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Why Communist China must recompense COVID victims

Why Communist China must recompense COVID victims

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

photo from PNA

GOTCHA

written on November 25, 2022

 

SARS-CoV-2 spread because China broke international laws on infectious diseases, wildlife trade and more. Millions died from COVID-19, with millions more hospitalized and suffering long-term sickness. Pandemic wrecked livelihoods, disrupted schoolings and upturned societies.

Governments and groups want justice. The 73-year-long ruling Chinese Communist Party must recompense victims multitrillion dollars.

Cited in country and class suits are CCP’s irresponsible, malicious acts:

(1) CCP ignored global calls since 2003 to shut down China’s $79 billion-a-year wildlife markets. Wuhan virologist Dr. Shi Zhengli already had traced the earlier pandemic to bats and pangolins and warned there were more viruses out there. But CCP agencies continued licensing and promoting trade in endangered species. Like rhinoceros and elephant for tusk; bear and snake for bile; hippopotamus for gallstones; giraffe, zebra, fox, even starfish for meat. Pangolins are smuggled from Palawan, Mindoro and Borneo jungles.

(2) CCP covered up the Wuhan outbreak in November 2019. Doctors who first reported it were arrested and silenced. Posting social media warnings, ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was charged with “spreading rumors.”

(3) CCP closed the Shanghai lab that sequenced the first COVID-19 genome in early January 2020. Only on hindsight did it “honor” the researchers for propaganda.

(4) Pretending normalcy, CCP let five million people from Wuhan and Hubei, unchecked for contagion, to travel around China and abroad. Thus, pandemonium. The first and third recorded Philippine cases, late January 2020, were a Wuhanese couple who toured the Visayas and shopped in Manila. One later died.

(5) CCP falsified that the US Army brought the virus to Wuhan. The Foreign Ministry planted the intrigue in conspiracy-theory websites worldwide.

 

(6) CCP halted imports of mutton, dairy and wine from Australia for proposing a UN probe of the virus’ origin.

(7) When CCP finally acknowledged a pandemic, it hoarded medicines from abroad, depriving poor countries of stocks.

(8) CCP arm-twisted weak states to conform with its geopolitics for pandemic supplies. For one, it airlifted face masks and ventilators only after the Czech Republic sacked the cyber-security chief who exposed Huawei-ZTE’s spying in Europe.

(9) CCP delayed for eight months, then restricted and misled WHO experts sent to Wuhan. The first two investigators were denied entry visas in January 2021; only in June were all let in. CCP propagandists later muddled the negative items in the WHO findings.

(10) CCP corrupted governments to purchase low-efficacy Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino COVID vaccines. Clinic and field test results were fudged. In Manila, Beijing-leaning officials sat for seven months on acceptance documents for ten million Pfizer doses to be donated by the US State Department. They rushed instead the purchase of Sinovac, injected even on persons disallowed by food and drug regulators. Till now the Philippine government hides how much it bought the China inoculants.

(11) CCP took advantage of world distraction by pandemic to illegally expand territory. In May 2020 it grabbed swaths of borderland from India, and in June occupied tiny Bhutan’s Sakteng wildlife sanctuary.

In January-May 2021 and 2022, more than 300 armed maritime militia trawlers blockaded Whitsun (Julian Felipe) Reef in Union (Pagkakaisa) Banks, within the Philippine 200-mile exclusive economic zone but 600 miles from China. They poached fish, dumped trash, threatened Filipino coastguards. CCP gunboats encircled Sandy Cay, two miles off Palawan’s Pagasa Island, also in the West Philippine Sea. Last Jan. 29-Feb. 1, a CCP warship trespassed Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site within Philippine territorial waters, to spy on Marine exercises in Palawan.

(12) On pretext of pandemic, CCP quelled dissent in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Szechuan, Hennan, Hong Kong. It is gearing to invade Taiwan.

Due to CCP recklessness, COVID set back global life expectancy. LE started low in 1900-1945 from two world wars. It rose during relatively peaceful 1946-2019, Nature Human Behavior journal notes. LE dropped again during pandemic in rich Europe and North America, The Economist reported. It can only be worse in poor Asia, Africa and South America.

CCP must pay.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Insulate electricity users from price shocks

Insulate electricity users from price shocks

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Blackouts and price surges will batter electricity users like typhoons do as seen in this PNA photo

GOTCHA

written on November 23, 2022

 

Electricity users are in for a shock. Price hikes will zap their jobs and small businesses.

Three factors converge in perfect storm. Power shortage will black out the coming year because the previous admin did not entice enough new generators. Rates of petroleum and coal that fuel existing generators continue to surge from war in Ukraine. The peso decline will further make electricity pricey since fuels and other supplies are imported, and capital expenditures and debts are in dollars.

All those will be passed on to consumers. They need relief.

Economist Rep. Joey Salceda and former Napocor president-banker Guido Delgado propose a way out.

First, a situationer. Switching to renewables – sun, wind, wave, tide, nuclear – will take five years. Coal will continue to run most power plants in the meantime. Coal rates have more than quintupled to $400 per ton as of June from only $70 before the Russian invasion. Rates of bunker and diesel, as alternatives, are zooming too; OPEC and partners have cut back production by two million barrels a day.

That coal spike translates to P54 billion a month. It burdens 20 million consumers. Except for San Miguel Global, generators have escalation and pass-through clauses. They automatically tack on increased production costs to distributors and retailers. The latter in turn collect these from customers in behalf of the former.

The previous average generation cost of P5 per kilowatt-hour has more than doubled to P11.50. In poor Leyte-Samar, electric cooperatives generate at up to P21 per kWh. No micro, small or medium enterprise can survive. In Greater Manila, eight of Meralco’s 12 suppliers pass on increased costs without restraint. One, Thai-owned Quezon Power, charges P13.34 per kWh.

Simply put, the previous P500 a month bill becomes P1,150. The P1,000 becomes P2,300. The P10,000 becomes P23,000.

Most consumers partially work, moonlight or run modest livelihoods from home. Unaffordable electricity has forced many to close shop and cut service. They’ve joined the 2.86 million jobless and 25 million underpaid.

What to do? Salceda and Delgado propose a Consumer Relief Fund.

 

Mechanics. Put up a “long-term fund for power cost recovery.” Say, P650 billion, the equivalent of P54 billion per month for 12 months, plus handling costs. Banks can syndicate the fund. Very liquid, they will only be too willing to lend.

 

Don’t make consumers pay upfront the P54 billion a month, or P6.50 per kWh additional generation charge (P11.50 minus the old P5 average).

Let them amortize it over five years or 60 months. At five-percent annual interest, this translates to only 12 centavos per kWh.

In effect, the consumer will pay only P5.12 per kWh on Month-1, P5.24 on Month-2, P5.36 on Month-3 and so on. Only by Month-60 will he be paying P11.50 per kWh.

The P650 billion goes to distributors and electric cooperatives. They will then pay the generators on time. Meanwhile, customers pay only increments.

Banks earn, the power sector is given a breathing spell, electricity consumers can accelerate earnings. Win-win-win.

How to do it. Being both former government executives, Salceda and Delgado suggest five actions:

(1) National leaders must agree on duration, at least 12 months.

(2) Land Bank and DBP can lead the loan syndication.

(3) Utilities will be the borrower; the National Electrification Administration can guarantee the electric cooperatives.

(4) Although this is not a tariff, the Energy Regulatory Commission must consent to have the amortization as part of monthly electric bills.

(5) The President shall issue an Executive Order, endorsed by the Joint Congressional Power Commission.

Perhaps a sixth should be for economic managers to shed off timidity and think out of the box.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

South China Sea peace park: global signature drive on

South China Sea peace park: global signature drive on

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Google Map courtesy of lawyer Antonio Oposa

GOTCHA

written on November 18, 2022

 

A Filipino environment lawyer is leading a global petition to make the disputed South China Sea an Asia Marine Peace Park. The draft was submitted to the United Nations on Oct. 24, UN Day. A Peace Park can preserve the world’s most biodiverse coasts from war among naval powers.

Antonio Oposa pleads for world leaders to cooperate for maritime peace. “While some governments like to fight, most ordinary people like us only want to be safe, healthy and happy,” he told Gotcha.

Initial 150 signatories include prominent international earth advocates. Among them are Normandy, France Vice President Francois Priollaud, University of Sydney ecologist Ben Boer, Haub School environment law Prof. Nicholas Robinson, UN Special Rapporteur for Environment David Boyd and Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law Director Lye Lin Heng. Also Filipino musician Joey Ayala of Bagong Lumad, Palawan Rep. Edward Hagedorn and Sen. Cynthia Villar.

The Peace Park idea comes as tensions escalate between China versus Western and Asian powers over the South China Sea. China claims the entire SCS via a “nine-dash line” that trespasses the exclusive economic zones of neighbors Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. The United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, Japan and India defend the small countries from China’s bullying.

Oposa filed the non-adversarial petition through Manila’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ariel Peñaranda. It was transmitted to Foreign Sec. Enrique Manalo for endorsement to UN members. Ordinary citizens will be asked to sign in Southeast Asia, China and worldwide.

China President Xi Jinping will be given a copy. As Chinese Communist Party chief, Xi declared last month to prioritize environment protection, promote green lifestyles and conserve nature as socialist objectives. Lower green gas output from slowed industrial pace grants China world prestige in heading a “new global green industrial revolution.”

“An Asia Marine Peace Park can also be a moral, political initiative for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.,” Oposa quoted former chief justice Hilario Davide. “He can take it up with ASEAN leaders and President Xi as a show of friendship and good neighborliness.”

Manila in 2016 won international arbitration at The Hague against China’s occupation of eight reefs and poaching in the Philippine EEZ. Malaysia and Indonesia use that victory to assert their own EEZs; Vietnam contemplates similar arbitration against China under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

A Peace Park can demilitarize the SCS, akin to the zone between the two Koreas, Iraq and Kuwait, and outer space. Similar too, to the 1961 treaty forbidding military occupation, nuclear waste dumping and environment degradation in Antarctica, which is solely for scientific exploration and study. In the 1990s, China’s first naval expedition to the ice continent machine-gunned thousands of penguins milling ashore.

 

Researches criticize China for environment ruin. Marine life has diminished 40 percent in Ecuador’s Galapagos EEZ due to illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing at the edge by thousands of Chinese trawlers escorted by coast guards. With 80 percent of that South American country’s petroleum as payment, China in 2016 built a faulty hydro-electric plant beside active Reventador volcano.

With loans meant for pocketing by corrupt authoritarians, China extracts minerals by the million tons from Africa. West African countries complain against Chinese poaching in the Atlantic, 6,000 miles away.

China reclaimed seven Philippine reefs using ore extracted from Chinese-financed mines in Luzon and Mindanao. It also illegally extracts black sand from north Luzon beaches. Convening in Shanghai in 2013, Chinese oceanographers and maritime lawyers criticized the CCP’s “nine-dash line” but were silenced.

Scientists describe as the world’s most biodiverse in tropical marine life the archipelagic triangle comprising the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. An Asia Marine Peace Park can preserve that for world benefit.

Oposa’s signature drive targets hundreds of millions of youths worldwide. “The SCS is not ours alone, but also for future generations,“ he said. “For peace on earth, we must have peace with earth.”

Led by Oposa, Filipino youths got the Supreme Court to compel government to clean up Manila Bay.

 

The petition:

“People’s Petition to the United Nations for nations to unite. ‘We will have peace on Earth, when we have peace with the Earth.’

“Seas of Asia – There is a body of water west of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by some Asian countries. It is a crown jewel of the Earth’s natural heritage. This sea is the breeding ground and nursery of tropical fish. Surrounding states claim ownership of the sea. One wants all.

“How can we own something we did not create, that has been there long before we were born and will be there long after we are gone? This is causing serious tensions and dangers of violence.

“Bonus Pater-Familia – Nation-states are the good fathers of humankind. It is their duty to avoid tensions and violence for their people. As good fathers, states care for Mother Earth. They must cooperate to preserve this precious crown jewel of the Earth’s marine life.

“Cooperating, not competing – Rather than compete to take as much as we can from this sea, can we instead cooperate? Can we preserve this gem of Earth’s natural treasures? Can we do this in the spirit of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation? It will be good for the whole world, for this generation and for generations yet unborn.

“We humbly plead for the concerned states to transform their exclusive economic zones to be enchanting ecosystem zones. We respectfully petition the good United Nations to turn the international waters into a cooperatively-protected area – the Asia Marine Peace Park.”

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

They wasted a Filipino genius: still no justice for Leonard Co

They wasted a Filipino genius: still no justice for Leonard Co

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Photo of Dr. Leonard Co beside his discovery, the giant flower Rafflesia leonardi, taken by Dr. Julie Barcelona

GOTCHA

written on November 16, 2022

 

“Once in a hundred years a rare species appears that has a special role for all of creation.” Thus was Dr. Leonard Legaspi Co memorialized as foremost Filipino botanist, taxonomist and conservationist. Leonard scoured Luzon-Visayas-Mindanao forests in research. He fought for their protection from mining and logging. In the end he fell in the forests he so loved.

Leonard knew the English, Tagalog and vernacular term for every endemic grass, fern and tree. He was called a genius for memorizing all the scientific names. He studied more than 10,000 species. Eight of those he discovered. One is named after him Rafflesia leonardi, a variety of a giant Southeast Asian flower as big as a basin. He taught young scientists everything he learned in 40 years.

Tragedy struck on Nov. 15, 2010. Leonard, 56, was examining the forest in Kananga, Leyte when shot by soldiers. “Tama na, hindi kami armado (Stop firing, we’re unarmed),” Leonard shouted before breathing his last. Slain too were companions, Energy Development Corp. employee Sofronio Cortez and farmer Julio Borromeo. Two others, state forester Ronino Gibe and farmer Policarpio Balute, lay wounded.

At first the soldiers claimed that Leonard’s team fired at them, so they returned fire. Gibe and Balute belied them. All they had were two sungkit (grapnel) attached to bamboo poles, two itak (machete), a basket and Leonard’s trusty umbrella. The bamboo poles were painted orange for easy sighting. Farmers and foresters normally carry machetes.

With that the soldiers changed their story. Supposedly the five were caught in crossfire with communist New People’s Army rebels. Investigators disproved that too. Rifle bullet slugs showed that the volley came only from the soldiers’ direction. From wounds, the five were shot from behind while gathering seeds and seedlings. There were no attacking rebels.

Still the soldiers delayed, alibied and withheld evidence. In the end, prosecutors indicted a lieutenant and eight troopers for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and attempted homicide. Twenty-seven others were charged with obstructing justice.

Twelve years hence, the case pends in court. Leonard’s widow Glenda appealed in 2010 for the charge to be amended to murder. After all, the 36 respondents admitted to intentionally targeting the victims. Too, they acted with the singular purpose of killing. None could say who actually saw the supposed rebels. Ballistics showed they fired close range from higher vantage.

 

Did the soldiers ambush them? The Commission on Human Rights has been questioning such military operations deemed as civilian rights violations and even admitted in Army press releases. Short of cash, Glenda travels every two months to Leyte to attend hearings.

A University of the Philippines Biology professor in 2010, Leonard was doubling as EDC’s reforestation consultant. The firm’s former chairman Oscar Lopez had tapped him to replant seedlings at the firm’s geothermal power facility in Kananga’s Brgy. Lim-ao. Leonard’s tireless replenishing of endangered species inspired EDC staff.

Leonard was a prominent figure in UP Diliman in the 1970s. He looked nerdy in thick eyeglasses, crew-cut, camisa de chino, denims, rubber slippers and with folded umbrella under his arm. Amused fellow students watched him crouching over shrubs, scrutinizing flowers and brushing aphids from under leaves.

Leonard’s scholarship amazed members of the Biology Students’ Circle. He dabbled in Literature with the campus theater troupe Samahang Mag-aaral ng Pilipino. In 1975, he led both groups and other volunteers (me included) to replant hardwood around the grassy lagoon between the Faculty Center and the tennis courts. Every week he inspected the saplings of what are now a lush sanctuary of rare birds, insects and flora.

Environment activism and campus turbulence disrupted Leonard’s studies. Yet despite his unfinished undergrad, he was consulted by younger professors on their researches. He later breezed through master’s and doctorate programs.

Daughter Linnaea Marie was 12 when Leonard was killed. He had named her after the beautiful twinflower Linnaea borealis of Scandinavia and Alaska. Linnaea and Gladys buried part of his ashes beneath his tree in the UP woods. The rest they brought via bus, Navy boat, tricycle and trek to the Sierra Madres in Palanan, Isabela – to blow away in the forest where he discovered his Rafflesia.

Family and friends cry for justice. Watch the short film “Immortal Life of Leonardo Co”: https://cinemata.org/view?m=ms6NPFDuV

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Comelec data contradict PPCRV transparency server last May

Comelec data contradict PPCRV transparency server last May

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

–

GOTCHA

written on November 11, 2022

 

Was last May’s presidential election rigged? It looks so for former information-communications technology secretary Eliseo Rio. He concluded fraud after comparing Comelec official data with the “transparency server” that publicized the vote count.

Comelec’s transmission report contradicts the transparency server of PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting). Rio overlaid contrasting graphs in his Facebook page (https://tinyurl.com/2p9xzac2).

Notably in PPCRV’s count, votes peaked at 20 million on the first hour after precincts closed. Then it tapered to 13.2 million on the second hour, onto four days.

Inversely, in Comelec’s transmission compilations from precinct vote-counting machines (VCMs), votes trickled in the first hour, peaked on the second, then tapered thereafter.

PPCRV’s results are “statistically, mathematically and logically highly improbable if not impossible,” Rio posted. “All electronic or manual counts start low, then peak and lessen.”

Comelec precinct rules make it unlikely for VCMs to transmit one hour after end of balloting, Rio explained. At 7 p.m. Election Day, the Board of Election Inspectors allows voters within 30 meters of the precinct to vote. Then the BEI chairman announces formal closure to party reps and NGO watchers. Commands are typed in and confirmed with the VCM to stop accepting any more ballots. These take several minutes.

The VCM then prints out eight copies of national tallies. Each national candidate’s votes are stated: ten presidential, nine vice presidential, 64 senatorial, 173 party-lists. Each copy takes three to four minutes to print on long rolls of thermal paper, or 24-32 minutes for eight copies. “It takes five seconds to print out your small voter receipt for one president, one VP, 12 senators and one party-list,” Rio said. “The complete precinct tally naturally takes longer. Sometimes printing stops and the BEI loads a fresh roll of thermal paper.”

As DICT head, Rio chaired the Comelec Advisory Committee (CAC) of the 2019 midterm election. “We did time-and-motion studies to determine the length of the process, and there were no presidential and VP bets.”

Comelec officials led by Chairman George Garcia presented the transmission report in an Ateneo School of Government forum, Oct. 18. A graph showed accumulated VCM transmissions.

“In that graph, VCM transmissions peaked after two hours, in stark contrast with the transparency server that peaked one hour after voting closed,” Rio said. “How can that happen when the VCMs multi-sent simultaneously to the Comelec central server, transparency server and municipal server?”

From start to finish, “PPCRV’s transparency server showed a consistent, unchanged trend of presidential and VP contenders’ rankings. It seemed the transparency server was used to condition the public mind to expect such results,” Rio concluded.

PPCRV countered that “VCM transmissions were much faster this 2022 because three telcos participated.” Also, “constant vote ratio can be explained by Law of Large Numbers.”

To dispel doubts, Rio wrote Comelec on July 15 to disclose the transmission logs that telcos submitted as required.

 

Comelec balked, saying those were too voluminous given the 106,439 VCMs. Rio rebutted that all Comelec had to do was post the logs on its website for public scrutiny. Whereupon, Comelec said the logs are now with the CAC and Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. No reply from both.

On Nov. 3 Rio petitioned the Supreme Court to compel Comelec to disclose the logs. Impleaded for mandamus were VCM supplier Smartmatic and telcos Smart, Globe and Dito. Telcos normally delete their logs after six months. Laws require Comelec to store its logs for three years.

After the four-day count, PPCRV deleted all files in newsmen’s laptops, then deleted the transparency server a week later.

Rio swore nonpartisanship. Even Bongbong Marcos decried VCM fraud when he lost the 2016 VP race.

*      *      *

Up to now, no law governs app-based ride-hailing services. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is enacting one. The government’s technical working group (TWG) must finish its three-year-long study on motorcycle-taxis, in aid of legislation.

Until then, groups want the transport department to not franchise any more motorcycle-taxi firms. Meeting recently with Manila Rep. Joel Chua, leaders of Arangkada Riders Alliance and Tricycle Operators-Drivers Association asked to be consulted in drafting a law.

The TWG accredited only three firms for experiment: Angkas, Joy Ride and MoveIt (We Load Transcargo). Grab-Philippines’ buyout of MoveIt is criticized as a fourth company’s backdoor entry into the new sector.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista sees nothing wrong with the “purely private transaction” between MoveIt and Grab. But critics cite three points against giant Grab. One, Grab initially applied for the pilot test but withdrew at the last minute. Two, in September 2021 the TWG suspended the MoveIt-Grab partnership that would have allowed MoveIt to use Grab’s app instead of having its own. Three, in December 2021 the TWG ordered MoveIt to terminate its partnership since it makes Grab a virtual unaccredited fourth player.

SEC records state that Grab owns 99.8 percent of MoveIt. In effect, MoveIt is already Grab, critics say.

General manager Wayne Jacinto insists that MoveIt operates independently. He used to head Grab’s driver operations.

Digital Pinoy is one of the buyout’s several opposers. Its national campaigner Ronald Gustilo asks: “Why would anyone buy a company, then just relinquish control over it?”

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

ERC could have averted electricity rate hikes

ERC could have averted electricity rate hikes

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Energy Regulatory Commission logo

GOTCHA

written on November 9, 2022

 

Expect electricity rates to skyrocket in December. Prices of food and other basics will follow. Culprit: the Energy Regulatory Commission. Being under Malacañang, ERC’s blunders will explode in the President’s face. Unwanted Yuletide fireworks.

No choice, San Miguel Corp.’s two generators will have to stop supplying cheap electricity to distributor Meralco. The latter will be forced to buy from others at double or triple rates. Homes, shops, factories, hospitals, schools, malls, offices in Greater Manila will suffer.

ERC could have averted disaster. All SMC Global Power and Meralco jointly sought in May was a temporary P1.57 per kilowatt-hour rate hike, staggered over six months to only 26 centavos per kWh.

The slight half-year increase aimed for a breather. SMC’s generators use coal, whose price has sextupled due to Indonesia’s export ban and the Ukraine war. When SMC offered Meralco electricity in 2019, world price was less than $70 a ton; suddenly it’s over $400. Its rate petition is to partially offset a P5-billion loss in January-May 2022 alone.

SMC’s generators are Meralco’s second and third lowest suppliers among 12. They average less than P4 per kWh, unlike others’ P10 to P13.50. SMC will still be cheap despite the 26-centavo increment.

SMC does not impose onerous pass-through riders. Others have provisos to escalate generation rates for whatever cause, including mismanagement and greed, then make Meralco pass these on to customers. Meralco gets blamed when all it does is collect in their behalf.

That wee 26-centavo increase would have been best for Meralco customers. In Meralco’s scenario presentations to ERC hearings, it was the “least cost to consumers” – as required by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act. EPIRA binds all power firms to that least-cost dictum. ERC is bound too, that’s why its own engineers endorsed the 26 centavos as least burdensome to consumers.

Yet three of five ERC commissioners rejected the 26 centavos. Stick to the rates which ERC provisionally approved in 2019, they ordered SMC and Meralco. Two commissioners registered their dissent, a first in EPIRA’s 21 years.

ERC knew that the old deal was no longer workable. In nixing SMC-Meralco last Oct. 4, it said, “Any contract termination should take effect 60 days upon receipt of this decision.”

Like all major contracts, SMC-Meralco’s has an escape clause. It provides for “abrupt change in circumstances (CIC)” that upturn operation costs. SMC continues to stockpile coal; Meralco has not done anything to disrupt the set-up. Neither foresaw Indonesia’s coal ban of January 2022 and the Ukraine war starting February. Those constitute CIC to terminate if no solutions suffice or ERC issues adverse rulings.

Business execs grumbled about conflict of interest. A consumerist wrote Malacañang to revoke the ERC chairman’s appointment for being once the chief lawyer and compliance officer of a competitor. That firm is both a generator like SMC Global Power and distributor like Meralco.

Meanwhile, an ex-energy official gossiped against SMC and Meralco. Supposedly SMC will keel over from heavy penalties if it unilaterally halts the deal. Future power biddings would ban SMC, he alleged. That official was once connected with SMC-Meralco’s rival.

If anyone should fine SMC, it won’t be ERC or government, but Meralco. That’s unlikely, though, since Meralco had crafted the 2019 no-price-escalation clause with SMC in a public process that other generators shunned. That’s why Meralco and SMC jointly petitioned ERC for temporary rate hike, a compromise to absorb the coal price spikes instead of dumping it all on consumers.

Likelier 119-year-old Meralco and 132-year-old SMC will work things out. Neither would relish a protracted legal fight. Not in the midst of energy crisis of supply, prices and leadership.

Anticipating termination, Meralco prepared two options. First it sought year-long emergency power service agreements (EPSAs) to replace the 1,000 megawatts it would lose. Five of seven bidders submitted lowest rates, three of them SMC generators (including one original contractor), D.M. Consunji Inc. and Aboitiz.

All coal-fired, their weighted average is P7.9891 per kWh, nearly double the P4 of SMC’s original generators. Additional yearlong burden to customers is P12.6 billion. That was the very scenario presented by Meralco to ERC showing that P1.57 per kWh, staggered over six months at only 26 centavos, was lower than any new contract.

The other option, if ERC does not approve the EPSAs before termination, is to buy hourly from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. WESM rates are at least P3 per kWh higher than those contracted long-term. Monthly extra burden on Meralco customers is P1.6 billion.

Being the largest distributor, Meralco buying from WESM would swell demand and push up electricity rates all over Luzon-Visayas. Customers of smaller retailers who buy from WESM will be price-shocked. ERC’s blunder will snowball.

Already, with ERC-approved pass-through provisos, Leyte-Samar suffer P15 per kWh generation rates, and Cagayan-Isabela P12. Same in Mindanao. By Christmas, more homes will have electricity connections cut and small shops collapse. Thanks to ERC.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

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This privacy policy (“policy”) will help you understand how jariusbondoc.com uses and protects the data you provide to us when you visit and use https://jariusbondoc.com/ (“website”, “service”).

We reserve the right to change this policy at any given time. If you want to make sure that you are up to date with the latest changes, we advise you to frequently visit this page.

 

What User Data We Collect

When you visit the website, we may collect the following data:

  • Your IP address
  • Your contact information and email address
  • Other information such as interests and preferences
  • Data profile regarding your online behavior on our website

 

Why We Collect Your Data

We are collecting your data for several reasons:

  • To better understand your needs
  • To improve our services and products
  • To send you promotional emails containing the information we think you will find interesting
  • To contact you to fill out surveys and participate in other types of market research
  • To customize our website according to your online behavior and personal preferences

 

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

jariusbondoc.com is committed to securing your data and keeping it confidential. jariusbondoc.com has done all in its power to prevent data theft, unauthorized access, and disclosure by implementing the latest technologies and software, which help us safeguard all the information we collect online.

 

Our Cookie Policy

Once you agree to allow our website to use cookies, you also agree to use the data it collects regarding your online behavior (analyze web traffic, web pages you spend the most time on, and websites you visit).

The data we collect by using cookies is used to customize our website to your needs. After we use the data for statistical analysis, the data is completely removed from our systems.

Please note that cookies don’t allow us to gain control of your computer in any way. They are strictly used to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not so that we can provide a better experience for you.

If you want to disable cookies, you can do it by accessing the settings of your internet browser.

 

Links to Other Websites

Our website contains links that lead to other websites. If you click on these links jariusbondoc.com is not held responsible for your data and privacy protection. Visiting those websites is not governed by this privacy policy agreement. Make sure to read the privacy policy documentation of the website you go to from our website.

 

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

At some point, you might wish to restrict the use and collection of your personal data. You can achieve this by doing the following:

 

  • When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.
  • If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

 

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.