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Sell cheap the sugar seized in Batangas

Sell cheap the sugar seized in Batangas

by | Mar 1, 2023 | Gotcha

Sugar arrivals between Nov. 16, 2022 and Feb. 28, 2023 are deemed smuggled – photo from DA Inspectorate & Enforcement

GOTCHA

Malacañang would do well to retail the sugar brought into Batangas piers. Its Kadiwa rolling stores for poor consumers would be the best outlets. That will bring down sweetener prices.

Customs is holding 6,500 tons of Thai refined sugar unloaded from three ships last Feb. 9. The 130,000 50-kilo sacks are worth P650 million. Such volume and amount are enough to stabilize inflationary rates that worry President Marcos Jr.

The sugar can be sold through Kadiwa at P50 a kilo, half the prevailing market rate. Motoring daily into different poor communities, the stores can limit the sale to a kilo or two per buyer. Indigents will have ample stocks.

The processed sweetener is safe for home use and agricultural biosecurity. It’s not like raw seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables and fruits that may contain toxins, E. coli, pests and disease. Thailand usually supplies Philippine sugar shortfalls. Plant industry and health officials can check for sanitary/phytosanitary packaging, shipping and storage.

The sugar arrived Feb. 9 in 260 cargo containers without the usual Sugar Regulatory Administration permits. The last shipments under SRA Sugar Order No. 2, of Sep. 13, 2022, should have arrived by last Nov. 15. New arrivals under SRA Sugar Order No. 6, of Feb. 15, 2023, should start only Mar. 1.

Customs need not go through tedious auction procedures. Marcos Jr. has authority to quicken the process. If auctioned, traders would bid low then resell high for profit. By retailing direct to consumers at half the shipment value, government is assured of P325 million income.

The sugar landing at Port of Batangas was first broadcast Feb. 13 on Ted Failon’s top-rating radio-TV show. Entry was then being facilitated through Customs “super green lane” for long-time importers.

That same day Agriculture Asst. Sec. James Layug requested newly appointed Customs chief Bienvenido Rubio for an “alert order and joint 100-percent inspection.” A warrant of seizure and detention was issued, Customs Deputy Commissioner Vener Baquiran said. Shipment consignee is All Asian Countertrade Inc., of sugar trader Michael Escaler.

The following week Senator Risa Hontiveros denounced the landing as “government-sponsored smuggling.”  Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban had authorized it as far back as Jan. 13, she revealed.

Malacañang would do well to retail the sugar brought into Batangas piers. Its Kadiwa rolling stores for poor consumers would be the best outlets. That will bring down sweetener prices.

Customs is holding 6,500 tons of Thai refined sugar unloaded from three ships last Feb. 9. The 130,000 50-kilo sacks are worth P650 million. Such volume and amount are enough to stabilize inflationary rates that worry President Marcos Jr.

The sugar can be sold through Kadiwa at P50 a kilo, half the prevailing market rate. Motoring daily into different poor communities, the stores can limit the sale to a kilo or two per buyer. Indigents will have ample stocks.

The processed sweetener is safe for home use and agricultural biosecurity. It’s not like raw seafood, chicken, pork, vegetables and fruits that may contain toxins, E. coli, pests and disease. Thailand usually supplies Philippine sugar shortfalls. Plant industry and health officials can check for sanitary/phytosanitary packaging, shipping and storage.

The sugar arrived Feb. 9 in 260 cargo containers without the usual Sugar Regulatory Administration permits. The last shipments under SRA Sugar Order No. 2, of Sep. 13, 2022, should have arrived by last Nov. 15. New arrivals under SRA Sugar Order No. 6, of Feb. 15, 2023, should start only Mar. 1.

Customs need not go through tedious auction procedures. Marcos Jr. has authority to quicken the process. If auctioned, traders would bid low then resell high for profit. By retailing direct to consumers at half the shipment value, government is assured of P325 million income.

The sugar landing at Port of Batangas was first broadcast Feb. 13 on Ted Failon’s top-rating radio-TV show. Entry was then being facilitated through Customs “super green lane” for long-time importers.

That same day Agriculture Asst. Sec. James Layug requested newly appointed Customs chief Bienvenido Rubio for an “alert order and joint 100-percent inspection.” A warrant of seizure and detention was issued, Customs Deputy Commissioner Vener Baquiran said. Shipment consignee is All Asian Countertrade Inc., of sugar trader Michael Escaler.

The following week Senator Risa Hontiveros denounced the landing as “government-sponsored smuggling.”  Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban had authorized it as far back as Jan. 13, she revealed.

* * *

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

Can police show guns of 7,000 slain ‘nanlaban’?

Can police show guns of 7,000 slain ‘nanlaban’?

by | Feb 24, 2023 | Gotcha

Duterte, left, and dela Rosa – Getty Images

GOTCHA

Were the 7,000 drug war deaths of 2016-2019 summary executions? Here’s how to check. Make the police present all the slain suspects’ guns.

Seven thousand guns would prove that drug suspects had fought back, endangered police lives and thus had to be dealt lethal force.

Government can then decide whether to bar or let the International Criminal Court probe the killings. No more chatter about ICC jurisdiction over Rodrigo Duterte or breaching Philippine sovereignty.

From the start of Duterte’s presidency a new pattern emerged. Plainclothesmen would conduct street buy-busts. Sensing the trap, suspects pull out rusty .38-caliber revolvers. Quicker on the draw, police shoot them dead.

A variation was the “tok-hang” raid. Uniformed cops would knock (katok) on slum shanties to request (hangyo) dwellers to stop peddling shabu (meth). Fighting back (nanlaban) with rusty .38s, the latter end up lifeless. Photos showed most fatalities in rubber slippers and gartered shorts in which firearms neatly were tucked.

Duterte and then-PNP chief Bato dela Rosa claimed that all were legit actions. In which case, proper procedures presumably were followed. Suspects were known beforehand. Post-operations reports were filed. Time, date, place, team leader, operatives and outcome were narrated. Plus, such details as who felled the suspects, number of shots exchanged and to what hospital or morgue the bodies were brought.

Most important, the brand and serial number of the suspect’s gun.

Post-ops reports are submitted to immediate and higher superiors, receipts properly signed and date/time-stamped. Those records should be extant.

In fatality cases, reports are submitted to PNP-Internal Affairs Service. Deaths are explained or justified. Custody is taken of firearms, unspent bullets, shells and slugs recovered from cadavers or walls and floors. All turnovers of documents and physical evidence are signed.

Assume that only one of every two suspects tried to repel arresters. There should be 3,500 .38s in custody, matched by official reports of serial numbers. If only one in every three, then there should be 2,300 firearms. If one in four, then 1,750 guns. The point is that PNP should have custody and records.

In some cases, suspects allegedly wielded grenades, sumpak (improvised shotguns) or knives. Same reporting, safe-keeping and turnover procedures.

 

Where are all those reports and seized weapons? PNP headquarters should know.

Are those papers and evidence scattered in PNP precincts and operating units nationwide? Or stored in a central arsenal?

The ICC had paused for over a year its probe of alleged extrajudicial killings. That was on the Philippine request for ample time to demonstrate that justice was served.

During that interlude the PNP must have collated data. All post-ops reports should have been reviewed, and serial numbers compiled. Firearms should have been checked against reported serial numbers, and custodies verified.

Now, can the PNP present such master file, especially serial numbers matching with firearms? If so, then the ICC need not waste its time snooping into likely justifiable killings. If not, then PNP generals must themselves welcome and secure ICC investigators.

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Energy security top-billed Marcos Jr’s recent Japan visit. The President accentuated the construction of a liquified natural gas facility at the Lopez-owned Batangas energy complex. An 80:20 partnership of First Gen and Tokyo Gas will operate the LNG plant starting June. That will replace the dwindling Malampaya offshore reserves that presently pipes gas to Luzon.

A modified Batangas complex will receive and regasify LNG, First Gen chairman-CEO Federico Lopez announced. Tokyo Gas will assist construction, operation and maintenance, added president-CEO Takashi Uchida. After launch the parties will ink a final investment decision.

First Gen pioneers in clean renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. Its LNG plant is a step to that shift. LNG exudes 40 percent less carbon dioxide than coal and 30 percent less than oil. It doesn’t spew soot, dust or particulates, and emits insignificant amounts of harmful sulfur dioxide and mercury.

Tokyo Gas, with 130 years’ experience in energy including 50 in LNG, has 63,000 kms of pipelines. The First Gen-Tokyo Gas deal is among the first in the Department of Energy’s search for Malampaya replacements. Lopez said the LNG facility will encourage new gas generators. DOE targets such new players to produce 3,000 megawatts of electricity.

* * *

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

Build durable Ayungin station to defend Philippine exclusive zone

Build durable Ayungin station to defend Philippine exclusive zone

by | Feb 22, 2023 | Gotcha

Photo from Wikipedia

GOTCHA

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GOTCHA

Erect a permanent outpost on Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal. It can serve military, fisheries, communications, transport and energy. Sovereign rights will be asserted in the surrounding West Philippine Sea.

Ayungin is 105 nautical miles west of Palawan, within the 200-mile Philippine exclusive economic zone. Rocks and reefs ring an 11-mile teardrop-shaped lagoon 27 meters at its deepest, a traditional Filipino fishing ground. It’s at the edge of Recto (Reed) Bank.

Recto is an 886,600-hectare fishing expanse, larger than Leyte or Pangasinan. An Ayungin station can guard Recto’s Sampaguita oil-and-gas reserve. Also, Escoda (Sabina) Shoal 36 miles away where Chinese warships have been dropping buoys.

In 1999 the Navy beached on Ayungin the World War II-vintage BRP Sierra Madre. That thwarted Chinese occupation. Four years earlier China had fortified Panganiban (Mischief) Reef 20 miles northwest and 120 miles from Palawan. Had it seized Ayungin, China would have concreted it and, with Panganiban, controlled Recto.

Rust and brine have eroded the 100-meter-long Sierra Madre’s steel hull and deck where a dozen sailors hold fort. It remains a commissioned naval vessel. China hesitates to forcibly dislodge it, or else trigger the Phl-US Mutual Defense Treaty and incite American military backlash. The MDT deems an armed attack on one party’s public vessel as an attack on the other.

China’s laser-gunning on Feb. 6 of Filipino coast guards aboard BRP Malapascua was such an attack. The military-grade weapon fired by China Coast Guard-5205 seared the skin and temporarily blinded crewmen. They were en route to resupply the Ayungin sailors.

Beijing had overstepped its gray-zone tricks. It claimed to have used a harmless device. But the green ray betrayed the military weaponry, ex-Navy chief Adm. Alexander Pama noted. Lower civilian grades are blue or red.

The 1998 Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, of which Beijing, Manila and Washington are signatories, classifies two types. It prohibits lasers that permanently blind but allows those that momentarily impair vision. Still, both are military arms.

The CCG takes orders from military higher-ups, said retired Gen. Edilberto Adan, Advocates for National Interest chairman. It is part of the People’s Liberation Army, under the China Communist Party-Central Military Commission.

It was an armed attack, former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio declared. US State Department spokesman Ned Price warned China against setting off the Phl-US defense pact. Japan, Australia, Germany and Canada expressed alarm over China’s provocations.

China claims to own Ayungin and was defending its territory. Yet The Hague arbitral court ruled in 2016 that Ayungin and Panganiban are within Philippine EEZ and beyond China’s.

A new Beijing law authorizes CCG to fire at and storm foreign vessels in the South China Sea, of which EEZs of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam are part. That violates UN principles on dispute settlement via peaceful negotiation, mediation or arbitration.

The Hague upheld Manila’s right under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Government may build structures within the EEZ.

A permanent Ayungin station can harbor more soldiers. That won’t breach the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct in the SCS since Manila will merely reinforce what exists since 1999, said international maritime lawyer Jay Batongbacal, PhD.

For minimal environment harm, a jack-up oil rig can be used. It can double as lighthouse and communication tower for domestic and international air and sea navigation. Filipino fishermen may dock or shelter from storm. Mini-hydros can be installed between rocks to generate electricity from in- and outflowing tide.

China propagandists in Philippine government, industries, academe and media will surely oppose such Ayungin base. They’ll blabber that the US is using the Philippines to instigate war.

Phooey! China will annex Philippine sea features whether or not the US resists. President Xi Jinping, as China Communist Party general secretary, often exhorts the People’s Liberation Army “to prepare for war,” former interior minister Rafael Alunan III reminded. The CCP cloaks expansionism with falsified historical territorial claims.

Beware of what the Chinese language newspaper Wenweipo and news agency Zhongguo Xinwenshe published in 2013: “Six Wars China Must Fight in the Coming 50 Years.” Those are: (1) War to Unify Taiwan, 2020–2025; (2) War to Recover Islands of South China Sea, 2025–2030; (3) War to Recover Southern Tibet, 2035–2040; (4) War to Recover Diaoyutai and Ryukyu, 2040–2045; (5) War to Unify Outer Mongolia, 2045–2050; (6) War to Recover Territories Seized by Russia, 2055–2060.

* * *

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

Make Grab explain charges before it joins bike-taxis

Make Grab explain charges before it joins bike-taxis

by | Feb 17, 2023 | Gotcha

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GOTCHA

Marcos Jr.’s admin need not rely on Grab Holdings to create half-a-million jobs. It can stir work just by opening ride-hailing to competitors.

Competition offers free choice of Transport Network Vehicle Services. Cheaper, safer rides will vitalize commuting. Monopoly is curbed. Foreign control of public utilities, media and retail is prevented.

Anthony Tan, Malaysian cofounder-CEO of Singapore-registered Grab, dazzled officials in a recent call on the President. His business expansion supposedly will generate 500,000 jobs.

At once, regulators granted Grab additional 100,000 slots for driver-delivery subcontractors.

TNVS firms covet such slots. Those dictate which of them will profit. Tan had thrown a banquet for Marcos Jr.’s 75-strong delegation to Davos, Switzerland mid-January.

Advocacy group Digital Pinoys assails the favoritism. The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board already has allocated to Grab most of the 60,000 slots nationwide since 2013. The 100,000 more “reek of abuse of dominance and would only lead to monopoly,” gripes national campaigner Ronald Gustilo. “Government should uphold fair competition in allocating TNVS franchises.”

LTFRB was mum on new slots for Grab’s four- and two-wheel rivals. Apps, marketing and capital of JoyRide, Angkas, TokTok, Avis PH, ePickMeUp, Owto can’t match Grab’s. Grab in 2017 gobbled up Uber-Asia. Indonesian GoJek, Asia’s largest, remains locked out due to foreign ownership, an issue that Grab sidesteps.

The Constitution limits transport utilities to Filipinos. Too, online media, advertising and retailing into which Grab Delivery has entered.

Grab faces overcharging complaints at LTFRB. “Surge rates” are arbitrary and unauthorized, says Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection president Ariel Inton.

Aside from P45 sedan booking fee, Grab imposes P2 per minute plus P15 per kilometer, then doubles these during traffic. But those rush hours can be any time of day or night based on Grab’s secret algorithm, “thus subject to abuse,” says ex-LTFRB commissioner Inton.

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

Driver-delivery “partners” also have a beef. Grab upped its 14-percent commission from them to 17-22 percent, Laban TNVS president Jun de Leon rants to LTFRB. Grab contends that partners themselves drew up the new commissions as performance bonus scheme.

But Senator Grace Poe says Grab’s commission increase reduces drivers’ take-home income: “Instead of eating into their earnings, they should get more in terms of social protection and benefits.”

Grab is entering the motorcycle-taxi line through the backdoor. A Congress technical working group in 2019 allowed three two-wheel participants to aid legislation. Grab opted out last minute, leaving JoyRide, Angkas and MoveIt (We Load Transcargo) for dry-runs.

Months later MoveIt and Grab combined to use the latter’s app. Separating them, the TWG for fairness ordered MoveIt to run on its own.

In August 2022 Grab told the Securities and Exchange Commission it had acquired 99.8 percent of MoveIt. Yet it claimed they will operate separately.

The National Public Transport Coalition, Arangkada Riders Alliance, tricycle operators and drivers’ associations and consumerists were incredulous. “Why would anyone buy a company, then just relinquish control over it?” they asked.

Falling below the P1-billion threshold, the acquisition precluded automatic Philippine Competition Commission review. But in a House inquiry, Rep. Stella Quimbo, an ex-PCC commissioner, called for scrutiny since Grab has more than 50 percent industry share.

Congress is awaiting the TWG final report. After which, it will enact ride-hailing regulations proposed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and issue franchises. Legislators have authority to reallocate the 100,000 driver-deliverymen slots that LTFRB gave Grab.

* * *

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

Shiploads of sugar ‘smuggled in’ as Customs changes command

Shiploads of sugar ‘smuggled in’ as Customs changes command

by | Feb 15, 2023 | Gotcha

Finance USec Bayani Agabin oversees Ruiz’s turnover of Customs headship to Rubio – BoC photo

GOTCHA

Shiploads of suspected smuggled sugar landed at the piers last week while Malacañang was replacing the Customs chief.

The cargo arrived in 260 containers at the Port of Batangas on Thursday, Feb. 9. Tumult erupted as the consignee trucked the initial arrivals to warehouses without Customs clearance. The Department of Agriculture had no import permit on record.

Four ships disgorged the 6,500 tons of questioned refined sugar from Thailand. Value: P650 million, at P100,000 per ton, Customs and DA sources said. Documents identified the consignee and two shippers.

The day before, President Marcos Jr. appointed Ilocos townmate Bienvenido Rubio as Customs Commissioner. Acting chief Yogi Ruiz turned over the command to Rubio on Feb. 10.

The 6,500 tons are not part of the 440,000 that Malacañang announced for staggered import as this year’s buffer stock. Chaired by Marcos Jr. as concurrent Secretary of Agriculture, the Sugar Regulatory Administration approved the 440,000 tons only on Monday, Feb. 13. “This is still for publication and [details] will be released by the Office of the President,” SRA board planters’ rep Pablo Luis Azcona said.

Sugar industry sources tipped off the press about the Batangas sneak-in. The shipments were not listed in the UP Law Center’s Office of the National Administrative Register.

Legitimate importers apply for permits upon ONAR publication. Included are the import executive order, dates of transmittal to the Center and publication in major dailies, and allocation issuances.

Sugar traders, producers, millers and farmers are asking DA for papers on the 6,500 tons.

DA Inspectorate and Enforcement Asst. Sec. James Layug has been leading Customs and coast guard teams against agricultural smuggling. On Jan. 14 they interdicted in Batangas 4,000 tons of contraband Thai sugar worth P400 million in 160 containers from vessel M/V Sunward.

Two weeks later at Subic port they seized 1,275 tons in 51 containers worth P127.5 million. Trafficked yellow onion from China was also confiscated.

Of last week’s Batangas incident, United Sugar Producers Federation president Manolet Lamata said: “DA must show legit import permits. It cannot simply claim that those are straggler arrivals from last year’s 200,000-ton import order. Without papers, those are smuggled.”

Lamata wanted to know if the warehouses to which the containers were brought are bonded with Customs: “If they are, then Customs can still check for legality.”

The Agricultural Smuggling Law deems as economic sabotage food contraband worth at least P1 million, and rice of P10 million. No bail, life sentence.

The House of Reps is investigating recent spikes of sugar, onion and garlic retail prices. Reps. Stella Quimbo and Rodante Marcoleta suspect hoarding in the midst of smuggling.

On resolution of Imee Marcos, the Senate is probing Customs’ non-prosecution of large-scale smugglers. DA Senior Undersec. Domingo Panganiban keeps absenting. Agriculture committee head Cynthia Villar wants him to produce import papers.

Legit food imports have sanitary/phytosanitary clearances from both the countries of origin and the DA Bureaus of Plant, Animal and Fisheries Industries. Lack of such clearances exposes Filipino consumers to unsafe foods and preservatives, and farms to pests and disease.

* * *

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

Don’t let new trade pact lead to more plunder

Don’t let new trade pact lead to more plunder

by | Feb 10, 2023 | Gotcha

Poultry is among sectors to suffer from cheap imports – PNA file photo

GOTCHA

The Philippines is joining another free trade pact. Like before, farmers, fishers, poultry and hog raisers foresee fearsome floods of cheap imports. Government is again promising to help them cope.

But won’t history just repeat itself? Will officials plunder billions anew in the name of agricultural competitiveness?

Watch this Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. President Duterte signed RCEP in September 2021. Senators are to ratify it this month. It  supposedly will boost commerce among the ten ASEAN states and neighbors China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand. More than a hundred groups have expressed misgivings. Food growers are unprepared to contend with fully mechanized, high-tech foreign rivals.

“But when will they ever be ready,” RCEP proponents will insist to win in the end.

That already happened 28 years ago. Manila in 1995 became one of the World Trade Organization’s 128 founders. Countries forcibly lowered import tariffs. Mostly industrialized countries benefitted. Philippine copra, sugar, salt, rice and abaca, among other industries, plunged.

Only after five years did government react. Debates ensued on how to prop up domestic food producers. A plan was devised to support with remnant import duties the many sectors crippled by free trade. Namely, onion, garlic, ginger, vegetables, fruits, corn, mills, fertilizers, pesticides, poultry, piggery, cattle, fishing and aquaculture.

An Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund was put up in 2000. Duties from food imports starting 1990 were plunked into it. ACEF accumulated P10.73 billion by 2010.

The fun began in 2004. ACEF was assigned to a Department of Agriculture undersecretary. His task: lend the money to agribusinesses and farm cooperatives.

The Philippines is joining another free trade pact. Like before, farmers, fishers, poultry and hog raisers foresee fearsome floods of cheap imports. Government is again promising to help them cope.

But won’t history just repeat itself? Will officials plunder billions anew in the name of agricultural competitiveness?

Watch this Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. President Duterte signed RCEP in September 2021. Senators are to ratify it this month. It  supposedly will boost commerce among the ten ASEAN states and neighbors China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand. More than a hundred groups have expressed misgivings. Food growers are unprepared to contend with fully mechanized, high-tech foreign rivals.

“But when will they ever be ready,” RCEP proponents will insist to win in the end.

That already happened 28 years ago. Manila in 1995 became one of the World Trade Organization’s 128 founders. Countries forcibly lowered import tariffs. Mostly industrialized countries benefitted. Philippine copra, sugar, salt, rice and abaca, among other industries, plunged.

Only after five years did government react. Debates ensued on how to prop up domestic food producers. A plan was devised to support with remnant import duties the many sectors crippled by free trade. Namely, onion, garlic, ginger, vegetables, fruits, corn, mills, fertilizers, pesticides, poultry, piggery, cattle, fishing and aquaculture.

An Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund was put up in 2000. Duties from food imports starting 1990 were plunked into it. ACEF accumulated P10.73 billion by 2010.

The fun began in 2004. ACEF was assigned to a Department of Agriculture undersecretary. His task: lend the money to agribusinesses and farm cooperatives.

* * *

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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1.2 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.