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Marikina watershed quarries: 2 cancelled, 2 next – Loyzaga

Marikina watershed quarries: 2 cancelled, 2 next – Loyzaga

by | Dec 29, 2022 | Gotcha

(Google Earth photo shows one of several unlicensed swimming pool resorts inside Masungi Georeserve)

GOTCHA

written on December 9, 2022

 

Two of four dubious rock quarries inside Marikina watershed have been cancelled. The two remaining are in the process of cancellation. Sec. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga announced this at the Senate hearing Nov. 16 on the 2023 budget of her Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.

If so, this solves the foremost cause of deadly floods below: Marikina, San Mateo, Cainta, Antipolo, Quezon City, Pasig and San Juan, among others. Hundreds died in 2009 and 2020 when mud and heavy rains gushed onto thousands of homes, shops and vehicles there.

Marikina watershed in the mountains of Rizal province consists of forests, rivers and ponds. Although inoperational, quarries there host illegal woodcutters, slash-and-burn farmers, rich squatters and a dozen unlicensed swimming pool resorts. Forest denudation, hill levelling and river diversion trigger flash floods and mudslides.

On questioning by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, Yulo-Loyzaga said she cancelled the quarries for being inoperational since 2004. Cancellation forecloses extension after the 2024 expiration of permits.

Only the DENR secretary can initiate the process and actually cancel Mineral Production Sharing Agreements over mines and quarries. Yulo-Loyzaga spoke under oath at the Senate.

For whatever reason, however, she has not publicized the signed cancellations. Unanswered to date is a Nov. 23 request from the Upper Marikina Watershed Coalition for copies of the cancellation notices and status reports.

UMWC secretariat head Anna Maria Eliza Reyes invoked transparency in writing Yulo-Loyzaga. Two groups of ethnic Dumagat Remontados also thanked Yulo-Loyzaga for closing the quarries that encroach on and desecrate ancestral lands and burial grounds.

Yulo-Loyzaga subalterns disavow the quarry cancellations. On Nov. 21, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Southern Tagalog regional director Dondi Sarmiento told Reyes: “Our records show there are no Orders of Cancellation for the MPSAs within the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape, [only] Orders of Suspension issued on May 25, 2022.”

 

Goons of resort owners continue to harass park rangers of Masungi Georeserve that overlaps with the quarries. Authorized in 2017 by then-DENR head Gina Lopez, Masungi Georeserve Foundation rangers have been rewilding with indigenous trees 3,000 hectares of protected watershed.

Excerpts of the Nov. 16 Senate hearing:

Pimentel: I am just alarmed. Is it possible? May MPSA covering some 1,500 hectares in the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape and nearby protected areas? Could that theoretically happen or is that allowed by law? That an MPSA exists inside a protected area?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Mr. Senator, the information we have on record, the MPSAs were granted prior to the designation of the protected area. Right now po, two are already canceled and the other two are recommended for cancellation na po.

Pimentel: So apat lang po lahat yan?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Yes po.

Pimentel: Naninigurado lang po ako. So two cancelled. When you say cancelled, effectively cancelled – talagang no more activity?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Cancelled na po.

Pimentel: And two for cancellation. Anong timetable natin dito?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Sir, there is a three-letter notice and a 90-day period before it finally takes effect.

Pimentel: More or less, can you give me the month and year they have effectivity?

Yulo-Loyzaga: The recommendation for cancellation was two weeks ago. So there’s a 90-day period from then before effectivity.

Pimentel: Sabay sila?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Yes.

Pimentel: So these will be cancellations for cause or these will be cancellations which will be contested by the holders of the MPSAs?

Yulo-Loyzaga: For cause po.

Pimentel: And then the two cancelled, did they accept the cancellations?

Yulo-Loyzaga: The information we have on record is that the two that were cancelled never operated, did not operate.

Pimentel: So that was easy for you. Dito tayo sa more difficult. These two that are about to be cancelled, operated?

Yulo-Loyzaga: The remaining two have not operated since 2004.

Pimentel: OK so basta ang mangyayari, all the four will be formally and officially cancelled. Therefore after the effectivity, we can say that there is no more MPSA inside the protected area of the Upper Marikina River Basin. That’s a fact?

Yulo-Loyzaga: Yes sir.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

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Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

Normal for China to fight 27 neighbors

Normal for China to fight 27 neighbors

by | Dec 28, 2022 | Gotcha

(Communist China trespasses, abuses, entraps its neighbors with onerous loans. Google Maps)

GOTCHA

written on December 28, 2022

 

China aggresses 27 neighboring states. Beijing’s embassy in Manila claims that “it is only natural for neighbors to have differences.”

China’s disregard of neighbors’ rights under international laws cause those troubles.

China has built 11 dams on the Upper Mekong River within its borders. Those choke waterflow to downstream Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The last three formally have protested since 2018. Their rice, vegetables and fish farms are drying up. Mekong Delta harvests are dwindling.

In diverting river flow from neighbors, China violates the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. The treaty requires member-states to share and protect surface and groundwater. Harm must be avoided by diversion dams, pollution or input of alien fish species.

Under Article 7, countries that cause damage must compensate those that share the watercourse. Beijing has refused to recompense Southeast Asian farmers it has bankrupted.

China claims to own the Mekong, one of five great rivers that spring from Tibetan lakes. Its claim is as false as its reference to Tibet as a province. Tibet was an independent kingdom until Communist China annexed it in 1950. In the process it disturbed its border with Nepal.

More Chinese dams choke river flow to India, Bhutan and Pakistan. A 1962 China-India border war ended with a status quo agreement. But Chinese army incursions up to ten miles into India in the past two years have led to unarmed yet deadly skirmishes.

 

 

China continues to grab territory from tiny Bhutan. In 2020 it laid claim to a wildlife sanctuary in Central Bhutan far from their borders. China victimizes Pakistan with opaque loans, including one that onerously guarantees Chinese power plants 34 percent profit.

Despite truce terms from their 1969 border war, China continues to poach in Russian seas. Disputes rage as China desires expansion of inner Mongolia as a province grabbed from its northern neighbor in 1949. China’s suppression of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang upsets Islamic neighbors Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Chinese fishers trespass Korea and Japan waters. Beijing baselessly claims Japan’s Senkaku isles and Okinawa. It threatens to retake independent Taiwan as a “renegade province.”

China claims the entire South China Sea via a “nine-dash line.” The concocted border violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. UNCLOS grants each coastal state a 200-mile exclusive economic zone. But Beijing encompasses the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.

Beijing has grabbed 25 reefs and isles from those countries. Nine are from the Philippines: Kagitingan (Fiery Cross), Zamora (Subi), McKennan (Hughes), Calderon (Cuarteron), Mabini (Johnson South), Burgos (Gaven), Panganiban (Mischief), Panatag (Scarborough), Sandy Cay.

Two weeks ago, Chinese maritime militia trawlers swarmed Del Pilar (Iroquois) and Escoda (Sabina) Shoals near Palawan. It was a repeat of its 2020 blockade of Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef in Pagkakaisa (Union) Bank. Chinese warships prevent Philippine exploration vessels gas drilling in Recto (Reed) Bank. All those are within the 200-mile EEZ, West Philippine Sea but 650 miles distant from China.

China boycotted Australian mutton, wine and other exports in 2020 when the latter sought a UN inquiry on how SARS-COV2 broke out in Wuhan. China’s payola through its businessmen to three New Zealand political parties has sparked controversy. Chinese trawlers poach in Papua New Guinea and tiny Palau.

China bothers even non-neighbors. Consisting of 3,500 trawlers, its distant-water fleet engage in illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing in Ecuador across the Pacific. Costa Rica and Peru coast guards had to come to the rescue when 600 Chinese trawlers trespassed Ecuador’s Galapagos EEZ in 2020.

Chinese fleets overfish in West Africa’s Atlantic Ocean. Artisanal fishermen’s protest remain unheeded in Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Sierra Leone. While poaching, Chinese trawlers shut off automatic identification systems to avoid satellite detection, in breach of international rules.

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

Decades of flood controls yet we’re still underwater

Decades of flood controls yet we’re still underwater

by | Dec 23, 2022 | Gotcha

PNA photo of river dredging

GOTCHA

Congressmen budgeted P183 billion for “flood controls” in 2023. They’ll pocket most of it.

Congressional pork barrels are mainly in Flood Management Programs (FMP). Rivers are to be dredged, but none actually takes place. No state auditor checks if mud and silt were removed.

Supermajority congressmen will divvy up the P183-billion FMP. The closer to the top the congressman is, the bigger the share. For “pakisama,” some nano-minority members will be handed pork slices.

The P183 billion is inserted in the Dept. of Public Works and Highways budget. Congressmen negotiated their FMPs during budget committee hearings. Only regional directors and district engineers know exactly how much will go to this influential congressman or that lightweight. An engineering district consists of one or more congressional districts.

FMP funds have been allocated since Congress’ 1987 restoration. Most were stolen. Instead of abating, floods have spread. Congressmen welcome inundations of homes, shops and farms – justifications for more FMPs the following year.

A district’s flood budget grows each year of the congressman’s tenure. It continues to swell as the spouse, offspring, parent or sibling inherits the congressional seat. As long as there are political dynasties, there will be floods to control. For them, it doesn’t pay to solve flooding.

Senators partake of FMPs. More pork barrels are “parked” in other departments, like health and social welfare.

Pork barrels have ballooned ever since outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2013. The SC defined it as lump sums, no details of projects concocted by legislators after budget enactment.

Originally those were fixed amounts. Emerging in 1989, the Countryside Development Fund was P80 million per senator and P50 million per congressman. City lawmakers demanded their share. It was renamed Countrywide Development Fund, and increased to P100 million per senator and P60 million per congressman.

 

 

CDFs rose in the 2000s: P150 million per senator, P70 million per congressman. It became Priority Development Assistance Fund: P200 million per senator, P80 million per congressman. Then, Disbursement Acceleration Program; same fixed amounts for senators and congressmen, plus insertions in various agencies.

FMPs are now permanent entries in national budgets. “Flood contractors” have become congressmen. Adept at it, they wangle bigger FMPs than most. They “buy” colleagues’ FMPs, advancing 80-percent kickbacks to the latter and keeping 20-percent “handling fee.” They do fake feasibility studies and completion reports, and onsite props like idle dredgers, hardhat workers and billboards. Imagine Janet Lim-Napoles sitting in Congress.

Dredging actually is measurable. Diligent engineers first compute the project length, width and depth, then re-compute the dredged dimensions. They countercheck this with the dredger’s operating capacity and duration.

The national budget has no such descriptions. FMPs just come in two generic forms: “construction/maintenance of flood mitigation structures and drainage systems” and “construction/rehabilitation of flood mitigation facilities within major river basins and principal rivers”. Only provinces, cities and engineering districts are itemized.

Taxpayers can ask how their congressmen use FMPs.

FMPs are all flat peso amounts. Some don’t have ones, tens, hundreds, thousands – only millions. Examples:

• Ilocos Norte 1st engineering district, exactly P780,000,000;

• Ilocos Sur 2nd ED, exactly P471,000,000;

• Pangasinan 3rd ED, P240 million flat;

• Pangasinan 4th, P980 million flat;

• Isabela 1st, P300 million;

• Isabela 4th, P565 million;

• Nueva Vizcaya ED, P450 million;

• Bataan 1st, P350 million;

• Bulacan 2nd, P120 million;

• Pampanga 2nd, P210 million;

• Pampanga 3rd, P689 million;

• Tarlac ED, P215 million;

• Tarlac 2nd, P227 million;

• Zambales 1st, P150 million;

• Quezon City 1st, P680 million;

• Batangas 4th, P165 million;

• Rizal 1st, P775 million;

• Rizal 2nd, P100 million;

• Marinduque, P348 million;

• Mindoro Occidental, P234 million;

• Romblon, P620 million;

• Albay 1st rehabilitation, P272 million;

• Masbate 2nd, P225 million;

• Masbate 3rd, P352 million;

• Aklan rehabilitation, P428 million;

• Bacolod ED, P502 million;

• Negros Oriental 1st rehab, P90 million;

• Negros Oriental 2nd rehab, P275 million;

• Negros Oriental 3rd rehab, P430 million;

• Bohol 2nd, P220 million;

• Bohol 2nd rehab, P240 million;

• Cebu 2nd, P35 million;

• Cebu 3rd, P269 million;

• Cebu 5th, P150 million;

• Cebu City, P235 million;

• Biliran, P305 million;

• Leyte 1st rehab, P150 million;

• Zamboanga City ED, P552 million;

• Zamboanga del Sur 1st, P125 million;

• Zamboanga del Sur 2nd, P450 million;

• Zamboanga Sibugay rehab, P200 million;

• Cagayan de Oro 1st, P145 million;

• Misamis Occidental 2nd, P250 million;

• Sultan Kudarat 1st, P200 million.

Aside from millions, other FMPs have thousands, but still rounded figures with no ones, tens and hundreds. Some are larger than those above. Complete list in DBM website, 2023 General Appropriations Act, Volume I-B, pages 94-104: https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/budget-documents/2023/general-appropriations-act-fy-2023/gaa-volume-ib

Sources in and out of government, all preferring anonymity, helped in this research. Staunchly against corruption and pork barrels, they need our prayers for fortitude and protection.

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

Selling smuggled foods unlawful, sickening

Selling smuggled foods unlawful, sickening

by | Dec 21, 2022 | Gotcha

PNA photo of smuggled onions found in clothing shipment

GOTCHA

Distracted by his Maharlika fund, Marcos Jr. spun back Friday to agriculture. His three announcements were supposedly for the poor. First, that his 350 Kadiwa rolling stores nationwide have enough P25-per-kilo rice. Second, that Kadiwa will retail confiscated smuggled onions. Third, that he will slash import duties on rice, corn and pork.

The results will be anti-poor.

His rice distribution defies science, his supposed policy foundation. DSWD lists 5.6 million penurious families. That makes 16,000 families availing of P25 rice in each of 350 Kadiwa stores.

A day has 144 ten-minute intervals, the time each transaction takes. Meaning, every Kadiwa must have 111 sales staff, shoulder-to-shoulder around the store, to serve 16,000 buyers.

That’s assuming each staff can work 24 hours straight. Assuming too that the 350 Kadiwa stores strategically cover all 84 provinces, 148 cities, 1,487 municipalities and 42,022 barangays.

The poor dwell in all 7,641 islands. They must trek from mountain kaingin, seaside shacks and far-flung fields to avail of Marcos Jr.’s cheap rice. Taking public transport will only reduce their food budget.

A frugal family can stretch the kilo of rice two days. Today’s buyer will wonder when the Kadiwa will return.

By law, confiscated fresh foods are condemned and destroyed. Harmful chemicals likely were used to grow and preserve the pest-infested edibles. Donating those to charity can sicken consumers and contaminate farms.

Last July, the Bureau of Plant Industry stopped issuing sanitary/phytosanitary clearances of onions from abroad. BPI in Cagayan de Oro caused the seizure of 21 cargo containers of Chinese onions mis-declared as siopao buns and lumpia patty.

 

 

In such case, Customs must hire a “condemnator” to crush and bury the contraband. But in cahoots with Customs-Cagayan de Oro, the condemnator on Sept. 18 transferred hundreds of tons of yellow bulbs onto wing vans and sold them in Davao at P600 a kilo, for hundred-million-peso profit.

Videoed and documented, the misdeed was exposed in this column Sept. 28. Held liable, the Cagayan de Oro port collector was “removed.” Customs central office reassigned her to busier Cebu, a promotion. The condemnator was untouched.

Last Friday, Marcos Jr. cited more red and yellow onions interdicted in Manila. Told by whoever, BPI conducted unnecessary sanitary/phytosanitary inspection. It detected toxins and E. coli (feces bacteria).

Still, agriculture higher-ups said the contraband would be sold in Kadiwastores. Price would be cheap since it didn’t cost the government anything anyway, the spokesman beamed.

Marcos Jr. said: “As quickly as possible, naghahanap kami ng paraan kasi usually ‘yan [smuggler] kakasuhan mo pa bago ‘yung auction. By the time i-auction mo, wala na, bulok na.”

Also: “Kaya’t sabi ko hanap tayo ng paraan para mailabas kaagad, mailagay sa market kaagad. Pinag-aaralan namin ngayon. Baka by next week mayroon na tayong solution.”

No care for public health and agriculture biosecurity? Are miserable Kadiwa buyers like garbage scavengers making do with “pagpag” food leftovers?

On advice of his NEDA secretary, Marcos Jr. will keep import tariffs low till end 2023. Rice, 35 percent duty instead of 50. Corn, only five percent instead of 35. Pork, only 15 percent from 40.

They aim to lower runaway food prices caused by shortage, costly transport, fuel and electricity. That should elate Christmas consumers.

But it’s at the expense of rice, corn and hog growers, millers, traders, farm and feed suppliers. They too are consumers. Seventy percent of hogs come from backyard raisers. Ninety percent of rice and corn are from farms less than two hectares.

Tariff collections are intended to improve their sectors through fertilizer, pesticide, irrigation, R&D, mechanization, logistics and anti-African Swine Fever measures. Reduced tariff means reduced aid. Cheap imports will bankrupt domestic producers.

The only beneficiary is the cartel of grain, fish, pork, poultry, vegetable, spice, fruit and sugar importers. Recycling import permits, they also smuggle. Their protector is a NEDA undersecretary, a Marcos Jr. appointee.

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

Maharlika distracting BBM from agriculture

Maharlika distracting BBM from agriculture

by | Dec 16, 2022 | Gotcha

(Photo: Marcos Jr. visit at DA last July 4, the first of only two times)

GOTCHA

President Marcos Jr. must address his concurrent duties as Agriculture Secretary. Since his July inaugural, he has attended more parties, fiestas and car races than the two days he showed up at the Dept. of Agriculture. Foods are becoming scarce and costly. Yet he’s wasting time devising a silly, sleazy Maharlika Investment Fund.

In assuming the agriculture portfolio, Marcos Jr. gave food security the cruciality it deserves. There are things a President can do that a secretary can’t, he said.

So do it – now.

Breaks in the supply chain result in food scarcity and exorbitance. A President can re-link that chain at Cabinet level: transportation, trade, public works, local governments, law enforcement, health, budgeting, technology, communications, energy, Customs, internal revenue, education, skills training, environment.

Exemplify agricultural smuggling. Contraband yellow onion retails online for P400 a kilo. Imported pompano and salmon, intended for canneries and restaurants, are diverted to public markets.

DA bureaucrats can only do so much. They’ve designated an assistant for inspectorate and enforcement. Also, temporarily stopped issuing sanitary/phytosanitary inspection certificates (SPSIC). Then, warned buyers that uninspected onion and fish can sicken them.

Who knows what harmful chemicals were used to grow and preserve smuggled foods? It’s like scavengers eating “pagpag” leftovers from garbage bins.

A President overseeing agriculture can do more. He can prioritize Customs crackdown on agri-smugglers. Food producers identified 12 new contrabandists, aside from two dozen in a Senate inquiry last May. Nail them all.

 

 

Other possible Presidential orders: Trade officials to pinpoint traffickers’ warehouses. Coastguards to defend commercial and municipal fishers against marauding Chinese maritime militia trawlers. Public works to pave more roads from fish ports to markets, and construct irrigation. Commercial attachés to arrange food cargo screening at overseas ports of origin. Health and technology experts to set up SPSIC facilities in domestic ports. Transport, local governments and policemen to speed up food flow. Environment officers to stop mountain quarries from spewing mud onto lowland farms. And more.

Two actions have long been proposed to Marcos Jr. One, revive the anti-agricultural smuggling council. This consists of private leaders in fisheries, aquaculture, poultry, piggery, grains, sugar and vegetables. Like before, it shall report regularly to the President. Customs colluders with smugglers can be foiled. Prosecution of culprits will be monitored.

Two, ensure cheap fuel and electricity for food producers. Diesel is half the operating cost of commercial and municipal fishers. They’d rather not sail long distances on moonlit nights at slightest weather disturbance than spend big on fuel for a measly catch. With fuel subsidies they can fill up wet markets with seafood.

Unaffordable diesel discourages pump irrigation. Fields run dry. Energy officials must come to the rescue of farmers.

Electricity is 40 percent of poultry, cold storage and grain milling. Generation rates are soaring due to costly imported coal.

Meddling recently in an Appellate Court case, Marcos Jr. implied that one generator must absorb multibillion-peso losses from imported coal instead of slightly raising charges on consumers. In which case he must make the 17 other coal generators nationwide, including those who advise him on the economy, to halve their rates and match that one generator.

With cheap electricity, planters can mechanize and modernize harrowing, planting, harvesting, drying, milling and cold storage.

Marcos Jr. can do all that if undistracted by the Maharlika bill. If he certifies it as urgent, as congressmen ill-advised, he has to contrive a  justifying calamity and emergency. A risky political gamble in lieu of agriculture.

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

Maharlika foolish, corrupt – critics

Maharlika foolish, corrupt – critics

by | Dec 14, 2022 | Gotcha

(Leaked photo of Marcos Jr. with Speaker Martin Romualdez, Rep. Yedda Romualdez, and Deputy Speaker Sandro Marcos at F1 Grand Prix in October in Singapore, where they claimed to be following up on foreign investments)

GOTCHA

Marcos Jr. speaks from both sides of the mouth. Abroad he courts investors to Manila. At home he crafts Maharlika to invest abroad.

Economists, jurists, academics enumerate Maharlika Investment Fund’s flaws. College dropouts should listen to specialists. Criticisms are summed up into three. MIF is ill-conceived, thus doomed. It encourages corruption. Undue haste taints it.

Bill authors included SSS and GSIS, a basic defect. Ignoring jurisprudence, they mis-labeled the private provident funds as government-owned. In breach of charters, Malacañang appointees committed P125 billion from GSIS and P50 billion from SSS without board trustees’ consent.

Yet there’s no cash to spare. SSS suffers P6.94-trillion deficit; GSIS, P560.6 billion. Rep. Stella Quimbo delisted them as MIF funders. “Their inclusion was a bad idea,” Rep. Joey Salceda conceded. In fact SSS will again forcibly increase members’ contributions P300 a month starting January 1st.

MIF will now rely on P50 billion from Land Bank, and P25 billion each from DBP and national government. Another mistake.

A “sovereign wealth fund” copied from rich countries, MIF should derive from excess earnings, say oil, gas, export and trade taxes. Land Bank and DBP have no surplus, notes ex-Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio, an economics grad. The state banks’ charters require that they remit half of annual incomes to the Treasury. Remainders go to operational expansions.

Land Bank and DBP’s Malacañang directors already invest in certain portfolios. Placed under MIF, 15 more highly paid directors, four Cabinet advisers and a dozen fund managers will do the investing for the two. Wasteful duplication.

For national government to put in P25 billion, it must first show excess funds in the national budget and at fiscal yearend, Carpio says. It can’t. For decades now government spending has depended on borrowings, P13.64 trillion at last count.

MIF obligates Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to contribute. That violates the Constitution, which mandates a BSP autonomous of national government. BSP may not participate directly or indirectly in any enterprise unless approved by its Monetary Board. In which case, the MB should first approve BSP’s entry in MIF, says ex-congressman Neri Colmenares, a law and economics grad.

 

 

Speaker Martin Romualdez and Deputy Speaker Sandro Marcos, Marcos Jr.’s first cousin and son, sponsor the bill.

In his first ever national budget, Marcos Jr. inserted P2.5-billion Confidential/Intelligence Funds for himself. Plus, CIFs to officials with no law enforcement/intelligence functions, like the Vice President and Education Secretary. His cousin and son expedited enactment.

MIF is exempt from the Government Procurement Reform Act, Salary Standardization Law, GOCC Governance Act, Tariff and Customs Code and Civil Service Code. A super lawless body.

Whether or not he chairs MIF, Marcos Jr. will appoint the directors, even “independent” nominees, Cabinet advisers, investment managers. Easy to make them invest in losing crony companies, like what happened in 1972-1986.

Salceda claimed all will be subject to internal, external and constitutional Commission on Audit. Yet they will appoint such internal/external auditors, Colmenares points out. And with everyone in MIF exempted from transparency and accountability, COA will have no basis to determine their wrongs.

Wrongdoers will be jailed up to five years and fined P50,000 to P2 million. But government crooks enjoy immunity. Examples: those behind the P42-billion Pharmally pandemic supply overprice, P15-billion missing Philhealth money, P728-million fertilizer scam from Malampaya gas fund.

And what’s the hurry? MIF was filed Monday, Nov. 28. Tuesday, the  House committee on banks approved it subject to revising by Salceda’s technical working group. Wednesday, they OK’d the TWG’s addendums. A public hearing was rushed the following Monday.

Norway’s sovereign fund, the world’s biggest at $1.4 trillion, was well thought out. Discussions on a fund for future generations when oil runs out began in 1961, two years after North Sea discovery. Ideas firmed up in 1970. The fund was formalized 12 years later, 1982. The Finance Ministry first infused oil revenues in 1996. Government can spend income only on real returns, meaning, income above inflation rate. If fund returns average 5 percent and inflation is 3 percent, it may withdraw only 2 percent. The fund grew every year but first withdrawal was only in 2016.

Seventeen key officers and 500 professionals manage Norway’s fund round-the-clock, says economics Prof. JC Punongbayan, PhD. It is most transparent. Its website details all portfolios and earnings.

MIF is “broken beyond repair,” National Scientist for Economics Raul Fabella laments. No amount of tweaking can undo its flaws. MIF wrongly assumes that government must finance infrastructure, despite the Build-Operate-Transfer Law and Public-Private Partnerships. It illusions revenue surplus, when overborrowing is fast moving to repayment crisis. It is untimely; all indications are towards global recession. Due to shaky world economy, Norway’s wealth fund lost $174 billion in the first half of 2022.

Yet the House steamroller intends to finish three plenary readings between Dec. 14 and 17. To drown out resistance, authors now insert ayuda for the destitute. Salceda, MIF’s sole defender, taunted that critics talk without reading the latest of ever-changing versions.

Maybe it’s they who should read about the French revolution.

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Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

* * *

Catch “Sapol” radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM)

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.

Sinovac safety efficacy and price still need clarifying

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However, we do have some terms and conditions which you can find below. By continuing to use or to read from this site, that means you understand and agree to comply with the terms and conditions.

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
  • Your contact information and email address
  • 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:

 

  • When you are filling the forms on the website, make sure to check if there is a box which you can leave unchecked, if you don’t want to disclose your personal information.
  • If you have already agreed to share your information with us, feel free to contact us via email and we will be more than happy to change this for you.

 

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.

 

II. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

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.

 

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.