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Five years on, LTFRB hasn’t collected Grab’s P10-M fine

Five years on, LTFRB hasn’t collected Grab’s P10-M fine

by | Jun 14, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

 News about ride-hailing/delivery service Grab is often negative.

Those range from overcharging, abuse and monopolism. Most of all, spotty compliance with multimillion-peso government penalties.

Days ago the Philippine Competition Commission fined Grab P9 million. That’s due to Grab’s failure to fully refund customers three years after PCC ordered it.

PCC had imposed three refunds: P5.05 million in overcharges, November 2019; P14.15 million in unfulfilled voluntary commitments, December 2019; P6.25 million in more overprices, October 2020.

Grab claimed it couldn’t refund customers who don’t subscribe to its GrabPay Wallet or haven’t filled up its Know-Your-Customer form. PCC rejected the alibis.

The new P9 million is on top of previous P63.7 million in PCC fines.

Why is Grab so defiant? Why does it get away with violations?

Clearly, the Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board is coddling Grab. LTFRB officials are liable for corruption.

One case is open and shut. In 2018 LTFRB found Grab to have overcharged three million customers. Joint Administrative Order 2014-01 – among the Dept. of Transport, Land Transport Office and LTFRB – prescribes P5,000 fine for every count. That meant P15-billion total penalty for Grab.

But LTFRB disobeyed JAO 2014-01. It fined Grab only P10 million on pretext that P15 billion was “unrealistic.”

There’s worse. Five years after the “final and executory” fine of merely P10 million, Grab hasn’t paid and LTFRB hasn’t collected.

Proof is in a report to the LTFRB brass. Submitted Jan. 5, 2023, “2018 Decided Cases-Complaints” states:

• Date of Order – Sept. 7, 2018;

• Reference No. – CO-EB-2018-04-0039;

• Operator – My Taxi Ph Inc./Grab;

• Violation – Charging P2 per minute of travel time without authority;

• Fine/Penalty – P10,000,000;

• Remarks – Respondent to submit a report of compliance one week from the time the rebate has been fully implemented;

• Amount Paid, Official Receipt No., Date Paid – (blank).

Signatory was LTFRB Information Systems Management Division chief Nida Quibic.

Past and present LTFRB chairmen and members are liable.

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (R.A. 3019) is clear:

“Section 3(e). Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.

“This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permits or other concessions.”

LTFRB is lenient with Singapore-registered Grab but strict with locals. Daily at LTFRB taxi drivers queue to pay P5,000 overcharging fine – which they had to borrow.

Since start of ride-hailing in the Philippines, LTFRB favored Grab against giant Uber. The sole competitor left. Small local outfits failed to gain market shares. GoJek, Indonesia’s largest, was barred for foreign ownership in excess of 40 percent in a public utility – an issue that LTFRB let Grab skirt.

Grab presently faces more overcharging complaints. “Surge rates” are arbitrary and unauthorized, says ex-LTFRB member Ariel Inton.

Aside from P45 sedan booking fee, Grab collects P2 per minute plus P15 per kilometer, then doubles that during rush hours. But rush hours can be any time of day or night based on Grab’s secret algorithm, “thus subject to abuse,” says Inton, now head of Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection.

Grab also collects P85 base fare for rides less than four kilometers to, it says, “discourage short trips.” Discriminatory, Inton rails.

Grab is muzzling into the motorcycle-taxi sector, consumerists cry. In August 2022, Grab told the Securities and Exchange Commission it had acquired 99.8 percent of MoveIt, one of only three firms allowed in the government’s dry run.

Quasi-judicial SEC can cancel Grab’s corporate registration for repeated breaches.

Grab’s Malaysian cofounder-CEO Anthony Tan has mastered Filipino bureaucratic “kalakaran” (mode).  Last January he hosted a banquet for President Marcos Jr.’s 75-man delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In a subsequent Malacañang meeting, Tan dazzled Marcos Jr. and LTFRB officials claiming he can employ half-a-million Filipinos. That can only happen if he alone is allowed to expand ride-hailing, delivery, motorcycle-taxi nationwide. Meaning, LTFRB should let him alone accredit drivers.

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Seaport ‘delihensiya’ makes food, commodities costlier

Seaport ‘delihensiya’ makes food, commodities costlier

by | Jun 9, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Last April the Dutch survey vessel m/v Fugro Equator combed Philippine waters off northwest Luzon for the sunken Japanese military warship Montevideo Maru. A World War II US submarine had torpedoed the latter in 1942. It was carrying 1,060 Allied prisoners of war, mostly Australians, some Americans and Europeans.

Australia commissioned Netherlands-based multinational Fugro for the search that took five years to plan. In only 12 days Fugro Equator, one of the world’s most advanced and well-equipped hydrographic surveyors, found the wreck 4,000 meters deep. That closed a grim chapter in international military and maritime history. Fugro Equator proceeded to the southern Indian Ocean to look for the nine-year missing Malaysian Airline MH 370.

Days prior, Fugro Equator notched another first. On March 31 it moored at La Union’s Poro Point harbor to take in 19 Filipino crewmen and unload four. The Departments of Transport, of Labor and of Foreign Affairs had long wanted foreign ships to do that in Philippine shores. It would spare Filipino seafarers the expense and effort of flying to and from European or American ports to start and end yearlong work stints.

Officials of the three departments, Coast Guard, Bureaus of Quarantine, of Immigration and of Customs attended the ceremony. Government-owned Poro Point Management Corp. hailed in its Facebook page “PPMC’s first international crew change” and Fugro Equator as a “special service survey vessel.”

But something soured Fugro Equator’s voyage. On entering La Union’s Poro Point Freeport, it was required to hire a puny local tugboat to tow it to dock and later back out to sea. Tug operator Polaris Top Marine Service Corp. charged it a staggering P500,000.

Officials of the three departments, Coast Guard, Bureaus of Quarantine, of Immigration and of Customs attended the ceremony. Government-owned Poro Point Management Corp. hailed in its Facebook page “PPMC’s first international crew change” and Fugro Equator as a “special service survey vessel.”

But something soured Fugro Equator’s voyage. On entering La Union’s Poro Point Freeport, it was required to hire a puny local tugboat to tow it to dock and later back out to sea. Tug operator Polaris Top Marine Service Corp. charged it a staggering P500,000.

Fugro Equator is 1,917 gross tons. Going by the Philippine Port Authority’s (PPA) “negotiated rationalized pilotage fees”, it should have been charged only $110 for tow-in and $110 for tow-out of ships up to 5,000 tons. Total: $220, or P12,000.

But Poro Point is under PPMC, not PPA. A subsidiary of Bases Conversion and Development Authority, PPMC sets its own rules.

PPMC harbor pilotage-towing contractor Polaris’ March 31 billing stated that its “docking/undocking service” took only 61 minutes, 0731H-0832H, for which it charged P500,000.

Polaris’ March 31 official receipt detailed the time frames:

• Time left terminal, 0731H;

• Time alongside vessel, 0738H;

• Time start assisting, 0740H;

• Time finish assisting, 0823H;

• Time arrival at base, 0832H.

Actual “assisting” took only 43 minutes. But the tugboat’s sail time from terminal and back to base was billed to Fugro’s Singapore office.

Foreign shipmasters have no choice but to dock at Poro Point’s deeper waters, so just bear and pass on the pilotage/towing fees to shippers. Domestic counterparts and shippers purposely avoid it.

The Philippines has 821 ports (as of 2019). PPA manages those that are government-owned and oversees private ones.

Most ports have exclusive pilotage/towing contractors. PPA’s published rates are much lower than Poro Point’s. But as reported many times in Gotcha, disobedient contractors charge hundred times more.

Example: Most of the 3,623 locally registered cargo ships (as of 2021) are 1,000-3,000 gross tons. PPA rate is P139.20. Actual charge by pilotage/towing firms: P5,000-P25,000.

Notably, this doesn’t happen at the Cebu Port Authority, also separate from PPA, because it has four competing port management contractors. The solution to exorbitant port rates is obvious: government must de-monopolize ports; more management contractors beget more pilotage and other subcontractors.

Like foreigners, local shipowners just pay and pass on the charges to shippers. If they complain, contractors gang up on them. Shippers in turn pass on to consumers.

Result: costly commodities, from the smallest shampoo sachet, nail and calamansi to home furnishings, roofing sheets and frozen meats.

And that’s just with pilotage/towing. Shipowners have to contend with port congestion, and shippers with Customs extortionists.

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Compare your electricity bill with other provinces

Compare your electricity bill with other provinces

by | Jun 7, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

After surviving scorching May, brace for hotter June. Weathermen say El Niño will be felt starting this month.

All-day air conditioning and fanning are inevitable. Brace too for higher home electricity bills.

Two factors make electricity costly: usage and power insufficiency.

We can conserve only so much energy. But government must entice more investors in power generation.

The last two huge capacity boosts were 668 megawatts in October 2022 and 668 MW in December 2021. Both were by Aboitiz’s GNPower Dinginin.

The Department of Energy expects Luzon demand to jump 1,000 MW this year. Experts forecast more yellow alerts, a mis-color code to mean possible blackouts till at least June 18.

Big generators run on coal, bunker, natural gas, hydro, geothermal. Small ones use solar and wind.

Seven liquified natural gas plants are under construction, the largest by subsidiaries of Meralco, San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp., Walter Brown.

Compare your electricity bill with other provinces. See table of March 2023 billings of 55 distribution utilities and electric cooperatives (out of 152) with readily available data on websites.

They range from P7.92 per kilowatt-hour, La Union to P18.78, Surigao del Sur.

But they have a similarity. More than half their charges are generating costs which they merely pass on to customers. The largest distributor Meralco, dependent on eight generators, is among the lowest one-sixth of the sampling.

Distributors like Meralco and Aboitiz can source power from affiliate generators, but not to exceed 50 percent of supply. Subsidiaries supply only nine percent of Meralco’s power.

Meralco’s One Energy Inc. is building an LNG plant in Atimonan, Quezon. But to sell to mother Meralco, One Energy must first win a competitive selection process which ERC must approve.

*      *      *

Luzon’s 500-kiloVolt Hermosa-San Jose transmission line is now onstream. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines energized it on May 27 to further improve reliability of the Luzon backbone.

Bulk power from Hermosa, Bataan will zip through Pampanga to San Jose, Bulacan on to Metro Manila and surrounding provinces. NGCP rushed the work 24/7.

With the new transmission line is construction of the Hermosa Substation for better voltage regulation and power transfer from existing
230kV facilities in the area.

ERC provisionally approved NGCP’s project for P10.2 billion. But it allowed only partial cost recovery of P19 million, less than one percent.
NGCP prioritized urgency and set aside for later the issue of ERC approvals of cost recovery.

“Our priority has been and will always be doing what’s best for the public,” said stockholder Henry Sy Jr., former president-CEO.  “Financial considerations can take a backseat and be threshed out later.”

Sy sought to correct “misimpressions of consumer shortchange by rate computations.”

NGCP is to finish more projects in Visayas-Mindanao: “Stakeholders can be assured that we will continue grid improvement, expansion and reinforcement for reliable transmission.”

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Avoid paying taxes once Maharlika steals our pensions

Avoid paying taxes once Maharlika steals our pensions

by | Jun 2, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Our pension, health and housing contributions are in peril. This, after Malacañang and Congress railroaded passage of the Maharlika Investment Fund.

They pretended to heed public outcry. At first, they excluded from capitalizing Maharlika with our SSS, GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig, OWWA and PVAO. But by slyly including the words “may” and “option,” they will still take our money.

Their greed is insatiable. In the Legislature they steal hundred billion-peso flood control and roadwork funds. In the Executive they pocket procurement kickbacks and confidential-intelligence funds.

Now they will take even our hard-earned cash for health care, home buying, college, retirement, burial and emergencies. After all, it’s they who appoint administrators of our fund contributions.

Last November the House of Reps hastily enacted Maharlika for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s trip to Davos. Last Wednesday, May 31, the Senate rushed its version for Marcos Jr.’s second State of the Nation.

But Maharlika is not just for presidential vanity. It is, as objectors warn, for “crony capitalism.”

Critics coined that term during the dictatorship of Marcos Jr.’s father. Marcos Sr. granted behest loans to golfing buddies from government-run pensions and -owned banks PNB, DBP, Landbank.

Those loans supposedly were to benefit Filipinos through industrial investments. The First Couple and cronies instead divvied up the cash to amass castles, mansions, ranches, private jets, limos, art masterpieces, jewelry, fur coats and 3,000 pairs of shoes.

A Malaysian politico recently was caught pillaging the One MDB sovereign fund. Prime Minister Najib Razak and wife are in prison for absconding with $1.25 billion. Stashed in their manor were suitcases of cash, jewelry, fur coats, wristwatches, signature bags and shoes.

Philippine courts have regained P174-billion Marcos Sr. loot. Still to be recovered is P125 billion. Eerily that missing amount is the same Maharlika initial capital to be taken from DBP, Landbank, Bangko Sentral. It’s equivalent to $2.5 billion, double the 1MDB hoard.

Marcos Jr. will sit as or appoint the Maharlika chairman. He will pick the directors, advisers, managers. If they plunder Maharlika they won’t go to jail. Their Maharlika law metes only P5-million fine. A drop in the P125-billion bucket.

Businessmen, laborers, academics, activists, church and civic leaders united against Maharlika. The political elite crushed their dissent.

Who concocted Maharlika? Marcos Jr. never mentioned it in his election campaign, nor in his first State of the Nation, nor in his Medium-Term Fiscal Framework. Thus, the suspicions about the intent: plunder, money laundering.

Genuine sovereign funds like Norway’s and Singapore’s are reeling from global inflation. Though untimely, our rulers forced Maharlika through. They plan to invest it abroad; in the same breath they invite foreign investors. They say Maharlika will earn from rural roads and bridges, but who makes money out of those?

Some beg Marcos Jr. to veto onerous Maharlika law provisos. Others are to question it at the Supreme Court. A few are forming watchdog groups. Most are resigned to having our pensions and contributions raided.

But we’re not exactly helpless. There’s a way to starve kleptocrats of blood to suck. Let’s avoid paying taxes.

How? Barter goods and services. Buy from low-income earners who need not issue official receipts.

Make family purchases via our VAT-exempt seniors and persons with disabilities. Avail of all possible income-tax deductions for dependence and expenses. Postpone tax payments till the last minute.

When touring, book untaxed homestays, hostels, pension lodges. Buy from roadside hawkers.

Avail of all possible loans and benefits from SSS, GSIS, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig, OWWA, PVAO. Postpone repayments till absolute deadline. Collect matured 20-year contributions from Pag-Ibig.

Shun admin fundraisers. Boycott crony-capitalist businesses.

Emigrate, and announce that it’s in disgust with the political elite.

All these are legal – unlike what they’re doing to us.

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Bersamin, Panganiban liable for obeying illegal order

Bersamin, Panganiban liable for obeying illegal order

by | May 31, 2023 | Gotcha

Watch: Video clip of Panganiban at Senate hearing, 23 May 2023 

GOTCHA

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Agriculture Senior Usec Domingo Panganiban can be indicted for repeated graft.

Under oath at the Senate, they said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed them to import 440,000 tons of sugar via select traders. No open bidding.

That was an illegal order. In obeying it, Bersamin and Panganiban broke the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. They favored with multibillion-pesos three traders with whom they and Marcos Jr. met at Malacañang. Dozens of others were disfavored, another act of graft.

It was, as Senator Risa Hontiveros denounced, “state-sponsored smuggling”. They can be charged with economic sabotage under the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Law.

Result of their acts: sugar retails so costly today.

R.A. 3019, Section 3, specifies “corrupt practices of public officers”:

“(a) Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.”

The selection criteria for the three traders – from a three page list of over a hundred – was secret. The Sugar Regulatory Administration should have done it by public bidding. To avert price cartels, SRA usually chooses a dozen or so traders.

Panganiban allocated 240,000 tons to the first trader, which Hontiveros revealed has a history of smuggling. The second got 100,000 tons, which its auditors reported to be undercapitalized by $398,103 (P19.7 million) in 2021. The last 100,000 tons went to a lightweight that doesn’t have a company website.

Panganiban waived the requisite hundred-million-peso performance bond each must post to guarantee completion of imports. That broke SRA policy and practice.

The three bought sugar from Thailand. Landed cost is P25,000 per ton. They sell at P85,000. At P60,000 markup per ton, they will profit P26.4 billion from 440,000 tons.

Violated was Section 3(e): “Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

Through SRA, Panganiban made Customs release previously seized smuggled sugar of the first trader. Another breach of Sections 3(a) and (e). The second trader also brought in multimillion-peso unauthorized shipment.

One million pesos in agricultural smuggling is economic sabotage – nonbailable, life imprisonment.

Bersamin was once Chief Justice. Panganiban was a 30-year agriculture bureaucrat before resurrection as senior usec. They should’ve advised Marcos Jr., concurrent Agriculture Secretary and SRA chairman, to grant import privileges strictly by public bidding.

 Bersamin and Panganiban denied wrongdoing. Hontiveros noted, however, that the three allocatees were awarded before SRA’s issuance of Sugar Order No. 6.

 Last year, Hontiveros recalled, Marcos Jr. fired Vic Rodriguez as executive secretary for authorizing imports without presidential signature as SRA chairman. “This time they committed worse,” she said.

 Bersamin countered that there are three other ways to import sugar aside from SRA order. Those are by minimum access volume (MAV) under the World Trade Organization, by presidential directive, and by emergency procurement.

 But MAV imports also go through open bidding. Presidential imports are done by government-owned Philippine International Trading Corp., which also publicly bids out allocations. No disaster warranted emergency imports.

 SRA Sugar Order No. 6, Feb. 15, 2023, belatedly legitimized the favored traders’ contraband. Yet Malacañang declared as smuggled and thus saleable at Kadiwa rolling stores 9,827 tons of sugar confiscated from 21 other traders between Nov. 12, 2022 and Mar. 15, 2023. That again infracts Section 3(e).

 Malacañang claimed that the three traders’ P85-per-kilo selling price was cheap, since sugar was then retailing at P100-P130 per kilo.

Conveniently downplayed was that, before the scam, sugar was only P70 at the start of Marcos Jr.’s tenure. Before then, only P40.

 Industrial users begged Panganiban to be allowed to import sweeteners on their own at much lower rates. Nixing their plea, Malacañang told them to transact only with the three select traders, Hontiveros bared. Again, defiance of Section 3(e).

 Marcos Jr. too is liable for corruption and economic sabotage. But, by faulty constitutional interpretation, he can be indicted only after term’s end in 2028. Impeachment is unlikely. Marcos Jr.’s cousins, son and minions control the House and Senate supermajorities.

 For now, the Ombudsman must uphold the law against Marcos Jr.’s subalterns. That will teach them that presidential directives cannot right a wrong.

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Our Navy’s dramatic birth 125 years ago

Our Navy’s dramatic birth 125 years ago

by | May 26, 2023 | Gotcha

Flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar – PN Facebook page

GOTCHA

The Philippine Navy was a revolutionary independence force.

Unlike the Spanish armada that colonized. Unlike the British Admiralty started by slavers Francis Drake, uncle John Hawkins and cousin Richard Hawkins who became Sirs when knighted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1581. Unlike the United States Navy begun by mercenaries in 1776. Unlike the Japanese navy that was warlike imperialistic.

“El Presidente” Emilio Aguinaldo established the Philippine Navy on May 20, 1898. He named it Bureau of Navy under the Revolutionary Army. Appointed director was Pascual Ledesma (1843-1917) of Himamaylan, Negros, merchant marine master who in 1894 joined the Katipunan. Named in his honor is the PN’s main port in Sangley, Cavite.

Ledesma’s deputy was Angel Pabie, also a merchant ship captain. The Malolos Congress of September 1898 formed the Department of War and Navy under Gen. Mariano Trias.

The PN’s initial equipment were launches and cannons that Filipinos captured from Adm. Patricio Montojo, whom Commodore George Dewey defeated in the Battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898. Dewey gave Aguinaldo a pinnace of Montojo’s flagship.

The 900-ton steamer of Compania Tabaco de Filipinas was added when the Filipino crew mutinied and executed the Spanish officers. Their leader, Second Officer Vicente Catalan, a Cuban-Spanish creole, proclaimed himself “admiral of the Philippine Navy.” Catalans are natives of Spain’s separatist region Cataluña.

The steamer became the PN flagship Filipinas. Catalan was commissioned navy captain (colonel). He participated in the capture of Subic, Zambales, the natural harbor, ship repair yard and recreation facility of the Spanish armada, later of the US Navy.

Filipino merchants Leon Apacible, Manuel Lopez and Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio contributed five large vessels: Taaleño, Balayan, Bulusan, Taal and Purísima Concepción. The first three delivered arms, flags and uniforms to revolucionarios in Bicol and the Visayas.

Our Philippine Navy celebrates today its 125th anniversary.

*      *      *

By invented history, Beijing claims to own the South China Sea. But there’s no record anywhere.

In many official files are early Filipinos’ seafaring tradition.

The Pintados of Panay frequently raided coastal Fujian across the SCS in southern China. They attacked aboard dozens or hundreds of kora-kora, each bearing 300 warriors. Chinese annals recount how terrified the Fujians were. Only the whites of the raiders’ eyes could be seen; faces and bodies were tattooed, teeth red from betel nut.

Spaniards named the tattooed males and females Pintados. A princess betrothed by her datu-father to a neighboring island chieftain tested the latter by asking for a kora-kora-load of Fujian slaves. She promptly got her wish.

Spaniards called the swift craft caracoa or corcoa, different from the balangay that rode only 40. Rowing kora-kora at 15 knots (28 kph), Moros repelled the conquest of Cotabato and Sulu by Spanish galleons doing only six knots (11 kph).

Pre-Spanish conquest, Luzon folk crisscrossed the SCS, trading with fellow-Malays in Borneo and Champa (in Vietnam). Luzon’s trade center was Ma-i (Mindoro); Borneo’s was Brunei. The Malay-Polynesian Champa kingdom reigned from the 2nd to the 17th centuries. Luzon and Borneo helped Champa repel Khmer and Indo-Chinese encroachers.

Chinese recorded that Filipinos went to China before Chinese came to the Philippines (William Henry Scott). Till the Tang Dynasty, 618-906, China knew no land between Taiwan and Java. In 972 the Sung Dynasty tried but failed to control the SCS trade. Reported then was the travel time by Malay fast craft from Ma-i and Borneo to China: 30 days.

In 1293 the Yuan Dynasty’s Kublai Khan sent 30,000 foot- and horsemen to exact tribute from the Malays. King Kertanegara of the emergent Majapahit Empire routed the invaders in Java, killing 18,000.

Chinese scrolls extol Zheng He (1371-1433). The Ming court dispatched the royal eunuch to establish trade with India and northeast Africa. In seven voyages in 1405-1433, each with 300 ships, Zheng He hugged the coast of Siam, then hopped south to Java, Borneo onto India, Arabia, Horn of Africa. Never did he cross the SCS to Luzon nor Taiwan.

Two millenniums earlier, ancient Malays – forebears of Filipinos, Indonesians, Malaysians – navigated the Indian Ocean to populate Madagascar. Modern day Malagasy in that huge island east of Africa are mix of blacks and southeast Asian. Many plants and animals there are not in mainland Africa but found in the Malay archipelago 7,700 km away, like cassava, camote, corn.

Malagasy are Africa’s only eaters of rice, also the prime export. Palay is terraced on plowed paddies. Malagasy language is related to Borneo’s Ma’anyan.

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

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jariusbondoc.com will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties, unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.

 

II. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

All materials contained on this site are protected by the Republic of the Phlippines copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of jariusbondoc.com or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

However, you may download material from jariusbondoc.com on the Web (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

If you wish to use jariusbondoc.com content for commercial purposes, such as for content syndication etc., please contact us at jariusbondoconline@gmail.com.

Links to Websites other than those owned by jariusbondoc.com are offered as a service to readers. The editorial staff of jariusbondoc.com was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

 

III. TERMS OF SERVICE

 

  1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

 

1.1 If you choose to use the jariusbondoc.com service (the “Service”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement between you and jariusbondoc.com (“jariusbondoc.com “).

 

1.2 jariusbondoc.com may change, add or remove portions of this Agreement at any time, but if it does so, it will post such changes on the Service, or send them to you via e-mail. It is your responsibility to review this Agreement prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use this Site, you agree to any changes.

 

1.3 If any of these rules or any future changes are unacceptable to you, you may cancel your membership by sending e-mail to jariusbondoconline.com (see section 10.1 regarding termination of service). Your continued use of the service now, or following the posting of notice of any changes in these operating rules, will indicate acceptance by you of such rules, changes, or modifications.

 

1.4 jariusbondoc.com may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any Service feature, database, or content. jariusbondoc.com may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Service without notice or liability.

 

  1. JARIUSBONDOC.COM CONTENT AND MEMBER SUBMISSIONS

 

2.1 The contents of the jariusbondoc.com are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. All materials published on jariusbondoc.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by jariusbondoc.com or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Service.

 

2.2 The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to the Republic of the Philippines and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.

 

2.3 You may download or copy the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Service for personal use only, provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from jariusbondoc.com or the copyright holder identified in the copyright notice contained in the Content.

 

  1. FORUMS, DISCUSSIONS AND USER GENERATED CONTENT

 

3.1 You shall not upload to, or distribute or otherwise publish on the message boards (the “Feedback Section”) any libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or otherwise illegal material.

 

3.2 (a)Be courteous. You agree that you will not threaten or verbally abuse jariusbondoc.com columnists and other jariusbondoc.com community Members, use defamatory language, or deliberately disrupt discussions with repetitive messages, meaningless messages or “spam.”

 

3.2 (b) Use respectful language. Like any community, the Feedback Sections will flourish only when our Members feel welcome and safe. You agree not to use language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual preference, age, region, disability, etc. Hate speech of any kind is grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.2 (c) Debate, but don’t attack. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. jariusbondoc.com encourages active discussions and welcomes heated debate in our Feedback Sections. But personal attacks are a direct violation of this Agreement and are grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of access to all or part of the Service.

 

3.3 The Feedback Sections shall be used only in a noncommercial manner. You shall not, without the express approval of jariusbondoc.com, distribute or otherwise publish any material containing any solicitation of funds, advertising or solicitation for goods or services.

 

3.4 You are solely responsible for the content of your messages. However, while jariusbondoc.com does not and cannot review every message posted by you on the Forums and is not responsible for the content of these messages, jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to delete, move, or edit messages that it, in its sole discretion, deems abusive, defamatory, obscene, in violation of copyright or trademark laws, or otherwise unacceptable.

 

3.5 You acknowledge that any submissions you make to the Service (i.e., user-generated content including but not limited to: text, video, audio and photographs) (each, a “Submission”) may be edited, removed, modified, published, transmitted, and displayed by jariusbondoc.com and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. You grant jariusbondoc.com a perpetual, nonexclusive, world-wide, royalty free, sub-licensable license to the Submissions, which includes without limitation the right for jariusbondoc.com or any third party it designates, to use, copy, transmit, excerpt, publish, distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, create derivative works of, host, index, cache, tag, encode, modify and adapt (including without limitation the right to adapt to streaming, downloading, broadcast, mobile, digital, thumbnail, scanning or other technologies) in any form or media now known or hereinafter developed, any Submission posted by you on or to jariusbondoc.com or any other website owned by it, including any Submission posted on jariusbondoc.com through a third party.

 

3.6 By submitting an entry to jariusbondoc.com’s Readers’ Corner, you are consenting to its display on the site and for related online and offline promotional uses.

 

  1. ACCESS AND AVAILABILITY OF SERVICE AND LINKS

 

4.1 jariusbondoc.com contains links to other related World Wide Web Internet sites, resources, and sponsors of jariusbondoc.com. Since jariusbondoc.com is not responsible for the availability of these outside resources, or their contents, you should direct any concerns regarding any external link to the site administrator or Webmaster of such site.

 

  1. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES

 

5.1 You represent, warrant and covenant (a) that no materials of any kind submitted through your account will (i) violate, plagiarize, or infringe upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy or other personal or proprietary rights; or (ii) contain libelous or otherwise unlawful material; and (b) that you are at least thirteen years old. You hereby indemnify, defend and hold harmless jariusbondoc.com, and all officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees (collectively, the “Indemnified Parties”) from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by you or any user of your account of this Agreement or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any such claim. jariusbondoc.com reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you.

 

5.2 jariusbondoc.com does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other information displayed, uploaded, or distributed through the Service by any user, information provider or any other person or entity. You acknowledge that any reliance upon any such opinion, advice, statement, memorandum, or information shall be at your sole risk. THE SERVICE AND ALL DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE ARE DISTRIBUTED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT USE OF THE SERVICE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.

 

  1. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN JARIUSBONDOC.COM AND MEMBERS

 

6.1 If you indicate on your registration form that you want to receive such information, jariusbondoc.com, its owners and assigns, will allow certain third party vendors to provide you with information about products and services.

 

6.2 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to send electronic mail to you for the purpose of informing you of changes or additions to the Service.

 

6.3 jariusbondoc.com reserves the right to disclose information about your usage and demographics, provided that it will not reveal your personal identity in connection with the disclosure of such information. Advertisers and/or Licensees on our Web site may collect and share information about you only if you indicate your acceptance. For more information please read the Privacy Policy of jariusbondoc.com.

 

6.4 jariusbondoc.com may contact you via e-mail regarding your participation in user surveys, asking for feedback on the Website and existing or prospective products and services. This information will be used to improve our Website and better understand our users, and any information we obtain in such surveys will not be shared with third parties, except in aggregate form.

 

  1. TERMINATION

 

 

7.1 jariusbondoc.com may, in its sole discretion, terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Service for any reason, including, without limitation, breach or assignment of this Agreement.

 

  1. MISCELLANEOUS

 

8.1 This Agreement has been made in and shall be construed and enforced in accordance with the Republic of the Philippines law. Any action to enforce this agreement shall be brought in the courts located in Manila, Philippines.

 

8.2 Notwithstanding any of the foregoing, nothing in this Terms of Service will serve to preempt the promises made in jariusbondoc.com Privacy Policy.

 

8.3 Correspondence should be sent to jariusbondoconline.com.

 

8.4 You agree to report any copyright violations of the Terms of Service to jariusbondoc.com as soon as you become aware of them. In the event you have a claim of copyright infringement with respect to material that is contained in the jariusbondoc.com service, please notify jariusbondoconline.com. This Terms of Service was last updated on November 7, 2020.