Pamusa’s Case vs. Lucio Tan

by Frank Wenceslao

This column’s readers know the Philippine Anticorruption Movement USA, Inc. (Pamusa) is authorized by the USDOJ to participate in fighting corruption and kleptocracy in support of the enforcement of UNCAC by U.S. laws which has been reinforced by the recent G20 London Summit ending bank secrecy for tax evasion investigation.

Pamusa’s lawyers have gathered sufficient evidence to charge Filipino big fishes starting with Lucio Tan in the United States for corruption, mail or wire fraud, money laundering and racketeering (violation of RICO). Moreover, Tan’s and family members’ U.S. businesses have put themselves under U.S. jurisdiction for violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Anti-Trust Laws. For instance, a Tan-owned company and Boeing have conspired in the procurement and leasing of planes including spare parts and support services for Philippine Airlines at questionable transfer pricing that make Tan and family members probably guilty for violating the FCPA and detrimental to American stockholders of PAL’s holding company, Baguio Gold Holdings Corporation.

Pamusa has submitted its evidence to the FBI to investigate Tan. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo could add the government evidence in various cases against Tan which he has danced around for too long. GMA may also prove the seriousness of her anti-graft and corruption program, thus save her presidency from infamy and enshrine a legacy of reforms for our people to perhaps pardon her alleged malfeasances.

We’re also hoping the Moral Force Movement (MFM) would use this case as a launching pad for its mission to combat widespread corruption which is the primary cause of poverty and its debilitating effects. MFM may reinforce Pamusa’s evidence against Tan and build on the credibility of targeting one of the country’s biggest fishes. Tan’s case would reverberate across the nation to warn all involved in graft and corruption to cease and desist in their nefarious activities or be subjected to international condemnation.

Tan and other big fishes have gotten used to being untouchable under Philippine laws. They overlook that the USDOJ has laid the basis for criminal action and forfeiture of assets acquired from “a process or series of actions through which income of illegal origin is concealed, disguised, or made to appear legitimate (main objective); and to evade detection, prosecution, seizure, and taxation.”

By inventorying from dates of organization Tan’s group of companies starting with Fortune Tobacco’s annual reports, income tax declarations, and their personal statements of assets, liabilities and net worth would show the growth of each company’s assets vis-à-vis Tan’s personal net worth of $1.4 billion as of 2008 according to Forbes has been statistically improbable unless the companies resorted to massive tax evasion, bureaucratic corruption and be almost free from competition because of government favors from Marcos and succeeding administrations.

Tan’s and his group of companies’ alleged massive tax evasion was brought to light under President Ramos. Sufficient evidence of corruption and other crimes punishable under U.S. laws can be adduced by the FBI and conclude that much of the companies’ income came from illegal origin. Tan, the companies’ boards of directors and executive officers have evidently engaged in corruption by paying, or promising to pay, bribes, or by giving other undue advantages to public officials and their accomplices which they cannot deny when questioned by the FBI or be guilty of perjury.

In fairness to Tan, however, he took advantage of the country’s corrupt environment as others have similarly done. He can’t be punished to the exclusion of those equally guilty such as Danding Cojuangco, Henry Sy, Roberto Ongpin and others. They should emulate the Union Bank of Switzerland and Siemens AG and negotiate with the FBI Los Angeles office and USDOJ before they’re charged in court.

They may return to RP government Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth and accruals kept by them including ill-gotten gains from corruption during succeeding administrations. These can be reasonably accounted for and perhaps converted into preferred shares of their companies so they continue management control while freeing themselves, their heirs and successors from criminal and civil liabilities.

It’s a fact that when amicable settlement is approved by a U.S. court, the records are shielded from the public and can’t be used for any other legal action. It’s impossible to convict someone for graft and corruption or plunder in the Philippines after the evidence is sealed by a U.S. court.

Tan’s incredible story started with the family-owned Fortune Tobacco. To his credit, Tan was chosen by Marcos to be one of his cronies granted government favors that led to his building a business empire including Asia Brewery (which would not have been possible had Marcos known San Miguel Corp. would one day be under Danding Cojuangco), Allied Banking Corporation, Foremost Farms, Eton Properties, Himmel Industries, Tanduay Distillers and other subsidiaries.
Tan can’t deny he and other cronies were required by Marcos to cede 60% of the equity of each company granted favors such as unlimited dollars for imported needs, PNB and DBP loans, no bureaucratic meddling that allowed Fortune Tobacco to allegedly print multiple same-numbered revenue stamps to minimize tax on cigarettes, etc.

Tan added PAL and Philippine National Bank obviously from the income of the earlier companies. By monopolizing inter-company businesses with Tan-owned firms such as exclusive caterer for PAL passengers, conduit in purchasing and leasing planes including parts and services for PAL, banking transactions confined to PNB, its foreign subsidiaries and Oceanic Bank in which Allied Bank has significant stake, Tan with the board of directors and executive officers of the companies involved have crossed the line of U.S. legal business practices.

Tan’s net worth of $1.4 billion makes him the second richest Filipino with likely investments in China which may have exposed him to the latter’s anticorruption laws which can be pursued by USDOJ that could lead to far worse retribution.
(fcwenceslao1034@hotmail.com)

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Survival of the Cheatest

PerryScope
By Perry Diaz

With President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s approval ratings plummeting like balls of fire into the Pacific Ocean, presidential wannabes are sprinting to the starting line of the 2010 presidential derby. Assuming that Gloria is not going to declare martial law -- which a lot of people say she might -- it’s going to be rough and tumble politics in a crowded field.

Election cheating has been around since the Philippines adapted the democratic system of government after gaining independence from Uncle Sam in 1946. In my column, “It’s ‘Open Season’ Again” (January 26, 2007), I said: “I remember in the 1950’s, the term ‘flying voter’ became the buzzword during elections. A ‘flying voter’ is a person who has the ability to ‘fly’ -- like a bird -- from one precinct to another to vote for the same candidate; thus, giving the candidate a numerical edge over his opponent. Mathematically, whoever has the most ‘flying voters’ would have a better chance of winning.”

In some instances, candidates provide some sort of “home service,” that is, they would send someone to your house and have you fill out the ballot in favor of their candidates. In some cases, ballot boxes were hijacked and replaced with ballot boxes containing ballots favoring certain candidates. And in other cases, particularly in remote barrios, armed goons were used to intimidate the voters to vote for their candidates. It was not uncommon for a precinct to show 100% vote for a certain candidate. Another method used was vote-buying. The poor were always fair game. The three G’s -- guns, goons and gold -- were the most effective way to win an election. As someone once said, “There were no losers in an election, only the winners and those who were cheated.”

After the People Power Revolution of 1986, a new system of election cheating evolved. Known as “dagdag-bawas” -- add and subtract -- it involves a cunning method of tallying the votes by adding a number of votes to a candidate and subtracting the exact number of votes from his or her opponent. However, this kind of cheating involves the collusion of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) officials.

During the presidential elections in 2004, the celebrated “Hello Garci” election cheating was exposed. It was alleged that the taped wiretapped conversations between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and COMELEC official Virgilio “Garci” Garcillano were proof that fraud was committed to rig the election results in favor of Gloria’s reelection.

Impeachment was filed in Congress against Gloria. However, Gloria survived the impeachment. But the “Hello Garci” scandal cracked COMELEC’s façade as an independent government body.

It was also during the 2004 elections that another scandal surfaced -- the P1.7 billion bidding scam of the Automated Election System (AES) awarded to Mega Pacific Consortium. It was alleged that three COMELEC officials -- then Chairman Benjamin Abalos and members Florentino Tuazon and Resurreccion Borra -- were involved in the anomaly. Corruption charges were filed against them in the Ombudsman’s Office but the Ombudsman, to date, has not made any progress in its investigation. However, the Supreme Court ruled the contract null and void due to irregularities in the bidding process.

This year, COMELEC is once again pursuing the automation project. However, with the 2010 elections just a year away, COMELEC has yet to award the whopping P11.3 billion AES contract. Recently, the bidding process hit a snag when the seven consortiums vying for the contract failed the eligibility requirements. I wonder what the “eligibility requirements” included? A “padrino” perhaps?

According to Rick Bahague, the National Coordinator of the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU), “The initial result of CPU’s investigation in the bidding process of COMELEC revealed that the COMELEC is dealing with questionable and unreliable vendors.” He said, “The COMELEC is even more subjected to a triple degree of difficulty to win the trust of Filipino people especially on its effort to automate the national election in 2010.”

But COMELEC officials said that the situation is not hopeless and that a contract could be negotiated with a provider as a “last recourse” to install 80,000 automation machines in time for the 2010 elections.

And this is where the problems would begin. First, a “negotiated contract” implies a “sole bid process” in which only one bidder is selected. This reminds me of the controversial ZTE-NBN contract exposed by Jun Lozada. A “negotiated contract” circumvents the competitive “multiple bid process” in which two or more bidders would compete for the contract primarily based on a low-bid rule. And since there is no competition, a “negotiated contract” is vulnerable to overbidding. Oftentimes overbidding is done in order to accommodate under-the-table commissions -- or “tongpats” -- to influence peddlers and corrupt government officials. In the end, the “negotiated contract” could increase the contract amount to as much as twice its cost.

The second -- and more serious -- problem would be the integrity and accuracy of AES. In a press release issued by CPU, it says: “Cheating and fraud in the 2010 election will be swift and simple for the likes of ‘Garci’ through the automated election system (AES) the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is striving to implement. In 2010, ‘Garci’ will return and will be more sophisticated in his cheating schemes with his expertise in computer technology. ‘Garci’ will operate far better than the fraud he performed last 2004 national election.”

Indeed, if AES is going to be hastily implemented in 2010, an electronic “dagdag-bawas” cheating scheme which might have been surreptitiously programmed in the system will virtually be impossible to detect. There would not be enough time to fully test the system and incorporate all the necessary verification and security routines in the system to ensure that data integrity is maintained. As computer professionals would say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” the system is only as good as the input. It is said that most computer systems work, it’s people who don’t make them work. And that is the danger of a computer system that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles installed to prevent it from being tampered.

If COMELEC pushes through with AES in 2010, the next President may not necessarily be the fittest, but the cheatest. Indeed, the 2010 elections could very well be the survival of the cheatest.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

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“Third Force” looming in the political horizon

Panlilio eyes Presidency
by Tina Dumlao
from Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines – This early, pledges from overseas are coming in for Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio.

An elderly gentleman has expressed his intention to part with $100 from his budget for hypertension and diabetes medicine. A Filipino in New York is also putting in $100, and another is contributing $5.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983 has pledged an initial $100. A contract worker in Jordan is investing $1,000.

Pledges like these from ordinary Filipinos clamoring for good governance and willing to put their money where their mouth is are serving to encourage Panlilio to seriously consider seeking the presidency in 2010, with Isabela Governor Grace Padaca as his running mate.

“I am open to taking up the challenge,” Panlilio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Saturday in an interview at the newspaper’s main office in Makati City.

The Catholic priest-on-leave said that while he was still in “a period of discernment,” he had taken steps to get civil society groups, non-government organizations, and even military officials together and gather support for a reform candidate.

“I will go for whoever will represent a genuine reform constituency,” he said. “It does not necessarily have to be me. If there is a more appropriate candidate, why will I present myself? I look at my role now as more of one of the convenors of a genuine reform coalition.”

Biggest issue: Corruption

Panlilio said he had been telling various groups “that we should have one reform candidate; otherwise, we will get a president that we do not like.”
He said he had to help solidify a reform movement for 2010 because he believed that Filipinos were desperately seeking candidates who were not steeped in traditional politics and were willing to stamp out graft and corruption.

“Corruption is the biggest issue of the 2010 elections. People are tired of it and it is really the reason behind all of our problems,” he said.

Panlilio said he had realized that he would face an uphill climb if he decided to run for president.

But he said his spirits were buoyed by the expressions of support from diverse groups committed to devote not only time and effort but also money to his and Padaca’s campaign.

Big backer

One such supporter is former Chinatrust Philippines president Joey A. Bermudez, who told the Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, in a separate interview that he would actively campaign for Panlilio and Padaca and would help raise funds for their campaign.

“I will support them because they represent a different kind of politics. They are the right candidates because they are reform-minded and they have the actual hands-on experience in running their local governments,” said Bermudez, current president of the Management Association of the Philippines.

“They are not just mouthing off theories,” he said.

Bermudez said he would not back any of the names being floated as possible presidential candidates because they were “traditional politicians.”

“I would not put the future of the country in their hands,” said Bermudez, who was active in the late Raul Roco’s campaign for the presidency in 2004.
“The 2010 election presents another opportunity for us to correct mistakes,” he said.

Ifugao gov’s support

Also supporting Panlilio is Ifugao Gov. Teodoro B. Baguilat Jr., who expressed the belief that a “silent majority” would come out in 2010 to vote for a reform candidate.

Baguilat, who may also seek reelection as governor in 2010, said he was taking a risk by supporting Panlilio.

But he is convinced that it is the right thing for him to do.

“As corny or as cliché as it may sound, I am doing this for the country,” said Baguilat, who is actively gathering financial, technical and even moral support for Panlilio and Padaca.

“I am helping lay the groundwork for their campaign. The dynamics should work itself out later on,” he said, adding:

“I am really just tired of hearing people say that they are tired of corruption and yet do not do anything about it. Now, I am asking people to be part of the campaign and not just complain.”

Baguilat, like Panlilio and Padaca, is a member of Kaya Natin!, a movement that seeks to propagate the gospel of good governance.

Among the other members are Mayor Jesse Robredo of Naga City and Mayor Sonia Lorenzo of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.

Alternative to ‘trapo’

Early in 2007, Panlilio, then 53 and backed by a ragtag army of volunteers, campaigned for the governorship of Pampanga as an alternative to traditional politicians.

He defeated the incumbent governor, Mark Lapid, and provincial board member Lilia Pineda, wife of alleged “jueteng” lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda.
He won over Pineda by only 1,147 votes.

Panlilio spent 26 years in the priesthood. He decided to cease performing priestly duties in March 2007 to run against Lapid and Pineda.

Just a month after assuming office after the May 2007 elections, Panlilio was able to collect for Pampanga P29.4 million from quarry operations on volcanic ash from Mt. Pinatubo.

It took his predecessor one year to collect about the same amount.
In October 2007, Panlilio told the media that he was handed a paper bag containing P500,000 right after a meeting between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and local officials in Malacañang.

The distribution of money was suspected as a move by Malacañang to drum up support for the dismissal of an impeachment complaint against her.

Recall election

Panlilio, who was named the Inquirer Filipino of the Year for 2007, has lately faced a challenge.

In October 2008, the group Kapanalig at Kambilan ning Memalen Pampanga Inc. filed a petition for a recall election to unseat him.

The petition was anchored on four cases – the complaint of two workers terminated for alleged corruption in quarry fee collection; Panlilio’s refusal to enforce an ordinance that would ease restrictions on quarry tax collections and increase mayors’ access to these funds; a perjury case; and a case against Panlilio’s decision to change the assignments of district hospital heads.

But last February, a budget-deficient Commission on Elections ruled that the holding of a recall election might no longer be possible.

With a report from Cyril L. Bonabente, Inquirer Research

For those who wish to support or volunteer to help push for a Panlilio-Padaca alternative and reform ticket in the 2010 elections, please get in touch with Atty. Eirene Aguila by sending an email to graceamong.thebetterchoice@gmail.com

Group urges Panlilio, Padacá to run for top posts
by Ruben D. Manahan 4th
and Angelo S. Samonte
from Manila Times

Several groups are forming a coalition to push Governors Eduardo Panlililio of Pampanga and Grace Padacá of Isabela to run for president and vice president in the 2010 national elections.

During the weekly media forum Balitaan sa Tinapayan, running priest Fr. Robert Reyes, lawyer Eireene Aguila of Kaya Natin Movement, Philippine Alliance of Ex-Seminarians (PAX) and the farmers’ group PAKIKISAMA expressed support on the Panlilio-Padacá Tandem. They added that they have had enough of traditional politicians.

But the group has not yet determined which of the two governors should run for president. For now they just want the two on a national ticket for the top-two posts.

Although the group has no name yet for the movement, Aguila said they would be meeting this week with various organizations that shares their vision of a corruption-free Philippines.

“We are here because we believe that the time for change is now,” she added. “We believe that Governors Panlilio and Padacá could lead the country.”

Aguila is also the moderator of graceamong.thebetterchoic@gmail.com, an email address urging the people support to the two governors in the next national elections.

In an open letter by Aguila, she said Filipinos deserve better options for their top leaders.

“We believe that Filipinos are not stupid—not bobo,” she wrote in the open letter. “Given the chance to vote for leaders who have an uncompromising stand against graft, make the most use of our scarce and limited resources, not for personal gain but to deliver services needed by the people; [possess the] political will to make difficult and unpopular yet much-needed decisions for the good of the country; will not coddle and protect the corrupt consistently embody ethical principles; practice good governance and endeavor to be effective public servants; have a heart genuinely for the people, we Filipinos will go out and vote—and vote wisely. Given the chance, we will do what is right.”

Showing support

Aguila explained that her group is starting the movement to let the two governors know that they have the support of Filipinos—not only those in their respective provinces. “I’ve only e-mailed [the open letter] last Wednesday, and I’ve already received around 400 replies.”

She and Reyes said critics have told them that they were “dreaming” about having Panlilio and Padacá run for the top-two posts next year. “But we are dreaming with ours eyes wide open,” Aguila said, echoing a similar statement by Reyes.

Reyes, who is famous for running as a means of political protest, added that the time is ripe for national leaders who are morally upright, rather than those who are skilled.

“Ang mabuting leader is values-centered and is principle-driven while ang magaling is magaling manakot, mangurakot, magsi­nunga­ling, etc. [A moral leader is values-centered and is principle-driven, while skilled leaders are good at threatening people, corruption, lying, etc.],” he said.

He added that the group would be putting up a website to be called “Piso at Pangalan para sa Pagbabago [Peso and Name for Change],” where people can offer support for the two governors.

Panlilio is only in his first term as governor, while Padacá is finishing up her third and last term.

Panlilio told The Manila Times that he is still considering his options for 2010, although he had said earlier that his preference would be to return to priesthood.

Good for democracy

Malacañang, meanwhile, welcomed the reported plan by Panlilio to run in the 2010 presidential elections, adding it is “good for our democracy.”

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said in a state-run radio interview Sunday that Panlilio’s entry to the 2010 race would give people more choices and the priest-turned-governor could even get the Palace backing in case he runs.

“In politics everything is possible. But for Malacañang to endorse him, he will have to jibe with the vision and programs of President [Gloria] Arroyo,” Remonde added.

And to get the Palace endorsement, the secretary said Panlilio must have “proven” capability, competence and integrity.

Panlilio won in the 2007 gubernatorial elections in Pampanga, President Arroyo’s home province, beating the President’s political allies there.

Also in the same year, Panlilio bared receiving a P500,000 cash “gift” to governors from Malacañang at the height of an impeachment bid against Mrs. Arroyo.

The governor recently accused President Arroyo’s son, Pam­panga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, of turning a blind eye to the rampant jueteng operations in his province.

His relationship with Pampanga local officials, majority of whom are President Arroyo’s allies, has been strained because of his anti-corruption programs.

Recent efforts to recall the governor have been linked to Representative Arroyo, who denied the allegations.

Groups want Panlilio-Padaca tandem for 2010
by Sophia Dedace
from GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - An alliance of non-government organizations on Sunday started pushing for the Ed Panlilio-Grace Padaca tandem for the 2010 elections.

Speaking at the Balitaan sa Tinapayan in Sampaloc, Manila, Fr. Roberto Reyes of the Kubol Pagasa Group said they believe that Panlilio and Padaca, governor of Pampanga and Isabela, respectively, are the best alternative leaders for the country.

The group is called Panlilio-Padaca Para sa Pagbabago (PPPP).

Reyes said not only the two could stamp out corruption in the government; they could also restore dignity to public service.

“This is time when we will choose the leaders because he/she is honest and because of public trust. I can vouch for these two persons because they are good persons and very honest,” he said.

Lawyer Ricardo Rico of the Samahan ng mga Dating Seminarista said the alliance still believes that there is still hope for the country.

“We all against graft and corruption and we all believe that we have still hope to put good and honest leaders for the president and vice president,” he said.

Other groups that joined that alliance were the Kaya Natin Movement and several farmers’ organizations.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, for his part, said the clamor for Panlilio to run for the presidency in next year’s elections only show the public’s hunger for change in the country’s political system.

“Ito ay maganda sapagkat ang mga tao ay sawang-sawa na sa mga nangyayari. Kaya ngayon kahit pari ay gustong tumakbo. Yan ang dahil na rin sa ang mga tao ay sawang-sawa na sa sistema,” Rosales said.

[The fact that even priests want to enter politics now reflect the overall disgruntlement of the public with the current system.]

Rosales however refused to comment on whether the Church would support Panlilio, who is currently on leave from his priestly duties.

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A true story: How God found an atheist

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
by William M. Esposo
from Philstar

Your Chair Wrecker loves to share meaningful stories and articles that improve our values, thinking, perspectives and insights. Today, your Chair Wrecker will share with you this touching true story that a Jesuit from Loyola in Chicago wrote and circulated.

Father John Powell is a professor at Loyola University in Chicago and he once had a student named Tommy in his Theology of Faith class. Tommy happened to be an atheist.

When Tommy turned in his final exam, he asked Fr. Powell in a cynical tone, “Do you think I’ll ever find God?”

Fr. Powell decided instantly on a little shock therapy. He answered Tommy very emphatically: “No!”

Surprised, Tommy shot back: “Why not, I thought that was the product you were pushing.”

Fr. Powell allowed Tommy to get five steps from the classroom door and then called out: “Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find Him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!”

Fr. Powell and Tommy did not see each other for several years. Then, he received a sad report that Tommy had terminal cancer.

When Tommy eventually visited Fr. Powell, this was how the Jesuit described Tommy: “When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe.
Tommy did confirm that he has cancer on both lungs and had weeks to live.
Fr. Powell asked Tommy: “What’s it like to be only 24 and dying?”

Tommy answered: “Well, it could be worse like being 50 and having no values or ideals, like being 50 and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real biggies in life.”

Tommy added: “But what I really came to see you about is something you said to me on the last day of class. I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, “No! But He will find you.”

Tommy continued: “But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, that’s when I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven. But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.”

Tommy further narrated to Fr. Powell: “I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: “The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.”

Tommy said that he started to do that. “I began with the hardest one, my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him,” Tommy said.
Tommy described the encounter:

“Dad, I would like to talk with you.” I mean. It’s really important.”

The newspaper came down three slow inches. “What is it?”

”Dad, I love you, I just wanted you to know that.” Tom smiled at Fr. Powell as he said it with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him.

The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then Tommy’s father did two things he could never remember him ever doing before. His father cried and hugged Tommy.

Tommy added: “We talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me.”

“It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years.

I was only sorry about one thing - that I had waited so long. Here I was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to.

Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded with Him,” Tommy said.

He continued: “Apparently God does things in His own way and at His own hour. But the important thing is that He was there. He found me! You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for Him.”

Fr. Powell gasped as he heard Tommy’s story.

Fr. Powell said: “I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make Him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said: “God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.”

The Jesuit then asked Tommy a favor. He said: “Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn’t be half as effective as if you were to tell it.”

Tommy replied: “Ouch… I was ready for you, but I don’t know if I’m ready for your class.”

Fr. Powell persisted: “Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call.”

In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for Fr. Powell. So a sharing with the class was scheduled.
However, as Fr. Powell narrated, “Tommy never made it. He had another appointment,” far more important than the one with Fr. Powell and his class.
“Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined,” Fr. Powell added.

Let’s pray that the Good Lord finds the people who plunder in our country as well as those who will kill anyone who opposes them or exposes their high crimes.

* * *

Chair Wrecker website: www.chairwrecker.com

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Misinformed people and the Presidentiables of 2010

by Ben Serrano

BUTUAN CITY- What’s the use of a new and shining budget office without a budget to alleviate dire poverty at its worst but only served elite politicians (in reality through big bucks of commissions or kickbacks from budgeted government projects earning kickbacks to buy votes during election day)?

This maybe the reason why the regional director like his politician friends are now extremely wealthy with all the adorning luxury vehicles at their disposal while majority of the people are wallowing in poverty and just walked without slippers even.

What’s the use of elegant government offices when its people are dying of hunger, victimized of fraudulent schemes taking chances they profit but ended up bankrupt not only financially but morally?

This happened because supposed government agencies in their “fiduciary duties” are sleeping in their airconditioned rooms not monitoring what Legacy is doing right smack of their faces yet paid by hard –earned taxpayers’ money?

Why are we building edifices only for the comfort of its occupants while the people who feed and clothed them, paid their salaries are living in misery, diseases and dying and government could not even afford sending sickly and the dying to hospital and providing them medicines because it has no budget?

What’s the use of putting Indigenous People’s office when it can’t feed the hungry indigenous people and heal the sick ergo their number is dwindling as they die without even seeing a hospital and swallow medicines, empower them on their right to live, right to educate and right of their ancestral lands?

What’s the use of putting government information offices, radio and television stations at the expense of hard-earned taxpayers’ money when it can’t even informed the rights of people to think, speak and shout aloud their right for education, justice and to survive and defend their lands?

What’s the use of Agriculture, Health, Housing and offices when people die hungry it has no food laid on table with open eyes and houses without roofs?

Maybe it’s now time for reckoning and people asking, demanding what these government workers and agencies have done and are doing not only on press (actually praise) releases but in actual real life?

Maybe it’s now high time to demand people in government hiding in their airconditioned rooms to go out and go where the people needs them whether in the hinterlands or in the mountains where people hardly saw government men and women where their services are needed most.

The power of information in this age of information must be maximize really of whatever form, substance or medium, whether it is, by talking to farmers, fishermen, upland farmers, urban and rural poor through forums and discussions.

The future of any civilizations lies actually to the informed and empowered people, unless government allowed us to be misinformed people forever.

I have long been an advocate of real and thorough auditing perforrnance while revisiting policies to those people in the government budget, accounting offices for they are the most elusive people to media. Look we can’t even asked documents from them which is supposedly public documents and therefore must transparent.

Why are their documents a matter of national security or are they hiding something eheemm?

Look a mediaman (responsible of course not that attack and collect, defend and collect kind) cannot even interview some alleged high handed officials of the Commission of Audit?

Please don’t misinterpret me for I am only telling the truth and if you only go to depressed areas now, one can see how horrible their living conditions are with many uncertainties on how to get their next meal and I know it because my feet is on the ground and I too belongs to the marginalized sector.

Don’t you know that unrepenting government offices are the number recuriter of NPA?

While it is true that the people is the government coining from the word of late U.S. President Kennedy’s “Asked not what your government can do to you but asked what can you do for the government,” the harsh reality and the inconvenient truth is, crocodiles do not only eat people alive especially the poor ones but swallow all in the government coffers too.

As jokes goes in the bureaucracy which includes “not only under the table, side of the table but sometimes including the table.”

Presidentiables for 2010 election were recent Butuan City visitors invited (or inviting their selves?) as guest speakers of this and that government activities. Among presidentiables who came as far as I know were former President Erap, Senators Chiz Escudero and Mar Roxas and recently MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando.

And the number of Presidentiables to visit Caraga Region and Butuan City will increase as the number of days go near for the November 31 (or 30?) deadline in filing their certificate of candidacies.

I hope the COMELEC will sponsor debates among presidentiables and local candidates to get their views how to solve worsening economic crisis of this country. Filipinos can only elect better leaders if they are well-informed not misinformed.

Finally, President Arroyo did the right thing on Alabang Boys’ case, congratulations Madam!

by Ben Serrano

BUTUAN CITY- There is really also a need to appreciate people who really does his or her homework while head butt those who are sleeping on their duties, the worst is, some are pretending to have fallen asleep when in truth they are fully awake and this kind of people are dangerous. Filipinos call it, “Ang taong gising ay mahirap gisingin.”

And finally, seeing the worsening illegal drug problems in this country, President Arroyo did the right decision on the “Alabang Boys Case.”
Some may don’ like it but on the other hand it will give them opportunity to prove that accusations were wrong.

Madam, kindly take a second look at Caraga Region’s illegal drugs and illegal gambling problems, they are worsening than ever deep insider and reliable information from the field claimed. I pray it’s not true.

Let’s say take a look on who are law enforcers allegedly protecting, coddling and even in doing the business themselves in all illegalities in the region like maintaining video karera machines themselves.

Take a closer look also on the possibility of Narco-Politics and illegal gambling proceeds that go to the pockets of some politicians that will be used to buy votes in 2010 local elections.

Scrutinized also who are involved in wanton deforestation of Caraga’s forest due illegal mining, illegal logging and even illegal construction of roads in the watershed areas. You will be surprised that maybe, and yes maybe your own local political allies are involved Madam President.

Here are the whole news item published today March 22 that appears at national daily, The Daily Tribune regarding President Arroyo’s call for action:

Malacañang yesterday brushed aside a blunt retort aired by prosecutors whom President Arroyo wanted administratively charged with negligence in handling the “Alabang Boys” drug-trafficking case and reminded them to “respect the President’s order.”
Senior State Prosecutor Philip Kimpo described as “unmeritorious” or without merit the administrative charges that President Arroyo wanted filed against him and two other prosecutors.

Kimpo’s retort followed Mrs. Arroyo’s directive that administrative charges be filed against him and Chief State Prosecutor Jovencio Zuno for negligence in connection with the Alabang Boys case.

Another prosecutor, John Resado, who authored a Department of Justice resolution dismissing the drug-trafficking complaints against the Alabang Boys, was ordered charged with bribery.

“We respect the sentiments of the prosecutors but they should also respect the order of the beloved President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Besides, I read that Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said they will respect the decision. I hope this will be the case,” Remonde said in yesterday’s interview over government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

The President’s directive was based on a report by an independent fact-finding committee composed of retired Supreme Court associate justice Carolina Grino-Aquino as its head and former Sandiganbayan justice Raoul Victorino and priest Ranhilio Aquino, dean of a law school run by San Beda College.

“The buck stops at the Office of the President. If there are loopholes or if there is a need to harmonize agencies under the Office of the President, the President needs to step in,” he said when asked why the President still has to involve herself in the campaign against illegal drugs when she already has her men on the ground.

This developed as Dionisio Santiago, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), said President Arroyo’s decision to order the filing of charges against the state prosecutors was “well-balanced” and in the “lawful exercise of her authority” as the country’s anti-drug czar.” The President named herself as the country’s drugs czar at the height of the “Alabang Boys” controversy.

“We are happy with the decision and we will abide by the directives issued by the President,” Santiago said.

Based on the recommendations submitted by the Independent Fact-Finding Committee, President Arroyo also ordered the filing of criminal charges against the Alabang Boys Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson, a direct reversal of a DoJ Resolution dated Dec. 2, 2008 dismissing the case against them.

She also directed the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission to investigate Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor for possible violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The President likewise ordered that Ferdinand Marcelino, a Marines officer seconded to PDEA, and other agents of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service be investigated following allegations they mishandled one of the Alabang Boys.

The long, long list

by LITO BANAYO
from MALAYA

Those who have been regular readers of Malaya and this space will recall our articles on the ten presidentiables (I still wonder at the grammatical precision of that description, but language and communication is a dynamic thing, so there). It started with “The Hamlet Act” of Joseph Ejercito Estrada, 13th President of the Philippines, (08 Jan 2009) and the second to be ousted from office by what savants call “people power”. It ended with an article on “The atypical Ping” (12 Feb 2009). In all, I wrote about ten of these men and a woman who would be president, if they could.

Many, in person, by mail or phone, have reacted in a variety of opinions. Three embassies have asked for copies of the entire set. I furnished them the articles on the ten, including the two follow-up articles on “The Leader We Need” (13 Feb 2009), and “Is There No one Else?” (17 Feb 2009, the title taken from the daring Achilles in the movie “Troy”). Erap loyalists have debated with me on the “legality” of their champion’s running; many agreed with my observations about Chiz Escudero. Some said I was too kind to the persons they disliked. And while I was particularly harsh against cowboy-in-a-chopper Manny Villar’s credentials for the presidency, no one wrote or talked to dispute my observations. Senator Loren called me to express thanks for an article that was “objective” and “did not pander”, which I truly appreciate. Senator Dick thanked me in writing, while at the same time lamenting that our politics has become as “pera-pera” as I had observed in another article. Common friends I share with Mar Roxas generally agreed with what I wrote. BF personally acknowledged the article on him, but I sensed that he was not exactly too happy with how I assessed his chances. Well, true friends always tell the truth to those they consider their friends. In 2004, I seriously talked to three people about being the vice-presidential team-mate of Ping Lacson. One of them was Bayani, and he retains my personal respect and admiration as the most principled of all three. But politics, as even Andrew Lloyd Weber memorialized in “Evita”, is “the art of the possible”. Still and all, if Bayani wants to buck the odds, and persists in running with his advocacy of “kaayusan”, I will respect that. The arithmetic of winning isn’t all that matters.

In the article entitled “Is There No One Else”, I mentioned the other names being floated — Gilbert Teodoro who on the day the article was printed had not yet admitted he was seriously seeking “GMA’s endorsement”, Gov. Ed Panlilio of Pampanga, Gov. Grace Padaca of Isabela, Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo. At the time of that writing, Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte had already publicly (and wisely) eschewed any presidential plans for 2010. I devoted most of that article to Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the only man for whom a major presidential contender, Senator Ping Lacson, publicly announced his willingness to defer and support. But I also realistically cautioned the highly respected and erudite chief magistrate of the land about my personal experience with the putative presidential candidacy of a predecessor of his, Marcelo B. Fernan of Bogo in northern Cebu.

My good friend and opinion research specialist, Pepe Miranda, who humbly describes himself as a perennial “student” of politics, has a take on Puno’s first name — Reynato, from the root words “rey” which is Spanish for king, and “nato” from “natal”, which speaks of birth. “Reynato—born to be king?”, Pepe asked philosophically in a recent meeting.

Yet, the tale of the survey numbers do not show that electoral probability at this point, even Pepe admits. The mostly uninformed masa of this benighted land can hardly distinguish between a good Puno and another they clearly reject. The Chief Justice and Ronnie the Tree, eminence grise to Dona Gloria y su esposo, are not even remotely related. One is “punong hitik ng bungang matamis”, and the other is well, “basta punong-puno” (of what, ask Mon Tulfo).

But politics is “the art of the possible”, and anything can yet catapult the good magistrate to the highest post in the land, perhaps to put order to the anarchy of hopelessness which has become the indelible legacy of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the fortunate woman who has reigned over this most unfortunate episode in our nation’s formal democracy.

Since those 12 articles written in the space of a month and a half, there have been others who, by themselves or through “feelers” and spokesmen, have admitted their long-held secret desires, their moist eyes, as friend Rene Saguisag used to describe, for the presidency of the land. From ten, it has now become a long, long list.

Gilbert Teodoro, son of the recently departed and highly respected former administrator of the Social Security System, Gilberto Sr., and gentle lady to the manor born, Ditas Cojuangco-Teodoro, sister of empire-builder Eduardo Murphy Cojuangco Jr., has finally thrown his hat into the ring, not under the political tent of the Nationalist People’s Coalition where his uncle Danding is “boss”, founder and owner, but under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s, “his” president’s hem. Can late-comers still outsprint everyone else? Can Secretary Teodoro, pole-vault into the big time, using the awfully short pole of Dona Gloria? Vamos a ver.

There is even Mike Velarde, Brother Mike to his El Shaddai prayer partners, who Bishop Ted Bacani, their adviser, praises as having the makings of “a good president”, but who pines for the formal endorsement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, though none is forthcoming, and none is possible.

There is Bro. Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas and the Jesus is Lord Movement, who a confidant told me recently will “definitely” seek the presidency once more, after failing in the same quest in 2004.

Of course there is the ridiculous quest of Ephraim Genuino, once El Esposo’s “best” friend, now probably estranged by “particion de bienes” , which his satraps claim is “for real”. Last Saturday, he fouled up traffic in Manila because of a Pagcor-sponsored “Grand Batang Iwas-Droga” (BIDA) at Roxas Boulevard and the Quirino Grandstand. “Bida” of course was Ephraim the Genuine, with his genuine billions in gambling money. He received a supposed certification from Guinness Book of World Records, that almanac of the abnormal. Maybe Genuino will next get his Pagcor to sponsor the world’s largest calamay (guaranteed to get him the votes of Candon in Ilocos Sur), or the world’s longest bangus grill (not guaranteed to get him the votes of Dagupan, lest Archbishop Oscar Cruz leave his beloved flock to the fires of eternal damnation). This Filipino fascination for the Guinness almanac of the abnormal leaves me cold — it is as absurd as absurd can ever be.

Tell you what, Genuine. A creative friend of mine who likes gambling, er, gaming, “enthused” at the prospects of you running for president, has already conjured a campaign tagline — “Huwag isugal ang kinabukasan!” That is followed by the Pagcor vizier pulling down a slot machine lever, and the words, “Tiyak ang panalo kay Genuino” comes out. He, he, he. That’s for laughs, but can you imagine a country where someone like Ephraim has chutzpah to the max? Only in da Pilipins.

As if Erap, Noli, Loren, Ping, Mar, Manny, Chiz, along with Bayani, Jobama and Dick are not a crowd, we now add to the ever-lengthening list Bro. Mike and Bro. Eddie, Gilbert and Ephraim, for a total of 14. But wait! There’s more.

Over the weekend, the governor of jueteng-ridden Pampanga, the priest who defeated Lilia Pineda of jueteng fame and Mark Lapid of gravel and sand, now confesses that he hears a cacophony of voices urging him to run, and as the people’s voice is the voice of God, who is he to close his ears to that? The man his province-mates call Among Ed is the latest entrant into the sweepstakes.

His credentials? He was a giant-killer. Pressed by Pampanga civil society to run for governor because they abhorred the prospect of jueteng queen or another three years of a gravel-and-sand business prince lording it over their flatlands, they came together in 2007, supported by media, and succeeded magnificently. Then, in his first few months in office, Panlilio collected ten times more than his predecessor Lapid ever collected for the provincial coffers in all of one year from the bounty of lahar sand left by Pinatubo’s eruption. But running a province is not just collecting honestly from lahar deposits, it is much more, and many who swore by Panlilio a year ago are now dismayed at his utter lack, or so they say, of administrative capabilities. But his believers are undaunted, and they have already chosen, or so Sunday’s news claim, Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca to be Among Ed’s vice-presidential partner. That should be a first in Philippine history, a friend observed — a bachelor and a single lady. We’ve had a widow, we’ve had a widower when they ran for president, but a singles team is something new. Of course, that is really irrelevant.

So Gov. Panlilio is Number 15 in the long, long list. The central pitch of his supporters led by Kaya Natin is for the election of a “non-trapo”. But how does one define the pejorative “trapo”? Does participation in electoral politics on a national scale ipso facto make one a “trapo”? My definition of “trapo”, and I’ve used it often in this space myself, is a politician who uses his office for transactional purposes, mostly for selfish pecuniary reasons, or for more power. Surely there are at least two out of the survey’s seven top-rated contenders who have not enriched themselves in office, and who have not pulled out “cookies” from the kaban ng bayan. One contender has even abnegated himself from the use of the pork barrel, and even as a police chief, was sui generis in refusing jueteng payola. I have not heard that another senator who comes from an old-rich clan has ever made a dirty centavo in his life. Are these two “trapos” by the standards of Kaya Natin and like-minded individuals?

Even Sen. Kiko Pangilinan derides “trapos”, while reacting in support of a Panlilio-led coalition. “We must seek alternatives to trapo politics and politics as usual”, Kiko said. How does Kiko look at himself? He has been using his pork barrel for the last seven years of his life. The gentleman from Pampanga and Pasay (by affinity) has shifted from pro-Gloria to somewhat anti-Gloria, and by dining company, is ensconced in the Villar camp, although he is a Liberal Party member. Is this being “non-trapo”?

But let’s get real, and let’s get back to political arithmetic. In one of the research briefings I recently attended, someone asked a respected purveyor of political surveys if there was a chance for someone like Gilbert Teodoro to yet make it among the lead pack. He asked his assistant to flash the results of the latest survey on senatorial preferences. Senatorial, not presidential. And Secretary Teodoro had awareness of 25%, with only 1.6% of the electorate expressing their willingness to list him among a maximum of 12 choices. I wonder how he would fare if his name is next included in the second quarter surveys, presidential, no longer senatorial.

I may be wrong, but on the assumption that we will have the chance to elect a president in May of 2010, as scheduled by our yet unchanged Constitution, we will have to watch the tale of the surveys between now and September this year, among Noli and Loren, Ping and Mar, Manny and Chiz, not to forget Erap. None of these men and a lady are flawless. Some in my book are too transactional, and some in my book are crooks. Some, to be kind, are with little competence. Now add to that their lack of character, and you have some among the seven one ought never in several lifetimes support.

But some among the seven, taken from the prism of better rather than flawless, instead of using the lesser evil yardstick, are worth pinning our hopes upon. Assuming, as I said, that we will be able to elect a president under this Constitution on May of 2010. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has many tricks up her sleeves, and these should unveil in the next thirteen months.

The sectors who pine for alternative and reform politics, as they alternately call it, really betray a disaffection with the system, and I commiserate. Time and again in this space and in roundtable discussions, I have decried the bankruptcy of the system, especially when it is taken over by incompetents, charlatans, or worst, persons of amoral character, as in the present. What the polity of this land needs badly is some kind of political lobotomy, a temporary catharsis that would presage a genuinely democratic system where meaningful reforms could be institutionalized. But as the electoral fever catches on, the chances of upheaval become more and more remote.

“It ain’t over till the fat lady sings”, is a cliché repeated when using opera as metaphor. In the tragic comedy that is the Philippine polity, we will have to watch what the little lady does or hides, says or whispers, assembles or dissembles, as she pirouettes atop the tips of bayonets.

E-mail address: (banayo_at@yahoo.com)
Blog: (litobanayo.blogspot.com)