While delegates to the Asian Development Bank annual meeting discussed ways to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in the region last week, the Aquino administration tried to insulate the rich from the poor by putting up walls that hid the squatter shanties along the esteros near the site of the ADB.
Probably thinking the ADB delegates didn’t see the sorry sight beyond those walls, President Benigno S. Aquino III went on to boast what he described as economic gains made by his administration. He talked about the “27 times in 22 months” during his two-year-old term that the stock market index rose to record levels while forgetting to mention that the Philippine economy grew by a measly 3.7 percent last year and would be lucky to reach a 5-percent growth this year. He pointed to the continued appreciation of the peso when in fact it has only made matters worse for poor families, many of them dependent on money remitted by their OFW family member. The peso appreciation depreciated the value of their money remittance.
And even as he boasted of his administration’s alleged economic strides, the Social Weather Station reported that the number of Filipinos who rated themselves as poor increased by two million from the last such survey in December last year. The survey found that 55 percent of the respondents or 11.1 million considered themselves poor.
Aquino’ drumbeaters can claim that the poverty level is well below the record highs of 74 percent for self-rated poverty recorded in July 1985 in the last year of the Marcos regime and the 59 percent for self-rated food poverty in April 1994 during the Ramos administration that was repeated in September 2002 during the Arroyo administration. But in 2009, poverty incidence was only 26.5 percent, 26.4 percent in 2006, and 24.9 percent in 2003. Poverty incidence surveys are done once every three years.
These figures show that the Aquino administration has miserably failed in its poverty alleviation program. Instead of reducing poverty incidence by 2 percentage points every year as targeted under its Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
of reducing poverty by half in 2015, the administration has, in fact, increased the poverty incidence level by 10 percentage points in just three months!
The pace of economic growth dropped from 7.6 percent to 3.7 percent since he took over, and the number of poor Filipinos has grown to its highest level since his first day in office, and yet he felt confident to report that his administration has made economic strides in two years before a group of economic managers?
 
Nobody among the economic managers obviously cared to listen to the speech that tried to hide the failure of his administration to minimize poverty by even just a bit, just as nobody among the ADB delegates perhaps cared to look behind the wall that tried to hide the stark reality of the Philippine economy.
 
With the Philippine population growing yearly by more than 2 percent and economic growth crawling at about 4 percent, the unemployment rate remaining at 7.2 percent and underemployment rate at 18.8 percent, the chances of reducing poverty in the country look very dim, indeed.
 
Amid all these, Aquino refuses to push the Reproduction Health Bill that would hopefully slow down the rapid population growth that has, without a doubt, contributed largely to the increasing poverty in the country. His poverty alleviation program, on the other hand, relies heavily on the Conditional Cash Transfer program that cost P29.2 billion in 2011 and P39.4 billion in 2012 which could have been spent better in massive vocational training and livelihood programs.
 
Under the CCT program in the Philippines, each household receives a P500 monthly allowance to subsidize its basic food needs plus P300 for every child that goes to school. A maximum of three children can get the allowance. While the World Bank described it as a “prudent safety net” for poor families during tough economic times, the danger here is that like the overseas workers program, the CCT program is boosting the mendicant mentality among Filipinos and that like the OFW program, which was launched as a temporary program during the oil crisis in the 70s, the CCT program might become a permanent policy that would instill dependency and complacency among the poor Filipinos.
 
During his ADB speech, Aquino again put the blame on the past administration’s corruption for the poor performance of the Philippine economy. While we agree with him that the Arroyo administration was corrupt, he cannot continue making that fact an excuse for the failure of his administration to improve the lives of the people.
 
For two years, Aquino put to a virtual stop all public works projects on the excuse that his administration had to review all the government contracts that he said were tainted with corruption. The construction standstill has contributed to the unemployment problem, slowed down the economy, and scared foreign investors who became even more wary of the government’s ability to honor contracts.
 
After two years of this supposed sustained campaign against corruption, the Daily Tribune points out that the Philippines remains at the bottom of the world’s corruption perceptions index (CPI) at 129th place with an index score of 2.6 out of a perfect 10, “a mere 0.2 point improvement from the latter part of Gloria’s term when the accusations against her were at their worst.”
 
And for all the distractions and the adverse effects on the economy brought by its supposed intensified drive against corruption, the Aquino administration still has nothing to show for it. The corrupt officials of the previous administration remain free, except for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who seems to be enjoying her hospital rest; only two contracts have been scrapped (the French ro-ro project and the Belgian Laguna Lake project), smuggling remains rampant, and corruption in all government agencies continue as the CPI index shows.
 
“Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap,” Aquino stressed during his 2010 campaign. Two years later, “marami pa ring corrupt at lalo pang maraming mahirap.”
 
Aquino cannot go on building walls to isolate the rich from the poor, and illusions from the reality. Instead, he should start removing the walls of corruption, injustice and insensitivity that have prevented the poor from wading out of the murky waters of poverty.
 
(valabelgas@aol.com)

There’s definitely more than meets the eye in the sud den interest of the Aquino administration in forging a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front at the height of the escalating dispute between the Philippines and China over the Scarborough Shoals in the West Philippine Sea.
Manila Standard’s Jojo Robles was on the right track in raising suspicion over the recent developments in the Mindanao front vis-à-vis the Scarborough Dispute although it’s hard to believe his source’s speculation that the United States was in a conspiracy with China to escalate the shoal dispute to prod the Philippine government to enter into a pact with the MILF that would include the establishment of an autonomous Muslim Mindanao region in exchange for an assurance of military assistance from the Americans in the event China becomes more aggressive militarily in the disputed area.
I don’t think China is involved in the alleged conspiracy, but it is easy to believe that the US was happy over the escalating tensions in the West Philippine Sea because it gave the Americans another ace in their desire to gain a military foothold in the country, particularly in Mindanao, for which the US government and corporations have long been salivating because of the region’s rich oil and mineral resources, vast agriculture potential, and its strategic location for maintaining a wider and stronger foothold in Southeast Asia.
It is not coincidental that the Philippine government was suddenly enthusiastic in forging a peace pact with the Muslim rebels and in granting them expanded autonomy at a time when the country is facing serious threats from China in the West Philippine Sea.
President Aquino presided over a Cabinet meeting on Mindanao just a few days ago, during which time its was announced to the media by chief Philippine negotiator Marvic Leonen that legislation would be filed to scrap the existing Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to be replaced by a more autonomous entity as reportedly contained in an initial agreement signed by both the peace panels of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Malaysia.
Although Leonen said the panels have not reached a final agreement on what kind of powers would be granted the new autonomous government, she made it look certain that a final peace agreement would be signed within the year. In the same breath, she said that the two panels were still poles apart in terms of the “territorial scope.”
Now, why should the chief negotiator say with confidence that the peace pact would be signed within the year and that the ARMM would be replaced by a new law to be passed by Congress?
Obviously, there is already a deal to grant Muslim Mindanao expanded autonomy, and that it was just a matter of negotiating the terms of autonomy for the agreement to push through.
The Mindanao problem suddenly surfaced in the middle of heightened tensions with China and as the Balikatan military exercises were about to conclude doesn’t look like a mere coincidence.  The announcement that the Philippine and MILF panels have signed an initial agreement also came in the middle of discussions between key US and Philippine foreign affairs and military officials in Washington.
Obviously, the Aquino administration is ready to surrender part of the Philippines’ sovereignty over Mindanao in exchange for an assurance from the US that it would come to its aid in case of a shooting war with China.
It must be recalled that the US was instrumental in helping the Philippine and MILF panels in forging the aborted Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in July 2008 that would have given the MILF vast powers, including the power to enter into treaties with other countries that would have allowed the US to put up bases in Mindanao.
The Supreme Court stopped the signing of the MOA-AD that the Philippine government and the MILF were about to sign in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the presence of, surprisingly, then US Ambassador Kirstie Kinney. The MOA-AD would have granted the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) its own internal security force, a system of banking and finance, civil service, education and legislative institutions, full authority to develop and dispose of minerals and natural resources. The BJE would also reportedly be able to send trade missions abroad and enter into international agreements under the MOA-AD.
It was clearly a surrender of sovereignty by the Philippine government to the MILF, making it necessary and urgent for the high tribunal to stop it. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, under the prodding of the United States, was willing to give up control over a region that, according to a US study, sit on rich mineral resources with an estimated worth of between $850 billion and $1 trillion.
A year after the MOA-AD was stopped by the Supreme Court, the MILF openly asked the US to mediate in the peace talks. A delegation of US Embassy officials, led by then US Deputy Ambassador Leslie Bassett, met with Ibrahim in August 2009 in Sultan Kudarat, where Bassett reportedly assured Ibrahim of American support in the peace talks.
All these developments were confirmed in correspondences from the US Embassy in Manila that were leaked to the press by Wikileaks.
While it is important that lasting peace be brought to Mindanao and that the country strengthens its position in its dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Island Group, the Aquino administration must never surrender sovereignty in Mindanao.
The Philippine government is willing to shed blood to fight for tiny islets and shoals in the middle of the sea, and yet is willing to basically give up control without a fight over a region that has long been described as the Land of Promise because of its vast natural and mineral resources?
It just doesn’t make sense.
(valabelgas@aol.com)

Those islets and shoals west of the Philippines have again come to the limelight with Philippine and Chinese vessels engaging in a battle of nerves over what both the Philippines and China claim to be their territories.
 The standoff began on April 8 when a Philippine Navy surveillance aircraft monitored eight Chinese fishing vessels anchored inside the Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Panatag or Scarborough Shoal. Two days later, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar dispatched an inspection team that reported that large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams and live sharks were found in the compartments of the fishing vessels.
 China sent three surveillance ships and an armed aircraft that appeared to counter BRP Gregorio del Pilar, with each ship alternately blocking the Philippine ship from stopping the Chinese fishing vessels. On Friday, the eight Chinese fishing boats and a surveillance ship left the disputed Scarborough Shoal with the illegal catch, temporarily easing tensions between Manila and Beijing.
 The tensions spiked again the following day after China sent back a surveillance vessel to the shoal and a Chinese aircraft flew over a Philippine Coast Guard vessel facing off a Chinese ship in the area. A Chinese ship also harassed a Philippine-registered vessel, the M/Y Saranggani, with nine French nationals  on bboard doing archaeological surveys of the waters in the area.
 On Saturday, China escalated the tension when it deployed another Chinese fishery and maritime law enforcement ship – considered the most advanced in its class – near the shoal. It linked up with another Chinese vessel involved in a standoff with a Philippine Coast Guard search and rescue vessel.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said the latest developments came despite his agreement with Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing not to take any action that would escalate tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
 They were not the first – and certainly not the last – confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels in the disputed region. The last one was the incident at the Recto Reef Bank (Reed Bank) last year where a Chinese surveillance vessel drove off the Voyager, which was hired by the Philippines and a British company to do seismic surveys.
 While we may view these actions as mere show of force, or “duruan” in Pilipino parlance, one pull of the trigger by a jittery sailor can, heaven forbid, start a full-blown shooting war. China and the Philippines should stop their military posturing in the disputed territories before the situation takes a turn for the worse.
 While the Philippines must, indeed, aggressively defend its rightful claim to Scarborough Shoal and other islands in the disputed area, it must accept the reality that it cannot afford to engage the mighty Chinese in a shooting war.
 Until the country has attained the capability to fight the Chinese or it has the assurance of the United States that it will come to its aid in case war breaks out with China or any other country, the Philippines must turn to legal and diplomatic means to assert its claim.
 The Philippines stands on solid legal ground in claiming ownership of the Scarborough Shoal, the area being situated 124 nautical miles off Zambales, which is well within
the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the United Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS), which China signed in 1992. In fact, the Philippines calls it Bajo de Masinloc (below waters of Masinloc) and considers it part of the municipality of Masinloc, Zambales.
 
The rejection by China of the Philippine request to bring the matter for resolution to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos) should not stop the Philippine government from filing a case with that body, which is tasked by the UNCLOS to settle disputes concerning laws of the sea. The Department of Foreign Affairs should also intensify its efforts to bring its case before international forums such as the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
 
Since the Philippines has the best legal basis for claiming ownership of the disputed territories, it must capitalize on this and bring the matter before the appropriate international bodies. In this age many years removed from the eras of Napoleon or the Roman Empire, or the modern-day imperialist aggressors Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito, territorial disputes can and must be resolved peacefully and diplomatically.
 
It may, however, be naïve to believe that the Philippines will win ownership of the disputed territories by simply invoking the Law of the Sea, knowing fully well that the national interests of the military and economic powers of the world are at play in this dispute. The disputed area will play a vital role in maintaining the balance of power in the near future because it is right smack in the middle of Southeast Asia’s sea lanes and is known to contain rich oil, mineral and aquatic resources.
 
I’m sure China is aware that the United States will not stand by idly if it attempts to use military power to occupy the disputed islands and would not risk a major war at a time when it is still building both its economy and its military might. It is even highly possible that China is intentionally bullying the Philippines at a time when the country is engaged in military exercises with American troops to see how the US would react to its aggressive military maneuverings in the disputed area.
 
Despite the assurance by Lt. Gen. Duane Thiessen, commander of the US Marines in the Pacific, that “the United States and the Philippines have a mutual defense treaty which guarantees that we get involved in each other’s defense and that is self explanatory,”the Philippines must not play with fire in this matter, and should pursue the path to peace in resolving the issue.
The Philippines can lead the move in the Asean to push for a zone of peace in the disputed islands. Most of the Asean member-countries are enjoying prosperity and would not want to disrupt the peace nor allow one country to control the important sea lanes. They will be more than willing to support such a plan. And so would the United States, which is trying to maintain mutually beneficial relations with China.
War or any form of hostility should not be an option for the resolution of the decades-long conflict. The Philippines, being the country to be most affected by any kind of action among the claimants, should vigorously lead the path to a peaceful resolution of the crisis. No more posturing, just a sincere desire to resolve the conflict.
 
(valabelgas@aol.com)

More than half a million students graduate from more than 2,000 colleges and universities in the Philippines every year. Only about 30 to 40 percent of them would find any kind of employment, and only about 5 to 10 percent would be employed in jobs that match their course, while close to 60 percent would join the growing ranks of the unemployed.
 And yet, every single high school graduate dreams of earning that much-sought after college diploma and every single parent would work his bones off to send his children to college. In the Philippines, a college diploma is the measure of one’s worth in life and the measure of a parent’s success in raising his child.
A high school graduate, however poorly he has passed through the four years of secondary education, attends whichever college or university is willing to accept his tuition money, coasts along through four years, earns his diploma and finds out, to his dismay and disappointment, that he could not find the job for which he studied and for which his parents spent thousands of hard-earned pesos.
If he has good grades, he would be lucky to join the some 10 percent who would get into the profession that matched their degree, or he can become one of the lucky ones who end up as call center agents. Otherwise, he can land a job as a salesclerk in a department store, a part-time worker selling phone cards in malls, a minor clerk in a small office, or any other job that would otherwise need just a six-month training in a vocational or technical school.
Worse, he can be one of the close to 300,000 new graduates who will join the growing ranks of the unemployed.
Many of these graduates can’t even find a job in the overseas labor market because many of these jobs require special skills that do not need a four-year college diploma and only requires a six-month, or two-year training at the most in a vocational school.
In the United States, because of the high cost of education and the strict and tough admission requirements of universities, many high school graduates attend community colleges that have two-year associate degree course or vocational and technical course. This way, many students do not have to accumulate thousands of dollars in student loans or force their parents to get money from their retirement funds just so they can get a bachelor’s degree that do not guarantee them success in the workplace anyway.
In fact, at the onset of the recession, many people found out that it was the vocational and technical courses that remained in demand and paid higher wages, such as mechanics, X-ray technicians and medical assistants.
An influential financial guru, Suzie Orman, said “college is worth it if you plan on being a doctor or lawyer. Technical or vocational programs give you a better return on investment. Other financial advisers suggest that if you are in the bottom 40% of your high school graduating class, forget about college, you probably won’t graduate or you won’t do well anyway.
Seems a sound advice. But would Filipino students and parents care to listen?
During the term of President Marcos, the Department of Education implemented the National College Entrance Examination (NCEE) whose purpose was to determine if a student would qualify for college admission, and to encourage those who would not pass to enroll in vocational course instead. If the NCEE were implemented properly, it could have saved millions of students billions of pesos squandered on a college course that didn’t give them desired jobs anyway, and perhaps it could have stopped diploma mills from mushrooming and operating further.
In 1994, then Education Secretary Raul Roco scrapped the program, saying he was in favor of allowing every high school graduate the opportunity to get a college education. I consider this move one of the very few mistakes committed by the highly respected Roco in his colorful government career.
There is now a move to revive the NCEE, but Education Secretary Lesli Lapus is not keen on the idea. A national debate on the proposal to revive the NCEE should be started in Congress, instead of these congressmen arguing over who and how much should be given pork barrel funds.
The bottom line is that the government should start re-assessing the country’s education program. Our leaders are obviously aware that hundreds of thousands of college graduates are not finding jobs and swelling the ranks of the unemployed, and yet nothing has been done to correct the situation. If they can’t provide jobs to college graduates, why not do something to make sure only the qualified students attend college and encourage the others to take up vocational and technical courses that are what the country needs, after all? Why not assess and close down the hundreds of colleges and universities that only churn our diplomas that are not worth anything in the job market?
The Department of Education should start an information drive among students and parents explaining the advantages of taking up the more sought vocational and technical courses. College education is desired, but if the students are not qualified and the parents are not capable financially, vocational training may be the way to go for many of them.
And will somebody please tell Filipino students that nursing, business administration, and hotel and restaurant management (HRM) graduates are no longer in demand in the Philippines or abroad?
Records show that there are at present more than 400,000 nurses who are not gainfully employed, with 80,000 board passers joining the ranks each year. Add to these the 420,000 students that are enrolled in over 2,000 nursing schools in the country, only 40 percent of which will pass the board exams, and you will see why nursing is no longer the desired profession in the Philippines and yet hundreds of thousands continue to enroll in the course.
Many of the unemployed nursing graduates, just like many college graduates, end up in the country’s call centers, a job that perhaps require just a one-month training at the most.
The government should start redirecting the Filipino students’ enthusiasm to courses that are not only in demand in the country and abroad, but which the country needs more, such as agriculture courses, geology, mining sciences, and software engineering, the enrolment of which are low but which are in demand.
A college diploma is every Filipino’s dream, but it is never a guarantee to success. One has to make the right career choice to succeed. And the parents, the teachers and the government have the duty to help students make the right choice.
(valabelgas@aol.com)

When the “noynoying” concept went viral, Malacanang spokesmen pointed to President Noynoy Aquino’s high approval ratings to stress that those who were “noynoying” during protests and rallies do not reflect the sentiment of the Filipino people. Now that the latest Social Weather Station survey showed that his net approval rating has dropped by nine percentage points, the Palace spokesmen downplayed the poll results, saying that they were simply the result of the recent rise in oil prices and the transport strikes.
 Aquino himself made an even bigger turnaround and said that the rating drop must be ignored and that governance “should not be survey-driven.”
 “Governance is about doing what is right, which sometimes entails some sacrifices, for the good of the people,” he said. Why is this line so familiar? Because Gloria Macapagal Arroyo echoed the same line every time a new survey showed her declining ratings.
The survey results showed that 68 percent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with President Aquino’s performance while 19 percent said that they were not, with a net satisfaction rating of +49. This is down from his “very good” rating last December of +58 percent (71 percent satisfied, 13 percent dissatisfied).
 The decline followed a consistent pattern of diminishing approval ratings for Aquino since he assumed the presidency on June 30, 2010. His approval rating in July 2010, just a month after he became president, was 88 percent, meaning his ratings have dropped 20 percent in 19 months.
 Malacanang spokesmen seem unfazed by the decline, but if this pattern keeps up, Aquino would have a negative net approval rating on his fifth year.
 While his rating remained “very good” among the Class ABC at +62 (79 percent satisfied, 16 percent dissatisfied), among the Class E at +52 (68 percent satisfied, 16 percent dissatisfied), his rating dropped significantly among the Class D or the poor masses—from +58 in December to +46 (67 percent satisfied, 20 percent dissatisfied).
 
But it did not worry deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, who saw a silver lining in the ratings drop when she said that the President’s “very good” rating among the upper- and middle-income classes suggests that they understood the external reasons for the oil price increases. And the rest of the people didn’t?
 
Aquino and his Palace spokesmen can sugarcoat the rating decline any which way they want, but the fact remains that the poor, the very people who elected him and hinged their hope on his promise of deliverance, are not satisfied with what he has been doing or not doing.
 
It is not a coincidence that the drop in ratings happened at the height of the rapid rise in the prices of oil and basic commodities, the worsening blackouts, and the transport fare hikes. These are the things that matter most to the people, especially those that belong to the so-called Class D.
 
The spectacle of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona obviously roused the interest of only the middle and upper classes, and the majority of the people realized that Aquino has not done much to provide them relief from high prices, low wages and unemployment.
 
Kilusang Mayo Uno chairman Elmer Labog said the administration’s upbeat pronouncements over record highs in the stock market, improved investor confidence and credit rating upgrades, would be for naught unless it addressed hunger and poverty.
 
“A public that grows poorer and hungrier by the day would be unable to stomach such claims,” Labog added. “In the end, people will believe what they feel in their guts, in their stomachs, more than what they are being told by the government.”
 
Arroyo made the same claims about the economy during her nine-year term, but along with the satisfactory economic growth, the poverty and hunger incidence also grew because only the rich gained from her economic policies while leaving behind the poor. Obviously, the same is happening under Aquino’s term despite his claims of promising economic indicators.
 
His refusal to lift or even reduce the 12-percent value added tax (VAT) tax on oil, for example, will not help the poor at all despite his claims that the revenues from this tax is being used to fund the cash transfer program for the poor and to subsidize jeepney drivers. The poor need jobs and better wages, not temporary dole-outs or subsidies.
 
We all know that business owners are hardly affected by the VAT because they only pass on the added costs to the consumers by raising the prices of their goods or services. It is ultimately the poor consumers who carry the burden of the additional tax. And yet, Aquino refuses to even give them relief from the high prices by temporarily lifting or reducing the VAT on oil.
 
While the government has benefited from the windfall on VAT funds amid the rising oil prices, the people that Aquino claims to his “boss” are suffering from the resulting high prices. If his heart were really for the people, Aquino would have listened to their pleas.
 
Aquino raised the people’s hopes when he became president. The high hope has turned to disappointment in just 19 months. And it shows in the surveys.
 
(valabelgas@aol.com)

If his mother’s yardstick were to be followed, President Noynoy Aquino’s economic program would get a failing grade.
During the snap election campaign in 1986, opposition presidential candidate Corazon Aquino, in downplaying the economic achievements of then President Ferdinand Marcos, said that the price of “galunggong” has risen to P12 a kilo (about 80 US cents at the prevailing exchange rate then of P14 to a $1) and, therefore, Marcos should go. “Sobra na, tama na, palitan na!”
Indeed, if an administration cannot lower the price of galunggong and rice, the Filipinos’ staple foods, then it has not helped the people economically. The administration is a failure.
Since then, opposition presidential candidates would use the lowly galunggong (round scad) to stress the poor economic achievements of the previous administration. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for instance, said in 2002 that she has lowered the price of galunggong from P80 per kilo ($1.56 per kilo) during the time of deposed President Joseph Estrada to just P60 per kilo ($1.17 per kilo) in her first year in office.
After winning the controversial presidential election in 2004, however,   Arroyo must have forgotten the importance of the galunggong because in 2006, its price went up to around P90 per kilo, further increasing to about P120 per kilo ($2.80 per kilo) just before she yielded the presidency to the younger Aquino.
After 20 months of the Aquino presidency, the price of galunggong has skyrocketed to the peak price of P150 per kilo ($3.48 per kilo). So even accounting for inflation, the price of galunggong has dramatically risen from $0.80 per kilo in 1986 to $3.48 per kilo today. No wonder many Filipinos now have to make do with patis or bagoong to go with their rice!
But that’s not the only issue to be concerned about. Galunggong, which was the Filipinos’ staple fish for decades because of its abundance and its consequent low price, is now being imported from China and Taiwan at a very low price but sold in wet markets at exceedingly exorbitant prices!
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) finally admitted recently that the Philippines has
been importing 900,000 metric tons of fish annually from the two Asian neighbors, 60 percent of them galunggong. The BFAR said the local supply of galunggong and other fish species has dwindled to the point that the country needs to import them to meet the people’s demand.
Why a country that is surrounded by water has to import its fish to feed its people is simply incomprehensible. But again, that’s not really the concern of the average Filipino, who consumes about 28 kilos a year. They wouldn’t really mind eating galunggong from whatever source as long as the price is within their means. But instead of lowering the prices of galunggong, the importation has even increased the prices. Why?
The BFAR said the import licenses granted to Filipino importers stipulates that the fish would be sold to institutional buyers, such as canneries, factories and restaurants. But apparently, the imported fish are being diverted to wet markets, which should have lowered the prices of galunggong given that its landing price, according to Customs records, is only P19.50 per kilo. Even allowing a 100-percent mark-up for local distribution costs plus a generous profit margin, the retail price should just be around P40 per kilo, according to Dominador Mondragon Jr., president of the Consumer Rights Organization of the Philippines, Inc.
Apparently, the importation of galunggong and other fish, such as anchovies (dilis) and sardines (tamban), is being controlled by the same monopolies that control the distribution of locally caught fish. And to think that these importers enjoy duty and tax exemptions!  A double whammy, indeed!
These monopolies also control the distribution of other food products, such as rice, sugar, beef, pork, chicken, onions and garlic, which are all basic staples in the Filipino kitchen. No wonder that the incidence of hunger in the Philippines has continued to rise, according to surveys conducted regularly by Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Station.
President Aquino should start focusing on providing affordable food on the Filipino’s table if he is really serious about his promise of “Kung walang korap, walang mahirap.” For starters, he should look into the obvious hocus-pocus in the importation of fish and other food commodities, which has been going on for years.
He cannot continue blaming the past administration for such anomalies. After all, he promised to eradicate graft in all phases of government and the illegal activities in the private sector.  Will he spend the rest of his term going after alleged grafters in the past administration and keep a blind eye on those in his administration who continue the corrupt ways of the past?
Aquino should show the same intensity that he exhibits in pursuing the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona in going after food monopolies, smugglers and their cohorts in the government. With the focus and determination that he has shown in going after his perceived personal enemies, there is no reason he cannot exert the same political will to go after both the corruptors and the corrupted in the country.
The people expect no less.
(valabelgas@aol.com)

President Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid” has taken another crooked turn with the implication of his friend and classmate, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chief Cristino Naguiat Jr., in a bribery scandal that came to fore when Wynn Resorts filed a lawsuit accusing its former vice chairman Kazuo Okada of paying off Philippine gaming regulators and cheating the casino giant.
 The complaint was filed before the District Court of Nevada on Tuesday. The complaint was based on an investigation over several months by the law firm of former FBI Director Louis Freech, which was commissioned by the Wynn Resorts to interview persons involved in the incident and to review thousands of documents and e-mails. The investigation was conducted to assess the gaming industry in the Philippines.
 As early as early last year, Wynn Resorts had decided that it would no longer invest in the Philippines because, it said, corruption in the country’s gaming industry is “deeply ingrained.” At the same time, it expressed doubts that Aquino’s reform agenda would eliminate corruption in the gaming industry. However, despite these conclusions, Okada, according to Wynn Resorts, continued in wooing Pagcor heads with bribes to ensure that its plans to build a casino in Manila would be pursued.
 Wynn Resorts has since taken over Okada’s interests in the casino giant and forced the Japanese billionaire out of its board of directors.
 During the term of former Pagcor Chairman Efraim Genuino, Okada was given a license to operate casinos and entertainment facilities at the Entertainment City being built by Pagcor at the 71-hectare reclaimed area along Roxas Blvd. But knowing how contracts are reviewed during changes of administration in the Philippines, Okada must have decided to woo the new officials under the Aquino administration despite warnings by his partners in the Wynn Resorts.
 Wynn Resorts claimed in its lawsuit that Okada made secret deals with Philippine gaming officials to the detriment of the company. It also claimed that Okada made $110,000
bribe payments to both Naguiat and Genuino, violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Among the perks alleged in the lawsuit as having been given to Naguiat, his wife, his three children, their nanny, and other Pagcor officials during a visit to Macau were free accommodations in the Wynn Resorts luxury suite, $1,673 dinner, $20,000 cash gifts ($5,000 to each member of the Naguiat family), $1,878 Chanel bag (which Naguiat returned because, according to the investigation, Mrs. Naguiat didn’t like it).
It may be worth mentioning that the luxury suite was one of the most expensive in Macau, measuring 700 square meters with amenities that include three master bedrooms, a private casino and a beauty salon, reportedly costing $6,000 a night. The family stayed in the suite for five nights. Shades of Mike Arroyo staying in a $20,000 a night luxury villa courtesy of MGM Resorts and Casino in Las Vegas during one of Manny Pacquiao’s fights.
Naguiat, who said he wouldn’t resign over the use of one “small room,” defended his free stay at the Wynn Resort suite, claiming that it was “industry practice” for casino operators to be accommodated and provided with luxurious hotel amenities when they are in another casino hotel. But Naguiat conveniently overlooked the fact that he was not just a casino operator but also a gaming regulator and a public official who makes decisions on casinos operating in the Philippines.
Ever loyal to friends and classmates, Aquino immediately came to the defense of his buddy and said “There is a presumption of innocence unless proven guilty, so in this particular instance, we should afford him also the benefit of hearing him out before we make any judgment.”
Unfortunately, Aquino could not say the same of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the latter’s impeachment trial, having pronounced him guilty even before the impeachment complaint was filed by the House of Representatives and reiterating Corona’s guilt in various fora and interviews even while the Senate has yet to conclude its trial.
Aquino was joined by Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in defending Naguiat, saying that the latter committed no ethical violations. “There is no ethical violation because he was there as a casino operator and not as a casino regulator. Again he couldn’t go there as a casino regulator because the ‘provisional agreement’ has already been signed in 2008 and he was there talking to several casino operators,” he said.
After clearing Naguiat, Aquino then ordered Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa to launch an investigation of the allegations. Again, the action sounds familiar – clear and then investigate – except that in the case of Corona – declare guilty and then file an impeachment complaint.
And then comes the Aquino rah-rah boys in the House of Representatives, the same guys who used to defend Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at every turn. On a motion of Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardonne — yes the same former governor who used to be one of the key officials of Arroyo’s LDP and prime movers of Arroyo’s cha-cha express – and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, the House committee on games and amusement, headed by Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing, another former Arroyo ally, approved a move to bar Wynn Resort CEO Steve Wynn from doing business in the Philippines, incognizant of the fact that it was Wynn himself who was stopping Okada from pursuing a casino project in the country because of its corruption.
Evardonne siad that Wynn is embarrassing Filipinos by claiming that corruption is rampant in the country. Does he really believe that corruption is not rampant in the Philippines? Instead of investigating the allegations, Evardonne has chosen to play the patriotic card and accuse the accuser of malice. Some things just never change.
Aquino was loudly criticized for his immediate defense of Naguiat, which recalls the same pronouncement of innocence he gave to presidential adviser Ronald Llamas, another member of the KKK, Inc. (kaibigan, kaklase, kabarilan) when the latter was videographed buying pirated tapes in a mall.
“Look at both sides before making a judgment. Double standard e. Pag kaibigan, acquitted, pag kaaway, guilty,” economist and columnist Solita Monsod said. House deputy minority leader Mitos Magsaysay said: “KKK na naman iyan kaya kinakampihan, Laging naaabswelto sila e.”
The Naguiat bribery scandal is a big dent to Aquino’s self-proclaimed move to curb corruption in the government. It is an affront to his “daang matuwid” and “no to wang-wang” proclamations.
The Wynn Resorts lawsuit was carried by several major newspapers in the United States and carried worldwide by the Bloomberg news agency, thus casting doubt internationally on Aquino’s reform agenda.
Naguiat’s claim that the perks and gifts that he received from a casino operator was “industry practice” and that he, therefore, is entitled to them is in direct contrast to Aquino’s boast that under his administration, there will be no more “wang-wang” mentality or a sense of entitlement among government officials. He vowed to punish those who will continue to insist on this entitlement, and yet he was the first to come to the defense of his two friends – Naguiat and Llamas – who felt they are entitled to perks and privileges, and a few violations of the law.
So where is Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid” really leading us? Going around in circles, I guess.
(Send comments to valabelgas@aol.com)

Amid the distraction created by the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona are a couple of good news coming from the Department of Education that assures us that it has begun to realize the need to push science education in the Philippines.
On Monday, Education Secretary Armin Luistro allayed fears that the teaching of science has been dropped from the Grade 1 curriculum as he clarified that the new K-12 program, which adds two years to the current 10-year Basic Education curriculum, will not de-emphasize science education. He said science would continue to be embedded in Grades 1 and 2 subjects such as math, language and health education. Science as a separate subject will continue to be taught starting in Grade 3. Luistro said Science has not been taught as a separate subject in Grades 1 and 2 for more than 30 years now.
Some sectors were concerned that the Education department was dropping the teaching of science in the early grades, and would instead focus on developing the students’ English language skills to prepare them for an expected boom in business process outsourcing (BPO) or what we know as the call center industry.
There is reason to be concerned if indeed the K-12 program, which will be implemented starting the school year 2012-2013, would focus on developing the Filipino students’ English language skills, instead of their scientific and analytical skills.
But this doesn’t seem to be the case because late last year, the Department of Education announced that it has added 100 more schools to the 100 schools that offer specialized curriculum focused on Science in its effort to train more scientists.
Luistro said the 100 new special science elementary schools (SSES) consist of Special Education Centers (SPED) with programs for the gifted and talented child and selected regular schools that passed the SSES screening procedures.
“We feel that it is time to add more science-oriented schools in addition to the first SSES in 2007 which was composed of 57 schools and another 43 in 2009,” said Luistro. He said the stronger focus on science education is included in the 10-point
education agenda of President Aquino to upgrade the quality of the basic education system.
SSES is designed to develop Filipino children with scientific and technological knowledge and skills plus creative and positive values that will make them catalysts in spurring research and development thrusts. It provides enriched curriculum for Mathematics and Science where gifted and talented learners are provided a venue and exposure to develop their aptitude and skills.
The need to focus on math and the sciences has become even more urgent in the wake of a report in 2009 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that the Philippines is lagging behind in the scientist-population ratio when compared to other countries.
The report said there are only 125 scientists and engineers per million people engaged in research and development in the Philippines. The UNSECO average for developing nation is 380 scientists and engineers per million population.
In 2008, there was a study that showed that the Philippines was in the bottom of 38 countries tested in the efficiency of their math and science education. The test was conducted among eighth grade students of the 38 countries (second year high school equivalent in the Philippines) to see how effective the current math and science education programs in these countries were.
The Philippines placed well below the bottom in both the math and science categories, beaten even by Thailand and Malaysia.
That same year, Sen. Edgardo J. Angara lamented that the Philippines was in the bottom third of the global competitiveness list of 117 countries, and he attributed this laggard status to the Filipinos’ general failure to keep up with the advancement in science and technology throughout the world.
It would be a big mistake for the Philippines to shift its focus from math and science to developing the students’ English language skills just to make the country more competitive in the BPO business. In fact, it would be a tragic mistake for the government to rely on the BPO industry for economic development just as it would be a mistake for the country to depend on the remittances of overseas Filipinos for long-term economic growth.
Both the BPO and remittance sectors depend on outside factors that are not under the control of the country. For example, President Obama is pushing a bill that would discourage the outsourcing of jobs by US companies. With the current economic problems being experienced by European countries, they can follow the example of the United States and try to bring back jobs in their own countries, thereby crippling the BPO industry in the Philippines.
While remittances from overseas Filipinos continue to grow, there is always the danger that the hiring countries would no longer depend on foreign workers once their own citizens being to develop their own skills, or would have to do away with foreign labor when their own economies are at a downturn. In the US, for example, which has tightened the door to new immigrants, a new generation of Filipino-Americans who would have no attachments to their homeland will arise, thus greatly reducing remittances to the Philippines.
Look at India and China. While they are the leading BPO providers in the world and two of the biggest remittance recipients, they continue to give serious attention to the teaching of math and science, which has led to their leadership in the computer industry and in the manufacturing sector. These two countries, which also are among the top countries in the math and science tests mentioned in the article, are producing the most number of highly paid computer experts and executives in Silicon Valley and in other computer capitals.
These two countries have also produced the finest doctors, medical researchers and engineers in the United States. It is no wonder that both China and India are among the richest countries in the world, and their economies are growing at a pace faster than any of the traditional industrialized countries, such as the United States and Germany.
The Philippines enjoys one of the highest literacy rates in the world. But the students’ literacy are not directed towards careers that will eventually bring growth and wealth to the country, such as in computers, engineering, agriculture, and scientific research. Instead, Philippine colleges and universities continue to produce mostly graduates in business and the arts.
Angara lamented that the Philippine educational system is not designed to meet the demand for technological skills. He cited a study of the Department of Labor and Employment showing that firms engaged in science and technology would generate 4 millions jobs in the next five years, but educational institutions can produce only 2.7 million graduates in these fields during that period.
Angara said the educational system could give the Philippines a competitive edge if it focuses on math, science, technology and engineering.
For example, education officials should lure back Filipino students to the prestigious International Rice Research Institute, which has produced great agriculture scientists for Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam but not for the Philippines. Thus, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam are raking in billions of dollars in agriculture while the Philippines, which has perhaps the best and most number of agricultural colleges, continues to lag behind.
Ultimately, it is agriculture and the manufacturing sector that will bring long-term positive effects on the country’s economy, and not the short-term BPO and remittance sectors.
The Philippines should redirect the Filipino students’ energy and enthusiasm in education to math, science, engineering and computer sciences, and feel the impact of growth in the years to come.

In the current hullabaloo over the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, it is good to know that the man who presides over the court that will judge the chief justice understands the consequences of the entire democratic process to the nation and to the institutions that are involved.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, in his remarks at the start of the trial, cautioned his fellow senators sitting as judges that as jurors, they have the “obligation and responsibility to closely and diligently examine the evidence and the facts to be presented before [them], to determine whether such evidence and facts sufficiently and convincingly support the charges, and ultimately, to decide the fate of no less than the Chief Justice of the Highest Court of the land, and the head of a co-equal branch of our government.”
Enrile reminded the senators that although an impeachment trial is political in nature,
it should not be taken as an excuse “to ignore and abandon our solemn and higher obligation and responsibility as a body of jurors to see to it that the Bill of Rights are observed and that justice is served, and to conduct the trial with impartiality and fairness, to hear the case with a clear and open mind, to weigh carefully in the scale the evidence against the respondent, and to render to him a just verdict based on no other consideration than our Constitution and laws, the facts presented to us, and our individual moral conviction.”
Enrile stressed the importance of the impeachment trial to the nation: “Although the ostensible respondent in the trial before us is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, we cannot escape the reality that, in a larger sense, the conduct of this trial and its outcome will necessarily have a serious impact on the entire nation. Its success or failure to achieve the purpose for which the Constitution has provided this mechanism as part of our system of checks and balances and of public accountability, may spell the success or failure of our democratic institutions, the strengthening or weakening of our sense of justice as a people, our stability or disintegration as a nation, and the triumph or demise of the rule of law in our land.”
Enrile couldn’t have said it better. For indeed, not only Corona is under trial here; the entire nation is under
litigation – whether its institutions can stand the test of fairness, justice, and the Rule of Law, and whether the people themselves can distinguish between democracy and demagoguery.
The Senate will be watched. Can it rise beyond partisan politics and make its judgment based on evidence and the rule of law? Or will it stoop down to the level of its counterpart in the lower chamber where most of the 188 congressmen who endorsed the impeachment of Corona signed the endorsement without even reading, much less understanding the complaints? Can it make an impartial judgment, and not destroy a co-equal branch on the mere say-so of the President, as its “lower” counterpart admittedly did?
The House of Representatives has been tested and has been found wanting. These so-called representatives of the people have, for obvious reasons, decided they needed to follow the wishes of Malacanang and do what they deemed to be popular with the people, never mind if by so doing they destroy the people’s perception of justice, democracy and the Rule of Law.
The Presidency has been tested and found wanting. Obsessed with ousting Corona, President Aquino used all the resources available to him as Chief Executive to pressure the House to endorse the impeachment complaint. And now, he has been reported to be prodding and meeting with individual senators to influence their judgment.
President Aquino, who rode on the popularity of his deceased parents who were both icons of democracy, would rather pursue his personal vendetta against the head of a co-equal branch that he deemed was blocking his efforts to reform the government, brushing aside concerns that by so doing, he is weakening an important pillar of government and the people’s faith in the judiciary. He wages his battle on the presumption that it is the popular will, brushing aside concerns that what is popular may not necessarily be right.
Many members of Congress and media agree with him and are saying it is only right that Corona be impeached because it is the sentiment of the people, as expressed in recent surveys. But that is precisely what is wrong with their view of the impeachment trial. They are stretching the meaning of democracy to the extreme – that what the people want must supersede the Rule of Law, justice and fairness. This, they say, is democracy in action – returning power to the people.
Obviously, they favor mob rule over the Rule of Law. I don’t think that is the essence of democracy; rather, that would lead us to anarchy. Democracy cannot survive without the rule of law. Without strict adherence to the Rule of Law, the tyranny of the majority will subvert democracy.
Fr. Ranhillo Aquino, in his Manila Standard column, reminded senators that any judgment that they would render on the impeachment case should be based solely on evidence and the law. He said: “I am therefore disturbed by suggestions that in deciding, the senators must be sensitive to popular sentiment. Stripped of the verbiage, the suggestion seems to be that senators should judge as popular sentiment would have them judge.  If that is so, my question remains: Why go through the motions of a trial at all? Public sentiment is obviously against the Chief Justice. If the nation then is not to be treated to a long-running, expensive production of high drama with an already prepared script, then what must commence on January 16—or when the Senate so ordains —must be an honest-to-goodness trial.”
Fr. Aquino, a lawyer-priest, warns that it is the strict adherence to the Rule of Law that prevents abuses by the state or by any citizen. He said: “Under the Rule of Law, a State is answerable to the law, as is any citizen. The State has to be controlled through institutional techniques especially designed to render possible the exercise of power and render its abuse impossible. When agents of the State believe themselves empowered to act in any which way against any citizen, ex-President or ex-peace-loving, law-abiding Filipino, that is exactly when the problem of control becomes urgent.”
With all these in mind, it is my ardent hope that amid the din of the impeachment trial, the Rule of Law will not be lost, and justice and democracy, in their true essence and splendor, shall prevail.
(valabelgas@aol.com)

“It’s more fun in the Philippines.”
Don’t you believe it? Of course, you do! Of course, I do! As a Filipino who has missed all the fun in the Philippines after 20 years of living outside the country, I can truly say “It’s more fun in the Philippines!”
“It’s more fun in the Philippines.”
The slogan, which was launched by the Department of Tourism on Friday as the catch phrase for its new tourism promotion campaign worldwide, does not even end with an exclamation point, not as hysterical as many would want a tourism slogan to be. It’s not even classy, as critics say, and yet nobody would dispute the message that it conveys. Because it is the truth: “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Or don’t you believe it?
If you cannot believe that the Philippines is more fun than in most countries, you must have spent most of your life in the convent, or in a cave. If you are a tourist who had spent even just a few days in the Philippines, I’m sure you would agree to the DOT slogan. Unless, of course, you became a victim of a crime or a tragedy that would have erased the fun that you had earlier.
If almost all Filipinos believe that “it’s more fun in the Philippines,” then what’s all the fuss about the new DOT slogan?
Many critics point to the fact that the slogan has been used by Switzerland in the 50s, making it another copycat slogan, a plagiarist’s product. I’d rather believe Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez’s explanation that the similarity was coincidental, it was not copied from the Swiss slogan, which said “It’s more fun in Switzerland,” and that BBDO David Guerrero “would rather slit his throat than copy something.”
The words more fun are so generic, it’s not difficult to understand the possibility that it could have been used somewhere, sometime. Just because it was used by another country does not make it illegal nor unethical to be used by the Philippines, unless, of course, it has been copyrighted, which doesn’t seem to be the case in this matter.
Jimenez points out that other brands such as “Amazing Thailand” was also similar to “Amazing Australia,” “Incredible India” to “Incredible Italy,” and Malaysia’s “Truly Asia”
brand was similar to “Truly Tuscany.” I’m sure the Thais nor the tourists didn’t care that Thailand’s slogan was the same as that of Australia because Thailand is one of the most visited countries in the world. So are Malaysia, Italy and Australia.
While it’s true that Filipinos are among the happiest, friendliest, and most fun peoples in the world, it is also true that Filipinos are among the biggest fault-finders in the world. We also love to debate just about anything. And to the fun-loving Filipinos, there’s nothing more fun than making fun of just about anything. But these traits are just okay, after all that’s what make the people survive the tragedies and poverty that stalk the country year-round, and make the Philippines one of the strongest pillars of democracy in the world.
But we will have to learn when to end the nit-picking and the fault-finding. Tourism can bring millions of dollars to the country, money that we have not fully tapped despite all the beautiful and fun things that the country has to offer. Although tourism promotion should not be the be-all of a country’s tourism program, marketing the country’s tourist attractions to the world will definitely help a lot to bring the tourist dollars in.
We have been pressing the government to aggressively promote Philippine tourism all over the world, and now that the DOT is ready to do just that, we seem to enjoy blocking all its efforts. When it first launched the “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” marketing plan, it was met with such opposition, and rightly so, because the logo and the head types were clearly plagiarized from a logo in Poland that was still being used.
But the new slogan is clearly different from the Swiss slogan in so many ways. The supporting text and photos are far different and far wittier than that of Switzerland’s.
Imagine these plans proposed by the agency as reported by the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
“By summer, a billboard over a busy parking lot in New York would say: “Parking. It’s more fun in the Philippines.” The ad would have a beautiful snapshot of several bancas lined up on the white shores of Puerto Galera. Somewhere else in the world, maybe in a busy subway, another billboard that boasts of the country’s world-famous Banaue Rice Terraces would say, “Going upstairs. More fun in the Philippines.”
These are just two of the proposed posters and billboards that the DOT would launch in key cities all over the world. The possibilities are endless, because truly, most things are more fun in the Philippines.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines.”
It’s a statement of fact, something that Filipinos themselves can prove through their natural demeanor and in their sincere desire to please foreigners, although sometimes to a fault. Ultimately, it is the way Filipinos welcome and inter-act with the tourists that will spell the success of the country’s tourism industry. Other countries have beaches nearly as beautiful as Boracay’s; tourist landmarks that are nearly as beautiful as the Banaue Rice Terraces or the Palawan underground cave; festivals that are as exciting as the Ati-Atihan or the Sinulog; hotels and resorts as classy as those in Metro Manila; spots as historic as Corregidor and Bataan.
But nothing compares to the genuine hospitality and friendliness of the Filipino people. And that’s what makes visiting the Philippines more fun and more memorable. It is the smiling and accommodating Filipinos that will make these tourists come back and tell their family and friends to visit this land of lovely and charming people. The tourist spots become a bonus.
“It’s more fun in the Philippines.”
They say it’s boring. And yet it tells tourists truthfully what to expect when they visit the Philippines. Fun is the reason most tourists travel. It’s what they remember most, the fun they had in the places they visit. The beaches, the tourist spots and the hotels are captured in photographs. Fun is stored in their hearts.
(valabelgas@aol.com)