FBI ‘blacklists’ NBI’s Wycoco

I'm posting this article here using Wayback Machine because it's not available anymore at the Tribune website (original source) and spl-crusade.org.

From the Daily Tribune:

The Justice department and the National Bureau of Investigation under the Arroyo administration can no longer expect any kind of cooperation from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after a serious breach of security was committed by Philippine officials, led by NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco.

The NBI and, by extension, the Department of Justice (DoJ) have been placed on the blacklist of the FBI which has reportedly cut its ties with its Philippine counterpart, the NBI, in protest over what it described as a “deceptive” ploy by Wycoco during his visit to the United States last May, the Tribune learned from its sources yesterday.

The FBI’s reference to Wycoco’s “deceptive ploy” was the video footage showing the meeting held between Wycoco and Kyle Latimer, legal counsel of the US Attorney General’s Office, which agency has administrative supervision over the FBI.

The Justice department and the National Bureau of Investigation under the Arroyo administration can no longer expect any kind of cooperation from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after a serious breach of security was committed by Philippine officials, led by NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco.

Sources from the Philippine Embassy in Washington disclosed to the Tribune that the FBI leadership was outraged by the existence of the videotaped meeting and its subsequent public showing over Philippine television.

The meeting was apparently filmed in secret with a hidden camera by an aide of Wycoco, without the knowledge and consent of the American legal counsel and other American officials present during that meeting, the sources disclosed.

The video showed Latimer answering questions posed by Wycoco on the alleged bank accounts in the US of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

The well-placed Tribune sources said Latimer and the FBI were not aware that one of Wycoco’s aides, who was later identified as Mike Magtanggol, was secretly filming the meeting which lasted some 45 minutes.

The digital video camera was reportedly hidden inside Magtanggol’s attaché case.

NBI sources told the Tribune that Magtanggol is not an organic NBI agent although he is seen almost every day hanging around Wycoco’s office at the NBI headquarters in Manila.

Records show that Magtanggol is the production head of the NBI Files, a weekly talk show hosted by Wycoco and television anchor Cristina Pecson, aired Tuesdays over a government-sequestered channel.

The secret filming by Magtanggol, obviously done with the knowledge and consent of Wycoco, was denounced by the FBI, the sources said.

“The FBI was so outraged because they (the officials) considered the act as a deceptive ploy by Director Wycoco and a violation of the trust and confidence being given by the US agency to the NBI chief,” the sources said.

The same sources said Wycoco’s act also undermined the security inside the FBI since it was a clear breach of security inside what is supposed to be a highly secured federal building.

Outraged by what was clearly a breach of security and confidence, the FBI official in the country reportedly barged into Wycoco’s office and gave him a piece of his mind.

The NBI sources confirmed that Jim Nixon, the FBI chief legal attaché to the Philippines, went to Wycoco’s office the day after the video was shown over ABS-CBN and GMA-7.

During the meeting, Nixon was described as “fuming mad” over the videotape which talked about Lacson’s bank accounts amounting to some $200,000, not the millions of dollars as alleged by military intelligence chief Col. Victor Corpus of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp), and Wycoco himself, who had claimed as early as eight months ago that his counterpart, the FBI, had furnished him a report on Lacson’s alleged bank accounts which Wycoco claimed held “huge” amounts in the millions, which he said would serve as the grounds to file money-laundering charges as well as plunder against Lacson.

“Jim Nixon was really angry during the meeting in Wycoco’s office. As a matter of fact, he was recalled to the US by his superiors to discuss the matter and the decision arrived at by the FBI officials was to sever their ties with the NBI as long as Wycoco sits as director,” a reliable source disclosed to the Tribune.

The source added the FBI is strict when it comes to confidential and secret matters, specially when these are passed on to its foreign counterparts, like the NBI.

“Once you are blacklisted by the FBI, there is no appeal. When the trust they (FBI) reposed on you has been betrayed, you’re blacklisted for life,” an NBI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Nixon, the source said, is also head of the US Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATTF) in the Philippines.

The JATTF, which was formed after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is composed of the FBI, US Port Police and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Earlier, DoJ Secretary Hernando Perez played up the probe conducted by the Senate blue ribbon committee which focused on the alleged bank deposits amounting to close to $1 billion which was claimed by the Isafp chief to belong to Lacson

Perez claimed that he had obtained some damaging reports on Lacson’s alleged records but that he was just waiting for the official records from the US Department of Justice.

An official from the US Embassy told the Tribune that Perez was “lying through his teeth.”

The embassy official said the US DoJ was unlikely to even think of turning over any document to Perez, or Wycoco, for that matter, since the US government does not want its agencies’ confidential documents to be used by a foreign country, like the Philippines, for what was obviously a “political play.”

The same official expressed “horror” at the way Perez and Wycoco were using the name of the FBI and the US Justice department for “political purposes.”

It was learned that the video of the meeting, which was reportedly heavily spliced by the NBI to make it appear that the meeting was focused on the Lacson dollar accounts, was discovered to have been leaked by Wycoco to a select group of sympathetic reporters making up Wycoco’s media clique in Camp Crame .

They were given explicit orders not to drag the NBI in the videotape leakage.

This was the reason the broadsheet reporter who leaked the video to ABS-CBN and GMA-7 made it appear that the video came from Isafp’s Corpus.

26 Indonesian terrorist currently training in Lanao

From Malaya:

26 Indons in Lanao for terrorist training
Arroyo's deportation of financier derailed hunt

TWO groups of Indonesians arrived separately in Mindanao in January for extensive training in a terrorist camp in Lanao del Sur.

The first group of 21 arrived on Jan. 21. The remaining five landed in Mindanao, through Malaysia, on Jan. 28.

The two groups came with two trainers identified as Abulkiram and Mujair al-Ghozi, brother of the late Fathur al-Ghozi who was identified as responsible for bombings in Metro Manila and in Davao....

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front, military intelligence sources said, facilitated the movement of the two groups.

An independent source provided this newspaper with the identities of some in the first group of 21 terrorist trainees. They are Anwar Narsid, Sahibon Gulam, Farhan Jiahod, Zil Autad, Gafor Wadood, Omar Amiril, Farnan Dawalis, Ishaq Buday, Zainal Mandaya, Hasim Mufri, Watani Azibul, Farouk Rajab, Burhan Usungan, Nur Salih, Jazali Mauladie, Hesam Abdul Guimadil Mojib and Habib Taloot.

The source said the Indonesian terrorist-trainees could have been tracked down and arrested if President Arroyo had not allowed the deportation to Saudi Arabia of Al Sughayir, a known financier of the Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah in Asia.

Sughayir was arrested in Zamboanga on Jan. 17 but the Saudi Arabian ambassador allegedly "pressured" Arroyo during a flight to Mindanao in a commercial airplane on Jan. 25.

The Saudi Arabian terrorist financier was deported the following day.

Sughayir was scheduled for more tactical interrogation which intelligence officers say could have led the military to the lair of the Indonesians who are undergoing training.

Sughayir is said to lay his hands on more money from donors in Saudi Arabia every time he shows them pictures of terrorist attacks in the Philippines and Indonesia.

The two groups are being trained for attacks in the Philippines and in their own country.

According to the source, the two groups of Indonesians are now in Camp Magaturing in Lanao del Sur. They spend the night in hastily built bunks. A house of worship was built for them.

According to the Malaya source, the first two months are devoted to a program consisting of military leadership, disguised as islamization program, Aqida Islamiah (principles of Islam), Hifzul Quran (memorizing Koran verses), Tafsier (interpretation of jihad verses in the Koran), Tabbiyah Islamiah (Islam practices).

Nawaz and Ghosi were to serve as trainers of the two Indonesian groups.

The operation is said to be funded by at least P5 million (denominated in Indonesian rupiah) delivered by hand to Nawaz by Sughayir.

It is said that the MILF facilitated the movements of the two Indonesian groups from a place called Kudat in Malaysia to Camp Magaturing in Lanao del Sur.

The first group of 21 travelled by sea from an unidentified location in Indonesia and sailed to Marampayan, Kudat, Sabah.

In Marampayan, the group stayed in a safehouse provided by MILF emissary (ambassador) Ismael Haraiba for one day while waiting for a speed boat to bring them to Mindanao.

On Jan. 15, the group again travelled by sea for 12 hours until it reached Kidayan, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat.

They were met in Batang Bagras, Palimbang, by a supposed caretaker, Mustapha Hassim, said to be a nephew of the late MILF chairman Salamat Hashim.

An Elf truck is said to have picked up the members of the group in Montawal, Maguindanao, and brought them to Camp Magaturing, Lanao del Sur.

And here's the update.

What is hobbling RP's war against Islamic terrorism?

SOME quick arrests after a series of deadly bombings last month helped the government reassure people it is well on top of the threat posed by Islamic militants.

But the truth, many analysts say, is that the authorities are mostly playing catch-up, hobbled by a lack of funds, poor cooperation among agencies, corruption, and the difficulty of infiltrating the close-knit groups.

Despite years of training and on-the-ground advice by US special forces, the country is seen as one of the weakest links against terrorism in Southeast Asia, reinforced by a tendency to accuse and parade suspects on the slimmest of evidence.

"I have learned never to take Philippine government statements at face value until lots of other evidence is in," said Sidney Jones, an expert on Islamic militancy in the region at the International Crisis Group.

"I get the sense they don't really know what's going on."

From Stuart Grudgings of Reuters. READ IT ALL.

"Edsa Revolution" in Lebanon

A peaceful revolution is ongoing right now inside Lebanon and I can't help but note the similarities with our own experience in the Philippines in 1986 when the pro-Democracy movement there also used "people power" to remove the dictator Ferdinand Marcos after staying in power for more than 20 years.

The only difference is that things are moving much more quickly in Lebanon after former PM Hariri's assasination compared to what happened here in the Philippines after main opposition leader and Marcos nemesis Ninoy Aquino was murdered in 1983. We had to wait for 3 more years before we had our successful "people power" Edsa Revolution in 1986 to effect regime change.

People power lives!

Asman notes we're not used to seeing peaceful demonstrations in the Arab world, adding that this "Cedar Revolution" is more reminiscent of the recent "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine. But of course. These are not the "Arab street" demonstrations of yore, with pumping fists and anti-American banners, staged by tyrants as photo ops to shore up their own corrupt regimes. These are the people themselves -- Muslims and Christians together, waving their national flags in unity -- finding their voice, emboldened by the momentum of events precipitated by GW's visionary foreign policy.

Here's something else to compare: Hariri's sister, MP Bahia Hariri is now being talked about as a possible candidate to be the next Lebanese Prime minister after the resignation of the Pro-Syrian Lebanese gov't.

Where do we go from here? Who will fill the political vacuum yesterday's events have left? Hariri's sister, MP Bahia Hariri, who spoke both eloquently and movingly in the stormy parliamentary session that preceded the government's resignation, is being talked about as a possible candidate for the premiership.

If Lebanon is ready for a female prime minister she must surely be the first choice.

Whoever it is will have the trust of the people in a way that few politicians can ever enjoy. Let us hope this optimism, this trust and this moment is not betrayed. To paraphrase Karami's last words as prime minister, May God preserve what the people of Lebanon have achieved.

Kinda similar to our situation, when Ninoy died and his wife Corazon Aquino replaced him as the new opposition leader and became president in 1986.

The Cedar Revolution in pictures from the BBC.

Here's a sample:


Also check the indispensable Instapundit for the latest pro-democracy happenings in Lebanon.

Why not charge Gen. Garcia with Plunder?

Why not?

For the second straight day, Malacañang yesterday slammed the door on the media in connection with a recent challenge made by an opposition senator for the government to book embattled Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia for plunder before a civilian court, not for mere adminis-trative charges involving violation of the Articles of War before a general court martial or mere perjury before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.

Ignacio Bunye, Mrs. Arroyo's spokesman and concurrent Press Secretary, refused to face reporters, which apparent disappearing act Palace insiders said had been prompted by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. daring Malacañang last week to have Garcia answer charges of plunder, a non-bailable capital offense, unlike perjury.

So, the "Palace mole" is finally getting his reward

I knew it. Ping Lacson was right all along about Ed Angara. He is a palace mole whose main job was to destroy and divide the opposition during the last election.

Congrats, Dictator Angara, now go get your reward from Pikachu.

Rep. Sonny Angara, son of the senator, however, appeared to contradict the claims of Bunye and confirmed that his father had indeed met with Mrs. Arroyo, House Speaker Jose de Venecia and Senate President Franklin Drilon on Oct. 20 this year, to talk about Mrs. Arroyo's offer of a Cabinet post, saying “they (Mrs. Arroyo and congressional leaders) invited my dad to a government of national unity,” Rep. Angara said.

“The talks are still at the exploratory stage,” he told members of the United Opposition during a meeting of the opposition members and leaders late Friday night.

DIE PALACE MOLE DIE DIE DIE!!!

UN adopts RP proposal on inter-faith dialogue

One of the few good news I've heard recently in the Philippines.

Speaker Jose de Venecia yesterday said the Philippines has gained a "major moral and diplomatic victory" with the approval Thursday by the UN General Assembly of the Philippine proposal for an inter-faith dialogue among nations and civilizations.

De Venecia, the original proponent of the inter-faith dialogue, said mechanism is now in place for conflict resolution and prevention using the moral influence of the religious sector.

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo announced the UN approval of the Philippine resolution, which taps the religious sector for cooling down ethnic tensions and decades-long political-religious conflicts in various parts of the world.

De Venecia, who presented the proposal before the UN Security Council last month, said inter-faith dialogue is a significant initiative that has the potential to achieve reconciliation, justice and the rule of law.

The dialogue will be useful in preventing Christian-Muslim conflicts, Hindu-Muslim conflicts in the Kashmir, Jewish-Muslim conflicts in Palestine, and Buddhist-Muslim conflicts in various parts of Asia, he said.

"I believe that the religious sector has the moral influence to help the Security Council's efforts particularly in conflicts with religious undertones... the religious sector could become an effective tool in achieving the international community's peace-building agenda," he said.

De Venecia said the interfaith dialogue "could harness religious leaders to work with political leaders of government and civil society to help resolve difficult politico-religious conflicts in various parts of the world."

"We must all learn to create space for alternative faiths, if we are to find an alternative to so much violence and hatred and if we are to respond to the crisis of values that so pervades today's planet," he added.

Romulo commended Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr., permanent representative to the United Nations, and the Philippine Mission to the UN "for their dedicated work in having the Philippine resolution unanimously adopted."

Romulo said it took the Philippines to remind the UN that religion "plays a key role in preventing conflicts."

Military trumps civilian supremacy

Matagal na nating alam na takot si Arroyo sa militar. Now, obvious na obvious na talaga.

Now we know with absolute certainty.

The constitutional injunction of civilian authority being supreme over the military at all times is a myth, just as Gloria Arroyo's claim of her government adhering to the rule of law, is.

That these are myths in Philippine society has been proved once again in the case of the arrest orders issued by the Sandiganbayan and served on accused Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, who is under military custody, with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) top general ordering his subalterns not to release Garcia to the civilian court.

And what does the anti-graft court say to this blatant breach of the constitutional principle on civilian supremacy?

It does not defend that authority with which the Constitution vested the courts. Instead, the court fortifies military supremacy, saying there is no tug of war between the Sandiganbayan and the AFP, because, as the sheriff reasoned, it is better for the military to take custody of Garcia, since he is under military arrest and cannot therefore, avail himself of bail, which the accused could obtain, under a civilian court that has charged him with perjury.

This line was earlier enunciated by Gloria Arroyo, President and Commander-in-Chief, when she told reporters she wanted a court martial for Garcia because this way, he would be denied his right to bail.

If such is the logic, why lodge a case against the general in a civilian court and subject him simultaneously to a court martial?

Of what use then is the constitutional principle vesting every accused his right to bail, if this right is intentionally being trampled on by the highest civilian authority, to ensure the accused is denied his freedom?

But even the courts, which is a civilian authority, refuses to fight to uphold this constitutional principle of civilian supremacy. The Sandiganbayan, after its arrest order was rebuffed by the military brass, had issued two more arrest warrants against Garcia, knowing the futility of these warrants of arrest being enforced, reducing the court to saying it is better this way, since there is no conflict. But what do the law and the Constitution say? Does it say whenever it is convenient to both parties, the constitutional principle can be disregarded?

No conflict when it is evident that civilian supremacy is deliberately being eroded by the military's refusal to bow to civilian rule?

And there went the AFP top brass, announcing two options in the case of Garcia, one of which would be the option of sending him to the same detention cell where the Magdalo leaders are being incarcerated, once he retires, or the option of Garcia being surrendered by the military to the custody of the civilian court.

It is, any which way it is cut, the military deciding on whether to keep Garcia in military detention, or giving him up to the Sandiganbayan, where he can post bail. It is not the civilian authority that will make that decision, but the military authority. And yet the Gloria government continues to claim that civilian authority reigns supreme under her stewardship? And she claims the rule of law is being followed, with yet another presidential claim that the courts are independent, even when it is proven, time and again, that the courts, including the Supreme Court, are under her thumb and subserviently bow to her whims and caprices in matters of law and the Constitution.

An equal danger to democracy and the rule of law, as well as civilian supremacy is the apparent collusion between the civilian authorities and the military in raping the law and the Constitution by allowing those whom they wish to protect to walk.

The Garcia case is pure zarzuela, with Gloria, the AFP, the courts and the concerned government agencies acting their parts out, to provide the public with a performance intended to create the illusion that the accused is not beyond the pale of the law, even when he, in reality, is being protected from the law.

Garcia is ordered restricted to quarters, which is no different from a house arrest, by the AFP brass. He is being subjected to a military trial, on not too serious offenses of the Articles of War. The Ombudsman sits on the Garcia case, and finally slaps him, not with plunder, which allows no bail, but perjury. The Anti-Money Laundering Council slaps an order to freeze Garcia's assets, only after he has been given all the time and opportunity to clean out his bank accounts, which held tens of millions. The Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan slap Garcia with a forfeiture order when there is no longer anything to forfeit. And the Immigration bureau places the Garcia family members on a hold order list, but only after the wife and sons are safely in the United States.

Sure, there will be held a court martial. Sure, there will be a weak case of perjury against Garcia in the Sandiganbayan, and as sure as hell, Garcia will, when the time comes, be surrendered by the military to the Sandiganbayan, to enable him to post bail.

And sure, he will walk, not because he will have proved his innocence, but because the top brass and Gloria Arroyo will make sure he walks, for him not to bring the house down.

It is a mockery of the law and a mockery of the constitutional provision that states clearly the civilian authority being supreme to the military at all times.

It is really getting disgusting na, this zarzuela.

Why have SWS and Pulse Asia been so silent these days?

Is it because the data they are getting is very negative against GMA?

From Lito Banayo:

Why have SWS and Pulse Asia been so silent these days? How come they allow this outfit with the funny, unimaginative name, or over-imaginative some would say, pretentious even, this CIA, or Center for Issues and Advocacy, to rate this government and La Gloria's leadership?

Funny too that former president FVR's long-time and ever-loyal publicist, Ed Malay, should be announcing the latest ratings which sound almost like FVR's rantings. From 8 percent in August to a minus 57 in October. I'm sure Toting Bunye will have dug deep into his dictionary of spins to disparage these ratings by the time this column sees print. When Ibon said the president's ratings had plunged to some 67 percent, Malacañang derisively labeled it "leftist". Now CIA, as rightist a name as anybody could ever imagine, and right by association likewise, also says she failed. Malacañang ought to call in Mahar and Pepe, and hope to inveigle them to come up with something upbeat fast. Exit polls, perhaps?

More on the rift between Zapatero and Bush

From the Daily Telegraph (hattip: Michael Totten):

The Spanish Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, yesterday faced a barrage of derision over his government's anti-Americanism following a snub by President George W Bush.

Mr Zapatero was one of the first premiers to send a congratulatory telegram to Mr Bush after his election victory last week.

But, in what was a stinging confirmation of the poor state of relations between Washington and Madrid, he has yet to receive a reply.

Mr Zapatero had also telephoned Mr Bush before the election result was made official but was not put through to the president.

Spain's newspaper columnists, the opposition People's Party and satirists have made much of the silence between Washington and Madrid.

Mr Zapatero wrote himself firmly into the White House's black books by accusing Mr Bush and Tony Blair of lying over the reasons for going to war with Iraq.

In the summer he immediately honoured an election pledge to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.

He then backed John Kerry in the presidential election and cancelled a standing invitation for US forces to participate in Spain's annual military parade.

Anti-war policies may be popular with the public, but even supportive sections of the media have said that the prime minister's anti-American stance had gone too far.

Most sectors of the Spanish press concluded that the telephone spat was "infantile" but that Mr Zapatero needed to act fast to recover Spain's loss of face abroad.

Is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Bush's "black book" too? Likely, after she gave in to terrorist demands and pulled all the RP troops out of Iraq ahead of schedule.

Arroyo's approval rating plunges further; 77% gives her a thumbs down

Will the bogus president survive her 6 year term in office? From the Tribune:

Gloria rating plunges anew; dumped by 77%
59% SAY GMA NOT DOING ANYTHING TO STOP AFP CORRUPTION

There is more bad news for President Arroyo.

Not only has her public approval ratings dived further with 77 percent saying they were dissatisfied with her; but 97 percent of the survey respondents believe that widespread corruption exists in the Arroyo government, with only 1 percent believing otherwise and 2 percent saying they do not know.

Also, there was registered in the survey results, 88 percent believing the reports of corruption engaged in by the top brass of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, along with 59 percent, a sizable majority, saying Mrs. Arroyo is doing nothing to stop the corruption in the AFP.

The survey was conducted among 500 respondents based in Metro Manila, or the National Capital Region, by the Center for Issues and Advocacy (CIA) and Data Advisors Inc.

With the latest survey results out from the same survey firm, Metro Manila respondents gave Mrs. Arroyo a minus 59 performance rating which CIA officers said is a drastic departure from the +8 percent net satisfaction rating the same survey group gave the President after her first 100 days in office.

A total of 500 respondents were interviewed from Oct. 26 to 29 by 10 enumerators using printed questionnaire in face-to-face interviews with adult and voting residents of Quezon City, Caloocan City, Makati City, Metro Manila, Pasay City and Pasig City which represent the north, east, south, west and the center of the metropolis.

The results validate an earlier survey conducted by Ibon, where the President's rating nosedived, showing 76 percent of Filipinos nationwide dumping her.

I hope she and Noli de Cashtro resigns na, for the good of the country and let the real winner take over.

Spain's Prime Minister Calls White House, Gets No Answer

Wawa naman.

The White House has put out word daily of calls flooding in from around the world to congratulate President Bush on his re-election victory. But somehow, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero just hasn't been able to get his call past the switchboard.

Zapatero phoned Bush not long after his Nov. 2 win, but wasn't put through to the president. Now, more than a week after the voting, the two leaders still have not hooked up.

The White House explanation signaled something of a cold shoulder toward the Spanish leader, who angered the administration by withdrawing troops from Iraq just after taking office in April.

"I think that may be the case, that he has tried to reach out," Bush press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday. "Calls are scheduled at times that are mutually convenient. Some calls are able to be scheduled quicker than others."

Meanwhile, Bush met privately on Tuesday at the White House with Spain's former prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, who was a chief Bush ally in the war in Iraq.

But you're not alone Zapatero. Gloria's been getting the same treatment too.

Meet the Real-life Lilo and Stitch

Thursday Mr. Expose

From Ernie Maceda:

The Associated Press and Reuters, quoting Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sources, reported that a $12-million ransom has been demanded for the release of Roberto Tarongoy, the second Filipino hostage in Iraq.

Our own sources tell us it is $15 million. Why such a big amount? Because it is an open secret in Baghdad that $6 million was paid for the release of hostage Angelo de la Cruz.

This has become another bone of contention between the US government and President Arroyo. This explains why earlier the US government wanted to handle the negotiations for the release of Tarongoy and an American co-employee. But as you know President Arroyo and DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo decided to go on their own and deal directly with the kidnappers, indicating they are willing to negotiate for a ransom payment.

If we can afford to pay such a big amount for Angelo de la Cruz and now for Roberto Tarongoy, then we should now offer $10,000 each for overseas Filipino workers to leave Iraq and bring them all home. Roberto Tarongoy will not be the last hostage taken. And with civil war breaking out, there will definitely be Filipino casualties.

We cannot dilly-dally or tarry on this issue a minute longer. It's time to bring them home.

Nah, Manong. We will let Libya and Malaysia pay the ransom. It does two things: GMA gets to save the Tarongoy and it allows Libya and Malaysia to indirectly help/finance the "insurgency" with $$$.

A smile and a smirk. Why was US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone smiling and President Arroyo smirking after their meeting the afternoon after the US elections with President George W. Bush as the winner?

What demands or conditions were imposed on Mrs. Arroyo? Did it involve Robert Tarongoy? Was an audit and accounting demanded on the use of US (and Japanese) aid? Was the one-on-one meeting between President Bush and Mrs. Arroyo in Chile formally and finally declined?

Was she forewarned that unless widespread corruption was seriously dealt with by Mrs. Arroyo, the $12 billion loans falling due in the first quarter of 2005 would not be extended?

Was she informed that Condolezza Rice, another critic of Mrs. Arroyo after the Iraq withdrawal of Filipino troops, would be the next Secretary of State? Or was another deployment of Filipino troops to Iraq suggested?

Or is it all of the above?

With a Moody Investors Service downgrade of our credit rating looming fast, I hate to predict what will happen by the end of February, the anniversary of Edsa I.

Don't cry for me, Argentina!

I don't know Manong. The only thing certain is that GMA is in deep shit for pulling out of our commitments in Iraq.

Wrong track. The sudden departure of Department of National Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz for China just weeks after Mrs. Arroyo's visit to Beijing certainly adds to the strain in US-Philippine relations.

China is the US government's main worry in Asia. Mrs. Arroyo is sending the wrong signals by playing the China card at this time.

Remember President Bush saying, if you are not with us, you are against us.

As Ambassador Albert del Rosario complained — “This administration has no direction.” Others are less generous. I have heard half-a-dozen ranking senators and congressmen say hilo na.

And why should Secretary Cruz take valuable time off for a China trip when he has not yet come up with a package of solutions to stop corruption in the military establishment, much less to contain the insurgency on several fronts?

Wrong priorities. Wrong direction.

Signs of the times. President Erap's press statements are getting prominent treatment in media. Administration senators are as vocal as opposition senators in criticizing the administration's tax and fiscal measures. More resignations, but no takers for Cabinet jobs. Meetings of opposition leaders are well attended and are becoming more frequent. ABS-CBN and GMA broadcasters have turned critical, their stand apparently sanctioned by their bosses. Callers and texters to radio talk shows are 90 percent critical and very blunt. More whistleblowers are coming out of the woodwork. President Arroyo is suddenly talking of a government of national unity.

Talking about "national unity"? GMA? Hah! Alam kasi nyang babagsak na siya kaya she's now pretending to seek "reconciliation" with the opposition.

OTHER ARTICLES worth reading here and here.

More bad times in Pinas

From Lito Banayo:

THE Senate committee on trade and commerce concluded, after several consultations with the business community, that consumers have been holding off on their usual buying, and as a result, retail outlets, from supermarkets to neighborhood talipapas, have felt the pinch.

Committee chair Senator Mar Roxas said that at first glance, it would seem that rising fuel prices and electricity costs are forcing households to spend less. Representatives of supermarket associations, as well as Mar's favorite palengkeras are saying that sales have gone down by some 20 to 25 percent. That is a lot.

I come from a family of shopkeepers, steeped in trading and retail services. And I know where these retailers and Mar Roxas are coming from and talking about. All you have to do is look around you. Even in the high and medium-end supermarkets, notice how shoppers compare price tags and the net weights of jars and tin cans, with pocket calculators to boot. In fast food outlets, notice how everyone has come up with "super-savers" and cheap "specials". And see how fine-dining restaurant owners count the days between paydays with great anticipation, as those are about the only times their cash registers jingle.

We have a relative who has been in the business of making candles since I was in short pants. They are, as far as I know, one of the country's biggest wax and tallow purveyors. They'd stock up on candles months before All Saints' Day. In our hometown to pay respects to common forebears last week, they were telling my mom how bad business was, how even Chinoys who used to buy tall, big and fancy candles had scrimped.

In fact, in the mausoleum where my lolo and tito were interred, along with some 600 who were massacred by the Japanese during the Pacific War, I noticed how few and how small the candles were. Signs of the times. The price of flowers hardly went up during the traditional "undas". Demand was low, and retailers overbought from their suppliers.

In Benguet and the rest of the montañosa, vegetable and fruit farmers have had more than two years of "indulto". Last year and before, it was massive smuggling of cheap veggies from China and elsewhere that did them in. Now, on top of the smuggling scourge, there is less demand for upland vegetables. The hotels and fancy restaurants buy imported produce; the middle class have foregone pechay Baguio and broccoli, and are into kangkong and talong.

Students of economics, whether they studied under Professor Gloria Macapagal Arroyo or not, know that there is economic contraction when demand lies fallow. When buyers stop buying, or buy less, panic strikes the businessman.

Most businessmen in fact do not mind creeping inflation, for as long as there is increased demand. When demand goes down, prices remain stagnant, or in some cases go down, and profit declines.

That is bad enough. But worse is when the cost of doing business is on the upswing. The combination of demand slowing down and cost pushing upwards is a lethal combination. It is the big squeeze.

You have no demand-pull, but you have a cost-push. Prices remain stagnant, while you are forced to absorb higher costs. The cost of transport. The cost of utilities, most significantly, electricity. The cost of inputs that are almost always imported, and therefore subject to the never-ending decline of the peso's exchange value.

Many shopkeepers are looking to Christmas not as a season of joy, but hopefully, just means to erase the red ink that has accumulated throughout this annus horribilis. If Mar Roxas' conclusions are correct, why, Christmas isn't about to jingle or jangle their cash registers. Wait then till the tinsel wears off. That's when the closures and the lay-offs begin.

President Gloria probably recalls what microeconomic theorists call the "Red Queen" effect, a take-off from that Alice in Wonderland character. You could run twice as fast and remain in the same place. That is the tragedy of today's business. That is the tragedy of today's average Filipino workingman. You could work twice as hard as you ever did, but your profits or your standard of living remains the same. In the case of many, both profits and standards of living have deteriorated.

We are victims of the big squeeze. Squeezed between higher costs and flagging demand. Squeezed between stagnant incomes and the high cost of basic necessities. And it isn't our fault either. We are just the victims, period. Of whom, of what? Of continued and continuing bad governance; of monopolies who corrupt the corruptible whose power of discretion is enshrined in bad governance, who have neither accountability nor shame, neither principle nor fear of retribution.

A Happy Christmas? Good luck!

No way dude, sabi ni GMA wala na raw fiscal crisis. Tapos na raw siya! We will jingle all the way!!!

Her secretary for Ssocio-economic planning, in trying to defend his president, said her earlier declaration of a "fiscal crisis" was just a wake-up call for Congress to pass the "sin taxes". Now that the Lower House has obliged her with a watered-down version of these excise tax increases, she is apparently content. And she thinks the international creditors, those whom Cory Aquino once sarcastically called the "noble houses of finance", are appeased.

Nambobola lang pala si presidente. O di kaya, nan-duduro. What a government!

Gloria the lying "magician". After 3 months, tapos na ang fiscal crisis!

GMA buying off the El Shaddai support?

From Malaya:

Gloria gives Velarde P221M for housing
Biggest Pag-IBIG drawdown ever

Mike Velarde, head of the El Shaddai movement and president of a company engaged in housing development, yesterday received a check from Pag-IBIG for P221 million, the biggest one-time drawdown for a project in the Fund's history.

The money will fund a credit facility for Amvel Land Development Corp. for the continued construction of Tower 1 of Amvel Mansions in Parañaque, described as the biggest residential high-rise project under the Medium/High Rise Building program (MHRB) of the Pag-IBIG Fund.

With President Arroyo as witness, Vice President Noli de Castro, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees, turned over the check to Velarde.

The Pag-IBIG Fund has approved a P353 million financing package for the entire project consisting of Tower I with 14 storeys and Tower II with 12 stories. Both towers will have a total of 353 residential units ranging from 44.8 sq.m. to 95.75 sq.m. each.

Interesting.

More good stuff from Mr. Expose

Interesting items from Manong Ernie:

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos admits he is green with envy at the way the US elections were conducted efficiently with the results known in 12 hours, with 120 million voters.

Chairman Abalos pledged to automate the 2004 elections and loudly promised that since he was a victim of cheating in the past, he would not allow that to happen again under his watch.

Now, my good friend Ben Abalos' excuse is to blame the Supreme Court (SC) for his failures. No, sir, the SC is not responsible for Comelec supervisors selling dagdag-bawas votes. The SC is not to be blamed for manufactured certificates of canvass or ghost voters or excess ballots. And neither is it the SC's job to monitor the excessive expenditure of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mar Roxas and others.

Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman, the blame is pointing directly at your forehead. Read the dissenting opinion in Sen. Barber's case which questioned the use of a second set of tampered returns for Sultan Kudarat by the majority. You could not even make good on your personal assurance to me that you will not allow me to be cheated.

Let's give elections 2007 a chance. Chairman Abalos should now resign and give way to a new chairman. He should have resigned after the SC ruled the Mega Pacific contract null and void. Certainly the appointment of Commissioners Manuel Barcelona and Virgilio Garcillano should be rejected by the Commission on Appointments or better yet, withdrawn. They are the biggest roadblocks to credible elections.

And why is no senator really pushing electoral reforms?

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When Simeon Marcelo was appointed Ombudsman, there were high hopes he would do much better than his predecessor Aniano Desierto.

But so far, he has not delivered. He has dillydallied on the filing of plunder charges against Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia.

And in spite of the SC directive, he has not moved to file a case against Chairman Abalos and company on the illegal Mega Pacific award, a P1-billion loss to the government.

Another roadblock.

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Now you see it, now you don't. The President has become a magician who now has made the fiscal crisis disappear before our very eyes.

In her speech before governors and other local officials, she said there is no longer a “crisis” but a “fiscal problem.” But this was effectively belied by the manifesto read by Bohol Gov. Rico Aumentado who offered the local executives help to bail out the country from a fiscal crisis.

And now no less than Speaker Joe de Venecia and former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao said the President's declaration is premature.

“The fiscal crisis is far from over. It will come sooner than later,” Estanislao declared.

Malacañang says we should be hopeful and optimistic, not gloomy. How can anyone be hopeful when Mrs. Arroyo's actions do not match her words?

She talked about the need to stop corruption in her speech before the LGU executives but she is the biggest roadblock. She does not have the will to fire anybody. She cannot even put the First Gentleman and her son Mikey under control.

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Armed Forces of the Philippines nurses Myrna David, Vivian Pangilinan, Elena Nacional and Nora Minor who blew the whistle on Col. William Yu, Fort Bonifacio General Hospital, should be rewarded, not relieved.

Why should there be a prohibition against military officers exposing their grievances in media? That's a constitutional right. Scrap that nonsense. We should encourage it. It takes a lot of courage for anybody to expose the illegal activities of one's superior officers. That's a badge of courage that should be rewarded.

Gen. Efren Abu as Philippine Army commanding general was wrong in not acting more decisively on the nurses' complaint. Lives of soldiers were at stake.

This too from Maceda's column yesterday.

The coming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Santiago, Chile, scheduled for Nov. 20-21 is now the event to watch.

It will be the first opportunity for President Arroyo to meet with US President George W. Bush since the pullout of Filipino troops from Iraq over which US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone admits the US President was “hurt” and “we have not forgotten.” But he will always say the relations between the US and the Philippines are “good.”

It is customary for Presidents and Prime Ministers to take advantage of the two-day Apec summit to hold one-on-one bilateral talks. In the 2000 Apec summit in New Zealand, (as the Philippine ambassador) we successfully negotiated with the State Department to get a Clinton-Estrada meeting, one of only six such meetings granted by the US President. Press Secretary and concurrent presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo and Bush will talk at the sidelines, but that's not enough.

We have it on good authority that as usual the request for a Bush-Arroyo one-on-one formal meeting in Santiago, has been made to the White House weeks ago. In fact, there was a sounding out for a private meeting in the US before proceeding to Chile. But as Ambassador Ricciardone indicated to a columnist during a US Embassy election watch party, there is no word yet on the date for the Arroyo request. There are 20 other countries asking for a one-on-one meeting with newly-reelected President Bush. Which one will the fountain bless?

In the light of his impressive victory, President Bush has emerged as a strong leader with a solid mandate. Even French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin have issued very conciliatory messages to President Bush.

In this atmosphere, the Philippines becomes a minor, dispensable player in the world stage of George W. Bush. Will the “W” in his name mean, “Wait ka lang GMA, walang panahon?”

In the light of this, the Iraq pullout decision has turned out to be a monstrous mistake.

With the House and Senate in Republican control, it will be rough sailing too, for us in their committees.

Wawa naman si "Iron Lady" Gloria.

Huge MERALCO increase this month

Obviously, bumabawi na ang mga Lopezes kay Arroyo for allowing their boy Nolee de Cashtro to run with GMA and help her "win". At ang kawawa dito sa secret deal nato'y ang Filipino consumers. Fuck GMA and the Lopezes!

And I've done some calculations kung gaano kalaki ang increase ng binabayad natin. Compare the increase from last month (october) to this month (november), using 500 kWh as a given value. (Check calculations below)

Applying the October 2004 formula for calculating your MERALCO bill (using 500kwh), you pay Php 3482.94

Applying the November 2004 formula for calculating your bill (using 500kwh), you pay Php 4217.86

4217.86 - 3482.94 = Php 734.92

An increase of 734.92 pesos from last month or an increase of 21.1%. Take note, tumaas Generation Charge value.

Kaya pa bang mag-survive yung mga middle class kung patuloy na tumataas ang kuryente natin? there's talk na tataas pa rin next year ang singil sa kuryente. Sigurado ba sila na pang No. 2 lang ang Pilipinas sa most expensive electricity sa Asia? Baka pati Japan talo na rin sa atin.

October 2004
RATE: Residential
Generation Charge 500 X 3.495 = 1747.50
Transmission Charge 500 X 0.8975 = 448.75
System Loss Charge 500 X 0.5493 = 274.65
Distribution Charge 500 X 1.6615 = 830.75
Supply Charge 500 X 0.5271 = 263.55
METERING CHARGE
Retail Customer Charge 5 X 1 = 5.00
Metering System Charge 500 X 0.2435 = 121.75
Lifeline Rate Subsidy 500 X 0.0761 = 38.05
Interclass Subsidy 500 X -0.713 = -356.50
**PowerAct Redn 500 X -0.2035 = -101.75
CERA 830.75 X 11.87% = 98.61
FRANCHISE TAX
National 3370.36 X 2% = 67.41
Local 3370.36 X 0.75% = 25.28
UNIVERSAL CHARGES
Missionary 500 X 0.0373 = 18.65
Environmental Fund 500 X 0.0025 = 1.25
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TOTAL CURRENT AMOUNT Php = 3482.94

November 2004
RATE: Residential
Generation Charge 500 X 4.57 = 2285.00
Transmission Charge 500 X 0.8345 = 417.25
System Loss Charge 500 X 0.6965 = 348.25
Distribution Charge 500 X 1.6615 = 830.75
Supply Charge 500 X 0.5271 = 263.55
METERING CHARGE
Retail Customer Charge 5 X 1 = 5.00
Metering System Charge 500 X 0.2435 = 121.75
Lifeline Rate Subsidy 500 X 0.0761 = 38.05
Interclass Subsidy 500 X -0.4278 = -213.90
**PowerAct Redn 500 X -0.2174 = -108.70
CERA 830.75 X 11.87% = 98.61
FRANCHISE TAX
National 4085.61 X 2% = 81.71
Local 4085.61 X 0.75% = 30.64
UNIVERSAL CHARGES
Missionary 500 X 0.0373 = 18.65
Environmental Fund 500 X 0.0025 = 1.25
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TOTAL CURRENT AMOUNT = Php 4217.86

Gloria the Magician

Rudy Romero exposes GMA's hocus-pocus BS.

The board of directors of the World Society of Magicians should be considering an application from a Filipina for admission to the society. The name of the applicant is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

GMA's claim for admission to the society, whose membership includes the celebrated David Copperfield, is premised on her ability to make a nation's fiscal problem disappear with a wave of her little hand. Eat your hearts out, David Copperfield and Harry Houdini: The object of GMA's prestidigitational prowess is an entire nation, not mere objects.

Late in August, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared at a Philippine National Police function that this country had entered a state of “fiscal crisis.” Someone who sits in the presidential chair in Malacañang does not, and is not expected to, play around with words. The President of Cebu clearly and deliberately uttered the word “crisis,” which connotes a bad situation of very serious proportions. A crisis is far more consequential than a problem, yet GMA spoke of a crisis, not a problem.

And the crisis that GMA spoke of was a fiscal one. “Fiscal” is a word with a specific technical connotation; the average person doesn't know exactly what it means; he or she only vaguely knows that “fiscal” has to do with the government's finances.

What Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the nation was in last August, then, was a bad problem of very serious proportions involving the government's finances. The Filipino people and the international community took her at her word — that the Philippines was in the midst of a fiscal crisis. Why wouldn't they? This was the occupant of Malacañang talking.

Now, less than three months after making her gloom-and-doom declaration, GMA is telling her Cabinet to stop talking about a fiscal crisis because the crisis she spoke about has been solved. Congressional action on her eight-part tax program did the trick, the President of Cebu grandly explained. With the passage of the taxes, she said, there is no more crisis to speak of.

This now-you-see-it-now-you-don't performance by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo eminently qualifies the little lady to be a member of the World Society of Magicians, perhaps even its chairman. There just isn't any way that one can make a national financial predicament disappear in three months. Three years, maybe. But three months? No way can it be done, certainly not in a Third World setting.

GMA's August 2004 declaration doubtless came as a surprise to most Filipinos, but to knowledgeable observers here and abroad it didn't. The rapid buildup of government debt during the period 2001-2003, the recurrent shortfalls in tax collections, the steady decline in tax effort, the progressive rise in the ratio of debt service to the national debt — these numbers were already there for the economists and financial analysts to evaluate and form judgments on. They already knew that the Philippines had arrived at the state that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said it was in a fiscal crisis.

These numbers have not changed, and even have worsened, during the last three months. What positive changes of consequence have taken place during that period? Only two. One of them — the withholding of part of the internal revenue allotment of the local government units — can hardly be called progressive, for it will take away from the LGU something that was given to them by the legislature in the interest of government decentralization of government. The other change — the indexation of taxes on the so-called sin products — has been done in such a watered-down way that the expectable incremental revenues are bound to be considerably less than the government had projected.

Nor is there likely to be any relief anytime soon from the biggest albatross on the government's back: service on the indebtedness of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

Barring a near-miracle, the sole of Napocor is not going to materialize in the near future, and that expense item is likely to remain a very heavy burden on the national budget.

Trained economist though she is, GMA apparently appears unable to grasp the fact the fiscal crisis she reported to us about is in essence a debt management problem. The P4.5-trillion public-sector debt was in place in August 2004, and it is still there today. Service of that debt, in the context of a Philippine credit-rating downgrade, is going to remain a very critical matter for the Department of Finance.

Paraphrasing then-candidate Bill Clinton in the 1990 US presidential elections, I am sorely tempted to say to GMA, “It's the debt, stupid.”

Welcome to the World Society of Magicians Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the David Copperfield of the Philippines. With a wave of her little hand, she can make crises appear and disappear.

So, this explains for the National Anti-kidnapping Task Force's "efficiency"

Kaya pala "nahuhuli" nila yung mga kidnappers na naka-lista sa ten most wanted list...

Amrodin Makasilang, who is among the country's "most wanted" kidnappers and is on the "order of battle" of the National Anti-kidnapping Task Force, appealed a finding of the Parañaque prosecutor that he had kidnapped Lourdes Santiago. It turned out that Makasilang held Santiago and asked her to call her daughter to bring money to them because she was being detained against her will.

The daughter went to the police who then laid a trap for Makasilang. Thus was Makasilang caught, He explains that this was no kidnap; Santiago owed him money for jewelry that Santiago had taken from him and for which she had not paid. He wanted payment for a debt.

And thus, it is clear now how so many "kidnappers" on the ten "most wanted" list have been caught by the National Anti-kidnapping Task Force. One always wondered how they could be so efficient. As it now turns out, their targets are placed on the "most wanted" list after they are caught.

Mautak talaga itong si Angelo Reyes. APRUB!