Formulas for the resolution of the Spratlys’s problem

Columnist Ortigoza getting the thoughts of former Philippines House Speaker de Venecia on the Spratlys's problems

Political columnist Mortz Ortigoza sat again with the Philippines five-time House Speaker Joe de Venecia, Jr., an eminent global expert, to get his thoughts on the brewing issues on the West Philippines Sea that are disputed primordially by the saber-rattling and powerful Mainland China. Excerpts:

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA (MCO): How strategic is the Spratlys for the Philippines, Mr. Speaker?

JOSE DE VENECIA, JR (JDV): Why should we sail to China (Sea to the Arab Gulf) all the way to that when we had oil and gas in our own front yard and our backyard? If we could only use (chuckled) our “coconut” (common sense).

MCO: Political and military spectators say that to discourage the incessant intrusions of China in the West Philippine Seas we have to invite our ally the Americans for a joint exploration of oil there.

 JDV: The Americans will not drill for oil in the China Sea because who will invite them to drill there?

MCO: The Philippines government.

JDV: The Philippines? We are courting war with China, courting war with Vietnam.

MCO: Adm. Mike Mullen, the chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently at the start of his four-day visit to China that the U.S vowed to maintain her presence in the resource-rich waters. What is really the interest of the Americans in Spratlys?

JDV: The interest of the Americans is economics. So they could have a free and untrammeled navigation for being a Pacific power. Secondly, because that is one way of telling China na dahan-dahan naman kayo kasi nandito kami (you should be careful because of our presence here in the West Philippines Sea).

Thirdly, they have to show some semblance of support to the Philippines. Although as the Americans have pointed out while (other countries) threatening their allies they will go to war. (But it is different in the China Sea unless there is authorization by the U.S Congress.  Because unlike the NATO agreement, an attack in England is considered as an automatic attack against the U.S, an attack on France is the same. An attack on the Philippines is an attack on the U.S. But it does not mean an immediate attack- response by the U.S. They have to consult their constitutional process first - it means to say their hall of congress.

MCO:Can’t we not use the Libyan Model when President Barrack Obama declared war against Muammar Gaddafi and support the Libyan rebels?

JDV: Well, you know in the case of Libya, there was an authorization from the Security Council of the United Nation but even the Security Council of the UN was abused and being abused by the European Power like France and Britain. Because the decision of the Security Council was really to prevent Gadafi on harming the Libyans who want to bring down their government.

MCO: Some political kibitzers question your formula of consortium among claimant countries in the Spratly because it does not resolve first the issue of sovereignty? What’s your take on that?

JDV: Well, (former paramount leader of Mainland China) Deng Xiaoping proposed that we shall not (discuss) sovereignty for the meantime. Because if the Philippine insists sovereignty, China insists on sovereignty, Vietnam insists on sovereignty, well there will be war. So the practical step is to shelve the issue of sovereignty, and agree on one common development on the Spratly so that Vietnam, China and the Philippines that claims for oil and gas and hydrocarbons under an equity of 1/3, 1/3,1/3 profit sharing formula that eventually would have to bring  in Malaysia, Brunei, whose acreage or whose claim, in the Spratlys are smaller than that of the three. We should also invite them as part of this drilling coalition.

MCO: Does this consortium thing have something to do with our armed forces?

JDV: The weakest of these line states is the Philippines. We have no air force, we have no navy.

China has a large armed forces, Vietnam now has large armed forces, a large air force, a large navy.

MCO:  Were major claimants China and Vietnam telegraphed already their intention that they were amenable to your proposal?

JDV: No, no. Yes, because I’m talking to them directly.

MCO:  Were they amenable?

JDV: Yes!

MCO: Is there a precedent model of your consortium’s formula?

 JDV: Just like that in the North Sea after World War II, England is here (as he lifted the empty coffee cup and the sandwich of the interviewee to put on the other parts of the table to emphasize his point). This is England; the oil field is here in Ecofisk in the North Sea. They took a median line partition so the oil flows to Stavanger in Norway. The oil is in Teesside in England. And the natural gas goes to Crimea, German. I landed here in the Ecofisk  which is above 20 stories high. The platforms from the sea, very stormy seas but (they were composed of) hundreds of oil wells! And siguro mga (Just like) several stories high buildings and platforms from the sea.

MCO: So nobody own these areas? The consortium owns them?

JDV: They have agreed. This part belongs to Norway! (Lifting again the sandwich and coffee cup of the interviewer by putting them to another part of the table to emphasize his point)This part belongs to England! This part belongs to Germany! In the meantime we jointly developed.

MCO: Is the North Sea’s model the only model the claimants in the Spratly’s can replicate?

JDV: Puwedi nating gawin ito( We can copy it). This is one model. The other model is that we will drill together and the profit we split. You see? So we shelve the issue of sovereignty.

This is the formula that will solve the problems of China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Therefore that will solve the problem between China and Vietnam in the Paracel. This (in) the Spratly claim, Vietnam went to war over there a dozen years ago. This is the same formula that should be used because (by) Japan in Diaoyu Strait, what the Chinese call the Senkaku Strait.

This is the third formula that could be used on the Sea of Japan and the East Sea, between Japan and South Korea.

MCO: Taiwan has a claim there, too. Is it because of her being Mainland China once upon a time?

JDV:  It is her being a China then. The Taiwanese claim will be jointly discuss with the two Chinas - China and Taiwan.

MCO: Some Spratlys’s watchers told me the Philippines should have the least claim than China on the disputed islets because the places there have been owned by China since the 17^th Century?

JDV: Well, more than a thousand years ago, you know the Philippines do not exist on that area ruled by certain datus (tribal chiefs). We were not a nation. China was already an ancient civilization, the bigger kingdom. And so they have maps of the area, for example the Spratlys were discovered by my friend Tomas Cloma. He called it Freedom Land in 1957.

MCO: Some proposed that we amend the Constitution for the U.S to have their military bases again in the Philippines for them to guard our aerial and sea domain thus deterring the Chinese’s encroachments.

JDV: It would only put us in deep trouble. Americans are in deep trouble in Afghanistan and Iraq. What we all have to do is sit down with China and Vietnam, pag-usapan na natin ito at mag drill na. Hati-hati na lang tayo. Tapos na!(We discussed the problems with them and eventually drill oil for the equal benefits of all thus we solve the problem). The most practical and the most pragmatic!

(Mortz C. Ortigoza used to teach political science in Dagupan City and Manila, Philippines)

Why cities in Pangasinan should envy Urdaneta City

Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo “Bobom” Gregorio E. Perez IV (extreme Right) in a huddle with Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino

URDANETA CITY – Cities of Dagupan, San Carlos, and Alaminos cry your hearts out, this city’s secret as the number 1 in terms of annual budget, as against all cities in Region 1, is she owned a university that churned outs tens of millions of pesos every year to her coffer.

Mayor Gregorio “Bobom” Perez said that this city’s Urdaneta City University (UCU) has varied income every year that runs to millions of pesos but it averagely convey to this city P25 million a year.

“That is why we have many projects like the gymnasium, library, and all the structures there. The funds all come from the UCU,” he proudly declared.

Perez said that despite the decline of its population because of the sluggish global demand for nurses, UCU still accommodates thousands of students who usually come from the marginalized sector of the society.

City Councilor Jennilyn Sison said that all the income of the tertiary institution goes to the General Appropriation Act  of this Eastern Pangasinan’s entrepot city.

Meanwhile, in a press conference attended by Mayors Benjie S. Lim and Hernani Braganza of the cities of Dagupan and Alaminos in Dagupan City recently, Lim said his city would emulate this city and Alaminos whose successful initiatives resulted to the establishment of a public city college.

Alaminos City gets 30% of the net income earned by the Pangasinan University there since the administration of Braganza bankrolled the construction of its facilities.

San Carlos City has her own nascent Binalatongan College that was borne because of the endeavor of her mayor Julier Resuello not only to help the poor students there but to be another source of revenue for the mango producing city.

A political observer who asked anonymity said a college in Dagupan bode well for her hard up residents.

“Just look at the University of Makati that is owned by the city government there. The college bills its student P1000 only per semester. Can you imagine this privilege to the poor students?” he posed.

He deplored however that myopic and selfish owners of educational institutions in Dagupan would stall the endeavor of Lim to build one for the Bangus City.

“They should be ashamed of themselves. They have been exposed already! Some of them if they are not paying their correct local taxes in the city, they were being warned by the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) for closure because of their sub-standard diploma mill educations.  Their graduates could hardly beat the minimum 14.7 percent of passers for government sanctioned board examinations,” he emphatically declared (MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA).

No-new-tax policy for 2012 a tall order – Atty. Milo

Eastern Pangasinan top tax honcho Atty. Beverly Milo

URDANETA CITY- The top executive of the Bureau of Internal Revenue who supervises Eastern Pangasinan has varied reactions to the Aquino Administration’s “No-New-Tax policy next year despite a higher tax goal of P1.07 Trillion.

Atty. Beverly Milo, the Revenue District Officer who is based here, said that it would be a tall order for tax districts all over the country because a no tax policy from the national government means a missing tax base.

“Kami, wala naman tayong  nakikitang development as far as the local situation is concerned. So we have to introduce development as far as the local situation is concerned. So we have introduction of developments but these developments are handled by the national government. Nandiyan  iyong construction ng TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union-Express Way), nandiyan iyong project sa Agno River, 2^nd or 3^rd Phase na I believed. And other infrastructures but there would be changes in policy as far as DPWH (Department of Public Works & Highway) is concerned. In local (level) also we are only committed as administrator of projects allocated sa local governments ng DPWH. So if there is no projects given there or implemented (for that) purpose, we don’t expect to collect withholding tax and others

She explained that whenever the government pours infrastructure projects in districts all over the country, it means an increase of withholding taxes like the Value Added Tax and Income Tax for the BIR in the municipality. She said the tax offices assigned in the towns collect from private contractors who subcontract these projects.

Atty. Milo was ambivalent in the national policy to jack-up the P920 billion tax goal for this year to P1.07 Trillion next year.

She said she does not know if she can make it incase the same percentage of the increase in the national level is applied to her district.

“We also rely so much in the economy. There is no progress in the economy. Definitely we don’t expect much taxes (can be) collected from these business people”.

She doubt that the National Economic Development Authority can be certain on its projection that next year Gross National Products (GNP) would be between 5 to 6 percent thus the goal of P1.7 Trillion is attainable.

She subjects herself to the government’s Five –Year- Plan to buttress tax collection.

This Strategy includes  a strengthened auditing of large taxpayers and regular filing of tax-evasion cases against tax cheats.

She said that her office aggressively does surveillances, tax mapping, and others tax measures to increase collection efficiencies.

She opined however that every tax region and district are unique compared to the same offices all over the country.

Because of that she tuned up her strategies with the kind of tax payers she has in her district.

Meanwhile, BIR Regional Director Atty. Arnel Guballa said earlier in this paper that his office mostly collect taxes from the ordinary taxpayers unlike in other regions that have burgeoning industries and commerce thus a healthy tax base.

Guballa office supervises four provinces in the Ilocos Region (Mortz C. Ortigoza).

Elite Navy Seals train Mangaldan residents on rescue operation

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANGALDAN – For the first time in the province,  the local version of the elite Navy Seals of the Philippine Navy trained selected residents here for search and rescue operations during floods.

Mayor Herminio Romero lauded the graduates of the two-day refresher training, saying  the rescue and operations conducted was  unique " because it was conducted  by the Philippine Navy despite our limited resources”.

The training that was held in the town  and at the seaside of neighboring San Fabian town, was participated in by selected members of the Philippine National Police, officials of this town and villages, and members of communication group Delta Com.

The participants were under the tutelage of Navy Lt. Junior Grade John Caleza and his men from the Naval Force of Northern Luzon that is base d in La Union.

Caleza said they were invited to conduct the training by chief of police Lt. Col. Mateo Casupang who was his upper class at the Officer Candidate School.

Romero told the graduates that in the last deadly flood that left  12 people dead and countless of properties  was   in 2009, caused by typhoon Pepeng.  

“ Now, people are aware about the dangers of a calamity like flood. Thank you Navy who come  to help Mangaldan.  We should be committed on this  Water Search and Rescue (WASAR) Refresher Training”, he  said.

The mayor told the participants that they  should help make the rivers  clean by not throwing their garbage into the river; and to plant trees at the earth dikes.

The graduation was graced too by lawyer  Monday Samson, the provincial head of the National Police Commission.

The indispensability of Ebdane to Arroyo

Hermogenes "Jun" Ebdane: The controversial former secretary of President Gloria Arroyo

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I came to know presently controversial former police four-star general and incumbent Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. days  after the 2010 election when  he beat a formidable and long-entrenched veteran politico in Amor Deloso in the gubernatorial contest that could shame Adolf Hitler’s blitzkrieg in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Before the poll, many media men regularly went  en mass to neighboring Zambales they considered as Mecca of  oodles and oodles of monies ..

“He (Ebdane) generously gave P5000 to each, repeat, to each  ordinary media men including the hao-shiao (fake). He gave P20 thousand to an elite and not the illiterate, “ crowed a Pangasinan media friend whom Ebdane met during his stints as chief of police and provincial police commander of Dagupan City and Pangasinan, respectively.

I thought that this media guy, who loves to flaunt how much the general gave him, was telling me a tall tale, but found  credibility of his stories when many media men grumbled why they only received P1 thousand and P2000 when Ebdane’s staff told them that each of them were appropriated P5000.

“My mga tulisan na mga media men who did not know about “Dagdag-Bawas” but “Bawas ng Bawas” after they got hold of the monies intended for their colleague,” another media guy fumed.

I thought that this media friend (whose loyalty according to former Bombo-Radyo manager Camba is with assassinated Ninoy Aquino and his look-alikes) told me that some favored media guys of the governor were given monies to buy their cars.

A media pal of Ebdane told me that he has a P6 billion campaign chest for the presidency but has a changed mind and instead challenged Deloso in a financial electoral blitzkrieg one has seen in modern electoral history.

***

I was awed by his palatial mansions in Candelaria, Zambales when media guys close to him brought me.

I was awed by his water skis, his white beach island (I heard the white sands were transported from Boracay).

I was awed about the orderliness of his victory party when the thousands of hoi-polloi – including those mountain people who looked like Vice President Jojo Binay - were asked by the emcee to stay seated on their chairs as waiters distribute the food in the Styrofoam and the slices of beef and pork from the seven roasted calves and dozens of roasted hogs.

“Ibang-iba ito sa victory party ni Congressman (Pol) Bataoil where the Unwashed of the Society jostled and hustled just to get the foods at the table,” somebody quipped.

It was a ‘Bacchanalian Feast” given by the favorite son of Candelaria for his beloved people who were entertained by countless rock bands and stand- up comedians.

During his inauguration I was awed by those micro light or ultra light aircrafts from Clark, Pampanga that showered the people with sacks and sacks of petals as Ebdane spoke.

 I was awed when his media friend told me that after being appointed as PNP chief, National Security Adviser, Director of the National Security Council, Vice-Chairmanship of the Anti-Terrorism Task Force and National Anti-Terrorism Coordinator, secretaries of Defense and the Department of Public Works & Highway where in the latter post he supervised President Arroyo’s multi-billion of pesos flag ship bridge and highway projects all over the country, he became indispensable to  the president.

“He has a lot of secrets that could incriminate the president,” my media friend continued.

Now, I start to believe those secrets after Police Senior Superintendent  (Colonel) Rafael Santiago exposed recently that Ebdane upon the order of Arroyo’s husband tasked the elite Special Action Force (Ebdane once  headed ) to switch Election Returns  of the 2004 presidential elections in favor of former president Arroyo in the Batasan Complex. Arroyo was challenged in that poll by actor Fernando Poe  Jr.

(You can read my conversations with Ebdane after his victory party in Candelaria at https://northwatch.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/ebdane-to-generals-politics-is-different-from-war/. We talked about retired generals joining politics)

***

During the last visit of Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala in Alaminos City, an erstwhile confidante of Pangasinan Governor Amado T. Espino was seen rubbing elbows with some mayors identified with Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, a gubernatorial contender, who is rumored to be the anointed bet in Pangasinan by President Noynoy Aquino’s Liberal Party.

Bugallon Mayor Ric Orduna was seen breaking bread with League of Mayors in the Philippine-Pangasinan Chapter president and Mabini  Mayor Noel Nacar, Braganza, and Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro – the last one is the pet peeve of  Espino even though they were classmates and bunkmates at  the Philippine Military Academy.

I just don’t know as of press time if this paper has availed of the photo from the office of Mayor Braganza of Orduna’s “sleeping with the enemies” that  political spectators  would relish to see.

***

Susmariosep, what this I heard that Orduna narrated there how Governor Espino beat to pulp former Governor Victor Agbayani in the May 10, 2010 poll?

Since I was not there to hear the how and wherefore of that bravado from the pepper- and- salt haired cursing- talkin’ mayor, you better ask perceptive media man Ruel Camba about it.

***

 Lingayen mayor Jonas Castaneda seems impervious when I asked why he did not veto the ordinance unanimously passed by the members of the Sanggunian Bayan (Legislative Council) of his town.

The ordinance is the banning of plastic  bag given by a vendor to a vendee at the capital town’s public market.

“If it is an ordinance there is a fine for violators. But this is quite a tall order since the sellers could spend more on paper bag. Why you did not veto it?” I posed to the last- termer  mayor.

I asked the mayor who told me before that though he agreed with the proposal to ban plastics at the market, it should undergo broader consultations among the stakeholders like the vendors.

Meanwhile, the mayor told me that a month ago the Ombudsman dismissed the criminal and administrative cases filed by some of the members of the August Body against him. It was about the purchase of 23 service vehicles to the 22 villages and to the police department, fire truck , refrigerated van, loader, and dump tuck worth P45 Million that he loaned in behalf of the capital town from Land Bank of the Philippine in Lingayen.

 “I know from the beginning that these cases would eventually be dismissed because these councilors were there when I distributed 22 vehicles to the recipients.”

(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).

The Politics behind the Delectable "Letchon" (Roasted Pig)

FORMER PRESIDENT ARROYO AND FORMER GUV ZALDY AMPATUAN EATING ROASTED PIG WITH THEIR BARE HANDS?

'Divine wrath’ for lechon celebration at Abubakar  – For eating pork on Muslim hallowed ground, ousted President Joseph Estrada got his just desserts, as Moro clerics believe.
And that’s not the end of it.
For most Moro preachers, Estrada’s conviction was just part of the murkah (divine wrath) he would suffer for feasting on roasted pork inside an Arabic school, or Madrasah, to celebrate the fall of a rebel bastion seven years ago.
Then President Estrada and some members of his Cabinet also brought in three truckloads of beer to the supposedly sacred ground for Muslims. As beer was passed around to soldiers, some of them were inside a nearby mosque, gorging on lechon with their muddy combat boots on.(Star)

Most Pangasinan's BMs received P40 monthly from Jueteng – BM Uy

By Mortz C. Ortigoza


 Recently, I overheard Board Member Alfonso Bince adversely commenting on the surge of Loterya ng Bayan (LNB) in Pangasinan.

“Loterya ng Mayayaman,” he incessantly and derisively quipped to two radio stations where he was interviewed the other week in a phone patch.

LNB is a number game similar to jueteng but sanctioned by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes.

Gambling kibitzers said it is the antidote to jueteng as its daily draws are seen on cable-TV and heard on radio, while its counterpart jueteng has no transparent mechanical draw thus vulnerable to manipulations by cheating operators.

Bet for LNB is as low as P1 from the Unwashed of our Society who give their fate to gambling.

Does Bince’s dislike for LNB reflect the mentality of his colleagues whose names are preceded with the adjective “Honorable”?

As you know many members of the media, in some informal gatherings, were treated by BM Danny Uy’s bravados that most if not all of his colleagues at the provincial board received P40 monthly payola from a jueteng operator.

Aside from LNB “killing” the illegal swindling game jueteng, it would not give any dime to the “honorable” vice governor and "honorable" members of the Board.

Is the absence of payola the reason that made members of the August Body critical of LNB?

According to LNB’s mechanics, the provincial and municipal governments, and the police get a percentage from the revenues earned daily in a certain local government units.

Since I just divulged for the first time the alleged insidious immoral wrong doings at the provincial board, the magnanimous and incorruptible BM Uy owed me a drink. Sir, wag lason, ha? San Miguel Lights lang, Mr. Future Vice Governor.

*** 

A city councilor asked the chief of police (COP) of the city invited by the August Body to shed lights on the proliferation of jueteng.

He asked the COP if he was privy to the fact that  two of his colleagues  were allegedly protectors of the illegal numbers game.

Media men who cut their teeth on the nitty gritty of the profession could just shake their heads.

Everybody knows among these media men that the dad, including the rest of his colleagues, has been a recipient of P8 thousand monthly from the operator of the game.

“Nag tatanung lang iyon, kasi hindi na binibigyan ng share niya sa 1-3-7 (moniker use by media men to describe jueteng whose bet numbers could be selected from 1 to 37)

***

Media men could just shake their heads as what their colleague narrated to them how a married “eccentric” woman was exposed in court lying through her teeth.

“Her likewise married paramour who coached her to fabricate a case on her complaint sheet against the defendant still has a lot to learn in the Art of Fabrication” a veteran media man quipped to the group composed of the “who is who” in the local media industry.

An influential broadcaster quipped that after the case is dismissed for a lot of iota of doubt, the defendant sued criminally and civilly big time the fabricator to teach her a lesson in smearing one’s reputation, and make it as a lesson to policemen, particularly, not to make a story for the sake of filing a case.

This is not only waste of precious government funds and time, but would give adverse repercussions to your profession.

 “I will write an extensive detailed story on that to expose this shenanigan,” the veteran media man told the group.

(You can read my selected intriguing but thought-provoking columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com).