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Ex-DENR chief Defensor’s quarry blamed for floods

Ex-DENR chief Defensor’s quarry blamed for floods

by | Dec 2, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Ex-DENR chief Defensor’s quarry blamed for floods

Image by Joseph thomas from Pixabay

Ex-DENR chief Defensor’s quarry blamed for floods

Former environment secretary Mike Defensor might wish to react. Mainstream and social media are blaming his hillside quarry for last month’s destructive floods in east Metro Manila and suburbs.

Defensor’s quarry is in the Marikina Watershed, Rodriguez, Rizal. Majestic Earth Core Ventures Inc. is the largest of 16 quarries there. As conservation zones, watersheds are off-limits to woodcutters, miners and dwellers. With Marikina Watershed denuded, typhoon waters and mud cascaded down the slopes unimpeded.

Folk in the valley below want answers. Loved ones perished in the flash floods. Homes were deluged with muck and water up to second floors. Evacuating to rooftops, residents endured cold winds and hunger till storm subsided. Shops, cars, appliances, cookware, clothes were lost. Victims are contemplating multibillion-peso damages.

Congress is planning inquiries on why the great flood caused by 2009’s Storm Ondoy recurred. Defensor is a party-list congressman, representing Anakalusugan. Netizens are decrying abuse of power. Trending online are photos of the denudation and flooded communities.

Defensor is chairman and president of Majestic. The firm quarries and markets aggregates, sand and gravel in Barangay San Rafael, Rodriguez. It also operates a crushing plant on-site, Majestic’s website states. The quarry output is used in construction. Defensor headed the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources in Aug. 2004 to Feb. 2006.

“It is important that we rehabilitate this watershed because it is the first line of defense of Marikina, Quezon City, Antipolo, Pasig, Cainta, San Mateo against rainwater surging from the uplands of Luzon.”

Gina Lopez

Former Secretary, DENR

Ex-DENR chief Defensor’s quarry blamed for floods

A successor at DENR a decade later, Gina Lopez continually warned against watershed deforestation. An aerial inspection of Marikina Watershed in Sep. 2017 distressed her. Showing images of bald hillsides and gaping excavations, she said: “It is important that we rehabilitate this watershed because it is the first line of defense of Marikina, Quezon City, Antipolo, Pasig, Cainta, San Mateo against rainwater surging from the uplands of Luzon.”

Miners opposed Lopez’s closure of 73 destructive extractions. Quarry men claimed that the watersheds she was seeking to rehab were not even officially declared as such, so they could not be evicted. Lopez countered that “a watershed is a watershed, and no law can make or unmake it as such.”

Congress refused to confirm Lopez’s appointment as DENR chief. Still she insisted: “As long as there is quarrying and Marikina Watershed is denuded, the Pasig River waters will be brown and will become more and more shallow. It will cause flooding in Metro Manila. It is imperative that the Marikina Watershed is reforested.”

Lopez left the cabinet. She succumbed to cancer in Aug. 2019.

She was the eldest of the second generation of the Lopezes who controlled giant broadcaster ABS-CBN. Defensor led its disenfranchisement last July.

Defensor is being contrasted to Lopez. His company profile states: “Majestic is a corporation existing under Philippine laws engaged primarily in quarrying,” the website says. “The company is committed to apply only the best practices in quarrying, always taking into consideration the environment and community. Although the company was only established in 2012, it is already the grantee of various Operating Agreements in several quarry sites in the Rizal area.”

Aside from Rodriguez, Majestic has other extractions. It “is constructing another mobile crushing plant in Barangay San Joaquin, Calbayog City, Western Samar, while conducting exploration work for aggregate resources.”

Defensor is also CEO of Pax Libera Mining Inc. Controversies surround its operations in Bukidnon. As Cabinet member under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, he was publicized as lead man of mining firms Nihao and Geograce. The two tied up with a Chinese miner in Zambales. People in that province denounced the many mines that leveled their mountains, polluted the air, choked the rivers, despoiled food sources, and ruined their health.

Defensor also signed as witness in the grant to ZTE International Corp. of gold mining rights in Mount Diwalwal and North Davao, Mindanao. Along with ZTE’s national broadband network bribery scandal, the mining grant was investigated at the Senate. The Constitution forbids foreigners from natural resource extraction, except in financial or technical assistance.

President Rody Duterte has blamed recent deadly floods on illegal logging and mining, including quarries. DENR has been tasked to investigate in Cagayan Valley, Albay in Bicol, and Marikina Valley.

Forest denudation by illegal loggers in the Cordillera Range caused the Cagayan floods, DENR U-Sec. Jonas Leones told Sapol-DWIZ Saturday. Slash-and-burn corn farming in the Sierra Madre range contributed too.

People in Albay blamed on 106 quarries the lahar slides from Mayon Volcano.

People in Albay blamed on 106 quarries the lahar slides from Mayon Volcano. Homes were destroyed in Guinobatan, Ligao City, Camalig, Daraga, Tiwi, Tabaco, Malilipot, and Legaspi City. Fifteen quarries were suspended, nine for operating outside their concessions and six for expired permits, Leones said.

Defensor’s quarry area of 200 hectares is supposedly too small to have caused the great flood. Leones said unplanned development is more to blame.

 

* * *

 

            My second compilation of selected columns is now available as e-book and print-on-demand. “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” zeroes in on corruption scandals and China’s sea aggression.

 Chapters: (1) Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity; (2) MRT-3 Fiasco; (3) (Dis)Trusting Comelec, on the faulty poll automation; (4) Leveling Lush Mountains, via illegal mining; (5) Smuggling Unabated; (6) Police Chopper Scam; (7) Surrender of Sovereignty; and Epilogue: The Philippine Government Exposed.

 Foreword by patriots Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario.

Get a FREE copy of “Chapter 1, Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe, also FREE, to my newsletter HERE.

Remember what went wrong and why

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We must remember what went wrong, and why

We must remember what went wrong, and why

by | Nov 30, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

We must remember what went wrong, and why

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

Remember what went wrong and why

Filipinos readily forgive, a distinction. We also easily forget — a flaw? Forgiving buttresses our society. Forgetting opens us to repeated abuse, especially by crooked government officials. No wonder many of us feel fated to suffer their corruption.

            My new book compilation of columns tries to help us remember. In selecting the entries, the aim was to exemplify some of the worst sleaze in high places. The seemingly disparate cases were linked — in motive and modus operandi.

            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” recalls what went wrong and why, so we can avert recurrence of dirty schemes.

            Chapters: (1) Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity; (2) MRT-3 Fiasco; (3) (Dis)Trusting Comelec, on the faulty poll automation; (4) Leveling Lush Mountains, via illegal mining; (5) Smuggling Unabated; (6) Police Chopper Scam; (7) Surrender of Sovereignty; and Epilogue: The Philippine Government Exposed.

The Filipinos’ forgiving nature buttresses our society. Our flaw, forgetfulness, opens us to repeated abuse, especially from corrupt officials.

Remember what went wrong and why

Foreword by patriots Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario. Shared here:

            “Jarius Bondoc’s columns lucidly expose all kinds of problems facing the nation, breaking down complex issues into simple understandable parts so the reader can easily see and comprehend the entire picture.  In particular, Jarius’ columns on the South China Sea dispute always shine the klieg lights on the dark corners of China’s hidden motives and stealthy actions designed to grab Philippine territory and maritime zones.

            Jarius is often the first to expose, and to explain, China’s actions that steadily expand China’s land and maritime boundaries at the expense of the Philippines. Jarius does not hold back, because he would relentlessly follow through and build on what he has previously written, leaving the reader thoroughly convinced of the correctness of his views.  There are not many columnists who can be as persuasive as Jarius. In times when an adversary like China has unlimited resources to drown out or distort the truth, spread lies and fake news far and wide, we need columnists like Jarius who tell it the way it is.

            “In this battle to defend our territory and sovereign rights against Chinese encroachment, we have to rely on our brave journalists who refuse to toe the administration’s obsequiously pro-China policy. We have to rely on our patriotic journalists who cannot be cowed by power or might. We have to rely on responsible and ethical journalists to tell the truth so that we may know what is right or wrong, and what is fair or unjust.”

            – Antonio T. Carpio, Philippine Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice (Ret.)

“Throughout history, the protection of a nation’s territory and patrimony has been a core duty not only of its leaders, but also of its people. Currently, this duty to defend one’s country assumes great relevance because of China’s acts to take over the South China Sea, including the waters belonging to its bordering States. As Filipinos, we stand to lose about 80% of our Exclusive Economic Zone in the West Philippine Sea, as well as our land territories such as Scarborough Shoal and Pag-asa Island.

“Ideally, the actions of citizens should complement the actions of their leaders; however, when leaders abscond in their duties, it falls upon citizens like us to stand up for our country.

“This duty to defend one’s country becomes effective when an informed citizenry exists. Citizens are informed through a robust and vibrant media—particularly through investigative journalism which independently seeks the truth in the public interest.

“It is in this light that I welcome Jarius Bondoc’s book entitled ‘Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government’, a compilation of his work as a seasoned and courageous journalist in the Philippines. ‘Gotcha’ spotlights the problems of corruption in Philippine government involving the country’s transport system, elections, customs and mining.

Jarius is also one of the few Philippine journalists who exposed some of the backstories of Philippine policy in the South China Sea. Given the sensitivity involved in foreign policy, the work of investigative journalists is important in exposing wrongdoing and corruption in government, especially involving officials bought off by a moneyed superpower like China.

“When done responsibly, investigative journalism contributes to an informed citizenry and a well-functioning democracy.

“For our leaders and citizens, the work of journalists is vital to allow us to see the truth and take creative and responsive actions to protect our country and patrimony.”

– Albert F. Del Rosario, Former Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs

“Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and print-on-demand, starting today, Nov. 30, 2020.

            Get a FREE copy of “Chapter 1, Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe, also FREE, to my newsletter HERE.

 

*   *   *

Remember what went wrong and why

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MIA rehab a misdeal; pursuing it only stinks

MIA rehab a misdeal; pursuing it only stinks

by | Nov 27, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

MIA rehab a misdeal; pursuing it only stinks

Image by Stela Di from Pixabay

Manila International Airport rehab stinks of graft

The Manila International Airport rehab is turning into a misdeal. Too many wrongs were made in the contracting. It is following the path of government’s worst fiascos. No amount of legal patch-ups and PR diversions can cure the infirmities. Pursuing it will only stink – in the midst of the administration’s supposed final push against corruption.

Last week the National Economic and Development Authority’s top officials junked the P109-billion rehab proposal. Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez and Economic Planning Sec. Karl Chua found many deficiencies in the offer of Megawide Corp. They told endorser Transport Sec. Arthur Tugade that Megawide’s submissions were incomplete. Lacking too were evaluations by the Dept. of Transport and MIA Authority.

Dominguez and Chua co-chair the Investment Coordinating Committee of NEDA. The ICC approves what goes to the NEDA Board for finalizing. The President chairs the NEDA Board.

Dominguez and Chua told Tugade in a letter Nov. 19 “to ensure that all requisite documents, as specified in the attached ICC checklist of documentary requirements for the unsolicited proposal … are complied with by the private proponent in form and substance.”

The ICC co-chairs added that DOTr should evaluate any proposal in accordance with law. That is, the Amended Build-Operate-Transfer Act and its implementing rules and regulations. It was necessary “prior to the endorsement or re-submission of the unsolicited proposal for ICC-NEDA Board action,” they wrote.

Megawide’s prospective sources for financing the project are not guaranteed to materialize

Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez & Economic Planning Sec. Karl Chua

Manila International Airport rehab stinks of graft

The IRR is specific. DOTr, as sponsor agency, should have first determined if Megawide was qualified legally, technically and financially. Thence it should have turned in complete papers.

Foremost of the defects was financial. Megawide had only P18-billion equity as of December 2019. This was way short of that 30-percent equity, or P32.3 billion, required for the P109-billion rehab.

Two days earlier, Nov. 17, Economic Planning U-Sec. Jonathan Uy already told DOTr U-Sec. Ruben Reinoso the same. Not only was Megawide’s net worth too small for a project that big. It was also wrong to base the 30-percent capital requirement solely on the initial expenses for the rehab. The entire 20-25-year period should be computed. That’s because the contractor still has improvements to fulfill even during the operation stage, when it will increase passenger and other airport fees.

Dominguez and Chua reiterated to Tugade: “The prospective sources of (Megawide’s) financing for the project’s succeeding phases, such as the issuance of treasury shares and preferred shares, projected increase in retained earnings and cash to be generated, are speculative and not guaranteed to materialize. Hence, the financial capability of Megawide is mostly hinged on uncertain sources.”

Next day, Nov. 20, Megawide sought to solve those matters. It elevated technical consultant GMR airport operator of India as 40-percent consortium partner. With GMR, it then declared to be jointly and solidarily liable for any project missteps.

Dominguez and Chua returned Megawide’s deficient offer to Tugade. They left the door open to “resubmission” if all requirements are completed. This encourages DOTr deal packagers to follow up the lacking papers.

But Rep. Jericho Nograles says it’s no longer feasible. The law was not followed from the start. To submit papers piecemeal, every time the NEDA screeners found deficiencies, is yet another error, he says. The prudent option for DOTr, following the Dominguez-Chua letter, is to “ministerially” return the proposal to Megawide. To do otherwise is giving unwarranted benefits to a favored party, he says: “That’s graft.”

Already Nograles is going after the MIA Authority for “according special treatment”. General manager Eddie Monreal gave original proponent status (OPS) to Megawide last July despite lacking papers and scrutiny. Dominguez and Chua discovered the deficiencies, Nograles pointed up to Monreal in a letter last Monday, Nov. 23.

Documents indicate that Monreal got the MIA board to approve the OPS on say-so of DOTr higher-ups. They were remiss in their duty to evaluate the unsolicited proposal, Nograles says.

The OPS is a crucial privilege under the BOT Law. It gives the unsolicited proponent first crack at bagging the project contract. All others must best its offer via Swiss challenge. In case of a superior offer, the original proponent can simply match it and still retain the deal.

​

Legislators saw more MIA violations, such as the lack of stakeholder consultation

Manila International Airport rehab stinks of graft

Granting the OPS without full study violates Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Nograles says. That section defines as graft: “Causing any undue injury to any party, including the Government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence. This provision shall apply to officers and employees of offices or government corporations charged with the grant of licenses or permits or other concessions.”

Megawide’s proposal is to rehab and operate the aging MIA for at least 20 years. The offer was made as far back as March 2018. A consortium of seven conglomerates had beat it to the OPS then. That super-consortium backed out last July after DOTr rejected pleas to redo the terms in light of the pandemic and economic slowdown. The first OPS was rescinded and the second granted within days. Nograles sees undue haste that left no room for thorough review.

Other legislators saw more violations. One was the lack of stakeholder consultation, according to Cong. Jesus Suntay. MIA’s 14,000 employees were slated for dismissal. When this hit the headlines in October, Megawide offered to absorb them.

Nograles has sought investigation by President Duterte’s new mega task force against corruption. Other MIA stinks are expected to surface, like cash shortages, overpriced contracts, lavish life styles and human and drug trafficking.

 

*   *   *

Manila International Airport rehab stinks of graft

​

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Here’s how the emergency banca repairs will be made

Here’s how the emergency banca repairs will be made

by | Nov 23, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Here’s how the emergency banca repairs will be made

Image by Florian Berger from Pixabay

Repair typhoon damaged Philippine boats

Fish are still there for the catch. With bancas fixed, fishers can set out to sea anew to feed their families and communities. That exigency confronts Pacific coastal Bicol. Typhoons Rolly and Ulysses wrecked tens of thousands of artisanal fishing boats. Environmentalists Asis Perez and Norbert Chingcuanco are stockpiling repair materials. As soon as dirt roads are passable, marine plywood, epoxy and rust-resistant copper nails will be distributed to isolated villages.

Fishers’ homes will be visited to assess boat damage on the spot. The broken segments will be measured, and the exact plywood replacements sawed and handed over. Neighbors will help sand, glue and nail up the boat. No time lost, no overhead cost, repair kits are conserved. Then onto the next fisher’s hut. From restored earnings, beneficiaries can later pitch in for marine paint to top off the repairs.

Asis and Norbert will do away with the slow conventional way. That entails first tedious list-up of fishers, then written damage reports. Only then will repair kits be doled. By then fishing villages will be starving.

The aim is to get them back on their feet in no time, Asis says. Unlike farmers who lost their crops, the fishers simply need to refit to sail and fend for themselves. Food relief is coming in trickles.

From experience, Asis estimates each repair to cost P2,000-P3,000. He was Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources head when Super Typhoon Yolanda battered the Visayas in 2013. At once 25,000 bancas were fixed. Another 8,000 new ones were molded from fiberglass on-site in worst hit but reachable barrios. “Project Ahon (Arise)” somehow staved off hunger.

Funds are being raised for fiberglass boats. “No more cutting of trees,” says Asis, a longtime forest conservationist

Atty. Asis Perez

Legal Adviser, Tanggol Kalikasan

Repair typhoon damaged Philippine boats

No longer in command of government resources, Asis cannot replicate those numbers today. With donations, he and fish-entrepreneur Norbert target to help at least a thousand fishers. Materials suppliers are giving substantial discounts as contribution. The fund drive is called “Mini Ahon, Part-2”.

Officials have yet to detail the number of displaced fishers. In Kalabangga district alone in San Miguel Bay, at least 5,000 bancas were damaged, Asis quotes the fisherfolk cooperative. The bay encompasses Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur provinces. Initial news from Catanduanes Island reported about 10,000 ruined boats. Fishers groups in Lagonoy Gulf, Bicol Peninsula; Polillo Island, Quezon; and Dinggalan, Aurora have also sent distress calls.

“What Typhoon Rolly partially damaged, Typhoon Ulysses finished off,” shudders Lorrybel Nachor, Executive Director of Coalition for Bicol Development. The two howlers struck on Nov. 1 and 11. First roofs were torn off homes and shops. Then floods engulfed communities. Farm crops were ruined, fishing bancas smashed. Nearly 200,000 families evacuated to schoolhouses.

Launched last Monday, “Mini Ahon, Part-2” can so far cover 500 repairs. Donations have poured in from as far as California and New Jersey. “There’s joy in giving,” Norbert says. “Even tilapia raisers in Taal Lake, Batangas, on the other side of Luzon, though hard-hit by Typhoon Quinta, readily gave P150,000.” The NGO Tanggol Kalikasan will render a full accounting on its Facebook wall. It is registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue for tax-credit donations.

After the rush repairs, Asis and Norbert intend to raise new funds for fiberglass boats. “No more cutting of trees,” says Asis, a longtime forest conservationist. Wooden boats last only five years; fiberglass at least 25. “With nearly 300,000 registered bancas nationwide, 6,000 need to be replaced every five years,” Asis says. With built-in floaters, fiberglass versions are unsinkable. Very usable in the West Philippine Sea against trespassing Chinese coastguards that water-cannon Filipino fishers. There are makers in Navotas, Metro Manila.

Donations welcome to “Mini Ahon, Part-2”: Tanggol Kalikasan Inc., Banco de Oro, 004210079580. Please Private Message Norbert Chingcuanco’s Facebook wall for proper accounting.

* * *

Repair typhoon damaged Philippine boats

There’s hope yet for the Bureau of Customs. It won gold for compliance in the Performance Governance System. That’s a leap from where it came — the pile of crookedest agencies around.

The BoC stinks inside and out. Various administrations attempted cleanups top-down. A few changes here and firings there. But BoC kept sliding back.

This time reforms are coming from middle managers, supervisors and staff. Goals are set and scorecards kept on section and individual output. The aim is to professionalize the politicized, factionalized organization. In four years it should be modern and credible.

How? Full automation, including no-contact transacting and customer care. Universal risk consciousness. Strong internal controls. BoC chief Rey Leonardo Guerrero proposed those strategies. Deputy Collector Lourdes V. Mangaoang heads the 11-member transformation core team. The Office for Strategic Management heads the strategy execution. PGS guidance and grading is by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia.

In passing PGS’ Stage-1 Initiation this time last year, BoC also got highest rank. The revalida panel for Stage-2 Compliance commended BoC’s top performance. Panelists were ISA trustee Alex Lacson, Usec. Emmanuel Bautista, Asec. Mary Jean Pacheco, Asec. Dakila Napao, Ryan Evangelista, and Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua.

Next hurdles: Stage-3 Proficiency, and Stage-4 Institutionalization. If rank and file stand steadfast, BoC’s stink can become luster.

* * *

Watch out for the launch of “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government”. The book compiles my columns on corruption in recent years. As well, the illegalities and obsequiousness that encouraged China sea aggression.

 

*   *   *

Repair typhoon damaged Philippine boats

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Presidential aides should stop feeding Duterte’s insecurities

Presidential aides should stop feeding Duterte’s insecurities

by | Nov 20, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Presidential aides should stop feeding Duterte’s insecurities

Image by Thomas Wolter from Pixabay

Power-hungry aides feed Duterte’s insecurities

Presidential aides should stop feeding their boss’ insecurities. Malice incites more malice. They make him lose equanimity. Their own inadequacies are exposed. Distrust and despair spread. Filipinos lose.

All humans have fears. Kings, presidents, CEOs are not exempt. The burden of responsibility magnifies self-doubts in the mind of the leader. “It’s lonely at the top,” said American entrepreneur, author, podcaster Tim Ferris. “Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals.”

During President Rody Duterte’s taped national address in the aftermath of Typhoon Ulysses, an aide was overheard whispering to him. Supposedly a group of students at UP-Diliman were asking “#NasaanAngPangulo?” at the height of the howler. Irked, Duterte threatened to cut the state university’s funding if they went on campus strike. His spox later had to clarify that the President apparently confused the UP uproar with that in nearby private Ateneo. Still, what did the whisperer gain? She likely thinks she became close to the President’s heart. But does she realize the disappointment of tens of thousands of other UP students, professors and staff, including at the Philippine General Hospital, at the prospect of less subsidies?

It was like how Duterte earlier upbraided pandemic medical frontliners. He had confused them with artists singing a Tagalog translation of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” whom he in turn confused with social media hecklers for him to resign. Apparently the daily political-intelligence briefers are giving Duterte a bum steer. What’s their agenda?

Power is coveted, sought and tightly held on to. From the animal kingdom to all human societies, power is the currency of success.

M. Ena Inesi, Assoc. Professor at London Business School &

Adam D. Galinsky, Chair of Mgt. Div. at Columbia Business School

Power-hungry aides feed Duterte’s insecurities

And which aides murmured to him that Vice President Leni Robredo was upstaging him in disaster rescue and relief? All the latter did was help typhoon victims in her limited means. But false whispers provoked Duterte to malign the woman for 20 minutes on national television. The whisperers again likely think they’ve become the boss’ favorites. But they distracted him from using the vast resources of the presidency for emergency action. They antagonized victims and aid donors witnessing the No. 1 official fulminating at the No. 2.

Leaders need A-1 info and advice to make sound judgments. But courtiers harbor personal agenda and can lead to the leader’s downfall, as Rasputin did. “Power is coveted, sought and tightly held on to,” wrote management professors M. Ena Inesi and Adam D. Galinsky. “From the animal kingdom to all human societies, power is the currency of success.” That’s why aides strive to be more proximate to the center than they already are. If fooled by the courtiers, The Prince ultimately is answerable, Machiavelli said.

The well-meaning will tell the leader like it is, in proper context. They will help him overcome insecurities. Psychologist Ellen Hendriksen, PhD, prescribes three antidotes:

  • Avoid emotional reasoning. Don’t mistake feelings for reality. 
  • Stop reading minds. It makes you think others are judging or rejecting you.
  • Don’t take things personally. Most likely it is nothing about you.

To those, spiritual advisers add the factor of the Almighty. They help leaders find solace in the Bible, Koran or Talmud. The devil capitalizes on one’s fears and self-doubts to sow division and discord. Leaders need grounding on a Supreme Being.

Duterte’s predecessors had their ups and downs. Cory Aquino got piqued and sued an opinion columnist for libel. Losing the court case pulled down her political stock.

Fidel Ramos tirelessly won over business and political critics via dialogue. One time he even alighted from the presidential limo to chat with youth protesters. His forehead bled when a placard accidentally hit him. Unperturbed, he simply wiped his wound with a hanky and explained his side of the issue. That won him admiration for sincerity.

Friends recruited a retired management coach to help Joseph Estrada sort out complex state matters. But the adviser quit, unable to stand the “midnight cabinet” of presidential drinking and mahjong buddies, who led to Erap’s downfall.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo excelled by picking the brains of specialists. She simplified her leadership style thus: “Do your best; let God do the rest.”

Noynoy Aquino deftly defied Chinese sea expansionism. But reliance on an inept economic team blinded him from the spreading corruption. The “#NasaanAngPangulo” clamor began during his tenure with the massacre of the SAF-44.

Duterte would do well to shun yes-men. They only infect him with a siege mentality, as if the whole world is against them. They seem to disbelieve the surveys showing 90-percent approval for the President. Maybe he should ask them why.

*      *      *

My latest book compilation of columns has been completed. “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is about corruption and illegalities that encourage China sea aggression. Watch out for the launch.

Power-hungry aides feed Duterte’s insecurities

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Why not tax ‘e-sabong’? It grosses P1.5 billion a day

Why not tax ‘e-sabong’? It grosses P1.5 billion a day

by | Nov 18, 2020 | Gotcha

GOTCHA

Why not tax ‘e-sabong’? It grosses P1.5 billion a day

Image by ภาณุวัฒน์ ตรีคุณากรณ์ from Pixabay

Tax e-sabong, it grosses billions a day

The new online gambling craze “e-sabong” rakes in a staggering P1.5 billion a day. It is largely untaxed. Finance officials are squeezing only the usual sources of gaming revenues.

Taxmen had better wise up to the new cash cow. Casino and offshore gaming are down due to the pandemic. So are horseracing, lotto, small-town lottery and sweepstakes. Government thus can collect from them only a fraction of what it used to. On the other hand, “electronic sabong” suddenly is popular, also precisely due to COVID-19. Taxmen can make up for the shortfall, if they only figure out how.

The P1.5 billion comprises gross daily bets in live online cockfights. There are two major platform operators, plus a slew of small copycats, sources say. As the operators conservatively net ten percent or P150 million a day, they earn P55 billion a year. If that income is levied the usual one-third, the government can collect an extra P18 billion. That’s just for starters. More taxes can be taken from e-sabong service providers, like government did before the economic slump from casino and offshore gaming ancillaries.

E-sabong is deemed illegal. A 1974 law allows “cockfighting… only in licensed cockpits during Sundays and legal holidays and during local fiestas for not more than three days.” The Philippine National Police frequently warns the public against betting, or else face arrest. The implementing rules need revision. A way must be found to put e-sabong under state regulation by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. Until then, Pagcor must crack down on it. The Bangko Sentral and the Anti-Money Laundering Council have been asked to look into earnings of operators.

Regulating and taxing e-sabong is the only way. Bettors can be protected; government can earn revenues.

Tax e-sabong, it grosses billions a day

           Still, e-sabong thrives 365 days a year. It has been around for a decade, but became a hit due to pandemic precautions. Aficionados need not crowd into cockfight arenas, but watch via smartphone. Avoiding coronavirus exposure, they bet online from a few thousands to millions of pesos. The odds are the usual parehas, walo-dies, walo-anim, onse, tres, sampu-anim or doblado.

Sources detailed the cash volume. Conservatively P5 million in bets are placed per sultada, or fight to the death. A sultada lasts about five minutes, to make 12 fights per hour, grossing P60 million. The games run for ten hours a day, for P600 million gross. That’s only for one online operator. Multiply that by three – two major operators and the combined take of the small ones – and the total daily bets reach more than P1.5 billion.

How is the money divvied up? Ninety percent goes to winner payouts. Operators keep ten percent, or P150 million a day. Part of that goes to any of the 1,634 cities or municipalities that allows e-sabong, videoed in any of the roughly 2,000 cockpits nationwide. Not to forget, the usual grease money to make law enforcers look the other way.

Regulating and taxing e-sabong is the only way. Bettors can be protected; government can earn revenues. For more than a century the government forbade jueteng, to no avail. Subsuming jueteng in 2006 into the charity sweepstakes’ small-town lottery has made billions for the government. Bribes to crooked mayors and cops have become official allocations for local governments and the police.

         No more taxes can be squeezed from POGOs, Philippine offshore gaming operators. Pandemic lockdown choked the live card gaming that caters only to offshore Chinese bettors.

Five operators and 12 service providers packed up in May after two months of standstill. Thousands of Chinese and Filipino workers were laid off. Though allowed up to 30 percent work capacity in June-September, two more POGOs served notice to close shop.

Bayanihan Act-2 hammered the last nail on the coffin. On finance officials’ advice, POGOs suddenly were slapped five-percent franchise tax. The rate was more than the operators’ retained bet earnings of 3.5 percent, from winning payouts of 96.5 percent, sources say. As POGOs folded up, so did ancillaries like call centers, food caterers, card shufflers, shuttle service and others.

The property sector also dipped. Almost 300,000 square meters or 17 percent of total office space will be abandoned by yearend, analyst David Leechiu says. Another 20-30 percent or half a million square meters will be vacated by POGOs next year.

Gone will be Pagcor’s multibillion-peso income from POGOs. From P73.42 million in 2016, Pagcor’s POGO take rose to P3.12 billion in 2017, P6.11 billion in 2018 and P5.73 billion in 2019. Gone too will be corporate and value-added taxes taken by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. As well, fees paid to the Immigration Bureau and the Labor Department.

In shifting focus to e-sabong, finance officials can learn from POGOs. Over-taxation kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.

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