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Effective social development will make ‘ayuda’ irrelevant

Effective social development will make ‘ayuda’ irrelevant

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of ayuda distribution

GOTCHA

written on July 22, 2022

 

Have the conditional cash transfers bred indolence? Answering that can gauge the effect of the centerpiece anti-poverty program of three admins, 2007-2022.

CCTs aim for child nutritional and educational care. Depending on the number of children, the poorest of the poor families receive P500 to P1,400 a month plus free rice. Parents not only must ensure offspring’s school attendance; pregnant and nursing mothers should also have regular checkups at barangay centers.

Critics had warned at the onset that the monthly “ayuda” would lead to sloth. More so if parents are not afforded skills training but come to rely only on CCTs and alms for subsistence. To stave off those concerns, program planners promised parents’ enrollment in courses at the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. As well, in apprenticeships in local governments, cooperatives and businesses. Was that done?

Small farm owners have been heard to complain about the difficulty of hiring extra hands for planting and harvesting. They used to tap barrio pools of farm workers, kept busy year-round weeding, fertilizing, spraying, threshing, drying, processing and packing. But the CCTs allegedly dis-incentivize farm work. Fathers from CCT-recipient families remain untrained yet no longer work because of the assured monthly cash, hopefully not for liquor. Mothers meanwhile hire themselves out as housemaids in distant cities, coming home only every election week on cash enticements of local politicos.

With no help in the small farm, owners lose interest in planting and just focus on their main jobs as teachers or small traders. Farms become idle. Meantime the question arises: who’s taking care of CCT-beneficiary children?

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How widespread such malady is needs study. But one thing is sure, CCTs are not the be-all and end-all of anti-poverty. They must go hand-in-hand with parental skills training, job placements, productivity and values formation. CCTs must also boost family incomes from fishing, planting, backyard poultry and piggery, even odd jobs.

New Social Welfare Sec. Erwin Tulfo announced the “graduation” of 1.3 million households from the CCT program. “They can now stand on their own two feet. They can survive day-to-day and their children have finished school,” he said of the more than 25 percent of the 4.4 million CCT recipients.

It’s good that CCT succeeded on a quarter of the dependents. Tulfo’s task, however, is to make sure that the remaining three-fourths – 3.1 million families – also pull out of forever from the rut of penury.

The natural next target is to prevent any new family to become penurious. Tulfo cannot do that by himself. Other Cabinet members – for agriculture and food, health, basic education, labor and employment, tourism, environment and natural resources, transportation, trade and industry, communications, science and technology – must keep poverty alleviation in mind.

As of latest count, March 2022, 5.8 percent of 45 million working-age Filipinos were unemployed, and 14.9 percent underemployed. That’s 2.6 million warm bodies without work, and 6.7 million short of income. Aside from work attitudes-building, a multi-pronged approach for livelihoods can minimize the need for any more CCTs.

 

                                             

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

Powerful but overworked Little President Rodriguez

Powerful but overworked Little President Rodriguez

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of Vic Rodriguez

GOTCHA

written on July 15, 2022

 

Executive Secretary-designate Vic Rodriguez is being blamed for Malacañang snafus. Congress, the Opposition and media accord new President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. the traditional 100-day honeymoon to adjust to the rigors of office. But not the so-called Little President.

No one else but Rodriguez must take the fall for conflicted appointees, contradictory announcements and controversial actions. Humbly accepting fault to preserve the President’s “infallibility” are among the many unofficial job descriptions of the ES.

From murmurs in Malacañang, Rodriguez had it coming. Supposedly he re-centralized to his office functions formerly dispersed to other units. That made him powerful, if overloaded.

No longer convening is the screening committee that includes longtime presidential buddy Anton Lagdameo and Zenaida Angping. They have eased into their respective posts as Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Management Staff head. Assistant screeners, including a former Cabinet technocrat of President Cory Aquino, have disbanded.

Rodriguez is left to vet 8,000 presidential appointees by himself. Those must be fielded fast to dozens of agencies and commissions under the Office of the President. Plus, the various departments, bureaus, boards, councils, authorities and government-owned and -controlled corporations.

On their first afternoon in office, June 30, Rodriguez got Marcos Jr. to knock down two Malacañang units. Executive Order No. 1 abolished the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission. The PACC’s duties were returned to the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs.

 

 

Erstwhile PACC chief Greco Belgica was askance. Former president Rody Duterte had spun off the PACC precisely because DESLA was undermanned, with only 11 plantilla positions. Already buried in legal work, it became burdened with investigating crooked presidential appointees among the 8,000. Belgica commented: “Ang masasabi ko lang diyan, kapag natambakan [uli] ng kaso ang DESLA, hindi nare-resolve ang kaso, hindi alam ng tao ang nangyayari, lalong lalala ang korapsyon kasi walang napaparusahan.”

Also scrapped was the Office of the Cabinet Secretary. The OCS used to schedule Cabinet meetings, set agendas, line up attendees and assign reports. Now its staff has reverted to PMS, and its functions to the ES, primus inter pares among Cabinet members.

President Fidel Ramos, 1992-1998, used to annotate policy papers and project studies presented to him with the letters “CSW” in red ink. Meaning, he wanted complete staff work on all aspects of the proposal. Broadcast commentators, newspaper columnists and social media influencers criticize Rodriguez for a series of incomplete staff work.

Four appointees to a transport agency have been exposed for conflict of interest as shipping businessmen, one of them owing the government P132 million. The recommendation for Marcos Jr. to veto tax incentives to the rising New Manila International Airport was seen as a damper to high-tech aviation investors. The floating of an election loser’s name as secretary of Environment and Natural Resources has been cured with Marcos Jr. naming a scientist. But that of Secretary of Energy, initially eyed for two unfit congressmen, remains unresolved. Malacañang last Monday said it has finally tapped former Energy chief Raphael Lotilla to return, then took it back two hours later for imagined conflict of interest.

At least Rodriguez’s workload is lightened by Marcos Jr.’s retention of a SAP. Duterte first created the position to accommodate his 30-year-long aide and confidant, now Senator Bong Go. Then-ES Salvador Medialdea didn’t mind the turf overlap. Marcos Jr.’s SAP Lagdameo will oversee presidential advisers and consultants, starting with that of police-military affairs.

Hopefully Marcos Jr. will not repeat Duterte’s blunder of appointing as special economic adviser a Chinese carpet-bagger. That alien, Michael Yang, got embroiled in the P12.5-billion pricey pandemic supplies to the government.

 

 

                                             

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

Career execs cannot be fired in gov’t revamp

Career execs cannot be fired in gov’t revamp

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

Logo of Career Executive Service Board

GOTCHA

written on July 13, 2022

 

Newbies in top government posts must restrain themselves. They are mere political nominees, coterminous with the six-year President. They cannot remove career executive service officers at will. Unlike them, CESOs enjoy security of tenure under any admin.

In the past two weeks, a good number of CESOs were eased out. Supposedly they no longer will receive salaries starting payday July 15. The new admin is rushing to complete 8,000 political appointments within its first 100 days. Clarifications can avert discord.

CESOs attained eligibilities through rigorous exams, panel interviews, competency reviews and experience. Most head divisions and bureaus; some are higher – undersecretaries and acting secretaries. They are spread in dozens of agencies and commissions under the Office of the President. As well, in the various departments and government-owned and -controlled corporations. All are licensed professionals: engineers, architects, doctors, accountants, lawyers, statisticians, etc. They provide institutional knowledge for government newcomers. CESOs being crucial to government continuity, Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. in Presidential Decree No. 1, Sept. 24, 1972, created the Career Executive Service Board.

Two sections of Memo Circular No. 1 are being misinterpreted. Executive Secretary-designate Vic Rodriguez “Declar[ed] Vacant Certain Positions in the Departments, Offices, Agencies and Bureaus in the Executive and Fix[ed] Rules Therefor to Ensure Continuous and Effective Delivery of Service” on June 30, 2022. As with any new admin on its first day in office, MC-1 covered “All presidential appointees classified as coterminous.” It further included:

• “All presidential appointees occupying positions created in excess of the authorized staffing pattern,” and

• “All non-Career Executive Service Officials occupying Career Executive Service positions.”

Some CESOs occupy positions in excess of plantilla. This is because previous department and agency heads filled up available positions with yes-men. They even placed gofers in positions reserved for CESOs. Only on hindsight did they see fit to elevate certain CESOs and thus created special non-plantilla positions for them. This was against CES Board rules. The CESOs quietly bore the mistreatment.

Enter the newbies, adding insult to injury. Combining those two sections of MC-1, they mis-concluded that CESOs are expendable.

They are so wrong. The 1987 Constitution is clear: “Article IX-B, Civil Service Commission, Section 2(3) – No officer or employee of the civil service shall be removed or suspended except for cause provided by law.”

 

 

Tenure and eligibility should be respected. If their positions are abolished in revamps, CESOs may be reassigned and transferred. CES Board Resolution No. 640 (2006) states that such reassignments and transfers shall be:

• “Made in the exigency of public service;

• “Made to existing, vacant and equivalent or higher CES plantilla positions which require the same expertise possessed by the CESOs concerned;

• “Not result in reduction of rank or salary including benefits, allowances and privileges received prior to reassignment or transfer;

• “Not be oftener than once in every two years.”

Putting a CESO on floating status is a no-no for the CES Board.

Malacañang announced Monday President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s “appointment” of Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla as Secretary of Energy. Two hours later came a clarification that it was merely a “nomination.” Lotilla’s employment status as independent director in two private power firms supposedly needed reviewing.

Malacañang does not need to announce the dozens of nominations or applications to any position. Only appointments are publicized. There likely was incomplete staff work on Lotilla, a former energy secretary, 2005-2007, under president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

To begin with, independent directorship is not a bar under RA 7638, Section 8, which states: “No officer, external auditor, accountant or legal counsel of any private company or enterprise primarily engaged in the energy industry shall be eligible for appointment as Secretary within two years from his retirement, resignation or separation therefrom.”

Being a director is different from being an officer. The difference is more stark with independent directors.

SEC Memo Circular No. 16 (2002) enumerates “Guidelines on the Nomination and Election of Independent Directors.” A person elected as independent director shall be disqualified during his tenure if he “becomes an officer or employee of the corporation where he is such member of the board of directors/trustees.”

The Corporation Law requires big firms to have independent directors representing small stockholders and other stakeholders. There are special eligibility courses to become an independent director.

Ordinary directors can be appointed as officers and thus become executive directors. An independent director is independent of Management, one who is paid to bite the hand that feeds him.

 

 

                                             

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

Besides true history, Manila airport needs better services

Besides true history, Manila airport needs better services

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of the MIA (NAIA)

GOTCHA

written on July 8, 2022

 

Conversion of the old US Air Force’s Nichols Field in Pasay into the Manila International Airport began in 1947 during Manuel Roxas’ presidency. Overseas commercial flights commenced with a longer runway and taxiway in 1953 during the term of president Elpidio Quirino.

Those facts negate the purpose of renaming MIA from Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Ferdinand E. Marcos International Airport. Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves’ House Bill 610 says, “It is more appropriate to rename it to the person who has contributed to the idea and execution of the said noble project.”

Marcos in 1946-1947 was among Roxas’ several technical assistants. In 1949-1959 he was congressman of Ilocos Norte, 503 kilometers from MIA. Successive administrations modernized and expanded the facility. President in 1965-1986, Marcos rebuilt the main terminal razed by fire in 1972. MIA came to be known as Ninoy Aquino International Airport via RA 6639 of 1987 to remember the 1983 assassination of the democracy icon-senator at the tarmac.

Still Teves adds, “It is more appropriate to bear the name that has contributed and legacy (sic) in our country to make the Philippines a center of international and domestic (sic) air travel, who has instituted and built or conceptualized the project in making pride (sic) of our country.” Malacañang, now under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., is distancing itself from the bill.

Other matters are more urgent at MIA. Passenger services need improving. MIA recently was rated worst international airport for business travelers. The reasons are obvious. Toilets at the three terminals are few, cramped, decrepit, stinky and dank. Pity arriving passengers who delay calls of nature inflight only to confront long queues on landing.

Waiting and departure lounges are limited. Spaces have given way to cafes and shops, some owned by relatives and friends of MIA managers. Drinking fountains, if any, are hard to spot. Passengers must buy bottled water six times the normal price.

There’s no place except on the floor to work on laptops. Exhausted voyagers whose flights are delayed long hours stretch out and sleep there too. Flight announcements blare like circus barkers from tinny sound systems.

 

 

The previous admin mislabeled MIA as a destination airport and not a hub. Overlooked were 13,500 daily arrivers from overseas work who connect to flights home, plus the same number of daily departees who fly out of MIA also from island connections. Also, tourists who rush off to final resort destinations, instead of exiting MIA and getting snarled in Manila’s notorious traffic.

MIA, with Clark Airport in Pampanga, Mactan Airport in Cebu and Davao City Airport, are hubs for the archipelago’s 7,641 final destinations. Ignoring that, former managers wasted P640 million on facelift of one terminal’s exterior. Another P680 million was frittered away to replace another terminal’s baggage conveyor belt that only needed repair.

A decades-long P12-million yearly contract for grass-cutting and janitorial works suddenly was doubled for unverified equipment upgrade. A P300-million computerization did not cover the most crucial portion of MIA operations: accounts receivables. That enabled influential airlines to evade payment of multimillion-peso airport fees. Aircraft use the tarmac for hours-long repairs instead of being towed away. A Chinese jumbo jet that skidded off the concrete taxiway years ago is still there, a safety hazard.

A huge commercial space was leased for two years without MIA board approval to the in-house lawyer’s son-in-law who turned around and subleased it for ten years to an international airline for thrice the amount. Two MIA Authority board members kept blowing the whistle on the scams. If not for them, MIA would have granted P109-billion rehab and operations to a bankrupt firm.

MIA is hopelessly congested. Wedged between residential-commercial subdivisions, its T-shaped runways can no longer be extended or accept more takeoffs and landings. The P620-million transfer of cargo flights and fish runs to Sangley airstrip across Manila Bay failed. The runway there floods up with rains and high tide.

The old airport can tandem with Clark for business and leisure travelers until San Miguel Corp. builds the modern replacement four-and-a-half times bigger in Bulacan.

                                               

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

Presidents never err; only appointees do

Presidents never err; only appointees do

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo of the White House and Malacañang

GOTCHA

written on July 6, 2022

 

The President is always right. Not so his appointees. When the highest official of the land fouls up, a lesser mortal must take the fall.

The White House evolved that infallibility rule. The US Chief Executive’s image must be kept intact, noted George Reedy in “The Twilight of the Presidency” (1970). First in Washington’s firing line is the White House Chief of Staff. The CoS is the president’s right-hand man, overseeing for him the entire executive staff. The appointee needs no congressional consent, but lower ones must pass grilling.

Adopting America’s ways, Malacañang follows that unwritten code. The Philippine equivalent is the executive secretary. While that primus inter pares of appointees must submit his credentials, Congress’ Commission on Appointments confirms him promptly, as courtesy to the President.

The ES has both line and staff functions. He supervises 8,000 other presidential choices. Those include the President’s immediate circle: spokesman, legal counsel, finance director, aide-de-camp, protocol officer, social secretary and management staff. Plus, Cabinet secretaries, under- and assistant secretaries, bureau and regional directors, commissioners and state corporation board members.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has barely started the selection. Only a week in office, he has yet to pick secretaries for health, energy and environment and natural resources. The rest can be stretched over the first 100 days’ honeymoon with the opposition, press and public.

Yet controversies rumble about early choices. Reportedly with conflicts of interest are the four highest positions at a GOCC (government-owned and controlled corporation). The general manager-designate reportedly owns with daughters ferry lines. Operating 20 percent of ports, his firms allegedly owe government P132 million. His lawyer claims they intend to pay the debt after litigation. He is said to be bringing in three fellow-shipping and port businessmen to various positions. “The regulated also will be the regulators,” competitors howled.

 

Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez is expected to withdraw the appointments. He must avert the explosion of the issue in his boss Marcos Jr.’s face. Those backgrounds may have slipped past the vetting committee; Rodriguez must serve as final screener.

Three other controversies have been reported. One is the surprise nomination of an ex-congressman with no knowledge in the energy secretary-ship. This shunted aside another former lawmaker and dynastic supporter of Marcos Jr. Second is the placement as environment secretary of a failed mayoral candidate last May. The law bans election losers from government appointment till after one year.

The last is Marcos Jr.’s veto of the bill for economic zone status to the rising New Manila International Airport in Bulacan.

Authored by Marcos’ sister Senator Imee Marcos, the bill grants tax incentives to aviation investors that would set up shop in Aerocity beside the 1,500-hectare NMIA. Congress intends such incentives to attract high-tech firms. San Miguel Corp. is to build the P740-billion aerodrome on its own, without sovereign guarantee.

The veto could have been limited to the exemption from certain state audit rules, the portion that Malacañang disliked. The Constitution’s Article VI, Section 27 allows line-item veto in an appropriation, revenue or tariff bill. Raising eyebrows, the blanket veto unfairly put SMC’s project in a bad light. It was rushed last weekend apparently with incomplete staffwork, as the bill would have lapsed into law last Monday, 30 days after enrollment.

Those controversies could have been avoided. Four times the President was left with nobody covering his back.

In his book “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency” (2017), political analyst Chris Whipple quoted job self-descriptions by 30 former CoS of 12 US presidents. Among them: the President’s SOB, absolute loyalty to the Boss, able to meld policy and politics, know how to fire and be fired, humble enough to listen to all, present to the Chief Executive all views including those contrary to his, able to tell the President painful truths, manage daily the President’s idea-processing time to include screening of unnecessary visitors even close friends and relatives, and discipline appointees who have “spoils of war” mentality. Most of all, must willingly take the bullet for him.

                                                 

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

Resume the drug war – scientifically this time

Resume the drug war – scientifically this time

by | Apr 14, 2023 | Gotcha

PNA photo

GOTCHA

written on July 1, 2022

 

Ending the shabu scourge remains top priority. A society softened by addiction cannot progress. The previous admin admitted failure of its promised drug war. The new one must avoid past mistakes.

The campaign flopped because driven by dazzle and not data. Planning was haphazard. Malacañang trumpeted to wipe out shabu lords in three months, then six months, then one year. None of the deadlines was met.

Four of five supposed syndicate bosses were slain: two in prison, the third in police custody and the fourth in a raid. The last, close to higher-ups, was spared. Narcs dismantled dozens of shabu laboratories in rented mansions with swimming pools, penthouse condos and huge piggeries. Police barged into shanties or busted pushers in the streets. Thousands were killed following a pattern: “nanlaban (they resisted)”, pulling out rusty 38 caliber revolvers from basketball shorts when cornered.

Crime-riddled streets turned quiet. Over a million confessed addicts surrendered to barangay officials. But there was no rehab plan at all. After half-day lectures under the sun, they were told to go home and sin no more. Left unused was a multi-story halfway house hurriedly built inside a military camp by a Chinese donor who turned out to be in the government’s very drug watchlist.

The demand-side of the narco-trade remained. Yet authorities could not agree on figures. The policy-making Dangerous Drugs Board estimated addicts to number 1.6 million. Its Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and deputized Philippine National Police counted 3.2 million. Wars are lost on miscalculations.

The supply-side went on too. Shabu continued to be smuggled by the tons in ports or dropped shipside in isolated islands. Contraband slipped past Customs inside metal printing cylinders and magnetic lifters, or concealed in cargo containers of tapioca starch and tea bags.

Malacañang and its enforcers could not see their mistakes. Hunger for publicity blinded them. They kept top billing the tens to hundreds of millions of pesos worth of shabu they confiscated in street buy-busts. More so, the billions in cash of bulks they interdicted in warehouses.

But peso values were inaccurate measures of success. Those values fluctuate depending on smuggling arrivals and location of seizure. A freshly delivered kilo-bag (1000 grams) of shabu may fetch P10 million for gangsters in Bicol or the Visayas, where they have fewer provincial sub-dealers and street-pushers to sell to fewer addicts. Yet even only a tenth of that volume in 100 one-gram sachets peddled by a grandmother can command the same P10 million in Metro Manila, where there are more cops on the lookout. Enforcers craved media headlines for nabbing without understanding the fluctuations.

After each such multimillion-peso success, vice squad leaders wrote up self-commendatory reports for promotion. As they rose in rank, they “intensified” the drug war for still higher promotion.

The better success measure should be the volume of shabu versus the number of addicts. Authorities should seize more supply to make it prohibitive for addicts – assuming the latter finish months-long rehab.

Only once did the PDEA summarize its data – in #RealNumbersPH, July 1, 2016-June 30, 2019. Stated among others was that 4,409 kilos of shabu were seized in those three years. Its value of P34.75 billion is irrelevant.

Days after PDEA released the report in November 2019, the PNP-Drug Enforcement Group reiterated what it was up against. Three million addicts each snort one gram of shabu per week. That’s a staggering three million grams or 3,000 kilos a week. The value of that shabu market is P25 billion a week, PNP-DEG said. That’s why criminals persist in narco-trafficking.

Analyzing the PDEA and PNP-DEG data showed a dismal success rate. In the 156 weeks of July 2016-June 2019, the government had seized only one-and-a-half week’s consumption of shabu. That was at the cost of nearly 6,000 drug lords, pushers – and lawmen – killed.

As far back as April 2019, Malacañang surrendered: “The shabu problem was swallowing the country.” Thereafter, raids and buy-busts continued here and there – still highlighting the irrelevant street values instead of the volumes.

If the drug war must resume, it should be scientific this time. (Read also “Report volume, not value of shabu interdictions”, Gotcha, 4 Dec. 2019: https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2019/12/04/1974051/report-volume-not-value-shabu-interdictions

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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  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.