Opinyon440 rikitiks

CEBU PACIFIC: FLYING HIGH PAGE 6

FOREIGN

BUSINESS

NATION

NO new TAXES on MINING PAGE 3

USAID HELPs SOUTH PH FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE PAGE 11

Virginia De Villa

MAKING PINOY CHOCOLATE WORLD-CLASS 16 Php15.00

Educational yet opinionated, informative yet persuasive JUNE 2-8, 2014 • VOL.4 NO.40

NOW AVAILABLE

Nationwide

National Bookstore PowerBooks Fully Booked

We Take A Stand Visit us at www.opinyon.com.ph

AND AT ALL OUTLETS OF

facebook.com/opinyon

Scan QR Code inside for additional content from OpinYon Digital Edition!

twitter.c om/opinyon2010

By Ray L. junia

The EPIRA law was created on the premise of an existence of an efficient, free electricity market, uninhibited by government. But, there is no such market in the Philippines. Undeniably, the market is controlled by a profit-hungry oligopoly. Page 2

transport Opinyon440.indd 1

THE MRT-3 EXPANSION FIASCO 7 5/30/14 11:55 PM

COVER STORY POWER BROKERS

Nationalize Power Industry!

Lopez

Sy

Aboitiz

Consunji

Ayala

Ty

By Ray L. Junia, Publisher

Something scandalous about the nation’s power industry – it’s in the hands of few oligarchs! From the Sys to Lopezes, Aboitizes and Consunjis, they are in control of a multi-billion peso industry, virtually placing millions of hapless Filipinos at their mercy.

In recent years, new players emerged with just one driving obsession – rake in billions of pesos in profits like literally squeezing blood from stone.

They include the old-rich Ayalas, banking magnate George Ty and, of course, listed retailer Meralco controlled

by Indonesian conglomerate Salim Group through controversial “point man” Manuel V. Pangilinan (aka MVP).

From generation to transmission and distribution of electricity, the oligarchs are just everywhere, placing them in a vantage position to dominate – and dictate - the nation’s economy.

Like A Sore Thumb

Among industry players, Meralco prominently sticks out like a sore thumb, it being the most vilified for raising its power rates to exorbitant levels sans public consultations, in cahoots with an inept Energy Regulatory Commission.

While it cost the Salim Group billions of pesos to buy the Lopezes’ controlling stake in Meralco, their return on equity (ROE) had been awesome, if not mind-boggling.

Based on the firm’s annual reports, Meralco’s (ROE) and profit margin have risen several folds since 2008.

From just five percent in 2008, Meralco’s ROE steadily increased to 10 percent in 2009, 16 percent in 2010 and 25 percent in 2012.

This means that the ROE of Meralco has ballooned five-fold in a span of just five years.

In comparison, Meralco’s 2012 ROE of 25 percent is much higher than the entire power industry’s estimated average of around 15 percent.

From Filipino Pockets

Yet, Meralco has been stingy as far as complying with the government-mandated refund to its customers is concerned.

Apparently, Meralco’s foreign owners want to reinvest elsewhere such as in Singapore and Myanmar the profits they earned from the pockets of ordinary Filipinos.

In Singapore, Meralco acquired last February two brand-new natural-gasfired 400-megawatt generators valued at US$1.2 billion with earnings from its Philippine operations.

Analysts say that had they been built in the Philippines, Luzon’s 8,000-MW capacity would increase by 10 percent and would have decreased incidence of brownouts and brought down Meralco’s high electricity rates.

Meralco’s defiance is an offshoot of the government’s glaring pro-business, antipoor policy stance.

Blame, of course, rests squarely on the government’s lack of political will to resist the policy dictates of multi-lateral financial institutions which have a stranglehold on the government’s finances.

2

june 2-8, 2014

Opinyon440.indd 2

OpinYon

Foreign Meddling

For instance, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) was passed

by Congress in 2001 under threat by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank to freeze the bailout funds for the once debtsaddled state-run National Power Corp.

(Napocor).

Epira was nursed in its infancy and continue to be protected by its principal author, Sen. Sergio Osmena, who has chaired the Senate committee of energy for the longest time now.

Meant to foster competition in the power industry, Epira turned out to be a toothless law, unable to check its rampant violations by profit-hungry power firms and protect consumer interests.

For more than a decade, Epira failed to check the unabated surge in power rates, one of Asia’s highest, the reason why foreign investors shied away from the Philippines.

Ironically, Epira bred the rise of twin evils of monopoly and oligopoly in the power industry, precisely the key objectives it wanted to eradicate to bring sanity to an industry which has gone berserk with endless rate increases.

Not content with just distribution, some players like the Lopezes and Meralco also ventured into generation and transmission, enabling them to dictate market prices at will. Here the family of the wife of Sen. Osmena and Meralco appears to have violated the law on cross ownership that will allow them to control prices.

Fire Sale

Suspicions of shady deals also surfaced, largely attributed to certain loopholes in the Epira law on which some capitalists exploited to the hilt. In gist, Epira called for the fire sale of state-owned power assets even at grossly undercut prices from their appraised value.

How and why ethnic Chinese taipan Henry Sy ventured into power when his core businesses revolved around retail, his flagship that catapulted him to become one of the world’s richest.

It may be gleaned from how the cashstrapped government resorted to a fire sale just to dispose of its power assets as fast as it could.

From out of the blue, the cash-rich Sy has wrested control of the previously state-owned National Grid Corp. of the (NGCP), the company transmitting power to its franchise areas across the country.

Once Napocor’s money-spinner because of its extensive transmission network, NGCP – formerly called Transmission Corp. (Transco) – was sold to Sy for just US$3.95 billion in early 2000.

The taipan, known for his shrewd sense of business, made a down payment of US$987.5 million and promised to settle the balance of US$2.962 billion or P148 billion within 15 years. Why this was allowed had many guessing the answers

Among industry players, Meralco prominently sticks out like a sore thumb, it being the most vilified for raising its power rates to exorbitant levels sans public consultations, in cahoots with an inept Energy Regulatory Commission.

Pangilinan but surely raised eyebrows while stirring suspicion of another sweetheart deal.

No Such Efficient Market

But reckoned with its strong balance sheet, the NGCP has been making P15 billion annually, hence its income in 15 years would work to P225 billion. That translates to P77 billion profits for Sy. Amid the power industry’s bleak outlook, calls are mounting to repeal or amend the Epira law by nationalizing or de-privatizing the highly cartelized power industry.

By and large, the power industry is just too important to the national economy to be left to free market forces.

In most countries, power is highly regulated, owned by the state to a substantial degree, and subsidized by public funds.

Looking back, the EPIRA law was apparently enacted on the premise of an existence of an efficient free electricity market, uninhibited by government.

Unfortunately, there is no such market in the Philippines. Its electricity market is controlled by an oligopoly.

Foreign Interests

While debates are split on whether to nationalize or not the power industry by scuttling the Epira law, there are those

who expressed caution against such move.

In a joint statement last week, some groups representing foreign businessmen believe that scrapping or amending Epira will not solve problems hounding the power industry, but will confuse investors regarding the investment climate in the country.

“If EPIRA is sent back to Congress for review, the uncertainty it will introduce into the regulatory regime of the power industry will lead to a potentially chaotic system, and worryingly put our future needs at risk at a time when our supply of power is marginal,” the statement read.

It warned that without stable rules and good investment climate in the energy industry, international and local investors will steer away from making investments in that sector.

But among lawmakers, there’s an emerging consensus that Epira has failed to promote free competition to benefit the consumers and likely to push for some changes in the government’s power privatization policy with a nationalization bias.

Any paradigm shift can’t gloss over the fact that the law has been used as smokescreen to hide patterns of collusion, monopoly and oligopoly among industry players to deceive the consumers without even knowing that they are being robbed.

WE TAKE A STAND

5/30/14 11:55 PM

Nation

will make the country unattractive as an investment destination.

In a letter to President Aquino last March 2014, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) expressed concern over the proposed revenue scheme and said that “such a fiscal regime will have an extremely negative impact on future investment in the minerals sector.”

No need to raise taxes from mining

jobs

The JFC said that “mining investments generate jobs, and multiply those jobs into other jobs. They build infrastructure.

They inject money into communities. In short, they create inclusive growth – which is so much needed in these economic times of the country’s development.”

Increased linkages will yield more revenues for government. Given the chilling effect increased taxes will have on investments, the Chamber of Mines suggests that the key to increasing the mining industry’s contribution to the economy lies in increased mining investments and in enhancing the local backward and forward linkages in the sector—essentially maximizing mining’s multiplier effect, especially in the areas where mines operate.

Chamber of Mines suggests options to increase government take from mining projects

G

overnment data indicate that nearly half of the country’s gold output is produced by small-scale mining operations, most of which operate illegally.

Small-scale miners’ excise and income tax payments are negligible and in fact, non-existent for illegal miners, yet the value of the gold, nickel, and iron ore they extract – minerals owned by the Filipino people-run in the billions every year.

“If government wants a bigger take from mining, there are many other options it can explore before increasing the tax on mining,” says the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines in a statement sent to Opinyon.

It can encourage local investment and development linkages to supply and interconnect with mining projects. It can revive idle or abandoned mines to generate new employment and revenues.

Case study: The Tampakan Project in South Cotabato

In a 2011 study of the Tampakan Project, Dr David Pearce of the Center for International

Economics (CIE), found that the project will generate, not just direct benefits for the Philippine economy, but substantial indirect benefits as well: • Around US$800 million (Php35 billion) directly spent on Philippine goods and services during the construction phase, and an additional US$892 (Php40 billion) on Philippine goods and services over the mine’s 20-year operation.

• The project will make an estimated total contribution of US$5.1 billion (Php220 trillion) in taxes and duties over the life of the project.

Infra Benefits

• The total contribution of the project to household income could be up to Php600 million annually in the four host provinces, and the impacted and outlying municipalities.

News from Where You Stand

Linkages • Around USD477 million in total, or USD19 million each year, will be allocated to the host barangays.

• Approximately USD344 million in total, or USD14 million, will be allocated to provincial and other local government units in the four host provinces through investment in roads, health care, schools and other essential government infrastructure and services.

• Host communities will receive royalty payments of USD338.5 million over the life of the project. On a per capita basis, these payments are significant and will make a major contribution to sustainable economic welfare of these communities.

“Simply increasing the tax on mining projects will have an enormously negative effect.

With very few projects far down the pipeline, an increased tax on new projects will not immediately result in a bigger take for government.

In Limbo

Since the issuance of Executive Order No. 79 in July 2012, a moratorium on new mining projects has been put in place by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), while the Mining industry Coordinating Council (MICC) looks into how it can increase government’s share in mining projects.

Nearly two years later, the mining industry is still in limbo.

With mining investments down 40 percent from projections for 2012, the MICC insists it is just out to ensure government gets its fair share from mining.

The challenge has been how government determines what is “fair”--and how to get there.

Thus despite the issuance of EO 79 over a year and a half ago, the MICC still has no revenue sharing bill ready for Congress.

However, the MICC seems set to impose a 10-percent tax on gross revenues or a 50-percent share of the adjusted net mining revenues (ANMR)—figures which industry players and analysts find to be too high and which

With proper linkages programs created by the government coupled with transparency in tax collections and disbursements, the Philippine mining industry can go a long way in helping deal with poverty and be an example of inclusive growth,” said Jesse Ang of the International Finance Corp. (IFC), adding that mining “can be a strong catalyst” for the country if managed properly.

“With a proper linkages program, with proper transparency-you know here the (tax) payments are going--to make sure that money goes to the communities,” Ang said.

The IFC official also said mining as an industry can help government drive infrastructure projects to greater levels so the Philippines could move up to the next stage of economic growth beyond that driven by consumption.

By encouraging local source and supply linkages, the mining industry’s most valuable contribution to the country’s growth could come from its ability to generate further benefits to the Turn to page 14

QUOTES OF THE WEEK ”There was clear responsibility to declare such relationship, but no declaration was made.”

– DOTC SecretaryJesus Abaya, referring to MRT-3 general manager Al Vitangcol who awarded a half a billion pesos contract to the uncle of his wife, the reason why he was sacked.

“The problem now is that roles have been reversed: it’s the accused who now have

to do the explaining, not Mrs. Janet Lim Napoles,” the alleged pork barrel queen, – Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

“We have committed to fiscal-reform programs such as maintaining our deficit-cap, improved delivery of basic social services and performanceinformed budget process”

– Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad told the World Economic Forum in Manila.

“Our tourism sector is very competitive because if you look at the number of arrivals in the country, almost 98 percent of arrivals come in by air.”

– Tourism assistant secretary for planning Rolando Cañizal.

“This agreement will allow the US

government to use Philippines military bases, essentially allowing them to build structures, store, as well as preposition weapons, defense supplies and matériel, station troops, civilian personnel and defense contractors, transit and station vehicles, vessels and aircraft –oppositors to the US-PH enhanced defense cooperation agreement told the Supreme Court

“Unless he has a miraculous recovery, President Aquino III is likely to be the most austere and the most inept president in recent Philippine history.

Thus far, he has the lowest productive budget and the least infrastructure spending.”

– Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

the rains have not come. People tasked with managing our water/power resources have warned that we face a crisis in those areas…“Let us together storm the heavens with our supplication, that God’s mercy be upon us and send us the rain we need – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle

“It is time for our rainy season and yet

We TAKe A STAnD

Opinyon440.indd 3

OpinYon

june 2-8, 2014

3 5/30/14 11:55 PM

OPINION

Commentary Philippine Power Crisis: A Global Perspective

E

D

I

T

O

R

I

A

L

Time to democratize power industry Being crucial and strategic to the national economy, the power industry has to be democratized, away from the clutches of the profit-hungry oligarchs and other vested interests.

Amending the over decade-old Epira law could be a logical first step, no matter the hindrances it may encounter along the way.

As some jaded lawmakers imply, the law – supposed to bring down power rates – has miserably failed in fostering a competitive environment.

While there’s no such thing as perfect law, the Epira’s implementation has only exposed its flaws as evidenced by the endless rounds of unwarranted rate increases.

On hindsight, there are also perceptions of manipulation by the power players themselves of the rates to jack up their profits at the expense of hapless consumers.

Worse, the new tariff rates come at a time of widespread public anxiety over threats of prolonged power outages.

Nationalizing or de-privatizing power companies may have spawned debates, particularly as it would raise legal or constitutional grounds.

But for those in favor, their overriding consideration is restoring to the consumers their inherent right to help chart the industry’s destiny within the realm of economic freedom.

Those opposed to any form of state control of the power industry fear that it would set back or derail the privatization of inefficient and losing government-owned and controlled corporations.

More than that, however, is the creeping apprehension in the corporate community that such move would drive away potential investors from the ailing industry.

While there ‘s a deluge of pros and cons about the need to restore government control of the power industry,the long-term implication is instability in the power sector.

As some analysts say, you can’t just change horse midstream or risk getting drowned in the process.

OpinYon is published weekly by Opinyon Media Services, with business office at Rm 202, ECRD Condominium, Barangka Drive cor Talumpong, Mandaluyong City.

Editorial: 214-0766 Business & Circulation: 9412189 Email: opinyon.2010@ gmail.com website: www.opinyon.com.ph DISCLAIMER Letters to the Editor and unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher, editors and staff of Opinyon. We reserve the right to edit articles based on our editorial standards.

ISSN 2094-7372

4

june 2-8, 2014

Opinyon440.indd 4

OpinYon

RAY L. JUNIA Publisher ALFONSO LABITA Executive Editor FREDERICK FABIAN Acting Managing Editor DAVE DIWA Opinion Editor

The following are excerpts from Philippines Electricity Crisis: How Regulatory Capture Undermines Emerging Markets by Richard Javad Heydarian, author of “How Capitalism Failed the Arab World: The Economic Roots and Precarious Future of the Middle East Uprisings”. The article originally appeared in The World Post last December 23, 2013.

“What we see today in the Philippines is more a country that has come to confront its internal demons than an emerging market fi rmly placed on an inexorable tiger road. Nothing underscores this complex picture more than the latest uproar over an alleged collusion among power-generating companies to introduce a further hike in electricity prices. To put things into perspective, the Philippines already has Asia’s most expensive electricity rates, even higher than post-Fukushima Japan.

Such prohibitive rates have not only hurt ordinary consumers, but have also served as among the strongest disincentives against manufacturing investments in the country...” “...what the Philippines needs the most is not more privatization and economic liberalization per se -- which have actually exacerbated rather than ameliorated the country’s structural economic weaknesses since the 1990s -- but instead a stronger state that (a) can bust oligarchic collusion, and (b) protect the interest of the consumers and productive sectors of the economy. And we won’t have a dramatic turnabout in the Philippines’ economic fortunes unless the Aquino administration and its

PUBLIC PULSE On last week’s cover story, WHY LIE? (VOL.4 NO.39/May 26-June 1, 2014)

Shouldn’t this revelation tell that our suspicious minds were correct, that BS also devoured his pork barrel allotment when he was a something-nothing lawmaker? It needs not be said that his top Rasputin Ochoa has been his “care giver” since he was a something nothing Batasan member, as many countless say of him as BS’ frontman / bagman.

Ochoa was never a solon to have been entitled to pork barrel allotment. It was his “ward” who was. What is the oft-repeated Devil’s trick statement of BS? Is it not “Panagutin ang may sala”?

Now, should not he be made himself answer for his devourment of his pork barrel? Elpidio Que

JOJO VALENCIA Layout Artist ATTY. SALVADOR PANELO Ombudsman

GETULIO MARAYA Vice President for Admin ATTY. RICKY RIBO Legal Counsel

ON PAKISTAN’S STONE AGE ‘LAWS’ I refer to Mubasher Bukhari’s “Pakistan woman stoned to death by family for marrying man she loved”, Reuters, May 27th. The woman was put to death dastardly, treacherously and in an extremely violent manner, in broad day light, ironically outside the bloody ‘court,’ sad but true, by her own family, because she married a man that she loves and her bastard relatives does not approved of her choice. She was killed for falling in love, for following her heart and for defying the backwardness of her family and their stupid and utterly barbaric cultural beliefs! For this, she was killed! So bloody disgusting!

And what is that belief?

Believe or not, but according to the abnormal and sick mindset of some people in Pakistan, “a woman marrying her own choice brings dishonor on the family.”

What the f*ck is that? It is already 2014, but I was shocked to learn that up until today, there are still some bastard bloody creatures who, are still living at the Stone Age! What a shame! This is outrageous, barbaric and undeniably ridiculous to the core!

Jose Mario Dolor De Vega Philosophy and Social Science lecturer, Technological University of the Philippines

CARLOS RAJAMIRA Creative Director

RAY L. JUNIA President

successors fully internalize the indispensable role of the state, which ranges from ensuring the rule of law to protecting strategic sectors of the economy against special interest, even in an era of economic globalization.”

“Ironically, the power crisis in the Philippines, which promises to retard the country’s growth trajectory and its aspirations for industrial development, is not a product of excessive state intervention and public mismanagement. Instead, it is a classic example of how economic liberalization -- under the auspices of a corrupt political system and in the absence of a competitive private sector -- has handed the key sectors of the economy to a handful of oligarchs, which have prioritized profits over capacity-building and accessibility. And yet, we are still waiting for a commensurate response by the Aquino administration to such brazen strangulation of Philippines’ manufacturing potentials, which ultimately rely on, among other things, the affordable availability of power and energy resources.” “...what is clear is that the Philippines is paying the price for decades of mindless privatization, which has done more to reinforce the oligarchic hold on the Philippine economy rather than unleash the dynamic energies of the private sector.

Perhaps what the Philippines needs more than ever is a simultaneous empowerment of its state institutions as well as the new emerging entrepreneurial class, which has been hammered by oligopolistic businesses and lack of an independent, enabling regulatory regime. In short, what the Philippines yearns for is a more “effective” state and more “competitive” market at the same time.”

Scan this QR Code with your mobile device to read OpinYon Digital Edition on the go.

VITANGCOL MUTED? To date, Atty. Al Vitangcol refused to spill the beans the real score of his removal from off ice. Speculations after speculations still surmised that tend to be the real reason of his resignation as the General Manager of MRT 3.

When asked if his ouster is about the rift and purging in and out of the Balay and Samar

groups that encircles Pnoy’s administration, he denied that he is a victim of such diabolical move.

On his being a peer of the so called “sisters”, he declined to answer. The President even distanced himself from his appointee as the General Manager of the rail transit.

On the issue of “palusot” averred by Senator Osmena during the senate inquiry, he said that its all res ipsa loquitur, it is undisputable that all the queries they are soliciting from him are all in the records, nobody can speak for it but the documents themselves.

“I am only one of the members of a collegial body that has no influence in the Bids and Award Committee of the MRT 3, to whoever would award a project of the MRT” he stressed.

It all lies in the hands of the Committee.

He stood his ground that there is nothing irregular with the ten months maintenance contract awarded to PH Trams in 2012 that allegedly favored the uncle of his wife Arturo V. Soriano, being one of the six incorporators of PH Trams, who according to him had already divested its interest in the said company.

What is mind boggling about this issue, is who is agitating the diplomat from Czech Republic Josef Rychtar to blow the whistle on the alleged $30-million extortion.

By the year 2015 the old wagons or cars of MRT3 will be replaced already by new ones. It will cost the rail transit around 1.8 Billion Pesos.

This will be done months before the election.

Archie Almeida

We TAKe A STAnD

5/30/14 11:55 PM

Opinion

The Viewpoints and outlook of the well-informed

Control

S

enate Majority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, unabashed selfproclaimed contender for the presidency in the 2016 elections, warned that keeping secret a new affidavit by Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged PDAF scam brains, would “empower her to manipulate public opinion one way or the other.” Perhaps.

However, I don’t go along with his demand that she be summoned anew by the Blue Ribbon Committee for a scrutiny of her new statement.

There is no way the public will gain enlightenment from a senate investigation of the pork scam when the culprits alluded to by Napoles are the investigating senators themselves, not to mention those other guilty colleagues — bato bato sa langit ang tatamaan ay huwag magagalit — who quietly swivel in their cool armchairs expecting vindication in a process that they fully control. This asinine and expensive circus must stop. It serves no other purpose than to fuel more speculation, sow more confusion, and facilitate cover-up schemes.

Senators are not called "lawmakers" for nothing. By their every word and deed, and as their mandate would have it, they

must exemplify sedulous adherence to the lofty requirements of respect for the Law, esteem for its institutions and processes, and fear of its rule. Accordingly, our senators should now terminate the subject investigation in order to allow the Ombudsman's Office to exercise unimpeded control of the role it is ordained by the Constitution to discharge.

No, there is no cogent reason for these upper-chamber legislators to distrust their own creation: the largely statutory criminal justice system.

•••••• Motorcyclists are the bane of patience. Being in total control of our streets, they freely violate traffic rules in pretty much the same way some politicians cavalierly breach the norms of delicadeza and rectitude. And can these motorcyclists quickly organize themselves into a mob at any accident site where one of them is involved! One should not fi nd unfamiliar any of the following road situations.

Three years ago, I was driving on Edsa behind two buses that were a meter and a half apart.

Suddenly, a motorcycle sped past me on my right side, surged ahead and, to my horror, raced through between the buses in a resolve to overtake them. As the

MUSINGS Ronald Roy buses moved toward each other, motorists and I following behind came to a screeching stop to see a gut-wrenching mishap that left the helmeted rider and his machine lying on the road in one gruesome twisted heap.

That was but one of numerous motorcycle misfortunes that had then been occurring at a very alarming rate, and the accidents have since increased without letup. Today, one wonders if authorities will ever buckle down to produce safety rules for the motoring public in general and the motorcyclists in particular, pedestrians and bystanders included.

For having been actually involved in two recent motorcycle accidents, I sometimes muse on the possibility that one day I will be a plaintiff or defendant in a reckless imprudence trial, notwithstanding the fact that in over 60 years behind the wheels,

my extraordinarily diligent and defensive manner of driving has always seen me safely through -- knock on wood. Hereunder are the two incidents.

As I remained at STOP position preparing to turn right to Hemady Street in Q.C., a motorcyclist drove up from behind and rested his machine between my right rear door and the embankment. From that position, he knew I would turn right since my signal lights were flashing. After the traffic light turned green, I proceeded to turn right along with the motorcycle. While I was executing the turn, the motorcycle suddenly swerved around in a split-second decision to change course.

I didn't hit it, but its rider

kicked my fender to avoid being struck. As a result of the force of the kick, he fell off his twowheeler which scooted ahead and crashed against a concrete wall. He suffered a broken wrist and a badly damaged motorcycle. Luckily, patrol cops who witnessed the incident prevented a gathering mob of cussing motorcyclists from possibly lynching me. The hurt rider apologized for his reckless driving.

Then, another time when I was doing 30 kph on Aurora Boulevard, Manila, a motorcycle that had overtaken me suddenly crossed my path, and instinctively I swerved rightward to avoid hitting it. Unfortunately, I hit a cab. The culprit sped away and got lost in the traffic, and I gave the taxi driver a generous amount for slightly denting his fender.

This sort of road scourge cannot be totally eradicated. But authorities can control it by requiring motorcyclists to drive, at all times, directly behind a chosen vehicle, and allowing them to move therefrom only for the purpose of turning left or right to another street. Needless to state, strict enforcement and stiff penalties will produce eye-popping results, particularly in the dramatic reduction of riding-intandem killings. Hopefully.

Remembering History: Connecting the Dots

R

ecalling the words of the late Senator Claro M.Recto that “in the future, Philippines could be a province of China.” In the ’90�s, We were told by an American lecturer at the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC that the future war in South China Sea could spark between China and Vietnam and the Philippine involvement is inevitable. When my father was still alive, he told me the time will come that possibly the Philippines and many Asian countries will be ruled by China. Thus dividing the world into regions namely: Asia is for China, US controlling north, central and south America, USSR (now Russia) dominating Eastern Europe, Germany managing western Europe and Israel conquering Africa and the Middle East to create a Greater Israel in the process.

This flashback of events is now getting into a reality. In the Asian setting, it started with sweet talks from China’s leaders diplomatic steps in 2013 to reportedly improve Asean-China relations and bring back confidence in the region, charming it’s neighbors with promises of restraint and win-win cooperation. Foreign minister Wang Yi in May 2013, had raised hope in Asean that China was giving fi rst priority to regional diplomacy and China viewed Asean as a valuable strategic partner.

Asean welcomed the visits of China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang

to South East Asia in October 2013. Pres. Xi’s historic remarks to the Indonesian parliament that Asean and China should build “trust and develop good neighborliness” and “stick through thick and thin”.

China also indicated that it’s ‘Maritime Silk Road for the 21st Century Initiative’ was inspired

by Admiral Zheng He’s peaceful voyages to South East Asia in the 15th century, which was not about gaining new territories but about commerce and extending Chinese civilization.

As a result of these diplomatic statements by Chinese leaders, Asean was hopeful that China was changing it’s approach to it’s maritime disputes with its neighbors. Asean leaders were closer to becoming convinced that the ‘China Dream’ could also be made ‘South East Asia’s Dream’.

Asean agreed to fully and effectively implement the AseanChina Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the SCS-DOC and actively proposed confidence building measures.

The overall situation in the South China Sea went calmer with both sides exercising restraint.

(Casting Doubt on Neighborliness by Nguyen Hung Son of RSIS-Singapore 5/14/14) What went wrong? Action speaks more than words.

China issued the 9 Dash line, the new Hainan fishing regulations and introduced an ADIZ(Air Defense Identification Zone) in the SCS. It was a complete shock to

WHISTLE BLOWER Erick San Juan the Asean and the international community when China sent it’s biggest oil rig near Vietnam, claiming the maritime area as it’s own. China even grabbed few reefs and shoals also claimed by the Philippines and installed military barracks.

Nguyen concluded that China’s action was deliberate, wellplanned and coordinated.

The worst, China even dismissed calls to resolve the dispute through dialogue and other peaceful means. Is this the current version of Sun Tzu’s Art of War? The real agenda was exposed by Andrew Browne of the Wall Street Journal (5/21/14) citing CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp.) launching it’s fi rst deep water drilling rig in 2012. It’s chairman, Wang Yilin called it “our mobile national territory and a strategic weapon”. He claimed that an oil platform enjoyed sovereign rights wherever it floated, like an offshore island. The gigantic $1 billion rig was designed to roam across the SCS, which China claims almost in its entirety.

It got the ire of the Vietnam-

ese people, who resisted and rammed the Chinese ships. The fury of the Vietnamese continued and attacked the Chinese owned factories on shore.

China evacuated thousands of its nationals, many injured and several died.

According to Jane Perlez and Keith Bradsher of Intl. New York Times (5/19/14), ” The deployment of the oil rig is a possible game changer. Its China’s determination to dominate the South China Sea. While Holly Morrow, a fellow in the geopolitics of energy program at Harvard University who served during the George W. Bush administrations National Security Council said, “China has been taking incremental steps, escalating and increasing its presence in SCS. CNOOC is a business but the program is not only about energy, its about sovereignty.”

Since two years ago, China was reportedly able to nudge aside the helpless Philippines from the disputed reefs without a fight. While many nations admired the Vietnamese standing up against perceived Chinese invasion. The world has not forgotten that the Vietnamese fought the Americans in the past and won.

Ken Fuller of the Daily Tribune asked a very timely question–”Will Washington Defend the Philippines? (5/20/14) He said that the US government clarified almost 40 years ago that it was under NO OBLIGATION that the US will honor the provisions of the Mutual

Defense Treaty of 1951, nor will spring to the Philippines defense in the event of a Chinese incursion into areas of SCS claimed by this country.

On June 9,1975, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger even sent a lengthy telegram to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, with a copy to the US Embassy-Manila stating Washington’s legal interpretation that MDT commitments do not apply in the event of an attack on Spratlys or on GOP(Government of the Philippines) forces stationed there.

The Spratlys were not included in the territory ceded by Spain to the USA in 1898 and excluded from the maps accompanying the presentation of MDT.( You have to read Fuller’s article in full and you will surely get ‘goose pimples’.

The worst revelation came from John Mangun, an American based in the Philippines and columnist at the Businessmirror(5/22/14). He believed that Beijing’s diabolical plan is not only to take over the Philippines power grid but….. It’s a fact: China is not going away and relations and actions must be based on REALITY, NOT FANTASY. He said that the US government is so out of touch with what’s happening on the ground that US Sec. of State John F.Kerry might go to Beijing to offer to sell the Philippines to China using the same 1898 Treaty of Paris as the legal basis.

“Ano tayo, pambayad utang?” God forbid!

We TAKe A STAnD

Opinyon440.indd 5

OpinYon

june 2-8, 2014

5 5/30/14 11:55 PM

Food Security & Sustainability

Agriculture Facts on Agrarian Reform in the Philippines  1.2 million hectares of agricultural land have not been distributed to farmers despite the implementation of former President Cory Aquino’s agrarian reform in 1988.  Cory Aquino signed RA no. 6657 otherwise known as Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in her attempts to “equally distribute land among landless farmers.”  CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program) with Extension and Reforms is an extension of CARP that was passed in 2009 and still continues to deny farmers their rights to land.

Land reform key to agricultural growth

T

he Philippines’ agricultural system of production and productivity will only improve through the implementation of genuine land reform.

This comes into focus as President Aquino appointed former Senator Francis Pangilinan as Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization.

Evidently, this arrangement is only another political convenience for an Aquino ally out of power.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas secretarygeneral Antonio Flores said Pangilinan’s appointment only creates another bureaucratic layer in the government’s agricultural portfolio.

It also makes it a clear sign that the farmers can’t expect a major change in the current agricultural trade liberalization policy of the Aquino administration.

IBON Foundation Executive Director Jose Enriquez Africa says that while farmers and farm workers suffer from poverty, agricultural transnational corporations continue to rake in profits.

Sad to say, Aquino’s agricultural trade liberalization policy has resulted in the country’s productivity decline. Aquino allots only 5.9 percent of the national budget to agriculture annually.

 CARPER has proven to be antifarmer, pro-landlord as reported by militant peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), especially in areas dominantly controlled by the Cojuangco-Aquinos.  President Noynoy Aquino allots 6.9% of the national budget to the agriculture sector, which includes compensation for landlords for the land placed under CARPER.  Land distribution under CARPER entails that land must be paid for by farmers under a given amount of time. Failure to do so will result in the confiscation of the said land and ineligibility of a farmer to acquire any more land.  KMP details cases, particularly in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac, where the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) distributes land by means of a ‘raff le.’ Land is often located in far-away barangays/ towns, and occupied by another farmer, leading to dispute among them.  Farmers in Hacienda Luisita have been continually assaulted by police and ‘goons’ under the private army of the Cojuangco-Aquinos, while the mainstream media continues to ignore their plight.  KMP maintains their call for ‘genuine agrarian reform’ through the implementation of the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill (GARB).  GARB ensures swift and free land distribution to landless farmers, nationalization of lands operated by transnational corporations and expropriation of commercial farms, confiscation of landholdings acquired through reprehensible schemes, and a comprehensive program for the protection of lands of beneficiaries and the promotion of cooperatives and support services.

Compiled by Andrea Lim Source: Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas

10 Opinyon440.indd 10

june 2-8, 2014

OpinYon

We TAKe A STAnD

5/30/14 11:55 PM

OPINION Making Pinoy...

No Need to Raise...

Social enterprise

domestic economy through productive linkages with other sectors.

From page 16

This is where Reál Cacao comes in. The company is a social enterprise that helps Filipino cacao farmers make more profits from their cacao cash crops through education, training, and empowerment.

At the same time, Reál Cacao intends to lead the way for Filipino chocolate companies to become leading brands in the international chocolate market.

Some of us would ask, how can social enterprises help strengthen the agricultural sector? How can social enterprise and agriculture bring about national economic development?

As far as Gigi is concerned, revitalizing the local chocolate is one key. Gigi proudly shares that Reál Cacao is a social enterprise that aims to create world-class Filipino chocolates, while giving opportunities to cacao farmers around the Philippines.

She believes that social enterprise is one way that Filipino entrepreneurs can help in nation building.

She says, “As a social enterprise, we are challenged not just to think of creating products but to also think of how we can make a dent in the industry if we want to bring as many communities as we can out of poverty.”

Gigi thinks that companies in the country are capable of helping end poverty in the agricultural sector if they take the social enterprise approach.

“One of the many issues our cacao farmers face is the lack of access to post-harvest facilities which will enable them to create value-adding cacao products,” she says.

The Philippines has a total agricultural land area of 9.671 million hectares. The farmer sector accounts for the largest share in the labor force with 32% of the workforce in agricultural jobs.

In spite of these figures, the farming sector is still one of the poorest in the country.

From page 3

Spillover Effects

Gigi proudly shares that Reál Cacao is a social enterprise that aims to create world-class Filipino chocolates, while giving opportunities to cacao farmers around the Philippines.

World Class and Homegrown

What makes Reál Cacao different from foreign chocolate brands is that it offers worldclass chocolate products with a homegrown taste to ensure a Reál and royal chocolate experience.

Gigi proudly tells customers that Reál Cacao is the Filipino chocolate with a homegrown taste and world-class quality.

Part of the company’s vision is to stay true to the origin of the word “reál”. That includes being true to their purpose, which is to uplift the lives of Filipino cacao farmers and make them feel proud of their work.

She says, “My dream is that someday our farmers can say with dignity, ‘We are farmers’ instead of saying, ‘We are just farmers’.

If interconnected with the mining project, local suppliers of goods and services needed by the mine and its employees will grow as the mine operation progresses--encouraging inclusive growth and yielding even more tax revenue for government.

For backward and forward linkages to have the desired impact, it is not enough that government impose local content and value-addition conditions on mining contractors, and provide incentives for investors to structure projects.

BE WISE, E! ADVERTIS PLACe your AD with OpinYon and get the BeST VALue for your money!

LINE AD: PhP171 per column/cm ¼ PAGE: PhP8,750

SUBSCRIBE NOW We Take A Stand Date: DELIVER TO

Name: Address: o House o Office

½ PAGE: PhP17,500 ¾ PAGE: PhP26,250 FULL PAGE: PhP35,000 (Rates exclusive of 12% VAT and COLOR and POSITION surcharges) For Inquiries: Call 214-0766, email opinyon.2010@ gmail.com

Tel. No.: Email Paid Php:

Opinyon440.indd 14

june 2-8, 2014

OpinYon

o Cash o Check

(Please make all cheques payable to Digitek Publishing House, Inc.)

Please send me:

q Within Metro Manila (by mail) P1,560.00 for 52 Issues q Outside Metro Manila (by mail) P2,340.00 for 52 Issues BOX AD RATE

14

Government needs to come up with complementary strategies to create the business environment and public sector institutions that encourage growth and deepen the integration of mineral projects into national and regional economies.

Government must also make mineral processing a viable investment, developing upstream capital goods and service industries. It must create and improve needed infrastructure, particularly power and transport.

Policymakers need to maximize the beneficial spillover effects of infrastructure triggered by mining by planning around resource corridors.

Policies should also encourage the collateral or integral use of the minerals produced by other economic sectors.

P143.00 per COLUMN CM plus 12% VAT

We TAKe A STAnD

5/30/14 11:55 PM

Politics

The Voices of Change

Why and Who are Persecuting the Ejercito Estradas?

W

hen it rains, it pours.” That is what the Ejercito Estradas must be feeling nowadays. The latest open hunting season on the Ejercito Clan started three weeks ago. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s Chairman, Senator Teofisto “Tootsie” Guingona III, started to subpoena and receive “Napolists” and JLN narratives.

On Tuesday, May 13, 2014, former PNP Director General, former Senator and now Secretary Ping Lacson submitted his unsigned copy and/or version of the “Napolist”. A day later, Wednesday, May 14, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima, submitted her signed “Napolist”. However, she requested and was given a week or until two weeks ago to submit Napoles’ signed affidavit.

She submitted the first affidavit on schedule and the supplementary affidavit just last week. Last week also, the NBI submitted their copy of the Benhur Lim Luy Computer Hard Drive with about 30,000 files and 3,000 folders.

Surprise of all surprises!

Freshman Senator J V Ejercito Estrada was included in the list of incumbent and former Senators as a Senator and not as a former Congressman. JV is a former Jaycees National President.

He was elected for three three year terms as Mayor of San Juan.

Then, he served a single term as Congressman of San Juan City.

Fortunately, JLN retracted and cleared JV. Two weeks ago, Wednes-

day, May 21, the COMELEC En Banc ruled to disqualify Laguna Governor E. R. Ejercito for overspending. They gave him just five days to secure a TRO from the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court merely asked the COMELEC to comment and reply to E. R.’s legal recourse, but did not issue a TRO, they unseated him. Last week, Tuesday, May 27, they swore in the Vice Governor to take ER’s place.

Two weeks ago, the news broke that the Supreme Court had scheduled Mayor Estrada’s disqualification case for deliberations. Both parties were given a month to submit their respective memoranda.

Then, we have the ten and a half month drawn out Trial by Publicity of the three Opposition Senators – Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla, known also by their code names “Tanda”, “Seksi” and “Pogi”. The long awaited filing of Plunder Cases against them by the Ombudsman before the Sandigan Bayan, has been delayed because of the following reasons.

The defendants asked to be provided with copies of certain documents filed by the DOJ with the Ombudsman. The latter acceded but gave the defendants just five days to review and comment on the said documents.

Meanwhile, Ombudsman Carpio Morales went abroad. My educated guess is that they are just waiting for the next Congressional recess before filing the first wave of cases at the Sandigan Bayan.

Jinggoy was born on Feb 17, 1963. He became Vice Mayor

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW Linggoy Alcuaz of San Juan from 1988 to 1992.

Then, he served three three year terms as Mayor from 1992 until 2001. In the aftermath of the 2001 EDSA II, Mayor Jinggoy Estrada was also charged and arrested and jailed like his father.

However, unlike his father, he was granted bail and acquitted eventually.

With four Ejercitos being simultaneously prosecuted/persecuted, one wonders why? Although, they all belong to the Opposition, they had not been critical or uncooperative with PNoy’s Administration before they were the ones at the receiving end of political maneuvers and vendetta.

Although, the political persecution is now peaking, it started more than a year ago. In the May 13, 2013 National Elections for twelve Senators, JV ended up number eleven with Greg Honasan and Jackie Enrile behind him. All three of them had done better in the poll surveys during the previous year. On the other hand Admin Candidates Grace Poe, Sonny Angara and Bam Aquino were substantially and surprisingly ahead of what

the surveys had indicated. Even Nancy Binay with much less experience and exposure than JV was six places ahead of him in fi fth place.

Then, in the months of September, October and November, Jinggoy, Erap and E. R. took their turns as Administration Targets.

In the Napoles, PDAF and Pork Scandals, JPE, Jinggoy and Bong Revilla were singled out repeatedly for trial by publicity as well as Prosecution by Persecution.

“Iyon pala”, there were twelve to twenty five incumbent and former Senators involved depending on what list you believed in.

Out of so many winning candidates in the same boat, E. R. was

singled out to be ousted for election overspending.

While Erap has been defending and praising PNoy and his Administration, PNoy’s boys have been maneuvering to oust him from Manila and restore Fred Lim. When the results of the May 19 – 26 Pulse Asia “Ulat ng Bayan” Survey came out, PNoy’s boys panicked. The public survey which does not include Erap, shows that non Administration Presidentiables have 58 % of the vote. The Admin Presidentiables have a mere 42 %. In the private survey which includes Erap, the non Admin total increases to 2/3 and the Admin total decreases to one third. In both Vice President Binay is way, way ahead.

In their desperation, PNoy’s boys are trying to pull down Binay by demolishing his allies including JPE and the Ejercitos.

However, the latest twist in the political drama for 2016 is that the last desperate Strategy of the Roxas camp is to drive a wedge between Erap and Binay and get the two of them to run in 2016 for President. The objective is to split the Opposition vote. However, the surveys show that even if Binay, Erap, Poe, Bongbong and Bong all run, Binay would still win. In second place now, is Erap. In third place is Poe. The best thing that PNoy can do for himself is to support Binay or Erap. That way, he would not go to jail like Erap and GMA did.

As for Grace Poe, I believe that if she inherited some basic character traits from FPJ, she will not immediately run for President.

The Vietnam Violence

T

he Vietnam violence does not come as a surprise. While seemingly symbiotic, having worked together for many years in Vietnam’s fight for independence and being somewhat conjoined by having similar ideologies, and fi nally adopting their ideology to allow greater economic freedoms, I think there is some tendency to under estimate the fierce independence of the Vietnamese and their determination to protect their national interests from China’s escalating attempt at robbery, no matter how China might defensively view it’s actions.

They have not abandoned a centralized autocratic form of governance and when it is not damaging to her interests, Vietnam is likely to be accommodative of China’s “requests” but there is a clear point when Vietnam will no longer accommodate China. The sea grab of China is one of them. The violence is meant to send a loud and clear message to China that her Middle Ages world view needs to be seriously updated and revised. The world is no longer the same and while China has prospered greatly in the last 50 years, it is not sufficient reason to look at the other

countries that are her neighbors as vassals that need to pay tribute to China as an overlord.

In modern times, China has decided to restore that tribute paying practice by the attempt to extend her sovereignty over the seas and extend, because she thinks no one can challenge her, to the virtual shores of the neighboring countries.

She looks with so much condescension on her neighbors, viewing herself as a superior race to which all others must bow and acquiesce. Witness her response to statements from the US essentially telling the US to keep out- this is our turf and we are free to do whatsoever we wish including rewriting all the boundaries of neighboring nations. First the seas, and then virtual takeovers of the involved nations.

This is why she insists that bilateral discussions are the only way to resolve this whole issue. First, bilateral discussions will weaken any resistance, because China’s economic size and military might are unmatchable by any of the neighboring countries and so the negotiations would be truly one sided. Second, China’s twin objectives are simply to have everyone accept what is in the seas are theirs and if you accept that, you may do whatever you

RAY OF HOPE Ramon Orosa wish there provided we get the lion’s share of the riches in the water and the sea beds at the bottom. That is your tribute to your overlord and you still get some of the riches but you grow at our discretion.

I suppose some of the thinking in terms of timing was based on their assessment that the US is a spent force that would be unwilling to take on China in a confrontation in the area and that the American public, devastated by the economic problems of the last 5 years and the accumulated debts of their Middle Eastern adventures since 9/11, would not be supportive.

But, at best, the world view of China is barbaric and has absolutely no place in the modern world. In some way, some might even be able to say that because it is race discriminative, China is today’s resurrection of nazi, gestapo type national policy.

The problem is that China es-

sentially plans long term and in this case, hopes to wear out all of the other affected nations, including the US. It is what I interpret as China’s beginning war versus the world. All of her alliances are strategic, serving her political, commercial and military interests. She has no real allies, just nations under her dominance. And when, in her estimation, the payoff is inestimable, just as the potential riches of the South Seas are, she will attempt to grab whatever can be grabbed.

This sea grab of China is truly unconscionable and in a way, I suggest that cowardice is behind the statements of the US that they are neutral in terms of the disputatious grab being done by China. What could be more unlawful, unreasonable if not unconscionable than what China is doing? This is what China is relying on. That is why she continues to expand her South Seas presence while America does nothing but talk.

Even if US stations forces in Palawan, it will take several years before any decent facility can be constructed. In those years of construction, China will be expanding her presence so that by the time the US is able to establish herself, China would already have built a mighty presence in the area she

We TAKe A STAnD

Opinyon440.indd 15

is grabbing. The problem then is how to get her out without a major confrontation. It seems to me it would probably be too late. I would think it is time not just for port visits by American naval forces, but a temporary placement in the disputed areas of some of those vessels and aircraft that constantly move and shadow the Chinese vessels.

Some might ask, why China is reclaiming land and building an airfield? Because of the distance from China’s coastline to the disputed area so she can station both naval and air forces and not run out of fuel or supplies should there be combat.

What China may not have anticipated was the protest reactions and attacks on Chinese interests in Vietnam. She also did not expect our forces to arrest the fishermen who were clearly trespassing and poaching endangered species of sea life in the area. So the response has been somewhat muted. What China fails to understand is that times have changed, the world has changed and while she has much military might, she will have to do a whole lot of killing to subdue the neighboring nations and make a pariah of herself in the world. Does she mind? I doubt it and that is what is truly unfortunate about this situation.

OpinYon

june 2-8, 2014

15 5/30/14 11:55 PM

GameChanger

SECTIONS NATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 HEALTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 AGRICULTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 FOREIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

VIRGINIA DE VILLA

Making Pinoy Chocolate World-Class

A

s a big fan of all things chocolate, Virginia De Villa, or Gigi as most people know her, had her childhood imagination fired up by the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a book by Roald Dahl turned into two films, about a poor boy who suddenly inherited a magical chocolate factory.

As co-founder and spokesperson of Reál Cacao, a local manufacturer of chocolate confectioneries and other chocolate-based products, Gigi has known that the Philippines is one of the suppliers of cacao beans to big international chocolate brands.

She remarks that despite being supplier to major chocolate brands, the Philippines chocolate industry has yet to produce local high quality chocolate that can compete on the global market, alongside Hershey’s and Cadbury.

Turn to page 14

16 Opinyon440.indd 16

june 2-8, 2014

OpinYon

We TAKe A STAnD

5/30/14 11:55 PM