GSIS

By REY O. ARCILLA
MALAYA

‘The COA reported that at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.’

AS this space had been urging for months, the Department of Foreign Affairs has finally brought the territorial dispute we have with China in the West Philippine Sea to the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Annex VII of the UNCLOS provides for the creation of an arbitral tribunal which can decide the case we lodged even without the participation of China.

Within thirty days (from January 22), we will find out China’s official reaction to our move. Let us hope that she will abide by the obligations she assumed when she adhered to the UNCLOS.

Malacañang has said that the move will not ruin our relations with China. That, I believe, is up to China.

I suppose the decision to go to UNCLOS has been preceded by an intensive and in-depth study of all the possible reactions of China and its implications on the national interest.

I hope I am wrong, but given her ascendancy as a world economic and military power, I fear China will simply ignore our move. And if the arbitral tribunal should decide in our favor, she will ignore that too.

A decision in our favor will, of course, be a victory of sorts but it will be hollow if China ignores it.

That would bring us back to square one.

When President Noynoy Aquino decided not to send our ships back to Panatag Shoal and allowed China to stay and remain in control of it, that to me was already tantamount to giving up our rightful claim by default. Up to now, I still am unable to understand why Noynoy took that decision, given his bold assertion that what is ours is ours and we will fight for it to our last breath, or some such brave words. I also recall him saying at one point that any foreign power who steps on Recto Bank would be like stepping on Recto Avenue.

Let us not forget that occupation is ninety percent ownership. Look what happened to Mischief Reef and Sabah.

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The personal representative of the US President in the Philippines, Ambassador Harry Thomas, has finally come out with a protracted apology for the US Navy minesweeper USS Guardian running aground in the Tubbataha Reef and wreaking extensive damage to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was clear from the very beginning that the ship was intruding into territorial waters and had been warned several times not to proceed to the marine park. The warnings were totally ignored. To add insult to injury, the park rangers were told by the ship captain to bring their complaint to the US Embassy. Geez, if we have friends like these… we don’t need friends!

As I said in this space last week, the commanding officer of the ill-fated ship should be summoned by the Philippine authorities charged with the task of investigating the incident to shed light on the circumstances that led to the disaster. The question he should specifically be asked is why he ignored the warnings of Reef officials.

A former navy officer and expert mariner has the following to say about the incident:

“The USS Guardian is a mine sweeper normally deployed in littoral and protected waters either for mine laying or mine sweeping. To find this vessel operating in open waters way far from the usual shipping routes is indeed a mystery and invites further scrutiny and speculation.

“Understand the vessel is home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan, now being the middle of winter there. It may well have been deployed to warmer waters for exercise and training? Did the Captain take the liberty to go for R&R, i.e., scuba diving and other extracurricular activities in wanton disregard and violation of Philippine sovereignty and regulations?

“The Navy said the vessel was enroute to a port of call. If the port of call is not in the Visayas or Mindanao, it is certainly not in the right shipping channels. Did they give prior notice on what Philippine port they were intending to visit? If their port of call is in the Pacific Ocean or west to south of the Philippines such as Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia for example, the ship is ridiculously out of position.

“The US Navy announced that the incident was due to faulty navigation charts. This is very hard to believe. The US Navy, the most powerful in the world today, has made the most thorough hydrographic survey of all the seas and oceans to ensure the safe navigation of their billion-dollar submarines and surface vessels.

“They must take us for being ignoramuses and naive as well. The Americans initiated and operate a very precise positioning system called the GPS (for Geographic Positioning System) that is used by all naval and merchant vessels as well as aircraft. This is a very accurate and dependable system of pinpointing any location on the planet. Either they have an incompetent crew or careless navigator at best. We can surmise that they must have been planning to drop anchor close enough to shore but misjudged the weather, currents, wind and visibility, etc. Did they run aground at night and darkness?

“The US treats this incident in a cavalier fashion as if we are all ignorant and can be taken for granted.”

***

Don’t you find it strange that not one of the honorable senators who received the P1.6 million largesse from the Senate’s budget through the “generosity” of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has not said anything about what they have done with the money or what they intend to do with it?

After the public outcry over the illegality or immorality of their action, they should have returned the money or at least followed the example set by Senator Pia Cayetano. She donated the P250,000 she received to the victims of typhoon Pablo and of the present devastating floods in parts of Mindanao. (Cayetano, her brother Alan and Senators Miriam Santiago and Antonio Trillanes received the same smaller amount from Enrile supposedly for being members of the minority.)

What does that make of them?

And what about the honorable congressmen who reportedly received P500,000 each as yearend bonus from the House speaker? How come nobody is questioning it? Are they any better, in a sense, than the distinguished senators of the Republic? Why are they not being taken to task by the public and the media? Is it because nobody complained about being treated differently by the Speaker, making no distinction between majority and minority members of the House? They reportedly all received the same amount.

***

This brings to mind the oft-repeated vow of Noynoy to end corruption in government.

In a recent pronouncement, he said “it has become clear that there is no room for straying from the straight path and those who abuse their office and power would be held accountable.”

Instead of holding the Senate and the House members accountable for apparently taking liberties with the people’s money, Noynoy said that that is their business. Little does he know, it seems, that certain departments and offices under the executive branch also engage in the same practice of using savings to grant bonuses to officers and employees. How those savings are effected is something that should be looked into by government auditors.

Incidentally, Noynoy said recently that some people will get a jolt when he reveals something about anomalies being committed in government. We are still waiting for the surprise, Mr. President.

***

Reminders (for Noynoy’s action):

1) Filing of charges against of­ficials of the National Food Administration (NFA) during Arroyo’s illegitimate regime. Noynoy himself said on several occasions that there is documentary evidence to prove the venalities in the past in that agency.

Incidentally, whatever happened to the Senate investigation on the alleged anomalies that took place in the agency during the watch of Noynoy’s administrator-appointee who resigned in September last year to run for Congress?

2) Investigation of reported anomalies in the GSIS during the watch of Winston Garcia.

Now that there appears to be a falling out between the Aquino administration and the Garcia family of Cebu (its governor is still resisting her suspension from office for six months), it is hoped that an investigation of Winston Garcia, a brother of the suspended governor, would now proceed.

In the meantime, COA reported that at least P4.13 billion in contributions and loan payments made by 12 government offices to the GSIS had not been credited to the offices as of Dec. 31, 2011.

COA also said the amount of unrecorded remittances could go much higher because only 36 agencies have so far responded out of the 186 that were sent confirmation requests by government auditors. Of the 36, 27 confirmed “discrepancies” in their premium and loan payments ledgers when compared with those of the GSIS.

Paging Mr. Robert Vergara.

3) Facilitating the investigation of rampant corruption in the military and police establishments.

4) Expeditious action by the AFP on the case of Jonas Burgos.

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Today is the 268th day of the sixth year of Jonas Burgos’ disappearance.

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Email: roacrosshairs@yahoo.com