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SC twice ordered Consing to be tried for fraud, but …

SC twice ordered Consing to be tried for fraud, but …

by | Nov 17, 2023 | Gotcha

Mainstream and social media checked Consing’s background as soon as he was appointed – PNA photo

GOTCHA

Any news about the Marcos Jr. admin’s “sovereign” Maharlika Investment Fund sparks controversy. So when Malacañang aide Rafael Jose Consing Jr. was appointed Monday as MIF president, documents swiftly spread online about his two cases of financial fraud.

“Red flags!” texts warned. Critics repeatedly have been expressing doubts about MIF’s aim and viability. As Consing’s appointer, President Bongbong Marcos appeared to have broken the MIF Law’s ban against officers previously convicted of estafa.

The online documents were of two Supreme Court verdicts on a land sale involving Consing and mother Cecilia De la Cruz. Pleadings were similar. In the first, dated Jan. 16, 2003, five justices of the SC 1st Division unanimously ordered Consing’s trial by the Imus, Cavite Court for criminal fraud.

In the other, July 15, 2013, five new justices of the SC 1st Division again unanimously ordered Consing’s trial by the Makati Court for criminal fraud. Reversed twice ten years apart were his pleas to the Court of Appeals to be spared from lower court criminal trials till resolution of two parallel civil suits.

Then-Justice Lucas Bersamin crafted the 2013 decision. He is now Marcos Jr.’s Executive Secretary. In such position, he must vet appointees like Consing prior to presidential signature.

Lower court trials ensued on common facts. In Feb. 1997, real estate firm Plus Builders inquired to buy De la Cruz’s 42.4-hectare Imus lot with Transfer Certificate of Title T-687599. After due diligence, Plus Builders’ lawyers advised it to proceed. Its general manager, Mariano Martinez, Jr. would later testify he was satisfied with the legal opinion.

Martinez would also later testify that he was then in joint land ventures with ex-classmate Ricardo Fernandez, president of Unicapital. Fernandez was a former co-worker of Consing’s. Conferring with Consing that July, Fernandez and Martinez asked him to be De la Cruz’s agent/attorney-in-fact. Subsequently, Plus Builders lawyers asked De la Cruz to designate Consing as such.

Sometime later, a certain Po Willie Yu came forward to claim ownership of the entire land. Two titles appeared to previously cover the property: Po’s TCT T-114708 and one Juanito Tan Teng’s TCT T-191408. The Cavite provincial capitol and the Land Registration Authority declared TCT T-191408 “spurious.”

A week apart in Jan. 2000, Plus Builders sued Consing in Imus and Unicapital in Makati for Estafa through Falsification of Public Documents. They accused De la Cruz and Consing of conspiracy. As well, that Consing misrepresented himself as lot owner to entice them despite knowing that TCTs T-687599 and T-191408 were fake.

Both Imus and Makati Courts acquitted Consing, with the latter also absolving him of civil liabilities.

Excerpts from the Imus Court’s conclusions on July 3, 2006:

• “Several loose ends [exist] in the prosecution’s evidence to establish falsification.”;

• “When Consing started to deal with Martinez in July 1997, it was as attorney-in-fact for his mother. [Given] Plus Builders’ prior due diligence, there was nothing Consing could’ve added to or detracted from Plus Builders’ independent evaluation. … [Its] own investigations in Feb.-Mar. 1997 convinced it about soundness of property purchase.”;

• “Hence, it cannot be said that Plus Builders was induced to part with its money or property because of false pretense and fraudulent act means by Consing.”;

• On alleged misrepresentation as co-owner, “Nothing from the Deed of Absolute Sale, Memorandum of Agreement, and Agreement with Plus builders by Consing [shows that] he represented himself to be other than agent for his mother.”

From the Makati Court, Feb. 4, 2016:

• “A perusal of records would show that not a single proof was adduced to establish forgery and falsification of TCT T-687599.”;

• “This Court is convinced that [Unicapital’s] deciding factor to pay was not the presence of Consing … [But] the Mar. 1997 due diligence report of the law firm.”;

• “Prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the elements of Estafa Through Falsification of Public Documents under paragraph 2(a), Article 315, Revised Penal Code.”

Consing was as quick as his critics to send this column his rebuttal. Economists will continue to monitor how he runs MIF and who Marcos Jr.’s other board appointees will be. Transparency and accountability are needed because MIF’s P500 billion capital is people’s money.

* * *

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.

Make it easy for shipowners to pick up/let off seafarers

Make it easy for shipowners to pick up/let off seafarers

by | Nov 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Filipino seafarers were either stranded in foreign ports or overextended in shipboard stints during the pandemic – PNA photo

GOTCHA

How can government ensure more overseas job placements for 490,000 Filipino seafarers? How can it lower their costs of boarding and debarking at international ports?

Here’s a quick way. Slash the atrociously high port rates for international ships to enter domestic harbors. That will encourage foreign shipowners to pick up and let off seamen in Philippine ports.

Once that’s done, seamen no longer will have to fly to and from Europe and the Americas to start or end nine-month shipboard stints. They can do it in Manila, Subic, Laoag, Batangas, Puerto Princesa, Legazpi, Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro or Davao.

Boarding or debarking per seafarer cost hundreds of thousands of pesos. It includes roundtrip international airfare, hotel bookings, transfers and food. Upright shipowners absorb such costs. Shabby ones tacitly deduct the amounts from seamen’s pay.

Foreign shipowners and seamen will save such sums if picked up and dropped off in the Philippines. Former foreign secretary Teddyboy Locsin already fixed the process during the pandemic lockdowns.

At that time paranoid countries barred foreign vessels from entering seaports. Others required long COVID-19 testing for crewmen. Shipboard stints of Filipinos, the majority of international seafarers, were over-extended to 18 months. Meanwhile, countless replacement countrymen could not board because prohibited from landing in foreign seaports.

Despite circuitous treaties, Locsin swiftly arranged for Philippine stopovers of international vessels. Crisis abated.

Then came put-offs. Rent-seekers reinvaded the ports post-pandemic.

Example is what was reported in this column. One of the world’s most modern and equipped foreign ships was charged P500,000 to be towed into and out of La Union Harbor last March 31, 2023.

Strictly speaking, M/V Fugro Equator did not need any towing service. It can adroitly maneuver in and out of harbors, and simultaneously tow several submerged equipment.

M/V Fugro Equator did not even have to berth in La Union. It was in Luzon waters to search for a sunken World War II wreckage. To resupply, it could have accommodated choppers or speedboats while offshore.

But then, 19 Filipino crewmen were to board and four to debark. It was the first such event for La Union harbor, government-owned Poro Point Management Corp. (PPMC) hailed in its website. So Fugro Equator sailed into harbor, amid fanfare of Transport, Labor, Foreign Affairs, Customs, Coast Guard, Immigration and Quarantine officials.

Behind the scenes, Fugro Equator was made to hire a local tugboat to tow it into and out of the wharf. Cost: P500,000. Tug owner Polaris Top Marine Services Corp.’s “assistance duration,” as stated in its billing, usage slip and official receipt: 43 minutes, plus 18 minutes tug running time from base to ship and back to base.

That’s a staggering P8,196.72 per minute of unnecessary but forced tugboat towing.

Government requires such towing in the country’s international seaports supposedly for safety. It contracts private harbor pilots for the service. The pilots in turn subcontract the tugboats.

Contractors board but do not actually pilot the vessels entering the harbor. They merely give instructions to vessel skippers. They’re supposed to know the harbor like the palm of their hand. Still, shipowners complain of being misguided by harbor pilots to ram wharfs or scrape shallow bottoms, so must pay for own damage.

PPMC said in a Letter to the Editor that harbor pilotage is handled by San Fernando Pilots Association Co. It claimed to impose on foreign vessels the same rates as Philippine Ports Authority. SFPAC supposedly charged Fugro Equator P35,923.14 for harbor pilotage, from which PPMC received ten-percent cut of P3,592.31.

Fugro Equator’s shipping agent transacted the P500,000 tug towing with Polaris, PPMC alleged. Still, it said, it will investigate.

Such probe should delve into who required the costly tug rental and ties between SFPAC and tug owners. It has been five months, yet PPMC has not contacted me for documents in my possession.

Meanwhile, shipowners are still talking about that P500,000 affair. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Speaker Martin Romualdez said last June 25, National Seafarers Day, that they want to help them. Labor and transport bureaucrats must advise the two high officials that arbitrary port charges not only discourage pickups/drop offs of seafarers, but also inflate prices of food and goods.

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Readers continue to share, comment and react to Mr. Shooli’s remarks, “Wha’ happen to you Pinoys?” (Gotcha, 1 Nov. 2023). Awed, FAMAS and Gawad Plaridel Awardee Manuel “Jun” Urbano thanks them and answers the oft repeated question, “What’s wrong with the Philippines?”

Watch: https://bit.ly/Jun-Urbano.

* * *

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.

How ‘maabilidad’ and ‘wais’ pull down Filipino society

How ‘maabilidad’ and ‘wais’ pull down Filipino society

by | Nov 10, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Hot off the press is the book “Ang Bagong Pinoy: An Ethical Framework for the New Filipino.” The heavy-sounding title notwithstanding, its chapters offer simple ways for Filipinos to improve their lot. Very timely in these desperate days.

Author Ernesto “Boogie” Boydon is of a generation that wishes to witness big change before passing on. That generation is impatient. It includes teenage radicals of the ‘70s who stormed Malacañang and Congress, and are now corporate execs who devote profit to uplift the masa. As well, colonels who comprised Reform AFP Movement and lieutenants of Young Officers Union who instigated People Power ’86.

Boogie had brought his eldest one-year-old son to EDSA during those four gripping days that promised new beginnings. In 2005, when that son graduated from college, Filipinos’ lives seemed to not have changed much. Boogie redoubled personal efforts for society. He composed allegories, launched Ang Bagong Pinoy Global Movement, and expanded involvement with Couples for Christ.

Chapter 16 is Boogie’s plea for what countrymen must do: “Loving our Neighbor is at the Heart of Rebuilding our Nation”. Excerpting this portion by way of a teaser:

“The likes of Fernando Poe Jr., ‘Da King’ of Philippine movies and other reel heroes of the same genre, showed us that we can withstand all ridicule, suffering and persecution, knowing that before ‘The End,’ we will get to deliver the final, most quotable lines, while our tormentors get the comeuppance they so richly deserve. ‘May araw ka din’ (Your day will come) is what we mutter under our breath to all the Paquito and Romy Diazes and Max Alvarados of our lives.

“Post-war Filipino Baby Boomers and Generation X-ers have grown up exposed to the likes of Mang Nano played by actor-comedian Pugo in the daily 1960’s sitcoms, ‘Tang-ta-rang-tang’ and ‘Si Tatang Kasi’ who flaunt their abilities to put one over their neighbors as simply being ‘ma-abilidad’ or ‘wa-is’ (clever). And it’s not just Mang Nano we owe this to. Decades of comedians after him have practically come up with acts rehashed from the same formula that it is not wrong to do something bad for as long as one can get away with it.

“We have glamorized these parts of their comical repertoire and have even adapted these to real life. For instance, when we find ourselves at the end of a long queue, we easily surrender to the temptation of asking a friend or even a ‘fixer’ to facilitate things so that we can jump the queue or bypass it altogether. We even gloat over our resourcefulness without realizing that for our convenience, we have inconvenienced others by making them wait longer since the time, which should have been spent on their transactions, was spent on ours. As Erly de Guzman of Galing Pilipino often says, ‘Ang gulang naging galing’ (our taking advantage becomes an asset). Do we think that being able to put one over our neighbor, as a sign of our being ‘maabilidad’ and ‘wa-is,’ is an achievement to be proud of?

“A quick search of what’s out there in the internet on Mang Nano yielded the write-up below on the 1960 movie ‘Nukso nang Nukso’: ‘In Nukso nang Nukso, Pugo is Mang Nano Batekabesa, the wily but lovable manggagantso who concocts the most ingenious scams to finance his little vices, like jueteng or cockfighting.’ Talk about role models and screen heroes!

“Combining all of the aforementioned examples, a clearer picture emerges. We want to rise from our impoverished or disadvantaged state, but either:

? We feel that somebody ought to do it for us, so we long for a superhero to rescue us from our sorry state; or

? We hope to do it ourselves but are too lazy to work hard for it and hope instead for a quick fix that will magically transform our lives.”

Ang Bagong Pinoy contains 211 pages. To place an order click: https://forms.gle/zSGZQ1Qcuvr2XG5f6. Or email contactme@boogieboydon.com

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FAMAS and Gawad Plaridel awardee Manuel “Jun” Urbano was awed by the huge volume of likes, comments and shares of Mr. Shooli’s speech “Wha’ happen to you Pinoys?” (Gotcha, 1 Nov. 2023). For that, he thanks readers and offers an answer to the oft repeated question, “What’s wrong with the Philippines?” Watch: https://bit.ly/Jun-Urbano

* * *

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.

Diokno’s ‘demonizing’ sparked unrest among retired generals

Diokno’s ‘demonizing’ sparked unrest among retired generals

by | Nov 8, 2023 | Gotcha

The state guarantees soldiers’ retirement pensions for their sacrifices of life and limb – PNA photo

GOTCHA

AFP retired generals can’t lead coups d’état. They’re no longer part of the command chain; troops won’t follow them. Besides, after three decades in battlefields, they’d rather play with grandkids.

There’s unrest among retired officers, however. Countless online chat groups, mostly of Philippine Military Academy grads, show it. They share these with similarly aged newsmen (like me) who had covered their budding military careers.

“Healthy, passionate exchanges and debates, even criticism against policies of the present admin, within bounds of our democratic space,” noted National Security Adviser Ed Año (PMA 1983).

Finance Secretary Ben Diokno stirred up retirees’ grumblings in March. Questioning the rising AFP pension budget, he claimed that the country was falling into a “fiscal cliff.” “Unsustainable,” he said, “if this goes on there will be fiscal collapse.”

Slashing monthly pension rates was the Finance Department’s simplistic proposal to Congress. AFP retirees, some of them amputees or still nursing battle wounds, naturally protested.

It didn’t help that Diokno’s Budget counterpart Amenah Pangandaman cited differing figures. Pensions for 2023 total P230 billion, she said, then included retirement gratuity and leave credits for P273 billion gross. Misleading, because gratuities and leaves are part of benefits upon retirement, not later pensions.

Diokno’s DOF website states yet a third 2023 AFP pension: P214 billion. How can there be three figures for the same expense item?

Retired Adm. Ariston delos Reyes (PMA 1971), a mathematician, confronted the duo: “[Their] deliberate and persistent use of vague, undefined, flowery and high-sounding terms aim at disinformation. This confuses the public, which unwittingly accepts their interpretation. “They demonize not only our pension but also our fight for what is rightfully due us.” The National Defense Act (Commonwealth Act No. 1) and 1987 Constitution guarantee such benefits.

Soldiers routinely are separated from families and assigned to faraway places. They risk life and limb fighting state enemies or rescuing disaster stricken folk. By retirement age their physical, emotional and psychological states are usually more deteriorated than civilians’, wrote retired Gen. Edgard Arevalo (PMA 1990).

Respecting Math as an exact Science, delos Reyes uses a fourth 2023 AFP pension figure: P128.7 billion. Senator Panfilo Lacson, his PMA classmate, assured him that that’s what Congress approved during budget debates. It excludes pensions of other uniformed services: police; coast, prison and jail guards; and mappers.

Some AFP retirees scoffed at the Maharlika Investment Fund. Diokno schemed MIF’s P500-billion capitalization at about the same time he called AFP pensions “the elephant in the room.”

AFP retired generals can’t lead coups d’état. They’re no longer part of the command chain; troops won’t follow them. Besides, after three decades in battlefields, they’d rather play with grandkids.

There’s unrest among retired officers, however. Countless online chat groups, mostly of Philippine Military Academy grads, show it. They share these with similarly aged newsmen (like me) who had covered their budding military careers.

“Healthy, passionate exchanges and debates, even criticism against policies of the present admin, within bounds of our democratic space,” noted National Security Adviser Ed Año (PMA 1983).

Finance Secretary Ben Diokno stirred up retirees’ grumblings in March. Questioning the rising AFP pension budget, he claimed that the country was falling into a “fiscal cliff.” “Unsustainable,” he said, “if this goes on there will be fiscal collapse.”

Slashing monthly pension rates was the Finance Department’s simplistic proposal to Congress. AFP retirees, some of them amputees or still nursing battle wounds, naturally protested.

It didn’t help that Diokno’s Budget counterpart Amenah Pangandaman cited differing figures. Pensions for 2023 total P230 billion, she said, then included retirement gratuity and leave credits for P273 billion gross. Misleading, because gratuities and leaves are part of benefits upon retirement, not later pensions.

 

 

Diokno’s DOF website states yet a third 2023 AFP pension: P214 billion. How can there be three figures for the same expense item?

Retired Adm. Ariston delos Reyes (PMA 1971), a mathematician, confronted the duo: “[Their] deliberate and persistent use of vague, undefined, flowery and high-sounding terms aim at disinformation. This confuses the public, which unwittingly accepts their interpretation. “They demonize not only our pension but also our fight for what is rightfully due us.” The National Defense Act (Commonwealth Act No. 1) and 1987 Constitution guarantee such benefits.

Soldiers routinely are separated from families and assigned to faraway places. They risk life and limb fighting state enemies or rescuing disaster stricken folk. By retirement age their physical, emotional and psychological states are usually more deteriorated than civilians’, wrote retired Gen. Edgard Arevalo (PMA 1990).

Respecting Math as an exact Science, delos Reyes uses a fourth 2023 AFP pension figure: P128.7 billion. Senator Panfilo Lacson, his PMA classmate, assured him that that’s what Congress approved during budget debates. It excludes pensions of other uniformed services: police; coast, prison and jail guards; and mappers.

Some AFP retirees scoffed at the Maharlika Investment Fund. Diokno schemed MIF’s P500-billion capitalization at about the same time he called AFP pensions “the elephant in the room.”

MIF exposed Diokno’s ineptness with numbers. As concurrent Land Bank chairman, he plunked P50 billion into MIF. Instantly, the state bank came into breach of operational solvency rules of the Bangko Sentral, which he also once headed. Diokno’s blunder forced President Bongbong Marcos Jr. to suspend and review MIF.

Other issues agitated AFP retirees:

• Shabby treatment of retired Col. Leonardo Odoño. For four months Comelec had ignored the PMA 1964 grad’s quiet requests for telecom companies’ transmission logs of Election 2022 precinct results to the Transparency Server.

When the 82-year-old war veteran went public in March, more than a hundred colonels and generals petitioned Comelec to honor Odoño’s right to information on public matters.

• Same ill-treatment of retired Gen. Eliseo Rio. It turned out that Rio, former AFP electronic communications chief, had been asking for the same logs as far back as July 2022. Despite being former information-communications secretary and head of Election 2019’s Comelec Advisory Committee, the poll body snubbed him.

In March 2023, Comelec gave Odoño and Rio not telco transmission logs but Transparency Server reception logs. Members of UP Vanguard, consisting of advanced ROTC and high-ranking reservists, denounced the deception.

• Confidential-Intelligence Funds. VP Sara Duterte is seeking P500-million CIF for 2024, plus P150 million as Education secretary. She already got the same P650 million for this 2023, although her offices have no law enforcement or security functions. It turned out that Malacañang had given her P125-million CIF in 2022, even if unentitled to such.

AFP retirees want CIFs to be transferred to uniformed services that defend Philippine seas against Chinese aggression: the Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, PNP Maritime Command and National Mapping and Resource Information Authority.

* * *

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.

Wha’ happen to you, Mr. Shooli asks Pinoys

Wha’ happen to you, Mr. Shooli asks Pinoys

by | Nov 1, 2023 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Manuel “Jun” Urbano is 2023 Gawad Plaridel Awardee of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications.

In reviving the prestigious award post-pandemic, UP-CMC couldn’t have honored a better media man. Urbano mastered three fields. He produced films “Juan Tamad and Mr. Shooli” and “M.O.N.A.Y.” He directed ads, like San Miguel Beer’s notable “Isang Platitong Manê.” He starred on television as Mr. Shooli of “Mongolian Barbecue,” parodies of hot issues.

Urbano sent Mr. Shooli to read his acceptance speech Oct. 11th. The latter left the draft in the taxi and so extemporized.

Mr. Shooli recounted copping a student exchange program to Manila in the early ’50s. He enrolled at Ateneo De La Salle where he met Erap: “Grade 1 pa lang kami may bigote na siya. May wristband din para raw malaman kung ano ang kaliwa at kanang kamay niya.” Once, Teacher asked Shooli to spell “success.” He whispered to Erap if there’s one or two s’s at the end. Erap advised him to put in three, “para sigurado.”

Shooli observed Filipinos: “Masayahin, matatag. Bagyo, lindol, baha, Pilipino tatawa lang.

“Mapagbigay. Kung may bisita sa bahay, gawa paraan para maligaya. Sa master’s bedroom pinapatulog.

“Matulungin sa kapwa – nagbabayanihan.

“Pilipino mahal ang Diyos, the only Christian country in southeast Asia.

“Pilipino very respectful. Sa wika niyo may ‘opo’ at ‘oho’ to address elders. Applaud yourselves.”

In 1946 right after the War, Shooli recalled, the Philippine economy was second only to Japan’s. It had a national airline. Indonesians, Malaysians, Vietnamese who wanted to become doctors studied at UST. For agriculture and animal husbandry they went to IRRI and UP.

At the end of the exchange program, Shooli returned to indigence in the northlands. He heard that Erap was kicked out of 2nd year high school. Still, Erap became president: “Nasipa uli nu’ng 2nd year na pangulo siya.”

Mr. Shooli returned to Manila on classmates’ invitation with compli plane fare to a reunion. He was excited to see the beautiful country he so admired. He imagined Filipinos to have progressed by leaps and bounds during his 70-year absence.

Unable to sleep, Shooli kept asking the flight steward where they were flying over: Alaska, Arabia, etc. Hours later his seatmate stuck a hand out the porthole and said they must be in Manila. How did he know? His wristwatch got snatched.

“Sa airport inspeksyon ng Customs apat maleta ko. Paglabas ko sa airport, isa na lang maleta ko,” Mr. Shooli sighed. “Sakay ako taksi, sobra trapik! Nakita ko sign: ‘Bawal magtapon ng basura.’ Pero sa paligid dami basura. Meron isa pa: ‘Bawal umihi dito.’ Pero mga lalaki ipinipirma pa ihi nila sa pader. Overtake kami sa motorcycle, riding in tandem. Binaril nila sa ulo yung tao.

“Am I in Philippines? This is not Philippines I know! Hindi ganito Pilipino.

“Tapos sa TV news panood ko raid sa shabu den. ‘Hoy, mga shabu pusher, suko na kayo, mga pulis ito.’ Sagot ng ni-raid nila, ‘Hindi kami susuko, mga pulis din kami.’

“Noong araw, Pilipinas no. 1 exporter ng sugar. Ngayon world’s no. 1 importer of rice. Pati gulay, onion, galunggong import. Pilipinas puro isla paligid ng dagat, pero bakit import ng isda, pati asin? Pilipino naghihirap. Pero may kumikita sa paghihirap nila.

“May export ang Pilipino. Export niyo si nanay, export niyo si tatay, export niyo si ate at kuya – OFW. Ang kanila kinikita pampalutang sa economy. Tawag sa kanila ‘mga bagong bayani.’ But at what sacrifice? Minsan bagong bayani niyo umuuwi sa Pilipinas nasa kabaong; pinatay ng employer. Minsan umuuwi sila sa sirang pamilya. Kasi walang hanapbuhay sa Philippines.

“Pulitika niyo no. 1 pinakawalanghiya. Nu’ng araw democracy: government of the people, for the people, by the people. Ngayon government of a few people, for a few people, by a few people.

“There are 110 million Filipinos. Senators niyo 24 lang. Dalawa pares magkapatid, isang pares mag-ina. Merong ex-convict, meron plunderer, meron involved sa extrajudicial killings. Nu’ng araw mga politiko niyo sina Manglapuz, Pelaez, Osias, Rodrigo, mga kagalang-galang. Ngayon mga politiko niyo kagulang-gulang.

“Ano nangyari? ‘Di ba kayo pumipili sa kanila? What happened to you?

“Alam niyo ba kaibahan ng ordinary thief at political thief? Ordinary thief pumipili sino nanakawan niya. Political thief kayo ang pumipili kung sino nananakaw sa inyo.

“Eighty-percent Christian daw Pilipino. Pero may pulitiko diyan sabi, ‘who is this stupid God?’ He called your God stupid, wala kayo imik. OK lang?

“Tao ngayon wala nang sense of value. Parang ‘yung dalawang naglalakad sa bukid. Nakita nila carabao dung; tinikman nila; natiyak nila na carabao dung; buti na lang daw hindi nila naapakan.

“Politiko main problem niyo. Hindi sila public service, self-service na. Pagkatapos mag-presidente tatakbo pa mayor, ayaw mawalan ng puwesto. Si Congressman Manhik-Manaog termed out na, kaya tatakbo governor. Tanong ko sa kanya kung lalabanan niya misis niya na governor ngayon. Sabi niya, ‘Hindi, misis ko takbo senador.’

“Eh sino takbo congressman pamalit sa yo? Sagot niya, ‘Yung anak kong panganay na mayor.’

“Sino tatakbo mayor? Sabi niya, ‘Yung bunso namin na konsehal.’

“Sabi ko sa kanya, galing-galing niyo, politika hanapbahay ng pamilya niyo. ‘Yong aso mo na lang walang pwesto ah.’ Sagot niya, ‘Hoy wag mo malitiin aso namin, barangay chairman ‘yan.’”

Mr. Shooli concluded: “I remember what one of your National Artists Manuel Conde told me about Filipinos. If you want your patient to get well but he refuses to take the bitter pill, patawanin mo. Pagbukas ng bibig niya isubo mo ang gamot sa kanya.” Thus did Mr. Shooli satirize today’s Filipino.

* * *

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.

Joint allied resupplies of Ayungin eyed in wake of Chinese ramming

Joint allied resupplies of Ayungin eyed in wake of Chinese ramming

by | Oct 27, 2023 | Gotcha

AFP won’t leave but instead intensify patrols at West Philippine Sea – PNA photo

GOTCHA

The Armed Forces of the Philippines is to mount joint allied resupply missions for Marines stationed in Ayungin Shoal. Troop rotations-reprovisions (RORE) no longer will be done by civilian bancas but by warships.

BRP Sierra Madre, which the Navy beached on Ayungin (Second Thomas) in 1999, will be refurbished once and for all. Joint allied patrols will also dot in the entire West Philippine Sea.

Those are Manila’s calibrated responses to China’s ramming Sunday of two Filipino seacraft near the shoal that Beijing aims to annex. Manila will hold fast to the sea feature instead of deserting it as Beijing wants.

A China Coast Guard gunboat 110 meters long, about four basketball courts, bumped a small wooden outrigger loaded with food for the nine Marines at Ayungin. Then, a Chinese maritime militia steel trawler scraped a Philippine Coast Guard craft. Five other CCG gunboats tried to prevent the RORE while People’s Liberation Army-Navy warships lingered nearby.

Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said the AFP is proposing joint resupply missions with allied navies. “We are studying it. That’s another option,” he told the Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum Wednesday, Oct. 25th.

“But what we need is regularity [of joint patrols],” he added. “We don’t want to be dependent on which [allied] ships will arrive [for joint patrols].”

Brawner said the Navy can also resume using its armed vessels for ROREs. But this can be tricky because Ayungin surrounding waters are shallow.

Navy rigid-hulled rubber boats used to conduct monthly ROREs in the 2000s, but Chinese combat helicopters harassed and endangered Filipino sailors. Twice US fighter jets flew overhead to avert Chinese provocations.

The Philippine Navy shifted to contracting private bancas, backed by the civilian Coast Guard. Still, China countered with military grey zone operations, using its coastguards and maritime militia that report to the Chinese Communist Party-Military Commission.

Brawner said the Philippines is well within its rights to repair the rusting World War II-vintage BRP Sierra Madre. It remains a commissioned Navy ship although deliberately grounded on Ayungin to prevent Chinese occupation after the latter grabbed nearby Panganiban (Mischief) Reef in 1995, Brawner recalled.

“BRP Sierra Madre is in Ayungin Shoal,” he said. “We did not interfere when they militarized the artificial islands. Now they’re being rattled when they’re called out. That’s a huge imbalance.”

The AFP chief anticipates China to  escalate menacing of Filipino vessels in the WPS. “We fear that in the future, their ships will deliberately hit our vessels,” he said.

He noted: “We are the ones always trying to avoid any collision. We stop our ships each time they conduct these dangerous maneuvers, crossing the path of a vessel that was moving forward. That’s very dangerous and should not be done. It’s not allowed under maritime rules.”

Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro announced on government television Wednesday the increase of Navy and Coast Guard patrols in the WPS. Alongside those will be joint freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) with the US, Japan, Canada and Australia.

Navies of Singapore, Malaysia, India and France previously had expressed interest in FONOPS in the WPS, which comprises the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone. As well, FONOPS in the high seas, or portions of the South China Sea which do not fall within any state’s EEZ but baselessly, illegally claimed by China as its own.

The Philippine Navy has new patrol vessels, including two frigates procured from Korea, a Korean-donated corvette, four Indonesian-made support craft and two large US Coast Guard cutters repurposed as navy warships.

Japan added 10 new craft to the fleet of the PCG, which is procuring 40 more from a maker in Cebu.

Aside from naval options, international maritime lawyer Jay Batongbacal, PhD, suggests that Malacañang file for damages sustained by Filipino boatmen and their craft due to Chinese ramming. He cited similar cases won by victims at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.

He proposes that Malacañang also convince other countries to shun Chinese seafood poached in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. PLA-equipped and -escorted Chinese trawlers invade fish-rich waters of Palau, Ecuador, Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Bissau.

In claiming the entire SCS, Beijing has authorized the CCG to arrest, board and fire at vessels in its illegally claimed portions. Yet it allows its fishermen to engage in IUU (illegal, unreported, unregulated) fishing.

* * *

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