BIR Central, Eastern P’sinan Order to Collect P8.3-B

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan - With a positive collection performance last year, the two offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in central and eastern Pangasinan will have a projected collection goal of P8,270,419,161 if the 15 percent additional target is added on its last year collection.

This was what Region-1 Director Josephine S. Virtucio told the six Revenue District Office chiefs in the region.

Camba (left, photo) and Serafica.

As tax goal this year, Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Aldrin Camba told Northern Watch Newspaper that after he collected P4, 938, 419, 711.56  from January 3 to December 29, 2022, the more or less 15% increase will be P5, 679, 182,668.

RDO No. 6 Chief Eden R. Serafica collected last year P2,253, 249, 125.13 on top of the tax goal of P2,174, 926, 000. It means she will collect P2, 591, 236, 493 as based on the 15% tax add-on.

“15% so far sa ngayon. 15% ang sinasabi ni Regional Director namin. Pero wala pa kasi hindi sila naglabas ng allocation (inaudible),” Camba said.

Serafica oversees one city and fifteen municipalities in eastern Pangasinan while Camba supervises two cities and fourteen towns in central Pangasinan.

Earlier, BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr. told the RDO chiefs of the country in a convention in Manila that the tax target for each of them this year would be more or less 12 percent.

When asked about the lower cap on the goal instead of the customary 18 percent being imposed every year, Camba cited the consideration of the country’s gross domestic product, inflation, and other.

“Maraming ni consider. Saka iyong spending ng government iyong mga expenditures kasi iyang mga goal natin based sa program ng expenditures ng government,” he explained.

He agreed with the observation of this writer that the 12 percent and 15 percent additional increase ensued because government had a big saving because the national tax allotment (NTA) (the successor of the internal revenue allotment) was significantly reduced as allocation to each of the local government units (LGUs).

These LGUs are the barangays, towns, cities, and provinces of the country.

As Local Government Code mandates, the allotment of the LGUs from the taxes collected by the BIR and other government agencies are based in the last three years. For example, the NTA this year is based on the collection in year 2020 – a year where the country was reeling with the economic crunches because of the scourge of the Corona Virus Disease-19.”

“Collection namin certain percentages binibigay sa mga LGUs,” Camba cited.

Because of the rule that governed the NTA, the LGU of the province of Pangasinan saw its allotment reduced significantly by P700, 000, 000 this year.

 

 

Golden Age of Manaoag - Mayor

 Spate of Investors

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANAOAG, Pangasinan -  The spate of investors and a modern infrastructure project from the provincial government coming here were cited by the mayor as the golden age of the pilgrimage town.

“Investors are coming in. I see Manaoag now as its golden era dahil nandito na ang mga investors,” Mayor Jeremy Agerico Rosario told Northern Watch Newspaper.

These investors have been here, started to break ground, and signified their intention to put shop.

He said these development jibe with his administration economics strategy to create opportunities here where the people could have jobs after the pilgrims and devotees of the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag patronized the recreational activities, checked in to the hotels here, and enmeshed themselves with other draws this central Pangasinan town offers.

“Pero the challenge namin, lahat pamalagi muna ng mas matagal after hearing mass after saying novena dito muna (sila) para gumastos. The longer they stay here katumbas niyan is hanap buhay at kita”.

ALREADY HERE

There are already hotels here while the second biggest mall of the CSI Group of Company based in Dagupan City had branched up here four months ago. Memorial parks like Golden Haven - owned by the Villar Group and Companies -, Paradise, and Forrest Lake are already in this landlocked town.

COMING HERE

Businessmen Joey de Venecia – the son of former Speaker Joe de Venecia – brought at the office of the mayor the top executives of the Sta. Lucia Reality & Development Corportation when they presented a master plan on their planned business venture here.

Out of the more or less 42 hectares owned by the descendants of former House Speaker  Eugenion P. Perez -  the maternal family of Joey de de Venecia, the Sta. Lucia Reality & Development Corporation will build in Barangay Baritao a housing project with a lagoon perched on a five –hectare land.

“May activity na boating and fishing para may gagawin iyong tao”.

 Rosario said a huge mansion owned by a retired air force Colonel in Brgy. Sapang is being converted into a countless bedroom’s hotel.

The first term's mayor said the provincial government under Governor Ramon Guico, III will be building a common bus terminal here.

 “Gagawa ng common bus terminal saka gagawa kami ng daan hoping sa likod ng Central School. We will be traversing the school to accommodate more vehicles sa likod”.

The terminal is one of the three of the P1 billion Pangasinan East-West Expressway (PEWEX) – North Alignment Terminals. The fund will be taken from the P6 billion Omnibus Term Loan Facility where the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (legislature) authorized Guico to contract with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

PLANS

He said a bill in Congress is pending on the proposed plan to build a five-hectare Libingan ng Bayani in Northern Luzon at the 32 hectares Camp Tito Abat in this central Pangasinan town.

“Kasi meron din sa South Cebu ata kasi sa Manila punong puno na close to 55, 000 ang nailibing doon”.

He is looking too to the proposal of 4^th District Cong. Christopher de Venecia to build a vertical multi-level edifice parking spaces to mitigate the vehicular traffic here.

Rosario said there are 54, 000 to 55, 000 pilgrims that visit here a week.

Department of Tourism’s Region-1 Director Joseph Francisco Ortega told this newspaper that there were 8, 000, 000 tourists that visited the town in 2019.

MAYOR BECKONS!

“More to come in Manaoag. If you’re an investor open ang bayan ng Manaoag. This is the Golden Era of Manaoag,” Rosario, a surgeon by profession, beckons.

Is Azurin a Weak Police Chief?

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I could only shake my head in dismay as I watched the bald headed Senator Ronald dela Rosa tried his two hands to pull a hair on his head in vain as he chided repulsive Police Senior Master Sergeant Jerrywin Rebosora and Police Master Sergeant Lorenzo Catarata who should be a hero but preferred to be a heel after they looted the 42 kilos of the almost one ton shabu (meth) hoard. 

DESPICABLE COPS

The two slime balls were part of the raiding team who seized from Police Msgt. Rodolfo Mayo a 990 kilos or P6.7 billion of meth in the building’s Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. - owned by Mayo - in Tondo, Manila after it was raided by his colleagues in the Philippines Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) in October 8, 2022.

CASHIERED Police Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo who was nabbed by his fellow anti-narco cops  in a sting operation. He was later found to possess an almost one ton of shabu (meth) in his building in Tondo, Manila.

“Akala natin kayo na nakahuli na nag operate kayo na ang hero dahil nahuli na ninyo ang bad guy si Mayo ang villain. Kayo ang hero dahil kayo ang nakahuli tapos ninakaw pala ninyo iyong 42 kilos na iyan – ano ang tawag sa inyo?” the former Director of the Philippine National Police lamented. 

The two rogue cops who were not only liable for the non-bailable Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (Republic Act No. 6425) – geez 50 grams or more, the law says, is life imprisonment - but would have to deal a perpetual reputation before the eyes of the public as thieves, too.

JAILED FOR CONTEMPT

They have been thrown to the slammer of the Senate after Senator Raffy Tulfo filed a motion to cite them with contempt and approved by the members of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs chaire by Dela Rosa after they were caught lying.

The audacity of Mayo became a puzzle to the Filipinos who believed that there was a General behind the chutzpah of a mere Sergeant whom Senator dela Rosa insinuated that he could not be alone on this “isang toneladang shabu (one ton of meth).

NARCO COPS

Despite the failure of the hierarchy of the Philippines National Police under Director General Rodolfo Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. to unmask the top brass, Lt. Colonel Arnulfo Ibañez - the one who handpicked Msgt. Mayo from Jolo to join him in the Spe­cial Operations Unit (SOU) of the PDEG - National Capital Region (NCR) - was there in the hearing.

 Ibañez – the former chief of SOU-NCR - tried to elude the posers of Dela Rosa if he was once a Ninja Cop or under the drug watch like Mayo when the take-no-prisoners’ president Rodrigo Duterte threw to war torn Mindanao those police enlisted men and officers who conspired with the narco peddlers.

It could be recalled Ibanez was assigned in PDEG-Pampanga in 2016 where he was arrested by the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Banawe, Quezon City.

He was accused allegedly by the PDEA of harboring big-time Chinese drug dealers in furtherance of their illegal activities.

 The almost one-ton shabu hoard was suspected to come from their raid in Zambales and Pampanga

Those seized in Zambales in September 2021 came from the Chinese-led syndicate who smuggled over a ton of high-grade through the so-called “shipside smuggling method”.

Several Chinese nationals involved in the major drug smuggling try were killed during that operation.

Those in Pampanga came from a sting operation against two Chinese nationals – Dela Rosa said the police freed – that netted some 500 kilograms of the meth worth P3.4 billion.

MARCOS ADMIN A SISSY ON THE DRUG WAR

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos - how it deals with the narco cops - looks like a sissy to the brutal Duterte Administration in his early term where the world saw 12,000 dead (Human Rights Watch) in horror.

The capers of Mayo, Rebosora, Catarata and Ibanez could not be imagined to ensue under the two-fisted Tombstone’s Sheriff in Duterte otherwise they would be a cadaver with a bullet hole on the head.

Since Marcos abhors the earth scorched approach of Duterte and prefers to toe the humane law of the land, the former could only mollify the grievances of the Pinoys by exhorting General Azurin to expedite the sleuthing as he would be retiring next month. 

NARCO STATE

I could only pray that our pathetic country under Marcos would not plunge into a Narco State like Colombia during the time of Pablo Escobar and the present Mexico where operatives of the drug cartel in the City of Culiacán, Sinaloa even attacked government security forces that arrested Cartel Boss Ovidio Guzmán who is the son of the ruthless Joaquín  “El Chapo” Guzmán –  the U.S jailed boss of the Sinaloa Drug Cartel.

Ovidio was arrested in October 2019 but was released on the orders of Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to avoid further bloodshed as the cartel came to his rescue with dump trucks armed with 50 caliber machine guns and armed men who shoot out with the beleaguered police and military. They even damaged, susmariosep, two combat helicopters of the government as countless military choppers joined the melee.

Last year, Ovidio Guzman and 21 cartel members were arrested in the City of Culiacán, Sinaloa.

At least 19 suspected gang members and 10 military personnel died during that violent clashes to perpetuate the apprehension.

The cartels - not only the Sinaloa - are well entrenched because they have the military and the police in their payroll. Tens of millions of Americans patronized the dangerous drugs sold by the cartels. Seventy percent of the narcs like meth sold worldwide came from the Sinaloa.  

Mexico Interior Minister Olga Sanchez Cordero told Foreign Correspondent TV that the specialized Guardia Nacional replaced the corrupt police in the country to fight the cartels.

DELA ROSA CALLS THE COPS WEAK

Without the culprits expose on the almost 1,000 kilos of meth seized in Tondo, it would only show Azurin as a weakling police chief. Dela Rosa - cited before the police under Azurin were “malamya (weak)”.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

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.

Sta. Barbara Recipient of P173-M from DILG

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

STA. BARBARA, Pangasinan – The 29 villages first class town here became a beneficiary of a P173, 000, 000 from the Department of Interior & Local Government (DILG) for the rehabilitation of the three damaged slope protections of a dike.

STA. BARBARA Mayor Lito Zaplan.

According to the Chief of Staff of the Office of the Mayor Sherwin Pioquinto, the three slope protections are located in Barangay Maningding and in Brgy. Poblacion Norte. The latter village host two of the slopes that would be repaired.

The river of this town passed by these two barangays.

The sum given to this thriving town is probably the biggest released by the DILG to a local government unit in the four cities and forty –four towns’ Pangasinan.

Pioquinto said that it was the municipality’s DILG Chief Roger Amian who requested for the funds in the regional office in San Fernando City, La Union.

“Pumunta dito ang mga taga region ng DILG ni validate ni check nila iyong dikes,” told by Pioquinto to Northern Watch Newspaper.

 

Hanggang June 14 na lang ang Estate Tax Amnesty - BIR

MAGBAYAD NA KAYO!

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Nanawagan ang mataas na opisyal ng Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) sa mga namatayan ng kamag-anak na magbayad na hangang June 14 ng kanilang Estate Tax para maiwasan ang multa.

“Once you’ll not avail of that katakot-takot na penalties. Same kung matagal ng namatay kung ilang taon na siya so malaking penalty,” ani Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Aldrin Camba.

Aniya dapat mailipat na sa pangalan ng tagapagmana ang pagaari ng sumakabilang buhay para maiwasan ang katakot takot na multa.

Ang Estate Tax ay karapatan ng namatay na ilipat ang kanyang pag-aari sa kanyang tagapagmana at benepesyaro at ibang paraan ng paglipat ng kanyang karapatan pag siya ay namatay na.

Ani Camba ang Amnesty na ito ay  nawalan ng bisa sana noong nakaraang taon at ang extention ngayong taon ay malaking tulong sa bulsa ng mga kapuspalad nating mga kababayan.

Dagdag pa ng mataas na opisyal na ang bayarin lamang sa ilalimn ng Estate Tax Amnesty (ETA) ay ang basic fee.

Kadalasan, ang hindi nakapagbayad na taxpayer ay minumultahan ng twenty-five percent surcharge, twenty percent interest per year at compromise penalty, ayon sa National Internal Revenue Code.

Sa ilalim ng Republic Act No. 11213 or the “Tax Amnesty Act”, executors, administrators, legal heirs, o mga beneficiaries ay may hanggang two (2) years lang sa pagiging epektibo ng Implementing Rules and Regulations ng nasabing batas o hanggang June 15, 2021 para mapakinabangan ang ETA. Pero ang hinding inaasahang pandemya ng corona virus -19 (COVID-19) at ang mga mabibigat na quarantine protocols ay naging dahilan para mahirapan ang mga taxpayers.

Ito ay naging rason para ang Kongreso ay magpasa ng extension habang ang gobyerno ay naghahanap ng mga pinagmumulan na mga buswis para patatagin ang kanyang kinokoleta sa mga tao.

Dahil dito ang pagbayad ng ETA ay pinahaba hanggang June 14, 2023 nakabatay sa amended Republic Act No. 11569 and per Revenue Regulations (RR) No. 17-2021 na ni-issue ng BIR noong August 3, 2021.

P’sinan Top Cop Bares Deeds and Thrusts

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The police honcho of the mammoth province of Pangasinan bares his accomplishment and thrusts to the media how to maintain the peace and order of the more than three million people he and his men are tasked to secure.

Provincial Police Office (PPO) Director Col. Jeff E. Fanged said that the focus crimes the police locked horns declined last year.

“Lahat ng focus crime natin homicide, rape, physical injuries, robberies bumaba compared noong mga nakaraang taon”.

LOOSE FIREARMS

He wanted his men to focus on the serenity of the campaign period and the election day of the 2023 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) as he pressed them this early to seize those loose firearms that could be used on the October 30, 2023 election.

“Iyon ang mga pinatutukan ko sa ating mga operatiba na chiefs of police naka concentrate sila ngayon sa pag apply ng search warrant at pagpapa surrender doon sa mga unlicensed and expired firearms”.

The ceaseless applications of search warrants of the law enforcers and call to those people to surrender their illegally owned firearms were his response to the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Department of Interior & Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos, Jr. after several high ranking provincial officials have been ambushed and killed recently.

The police have been assessing, too, the threats to politicians in the province for their safety. 

PRIVATE ARMED GROUP

Aside from two criminal gangs, there are no Private Armed Group (PAG) in Pangasinan.

He cited that the gangs that are guns for hire have been identified and their members have already issued warrant of arrest because of the felonies they committed. The action of the PPO against these groups are relentless so they could not be used in the forthcoming BSKE.

Some of the members of these syndicates were either killed, jailed, or in hiding.

He said hired killers like cashiered police and military men in the province come  from other places

NARCOTICS

Heeding the marching order of Pangasinan Governor Ramon Guico, III, Fanged is incessant on the campaign against illegal drugs in the province.

He deplored how narcotics sprout like mushrooms before when the law enforcers slackened their vigilance.

“Kasi na-observe natin pag nag relax tayo parang kabote iyan na mabilis dumami," quipped by the highly decorated class 1999 graduate of the Philippine National Police Academy.

THE EDITOR of Northern Watch Newspaper rubbed elbows in a dinner with the police top brass of the gargantuan province's Pangasinan in the recent Pindang (cured beef) Festival of burgeoning town's Mangaldan. Top photo fom -left-to- right: Intelligence Chief (Cops call it S-2) Lt. Col. Arvin Jacob, Northern Watch Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Mortz Ortigoza, Police Provincial Director Col. Jeff Fanged, Chief of Provincial Operations and Management Unit  Lt. Col. Jerome Wangkey, Deputy Director for Administration Lt. Col. Ricky Cabisola, and Deputy Director for Operation Lt. Col. Resty Santos.  

ILLEGAL GAMBLING LAW

He said the police even apprehended those who abet gambling during the wake.

He said the bereaved members of the family and devious individuals use the dead as front to attract gamblers to patronize their racket which is punishable under Republic Act No. 9287 or an act that increase the penalties of gambling in the Philippines.

The police even confiscated paraphernalia of the color games offered by the perya (carnival) in various towns in the province.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

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.

Would the 2 Judges Order Anytime Bantag Arrest?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Now that the government has indicted in the two Regional Trial Courts suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag and his deputy security officer’s Superintendent Ricardo Zulueta for the double murder in Las Pinas City of scathing broadcaster Percy Lapid and at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa's jailbird Jun Villamor, we citizens would see how the Judges of the two courts appreciate the two Information/Resolutions of the national prosecution office. 

SUSPENDED Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) Director General Gerald Bantag (seated, photo) is seen in one of the social activities he attended after the October 3, 2022 assassination of fire breathing radio commentator Percy Lapid. Bantag is being blamed on the murder of Lapid.

Would they uphold them and issue a warrant of arrest for Bantag and Zulueta, seize them and locked them up in the calaboose and threw the key somewhere for the nonbailable heinous crimes they consummated? Or would they just zero on Zulueta and exonerate Bantag? Zulueta allegedly commanded Iwahig, Palawan prisoner Denver Mayores who ordered Alvin Labra, Aldrin Galicia and Christopher Peñaredonda — gang leaders at the NBP in Muntinlupa City - for the hit jobs of the broadcaster and Villamor. Villamor commissioned gunman Joel Escorial, Israel Dimaculangan, Edmond Dimaculangan, and an alias Orly. But Escorial after the cops arrested him - and with a promise for a witness protection program - rat on Villamor who was killed by those inmates I mentioned above after the news broke out that Escorial fingered Villamor.
These inmates who exposed Zulueta who ordered them to murder Villamor and Lapid have no direct evidence that Bantag was the principal by inducement.

Will the RTCs Issue the Warrant of Arrest to Bantag?

Remember, this is still part of the procedure on the evaluation of the Judge to either issue a warrant of arrest or dismiss the information/resolutions filed by the prosecutor.
It is another story for the trial proper in the RTC, the appeals of those accused - if convicted by the RTC - to the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court where they would wait up to ten years of litigation as based on the previous similar cases.
Would the Judges in RTCs in Las Pinas and Muntinlupa issue a warrant of arrest to Bantag based on the arguments of the government in the Resolution?
It says there that Bantag anchored on circumstantial evidences had a hand as principal by inducement in the conspiracy for the abominable acts.
“The plan of the respondents to kill them both, including its execution, was shown by the evidence for the complainants. The prosecution notes that the death of Villamor was intertwined with the death of Percival (Lapid) and that the death of the former was used to cover up the death of the latter,” according to the March 9 resolution approved by Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento.

They said the prisoners’ sworn statements “show a clear and direct line of communication” from Bantag to Zulueta to Mayores, who communicated with gang leader Labra, who then coordinated with Galicia, who eventually orchestrated Mabasa’s killing “through his gang members and their contacts outside, ultimately ending with gunman Joel Escorial and his group.”
The DOJ and DILG also said the “money trail” described by the convicts matched the bank transaction of Escorial, who claimed the reward for the murder of Mabasa was P550,000.
In summing up the resolution, the national prosecution under the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that there was “sufficient circumstantial evidence has been presented to establish that he (Bantag) masterminded the assassination of (Mabasa).”
It cited Rule 133, Section 4 of the 2019 Revised Rules on Evidence which provides that circumstantial evidence is sufficient for conviction if: (a) there is more than one circumstance; (b) the facts from which the interferences derived are proven; and (c) the combination of all circumstances is such as to produce a conviction beyond reasonable doubt.
“[T]he motive of the murder was also sufficiently described — the two videos uploaded by Percival (Lapid) about respondent Bantag and showing the latter’s house with a number of vehicles parked in front. The DOJ noted that the timing of the videos and the commencement of the planning of Percival’s (Lapid) assassination is not coincidental,” it added.

Trump Card of the “Swashbuckling” Bantag

The finding of the probable cause as it is being undertaken by the two judges on their evaluation of the information/resolution  so they can issue a warrant of arrest against him is his Trump Card No. 1. 

The litigation in the RTC, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the suspended BuCor Director General as based on the deftness of evidences of the national prosecution and how his defense lawyers controvert and rebut them will be a matter of appreciation based on the "proof beyond reasonable doubt" on the parts of the Judge and the Justices of the two appeal courts in case it reached there. It takes eight to ten years for the justices there to finally deal on the decision of the conviction in the RTC as seen on other previous similiar cases where the prisoner - who rots in the slammer - was seen eventually acquited because of the failure of the government to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. That's, salamabit, Trump Card No. 2. 

Bantag probably know this legal shield against the accused as he was seen “swashbuckling” in some public affairs - as the DOJ and the national prosecution office were enmeshed to buttress their cases against him - confident that he could be exculpated because there is nothing to link him directly to the murders unless Zulueta exposes him.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Follow

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.

Alan at Pia Tinulungan ang Inabusong Babae na Takasan ang Karelasyon

Sa ikalimang episode ng Cayetano in Action with Boy Abunda (CIA with BA), tinulungan nina Senador Alan Peter Cayetano at Senadora Pia Cayetano kung paano makawala sa isang relasyong abusado na may alitan pa tungkol sa pera.

Sa kuwento ni Fe (hindi niya tunay na pangalan) sa segment ng programa na ‘‘Case-2-Face,’ ibinahagi niya na humingi na siya ng tulong sa pulis at sa mga opisyal ng barangay upang protektahan siya sa sexual abuse na ginagawa ng kanyang kinakasamang si Bernie.

Binaligtad naman siya ni Bernie na sinabing ginagamit lang siya ni Fe, at inakusahan pa itong ibinulsa ang malaking bahagi ng kanyang naipon. Dahil magkaiba ang kani-kanilang kwento, pinaalalahan sila ni Kuya Alan na magsabi ng totoo. “Normal kasi na may maliit na inconsistencies. Having said that, mayroon kasing Latin term na ‘falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus’ at ang sinasabi nito ay ‘false in one thing, false in everything’ and it’s a technique to test someone’s credibility,” sabi ng Senador. Pinuna ni Kuya Alan ang alegasyon ni Bernie na walang pera si Fe bago sila magkakilala at itinakas diumano ang kanyang savings. Lumabas kasi sa programa na mayroong maliit na negosyo si Fe bago pa man mangyari ang lahat. “Ibig sabihin, sa napakalaking inconsistency sa sinabi mo, baka magiba ang ibang arguments,” sinabi ng senador. Mariin namang ipinaalala ni Ate Pia kay Bernie na wala dapat puwang ang karahasan laban sa kababaihan. “Kailangang tuldukan ang violence against women. Whether ikaw ay sexually or physically abused, kahit kayo ay nasa isang relasyon, posible pa rin na kayo ay ma-violate. So kapag sinabi ng babae sa iyo na ayoko niyan, ibig sabihin huwag mong gagawin sa akin iyan,” sabi ng senador. Ipinunto rin ni Ate Pia na mayroong Marital Rape Law ang bansa. “Kahit na mag-asawa, pwede ka pa rin kasuhan ng rape ng sarili niyang asawa. Kayo ay hindi kayo legal na mag-asawa, nagsama lang kayo, pero pasok pa rin iyan sa violence against women kung ang mga sinasabi mo talaga ay totoo,” aniya. Dahil hindi matuldukan ang mga isyu ng dating magkasintahan, sinabi ng mga Cayetano na dalhin na ang kaso sa korte. “Dapat matulungan natin sila na mabilis mahantong ito sa korte para matuldukan na ito. Dahil kung hindi, magbabalik-balik lang kayo sa barangay, sa mga kapitbahay, at mga kamag-anak ninyo,” giit ni Senator Alan. Kahit masalimuot ang mga napag-usapang kaso, masaya pa ring nagtapos ang programa sa ilang mga larong Pilipino kasama ang studio audience sa ‘Alan, Pia, Pik’ segment. Pinarangalan din nina Kuya Alan at Ate Pia ang isang grupo ng mga community educators sa 'Salamat’ segment. Ang Cayetano in Action with Boy Abunda – o CIA with BA for short – ay pagpapatuloy ng legacy ng yumaong ama ng mga senador na si Senator Rene Cayetano, na nakilala sa kanyang programa sa radyo at telebisyon na “Compañero y Compañera” na ipinalabas mula 1997 hanggang 2001 . Tulad ng kanilang ama, tinutugunan ngayon ng magkapatid ang pangangailangan ng mga tao para sa impormasyon at patnubay tungkol sa mga batas ng Pilipinas at kung paano ilalapat ang mga ito sa totoong sitwasyon sa buhay. Ang CIA with BA ay mapapanood tuwing Linggo, 11:30 ng gabi sa GMA, at may replay tuwing Sabado ng 10:30 ng gabi sa GTV. Manatiling nakatutok para sa mga update sa social media sa @cayetanoinactionwithboyabunda sa Facebook, Instagram, TikTok at Youtube.

Labrador Mayor Cites P400-M Yearly Benefits for Hosting Nuke

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

LABRADOR, Pangasinan – The mayor in this one of the poorest towns of Pangasinan cited the approximately P400 million a year business tax and other benefits incase its coastal municipality host a nuclear power plant proposed by the leadership of the country.

“Ito ginagawa ko lang dahil gusto kung umasenso rin ang buhay ng Labrador (I am doing this to make better the lives of the people of Labrador),” Mayor Ernesto Acain told Northern Watch Newspaper.

YES TO NUKE!: Top photo is  a picture of two nuclear power plants in Europe while photos below from left to right is Labrador, Pangasinan Mayor Ernesto Acain who advocates for a nuclear reactor in his fourth class town and Congress’s Committee on Nuclear Energy Chairman Pangasinan 2^nd District Rep. Mark Cojuangco.

The newly elected Mayor explained how one thousand of his constituents would be employed at the initial construction of a 1,000 megawatt plant and the up to ten or fifteen thousand Labradorians and outsiders would be employed in the almost ten years’ construction of the expensive power facility but environmental friendly. A nuclear power plant does not emit carbon dioxide like coal power plants.

“A minimum of 1000 taga Labrador kung full blast 10,000 to 15,000 people and in business tax sabi ko sa kanila approximately P400 million a year. Saan natin kukunin ang (ganoong) pera?”

Acain assured land owners whose real properties will be expropriated by the operator of the nuclear reactor that they will be paid two-fold as compared to the average rate of just compensation given to other land owners in the country.

“Paano kung matatamaan ang lupa namin, sabi ko two times compensated may ilalagay sa resettlement halos lahat ng benepisyo nandoon kayo”.

 Acain said that in case a power plant is built in his town, the residents become recipients of the various programs mandated by the Energy Regulations No. 1-94 (ER 1-94) that falls under the Department of Energy Act of 1992 in conjunction with the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

ER-1-94 states that these communities will receive one centavo for every kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) generated. These funds can be used by host beneficiaries for the electrification of areas or households that have no access to power and livelihood programs. This includes reforestation, watershed management, health, and environmental enhancement initiatives.

The mayor said the proponent wanted four nuclear power plants to be built in his town but he told them he would go for one in the meantime.

He said the hosting of the electricity behemoth would be safe to the lives and health of the 26,811 residents (2020 Census) as it is far to the earthquake fault line.

“Dito lang sa Labrador may dagat may beach may high elevation at may strong soil bearing capacity. At saka malayo ang fault line”.

The nuclear plant could produce more electricity despite it is only 1000 megawatt than the 1,200 megawatt of the Team Energy in the nearby Sual town. The Team Energy pays a business tax of more or less P200 million a year to the local government of Sual that becomes now one of the richest town in the country.

“Doon sa coal kasi 60 percent lang ang average output capacity. Pag nuclear 90 to 95 percent mas Malaki”

TIMELINE

The Mayor explained that it will take two to three years of planning, design, and the procurements of right of ways until the investor go for the construction there.

The different components of a nuclear power plant. Photo credit: Foronuclear.org

“It takes five to six years to construction time. Hindi na kami makikinabang. Baka hindi na kami mayor pag construction na”.

He rebutted those who oppose the bringing of cheap electricity through nuclear power plant in the country.

“Ngayon meron Bangladesh, South Korea, France meron sila. Na sasakripisyo ba nila ang tao?”

As of 2022, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 422 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction.

He said the United States alone has 92 nuclear reactors.

"There are 172 nuclear battleships 11 aircraft carriers sa U.S, kung andoon ang commander nila mga matataas na tao isang aircraft carrier katumbas iya ng isang 5,000 people isapapalaran mo ba ang navy mo mga tao mo? Natutulog sila katabi ang nuclear reactor".

He said he answered all the quiries of his constituents about their fear of nuclear meltdown.

He said the fear of the oppositions that incase war in China and the Philippines erupt the former will target the plant with her missiles and endanger the people in and out of this town thus they will be exposed to radiation.

He cited that China will not do it because she is a signatory of the Article of War in the United Nations.

The current war in Southern Ukraine against Russia saw the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station - that used to produce 20 percent of the power needs of Ukraine – was disabled and even used by the Russian soldiers as base because the Ukrainian military will not target it.

CHERNOBY AND FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR MELTDOWNS 

He cited that the error of the plant in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan ensued because it was built in a low elevation that was slammed by a bigger tsunami when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked the area in March 11, 2011.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. Photo credit: Storymaps.arcgis.com

News report said that a 17 meters (56 feet) high tsunami hit into the coastal plant, destroying its power supply and cooling systems and causing meltdowns at reactors Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

To see that the power plant in the Philippines will be safe to the people, the government should emulate the reactors in the United States and other countries that have containment vessels that are designed to withstand extreme weather events and earthquakes like in Fukushima.

Acain blamed human error of the Soviets to what happen at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Northern Ukraine.

According to World Nuclear Association. the Chernobyl accident in 1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the environment, with the deposition of radioactive materials in many parts of Europe. Two Chernobyl plant workers died due to the explosion on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of acute radiation syndrome. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident." Some 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident, but resettlement of areas from which people were relocated is ongoing.

“Ngayon na perpekto na nila iyon na kahit may singaw ma ku-contain na ng self-contained dome,” Acain refuted the disadvantages of hosting a nuclear reaction based on what happened in Ukraine.

The Mayor until now could not cite what foreign investor will build the one thousand megawatt power plant. He said however that delegates of a nuclear power plant in China visited lately the town.

 Committee on Nuclear Energy Chairman Pangasinan 2^nd District Congressman Mark Cojuangco was seen talking lately with the Japanese and American ambassadors in the country about the plan of the government to host nuclear reactor in the Philippines. Cojuangco is still deliberating in Congress the creation of the Philippine Atomic Regulatory Commission that will oversee construction of nuclear reactors in the Philippines.

READ MY OTHER BLOG:

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

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.

Cong. No Longer as Clean as a Whistle

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A Mayor who lost several times for being a vice mayor and a mayor told me that his present position is a financial liability than an asset.

He explained that when he aspired for the two highest posts in his town – winning some and losing some attempts – he spent a total of P200 million.

“The good thing is I have a personal lucrative business that funds my venture into politics,” he told me.

What the Hizzoner revealed to me is the reality in elective public office. If many elected officials amassed wealth because of the cut or S.O.P from contractors and suppliers to his or her office, other politicians became poor because they have to sell their properties to launch their campaign where they ingratiate to voters by giving them monies and goods.

The most moneyed in the ingratiation game usually win the election because the voters are no longer intelligent but susceptible to the glitters of silver (that ran, son of a gun, to P10,000 per head based on a small town in Pangasinan last election)

***

A Mayor who lost to a moneyed candidate but reclaimed it with a vengeance told me her expenses.

Noong una akong tumakbo kalaban ang last term na Mayor I spent P50 million. Noong nakalaban ko ang Vice Mayor ng mayor na tumalo sa akin, gumastos lang ako ng P12 million (the Veem is known as tightwad or maawet in Pangasinan). When she ran against her vice mayor who had no huge financial chest to sustain the expensive months long campaign season, she only chalked up P7 million. In her final campaign because that would be her third and last term she spent P14 million only. Because of over confidence that voters would be considerate in her last venture in that third term, she lost to a rival. As the very rich rival became unpopular among many electorates in that three years’ term, the former Herzzoner -known to be kind to her constituents - made a come-back and a vengeance with P40 million financial kitty and gobbled the incumbent Mayor in the last year’s election. 

*** 

 A contractor on government projects told me that a Congressman known for being incorruptible is now accepting cut from contractors and suppliers who engage business in his district.

“Why he is now accepting these S.O.Ps (euphemism for cut)?” I posed.

The contractor told me he needs them because he spent hundreds of millions of pesos in the last election.

“Besides he is no longer as rich as before when he was seen as a clean as a whistle public servant,” the contractor who asked in conditioned of anonymity told me.

Is this true, Cong?

(Send comments to totomortz@yahoo.com)