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Tsinoy.com Forum - Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Gloria’s chickens come home to roost
Editorial
WEDNESDAY |SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
REMEMBER the flap over that $20,000 dinner in New York and the P2.499 billion that taxpayers’ paid for Gloria Arroyo’s foreign trips?
The cost of that Le Cirque outing was an obscenity, considering the hand-to-mouth existence of most Filipinos.
So was the actual travel expenses incurred from 2001 to the present, considering that the original total allocation for her travels was only P1.439 billion.
The image polishers at the Palace, however, played down Gloria’s free-spending ways.
They said there were essential foreign trips that could not have been foreseen during the budget process.
The unforeseen expenses, Palace propagandists said, were the reason there was "budget flexibility."
The Palace’s justification was disingenuous.
On August 20 we said:
"In the case of foreign trips, the additional funding comes from the President’s Contingency Fund.
Fine. But our understanding is the Contingency Fund is the source of quick-disbursement money for victims of earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions and other calamities, both natural and man-made.
Every dollar spent on foreign travel sourced from the Contingency Fund must then necessarily be P50 less for hungry and homeless calamity victims.
"This is equivalent to snatching a bowl of rice from a starving kid’s mouth."
After the onslaught of typhoon "Ondoy," Gloria’s chickens are coming home to roost.
Today marks the end of September.
There are three more months to go in 2010, but the President’s Contingency Fund apparently has already been bled dry.
This is the reason we have not heard Gloria firing off directives to send flood victims more food and other relief goods bought with her contingency fund.
She is reduced to making symbolic gestures such as donating two months of her salary for relief work.
She gets P63,525 a month, for a total donation of P127,050.
That sum comes to about 8 percent of what she spent in that night’s outing in New York.
Put another way, she can afford to donate only two months of her salary to flood victims while she could burn 16 months of her salary for a dinner at Le Cirque.
The difference, of course, is that that P127,050 is her own money.
The P1 million she spent for dinner is for the account of poor Juan dela Cruz, who at this very moment lacks a roof over his head, clothes to ward off the cold and food to fill his grumbling stomach.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep30/edit.htm
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Lift the curse
Editorial
TUESDAY |SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
GLORIA Arroyo and her image polishers should stop the feeding us bulls..t.
Her administration set a new record of incompetence in saving people and housing and feeding calamity victims at the height of the floods brought about by typhoon "Ondoy" last weekend.
As of yesterday, rescue efforts remained patchy in Cainta and most evacuation centers were still short of clothing, food and medicines.
Instead of dealing squarely with the problem, the administration chose to hide its criminal negligence by mounting a PR show by converting the Heroes Hall of Malacañang Palace into an emergency center kuno , with free telephone patches for those seeking to get in touch with relatives who are working overseas.
To dramatize the PR gesture, Gloria moved out of the Palace to the park across the Pasig river which serves as the headquarters of the Presidential Security Group.
In so doing, her spin masters obviously failed to see the symbolism that many would draw from her action.
That during the most destructive natural calamity during her watch, she chose to ensconce herself in the bosom of her praetorian guards.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council (by the way, how does one coordinate a disaster?) is headquartered at Camp Aguinaldo.
The camp is the most accessible place for people in need of help via EDSA, a vital artery which was free from floods and traffic gridlocks during typhoons before this truly inept administration came to power.
In contrast, the approaches to Malacañang – Sampaloc, Quiapo, San Miguel, Sta.
Mesa, Pandacan and Paco – are all flood-prone.
How do the people who need help get to the Palace if, heaven forbid, the weather again takes a turn for the worse?
Swim? Or be ferried by rubber boats which were nowhere to be seen last weekend?
For a truly grand and heroic gesture, here’s an unsolicited proposal for Gloria.
Take Nagtahan bridge, proceed to the South Luzon expressway all the way to Villamor Air Base.
Sequester a Philippine Airlines plane, preferable a long-range one, and hie off to another foreign destination (you know the drill;
You have had much practice at it).
And stay there for keeps.
Mawawala na malamang ang walang hintong kamalasang sinapit nitong kawawang bayan.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep29/edit.htm
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Philippines floods: Hero teenager saves more than 30 lives before he is swept away
By Richard Shears
Last updated at 9:47 AM on 29th September 2009
A hero teenager gave his life to rescue more than 30 people - including mothers and children - from floods which have killed more than 140 people.
Rampaging floods in the Philippines have left nearly half a million people homeless, as tropical storm Ketsana brought the islands their heaviest rains in 40 years this weekend.
As the storm died down, families stood around the coffin of 18-year-old construction worker Muelmar Magallanes, who saved 30 people before he was swept away.
Time and again Muelmar swam through the floods to pull people to safety, but on his last venture into the torrent to save a baby girl and her mother the exhausted hero was swept away.
The mother and her baby, who were being carried away on the top of a styrofoam box, were hauled to the shore by friends after Muelmar had pushed them in close enough for the terrified pair to be saved.
As the floods swept him away, Muelmar was too weak to save himself and he disappeared beneath the surface.
His body was found several miles away - along with 28 others who had perished in Manila's worst floods in decades.
'He gave his life for me and my baby and I'll never forget his sacrifice, said Menchie Penalosa, the six-month-old girl's mother.
'I'll be grateful to him for the rest of my life,' she added as she joined others gathered around Muelmar's coffin at a makeshift evacuation centre near their flooded riverside village on the outskirts of the capital, Manila.
As flood water rushed through the village, Muelmar tied rope around his waist and attached it to his family members as, one by one, he helped them to higher ground.
After saving his family, he then went back to help neighbours trapped on rooftops.
But with each trip across the torrent he became weaker.
Finally, he believed he had saved everyone and, shivering with cold and exhaustion, lay down on the soggy ground to recover - but then he heard Menchie's screams as she and her baby daughter were being carried away on the top of the box the mother was clinging to, with the child in her arms.
Without hesitation, Muelmar dived into the fierce river and swam to the couple who were in danger of being thrown from the box.
'I knew we were going to die,' Menchie said later.
'Then this man came from nowhere and grabbed us.
He took us to where the other neighbours were and then he was gone.'
As they stood at Meulmar's coffin, his father, Samuel, said: 'He always had a good heart.
It was typical of him to have given his life for others.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...swept-away.html
Maria Luz Magallanes grieves beside the coffin
of her son, Muelmar, whose heroic efforts saved
the lives of 30 people from the flooding
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Anger as Philippines flood death toll rises
Posted 2 hours 21 minutes ago
The Philippine government faced an angry backlash on Monday over flooding that claimed at least 140 lives, with residents voicing frustration at the pace of rescue efforts.
With some people still stranded on the upper floors of their homes more than 48 hours after the flooding began, the government admitted it was not prepared for the disaster but insisted it was not to blame .
Defending the government's actions, officials repeated President Gloria Arroyo's statement that more rain fell on Manila and surrounding areas in Saturday's deluge than on New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit there in 2005.
However, for many the disaster revealed the divisions that separate the city's rich and poor, and problems with planning and development in the city.
"Why is it that rich villages get help first?" said Bobby Santillosa, head of a neighbourhood-based disaster-response team in Bagong Silangan, a low-income northern Manila neighbourhood.
The community leader saw 29 neighbours drown in the flooding sparked by tropical storm Ketsana, when more than a month of rain fell in less than nine hours.
"They were already dead when rescuers arrived," he added.
A woman who refused to give her name said the government response was too little too late, as police rescued her elderly parents from a rooftop in a poor neighbourhood near the bank of the Pasig River.
"Help was too slow coming.
We've been up here since Saturday and we had not eaten anything since then," she said.
Parts of the city of 12 million people were under up to 20 feet of water, leaving at least 140 people dead and forcing nearly half a million from their homes across Manila and surrounding provinces.
Bayani Fernando, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief who is responsible for flood control in the capital, said that among the major factors in the flood were poor city planning, illegal structures and simple geography.
"Our problem is we live where we should never have lived," he said.
Manila, which like most of the country lies on the Pacific typhoon belt, is bisected by the Pasig and Marikina rivers whose waters connect Manila Bay to the west with a huge lake, Laguna de Bay, to the east.
Some areas of the city lie below sea level, sit on silt and rely on pumps to keep the water out, while the eastern district of Marikina , ground zero of the disaster, is a valley surrounded by the Sierra Madre mountain range.
He said obstructions, either caused by squatters putting up illegal structures or rich landowners encroaching on land such as riverbanks that allow natural drainage, should be removed.
"If we want to stop this, we have to remove all the things that are obstructing the waters," Mr Fernando said.
– AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/.../28/2698995.htm
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Corn farmers: Yap should resign
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/27/2009 11:10 PM
MANILA - Corn farmers are calling for the immediate resignation of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and his policy advisory group for their "blunders and policy lapses" that have affected the local corn industry.
In a statement, Philippine Maize Federation Inc.
(PhilMaize) said they are mapping out plans for a nationwide mass protest and a signing of a manifesto urging Yap and his group to quit their posts.
"We are calling for an urgent meeting to all the regional representations of PhilMaize corn farmer members all over the country to map out plans for a nationwide mass protest and signing of manifesto in order to deliver this message of demand for the resignation of Sec.
Arthur C. Yap and his policy advisory group ," Philmaize said.
PhilMaize scored the Department of Agriculture's (DA) for issuing Executive Order 765, which allowed the entry of duty-free feed-grade wheat as an alternative to yellow corn.
According to the group, the government lost "P1 billion plus" in income from duties because of this "policy lapse."
On top of these, PhilMaize said corn farmers incurred "P15 billion in direct losses from the last semester's harvest," and "P150 billion in economic activity" was lost in the rural and sub-urban level.
PhilMaize also cited the DA's policy inconsistencies for the corn support price.
According to the group, the DA has adjusted the corn support price 5 times since they requested for an increase to P13 per kilo last year.
The corn support price has been adjusted to P7.50 per kilo, P10 per kilo, P11.50 per kilo, and to P13 per kilo in May.
But just recently, PhilMaize said the P13-per-kilo corn support price was reduced to P10 per kilo.
"With great surprise, the DA unfairly adjusted the support price to P10 per kilo, not even to P11.50 per kilo which is supposedly the next in line for support price approvals," PhilMaize said, adding that the DA's change in policies were done without proper consultation .
Yap has yet to make a comment on the issue as he is in Saudi Arabia with President Arroyo.
With a report from the Business Mirror
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business...p-should-resign
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What pump-priming?
Editorial
FRIDAY |SEPTEMBER 18, 2009
A NEW York-based think tank, GlobalSource, has warned the government against introducing a new stimulus package next year in a bid to speed up recovery, saying it could backfire and lead to huge budget shortfalls.
On its face, the warning sounds sensible.
In reality, GlobalSource appears to have been taken in by the rhetoric of the Arroyo administration about its purported ambitious P330 billion stimulus package for the year and failed to see that the so-called pump-priming has yet to be in place even as the calendar year is drawing to a close.
GlobalSource said a second year of pump-priming might not be sustainable and could even set back expansionary fiscal and monetary policy efforts as interest may start to climb.
"Further pump-priming," it added, "could lead to huge shortfalls in fiscal sustainability."
In support of its warning, GlobalSource said the stimulus package could not be supported by the proposed P1.54 trillion budget which is only 8.1 percent higher than this year’s, with bulk of the increase going to interest payments.
Here is where GlobalSource is led astray by the elastic use by government officials of the phrase "economic stimulus package."
For 2009, for example, the government claims P330 million is being allotted for extra spending program.
There is no such injection forthcoming.
From a third to half of that sum is embedded in the current P1.4 trillion budget, with the funds certain to have been appropriated anyway with or without the current economic slowdown.
The announced P150 billion to P200 billion off-budget spending through the initiatives of government financial institutions and the private sector has not taken place.
It will, for sure, not take place in the remaining three months of the year.
The same hocus pocus also surrounds the proposed P1.5 trillion budget for 2010.
Government officials described it as "stimulative," citing P39 billion to P160 billion in "embedded" fresh spending.
Giving lie to this claim is the reduced – yes, reduced - budget for capital expenditures.
From 2009’s P233 billion, the proposed capex for 2010 is P183 billion, a reduction of 21.5 percent.
The only reasonable conclusion that can be made is that there is no planned pump-priming in 2010, in the same way that there is no pump-priming this year.
The reason for this is the fear of unsustainable deficits.
Whether this is good or bad is a question we do not intend to tackle.
We would, however, welcome an honest declaration of the government’s budget policy.
We know that Gloria has perfected lying as an art.
But we expect our economic managers to be better than smoke-and-mirrors artists.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep18/edit.htm
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Xcvsdhadfas
mzsdjerugn
fdsghdfd
xcvdebdag
gcxviuhg
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Benigno Aquino 3 said Hacienda Luisita will be divided amongst farmers,
Peping Cojuangco says " I dont know what he meant by that comment"
you know what it meant NO WAY NO NO NO NO.
cory aquino did not do it, it wont happen on benigno aquino 3 watch.
Peace
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Jinggoy, Mar, Pia top Senate poll
By Helen Flores | The Philippine Star
Updated August 27, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Pulse Asia released yesterday the results of the firm’s recent survey on senatorial candidates that showed Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada as the top favorite to win if the elections were held today.
Estrada got 50.2 percent of votes, which translates to a statistical ranking of 1st to 5th places in Pulse Asia’s August 2009 Ulat ng Bayan survey, which also showed that 14 out of 71 aspirants have a statistical chance of winning Senate seats.
The non-commissioned survey was conducted from July 28 to Aug.
10 and used face-to-face interviews of 1,800 respondents 18 years old and above.
The survey sample of 1,800 is greater than the usual 1,200 respondents used by Pulse Asia in its previous polls.
The survey with more respondents has a lower margin of error, it explained.
Sharing statistical rankings of 1st to 6th places among the Senate bets were Senators Manuel Roxas II (48.3 percent), Pia Cayetano (46.6 percent), Ramon Revilla Jr.
(46.4 percent), and former Senate president Franklin Drilon (46.3 percent).
Sen.
Miriam Defensor-Santiago (45.2 percent) was ranked from 2nd to 6th places.
Other probable winners include Sen.
Jamby Madrigal (38.9 percent), former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Ralph Recto (37.6 percent), and Makati City Mayor Binay (37.5 percent), who placed between 7th to 11th places.
Pulse Asia said the aspirants that were ranked from 1st to 11th are sure to take the 1 to 9 slots for the 12 Senate seats that would be contested in the 2010 polls.
Those within the statistical ranking from 13th to 24th are expected to contest the 10th to 12th Senate slots.
Lawyer Aquilino Pimentel III currently ranks 7th to 13th, with an overall voter preference of 36.1 percent, while former Optical Media Board (OMB) chairperson Edu Manzano (34.9 percent) is in 7th to 14th places.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former senator Sergio Osmeña III record the same overall voter preference (32.1 percent) for a statistical ranking of 10th to 14th places.
Completing the list of probable winners is Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III who enjoys the support of 30.8 percent of Filipinos for a statistical ranking of 11th to 15th places.
The survey also showed that the level of public interest in the senatorial race remains high, with Filipinos naming a mean of 10 and a median of 12 (out of a maximum of 12) of their preferred senatorial bets.
At the national level and in all geographic areas and socio-economic groupings, majorities (51 percent to 63 percent) already have a complete senatorial list.
“Presently, seven re-electionists and four former senators are among the probable winners in the senatorial race,” Pulse Asia said.
Less than one in 10 Filipinos (three percent) is not inclined to vote for any of the personalities included in the senatorial probe, Pulse Asia said.
Among the probable winners, Manzano enjoys the biggest improvement in overall voter preference between May and August 2009 (+13.5 percentage points).
Drilon (+7.6 percentage points), Enrile (+7.0 percentage points), and Binay (+7.0 percentage points) also register notable gains in electoral support during this period.
On the other hand, marginal improvements may be noted in the overall voter preferences of Revilla (+5.0 percentage points), Estrada (+4.2 percentage points), and Pimentel (+4.2 percentage points).
Pulse Asia said considerable gains were made by broadcaster Ted Failon (+7.0 percentage points) and Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano (+6.5 percentage points).
The duo was among the group that landed outside the winners’ circle.
Other personalities included in the survey were: Sen.
Richard Gordon (26.1 percent);
Former Sen. Juan Flavier (22.1 percent);
Bukidnon Rep. Teofisto Guingona III (20.5 percent);
Durano (18.6 percent);
Jose de Venecia III (17.6 percent);
Sen. Manuel Lapid (17.3 percent);
Former Surigao del Sur Rep.
Prospero Pichay (16.2);
Book author Alex Lacson (15.9 percent);
Muntinlupa Rep. Rozzano Biazon (15.5 percent);
Surigao del Norte Gov.
Robert Ace Barbers (11.5 percent);
National broadband network-ZTE contract scam whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada (10.7 percent);
Former Presidential Management Staff chief Michael Defensor (10.3 percent);
Grace Poe (9.6 percent);
Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno (9.6 percent);
Nacionalista Party spokesman Gilbert Remulla (8.2 percent);
Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo (7.5 percent);
Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte (6.7 percent);
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (6.6 percent) ;
Detained Army Brig.
General Danilo Lim (6.1 percent);
Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez (5.6 percent);
Former executive secretary Oscar Orbos (5.6 percent);
Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca (5.3 percent);
Professor Randy David (4.8 percent);
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo (4.8 percent);
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap (4.7 percent) ;
Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza (4.5 percent);
NP spokesman Adel Tamano (4.5 percent);
Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III (4.3 percent);
Anakbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros (4.1 percent);
Manila Hotel president Jose Lina (3.9 percent);
Economist Benjamin Diokno (3.7 percent);
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus (3.7 percent);
San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora (3.7 percent);
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes (3.4 percent);
Former social welfare secretary Dinky Soliman (3.4 percent);
Camarines Sur Gov.
Lray Villafuerte (3.4 percent);
Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Boboy Syjuco (3.3 percent);
Speaker Prospero Nograles (3.2 percent);
Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño (three percent);
Former Labor undersecretary Susan Ople (2.8 percent);
Detained Marine Col.
Ariel Querubin (2.8 percent);
Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane (2.7 percent);
Former agrarian reform secretary Horacio “Boy” Morales (2.2 percent);
Finance Secretary Margarito Teves (2.2 percent);
Former education secretary Florencio Abad (1.8 percent);
Black and White Movement convenor Leah Navarro (1.7 percent);
Former Bukidnon Rep.
Nereus Acosta (1.3 percent);
Iloilo Rep. Rolex Suplico (1.3 percent);
University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez (1.1 percent);
Constitutionalist Fr.
Joaquin Bernas (0.9 percent);
Agusan del Sur Rep.
Rodolfo Plaza (0.9 percent);
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde (0.9 percent);
Former Akbayan Rep.
Loretta Ann Rosales (0.8 percent);
Ang Ladlad founder Danton Remoto (0.7 percent);
Ang Kapatiran founder Reynaldo Pacheco (0.5 percent);
And Naga City Mayor Jessie Rebredo (0.4 percent).
http://www.philstar.com/Article.asp...ubCategoryId=63
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How did we get to where we are?
By Dr.
Bernardo Villegas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:07:00 09/12/2009
In the whole of East Asia, the Philippines has one of the worst poverty conditions.
Depending on how the poverty line is defined, some 30 to 40 percent of our 90 million population are living in dehumanizing poverty.
Only Vietnam has a similar poverty index.
How did we get to where we are?
It is easy to blame corrupt government officials and greedy capitalists for our enduring poverty.
Without condoning corruption and dishonest practices, I must point out that, with the exception of Singapore, East Asian countries that have eliminated poverty were also notorious for corruption.
Just think of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.
Their government officials and private entrepreneurs were not exactly paragons of honesty and fair play during the decades when their respective economies were growing by leaps and bounds.
Every society has to uproot corruption for moral reasons.
Dishonesty is immoral.
It should never be tolerated in any democratic society.
But it does not explain the main difference between countries that succeed in eliminating poverty and those that fail.
We must find the difference somewhere else.
The neo-Malthusians blame rapid population growth for our poverty situation.
I find this explanation laughable especially during these times when the only countries in Asia that are posting positive GDP growth rates are the countries with huge populations, and therefore have sizable domestic markets which partly immunize them from collapsing export markets.
If one takes a look at the so-called emerging markets that are forecasted to dominate the global economy in the next 20 years, they have a common denominator: they all have at least 50 million people, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc.
Large and young populations have two advantages: they provide low-labor costs and attractive consumer markets.
Then why is the Philippines poor?
The main answer is that for 30 long years after World War II, our leaders adopted economic policies that fostered an inward-looking, import-substitution industrialization based on protectionist, anti-market and ultra-nationalist ideologies not very different from what most Latin American countries implemented with the same dire consequences.
Overreacting to our colonial past (as did the Latin Americans), we equated economic development with capital-intensive industrialization that did nothing to address our massive unemployment and underemployment problem.
The worst consequence of these failed economic policies was not the eventual demise of the so-called infant industries that never grew up.
The most devastating result was the almost criminal neglect of countryside and agricultural development .
Because we used up our capital resources in the white elephants of the manufacturing sector, there were no resources left to build farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, seaports and airports that were essential to making our small farmers productive.
Agrarian reform failed, not because of the fragmentation of land, but because we did not provide the small farmers with the wherewithal to be both productive and cost-effective .
The bias against agriculture was so ingrained at the highest levels of Philippine society that it took almost till the end of the last century before a real shift toward agricultural and rural development could take place.
In the meantime, our non-identical twin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Thailand, was busy building farm-to-market roads, irrigation systems, post-harvest facilities, etc.
The result was dramatic.
Whereas we were well ahead of Thailand in almost all indicators of human development in the late 1970s, today Thailand—the agribusiness superpower of Southeast Asia—has twice our per capita income and a poverty line one-third ours.
It has become the largest rice exporter in the world and a large exporter of many other high-value agricultural products.
Because of the enlightened policy of focusing on rural and agricultural development, Thailand has been able to attain a higher level of development and significantly reduce poverty, despite the fact that corruption has also been rampant in that country.
( Dr.
Bernardo M. Villegas is senior vice president of the University of Asia and the Pacific.
For comments, his email address is bvillegas@uap.edu.ph .)
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquire...to-where-we-are
Quote: :
The point is this: The national government has been a willing conspirator to kill agriculture, which remains the source of one third of national employment and 20 percent of the country’s GDP.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national...090902opi1.html
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State workers picket the Ombudsman office in
Quezon City Thursday after filing a graft complaint
against Rep.
Mikey Arroyo. Mark Adrian
GMANews.TV
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Sinking deeper due to corruption
Editorial
THURSDAY |SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
NOT a peep has been heard from the Palace in reaction to reports that corruption has sunk the Philippines 16 notches lower to 87th place among 133 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum for its 2009-2010 Global Competitiveness Report.
WEF describes its report as the “most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of national economies, used by governments, academics and business leaders.” WEF’s description is not hype.
Even if the element of self-promotion is discounted, the competitiveness report, originally designed by Harvard’s Professor Jeffrey Sachs, is indeed recognized as the most authoritative survey on global competitiveness.
And what about the WEF?
It just so happens to be the sponsor and organizer of the yearly Davos conference in Switzerland, which Gloria Arroyo has been religiously attending the last three years.
Again, discounting the hype, Davos arguably brings together the biggest shakers in global politics and business.
When Gloria left for Davos for the 2009 conference last January, a Palace nitwit of a spokesman had this to say about her appearance and her topic “rebooting the global economy”:
“It will be very significant because this means that our country is being recognized on the global economy when it comes to strategies.
I think this is very significant in the sense that all nations are focused on how we are going to resolve this ongoing financial crisis,” the spokeswoman said.
Being recognized on the global economy when it comes to strategies?
The recognition, it turned out, was when it comes to corruption and inefficient bureaucracy, the blame for which can directly be laid at the feet of Gloria, she being the chief executive.
Gloria has been trying to justify her wanderlust in the name of selling the Philippines as an investment destination.
But investors clearly can see through marketing glibness.
The reality is that on public trust of politicians, the Philippines is ranked 130th and on favoritism in decisions of public officials, it ranks 128th.
We do not have ready access to the details of the WEF report, so we cannot identify the three economies the Philippines edged out on public trust and the five on favoritism in decision making.
But we do know the economies on the bottom five.
They are Mozambique (129th), Mali (130th), Chad (131st), Zimbabwe (132nd) and Burundi (133rd).
It could make a grown-up Filipino weep.
http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep10/edit.htm
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Gone to the dogs
EDITORIAL
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
The Singson-Tiongson scandal, some people are saying, is one more proof that this country has gone to the dogs.
Here is one of the high officials of the land, a close ally of the President.
He is the Deputy National Security Adviser.
Undersecretary Luis “Chavit” Singson, a former provincial governor, has admitted beating up his former common-law wife of 17 years, the mother of five of his children.
Her pictures as a beauty and as one with a swollen face, red, black and blue where she received the blows, have been splashed around the world.
He admits having beaten her boyfriend as well.
He had found them together in a posh townhouse in Quezon City.
He boasts of having in fact saved their lives because the men he had assigned to shadow Rachel Tiongson and Richard Catral thought their mission was to kill them.
He stopped his men from killing his former live-in partner and her present lover.
He wants to be seen as the victim of a perfidious partner.
He told the Inquirer “I am innocent, I am the victim here and I can prove it in court.”
In a Quezon City court, Ms.
Tiongson has charged Undersecretary Singson with violating Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Law.
He has the opportunity to prove his claim of innocence and victimhood there.
But in all likelihood, given what he has admitted to media, all he can prove is that he acted with the frenzy of a brokenhearted and jealous man whose violence against his beloved and her lover was a “crime of passion.” We are, however, not in a country (like France) that excuses perpetrators of crimes against their wives and sweethearts under the rubric of romantic love.
Instead we have Republic Act 9262, the newly enacted Magna Carta of Women and other laws in our criminal code that hold perpetrators liable for attacking and injuring anyone—except in self defense.
Besides, both Ms.
Tiongson and Undersecretary Singson have told the media that they have been separated for some time.
Therefore, in her reckoning, he no longer has any right over her affections and can have new lovers if she wants.
Malacañang’s response the worse scandal
The greater and worse scandal, however, is the response of Malacañang to this ugly drama.
At first, the Palace asked Mr.
Singson “to behave.” About that he offered the comment that he was in fact well-behaved and had not killed anyone despite what Ms.
Tiongson and Mr. Catral had done to him.
Then, on Monday, Malacañang, through the voice of Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo, sounded a bit more stern.
The President, Ms.
Fajardo said, was disturbed by the “domestic problem” of Mr.
Singson and the charges laid against him who is “regarded as part of her [the President’s] circle, though not part of her official family.” Ms.
Fajardo also explained that the President could not suspend Undersecretary Singson because the accusation against him had nothing to do with his job.
So, Malacañang urged him, through Ms.
Fajardo, to take a leave of absence—out of delicadeza (a sense of propriety).
She also said National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, being Undersecretary Singson’s immediate boss, had been instructed to “make the appropriate recommendations” to the President.
Sec.
Gonzales should just fire his Usec
Instead of making “the appropriate recommendations” Secretary Gonzales should just summarily fire Mr.
Singson for conduct unbecoming of a high official and for not giving a **** about the rule of law.
And he should find out if Mr.
Singson has secured the necessary permits to keep a pet tiger at home.
Mr.
Singson has virtually dared Malacañang to remove him (according to the Inquirer).
By firing Undersecretary Singson, Secretary Gonzales would be helping prove that this country has not yet completely gone to the dogs.
Medical care for the poor
The Times’ front-page story “Fewer Filipinos can afford medical care, says ADB study” on Tuesday, September 8, gave concrete figures to something obvious to most thinking Filipinos.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) study says that in the 10 years covering 1998 to 2007 fewer and fewer Filipinos sought treatment from private and government hospitals because medicines and health-care services had been getting costlier.
The study finds that utilization of healthcare in the Philippines declined at an annual rate of 4.7 percent from 1998 to 2007, or at a rate faster than the population growth of 2.3 percent.
The number of Filipinos who went to government hospitals for treatment went down to 3.4 percent in 2007 from 3.70 in 1998;
Private hospitals, 2.25 percent from 3.06 percent;
Private clinics, 2.55 percent from 5.13 percent;
Rural health units, 2.36 percent from 4.79 percent;
And barangay (village) health stations, 1.82 percent from 2.45 percent.
The ADB study says the utilization of health services among the poor might have gone down more than among the rich because of “lack of ability to pay for health services.”
We hope that now with the Cheaper Medicines Law more of the poor would go to hospitals and clinics when they get sick.
But the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) see that only a few vital drugs and medicines have become cheaper since the maximum retail prices of less than 20 medicines were set on August 15.
The BFAD is giving non-compliant drugstores, whose stock they paid for under the old prices, until September 15 to comply.
The government should not stop taking steps to make medicines cost less in our country.
Health is wealth.
No amount of effort by our economic planners to raise the gross domestic product will succeed in making our nation prosperous if millions of citizens who are poor are sick and not being given proper healthcare.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national...090909opi1.html
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Arroyo foundations are not accredited as NGOs
ROWENA CARRANZA-PARAAN, PCIJ
09/09/2009 | 12:10 PM
They have always been known to be wealthy, but few are aware that the charity cup of the Arroyo clan also runneth over – at least on paper.
Even as they enjoy access to pork and public funds to dispense with charity work, members of the First Family, as well as an assortment of relatives and friends who hold positions in government, have set up a collection of foundations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with aims ranging from promoting “punctuality" to securing loans from government institutions.
Records of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on foundations and NGOs show that the Arroyos and their friends and business associates are incorporators of at least nine NGOs and foundations.
In addition, the Arroyos are identified with five other similar entities, including several that had figured in earlier reports of alleged corruption .
(See Table on Arroyo NGOs and foundations)
All were established when Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became a public official.
At least four – Amigo Foundation, Kagabay ni Glo, Centrist Democrat International Asia-Pacific, Inc.
(CDI-Asia-Pacific) and First Gentleman Foundation Inc.
– were born when she was already sitting as president of the republic.
CDI-Asia-Pacific also enjoys the distinction of being one of two foundations that have the president herself as among their incorporators.
Several of the foundations were built around the name of President Arroyo, using her first name or her initials, GMA.
One even spells out her entire name: Kaibigan ni Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Foundation, Inc.
Or KGMA.
Suspicious mix
Foundations and NGOs are supposed to promote selfless social service and goals for the poor and needy, the displaced and threatened, the voiceless and powerless.
Yet while technically, the Arroyos and their friends do not seem to have violated any law for being part of such entities, recent history shows that politics and foundations make for a suspicious mix.
Raul Gonzalez, the president’s chief legal counsel, who for five years served as justice secretary, even believes that government officials should not have foundations.
He adds, “These foundations which deal with public funds and deal with government agencies should be monitored very closely because public funds are involved and if public officials are there they have more access."
The case of deposed President Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada and his Erap Muslim Youth Foundation is instructive: Estrada had lodged with his foundation the excess amount of election campaign contributions that he raised in the 1998 polls.
His lawyer Ed Serapio organized and ran the foundation, and through his law firm and a holding company acquired some of the pricey mansions of Estrada and his mistresses.
Serapio was Estrada’s co-accused in his plunder and perjury trial before the Sandiganbayan.
Court documents show that Estrada had used the Erap MuslimYouth Foundation to launder ill-gotten wealth.
In particular, he is supposed to have diverted P200 million of tobacco excise taxes in the bank account of the foundation, which was supposed to send poor Muslim children to school.
More recently, foundations were at front and center of the so-called “fertilizer fund scam" that saw millions of pesos meant to buy fertilizer for farmers released to foundations just a few weeks before the 2004 elections.
The scam reportedly involved the groups Philippine Social Development Foundation (PSDFI), People’s Organization for Progress and Development (POPDI), Molugan Foundation Inc, Assembly of Gracious Samaritans Foundation, Inc.
(AGS) and National Organization for Agricultural Enhancement and Productivity, among others.
Reports say at least P152.5 million of about P728 in total funds went to private foundations.
Poor monitoring
Fely Soledad, executive director of the Philippine Council for NGO Certification (PCNC), rues the lack of a mechanism to monitor if NGOs are really doing what they are supposed to be doing.
“The SEC is supposed to be the regulating body for the whole non-stock, non-profit corporation universe but they don’t have the resources.
So they just say they will register but they cannot monitor."
The PCNC itself was established in 1998 as a self-regulatory mechanism to verify the legitimacy and promote accountability and transparency of NGOs, including foundations.
The move to have NGOs secure PCNC accreditation was in part prompted by horror stories of organizations established solely for the vested interests of individuals or groups under the alleged purpose of social development.
If a group is not accredited by PCNC, then the entities that give it donations cannot claim tax deductions and still have to pay a donor’s tax.
For a charitable group -- especially a foundation -- it makes sense to have itself accredited to attract more donors.
But NGOs and foundations put up for illegal purposes may not be too concerned with tax exemptions, which come with PCNC monitoring.
After all, the rewards they get come in other, more lucrative, forms.
Among PCNC’s certified NGOs are the Ayala Foundation, Benigno S.
Aquino Jr. Foundation, Caritas Manila, Inc.
And the Museo Pambata Foundation, Inc.
Two Arroyo foundations – Lualhati Foundation and GMA Foundation – applied for PCNC accreditation but did not complete the process.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/171786/...redited-as-ngos
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RP trails peers in competitiveness due to corruption
09/08/2009 | 08:51 PM
The Philippines' perennial problems of corruption, inefficient government bureaucracy and inadequate infrastructure were the main reasons given for the further decline in the country's competitiveness ranking, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said.
Out of 134 countries included in the WEF's Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, the Philippines ranked 87th out of 133 economies included in the study, a substantial slide from its 71st ranking out of 134 economies in the 2008-2009 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI).
In the 2007-2008 GCI, the Philippines was also ranked 71st out of 131 countries.
As the survey is designed to capture a broad range of factors affecting an economy’s business climate, the lower ranking means that it is becoming less attractive to do business in the Philippines.
The Report also includes comprehensive listings of the main strengths and weaknesses of countries, making it possible to identify key priorities for policy reform.
A total of 24.3-percent of respondents from the Philippines cited corruption as the most problematic factor for doing business in the country.
This was followed by 20.6 percent who identified inefficient government bureaucracy as a culprit in making it difficult to do business in the Philippines.
Other top reasons were inadequate supply of infrastructure, 15 percent;
Policy instability, 12.6 percent and access to financing, 5.2 percent.
The most competitive economy was Switzerland, replacing the US, which fell to second place, as the world's largest economy suffers for its weakening financial markets and macroeconomic stability.
The third most competitive economy was Singapore, followed by Sweden and Denmark, respectively.
Also included in the top 10 were European countries - Finland, sixth;
Germany, seventh;
And Netherlands, 10th.
Others were Japan, eighth;
And Canada, ninth.
Among economies in the region, the Philippines was the laggard.
Singapore led the region, followed by Malaysia's 24th and Brunei's 32nd.
Thailand was ranked 36th;
Indonesia, 54th and Vietnam, 75th.
" Amid the present crisis, it is critical that policy-makers not lose sight of long-term competitiveness fundamentals among short-term urgencies.
Competitive economies are those that have in place factors driving the productivity enhancements on which their present and future prosperity is built.
A competitiveness-supporting economic environment can help national economies to weather business cycle downturns and ensure that the mechanisms enabling solid performance going into the future are in place, " said Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Columbia University economics professor and co-author of the report.
This year, over 13,000 business leaders were polled in 133 economies.
The Global Competitiveness Report's competitiveness ranking is based on the GCI, developed for the WEF by Sala-i-Martin and introduced in 2004.
The GCI is based on 12 pillars of competitiveness , providing a comprehensive picture of the competitiveness landscape in countries around the world at all stages of development.
The pillars include Institutions, Infrastructure, Macroeconomic Stability, Health and Primary Education, Higher Education and Training, Goods Market Efficiency, Labor Market Efficiency, Financial Market Sophistication, Technological Readiness, Market Size, Business Sophistication and Innovation.
– Cheryl M. Arcibal, GMANews.TV
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/171791/...e-to-corruption
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