We are sorry, the requested page does not exist
PBBM skips PCCI annual event’s end
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. failed to attend the final day of the 49th Philippine Business Conference and Expo, or PBCE, sending Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin instead. PBCE is the main assembly yearly of the country’s biggest trade group Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. An incumbent president usually attends the second day of the PBCE to personally receive the business group’s resolution and suggestions on various issues. Malacañang did not give any detail on Marcos’ failure the biggest gathering of businessmen yearly. However, Vice President Sara Duterte attended the first day of the conference, in which she urged PCCI officials and members to join the Department of Education in reviewing the current senior high school system and provide valuable insights on skills matching in order to produce employable graduates. Besides the President, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual also did not make it which according to the Department of Trade and Industry communication’s chief, Undersecretary Kim Lokin, Pascual has not been feeling well since Wednesday. Cabinet officials, however, were in the event. They included Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy, Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan and Internal Revenue Commissioner Artemio Lumagui Jr. Resolution submitted Bersamin received PCCI’s resolution, handed over by PCCI president George Barcelon and PBCE chairperson Felino Palafox. The resolution included the positions of various sectors, namely agriculture, energy and power; the environment and climate change; education and human resources development; industry and trade; ease of doing business and stability of rules and regulations; infrastructure, transport and logistics; innovation and digitalization; taxation, and tourism. Under the sectors of agriculture, energy and power, the business group urged the national government to develop a long-term plan to attain food security in agriculture and fishery through infrastructure support, technology transfer, product diversification, export enhancement, economies of scale, and adherence to the improvement of value chains and supply chains. For energy and power, the PCCI wanted the Marcos administration to ensure adequate and affordable power supply throughout the country by considering modern technology and harnessing renewable energy resources that meet the criteria of reliability and affordability. In terms of caring for the environment and climate change, PCCI officers and members also wanted the government to update and continue the execution of the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change (2010- 2022) which envisions a climate risk-resilient Philippines with healthy, safe, prosperous, and self-reliant communities and thriving and productive ecosystems. For education and human resources development, the government was urged to propel the Philippine education system to world-class status by harnessing new technologies, fostering innovation, and implementing comprehensive reforms that will prepare students for success in the digital age and the globalized world of work. Empowering businesses For industry and trade, the Marcos administration wanted to empower industries and enterprises by providing them with the necessary tools, resources, and support programs to enhance their competitiveness both in the domestic and international markets, contribute to economic growth, and promote innovation in the Philippines’ industrial and trade sectors. Furthermore, the government was also advised to provide a stable and predictable business environment by ensuring clear, consistent, and transparent regulations, streamlining and simplifying bureaucratic processes, reducing unnecessary red tape, and eliminating barriers that hinder business growth and development. Bersamin received PCCI’s resolution, handed over by PCCI president George Barcelon and PBCE chairperson Felino Palafox. Despite the ongoing Build, Better More infrastructure program, PCCI urged the government to implement a comprehensive national infrastructure, transportation and logistics master plan that outlines a long-term vision for connectivity and country-wide development. Together with the goal of urban decongestion, the strategy shall encompass the development of growth/business centers in different regions to create more employment opportunities and encourage people to relocate outside Metro Manila. The post PBBM skips PCCI annual event’s end appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Survey drop, disinformation, or portent?
The political whirlwind that swept the Marcos-Duterte tandem to a smashing victory in the May elections of 2016 and the air of euphoria following it appears to have gradually dissipated one year and three months following their assumption to office as President and Vice President, respectively. There has been almost a whispery voice of discontent among those in the populating bearing the brunt of the escalating prices of basic commodities and a crescendo of pessimism felt by those who have been used to responsive and aggressive governance. What could have produced the huge fall in the approval and trust ratings of the redeeming and resurrected Marcos scion and the redoubtable charming yet feisty daughter of the controversial but beloved former President? Could it be the systematic and relentless barrage of negative propaganda against the current administration unleashed by the vociferous left inside and outside Congress helped, unsurprisingly, by the ominous silence of the political allies of the two, who obviously are following the baton of the one who wields and disburses the funds and largesse they need for their districts and their own evolution? The conductor’s body language speaks volumes of the obsession to be the heir apparent of the leader of the present dispensation. The fall in the trust and approval ratings of PBBM is not his own doing. The spiraling of prices of almost all commodities, including oil and gasoline, is global. The Russia-Ukraine war, the China-Taiwan friction, the US-Russia cold war, the China-US increasing bilateral tension, and other conflicts involving other countries have affected the trade and commerce of the world, putting a monkey wrench on the best-laid plans and programs of those who run the business of the world. They contribute to the present dislocation in the world’s economy. While PBBM has envisioned a program of government that — as he puts it in his first State of the Nation Address — would bring to fruition the dream of the Filipino people to live comfortable lives under a regime of peace and orderly society, he cannot, however, do this alone. He needs competent, dynamic, creative, selfless, and honest co-government workers who will implement the plans he has laid down. Unfortunately, while there are members of his Cabinet and allies in Congress who are doing well in their respective domains quietly and efficiently, there are, however, not a few of them who either have lackluster performance or are dead woods whose incompetence and grandstanding derail his visions and frustrate the expectations of the people. PBBM has been dragged down by these dead weights, triggering this fall in the surveys. Vice President and Secretary of Education Inday Sara Duterte’s fall on the surveys presents a different dimension. Her competent handling of her department has brought dramatic changes in the public educational system. Not only has she quelled the irregular, inefficient, and corrupt practices in the education sector, but she has even initiated and launched activities protecting the safety and health of the students and public school teachers, even as she improves the quality of education. Her enormous popularity, however, has become a magnet for orchestrated and systematic false disinformation and untruthful narratives about her and her office. This early — those eyeing the presidency five years from now have sent demolition forces to tarnish her popular image and taint her unblemished reputation. Those who are gullible among those respondents in the surveys apparently have been misled or hoodwinked into believing the falsities thrown at her. On the other side of the coin, could this abrupt and sizable decrease in the approval and trust survey be a portent? Could it be a foreshadow of an oncoming political upheaval? Could it be a handwriting on the wall? Could it be a wake-up call? The post Survey drop, disinformation, or portent? appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Solon: OVP ‘fund shift’ constitutional
One of the vice chairpersons of the House Committee on Appropriations on Sunday has joined other members of the panel in clarifying that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s transfer of P125 million to the office of Vice President Sara Duterte was not unconstitutional. Iloilo Representative Janette Garin stressed that the transfer of the Office of the President’s P221.42-million fund to the Office of the Vice President — which included the P125-million confidential fund allegedly spent by in just 19 days, was sourced from Marcos’ contingent fund. “The problem was that there was confusion about contingent funds versus confidential funds. And in my opinion, that was the first mistake because the people were confused because they thought that the used contingent fund of the Office of the Vice President was confidential,” Garin said in a radio interview on Sunday. “What happened here is that the confidential fund was tainted because it was not immediately answered or clarified. Just to be factual, what the Office of the Vice President used was a contingent fund that was included in the special purpose fund,” she added. The lawmaker explained that the special purpose fund is a fund of the President that he can use for current or new programs when a Cabinet official or an office requests it. The issue of the fund transfer first came when the Commission on Audit report revealed that the OVP spent P125 million in confidential funds for 2022. Then-Vice President Leni Robredo, who then prepared the 2022 budget of the OVP, said there was no line item for confidential funds in the budget they crafted. Confidential funds are used for discreet costs associated with surveillance operations carried out by civilian government agencies in support of their mandate or operations. Lawmakers Elizaldy Co and Stella Quimbo, the panel’s chair and the senior vice chair, earlier shed light on the issue, saying the transfer of the funds was allowed in the 2022 General Appropriations Act, despite opposition solons claims that it breached the law since there was no line item in the OVP’s 2022 budget on confidential funds. The Department of Budget and Management likewise defended the legality of such transfer in a letter sent to Co last week, which the latter has yet to provide a copy to the House reporters. Co said that the P125 million released to OVP came from the P7-billion budget set aside as contingent funds for 2022 and “was intended to support the OVP’s Good Governance Engagements and Social Services Projects,” citing DBM chief Amenah Pangandaman. Pangandaman, however, cleared that they did not bypass the House’s power over the purse when it released contingency funds to the OVP. The post Solon: OVP ‘fund shift’ constitutional appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Crackdown set on grains cartels
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is taking a two-pronged approach to resolving the high prices of rice — which are building up the country’s grains stock and dismantling the rice cartels that dictate market prices. “The primary agenda of the government is to keep food prices low to help the less-capable members of society,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday. He indicated that President Marcos will have a program to ensure that the country has a three-year rice stock. “This is now being studied. It was taken up during a Cabinet meeting.” Enrile said. Malacañang said the implementation of Executive Order 39, which mandates price ceilings for rice, will start on 5 September. EO 39 mandates the price per kilo of regular milled rice at P41 and well-milled rice at P45. Marcos signed the EO on Thursday based on the 31 August recommendation of the Department of Agriculture and Department of Trade and Industry to impose price ceilings on rice amid the surge in the retail prices of the staple. Composite teams comprised of different government agencies, in coordination with local government units, will visit markets to monitor the prices of the two rice varieties. Focus on Metro Marcos said while EO 39 would be implemented nationwide, the government would focus its monitoring in Metro Manila, noting that the situation “is not so bad outside” the metropolis. Enrile said the recent Palace moves were meant to seek a scientific approach to the rice price dilemma. “Many think the rice problem is simple but it is a very complex issue since the prices are being dictated by syndicates and the mafia in the industry.” The rice supply, he said, is affected by hoarding, smuggling, overpricing and other factors that are manipulated by certain groups. The rice cartels and syndicates have strong connections, but the Marcos administration will confront them. The goal, according to Enrile, is “to dismantle them.” “They have allies in the Bureau of Customs and the bureaucracy, and it involves huge money,” he said. “Imagine, the population is now 120 million and every day you have to provide the rice to feed them so the volume of money that goes into grains trading is huge.” He reiterated that the lucrative industry is now “controlled by cartels, mafias and syndicates, all of them are there.” Elusive prey Enrile cited the case of Davidson Bangayan, alias David Tan, who was investigated in the Senate for rice smuggling, but no case was ever filed against him. Even former President Rodrigo Duterte, then Davao City mayor, testified against the suspected grains smuggler. To Senator Risa Hontiveros’ criticism that the price cap constitutes lazy work, Enrile said she should become president first before making disparaging comments against President Marcos. “For ordinary Filipinos, the price of rice is of utmost concern. Rice is a very important component of every economy,” he explained. “It portrays your ignorance if you’re talking about that without any qualification,” Enrile said, addressing Hontiveros’ allegation. Finite resources Farmlands, Enrile said, are finite resources and it would be hard to increase these, and “even if you reclaim land from the seas it would be near impossible to use it for agriculture.” “I don’t know if the senator has experienced planting and harvesting palay. If she can prove that she has, I would believe what she said,” he added. He said the government is also looking into options to cover the period when rice prices will be high. “While we look for a solution to the price problem, the government is also taking steps to identify substitutes or supplements for rice to cover the deficiencies between local production and demand,” he added. Enrile emphasized that high rice prices are “a supply and demand problem.” In the recently raided warehouses that held P590 million worth of mostly rice stocks, the raiding teams found empty sacks that showed the grains were from local sources, indicating an effort to deceive. “What happened there, obviously is not in the media anymore, nobody talks about it anymore,” he said. The post Crackdown set on grains cartels appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Hypocrites humbled
The Ombudsman’s decision to throw out the complaint of New York-based Filipino-Americans who keep stirring controversy in the country led by billionaire Loida Nicolas-Lewis exposes a deeper agenda in the effort. Lewis is known to be the heavy gun behind the Liberal Party who provided the bulk of the funding for the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo’s lost pink cause in the 2022 polls. The long-distance meddling had been repeatedly disclosed in the past with no less than former President Rodrigo Duterte pointing to a rich Filipino-American, who was obviously Nicolas-Lewis, as leading the effort to destabilize the government. In one of his abrasive speeches, Duterte foretold the international offensive against him emanating from the group of Nicolas-Lewis. “For all I care, I do not have any illusions, do not give me a reason to leave because you might get your wish,” he had said. “A certain financier, a rich woman who married a black (American) and is now a millionaire, she is planning to do protests,” he added. The plot was confirmed by then Communications Secretary Martin Andanar who recalled rumors in the Filipino-American community about plans to oust Duterte because of his alleged human rights violations and continuous attacks against the US. Duterte then mockingly told Nicolas-Lewis he’d follow her advice and even provide staff for her. “If you think that you can help, tell me because I will appoint a group of presidential advisers and (I will give you) a Cabinet position without a portfolio but with Cabinet rank. And I will follow your instructions to a tee,” he said. “I was listening to the tapes of their conversation. It was provided to me by another country but the conversation was somewhere in the Philippines and New York,” Duterte said of the plot. He said the recordings included one in which Lewis told another person, “See you in the headquarters when the case is filed.” Being referred was the International Criminal Court case that was a successful campaign considering the recent decision of the tribunal to proceed with an investigation into the war on drugs of Mr. Duterte. Nicolas-Lewis had led a 25-person delegation from the US-Philippines Society, a private group comprised of executives and diplomats, who met with Duterte a week before his inauguration on 1 June 2016. The top-notch mission included tycoons, retired American diplomats, executives of Coca-Cola, SGV, JP Morgan, and other top corporations. Nicolas-Lewis’s sister was former National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Imelda Nicolas who was part of the “Hyatt 10” — members of the Cabinet who turned on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005. Imelda and most of the Hyatt 10 members were recruited to key posts in the succeeding administration of the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Imelda was appointed head of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Duterte is being targeted for investigation for the complaint of crimes against humanity as a result of the methods undertaken in the anti-drug campaign. The late plaintiff Jude Sabio admitted using manufactured numbers that at one point reached 20,000 so-called extrajudicial killings, which a Senate investigation found dubious since it came from Philippine National Police figures that tallied all forms of deaths investigated, including those unrelated to police operations since Duterte assumed office. Veteran lawyer Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile said that from the start, he was against the proceedings at the ICC. “We’re an independent sovereign country and they want to unduly interfere in our internal affairs,” Enrile said. He pointed out the drug war was a policy to rid the country of its narcotics problem and involved law enforcement. “Who are they to tell us what is good for our society?” Enrile asked. “In the case of the insurgency, the government conducts operations. Are we going to answer to the ICC on the way that we defend ourselves from an internal threat?” Enrile demanded. The persistence of the ICC was discovered to have a sinister origin, based on information that Duterte had gathered. It all started with the designs of meddling Filipinos living overseas who wanted to impose their brand of hypocrisy on the hapless nation but were effectively foiled. The post Hypocrites humbled appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Graft buster clears Cusi
Citing the presumption of regularity, the Office of the Ombudsman threw out the graft complaint of a New York-based billionaire against former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, other Department of Energy officials, Davao City-based executive Dennis Uy, and several others over the sale of 90 percent of the shares of the Malampaya natural gas consortium. On 18 October 2021, US-based geologist Balgamel Domingo and Filipino-American anti-Duterte leaders Rodel Rodis and Loida Nicolas-Lewis filed charges against Cusi, Uy, and the others involved in the sale of the Malampaya stake to the Udenna group of Uy. In a copy of the ruling obtained by the Daily Tribune, the Ombudsman said it could not delve into the complaint on the legality of the transaction since “the authority to make such a determination belongs to the court.” “Seemingly, this complaint is in actuality a collateral attack on the validity of the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement,” it said. The decision declared that “matters of such tenor are not determinable in a preliminary investigation before the Ombudsman’s Office.” “Without any judicial determination decreeing the illegality of the Share Sale and Purchase Agreement, this Office is left with nothing but to acknowledge its validity,” the ruling said. The Ombudsman cited a precedent in the case of Teresita Buenaventura vs Metrobank, in a ruling that stated: “The burden of showing that a contract is simulated rests on the party impugning the contract.” “This is because of the presumed validity of the contract that has been duly executed,” the Ombudsman ruling read. “Wherefore, the criminal charges for violation of Section 3(e) and of Republic Act 3019 against the respondents are dismissed for lack of probable cause.” The ruling was signed by members of a Special Panel of Investigators composed of Ronald Allan Ramos, Josephine Mae Rosapapan, Francisco Alan Molina and Bonifacio Mandrilla. Prime takes control The operation of the Malampaya project was recently assumed by the Razon group’s Prime Energy which bought a 45-percent stake from Malampaya Energy XP, or MEXP, of the Udenna group. MEXP had bought the shares of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., or SPEX, in the consortium. The Department of Energy had branded the complaint a political move since the two Fil-Am lawyers in the suit were prominent in the “Oust Duterte” movement in the United States. The complaint alleged that Cusi and other energy officials had granted “unwarranted benefits and advantage” to Uy’s UC Malampaya in the buyout of Chevron’s share in the consortium. Udenna, through spokesperson Raymond Zorilla, said there is “no law requiring approval of the transfer of shares of companies that have an interest in Malampaya.” Zorilla said the transfer of Chevron and Shell shares underwent strict bidding processes and due diligence by both multinational oil and gas players. “The share sales were above board and legal and had to pass scrutiny by Philippine regulators, international lenders, and the said private multinationals involved,” Zorilla added. Cusi, in an interview with Daily Tribune, had said the DoE was not involved in choosing the buyer of the shares of Shell and Chevron in the Malampaya project. “The DoE did not get involved in the sale (of shares). We don’t know that they are selling. Our question was what their standards are for choosing Udenna. Why didn’t you choose the big companies, and why Udenna?” he said. Industry experts said the sale of shares was a private transaction that the accusers, who are US lawyers, should have been very familiar with. Cusi said the DoE, during his watch, went beyond its mandate by reviewing the technical, legal, and financial aspects of the transactions, the results of which were provided to the public. Political agenda The complaint, he said, had an underlying political agenda connected to his being the head of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan or PDP Laban. “It is not only political propaganda against me, but it also has a destabilization background… because I’m the president of the PDP.” The complaints, in turn, stemmed from the unending Senate inquiries on the Malampaya deals. The DoE said the Senate probes and the controversies that resulted from them had caused costly delays in the review process that would ultimately affect the country’s energy security. To refute a recent remark by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the DoE, in a statement said: “The inquiries of Senator Gatchalian are causing undue delay to the timeline of the consortium corporations, and this may eventually take its toll and put our energy security at risk.” The DoE’s approval of the sale of shares of stock of Chevron Malampaya LLC, one of the three corporations in the Malampaya Gas Field Project Consortium, had been dubbed by Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, as “lutong Macau.” It also backed the Udenna assessment that the deals were above-board. “When the sales were made, both Chevron Philippines, which owned Chevron Malampaya, and Shell Petroleum NV, owner of SPEX, followed rigorous global standards,” the DoE said. Nicolas-Lewis was part of a 25-person delegation from the US-Philippines Society, a private group comprising business executives and diplomats, who met with Duterte a week before his inauguration as president in 2016. Nicolas-Lewis was then accompanied by former Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia, PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan, retired American diplomats, and executives of Coca-Cola, SGV, JP Morgan, and other top corporations. Nicolas-Lewis is the sister of former National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Imelda Nicolas, who was one of the “Hyatt 10” Cabinet members who turned against then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2005. Imelda and most of the Hyatt 10 members ended up getting key posts in the administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Imelda was made head of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Nicolas-Lewis plot bared In February 2018, former President Duterte bared intercepted conversations that indicated Nicolas-Lewis was behind efforts to push the International Criminal Court, or ICC, to probe his war on drugs. Duterte revealed a recorded conversation between Lewis and another political opponent whom he did not name. “I was listening to the tapes of their conversation. It was provided to me by another country, but the conversation was somewhere in the Philippines and New York,” Duterte said. He said that among the recordings was one in which Lewis allegedly told another person: “See you in the headquarters when the case is filed.” Duterte then said in a public address that he was aware of developments on the ICC case and that lawyer Jude Sabio, the main complainant in the case, was a paid hack of Magdalo Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Rep. Gary Alejano, both failed putschists. Sabio withdrew his complaint before the ICC and revealed that the case was the handiwork of the dirty tricks factory of Trillanes. In 2016, Duterte pointed to Lewis as the financier of an alleged destabilization plot against his administration. Nicolas-Lewis invested heavily in the failed presidential campaigns of Liberal Party bets Mar Roxas in 2016 and Vice President Leni Robredo in 2022. The post Graft buster clears Cusi appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
ICC evidence not admissible
Detractors of the government who will be tapped by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, will be supplying information that is not formally offered as evidence and thus is not admissible in court, according to Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile. Enrile was referring to a rule of court that requires a party to make a formal offer of evidence by stating its substance or nature and the purpose or purposes for which the evidence is offered. Without a formal offer of evidence, and hence without disclosure of its purpose, it cannot be determined whether it is admissible or not. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Friday directed the government to cease discussions with the ICC. “As far as the Philippines is concerned, we are done with the ICC,” Marcos said. The ICC should examine the sources of the evidence that is being supplied to it. “That’s what I am wondering about, why does the ICC have strong links with the enemies of the state who are engaged in murdering their members primarily through purges?” Enrile asked. “Why does the ICC insist on investigating the country which is a democracy? The Philippines has a Constitution which says that the government should enforce the law,” he averred. “The leftists, who do they consider are the enemies? They are not conducting an armed struggle against Rodrigo Duterte or against Ferdinand Marcos Jr. but their battle is directed at the Constitution,” the former Senate president said. “As an institution of democratic organizations like the UN, why is the ICC timid about investigating atrocities of the New People’s Army?” he added. Pure gov’t function “The campaign against drugs involves law enforcement. Don’t we have a law against the use of drugs and the crimes that happened were all here in the country so what will our President do, will he not implement the law?” Enrile said. “It boils down to law enforcement versus the International Criminal Court or ICC,” the veteran public servant pointed out. “The campaign against drugs is an internal affair. The ICC does not know the level of criminality in the country,” he indicated. “The ICC is not a government, why should we surrender to them our obligation?” “My stand has been against filing any pleadings or actions with the ICC. Let the tribunal make its move. We do not recognize their jurisdiction over us,” Enrile said. “There are those in the Cabinet who wanted to be strictly legal in dealing with the ICC so since that’s what they wanted we let them engage the tribunal.” “So what happened was that we bungled it, the appeal was thrown out,” he noted. “Since we have already withdrawn from the Rome Statute, we should not participate in their proceedings,” Enrile emphasized. “If the Commission on Human Rights will continue engaging the ICC, they must remember that they are still part of the government and they are being supported by tax money raised from the public and they are not being supported by the ICC or the United Nations,” he said. Probers not allowed The Department of Justice, or DoJ, meanwhile, plans to prevent the entry of ICC investigators into the country. Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said that since the Philippines has withdrawn from the treaty that created the ICC, “all options are with the Executive department.” Vasquez said that among the options is for the government to prohibit ICC investigators from entering the country. However, he said, “They can be accepted, they can be allowed subject to limitations.” The DoJ official said the decision on how to address the ICC visits will be up to the President, being the country’s chief policymaker. “For now his decision is to disengage from the ICC. That means we won’t coordinate, we won’t allow them to come here as ICC,” Vasquez said. The post ICC evidence not admissible appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
SoNA 2023
Sophomore year is when familiarity has seeped in, and we get to know the people and terrain better. We gain momentum and confidence in the things we must do. On another note, we also learn about people’s strengths and previously hidden weaknesses. Personalities become more colored, and metrics will show actual performance when compared against campaign promises. The administration of President Bongbong R. Marcos Jr. will be of a different tune this time around. In 2022, the State of the Nation Address was filled with campaign promises and action plans that lay down the blueprint for the next six years. Just like any first SoNA of a new president, the atmosphere was jovial and enthusing. Second SoNAs are made right after the appointment of certain Cabinet members who lost in the previous election, and when presidential priorities are more evident. What makes sophomore SoNAs unique is that it is when the Administration is still new and with less political intentions in mind, if that is possible. Remember, the next elections are scheduled in 2025, thus, making next year’s 2024 SoNA the last one before the Administration’s senatorial bets are officially announced. Mid-year elections are crucial to sustaining the momentum of President Marcos Jr., and we can think of several of his loyal political soldiers who will be running for the Senate in 2025. The period from 2023 to 2024 is when the real work of government officials is felt, as they say — pure governmental service. Thereafter, 2024 to 2025 should be for election mode or the campaign season for the senatorial bets and all locally elected officials. All but the two highest positions and twelve senatorial seats will be up for grabs in 2025. The mood in the second half of the Administration will depend on the outcome of 2025. Surely, the banner announcement in Monday’s SoNA will be the newly signed Maharlika Investment Fund, which is the first sovereign wealth fund of the Philippines. This is a sophisticated financial instrument that should be a challenge for the Administration to explain to the common folk. Further, it can be explained, but would it be comprehended given that Filipinos tend to give their attention to short-term benefits, such as 4Ps and ayuda or aid? The Maharlika Investment Corporation or MIC, which will manage the sovereign fund, should make monthly reports that would be informative and easy to comprehend by Filipinos. The “Bagong Pilipinas” campaign of the Administration will be launched during the SoNA, hopefully eclipsing the “Love the Philippines” fiasco of Secretary Cristina Frasco of the DoT. Bagong Pilipinas comes with its own logo and probably a jingle, the same one used in the campaign of President Marcos Jr. The infrastructure slogan of the Administration, “Build, Better, More” or BBM, will have accomplishments to boast of. NEDA, the other day, approved three projects, the largest of which is the P170 billion NAIA Rehabilitation, thereby shunning the proposal of the private consortium, the Manila International Airport Consortium, consisting of several of the country’s billionaires, that was valued at P267 billion. The decision of the President to side with the proposal of the government, instead of the businessmen who were seemingly close to him having been part of the delegations in his earlier state visits and trips abroad, should be respected and applauded. Geopolitics will play a role in the recent ICC decision to continue its probe into the alleged drug killings and the surprise visit of former President Rodrigo Duterte to Xi Jinping in China. We will eagerly anticipate what President Marcos Jr. will have to say about them. The SoNA always elicits curiosity and excitement, and the 2023 SONA should be no different. The post SoNA 2023 appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cabinet shake-up looms (3)
From Indonesia, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. confirmed that there will be a reorganization, not a reshuffle, of the Cabinet following the end of the one-year ban on those who ran in the May 2023 elections. He said he has already evaluated the performance of the Cabinet members during his first year in office and he will be appointing competent individuals as additional members of his official family. He added that he will be picking them up from those who lost in the last elections. No wonder some are lusting to be picked and even hired public relations persons to push for their names and peddle them as already being chosen. Social media is replete with a list of so-called incoming appointees with the departments they are supposed to head. The truth of the matter is — this list is bogus and purposely circulated by the handlers of those whose names appear thereat. One wonders why they go to great lengths to project themselves as having already clinched the Cabinet portfolio. Some of them have served at one time or another in the past administrations while others would like a taste of the limelight accompanying the position as well as the perks that go with it. Still others, the opportunity of public exposure is a golden chance to raise one’s chances of getting elected to a national office. It cannot be discounted that there are unscrupulous few who having accumulated ill-gotten wealth while in office, would like to return to their money-making ventures having succeeded to evade the graft busters from discovering or unearthing their unlawful under-the-table deals. There is one political opportunist and a scoundrel who has been suspended by the highest court of the land for unethical practice, and who is so hated by a religious group for his threat to kill its members, but who managed to worm his way to the graces of the appointing power, or so seems, (hopefully it’s more apparent than real ) in the last elections by using gutter language in a distasteful attempt at aping the maverick, politically willed and well-loved PRRD. It will be a disaster if these kinds of people are appointed in the Cabinet for they are termites that will destroy the image of the administration. Unsurprisingly, there are Cabinet members who will have sleepless nights the next few days for they might wake up the following day to learn that they would be joining the two former Cabinet officials who fell from power just after a few months in office. It is indisputable that those who will get the axe have not performed well in their departments and have become an embarrassment to the presidency. Instead of being assets to the administration, they have become liabilities and therefore should be given their walking papers. The performing ones will undoubtedly remain for they have helped PBBM in implementing his policy of national development and vision of economic growth and prosperity for the people. In an earlier column, they have been named. There is another member of the Cabinet who is an asset to the administration. His stint as President of the University of the Philippines and as a long-time executive of the Asian Development Bank have helped him steer competently and efficiently the Department of Trade and Industries. Secretary Alfredo Pascual not only has continued the innovative programs in the trade industry initiated by the Duterte administration but improved on it resulting in the country’s steady economic rise coming from the crippling pandemic. He has introduced business practices geared toward attracting foreign investments while strengthening domestic trade. These business opportunities for both local and foreign investors will greatly produce not only needed government revenues but employment for the millions of the unemployed. Hopefully, the coming new composition of the Cabinet will usher in the much-needed support coming from the alter egos of the President to ensure the success of the latter’s presidency. The post Cabinet shake-up looms (3) appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Cabinet shake-up looms (2)
The energy sector is also in dire straits. Just yesterday, five power plants shut down affecting the Luzon power grid that brought brownouts to many areas. The telecommunications in the country, instead of improving, has deteriorated. The use of laptops and cellular phones has been an ordeal and vexing. Lines are suddenly cut off in the middle of conversations, connecting or reconnecting is exasperating. The hotline that will give access to the office of the President over complaints by the citizens on the abuses and inaction by government officials and employees appears not to be efficiently operating. Either the hotline telephones are just constantly ringing with no one attending to them or inaccessible, to the consternation and frustration of callers seeking government response and action. In a recent convention of government personnel in Davao, a department secretary was the target of biting criticisms owing to his delayed attendance because he gave more priority to his playing golf. The irate attendees talked about his arrival with wailing sirens and a fleet of police security and staff, his demand to wear a bulletproof vest, and his outrageous self-entitlement demeanor. There are saving graces, however, in other areas like the field of education, social welfare, agrarian, tourism, housing and health. The vice-president and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte, as expected, has introduced programs geared toward streamlining its services to the teachers and the students. She has undertaken measures to improve not only the quality of education but the safety of the students as well. She has endeavored to respond to the needs of the teachers and made sure that the school buildings and facilities are ready for the students and the school supplies sufficiently adequate and readily available to them. The Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rex Gatchalian has brought to the office his vast experience as a multi-awarded Mayor of Valenzuela to provide social services for the welfare of those in the vortex of poverty, victims of calamities, and natural disasters. He made sure that the government is well-equipped with food packages, relief goods, clothes, and medicines even before the disaster struck. He has made innovations to deliver the services promptly. efficiently and adequately. The Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III, without fanfare and minus the glare of publicity, has implemented the law on land reform bringing joy to the landless who have been neglected for years. He has continued the policy of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to distribute idle government lands to the poor without the bureaucratic red tape and the corruption that characterized the grant and distribution of those land-reformed areas. Tourism Secretary Cristina Garcia-Frasco, a firm believer in the tourism industry as a driver of economic growth, has embarked on resting programs and policies to attract more tourists. Pursuant to the administration’s policy of ensuring connectivity and accessibility with other countries, she has engaged in route development with her counterparts. Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose “Jerry” Acuzar, with his rich background in real estate business and development, has not disappointed the expectations of those who admire his crown jewel development of Las Casas Resort in Bataan that transport anybody who goes there to the beautiful Spanish era of yesteryears of grandiose and magnificent houses. He has improved the human settlements and policies commenced by the Duterte administration. He is currently putting up housing units for those without decent dwellings for their families following the ambitious project of PBBM to provide comfortable housing to more than a million house-deprived Filipinos. Officer-in-Charge of the Department of Health, Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire, continues with her competent work as Health Undersecretary under the previous leadership. She has strictly implemented the health protocols that were established to contain the dreaded Covid-19 and relaxing them when circumstances so permit but maintaining the minimum necessaries to prevent its spread and is succeeding judging from the apparent return to normalcy of people’s daily activities. In the coming appointment or replacement of Cabinet officials, PBBM certainly will be guided by the performance or the lack of it of the heads of the government entities. With the looming Cabinet shake-up, there is wisdom in the observation that members of the Cabinet should not be politicians or current elected officials. Politicians will always be aiming for higher positions and will be using their offices as springboards to reach their lofty ambitions hence they will be playing politics. Sadly, in the performance of their duties, their personal interest prevails over national interest. This was so evident in the past as well as in the present. Those who want to be appointed are constantly and shamelessly engage in sucking activities with the present dispensation. They are the piranhas that should be avoided for they will only bring ruin and embarrassment to the appointing power. The President must be spared and shielded from these scoundrels. The post Cabinet shake-up looms (2) appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Finance chief 2020’s highest paid Cabinet member
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III took home the biggest paycheck among the members of President Duterte’s Cabinet last year, a latest report of the Commission on Audit showed......»»
Duterte visit in Lapu-Lapu may not happen with COVID surge in Metro Manila – Chan
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in Metro Manila with several members of the Cabinet and the Presidential Security Group (PSG) being infected with the virus is among the reasons President Rodrigo Duterte may forego attending the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the Victory of Mactan on April […] The post Duterte visit in Lapu-Lapu may not happen with COVID surge in Metro Manila – Chan appeared first on Cebu Daily News......»»
Rody clears men for vax delay
President Rodrigo Duterte is not holding any of his Cabinet members accountable for the delay in the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in the country, an official said on Tuesday......»»
Incompetence
At a meeting with President Duterte and other Cabinet members in Davao City last Monday, “vaccine czar” Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr. declared that “we are ready for the vaccines.” A dry run was conducted on the movement of the vaccines from the airport to the warehouse and storage facilities with time checks being made. “All […] The post Incompetence appeared first on Cebu Daily News......»»
Opacity, audacity
There is much furor these days about vaccine doses that have supposedly been given to members of the Presidential Security Group, those men in perpetual close contact with President Duterte. Reports have it that they received the vaccine as early as September. Some privileged Cabinet members—and who knows who else in government—are also feeling more secure these days for having been inoculated, ahead of everybody else, against the dreaded virus......»»
Vaccination furor: PSG clears Duterte
Following President Duterte’s disclosure that some soldiers and members of his Cabinet have already been inoculated with Chinese firm Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine, Presidential Security Group commander Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III yesterday cleared the Chief Executive of any liability in the vaccination of his close-in PSG personnel......»»
EDITORIAL - Crawling along
Based on what his Cabinet members have admitted was wrong information, President Duterte spent much of his national address on Tuesday night lambasting Vice President Leni Robredo for supposedly asking where he was at the height of Typhoon Ulysses......»»
Duterte affirms confidence in Duque, Villar
Two Cabinet members have earned praises anew from President Duterte for their integrity and competence. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (ARMAN BAYLON / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) In a meeting on the government’s typhoon response Monday, the President has voiced his confidence in Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, saying he cannot find a reason to suspend him.The President also described Public Highways Secretary Mark Villar as “an honest man,” adding that he needs his expertise in the Cabinet.Both Duque and Villar were present in the meeting with the President, other Cabinet members and government officials at the Malago clubhouse in Malacañang Park to discuss disaster response and relief efforts Monday.The President first commended Duque after the latter delivered his report on the Department of Health’s efforts to address the needs of the communities hit by typhoon Rolly.“Thank you, Secretary Duque. It was a good report. Ang nahalata ko dito sa panahon mo is the surveillance and the vigilance in keeping track of possible outbreaks, I like that, and you have been doing it,” Duterte said.“That’s why I cannot find any plausible or even a meager argument for your — for your suspension. Wala akong nakitang ano — ang trabaho mo maganda (I cannot see… your work is good). The surveillance that you are doing and the vigilance sa public health is amply protected,” he said.Some lawmakers earlier called for the removal and prosecution of Duque over the alleged irregularities in the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). The President, however, has rejected calls for Duque’s dismissal, saying he has not stolen public funds.In the same meeting, the President said he has no question about the integrity of Villar.“Not only that he is honest, he has money. Siya ang — may pera siya (He has money) and I do not question his integrity or loyalty,” Duterte said about the DPWH secretary.“If not, bakit nandito pa nga siya sa Cabinet? Meaning to say that kailangan ko siya (If not, why is he still in the Cabinet? Meaning to say, I need him). I need his expertise, his talent,” he said.The President earlier directed the Department of Justice to conduct allegations of corruption in the entire government and prosecute those involved. Frustrated with the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy, Duterte told the DOJ to expand its corruption probe on PhilHealth to cover the Department of Public Works and Highways and other state agencies.Duterte, in his remarks Monday, lamented that corruption in government has persisted regardless of the sitting administration. He noted that long before his Cabinet members were appointed, corruption has already been prevalent in some agencies.He warned anew that those implicated in corruption in PhilHealth and other government offices would be held liable. He noted that several PhilHealth officials have already been placed on preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman pending a probe.“They are being investigated and if there’s enough evidence, they will be prosecuted in court. And eventually they will land in jail. And that could be a problem not only for the family and everybody,” he said......»»
Duterte says government ‘succeeding’ in COVID-19 fight
President Duterte says the government is succeeding in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic due to improving COVID-19 data and has thanked the “overworked” members of the Cabinet for the achievement......»»
COVID anting-anting? Not!
Have you noticed that small plastic contraption that President Duterte, Sen. Bong Go and many Cabinet members wear around their necks?.....»»