ABONO Party Assures of Two Congressmen on Latest Poll

DUSTED OFF RIVAL’S API

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Abono Party List (APL) significantly leaped to No. 7 in the latest survey of OCTAReasearch thus dusting off its homegrown rival Abante Pangasinan Ilokano (API) that settled at No. 24.

With its ranking, APL is assured to have its two nominees become a part of the 19^th Congress upon assumption of office on June 30 this year.

There are 177 interest groups that are running in this year’s party lists’ election.

PATRONS. Eng. Rosendo (left, photo) and former Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. (holding a microphone) have been the patrons of Abono Party List and Abante Pangasinan Ilokano (API) Party List – the mammoth province homegrown parties – that are now zealously ingratiating for the two million voters of Pangasinan.

In the March 17 to 21, 2022 survey of Pulse Asia, Abono and API have been closely competing with the votes of the Filipinos particularly in colossal province of Pangasinan where they were founded.

APL and API got numbers 68 and 77, respectively, in the ranking there.

Below is the position – from highest to lowest - of the first 24 party lists based on the prestigious OCTAResearch.com:

1)      ACT CIS                                       13)  4Ps

2)      IWI                                             14)  KALINGA

3)      SENIOR CITIZENS PARTYLIST        15)  BUHAY

4)      ANG PROBINSIYANO                     16)  MARINO

5)      AN WARAY                                   17)  TINGOG

6)      AKO BICOL                                  18)  TODA

7)      ABONO                                        19)  AGIMAT

8)      AKBAYAN                                     20)  STL

9)      AGAP                                           21)  DUTERTE YOUTH

10)   AKO BISAYA                                  22)  KABAKA

11)   USWAG ILONGGO                          23)  ANAK IP

12)   GABRIELA                                     24)  API

The Party List System Act mandates that the parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one seat each:  provided, that those garnering more than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes: provided, finally, that each party, organization, or coalition shall be entitled to not more than three (3) seats.

 The groups represent 20% or more than 60 of the 316 congressmen of the 19^th Congress.

In the second round of counting as based on the latest poll, Abono will be getting a second seat or two congressmen that could represent it in the House of Representatives on June 30 this year.

API nominees are Michael M. Morden, Maricel B. Gotuc, Antonio P. Perez, Glaiza Mae M. Onia, and Enrico Y. Siahon while Abono’s nominees are former Congressman Robert Raymund “Eskimo” Estrella, Ronald Alan So, Lenny Torres, Oftociano "Anong" Manalo, and the one from the Visaya region.

Abono first electoral victory was in the 2007 election when it won one seat through Rep. Robert Raymund Estrella.His older brother Conrad is the present lone Congressman of the party.

It performed better in the 2010, 2013, and 2016 polls when it won two congressional seats in the House of Representatives.

Its chairman Rosendo So said the second nominee for this year’s election would no longer be from the illustrious political family of the Ortegas in La Union Province but his nephew Ronald Alan So.

So is not alarmed by Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino, III and his father and namesake the former governor who campaign vigorously for the election in the House of Representatives of API Party.

Espino and So were political allies before when the former competed with Jamie Agbayani and former Pangasinan Second District Congressman Victor Agbayani in the 2007 and 2010 governorship races, respectively, in the gargantuan province. Espino defeated the spouses whose father Aguedo reigned as governor for decades of the Northern Luzon’s province.

The fallout between the two allies started when then Governor Espino in the middle of 2000s increased the real property taxes of the local government unit that upset So because it could affect the economic welfare of his constituents the farmers.

The relationship worsen when So and former Pangasinan Fifth District Rep. Mark Cojuangco  - another Espino’s supporter – joined forces for Cojuangco’s failed bid for the governorship in 2016 against Espino’s son and namesake the present governor.

Chairman So – who is also the head of the nationally renowned Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) – is supporting 5^th District Cong. Ramon Guico, III against reelectionist Governor Amado Espino, III.

The Infamous S.O.P (Cut) on Gov't Projects

Q & A: Marcoses are Criminally Liable to the P203-B Estate Tax - Carpio

 Tax legal experts like former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Edwin Abella insulate presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and mother Imelda as civilly liable to the P23 billion estate tax –that ballooned to P203 billion – since the demise in 1989 of former President Ferdinand Marcos. In the Q & A below former Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio told this writer that the two Marcos heirs and Executors/Administrators are not only civilly but criminally liable.

The interview with the former Magistrate ensued when I bumped with him, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio (a retired SC Justice, too), and some members of the 1Sambayan –headed by Carpio - before the start this month of the grand rally of presidential bet Leni Robredo in Dagupan City. It was attended by a mammoth 76,000 jostling, shoving, and screaming. Excerpts of the interviews:

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA (MCO): Sir, iyong criminal liability puwede talagang e imposed sa kay BBM (Presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.) and Imelda (Marcos)?

JUSTICE ANTONIO CARPIO (JAC): If there is a willful refusal it’s a crime – willful refusal.

POSTERITY POSE with the luminaries of the 1Sambayan – a coalition of democratic forces in the Philippines - when they grace the rally of presidential candidate Leni Robredo and slate held recently in Dagupan City. L-to-R: 1Sambayan Convenor maverick and retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, Writer Mortz C. Ortigoza, and former Ombudsman and Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio. Not in photo but share the same dinner table with Carpio are Ambassador Albert del Rosario, former Congressman Monsour del Rosario, and others.

MCO: Sa Section 107, Marcos Presidential Decree No. 69 (1972) nakalagay kasi “criminally liable is case of failure to file estate tax return and/or of failure to pay estate taxes due“.  Ang tatamaan doon Administrator saka Executor?

JAC: OO.

MCO: Iyong heirs puwedeng matamaan diyan sa criminal liability?

JAC: Pag nalipat na iyong property sa kanila pero ayaw pa rin nila magbayad ng tax tatamaan sila.

MCO: We used there (law against the P203 billion estate tax) iyong amended Presidential Decree sa 1959 na tax Code. President Marcos died in 1989…

JAC: Ah ah.. .under... it’s always been there.

MCO: Kasi may bago tayong Internal Revenue Code of 1996, hindi iyan applicable doon?

JAC: The 1977 Tax Code that was 77 iyon iyong madaming amendment tapos (inaudible) na lang… pero nasa 1977 iyon e.

MCO: Sa tingin ninyo sa Senate investigation sa P203 billion ng Marcos Estate Tax malaking impact ito sa presidential candidacy of BBM (Marcos, Jr.) several weeks before the election?

JAC: Well, they can come out with the exact amount. Kasi we knew already the primary amount P23.3 billion. E magkano iyong surcharge and interest for those years? Nobody has really come out with that definite figure. So dapat ang gagawin ng Senate tawagin iyong BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) “Ano ba talaga?”.

MCO: Oo kasi may decision na ang Supreme Court noong 1999, may levy na bakit ganoon ang BIR – nagkabayaran ba?

JAC: E alam mo pag ang hahabulin mo Senator (Marcos was a former Senator - MCO) ang hirap! Di ba Senator babangain mo Examiner ka lang ng BIR? Lalo na pag Presidente. Pag naging Presidente iyan wala na goodbye na.

MCO: Kailan mag start ang Senate hearing diyan?

JAC: I don’t know when hinde ko alam.

MCO: Malaking bagay ba iyang Senate investigation sa electoral stocks ni Leni (Robredo, presidential candidate)?

JAC: If the public will understand the issue.

MCO: Sige Sir. Mas magaling ko kayo kaysa kay (former Senator) Juan Ponce Enrile and (BIR Deputy Commissioner) Edwin Abella.

(Former Justice Carpio and former Ombudsman Conchita Morales who eavesdropped on the Q&A held at their dinner table chuckle)

MORALES: Ikaw naman!

JAC: Sabi ni Johhny (Enrile) wala pa daw siyang talo sa kaso (after he told the media that he volunteers himself to be the counsel of Marcos - MCO) pero nakakulong pa iyong girlfriend niya (Enrile’s Senate Aide Lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes, indicted and jailed over the P10-billion pork barrel scam).

(Members of the 1Sambayan like Morales, former Foreign Affairs Secretary, then Ambassador Albert del Rosario, former Congressman Monsour del Rosario, and others laugh on the last statement of Justice Carpio)

READ MY OTHER INTERVIEW WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF VIETNAM

P4,000 for each of the Voters this Early

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A Congressman of a Party-list A asked the former mayor – who is a mayorship candidate - of a big town to allow him to buy votes so his party has chance to win the May 9 election. The offer was unheeded, the former Hizzoner is loyal to the top honcho of Party-list B.

“I promised Party-list B 30,000 votes where it already bought P1,000 per voter,” he told the solon about the P30 million already given to the jostling and shoving electorates.

The ex- mayor said he can still intercede for Party-list A by providing him with the modicum 5,000 votes at P1,000 each.

Photo is internet grabbed.

The Congressman smarted how the Hizzoner frugally treated him. Instead of shelling out P5 million for the P1,000 each purchase of each of the 5,000 voters, the solon asked his leaders in the town to prepare P3,000 for each of the 30, 000 voters that the former mayor sold to the bigwig of Party-list B at P1,000.

“Ang purpose ay agawin ang boto ng kabila at bumoto sa Party-list A ang mga bobotantes,” my source told me.

Gee whiz, that’s P90 million of vote buying in that town alone. A congressman receives a monthly pay of more or less P300 thousand in his three years’ term.

If he splurges P200 million procuring the votes of bobotantes in selected provinces in the country his P300 thousand a month or P11.7 million in three years or 39 months including his 13^th month pay could no longer recoup that P200 million.

That’s how a pedestrian would look on my “not recouping premise” the P200 million. But remember a solon intercedes – with the blessing of Malacanang to avoid its occupant being impeached – for hundreds of millions of pesos’ government projects every year where he gets 20% commission – we called S.O.P – from each of the contractors.

Who said government post in the Philippines is a thankless job?

Photo is internet grabbed.

If you were shocked about the shameless dealing of our government officials above, you will be astounded how insane the mayorship candidates of this city.

Barely two weeks before the eve of the election, people in this burgeoning government unit will be “ejaculated” where each of them becoming recipient of oodle of bills in the wee hour in some selected houses after the year’s long campaign period (including those unofficial months that started in early last year) of the May 9 acrimonious election. The 2022 poll saw friends parted ways or “unfriend” each other at Facebook after exchanging acerbic words in some argumentations because it was ruined by their zealous partisanship with their respective candidates for the presidency (BBM and Leni) down to the mayorship.

Just like what happened in the past elections, pag nagbigay ang kalaban ng P5,000 kada voter ang rival will give to the same voter P6,000. Then pataasan na sila ng procurement of vote. Salamabit! If each of the mayoralty bets spend up to half-a- billion pesos (P500 million) in the ingratiation game with the bobotantes to an office that gives P150,000 a month only - then this candidate could no longer recover their colossal expenses.

Since the mayorship rivals are moneyed, this expensive bidding game with the stupid bribery vulnerable voters ensue because of their pride and prestige to win the measly paying mayorship post.

Now, this ego-tripping is patently insane!

READ MY BLOG:

Why Politicians Spend a Fortune to a Post that Pays a Pittance?

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

Bayambang Mayor Launches Online Borrowing to Boost Farmers’ Plight

 SMALL INTEREST BUT NO COLLATERAL'S LOAN

By ZJ Ortigoza and Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan - Upon learning the pathetic state of the more than 30,000 families of farmers here where each family earns a measly P3,000 net revenues a month, their mayor launched a revolutionary solution to boost their economic plight through an internet based borrowing.

“Dahil sa ating rebolusyon laban sa kahirapan agrikultura ang center of focus ng ating programa. Bakit kasi ang magsasaka kung titingnan natin katulad ng sinabi ni Mr. Yulo umaasa ang 30,000 mahigit na pamilya ng ating mga magsasaka. At nakakalungkot ang fix income po sa isang ektarya tatlong libo (P3,000) lamang sa isang buwan,” Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao told the thousands of farmers who converged recently in the event center here to see how E-Agro Economics System presented by One-Doc Corporation President Jorge Yulo serve the financial, technical, and other needs of the agriculture workers.

THE E-AGRO PORTAL as seen on the left side of the photos. Other photo from top to bottom: (from L-to-R) Bayambang Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao, Pangasinan 5^th District Congressman Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III, and One-Doc Corporation Chief Jorge Yulo; Thousands of farmers of Bayambang converged in the event center there to learn how the revolutionary online concept of cheap loan, brainchild by Mayor Quiambao, can be accessed and better - off their economics stocks.

Quiambao lamented how the typical corn, rice, and onion farm hands here are tied to a high interest loan to lenders where their products have been bough cheaply by these people since time immemorial.

“Tanim-ani-bayad utang. Iyon ang economic cycle ng ating mga magsasaka kaya ang hangarin naming lakarin natin ng LGU Bayambang kung saan ang pag alis sa ating mga magsasaka – maalis sila sa cycle ng pangungutang na mataas ang interest kaya naisipan namin ang E-Agro System,” he explained how the system he developed with Yulo will emancipate the farmers from the high interest loans that bedevil their economic stocks ever since.

Quiambao and his mayoralty candidate wife Mary Clare Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao are hell bent to see that come year 2028 the monthly income of each of the families of the 129,011 populated (PSA 2020) central Pangasinan town will be P10,000.

He said the system financially backed by a venture of the public- private-partnership will lend money with miniscule interest to P50,000 or more to a farmer who tends a hectare of the corn, rice, or onion farm every four months from the time of planting and harvesting.

The E-Agro Economic System has four components’ Activity/Labor & Service, Land Preparation, Planting, and Fertilization (Labor) that could uplift the economics stocks of the downtrodden peasant.

“E-portal para sa pangungutang. Sabi ko lahat pwede na online transaction ang ating mga magsasaka. Pwede na silang mamili/shopping sa pamamagitan ng kanilang ATM card. Sa E-portal lahat ng frequently asked questions tungkol sa problema sa pagsasaka ang masasagot sa pamamagitan ng teknolohiya”.

 Kaya sana lahat ng magsasaka alam ko noong umpisa pa lamang ito ay kailangan sumama tayo sa ibang henerasyon sa ating digital mode. Puro high tech mode na po ang namamayagpag sa ating ekonomiya,” he exhorted the farmers to learn the digital mode just like what the young generation are deft. 

Quiambao said the E-Portal was much easier to learn than the E-Sabong (cockfight betting in the internet) that draw many Filipinos.

He said before the farmers can withdraw the approved loan to either China Bank or CSF Rural Bank of Bayambang here, each of them will undergo and pass an interview, received an automated teller machine (ATM) card, signed digitally a promissory note online to a loan that has no collateral, and wait for the money to be sent by the lender to their ATM.

The economics advantage of this system, Quiambao explained to this newspaper, the sellers of farm inputs like fertilizer and machines will compete with each other thus giving more options to the farmers to buy their product in a lower price.

The other edge is they can sell to the highest bidder their produce as buyers will offer them various prices on the portal.

One of the luminaries of the seminar Senator Cynthia Villar

 giving her piece online to the laudable project.

“Pwedeng ilunsad sa buong probinsiya ng Pangasinan. This could have a nationwide support to our farmers,” Quiambao said.

5^th District Congressman Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III who runs for the governorship of Pangasinan, told Quiambao and the farmers that he will adapt this technology not only in the eight towns and one city’s district but implement it in the forty - four towns and three cities’ province in case he wins the gubernatorial derby in the May 9, 2022 election.

 Agriculture Regional Executive Director Nestor Domenden called Quiambao’s brainchild as ‘revolutionary” in the annals of Philippines agriculture.

The luminaries for that occasion were One-Doc Corporation President Yulo, Mayor Quiambao, System Operator/E-Agro Team Leader John Paul Gagarin, Pangasinan 5^th District Rep. Guico, III, Department of Agriculture Regional Director Domenden, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Ariel T. Cayanan, and Senator Cynthia Villar.  

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Projects' Bidding in DPWH’s Districts are Fixed

Guico can Beat Espino – Quiambao

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

BAYAMBANG, Pangasinan – The billionaire-mayor of this progressive first class town confidently forecasted the Espino political family and their allies will lose the governorship race of Pangasinan because of the economic lethargy of the province under their helm, the toughest odds they presently face from the opposition's party, and the absence of incriminating issues they can exploit against Congressman Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III.

“All the way iyon all the way iyan hindi na mapipigil iyan. Ang bandwagon ngayon clamor for change andoon e. Bale ito na ang panahon baka katululad nila Bayani (Fernando, Mayor of Marikina City) after 15 years napalitan. Masyado na silang long staying. So, I hope nakita naman ng mga taga Pangasinan kung ano ang nagawa nila in 15 years,” Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao told this newspaper before the start of E-Agro meeting with the town’s farmers held here recently.

BILLIONAIRE HIZZONER Cezar T. Quiambao (left of photo and clockwise), 5^th District Congressman and governorship candidate Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III, and former Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. Espino is the patriarch of the Espinos’ political family that dominate the almost two million voters’ rich province for 15 years. 

Quiambao, who is the financier of Guico, forecasted a 60-40 percent equation in favor of the governorship candidate against reelectionist Governor Amado “Pogi” Espino, III.

This year ‘s poll, he continued, is the toughest for the Espinos since former Governor Amado T. Espino, Jr. and his son and namesake the present governor defeated former Governor Victor and his spouse Dr. Jamie Eloise, ex-Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, former 5^th District Congressman Mark Cojuangco, and ex-1^st District Rep. Art Celeste.

“Kami nagsamasama lahat. Sino ang kakampi nila ngayon? Lahat ng pinagkaka-utangan nila ng loob nag samasama,” he said in the vernacular how they conspired to defeat this year the Espinos whose patriarch was once their allies.

Since the time Amado, Jr. defeated Dr. Agbayani in the former first foray in the governorship in 2007 and decking out the other opposition candidates against him and his son for the governorship's diadem with hundreds of thousands of lead votes for each of them, this is the first time Quiambao - with his massive financial resources - dips his finger in the provincial election by supporting Guico and helps defeat Espino in the highest elective post in the forty four towns and three cities' Pangasinan.

In the first caucus of the opposition called Aguila held last year in the residence of Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) and Presidential Adviser for Northern Luzon Secretary Raul Lambino in Mangaldan, he pledged hundreds of millions of pesos - according to a source in conditioned of anonymity - to boost up the political machinery of Guico whose hustings with Cojuangco and Quiambao saw them use with gusto their two-engine Bell Helicopter and two Robinsons - 44 choppers in the colossal province.

The business tycoon was one of the few individuals who persuaded former 5^th District Congressman Cojuangco to change his residence to the 2^nd District and challenged Espino’s scion Rep. Jumel Anthony Espino for the congressional crown of the central Pangasinan district. This strategy is to disrupt the financial resources of the Espinos to weaken them in this election.

Quiambao and Guico count allies the come-backing 1^st District Rep. Celeste, come-backing 3^rd District Congresswoman Maria Rachel Arenas, 5^th District congressional candidate Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico, Jr. – the namesake and father of the governorship bet and significant numbers of mayors and those candidates for the same post in the province.

Author in a huddle with billionaire-mayor Cezar T. Quiambao (left photo) and governorship candidate Cong. Ramon “Monmon” Guico, III before and after the E-Agro meeting in Bayambang, Pangasinan. E-Agro is the brainchild of Quiambao where farmers in his town can borrow money online with minuscule interest and no collateral to prop-up their economic well-being.

Quiambao assailed in this interview the Espinos by running poorly the huge province for 15 years.

“Kung talagang mahal nila ang probinsiya magsakripisyo sila. Hindi iyong pang pagpayaman. Kawawa ang probinsiya. Ano ang pinagmamalaki ng Pangasinan ngayon? Wala! Di ba? Iniwanan tayo”.

The odds favor Guico because the Espino camp could not see corruption issues that could prejudice his political stocks.

“Wala sila ngayong issue. Ini-issue nila ako hindi naman ako kandidato na hahahaha!”.

He lauded Cojuangco's campaign performances against Rep. Espino as the election nears. He said the survey saw Espino leading by a measly six to seven points only. It showed that the young solon is beatable.

He said “tapos na ang election sa Bayambang” (insinuation that Espino and his allies have already been defeated here) just like what he did to them in the 2019 election.

“Tapos na dito sa Bayambang, 18-0 ang labanan dito,” he said about his candidates from the presidency to the councillorship that will be voted overwhelmingly by his constituents here.

Former Governor Espino and Quiambao were high school classmate and political allies when the latter financially backed him and lent him his choppers when he ran against Dr. Jamie Eloise Agbayani and her come backing governorship spouse Victor Agbayani.

The fall-out ensued when Espino supported the bid of former Bayambang Mayor Ricardo Camacho – a trusted ally of Espino – to reclaim his post against Quiambao in the 2019 election.

MEANWHILE, Guico downplayed the survey this newspaper reported that he got 20% against 80% of the votes in the one city and four towns’ 4^th Congressional District.

“Bakit noong naglaban kami ni Espine (nickname of former Governor Espino) twenty percent lang ako si Spine ay 80% pero nanalo pa rin ako?” he said on the commissioned poll furnished to this newspaper weeks before the May 13, 2019 congressional election where he shocked the province by beating in a hair-thin lead the Espinos’ patriarch Amado, Jr. – considered the shrewdest politician this behemoth province produces.

When asked by this writer about the expensive five 15 and 30 seconds daily political advertisement air on the prime time afternoon news of the Balitang Amianan – Regional TV and how much he pays for them, he said the barrage of infomercials allow him to be known to the almost two million voters of Pangasinan and just nudge to this writer the direction of Mayor Quiambao insinuating the latter pay for them.

The family of Quiambao owned the profit churning Stradom, Land Registration Systems, Inc., and other investments in and out of the country.

 The visionary businessman created the Philippines’s first infrastructure Public-Private Partnership project (known too as the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT), the toll gated $514-million (P26.2 billion) Metro Manila Skyway project and its complement the $57-million (P2.9 billion) Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) tollway that resulted in an unprecedented economic boom in areas south of Metro Manila. It eased up also the inconveniences of vehicle owners brought by the monstrous traffic in the metropolis.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Cojuangco - Guico Use Plane to Win Espinos’ Friendly Kapitans

Guico, Quiambao and their Quest of the Capitol

 

POLITICAL STAKEHOLDERS.Political Columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza rub elbows in Bayambang with the major stars of the Opposition Party in the 2.1 million vote-rich mammoth Pangasinan province. Governorship candidate and 5th District Congressman Monmon Guico and his financier Billionaire Bayambang Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao. They discuss in a huddle the dynamics of their hustings versus Governor Pogi Espino and allies several weeks before the May 9 Election. 

You can access Ortigoza's Op-Ed Article on these meetings at mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and

 mortzcortigoza.blogspot.com. 

Posting at his Facebook account will resume on Wednesday.

Sayang ni Veto ni Duterte ang Pupuksa sana sa mga Trolls

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 “Buhay pa rin ang mga trolls dahil dito!” ang shout-out ko sa aking post sa Facebook kamakailan noong makita ko ang news sa isang pahayagan na ni veto ni President Rodrigo Duterte ang SIM Card Registration Act.

Itong Act ay magbigay wakas sana sa mga mobile phone, internet, o electronic communication initiated criminalities at paglubo ng mapamuksa at mapanirang troll.

Ang dahilan sa pagsalungat ni Presidente Duterte ng matagal na sanang natapos na panukala na ito ay ang pagsingit ni Senator Franklin Drilon ng pagbigay ng bawat SIM user ng totoong pangalan nila sa social media gaya ng Facebook at Twitter.

A TROLL prepares to vent his vitriol to his defenseless victims. Photo credit: Mdlaw.com

Ani acting Presidential Spokesperson Martin Andanar: Hindi kasali iyon sa original version ng bill at kailangan pa ng masusing pag aaral ayon kay Duterte.

Dapat malaman, ani Drilon, ang tunay ng pangalan ng gumagamit ng social media at ng kanilang phone number para mawala na ang “anonymity” na kung saan nagtatago ang mga fake accounts ng mga users.

Itong bill na ito ay magbigay tuldok sana sa mga maliligayang araw ng mga trolls at mapapadali ang pag bigay solusyon sa dami ng reklamo sa pamamagitan ng cyber libels.

May panakulang parusa ang Act na ito na hindi baba sa “six years imprisonment, or a fine of up to P200,000, or both” sa sino mang gagamit ng fictitious identity sa binili nilang SIM (subscriber identity module) at paglagay ng pekeng pangalan sa social media.

Hindi ko maarok kung bakit inayawan ni Presidente Duterte ang magandang batas na ito.

Ang veto niya ay puwedeng e “over-turn” o kontrahin ng two-third votes ng Senate at House of Representatives para tuluyan maging batas  itong anti-troll bill kahit wala ang kanyang pirma ayon sa Section 27 (1) ng Article VI ng Constitution.

Pero dahil sa mayorya ng miyembro ng Congress ay kaalyado ng Presidente, nakikinita kong sa kangkungan ang bagsak nitong panukala.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

Trolls: Politicians Deadly Weapons to Destroy theirEnemies

Alaala ng BIR Chief sa Yumaong Cong. Charlie Cojuangco

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan – Hindi makalimutan ng hepe ng Bureau of Internal Revenue sa eastern Pangasinan si namayapang Tarlac Congressman Charlie Cojuangco, 58.

Ani Revenue District Office No. 6 Chief Maria Bernadette Mangaoang – na kasalukuyang naka base dito - humihingi siya ng lupang donasyon sa Paniqui, Tarlac na papatayuan sana nila ng BIR office doon noong siya pa ang hepe.

Si Mangaoang ay RDO No. 17-B Chief ng BIR Tarlac noong 2020.

Hawak niya ang mga bayan ng San Manuel, Nau, Ramos, Pura, Gerona, Paniqui, Moncada, San Clemente, Camiling, Mayantoc, at Sta. Ignacia.

The spouses Tarlac Congressman Charlie and Czarina Maria “China” Jocson-Cojuangco (left, photo) and Eastern Pangasinan Bureau of Internal Revenue Chief Maria Bernadette Mangaoang.

“Kasi magaganda ang lupa kasi highway siya,” sabi ng hepe.

Hindi na nagawang e follow up ang lote ni Mangaoang dahil ikinasal si Cojuangco kay Czarina Maria “China” Jocson noong Oktubre 2021.

Ngunit sinabi ng Congressman kay Mangaoang na ipapaalam niya muna sa kanyang inang si Gretchen Oppen Cojuangco ang hinihiling na lupain ng BIR.

“Papaalam ko muna kay Mama kung pumayag siya,” sambit ng BIR chief sa sinabi ni Cojuangco.

Hindi niya nabalikan ang planong donasyon dahil siya ay lumipat na dito sa Urdaneta.

Si Cojuangco ay namatay noong Pebrero 22. Hinde sinabi ng kanyang doctor ang dahilan ng kanyang pagpanaw pero noong Oktubre ng nakaraang taon siya ay nakitaan ng brain aneurysm.

“I loved my brother,” ani dating Pangasinan Congressman Mark Cojuangco sa kanyang Facebook post sa kanyang nakakabatang kapatid.

Sambit pa ni Mark, sa funeral mass ni Charlie sa Tarlac, ipagpapatuloy niyang maging “best man” kahit siya ay nagyao na. Ang una ay best man ni Charlie sa kasal niya kay China noong Oct. 10, 2021 sa San Sebastian Cathedral  sa Tarlac City.

Dagdag pa ng nakakatandang kapatid, nakita ng pamilya Cojuangco kung gaano kasaya si Charlies noong naging mag-asawa sila ni China.

 Ang dalawang Cojuangco ay anak ng yumaong dating San Miguel Corporation Chairman at dating Tarlac Governor Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, Jr.

Ani ni Mangaoang bukod sa planong hinging lupain ng mga Cojuangco merong donor na nagbigay ng 1, 200 square meters’ lot sa BIR sa Gerona.

Aniya maganda rin doon kasi may plano ang SM Investments Corporation na magpatayo ng mall nila sa lupang nabili ng korporasyon.

Giit pero ni Mangaoang na mas maganda ang Paniqui dahil plastado na ang tax office doon.

Sinabi pa niya na baka makasali sa government center ang BIR- Tarlac pag natuloy ang plano ni  Gerona Mayor Eloy C. Eclar.

“Si Mayor Eclar nag open na din ng lupa. Kasi may gagawin siyang government center. O di madami ng lupa?,” ani Mangaoang sa writer na ito.

Kumpara sa mga loteng sinabi ni Mangaoang mas malaki  pa rin ang lupang donasyon ni Pozurrubio Vice Mayor Ernesto Go sa BIR RDO-6 dito sa Urdaneta kaysa doon sa binibibay sa Tarlac.

Si Go – isang malaking negosyante dito - ay nagbigay ng 2,000 square meters sa gobyerno para gamitin ng RDO-6 dito.

Can the De Venecias, Ex-Dagupan Mayor Subvert the Vaunted Marcos’ Solid North?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I thought that after the camp of presidential bet Leni Robredo left the huge concrete open space – host of the 76,000 crowd - of CSI mall owned by the family of former Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez, I told my wife and son Jigger – while we were struck around 11 pm of April 8 in the muddy parking space near the highway – that Robredo’s party would be spending the night in a hotel at the coastal city.

“She’s weary doing hustings in Bani and Villasis (towns in Pangasinan) and addressed the 1,600 students and staff of the University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City the whole day,” I said.

The following morning, my mole in the camp of former five-time Speaker Joe de Venecia told me the convoy of the presidential bet had midnight dinner at the house of the rabble rousing Speaker in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, Dagupan City before motoring the more than an hour rides to Tarlac City.

Through the intercession there of the De Venecias (Speaker Joe, Missus former solon Manay Gina, and incumbent Congressman Toff) she met the 140 barangay chairmen (village chiefs) of the one city and four towns’ Fourth Congressional District. The District is the perennial citadel of the De Venecias.

PANGASINAN 4^TH DISTRICT POLITICAL KINGPIN former House Speaker Joe de Venecia (extreme left, photo), son Congressman Christopher and spouse Manay Gina (2^nd and 1^st from right, photo) raised the hands of presidential candidate Leni Robredo in a colossal assembly of supporters from various parts of the 2.1 million voting strong Pangasinan province that converged at the open space of the CSI mall owned by the family of former Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez.

“The backing of the De Venecias will frustrate the three provinces Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union in Region-1 because Pangasinan goes for Leni,” my spy said.

I told him the almost 1.5 million registered voters of the three Ilocano speaking provinces are dwarfed compared to Pangasinan’s almost 2.1 million registered voters where Ilocano and Pangasinenses divide the demography.

“Walang Solid North,” my errand boy Procopio Matulis quipped when he told me about the De Venecias and former Mayor Belen valiant decision to go against the customary sentiment of the people in the Ilocos Region (another name of Region 1).

Manay Gina by the way is a Bicolana like Leni. Does her support has something to do with regionalism or a careful tactical political move by the De Venecias as my source wanted me to believe?

The region has 3,546,764 registered voters (Comelec 2022 data taken from the 2,096, 936 voters of Pangasinan (including the independent component city’s Dagupan), 538, 730 voters of La Union, 476, 984 voters of Ilocos Sur, and 434, 114 voters of Ilocos Norte.

PRESIDENTIAL BET – who is the current Vice President of the Philippines - Leni Robredo (right, photo) and Dagupan mayoralty candidate former Mayor Belen T. Fernandez. Fernandez and the political family of former House Speaker Joe de Venecia wanted to pierce the vaunted Solid North’s voting myth of the family of the late Ilocano Dictator Ferdinand Marcos by exhorting voters to support the presidential bid of Robredo – a Bicolana. 

After the rally in Dagupan City and spending the night in Tarlac, Robredo and slate (like Senatorial bets and bitter enemies’ Antonio Trillanes and Dick Gordon – I had a brush with the brash solon Big Dick before the start of the assembly that is now viral and expected to hit a million views at Facebook -  have gargantuan rally in the nearby Pampanga province on the dusk of that day. That rally – according to the police – showed 220, 000 yelling, shoving, and jostling Ka-Pampangans who attended that sea of humanity. 

“Hinde iyan sibuyas lasona (small onions) iyan!” my columnist in Northern Watch Newspaper and pro-Marcos’ Prof. Arnel Montemayor whose nom de plume is Munting Isko cried at FB hahaha when he saw the Pampanga’s Kakam-Pinks crowd.

***

A few days before the mammoth rally outside the CSI stadia and malls ensued, a mayor told me that he and another Hizzoner were badgered by Manay Gina at her residence in the coastal barangay Bunuan Binloc to join the Leni and Kiko Pangilinan’s rally.

“Sinabi ko naman kay Manay na hinde puwede kasi pinsan ko sila Marcos pero mapilit kaya papupuntahin ko na lang si misis ko doon,” he lamented.

Other hizzoners I saw there (Geez, I was near the stage and had even dinner and interviews with 1Sambayan Convenor former Supreme Court Justice Tony Carpio and ex-Ombudsman Conchita Morales inside the Stadia) were Calasiao, Binmaley, and San Manuel, Pangasinan Mayors Joseph Bauzon, Sam Rosario -who smarted Dictator Marcos jailed him - and Kenneth Marco Perez, respectively.

The other mayor told him to just ride with the wish of the matriarch of the political kingpin of the Fourth District so she would not chide them.

Instead, the De Venecia got the chiding from the avid supporters of Marcos when the family raised the hands of Robredo in the stage as the multitude in Dagupan City chanted.

Former Congressman and congressional candidate of the First District Art Celeste called the De Venecias as “has been” diminishing political force.

"In 2016, they (de Venecias) who (sic) were with the Liberal Party campaigned hard for Mar Roxas (for President and Leni Robredo for Vice President, but they (Mar-Leni) lost miserably in Pangasinan despite the massive resources of the 'yellows' then," former First District Cong. Art Celeste, who is making a congressional comeback, told Manila Times.

He recalled that even the party-list Inang Mahal of former representative Gina de Venecia did not garner substantial votes in the mammoth province.

"She (Gina) is a Bicolana like Leni Robredo who doesn't care, feel and think like the Ilocanos and Pangasinenses do," Celeste said.

Congressman Toff de Venecia was booed too by the thousands of supporters in the Leni Rally when he acknowledged and thanked President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Bong Go.

De Venecia’s congressional rival lawyer Alvin Fernandez assailed him on his April 9 Facebook’s post: “He is now supporting the two opposing Mayors of Dagupan and is also in both their official line up. I am very happy that he is now supporting Leni although he has also been attending and supporting the other (rival Bongbong Marcos). Siya lang po nakakaalam sino sa huli ang pipiliin niyang Mayor at sino sa huli ang pipiliin niyang Presidente".

De Venecia and his mother Gina were in the Bongbong Marcos’ rally in February 27, 2022 held in Dagupan City, according to a news report.

Drone shots of the 76,000-strong “Kakampink” crowd in Dagupan City, Pangasinan during the Robredo-Pangilinan tandem’s grand rally. That’s more than double the size of the crowd when front runner Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. held a rally in the same city in February 27, 2022. Photo Credit: Rappler.com

In the March 17-21, 22022 poll of Pulse Asia, it showed that Robredo’s rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. got 56% while Leni notched to 24%.

But with the 9% spike of the poll stocks of Robredo and 4% decline of Marcos from the same pollster’s February 18-23, 2022 survey, Pulse Asia President Ronald Holmes opined that the Bicolana had found the silver bullet - how to swell public opinion in her favor. They are the gargantuan rallies that started first in the March 20, 2022 130,000 supporters’ Pasig rally and her other colossal assemblies, and the house-to-house strategy.

In an interview with "The Chiefs" over Cignal TV's One News, Holmes said sustaining the rise of Robredo will depend on what her campaign will do in the following weeks.

Holmes attributed Robredo's rise in the latest Pulse Asia survey to the different tactics that her team has adopted since the start of the campaign period, including the holding of large rallies and the media coverage that it received.

While the decline of support for Marcos was not statistically significant, Holmes said it is different in the case of Robredo. She saw a rise among supporters in most areas and across all socioeconomic sectors covered by the poll.

MY PROGNOSIS: Come the next scientific survey in April 20 - that could go public in May 1 – that could show Robredo spikes her March 17-21 to another 15 % then she wins the May 9 presidential derby. Failure to get that figure, she losses while Marcos wins.

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