For Ayala Corp, the hospitalization expenses are “barya lang”. Anyway, their insurance company will cover the mall damages for them.

Though not their responsibilty, if they can help these people get back to their feet (where a few loss it) and walk back to their daily work life, then that is the time I will think highly of them.

Come to think of it, the security of the mall is ACTUALLY their responsibility. So what I mentioned above is a MUST for them.

[...] Open for Business : Business in crisis: Ayala Land shoulders hospitalization costs [...]

Antipolo City – the next investment field, believe it or not!

Antipolo City has about the same number of barangays its adjoining neighbor Marikina City has. In terms of land area, the former is bigger and in population alone, Antipolo has twice as much as the latter. If we talk of a larger consumer market, with more people, there ought to be a higher pattern of supply as well as demand for goods and services. And as soon as goods and services reach Antipolo, the prices would have been jacked up a little bit to give way for a viable profit from business activity. In other words, goods and services in Antipolo City ought to be realistically higher than its neighboring or adjoining cities. Thus, nothing in the business landscape is altered – there is a common given.

Sad to tell, Antipolo City collects very little in taxes from business establishments operating within the city – a far cry from that of Marikina whose number of businesses is only relatively higher than that of Antipolo. For instance, compared to Marikina which generates some P226,000 from business tax for last year alone, Antipolo only generates P65,000, even less. Truly, there is a need to “re-engineer” Antipolo without having to re-invent the wheel. And all these, under former Congressman Victor R. Sumulong – the proverbial “superman” – are in the works. Not few foreign as well as local investors are eyeing to plant the capital seeds, as if it were, to trigger that long-sought phenomenon called the “boom and bust”. And let it come, if it will. The evolving pattern is of course one in which business from Marikina and other neighboring cities are moving toward the hills. The oft-repeated punch – “Tayo na sa Antipolo” – has never been more cool and trendy than it is today. The “influx” of good things to come are seen coming with Antipolo as the next expansion destination for businesses.

Before the year ends, City Mayor Victor Sumulong expects the preparatory works to be finished, on top of which is the unclogging of all national highways – Marcos highway, Sumulong highway, the Circumferential Road – on the principal belief that if these road arteries are clogged, no development can take place. This is deemed to have succeeded with the clearing of all structures that violate the right of way or easement as the City Government begins to strictly implement the engineering criteria set by law on national roads. In the process, not few houses, even business establishments or other such structures have to ‘deleted’ from the surface and where relocation might be necessary, even this problem is already on the drawing board. And if push turns to shove, the most doable thing to accomplish is develop a great City from its own ruins – a political culture that could have led to decay.

While it is true that by and large, the City Mayor has placed new heads of departments and offices as well as practically flashed out a lot of rank and file who are found to be mere political accommodations, it is not as if the new players can do only as much as the old. Not at all. The days and weeks and months bear watching. This early, a lot of things are about to take off. The synergy is there since Mayor Sumulong deemed it wise to have the department/program heads to undergo basic trainings on all major thematic areas in local governance with him as a participant himself. The house is thus being kept in order with that idea that if you put the best qualified people to the right job, they will deliver. And not too optimistically, every head seems to be on the delivery mood or mode, whichever. Soon enough, the synergy which is part of the City’s biological rhythm will shape the vision earlier drawn by Mayor Sumulong – a blooming city in Sitio Cabading toward that of Infanta, Quezon – dubbed as the field where the next development will take place. Call it the – the Eastern Growth Corridor – in the overall development road map. Figuratively enough, we are throwing Antipolo City into a “public auction”.

Pray tell, the finance cluster of the City Government sooner than late unties the Gorgian knot as if it were. And it did require a lot of time of study, self-sacrifice, and untiring efforts or even commitment to succeed. After all, hasn’t it been said that – “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. The marching order from the good City Mayor of Antipolo City is precisely to succeed according to plan. This formula is simple enough. The thing is, the program or department heads who must march to this tune – must reorganize and put in place better systems, better procedures, as well as maybe better practices in their own departments or offices.

These new directions and thrusts from the City Government, however, ought to be complimented by the participation of the private sector, let alone the businesses operating within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Antipolo. It cannot be overemphasized that “taxes are the lifeblood of local governance”. This is not as if new taxes will be imposed, although it is well within the lawful prerogative of the City to do so now after five years of its corporate existence as a component city. Fact is, it is high time for all business establishments to pay all the taxes, fees, charges that by law are levied or imposed as anywhere else in the country. After all, 50% of 1% of gross – does not kill, does it?

Truth is, if and only if businesses from top to low only declare truthfully their annual gross sales/receipts with the City Government so that the true and realistic taxes due the city can be collected, then the business tax collected from Antipolo City can equal that of its neighbors. This does not have to be a social experiment because the social responsibility is reposed upon the companies, corporations, partnerships and proprietors operating their various business in the city. It behooves upon them to make their own social contribution. The City Government does not have to beg them to do so – it is a matter of right on the part of the City and a matter of privilege on the part of the business sector. A good marriage of the two would usher well to a happy ‘married life’.

Antipolo City is one local government unit, one community, and one family. The sugar and coffee are in the boiling cup and we do enjoin the private, business and corporate sector to give their share in building a new city – projected to develop to the tilt. We have ‘superman’ with us. Hence, the task at hand is one of giving the City Government what it rightfully deserves. In the end, your taxes go back to you. On the whole, every resident of Antipolo must do his part. Today, we mean business at the City.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
Head, Business Permits & Licensing Office
Antipolo City (landline: 6970508, cellphone: 09164985265, email: nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

[...] Open for Business : Business in crisis: Ayala Land shoulders hospitalization costs [...]

[...] Open for Business : Business in crisis: Ayala Land shoulders hospitalization costs [...]

Joc Joc a big joke

The Fourth Estate, or tri-media, even has to misbehave upon Joc Joc’s arrival at the NAIA such that a stricter policy has to be issued to serve public notice that because of such disturbing scuffle, security for media will be at its worst come another similar event. Offhand, shouldn’t NAIA to be blamed for trying to apparently hide Joc Joc from public view and for that matter, within arm’s length from media that already stayed vigil one day ahead?

Compared however to how institutions misbehave as well, NAIA dwarfs in comparison. Senate engages in a tug of war with the Department of Justice as to who should issue arrest order and to take custody of Joc Joc. Ironically, it is St. Lukes that stole the thunder with the possibility that Joc Joc stays in the hospital for as long as either the patient or the doctor so desires. This has been truly anti-climactic to the false excitement stirred.

For another, Senate is trying to pull the rope again – at least, a second time around – from the Ombudsman that has already the jurisdiction over the case when the Senate already transmitted its report. Senator Angara thinks that the SC should step into the case believing that even a single SC justice can in fact issue a temporary restraining order.

Bottomline, the question is on which legal radar screen must we find Joc Joc? Is Senate the proper forum or is it more likely the Ombudsman? Should DOJ still join the fray like some private law firm on a generous retainer fee? Will the Supreme Court step into the picture in some impromptu decision as to whether the case ought to be reopened and therefore be reinvestigated by the Senate? Should the case be initiated now at the Ombudsman as the proper forum after Senate’s own report has made conclusive its findings on Joc Joc’s guilt on the fertilizer scam? What is the sense of the SC on the matter?

There seems to be of a legal problem on how things could really begin but suffice it to say that St. Lukes has become an asylum of sort. While in the hospital to buy time, Joc Joc should be about ready to dispose self whoever takes him next and where. Senate has already prepared the ‘guest room’ for Joc Joc complete with decent amenities – free board and lodging, at taxpayers’ expense. Depending on which institution takes higher precedence, the Sergeant-At-Arms of the Senate or the NBI of the justice department or the agents of the Ombudsman – whoever – could in fact arrest Joc Joc is no longer of any moment to the viewing universe.

We are into a new kind of legal rigmarole. Is there anything else that the Senate should feast on in the case of Joc Joc? What stones, if any, were left unturned, when Senate already officially and with finality issued its committee report thereby endorsing to the Ombudsman appropriate legal action on Joc Joc? It can effectively mean that the earlier report is set aside if that were at all possible to pave the way for a new and final report after Joc Joc could have been made to appear before the Senate investigation committee and answer all questions – live on TV. And again, if viciously, Senate will transmit report to the Ombudsman that should now initiate proper legal proceedings. St. Lukes, at anytime of the investigation period, can provide convenient alibi for the inability of Joc Joc to further testify. What do we have next?

Generally speaking, there seems to be nothing more to know than has already been revealed or made public by way of all sorts of news reports and that of the Senate. It should be Joc Joc who should run after our institutions if he were bent to redeem himself, if he can, from the seeming persecution he experienced – in and out of the country. He should present himself voluntarily and with conviction in every public forum available to clear his name, if it were possible at all under the circumstances and weight of evidence offered by the Senate committee or by COA’s own audit report.

That Villar appears to be pressing the ball to the disgust of Ping Lacson by announcing he will yet to call a caucus and yet did not yet call one. That the Ombudsman is yet to be in any indicative mood to take jurisdiction over the case and to set a self-imposed deadline to make its disposition over the case complete after some reasonable time is equally disturbing. The House of Representatives might also want a piece of the cake however unthinkingly.

For want of Joc Joc, nothing will be known. There are legal experts who think Joc Joc can opt to speak or not speak. Not few think, the matter has yet to be decided as to who should take jurisdiction and until this can be drawn, Joc Joc is a freeman. By the time one legal loop has been untangled, a new Gordian knot ought to be untangled as to whether Joc Joc, now not an official of the government, can be compelled by any official government body or persona to appear than disappear. Things have become more complicated than simple and that gave Joc Joc a lot of redemption value. Is this part of a higher order of things? Well, maybe yes.

Whether Joc Joc is malingering to be suffering from any kind of illness to evade arrest or further legal action against him is deemed beside the point. Senate, DOJ, Ombudsman, House of Representatives, SC – in running after Joc Joc – are all caught in a legal stampede and where any of these institutions chokes to its death, figuratively speaking, serves as an indication of our damaged psyche. In the end, even with Joc Joc telling us all what he knows, the point is that the beneficiaries have already run away with the loot and are in fact, Scot-free and one poor Joc Joc just provides the immunity blanket for all the thieves in a grand thievery. Where will all this lead us to? Nowhere, just nowhere and Joc Joc will bring us no comfort even if he be found guilty. Pray tell, the present agriculture secretary will not be another Joc Joc in our troubled midst.

Nor would we rather have Joc Joc get to tell all he knows whoever gets hurt and transformed himself as another Jun Lozada or another young Jose de Venecia. If ever, it will only add up to the long list of political wannabes come 2010 who make their fleeting overnight celebrity status a jumping board for political success. Enough, just enough – Jun Lozada, whistle-blower Joey de V – will not make it out of nothing than false publicity gimmick. Any class of nuns in our religious world should stop tinkering with the idea of coddling Joc Joc as they have coddled Jun Lozada for clear political ends. This form of madness must come to an end. Not one of these guys could be classed as the underdog – they are all part of the bourgeoisie – shame on them.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
(For comments, email nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Senate coup – naked power grab?

What this ‘coup’ – unceremoniously unseating Sen. Manny Villar out of the Senate presidency by forcing him to resign on the face of a resolution that expressed a vote of no confidence and his immediate replacement by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile accepting the unanimous nomination – teaches us is the fact that Villar serves as the single standing obstacle to any further move by Malacanang for a charter change. With Enrile at the Senate front, this vicious if official outcry for a shift to a parliamentary form of government that extends, in effect, the term of PGMA beyond 2010 shall find final fruition and would give semblance later on that the whole political exercise satisfied the requirements of a democratic process (euphemism for tyranny of numbers). With upcoming new appointments to the High Court to add to a perceived expanding pro-GMA alliance, getting the majority ruling for every legal question that may arise is never been more guaranteed. The House of Representatives is expected to simply follow suit. It will be recalled how the High Court claims to have sufficiently legitimized Arroyo’s ascent to the presidency and eclipsed the 2004 election controversy in the ‘Hello Garci’. What’s next in the monarchical agenda?

It then challenges reflection if there existed a so-called ‘principled opposition’ as advocated by its frontrunner, Sen. Jamby Madrigal who claims to have been responsible for Villar’s ouster along with Sen. Ping Lacson over the controversial P200 million double insertion issue that once rocked the Senate. This ouster might pose grave consequences on Villar’s presidential bid which at its present pace already gathers positive momentum next to Vice President Noli de Castro. On the other hand, it might improve Lacson’s lot in his perceivable bid to the presidency. Under the evolving configuration of a seemingly mixed opposition-administration Senate make up, it is yet uncertain where subsequent policy directions will point to. Some say it might bring to close all like-minded scams or probes in the notoriety of a Joc Joc or Dela Paz in so far as the requisite congressional inquiry is concerned. When this happens, Senate automatically becomes a protectorate of Malacanang which then betrays its self-avowed independence.

Not few are aware that Enrile knows the long and short of a parliamentary form of government and he is more conversant on the topic than even the constitutional experts in our midst. With Enrile as the main political chef, it is as if all kinds of menu that the guest at Malacanang so pleases, can be cooked to her all consuming delight. It will be at this point however that a whole work in congressional oversight would have failed because, first and foremost, this crucial job was purposely placed in the back burner. On the other hand, if Enrile proves to be his own man than what the Palace calculates him to be, then he can always play hero as he did play hero at EDSA. At least for now, Enrile is perceived as neither avid pro-GMA nor rabid anti-GMA. It would then depend what weights are placed in either side of the political scale, in a manner of speaking. This situation, if correct, inspires confidence and hope that the future of almost 90 million people will not be compromised.

The only difference with this recent comeuppance is that it clearly crystallized that in the Senate, a culture of corruption has no place. On the other hand, the House of Representatives seems to have worked in the opposite – courtesy of JDV or maybe even Villar when he was House Speaker – where payola is the name of the game and the lure of committee chairmanships dictates who sits as Speaker. In other words, the Lower House is largely into what political analysts call ‘transactional politics’ where Senate qualifies as the lesser evil, matter-of-factly. At least, at the Senate, we can hear of senators who do not enjoy their pork barrel funds. It bears watching how Enrile will stir the course of history – coming as he does from his own share of triumphs and failures. Old Raul of the justice department is better warned not to go into a collision course with old Johnny of the Senate or patience might wear thin in either of them.

So there is so much of work to do and it is hoped that trust or approval ratings for the Senate will improve considerably with an Enrile at the helm. And since, by his own admission, he is Senate president for as long as the majority wants him there, then Enrile should really expect to be booted out anytime likewise or at the first instance that he will be implicated in a scam of like proportion as the C5. Invoking conflict of interests appears to be the single most powerful tool one can take against another and Enrile is not far immune from this kind of viral attack in our brand of patronage politics. Maybe later on, Sen. Jamby Madrigal can always pull the rug from under Enrile’s feet which makes the Senate presidency of very temporal character since the majority vote can be embargoed anytime by a slight change of mood.

Any similar coup or naked power grab down at the House of Representatives is a little bit more complicated than the way it can now be done in the Senate. The good thing about Villar is that he proves himself to be not a sourgrape. It bears watching if Villar can play the role of a fiscalizer in the Senate now that there are no strings attached in him doing so. On the other hand, let us see how Enrile would metamorphose into the fiscalizer that he used to be as minority floor leader of Senate to being now the primus inter pares that he is at the Senate. Will good old Johnny Enrile stand to the occasion given both the dark and bright sides of his political career in the service of people and country?

In the final analysis, the sudden take-over of the presidential Senate crown still smells of politics vis a vis the coming elections of 2010, this despite no one knows yet who will most benefit with an Enrile-led Senate. Perhaps, Villar will find much more flexible time in his otherwise busy schedule now that he goes back to be just like any ordinary senator. But if Ping Lacson will not stop placing Villar on the defensive, it might signal Villar’s impending political funeral, pray not. With this development of no historical parallel, it can read as just the tip of the iceberg. Maybe, Malacanang wants to have full control of the High Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives in an orchestrated move to remove all forms of possible opposition to its ultimate workplan to allow GMA to hold on to power until 2010 and beyond.

Term extension through charter change is still high in the agenda of Malacanang, Inc., a plan to be executed – before, during, or after – GMA’s incumbency. But most of us know, nonetheless that under PGMA’s regime, corruption will always characterize major public expenditures in agriculture, public works, defense, health, communications, energy, et cetera et cetera. The AFP and the PNP have demonstrated its weak resolve to weed their ranks of corrupt officers and personnel as we see top brass from the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard receiving key positions in government after their retirement from military service. With Malacanang highly militarized, there is no way for coups, juntas, or attempts at an armed overthrow of government to succeed. RP politics probably is rooted on mother’s instinct, reason for at least two women being patronized to have led this country to nowhere.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
UP Diliman, Quezon City (Email: nielsky_2003@yahoo.com)

Where thou the briber?

It ought to be crystal clear by now, however improbable it might be to change prevailing public sentiment on the matter, that PDEA chief Santiago and PDEA agent Major Marcelino fairly succeeded to have us believe of the myth of a P50 million bribery to DOJ state prosecutors from the camp of the drug suspects. This is so because of what Patani of Survivor Philippines calls “media exposure”. What adds fuel to the fire is the effect of automatic media hypnosis that fans the flames of public hatred against those state prosecutors allegedly having accepted bribes all the way to the chief of DOJ although in a sudden twist, Santiago singled out Gonzales as clean insinuating that all the rest were bribed. And the ponente, Atty. Resado has become the canon fodder for the Chief State Prosecutor Zuno as well as DOJ Secretary Gonzales. Vindication for Atty. Resado might come at a much later time when the issue would have already fizzled out to oblivion.

Maj. Marcelino referred to the bribe offeror in a dubious cellphone conversation as a certain JoTec who he said offered the so-called - “tatllong manok” – sub-lingo in the narcotics world (euphemism for P3 million). And what is surprising is that he did not as much as undertake to track the lead so that PDEA can really push its drug campaign all the way to the doorstep of the drug cartel. Was there any JoTec presented to media or to the congressional hearing by Marcelino or Santiago? And in a quick subterfuge, another reference is made to a certain mistah of Marcelino having offered the bribe – a presumably proud member of Philippine Military Academy Class of 94, the class he belongs. Again, was this mistah of him ever presented in the legitimate hearing called for the purpose? How many times did Marcelino snub the invitations of the NBI so that a no non-sense investigation can begin?

Rather prematurely, Malacanang grabbed the thunder from the feuding institutions with GMA declaring herself as the new drug czar after placing the DOJ prosecutors on an indefinite leave of absence as a work in preventive suspension while granting immunity or reward (in the language of Survivor Philippines) to PDEA for apparently having edged DOJ over on this part of the ‘war game’. Thus, Atty. Resado appears to have been booted out with the group having resigned en masse if DOJ secretary did not stop them. So what we had is to simply believe as gospel truths everything that Santiago and Marcelino have to say. So the truth are – there was a P3 million bribe from JoTech, there was a P50 million bribe from a mistah (classmate from the Philippine Military Academy of Marcelino). At the very least, that mistah ought to be summarily dismissed from the military or, it ought to be asked to what extent Maj. Marcelino may be guilty of coddling a briber of a mistah apparently giving protection to supposed-to-be drug traffickers.

The rest of the truths are – the evidence are not planted evidence – as shown on media first than any other more legitimate venue; the suspect attempted to ram his vehicle to the mobile car of the PDEA agents thus forcing them to fire at the suspects in a 15 minute chase; that the other Brodett family who unexpectedly appeared in the congressional hearing without invitation did so voluntary and not indicatively bound by instruction but by conscience; that Santiago told the Magdalo officers turned narc agents of PDEA that ‘they should walk their talk” when they were recruited into PDEA; and so on and so forth.

On separate occasions, PDEA chief Santiago is documented to have admitted that in certain cases, they really resort to planting of evidence which is of course violative of law however Santiago appears to justify it. Likewise, Santiago has also admitted that he used to psyche out prosecutors in drug cases which carries some weight of malice. Further, he did state with typical pride that PDEA is composed of professional military and police officers. And clearly, by professionalism, he probably means that even ‘adventurists’ in the military, putschists, or former Magdalo officers are the kind of professional military officers he is proud to have as anti-drug operatives. Up until today, the public fever is still high for a voting population patronizing of now Senator Trillanes and so people think this bolsters PDEA’s institutional integrity.

Everything ought to be reviewed in this scheme and scene. First, Maj. Marcelino must be compelled to present his mistah who he said bribed him – not just once, but twice – for apparently two separate reasons, both connected to the Alabang boys. Who is the mystery guy whom no court nor cognizant congressional committee can compel to testify or offer testimony or evidence? Why did not Maj. Marcelino take any legal action against the bribery attempt against a mistah if true he is a principled man? And in publicly stating by mere allegation that a P50 million bribe has changed hands, what proof, if any, does he have now that would stand scrutiny? How far away is Maj. Marcelino from the one who handed in the bundles of money to the one or more prosecutors of DOJ being bribed? Was it first hand knowledge as in, with own two eyes, Marcelino saw the whole crime from happening? Why did he not design another bribe-bust operation to acquire solid evidence of such a claim thrown in the moon?

Everything in this bribery scandal ought to be threshed out so that not one prosecutor of DOJ or others may be unduly linked to a crime they probably did not even commit in reality. From where I sit, this version of PDEA is fast becoming the kind of versions being fed by most police or enforcement authorities to shape later legal opinion rendered on a case they possibly can have a level of participation on. Sadly, with the prosecutors on kind of punitive leave of absence might amount to an obstruction of justice much like the way people have been duped that Erap did in fact sign a resignation letter, basis for Chief Justice Davide ‘s swearing in GMA whom many think is not a legitimate president.

Level of objectivity is the name of the game. This case must be carefully looked into with the end in view of ferreting out the truth from a mass of obviously concocted myths.

PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
UP Diliman, Quezon City Email: nielsky_2003@yahoo.com