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JMSU emboldened China to aggress our seas

JMSU emboldened China to aggress our seas

by | Jan 18, 2023 | Gotcha

(Map from U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs)

GOTCHA

The Supreme Court verdict came 15 years late. Still, its voiding of the unconstitutional 2005 Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking is salient. Observations are confirmed that then-president Gloria Arroyo had emboldened Chinese aggression in the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Caution also is served on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against rushing into joint petroleum exploration with China in Philippine maritime jurisdiction.

In 2005, the JMSU let state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. explore 142,886 square kilometers of western Philippine EEZ. It illegally claimed the EEZ as part of its internal waters.

Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. partnered as one-third of the venture. Last third was Philippine National Oil Co.

One-sixth of the survey area, about 24,000 square kilometers, was within Palawan Sea – Philippine territory.

Malacañang hid the deal from Congress and the public. It was uncovered only in 2008. By then, the Philippines already had spent $16 million as project share.

 

Journalist Barry Wain exposed JMSU in Far Eastern Economic Review, Jan-Feb 2008. He noted that Manila at first led ASEAN to make China sign the 2002 Declaration of Conduct in South China Sea. The DOC enjoined China to stop confrontational expansion of its occupied reefs. Yet with JMSU, Manila broke ranks from its allies and let Beijing explore the Philippine seabed.

Wain wrote that the edge of JMSU exploration was only 25 kilometers from Palawan’s southern town of Balabac – intruding on Philippine territory.

At that time Congress was investigating three Chinese deals. One was the $329-million National Broadband Network of ZTE Corp. Exposed in Gotcha and attested by whistleblowers at the Senate, it contained a $200-million (P10-billion) kickback.

Another was an illegal grant to newborn subsidiary ZTE International of gold mining rights in Mount Diwalwal and North Davao. Third was the participation of China State Grid, contrary to announced policy, in the transmission company’s privatization.

JMSU came in two phases, the first in 2005-2008. Exposed in 2008, Malacañang withdrew from the second phase, 2008-2010.

 

China used Malacañang’s withdrawal to withhold all exploration findings from the Philippines. Armed with the data, China in 2009 unilaterally filed with the UN a nine-dash line claim over the entire SCS.

Before JMSU, the Arroyo admin showed subservience to Beijing. On the Chinese embassy’s demand, Malacañang would release Hainan poachers arrested in the EEZ. Once, hundreds of Palawan citizens sat on the airport runway to prevent repatriation of poachers with pending court cases.

Seven congressmen led by Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño petitioned the SC in 2008 to nullify JMSU. The SC opined JMSU broke the Constitution in allowing foreigners to dominate the exploration.

Article XII National Economy and Patrimony, Section 2, limits such activities to Filipino citizens or corporations at least 60 percent Filipino-owned.

Further: “Exploration, development and utilization of natural resources shall be under full control and supervision of the State.

“The President may enter into agreements with foreign-owned corporations involving either technical or financial assistance for large-scale exploration, development and utilization of minerals, petroleum and other mineral oils.

“The President shall notify Congress of every contract entered into in accordance with this provision, within thirty days from its execution.”

Senators denounced Arroyo for not informing them of JMSU. Also, for spending $16 million without congressional consent.

Starting 2018, president Rody Duterte negotiated joint oil and gas development with China in Recto Bank. Talks collapsed last June due to China’s insistence on its laws to govern the Philippine EEZ.

Last week Chinese President Xi Jinping egged visiting Marcos Jr. to resume talks. Casiño said Tuesday: “May this [SC ruling] be a warning to Marcos Jr. not to trifle with the constitutional provisions that reserve the exploitation of our natural resources exclusively to Filipinos and under the full supervision and control of the Philippine government.”

Excerpts from Gotcha 10, 12, 14 March 2008:

Arroyo rushed to Beijing on Sept. 1, 2004 to oversee the signing of an “Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in Certain Areas in [SCS].” RP and China couched the pact in vague diplomatese, e.g., “turn an area of potential conflict into a zone of cooperation.”

Vietnam got wind of the inclusion of its own Spratly claims in the area, and protested. As appeasement, RP and China let Vietnam in on the deal. A sequel “Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Scientific Research in Certain Areas in [SCS]” was signed on Mar. 14, 2005.

Invoking the pact, China resists drilling in Palawan by Filipino firms that were granted survey rights well before the 2004 or 2005 signings. Drilling in RP waters provokes the Chinese Navy to steam in and enforce “joint rights” over the area.

The 2004 RP-China pact originally was billed “joint exploration.” Then-presidential legal counsel Merceditas Gutierrez found it unconstitutional. It was changed to “An Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in Certain Areas of [SCS].”

“Seismic” still pertains to exploration, which the Charter forbids unless under stringent conditions. When Vietnam was included in 2005, a “cure” was proposed thus: “A Tripartite Agreement for Joint Scientific Research in Certain Areas of [SCS].” But the signed version still had the revealing title, “A Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking.”

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Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Why are smugglers left untouched?

Why are smugglers left untouched?

by | Jan 13, 2023 | Gotcha

(Smuggled onions at Tagaloan Port, Misamis Oriental, Dec. 21, 2022 – PNA)

GOTCHA

Everything government does about pricey basic foods hurts little folk. But billionaire cartelist-smugglers benefit.

Example, onions. Government suggested retail prices and arrested uncompliant market vendors. Suggestions are law, it claimed.

To consumers grumbling that onion prices have multiplied nine-fold, it advised to buy per piece instead of per kilo. As if one shallot is enough to spice up bistek or sisig.

To indigents patronizing Kadiwa rolling stores, it sold smuggled contaminated Chinese onions mis-advertised as “fresh” domestic harvest. The last harvest was in August-October, next is February-April.

It will import 21,060,000 kilos by Jan 27 “to stabilize supply.” That’s a staggering 753 40-foot cargo containers – which will depress farmgate rates and bankrupt growers at harvesttime.

Spared by government, cartelists-smugglers are raking it big. Obvious reason: vendors, indigents, consumers, farmers don’t have hundred-million pesos to bribe authorities to look the other way.

Customs insiders confided to Gotcha the modus. Smugglers use Customs bosses’ favorite consignees. Capitalized at only P30 per kilo plus bulk freight cost, they pass on onions to retailers at P450-P650.

Bribery is by bulk, not pesos and centavos. For every five containers, three are for smugglers, two for Customs accomplices.

Smugglers and Customs cohorts are protected at highest places. They give nine-digit protection money to two persons closest to the center of power.

 

 

The biggest smuggler at the Port of Subic is an ex-congressman. His front consignees enjoy duty- and inspection-free privilege.

Three new contrabandists lord it over Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port (MICP), Subic and Batangas. The first, in his 30s, is a naturalized Filipino from China, “Mike Ma.” Second, in his 40s, is Chinoy “Gene Ang.” Third, in her 50s, is alias “Beverly Peres.”

Ma and Ang’s contacts are at Customs HQ in Manila. But they never go there, sending only an influential go-between, the brother of a Malacañang bigwig.

Senator Cynthia Villar vowed Tuesday to re-investigate agricultural cartelists-smugglers. In 2013 she uncovered that sleazy Bureau of Plant Industry officials issue them one-time import permits even during onion harvest. In cahoots with Customs crooks, they recycle lapsed permits to bring in more shiploads year-round.

Edible bulbs are packed in all available cold storages, leaving no space for domestic harvest. Produce rotting, farmers give in to cartelists’ low dictated rates. In April 2022 disgusted Mindoro farmers burned P9-million bulbs highway side.

At an inquiry that month, then-Senate President Tito Sotto disclosed four of 22 culprits named in intelligence reports:

• Leah “Luz” Cruz, operating in Cagayan de Oro and MICP;

• Manuel Tan, CdO, Subic, Batangas;

• Jun Diamante, CdO;

• Andrew Chang, MICP, Port of Manila, Batangas.

None have been indicted.

On Dec. 27, Agriculture assistant secretary James Layug requested Customs to “issue alert orders and joint 100-percent inspection” of all cargos of six consignees:

• Victory JM Enterprises;

• Taculog Int’l Consumer Goods Trading;

• Asterzenmed Aggregates;

• Veneta Consumer Goods Trading;

• Lalavy Aggregates Trading;

• SB Express Logistics Business Solution.

Alvin Enciso, Customs intelligence and investigation head at MICP, endorsed it to District Collector Arnoldo Famor. No word from Customs Commissioner Yogi Ruiz about the red alert.

Rushed imports dismay onion farmers. Gofer-bureaucrats of cartelists-smugglers have tricked President/Secretary of Agriculture Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to approve it.

Federation of Free Farmers chairman Leonardo Montemayor said farmers are being punished for high onion prices caused by criminals. “They should instead be helped to recover from last year’s severe typhoons, and expensive fertilizer and fuel,” said the ex-agri boss.

“Smugglers are more organized than the government,” lamented Gregorio San Diego, head of chicken raisers and egg distributors. His poultry industry is suffering from similar low-duty imports that Marcos Jr. authorized last month.

Customs HQ tried to dazzle the public Wednesday with news of interdicting P2-billion smuggled Chinese agricultural produce in 2022. The spox claimed that they protected local farmers and food safety of Filipinos. Yet only two weeks ago Ruiz offered to donate confiscated Chinese onions to Marcos Jr.’s Kadiwa stores. That was despite official findings of toxin and E. coli contamination.

Instead of abstract billion-pesos, Customs must instead prove that they destroyed the contraband fresh foods. The law so requires for public health and agricultural biosecurity. Photos and videos should show the manner, venue, date and witnesses to the destruction.

To date, Customs has said nothing about the smuggling at CdO by Frankie Trading Enterprises and Primex Export-Import Producer of 22 containers, each laden with 28,000 kilos of onions last July. No word too about the sneak-out of the contraband for retail in Davao and Surigao instead of destroyed by Customs condemnator Greenleaf 88. The only action about it is that, instead of suspending Port Collector Elvira Cruz, Ruiz promoted her to busier Port of Cebu.

* * *

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Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

If not videoed, ‘destroyed’ contraband can be recycled

If not videoed, ‘destroyed’ contraband can be recycled

by | Jan 11, 2023 | Gotcha

(Alarmed sentries photographed the sneak out of confiscated onions from the Customs area)

GOTCHA

Customs men always trumpet interdictions of smuggled goods. Press releases quote top officials for the feats.

Example: the seizures of contraband Chinese onion at Port of Cagayan de Oro last July 7, 19, 22 and 29. Twenty-two 40-foot cargo containers, each laden with 28,000 kilos of yellow onion, were misdeclared as butter, lumpia patty and siopao buns. Customs valued each container at P3 million, or P66 million for all 22.

“Elimination of agricultural smuggling, along with drugs and guns, is my priority,” publicized Customs Chief Yogi Ruiz, a transferee in 2017 from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. “We have a legacy to continue, one started by the previous admin.”

Something’s missing in the picture. What happened to the onions? In previous admins, smuggled sports cars or DVDs were steamrollered. Such contraband can be auctioned, but were instead destroyed because smugglers invariably won them back. How about fresh foods?

Smuggled agricultural produce must be “confiscated and destroyed, or returned to the country of origin, or shipped to a third country.” Department of Agriculture (DA) Order No. 9-2010 mandates: “In no case shall a confiscated consignment be auctioned, redeemed, donated or sold.”

Revisions came in 2016. The Customs Modernization and Tariff Act allowed for donation of smuggled fresh foods “if fit for human consumption.“ But DA must first inspect and certify sanitation/phytosanitation.

When the 22 containers were sneaked into CdO, DA was under orders from President/Agriculture Secretary Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: Strictly no issuance of sanitary/phytosanitary inspection certificates for onion and garlic.

 

 

CDO port collector Elvira Cruz on Aug. 20 directed confiscation and condemnation. An accredited “condemnator” was picked: Greenleaf 88. The onions were to be crushed and buried within 30 days.

Firm procedures govern condemnations. Then-Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero issued in July 2021 Rules and Regulations on Disposition of Forfeited and Abandoned Goods through Condemnation. Manner of destruction, deadlines, venues, witnesses were specified. Section 21, Completion Report, required “all pertinent documents including photographs and video clips relative to the process of disposal, duly certified by head of disposing office.”

A funny thing happened on the way to destruction. On Sept. 18 the contents of six cargo containers were transferred to open wing vans. Value: P18 million in onions. Alarmed, Customs sentries photographed the anomaly.

The trucks scooted off to Davao City where the contraband was retailed for P600 per kilo. Total take: 6 containers x 28,000 kilos x P600 = P100.8 million. (See Gotcha, 28 Sept. 2022)

Thousands more kilos had earlier been sneaked out of Customs-CdO, transported to Surigao Port and shipped to Tacloban. Alert Bureau of Plant Industry personnel in Tacloban sent the onions back to Surigao, where the BPI rep. memo-ed the Customs Port Collector about the irregularity. (See Gotcha, 5 Oct. 2022)

The stink reached Customs-Manila HQ. Ruiz told Intelligence Group Dir. Jeoffrey Tacio to investigate “District Collector [Cruz] and all personnel that may be involved in the alleged onion smuggling.” Further, “determine within five working days if [their] temporary relief is warranted during investigation. For strict compliance.”

Weeks later, Ruiz told Gotcha, “I have removed Cruz.” But Malacañang insiders shared that Ruiz in truth had actually promoted Cruz to Port Collector of busier Cebu. Cruz had served before as Cebu Port Collector, until transferred to CdO by Ruiz’s predecessor Guererro.

Officials often invoke “presumption of regularity of action.” Ruiz is entitled to such. But he must produce the condemnation report, with geo/date/time-stamped photos and videos of how, when, where and witnessed by whom.

Same with 100,000 kilos of onions seized at Port of Manila last Nov. 29, which DA spox Rex Estoperez said was partly rotting and contaminated with toxins and E. coli. Same with P20-million Chinese carrots, also spoiled. Where are the reports, photos and videos?

Without such details, contraband onion can be sneaked out and retailed at today’s P740 per kilo. Same way PDEA-South Metro Manila officers recycled confiscated shabu to the streets.

* * *

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

Paper ID cards,narco-generals: more signs of a broken

Paper ID cards,narco-generals: more signs of a broken

by | Jan 6, 2023 | Gotcha

Photo from Philippine Identification System website

GOTCHA

Republic Want more proofs of a broken Republic?

The government contracted an Indian outfit in 2019 for the long-planned National Identification System. For P30 billion, tens of millions of adults were to be issued plastic ID cards. The system is to be turned over to the government after five years.

Each card is to show bearer’s color photo, full name, birth date and place, gender, address, civil status, mobile number, email address. An embedded com-puter chip must store complete fingerprints and iris scan.
List-ups commenced in barangays in late 2021. Government said the cards were to be delivered to homes within weeks.

But the first few cards were sent only a year later. They weren’t plastic but mere black and white photocopies on one-half bond paper. No embedded chip. Photo and text smudged. Instructions were to keep these “clean and crumple-free,” better laminated, kanya-kanyang bayad.

Only few got plastic cards. They complained that their color photo and text can be erased. Those who didn’t receive photocopies were told to download their IDs online, again kanya-kanyang color printing and lamination. Easily alterable; very useful for terrorists and criminals.

Government was duped. At P5 per plastic card with chip, all 110 million Filipinos, including minors, could have been issued cards for only P550 million. Cer-tainly not P30 billion.

A diplomat confided to GOTCHA that a European state firm had offered to do the job for only $16 million, or P800 million. All Malacañang had to do was au-thorize it to compile data from SSS, GSIS, PhilHealth,

Pag-IBIG, LTO driver’s licenses and Comelec voter registry.

But there’s no P29-billion kickback there.

The Secretary of the Interior and Local Government told all police generals and colonels to file courtesy resignations. It’s his “shortcut” to purge the unnamed narcos among them. A five-man panel is to review each one’s activities, to determine and fire the guilty. Still, he said, it’s alright if some opt to not file.

 

 

Many retired generals howled. There’s a proper cleanup process, they said, and that entails not mere intelligence gathering but meticulous investigating and prosecuting. Narco-generals must be imprisoned, not just dismissed from service and let loose on society. Shortcutting breeds favoritism, kowtowing and demoralization. “Maybe the admin just wants to install gofers in the police hierarchy,” a general remarked.

The previous admin had resorted to shortcutting in its drug war. It linked five generals and several local officials to the narco-trade, without evidence and charges. It also killed 7,000 pushers and junkies who supposedly fought back arresting officers.

The SILG should instead demand resignation of crooked local execs, netizens hooted. Then again, he’s a political dynast.

To look busy, the trade department issued “suggested retail prices” of garlic and onion. It claimed that its SRPs, only one-third of skyrocketing costs of the spices, have the force of law. Supposedly they can arrest violators. Garlic and onion disappeared from public markets.

Sucking-up characterizes an aimless admin. More so one whose election is still in question at the Supreme Court. To please the President/secretary of agri-culture, the Customs chief offers to donate to Kadiwa rolling stores tons of confiscated smuggled onions. Yet the law states that contraband fresh foods must be destroyed for public health and agricultural biosecurity.

To escape blame for the New Year’s Day forced closure of all airports, the Civil Aviation chief alibied “outdated” airspace traffic management equipment. He wants funds for upgrade. Yet the gear is barely four years old, acquired via Japanese loan still being repaid by government. He knows that because he was the past admin’s undersecretary for aviation and airports.

The real problem is lack of fail-safe mechanisms and technical knowhow. A blower (cooling fan) conked out and there was no backup. An unskilled worker re-plugged it to uninterrupted power supply consoles that also conked out. Obvious mismanagement and neglect by higher-ups who vacationed early.

Flying to China despite the COVID-19 surge there, Marcos Jr. declared that there’s more in relations with Beijing than maritime disputes. That’s the same line predecessor Rody Duterte uttered before allowing Chinese to fish in Philippine waters, no limit on volume, area and duration.

Back in Manila, Marcos Jr. reported new pacts on joint petroleum exploration in Philippine seas that China illegally claims. The pacts have yet to be disclosed but Beijing insists that Manila forbid “foreign meddling.” China pulled a fast one since that implies departure from the Phl-US Mutual Defense Agreement Against Foreign Aggression. Very much like Duterte scrapping the Phl-US Visiting Forces Agreement.

Ex-president Gloria Arroyo, who accompanied Marcos. Jr., had signed with Beijing in 2005 a Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking. In breach of the Constitution, JMSU let China survey thousands of square kilometers of Philippine seabed.

Despite Malacañang’s contribution of $5 million – without congressional knowledge or consent – it never got a copy of the Chinese study. Armed with the results, Beijing in 2009 unilaterally declared a nine-dash line claim over the entire South China Sea.

Two years prior, Arroyo also signed the overpriced National Broadband Network-ZTE contract in Hainan. Subsidiary ZTE International was unconstitutionally granted gold mining rights in Mt. Diwata and North Davao. A whistleblower later testified in the Senate that ZTE bigwigs paid $10-million bribe.

Any new arrangement may not be of pressing concern to Filipinos. More alarming is if Marcos Jr.’s China entourage brought home COVID-19 infections. The health department today, as in March 2020 when pandemic started, hesitates to screen travelers from China.

Realizing his mistake in 2020, Duterte locked down the country wholesale. The economy collapsed: 19 million lost livelihoods. Marcos Jr. extols Duterte’s admin. What will he do if pandemic resurges in this broken republic?

* * *

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

Breakdown of Philippines: only political elite benefits

Breakdown of Philippines: only political elite benefits

by | Jan 4, 2023 | Gotcha

(President Marcos Jr. at Gloria Arroyo’s birthday bash, April 2022 – PBBM Media Bureau)

GOTCHA

Ex-President Gloria Arroyo joins Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s ill-timed China visit. China’s explosive COVID-19 surge can infect their planeload of companions, and family and staff when they return. Isolated in a pandemic bubble, they won’t get enough work done except to banquet.

The insistence to fly to China is as odd as Arroyo’s midnight sneak-in to Hainan in 2007. Leaving her husband who had just undergone delicate heart surgery, she signed the $329-million National Broadband Network-ZTE deal. A whistleblower later testified at the Senate that ZTE top execs handed over an initial $10-million kickback from the $200-million overprice.

Filipinos meanwhile suffer breakdown of state services and facilities.

Fifty-one perished and 19 went missing from Christmas flashfloods in eight regions. Hillside quarries triggered mudslides that swelled rivers and destroyed P1.1 billion in homes and farms. The quarriers are local and former natural resources officials.

Hundreds others died and thousands lost homes from two 2022 superstorms. Congressmen had pocketed P113.5-billion flood controls that year. Expect worse deluges this 2023 as they again steal P183-billion dredging funds.

Government falsely promises squatter rehabs. Slums remain electricity- and water-less. One neglected candle tipping over razes entire neighborhoods. Bureaucrats take commissions from contractors of shabby resettlements.

Calling it a “glitch” can’t minimize the backlash of the New Year’s Day crash of the country’s Airspace Monitoring System. Four hundred daily international and domestic flights of 60,000 passengers had to be cancelled, delayed or diverted up to three days later. Philippine travel and tourism image cracked.

Worst hit were 3,000 departing overseas workers who missed connecting flights to jobsites. Also those homebound who went hungry and sleepless from days-long flight diversions to other capitals. Who will reimburse their extra expenses?

Aeronautics bigwigs chest-thumped to uphold the Air Passengers Bill of Rights. Meaning, faultless airlines must feed, billet, refund and rebook at their expense the distraught flyers. Plus, pay emergency overtime of pilots and cabin crew, larger aircraft and airport re-slotting charges.

 

 

General aviation bled. Chartered, medical evac, company, student-pilot and fresh seafood flights were grounded.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines alibied that its equipment was antiquated. Yet the P13-billion airspace traffic system was installed only four years ago, 2018. Obviously it had no requisite backups. CAAP’s present chief was at that time transport undersecretary for aviation and airports.

Past Manila and Cebu airport bosses have yet to answer for myriad sleaze. In Manila they monopolize airport taxis. Highway robber-cabbies victimize passengers waiting for hours for rides.

Land transport everywhere is a mess. Disjointed routes of the EDSA bus carousel to elsewhere in Greater Manila is but a microcosm of nationwide commuters’ woes. Buses and jeepneys are hard to come by. Commuters resort to colorum vans. The ride-hailing monopoly exacts arbitrary “surge rates.”

Gridlocks plague urban and rural areas. Potholes pockmark highways and inner roads. Dozens of bridges have collapsed in recent years. Filching funds, national and local officials delay repairs. Absent from streets, policemen prefer assignment to special investigations, special operations, special tactics, special siopao; no regular foot patrols.

Yet they bungle a special criminal probe. Thirty-four “sabungeros” and companions were abducted on different dates in different cockpits under one e-sabong operator two years ago. All are presumed murdered. Three policemen have been indicted for kidnapping three victims in two incidents. No mastermind because money talks. From a gross of P3 billion e-sabong netted P300 million a day, enough to buy off top law enforcement and justice officials.

Sea transport sucks. Ports impose arbitrary wharfage, pilotage, storage. Authorities neglect skills upgrade for 400,000 Filipino seafarers. A fifth risk losing jobs on European-flagged vessels.

Deficient transport inflates food prices. As well, faulty data gathering, planning and logistics; costly fuel, feeds and fertilizer. Food producers and suppliers stagger from illegal pass-on of steep power generation costs.

Misinformed about harvests, Marcos Jr. failed to import undersupplied onion. His Bureau of Plant Industry withheld import sanitary/phytosanitary inspection certificates. Knowing better, hoarders began smuggling from China.

BPI inspectors detected toxins and E. coli in contraband onion. Yet Customs is donating the contaminated bulbs for retail in Kadiwa rolling stores. Marcos Jr. is rushing the legalities. The poor can buy cheap – dirty – onions.

The country is P13.5 trillion in hock. Most borrowings went to crooked deals: P15-billion PhilHealth scam, P42-billion Pharmally scam, China COVID vaccine scam. Cronies took over Malampaya gas rights. Agencies with no law enforcement or intelligence functions grabbed confidential/intelligence funds. Coming up: Maharlika Fund.

Up till Marcos Jr.’s departure for China, health officials dithered over stricter COVID-19 protocols on Chinese travelers like other countries. They’ve enforced only mumbo-jumbo “heightened alert.” They avoid offending Beijing, whose state media screeches that harsher rules on Chinese are discriminatory – forgetting that Beijing singled out flights from London, Brussels and Manila during surges.

The past admin too had refused to screen Wuhanese travelers at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Expect infection resurgence. Aligned with that admin, Marcos Jr. is repeating its mistakes. As it did to Rody Duterte, Beijing is bamboozling Marcos Jr. to sign a joint petroleum exploration in Recto Bank within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.

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

Malaysian Prime Minister extols Rizal ‘among greatest Malayans’

Malaysian Prime Minister extols Rizal ‘among greatest Malayans’

by | Dec 30, 2022 | Gotcha

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in front of Jose Rizal

GOTCHA

Not only Filipinos heroize Jose Rizal. Malaysians, Indonesians, Bruneians also study Rizal as central to their histories. Scholars glean from Rizal’s life and works a Malay racial consciousness.

Rizal mastered geography, among many fields. In his time, Spaniards born in Islas Filipinas called themselves “Filipinos.” Both Castilians and Filipinos derogated the natives as “Indios.” British, Dutch, French and Portuguese colonialists had other diminutives for their conquered Malay islanders.

Undaunted, Rizal elevated “indio” to respectability by naming fellow expatriates in Europe “Los Indios Bravos.” Later he arrogated “Filipino” for fellow nationals in forming La Liga Filipina. Rizal envisioned Malay unity. Awareness of Malay legacy showed in his annotations of Morga’s “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.”

Rizal inspired future leaders to reunify. Carlos P. Garcia and Tunku Abdul Rahman organized the Association of Southeast Asia. Diosdado Macapagal initiated Maphilindo. Then rose the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is a Rizal scholar. From initial readings in high school, he learned more about the Malayan visionary during visits to history prof Cesar Adib Majul at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. As an opposition leader, Anwar was imprisoned twice on false charges. Tormentors failed to break him. He drew inspiration from the Qur’an and Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which he reread six times.

On Rizal’s birth anniversary last year, Anwar honored Rizal with his article:

“‘Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It subdues the barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest.’ – Dr. José Rizal

 

 

“Today we celebrate the 160th birthday of one of the greatest Malayans, the Philippine National Hero, Dr. José Rizal who was truly an Asian Renaissance Man. A polymath, Rizal’s knowledge and scholarship was beyond measure and his contributions as a writer, thinker and artist was titanic. Dr. Rizal is the ultimate demonstration of how education can take anyone, regardless of race, religion or identity, to seize their moment in history, empowered to make for better tomorrows.

“To call José Rizal a revolutionary is disingenuous, for he denounced violent uprisings and referred to himself as a reformer. Without doubt, his efforts helped to launch the Philippines’ fight for independence from Spain, but his pen was mightier than the Spanish sword. The potential power given in his education, received from the West, helped him lead his community out of colonial slump. His two novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, are a testament to global literature and demonstrate mastery of language, satirizing the Spanish colonial project with allusion to classic Spanish literature and history, judging the brutal methods used with their own mythology. In his essay, ‘The Philippines a Century Hence,’ Rizal’s foresight warned the Spanish Empire of the struggle ahead if reform is not pursued and predicted the US’s growing influence in the Pacific. His hope was to inspire peaceful reform and gradual transition, but Spain labelled him a traitor and, at the age of 35, he was executed by firing squad in Manila in 1896.

“Rizal’s efforts took him beyond acclaim in just one nation. He not only believed in the indigenous peoples of the Malay Archipelago, but demonstrated what they were truly capable of. He advocated the union of the Malay lands against colonialist rule. He saw education as the highest element of any society that would ensure its survival and prosperity into the future. ‘In my blood runs the wanderlust of the Malays’ was a saying of Dr. Rizal. Let us take his example and seek the betterment of ourselves and our neighbors to build better futures.

“Rizal’s message reverberates today in his concept of the Malayan world and those sentiments of community we need to embody. For international cooperation and regional partnership, we should all take a page from Dr. Rizal’s words. His message remains important as we still find ourselves plagued by poverty and injustices in Southeast Asia.”

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Site Terms & Conditions (scroll down for the buttons)

This site, jariusbondoc.com, is free for your use.

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I. PRIVACY POLICY

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

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

 

What User Data We Collect

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

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

 

Why We Collect Your Data

We are collecting your data for several reasons:

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

 

Safeguarding and Securing the Data

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

 

Our Cookie Policy

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

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

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

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

 

Links to Other Websites

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

 

Restricting the Collection of your Personal Data

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

 

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jariusbondoc.com will not lease, sell or distribute your personal information to any third parties, unless we have your permission. We might do so if the law forces us. Your personal information will be used when we need to send you promotional materials if you agree to this privacy policy.

 

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All materials contained on this site are protected by the Republic of the Phlippines copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of jariusbondoc.com or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

However, you may download material from jariusbondoc.com on the Web (one machine readable copy and one print copy per page) for your personal, noncommercial use only.

If you wish to use jariusbondoc.com content for commercial purposes, such as for content syndication etc., please contact us at jariusbondoconline@gmail.com.

Links to Websites other than those owned by jariusbondoc.com are offered as a service to readers. The editorial staff of jariusbondoc.com was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

 

III. TERMS OF SERVICE

 

  1. GENERAL RULES AND DEFINITIONS

 

1.1 If you choose to use the jariusbondoc.com service (the “Service”), you will be agreeing to abide by all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement between you and jariusbondoc.com (“jariusbondoc.com “).

 

1.2 jariusbondoc.com may change, add or remove portions of this Agreement at any time, but if it does so, it will post such changes on the Service, or send them to you via e-mail. It is your responsibility to review this Agreement prior to each use of the Site and by continuing to use this Site, you agree to any changes.

 

1.3 If any of these rules or any future changes are unacceptable to you, you may cancel your membership by sending e-mail to jariusbondoconline.com (see section 10.1 regarding termination of service). Your continued use of the service now, or following the posting of notice of any changes in these operating rules, will indicate acceptance by you of such rules, changes, or modifications.

 

1.4 jariusbondoc.com may change, suspend or discontinue any aspect of the Service at any time, including the availability of any Service feature, database, or content. jariusbondoc.com may also impose limits on certain features and services or restrict your access to parts or all of the Service without notice or liability.

 

  1. JARIUSBONDOC.COM CONTENT AND MEMBER SUBMISSIONS

 

2.1 The contents of the jariusbondoc.com are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. All materials published on jariusbondoc.com (including, but not limited to news articles, photographs, images, illustrations, audio clips and video clips, also known as the “Content”) are protected by copyright, and owned or controlled by jariusbondoc.com or the party credited as the provider of the Content. You shall abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any Content accessed through the Service.

 

2.2 The Service and its Contents are protected by copyright pursuant to the Republic of the Philippines and international copyright laws. You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce (except as provided in Section 2.3 of this Agreement), create new works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content or the Service (including software) in whole or in part.

 

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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.

 

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  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.