Call to boycott “Made in China” product ridiculous

Albay's Governor Joey Salceda

Just because there is nothing the Philippines can do against a bullying Goliath, in connection with the Spratly Islands brouhaha, a known political ally of President Benigno Aquino and Albay’s Gov. Joey Salceda is calling on all Filipinos to boycott products made in China.

“Let us boycott ‘Made in China’ products. Buy Filipino. Let us hurt them where it counts,” Salceda said in his Independence Day speech at the provincial hall in Legazpi City.

I find this urging so ridiculous because it is simply impossible to do it.

The world, practically, has been made the dumping ground of Chinese products, ever since this behemoth of nation has awaken and found once more their potential, that everywhere you look is something made in China.

Rich nations have given up producing goods in their own backyards because they find it more profitable having China produce it for them.

China is now the world’s top manufacturer. That said, it also means that China is the largest exporter. Name it China has it, for distribution all over the world. It does not only cater to the rich, but mainly to the poor because of its affordable prices.

But, that is neither here nor there. The issue is about the Spratlys that China is claiming in whole.

There is just no way in the world that we, as people, can carry the “boycott Chinese product” stick to clobber them to giving up what history tells them is theirs.

This is the price we have to pay for being poor, weak and globally known to be a corrupt nation.

This is the price we have to pay for indulging in politics too much, which is the very reason that has made the Philippines  the basket case in Asia.

Instead of nation building, politicians build their own castles first and the worst thing is that this deplorable ways has rubbed on even the core of the military hierarchy that has been mandated to protect the land, air and sea security of this nation.

But, nothing is lost yet. We simply have to bond with the rest of the small nation claimants of the Spratly Islands and, united, fight diplomatically the ugly designs of China over this area.

We can only hope and pray that we get support and assistance from other powerful countries, other than the US, in thwarting the hegemonic ambitions of China.

Ampatuan Sr. pleads not guilty to Maguindanao massacre

 

Andal Ampatuan Sr. and son Andal Ampatuan Jr.

It has been two years now since the infamous Maguindanao massacre made people wonder what kind of beast the Ampatuan clan are, when they committed the heinous crime of mowing down to the ground their political enemies, supporters and journalists and burying them, thereafter, in a mass grave, in their vain attempt to cover up their evil deeds.

It has been two long years of waiting for justice by the victim’s families, yet, to this day, all that can be heard is a plea of not guilty.

The latest to plead not guilty is Andal Ampatuan Sr., who was arraigned in a special court inside a Manila maximum-security prison.

Andal Ampatuan Jr., and the others accused has already pleaded not guilty previously.

It is Ampatuan Jr. who has been accused of leading about 150 gunmen, with his father’s approval, in stopping an election caravan belonging to the Mangudadatus, who were on their way to register the candidacy of Esmael Mangudadatu for governor.

Mangudadatu, who later won the governorship, is said to have sent his wife, sisters and other female relatives in the belief that women will be respected and not harmed, especially that the convoy of vehicles were entering a known clan enemy territory. Media people, on their own, went along to witness the proceedings only to find themselves included in the bloodbath.

It must be remembered that the powerful Ampatuan clan has lorded it all over Maguindanao, especially with their key positions in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). They were not about to relinquish a region where they named towns after their family members.

Lakmudin Saliao, an Ampatuan servant, has testified in court that six days before the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre, the patriarch gathered his siblings over dinner to ask how they could stop their political rival, Esmael Mangudadatu, from running for governor.

“If they come here, just kill them all,” was the curt reply of Ampatuan Jr.

On the day of the crime, Saliao said Ampatuan Jr. told his father by cellphone — its loudspeaker on — that he had blocked the convoy. The father ordered him to gun down everybody but spare the media, to which Ampatuan Jr. replied, “No … somebody could talk if we won’t wipe out everybody.”

The rest is history with no iota of justice and relief seen in the very near future for the innocent victims and their families.

Germany to phase out nuclear power by 2022

Chancellor Angela Merkel

After the reunification in 1990, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to phase out the use of all nuclear power by 2022 will yet be another best that will ever happen to this economically strong German state.

The Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, considered the world’s worst nuclear accident that killed, endangered and displaced hundreds of thousands of people and vastly contaminated pristine forests and farmlands from its radioactive fallout may have haunted the German government no end.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan brought about by a powerful earthquake, which in turn caused giant tsunami, may very well have sealed its fate to have nuclear power plants mothballed in all of Germany.

According to The New York Times, Germany shut down seven plants in March after the Fukushima nuclear explosion and will close down its remaining plants during the next ten years.

It will be noted that after the Japanese crisis, Germany’s seven oldest reactors went into close scrutiny for safety review and was later decided not to operate them anymore. An eighth nuclear plant called the Kruemmel in northern Germany, which has not been operating because of plaguing technical problem, has also been decommissioned for good.

There are six operational plants that is being planned to go offline by 2011and the three newest by 2022.

The negative public opinion shown by the German people following Japan’s nuclear crisis coupled with the assurance by the Ethics Commission for Secure Energy that an alternative source of energy can be put in place during the next ten years has hasten the decision to renounce nuclear energy for good.

Renewable energy resources

The renewable sources of energy being studied and planned for use in the very near future is a combination of wind, solar, and water power, and the harnessing of geothermal energy, and biomass energy from waste.

The transition to alternative and renewable energy, thus, makes Germany the first industrialized nation to reject the further use of nuclear power plants and embrace with determination and commitment the use of renewable and environmentally friendly energy to fuel the economy of the future.

“We want the electricity of the future to be safe, but also to remain reliable and affordable,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement.

Mayor Rama’s kind of “political will”

 

Mayor Mike Rama’s firm decision not to give financial assistance to the Mahiga informal settlers as, he opines, it will only cause a bad precedent is fallacious at best and, at its worst, very inhuman.

Although this is water under the bridge now because of the availability of the P78-million poverty alleviation fund from the National Housing Authority (NHA) that will pay for resettlement projects intended for informal settlers found in creeks, esteros and waterways, still without it, Mayor Rama would have pursued his heartless demolition and forced evacuation of the settlers in the name of “political will.”

In fact Mayor Rama would have defied the Cebu City council’s resolution asking him to suspend the demolition of illegal structures built along the city’s creeks and rivers until the city prepares relocation sites for them, as his original plan was to remove them from the Mahiga waterway without the benefit of a relocation site and any financial aid for the families affected.

To whom is Mike Rama trying to impress that he is his own man now, and like his predecessor, that he, too, has political will?

Mayor Mike Rama and Gov. Gwen Garcia

It has been conspicuously apparent that Rama has been supporting, agreeing and showing his loyalty to Gov. Gwen Garcia in matters affecting the city, like the Ciudad project and the so-called City-Capitol housing proposal utilizing provincial lots for relocation sites.

Is this show of symbiotic relationship beneficial for all? Definitely, yes! But, as far as Cebu City is concern, it should not be done at the expense of the City council.

Mayor Rama should stop making decisions unilaterally especially if it concerns the City. He should show respect to the City council that is mandated to ensure that the City runs legislatively sound.

If Rama’s action and decision is being influenced more by Gov. Garcia’s beliefs and ideas than that of the collective sound judgment of the City council for his own political expediency and survival, then it only negates his show of real political will.

One can only bring about an effective political will when one is devoid of any political agenda and does not have prejudice against those who have nothing but the best of intentions to make you succeed.

Pacquiao and his idiotic anti-RH bill stand

Eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao may be a brilliant strategist inside the ring, but does it mean that because he is a congressman now, that he possesses the same acumen when it comes to the floor of Congress and be able to convey and convince people that he is also that good?

Such is his idiotic anti-Reproductive Health (RH) stand.

I am not belittling Pacquiao’s educational attainment for it has been shown that he is trying to improve it and, as it is, he is even doing better compared to those who have been sitting in the House for a long time.

Pacquiao has a lot of common sense, but where he is now, common sense alone will not make you win fights. Not even when one has a lot of chutzpah!

I understand the peoples champ’s religiosity. You can see it not only every time he climbs the ring, but in every occasion he has to go to church, you can see his sincerity and passion of his devotion to God. To God goes the glory for his successes.

Is anything wrong with that? Absolutely nothing!

But, the RH bill is not about ones religiosity. It is about information and education, health and well-being, responsibility and accountability, prerogative and freedom, of couples wanting to have a better quality family life.

It is about giving a valid and educated argument devoid of any religious connotation that will fully convince people whether or not the RH bill shall be passed into law.

Referring to the bible as the sole answer to the country’s population woes is bad enough. Misquoting it is worse for it not only shows ones ignorance, but it makes ones reasoning simplistic and unintelligent in its entirety.

Pacquiao should understand his limitations and should refrain from debates or verbal tussles he is surely to lose because of his lack of understanding of the subject.

It will do him good to heed Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago’s advice not to get involve and not be used by the Church in the heated RH bill issue.

Ex-president Arroyo accused of OWWA fund misuse

Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez files plunder case

I remember this event very clearly during the 2004 election campaign when then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made the PhilHealth cards, with her image on them, her sales pitch for the oversea worker’s votes.

Little did I know that what really happened is the reason why lawyer Frank Chavez, a former solicitor general, filed plunder charges against the former president before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The charges claim that Arroyo, now a member of the House of Representatives, allegedly ordered about P530 million from the funds belonging to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) from 2003 to 2004 diverted to PhilHealth, in time for the distribution of health cards during elections.

It should be noted that the money in this OWWA trust fund are contribution by millions of our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who are not able to find jobs in the country and which money is intended to pay for repatriation during emergencies, medical care and other needs unique to overseas workers.

Arroyo, Romulo, Duque III

Also named respondents were former Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo; then Philhealth president and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III; and former OWWA chief Virgilio Angelo.

One can already see from here an inter-departmental collusion under Arroyo’s administration, but the DOJ has still to determine if there is enough evidence for an indictment.

Chavez also claim that ex-president Arroyo diverted 21.5 million pesos ($494,000) to pay for diplomatic vehicles in the Middle East in support of the US-led war in Iraq and “humanitarian assistance” to Filipinos in Iraq in 2003.

These are indeed serious corruption charges among the many that Arroyo has been dodging and denying during her nine-year rule.

Let us hope Chavez is not shooting blanks especially on an important allegation as the misuse of the OWWA funds for electioneering purposes when it should have be saved for any untoward incidents involving OFWs and solely for their own benefit.

Aquino backs firmly Responsible Parenthood bill

Whether one calls it Responsible Parenthood (RP) bill or Reproductive Health (RH) bill, to me it is the same collar on the same dog.

If it is said that the RP bill has a “lot of common grounds” with the RH bill now under plenary debate at the House of Representatives, I don’t know why President Benigno Aquino has still to ‘cosmeticize’ it (reorientation is the word used by the palace), if only to assuage its effect upon the Catholic Church.

To many, it is the same banana.

But, nobody should begrudge President Aquino for calling it a different name.

The fact alone that he has been threatened to be excommunicated by the Church for supporting and endorsing the RH bill and not being cowed by it simply shows his determination, commitment, and moral obligation to improve the lives of the Filipino people. After all, the ‘health’ of the nation and its people is a state matter.

Anticipating perhaps that the RH bill in Congress will have rough sailing and fails to muster enough vote to pass, Health Secretary Enrique Ona has been tasked to draft the RP bill which, bottom line, empowers Filipino couple to choose how they want to plan their family.

Needless to say, that the couples are provided with full public information regarding the natural and artificial methods of family planning.

So what is new? Nothing!

But, what is needed badly is support from every politician in this country who understands the dignity of life.

The Catholic Church, as we all know, espouses only for natural family planning method and demur vehemently anything that has to do with artificial family planning.

And what do we see? Hunger, poverty, houses under bridges, street urchins, slums, illiteracy, and unnecessary death of child and mother mostly brought about by irresponsible parenthood and the utter lack of family planning program.

What is giving more President Aquino the impetus to push harder this time for the enactment of the RP bill is the European Union’s (EU) promise to provide an initial amount of 35 million euro to finance modern family planning in the Philippines.

We should all realize, as Mr. Aquino must have realized, how important this assistance is for the well-being of our people.

This opportunity has to be seized now no matter the political inconveniences and implications it may have in the future, for the EU’s help could only add up to government’s holistic plan in having the poor people’s longing and aspirations met by being responsible parents and ensuring the prosperity of this country in the long term.

Philippines will patrol the Spratlys

This may sound threatening, but not really especially to the Chinese, who had been repeatedly reiterating its exclusive claims to all the disputed areas and their adjacent waters, much of which are closer to Philippine land than China.

We are no match to China’s military might and having patrol boats alone surely does not win disputes.

But, having a recently purchased Hamilton-class patrol craft around the Philippine-claimed area of the Spratly archipelago simply signals our serious intentions of pursuing what is suppose to be ours under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

By ours, it means and it constitutes the Philippines claim that the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the Spratlys is an integral part of the country to which it has sovereignty and jurisdiction.

Under the UNCLOS, it provides that sovereignty and jurisdiction applies to waters around or adjacent to each relevant geological feature in the KIG following the principle that “the land dominates the sea.”

Earlier, on March 3, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest over Chinese incursion into Reed Bank, 250 kilometers west of Palawan, where Chinese patrol boats allegedly harassed a Philippine vessel conducting oil exploration. Reed Bank is part of the KIG.

The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam, claim all or part of the Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast mineral resources and lie near vital sea lanes.

It is, however, China’s absolute claim to all of the Spratly or what is called as China’s “9-dash line claim” that is making this region a flashpoint. Its muscle flexing, domineering, and bullying attitude towards the other ASEAN countries laying claim to some islands in the archipelago makes it even tragic.

Our only consolation is that the United States considers the Philippines a major non-North Atlantic Treaty Organization military ally and the two countries are bound by a 1951 mutual defense pact.

But, even then, having grown both in economic and military power, China has repeatedly reminded the United States that it has no right to be involved in the Spratlys dispute.

No doubt both powers have covetous sights on this rich region and only time will tell where the most powerful wind blows.

Meanwhile, it safe to adopt the saying that “it is better to be on the side of the devil you know than to be with the devil you don’t know.”

Wheels of fortune turning against Arroyo son

 

Rep. Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo

Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, claims it is “pure political harassment.”

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares, however, insists that the government’s filing of tax evasion charges against Mikey and his wife, Angela, before the Department of Justice (DOJ) has no political undertones.

“We file cases because of evidence. It is not because of any personality. Our cases are always based on what we can prove,” Henares told a press conference.

Henares revealed that their investigation against the couple stemmed from information from a tipster.

After gathering evidences during investigation, the BIR discovered that Mikey and wife failed to pay their taxes allegedly amounting to P74 million from 2004 to 2009 during the incumbency of their mother-president.

“The cases that we filed today are testaments to the Aquino administration’s continued drive against tax cheats who think that they are above the law. The ways of the past are over,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima echoed this move of the BIR.

The Aquino administration seem to be finding success in their drive to send to jail tax evaders and smugglers who scandalously rob the country the much needed revenues.

It is said that this ‘morality’ drive by the BIR and Bureau of Customs has resulted in a revenue collection increase of 10.7 and 9.7 percent, respectively, in the first two months of 2011 alone.

This is, indeed, a very encouraging development that has to be supported by every law abiding citizen of this country.

It is about time big fishes are snared.

It is about time the hocus pocus by the rich, the famous, the notorious and the unscrupulous has to be stopped.

It is about time the wheels of fortune turns to benefit the Filipino people.

Mayor Rama’s dilemma

Mayor Mike Rama

Not wanting to be perceived anymore as Rep. Tomas Osmeña’s whipping boy and rubber stamp, Mike Rama has tried reinventing himself ever since he got elected mayor of Cebu City.

Sadly, however, the more Rama tries to be his own man, the more his actions speak otherwise.

Rama says and does things that infuriates Osmeña, but ingratiates him to Gov. Gwen Garcia, who Rama knows is Osmeña’s bitter adversary.

Gov. Gwen Garcia and Rep. Tomas Osmeña

High profile issues such as the multi-million Ciudad project envisioned by Capitol, the sale of South Road Properties (SRP) to interested buyers, like the provincial government, and, lately, the creation of the Metro Cebu Development Coordination Board (MCDCB) proposed by the governor are causing more animosity between Osmeña and Garcia, thanks to Rama.

One can’t help but question Mayor Rama’s motives.

Is Rama trying to carve his own identity, earnestly becoming his own man, because he sincerely feels that favoring these issues will be good for Cebu City in particular or is he promoting them for political accommodation and survival?

I say this because Rama is a politician and has a politician’s name to uphold, but he is in dilemma.

Mayor Rama’s latest move of deliberately brushing aside the authority and/or the consensus of the city council by agreeing and signing the MCDCB memorandum of cooperation with Gov. Garcia smacks of conceit and disrespect towards his councilors.

While it has earned him the ire of the city legislators, it has assured Rama, however, that he is in good hands with the Garcia political clan and the governor’s One Cebu party.

Apparently, political patronage and political survival still seem to be what matters most to Mayor Mike Rama and not being his own man.