GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Didn’t Gloria Arroyo tell subalterns to not rile the press? So why is this cabineteer siccing the cops on ABS-CBN News? Enjoying anonymity from one newspaper, he accuses the network of aiding and abetting last week’s coup try. His proof is as silly as the insinuation is grave. The news desk allegedly knew beforehand of a Magdalo seizure of The Pen, and so was able to telecast on spot. And the camera crew didn’t pull out before the police assault, unlike other reporters, to shield the mutinous Trillanes-Lim duo from arrest. By inference, ABS-CBN was in on the plot. So taking the cue from the high accuser whose identity he must know, a police general is demanding surrender of the station’s video clips.
ABS-CBN need not explain but does. Senior veep Maria Ressa says all they had was a tip the night before of troop movements, and their live setup was by pure luck. But even if they did get word of a coup plot, what’s it to the cabinet man? They were under no legal or ethical obligation to tell the cops about it, only to prepare a good coverage. Not even Malacañang’s hacks can site a law or rule obliging media to turn in “enemies of the state”. Ces Drilon, reporter on scene, says she never heard the cops tell newsmen to evacuate. Again, even if she heard but defied them, so what? That’s no proof of obstructing justice, but of grit. Besides, other newsmen had stayed behind too, but are now spared of suspicion.
The official’s tirade displays once again Malacañang’s misreading of media. Many times it has deemed plain coverage as condoning coups. It’s like Donald Rumsfeld first extolling Al Jazeera for showing the
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You’d think last year’s successive confiscations of diseased pork from
Sectoral Rep. Nicanor Briones, representing agricultural suppliers, points to telltale signs of smuggling. Most blatant is the flooding of public markets with vegetables and onions from
Another proof: the import crates of chicken, pork and beef in butcher stalls. Imported raw meats are supposed to be sent straight away for food processing, and not sold as such. Boxes must be buried to prevent spread of diseases like bird flu, mad cow, hog flu and hoof-and-mouth. But importers obviously divert the goods to public markets.
A third proof is in the import records. Roughly 200 million kilos of meat are imported each year. Of the 26.3 million kilos of chicken as of September, 1.3 million are generically labeled as “parts, fats, rind, skin”, instead of the specific “leg quarters” or “whole chicken”. Of the 47 million kilos of buffalo meat in the same period, 5.4 million were vaguely labeled as “trimmings” instead of clear “chuck and blade” or “forequarters”. Of the 46 million kilos of beef, 11.2 million came in as “offal and fats,” apart from “beef cuts” and “choice cuts”. Taxes are evaded through false declaration. Briones, a hog raiser, cites as example the 62 million kilos of pork imports as of September. “Pork cuts”, “bellies” and “deboned parts” are subject to 35 percent duty. At least 51 million kilos came in as “fats, offal, rind, skin”, subject to only 3-percent tariff. Now why would food processors import that much inedible pork parts, Briones explains the racket.
Meat producers recall that smuggling ended for a while in 2003-2004. That was when Malacañang tasked Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, then head of the Presidential Security Group, to run after smugglers. Now the Armed Forces chief, Esperon required the inspection at seaports of each arriving refrigerated van to verify contents. Dispatch of legally imported meat was to processing plants was then closely monitored. Smuggling stopped.
Today, however, Customs lets reefer vans proceed to warehouses of processors. Only then are the contents inspected. By then, authorities no longer have no way of ascertaining the meat quantity, type and source.
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