The little dolphin that could

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The Wall Street Journal (which, editorially, has previously been supportive of the President) greets the President’s arrival in New York with a raspberry: see the op-ed piece, Powering Down the Philippine Economy:

Tomorrow in New York, Ms. Arroyo will woo well-heeled potential investors at a $5,000-a-table luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria, where she is expected to give an upbeat presentation on Philippine infrastructure financing and ongoing privatization efforts.

Ms. Arroyo’s boasts ring hollow, however, given her country’s inhospitable climate for foreign investment… Even worse, Ms. Arroyo and her political allies back in Manila don’t seem to care that they are sending signals that would cause any potential investor to cringe.

Take the most recent bungle: the liberalization of the notoriously inefficient Philippine energy sector. In 2001, a newly sworn-in President Arroyo signed legislation calling for at least 70% of the government-owned National Power Corporation, known as Napocor — long one of the country’s worst symbols of inefficiency and corruption — to be privatized. Even though Ms. Arroyo’s administration has dragged its feet in following through with the reforms, the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 is working, albeit slowly.

Today, slightly more than 40% of Napocor is privately owned… By year’s end, the reform act’s goal of privatizing at least 70% of Napocor could be realized.

But will Manila allow that to happen? Last December, the Arroyo administration announced that it wanted to amend the reform act by Christmas, to ensure that the government would retain control of at least 50% of Napocor. Hardly for the first time, the government in Manila was reminding foreign investors that the economic goal posts could be moved in the late innings. In the House of Representatives, the antireform legislation’s chief sponsor is the chairman of the energy committee, Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, the president’s son.

When the heads of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce protested the roll-back of Napocor’s privatization in a May 27 letter to Ms. Arroyo, the president’s allies in the senate exploded in nationalistic outrage…

“My goodness, get out of this country if you can’t live with us,” Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile told Mr. D’Aboville, who has lived in the Philippines for 31 years and is married to a Filipina. Added another presidential ally, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, “You may not continue. You do not determine what you can say or not say. I determine.”

Unembarrassed by such a display of legislative intemperance, Ms. Arroyo has brought Sen. Santiago with her to New York, where the president is lobbying the United Nations to give her a seat on the International Court of Justice. Asked by reporters right after the hearing if the senators’ June 6 bullying of the foreign businessman had been inappropriate, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said he didn’t think so. A few days later, Ms. Arroyo — possibly having been informed that several European ambassadors were prepared to file a formal diplomatic protest — came out with a statement thanking foreign investors for being part of her country’s “success.”

Ms. Arroyo has argued that government control of power plants is a more efficient way of keeping electricity prices down than private competitors who will compete in the marketplace — surely a strange argument from a woman who has a doctorate in economics. Making matters worse, her administration is engaged in a separate but equally embarrassing power struggle for control of the board of directors of the Philippines’ largest private electricity distributor, the Manila Electric Co. The company is controlled by the powerful Lopez family, one of the Philippines’ most enduring oligarchies. In addition, the Philippine government holds a 30% stake and is represented on the board.

To be sure, there is a case that could be made that Meralco, which controls some 70% of electricity on the big island of Luzon, is a monopoly that should be subjected to the pressures of real market competition. But the political intensity of the Arroyo administration’s personal attacks on the Lopez family suggests — especially to watching foreigners — that an agenda is at work that goes beyond economics. Specifically, the fight between Ms. Arroyo’s family and the Lopez business empire seems to personify the latest example of feuding family clans that have long been a major source of the Philippines’s economic and political fragility. In the early 1960s, when Ms. Arroyo’s father, Diosdado Macapagal, was president, he also tried to wrest control of Meralco from the Lopez family.

Ms. Arroyo needs to understand that when Manila promises to open up major sectors of the economy to reforms that would foster real competition, those promises should not be broken.

Over at Inquirer Current, I pointed out the ratio of Filipino to American congressmen was 5:1. The Inquirer editorial for today points something out I’d observed in my column yesterday:

Is it wrong to criticize the President for not returning to the country immediately?

To answer the question, we must first respond to the image engineering campaign already underway that seeks to paint the President as taking the extra step, as going out of her way, to oversee recovery and rehabilitation efforts in the Philippines. Malacañang has highlighted the fact that she has been conducting videoconferences with the Cabinet and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC). On June 24, the meeting was held at 3 in the morning; the following day, it was held at 1:30 a.m.

Allow us to point out the obvious, which seems to have been buried under the publicity avalanche: While it was very early in the morning here in the Philippines, it was the middle of the day in Washington, D.C. In other words, it was the Cabinet and NDCC officials who went out of their way, to meet the President’s schedule.

We have long noted the President’s extraordinary grasp of detail, and even her many political enemies acknowledge her prodigious capacity for work (in marked contrast to her predecessor), but it seems a cruel joke to force her officials to attend meetings in the wee hours, just so she can be seen to call the shots.

Her main ally in Congress, House Speaker Prospero Nograles, argues that Vice President Noli de Castro was “more than capable” to serve as “caretaker president” (gratuitously adding that this was “precisely why we have him as our vice president”). But this able-caretaker argument runs directly counter to the President’s idea of government-by-video-conference. If Vice President De Castro is in charge, why doesn’t Ms Arroyo allow him to take charge? Her intervention by “modern communication technology” undermines the vice presidency, at the exact time her allies in the administration coalition seek to build up De Castro’s reputation.

More tellingly, her use of “modern communication technology” undermines her own case for sticking to the original schedule. If there is a pressing need for the President to actively coordinate the work of the Cabinet and the NDCC at this time of shock and grief, what is she still doing in the United States?

ph5-062608.jpgLatest figures put death toll from Typhoon ‘Frank’ at 622 with 2.4 million people displaced in 14 regions. And as if things couldn’t get worse, they did: ‘Princess’ dives, retrieval stopped due to chemical shipment. And Sulpicio’s yard yields 7,000 sacks of ‘smuggled’ sugar.

Passenger shipping industry drowns while budget airlines fly high points out, though, that if it had happened in previous years, the casualty list from the capsizing of the Princess of the Stars might have been much higher:

The ill-fated Sulpicio Line ship plying the primary Manila-Cebu route had a capacity of 1,992 passengers, excluding crew members. But when it encountered rough waters during a typhoon and capsized in June 21, it was only carrying over 700 passengers and more than a hundred crew members.

It means the massive 23,824-ton ship was going ahead with an expected business-as-usual day with just about 40 percent load.

Compare that with another ship also owned by Sulpicio Line, the M/V Dona Paz, which sank in 1987 after colliding with a small oil tanker. Its weight was just 2,215-ton, a fraction of M/V Princess of the Stars’.

M/V Dona Paz had a capacity of only 1,518 passengers, but after the tragedy it was found to be carrying more than twice what it was allowed. Investigations following its sinking showed that it was overloaded and up to 4,375 people onboard died. It has gone down in history as the worst maritime disaster during peacetime.

The M/V Dona Paz tragedy, however, occurred during the Christmas holidays, a peak season in the travel industry. M/V Princess of the Stars, on the other hand, was traveling during a traditionally low season…

…Depending on the season and timing of purchase, a round trip plane fare between Manila and Cebu could go as low as P3,000. In the past, round trip boat fares on the same route hovered between P4,000 to P8,000. But even at reduced rates of up to a little over P2,000, the small difference with the cost of flying have enticed some to convert.

The airlines could afford to offer these low fares after they adopted a sophisticated pricing strategy that guided budget carriers in allocating more discounted seats during the lean months of June to October to improve their load factor, or the measure of how full the aircraft is. Thus, even on lean months, Cebu Pacific’s load factor can go as high as 80 percent.

Flying budget airlines is not only more affordable now, it is also more convenient. A Manila-Cebu boat ride, for example, takes almost a day. A plane ride, on the other hand, takes just over an hour…

…According to the Philippine Ports Authority data, in 2005, overall recorded passengers taking sea-based transport grew by only 2.55 percent. It has been downhill since.

In 2006, total sea craft passengers dropped by 8.27 percent. That’s only 42.56 million passengers for the entire year. Data for 2007 is expected to show that passenger counts plunged deeper.

The business decisions of market leader and publicly listed Aboitiz Transport Services in 2007 provided indications on where this industry is headed. The dramatic reduction in their passenger loads cut their revenues up to 30 percent in 2007.

To adapt, they have converted several of their passenger-cargo lines, under the Superferry brand, to accommodate more cargo than passengers.

This means shipping companies such as Aboitiz Transport and Sulpicio lines have joined another competitor – the government-backed roll-on-roll-off (RORO) operations, which resulted in lower operating costs not only for cargo operators but also as another substitute for passengers who still could not afford flying.

Roro is less expensive for those involved in the cargo business because of its multi-port approach. For example, a Roro boat that leaves the Batangas port can pass by various smaller islands, such as Mindoro and a few more islands, which are not traditionally serviced by other big boats because business there used to be not as brisk as, say the likes of Cebu, Iloilo, Davao and Cagayan de Oro, where there are more commercial activities.

Roro, which was launched in 2003, has since led to changes in areas and islands that used to be left behind in terms of economic development. According to Henry Basilio, a transportation export from the University of Asia and the Pacific, cargo traffic for Roro vessels in 2003 was only at 30,000 metric tons. He said this has since increased exponentially to 240,000 metric tons recently.

And the usual gruesome panic: DOH allays fears of fish poisoning. At least here’s some slightly less depressing marine-related news: people have been entranced by the heroic but tragic story of the dolphin that tried to save a fisherman: but both died. See the reactions of Pine for Pine, and view from the sugar island.

The United States gave $100,000 and sent a carrier task force (helicopters from the USS Ronald Reagan are delivering food, water, and generators to Panay; US Navy divers have been helping with efforts at the wreck of the Princess of the Stars); the People’s Republic of China gave $100,000 also, South Korea donated $300,000.

A major fundraising effort’s begun overseas with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent appealing for $8 million for typhoon aid to the Philippines

all these things that i’ve done lists the different ways (direct deposits to bank accounts, credit card and online donations, even donations through SMS) people can make donations to the Philippine National Red Cross.

Individual bloggers have taken to propagating information for those who want to make donations for specific locations. Touched by An Angel has joined an effort to help the children of San Fernando, Sibuyan Island (see Sibuyan mayor cries: We are victims, too). Clothing, books, toys, and food gathered for the kids will be sent through the Red Cross.

Phoenix Portal recounts how a group of animators got together and helped out in relief efforts in Iloilo, with the help of SM Foundation.

Much more needs to be done.

Kalibo residents going hungry, still waiting for relief:

Because of limited supply, the prices of all commodities have gone up. A ganta (2.4 kilos) of commercial rice, which sold at P65 to P70 before the typhoon, now sells at P120 to P150. Fortunately, the National Food Authority loaned the municipal government several sacks of rice. Rebaldo said these have been distributed to the poorest residents of the different barangays. But the supply will not last very long.

“These are all on loan. We don’t have money in the municipal government,” Rebaldo said.

The flashflood also killed most of the livestock of the town. “In one barangay, 200 cows drowned,” the mayor said. Many pigs, chicken and carabaos also died during the typhoon, he said. Water reached a low of 8 feet to a high of 12 feet in the entire town. The waters are gone now but mud is up to one foot high. Kalibo is the catch basin of Aklan. (Aklan means river in English.)

The individual stories are what matter, now, and here they are: Ella’s Virtual Nook has photos of the damage done to New Washington, Aklan, including the wrecking of the blogger’s own home.

In Romblon, JPMonje.net gives a thorough account:

Typhoon Frank’s gusty winds and heavy rains where experienced in Tablas island in Romblon Saturday morning. I thought the storm lashed out through the night until I found out that it hasn’t passed by the island yet. The electricity in our shop in Odiongan, Romblon suffered low voltage problems which started last Friday night. It was difficult to acquire some updates in the Internet about Frank’s projected route since power outage is intermittent. Add to that the mobile carrier signal there drops out every time. In a nearby store, I bought some eggs for our breakfast. Mrs. Norie who man the store informed me that there had been a sea mishap happened near Sibuyan Island. Later that morning, I recieved conflicting reports that all the passengers aboard the ship died. Some said there were a handful of survivors. A tidal wave was reported also in Alcantara, Romblon which I assumed it was a storm surge that hit the area.

My companion and I decided we should close the shop for that day. Since the typhoon signal in Romblon had been raised from 2 to 3, it is better that we call it a day-off to us and for our two secretaries. Since it was pouring that time, we decided to bathe ourselves in the rain and traverse the road leading to the famous “Baywalk” in barangay Tabing-Dagat. I managed to fight the freezing temperatures while gusty winds and rain hit me. It took us 15 minutes to reach the area. Upon seeing the area, debris were scattered everywhere. Stalls and cottages were destroyed and big brown waves came rushing into the shore. This could take days to clean up when the storm’s gone. The government spent more than a million pesos to rehabilitate the baywalk area. Good thing the new light posts like that in the Roxas Boulevard in Manila survived the vicous winds. We roamed the area and went back to the shop 30 minutes later.

Around noon, the power went back and I tuned in to the radio for news about the vessel tragedy. It was confirmed, the vessel “Princess of the Stars” of Sulpicio Lines capsized near Sibuyan Island. I was a horrific tragedy and I felt bad learning that there are few passengers survived. Sibuyan Island’s surrounding waters had been always rough even without a storm based from my experiences travelling there before. With that in mind, I could not imagine how big the waves were at that time of the storm. It was unbelievable that the largest ship in the Philippines could capsize like that.

The storm arrived in Romblon around 5:30 pm and brought strong winds and pouring rain that night. I took my digital camera and recorded a video of the storm inside the shop before dark. I hope I could upload it and post it in my blog. The next morning, only a handful of GI sheets, uprooted trees and trash clutter the streets.

In Roxas City, news reaching chemical rhapsody isn’t good,

Right now, my mother has to travel to Roxas City in search of a photo processing shop so she could have the pictures developed, as well as coordinate with DepEd Capiz. She’s been working closely with concerned agencies and they’re putting together a situational report for an upcoming meeting with the President.

My in-laws, however, said the electricity in Roxas City is still too feeble and could only power lights — not enough output yet to power an establishment. I hope the more-established shops there have their own generators. Otherwise my mother would have to go for Iloilo.

…as confirmed by Bloggy Blog: A College Student in Capiz:

Some parts of roxas city, capiz have no power supply because of the damaged hits by typhoon frank last saturday. According to Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council(PDCC) in the Province of Capiz, the number of Barangay affected by the typhoon frank are 47 brgy in roxas city, 5 were died, 5 were also injured, and 6 persons are still missing. Not only roxas city was affected in this typhoon frank but the other places also in western visayas were affected.

In Iloilo, Barangay OFW reprints an email from a nun, Sister Fidelisa Portillo, who recounts the situation at Aklan and then,

But as far as storms go, this is nothing. The wind was not that strong. Iloilo has experienced typhoons far, far worse than this. Which is why it was an utter shock for me when I turned on the radio at 1 pm nga grabe na gali ang situation in the city and Pavia. By 3-4 pm, a lot of calls were coming in asking to be rescued. We were caught flat-footed and we were really not prepared for this. It was each to his own.

Even the radio reporters felt bad. There really was no way to get to those who needed to be rescued. Just listening made you also feel bad. Each town knew they’re on their own. Roads were under water, bridges had collapsed. The city was able to borrow 10 jet skis, some rubber boats and two pump boats. 7 pm pa lang, naguba na ang pump boats.

The family of Mayor Treñas was rescued out of their house at past 10:30 pm. Big boys are not supposed to cry, but several mayors were crying, their voices breaking! Out of helplessness at the overwhelming cries for help nga wala man sila mahimo.

Vivian called the Disaster Coordinating Center to help her sister in Alta Tierra but she was told that there’s nothing more they can do at the moment.

The sugar central in San Enrique had 10 feet high of water, tunaw ang sugar. The NFA warehouse, flooded ang sacks of rice nga bag-o lang na deliver. For the first time ever, would you believe, the road from SM City up to the Marina had waist-high water? A lot of people, among them, one of George’s med reps spent the night at SM City. It became an evacuation site of sorts sang mga surrounding baranggays.

SM opened their food court area and the canopy and stairs to accommodate people. And they had to close the malls yesterday and today. School will resume on Wednesday. Now, there’s cleaning up. Nagakaubos pala diri. The mud can’t be rid of by just hosing it down. Sobra 1 foot ang thickness sang mud.

Worse, some areas will take 4 to 5 days for power to be back. Ang area Jaro up wala pa water coz the water pipes from Maasin are broken. Wala ni rich or poor subong sa areas affected. All of them are buried in muck.

By way of village idiot savant, the testimony and pictures of Bored Blather: mud, mud, everywhere.

And Bits and Pieces of Roxie provides snippets from typhoon-related stories:

*Gigi and her daughter were trying to save their television, when they saw a snake slither through the water. Plok! Down goes the tv under water, and up they run to the second level of their house.

*Nora spent three days on top their roof. She lived near Jaro CPU area. Saw her yesterday, puffy eyed and dead tired. She was able to save three backpacks of belongings and the rest were stuffed in two plastic bags.

From someone, Nostalgia, on an unidentified island:

Typhoon “Frank” hits our island at around 3 p.m., at first it was just signal number 1, but eventually turned into number 3.Apprehensions flood my mind as the storm brought down heavy downpours and very strong winds. We were covering the windows with heavy blankets just to fend off splashes of water and laid out on the floor rags and old clothes to absorb the rainwater that has finally seeped in.At around 7 p.m. the wind grew stronger and trashings and poundings grew louder and louder. Our house being the tallest in the neighborhood almost had all the beatings of the storm. It lasted until the wee hours of the morning, the longest that I’ve witnessed so far. By the morning, the intensity of the damage spread before our eyes. Whew!

And from a foreign tourist, in Adventures in Asia 2008, tracing their journey from Camiguin to Manila to Taiwan:

The night before we were due to leave for the mainland all the ferries had been cancelled and the part of the beach that wasn’t already under water was constantly beaten by frothing waves. Amazingly, the wind had eased by morning and we felt lucky that we wouldn’t be missing any of our upcoming flights. At the airport, on our way from Cagayan to Manila, I made the mistake of thinking that we had a good chance of experiencing our first on-time departure with Cebu Pacific Air. 7 hours later, freezing from the powerful A/C and braindead from watching the same five horrible commercials on loop in the departure hall (literally a big room with nothing but chairs and said crappy TV) the loudspeaker announced that all passengers should go through security and get ready to board. As if we hadn’t already been ready and waiting for half the day!

The Manila that we landed in was completely different from the sunny place we had left about a month earlier. Palmtrees looked like they would snap in half from the gale force winds and it was difficult to find shelter from the downpour. During the cab ride to our hostel we were in the midst of scenes I’ve only seen on the news before – people wading in knee-deep water surrounded by cars that should have been rowed rather than driven down the street. The disappointment of our flight to Taiwan having been moved forward by a day so as to avoid Frank, who was supposed to have been wreaking havoc in Taipei around the time we were due to land, was tempered by our discovery of Manila’s shopping malls. We were luckier than many people in that the main damage caused by Frank was to our bank accounts!

And it’s inevitable paranormal concerns have been raised, see sweet n sour and the more elaborate theory of Ang Umalohokan on “The Romblon Triangle”:

A lot of folklore surrounds the story behind the Romblon Triangle, from mermaids to cursed seas. Even galleon crews plying the Sibuyan Sea as they follow the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade route are enchanted by the waters of the area. Everytime a galleon enters the waters, special prayers and offerings are performed to appease the spirits haunting the area.

But one well-known legend behind the countless of maritime disasters in Romblon was the legend of a certain Lolo Amang. Lolo Amang is said to be the Flying Dutchman of Romblon, a local version of the famous Cape of Good Hope ghost ship. Lolo Amang is said to frequent the waters of the province aboard a huge golden boat at night. His boat is so beautiful and shiny that seafarers can see it even a mile away. Once lured by the light of his golden boat, eyewitness claim to see a huge party aboard the ship with fair-skinned women, music and food. One eyewitness of the M/V Don Juan tragedy reported seeing Lolo Amang’s ship before it collided with M/V Tacloban. The captain tried to avoid the ghost ship but ended up colliding with the ill-fated cargo vessel.

Lolo Amang is so well known in Romblon that some of his believers even collected taxes from unsuspecting residents. My great-grandfather who was the police chief of Banton Island in Romblon reportedly investigated this scheme and found out that some albularios or quack doctors are taking advantage of the Lolo Amang myth. When interviewed, these herbalists claim that Lolo Amang resides in a secret lair in a certain Barangay Cayatong in Looc or Ferrol town in Tablas Island. Up to this day, such place in Tablas is still shrouded in mystery, with reports of mysterious ships being sighted and late night parties in the middle of coconut groves were heard of.

In the end, there is not concrete evidence to prove the Lolo Amang myth. It could’ve been invited by the crews of the sunken vessels themselves to escape liabilities. It could also be a deliberate hoax to instill panic and fear among the islanders of the archipelago. It is only a matter of circumstances that made the waters of Romblon famous in the history of maritime disasters.

We keep hearing that the sinking of the Dona Paz was the “worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.” So what was the worst wartime maritime disaster? The sinking of the “Strength Through Joy” ocean liner Wilhelm Gustloff in 1945.

Also, here’s another thing to worry about: RP faces corn shortage: Official blames high prices of fertilizers for crisis.

In a consultative meeting Thursday on the commercialization of organic and microbial fertilizers, Dennis Araullo, the head of GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Corn Program, said the high prices of inorganic fertilizers are forcing many farmers not to plant corn, or cut their planting of the crop by half. Corn in the Philippines is largely grown for animal feeds.

If the national production of corn does not meet the 7.9-million metric ton target for this year, the country may have to import the grain. This option poses problems, since corn is in short supply worldwide because it is a major biofuel crop…

…The Department of Agriculture has declared a no-corn importation policy for this year, even if about 120,000 metric tons of corn were imported in 2008.

Araullo said a corn shortage will badly hit the domestic livestock and poultry industry, possibly forcing the closure of many firms in that industry.

If that is not enough, people who eat white corn in place of rice will also be affected, and might switch back to eating rice. Based on estimates of local food experts, up to 15 million Filipinos are eating white corn instead of white rice.

Filed away for future reference department: Beyond brain drain: Human capital increasingly votes with its feet in The Economist. Link to Tourism stakeholders: No other way but to train people to replace those who go abroad and New hires in Metro Manila firms replaced those workers who exited from The Business Mirror.

Headaches for America’s allies: In South Korea, US Compromise on Beef Fails to Dent Korean Protest; in India, Nuclear Heat in India. In Japan, note Sino-Japanese oil exploration deal in Breathing Room for Japan’s Fukuda.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

247 thoughts on “The little dolphin that could

  1. The United States — its regular citizens, the navy people of the carrier group, the State Department and White House people — will find “no problem” with the aircraft carrier group staying anchored outside Philippine waters. Of course a few will be annoyed; and surely there will be those who will get angry — but the objective is to provide help, getting divers into the waters, helicopters doing the ferrying and medical- and food-provisions to the flood victims, not to do posturings or to have a picture with the medical staff of a hospital in Fresno or to watch a living hero of the Philippines in a boxing match in Las Vegas 😐 .

  2. MLQ3 on, “it’s interesting how the president’s admirers are bothered by her pictures.”

    I am not her admirer but I cringed.

    I am BOTHERED not for GMA admirers but for GMA haters. When these people calling her almost any derogatory name that they can think of and wish her death and sickness, I worry for their mental health. This is a kind of desperation because they are not successful in unseating GMA.

    Para ba yong cartoon ng Coyote at ng roadrunner na lahat ginawa na wala pa ring nangyari.

    YOu still have two years folks. After GLoria, who is next?

  3. Now, Uniffor’s comment that the US Navy seals should provide diving help for Princess Stars to make amends for their (the US divers) spending too much time in the destructiveness of warmongering…. illustrates that Pinas has incompetent jokers among its media as there are jerks 👿 in its government service. But I am getting the impression that DJB is ranting against snakes.

  4. As for Senator Santiago…. the very few Europeans who have seen the brilliant mind, love of justice and polished language of AdeBrux (Bencard’s blog sparring partner) would have had a sampling of Miriam.

  5. should someone support Miriam because she is an elitist, or should someone support Miriam because of her language crude as a Singapore sailor?

    Newsbreak Online wrote of Senator Santiago:

    She’s been, by far, the most quotable Filipino politician. Reporters flock to her for good soundbites, her ability to explain complicated issues in simple language.

    She has called a congressman “fungus-faced”, even challenging him to a fistfight.

    In her first confirmation hearing as secretary of DAR, Santiago said she felt like “Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom.” In one Commission on Appointments hearing, she was quoted as having said: “I am surrounded by idiots.”

    While on an elevator in Congress, Santiago once said: “There’s no intelligent life down there. Beam me up, Scotty.”

    In response to public servants who organized a protest after she was named DAR secretary, Santiago said: “Discombobulated moral retardates!”

    ……

    President Arroyo’s choices for many posts have always been a public interest issue, and the choice of Santiago is again a reflection of the President’s interests and considerations. We try to answer the question: Are the President’s appointments primarily based on qualifications or do political interests bear heavily on her choices?

  6. Of course, the other option is that people are speaking AGAINST Miriam because she is NOT QUALIFIED>

  7. mlq3, Please don’t get me wrong. I am just puzzled, that is all. Why focus (obsess?) so much on someone whom you assert is a lame duck? And with the next presidential elections less than two years away? I really can’t wait for Gloria’s term to end. She is a lousy president to put it mildly. But right now I am more interested in who may be the next president. But this fixation is starting to appear to be something personal for you…

  8. The bee in my bonnet is the knowledge that if we do not push the view of the Silent Majority, we will lose billions in foreign direct investment in the energy and technology sectors, lose the confidence of our allies, earn the continuing wonderment of the world at our attitudes and suffer the wages of a self-destructive “nationalism”. – DJB

    The facts are against you DJB. More foreign investments have gone to Vietnam, which defeated the United States in a nationalist war, than the Philippines.

  9. Side-topic: For people interested in the science of spreading rumors (to an American audience) via the Internet, click here:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008062703939&pos=

    You’ll also learn who was the author of that destructive e-mail against Obama (cost him about 5% during primary voting) that he/Obama is a secret Muslim plus you’ll have a picture of a woman-genius at work (who is not a Chinese musical prodigy).

  10. the “nationalist war” is long over, cvj. the question now is are vietnam’s current “nationalist” policies not inimical to foreign investment (like myanmar’s) or are they business-friendly. you see, investors are not stupid. they usually avoid countries with “self-destructive”, harebrained nationalism.

  11. “Why focus (obsess?) so much on someone whom you assert is a lame duck?” – David

    This blog is about political commentary.

    As you said, President Arroyo is still the biggest political personality until 2010. Blogs and comments would naturally focus on her.

  12. “and if you know anything about the nobel prize nominations, nominees are kept secret. cory being ‘nominated’ is haka-haka.”

    ————————————————————————————

    Huh! Kelan ka pinanganak?

    Looks like you are the one who doesn’t know what you are saying at all!

    Cory and the Filipino was indeed nominated for nobel Peace Prize the year after People power one. It was n’t even just Cory alone. But all thise marcos loyalists then campaign against it. So Cory and the Filipino peopel lost to teh lesser known President of Spain becuase of that. And I believe the Filipino People desreved to win that year.

    Now your impression of Miriam is a personal one. You shoudl just keep to your self and let the panel decide on the qualifications of Mirriam.

    I know very well that had Miriram sticked it out with the oppsistion, you and your ilk will be praising her in high heavens for just being nominated in this presitgious court . And then cosider it as sampal kay Gloria.

    C’mon nash, dugay na ako sa blog na to noh, kilala ko na ang mga likaw ng mga regualr commenters dito !! Wag ana tayong mag plastikan pa.

  13. ” Last year, Vietnam attracted $15 billion in foreign direct investments, compared to the Philippines’ $2.5 billion. Even worse, Ms. Arroyo and her political allies back in Manila don’t seem to care that they are sending signals that would cause any potential investor to cringe.”-from The Wall Street Journal

    “The bee in my bonnet is the knowledge that if we do not push the view of the Silent Majority, we will lose billions in foreign direct investment in the energy and technology sectors, lose the confidence of our allies, earn the continuing wonderment of the world at our attitudes and suffer the wages of a self-destructive “nationalism”. -DJB

    The ‘bee in the bonnet’ has little to do with it.

    As long as the present occupiers of Malacanang continue with their merry ways foreign investments will continue to fly by…not in.

  14. @ Bert

    There are many factors which foreign investors don’t like in the Philippines but which has been with us since ages and cannot be solely attributed to the present adminstration:
    1. Too much politics (recent incident of the foreign chambers vs. Enrile and Santiago)
    2. Cost of power
    3. Lack of Infrastructure
    4. Cost of doing business
    5. Influence peddling of domestic oligarchs
    etc.

  15. FDI will probably be invested mostly on oil as the world is running out of gas. manufacturing companies in India and China will probably get hurt if oil continue to rise.
    Philippines must move forward to the production of ethanol to be self sufficient in oil like brazil in the next 10-25 years.

    “Tensions rise in energy rich Central Asia”

    http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/07/news/international/asia_gas/?postversion=2008040810

    Oil rises, Mideast tension offsets Saudi pledge
    On Friday, the New York Times quoted U.S. officials as saying Israel had carried out a large military exercise, apparently a rehearsal for a potential bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities.http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1229997&lang=EN

    I will not wonder why USS Reagan was deployed quickly. The presence will have a safety effect and at the same time help our country.

  16. “you see, investors are not stupid. they usually avoid countries with “self-destructive”, harebrained nationalism.”-Bencard

    Like Enrile and Mirriam! I totally agree with Bencard.

  17. just so it is clear what is among the “…. signals that would cause any potential investor to cringe”, it is the trivialization of agreements, contracts and rule of law even if this trivialization is presented in the guise of nationalistic umbrage. It may have helped if Miriam had presented her melodrama as part of her efforts to “…help the urban poor and the landless farmers”.

    For the greater good!!!!

  18. Bencard, just to clarify i’m not advocating a nationalist war. I’m simply pointing out that other countries did not have to sacrifice their nationalism to attract foreign investments. It’s like self-respect or self-confidence. You tend to respect the other person who projects that quality.

  19. @PSImeon

    Disagree, Simeon. You have to understand that Gloria is in place for decades already, the last more than 6 years as president.

    Just last year Vietnam bagged 15 billions direct foreign investments compared the Philippines 2.5 billions. See?

    Can you blame past administrations for that and not this administration?

  20. to leytenian, be careful with this thought that “…Philippines must move forward to the production of ethanol…”. It is happening all over… and has happened already — in big-time fashion in the US — with the shifting of fertile-land (before used to produce corn, wheat, vegetables, even grazing) to the “manufacture of feed” for ethanol plants. The ratios are horrendous. US lost 25% of its corn — gained 1% of “oil-needs”. If instead, the US had forced its car manufacturers for a 10%-increase in miles-per-gallon efficiency, the net-net-gain (“hit” to economy is that car sales go down because cars get a bit more expensive to buy; gain will be energy-security, travel-costs lowered) would have been much better than this ethanol mishap.

    What can Pinas do? LRT’s, better buses, bike-lanes, better roads. Nuclear.

  21. @ UP n student

    The flip side of the coin for “the greater good for the greatest number” is equally dangerous: “the lesser evil for the few.” That is, the few who are in control.

    As you commented in an earlier thread, the “greater good” is quite subjective.

    It could be the devil’s alternative!

  22. Contrary to what many Filipinos (and Fil-ams think), foreign investors tend to be lagging and not a leading factor in economic growth. China, for example, had more than a decade of domestically-driven fast growth starting in the late 70’s and 80’s before the foreign investments started coming in. Earlier, Taiwan experienced the same thing (as narrated by Amsden & Chu). Once we get our economic act together, then the foreign investors will come to stay (and we get to choose who to invite in). And the way several of our neighbors got their economic acts together were via nationalist (though business-friendly), policies.

  23. “Can you blame past administrations for that and not this administration?” – Bert

    1. Didn’t this administration try to lower the cost of power by ‘talking’ to Meralco?
    2. Wasn’t there an effort to imrove infrastructure/interconnection through roll-on/roll-off (RORO) and improvement of telcom bandwidth?
    3. Who pissed off the foreign chambers? The senators, right?
    etc.

  24. “just so it is clear what is among the “…. signals that would cause any potential investor to cringe”, it is the trivialization of agreements, contracts and rule of law….”-UP n

    such as the PIATCO contract…and ‘hello garci’, etc. right UPn?

  25. the conversion of the reserved prairie forests to corn farms is now being blamed for the flood in Iowa. Gone are the grasses and trees that hold the water in their roots.

  26. Some supporting info related to foreign investment and economic growth in China:

    The role of [Foreign Direct Investment] in China is vastly overstated in the press. For the entire 1980s, FDI in China was tiny. FDI only started to increase substantially in 1993, and at its peak [as of time of writing in 2003] accounted for about 10 percent of total investment. – Yingyi Qian, How Reform Worked in China in In Search of Prosperity:Analytic Narratives of Economic Growth

    I also don’t think China had to panhandle as much.

  27. Contrary to what many Filipinos (and Fil-ams think), foreign investors tend to be lagging and not a leading factor in economic growth.

    That is a slap in the face of Lee Kuan Yew who admitted that he practically begged for these foreign investors to forward their economy since they don’t have much natural resources.

    And i think the state visit of China’s prime minister in the US in the early 90’s was not to have dinner with the US President. Sheesh.

  28. “3. Who pissed off the foreign chambers? The senators, right?
    etc.”-PSImeon

    Right, Simeon! Enrile and Mirriam to be exact…both Gloria’s lapdogs.

    And Mirriam is presently with Gloria in the USofA enjoying the Paquiao fight.

  29. bert, as long as we have those “destructive, hairbrained nationalist policies” we will not attract foreign investors in the quantity that we can only dream of no matter who is the president. add to that, of course, is the seeming culture of lawlessness which our limited resources could not even begin to address, partly due to the borgeoning population that is totally unchecked.

    what investor would want to invest in a country where anything that can be hauled is stolen? cables, electric & telephone wires, rails, even manhole covers and bridge guard rails, among other things, are pilfered. broad-daylight kidnappings and carnappings, akyat-bahay robberies and motor-bike assassins and outright land-grabbing are commonplace.

    if there’s one thing positive that can be said about the marcos dictatorship, it is that people generally were more disciplined. not good angels but DISCIPLINED.

  30. “Right, Simeon! Enrile and Mirriam to be exact…both Gloria’s lapdogs.” – Bert

    You cannot always ascribe the actions of senators, who are seen as pro-administration, as sanctioned by the adminstration. These senators might just be playing the political game. Remember, these senators are all aspiring national leaders a.k.a “presidentiables.”

    To be philosophical about it, in this life everyone has an agenda.

  31. “If instead, the US had forced its car manufacturers for a 10%-increase in miles-per-gallon efficiency, the net-net-gain (”hit” to economy is that car sales go down because cars get a bit more expensive to buy; gain will be energy-security, travel-costs lowered) would have been much better than this ethanol mishap.”

    UP N student… what are you talking about. Ethanol, Biodiesel and Bio Fuels are all alternatives. Here are what the world’s car manufacturer’s doing in terms of Investing in Ethanol.

    An Argument for E85 Hybrids
    http://www.hybridcars.com/related-technologies/e85-hybrids.html

    Toyota: Ethanol Cars in 2008 for the U.S
    http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=243981

    Honda announced it has developed a new flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) system that enables gasoline engine-based power plants to operate on either 100% ethanol or a wide range of ethanol-gasoline fuel mixtures.
    http://world.honda.com/Ethanol/

    Other automakers — including Chrysler, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan — have also made commitments to flexible fuel vehicles and the ethanol …
    http://www.edmunds.com/advice/alternativefuels/articles/109194/article.html

    can we grow jathropha?

  32. “wrong, bert. “garci tapes” did not prosper BECAUSE of the rule of law.-Bencard

    hehehehe.

  33. The Philippines has the proper laws. Either our current admin don’t have the money to properly enforce a law, or they simply don’t make the effort to enforce it or they are not qualified to understand the ” PROCESS” of enforcing the law.

  34. If instead, the US had forced its car manufacturers for a 10%-increase in miles-per-gallon efficiency, the net-net-gain

    Agree with you on that UPn. GM just announced the closures of its assembly plants in Ontario for their Gas Guzzlers the F150 Pick Ups and more Big SUVs and has to pay a $45 millions penalty to the Ontario government on incentive “loans” given to GM for creating jobs but instead will be laying off a thousand or more workers and many folds indirect employment lost as a result. Now it is scrambling to find some fuel efficient models to assemble in the “flexible” assembly plants to avoid closing the plants permanently and paying the loans plus penalties as GM is already losing Billions.

  35. david, well one reason is that the harm she’s done to the institutions run so deep and are getting more and more entrenched; the other is that if one lets up, she will use the opportunity to try to pull a switcheroo; and because i have a terrible foreboding that what she has unleashed will make it that much more difficult for whoever becomes the next president -a handover i’m not convinced has been an inevitable one, much as the winding down of the clock should make it an inevitability- to govern, and bind the wounds of a divided country.

  36. “GM is already losing Billions.”
    GM has lost billions..

    However: Wagoner announced the moves in response to slumping sales of pickups and SUVs brought on by high oil prices. He said a market shift to smaller vehicles is permanent.
    GM shares rose 43 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $17.87 in midday trading.
    http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&pid=0&sid=1414372&page=1

    “The manufacturing crisis is not going to go away tomorrow, and instead of a laissez-faire approach … we believe in a more active role for government to invest in manufacturing. We’ve committed $1 billion for such investments.”
    In the Ontario legislature Thursday, the New Democrats placed blame squarely on the province.
    “What the government should have done with their Next Generation Job fund and their auto fund is say to companies like General Motors, ‘We’re prepared to invest, but you’ve got to make a product commitment. These new-generation vehicles have to be built here.”‘
    Flaherty has raised the possibility of giving GM money from the government’s $50-million Automotive Innovation Fund to produce another car.
    http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/06/05/5779856-cp.html

  37. Who would have thought????

    Only over a month ago, closure was “almost there” to Mugabe’s reign in Zimbabwe, what with the opposition having gained control of Parliament, Mugabe being a the loser in their elections, and in fact many of the leaders of Mugabe’s party beginning talks with the opposition about a gracious exit.

    Tomorrow or the next day, Zimbabwe will declare that Robert “Confiscation for Land Reform — the End Justifies the Means!!!” Mugabe has won the run-off election between him and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

    =====================

  38. to david: mlq3 did not say it, but bad governance habits by those in power can be so entrenched that thuggery that much EASIER for the next cabal.

    Look back to the previous administrations and it is fearful to observe —- getting entrenched deeper and deeper into Pinas psyche is bad governance habits by those in power.

  39. So is this a scary thought, or am I way off the mark? Which of the 2 statements below would you be inclined to disagree with?

    (1) For the Philippines, it is easy to stay in power even with periodic practice of bad governance.
    (2) Bad governance practices by those in power is getting entrenched deeper and deeper into the psyche of both the Pinas citizenry and the Pinas “those-in-power”.

  40. Ignore it at the peril of your children because …bad governance habits by those in power can be so entrenched that thuggery becomes that much EASIER for the next cabal.

  41. Existing bio-ethanol production, however, faces supply limits, as it is produced primarily from sugar and starch of sugarcane and corn feedstock, which are also utilized as food.

    there is a demand for ethanol and food. a good employment opportunity to our farmers. imports will not be necessary in the future if our government can agressively implement production shift to cater our own supply problem. the old import policy had hurt our local farmers.

  42. cvj, who said you are advocating a nationalist war? here you go again, deflecting the issue under discussion by injecting an irrelevant one. re-read the exchange.

  43. Ca t, you’re arguing to the wrong point. If you ask nicely, i’ll explain.

    Bencard, follow your own advice.

  44. cvj, i said investors avoid countries with destructive , harebrained nationalism. does that look like i’m saying you are advocating a nationalist war?

  45. Bencard, you’re first sentence (at 9:10 pm) lends itself to that interpretation so i responded to your comment in that context.

  46. Side-topic: Divorce makes sense.

    “…..I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, ‘We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.’ So this is what I have done,” she said.

    “Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months,” added Nasser. “He was too tough with me, and whenever I asked him for mercy, he beat me and slapped me and then used me. I just want to have a respectful life and divorce him.”

    ==============
    She asked for divorce.

    For the link pointing to rest of story, do google-search of

    nasser asked for divorce times

    Nasser at times wants to play in the yard. She is 8 years old.

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