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Colonel pleads to Marcos Jr: Please stop the plunder

Colonel pleads to Marcos Jr: Please stop the plunder

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of congress

GOTCHA

written on September 23, 2022

 

Congress has been branded “the Philippines’ biggest criminal syndicate.” Taxpayers bear the government budget bloated by pork barrels. With the P13.02-trillion national debt, each Filipino is in hock by P112,600. Since the proposed budget and debt repayments come from Malacañang, only the President can stop the bleeding. Warrior-intellectual Hector M. Tarrazona pleads for Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to stop the plunder.

Retired colonel Tarrazona, 78, was a scholar of the Asian Institute of Management, where he earned his Master in Development Management degree in 1991. He was a financial and management consultant and a former Air Force F-5 jet fighter pilot. A member of Philippine Military Academy class of 1968, he participated in the 1986 People Power Revolution. Following is his “Open Letter to the President”, September 2022, printed with permission:

“As a concerned Filipino citizen, I write because of an urgent need to stop the continuous plunder of our taxes and government-borrowed money.

“In the last 57 years we have seen two of our past presidents listed second and tenth most corrupt world leaders by Transparency International Global Corruption Report, 2004. One allegedly embezzled $5 billion to $10 billion, while the other $78 million to $80 million. The Sep. 30, 2013 cover of BizNewsAsia magazine headlined ‘The Philippines’ biggest criminal syndicate’, referring to our senators and congressmen. And on May 26, 2014 the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that ‘Twenty senators, 100 congressmen, and all of their agents in the pork barrel transactions were named in the affidavit of Janet Lim Napoles submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.’

“In 2020 the national budget deficit was P1.37 trillion, followed in 2021 by another deficit of P1.67 trillion. Despite these alarming historical figures, the proposed very bloated national budget for 2023 is P5.268 trillion, higher by 4.9 percent than the P5.024 trillion in 2022. I say very bloated because the current 2022 budget is already bloated to accommodate the whims of the past administration.

“House of Reps Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto questioned the P588-billion unprogrammed appropriations in the proposed 2023 budget. On Feb. 14, 2019 The Philippine STAR reported that, ‘Senators and congressmen will share a total of nearly P99 billion in pork barrel this year – that is, if President Duterte ignores the appeal of anti-pork Sen. Panfilo Lacson to excise fat in the administration’s proposed P3.757-trillion budget.’ All this happened despite the 2013 Supreme Court declaration that pork barrel is unconstitutional.

“With the above observations, please stop the plunder (especially in the form of pork barrel, PDAF, insertions, unprogrammed appropriations or any other creative name) of our taxes and government-borrowed money. In addition, please direct the Department of Budget and Management to use the ‘zero-based budgeting’ in the preparation of the national budget with detailed itemized expenses. It’s not too late to do that, to reduce the 2023 national budget by 20 to 30 percent. This prudent measure matches the low government revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You have a golden opportunity to make history by stopping the insatiable greed of some people in government. This patriotic act will somehow assuage the feelings of betrayed taxpayers who bear the P13.02-trillion national government debts – a burden of P112,600 on every Filipino.

“I wish you more wisdom and the best of health during these challenging times.”

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

Promoting Filipino cuisine can boost agriculture

Promoting Filipino cuisine can boost agriculture

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of Filipino boodle feast during the DOT and Jollibee launch of “Eats. More Fun in the Philippines” in 2019

GOTCHA

written on September 21, 2022

 

Former Senate president Tito Sotto had long ago proposed how to ensure farmers’ incomes. Make government buy at least half of all farm produce, he told Sapol-dwIZ in June. Then, sell those cheap in bulk at trading posts. Input the cost of labor, transportation and sundries in the selling price. National and local agencies won’t lose money. They would recover the initial funds and buy more goods with the rolling capital.

Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban might wish to study Sotto’s idea. He need not blame farmers for “just planting but not thinking of the market.” His Department of Agriculture will have a 40-percent budget increase of P46.5 billion next year, from P117.29 billion to P163.75 billion. That money would go a long way to helping farmers, fishers and backyard chicken and hog raisers rise from penury. Agriculture can transform from over-importing to self-sufficiency. Consumers can enjoy cheaper food.

Sotto’s plan has been tried in other lands. By building a train network, India ensured transport of produce from farm to city. This was partly responsible for decades of bumper harvests of rice, wheat, barley, rye, corn, potato, pulses, jute and sugarcane. Same with Thailand.

Thai King Bhumibol did better in the 1980s. Summoning the best Thai chefs, he requested them to write basic recipes for the most popular Thai dishes: tom yum goong (spicy shrimp soup), som tum (spicy green papaya salad), tom kha kai (chicken in coconut milk), gaeng daeng (red curry), pad thai (fried noodles), khao pad (fried rice) and pad krapow moo saap (fried pork with basil).

The King distributed the recipes to Thai eateries and communities overseas. Foreigners got introduced to Thai cuisine. The standardized recipes guaranteed the distinctive taste of Thailand.

But where to get the ingredients? The king had a ready scheme: replicate Japan’s one town-one product (OTOP) method.

He identified what crops and livestock were most suitable for each of the 76 provinces to raise. Towns were assigned specific vegetables and fruits: bean sprouts, soy, papaya, chili, onion, garlic, ginger, cassava, coconut, cabbage, lettuce, chayote, radish, sugarcane, salt, aside from rice. Cottage industries sprang up for shrimp paste, fish sauce, soy sauce and condiments. Large-scale poultry, piggery, goat and cattle-raising were encouraged, along with fish ponds and cages.

Agriculture boomed. Thai farmers became a formidable political class that can install or topple parliaments and prime ministers.

Adobo supposedly is the most popular Filipino dish for more than a century. Why Rizal never mentioned it in his many novels, short stories and essays is a puzzle, descendant Gemma Cruz Araneta wrote recently. What Rizal featured in “Noli Me Tangere” was tinolang manok (chicken stew). In chapter one, over dinner at Capitan Tiago’s house, Padre Damaso raged why he was served only chicken neck.

Sisig is becoming a global hit. Years ago, Ambassador to Washington Babe Romualdez reported how the sizzling pork cheek wowed diners across America to ask for second servings. Filipino envoys elsewhere made sure sisig was the fiesta feature.

For sisig, adobo and tinola to cross over the world, the Department of Trade and Industry suggests recipe standardization. Taking off from the book “Kulinarya,” DTI has assembled world class Filipino chefs for the task.

Foreign tourists want the taste of Filipino. Restaurateurs are only too willing to indulge them. Ten million overseas workers and five million emigrants can be ambassadors of “foodwill.”

They can serve up sinigang, dinuguan, kare-kare, lechon, humba, burong isda, bistek, longganisa, tocino. One won’t find lumpia shanghai or pancit canton in those Chinese cities; they’re Filipino concoctions. Balut and variations penoy, abnoy and maalat are attractions. Not to forget bibingka, suman, kutsinta, puto, biko, sapin-sapin, tibok-tibok, puto maya, puto bumbong, palitaw, minatamis na kaong and burong mangga. Halo-halô was originally Thai and gulaman Malaysian (gula melaka), but Filipinos perfected them.

Agriculture, trade, tourism and transport officials can get together to grow and distribute the ingredients. Food producers will have ready markets.

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

No time to lose: drill gas now

No time to lose: drill gas now

by | Apr 15, 2023 | Gotcha

photo from PNA

GOTCHA

written on September 14, 2022

 

The Philippines must drill for gas right away at Recto Bank. The country’s sole gas field Malampaya will run out in three years. With no huge alternative energy source, Filipinos would plunge into blackouts. Factories, hospitals, government offices, schools and malls will shut down. The economy will collapse.

Retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio reiterates that warning, while China is again fooling the Philippines into “joint development” of Recto (Reed) Bank. Beijing will just protract the talks, like it did in 2020-2022, to bring Manila to its knees.

“The Chinese Communist Party knows we are under the gun,” Carpio told Sapol-dwIZ Saturday. Its aim is to make Filipinos desperate at the brink of economic ruin, “so we will accept China’s illegal claim to Recto.”

Visiting Manila late August, CCP International Department Minister Liu Jianchao said the two countries are ready to resume talks on joint development. “We cannot accept that term,” Carpio said. “In its Foreign Ministry website China defines ‘joint development’ to mean it owns the natural resource, but will allow others to co-develop the area out of the goodness of its heart. Silly.”

In an earlier Memorandum of Understanding, Beijing accepted Manila’s preferred term: “joint exploration.”

“That term stresses that we have sovereignty and sovereign rights over Recto,” Carpio explained. “Our laws shall prevail. Our government already has awarded the Recto development contract to Forum Energy. We will simply subcontract part of the work to the state firm China National Offshore Oil Company.”

“Those MOU provisions were in line with our Constitution,” Carpio said. “As well, with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration verdict.”

Manila and Beijing signed two other documents. CNOOC’s participation would have settled disputes over the West Philippine Sea, as China accepted Philippine sovereignty.

 

But Beijing negotiated in bad faith. “Before the signing of the fourth and fifth agreements, including CNOOC’s subcontract, Beijing suddenly changed its tune,” Carpio recounted. “It demanded that ‘joint exploration’ be replaced with ‘joint development’. We cannot accept that.”

Recto is a fully submerged feature in the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone. “The Constitution and international law grant Filipinos exclusivity to benefit from the resources within,” Carpio said.

It is 800 miles distant from China. “The maximum maritime jurisdiction that any country can claim is 350 miles – 200 miles EEZ plus 150 miles extended continental shelf,” Carpio explained.

Recto is 120 miles off Palawan. It holds 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the US Energy Information Administration estimates.

Beijing claims Recto to be within its “nine-dash line,” concocted by landlubber officials in the 1940s. But The Hague ruling rubbished it.

Reacting last week to Liu, former foreign secretary Albert Del Rosario said the Philippines should proceed to drill petroleum, like Malaysia and Indonesia did last year in their EEZs. “Dialogue between two nations is always welcome,” he said. “The only good faith conduct of China is not to prevent or harass our countrymen from exploring and developing our natural resources.”

Claiming also the EEZs of Malaysia and Indonesia, China gunboats tried to stop the latter’s survey ships from erecting oil rigs. But Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta dispatched coastguards to escort their scientists. US warships held exercises nearby. The two ASEAN neighbors were able to assert their sovereignty and maritime rights even without a mutual defense treaty with Washington, which Manila has, Del Rosario noted.

Malaysia and Indonesia earn from petroleum exports. In contrast, when China harassed Forum Energy’s vessels early this year, Malacañang halted the exploration. Then-president Duterte publicized that “someone whispered to me” that Chinese President Xi Jinping would get mad, Carpio recalled.

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

Usec blaming farmers for bureaucrats’ failures

Usec blaming farmers for bureaucrats’ failures

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of Filipino farmers

GOTCHA

written on September 9, 2022

 

Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban unfairly blames farmers for inability to sell their produce. Farmers deserve care, not castigation. They’re at the mercy of natural and man-made threats.

Typhoons disrupt enough. Floods ruin farms, as legislators pocket multibillion-peso congressional pork barrels from ghost river dredging. Department of Agriculture bureaucrats not only delay cash subsidies, they also leave planters, fishers and poultry-livestock raisers to fend for themselves in knowhow and tech. They abet cartel over-imports and smuggling, then take bribes from seedling, pesticide and machinery procurements.

Panganiban must know that. He was in DA and related offices 40 years, 1961-2001, before resurrecting 21 years later this month at age 83.

“They plant crops but don’t think about the market for their harvests,” Panganiban told OneNews.PH/STAR Wednesday. But did mindless planting really lead to oversupply and spoilage of garlic in Batanes and cabbage in Benguet?

No. Gov. Marilou Cayco laments that 25 tons of un-transported garlic, out of a 60-ton harvest in Itbayat island, resulted from unexpected factors. Traders in Cagayan mainland suddenly cut back on domestic buying when cheap Chinese garlic flooded Luzon.

Neglected by DA in alternative cropping, Batanes folk plant year-round typhoon-resistant root crops like garlic and turmeric. They expected brisk sales, as DA announced garlic shortage this second half of 2022. Figures were presented at a House hearing in August: 73,146-ton demand versus 37,000-ton supply. Then the spice cartel struck again, dumping Chinese garlic to retail at P100 per kilo. Its aim was to force Itbayat farmers to sell to them at rates less than production cost.

Same with Benguet cabbage. A viral video showed Jan Slay Magno of Itogon, beside Baguio City, chopping his family’s harvest for fertilizer. Better to use it as soil fattener, he said, because commercial brands were too costly and cabbage was selling at P5 per kilo, one-third the capital.

 

Interviewed on Ted Failon’s radio-tv show Wednesday, farmer-leader Romeo Wagayan of far-off Buguias confirmed the malady. Egged on by traders with some fertilizer donations, they planted cabbage, only to be duped at harvest time. Victimized too often, he discourages his three sons from farming.

DA needs new blood. Only then can it modernize soil and crop research, planting techniques and facilities, and farmer-market linkages. It can be done; I’ve seen it done in the early 1990s by young fieldmen of USAID’s Agribusiness System Assistance Program. Chancing upon La Union farmers hawking fresh tomatoes at Dagupan City plaza ridiculously cheap at P15 per bulging sack, I quickly informed my brother-in-law, ASAP-North Luzon officer. The country was only then beginning to use home computers and ordinary cell phones. He sought a few minutes for research and calls. Then he phoned back to tell the farmers in broken Ilocano to reload their wares on to the rented trucks and proceed to Urdaneta 30 kms away where they can fetch at least P50. Sadness turned into smiles. USAID replicated such feat countless times through Growth with Equity in Mindanao.

Young idealistic political appointees can lick corruption. Longtime bureaucrats won’t do it; they’re either part of the rackets or scared to fight. Are new DA officials up to it?

For decades now regulators have been allowing unnecessary imports of vegetables, fruits, corn, sugar, poultry, pork and seafoods – at low or no duties. Expired permits are recycled – technical smuggling – in cahoots with crooked Customs men. They’ve divided the territory. In piers only Customs monitors refrigerated cargo containers; off-port only DA looks into cold storages. Sleaze rages on, Congress hearings last June revealed.

La Trinidad farmer-leader Agot Balanoy spent the whole of last year exposing smuggling of Chinese carrots, chayote, broccoli, squash and gourd. Despite no bail and life terms, economic saboteurs remain scot free.

Blamed for DA’s failures, farmers will doubt Panganiban’s capability to end corruption and ineptitude. Re-entering DA with him is a former assistant secretary linked to hundred-million-peso pork barrel in 2013. At risk are DA and eight agencies’ funds, remnants of this year’s P178 billion, refreshed next year with P254 billion. Imperiled too is President Bongbong Marcos’ plan to stave off hunger and redeem the family name.

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

Shortage, food inflation to push up living expenses

Shortage, food inflation to push up living expenses

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

Photo from PNA

GOTCHA

written on September 7, 2022

 

“Bahay Kubo” vegetable prices spiked P10-P100 per kilo last week. Eggplant, tomato, gourd, squash, radish, mustard, beans, cabbage, lettuce are becoming unaffordable. The ”-ber months” of the long Filipino Yuletide have just begun. Data indicate worse times ahead.

Five years of bad governance have clobbered the vegetable and fruit sector. Over-importation and unabated agri-smuggling drove many planters out of business. Weather disturbances, tripling of fertilizer rates and costly transport fuel and warehouse electricity finished off the stragglers. Rosendo So, chairman of Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, does not see production recovering soon.

Spices are expensive – if one can find onion, garlic, ginger and chili at all. Few grew red onion this season, says Ronnie Ringor of Pangasinan. White variety sells for a staggering P450-P500 a kilo.

Last summer the government let the import cartel flood Luzon with cheap Indian shallot, the first time since 1946. With no storage support, Mindoro farmers had to burn nine million kilos of rotting produce. The cartelists were identified in two Senate hearings last June and again last week. Government has not put them behind bars for no-bail, life-term economic sabotage.

Over-importation and meager assistance for fertilizer and transportation have discouraged corn growers. Drop in harvest set off a chain reaction.

Philippine corn is the best poultry feed, says Elias Inciong, United Broiler Raisers Association president. With supply scarce, they had to turn to pricier foreign brands. The long humid summer further stunted chickens due to poor appetite.

Only a few raisers remain. Last July’s sudden shortage of chicken breast and thigh in restaurant chains can recur. Agriculture officials justified the imports as “pro-consumer.” The Bureau of Animal Industry permitted 212.4 million kilos from abroad in the first seven months of 2022. Yet since July, consumer prices jumped P20 per kilo per month, from P180 to P220.

Pork imports also rose 19.4 percent to 397.9 kilos. But tariffs were slashed to only 15-25 percent, again purportedly for consumers. The tariff cut left the government with little cash to buy and bury diseased stocks from backyard piggeries. African Swine Fever continues to spread in Luzon. Ham makers and meat processors are petitioning for price increases, trade officials said Monday.

 

Fish prices are rising. Bangus began to retail P20 more per kilo Sept. 1 due to feed scarcity. Hog raisers oppose the import of processed animal protein, the superior fish fattener, from ASF-infested countries. Bangus and tilapia growers counter that the ASF virus is destroyed because PAP is prepared at 70 degrees Centigrade or higher. The Dept. of Agriculture must referee the debate, aquaculturist Norbert Chingcuanco says. Meanwhile, Taal volcanic rumblings can disrupt tilapia harvest.

Expect 20-25 percent inventory drop in canned sardines, adds Roderic Santos, Association of Fresh Fish Traders president. Bulusan volcano’s eruption last June marred fishing in Bicol. Stronger habagat (southwest monsoon) and costly fuel disheartened fishers there and in Samar-Leyte. Commercial fishers stay home at the slightest inkling of losses from full moon, heavy rains, current and distance. Supplies to three sardine canneries in Luzon are down. Reports are awaited from Zamboanga counterparts.

Senators are investigating last month’s 300,000-ton sugar import mess. Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez and sugar regulators blamed each other for it.

Obvious from testimonies is that government, again invoking consumer welfare, has been importing more industrial sugar than for home use. Sugarcane millers claim that domestic production is 400,000 tons short due to usual poor farming and last December’s typhoon. But Customs raids of seaports and warehouses yield millions of sacks, notes SINAG’s So. The raids turned out to be false alarms of smuggling and hoarding. Fifteen-day delays in sugar stock unloading and trading have increased demurrage and storage costs, which will likely be passed on to buyers.

In 1997 president Fidel Ramos, Senate president Ed Angara and Speaker Joe de Venecia enacted a visionary Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization. Later presidents and Congresses ruined the industry. Machineries for farmer cooperatives were procured at overprice. Ghost river dredging, allegedly to avert farm flooding, became pork barrel fronts. Up to 1990 the Philippines was self-sufficient in salt; by 2008 it was importing 80 percent. Today the 7,641 islands buy 93 percent from abroad.

The Philippines must import 2.9 million tons of rice per year. International prices are high due to floods, wars and droughts. Food inflation will push up other costs of living: transportation, utilities, medicine, housing. If President Bongbong Marcos as agriculture secretary is able to avert food shortage, he will get no thanks since he’s expected to do that. If he fails…

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

As rice shortage looms, farmers remain unaided

As rice shortage looms, farmers remain unaided

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of Filipino farmers

GOTCHA

written on September 2, 2022

 

Expect low rice harvest and high prices as usual this Christmas. The Philippines must import 2.9 million tons – 58 million sacks. That won’t be easy. The Ukraine war and weather disturbances have cut other countries’ grain productions.

The government can only depend on Filipino farmers. Yet it has not fully handed out the small cash incentives for 2021 to many of them. And it still has to start distributing the aid due this 2022.

More than 400,000 planters have yet to receive P5,000 each in Rice Farmer Financial Assistance for 2021. The cash should have been given out in September-October last year, former agriculture secretary Leonardo Montemayor laments. The government-owned Land Bank will begin paying only this week, and only to 91,000 in Ilocos, Cagayan, Central Luzon and Western Visayas. The rest will have to wait as the bank sorts out paperwork.

The RFFA recompenses farmers for income lost from the flood of imports starting 2020. Only a little over a million are eligible, those who own less than two hectares; half a million others won’t get aid. The Development Bank of the Philippines has paid RFFA to 600,000 others as of last June.

Another P5,000 each for 2022 has yet to be distributed to the million-plus small farmers, says Montemayor, Federation of Free Farmers chairman. That’s on top of the seedling and fertilizer aid under the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Program. Government already has the money for it – from rice import duties collected starting mid-2021.

 

It will have a hard time sourcing the 2.9-million-ton shortfall from abroad. That’s in addition to 508,000-ton emergency stocks, good for 15 days, it must store for typhoons, earthquakes and drought.

China’s northern wheat lands suffered floods in the first half of 2022, then a 70-day heatwave in southern rice fields. It will import six million tons of rice to offset its poor harvest. Drought ruined wheat crops in America and India, forcing international buyers to shift to other cereals, principally rice. But India’s rice harvest has dropped by 10 million tons.

Harvests in Thailand and Vietnam, the Philippines’ main suppliers, are expected to increase. But rich countries will also line up at their export doors and likely elbow out poor Philippines. Playing up ASEAN neighborliness can only do so much. Singapore and strife-torn Myanmar also need rice. All ten ASEAN members, plus Korea, Japan and Timor, are storing up in case of war between China and Taiwan.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February delayed the latter’s wheat cropping as one of the world’s largest suppliers. Disrupted too was planting in neighboring Poland and Belarus. Nitrogen fertilizer, derived mainly from natural gas, fell due to economic sanctions against Russia, the world’s largest producer. Deliveries were stuck in Black Sea embargos. The world shifted to costlier potassium and phosphate fatteners.

Fertilizer prices have tripled in the Philippines, crippling not only rice farmers. Planters of corn, sugar, vegetables and fruits also groan.

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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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.