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SEPTEMBER 22-28 2014 • VOL.5 NO.04

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allegedly overpriced Makati City car park building, HCC is the object of several lawsuits—all for padding construction costs of government projects. Page 2

BALL IS IN VP JEJOMAR BINAY’S COURT | 3 9/18/14 10:26 PM

COVER STORY

SYNDICATE

Singson

Assuming the post of DPWH secretary in 2012, Rogelio Singson promised an end to rigged biddings in the department. He eliminated the practice of entering into negotiated contracts—a procurement mode which allows a government agency to conduct business with a predetermined supplier and or service provider(s) Singson also cut down the number of documentary requirements from 20 to five in order to fast-track the disbursement of funds and the implementation of projects. But speed does not necessarily equate to contracts being above-board and free from irregularities. And the recent involvement of HCC in the Makati City building and the equally controversial IloIlo Convention Center (ICC), pet project of Senate President Franklin Drilon, has reduced the Singson promise to mere rhetoric. The syndicate involved in rigged bids and awards is alive and well.

Monopoly

As it turns out, HCC enjoys a monopoly as far as bagging lucrative government projects is concerned. These projects include the Bacolod and Calamba City halls, the Iloilo Provincial Capitol building, the Sandiganbayan building, the Batasan South Wing Annex Building, the Quezon City General Hospital, and several projects in Makati City, including the Makati Central Police District Office and the Makati Swimming Pool. In the private sector, HCC has been involved in several iconic infrastructure projects, including the Philippine Arena of the Iglesia ni Cristo in Bulacan province, the SM Mall of Asia and the SM malls in Makati and Pampanga. While the company’s involvement in the alleged overpricing of the Makati City building and the ICC are nothing but accusations at this time, the fact that HCC enjoys the backing of government officials like Binay and Drilon is impossible to refute. Established in 1977, HCC was already in the business during the time of Ferdinand Marcos. No records of its activities from the 70s-80s are available, but the company has apparently entrenched itself deep in the scheme of all things con-

SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2014

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cerning public works and has established enough connections to assure its profitability through several administrations. Appearing before the Senate committee, HCC board chairman Efren Canlas insisted that the Makati City car park building was not overpriced—by an estimated PhP2 billion according to Senate investigators. The company data on the total area of the Makati building in question also contradicted DPWH data. HCC papers indicate the building area at 32,783.69 square meters (sqm) while DPWH records had it at 27,000 sqm. Using the DPWH data, the building cost would be pegged at an incredible PhP100,000 per sqm.

Bad History

And HCC has a history of involvement in overpriced projects and anomalous government contracts. In 2007, the company was part of a consortium which snagged the PhP500million Business Process Outsourcing Incubation Contact Center (BPO-ICC) project of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). The contract entailed the construction of building facilities inside six state universities which will house information technology and call center hubs. The project was eventually scrapped after investigations revealed the contractor has doubled the cost of construction (from PhP20,000 to PhP40,646 per square meter) for the call center command post building to be put up inside the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) campus in Santa Mesa, Manila. HCC was supposed to be paid PhP87.3 million for the project, “without clear deliverables” a 2008 Commission on Audit (COA) report said.From 2009 to 2010, COA issued several notices of disallowances for payments under the call center project. The contract with the consortium was eventually terminated due to the irregularities and the subsequent implementation of the project was passed on to the state universities involved in the project. Lawmakers said HCC appeared to adopt a model that “pads the costs of

Government Abra Provincial Hospital Bacolod City Hall Batasan Annex BSP Dumaguete BSP Naga Calamba City Hall Iloilo Provincial Capitol Luneta Boardwalk Makati City Hall Makati Police Station Ospital ng Makati Makati Swimming Pool Parking-Makati City Hall University of Makati Nursing Building PNOC Bldg. 5 PNOC Bldg. 6 QC Civic Center QC General Hospital Sandiganbayan Valenzuela Legislative Building Valenzuela Police Station Iloilo Convention Center Lopez Tower & Museum Manila Bay Resort Ospital ng Makati QC Museum Private

Drilon

By Miguel Raymundo THE era of rigged biddings and syndicates inside the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is not yet over. Take the case of Hillmarc’s Construction Corp. (HCC). Builder of the allegedly overpriced Makati City car park building, HCC is the object of several lawsuits—all for padding construction costs of government projects.

HCC Projects

construction exponentially” but a government insider said the padded costs do not necessarily end up as earnings for the contractor. “DPWH officials, COA and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) personnel and local officials involved in the “processing” of the contract usually get a cut from the project,” the source said…“even the participation of the losing bidders is provided for.”

ICC

Turning the tables on the Senate investigating panel and to defend his father, Senator Nancy Binay used data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and cited the IloIlo Convention Center project—estimated to cost between PhP700 million-PhP1 billion (about US$22.9 million)—could turn out to be a more expensive structure than the Makati car park building. NSO statistics were also cited in the plunder charges filed against VP Binay by Renato Bondal, who ran for Makati City mayor in 2013, but lost to Junjun Binay. With the Senate probe escalating into a political skirmish, Drilon declared that the documents for the ICC project can be checked at anytime. Drilon also declared that the ICC, “a high-tech structure” was properly bidded out by the DPWH with the HCC emerging as rightful winner. Drilon’s declaration is meant to drive the point that only the bidding procedures in Makati City were rigged in favor of the HCC. But his statements could also be interpreted as an exoneration of the HCC. So which is which? Is the HCC on the level or on the take?

GMA Studio Japan Gas Corp. Joya Lofts Lee Tower LIG Marius Arcadia Oroquieta Town Center Pagadian City Commercial Center Palm Dale Heights PCIB Bldg. Philippine Arena Providence Hospital SM Makati SM Mall of Asia SM Pampanga The Grove Phase 2 Thomasian Alumni Center UST Hospital

Fiscal Autonomy

As far as managing its finances and the disbursement of government funds for local use, Makati City enjoys a certain degree of autonomy over and above the other NCR districts. The conventional practice for suppliers and service providers is to woo—or bribe—officials at the national level in order to win lucrative government contracts and district-wide contracts are usually handed in a silver platter. “The regional office can give you all 12 NCR districts, except Makati City. You have to see the mayor to do business with Makati,” the government insider said. On the one hand, fiscal autonomy provides Makati the independence to allocate and spend public funds on the needs determined by the local leadership. On the other hand, such autonomy could also be easily abused.

HCC Chairman Efren Canlas

WE TAKE A STAND

9/18/14 10:26 PM

Nation

News from Where You Stand

OVERPRICED MAKATI BUILDING

Ball in Binay’s Court

VP Binay: No Evidence Against Me

VICE President Jojo Binay was supposed to explain how the Makati City carpark building was priced, but his much-anticipated speech was reduced to a dare. Saying there are no documents to back accusations against him on the alleged overpricing, Binay instead challenged his critics to face him in a fair election in 2016. “Walang ipinakitang ebidensiya. Hindi ito tatayo sa hukuman. Ipinakita lang ito sa mala-circus na pagdinig ng Senado,” Binay said. “Ginamit nila ang mga taong matagal nang hinusgahan ng mga tao ng Makati. Itinakwil sila hindi sila karapat-dapat na maging opisyal ng Makati,” he added referring to former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado. Mercado appeared before the Senate and admitted that he beneﬁtted from the alleged overpricing of the city hall building and claimed that Binay may have also done so. Mercado said Binay received a 13-percent kickback from every contract entered into by the Makati City government during the Vice President’s incumbency as mayor.

By Elcid Benedicto THE ball is in the court of Vice President Jejomar Binay on the issue of the allegedly overpriced Makati City hall parking building. Some appeared to have been swayed by the repeated challenges issued by what observers noted as emerging ‘tandem’ in the Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV for the Vice President to say his piece on the issue. But the matter of hauling to the Senate investigating body a person of such stature is not as easy as it may seem as there are some “protocols” being observed by the three branches of government. Both Cayetano and Trillanes know full well about this and yet for some reason only known to them, they obviously wanted Binay to bite the bullet and expose himself to intense grilling by the senators.

Unprecedented

While there had been countless of times that Cabinet members have been invited or even summoned to Senate hearings, the matter of compelling a sitting Vice President may prove to be unprecedented. Cayetano have cited instances in the past where supposedly former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and his predecessor, now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, submitted themselves to a Senate proceeding, the situation was entirely different. Contrary to the impression of Cayetano, Estrada did not appear in any of the Senate hearings while he was still in power. It was actually his wife, former senator and then still First Lady

Dra. Luisa ‘Loi’ Estrada who appeared to testify before the blue ribbon over alleged misappropriation of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) funds allocated to the Office of the President. Estrada was eventually cleared by then committee chairman Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. declaring there was no evidence showing any irregular, unlawful or inordinate diversion of PCSO charity funds to the Office of the President.

Centennial Expo

In the case of Ramos, there were at least two instances where he appeared in a Senate hearing, the second of which was when he was dragged but later on also cleared on an issue involving a power-related deal and the fi rst concerned the Centennial projects scam. In both instances, Ramos was no longer president when he testified before the Senate. Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo was also placed in the same predicament over her alleged attempt to take control of a telecommunications company owned by businessman Pacifico Marcelo.

Arroyo likewise rejected the call saying that she cannot surrender the independence of the Executive. “The Executive never investigates a member of Congress because we respect their independence,” she was quoted saying, adding that Ramos’ appearance proved to be controversial and he was highly criticized for it as he was perceived to have surrendered the institution of the presidency then. “And what did he get out of it? Binastos sya sa hearing and they did not consider his explanations and they did not give him a good report,” Arroyo was quoted saying in an ambush interview sometime in Dec. 2001. Then blue ribbon chairman Sen. Joker Arroyo rejected calls made by Pimentel for Mrs. Arroyo to formally refute the allegations of Marcelo even through a teleconferencing testimony. Sen. Arroyo pointed out that under existing laws, the President could not be compelled to attend Senate hearings due to immunity from suits and such is the rationale behind the impeachment proceedings – to oust first socalled impeachable officials that included the Vice President and officials of constitutional bodies as well as those in the Supreme Court before criminal and other charges can be filed. The current chairman of the sub-committee under the blue ribbon hearing the issue against Binay, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III himself stands opposed to the idea of issuing a subpoena to the Vice President should he begged off from the invitation. “Personally I’m not in favor WE TAKE A STAND

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or inclined to; even suggest to subpoena the Vice President. Kung ayaw nyang mag attend he loses the chance to put into the record his testimony under oath. Yun lang, that’s the only thing he would miss,’ Sen. Koko said Monday. The matter of issuing a subpoena, if they would arrive at such a decision, is a matter that Pimentel further confessed, will not be made by him. “I would have to refer it to the leadership of the Senate,” he said. “(But) we will wait for the Vice President to answer to our invitation. Hindi po namin pangungunahan. Pero pag pumunta si Vice President, papakiusapan ko na all available witnesses and resource persons to give way to the Vice President so that the entire time would be for him,” he added. Senate President Franklin Drilon also stood fi rm against the idea of issuance of a subpoena saying that as a matter of respect he will reject it if the committee will make such a recommendation. “As a respect to the office of the Vice President, I will not sign any subpoenas to the Vice President. The invitation has been issued, it is up to him,” Drilon said. There is also what is called as inter-chamber courtesy which has been put into consideration a number of times in the Senate whenever members of the House of Representatives are implicated on some issues being investigated in the upper chamber. The most that Cayetano and Trillanes can do is put pressure on Binay for the latter to cave in and it’s unlikely, especially given the precedents.

OpinYon

SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2014

3 9/18/14 10:26 PM

OPINION

Commentary Philippine Bill Would Give Muslims Autonomy By Floyd Whaley E

Monopoly Hillmarc’s Construction Corp. (HCC) is a company with a history. In 2009, HCC was part of a consortium to implement the Commission on Higher Education’s PhP500-million BPO-Call Center project. However, the program was eventually scrapped for skirting public bidding requirements after complaints were raised about—you guessed it right—“overpricing”. Singled out for being the contractor of the allegedly overpriced Makati carpark building, the Quezon Citybased contractor is behind dozens of high-profile public and private construction projects. The company lists the Abra Provincial Hospital; Abra Provincial Hospital; Bacolod City Hall; Batasan Annex building; Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) buildings in Dumaguete and Naga; Calamba City Hall in Laguna; Iloilo Provincial Capitol building; Quezon City General Hospital; Quezon City Civic Center; Philippine National Oil Company Buildings 5 and 6; Sandiganbayan; Valenzuela Legislative building; and the IloIlo Convention Center (ICC) among its flagship projects. HCC is also involved in the construction of the SM Mall of Asia, SM Makati, SM Pampanga and the Philippine Arena of the Iglesia ni Cristo in Bulacan. The fact that HCC appears to enjoy a monopoly of government projects merits investigation. Initial reports say that the ICC, a pet project of Senate President Franklin Drilon, is also grossly overpriced. Said to be funded partly out of Drilon’s Php200-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in 2012 and PhP100 million from the Disbursement Acceleration Fund in 2013. Reports say the ICC is overpriced by PhP531 million compared to, or four times more expensive than, the SMX Convention Center. The ICC—scheduled for completion in 2015—is said to have been built at a cost of P109,375 per square meter (sqm) based on a floor area of 6,400 sqm, compared to the SMX at P26,400 per sqm based on a floor area of 46,647sqm. Now, with the HCC issue involving other government officials—including the Department of Public Works and Highways—a serious review of government spending in public works is required. We pray the Senate inquiry leads to serious reform and is not only intended to shoot down political ambitions.

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

Editorial, Business & Circulation: 9412189 Email: opinyon.2010@ gmail.com website: www.opinyon.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.

PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III on Sept. 10 submitted a draft law to the Philippine Congress that would create a self-governed, predominantly Muslim autonomous region in the country’s south, a major step in peace talks meant to end more than four decades of fighting with Muslim rebels. “This law is for the children who wish to run across school grounds instead of running for their lives,” Mujiv S. Hataman, a politician in the southern Philippines, said in a statement on Wednesday. “This law is for families who want to put life into the earth through crops and produce, no longer to dig graves for their fathers and sons who have fallen in war. This law is what will help them realize their wishes and dreams.” The long-running confl ict between the government and Muslim fighters in the south has killed thousands of people and displaced more than three million. It has also left Mindanao, the largest island in the southern Philippines, mired in poverty and lawlessness despite being rich in resources that include natural gas, gold and other valuable minerals.

MILF

The draft law that Mr. Aquino submitted to the Philippine Congress stems from an October 2012 peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of the Muslim rebel groups. It would group Muslim-dominated southern areas into what would be called the Bangsamoro region, based on the traditional name of Filipino Muslims. To emphasize the importance of the law to his administration, Mr. Aquino personally presented the draft measure to leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives at a ceremony on Wednesday morning. The Bangsamoro region would have local selfgovernment, including locally recruited law enforcement officials—a critical demand by the rebels, given the allegations of human rights abuses in the region by the Philippine police and military, many of whom are Christians from the north. About four million people would live in the Bangsamoro region. Of the Philippines’ population of 107 million, about 5 percent are Muslim, most of them living in the south; about 80 percent are Roman Catholic. The region would also retain most of the tax revenue generated from its natural resources. The central government would retain control over currency, foreign policy issues and national defense. The Philippines in recent years has experienced surging economic growth, and an expanding middle class is enjoying prosperity not seen since the 1950s. But this phenomenon has largely bypassed the southern Philippines, with persis-

tent violence keeping out foreign investors and the jobs they create. The peace agreement and the formation of the new autonomous region still face significant challenges. The government and rebels underwent difficult, months-long negotiations to draft the measure that will underpin the new arrangement. It now depends on passage in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Mr. Aquino has significant influence in both houses. He has shown that he can get contentious legislation through Congress, notably the passage of a reproductive-health bill that was ardently opposed by the Roman Catholic Church. But some Philippine legislators have called for changes in the new draft, and rebel leaders have said that they could reject the fi nal measure if the main provisions benefiting the rebels are watered down. “What is not clear is how any changes made by Congress will be handled by the two sides,” said Steven Rood, the country representative of the Asia Foundation in the Philippines. “The draft, as certified by the president, represents a mutually acceptable law. There will have to be constant and detailed communication about the acceptability, or lack of acceptability, of proposed congressional changes.” The issues raised by legislators were taken into consideration during the negotiations and the drafting of the measure, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, the chairwoman of the government’s negotiating team, said in an interview. Some lawmakers have noted that the new region would keep a much larger portion of local taxes than their own districts do, and have said that those funds might be better used for the national benefit rather than going into local coffers. “The reason for a better wealth-sharing arrangement in the Bangsamoro has to do with the fact that this place has been left behind in terms of economic development,” Ms. Coronel-Ferrer said. “It is part of the correction, a kind of reparation.” Opponents of the agreement have said that it infringes on Philippine sovereignty, essentially creating a separate Muslim state in the south. A number of organizations have said they will contest the law’s constitutionality in the Supreme Court, and the rebels have said they will reject the measure if the court strikes down the main provisions dealing with autonomy or revenue-sharing. The most violent groups in the southern Philippines—including the Abu Sayyaf, which has carried out high-profi le kidnappings, beheadings and bombings for more than a decade—are not party to the agreement. The Abu Sayyaf was blamed by the military in July for killing 23 people on the southern Philippine island of Sulu, including more than a dozen women and children.

RAY L. JUNIA Publisher TONYPET J. ROSALES Managing Editor

CARLOS RAJAMIRA Creative Director JOJO VALENCIA Layout Artist ATTY. SALVADOR PANELO Ombudsman

RAY L. JUNIA President ATTY. RICKY RIBO Legal Counsel TONY F. LACABA Business Development Manager

ISSN 2094-7372

SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2014

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WE TAKE A STAND

9/18/14 10:26 PM

Opinion

The Viewpoints and outlook of the well-informed

Lame Duck

Reportedly, the MILF recently sent tens of Sulubased Abu Sayyaf renegades to train abroad to become neck-slicing Jihadists. It isn’t exactly puzzling that President Noynoy has remained silent over this issue. Me thinks P-Noy kept his silence because he was so ordered by Uncle Sam; but, then again, we cannot really blame P-Noy for his subservience, can we?

here do we go from here?” Joey (Cruz), we go wherever the Americans send us after they have gauged the public opinion; and by “public opinion” I mean that which is generated by them, by some of our own mainstream media that are influenced by the new yellow oligarchs, and of course by concerned Filipino netizens. By the way, it’s time we recognized the voice of the “netizenry” as the new vox populi, young at 25, vigorous and dynamic...impatiently demanding to be heard. Ever since Gen. Douglas MacArthur fulfi lled his promise to return to our islands, our political life has been pretty much in the palm of Uncle Sam. However, that palm has become a fi rm grip over the past two years, given the growing threat being posed by China in Asia. In that respect, it’s easy to understand America’s well calculated “pivot to Asia” as an imperative strategy designed to safeguard primarily: her national interests and security, and secondarily: our own and those of other Asean countries. By protecting us and our Asean neighbors, America protects herself. We can’t really fault her for that, can we, Joey? Remember EDCA, Joey? It’s an agreement of doubtful unconstitutionality that allows America’s use of our bases. Our bases in Mindanao have been recognized for their strategic value for forging a peaceful accord with the MILF in order to facilitate the establishment of a so-called “Bangsamoro juridical entity”---whatever that is. EDCA, we are being made to believe, must be welcomed by us, particularly in light of the fast-spreading reign of terror being waged by Muslim fun-

MUSINGS Ronald Roy damentalists, --- those radicals who comprise the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). They are advocates of Jihadism; they ritualistically behead those who do not believe in Allah, or those whom the Koran itself condemns to death for being “infidels”. The supreme horror of Jihadism stems from one: a divine promise that the executioner in this gruesome form of murder will be rewarded with eleven beautiful virgins as soon as he enters heaven, and two: a commandment from Allah that he be glorified with the slaying of all infidels. These closedminded Islamic savages believe they are obligated to kill nonbelievers. So, if a Muslim asks you, a Christian, if you believe in Allah, what will you answer? Well, you’ll most likely pretend you’re a deaf mute, won’t you? Or say outright that you believe, in the vein of the philosophical Bertrand Russell’s classic “Better Red than dead” advice for those who’d rather espouse Stalinism than court harm. Not all Muslims are Jihadists. Jihadists are known to zealously guard against being identified as such --- and that’s where the scare is in dealing with Muslims anywhere. These fundamentalists are religious bigots who decapitate in the name of Allah, and you don’t know if the Muslim you’re having coffee with is one of them. They hate, most of all, Christians and Jews. They have an active recruit-

ment program with a timetable to reestablish the Ottoman Empire that had once ruled, at its height, over two thirds of the world from the year 1301 to 1922. They now operate over large areas of Syria and Iraq, and will soon be proselytizing and recruiting in Constantinople, then Jerusalem, then Indonesia which is home to around 250 million Muslims, and is...oh my God... just around the corner! Reportedly, the MILF recently sent tens of Sulu-based Abu Sayyaf renegades to train abroad to become neck-slicing Jihadists. It isn’t exactly puzzling that President Noynoy has remained silent over this issue. He did not even bother to confront MILF and other Muslim leaders for confi rmation or denial of the information, before endorsing to Congress the Bangsamoro Transition Commission’s draft bill amending the ARMM Law for the establishment of that “Bangsamoro juridical entity”. Me thinks P-Noy kept his silence because he was so ordered by Uncle Sam; but, then

again, we cannot really blame P-Noy for his subservience, can we? He thought it best to be nice to Uncle Sam because, for one thing, he’d get to come closer to bagging an ego-inflating Nobel Prize for promoting peace with Filipino Muslims in his own country. Not only that. He’d get to see his dream for a second term becoming real---all these, courtesy of America! The picture becomes clearer, you know, if we see Uncle Sam and his balding Filipino manservant sharing a mutual need for backscratching. Sam gets the bases while his nephew gets the accolade. However, their big hitch is: PNoy’s big boast for forging peace with Filipino Muslims will be unwelcome world news, certainly not now when these hated and hateful Islamic cut-throats are on a global rampage. Noynoy’s timing is clearly off. He’s a lame duck, and the netizenry will make sure it stays that way. 0918-6449517 ronald8roy@yahoo.com

911:The Other Side of the Truth

hile scanning the TV channels after a day’s work, I had the chance to watch the National Geographic Channel featuring Inside 911 (September 11,2014 8pm). It is just like a way of conditioning our mind to make believe a scenario well directed and just like a movie, made in Hollywood. Most of the information was long time published by the main stream media. With my compilation of data sent to me by Truth-seekers in the US since 2001, I will give you the simplified report sent by Jim W. Dean and Gordon Duff of Veterans Today and John Kaminski of the rebel.org. Kaminski said that the future of the United States of America depends on determining the true story of what happened on 9/11/2001. “If we con-

tinue to accept this false ‘Arabs with box-cutters did it’ story, the U.S. will remain a totalitarian police state with choreographed politicians, contrived wars and widespread slavery as its signature methodologies.” “On the other hand, if we begin to understand that this evil deed was done by people at the highest levels of the US government in concert with a ‘foreign intelligence agency and wicked super elites’ in America, then we will have a shot at regaining some kind of functional freedom for ourselves and a more honest sanity in our government.” “Well, the biggest lie that has been allowed to stand unchallenged for 13 years is the whopper that foreign terrorists, supposedly Arabs using false identities, knocked down two skyscrapers in America’s biggest city.” “It is a fake story that represents the fi nal nail in the coffi n of the American republic and

WHISTLE BLOWER Erick San Juan has caused the needless deaths of millions of people around the world.” “It is now high time to get to the bottom of the 911 cover-up,” as Kaminski appealed to the American public and netizens reading his blog. The Veterans Today and the State of the Nation post made a summary report about the Twin Tower incident on September 11, 2001. Gordon Duff of Veterans Today was even quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin confi rming that 911 was an inside job which is allegedly too classified to publish.

While the State of the Nation blog posted reasons why 911 was the ‘Ultimate Inside Job and False Flag Operation’, it stated the following sensible allegations like the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center did not come down as a result of passenger airplanes hitting them but rather they were controlled demolitions. Just like how building contractors demolish old buildings without destroying nearby elements and structures through an engineered collapse. When I went there myself, I was really amazed how it happened that all the buildings encircling the injured area were not damaged nor deformed despite their proximity. Building #7 was never hit by an airplane nor the Pentagon which was in fact had a very purposefully aimed missile as demonstrated by the damaged entry and exit holes. Cell phone calls made from the passenger airliners were faked since reception was

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technologically impossible at that time and at that altitude. There were no black boxes because there were no commercial airliners involved. Aluminum airplanes could not have penetrated the steel structures of the World Trade Centers 1 and 2 as the so called ‘experts’ claimed. Expert investigators from different agencies wondered how a passport from an alleged hijacker survived the explosions and subsequent devastation intact enough to be used for identification when everything like the airliners, bodies, buildings is MIA? The truthers believed that this is the ‘Greatest Crime of the New Millennium’. The State of the Nation blog thinks that it is high time that the truth about 911 crosses over into the mainstream. This is reportedly some of the inconvenient truth that will set America free. It must bleed into the mass consciousness of the people sooner or later.

OpinYon

SEPTEMBER 22-28, 2014

5 9/18/14 10:26 PM

Food Security & Sustainability

Agriculture

Rice Bucket Challenge:

A Better Alternative

ice is one of the staple food in the Philippines, and a Chinese businessman has recently campaigned a way to help the Filipinos living in the poverty line. Dr. Henry Lim Bon Liong, a hybrid rice pioneer, initiated what he says is a “better” alternative to the viral Ice Bucket Challenge, a charity feat where participants pour ice water on themselves from a bucket or donate money to fund research on fi nding a cure to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The alternative turns out to be the ‘Rice Bucket Challenge’ – which began in several South Asian countries such as India after a netizen saw how big the impact would be if rice would be poured into buckets to be distributed to poor families instead. The campaign also aims to encourage other people to donate one bucket of rice to those who cannot afford them. “Palagay ko, itong Rice Bucket Challenge ay papatok kasi may patutunguhan,” Lim said in a press conference where he announced that he would be spearheading the campaign in the country.

Filipino’s staples

Lim said that the #RiceBucketChallengePH is a perfect way to help Filipinos. A bucket of rice would go a long way. Lim says that he is giving away a total of 5,000 buckets to 5,000 families, with each bucket containing five kilos of rice. “Halos lahat ng Filipino kumakain ng kanin, mayaman o mahirap,” Lim explained. “Since I’m also in the rice business, I fi nd it more appropriate to give out rice than use ice.” Lim will have to spend around P2 million to achieve his target. He adds that he also plans on doing it every September, which is his birth month. However, Lim says that one does not need to spend a lot of money on the challenge – what is important is the will to donate. “The Rice Bucket Challenge is for everybody,” Lim said. “Kahit anong bigas ibigay mo, okay lang.”

More than just a ‘challenge’

Lim says that his Rice Bucket Challenge wants to achieve more than the flourish that surrounds the Ice Bucket Challenge. It was because of this that Lim decided not to use his company’s name in the challenge, aside from not tapping government officials.

“Walang politician involved dito, talagang puro civic organizations lamang,” he emphasized. Urban poor families in Makati, Caloocan, and even nearby areas like the Bulacan province will benefit from the challenge. However, fi lling empty stomachs is just one of the goals. “I have to also educate them how to keep themselves healthy by making sure what they eat is nutritious,” Lim said. The challenge also aspires to empower the Philippine farmers who are considered to be the poorest members of society.

Challenge accepted – MVP

As in the spirit of the Ice Bucket Challenge, Lim ‘tagged’ people who have the capacity to fulfi ll the challenge on a big scale, among them tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan. MVP then said on his Twitter (@iamMVP) that he will take on the Rice Bucket Challenge upon his return from Madrid and Hong Kong, and will donate 100 sacks of rice. “A good cause, a better idea,” he said. “Sana mas maraming businessman at ibang tao na sumali rin,” Lim said. “I’m sure they can do it.”

New mobile app for farming in the works Information technologists in Nueva Ecija are in the midst of developing mobile applications that can do three functions: measure farm area, calculate fertilizer needs, and asses nitrogen deﬁciency, allowing farming to become all the more high-tech. The Android mobile app garnered the Most Innovative Application and the Special Jury Award during the recent AGRI-Hackathon, which was hosted by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice). Jermaine M. Germino and Michael L. de Guzman, the app’s developers, said that the app aims to help lessen estimates. “It is important for the farmers to know their exact farm area to optimize it, while fertilizer application must also be accurate for crop’s health and to avoid unnecessary fertilizer expenses.” Germino and de Guzman added that instead of comparing the color of the leaves with the ruler, the farmer will now only take photos of the leaves for the app to analyze. “In seconds, accurate assessment will be generated,” they said. Meanwhile, the E-survey app by Team Agrisive of the Central Luzon State University was given the Best Research and Survey Management Application. The app contains an e-form that respondents ﬁll up based on the researchers’ information needs. The I-Tanim of the I-Tech team from the Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology (NEUST) also received the Best Farmer Information Technology Application. The I-Tanim is an e-book in a single app, containing the LCC, PalayCheck, tutorials on selecting seeds, and a mini-encyclopedia on plant disorders. The mobile applications are further being developed.

Fisherfolk receive free insurance coverage The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) announced that thousands of fisherfolk nationwide are to receive free full insurance coverage for their calamity-stricken fishing assets. The full insurance bundle covers fishing boats, seaweeds, and aquaculture implements and facilities damaged by a calamity, and will be provided for by the PCIC to some 115,000 fisherfolk whose names appear both on BFAR’s fisherfolk database and the Department of Budget and Management’s Registry System for Basic Sector in Agriculture (RSBSA). According to BFAR national director Asis Perez, this is only the initial batch of fisherfolk who will get the insurance coverage from PCIC. More beneficiaries from the insurance are expected once the cross matching of the two registries is done. The PCIC regional management plans to schedule insurance application dates for the registered fisherfolk, who will then

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OpinYon

be given a copy of the insurance policy number as proof of coverage. PCIC allotted P1.184 billion to cover the insurance for farmers and fisherfolk. However, Perez claimed that this is only a parcel of the benefits the government is providing under the national program for municipal fisherfolk registration (FishR). The FishR database is also being cross matched with the National Household Targeting System-Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Fisherfolk found on both registries are automatically given a PhilHealth number. The database also systematically allows the government to deliver concrete interventions and assistance to targeted fisherfolk beneficiaries. The FishR program was implemented in January of this year, and has since registered almost 1.2 million fisherfolk nationwide. BFAR aims to register 1.6 million fisherfolk before the year ends.

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9/18/14 10:26 PM

OPINION attention to the youth. Sarah says that the NUSP shaped who she is today, and that she is thankful she joined an organization that tries to help fellow students by calling for education equality for all. “As a student leader, my role as the representative and voice of the students was developed. I learned that my actions should not only impact the present but also the future. If you’re the voice of the students, you learn how to articulate the stand of the organization. As an activist, you learn that you simply do not report the issues and problems but ask for solutions and alternatives. That’s why we also propose the programs we want and become part of the policy creations and projects that will contribute to the goals we want. As an administrator, you learn how to organize your members NUSP President Sarah Jane Elago with former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino and CEGP President Marc Lino Abila

‘Our struggle is not easy and so we need more people solidly working together to promote and participate in this cause.’ tion is very crucial and pivotal to the development of our country and the Filipinos,” she said.

Artista Para Sa Bayan

Despite the popular belief that all activists ever do is rally the gates of Malacañang or the US Embassy, Sarah Elago is, in fact, a performer. She is a lover of music and theater, and was a member of the UP Repertory Company (UP REP) and UP Kontemporaryong Gamelan Pilipino (KONTRA-GAPI). It was actually during this

time that she opened her eyes to the realities that face the Filipino youth, particularly the students. As a performing group, they would go to other schools, such as other state universities, and she would see the alarming inequality – from the school’s facilities to their equipment. “When I was a member of performing groups in UP, we toured into different provinces. As an Iskolar ng Bayan, I saw the situations in other state colleges and universities that they don’t get the same level of quality education we get in UP. I asked myself why the UP students are the only ones who receive this kind of good education. And naturally, I sought for answers,” Sarah said.

Youth on a mission

Sarah Elago is now the International Youth Council of the Philippines’ program events officer; the IYCP is an organization under the United Nations Programs in the Philippines that carries out sustainable projects for the people, with particular

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and designate tasks,” she says.

Youth struggles on

Sarah maintains that the core role of a student council or union leader is to be a representative of the student body, being the ‘voice’ of the students – and the purpose of representation is to bring about change and improvement, not to monitor the status quo. “Active representation is often met with repression! We should defend the autonomy of our student [institutions] and uphold student rights. Hindi madali pero hindi rin imposible kung hindi sosolohin ng mga councils ang kanilang predicament sa representation.” “Our struggle is not easy and so we need more people solidly working together to promote and participate in this cause,” Sarah concluded.

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Politics

The Voices of Change

Martial Law, Kapisanan ng mga Anakpawis ng Pilipinas, LP President Gerry Roxas and LP Sec Gen Ninoy Aquino!

esterday, Sept 21, was the forty second anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Martial Law. However, the execution and implementation of Proclamation 1081 started on Friday, Sept 22 and Saturday, Sept 23. The choice of the date was supposedly due to the then second term President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’s Superstitious nature. Twenty one (21) is divisible by seven (7). The numeral seven (7) is the most popular Lucky numeral. Multiples of seven (7) share in this Luck. The more probable reason for the one day delay was that the Congress was scheduled to go into a recess or adjournment, on Friday evening, Sept 22. At that time, the Legislative schedule was quite different. The Annual Opening of Con-

gress was on the Last Monday of January instead of the Last Monday of July. The Senate as well as the House of Representatives were then housed in the Congress or Legislative Building Linggoy Alcuaz on P. Burgos Street in Manila. The Fiscal Year was from October to September instead of from January to December. Thus, on the last weekday/workday of the second to the last week of Sept 1972, the Senate was trying to beat the deadline for the Approval of the 1972 – 1973 National Budget. (I was trying to talk to Sen Diokno by phone but

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW

he was busy interpellating on the floor.) After the Senate recessed or adjourned after dinner time that Friday night, the Martial Law Administration proceeded to arrest the priority Target Personalities. Among them were Senators Aquino and Diokno, Congressmen, Constitutional Convention Delegates and Leaders and Members of Activist, Farmer, Communist, Labour, Mass Media, Militant, Nationalist, Radical, Sectoral, Student and Out of School Organizations. The Wave of Arrests was heavily loaded against the Radicals. In the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept 23, Tri Media was shut down. Mass Media Offices were padlocked. Radio and TV Broadcast Transmitters and Facilities were shut down. We were greeted by empty static on radio airwaves and blank screens on the few TV channels. My cousin Ramon Araneta Albert called to tell me that Martial Law had been imposed. An announcement was repeated over and over again that the President was going to make a nationwide Radio TV address. Marcos and the then very young Press Secretary Francisco “Kit” Tatad were the only persons whose faces were seen on TV that weekend of Sept 23 – 24, 1972. They were also the only persons whose voices ruled the radio waves. I had just resigned from my position as the Chairman (Aug 1970 – Sept 1972; 1981 – 1986) of a Moderate, Multisectoral, Jesuit organized and influenced organization called Kapulungan ng mga Sandigan ng Pilipinas (KASAPI).The said position had also made me the representative of the Moderate, Christian Democrat and/ or Socialist, Democratic Socialist, Social Democrat Activist, Student and Youth Movement in the Movement of Concerned Citizens for Civil Liberties (MCCCL). The latter was organized after the Suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus in the wake of the Plaza Miranda Bombing of Saturday, Aug 21, 1971. Among the key convenors, leaders and organizers of the MCCCL were Sen Jose W. Diokno, Jaycee Francisco “Sonny” Belmonte, National Press Club President Jose Zumel, NPC secretary Millet Martinez, MDP rep Aurora “Oyi” Javate and myself. I had resigned my position as Chairman of KASAPI, because I and several Activists intended to participate in politics. Then as now, the Activists, Cause Oriented, NGO’s, Sectors etc ... looked at politics as dirty; I did not want to be perceived as using my position, organization and members in partisan politics. Herman Tiu Laurel, who was our Sec Gen took my place. Joey Lina was Spokesman. A few of us like minded Moderate Activists in our twenties had arrived at the same conclusion a year or two after the Start of the First Quarter Storm on Monday, Jan 26, 1970. We would not be able to achieve our Reformist objectives merely through organizing and street demonstrations and protests. We would WE TAKE A STAND

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have to involve ourselves in politics, elections and government. We would have to sieze state power in order to implement our dreams and programs. And so together with our allies, mentors, partners and teachers, we were organizing a new political party and go for the Nov 1973 National Elections. We had a proposed name – Kapisanan ng mga Anak ng Pilipinas (KAP). We had a defi ned and targeted base – the leaders, members and supporters of the following: Sen Raul S. Manglapus, Sen Jose W. Diokno, Sen Lorenzo Tanada, Joaquin “Chino” Roces, Christian Social Movement – Joe Concepcion, Federation of Free Farmers – Atty Jeremias Montemayor, Charlie Avila, Ed de la Torre, Noel Mondejar, Gerry Bulatao, Gerry Esguerra, Federation of Free Workers – Johnnu Tan, PAFLU – Cipriano Cid, PHILCONTU – Democrito Mendoza, Young Christian Workers, NUSP – Rey Millan, Buklod Kalayaan – Edgar Jopson, KASAPI – Fr. Joe Blanco, Linggoy, Herman Tiu Laurel, Joey Lina, Ric Manapat, Jun Simon, Karen Tanada, Tess Villapando, Lakasdiwa – Fr Ed Garcia, Edgar Valenzuela, Noel Garth Tolention, Hasik Kalayaan – Fr Archie Intengan, Norberto Gonzales, YCSP – Manny Cruz, Ben Maynigo, Art Valdez, Pepe Sarmiento and many many others. And so on that Friday night of Sept 22, 1972, a few of us met at the apartment of Noel Mondefar at N. Domingo cor P. Tuazon in order to plan for the following year. We also had a tentative appointment for after dinner with Sen Diokno at his residence in Magallanes Village, Makati. However, the PC Metrocom or AFP ISAFP cut his telephone line before arresting him. We never left for his house. We stayed up until early morning of Saturday without realizing that Martial Law had been imposed overnight. We found that out after we wemy home. Charlie Avila lived near Boni Ave. in Mandaluyong and so he passed by the Wack Wack ambush site of Sec. Juan Ponce Enrile’s convoy of late Friday night. A few hours after we adjourned, disbanded and went home, Charlie, Gerry and I were back at work. We went to the residence of LP President Gerardo “Gerry” A. Roxas at P. Tuazon cor EDSA for consultations. We found Manila Times Publisher Chino Roces there. Also there in full PC khaki uniform was Sen Roxas’s military aide Maj or Lt Col Guttang who later became an LDP Cotabato Congressman. Gerry Roxas was very happy to see us and gave us an assignment – to make an in depth study of Martial Law. Frankly, we all reacted silently, “Tapos na ang Boksing!” A month before, in Aug 1972, during the “Forty Days and Nights of rain in Central Luzon.”, I met Sen Ninoy Aquino for the fi rst time. My cousin, Concon Delegate Antonio “Tonypet” S. Araneta set a meeting for us with him at his Times St residence. However, Tonypet failed to appear and I came alone. Ninoy kept me for four hours and cancelled his helicopter sortie to flood stricken Central Luzon... He intended to impress me and make me feel important. He gave me lessons regarding Hardball Politics which made a strong impression on me. They made me realize that almost all politicians, officials and Warlords are the same! To be continued

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

GameChanger SARAH JANE I. ELAGO “As a student leader, my role as the representative and voice of the students was developed. I learned that my actions should not only impact the present but also the future. If you’re the voice of the students, you learn how to articulate the stand of the organization.

Championing

outh Y the

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By Andrea Lim One usually expects the ones with the pretty faces to be among those always setting the trends in fashion and other bourgeoisie inclinations. That’s just the way the world goes – but in the case of Sarah Jane Elago, who has been continuously ﬁghting for the rights of students since she was a senior in 2010, she maintains how activism shaped her life and her perspective of being a youth leader and ‘serving the people.’ Sarah Elago is the current president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), a national formation of student councils and governments from tertiary education institutions. The organization maintains the belief that ‘education is a right’ and they fight for this right by participating in committee hearings and events where education is the subject matter, as well as conducting education campaigns and investigating issues in schools that need to be resolved. “As the national president and the leader of the national executive board of NUSP, I coordinate all the actions, projects, and programs of all the chapters and regions nationwide. Our advocacy is to defend for the rights of the students, for them to have affordable education,” says Sarah, a graduate of BS Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman.

Where it all began.

Sarah only joined the NUSP in her senior year in college, which was also the time that she held a councilor position in the university student council. Her belief in the advocacy that higher education is a “right and not a privilege” led her to where she is today. “I believe in the advocacy. Education is the key to sustain other advocacies, whether it’s an advocacy on environment or gender equality. The role of educa-

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