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22 Mexico indigents get free medical assistance
22 Mexico indigents get free medical assistance.....»»
Sulaiman leaves with Pinoys in his heart
World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman left Manila yesterday to return home to Mexico with fond memories of his five-day visit where he experienced Filipino hospitality, warmth and friendship. He said there will always be a place in his heart for the Philippines......»»
Pacquiao, Sulaiman honor Filipino champs, eye PH-Mexico tiff
Invited by Manny Pacquiao to the Elorde-Pacquiao Boxing Awards, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announces that he will stage a dual meet involving the Philippines and Mexico.....»»
New Anao bridge in Mexico opened
New Anao bridge in Mexico opened.....»»
1 dead, 2 hurt in truck smashup
A trailer truck driver was killed while two others were injured in a collision with a dump truck along Mel Lopez Boulevard in Tondo, Manila on Friday morning......»»
First Gen income up 4 percent to P15.4 billion in 2023
Lopez-led power firm First Gen Corp. grew its income by four percent to P15.4 billion in 2023, from the previous year’s profit of P14.3 billion, mainly due to contributions from its geothermal subsidiary Energy Development Corp......»»
Water under the bridge
Last year, Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Lopez-owned First Gen Corp. said they were in discussions to develop a gas aggregation framework using the latter’s liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Batangas......»»
Asian qualifying results for 2026 FIFA World Cup
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Following are Thursday's results in Asian qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico: Group A At Doha Qatar bt Kuwait 3-0 At Abha, Saudi Arabia Afghanistan tied India 0-0 Group B At Tokyo Japan bt DPR Korea 1-0 At Yangon Myanmar tied Syria 1-1 Group C At Seoul South Korea tied T.....»»
First Gen to upgrade, expand Casecnan plant
Lopez-led First Gen Corp. is expanding and upgrading the Casecnan hydroelectric power plant after taking over the facility last month......»»
Latest surveys are results of inflationary sugar cartel
High prices clobbered 72 percent of Filipinos in December. Inflation strained them worse than low wages, 40 percent; joblessness, 28 percent and poverty, 25 percent, Pulse Asia’s survey shows......»»
Angola to leave OPEC oil cartel
Angola to leave OPEC oil cartel.....»»
‘They put a price on everything’: extortion hits Mexican economy
Plots of land lie empty among lime and banana plantations in one of Mexico's most violent regions -- abandoned by their owners due to widespread extortion squeezing Latin America's second-largest economy. As in many other agricultural zones around the country, criminal gangs in the western state of Michoacan have become a major market force, driving up costs and hurting not just farmers but also consumers. Take limes, for example: despite a national increase in production, and a slowing of overall consumer price inflation, the cost of the citrus fruit rose by more than 50 percent in the past year, according to the Agricultural Market Consulting Group (GCMA), a consulting firm. The impact is huge in a country where limes are a vital ingredient in many dishes. "The prices are through the roof!" said Gabriela Jacobo, a 53-year-old housewife who now only buys a few limes a week. The threat from organized crime is such that trucks transporting limes now have police escorts, AFP reporters saw during a visit to the region. The fallout has even been felt in Mexico City, where drug and gang violence is often seen as a faraway problem and the ability to source food from all around the country eases supply problems. The price of limes in the capital doubled, reaching almost $4.5 per kilo ($2 per pound) in August. "It's not because of a supply issue," but because of extortion, said GCMA analyst Juan Carlos Anaya. Turf wars Michoacan, which covers an area as big as Costa Rica, is riven by bloody turf wars between rival gangs such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Los Viagras, and La Familia Michoacana. As well as fighting over drug smuggling routes, they also compete to make money through extortion. Payment is taken in the form of a charge of 11 US cents to package each kilo of limes, a farmer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal. It may not sound like much, but the region can produce about 900 tons of fruit every day. In the past, "the criminals had their fights but they left us to work. Now they don't even leave us to work,'" the farmer said. Tomato, banana, and mango producers, as well as transporters and distributors, must also pay the gangs, he said. "They put a price on everything," he added. Extortion and theft cost companies in Mexico about 120 billion pesos ($6.8 billion) a year, equivalent to 0.67 percent of the country's annual economic output, according to official figures. In the southern state of Chiapas, extortion and violence have caused food shortages in communities bordering Guatemala. "There's no electricity. There's no food. There's no water. There's no gas," a resident told AFP. The region is gripped by a turf war between the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels that has led to dozens of business closures and forced locals to buy supplies in Guatemala, at higher cost. Even the ingredients for tortillas -- a Mexican staple -- are being purchased across the border. Cities such as Chilpancingo, the capital of southern Guerrero state, also saw widespread closures of chicken shops in the past after farmers and merchants who allegedly refused to pay extortion were murdered. 'Deep trouble' Avocado growers have also fallen prey to the battle for control of Michoacan's agricultural riches. Last year the United States briefly suspended avocado imports from the state after a US inspector checking export shipments before the Super Bowl received phone threats. To confront crime, lime producers like Hipolito Mora founded self-defense groups in 2013 that were themselves later accused of links to criminals. After vehemently denouncing drug traffickers, Mora was shot dead in June in Michoacan. "We're in deep trouble with the cartels," said his brother Guadalupe Mora, who was being watched over by several bodyguards. "They charge us a fee for everything -- basic foods, soft drinks, beers, chicken. Everything's very expensive because of them," he said. State prosecutor Rodrigo Gonzalez urged people to come forward to report such crimes. "We're committed to fighting these people, identifying them, arresting them, and bringing them to court," he said. But many fear they will suffer the same fate as Mora if they speak up. Despite the risks, the farmer said that he had no intention to leave his land. "Lots of people depend on us and our work, to provide for their families," he said. The post ‘They put a price on everything’: extortion hits Mexican economy appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Fools in suits
When a ranking Department of Agriculture official was asked in a recent Congress hearing what steps the agency had taken to break the rice cartel, he replied that he did not believe that a “mafia” existed. Coming from a high DA official, the statement revealed that nothing was being done to stop the syndicate that everyone in the industry knows about since, to the authorities, it does not exist. In the reenacted Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and forming cartels for agricultural and fishery products are considered economic sabotage and are non-bailable offenses for which a long jail term could be meted out. The strengthened law, however, lacks strong teeth against government officials who are in cahoots or protect the syndicates. Contained in the proposed bill is a provision indicating that any government officer or employee found to be an accomplice in the commission of the crime will “suffer the additional penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, exercising the right to vote, from participating in any public election, and forfeiture of employment monetary and financial benefits.” The bill is pending in both houses of Congress. With the slow grind of justice in the country, a public official looking for a fast buck will not hesitate to risk his job in exchange for a huge payback. The recent series of events showed the markets are being manipulated by the big players in the sugar, vegetable and rice businesses. These syndicates are known to be deeply entrenched due to their connections with government bigwigs who facilitate their domination of the markets either through edicts or the use of public resources. In the most ridiculous situation, the recent spike in onion prices was found to be artificial since farmers were even throwing away their harvests because of low farmgate prices, thus there was no reason for prices to surge. Later, it was exposed in a congressional hearing that a cartel had succeeded in manipulating the onion market to create a condition that would require its importation, from which its members would make a killing. The warehouse and storage facilities are controlled by the mafia which makes it easy to create artificial conditions to which the market reacts by raising retail prices. The ultimate goal is to coax the government to allow importation from suppliers in overseas markets that are also flooded with the commodity, The cartel rakes in profits from both the high markup and the kickbacks from the overseas suppliers desperate to sell their surplus. The woeful victims are the Filipino farmers whom the cartel boxes out of the market. In extreme cases, these farmers just throw away their harvest since they cannot afford to transport their products without the middlemen who are also in the pocket of the cartel. The same goes for the rice industry, where the market was manipulated for a different reason, which was to kill the rice tariffication law that kicked the National Food Authority out of the import business. Rice prices then surged to as high as P56 a kilo, which pushed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to impose price ceilings. The NFA used to have a monopoly on importation, but that resulted in acrimonious confrontations at the apex of government. The tariffication law, in turn, opened importation to all grain traders and relegated the NFA to buying rice from local farmers. Under the new anti-smuggling bill which has the endorsement of Mr. Marcos, an Anti-Agricultural Economic Sabotage Council headed by the President or his designated permanent representative will be formed. The proposed body will have the power to investigate and file charges, as well as freeze violators’ funds, properties, bank deposits, placements, trust accounts, assets and records. The creation of the body looks good on paper but in the real world, it might just add another layer of bureaucracy and source of corruption unless the cartel, which DA officials claim does not exist, is dismantled. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile has a simple solution for breaking the cartel, which is for the government to confiscate all the rice overstock and let the owners of the warehouses prove that their huge inventory is legitimate. Such a move would prompt the traders to release more rice into the market to avoid confiscation. The imposition of the price cap on rice indicated that the prices are artificial since the markets are now selling at lower than the manipulated prices despite conditions being constant. An expected bumper harvest is also prompting the prices to go back to normal, after the attempt of the cartel to create a price shock to support their effort to return to the old ways. To know the real situation, President Marcos goes out of his way to see what is on the ground. His underlings, particularly at the Department of Agriculture, should do better. The post Fools in suits appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Anti-agricultural economic sabotage bill marked as urgent
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has certified as urgent a measure defining the crime of agricultural economic sabotage, providing penalties, and also creating an anti-agricultural economic sabotage council. The President approved Senate Bill No. 2432 as urgent earlier this week through a letter addressed to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri. In the letter to Zubiri, Marcos said there is a need to facilitate the passage of SB No. 2432, "especially now that the country is beset by rising prices and shortages in agricultural products, partly due to the nefarious acts of smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and cartel." The bill repeals Republic Act No. 10845, or the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act of 2016, and seeks to promote the productivity of the agriculture sector and protect farmers and fisherfolk from unscrupulous traders and importers and ensure reasonable and affordable prices of agricultural and fishery products for consumers. The bill also imposes severe sanctions on the nefarious acts of smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, and cartel of agricultural and fishery products, including a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine thrice the value of the agricultural and fishery products subject of the crime as economic sabotage. Any government officer or employee found to be an accomplice in the commission of the crime shall "suffer the additional penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, exercising the right to vote, from participating in any public election, and forfeiture of employment monetary and financial benefits," the bill read. When the offender is a juridical person, criminal liability shall be attached to all officers who participated in the decision that led to the commission of the crime, with a penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification to engage in any business involving importation, transportation, storage, and warehousing, and domestic trade of agricultural and fishery products. Government authorities also have the right to confiscate the agricultural and fishery products that are subject to the prohibited acts and the properties used in the commission of the crime of agricultural economic sabotage, such as, but not limited to, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, storage areas, warehouses, boxes, cases, trunks, and other containers of whatever character used as a receptacle of agricultural and fishery products. The proposed measure is among the expanded Common Legislative Agenda discussed during the 3rd LEDAC Meeting. The bill is now pending in the period of interpellations in the Senate, while a Technical Working Group is currently finalizing the version of the House of Representatives. The post Anti-agricultural economic sabotage bill marked as urgent appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Hoarders cry vs rice cap
Members of the rice cartel are starting to feel uneasy over steps being taken to stabilize the market after they were caught flatfooted by the price cap. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. recently signed Executive Order 39, which mandated the price of regular milled rice at P41 per kilo while well-milled rice was fixed at P45 per kilo. The strategy is to maintain the low price while the market receives a steady stream of rice from imports and the coming harvest. In effect, all the hoarded rice would be flushed out at the government-mandated price levels or lower. After the Rice Tariffication Law took effect, a well-organized lobby was launched to either rescind or amend the measure and hand back the importation monopoly to the National Food Administration. With the purchase of rice centralized in the NFA, the cartel, which had the agency’s officials on payola, was able to control the market effectively. Prices were let loose by creating distortions such as an artificial shortage, which exploited India’s announcement that it was restricting rice exports. India’s move was of little consequence since the country imports 90 percent of the staple grain from Vietnam and Thailand. Even if import prices are pushed higher, the influx of local rice, with the harvest season coming, will drive down costs. The lobby included a former Department of Agriculture official who blamed the high prices on the Rice Tariffication Law and insisted that the old system, where the NFA had sole authority to import, was better. Under EO 39, the NFA’s mandate was restricted to purchasing from local farmers. The official claimed the RTL handed the rice industry to the cartel on a silver platter. NFA’s monopoly had benefited only the cartel and the officials in its pocket. The cartel used to kill in tandem with the NFA when prices on the global market were high, as the percentages were higher. As a result of the price cap, Speaker Martin Romualdez said massive cancellations of orders from local rice traders resulted in the world market quotations trending downward. According to United States-based Market Insider, the price of rice in the world market decreased by 21 percent, from $384 per metric ton last July to $332.4 per MT this month. “It is proven that EO 39 set commendable results not only in our country but in the world as well,” Romualdez said in a statement. Based on Department of Agriculture data, the country’s rice stock is sufficient to last for months. The data showed 10.15 million metric tons of buffer stock for the rest of the year, with a 2.53-MMT surplus from the previous harvest and 7.2 MMT as the expected yield from local production. Only 410,000 MT comes from imports. The stock would be more than enough to cover the current demand of 7.76 MMT during this harvest round and will yield an ending stock of 2.39 MM that will last up to 64 days, according to DA’s report. Romualdez said massive cancellations by rice traders and importers in the Philippines resulted in the world market’s deluge of available rice stocks. The Philippines was recently reported by the United States Department of Agriculture to have overtaken China as the biggest rice importer worldwide. “It is obvious that the upsurge in prices was artificial because our inspections showed that rice stocks were being held in warehouses,” Romualdez said. He recently led an inspection of the most extensive rice warehouses in Luzon that resulted in the discovery of huge stocks suspected to have been kept from the market. The price cap will hold as local harvests start flooding the market. By then, the hoarders will be forced to sell at a loss, thus increasing availability. Then another law will take over — that of supply and demand — that will further lower the price of rice. The post Hoarders cry vs rice cap appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Mexico extradites son of cartel kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to US
Mexico on Friday extradited the son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States to face narcotics charges, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Ovidio Guzman Lopez, also known as "El Raton" or "The Mouse," was indicted earlier this year on drug trafficking charges linked to the fentanyl crisis plaguing the United States. His father was convicted in 2019 of running what was believed to be the world's biggest narcotics syndicate and is serving life in a supermax prison in the state of Colorado. Garland hailed the extradition as "the most recent step in the Justice Department's effort to attack every aspect of the cartel's operations." "The Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic that has devastated too many communities across the country." After Guzman's conviction, several of his sons, collectively known as "the Little Chapos," inherited control of the Sinaloa Cartel, US authorities said. Security agents captured the younger Guzman in the Sinaloa city of Culiacan on 5 January. Following his arrest, cartel members set vehicles on fire and created mayhem, an echo of the massive shootouts in 2019 when the younger Guzman was briefly detained but then freed to avoid bloodshed. At the time, US authorities had a $5 million bounty for his arrest, accusing him and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, of overseeing methamphetamine labs in Sinaloa state producing an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pounds of meth per month. "Other information indicates that Ovidio Guzman Lopez has ordered the murders of informants, a drug trafficker, and a popular Mexican singer who had refused to sing at his wedding," according to a website of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ovidio Guzman, 33, will spend his first nights in a US prison just as his father's wife, Emma Coronel, walks free. Coronel, who is not Guzman's mother, was released from a California halfway house this week after completing a sentence for collaborating with Chapo Guzman in his narcotics activities. Coronel is a dual US-Mexican citizen. tjj/qan © Agence France-Presse The post Mexico extradites son of cartel kingpin ‘El Chapo’ to US appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Onion price manipulators face raps
Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla yesterday said charges are set to be filed on Monday against perpetrators behind the smuggling and price manipulation of onions. He said they have charges to be filed but they opted to move it on Monday, 18 September. Remulla said some investigators requested to file the other raps on Monday for price manipulation, profiteering, and other crimes related to the onion price manipulation and smuggling crisis the country had for the past two months. He said the National Bureau of Investigation and an undersecretary of the DoJ will handle the matter. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in July ordered the DOJ and NBI to investigate the smuggling of onions and other agricultural products. In his State of the Nation Address, Marcos even warned agri-smugglers that their “days are numbered” as he blamed hoarders for the rising prices of agricultural products. “One of the reasons of rising prices is the presence of smugglers, hoarders and manipulators of agricultural products. We will look for them and file complaints against them,” Marcos said. According to the Presidential Communications Office, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo said in a Memorandum to the President that there was substantial evidence pointing to the existence of an onion cartel which could be behind the surge in onion prices in 2022. “I have just given instructions to the DOJ and the NBI to initiate an investigation into the hoarding, smuggling, [and] price fixing of agricultural commodities,” Marcos said in a video message. “And this is stemming from the hearing that we've conducted in the House, specifically by Congresswoman Stella Quimbo and the findings that they came up with,” Quimbo added. The President, who is also the secretary of agriculture, stressed the importance of these findings as sufficient grounds to initiate a probe, citing the need to address what amounts to economic sabotage. He said this is the reason they are going to be very, very strict about finding the people and making sure that they are brought to justice. The DoJ was prompted to create the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Task Force, which includes the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Agriculture. The post Onion price manipulators face raps appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Mexican singer Peso Pluma threatened ahead of Tijuana concert
Posters threatening the life of Mexican singer Peso Pluma were put up in Tijuana on Tuesday, Mexican authorities said, as he was set to perform in the United States at the MTV Video Music Awards later in the evening. Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero said the prosecutor's office is investigating the posters, which promised that the artist would be killed if he performed in the border town as scheduled in October. One person has already been arrested, Caballero said. "It is up to me to protect the citizens of Tijuana, and therefore in the next few days we will determine if the concert will take place or not," the mayor said, adding that authorities were examining whether there were organized crime connections behind the threats. Local media broadcast an image of one of the posters, signed with the initials "CJNG" -- corresponding to the Jalisco Cartel--New Generation, a powerful drug gang. In at least one of his songs, Peso Pluma shouts out a different gang, the Sinaloa cartel. "Singers such as... Peso Pluma make apologies for crime, so there are certain groups that get upset," Caballero said. "Unfortunately those who suffer the consequences are the citizens who want to attend their concerts." Peso Pluma, born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija, has said in the past he has written songs "commissioned" by drug traffickers. "Narcocorrido," or drug ballad music, has proved controversial in Mexico, though the mayor said that she would not move to ban the genre's concerts or broadcast over the radio because of its content. The 24-year-old behind the hit "Ella Baila Sola" is scheduled to perform in Tijuana on 14 October. The post Mexican singer Peso Pluma threatened ahead of Tijuana concert appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cartel manipulating rice price hikes — Abalos
Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos on Tuesday, made the rounds at Mega-Q-Mart along with Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte to inspect rice stalls and retailers if they are adhering to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order 39. Abalos said arrests will not take effect yet, for retailers selling rice beyond what is prescribed under EO 39, which is P41 per kilo for regular-milled rice and P45 per for well-milled rice. “Our target really here are the rice cartels. They are the ones causing the high cost of rice,’’ Abalos said. He added that the government will run after cartels that are manipulating the prices of prime commodities like rice. The DILG chief also appealed to rice retailers and dealers to adhere to the government’s rice price ceiling to ease the financial burden of the public. Rice stall owners, on the other hand, complained that they will surely have financial losses if they follow the rice price cap imposed by the government. “We bought rice at high costs, if we make the computation based on the government’s price cap, we will surely incur heavy losses,’’ one of the rice stall owners said. Others said they are contemplating on closing their stalls until the price of regular and well-milled rice stabilizes. Not feasible “We loaned our capital with interest and it is not economically feasible if we sell them (rice at P41 to P45 per kilo),’’ one of them said. When this was relayed to Abalos, the DILG chief told the retailers that the government would provide compensation to help them reduce the prices of their rice. Abalos told rice retailers to bear with the inconvenience, stating that the rice price cap is only “temporary” and not permanent. With the rice price cap in effect, Abalos noted that the government is in the midst of making the necessary computation on how much aid should be provided to the rice dealers and retailers, adding that there is no time table yet on how long the lower cost of rice will last. In the meantime, Abalos noted that the DILG will continue to conduct a massive information drive to make the rice dealers and retailers aware of the rice price cap that they should follow starting 5 September. However, Abalos warned that the government will have no choice but to impose penalties and fines should rogue traders remain stubborn and fail to follow the rice price ceiling stated in EO 39. Earlier, the DILG warned that violators of the rice price ceiling stand to face one year imprisonment but not more than 10 years jail term and pay penalties ranging from P5,000 to as much as P1 million upon the court’s discretion. Individuals or groups involved in the illegal price manipulation of prime commodities face jail terms not lower than five years and not more than 15 years and pay penalties of at least P5,000 up to P2 million. The post Cartel manipulating rice price hikes — Abalos appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
With rice shortage will enter gov’t-sponsored import cartel
Rice officials are inept. Everyone but they knew that price control would trigger shortage. Forcible enforcement like jailing will only make poorer both ends of the supply chain, farmers and retailers......»»