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.

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Meantime, readers have more complaints about MMDA activities. “Spongklong (harebrained),” Jobel Solano calls the ultra-wide but needless U-turn lanes cemented off on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City. The money could have been better spent erecting more pedestrian overpasses on the country’s widest road, Mar Shi says. The U-turn lanes defeat the purpose of Commonwealth’s recent widening, Edgardo B. Tan adds, then asks if MMDA chief Bayani Fernando’s weakening law enforcement has to do with his plan to court presidential votes in 2008.

An e-mailer decries breaches by MMDA men of their own sidewalk-clearing rules: “Driving to their depot on Scout Reyes Street, QC, you see squatter shanties on sidewalks — painted MMDA blue.” Reader Lorna notes that MMDA has been ignoring DPWH suggestions to build an interchange at the Kalayaan-C5 crossing to ease traffic flow. She decries the “irrational transfer” of the U-turn break at C5-Green Meadows all the way to the end of Libis, QC. Retired Col. A. Cortes pleads for simple MMDA enforcement of traffic laws by jeepney drivers: “Gather them all to a seminar on road courtesy and discipline. Discuss the penalties. Perhaps, impose a three-strike rule, like cancellation of driver’s license on the third apprehension for loading or unloading in the middle of the road.”

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Admin hecklers try to belittle reports of kickbacks from rice imports. But the records speak for themselves.

The admin itself admitted paying $707 per metric ton of Vietnam rice last month. It said the price hasn’t changed much from past years. And on the basis of $707, it declared plans to buy 2 million more tons from Vietnam for $1.414 billion, or P58.7 billion.

But a Google-search of “Vietnam rice export price” will reveal the real rates. One of the first articles that will pop up on screen, dated Mar. 6, 2008 by the online newspaper VietNamNet, says export prices range from $430 to $460 pmt. And that’s already up $50-$70 from Feb., and 53 percent from the same period last year. Another VietNamNet article, dated Aug. 10, 2007, stated then that Vietnam rice export rates were already high at $305-$307 pmt for 5-percent broken, and $209 pmt for 25-percent broken. FOB HCM (freight on board Ho Chi Minh City), the rates were already $30-$40 pmt higher than the previous two months. More articles, same low rates.

A Google-search of “Thailand rice export price” shows pretty much the same from the world’s largest exporter. An article yesterday on Oryza reported the rates at the start of the week: $620-$625 pmt for Thai Grade B; $610-$615 pmt for 5-percent broken; and $660-$670 pmt for parboiled (partially precooked). FOB, these prices were $40-$50 higher than last week’s.

So why in the world did the admin pay $707 pmt for Vietnam rice that was much lower weeks ago? Someone definitely made a killing and still will – $600 million from a kickback of $300 pmt on 2 million tons.

How come Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia can export rice while RP is always short by about 2 million tons per year since the ’90s? Kickback from imports is the only answer. The commissions come not only from the purchase per se, but also from hiring of ships. Then, there’s the jute sack racket. Two million tons of rice would require 40 million sacks. At a dirty markup of 15¢ per sack (at ’80s rates), the importing official nets $6 million, or P240 million.

Congress passed in 1995 the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act to improve, among others, rice yields. At least $145 billion has been poured into food production, on top of $44 billion a year for the agriculture department. But no real improvements came. The government preferred to go on importing rice each year.

Double whammy, the government also wasted money on pointless fraudulent projects. If not exposed, the admin would have sunk in $330 million (P17 billion) for an unnecessary broadband network instead of real rice productivity.

* * *

I forgot to plug last Wednesday: a tour of Cagayan de Oro is never complete without white water rafting, mild or wild. Red Raft Tours charges P1,100 per head for raft and gear, guide, meals, and video. The thrill is free.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Pagusisa ng Senado wala nang saysay

SAPOL, Inilathala sa Pilipino Star Ngayon, Friday, April 4, 2008

TATLO ang mensahe mula sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema sa petisyon ni Romy Neri tungkol sa executive privilege.

Una, wala nang saysay ang pag-iimbestiga ng Kongre­so sa mga katiwalian ng gobyerno. Anang Korte, hindi maaring pilitin ang isang executive official na ibunyag ang mga usapan nila ng Pangulo — miski may sangkot na krimen. Sa national broadband deal, hindi maaring pilitin ng Senado si Neri na ibunyag ang naganap matapos niyang isumbong ang tangkang panunuhol ni Comelec chair Ben Abalos ng P200 milyon.

Opisyal nang tinanggalan ng Korte ang Kongreso ng poder. Parang inutos na rin ng Korte na buwagin na ng Senado ang Blue-Ribbon body, at ng Kamara ang committee on good government. Kasi, hindi naman nila mapi­pilit ang executive officials na magsabi ng buong kato­tohanan.

Ikalawang mensahe: Tila na-control na rin ni President Gloria Arroyo ang Korte Suprema. Halos lahat ng siyam na justices na bumoto para kay Neri ay pawang nominees ni Arroyo. Dapat sana ay maging independent ang appointees mula sa appointer. Pero hindi ito nang­yayari.

Ngayon, alam na natin kung bakit parating iginigiit ng Malacañang tuwing may nabibistong katiwalian na “ipau-baya na lang sa korte ang paglilitis.” Ito’y dahil hawak naman nila sa ilong ang mga korte. Isa-isang winawasak ang ating mga institusyon: Comelec, AFP, PNP. Kamara, Senado, media, mga obisyo, at ngayon ang Korte Suprema.

Pero may ikatlong mensahe sa desisyon kay Neri. At ito ay maaring mag-boomerang sa Malacañang. Ibig sabihin ng ruling ay maaring idiin ni Neri si Abalos, pero maitatago niya ang pagkasangkot ni Arroyo sa NBN-ZTE scam. Ibig sabihin, malamang na mahabla ng Ombudsman si Abalos nang plunder, at maari ring hatulan ito ng Sandiganbayan nang habambuhay na pagkakulong. Papayag kaya si Abalos sa gan’un? Hindi kaya siya mahimasmasan at ibunyag na ang lahat?

What’s become of the MMDA?

GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Is it true that top officials of Metro Manila Development Authority are presently touring the US, Mexico and South America? Is their two-week junket to cost taxpayers $200,000 (P8 million) for airfare, hotels, meals and per diem? Is the “familiarization” with other countries’ urban planning to be taken from a World Bank loan? Is there not a new austerity rule that foreign travels by government officials will be allowed only if shouldered by a foreign agency? Is it not logical that since the travel funds will be taken from the loan, then the Filipino people will in effect pay for the junket?

MMDA insiders themselves are asking these questions in wake of their agency’s deterioration. Chairman Bayani Fernando used to strictly enforce laws and sensibly improve city living. His demolition teams drove off sidewalk encroachers and reckless drivers to smoothen traffic, and point men fixed floods and garbage disposal. Of late, however, MMDA seems to be succumbing to mediocrity. Instead of putting his foot down on what’s right, Fernando has backtracked on pulling traffic-snarling provincial bus stations off EDSA. He only shrugged when metropolitan mayors restored the demolished sidewalk obstacles. Worse, his usual logical engineering solutions have given way to zany ideas.

Along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, for instance, MMDA has paved ultra-wide U-turn lanes where unnecessary. In the process, it choked what used to be the country’s broadest highway.

It is definitely a waste of Commonwealth’s eight lanes on each side. The U-turn slots begin with two lanes blocked off with cemented barriers. As a driver turns into the break on the road median, he will notice not an equal two lanes on the other side but three. The outermost lane is a dead lane, blocked off with more cement barriers. Next to it are the two entry lanes from the U-turn break, and these two are enclosed by cement barriers. In effect, three lanes are wiped out, leaving that portion of Commonwealth with only five remaining lanes. There are two such U-turn slots, one going back north near Batasan road, the other going back south near St. Peter’s Church. What makes the latter lane even worse is that it is adjacent to a two-lane bus loading-unloading bay block off by Fernando’s trademark pink fence. In that zone, only three of eight lanes remain for motorists going south from Bulacan or Novaliches to the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Why did MMDA do such thing? For weeks I tried to interview Fernando on my Saturday radio show Sapol (DWIZ 882-AM), but he was always too busy to talk. MMDA general manager Robert Nacianceno obliged, but didn’t know what was going on with their Commonwealth project. I requested him to take a look at the wasted lanes, since vehicles hardly U-turn on the two slots even on rush hours. I wonder if he did.

And yet, all these years, MMDA has not done what Commonwealth has been waiting for: the simple painting of lane markers. Fernando has been preaching that metro drivers practice road discipline and courtesy by sticking to their lane instead of weaving in and out of lanes. But how can they if there are no lane markers to designate the lanes?

And then there’s the ubiquitous kumpas brigade that Fernando has tolerated. These are “traffic enforcers” who know nothing about the rules of driving or the Laws of Motion, yet keep waving motorists to move on although traffic is congested for miles. Look busy, as they say. Hay naku.

* * *

Urbanites aching to get away from it all should consider three-day breaks to Bukidnon or Camiguin. Both provinces are accessible via Cagayan de Oro City, in the heart of Misamis Oriental, another vacation spot. There’s also the new scenic Bu-Da (Bukidnon-Davao) Road from Davao City.

Being a high plateau, Bukidnon has cool weather, a welcome escape from the crowded metropolis. Among the places to see are the Manobo villages, the monastery in Malaybalay, and the Del Monte steak house.

Listing all of Camiguin’s vistas would use up this entire space. Since it is an island with seven volcanoes, it features white-sand beaches, hot springs, crater lakes, waterfalls, eruption ruins — and sumptuous seafood.

* * *

For a better understanding of the archipelagic baselines issue, one must consider Scarborough Shoal separately from the disputed Spratlys. Scarborough is made up of over two-dozen rocks and reefs, some above water even on high tide, spread out over 150 sq km of sea. Less than 120 miles west of Luzon, it is officially called Panatag Shoal in RP maritime maps. Old-timers in Zambales province have always known it as Masinloc Baja, the islets where fishermen rest and repair their boats. It takes 10 to 14 hours to reach it by ordinary outrigger banca.

China is trying to claim Scarborough supposedly as its Zhongsha Isles, based on a 1935 record. But Zambales folk have been stopping by the isles since the Spanish and American regimes. There used to be a Philippine lighthouse on the biggest rock. China asserted its claim only in 1995, after the US Navy left Subic Base in Zambales in 1990. Before that, the US and RP navies conducted exercises there.

Commodore Carlos Agustin, National Defense College president, has written extensively on Scarborough’s history as a Philippine possession. He laments that the 1898 Treaty of Paris omitted the shoal when Spain ceded the archipelago to America. In 1992 the Coast Guard rehabilitated the lighthouse and reported it to the International Maritime Organization for publication in the List of Lights.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, an islet that’s mostly visible only on low tide may be used as a territorial base point if it contains a lighthouse or other permanent structures. The lighthouse has since toppled into the waters. But the RP Navy deliberately grounded a vessel there to serve as the required permanent structure.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

May kickback sa pag-angkat ng bigas

SAPOL, Inilathala sa Pilipino Star Ngayon, Tuesday, April 1, 2008

TAUN-TAON kinakapos ang Pilipinas nang dalawang milyong tonelada ng bigas. Ang dapat na solusyon ng isang respon­sableng gobyerno ay maglaan ng pondo para pag-ibayuhin ang ani. Ang naturang pondo ay para sa patubig, kontra baha, abono, pestisidyo, research and development ng high-yield rice varieties, post-harvest facilities, at insentibo at training sa magsasaka.

Pero hindi ito ginagastahan ng gobyerno. Ang kokon­ting pera ng bayan ay inilalaan sa mga walang kapara­rakang proyekto. Kung hindi ko binisto ang national broad­band network deal, wawaldasin sana ng Mala­cañang ang $330 milyon (P17 bilyon), imbis na ang rice productivity. At ki-kickback pa sana ang brokers ng ZTE nang $200 milyon (P10 bilyon).

Mas ginugusto rin ng gobyerno na angkatin taun-taon ang shortage na dalawang milyong tonelada mula sa India, Thailand o Vietnam. Bakit? Dahil may kickback din sa bawat stage ng pag-import ng bigas.

Simulan natin sa presyo. Anang Malacañang, bumibili ang gobyerno ng bigas mula sa Vietnam sa halagang $700 kada tonelada. Pero i-check sa Internet ang presyo ng Vietnam rice exports: $430-$460 lang kada tonelada. (Tumaas ito kama­kailan nang $50-$70 kada tonelada dahil kokonti lang din ang ani ng Vietnam nang ilaan ang mga lupain para sa biofuels.)

Ilagay na lang natin sa $450 kada tonelada ang presyo ng Vietnam, para madaling kuwentahin. Sa gan’ung presyo, malinaw na may overprice na $250 kada tonelada ang opisyal na umoorder ng bigas mula Vietnam. Tuma­taginting na $500 mil­yon (P20 bilyon) ang kickback mula sa dalawang milyong tonelada.

Hindi lang ‘yon. Pati ang opisyal na taga-hire ng barko ay kumu­kumisyon nang di bababa sa $100,000 kada barko ng bigas.

Maniwala kayo’t sa hindi, pati sako ng bigas ay may kick­back. Dekada-’80 pa, 15¢ na ang kumisyon kada sako. May 20 sako kada tonelada, o 40 milyon sako sa dalawang milyong tonelada ng angkat na bigas. Ang kickback mula sa sako pa lang ay $6 milyon ($240 milyon).