Date: 4/06/04.”

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Better to plunder than to mutiny?

Published in The Philippines Star, GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, Wednesday, April 16, 2008

That the two events happened only days apart highlighted the irony all the more. Nine Army junior officers last week opted to plead guilty of coup d’état in the July 2003 Oakwood Hotel takeover, and were promptly sentenced from 12 years to life imprisonment. In another court Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, the Army comptroller exposed in Dec. 2003 of plundering P302 million, was acquitted of perjury to conceal his assets.

Garcia, it should be recalled, was somehow one of the reasons the disgruntled captains and lieutenants had mutinied in 2003. Actually they didn’t name him then, perhaps due to naïveté about the inner workings of the military brass. But they fittingly griped that supplies, ammo, and even combat boots weren’t reaching the frontlines because of sleaze at general headquarters. Criminally they protested by booby-trapping a civilian enterprise in Makati’s central business district while demanding that Commander-in-Chief Gloria Macapagal Arroyo step down. But they captured the imagination of voters enough to send one of them to the Senate in the 2007 election. Garcia meanwhile became the poster boy of rot in the service. From there their stories took strange twists.

Garcia, for all his faults, has been enjoying a string of good fortune. Last week’s clearance by a division of the anti-graft Sandiganbayan, of hiding three cars from his 1998 Statement of Assets and Liabilities, was his second. Two years ago another division absolved him of the same offense in his 1999 SAL. Legal analysts say the acquittals likely will sway two other divisions hearing false entries in his SALs for 1997 and 2000. Earlier a court martial found Garcia guilty of faking his SALs for 2001-2002, and sent him to two years’ hard labor. Since the Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishments, the verdict simply meant doing chores beneath a general — like, uh, sweeping his cell floor. He is in jail only because indicted for no-bail plunder, also at the Sandiganbayan. That and the civil forfeiture of his unexplained P302 million could be affected too by the two exonerations.

In contrast fate has been harsh on the Magdalo mutineers. The raps filed against them, mutiny before a military tribunal and coup d’état in a civilian court, are punishable with service discharge and long prison terms. They apologized to Arroyo in Sept. 2004, but got nowhere. (Nine months later their C-in-C would try the same tact in the Garci exposé and move on.) Jail conditions deservedly have been strict. Scores of foot soldiers that followed the Magdalo officers to Makati in 2003 have been demoted or dismissed. One of the ringleaders, Antonio Trillanes IV, was elected senator but is barred by the court from leaving jail or even talk to the press. The Army renegades eventually broke ranks with their Navy and Marine comrades led by Trillanes. The nine from the Army who last week changed their plea to guilty are believed to have struck a deal in exchange for swift pardon. The brass denied so, yet let the convicts hold a press conference. In their visitors’ hall they vowed contritely to beg Arroyo day and night for clemency — reiterating the message to other potential putschists of who’s the boss. Malacañang played coy about pardoning; a bishop in charge of Catholic prison missions opposed it. No such obstacles marked Arroyo’s reprieve for Joseph Estrada six weeks after sentencing for plunder.

If ever pardoned, the Magdalo men may not be readmitted to duty. At best they could become, like some released buddies, narcotics agents. The longer they stay in jail, the more their families will suffer lost incomes.

Garcia’s wife and three sons have fled to the US to elude prosecution. They are known to own a New York luxury condo and a house in another state. US authorities supposedly confiscated a second flat in the Big Apple, and RP counterparts should have frozen Garcia’s bank accounts. But real estate and deposits in the names of the immediate kin reportedly escaped seizure when prosecutors dropped them from the plunder charge sheet.

Garcia’s hand was caught in the cookie jar not by RP but US officials. The elder sons were to visit the third in Dec. 2003 when nabbed at the San Francisco airport with $100,000 in undeclared cash. Mrs. Garcia tried to retrieve the money by indiscreetly writing US Customs that it was their father’s take from approving military contracts. She even swore that she too had sneaked such amounts into America at least thrice before. Apprised by US agents, the Ombudsman in Sept. 2004 sought Garcia’s suspension. The Armed Forces brass circled wagons around him, relenting only after a public outcry.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

What’s taking so long to certify e-jeepneys?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc , published in The Philippine Star, Monday, April 14, 2008

Gas prices keep on rising, public transporters are demanding higher fares, and their diesel vehicles continue to defile the air. Clearly the energy, transport and environment offices must put together a solution. Sadly they can’t, for one of them is the weakest link.

Consider this: ecologists and technologists trumpeted in July 2007 a smokeless, noiseless electric jeepney. Mayors jostled for the chance to test the prototypes in their locales. As orders piled up, the Asian Development Bank and a Norwegian foundation offered to speed up production, perhaps via new assembly plants. But wait. Eight months since its launch, the no-fume low-cost e-jeepney has yet to be classified by the Dept. of Transport and Communication (DOTC). Classification is needed so that the earth-friendly units can be registered for plate numbers and franchised as public rides. But the paperwork is trapped in DOTC red tape. So the e-jeepney makers and funders are wondering if maybe someone wants his palm greased. And since they won’t stoop to lowlife, they’d rather just re-launch elsewhere in Asia they’re truly welcome, say, Bangkok or Delhi.

Bureaucratic baseball already has delayed the fielding of test units. E-jeepneys for Makati and Bacolod were delivered in Nov., and for Baguio and Puerto Princesa in Jan., only because the city halls took full liability for running them unregistered. Silay City wants one too, even without license plates. But only classification would unclog distribution, according to non-profit Green Renewable Independent Power Producer Inc. Last they heard, an administrative order has been drafted for signing by the DOTC chief. But the paper has been tossed back and forth from the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to DOTC-Legal to Project Development to Transport Planning. As if classification is such a big task — when all DOTC has to do is rank the e-jeepney as a “PUV (public utility vehicle)”, just like its diesel counterpart.

The difference is in the e-jeepney’s efficiency to reduce fares, boost operators’ incomes, and clean the air. The vehicle can run 100-120 km on a single eight-hour battery charge, with 12 passengers at 40 kph. Running completely on electricity, it spares the user from soaring fuel and lubricant costs. If the unit plies a five-km route, it can go for three days without need for recharge. which costs P110-P140.

A Chinese assembler designed the first units. GRIPP had planned to manufacture the revolutionary PUV in Manila starting last month. But it apparently has changed its mind, what with the difficulties red tape poses on innovation.

* * *

Oh, but there’s one thing in which the DOTC is fast — in awarding of questionable biddings.

LTO suppliers are still murmuring about how a consortium won in Aug. 2007 a P114-million deal to install motor vehicle inspection equipment in six branches. They say the bidding apparently was rigged in favor of the group. Its papers were adjudged “passed” although the bid was unsealed and thus broke the rules. Its only other competitor was rated “failed” for not putting its technical and financial papers in separate boxes, a similar lapse.

Worse, one of the consortium’s three partners is well connected to the LTO. He is the husband of an LTO officer for operations, a member of the committee that oversaw the bidding. This is a violation of the Procurement Reform Act of 2005, which requires bidders (including joint venture partners), to disclose their relationship to any bidding officer up to the third degree of consanguinity or affinity.

The breach of law apparently didn’t bother DOTC higher-ups, who quickly endorsed and signed the supply deal.

Copies of the couple’s marriage certificate and corporate papers are now being circulated among the LTO suppliers. It’s not the first time for husband and wife in the game. They too won the bidding for six smoke emission testing machines in late 2006.

* * *

Speaking of eco-friendly vehicles, Puerto Princesa has installed along its scenic bay walk a railcar powered not by gas or electricity but human muscle. Called Karusel, the train can be pedaled by a woman with six grown men as passengers. Traction of the wheels on the rails compensates for minimal propulsion.

University students in the green-minded city designed the system for tourism and mass transport. For drawings and details, contact Vangie Lanot, 0918-4409100, or Marisa Mapa, 0919-6524388.

* * *

Reuel Aguila has won the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa distinction of Makata ng Taon 2008 for his poem, “Haibun sa Pagbabalik.” He was also the Mananaysay (Essayist) ng Taon 2007.

Placing second in poetry this year was Eros Atalia, for “Remedyo”; third, Jerry Gracio for “Binyeta sa Biyahe.” Honorable mentions: Richel Dorota, “Pagsigaw sa Pampang ng Ilog”; Ariel Tabag, “Littugaw”; and Francisco Monteseña, “Kung Nandito Ka Lang.”

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

e-jeepney graphic courtesy of http://www.greenpeace.org

Kabobohan uso na sa gobyerno

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, inilathala sa Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, April 14, 2008

SANA nanaig ang sentido-komon. Sa simula pa lang ay ibinasura na dapat ng opisyales sa Subic Freeport ang balak ng Koreanong Hanjin Corp. na magtayo ng dala­wang high-rise condos sa loob ng watershed sa bundok. Balewala ang $1.2 bilyong ipapasok ng Hanjin sa shipyard. Sa mga bukal-gubat nanggagaling ang tubig-inumin ng mga karatig ng probinsiya ng Zambales at Bataan. Ilang natatanging empleyado lang ang makikinabang sa 20 at 10-storey buildings. Daan-libong taga-ibaba ang mauuhaw.

Kasing baliw ng environment permit sa condos ang ibinigay sa isa pang Koreano para magtayo ng kongkreto’t bakal na spa sa bunganga ng Taal Volcano. Ilang mayaya­mang Koreanong nagpapagamot lang sana ang makikina­bang, habang masisira ang tanawin mula sa Tagaytay ridge.

Naaalala niyo ‘yung opisyal nu’ng dekada-’80 na, mula sa konti na ngang pondo ng agensiya, ay bumili ng mama­haling vibra-massage chair? Giit pa niya, “tayo’y mayamang bansang nagpapanggap na mahirap.” Mas maraming hangal sa Arroyo admin. Tulad nu’ng pag-aapurang buksan ang bago pero sirang Manila airport terminal, kaya gumuho ang kisame nu’ng naunang gabi. O ang pagtayo ng flyover na binabaha sa pinakamataas na bahagi. Nariyan ang pagpapabahay sa waterworks staff sa 58 ektarya ng La Mesa Dam watershed. At ang joint exploration sa China ng offshore oil at gas deposits ng Pilipinas, kaya hindi natin mahigop ang sariling langis habang umiiral ang kasunduan. At nito lang ay sinayang ang tatlong lanes sa magkabila ng Commonwealth Avenue sa Quezon City para sa U-turn slots na halos wala namang gumagamit. Kundi nagnanakaw ang admin (tulad ng $330-milyon NBN-ZTE scam), pinapalpak nito ang trabaho.

Dapat alam ng opisyales na tungkulin nila ipairal ang batas — nang magkapantay-pantay lahat. Magtatangka palagi ang makasariling tao na lamangan ang kapwa. Tulad ng convoy ng obispo ng sekta na nananakot sa moto­rista, o ng ferry operator na pinahahamak ang buhay ng mga pasahero sa overloading, o ng electric company na nagpa-pad ng billings. Pero naroon dapat ang gobyerno para itulak sila pabalik sa pila.

Good sense lost in Subic forest

Published in The Philippine Star, GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, Friday, April 11, 2008

It’s a curse on our land that our leaders if not crooked are plain dull. The costly, needless, hidden $330-million NBN-ZTE deal typifies the sleazy. The environment clearance for Korean firm Hanjin Corp. to build two high-rise condos inside the Subic Freeport forest shows up the incompetent.

With commonsense, Subic’s eco-officer should have rejected outright Hanjin’s bid to despoil the watershed. It doesn’t matter that the firm was spending big on a shipyard. The forest must be preserved because from it springs potable water for the adjacent Zambales and Bataan provinces. To let Hanjin’s privileged employees live in the restricted zone in exchange for a $1.2-billion investment is bad taste. Hundreds of thousands of lowlanders would go thirsty.

The permit is as zany as that granted to another sly Korean to build a concrete and steel spa on the mouth of Taal Volcano’s crater. It would have let only a few moneyed Asian tourists enjoy it, but spoiled the view from Tagaytay’s ridge.

Remember that dimwit in the late ’80s who, from his agency’s meager operating funds, bought himself an expensive leather vibra-massage chair? He justified it with equal denseness that “we’re a rich country pretending to be poor.” Sillier works abound under the Arroyo admin. Like, that rush to open the new but shoddy Manila airport terminal, with the ceiling falling ominously the night before. Or, the construction of a flyover that floods at its highest stretch. Also, waterworks staff housing on 58 hectares of La Mesa Dam woodland that would have poisoned Mega Manila’s drinking water. Not to forget, the joint exploration with China of RP’s offshore oil and gas wells, which banned any oil extraction by RP for the duration of the pact. Only last week, I pointed out the wasting of three lanes on each side of Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City for U-turn slots that hardly anyone uses. This admin seems to find joy in mediocrity.

Officials must know that their job is to enforce the law and so make everyone equal. Selfish folk will always try to pull a fast one. Like, that bishop whose vehicle convoys menace motorists to give way. Or, that ferry operator who hazardously overloads passengers. And, the electric company that overcharges customers. But the government should be there to push them back in line.

Only an idiot will not understand that. But sadly in government, it’s the idiot who rises to position.

* * *

Speaker Prospero Nograles, pushing for passage of anti-graft bills, laments that corruption is a “deadly virus”. Really? I’ve never heard of any congressman dying from pork barrel.

* * *

Authorities are to make an ambitious “discipline zone” of Quezon City’s once promising but now blighted Commonwealth Avenue. Traffic and cleanliness laws are to be strictly enforced on the five-kilometer stretch under a program called “SB/Sumunod sa Batas”. Cops, metropolitan and city officials vow to collect garbage and ban littering, clear the sidewalks, and haul away reckless drivers and jaywalkers.

That’s a tall order. Decades of bad habits would be tough to unmake. Litterbugs dump home and market trash on the road median. Uncouth bus and jeepney drivers load and unload passengers wherever they wish. Daredevils cross on the 16-lane highway instead of pedestrian overpasses. Street hawkers occupy road and sidewalks in the name of poverty. And ordinary motorists drive like crazy, joining the chaos around them in classic example of “broken windows syndrome.”

But if disciplining works on Commonwealth, the whole metropolis may yet save itself from decay. Needing similar zones are Bagong Silang in Caloocan and Tramo in Pasay.

* * *

Okay, so Malacañang has lifted the 300,000-metric ton yearly limit on rice imports by private traders. They may now bring in as much as they want.

Wait, here’s the big but: they still need accreditation by the National Food Authority under the Office of the President. And they must buy only through the NFA and from NFA suppliers.

That rule smells fishy. It seems to ensure that the Palace biggie will still get his “tongpats (kickback)” from others’ imports?

The brouhaha over a rice shortage stinks too. Poor Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap has been going around town to dispel rumors of stocks running out in just 12 days. But Malacañang is doing everything to make it look like there’s a crisis: raids on private warehouses, NFA’s sudden increase in palay buying price, government retailing of rice no longer by sack but kilo bags and thru churches, P48 billion emergency for production boosting, and a serious second look at the population policy.

All this aims only to prime the public mind for the “urgent need” to import two million tons of rice. Again, so that the biggie gets his “bukol (bulging kickback)”.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Senado lulusawin

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, April 11, 2008

MAY pait sa salita ni dating Senate President Franklin Drilon. Dahil sa 9-6 decision ng Korte Suprema sa executive privilege, buwagin na lang daw ang Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee. Tutal, aniya, wala na itong pangil.

Kinatigan kasi ng Korte na huwag pilitin si Romy Neri na umamin sa mga pinag-usapan nila ni President Gloria Arroyo tungkol sa maruming ZTE deal. Executive privilege raw ni Arroyo na ilihim ito, miski karapatan din ng taumbayan na malaman ang katotohanan sa mga transaksiyon ng gobyerno. Kesyo raw aasim ang relasyon ng Tsina at RP kung ibunyag ang usapan nina Arroyo at Neri tungkol sa Chinese telecom firm.

Kuwenta nilisensiyahan ng Korte lahat ng taga-Ehe­kutibo na ihirit ang executive privilege para pagtakpan ang mga krimen nila. Kaya para kay Drilon, wala nang saysay ang pag-iimbestiga ng Blue Ribbon. Patuya pa niyang dinagdag na maari nang umuwi si Agriculture Usec Jocjoc Bolante, na nagtago sa US para iwasan ang Blue-Ribbon hearings tungkol sa pamimigay ng P780 milyon para sa fertilizers kuno nu’ng halalang 2004.

May iba pang panganib sa Senado. Ani Frankie Wen­ceslao, dating pulitiko sa Pilipinas na ngayo’y buma­ batikos sa katiwalian mula sa US, nabibilang na ang araw ng Senado. Bubuwagin daw ito ng Kamara de Represen­tantes, at kakatigan daw ito ng Korte Supre­ma.

Para kay Wenceslao, hindi na malaya ang Korte mula sa bulong ng Malacañang. Sa tagal nang nakaupong Presidente ni Arroyo, tatlo na lang sa 15 mahistrado ang hindi niya nominees. Karamihan umano sa 12 ay tuma­tanaw ng utang na loob sa nomination, bukod sa iba pang pabuya. Kaya nasa palad na raw ni Arroyo ang hukuman.

Samantala, ani Wenceslao, ipinapanukala sa Kamara (na hawak din ni Arroyo) na mag-constituent assembly ang Kongreso para sa Charter changes. Igigiit daw ng 237-miyembrong Kamara na pagsanibin ang botohan nila ng 24-miyembrong Senado. Sa gay’on, tiyak na matatalo ang Senado sa kahit ano’ng pagbobotohan. Pati sa isyu kung pag-iisahin na lang ang dalawa sa unicameral parliament, tiyak outvoted ang 24 na senador.

Siyempre dudulog ang Senado sa Korte Suprema para ideklara na unconstitutional ang nangyari. At kakatigan ng Korte ang Kamara. Lagot!

But ‘Las Vegas’ isn’t really wicked

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Catholic bishops are opposing Pagcor’s planned “Entertainment City” on Roxas Boulevard because of the label “Las Vegas-type development.” It’s knee-jerk, and it needs correcting lest they begin to sound like the Taliban.

For the uninitiated, everything about Las Vegas is sinful: the topless Folies Bergere, gambling, prostitution, and more gambling. But truth is watching the Parisian cabaret show is restrictive (be at least 18 years old) and prohibitive ($150 per head). The many phone-number billboards of escorts or room dancers give an impression that prostitution abounds; call and be prepared for a female undercover cop to arrive. And gambling is no longer the top earner of Las Vegas; entertainment accounts for 75 percent of business revenues.

Casino operators have long learned that serious gambling is only for an obstinate few, but most visitors would try a few coins on the slots then leave. The real money is in family entertainment: music, theater, arcades, circus, carnival rides, variety and techno shows, art galleries, novelties, etc. That’s why Caesar’s Palace booked Celine Dion in weekend shows for five years at billions of dollars in fees and construction of her own concert hall. That’s why other casinos entice families in with Broadway hits, lion tamers, magicians, video games or rollercoasters. That’s why even Macao, haven of hardcore gamblers, is tapping managers from Las Vegas to transform it into an entertainment hub.

Pagcor chairman Efraim Genuino aims to replicate Las Vegas’ success — 75:25 ratio of entertainment to gaming — via Entertainment City. Into 90 hectares of reclaimed land from Manila Bay beside the SM Mall of Asia, he has been working for seven years to interest foreign investors to build Las Vegas-type family-fun structures and facilities. Every time I bump into him, it’s the only thing he ever talks about, always ebulliently. He has it all down pat — how Entertainment City will employ 250,000 people, boost tourism, earn dollars. And from recent news on groundbreaking rites, his dream is about to come true, although scaled down from $20 billion to $15 billion to construct, and renamed “Bagong Nayong Pilipino (New Pilipino Village)”.

Three retired bishops blessed the occasion. But on reading about it, a fourth one declared that if he had his way he’d have them sanctioned by the Bishops Conference. For, anything remotely linked to Las Vegas is wicked. Hopefully he doesn’t ape Afghanistan’s old mullahs in smashing TV sets, billboards picturing women, and ancient Buddhist statues.

* * *

Quietly but relentlessly the Free Rural Eye Clinics battles blindness among indigents in Northern Luzon. Founding ophthalmologist Guillermo de Venecia scours the barrios for patients blind in both eyes because too poor to afford cataract or other surgeries. Volunteer American and Filipino docs assist in the free operations, totaling 23,062 since 1979, at a two-story eye hospital in San Fabian, Pangasinan. At one point Zambales was adjudged cataract-free due to FREC’s charity work. The World Health Organization replicated the group’s best practices in Central Africa.

Behind every operation lies a human drama. One beggar was at first hesitant to have cataracts removed, lest people stop giving alms, but landed gainful work afterwards. A cornea procedure on a girl blind since birth enabled her to see 20:15; she’s now an honor student. An old couple, totally blind, held hands like young lovers upon seeing saw each other again for the first time in ten years, after their first of two cataract eliminations.

Donations are stretched to assist the most number of needy patients. Business exec Albert del Rosario, former ambassador to the US, chairs that job, with trustees Sec. Alberto Romulo, Oscar de Venecia, Marta de Venecia, Rod Feliciano, Magnolia Oviedo, Voltaire Arzadon, and Ralph Valenzuela. Dr. Antonio Say and Alfred Li of Tzu Chi Foundation also bring volunteers and equipment. Not counting the peso value of donated medical services, facilities and supplies, FREC spent P1,037,500 for operations last year, or about P1,000 for each of the little over a thousand patients.

Since January FREC has done 863 free surgeries. Next set of operations is on the last week of April.

* * *

Pete M. from Cainta, Rizal, wrote: “I cannot help but react, incited by a discourteous aside posted below your Apr. 7 column (Internet edition). We read and follow your crusade for good government, transparency and accountability. Do not be discouraged by malicious remarks of attack dogs of those you’ve been hitting for misdeeds, corruption and lying. Together we will fight them because we know we are on the side of truth. Time will come when the Lord Jesus Himself will intervene and render justice to the Filipino through the Holy Spirit, who assures us that “in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, those He has called according to His purpose.” So please don’t stop writing about Hello Garci, Jocjoc fertilizer scam, NBN-ZTE deal, Comelec automation scam, rice import overpricing — until all these issues are brought to a just conclusion. Ika nga ng isang TV newscaster, huwag natin ‘tatantanan’.”

Yes, readers know: behind those slurs are the Malacañang thieves that I continue to expose.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Saklolo: OFW sa Singapore

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Tuesday, April 8, 2008

NAGMAMALASAKIT si Jessie Torres bilang best friend. Naka­ku­long kasi si Mark J. Laguerta sa Singapore sa salang pag­patay sa kapwa overseas Filipino worker nu’ng Feb. Ginaga­bayan ni Torres ang mga magulang ni Mark sa paghingi ng tulong upang masiguro ang mabuting kala­ga­yan sa piitan. Pinun­tahan na nila ang Department of Foreign Affairs at si Vice President Noli de Castro.

Hindi pa rin humihinto si Jessie. Ipinasabi kasi ni Mark sa misis niya, na nagtatrabaho rin sa Singapore, kung puwe­­deng ipa­alam sa iba pang tao ang kanyang sitwas­yon. Nais lang ni Mark ng patas na paglilitis. Kabado siyang mapagkaitan ng hustisya dahil nasa dayuhang bansa.

Heto ang panawagan ni Jessie: “Nagmamakaawa po ako sa inyo na matulungan ang kaibigan ko. Limang buwang buntis ang asawa sa unang anak nila. Bukod sa walang kasama ang mga magulang, karaniwang tao lang sila — na ngayo’y may ga­nito kabigat na problema sa anak. Hindi ko na igigiit na walang kasalanan si Mark. Sumu­­suporta lang po ako sa mithi niyang fair trial. — Jesus Torres, Natural Soap Chandler, 8006 Honrades St., Makati, 8991204 o 0918-5291741, thelittlebluepoet@yahoo.com.”

Hindi binanggit ni Jessie, pero malamang ay nasaisip nila ni Mark ang sinapit ni Flor Contemplacion. Isa ring OFW sa Singapore si Flor na kinasuhan sa pagpatay sa kap­wa OFW na si Delia Maga at alaga nitong batang si Nicho­las Huang nu’ng 1991. Walang suspect ang tatay ni Nicholas, pero napag-alaman ng pulis na si Flor sa pama­magitan ng diary ni Delia. Sa interrogation, inamin umano ni Flor ang pag­­sakal sa dalawa. Hanggang sa huli, hindi itinatwa ni Flor ang ikinumpisal. Pati mga taga-RP embassy ay nani­wala sa pag-amin niya. At sinenten­siya­han siya na ibitay nu’ng 1995.

Bago ang pagbitay, lumitaw ang dalawang kapwa yaya nina Flor at Delia. Tumestigo sila na ang tunay na puma­tay kay Delia ay ang tatay ni Nicholas, sa galit sa pagpa­baya nitong ma­lunod sa bathtub ang epileptic na alaga. Isinang­kot lang anila ang inosenteng si Flor. Hindi pinani­walaan ng korte ang dalawang Filipina. Ibinitay pa rin si Flor.

Hindi na nalaman ng mga Pilipino kung patas ang da­yu­hang korte.

No transparency, no accountability

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, April 7, 2008

Quite expectedly Malacañang refuses to disclose who got P2.2 billion in piggery loans last year from state-owned Quedancor. The stand is not surprising, since the Arroyo admin has always been opaque anyway in financial dealings. What will astound Filipinos is if the executive suddenly turned truthful.

Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol is so adept at it that he can look people straight in the eye while uttering his spiel. As rural lender, he claims, Quedancor operates like a bank and so is subject to secrecy laws. Supposedly like in any bank, deposit records may not be disclosed except on court order. “Quedancor would be liable to the borrowers if it publishes their names without their permission,” he fibs.

One begins to suspect the reason Apostol is twisting the facts is that he needs to hide something. Like, he or a kin is a recipient of a behest loan from Quedancor. Why else would he strive to fool people into believing the agency is a bank, when it’s a mere conduit of rural credit from real banks like DBP or LBP? Why else would he pretend that Quedancor has any depositor at all who must be kept secret? And why else would he invoke secrecy for liable borrowers of government money?

Does Apostol even know the transparency rule of the Constitution, the charter he wanted to “reform” in 2005 via a no-election proviso? Section 28 of Article II (Declaration of Principles and State Policies) clearly states: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.” The aim is so plain, save for the fiend who studied the law the better to destroy it.

Full disclosure goes hand in hand with other principles and policies:

• that “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them” (Sec. 1);

• that “the State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in nation building (Sec. 24); and

• that “the State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption” (Sec. 27).

The truthfulness rule radiates as well from the Bill of Rights (Art. III). Sec. 7 requires: “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded to citizens, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.”

Apostol is not the law. Neither is his twisted presentation.

But his hiding the truth is not new. Only his method is. The Arroyo admin has employed various other means.

In the “Hello Garci” CD, the tactic was a TV apology. Admitted were unfitting calls by a reelectionist President to her Comelec nominee, but only to conceal graver vote rigging and kidnapping. In the jueteng exposé, bribes were used to make witnesses recant from naming the First Family as vice protectors. The flip-flop lasted only till the hush money ran out, though. In the P782-million fertilizer electioneering scam, agriculture office bagman Jocjoc Bolante was made to flee to America from prying senators. By the way, he and his bosses in that nationwide faking of fertilizer doles partly are to blame for today’s rice scarcity and high prices.

In the NBN-ZTE scam, official obfuscation reached new heights. At first DOTC officials kept mum about a $330-million deal whose signing Gloria Arroyo herself witnessed. Then they mumbled they couldn’t show the contract because the only two copies were stolen from a Chinese hotel room moments after the signing. When journalists and telecom competitors urged document disclosure, the officials tried to link them to the concocted theft. They caused the firing of an anti-graft researcher, the wiretapping of whistleblowers, the intimidation of journalists.

As senators persisted in investigating, the entire Cabinet joined the coverup. Some snubbed the hearings by invoking an E.O. 464 that the Supreme Court already had deemed wrong; others blatantly lied under oath. Witnesses were kidnapped or slurred by admin propagandists. They even got justices to declare, against plain Constitutional provisions, that a President’s executive privilege outweighs the people’s right to know. Their justices said further that, although half the Senate stays at the end of each term, it is not a continuing chamber and must thus republish its rules before holding any hearing.

In the wake of that ruling, Malacañang snorted it will no longer send executive officials to Senate inquiries. Obviously it had more things to hide. The Senate was to look into Malacañang’s seismic pact to let China explore RP’s undersea oil and gas resources — against the Constitution. Malacañang cannot allow such probe and be made accountable.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Pruweba ng katiwalian sa pag-angkat ng bigas

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc, Pilipino Star Ngayon, Monday, April 7, 2008

PILIT pinabubulaanan ng mga manunuya ng admin ang ulat na kickbacks sa pag-angkat ng bigas. Pero records na mismo ang nagsasalita.

Umamin mismo ang admin na gumasta ng $707 per metric ton ng bigas-Vietnam nu’ng Marso. Di raw halos nagbabago ang presyo nitong mga nakaraang taon. Batay sa $707 pmt, bibili pa raw ang admin mula sa Vietnam ng 2 milyong tonelada, sa kabuuang $1.414 bilyon o P58.7 bilyon.

Madaling i-check ang totoong presyo sa Vietnam. I-Google-search lang ang “Vietnam rice export price.” Isa sa mga unang artikulong lilitaw sa screen ay mula sa pahayagang online VietNamNet, petsa Mar. 6, 2008. Ang huling presyo raw ay $430-$460 pmt, at tumaas na raw ito nang $50-$70 mula Feb. at 53% mula parehong petsa nu’ng nakaraang taon.

Isa pang artikulo sa VietNamNet, petsa Aug. 10, 2007, ay nag-ulat noon na tumaas na ang presyong export sa $305-$307 pmt ng 5% broken rice, at $209 pmt ng 25% broken. “FOB HCM” lahat ito, ibig sabihin freight on board o presyong kargado na sa barko sa Ho Chi Minh City. Iba pang artikulo, parehong mabababang presyo.

I-Google-search din ang “Thailand rice export price,” at di naglalayo ang presyo sa pinaka-malaking exporter ng bigas. Anang ulat ng Oryza nu’ng Apr. 3, 2008, nag­simula ang linggo sa presyong $620-$625 pmt ng Thai Grade B, $610-$615 ng 5% broken, at $660-$670 ng medyo luto. FOB rin ito, at umano’y mas mataas na nang $40-$50 kaysa naunang linggo.

Kaya, bakit gumasta ang admin ng $707 pmt ng bigas-Vietnam na mas mura nitong mga nakaraang linggo? Tiyak may kumita, at kikita pa muli — ng $600 milyong kickback mula $300 pmt sa 2 milyong tonelada.

Bakit nakaka-export ng bigas ang Thailand, Vietnam at Indonesia, samantalang kapos ang RP ng 2 milyong tonelada kada taon mula pa nu’ng dekada-’90? Klaro na ang rason ay kickback. Sa ilalim ng Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, naglaan ang Kongreso ng $145 bilyon para sa pananim. Wala ring paglago sa rice productivity. Kasi sinayang lang ang pondo sa kalokohan, para patuloy ang rice imports at kickbacks.

Proof of rice import fraud

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.

* * *

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.”

* * *

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.

* * *

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.

* * *

E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com