Our volunteer researcher Zaida Sonsona e-mailed us some very important items on the Dacer-Corbito case, which she picked up from politicaljunkie.blogspot.com.
The first, from April 2001, undoubtedly a high point of media frenzy over the alleged kidnap-murders, involved an exposé of parish priest Fr. Gabriel Baldostamon of the Our Lady of Rosary church in Sun Valley Subdivision--where the Dacers reside--that at a breakfast meeting with the Dacers around 10 days after their father’s disappearance, he heard FVR henchman Joe Almonte “consoling” the family that should they recover Dacer or “arrange” for his release, he would be spirited out to the US to make it appear that he was still missing.
Strangely, eight years since that episode, Almonte has never reacted nor has this angle ever been properly looked into. According to the same item, “Almonte earlier came out with a letter in which Dacer wrote apprehensions over drawing the ire of Joseph Estrada and former PNP chief Panfilo Lacson.” But where did he get that letter?
The next item was my Tribune column a few days after that exposé entitled, “Investigate Almonte,” which similarly saw print in Bishop Ted Bacani’s column. It echoed the calls we made for people to uncover mysteries behind other brutal incidents like the December 2000 “F-I-D-E-L” LRT bombing, where a security guard of the LRT and the father of bombing victim Crisel Acusin claimed that bomb-sniffing dogs were pulled out a week before the attack, which was also no different from the Al Ghozi murder under police custody, as with other unsolved cases by shadowy military and police operators.
These questions become even more relevant because FVR was at the Manila Hotel, where he allegedly was supposed to meet Dacer for a breakfast meeting. Yet, only after an hour of waiting, he already announced that Dacer had disappeared and called police. Let me emphasize: After only an hour.
What’s equally strange is that the announcement was made even before the Dacer family suspected of anything amiss. I then recall thinking that FVR should be a primary suspect because Dacer knew many of his secrets and it was well known too that Dacer had already reconciled with his “kumpareng” Erap, just days prior to that meeting.
Such a suspicion is further bolstered by incontrovertible historical facts which point to their efforts at destabilizing and deposing the elected Estrada. The F-I-D-E-L bombings may have been blamed on the usual suspects--Muslim “terrorists”--but when one asks, Qui bono (or who benefits), the finger always points to Edsa II beneficiaries.
The ruthlessness and sinister efficiency of these groups--powerful police and military individuals (and syndicates) over whom FVR has great “influence”--are now well known. However, we must not forget another big beneficiary of the destabilization of Estrada--the US corporatocracy. As we know, FVR has close links to the Carlyle Group, a chief purveyor of US imperialism today.
Next on the list was Ninez Cacho-Olivares’ article of April 16, 2001, which raised a number of crucial questions: “First, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announces to the public that the case has been solved… (but then) a bag of charred bones… still had to undergo DNA testing for positive verification… Then one witness showed the media a pair of brown loafers which he claimed belonged to Dacer… It was later discovered that (it) could not have belonged to Dacer or Corbito. And forensics still had not determined whether the charred bones were human bones…
“But NBI chief Reynaldo Wycoco continued to peddle the story and came up with the ridiculous claim that in the case of Dacer, the corpus delicti was not the body but the killing itself. Duh!… It was clear that the Arroyo government, its Justice Department and the NBI were more than willing to frame their foes with a murder rap… Other questions (thus) arise: Why was the skull never found? Why weren’t other pieces of jewelry, which Dacer normally wears, found in the site where he and his driver were said to have been burned to a crisp four months ago?…
“A priest suddenly surfaced and claimed he had overheard Fidel Ramos’ man, Jose Almonte (doing what we narrated above)… The same priest also went to the ‘murder’ site and concluded that given the report that Dacer and his driver were burned to a crisp, the site would have shown a bigger burnt area. Not too long after, the children of Dacer suddenly called a press conference claiming they have accepted the fact that their father is dead, as they had the bones and dentures checked by a private physician. They also claimed that found in the same murder site were the dentures as well as pieces of jewelry that belonged to their father… How is it possible for the family to have gotten another set of dentures and bones after the NBI had already been through the site with its ‘evidence’?… What does this make too, of the Dacer children who claim to have found the jewelry in the same murder site… (Were) the murderers… generous enough to give away a pair of shoes… (and) the jewelry Dacer was wearing?”
Besides all these unanswered questions, we ask: Why has the US opened the way for the “return” of Mancao and Dumlao at this time? Of course, we know that the US has always meddled in our affairs. But why this particular case?
Reliable military intelligence sources we talked to insist that the affidavits of Mancao and Dumlao will implicate Estrada, as what Michael Ray Aquino’s will later do. They are convinced that this campaign, which involves the US, vividly betrays Uncle Sam’s fear of Estrada as being the only serious obstacle to its 2010 plan of installing a new Gloria Arroyo puppet--in the guise of someone invited to Obama’s National Prayer Breakfast no less? (More next column…)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
The power of truth and humility
For weeks, Gloria’s Justice Secretary has been firing up speculation around the return of Dacer-Corbito slay suspect Mancao by circulating rumors and histrionic news, such as the stashing of the deposition in a steel vault. With the witness still alive and kicking, and with such legal documents usually in quadruplicates, why should putting a copy in a vault be such an important matter? Rumors and texts then linked President Joseph E. Estrada, the bane of Gloria’s political existence, to the Mancao testimony. The Philippine Star’s resident Estrada demonizer, Billy Esposo, for one, texted Linggoy Alcuaz that Erap was indeed implicated. Unfortunately for all of them, a most unexpected witness, erstwhile Estrada nemesis, retired police colonel Reynaldo Berroya, has come out to vouch for Estrada’s complete innocence.
President Estrada had kept silent in the face of treacherous attempts to sully his image by connecting him to the Dacer-Corbito case. It was only late last week that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada rose to defend his father and his family’s name, denying any truth to the insinuations. President Estrada himself finally spoke out and said that the Estrada family does not stoop to such deeds. Truth to tell, I have been going around among friends and acquaintances in different social circles, getting feedback on the Arroyo regime’s underhanded campaign to taint Estrada. One career government official and former newsman told me that Dacer and Estrada had always had good relations, and he also knew that days before Dacer’s disappearance, the two had met on the friendliest of terms. “Estrada is not the type,” many invariably opined.
The big surprise was Berroya stepping forward to clear President Estrada in the Dacer-Corbito slay, a speculation that has persisted to a limited degree over the past decade. It is a very significant turn of events as far as Estrada is concerned and a very big setback to those who have long hoped to implicate him by hook or by crook.
Truth has triumphed, as it has always had throughout the trials of Estrada in and outside the court. Although I still can’t fathom why Berroya would come to the defense of someone whom he once had accused of unjustly persecuting and prosecuting him, and sending him to prison.
One said that Berroya is simply narrowing down the target to his greater nemesis, a former colleague in the police force and the Philippine Military Academy--his tormentor Sen. Ping Lacson. But I argued, that still does not explain why Berroya had to go out of his way to help Estrada clear his name. Linggoy Alcuaz opined that it may be because Berroya is investing in goodwill with President Estrada in case the latter really does get back to power in the 2010 elections. But Estrada is not yet a clear frontrunner as he was in the 1998 elections, so isn’t Berroya betting too early in the game? Or could it be that the power of truth and Estrada’s humility simply had something to do with it?
The past decade chronicled President Joseph E. Estrada’s rise and fall, demonization and reconstitution, exaltation and humiliation, incarceration and liberation. The final outcome of it all, though, has been the triumph of truth--that Estrada was not only not as bad as his rabid detractors made him out to be, or that Gloria Arroyo and many others turned out to be worse, but that he is actually better than most ever thought he could ever be. A string of “mea culpas” started with Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias’ birthday mass for Erap in April 2006, six years after his incarceration, which was followed by many others, and climaxed with President Cory Aquino’s apology to Erap at Joe de Venecia’s book launching recently. Estrada’s truth became a beacon for honest hearts because Erap’s humility disarms even those who otherwise would have remained his enemies.
Erap’s humility was born of his exultant rise and ignominious fall, and final vindication by his unflinching faith in truth and justice. “Six years and six months,” Estrada would often say--that was how long he was incarcerated. Yet it was the price he had to pay for his humility, made even worse because his son had to join him in detention for several years, with his family insulted and disgraced without justifiable cause. Rage gave way to enlightenment over the years, and Estrada, upon reflecting on the past, would often say: “I was overconfident.” Enlightenment then became forgiveness, which grew to become humility, and such humility made even his sworn critics laugh at his self-deprecating humor, and melted even the hardest of hearts. Maybe Berroya is just like the rest of those who have been touched by this and succumbed to the plea of truth, to speak it and save the innocent.
In the months to come, we will be facing an opportunity for peaceful change and transition toward a new government leadership. I don’t know what better leader this nation can have than one who has shown and shared the power of humility with the rest of the nation--healing it with the balm of truth and compassion--while promising wisdom not only in our disengagement from the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, but also in our quashing of the decades-long plutocracy of the global and local oligarchy. I hope we shall have in the nation’s service, this wisdom and power from truth and humility, to prevent the redux of a younger Gloria Arroyo by way of a plutocracy-backed puppet.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with Bp. Deogracias Yñiguez and Jimmie Regalario on “Genuine Change That We Need;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
President Estrada had kept silent in the face of treacherous attempts to sully his image by connecting him to the Dacer-Corbito case. It was only late last week that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada rose to defend his father and his family’s name, denying any truth to the insinuations. President Estrada himself finally spoke out and said that the Estrada family does not stoop to such deeds. Truth to tell, I have been going around among friends and acquaintances in different social circles, getting feedback on the Arroyo regime’s underhanded campaign to taint Estrada. One career government official and former newsman told me that Dacer and Estrada had always had good relations, and he also knew that days before Dacer’s disappearance, the two had met on the friendliest of terms. “Estrada is not the type,” many invariably opined.
The big surprise was Berroya stepping forward to clear President Estrada in the Dacer-Corbito slay, a speculation that has persisted to a limited degree over the past decade. It is a very significant turn of events as far as Estrada is concerned and a very big setback to those who have long hoped to implicate him by hook or by crook.
Truth has triumphed, as it has always had throughout the trials of Estrada in and outside the court. Although I still can’t fathom why Berroya would come to the defense of someone whom he once had accused of unjustly persecuting and prosecuting him, and sending him to prison.
One said that Berroya is simply narrowing down the target to his greater nemesis, a former colleague in the police force and the Philippine Military Academy--his tormentor Sen. Ping Lacson. But I argued, that still does not explain why Berroya had to go out of his way to help Estrada clear his name. Linggoy Alcuaz opined that it may be because Berroya is investing in goodwill with President Estrada in case the latter really does get back to power in the 2010 elections. But Estrada is not yet a clear frontrunner as he was in the 1998 elections, so isn’t Berroya betting too early in the game? Or could it be that the power of truth and Estrada’s humility simply had something to do with it?
The past decade chronicled President Joseph E. Estrada’s rise and fall, demonization and reconstitution, exaltation and humiliation, incarceration and liberation. The final outcome of it all, though, has been the triumph of truth--that Estrada was not only not as bad as his rabid detractors made him out to be, or that Gloria Arroyo and many others turned out to be worse, but that he is actually better than most ever thought he could ever be. A string of “mea culpas” started with Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias’ birthday mass for Erap in April 2006, six years after his incarceration, which was followed by many others, and climaxed with President Cory Aquino’s apology to Erap at Joe de Venecia’s book launching recently. Estrada’s truth became a beacon for honest hearts because Erap’s humility disarms even those who otherwise would have remained his enemies.
Erap’s humility was born of his exultant rise and ignominious fall, and final vindication by his unflinching faith in truth and justice. “Six years and six months,” Estrada would often say--that was how long he was incarcerated. Yet it was the price he had to pay for his humility, made even worse because his son had to join him in detention for several years, with his family insulted and disgraced without justifiable cause. Rage gave way to enlightenment over the years, and Estrada, upon reflecting on the past, would often say: “I was overconfident.” Enlightenment then became forgiveness, which grew to become humility, and such humility made even his sworn critics laugh at his self-deprecating humor, and melted even the hardest of hearts. Maybe Berroya is just like the rest of those who have been touched by this and succumbed to the plea of truth, to speak it and save the innocent.
In the months to come, we will be facing an opportunity for peaceful change and transition toward a new government leadership. I don’t know what better leader this nation can have than one who has shown and shared the power of humility with the rest of the nation--healing it with the balm of truth and compassion--while promising wisdom not only in our disengagement from the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, but also in our quashing of the decades-long plutocracy of the global and local oligarchy. I hope we shall have in the nation’s service, this wisdom and power from truth and humility, to prevent the redux of a younger Gloria Arroyo by way of a plutocracy-backed puppet.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. with Bp. Deogracias Yñiguez and Jimmie Regalario on “Genuine Change That We Need;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Friday, March 13, 2009
From elections to nat’l transformation
My long-time friend, Nonoy, who left the Philippines for greener pastures in the US after Edsa II, sent me an e-mail a few days ago, involving an article of David Leonhardt on a research paper made 16 years ago by noted economists George Akerlof and Paul Romer. In it, a case was made that several financial crises of the 1980s, like the Texas real estate bust, resulted from private investors borrowing huge sums, extending reckless loans, making risky investments while reaping big profits in good times, and then leaving the predictable losses for government to salvage later on. They wrote: “The investors acted as if future losses were somebody else’s problem.” And they were right!
That paper was prescient in describing exactly what the present collapse of the western financial system has wrought, which is dragging the rest of the world except for Asian countries like China that are resisting this western contagion.
Fast-forward to today’s financial looting in the US , Professor Noriel Roubini declares, “The process of socialising the private losses from this crisis has already moved many liabilities of the private sector onto the books of the sovereign. At some point a sovereign bank may crack, in which case the ability of the government to credibly commit to act as a backstop for the financial system--including deposit guarantees--could come unglued.”
My friend Nonoy has made plans to come back home to Manila within the year as his entire family hates everything about the US right now. Although he had decided about it much earlier, even before the fall of Bear Stearns, Lehman’s and AIG, the collapse just strengthened his resolve.
Nonoy’s experience reminds me of my advice to my family: Not to run away from our problems but to solve them; not to seek the clean, manicured roads and parks of the Mall of America but to someday make our own “Philippine Public Mall” at the heart of our Metropolis--that is, after we junk the corrupt elite of this society for better national leadership.
Nonoy, like many other Filipinos, is looking forward to the 2010 elections. But with the unresolved questions about the integrity of our Comelec commissioners, more so the Automated Elections System (AES) pushed by its chairman, and his inability to assure the integrity of the elections--arguing that he has no control over many factors, it is now highly doubtful if the 2010 elections will produce credible results that will reflect the wisdom of the Filipino people.
Systems expert Manuel Alcuaz raised important arguments about Melo’s AES: It is 10 times more expensive than the Abalos P1.5-billion voting system; plus, it won’t work. The shading of small circles in place of the writing of candidates’ names alone already makes the manufacture of pre-filled, fraudulent ballots 15 times faster, and there is no longer any verifiability since any handwriting by which we can compare and expose multiple ballot-fillings by one hand will be non-existent.
As yet, the Comelec has not instituted any audit procedures for these machines. While it boasts that its voting machines will photograph each ballot for security purposes, this merely increases the cost and eliminates for consideration other machines that do not carry this superfluous feature.
Since election returns (ERs) are read and canvassed before hundreds of watchers in the old manual system, with this proposed electronic mode of transmission, the integrity of ERs is not assured at all.
Furthermore, the Comelec does not provide for transparency and accountability in its electronic transmissions to the municipal level or in its provincial certificates of canvass (COCs) to the national canvassers. It merely claims that national results will be known in 3 to 4 days. But isn’t it more important to gauge whether those results are true or not?
Alcuaz concludes: “In Comelec we trust? Don’t. We will suffer a double whammy! More than P10 billion will be wasted and rampant electronic dagdag-bawas may take place.”
Another computer expert, Obet Versola, says: “Automated election systems tend to be much less transparent than manual systems… Errors continue to persist… (and) automation does not address the root causes of electoral fraud… (In) the US for example, citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about the trustworthiness of voting machines and their results.”
Versola thus prescribes a double entry tabulation for both automated and manual elections, where the number of allocated ballots is listed in one column, and cast, unused, spoiled, and missing ballots in another, with all the totals of the left and right columns having to match.
Such advice, unfortunately, won’t matter, given Comelec’s attitude of shunning experts with a track record of integrity and reliability, along with its arbitrariness--as seen in its unilateral advancement of the date for the filing of candidacies (which everyone sees as a move to bar the possible run of President Joseph Estrada).
What’s worse: The flaws of Melo’s machines are so obvious that some believe they’re designed to lead to a failure of elections upon which Gloria Arroyo will declare for herself a transition government.
I still don’t know what to tell Nonoy about his hopes for this country. There’s no guarantee that life will smell of sampaguitas when he comes back, but I will be together with him in his sufferings, just as I hope that he too will join those who are striving for genuine change. The year 2010 is merely a tactical situation toward our strategic goal of “The Last Revolution.” To lay the groundwork, we must continue to expand the awareness of both the middle class and the masa about the people’s struggle versus the oligarchy, and of our need to install a populist, nationalist leadership for the reconstruction of society, for the “cooperativization” of our nation’s wealth, and for the democratization of power.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
That paper was prescient in describing exactly what the present collapse of the western financial system has wrought, which is dragging the rest of the world except for Asian countries like China that are resisting this western contagion.
Fast-forward to today’s financial looting in the US , Professor Noriel Roubini declares, “The process of socialising the private losses from this crisis has already moved many liabilities of the private sector onto the books of the sovereign. At some point a sovereign bank may crack, in which case the ability of the government to credibly commit to act as a backstop for the financial system--including deposit guarantees--could come unglued.”
My friend Nonoy has made plans to come back home to Manila within the year as his entire family hates everything about the US right now. Although he had decided about it much earlier, even before the fall of Bear Stearns, Lehman’s and AIG, the collapse just strengthened his resolve.
Nonoy’s experience reminds me of my advice to my family: Not to run away from our problems but to solve them; not to seek the clean, manicured roads and parks of the Mall of America but to someday make our own “Philippine Public Mall” at the heart of our Metropolis--that is, after we junk the corrupt elite of this society for better national leadership.
Nonoy, like many other Filipinos, is looking forward to the 2010 elections. But with the unresolved questions about the integrity of our Comelec commissioners, more so the Automated Elections System (AES) pushed by its chairman, and his inability to assure the integrity of the elections--arguing that he has no control over many factors, it is now highly doubtful if the 2010 elections will produce credible results that will reflect the wisdom of the Filipino people.
Systems expert Manuel Alcuaz raised important arguments about Melo’s AES: It is 10 times more expensive than the Abalos P1.5-billion voting system; plus, it won’t work. The shading of small circles in place of the writing of candidates’ names alone already makes the manufacture of pre-filled, fraudulent ballots 15 times faster, and there is no longer any verifiability since any handwriting by which we can compare and expose multiple ballot-fillings by one hand will be non-existent.
As yet, the Comelec has not instituted any audit procedures for these machines. While it boasts that its voting machines will photograph each ballot for security purposes, this merely increases the cost and eliminates for consideration other machines that do not carry this superfluous feature.
Since election returns (ERs) are read and canvassed before hundreds of watchers in the old manual system, with this proposed electronic mode of transmission, the integrity of ERs is not assured at all.
Furthermore, the Comelec does not provide for transparency and accountability in its electronic transmissions to the municipal level or in its provincial certificates of canvass (COCs) to the national canvassers. It merely claims that national results will be known in 3 to 4 days. But isn’t it more important to gauge whether those results are true or not?
Alcuaz concludes: “In Comelec we trust? Don’t. We will suffer a double whammy! More than P10 billion will be wasted and rampant electronic dagdag-bawas may take place.”
Another computer expert, Obet Versola, says: “Automated election systems tend to be much less transparent than manual systems… Errors continue to persist… (and) automation does not address the root causes of electoral fraud… (In) the US for example, citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about the trustworthiness of voting machines and their results.”
Versola thus prescribes a double entry tabulation for both automated and manual elections, where the number of allocated ballots is listed in one column, and cast, unused, spoiled, and missing ballots in another, with all the totals of the left and right columns having to match.
Such advice, unfortunately, won’t matter, given Comelec’s attitude of shunning experts with a track record of integrity and reliability, along with its arbitrariness--as seen in its unilateral advancement of the date for the filing of candidacies (which everyone sees as a move to bar the possible run of President Joseph Estrada).
What’s worse: The flaws of Melo’s machines are so obvious that some believe they’re designed to lead to a failure of elections upon which Gloria Arroyo will declare for herself a transition government.
I still don’t know what to tell Nonoy about his hopes for this country. There’s no guarantee that life will smell of sampaguitas when he comes back, but I will be together with him in his sufferings, just as I hope that he too will join those who are striving for genuine change. The year 2010 is merely a tactical situation toward our strategic goal of “The Last Revolution.” To lay the groundwork, we must continue to expand the awareness of both the middle class and the masa about the people’s struggle versus the oligarchy, and of our need to install a populist, nationalist leadership for the reconstruction of society, for the “cooperativization” of our nation’s wealth, and for the democratization of power.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Frenzied feeding on Meralco and power
Like wolves or sharks going for the kill, the Philippine oligarchy has once again descended upon the power industry; this time for its piece de resistance—Meralco. With its owners weakened after their face-off with Malacañang and the global financial collapse, a hovering dark angel is now about to capture this luscious prey in whole. But, just as quickly, a vulture has also swooped down from the perches of
Meralco has had the lion’s share of the Philippine power industry with its control of up to 60 percent of the country’s most lucrative distribution franchise. It enjoys the highest prices of industrial electricity in the entire Asian region, and is second only to
Certainly, this predatory battle for the control of Meralco is all about these enormous profits--profits that are unmatched by any other businesses in the world, and way better than the menacing drugs trade because of its specter of legality. Question is: Why are we giving all these excessively rich profits to these predators when Meralco is a public utility and is paid for by consumers?
I am afraid that the Filipino may have become hopelessly resigned to the idea of allowing the oligarchy to exploit our public utilities for their personal gain. I hope this short article will help rekindle public indignation.
Just recall how Meralco shares were apparently crashed by the largest government stakeholder to lower the base price for the entry of new bids. Now that share prices are rising to irrational levels because of this frenzy, what does it mean for Filipino electricity consumers? Will a new dominant management mean lower rates or, as I believe, will we just end up with even higher rates after the battle for control is over? Of course, the new winners will have to recoup their investments fast!
It is in this light that we have to see the entire energy sector being cut up for various factions of the oligarchy. In fact, as large a prize as Meralco (or even larger) is Transco, which has been awarded to the Carlyle Group-China State Grid-Monte Oro consortium, with the last owned by a crony capitalist cum port services operator who charges the highest rates in the world.
Despite having these fat chunks of the unimaginably lucrative energy industry divvied up among the oligarchs, contentment is still far beyond reach as they crave for more by concocting the myth that a power shortage looms within the next two years if the country doesn’t tax consumers again for the revival of the mothballed nuclear power plant!
And they believe that this con game, which started with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira)--made easier by the intertwining control of profits from the power industry with control of political power--can go on without end?
Edsa I saw the transfer of Meralco and other formerly public or quasi-public power assets to fully private hands, and the beneficial owners became the power behind the throne in Malacañang. Edsa II saw this rising to even unprecedented heights; that is, until Gloria Arroyo found a new ally, with a common protégé they can groom and “say cheese” with till Kingdom come.
Even prior to Edsa II, this column has been almost a lone voice in anticipating events and problems that would face the nation and the world. As I have warned about the fraud that Gloria Arroyo was to be, as with the dire impacts of the Epira (in its many incarnations), and as I’ve hammered into Philippine nomenclature John Perkins’ “corporatocracy” to alert the nation to the perils of the overarching power of financial cabals, along with many others, I am informing everyone once more of another danger that lies ahead. And it is more of the same privatization and corporatization of our basic utilities, and the grooming of the oligarchs' surrogate young politicians to be a new Gloria Arroyo, which, if left unchallenged and unchanged, will doom us all.
Today, I pin my hopes on middle class forces that have had many rude awakenings--from the shock of Gloria Arroyo dashing their false hopes, to that of “venerated” financial icons cheating them of their educational funds and life savings, to the crash of the US financial system--supposedly the paradigm of “corporate responsibility,” down to the failures of globalization, liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. These forces, as gallantly typified by Mr. Phillip Piccio, are the ones who can lead the country to adopt genuine professional and social principles that are dedicated to the welfare of the people, over and above profits.
If these forces help liberate public utility services such as power, water, toll ways, and financial services from oligarchic control; and convert these into consumer cooperatives with socialized rates and people-driven management, then we would have successfully sent the message that “The People are not food for predators!” loud and clear.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday,
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Cornerstone of a true democracy
Democratic jargon saturates our national news but very little is discussed about its principle’s very foundations. All those talk about the Edsa “people power” revolutions, the 2010 elections, as well as, who will be the best candidate for president are all meaningless unless the cornerstone of a truly democratic edifice is present--economic democracy.
Economic democracy, or the power of the people over “the production, development and management of their own material wealth,” is the sine qua non for genuine political democracy. In a society such as ours where the economy is directly controlled by a dozen families, there is no hope for genuine democracy; only an oligarchy or plutocracy by a super-wealthy few.
While it is true that a plutocracy under neo-colonial subjugation has always been the prevailing political-economic reality in the Philippines after World War II, there have been ebbs and flows in our economic democracy--or in efforts toward it.
The two relatively fundamental facets of economic democracy--national economic sovereignty and popular economic independence--have seen meager successes in RP’s modern history.
During the period of President Carlos P. Garcia’s “Filipino First Policy,” national economic sovereignty was purposefully asserted--an effort which could have made us the first Asean “Tiger economy.” This was later aborted when the US and the American Manufacturers Association succeeded in their $200,000-support for Garcia’s rival, Diosdado Macapagal.
Macapagal then brought Philippine economic democracy to its lowest point with his “Decontrol” program that removed currency and capital controls on the nation’s money, paving the way for luxury importations to quadruple RP’s national debt to a high of $360 million from Garcia’s $80 million while leading to the “deconstruction” of our budding manufacturing sector.
Marcos beat Macapagal alright, and later, Sergio Osmeña Jr., in very expensive elections. And it appears that he planned to govern in two phases: the first, with an economic program based on a combination of Japanese war reparations for construction of transport and other infrastructure, and IMF-WB funded programs for tourism facilities, upon which he piggybacked the second phase, which was to be his national development program for economic self-sufficiency.
This supposed second phase still held out the best prospects since Garcia’s “Filipino first Policy” for the nation to keep pace with the rising tiger cubs in the region-- Taiwan , South Korea , and Singapore --while we were still ahead of Malaysia and Thailand .
A national oil company was established; a diversified energy program stressing indigenous and alternative sources was initiated (geothermal energy started under Marcos, as were thousands of mini-hydros); cotton and ramie were being grown in Mindanao; synthetic textile fibers were spun by Filsyn; grapes were being grown in Cebu and Ilocos; integrated aluminum, copper and steel mills were commissioned; and in the economic crunch of 1983 after the Ninoy Aquino assassination, Marcos even instituted informal currency and capital controls through the so-called “Binondo Central Bank.”
Marcos’ fall meant the scuttling of the foundation of our economic sovereignty, and the privatization regimes of Aquino, Ramos and Arroyo gave away the state’s established strategic industries and public utilities--in oil, energy, power, telecommunications and water; in steel and copper; in shipbuilding--all toward the radical erosion of public ownership and control of the economy, to increase the concentration of economic power to the western-backed old economic elite, with familiar mestizo names like Lopez, Aboitiz, Alcantara, Razon, and the almighty Ayalas.
The Tsinoy tycoons who had equal footing with the rest during Marcos’ time, lost ground when he fell; but resilient as they are, they were later restored equal footing with the traditional elite.
The 2010 elections will be influenced as never before by the economic oligarchs. Among the front-runners are two puppets of a consumer products magnate, a real estate billionaire, a scion of another old real estate family, a talking head of a media conglomerate, with the rest controlled by a combination of two or more of the oligarchs.
Only President Estrada stands out as a truly independent candidate because, as veteran politician and former Ambassador Ernie Maceda says, he doesn’t have to spend billions to win. At the same time, since the middle class and the masses are never as dependent on government “stimulus” spending as before because of the collapsed economy, the sway of money will be even more powerful than ever.
Popular economic independence, meanwhile, can be best realized in smaller scales, down to the community and personal level. Striving toward one’s individual sovereignty and independence, and maintaining a degree of political independence, is an achievement in itself.
Thus, I maintain a diversified source of livelihood for my family--from a small business to a few consultancies, some media projects, and a farm where I am beginning to grow crops.
Anticipating a worst case scenario the next five years, I am also moving to a smaller residence near work to cut down on the costs of living, particularly, power and fuel. Such a frugal lifestyle may not be easily accepted by my older children who’ve lived in the best of times, but the younger ones adapt more easily.
As a media practitioner, I have maintained my political and journalistic independence because of my comparative economic independence.
With economic skills and the right leadership, the Filipino people can fast become sovereign and enjoy genuine democracy. In certain cases, a slow evolution through collective empowerment also works.
Ralph Nader, for instance, reports that despite the financial crash, the remaining American financial institutions that are doing well are the credit unions. He says in February 26, 2009’s CounterPunch: 85 million Americans belong to credit unions which are not-for-profit cooperatives owned by their members who are depositors and borrowers… 91 percent of the 8,000 credit unions are reporting greater overall growth… They are well-capitalized because of regulation and because they do not have an incentive to go for high-risk, highly leveraged speculation to increase stock values and the value of the bosses.”
Taking all these together, a personal and community drive for economic independence will best ensure a better, genuine, and politically democratic society for our nation.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
“People Power” fairy tales
“A dragon lives forever but not so little boys / Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys / One gray night it happened, Jackie Piper came no more / And Puff the mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar”—Puff the Magic Dragon (Gregory Isaacs)
The Edsa I “People Power” fairy tale was once a mighty dragon that mesmerized the world, supposedly vanquishing a dictatorship. In its wake, this supposed boon on the Filipino people produced what Ceres Doyo of the Inquirer described as a wave of democracy and “empowerment.” That same newspaper also had a young reporter, Volt Contreras, dramatize the fall of Marcos and the power of Cory Aquino: That in 15 hours the regime of 20 years fell.
For about a decade, this fairy tale held captive the Filipino people’s imagination. But then, as life continued to get harder and as impoverishment grew, little Juan Pepito (the Filipino Jackie Piper) didn’t go to the Edsa I celebrations anymore.
Three creatures, however, came to this year’s Edsa I celebration--a tobacco-chomping leprechaun with his trusted gargoyle, and a pot-bellied troll. They jumped up and down to rejoice but no one else followed them. Even the little Imp didn’t come to the party. The golden Bacchanalian statue at the corner of Edsa and Ortigas stood forlorn, dourly looking down on the crossroads that saw better times of cheering throngs. Now, only motorists cursing the traffic from the road blocks to make way for the celebration abound.
What’s not a fairy tale is that Pulse Asia will soon announce the results of its “best president” survey, where on a scale of 0 to 10, from worst to best, Marcos and Estrada (both victims of the two Edsas) got scores of 7 and 6, respectively, while Cory and Ramos were effectively trounced, along with Gloria, who only got a dismal 3.4 rating!
History has judged Marcos and Erap as better for the nation than the Philippine mainstream media would care to admit. But I am not surprised by the Inquirer’s continued glorification of the two ”People Power” coups d’etat as its owners are among those who benefitted by the billions. Of course, mainstream TV is no different, with its owners earning breathtaking billions for the past 21 years. Only people who have no vested interests in keeping the fairy tale alive can see clearly, while those still singing the “Magkaisa” ditty have ended up with no clothes.
So how on earth can that claim of “empowerment” stick? With the people’s right of suffrage alone, historical Comelec data culled by former UP professor and Comelec Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco already detail how Edsa I Comelec chairmen allowed the padding of the voters’ list, which to this day has not been cleaned. Then, in terms of economic empowerment, this also cannot be found in the growing hunger ratings that afflict over 50 percent of our population today.
Volt Contreras should have dug deeper into the real stories behind Edsa I, such as this quote from Foreign Policy magazine:
“In his Heritage speech, Wolfowitz also took credit for the downfall of Marcos. The ‘private and public pressure on Marcos to reform,’ he asserted, ‘contributed in no small measure to emboldening the Philippine people to take their fate in their own hands and to produce what eventually became the first great democratic transformation in Asia in the 1980s.’”
Similarly, there are more historical truths to expose, such as how the now bankrupt AIG boss Maurice “Hank” Greenberg and Bechtel’s George Schultz, who was then the US State Secretary, destabilized the Philippine Republic. I also have the confession of one ATOM member who attests to the fact that the Ayalas opened up Shell’s spigot for all the vehicles used in their nationwide motorcades and protests.
Marcos laid out a national economic development and industrialization program which Cory dismantled with trade liberalization and de-industrialization, all engineered by AIG’s financial and economic managers.
Estrada, likewise, with his heart for the masses, reversed FVR’s food export strategy and his liberal issuances of sovereign guarantees. Soon, the foreign and local oligarchy, with the aid of their controlled media, conspired with corrupt military and police generals led by Gloria Arroyo to depose Estrada; thus, removing the obstacle to their collective plunder, through privatization and other nefarious means, of our public utilities, our National Treasury, and ultimately, the richest parts of Mindanao, to be chopped off for the Anglo-US oil companies.
Truly, the Edsa fairy tales are the last remaining myths obfuscating the nation’s path toward self-realization, emancipation and revolution. Some naïve minds still cling to these out of a presumed lack of good things to say about the Philippines; yet there has never been any dearth of things to be proud of: RP’s first anti-colonial revolution in Asia, its rich lands and seas, plus, its resourceful and creative people long sought by the world. If only all these could come together for the rebuilding of our country, our nationalist leaders such as Marcos, Estrada, Gen. Danny Lim, Sen. Trillanes and a host of others would surely have had an easier time.
The age of “fairy tales” is long gone. The hard lessons of the past two decades are not only etched among the masa as the middle class has also bore the brunt of the Establishment’s many swindles for the past eight years.
Filipinos, by and large, are now older and wiser. Only impressionable youths are left targeted with Edsa myths through the vacuous “I am Ninoy” ads perpetuated by certain quarters. To ensure that they are not fooled like the generation before, we must arm them with the truth by whatever means. As a start, fairy tales must be replaced with historical analyses and empirical reflections on the question: “Why isn’t life better today than 30 years ago?”
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Bp. Antonio Tobias and Jimmie Regalario on “The Gen. Danny Lim Manifesto;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Last People’s Revolt
A Sunday headline blared “The World Will Not Forgive a Third Edsa Revolt” as part of Gloria Arroyo’s pre-Edsa I anniversary message. Other than its boring redundancy for having been said one too many times, I detect an undercurrent of panic in her so-called “warning”--a conscious or unconscious wish for another revolt not to occur to spare her from the guillotine that awaits.
Of course, Gloria is twisting a few facts about the Edsa revolts too, the first being her now apparent denial that a “Third Edsa Revolt” has actually taken place. In her desire to wish it away despite its being etched in our nation’s history, her few futile attempts to “reconcile” with the real people’s forces--making up the poor who rose in solidarity with President Joseph E. Estrada--by openly (but grudgingly) admitting to the fact of Edsa Tres in speeches, just show how hollow and hypocritical her latest soundbyte is.
Second, I wonder where Gloria got the idea of a world being unforgiving of another Edsa revolt. Edsa I and II were both coups d’etat masqueraded as “people power,” not unlike Ukraine ’s Orange Revolution and Georgia’s Rose Revolution, both engineered by western oligarchic interests. All such incidents, including the elite-led “People Power Revolutions” in the Philippines , have since proven to be massive fiascos where people were made to suffer from economic deterioration, arising from a severely eroded political sovereignty, as these nations became sacrificial pawns in the geopolitics and economic exploitation of western powers.
The Philippines was among the earliest victims of these “rainbow revolution” projects of the West, becoming the basket case of Asia in one generation alone while its neighbors all zoomed past it.
We must keep a historical perspective on this chronology of events if we are to use it for the turnaround of our beloved Philippines . The last 25 years was a time of what I would like to call, “The Great Con,” when a whole generation was hoodwinked into swallowing the western oligarchy’s conception of the universe based on: the universality, efficacy and efficiency of the profit motive and materialism; the greatest good coming from corporatism and competition; the removal of all regulation on financial and corporate power; and the end to the idea of nations and states through liberalization, deregulation, privatization and globalization, foregoing the protection of public interest and national economic sovereignty.
Edsa I and II represented the resurgence of this very type of neo-colonialism, which the national government quickly implemented in accelerating stages under the aegis of globalization. Alas, the rosiest future for the country promised under the new democracy by the Manila-centric, elite-led, Wolfowitz-designed coup d’etat turned out to be the institutionalization of plutocracy with the enshrining of the “dagdag-bawas” system by the Philippine Establishment’s most “respected” lawyers such as Christian Monsod, the original Benjamin Abalos.
The glow of Edsa I quickly faded in the seven years under the first Edsa government as the economy resumed its precipitous decline after a brief uptick from the euphoria of the so-called revolution. Before and after the elections of 1992, the nation was plunged into some of the worst crises in memory, such as the massive power outages and the first rice “pila” (queue), resulting from the scuttling of the Marcos energy program and the “high value crop export” policy of the globalist FVR.
Not surprisingly, these led the masses to turn to a leader of their heart’s desire, President Estrada, who, upon assumption into office in 1998, instituted food security (self-reliance) programs; sought a final end to the MILF and NPA insurgencies; opposed issuances of sovereign guarantees to government-private company projects (hence, never signing any of the onerous Independent Power Producer contracts); and resisted automatic rate increases for power, water and other basic utilities, among other things.
Estrada was everything that could upset the global and regional plans the West had envisioned for the coming new century. Thus, Edsa II had to happen, and a young, Georgetown-educated politician (like Ukraine ’s Saakashvili from Columbia and George Washington Universities ) with “economic” academic credentials but without a strong political base was hoisted into power. Privatization proceeded with ferocity; utility rates soared; the financial sector became more powerful and abusive; and the 2004 election cheating transpired with the blessings of the international community to extend the regime. But all throughout, the people became a lot poorer and the Edsa II glow got tarnished even more rapidly.
The Edsa III of May 2001, just four months post-Edsa II, had hundreds of thousands of poor people who outnumbered the fifty-thousand-crowd of Cardinal Sin and Gloria Arroyo. But with Gen. Dionisio Santiago (now lording over PDEA) under strict orders from Gloria then, soldiers machine-gunned the marching crowd and an untold number fell bloodied and dead.
The poor were left alone as no “protector of the people” came to their rescue. The middle class continued to believe in Edsa II, until they got hit with: the collapse of the College Assurance Plan, the betrayal by the largest bankers of the PEP educational plan holders, the continuing increases in power and waters rates, and the corruption and scandals.
The reason the final revolt and probably the Last Revolution is inevitable is that the middle class and the masa are now one in experiencing the deceit, abuse and treachery of the ruling class, a.k.a. the oligarchy.
The global financial collapse will accelerate this as hundreds of thousands of OFWs forced back home will reinforce our Last Revolution. What remains is the fortification of revolutionary leadership in the military, steadily firming up with manifestos of support for Gen. Danilo Lim. While there are those who petition for Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, President Estrada is still primus inter pares as far as civilian leadership goes. Whatever scenario unfolds--elections or Cha-cha, the Last Revolution is inevitable. After that, we can start rebuilding a better Philippines .
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Venezuelan Chargé d’Affaires Hon. Manuel Iturbe on “The Chavez Victory;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Of course, Gloria is twisting a few facts about the Edsa revolts too, the first being her now apparent denial that a “Third Edsa Revolt” has actually taken place. In her desire to wish it away despite its being etched in our nation’s history, her few futile attempts to “reconcile” with the real people’s forces--making up the poor who rose in solidarity with President Joseph E. Estrada--by openly (but grudgingly) admitting to the fact of Edsa Tres in speeches, just show how hollow and hypocritical her latest soundbyte is.
Second, I wonder where Gloria got the idea of a world being unforgiving of another Edsa revolt. Edsa I and II were both coups d’etat masqueraded as “people power,” not unlike Ukraine ’s Orange Revolution and Georgia’s Rose Revolution, both engineered by western oligarchic interests. All such incidents, including the elite-led “People Power Revolutions” in the Philippines , have since proven to be massive fiascos where people were made to suffer from economic deterioration, arising from a severely eroded political sovereignty, as these nations became sacrificial pawns in the geopolitics and economic exploitation of western powers.
The Philippines was among the earliest victims of these “rainbow revolution” projects of the West, becoming the basket case of Asia in one generation alone while its neighbors all zoomed past it.
We must keep a historical perspective on this chronology of events if we are to use it for the turnaround of our beloved Philippines . The last 25 years was a time of what I would like to call, “The Great Con,” when a whole generation was hoodwinked into swallowing the western oligarchy’s conception of the universe based on: the universality, efficacy and efficiency of the profit motive and materialism; the greatest good coming from corporatism and competition; the removal of all regulation on financial and corporate power; and the end to the idea of nations and states through liberalization, deregulation, privatization and globalization, foregoing the protection of public interest and national economic sovereignty.
Edsa I and II represented the resurgence of this very type of neo-colonialism, which the national government quickly implemented in accelerating stages under the aegis of globalization. Alas, the rosiest future for the country promised under the new democracy by the Manila-centric, elite-led, Wolfowitz-designed coup d’etat turned out to be the institutionalization of plutocracy with the enshrining of the “dagdag-bawas” system by the Philippine Establishment’s most “respected” lawyers such as Christian Monsod, the original Benjamin Abalos.
The glow of Edsa I quickly faded in the seven years under the first Edsa government as the economy resumed its precipitous decline after a brief uptick from the euphoria of the so-called revolution. Before and after the elections of 1992, the nation was plunged into some of the worst crises in memory, such as the massive power outages and the first rice “pila” (queue), resulting from the scuttling of the Marcos energy program and the “high value crop export” policy of the globalist FVR.
Not surprisingly, these led the masses to turn to a leader of their heart’s desire, President Estrada, who, upon assumption into office in 1998, instituted food security (self-reliance) programs; sought a final end to the MILF and NPA insurgencies; opposed issuances of sovereign guarantees to government-private company projects (hence, never signing any of the onerous Independent Power Producer contracts); and resisted automatic rate increases for power, water and other basic utilities, among other things.
Estrada was everything that could upset the global and regional plans the West had envisioned for the coming new century. Thus, Edsa II had to happen, and a young, Georgetown-educated politician (like Ukraine ’s Saakashvili from Columbia and George Washington Universities ) with “economic” academic credentials but without a strong political base was hoisted into power. Privatization proceeded with ferocity; utility rates soared; the financial sector became more powerful and abusive; and the 2004 election cheating transpired with the blessings of the international community to extend the regime. But all throughout, the people became a lot poorer and the Edsa II glow got tarnished even more rapidly.
The Edsa III of May 2001, just four months post-Edsa II, had hundreds of thousands of poor people who outnumbered the fifty-thousand-crowd of Cardinal Sin and Gloria Arroyo. But with Gen. Dionisio Santiago (now lording over PDEA) under strict orders from Gloria then, soldiers machine-gunned the marching crowd and an untold number fell bloodied and dead.
The poor were left alone as no “protector of the people” came to their rescue. The middle class continued to believe in Edsa II, until they got hit with: the collapse of the College Assurance Plan, the betrayal by the largest bankers of the PEP educational plan holders, the continuing increases in power and waters rates, and the corruption and scandals.
The reason the final revolt and probably the Last Revolution is inevitable is that the middle class and the masa are now one in experiencing the deceit, abuse and treachery of the ruling class, a.k.a. the oligarchy.
The global financial collapse will accelerate this as hundreds of thousands of OFWs forced back home will reinforce our Last Revolution. What remains is the fortification of revolutionary leadership in the military, steadily firming up with manifestos of support for Gen. Danilo Lim. While there are those who petition for Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno, President Estrada is still primus inter pares as far as civilian leadership goes. Whatever scenario unfolds--elections or Cha-cha, the Last Revolution is inevitable. After that, we can start rebuilding a better Philippines .
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Venezuelan Chargé d’Affaires Hon. Manuel Iturbe on “The Chavez Victory;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Revolt against plunder
I don’t know what’s keeping the middle class and the masa from staging mass revolts against the system today. The plunder is so obvious that it just keeps piling up. The Legacy affair is clearly a massive syndicated plot to plunder taxpayers’ money from the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC); the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is pushing for more revenue measures here at this time when the rest of the world is finding ways to reduce taxes to revive their economies; the local, privatized grain-handling Asian Terminals, Inc. and container operator ICTSI, already charging some of the highest rates in the world, are raising rates in the midst of this global depression; the North Harbor is then privatized to FVR boy Reghis Romero’s R-II Builders with scant capital; while Ayala and Consunji’s water companies are raising their rates too!
The hackles of some citizens are getting raised very high, like this text from a businessman: “We are calling all Filipino(s): Legacy’s Celso de los Angeles is scamming d banking system with d connivance of PDIC’s Nograles. IT IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE FOR small rural bank to get 400k depositors with 14 billion deposit. It means legacy is much bigger than other big banks. Majority of d claimants r FAKE. PDIC NOGRALES IS already releasing d FUNDS. PLS PAS.”
Despite the telegraphed language, it sums up the truth about Legacy pretty well: The elaborate scheme is aimed at defrauding the nation’s taxpayers of billions of pesos, using a conspiracy of government and finance officials colluding with Mr. Celso de los Angeles . The irony is de los Angeles may still actually get away with murder by using squid tactics with the same connivance of those strategically placed in power.
Another huge scam on the horizon is the IMF call for more tax revenues, particularly on tobacco and alcohol, allegedly to “help offset the expected drop in taxes due to a decline in consumer spending, but should also help (RP) keep its budget deficit with the Fund’s ‘prudent’ recommendation of 2 percent of GDP for around P150 billion.”
What IMF representative Mr. Denis Botman won’t say is that they want to ensure the Philippines keeps up with its foreign debt amortization and roll-overs of about P1.2 trillion, and if more blood from the people is needed for this payment to be sustained, then so be it. Our people’s response to Mr. Botman should be a tax revolt and a repudiation of the $60-billion debt chained around out necks.
In the US , TrendResearch chief Mr. Gerald Celente predicts: “We’re going to start seeing a tax revolt in the United States . People are one job away from losing everything. We’re seeing more and more closures, people are being laid off. People are stretched to the limits. And what do they do in New York State ? Some 130 new taxes are being proposed, they’re raising sales taxes. There’s going to be a tax revolt in this country from property taxes first and school taxes second. That’s what we’re going to see start to happen.” This was said in the context of his prediction that the present crisis is “The Greatest Depression” and social chaos characteristic of Third World countries will start hitting America soon. I think the same thing is in the minds of peoples in Iceland , Ireland , and Eastern European countries now being hit by the plunder of bankers and taxing authorities.
Back here, the water and port-handling rate increases, like grand thefts in the night, especially in these times of economic crisis, are really unjustifiable and despicable. It is a mystery why the nation is still not up in arms in the face of these series of blatant abuses. Gloria’s government briefly tried to put up a façade of opposition to the water rate increases but abruptly turned around and gave in. It is good to be reminded that there once was a national leader who stood up to halt such barefaced oppressiveness and exploitation. President Estrada said “No” to power and water rate increases in 2000, which was when the corporatocracy conspired to bring him down.
The North Harbor privatization would have escaped our attention had it not been for the May Pag-asa radio series, where former QC Mayor Jun Simon, who’s on the radio slot every Wednesday and Thursday, reported on the North Harbor privatization debacle. R-II Builders, the winning bidder, had promised billions of pesos in investments in case it won, but after it was awarded the facility, its funds are nowhere to be found, making its employees and operations suffer from a deficit of cash. Salaries are left unpaid, supplies are not being delivered, and operations are disrupted. This is not the first time that privatization has took a turn for the worst, but in the everyday confusion of Philippine government amid the economic crisis, nobody seems to be taking note of the crisis in North Harbor.
The Philippines is just one big plunder story now, and the future will be even worse. The oligarchs are gearing up for a new Gloria to take her place and to front for them and the greatest oligarch of them all, who’s spreading his tentacles to power, telecoms, and water, aside from the good old consumer goods and financial empire foisted from the “Tree of Life.” I hope the nation will be more discerning today than in 2001, when a number of its citizens fell for the sales pitch of corporate spinmasters. I hope we are now moving toward a “Revolt Against Plunder” of all forms, and be it by election or other means, that “revolution” must happen soon or in 2010. Let’s vote for freedom from the oligarchs and freedom from plunder!
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Venezuelan Chargé d’Affaires Hon. Manuel Iturbe on “Chavez’ Victory at the Referendum;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
The hackles of some citizens are getting raised very high, like this text from a businessman: “We are calling all Filipino(s): Legacy’s Celso de los Angeles is scamming d banking system with d connivance of PDIC’s Nograles. IT IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE FOR small rural bank to get 400k depositors with 14 billion deposit. It means legacy is much bigger than other big banks. Majority of d claimants r FAKE. PDIC NOGRALES IS already releasing d FUNDS. PLS PAS.”
Despite the telegraphed language, it sums up the truth about Legacy pretty well: The elaborate scheme is aimed at defrauding the nation’s taxpayers of billions of pesos, using a conspiracy of government and finance officials colluding with Mr. Celso de los Angeles . The irony is de los Angeles may still actually get away with murder by using squid tactics with the same connivance of those strategically placed in power.
Another huge scam on the horizon is the IMF call for more tax revenues, particularly on tobacco and alcohol, allegedly to “help offset the expected drop in taxes due to a decline in consumer spending, but should also help (RP) keep its budget deficit with the Fund’s ‘prudent’ recommendation of 2 percent of GDP for around P150 billion.”
What IMF representative Mr. Denis Botman won’t say is that they want to ensure the Philippines keeps up with its foreign debt amortization and roll-overs of about P1.2 trillion, and if more blood from the people is needed for this payment to be sustained, then so be it. Our people’s response to Mr. Botman should be a tax revolt and a repudiation of the $60-billion debt chained around out necks.
In the US , TrendResearch chief Mr. Gerald Celente predicts: “We’re going to start seeing a tax revolt in the United States . People are one job away from losing everything. We’re seeing more and more closures, people are being laid off. People are stretched to the limits. And what do they do in New York State ? Some 130 new taxes are being proposed, they’re raising sales taxes. There’s going to be a tax revolt in this country from property taxes first and school taxes second. That’s what we’re going to see start to happen.” This was said in the context of his prediction that the present crisis is “The Greatest Depression” and social chaos characteristic of Third World countries will start hitting America soon. I think the same thing is in the minds of peoples in Iceland , Ireland , and Eastern European countries now being hit by the plunder of bankers and taxing authorities.
Back here, the water and port-handling rate increases, like grand thefts in the night, especially in these times of economic crisis, are really unjustifiable and despicable. It is a mystery why the nation is still not up in arms in the face of these series of blatant abuses. Gloria’s government briefly tried to put up a façade of opposition to the water rate increases but abruptly turned around and gave in. It is good to be reminded that there once was a national leader who stood up to halt such barefaced oppressiveness and exploitation. President Estrada said “No” to power and water rate increases in 2000, which was when the corporatocracy conspired to bring him down.
The North Harbor privatization would have escaped our attention had it not been for the May Pag-asa radio series, where former QC Mayor Jun Simon, who’s on the radio slot every Wednesday and Thursday, reported on the North Harbor privatization debacle. R-II Builders, the winning bidder, had promised billions of pesos in investments in case it won, but after it was awarded the facility, its funds are nowhere to be found, making its employees and operations suffer from a deficit of cash. Salaries are left unpaid, supplies are not being delivered, and operations are disrupted. This is not the first time that privatization has took a turn for the worst, but in the everyday confusion of Philippine government amid the economic crisis, nobody seems to be taking note of the crisis in North Harbor.
The Philippines is just one big plunder story now, and the future will be even worse. The oligarchs are gearing up for a new Gloria to take her place and to front for them and the greatest oligarch of them all, who’s spreading his tentacles to power, telecoms, and water, aside from the good old consumer goods and financial empire foisted from the “Tree of Life.” I hope the nation will be more discerning today than in 2001, when a number of its citizens fell for the sales pitch of corporate spinmasters. I hope we are now moving toward a “Revolt Against Plunder” of all forms, and be it by election or other means, that “revolution” must happen soon or in 2010. Let’s vote for freedom from the oligarchs and freedom from plunder!
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Venezuelan Chargé d’Affaires Hon. Manuel Iturbe on “Chavez’ Victory at the Referendum;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The new BNPP ( Bataan Nuclear Power Plunder)
Consider the following: 1) The Philippines, at present, is proven to have at least 2,600 MW of untapped geothermal energy resources, with tens of thousands more left to be discovered; 2) Filipino geothermal scientists and engineers are considered to be the best in the world, such that countries like Japan are fast recruiting them for their own massive geothermal energy drives; 3) The Philippines is currently the world’s number two geothermal energy producer and needs only 70 MW more to overtake the US; 4) Geothermal energy is indigenous and never has to be imported, and is literally infinite in human terms; plus, 5) It’s renewable for the rest of our lives.
Geothermal energy is undoubtedly one of the cheapest renewable energy resources. It can be large-, medium- to small-scale, down to the barangay level, and can cost only a few thousand pesos; making it democratic and anti-monopoly. The newest binary cycle technology alone already makes for very efficient low-temperature geothermal energy and is a closed cycle that ejects nothing into the atmosphere. This list could go on had we included the many other advantages of geothermal power over other sources of electricity--except maybe for hydroelectric and natural gas (if the latter wasn’t pegged to the price of petroleum as Malampaya is). Still, the advantages listed above already make it the imperative energy source for our nation’s development program in this era of “energy independence.”
The international media reported last January 5, 2009 that even Japan is now focusing on a massive campaign to increase its share of geothermal energy because it is the least polluting of all the energy alternatives that are practicable at this time. In addition, a June 2, 2008 report from RenewableEnergy Germany shows that that country is also going geothermal, saying this could generate 600 times its present power capacity. However, despite the obvious wisdom in going geothermal, there are a number of Filipinos still insisting on a billion-dollar revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which is really nothing more than a concrete shell, with no fuel or workable equipment to revive.
Nuclear power plants run on uranium fuel that is not only expensive per pound, but is also subject to continuing price hikes as more and more countries, bereft of geothermal resources, turn nuclear. If the Philippines were to go this route, it would be perpetually dependent on foreign sources of uranium fuel rods, which will become a tremendous dollar drain on our economy. What makes nuclear power even more capital intensive is the large size of its plants: The lone nuclear power proposal here alone costs $1 billion. On the other hand, the RenewableEnergy Web site reports German plants to cost only €25 million ($35 million) or just P1.645 billion, which makes them immediately affordable for the Philippines .
Furthermore, expansion of the country’s geothermal capacity can be done as the need expands. Plus, the modest budgetary requirements will minimize foreign loans; thus, no longer adding to our gargantuan national debt, which has taken a heavy toll on our economic and social development. My argument against the nuclear revival project does not use the scare tactics of the anti-nuke, anti-BNPP extremists about so-called safety risks of Morong as a power plant site. I have always opposed the disinformation of these extremists since the early 1980s which have exacted such a huge loss for our nation. The late PHIVOLCS Chief Dr. Raymundo Punongbayan made it very clear that there are no such safety concerns and we had always worked to educate people on this. The six nuclear power plants in earthquake-stricken Taiwan and the dozens in Japan that have been up for years show they pose no danger at all.
So the issue is not the safety of nuclear power. It’s all about economics. Aside from the horrendous construction costs intrinsic to nuclear power plants, there are the equally expensive nuclear waste storage and disposal problems to contend with. All these will add to the high power rates already saddling the Philippines , which now has the highest electricity prices in Asia . A little comparison between geothermal and nuclear power makes it crystal clear which is the more sensible direction for the Philippines . Yet what makes some insist on going nuclear, such as the minions of this MAWA (Malaysian-West African) Coconut Monster, who’s prepping his conglomerate to swallow the biggest chunk of the country’s future energy production? Surely, it’s not rational economics but greed.
Proponents of the BNPP’s revival argue that nuclear power plants can also desalinate sea water to produce fresh water. Stupid! In a tropical country where floods plague the land, water impounding projects would cost a fraction to build. What’s more: They also want to fund the new BNPP with taxpayers’ money by charging an additional P0.10/kwh of our consumed electricity! How dare they even suggest this in a country where the abuse of power rates through the PPA has been the heaviest burden of power consumers for the past eight years? It shows just how out of touch with reality these fiends are.
If I am so incensed by this BNPP revival bunch, it’s because I know the MAWA Monster’s plot. Already, his alliance with the Malacañang Monster is leading to a concentration of economic power unseen in Philippine history--moving into telecommunications, water utility and, now, power. They don’t think economic rationality; just political control and economic exploitation through a command economy based on corporate greed. The next Gloria Arroyo has been anointed to ensure the fruition of these plunder plots for the next decade. Gloria and MAWA Monster have agreed to control Malacañang and what they hid the past eight years will come out in the open soon. The other oligarchs will simply bow as the people of the Philippines are reduced to carabaos, all whiplashed for profit.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with the topic, “Renewable energy: RP’s future;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Geothermal energy is undoubtedly one of the cheapest renewable energy resources. It can be large-, medium- to small-scale, down to the barangay level, and can cost only a few thousand pesos; making it democratic and anti-monopoly. The newest binary cycle technology alone already makes for very efficient low-temperature geothermal energy and is a closed cycle that ejects nothing into the atmosphere. This list could go on had we included the many other advantages of geothermal power over other sources of electricity--except maybe for hydroelectric and natural gas (if the latter wasn’t pegged to the price of petroleum as Malampaya is). Still, the advantages listed above already make it the imperative energy source for our nation’s development program in this era of “energy independence.”
The international media reported last January 5, 2009 that even Japan is now focusing on a massive campaign to increase its share of geothermal energy because it is the least polluting of all the energy alternatives that are practicable at this time. In addition, a June 2, 2008 report from RenewableEnergy Germany shows that that country is also going geothermal, saying this could generate 600 times its present power capacity. However, despite the obvious wisdom in going geothermal, there are a number of Filipinos still insisting on a billion-dollar revival of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP), which is really nothing more than a concrete shell, with no fuel or workable equipment to revive.
Nuclear power plants run on uranium fuel that is not only expensive per pound, but is also subject to continuing price hikes as more and more countries, bereft of geothermal resources, turn nuclear. If the Philippines were to go this route, it would be perpetually dependent on foreign sources of uranium fuel rods, which will become a tremendous dollar drain on our economy. What makes nuclear power even more capital intensive is the large size of its plants: The lone nuclear power proposal here alone costs $1 billion. On the other hand, the RenewableEnergy Web site reports German plants to cost only €25 million ($35 million) or just P1.645 billion, which makes them immediately affordable for the Philippines .
Furthermore, expansion of the country’s geothermal capacity can be done as the need expands. Plus, the modest budgetary requirements will minimize foreign loans; thus, no longer adding to our gargantuan national debt, which has taken a heavy toll on our economic and social development. My argument against the nuclear revival project does not use the scare tactics of the anti-nuke, anti-BNPP extremists about so-called safety risks of Morong as a power plant site. I have always opposed the disinformation of these extremists since the early 1980s which have exacted such a huge loss for our nation. The late PHIVOLCS Chief Dr. Raymundo Punongbayan made it very clear that there are no such safety concerns and we had always worked to educate people on this. The six nuclear power plants in earthquake-stricken Taiwan and the dozens in Japan that have been up for years show they pose no danger at all.
So the issue is not the safety of nuclear power. It’s all about economics. Aside from the horrendous construction costs intrinsic to nuclear power plants, there are the equally expensive nuclear waste storage and disposal problems to contend with. All these will add to the high power rates already saddling the Philippines , which now has the highest electricity prices in Asia . A little comparison between geothermal and nuclear power makes it crystal clear which is the more sensible direction for the Philippines . Yet what makes some insist on going nuclear, such as the minions of this MAWA (Malaysian-West African) Coconut Monster, who’s prepping his conglomerate to swallow the biggest chunk of the country’s future energy production? Surely, it’s not rational economics but greed.
Proponents of the BNPP’s revival argue that nuclear power plants can also desalinate sea water to produce fresh water. Stupid! In a tropical country where floods plague the land, water impounding projects would cost a fraction to build. What’s more: They also want to fund the new BNPP with taxpayers’ money by charging an additional P0.10/kwh of our consumed electricity! How dare they even suggest this in a country where the abuse of power rates through the PPA has been the heaviest burden of power consumers for the past eight years? It shows just how out of touch with reality these fiends are.
If I am so incensed by this BNPP revival bunch, it’s because I know the MAWA Monster’s plot. Already, his alliance with the Malacañang Monster is leading to a concentration of economic power unseen in Philippine history--moving into telecommunications, water utility and, now, power. They don’t think economic rationality; just political control and economic exploitation through a command economy based on corporate greed. The next Gloria Arroyo has been anointed to ensure the fruition of these plunder plots for the next decade. Gloria and MAWA Monster have agreed to control Malacañang and what they hid the past eight years will come out in the open soon. The other oligarchs will simply bow as the people of the Philippines are reduced to carabaos, all whiplashed for profit.
(Tune in to 1098AM: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. / Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. / Saturday, 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with the topic, “Renewable energy: RP’s future;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
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