10 pinaka-magastos na gusot sa mundo

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 18, 2009 12:00 AM

 

(10) PAGLUBOG ng Titanic, Apr. 15, 1912, nu’ng kauna-una­hang biyahe, sa nagyeyelong karagatan — Mahigit 1,500 pasahero nalunod; $7 milyon — $150 milyon ngayon — ang gastos sa paggawa ng dambuhalang barko.

(9) Banggaan ng kotse at tanker truck sa Wiehltal Bridge, Germany, Aug. 2004 — Sumabog sa expressway ang 32,000 litrong gasolinang karga ng tanker; $358 milyon para emergency repairs at palitan ang tulay.

(8) Banggaan ng passenger at cargo trains sa California, Sept. 2008 — 25 patay; lumampas sa red light ang pampasahero habang nagte-text ang engineer; mahigit $500 milyon ang babayarang demanda.

(7) B-2 Stealth bomber crash, Guam, Feb. 2008 — sirang instrumento, naka-eject ang dalawang piloto; durog ang eroplanong $1.4 bilyon.

(6) Exxon Valdez oil spill, Gulf of Alaska, Mar. 1989 — pinaka-malalang oil spill sa kasaysayan, 43 milyong litro ng krudo kumalat nang sumadsad ang supertanker; $2.5 bilyon gastos sa paglilinis.

(5) Piper Alpha oil rig accident, North Sea, July 1988 — nakalimutan ng mga inspektor isara ang 1 sa 100 barbula; 167 manggagawa patay sa sunog; $3.4 bilyon natupok.

(4) Space shuttle Challenger sumabog, Jan. 1986 — 73 segundo mula takeoff, habang nanonood ang libu-libo sa Florida at sa TV; isang O-ring sira; halaga ng space shuttle, $2 bilyon noon, $5.5 bilyon ngayon.

(3) Prestige oil spill, Spain, Nov. 2002 — Sumabog ang 1 sa 12 holds ng supertanker habang nakadaong dahil sa bagyo; lumubog at nagkalat ng 80 milyong litrong krudo sa dagat; $12 bilyon halaga ng paglilinis.

(2) Space shuttle Columbia sumabog, Feb. 2003 — Sa ere ng Texas, habang pabalik sa lupa, matapos ang 16 na araw sa outer space; nabutas ang pakpak; $13 bilyon halaga ng Columbia at paghahakot ng pira-piraso.

(1) Chernobyl nuclear accident, Ukraine, Apr. 1986 — 50% ng kapali­gi­ran wasak sa pagsabog ng nuke plant, 200,000 tao nilikas, 1.7 milyon pa na­apektuhan ang hanap­buhay; $200 bilyon ibi­nayad.

Lakas-Kampi convention illegal – Comelec lawyer

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated September 18, 2009 12:00 AM

 

Malacañang’s usual go-between to the Comelec is livid. He is telling two Palace gofers in the poll body to muzzle their legal division chief Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan. The latter’s continued talking is embarrassing political bunglers in Malacañang, so must be stopped.

What got the Palace factotum’s goat? Simple: Rafanan’s alertness. The lawyer had noticed an illegality in last Wednesday’s Lakas-Kampi convention, and told the press about it. In particular, he had said that the admin’s merged parties broke the Comelec rule for conventions to be held only from Oct. 21 to Nov. 19. A commissioners’ en banc had set the rule in fulfillment of the Omnibus Election Code, to limit divisive campaigns to a minimum. For flouting the election law, Rafanan further had stated, the attendees can be imprisoned for one to six years. Too, the presidential and vice presidential candidates they had proclaimed, and who accepted their nomination, may be disqualified from running. It would be disastrous. The admin that dominates half the Senate, four-fifths of the House, and nearly all governorships and mayorships will have no standard bearers. The advertised Gibo Teodoro-Ronnie Puno ticket would be stillborn. All because six Malacañang bumblers had ill timed the convention.

It bears watching if Rafanan can be shut up. He has had scrapes with superiors before. For speaking his mind out in 2004, the forceful Comelec chief then, Ben Abalos, had him thrown to Siberia postings, yet he was unruffled. Upon Abalos’s resignation due to the NBN-ZTE scam, Rafanan was unbound. The new chairman, Jose Melo, named him chief-lawyer. Then as now, Rafanan has been vocal about the need for the poll body to regain its credibility. To do this, he says, the Comelec must whip politicians and parties into line. Instilling in them discipline and obedience to election laws is Rafanan’s aim as legal division head.

Comelec control over politicos is also what Lakas co-founders are invoking in their protest against the merger with Kampi. Whether the poll commissioners will heed their call — and that of the Comelec’s own top counsel — has yet to be seen. Led by Joe de Venecia, the Lakas originals argue that the merger is illegal on two main grounds. First, it violated the Lakas by-laws, as approved by Comelec, of requiring a general assembly to ratify any tie-up with any party. No such assembly was convened. Worse, the very application for Comelec approval of the Lakas-Kampi fusion defies the Constitution. It gives sole power to appoint members of the National Executive Committee to one person — President Gloria Arroyo as national chairman. This, de Venecia et al aver, runs counter to democracy and representative government that politicians must promote.

Lakas-Kampi’s holding of a rump convention complicates things. This early the clumsy organizers are trying to lie their way out of a lawsuit. Supposedly what they held Wednesday was not a convention but a mere straw vote, so they broke no law. Fifty attendees of the 65-man National Executive Committee only mulled between presidential wannabes Teodoro and Bayani Fernando, is all. Final decision allegedly will be made in a real convention of all party members within the allowed period for such event next month. The convention’s true minutes will not bear that out, though. For, at one point Wednesday, Fernando had demanded that the selection be made not by national officers alone but a general assembly. On record the attendees voted him down, then proceeded to secret balloting. Fernando is smarting from the rebuff by a party he has served loyally for years. Lakas-Kampi merger pushers now run the risk of him testifying as state witness against their violating the Election Code. Teodoro and Puno face the threat of not being able to run at all.

Puno has labeled de Venecia’s group as “washouts”. But it seems that time is on their side. One by one Lakas originals are filing cases in Comelec against the unauthorized use of the party name for the merger. At the rate of proceedings, the poll body will take two months to hear each argument. By then merger members would be hard-pressed to file candidacies under duly accredited parties before the Nov. 30 deadline. Even if, on prodding of the Palace gofers, the Comelec upholds the Lakas-Kampi shotgun wedding

, the damage would have been done. Lakas and Kampi members at the local levels irreparably would have squabbled about who can run and who must give way. There would be expensive intra-party campaigns for the merger leaders to mediate, much more bankroll. Teodoro-Puno would have to run under an emasculated Kampi, if at all. De Venecia’s group would have the last laugh. And Rafanan might have the challenge of his life, historically prosecuting an admin party and mighty leaders for trashing the law.

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“People who appear unlovely can become lovely — if only someone begins to love them.” Shafts of Life, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Preferring military over civilian option

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star)  September 16, 2009

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile finally is speaking on the issue of succession in case of failure of the 2010 election. But it’s not to consent to give up his post this early to avoid a power vacuum when his term ends on June 30. In fact, he thinks it pointless to elect as new Senate President any of the 12 senators who will sit till 2013. In his view, that SP constitutionally cannot serve anyway as Acting President, in case no President, VP and new senators are elected. “The 12 remaining senators will have to elect with the 12 new ones the legitimate SP,” Enrile opines. Meaning, there will still be a political emergency if the May balloting flops due to rushed automation or, God forbid, a “Palace coup”.

Enrile’s constitutional construal is subject to Supreme Court validation. More so since it contradicts the assertion of Fr. Joaquin Bernas, one of few living framers of the 1987 Charter. Nonetheless it fans suspicions about Enrile’s ally Gloria Arroyo. That is, that she’s scheming to become congresswoman, then, in a failed voting crisis, have her newly elected Congress allies install her as Speaker and consequently as Prime Minister. That way she’ll continue to enjoy immunity from corruption and mass murder suits even after her presidential term ends on June 30. At any rate, Enrile sounds so sure that the Supreme Court will uphold him. That Chief Justice Reynato Puno would retire on May 17, a week after (failed) Election Day, does not assuage public fear. That the Tribunal would consist fully of Arroyo appointees, by June 30, adds to the worrying.

Enrile even offers a frightening scenario. For him, crisis inevitably will arise from failed balloting. Thence, it would be up to the AFP-PNP, as the state’s organized armed component, to step in to handle it. Soldiers and cops will decide which civilian official to follow, Enrile opines. That is if they opt to obey a civilian at all. If the PMA Class of ’78 is resurgent by then, and supports honorary member Arroyo, then her position is secure — to the nation’s blight. If there is deep division in the military ranks, then civil war could break out. Former President Fidel Ramos forecast as much in a speech Saturday against military adventurism. The 1986 People Power Revolt succeeded, he recounted as then-AFP vice chief, only because 96 percent of the AFP happened to back Cory Aquino. But had, say, only 80 percent supported, he shuddered, then the residual 20 percent pro-Marcos troops would have engaged them in protracted fighting.

Why does Enrile, and by consequence Arroyo, prefer to risk civil war than moving constitutionally to avert it? Most likely Arroyo has calculated the odds. If she doesn’t prolong herself in power, she faces certain charges of non-bailable, extraditable plunder and death squads. She might as well gamble on the vast resources of the Office of the President to avoid it. Strife favors her. The only thing going for the nation in a civil war is the slim chance that the anti-Arroyo military will confiscate and return all the ill-gotten wealth.

*      *      *

Quick, go to www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-11/fashions-night-on-probation. It’s an interesting story on Timothy Mark D. Garcia, 25-year-old third son of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia. With a revealing photo too and tidbits on the sad-happy beneficiary of a father’s $6.2-million (P303-million) plunder. Some items from author Peter Davis:

• “Perched on a sleek white Armani Casa chair in his apartment in the modern, gilded Trump Plaza at 502 Park Avenue, Garcia is decked in head-to-toe designer: a supple caramel leather Alessandro dell’Acqua jacket, Alexander McQueen jeans, a thin white LnA tee shirt and YSL boots. His wrists are adorned with a big Cartier gold and silver Tank watch, a Cartier Love bracelet, a white enamel Hermes bangle, and a $1000 large gold plated spiked Hermes cuff called the Collier de Chien.”

• Garcia’s mother Clarita Depakakibo bought the plush apartment for him in 2004 for $765,000 (P38 million). In his bedroom are two laptops, two flat-screen TVs, three gigantic Louis Vuitton suitcases, and dozens of stuff by Hermes, YSL by Stefano Pilati, Dior Homme by Kris Van Assche, and Marc Jacobs.

• US lawmen had raided his flat and arrested him for complicity with his dad. His mom and two elder brothers were nabbed elsewhere in America. All four are American citizens. Timothy Mark was in jail for 95 days.

• Going by the name Tim Garcia, he has been hired as publicist for Marc by Marc Jacobs fashion house.

• Released on a million-dollar bail, Garcia is now under house arrest. He is allowed a few hours of work on weekdays and Mass on Sundays, but must be home by curfew. He can’t believe the charges against his dad.

• There’s one fashion accessory he’d rather not have: an electronic monitoring house arrest ankle bracelet, code number HGM94472. It’s uncomfortable and limits his fashion choices: “I can’t even wear my knee-high croc boots by Sergio Rossi for the fall.”

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Live for others and God will remember you eternally.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Sapin-saping batas nilabag ni Mikey

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon)  September 15, 2009

IPINAKITA ng Ombudsman ang tunay niyang kulay bilang tagapag-ingat ng Statements of Assets and Liabilities ng mga taong-gobyerno. Kakampi pala siya ng mga kawatan. Aba’y matapos maiulat ang SALs nina Pangulong Gloria Arroyo at anak na Rep. Mikey Arroyo, hinigpitan ng Ombudsman ang pagsasa-publiko ng mga dokumento. Padadaanin na sa butas ng karayom ang mga mamamahayag na naglalantad ng mga katiwalian.

Gayunpaman, bistado na ang pagbubulaan ni Mikey sa 2008 SAL niya. Hindi niya dineklara ang $1.3-milyon (P67-milyong) bahay sa California. Kesyo raw pag-aari kasi ito ng Beach Way Park LLC, na inamin niya sa SAL pero hindi rehistrado sa America o Pilipinas. Paglabag ito sa Code of Conduct & Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, na umuutos sa lahat ng taong-gobyerno na mag-file ng kumpletong SAL taon-taon. At dahil sinumpaan ni Mikey ang depektibong 2008 SAL, nagbulaan siya at dapat ihabla ng perjury.

Ang isda nahuhuli sa bunganga. Naipit nang naipit si Mikey nang magpalusot ng kung ano-ano sa panayam nina Winnie Monsod at Arnold Clavio sa Unang Hirit tungkol sa itinagong bahay. Kaya raw lumobo ang net worth niya mula P5 milyon nu’ng 2001 hanggang P100 milyon nu’ng 2008 ay dahil sa campaign donations. Pero batay sa mga sinumite niyang papeles sa Comelec, tig-kalahating milyong piso ang tinanggap at ginasta niyang kontribusyon nu’ng halalang 2004 at 2007. Kung hindi pala niya inamin lahat, paglabag ito sa Omnibus Election Code. At dahil sinumpaan niya muli ang kabulaanan, perjury na naman.

Kesyo raw maraming nag­regalo ng mahahalagang items nang ikasal siya nu’ng 2002, habang vice governor ng Pam­panga. Bawal na naman ito. Kahit anumang okasyon, hindi dapat bigyan o tumanggap ang taong-gobyerno ng regalong mahigit P5,000 ang halaga. At kung ti­nanggap niya ang mga regalong halagang milyun-milyong piso, dapat ay nagba­yad siya ng income taxes para rito. Talagang dapat ikulong.

GMA: from President to Speaker to PM

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star)  September 14, 2009

Everyone’s talking these days of failure of election. It’s not only from fear that poll automation might crash. More palpable are suspicions that Gloria Arroyo will prolong herself in power and needs an excuse to do so. What more compelling, convenient pretext than inability to elect a new President and VP on May 10?

He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount. Arroyo knows she will be sued for plunder and mass murder upon the end of her Presidency on June 30. Both offenses are non-bailable and extraditable. A canny way to avoid them is to stay in a position that’s immune from suit. That’s as head of state or government.

Confluent events make Arroyo’s stay tempting. The Comelec is bent on full nationwide automation instead of dry run in four big provinces and cities. In one blow will be covered 80,000 polling precincts run by 240,000 computer-unsavvy election inspectors for 50 million first-time automated voters. With such enormous scope, risks are high of one widespread or multiple disparate glitches. No amount of Comelec assurance to revert to usual manual counting in case automation flops can assuage the fear. Arroyo’s recent appointments to the poll body have not been reassuring to begin with.

Then there’s Arroyo’s fielding of favored retired generals to civilian offices. Too, PMA Class of ‘78, of which she’s an honorary member, is rising to top AFP and PNP posts. Arroyo seems to be aping the preparatory steps Marcos took to impose martial law in 1972. Advising her are Marcos’s colonels then and once-jailed youth activists. If snap automation does not spoil the election, contrived bombings will do the trick. A Palace coup has been tried before.

Lastly, the law on resigning one’s elective position to run for another has been repealed. Arroyo does not have to step down from Malacañang to run for congresswoman in Pampanga. In fact she is priming herself for the district presently held by son Mikey. Dozens of times she has stumped it since year’s start, inaugurating artesian wells, distributing health cards, and sympathizing with fishpond overflows — but largely ignoring deaths and desolation from floods in adjacent Zambales. Given the resources of the Office of the President to pour on 200,000 voters, Arroyo will win hands down.

If no new President and VP are sworn into office by June 30, 2010, the Constitution states that the Senate President (SP) must step in as Acting President. There’s a hitch. The term of the present SP, Juan Ponce Enrile, ends June 30, 2010. Thus, he cannot stand as Acting President, even if reelected in May. The 12 remaining senators, whose terms are up to 2013, cannot pick among themselves an SP to serve as Acting President for lack of majority quorum. The solution is for Enrile to give up his high position to a 2013 term-ender while there’s a quorum and the co-equal House still in session. That’s before Congress adjourns for Christmas and the election campaign. Enrile, a staunch Arroyo ally, has been mum on the matter.

Leftist Reps. Satur Ocampo, Ted Casiño and Neri Colmenares foresee a constitutional void that militarists can exploit. They filed last week a bill to include the Chief Justice in the line of presidential succession, in addition to the VP, SP and Speaker. But independent Rep. Edno Joson is pessimistic. He had filed a similar bill two years ago, and it languishes at the committee level. “If senators and congressmen are unwilling to pass such a law, then they’re in favor of Arroyo staying in office,” he notes.

Legal whiz Sen. Francis Escudero sees a third solution. Congress can convene five days before June 30, in case of failure of election, solely for the Senate to elect a new SP. But admin Rep. Elpidio Barzaga deems it unfeasible. Congressmen more likely will be unable to muster a quorum post-election since they cannot even do so today to pass the 2010 budget.

Another scenario emerges. Congress can convene five days after June 30, when the terms of newly elected senators and congressmen would have started. Then, the House can elect a Speaker — notably the old President but new congresswoman from Pampanga. With the poll winners smarting from huge campaign expenses, cash-filled gift bags effectively will entice them into quorums.

From there, the Speaker can be declared the new Prime Minister in a fast-break parliamentary switch. Senators can resist. But it would be of no import to Arroyo allies who will likely re-dominate the House due to election-year pork barrels. They easily can revive the old Con-Ass proposal for the 24-man Senate and 250-member House to vote jointly for Charter Change.

Senators can question at the Supreme Court the misinterpretation of the Constitution. By then the Tribunal will be composed fully of Arroyo appointees. The last of President Ramos and Estrada’s nominees would have retired by Oct.-Nov. 2009. Chief Justice Reynato Puno, a moral anchor for many Filipinos, would have retired too on May 17, 2010, a week after the very plausible failure of election.

* * *

Truly a night to remember was last Friday’s Yeba-2, the Manila Sound concert organized by musical livewire brothers Dennis and Rene Garcia. Neither rain nor arthritic joints prevented the audience of ‘60s and ‘70s rockers at the NBC Tent in The Fort from rolling to the tunes of Area One, RJ and the Riots, VST and Co., The Boyfriends, Sonny Parsons of Hagibis, and of course the Garcias’ Hotdog Band. As curtains closed, the crowd demanded to know, when is Yeba-3?

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“Living a life of comfort does not guarantee your comfort in death.” Shafts of Life, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Liham ni Jun Lozada ukol sa ZTE inquiry

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon)  September 14, 2009

“Kaibigang Jarius,

“Setyembre 1, 2009, natapos din ang imbestigasyon ng Senado sa NBN-ZTE scandal, na kinasangkutan ko at ng marami pa sa labas at loob ng gobyernong Arroyo. Ito ay pagkatapos i-absuwelto ng Ombudsman nu’ng Agosto 28 ang mag-asawang GMA at FG sa anumang kasalanan.

“Marami pa sana ako gustong itanong kay Senator Gordon, bagong chairman ng Blue Ribbon Committee. Ngunit hindi na niya ako binigyan ng pagkakataon sa Senado, kaya sa taumbayan ko itatanong:

“(1) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit Office of the Executive Secretary ang nag-utos kay Atienza na kaila­ngan akong umalis?

“(2) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit kumilos ang Presidential Security Group at sina Atutubo na dukutin ako sa airport?

“(3) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako tatawagan ni Atienza upang sabihan na maghintay lang at kaka­usapin niya si Mam at si ES?

“(4) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit hanggang nga­yon sa records ng Bureau of Immigration ay wala pa ako sa Pilipinas?

“(5) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit 2 araw na ako hawak ng pulis pero sinasabi pa rin ni Razon na hindi niya alam kung nasaan ako?

“(6) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit pupunta sa akin si Mike Defensor at sasabihing nasasaktan na si Mam?

“(7) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako padadalhan ni Manny Gaite ng kalahating milyong piso?

“(8) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako pinag-fax ng sulat ko sa opisina ni Medy Poblador?

“(9) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit kaila-ngan pa ni Neri ng executive privilege, na pinagti- bay pa ng Korte Suprema?

“(10) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ang mga kaso laban sa akin ay patong-patong, samantalang ‘yung iisang kasong isinampa ko sa kanila ay nasa preliminary investigation pa rin mahigit isang taon na nakaraan?”

Lozada: Questions they didn’t want to answer

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star)  September 11, 2009

Senate Minority Leader Nene Pimentel has long been advising the Opposition to cull Trojan horses from its ranks. Problem is how to pinpoint them. Political lines overlap. Like in the Senate, some fierce oppositionists sit in the pro-admin majority, while an admin ally is in the opposition-controlled minority.

Platforms sag too. Like, this bill that would gerrymander Camarines Sur to ensure the political future of presidential son Rep. Dato Arroyo. Expectedly admin pals in the local-government committee sponsor it: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Migz Zubiri, Dick Gordon, Lito Lapid and Ramon Revilla of the majority, and Joker Arroyo of the minority. Oddly three opposition presidential wannabes also do: Loren Legarda and Chiz Escudero of the majority, and Manny Villar of the minority. With them too are oppositionists Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano and Francis Pangilinan of the minority, and Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada of the majority. With its 13 mixed supporters, the bill is sure to pass the 23-man Senate plenary. The only committee dissenters are oppositionists Mar Roxas, Rodolfo Biazon, Jamby Madrigal and Ping Lacson of the majority, and Noynoy Aquino, Antonio Trillanes and Pimentel of the minority.

Is the odd alignment a way for Pimentel to finally identify true oppositionists? Not necessarily, he says. “Their stand does not show the fake from the genuine,” he notes. “It shows the pragmatists from idealists. They know which side of their political bread is buttered. Like ants they are instinctively drawn to sugar, to where the food is fine, and then come up with justifying ifs and buts.”

To make Pimentel’s point clearer, recall that the bill would also suit political come-backing Budget Sec. Rolando Andaya. The guy decides if legislative pork barrels are to be released or not. Get it?

*      *      *

Judging by updates from both sides, aerial spraying has become a very emotional issue. Advocates of a ban on airplane-spewed fungicides stage angry marches inside Congress and outside courtrooms. Dramatized is their point: drift from aerial spraying harms villagers around plantations. Davao banana growers-exporters are as loud in opposing a ban. They’ve won a Court of Appeals ruling that a ban would kill their multibillion-peso industry. As bills pend in Congress to prohibit aerial sprays nationwide, local officials cry for alternative livelihoods for constituents. TV footages of spray-sickened folk and barangay medics with contrary findings incite confrontations.

In the end, it is a question of science. Do sprayed fungicides really drift and mar community health? Or is spraying so accurate that no droplets wastefully land outside the targets and not harmful to humans?

Two researches were made in 2000 and 2006 pointing to health hazards in Davao plantations. But motives and methods were questioned. A study commissioned by the Davao city hall yielded the opposite: no conclusive findings of fungicide-induced ailments. Then came a third study, paid for by the health department, by toxicologists from UP-Manila. Residents of two plantations were found in 2007 to be deformed and diseased due to chemical exposure.

The only thing left hanging with the study is the mandatory peer review, which UP-Manila Chancellor Ramon Arcadio ordered. Reportedly finished, the peer review will settle the science aspect once and for all.

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ZTE scam whistleblower Jun Lozada wrote in frustration:

“Kaibigang Jarius,

“Setyembre 1, 2009, natapos din ang imbestigasyon ng Senado sa NBN-ZTE scandal, na kinasangkutan ko at ng marami pa sa labas at loob ng gobyernong Arroyo. Ito ay pagkatapos i-absuwelto ng Ombudsman nu’ng Agosto 28 ang mag-asawang GMA at FG sa anumang kasalanan.

“Marami pa sana ako gustong itanong kay Senator Gordon, bagong chairman ng Blue Ribbon Committee. Ngunit hindi na niya ako binigyan ng pagkakataon sa Senado, kaya sa taumbayan ko itatanong:

“(1) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit Office of the Executive Secretary ang nag-utos kay Atienza na kailangan akong umalis?

“(2) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit kumilos ang Presidential Security Group at sina Atutubo na dukutin ako sa airport?

“(3) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako tatawagan ni Atienza upang sabihan na maghintay lang at kakausapin niya si Mam at si ES?

“(4) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit hanggang ngayon sa records ng Bureau of Immigration ay wala pa ako sa Pilipinas?

“(5) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit dalawang araw na ako hawak ng pulis pero sinasabi pa rin ni noo’y-PNP Chief Razon na hindi niya alam kung nasaan ako?

“(6) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit pupunta sa akin si Mike Defensor at sasabihing nasasaktan na si Mam?

“(7) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako padadalhan ni Manny Gaite ng kalahating milyong piso?

“(8) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ako pinag-fax ng sulat ko sa opisina ni Medy Poblador?

“(9) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit kinailangan pa ni Neri ng executive privilege, na pinagtibay pa ng Korte Suprema?

“(10) Kundi dahil kay GMA at FG, bakit ang mga kaso laban sa akin ay patong-patong, samantalang ‘yung iisang kasong isinampa ko laban sa kanila ay nasa preliminary investigation pa rin mahigit isang taon na nakaraan?

“Marami pa sana ako gustong itanong; hindi na ako pinayagan pa. Kayo po, mga kababayan ko, ano ang maisasagot ninyo sa mga tanong na ito?”

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“Let God fill the holes in your life that you can never fill.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Ombudsman tinalikuran ebidensiya kontra Mike

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 11, 2009

PATI kay Mike Arroyo ay sipsip ang anim na Ombudsman fact-finders sa ZTE scam. Hindi patas ang pagsuri nina Deputy Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Rodolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion at Jesus Micael sa ebidensiya. Kaya pakatandaan sila. Bababa sila sa kasaysayan kasama sina Garcillano, Bedol at Bolante.

Ilan lang ito sa mga pruweba ng interes ni Mike sa $329-milyon deal:

• Ayon mismo sa Ombudsman Joint Resolution, sumumpa si Jun Lozada na minsang kausap niya si Ben Abalos, tinawagan umano nito si Mike para pagkasun­duan ang komisyong makukuha sa ZTE project. Tumes­tigo rin si Lozada sa naganap na pulong nu’ng Disyembre 4, 2006, sa Wack Wack na dinaluhan ni Mike.

• Tumestigo si Joey de Venecia na pinalayas siya ni Mike sa NBN project at sinurot-surot sa isang pulong sa Wack Wack.

• Sinalaysay ko sa Philippine Star column, na sinum­paan sa Senado, ang kuwento ni Romy Neri na sangkot ang First Couple sa anomalya.

Naging supisyente para sa anim na Ombudsman fact-finders ang mga testimonya nina Lozada at de Venecia para isakdal nang graft sina Neri at Abalos. Pero hindi nila pinaniwalaan si de Venecia nang sumumpa ito na binusabos siya ni Mike at sinigawan ng, “back off.” Binale-wala rin bigla ang mga sinabi ko at ni Lozada.

Dagdag pa rito, umamin mismo si Mike sa media na dumalo nga siya sa pulong sa Wack Wack, bagamat pinabulaanan niya ang panunurot ng “back off.” Tulad nina Neri at Abalos, dinepensahan ni Mike ang sarili sa pamamagitan lamang ng kade-kadenang denials, Ito’y sa kabila ng detalyadong testimonya laban sa kanya. Ayon sa Korte Suprema noon pang 1996, hindi ma­ari manaig ang general denial kontra sa detalyado at positibong sumpa. Kaya niluto lang ng Ombuds- man ang fact-finding.

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Lumiham sa jariusbondoc@ workmail.com

Ombudsman ignored evidence vs Mike

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) September 09, 2009

The hottest Internet video these days is Rep. Mikey Arroyo digging himself deeper and deeper in lies. Presented in two parts, the Unang Hirit interview by Winnie Monsod and Arnold Clavio has the presidential son justifying in vain why he hid a $1.3-million (P65-million) California house from his Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Go to YouTube and type-search “Mikey Arroyo media suicide.”

*  *   *

Sensational crimes invariably take odd legal twists and turns. Like the Vizconde massacre and Chiong sisters’ rape-slay, the Mar. 2007 murder of billionaire Federico Delgado is an example. Luridly, the suspect in the clubbing is the victim’s half-brother (an ex-President’s grandson) Luisito Gonzales and the latter’s driver. Delgado’s bloodied fiancée pointed to the two, swearing they had attacked her too in their condo. Still the prosecutor found no probable cause. Preponderantly 28 hospital staffers, though never challenged, had signed that Gonzales was locked up in the psychiatric ward for drug rehab on the night of the incident.

The justice secretary reversed the prosecutor, however, prompting the filing of court charges in Oct. 2007. From jurisprudence, positive identification outweighs mere alibi or denial. The Solicitor General noted the same in behalf of the state. Gonzales’s kin ran to the Court of Appeals, crying undue haste and misreading of facts. One year after the murder, the appellate court affirmed the justice secretary’s ordering the case for trial. Surrendering to the NBI, Gonzales, moved for reconsideration; cops nabbed his driver. In July 2008 after oral arguments the Court of Appeals reversed itself, upholding the improbabilities Gonzales had cited.

It was Delgado’s heirs’ turn to run to the Supreme Court, saying that nothing in the appellate court ruling showed grave abuse of discretion. Again oral arguments ensued. The Sol-Gen commented on the state’s behalf, albeit belatedly, that there was probable cause to indict. Noting the time lapse, Gonzales insisted that Delgado’s heirs had no legal identity to press prosecution. And on the sole basis of the Sol-Gen’s late filing, the SC last month threw the case out the window.

Naturally Gonzales asked the lower court to be freed from jail. But the trial judge refused, as the Delgado heirs moved for SC reconsideration. Gonzales’s kin are up in arms, crying he has been cleared. The Delgados counter that they are still asking the SC to order a full-blown trial on the merits, not technicalities. After all, a life has been taken.

*      *      *

Ombudsman fact-finders in the ZTE scam applied the evidence with blinders. That’s why they readily found reason to indict Romy Neri and Ben Abalos for graft — but not Mike Arroyo. Yet in their Joint Resolution of April 21, 2009, the very evidence cited to implicate the first two were the same to absolve the latter.

The First Gentleman’s interest and participation in the ZTE deal were indicated thus:

• Jun Lozada testified that during a chat, Abalos allegedly called Mike to clear up the commissions to be extracted from the project (Joint Resolution, page 26). Lozada added that Mike had attended a meeting on Dec. 4, 2006, at Wack Wack Golf Club of which Abalos was president (Joint Resolution, page 27).

• Joey de Venecia avowed that Mike, also at Wack Wack, had bullied him out of the NBN project by shoving a finger at his face and yelling “back off” (Joint Resolution, pages 36-37).

• I narrated in The STAR — swore by it in the Senate and remains undisputed — how Neri had mentioned Gloria and/or Mike Arroyo as being involved in the scam (Joint Resolution, pages 21-22).

It must be emphasized that the fact-finders found the testimonies of Lozada and de Venecia strong to establish probable cause against Neri and Abalos. Yet they did not value the credibility of the same de Venecia when he averred that Mike, showing interest in the ZTE deal, terrorized him to back off. They also ignored other evidence, even if circumstantial, from Lozada and me.

At the very least, the fact-finders should have considered against Mike the admission to me by Neri, whom they deemed as co-conspirator. Rule 130, Rules of Court, states: “Sec. 30. Admission by Conspirator — The act or declaration of a conspirator, relating to the conspiracy and during its existence, may be given in evidence against the co-conspirator after the conspiracy is shown by evidence other than such act or declaration.”

Too, Mike himself confirmed to newsmen his presence at the Wack Wack meeting with de Venecia, although he feigns ignorance of any confrontation with him (Joint Resolution, page 37). Like Abalos, Mike offered as defense no more than general denials of the detailed accusations against him. Jurisprudence is clear: positive declarations, such as given by de Venecia about Mike’s behavior, offset mere denials by Mike (Batiquin v Court of Appeals, 258 SCRA 334, 1996).

In sum, if the Ombudsman found the evidence from Lozada and de Venecia sufficient to indict Neri and Abalos, the same should be enough to establish probable cause against Mike. Add to that “conspirator” Neri’s info to me, Mike’s admission of the Wack Wack meeting, and de Venecia’s story of bullying. By absolving Mike, the Ombudsman applied double-standard justice.

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“Focus not on what you have lost, but instead on what you have left.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Tungkulin ni GMA ipahabla si Abalos

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 08, 2009

UULITIN ko: Pakatandaan ang anim na Ombudsman fact-finders sa ZTE scam: Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Rodolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion at Jesus Micael. Dahil sa pagbaluktot nila sa batas, bababa sila sa kasaysayan kasama sina Garcillano, Bedol at Bolante.

Inabsuwelto nila si Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Ito ay sa kabila ng testimonya ni dating-economic secretary Romy Neri na sinumbong niya kay Arroyo ang P200-milyong alok ni Comelec chairman Ben Abalos para isulong sa NEDA ang project. Sa ulat mismo ng anim na fac-finders, imbis na masuklam si Arroyo, pinayuhan lang si Neri na tanggihan ang suhol, pero ipa-aproba pa rin ang ZTE deal sa NEDA.

Sa ilalim ng Konstitusyon (Article VII, Sec. 17) sumumpa si Arroyo ipatupad lahat ng batas. Kabilang dito ang Anti-Graft & Corrupt Practices Act at ang probisyon kontra panunuhol sa Revised Penal Code. Tungkulin ni Arroyo ipaimbestiga si Abalos batay sa sumbong ni Neri. Dahil hindi niya ito ihinabla, maaring managot si Arroyo sa Article 211-A ng Revised Penal Code, at betrayal of public trust na impeachable offense.

Nakabibingi ang marahang reaksiyon ni Arroyo sa sumbong ni Neri, at ang kawalan ng kilos kontra kay Abalos. Batid niyang may P200 milyon alok kay Neri pa lang (hindi pa kasama ang $10 milyon kay Joey de Venecia para umatras sa NBN project). Dapat naisip niyang popondohan ang suhol na iyon sa pamamagitan ng overpricing ng ZTE contract. Pero ipinilit pa rin niya sa NEDA ang proyektong alam niyang overpriced.

Pinirmahan ng DOTC ang pro­yekto nang $329 milyon. Ayon mismo sa Ombudsman report, inaprubahan ng NEDA ang hala­gang $323 milyon. Bakit may labis na $14 milyon? Ito ba’y para isingit ang suhol na P200 milyon ($4 milyon) kay Neri at $10 mil­yon kay Joey? At paano sina Aba­los at ang First Couple? Batay din sa Ombudsman report, $262 milyon lang ang unang price, kaya may $67 milyon (P3 bilyon) labis sa $329 milyon. Ha­latang may interes si Arroyo sa kontrata kaya ipinilit ito sa NEDA.

GMA neglected to probe Abalos

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated September 07, 2009

Mikey Arroyo is so like his parents. Dodging reports on his undisclosed $1.3-million house in America, he at first employed the peanut-butter defense. “Everybody lists real estate holdings under corporations (in Statements of Assets and Liabilities),” he tried spreading the blame around. Then he obfuscated. “We can well afford to buy property in the US.” But the question remains: why didn’t he declare it in his SALN?

Since he claims to have enough wealth from wedding gifts and campaign contributions, why doesn’t he list these too? If he doesn’t, then the ballooning of his assets from P5 million in 2001 to P100 million today can only be the fruit of crime. Indeed, he’s so much like Gloria and Mike.

* * *

In no uncertain terms Romy Neri testified at the Senate that Ben Abalos offered him P200 million to endorse the ZTE project as NEDA chief. Too he swore he told Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the indecent proposal. Instead of expressing outrage, all Arroyo supposedly did was counsel him to decline the bribe but secure the NEDA approval just the same. This is recounted in the Ombudsman Joint Resolution of 21 Apr. 2009 on the ZTE scam (pages 22 and 32). And it is another reason why the agency should have included Arroyo in the charge sheet — but didn’t.

The Constitution requires Arroyo and she swore to execute faithfully all laws (Art. VII, Sec. 5 and 17). “All” includes the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Revised Penal Code. Arroyo was duty-bound to report and prosecute Abalos. This failure to cause Abalos’s arrest and indictment is punishable under the Code. Art. 211-A states: “Qualified Bribery – If any public officer is entrusted with law enforcement and he refrains from arresting or prosecuting an offender who has committed a crime punishable by reclusion perpetua and/or death in consideration of any offer, promise, gift, or present, he shall suffer the penalty for the offense which was not prosecuted.” The failure to go after a bribe offeror is also a betrayal of public trust.

Arroyo’s inaction speaks volumes. She already knew that a P200-million bribe had been offered to Neri — not to mention the $10 million to Joey de Venecia. She thus should have deduced that the bribe would be tacked onto the ZTE contract price. Meaning, the project would have been overpriced. And yet Arroyo demanded NEDA approval just the same for a deal she knew to be disadvantageous.

The DOTC estimated the project to cost $329 million (Joint Resolution, page 14). The NEDA Board, however, approved the project at $343 million (Joint Resolution, page 15). What was the $14-million difference for? Was it to cover the $10 million for Joey, and P200 million or $4 million for Neri? Arroyo is chairman of the NEDA Board, and also witnessed the signing of the ZTE contract in China. Surely she knew of the different figures; her aides gush that she has the memory of an elephant.

There’s more. Based on the original specs, the project was to cost $262 million (Joint Resolution, page 29). The final price of $329 million was $67 million, or P3 billion, more. Why did Arroyo insist on NEDA approval despite the knowledge that the price would have been jacked up? The answer can only lie in what Neri told me, which I wrote in The STAR, swore by in the Senate, and remains undisputed: “Brinaso ako ni Presidente.”

Imagine, at least three billion reasons, and the Ombudsman did not bother to get to the truth.

* * *

Geologist Manuel Diaz shows that Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez’s $22.7-million 10-MW power plant is overpriced: “Check out this quotation on the Internet: Biomass Generating Plant 60hz 12.5 MW $1.85 Million Bill Lax; call 559-665-5791 (www.utilitywarehouse.com/info1/PWEBINFO.HTML). And this: 20 MW Woodburning Power Plant Complete Plant with Extra Equipment $1.7 Million or $2.6 Million FOB site (www.utilitywarehouse.com/info1/WOOD20M.HTML).”

From the heirs of Jose Sy Bang: “Suarez has admitted paying $15,000 (P750,000) for the First Couple’s wedding anniversary party in Washington. But he has not paid our family the P9.3 million that the Court of Appeals ordered him to since 2003.”

Atty. Sonny Pulgar: “Suarez took out two full-page newspaper ads of condolence, worth P400,000. But he has yet to pay P650,000 overdue rent to DBP, from which he is borrowing P1 billion for a power plant.”

* * *

The 10th Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance will be held on Sept. 9-10, 2009. Weber Shandwick Worldwide oversees the project of the Japanese government, World Bank, Philippine Stock Exchange, Institute of Corporate Directors, and Asian Development Bank.

Speakers include: Finance Sec. Margarito Teves; Mr. Pier Carlo Padoan, deputy secretary general, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Ms. Selvarany Rasiah, chief regulatory officer, Bursa Malaysia Bhd; Dr. Marcello Bianchi, head of regulation impact analysis, Commissione Nazionale per le Sociata e la Borsa; Mr. Grant Kirkpatrick, senior economist, OECD; Ms. Fianna Jesover, senior policy analyst, OECD; Mr. Kenji Hoki, outreach advisor, OECD; Mr. Jaseem Ahmed, director for governance, finance and trade, ADB; and Mr. Jonathan Juan Moreno, vice president for corporate governance, PSE.

Moderator: Atty. Mike Toledo, president-CEO, Weber Shandwick Worldwide. Venue: Manila Peninsula Hotel.

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“When you give away something to others, you lose nothing, but someone got something.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Ombudsman mali sa GMA absuwelto

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 07, 2009 12:00 AM

ABOGADO ang anim na Ombudsman fact-finders sa ZTE scam. Pero kaduda-duda kung alam nina Deputy Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Ro­dolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion at Jesus Micael ang batas. Lantad ito sa maling paghirit nila ng “presidential immunity” para iabsuwelto si Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Paka­tandaan ang mga pangalan nila. Bababa sila sa kasay­sayan kasama ang mga katulad nina Virgilio Garcillano, Lintang Bedol at Jocjoc Bolante.

Ni hindi inimbestigahan ng anim ang pananagutan ni Arroyo dahil hindi naman daw siya maaring ihabla habang Pangulo. Ang asal na ito ng anim ay taliwas sa alam na ng sinomang matinong abogado. Ang Pangulo, isang opisyal na maari i-impeach, miski ba immune from suit, ay saklaw pa rin ng poder ng Ombudsman na mag-imbestiga. Repa­ suhin lang sana nila ang Republic Act 6670 na bumuo ng Office of the Ombudsman: ‘‘Section 22. Investigatory Power — The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the power to investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment, for the purpose of filing a verified complaint for impeachment, if warranted… In all cases of conspiracy between an officer or employee of the government and a private person, the Ombudsman and his Deputies shall have jurisdiction to include such private person in the investigation and proceed against such private person as the evidence may warrant. The officer or employee and the private person shall be tried jointly and shall be subject to the same penalties and liabilities.”

Hayan napakalinaw. Kung ninais nila, kaya ng anim imbestigahan si Arroyo para magsampa ng verified complaint. Pero hindi nila ginawa. At nagmamalaki pa si Ombudsman Merceditas Gu­tierrez na suportado niya ang anim. Hindi ba’t ang ka­walan ng kaalaman sa Ombudsman Act ay sapat nang dahilan para i-im-peach mismo si Gutierrez? Hindi ba’t ang katangahan ng anim tungkol sa batayan ng kanilang puwesto ay solidong rason para sila sibakin? At di ba lantad sila na sipsip sila sa Malaca­ñang?

Ombudsman can’t invoke immunity to clear GMA

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated September 04, 2009

Got this SMS from my usually reliable Malacañang insider: “R. Neri and his lawyers, Atty. Tony Bautista and Paul Lentejas, met with E. Ermita, L. Mendoza, P. Favila, M. Gaite, Venturanza, J. Lagonera last Fri. (Aug. 29) at the Palace lunchtime. Malacañang will pay for attorneys’ fees.”

Next day Saturday, and it hit the headlines Sunday, Malacañang said that Romy Neri was on his own in the ZTE case. No way was it supposedly going to help defend Neri in the Ombudsman’s graft indictment for the $329-million scam.

Contradictory words and deeds is a trademark of the Arroyo admin. The other Saturday the Palace said it would not intercede for crony Rep. Danilo Suarez’s P1-billion loan application with the state-owned DBP. The day before, the First Couple had golfed with a top DBP exec the whole morning at Manila Golf Club.

* * *

The six Ombudsman fact-finders in the ZTE scam are all lawyers. But it is doubtful if Deputy Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Rodolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion or Jesus Micael know the law at all. This shows in their invalid invocation of “presidential immunity” to clear Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of culpability. Remember their names well. As I wrote Monday, they will soon go down in history with the likes of Virgilio Garcillano, Lintang Bedol, Jocjoc Bolante.

The six did not bother to examine Arroyo’s complicity — on grounds that she is immune from suit anyway (Joint Resolution, pages 117-119). Their copout negates what all true lawyers know. A President, an impeachable officer, even if immune from suit, is not beyond the investigative powers of the Ombudsman. It would do the six well to reread Republic Act 6670 that established the Ombudsman:

“Section 22. Investigatory Power — The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the power to investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment, for the purpose of filing a verified complaint for impeachment, if warranted . . . In all cases of conspiracy between an officer or employee of the government and a private person, the Ombudsman and his Deputies shall have jurisdiction to include such private person in the investigation and proceed against such private person as the evidence may warrant. The officer or employee and the private person shall be tried jointly and shall be subject to the same penalties and liabilities.”

So there. Clearly, if they wanted to, the six could have investigated Arroyo for the aim of filing a verified complaint. But they didn’t. And now Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez says she stands by their report. Isn’t her ignorance of the Ombudsman Act enough cause to impeach her? Isn’t the six’s incompetence with the very basis of their legal existence solid reason to fire them?

The six should have read Supreme Court rulings in Estrada v Desierto and Estrada v Macapagal-Arroyo (353 SCRA 452, 2001). For then they would have honed up on the latest thoughts on executive immunity:

“Indeed a critical reading of current literature on executive immunity will reveal a judicial disinclination to expand the privilege especially when it impedes the search for truth or impairs the vindication of a right… The US Supreme Court… concluded that ‘when the ground for asserting privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in a criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, it cannot prevail over the fundamental demands of due process of law in the fair administration of criminal justice.’ In the 1982 case of Nixon v Fitzgerald, the US Supreme Court further held that the immunity of the President from civil damages covers only ‘official acts.’ Recently the US Supreme Court had the occasion to reiterate this doctrine in the case of Clinton v Jones, where it held that the US President’s immunity from suits for money damages arising out of their official acts is inapplicable to unofficial conduct.

“There are more reasons not to be sympathetic to appeals to stretch the scope of executive immunity in our jurisdiction. One of the great themes of the 1987 Constitution is that a public office is a public trust. It declared as a state policy that ‘the State shall maintain honesty and integrity in the public service and take positive and effective measures against graft and corruption.’ It ordained that ‘public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.’ It set the rule that ‘the right of the State to recover properties unlawfully acquired by public officials or employees, from them or from their nominees or transferees, shall not be barred by prescription, laches or estoppel.’ It maintained the Sandiganbayan as an anti-graft court. It created the office of the Ombudsman and endowed it with enormous powers, among which is to ‘investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient’.”

Again clearly, the Ombudsman has a constitutional duty to verify the truth and inform the people of sins of their officials. The fact-finders’ failure to abide by the mandate of the Ombudsman Act amounts to abandonment of duty. It also proves that they and Gutierrez are not independent of Malacañang.

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“If God is with me, I have all I need; if not, I will always be in need.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Ano ang timbang ng isang dasal?

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 04, 2009 12:00 AM

NAKAYUKONG pumasok si Aling Luisa sa grocery store. Nilapitan ang may-ari at sa pinaka-mapagkumbabang tono nagtanong kung maari siya umutang muli ng ilang bilihin. Pinaliwanag niyang may sakit ang asawa kaya hindi makapagtrabaho, at may pitong paslit silang dapat pakainin.

Tinalikuran siya ni Mang Tony, na matigas na nagsa­bing “Heto ka na naman.” Pinagdiinan niyang hindi pa nakababayad si Aling Luisa sa utang noong nakaraang buwan. “Alam mo naman ang patakaran,” aniya, “bayad muna bago bigyan ng bagong groceries.” Nakiusap muli si Aling Luisa. Pero ang sagot ni Mang Tony ay paalisin siya sa tindahan.

Naulinigan ng customer na si Kuya Ramon ang palitan. Lumapit siya sa grocer sa counter at nagsabing, “Mang Tony, ako na ang tutustos sa mga kailangang bilhin ng ale.”

Tinitigan ng grocer si Kuya Ramon, at bumaling kay Aling Luisa. “May listahan ka man lang ba ng bibilhin, para hindi ako maantala?” matigas pa rin ang tinig ni Mang Tony. Nang tumango ang babae, nanuya ang grocer: “Sige ipatong mo ang listahan sa timbangan, at ano man ang bigat niyan ay tutumbasan ko ng groceries.”

Dinukot ni Aling Luisa ang papel sa handbag, mabilis sinulatan at nakayukong ipinatong ito sa timbangan. Laking gulat ng grocer at customer nang sumagad ang timbangan sa bigat ng pirasong papel. Naka-limang kilong isda, isang dosenang itlog, dalawang bote ng gatas, at isang salop na bigas, bago bumalanse ang timbangan sa pinamili at sa papel. “Hindi ako makapaniwala,” anang namamanghang Mang Tony.

Umalis si Aling Luisa bitbit ang dalawang bayong ng pagkain. Dinampot ni Kuya Ramon ang papel habang inaabot kay Mang Tony ang P500. Hindi listahan ng bilihin ang nakasulat kundi: “Mahal na Pangi­noon, batid Mo ang aking panganga­ilangan, at ipa­pau­baya ko na ito sa Iyo.” Pina­ba­sa ni Kuya Ra­mon kay Mang Tony ang papel, at nagsabi: “Sulit na sulit.

Diyos lang ang naka­kaa­ lam ng timbang ng dasal.”

Borrow from a private bank, Suarez advised

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated September 02, 2009

Suarez insists that his P1-billion DBP application is financially sane and economically useful. If so, critics ask, then why doesn’t he borrow elsewhere? Why risk the reputation of DBP and Gloria Arroyo on a seeming behest loan?

Two Saturdays ago Press Sec. Cerge Remonde gave a statement over government radio that must be marked for future reference. Malacañang, he said, will not intercede for Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez’s P1-billion loan request from the state-owned DBP. Perhaps it was pure coincidence, not pre-emptive. On the day before Remonde’s broadcast, Gloria Arroyo had golfed with a top exec of the DBP, whose board members the President picks. With them at the Manila Golf fairway the whole morning was Mike Arroyo, pal of most DBP appointees. Going by Remonde’s assurance, the golfing trio hopefully did not discuss Suarez’s huge application.

The loan is contentious because of Suarez’s links. In the President’s frequent foreign junkets he is a regular fixture. And he brags about often treating the First Couple to meals. Last month in Washington’s chic Bobby Van’s Steakhouse he footed a $15,000-dinner bill on the Arroyos’ wedding anniversary. On such events, he says, he gets to sit beside and advise the highest official of the land on matters close to his heart.

The P1-billion loan happens to be one such item. Since 2007 Suarez has wanted to put up a power plant in his province, using coconut waste (husks, shells, dry leaves) as fuel. It was a plan that many supported at first. The plant would cost only a million dollars (P50 million), yet create many jobs, augment coconut farmers’ incomes, and provide 1-MW of electricity.

A funny thing happened on the way to implementation. The modest 1-MW dream swelled to a 10-MW delusion. And instead of the $1 million- per-MW rule-of-thumb cost, the amount bloated to $22.7 (P1 billion). In June 2008 Suarez’s sister, three children and son-in-law established Coco Resources Corp. CRC signed a deal with Quezon Electric Cooperative to sell its forthcoming power. It then filed with DBP in December the papers for a $22.7-million loan. As fallback Suarez’s sister, private counsel and chief of staff formed another firm, Unisan Biogen Corp.

Had a group of Quezon lawyers not intervened, the loan would have been rushed by last week. The Sentro Gabay Legal ng Quezon cried that the P1 billion had all the makings of a behest loan. CRC and UBC lack capital and collateral to sponge up such huge amount. Yet the project is overstated: supposedly the plant output would be 11.5-MW, when experts forecast 2-MW at best. The erection cost of $2.27 million per MW is overpriced, given that elaborate plants today run up to only $1.5 million per MW. With such overprice, Quezonians would be left paying dearer electricity. Corporate layering masks the real crony-borrower. Reportedly last week the DBP board deferred the loan grant.

In an interview with The STAR Suarez disputed the behest label. The project is financially viable and economically beneficial, he insisted.

“If the project is so good, why doesn’t Suarez just borrow from private banks?” asks Atty. Sonny Pulgar of Sentro Gabay Legal. “Why risk the reputation of the DBP and President Arroyo? A lot of banks are begging for borrowers.”

Pulgar answers his own question: “Suarez was reported in 1999 to have reneged on a P2.5-million loan from Metrobank. That’s why his North Forbes mansion was foreclosed. That must be in his credit record.”

From press files, 1999 was action-filled for Suarez. As chairman of the House ways and means body, he had wanted Metrobank’s CEO probed for alleged tax fraud. But his two vice chairs denounced him as seeking reprisal for the foreclosure. He had also sought an investigation of a giant cigarette maker, but was again thwarted by wary committee members. Then-Subic Freeport head Dick Gordon accused him of brokering for a supplier of airport radars and runway lighting. And Malacañang was irked by reports that Suarez was name-dropping then-President Joseph Estrada in dealings. Complaints were filed with the House ethics committee. Saved by the bell, Congress recessed in May that year before hearings began.

Pulgar says Suarez used other people’s names for the DBP loan bid because the bank blacklisted him. “His Suarez Agro-Industrial Corp. has owed DBP P650,000 since 1992, as ruled by the Supreme Court,” he says.

Suarez reportedly has no known business in Quezon or elsewhere. He is well liked by constituents for his vaunted generosity. But his pork barrel remains unaccounted for in the past 18 years, Sentro Gabay Legal avers.

* * *

The issue of Gloria Arroyo’s lavish dinners in the US just won’t die. Readers Jesse Cabanacan and Danny Valdueza ask the same question: Did Reps. Martin Romualdez and Danilo Suarez declare to RP Customs that they were bringing out cash in excess of $10,000, and to US Customs that they were bringing in such huge amounts? Show proof.

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“The warmth of truth protects you from the chill of lies.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Brokers ni Abalos ni hindi inusisa

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated September 01, 2009 12:00 AM

MERONG kahina-hinala sa Ombudsman investigation sa ZTE scam. Bukod ito sa pagpapawalang-sala sa pumirma sa kontrata na Sec. Larry Mendoza at mga uma­yos ng presyo na Asst. Secs. Lorenzo Formoso at Elmer Soñeja. Malaking himala na ni hindi inusisa ng anti-graft agency ang binistong kapwa-brokers ni dating Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos sa ZTE deal. Ito sina Ruben Reyes, Leo San Miguel, retired police general Quirino dela Torre, at Jimmy Paz.

Nakakapagpa-hinala tuloy. Ito kaya’y para pahinain ang kaso laban kay Abalos — tulad ng pagpapahina ng Ombudsman ng mga naunang habla laban sa iba pang mga kaibigan ng Malacañang? (Isa sa impeachment  complaints ngayon laban kay Ombudsman Merceditas Gutier­rez ay ang moro-morong kaso laban kay dating boss na justice secretary Hernando Perez, kaya tuloy ma­bi­lis inab­suwelto ng Sandiganbayan.)

Kung inusisa ang apat na kapwa-brokers ni Abalos, malamang na naihabla rin sila. At kung naihabla sila ay lalakas naman ang ebidensiya laban kay Abalos.

Maaalalang unang naglantad si Joey de Venecia III sa papel ng apat sa ZTE scam. Aniya kasama palagi sila ni Abalos dahil sa mga papel nila para sa ZTE. Si Reyes ang taga­­singil ng suhol, si San Miguel ang tagapino ng technical specifications ng broadband network, si dela Torre ang golf mate na nagpakilala kay Abalos sa nau-nang dalawa, at si Paz chief of staff ni Abalos sa Comelec. Naroon sila sa hotel sa Shenzhen nang pagusapan ang mga komis­yon mula sa ZTE. Naroon din sila sa mga pu­long sa Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club para palayasin si De Venecia mula sa deal.

Pinagtibay ng isa pang whistleblower na si Dante Madriaga ang testimonya ni De Venecia. Bilang technical man ni San Miguel, alam din ni Madriaga kung magkano ang suhulang naganap sa Shenzhen at Maynila.

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Lumiham sa jariusbondoc @workmail.com

Di tayo nagulat sa liko ng ZTE

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated August 31, 2009

BAKIT hindi nagulat ang publiko nang i-absuwelto ng Ombudsman ang mga sangkot sa ZTE scam? Simple. Batid ng madla na ang anti-graft body ay nakakasa ngayon para lang pagtakpan ang dumi ng administrasyon.

Biruin mo, nahaharap si Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez sa impeachment nang pawalan-sala ng ahen­siya niya ang First Couple sa ZTE scam. Halata tuloy ang moro-moro. Nag-inhibit nga si Gutierrez sa ZTE probe. Pero hindi maikakaila na kaklase siya ni First Gentleman Mike Arroyo sa law school. At huwag kalimutan, si President Gloria Arroyo ang nagluklok sa kanya. Maaring wala rin kinalaman ang deputy ni Gutierrez na si Mark Jalan-doni sa inquiry. Pero pamangkin umano siya ni ZTE contract signatory Larry Mendoza, at anak ng malimit kasa­bong ni Iggy Arroyo. Ang pustahan ngayon ay ibabasura ng mga katoto ni Arroyo sa Kamara ang impeachment complaint laban kay Gutierrez.

May hinala tuloy na nagbulag-bulagan ang mga imbes­tigador sa datos: Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Rodolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion, at Jesus Micael. Pakatandaan sila. Maaring bumaba ang pangalan nila sa kasaysayan katabi ang mga katu-lad nina Virgilio Garcillano, Lintang Bedol at Jocjoc Bolante.

Pinawalan-sala ang mga sabit sa ZTE contract:      Uma­prubang Gloria at humimas na Mike Arroyo, pumir­mang, nagpresyong Lorenzo Formoso at Elmer Soñeja, at mga nanunuhol na negosyanteng Tsino na Yu Yong, Hou Weigui, Fan yan at George Zhuyin.

Sina dating Comelec chief Ben Abalos at NEDA head Romy Neri lang ang sinakdal. Bakit sila? Si Abalos, dahil kung iaabsuwelto siya sa kasong ZTE ay mauungkat ang naunang kasalanan ng Ombudsman nang pawalan-sala rin siya sa MegaPacific scam. Si Neri, dahil sa mata ng admin ay hindi siya ma­pagkakatiwalaan at lipas na ang bisa niya. Maa­a­lalang tinawag niya min- san si Mrs. Arroyo na    “evil”, at sakit ng ulo siya    ng mga presidential cro-nies tulad ni Ricky Razon.

Why aren’t we surprised with ZTE absolutions?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 31, 2009

Corn farmers should be rejoicing these days. For the first time ever, harvest of yellow variety is expected to breach 3 million tons in the second half of 2009. This spells big cash for those who bravely replanted despite 2008’s bad cropping. But farmers are dejected. Earlier this year President Arroyo’s economic managers had induced her to allow temporarily tariff-free imports of corn and substitutes. This drove feed millers and other corn processors to stock up from abroad. Bodegas are so full they won’t need to refill inventories till yearend. By then corn prices would have fallen below production cost, raw stocks rotted, and farmers gone hungry. No one might replant next time around. A corn crisis looms.

The mess started in early 2008. Too much La Niña rains disrupted pollination and then flooded up corn farms in Cagayan Valley; rampaging separatists burned crops in Central Mindanao. Yet syndicated traders were scooping up meager harvests at only P10 per kilo, farm gate, when world price was at P20, tariff-free. Farmers lost heart. The Cabinet anticipated a yellow-corn shortfall of 800,000 tons. To counter the trend, the Philippine Maize Federation urged Agriculture Sec. Arthur Yap to set a government-subsidized price of P13 per kilo. Yap stalled. Prices recovered in late 2008. And despite a spike in farm input costs, most farmers decided to try again, in anticipation of better rates in 2009.

But then came E.O. 765 allowing tariff-free imports in 2009. More than 1.3 million tons came in, or 500,000 more than the shortfall of 800,000.

Reportedly the agriculture and trade offices, and Tariff Monitoring Council are blaming each other for the fiasco. But Philmaize head Roger Navarro says Yap is most accountable, being the point man for agriculture policy. He sees no succor either from Congress. The anticipated bumper crop of 3 million tons would go to waste, since the usual corn buyers have imports good to last the rest of the year. Farmers would end up selling at less than P5 per kilo at best.

To ease the crisis, Arroyo told the National Food Authority finally to buy 300,000 tons at P13 per kilo. Normally, Navarro says, government price intervention in 10 percent of the harvest is enough to influence the trading of the remaining 90 percent. Not this time, with imported corn overflowing in feed mills. Navarro says the government must buy up 50 percent, or 1.5 million tons. But that’s out of the question for Arroyo.

* * *

Why aren’t Filipinos surprised with the Ombudsman’s absolution of the principal players in the ZTE scam? Simple. They know too well that the anti-graft body is presently constituted to cover the tracks of a thieving administration.

That Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is facing impeachment when her office cleared the First Couple of ZTE filth underscores the sham. She may have recused from the ZTE investigation, but the fact remains that she was First Gentleman Mike Arroyo’s law school chum. Not to forget, President Gloria Arroyo was her appointer. Gutierrez’s deputy Mark Jalandoni too may have had nothing on paper to do with the probe. But he is said to be a nephew of ZTE contract signatory Larry Mendoza, and son of Iggy Arroyo’s sabong buddy. Best bets are on Arroyo’s congressional gofers to in turn absolve Gutierrez of impeachment raps.

And so there’s this suspicion that the ZTE fact-finders turned blind eyes to the facts: Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, Emilio Gonzales III, Robert Kallos, Rodolfo Elman, Cesar Asuncion, and Jesus Micael. Remember them well. Their names may soon go down in history with the likes of Virgilio Garcillano, Lintang Bedol and Jocjoc Bolante.

Cleared were the dramatis personae of the ZTE contract: approver Gloria and influencer Mike Arroyo, signatory Larry Mendoza, over-pricers Lorenzo Formoso and Elmer Soñeja, and Chinese bribers Yu Yong, Hou Weigui, Fan Yan and George Zhuyin.

Only former Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and ex-economic secretary Romy Neri were indicted. Why them? Abalos, because clearing him this time around would have highlighted the Ombudsman’s original sin of letting him off the similarly scandalous MegaPacific scam. And Neri, because for Malacañang he is unreliable and expendable, having once described Mrs. Arroyo as “evil” and getting the goat of cronies like Ricky Razon.

Not even investigated were Abalos’s fellow-brokers: Ruben Reyes, Leo San Miguel, retired police general Quirino dela Torre, and chief of staff Jimmy Paz. This gives a cue that the Ombudsman case against Abalos would be weak — like those filed earlier against other friends of the Palace. In the first place, investigating them would have ensured their inclusion in the charge sheet, which in turn would bolster the evidence against Abalos.

So there.

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Tiwala sa doktor, hindi sa pastor

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated August 28, 2009

PAKONTI nang pakonti ang nagpapastor. Anang Society of Divine Word-Philippines, masuwerte na silang maka-walong bagong pari taun-taon, di tulad noon na mahigit 25 kada batch. Maraming nagmiministro ngayon sa Vietnam, Indonesia at India kaysa Pilipinas; ganun­paman kulang pa rin sa bilis ng paglaki ng populasyon nila. Masaklap pa, dahil mas materyalistiko ang mundo, nag-iiba rin ang trato ng madla sa mga ministro. Halim­bawa itong mula sa Internet na pagkumpara sa pagtingin sa doktor at sa pastor:

l Kapag pinaghubad ka ng doktor, sumusunod kang walang angal. Kapag nagpayo ang pastor na maging disente sa pananamit, umaangal kang nagiging mas­yado siyang personal.

l Mahal ang singil ng doktor, pero balik ka nang balik sa kanya. Kapag humingi ng dagdag na abuloy ang pari, lumalayas ka sa simbahan.

l Kapag tinanong ka ng doktor kung gaano kalimit dumumi, malaya ninyo ito pinag-uusapan. Kapag tinanong ka ng ministro kung gaano kalimit magdasal, gusto mong sabihang wala siyang pakialam.

l Kapag niresetahan ka ng doktor ng mapaklang gamot, masunurin mong iniinom. Kapag pinatitikim sa iyo ng pastor ang Salita (ng Diyos), ayaw mong makinig.

l Pinagsasabihan ka ng doktor na baguhin ang pamumuhay para bumaba ang blood pressure mo. Kapag magpayo ang pastor na magbagumbuhay ka na, naaalta-presyon ka.

l Kapag inutos ng doktor ang maraming lab tests, gina­gawa mo agad. Kapag pinayo ng pastor na limitan ang prayer meetings at pag-aaral ng Bibliya, mas­yado kang maraming gina­gawa.

Kapag nagsabi ang doktor na wala ka nang pag-asa, kung saan-saan ka pa nagha­hanap ng lunas. Kapag sinabi ng pastor na “Tutu­lungan ka ng Diyos,” sina­sagot mo na wala ka nang pag-asa.

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Lumiham sa jariusbondoc@workmail.com

State of textbooks: Still faulty, says Go

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 28, 2009

The business community hailed this week Metro Pacific’s entry in port operation. But an unseen hand is trying to sabotage the conglomerate’s upgrade of Manila North Harbor. Lies are being spread that Metro Pacific, upon taking over the derelict pre-War wharf, will layoff workers and raise port fees. This, as the Philippine Ports Authority prepares to grant the North Harbor modernization contract after two long years of delay. Metro Pacific and Harbour Centre had won with a P14.5-billion investment bid. Eight old piers will be torn down and modern ones will rise to match the setups in Rotterdam and Singapore. North Harbor is expected to become the country’s most competitive.

Port entrepreneurs no less told Metro Pacific of foul rumors being bandied about it. But the firm assured that it would in fact hire more skilled workers for construction works. Too, free competition would drive port fees down while improving services and facilities.

* * *

It would be interesting to see how the Senate will make presidential crony Ricky Razon appear in an environment inquiry. The last time Razon’s name came up in a Senate probe — on the ZTE scam — he simply ignored invitations of the Blue-Ribbon committee. Members soon “forgot” about a $70-million reimbursement of advances to the admin’s 2007 poll campaign.

This time senators will investigate Razon’s disputed coal explorations in Bicol. Or won’t it?

* * *

Anti-“sick books” crusader Antonio Calipjo Go is back with a vengeance. After nearly giving in to ailments, lawsuits and bad press, he testified at the Senate Monday about the state of school textbooks. Go’s assessment:

After 13 years of denouncing shoddy textbooks, 13 congressional bills and resolutions, ten Secretaries of Education, ten newspaper ads paid from his own pocket, and four libel suits . . . not one error-riddled book had been corrected . . . only one minor case had been filed in court against a person linked to a textbook scam . . . and the latest publications are faultier than ever.

The Department of Education’s attitude is best summed up by Go’s recitation of its own press pronouncements:

• On 24 Aug. 2007 it announced “a new head of the textbook body”;

• On 14 Sept. 2007 it “formed a nine-man panel to study the errors”;

• On 2 Apr. 2008 it was “soon to set up a new book review body”;

• On 30 June 2008 it came out with “a 21-page Errata Guide to correct errors in seven elementary Social Studies textbooks”;

• On 5 June 2009 it vowed “to issue a Teacher’s Guide to correct the errors in six newly-purchased public school textbooks in English.”

And yet, Go sighed, not one book review body had been constituted.

* * *

Culprit DepEd even violates or muddles its own policies, Go said:

• On “one textbook per pupil” in public schools, with “the same title per class per subject,” it approved two Social Studies titles for Grade 3. Determining is hazy on which school gets Masipag na Pilipino (P42.18@) or Ang Bagong Pilipino (P56.30@). There are also two titles for Grade 5 Social Studies, Marangal na Pilipino and Kasaysayang Pilipino, by sister firms Vibal Publishing and LG&M.

• On “using only textbooks that pass evaluation and quality production standards,” Book Wise Publishing’s English for You and Me, Reading Textbook for Grade 6 has at least 500 errors.

• On “purchasing textbooks by subject for entire student population every five years,” the call for textbooks in Apr. 2006 and Dec. 2007 yielded no new titles to replace 1999 editions, like Dane Publishing’s Landas sa Pagbasa and Landas sa Wika. In another case, a newly-approved textbook for English is a recycle of the old edition; only five of its 20 selections are new.

• On “purchasing by entire subject series to have a logic of curricular progression,” say, elementary Grades 1-6 or high school 1st-4th Years, different publishers supplied English textbooks to different grades. SD Publications got Grades 1 and 5 (three titles); Book Wise Grades 2, 3, 4 and 6 (seven titles). In Social Studies, Mary Jo Publishing got Grade 3; LG&M got Grades 2, 4 and 5; Vibal got Grades 1, 3 and 5. Two books in the subject Filipino used in 3rd Year are exactly the same, except in titles Gintong Pamana III and Wika at Panitikan III, and publishers SD Publications and JGM&S Corp.

• On “testing textbooks in schools” before mass distribution, English for You and Me series was approved for nationwide distribution raw and untested.

• On the “ban from the evaluation process of any DepEd personnel with ties to the bidding publisher whether as editor or author,” a number of them moonlight just the same. The pretext is that they’re doing it for publishers of private school textbooks, although the same firms publish public school books.

* * *

So why are textbooks sloppy? Congress will find solutions in Go’s answers:

• There is no law to penalize sloppy authors, editors and publishers.

• There is no credible agency to review and screen private and public school textbooks for errors.

• For public schools, it should be the Instructional Materials Council Secretariat. But it is sleeping on the job. In 2007 is spent P1.15 billion, and in 2008 P1.77 billion on textbooks — mostly full of errors.

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“If you want your fame to outlive you, anchor it on humility. Saints outlived the good they did because for God and others they lived.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Let science rule in air spray tiff

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 26, 2009

UP scientists reportedly are peer-reviewing a contentious study on health risks of pesticide aerial spraying. Such review, a must in science research, has neutral experts prying into the methods, scope and other factors that led to a scholarly deduction. Out soon, the UP report will settle queries of harm to villages in Davao exposed to toxins used in fruit plantations. It can also refocus on facts, not fiction. Of late the issue has sunk to an emotional he said-she said. So stirred up are the protagonist NGOs and banana businessmen that they look bent on wiping out the other.

On one side are Interface Development Interventions Inc., Kalusugan Alang sa Bayan, and Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spray. In 2006 field men had spread out to Davao, gathering proof of aerial spraying’s health ruin. Three cases stood out. Banana worker Felixberto Batuhan had gone blind, and plantation-side resident Flor Watin suffered skin disease. Both often were exposed to fungicide spraying. Most disturbing was Rebecca Dulla of Sitio Camocaan, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur. Purportedly she had babies dying at birth due to aerial spray drifting to her neighborhood. Camocaan would later be the locus of the medical study on aerial pesticide blight.

The victims’ barangay chiefs quickly debunked the claims. A medical certificate surfaced, confirmed by his sister, that Batuhan had damaged his retina in a dive-fishing accident in Palawan. Watin, on the other hand, was diagnosed with rare hereditary skin disorder, keratosis follicularis. As for Dulla, two grown sons were presented to the press as she denied having claimed any deaths. The village heads swore the plantations had helped improve their incomes and living conditions, so they are healthier now than before the banana boom.

The health-environment NGOs persisted, presenting close to a dozen more poisoning victims. Each time one turned up, the Fertilizer & Pesticide Authority would lead a verification team with reps from the environment and health agencies, provincial and town halls. Every case — deformities in infants, cancer among villagers, or sudden sickness of farm workers — was refuted as false, exaggerated or unrelated to pesticides. The NGOs wailed that they were up against super-rich banana exporters; in turn their foreign financing came into question.

The locals were capable of storytelling too. Recounting the poverty before fruit growing uplifted their locales, barangay officials averred they drank only rainwater from nipa hut roofs exposed to aerial spraying. “No one got sick or died,” eight of them chorused. Sexagenarian banana grower Moises Torrentira used to work as plantation flagman. His ground duty was to signal the airplane pilot when to switch on and off the sprayer, and so was showered with toxins. He has 11 offspring, all professionals, to show that, contrary to claims, the chemicals did not make him sterile or dull his family. A plantation owner’s son recalled being assigned 30 years ago by American crop-dusters to stick his tongue out as they sprayed from above. It was their crude way of determining correct spray thickness. He is now a successful businessman-politician to disprove the medical findings.

But scientists and laymen dismiss all that as extreme. Commonsense tells us to avoid unnatural substances lest they harm the body. As one conservationist puts it, “Don’t we leave the room when spraying insect killer?” That is why the UP peer review is crucial to start straightening out the facts.

Both sides of the aerial spraying fight offer serious points to ponder. The antis want a test if the active ingredients in banana fungicides can hurt humans and animals. Banana growers ask what half-a-million workers and entrepreneurs will do if 50,000 hectares of bananas-for-export fold up from leaf-rotting fungi. The protagonists need to put heads together to craft win-win formulas. They could discuss fast-track development of safer fungicide and periodic evacuation of plantation-side residents. The Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association reportedly has offered to drop all court cases and talk. So far the NGOs’ response is to slug it out.

*      *      *

As part of a series on pork barrels, I featured last week a complaint in the House ethics body of Negros Oriental mayors against fund misuse. Rep. Jocelyn Sy Limkaichong sent this rejoinder:

“Contrary to reports that most of my PDAF were channeled to the La Libertad town alone, distribution in 2007-2008 was actually:

“Infrastructure, DPWH, P80 million;

“Indigent patients, Vicente Sotto Medical Center, P250,000; Phil. General Hospital, P250,000; Heart Center, P700,000; Kidney Institute, P400,000; National Children’s Hospital, P200,000; Lung Center, P100,000; DSWD, P900,000;

“Vocational training, TESDA, P400,000;

“Local governments, Province of Negros Oriental, P10.95 million; Manjuyod, P200,000; La Libertad (including district-wide distribution), P30.65 million.

“Double L Construction is owned not by me but by my sister-in-law. Out of delicadeza, the firm has never participated in any civil work bidding in my 1st district. Nor has it undertaken any project funded by my PDAF. Double L is classified as a big constructor capable of large projects far beyond my PDAF budget.

“Emmanuel Iway, my congressional employee with rank of Political Affairs Assistant II, is currently detailed to La Libertad to oversee my PDAF projects. He has been authorized to countersign disbursement vouchers for records purposes. While it is true that the municipality employs Jessie Villarino as meter reader, he was hired before his father Jesus Villarino was assigned State Auditor for the district.

“The purchase of a bus for P798,000 was below prevailing market price and through competitive bidding. Most LGUs would have purchased it for P1.5-P3 million.”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

$6-B inuwi mula US hindi pala totoo

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated August 25, 2009

SA gitna ng batikos sa dalawang marangyang P1.75-milyon hapunan ni Gloria Arroyo sa America, tinangkang manggulat ni Press Sec. Cerge Remonde. Hoy, aniya, maliit lang ‘yang halaga ng kinain kung itutumbas sa $6.2 bilyong investments na inuwi ng Presidente mula sa US. Kesyo raw pasalubong ni Arroyo sa atin ang $136-milyong security aid, $350-milyong grant mula sa Millennium Challenge Corp., $1.6-bilyong Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), $198-milyong bayad sa mga beteranong Pilipino, $1-bilyong garment export quota, at $1.2-bilyong bagong negosyo. Dagdag pa raw ang $1-bilyong expan­sion ng Coca Cola sa Pilipinas, na nauna nang ipinasok ang $300 milyon.

Sa pagsusuri, lumang kuwento na pala ang ilan sa mga inulat, at ang labi ay pagbibilang ng sisiw bago pa man mapisa ang itlog. Sa totoo lang:

• Ang $350-milyong Millennium grant ay hindi pa apru­bado ng Washington. Nakasalalay ito sa paglilinis ni Arroyo ng gobyerno, na ngayo’y nabibilang sa mga pinaka-tiwali sa mundo;

• Ang $1-bilyong garment quota ay panukalang batas pa lang ni Rep. Jim McDermott nu’ng Hunyo, na tatala­kayin sa darating pang taon, at kikitain ng Pilipinas ang halaga sa 2011 kung sakaling maisabatas ito;

• Ang $198-milyong para sa mga beterano ay isina­batas sa tulong ni Barack Obama noon pang Pebrero, at halos tapos na silang bayarang lahat;

• Ang $1.6-bilyong GSP ay listahan ng 5,000 pro­duktong aangkatin ng US nang duty-free pero ni hindi nga mapunuan ng Pilipinas; at

• Ang nalalabi sa $1-bilyong expansion ng Coca Cola ay papasok sa Pilipinas limang taon pa mula ngayon.

Walang pinagkaiba sa ZTE deal ang pinagma­malaki ni Remonde na “investments” kuno. Pinalabas nila na bagong pera raw ang $330-milyong broad­band telecoms mula China. ‘Yun pala uutangin ito ng Pilipinas sa loob ng 20 taon, at may “tongpats” pang $200 milyon o P10 bil­yon. Kikita agad ang ka­wa­tan pero dalawang deka­dang nating pagdudu­sahan.

Palasyo bistado sa pagbubulaan

SAPOL Ni Jarius Bondoc (Pilipino Star Ngayon) Updated August 24, 2009

ANG isda nahuhuli sa bunganga, anang kawikaan. Imbis na umamin at mag-sorry sa marangyang kainan sa America, na payo ni Miriam Santiago, nagpalusot ang Malacañang. Lalo tuloy nagkabaun-baon sa pagbubulaan:

(1) Sa pag-ako na siya ang sumagot sa hapunang $15,000 (P750,000) sa Washington, ani Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez $12,000 lang ang pagkain pero may federal at state taxes pa. Aber, ipakita nga niya ang resibo. Sa restaurant tabs sa US, walang federal o state taxes, kundi sales tax lang.

(2) Dagdag ni Suarez na 65 silang kumain sa halagang ‘yun, kasama ang US Secret Service. Talaga? Tulad ng mga propesyonal sa Presidential Security Group, hin-   ding hindi kakain ang mga Secret Service men kasama ang subject na sine-secure. Nagbabantay lang sila. Pinararami ni Suarez ang kumain para itago ang $1,000 (P50,000) gastos kada isa sa 16 dumalo.

(3) Kesyo sa mamahaling Morton’s sana sila magi-steak pero sarado, ani Suarez, kaya sa mas murang Bobby Van’s na lang napadpad. Hinding hindi rin papayag ang Secret Service sa biglaan o pabago-bago ang lakad ng bisitang head of state. Matagal nang planado ang Bobby Van’s.

(4) Kesyo si Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez naman daw ang taya sa $20,000 (P1,000,000) hapunan sa Le Cirque. Wala umanong ginasta ang Malacañang sa dala­wang mamahaling handaan. Sa totoo lang, si Gloria Arroyo ang nagbibigay ng P500,000 gift bags sa mga kongresista. Ang US junket ay balato niya rin sa mga alipures — hindi para sila ang magpakain.

(5) Sariling gastos ang mga kongresistang sumama kay Arroyo, ani Press Sec. Cerge Remonde. Pero umamin si Rep. Benny Abante na wala siyang tinustusang hotel o pag­kain. Nagtaka kuno si Speaker Prospero Nog­rales kung bakit hindi na­sabihan sina Abante na ibabawas ‘yon sa travel allowances nila.

(6) Ani Remonde nang pumutok ang isyu nu’ng Aug. 2, ilalabas nila lahat ng nagasta sa America sa Aug. 10. Pero kabuoang P19 mil­yon lang na pigura ang na­ibigay, walang detalye. Huling huling nanloloko.

Experts can’t agree on aerial-spray ills

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 24, 2009

Fruit growers in Mindanao are going bananas. They need to repel the spread of unseen but disastrous fungi if they are to go on exporting banana by the billions of tons. But a drive to ban aerial spraying of pesticides is hemming them in from the other side. The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association has had to fight in one branch of government after another. In mid-2007 a study paid for by the Dept. of Health concluded that spray chemicals were poisoning villages around banana plantations. Davao City promptly passed an ordinance against aerial spraying, affecting a tenth of the 50,000 hectares devoted to banana in the Davao region. A year-and-a-half later last Jan. the PBGEA won a restraining order from the Court of Appeals. But this came only after two plantations totaling 200 hectares were forced to shut down, ravaged by the leaf-rotting sigatoka fungus. Now come twin bills in the Senate and House of Representatives to ban pesticide aerial spraying nationwide. For the fruit growers, aerial spraying is the thriftiest and, they claim, the safest way to stem the sigatoka tide. Without it, they see the collapse of their billion-dollar industry.

The fight over aerial spraying is one of experts versus experts. Led by Dr. Allan Dionisio, 11 occupational and clinical toxicologists wrote the 2007 DOH report on pesticide poisoning. Previously they had trained at the U.P. in pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, community and family medicine, and public health. The state of residents of banana plantation-side Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy was compared with those of faraway Sitio Baliwaga in Sta. Cruz, both in Davao del Sur province. Their findings appeared to confirm an earlier study of activist Dr. Romeo Quijano. Some Camocaan folk were suffering from blood, digestive and skin ailments due to regular exposure to aerial sprays.

Refuting them are equally eminent doctors, chemists and engineers. DOH Undersecretary Paulyn Russel-Ubial pooh-poohed the Quijano and Dionisio papers as inconclusive because done on only one tiny community. In Davao recently Dr. Antonio Ligsay, an advocate of higher standards in health research, frowned on biased conclusions coming ahead of findings. Dr. Patricio Hernane, Hagonoy town health officer, said the alleged afflicted Camocaan residents could not be verified. Supposedly Dionisio reneged on promises to refer to him those who needed medical attention.

Fungicide experts and government regulators have joined the fray. Supposedly they will be the first to reject chemicals that harm farm workers and banana customers. But there are no complaints of toxins by local labor unions or government officials from Japan, the Philippines’ biggest banana buyer. “So they have nothing to reject,” says Anthony Sasin, PBGEA spokesman.

Flight planners add that aerial spraying is so precise that there hardly is any wasteful drift. Spraying is done in the early morning when wind is light, and only after due notices to nearby communities. Airplanes are fitted with modern gadgets to pinpoint exact segments of the plantation to be sprayed. On land and onboard, global positioning systems trigger the spray’s on-off electronic switches so that chemicals do not spill onto water or roadways. The spray is 85-percent water, with soluble wax to make the desired number of droplets per square-inch stick to the banana leaf. Banning aerial spraying would force the growers to revert to the old, tedious ground spraying. If their fungicides indeed were harmful, Sasin said, then the ground spraying would be worse because usually six to 11 times more saturated.

Health and community NGOs are leading the crusade to ban aerial spraying totally. PBGEA president Stephen Antig shudders at the prospect. The particularly nasty black sigatoka fungus has begun to invade Davao’s hillsides. It feeds on banana leaves and within days can dry up a tree. When the number of an infected tree’s leaves drop to less than 12, fruiting is cut in half. Left unchecked by aerial spraying, the black sigatoka can wipe out contiguous plantations within a year.

The NGOs couldn’t care less. Citing Quijano and Dionisio’s findings, they say people’s health should come first before bananas’. Health is a constitutional right, they aver as they assail the growers’ pure profit motive. But to that, Antig and Sasin ask: what health will the NGOs guarantee if 100,000 farm workers and many more related entrepreneurs lose their source of livelihood?

Perhaps a third set of experts, neutral this time, must come in to referee the fight.

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“Being alone is not as welcome as being left alone. Those who fear to be alone will fear being left alone.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com

Was the Filipino worth dying for?

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated August 21, 2009

What impelled Ninoy Aquino to return from US self-exile? Was it his one last chance to restore equality in the homeland? Or did he miscalculate the enemy so ended up as his friends — and he — had feared? Whatever, Ninoy was possessed with uncommon valor to risk liberty and even life.

Jovito Salonga recounts in a forthcoming book, The Life and Times of Gerry Roxas and Ninoy Aquino: “In the afternoon of July 26, 1983, Ninoy came to our place in (California) to say goodbye. He said he had definitely decided to return to Manila . . . This was better, he argued, than ‘getting run over by a taxi in Boston.’ I immediately realized the futility of arguing with Ninoy. He thought that the worst that could happen was for him to be sent back to prison, perhaps in Fort Bonifacio. He thought that with the deterioration of the economy, there would be social disorder. A beleaguered Marcos might one day call for him and his one big moment would come. He would persuade Marcos to leave, take out all his wealth along with his family — no questions asked — and the country could then have freedom and democracy. I told him that the latest press dispatches from Manila reported that Marcos had gone somewhere, supposedly to escape the polluted air in Malacañang. Suppose Marcos was really sick? Ninoy said this development, if true, made his return to Manila more urgent than ever. He struck me as having too much faith in his capacity to persuade Marcos to leave the country in case the latter should call for him . . . I was quiet, not wanting to argue with him. But even as I admired his courage, I doubted the correctness of his decision to return at this point.

“It was almost twilight when our conversation ended . . . He got into his car and waved his right hand in the deepening dusk. When I got back to my room, I told Lydia: ‘Perhaps that was the last time for us to see Ninoy.’”

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Ten years earlier Ninoy already prepared for the worst. Marcos had thrown him in bartolina in Nueva Ecija. There on Aug. 18, 1973, he wrote his eldest daughter Ballsy on her 18th birthday (the letter is now circulating in the Net for posterity):

“I write you with tears in my eyes and as if steel fingers are crushing my heart because I wanted so much to be with you as you celebrate your legal emancipation . . .

“During my lonely hours of solitary confinement in Fort Magsaysay… with nothing else to do but pray and daydream, with only my fond memories to keep me company, I planned a weekend barrio fiesta for you in Tarlac for your birthday. I fooled myself into believing that my ordeal would end . . .

“Our future has suddenly become uncertain and our fate unknown. I am even now beginning to doubt whether I’ll be able to return to you and the family . . . .”

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From the San Francisco airport in 1983, Ninoy phoned Steve Psinakis to bid adieu. He gave him a reading of events in Manila, and how he fit in (see www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DMeZwC 5oZY):

“This is the latest, Steve, that I can give you. My source is Cardinal Sin . . . Marcos checked in at the Kidney Center. The experts went, saw him, they did a test. He flunked all tests and the conclusion was if they operate on him, it would be fatal. So he went back to the Palace. He is no longer responding to medication and he will have to be hooked up to the dialysis machine now more often. How he will last with that machine on, I don’t know . . . They are now moving to put Imelda in effective control . . .

“There is a major shakeup. Marcos met with his generals and apparently said goodbye to them last Friday. He was on television in Manila 24 hours ago, commenting on the boxing fight of Navarrete and Talbot to show the people he is okay. But it’s a matter of time, so he wanted three weeks to collect his thoughts, write his memoirs, complete his book and most probably craft the final stages of his administration . . . He knows he’s going and that’s the background that I’m coming in . . .

“If they pinpoint the plane I’m coming in. The rumor in Manila is that I’m taking the private jet of Enrique (Zobel) from Hong Kong. But that all planes are being guarded and they may close the airport on Sunday or turn back the plane if they would be able to pinpoint which one I’m coming in. The third one and this is real iffy: they have two guys stationed to knock me out at the airport. And they will try them for murder, they’ll convict them, but they have assurances.”

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Psinakis narrates in his autobiographical A Country Not Even His Own (Anvil, 2008): “Despite the certain and grave risks he faced in going back to Manila, and the seeming futility of any precautions, I needed to try to create some kind of safety net for him. I thought of calling Philip Habib, the acting US Secretary of State, to ask him to provide security for Ninoy’s return . . . Ninoy didn’t like the idea and stopped me. ‘I don’t want to ask for any favors,’ he said . . .

“On the evening of August 20th, 1983 . . . the phone rang . . . Tessie Oreta was sobbing in desperation. ‘They killed him, they killed him.’”

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E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com