THAT’S what former Senate president Jovito Salonga fears.
Here’s an excerpt from the Philippine Daily Inquirer story:
MANILA, Philippines–President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to call out the military to help police disband private armies, man 24-hour checkpoints and stop political killings has prompted ex-Senate President Jovito Salonga to warn that the May 14 elections could turn out to be as “violent and fraudulent” as the Marcos-era polls.
In an open letter sent Tuesday to the President through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Salonga called on Ms Arroyo to ensure the peace and the credibility of the midterm elections so as not to worsen current problems, including the continuing killings.
Salonga said Ms Arroyo’s order for more checkpoints nationwide was “what [the dictator Ferdinand] Marcos also ordered in the 1969 elections, described by Newsweek (Nov. 24, 1969) and Time (Feb. 16, 1970) as the dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt in modern Filipino history.”
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 am
RP DIPLOMAT HULI SA SHOPLIFTING
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Ayan, Ang amo nila si Gloria Arroyo, KAWATAN. So, Is the rest of her officials. KAWATAN DIN. Walanghiya, Sa military base pa! Hindi na sila nahiya. Ang laki pa naman ang perang binibigay ng U.S. GOVERNMENT TO THE PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT. Talagang garapalan. Throw their ass in jail where they belong alone with Gloria Arroyo. Salinas
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Ni Bernard Taguinod
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Nalagay na naman sa malaking kahihiyan ang Pilipinas makaraang isang Filipino diplomat sa Korea ang mahuling nang-uumit ng pabango at karaoke machine sa isang shopping center sa loob mismo ng base militar ng Amerika sa nasabing bansa.
Ito ang napag-alaman sa ilang impormante ng TONITE mula sa Korea ukol sa kahihiyang inabot ng RP diplomat na hindi pa binanggit ang pangalan.
Ang kahiya-hiyang insidente ay nailathala na umano sa The Korea Herald noong Hunyo 19.
Ayon sa report, nangyari ang pang-uumit ng RP diplomat sa loob ng Yongsan Military Base PX (post exchange) noon pang Nobyembre ng nakaraang taon subalit noong nakaraang linggo lamang nabalita sa Korea matapos ipakita ng military police officers ng United State Forces in Korean (USFK) sa Philippine Embassy officials ang kanilang ebidensya laban sa diplomat.
Nabatid na huling-huli umano sa camera ng shopping center ang pang-uumit ng RP diplomat at ito ang siyang ipinakita ng USFK sa mga embassy officials ng Pilipinas sa Korea.
Base sa report, naging lihim sa ilang buwan ang nasabing insidente dahil tinatangka umanong ayusin ng RP diplomat ang kanyang atraso kay Gen. Burwell B. Bell na siya commander ng United Nation Command ng USFK.
Subalit dahil malalang kaso ang shoplifting sa base militar ng mga Amerikano sa Korea, nais umano ni Gen. Bell na magkaroon ng aksyon ang Philippine Embassy sa naturang kaso.
Dahil sa insidente, nadadamay na umano ang iba pang opisyales ng Philippine Embassy sa Korea dahil hindi na sila binibigyan ng access sa US military facilities sa nasabing bansa.
Isang halimbawa umano rito nang itabla ng Hartell House ang aplikasyon ng isa pang RP Embassy official para sa renewal ng kanyang membership at post pass sa nasabing pasilidad.
“Last month, when a member of the Philippine Embassy applied to renew his membership/post pass at Hartell House, his request was denied, and he was reportedly told that Philippine Embassy officers and dependents with Hartell House memberships were prohibited from renewal because of a shoplifting incident,” ayon pa sa ulat.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Propaganda play
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Gloria Arroyo, Very good on Propaganda. She deserve an award to the jail house where she belong. Alone with the rest of her corrupt cronies. KICK HER ASS OUT BECAUSE SHE’S THE PROBLEM. Salinas
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FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
06/22/2007
Fudging figures and window-dressing to make the financial figures look good are truly hallmarks of Gloria Arroyo and her economic team. And when all these come tumbling down, there is always a scapegoat � and in this recent case of low tax collections in the first quarter of the year, it is resigned, or sacked, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief Jose Mario Buñag.
So why doesn’t Gloria sack her Finance Secretary, Margarito Teves, since it is he who is in charge of the Finance department and more important, it was he, so Buñag alleges, who had pressed the big corporations to pay their taxes in advance last year, to make the tax collection figures look good before the international creditors and ratings firms, and create the impression that the deficit target would be easily met?
The BIR chief can only take directions from his boss, who is Teves. So why is Teves getting off the hook, when it was he who insisted on the window-dressing of the tax collections?
More to the point, Teves certainly knew that, as payments were made in advance by the big companies to inflate the collection figures last year, the next year’s quarter collection figures would necessarily be down, since tax payments were made in advance.
But even as Buñag was sacked, he was offered an ambassadorial post in Europe by Gloria, perhaps in a bid to salve the ignominy of his having been sacked, or to ensure that he keeps quiet. But from Buñag’s recent statements, it appears that he is ready to spill some beans, as he declined the ambassadorial offer and pointed the finger of blame on Teves and other “high officials� whose “incompetence� will come to play sooner than later.
As he put it in his statement to the media, “Higher authorities in the government’s financial institutions…like to wash their hands of responsibility for the dire consequences of their unrealistic, failed and bungled policies.â€Â?
On imposed targets, the Buñag statement said these are “humanly impossible� to meet “because of the economy’s performance that was lower than target last year.�
If one follows the logic of Buñag, it is almost certain that whoever sits as BIR chief will still be encountering the same problems, as he pointed out that the tax collection cannot outperform the economy. Still one wonders: Why should a first quarter performance be the gauge for sacking the BIR chief? But Teves apparently wanted Buñag out, and at the same time, pass on the blame solely on the sacked BIR chief, while making himself look good.
All this merely goes to show just how much of Gloria and her finance managers’ claimed economic “progress� is propaganda and window-dressing. Even that claim of a 6.9-percent gross domestic product quarter growth is definitely fudged, as the production and consumption data don’t match. Moreover, if the agriculture sector continuously experiences growth, it stands to reason that the weather is no longer a factor. One wonders then: If there is such continued growth in the agricultural sector quarter after quarter, come rain or come shine, why then is the government importing millions in tonnage of rice for the country?
Yet this is the economic propaganda of Gloria that she wants the media to highlight, as she said in her luncheon meeting with media, her focus will be on the economy, not politicking � and this is to be her legacy.
She called on the media to write accurate reports, based on verified facts and for media to be a partner of government for “freedom to be achieved� in this country.
Hello? What does the achievement of freedom have to do with writing up her propaganda, which consists of, to quote her, “unverified facts� the Palace always dishes out?
It is precisely when media become a partner of government that press freedom is compromised greatly as the media allow themselves to be transformed into a propaganda sheet for the government.
And whenever this happens, as it has happened too many times in the past when media get into the business of protecting the government that they helped install to power, such as the two Edsa governments, a lot of executive abuses, a lot of corruption and a lot of checks and balances no longer exist.
Why was the massive cheating in the 2004 polls not unearthed then when it was ongoing if not for the fact that media deliberately refused to touch on the cheating operations that went on, because they were mainly in support of a Gloria Arroyo presidency, even when they knew all the vote-rigging was going on. So they kept silent because they wanted Gloria to win, even if she had to cheat to win.
Why were the election cheating operations being on display today for all to see, if not because the media �especially the broadcast media � made it a point to truly do a good job of monitoring the polls and reporting that which they found irregular and fraudulent?
But just what legacy is it that Gloria talks about to the media, if not more cheating, more lying and more stealing, and of course, more fudging of economic data.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Padded votes, padded data
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I didn’t lie, When I said that Gloria Arroyo, So call booming economy is pad just like she pad her votes in May 10, 2004. Presidential election. And I didn’t lie, When I said that the Philippines economy will collapse, And you won’t even know whats hit you. If Gloria Arroyo, Keep staying in malacanyang palace. Because she’s going to keep on lying to the filipino people. To make her look good. I’ll say, Kick her ass out. Its overdue! DITCH HER OUT. PRONTO!!!
Salinas
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EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
06/22/2007
Padding indeed is a household word in Malacañang.
Even as Gloria is kept busy fending off allegations that she again padded the votes for her allies in the just-concluded mid-term elections, comes now the revelation that even economic data are getting the same treatment.
Obviously hurting, Jose Mario Buñag, who was sacked from his post as Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief, blamed Finance Secretary Margarito Teves for fudging the fiscal numbers last year by asking big taxpayers to forward their dues. Buñag explained that since the bulk of the tax dues has been paid already, collections for the first quarter would naturally shrink, thus resulting in missed current revenue targets.
The sacking of Buñag, which apparently received an imprimatur from Teves, happened a day after the government reported a disappointing P1.7-billion deficit in the budget in May which raised a strong sentiment that the whole-year budget goal of a P63-billion deficit may be missed. The deficit in the first five months was already P41.8 billion.
It is not in Buñag’s rationalizing of low revenue collections that caught the attention of many but the fact that Teves was engaged in the padding of finances that came as a jolt.
In business parlance, this is called window-dressing, which is not exactly illegal since no numbers have been manufactured, yet this is considered a violation of good corporate ethics in the private sector.
Most companies engage in window-dressing at the end of a year, or a fiscal year for some, to spruce up their books that would be presented to stockholders. This is an accepted fact in the business world.
For government to do this, however, would risk serious international backlash particularly among investors who get panicky whenever there are even suggestions that data they were being fed are padded.
Under the regime of Gloria Arroyo, many suspect the padding of economic figures may be a practice to dolly up Gloria whose slide in popularity in various surveys seems to be without end.
In fact, there was a time when Socio-economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri had to laboriously explain how the country missed landing in a technical recession, which consists of two straight quarters of economic contraction, by managing a 0.1-percent growth.
When the government reported a 6.9-percent GDP growth in the first quarter, most of the country’s economists merely twiddled their thumbs.
Buñag’s squealing on Teves only confirms what was lingering in the minds of many that the government indeed is into the practice of fudging numbers.
According to Buñag, the advance payments were made by various taxpayers upon the personal calls and requests made, and this is well known in the BIR, by no less than Finance Secretary Teves himself.
The revelation was believable since last year was a crucial turning point for the country’s fiscal showcase.
The sales tax was expanded and increased and the expectation was that the fiscal picture would start to brighten. Representatives of credit rating agencies were around town to check the numbers.
With the Finance secretary initiating such practice, the padding of numbers is expected to go all the way down the line. What or who would stop a lower-ranked government official to tweak a number or two to ramp up economic data?
Buñag, in his fit of pain, in being used as a scapegoat for the Arroyo administration’s fiscal mismanagement, opened a can of worms that would, from now on, place more doubts on data that the government periodically puts out.
As a rule, figures don’t lie, but not in the desperate world of Gloria where figures become a tool for deception.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Friday, June 22, 2007
Arroyo rues politics, bad reports about RP (9:54 a.m.)
MANILA � President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the lesser the political
noise in the country, the more accomplishments could be made and achieved. ############################
You will never achieve anything. Because you’re the biggest LEMON. Takot ka rin pala sa mga media, Newspaper, The one you’ve close down because you know, you can. You have the power to close everything down because you have these corrupt AFP/PNP to do all the dirty work for you. You will neveer succeed on whatever you want to succeed. Because KARMA ON YOU! for what you have done to President Joseph Estrada. And the filipino people’s. That I’ll guarantee you!
Salinas
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Arroyo, during a luncheon meeting with network executives and editors of the major media groups, said her administration is determined to turn revenue gains into permanent investments in the country, particularly in the aspects of human and physical capitals.
She said she hopes to accomplish this in the last three years of her term but she needs the help of everyone, including the media, as what appears in the news influences what some politicians would do, including lawmakers who may work on passing important bills or just react or ride on issues that come out in the media.
“I think we can do more if the political noise is less. But the media has a lot to do with encouraging or discouraging political noise. What we want to do now
in the next three years is to transform our gains in revenue to permanent investments in human and physical capital,� she said.
“I think with your support, depending on what headlines you are going to bring about, or what will be your main news because really politicians have their ears on the ground through the media, it really depends on what they think you’re going to write about. That’s where you’re very important,� she added.
The President clarified that she is not asking the media to simply ignore the “noise� from her critics.
“I’ll give an example. Extrajudicial killings. Somebody just got killed, front page. The guy that is arrested, page eight. We’re not asking you to ignore that somebody just got killed but could you not give the same prominence when the case is solved?� she said.
Another example she cited was when a headline read: Philippines, Most Corrupt Country in Asia but a clarification from the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) which was supposedly the source of the report “never found its way, not even to the front page.� (JMR)
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 am
Friday, June 22, 2007
Arroyo rues politics, bad reports about RP (9:54 a.m.)
MANILA — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the lesser the political
noise in the country, the more accomplishments could be made and achieved.
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You will never achieve anything. Because you’re the biggest LEMON.
Arroyo, during a luncheon meeting with network executives and editors of the major media groups, said her administration is determined to turn revenue gains into permanent investments in the country, particularly in the aspects of human and physical capitals.
She said she hopes to accomplish this in the last three years of her term but she needs the help of everyone, including the media, as what appears in the news influences what some politicians would do, including lawmakers who may work on passing important bills or just react or ride on issues that come out in the media.
“I think we can do more if the political noise is less. But the media has a lot to do with encouraging or discouraging political noise. What we want to do now
in the next three years is to transform our gains in revenue to permanent investments in human and physical capital,� she said.
“I think with your support, depending on what headlines you are going to bring about, or what will be your main news because really politicians have their ears on the ground through the media, it really depends on what they think you’re going to write about. That’s where you’re very important,â€Â? she added.
The President clarified that she is not asking the media to simply ignore the “noise� from her critics.
“I’ll give an example. Extrajudicial killings. Somebody just got killed, front page. The guy that is arrested, page eight. We’re not asking you to ignore that somebody just got killed but could you not give the same prominence when the case is solved?â€Â? she said.
Another example she cited was when a headline read: Philippines, Most Corrupt Country in Asia but a clarification from the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) which was supposedly the source of the report “never found its way, not even to the front page.� (JMR)