***TWO STORIES***
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
August 13, 2002
Fake Drug Manufacturers deserves
humiliation
=============================================
Senator
Ralph Recto today sought the exemption of food and drug inspectors from the
hiring-freeze government has ordered in order to cut expenses and trim the
deficit.
The
Philippines is a "fake drug maker's paradise" because of the shortage
of government personnel who will go after traffickers of counterfeit drug,
Recto said.
At
the very least, the Bureau of food and Drugs should be allowed to completely
fill up its 396-man plantilla, Recto suggested.
"BFAD
should also be exempted from the current ban in hiring personnel, after all it
is also an income-generating agency."
The
government announced last summer a moratorium in the hiring of personnel to
conserve government finances in the wake of a possible P150 billion-budget
deficit this year.
"The
government should view the deployment of more BFAD inspectors as a measure to
deter mass murder, for it is what fake drug makers commit when they sell their
wares to sick people," he said.
"Fake
drug making is genocide," he said.
Despite the lack
of manpower, BFAD still managed to file 59 cases against drugstores found to be
selling counterfeit drugs from January 2001 to June 2002.
In
addition, it confiscates P150 million to P300 million worth of fake medicines
every year.
An
Oxford University study, quoted by ABS-CBNNews.com, claimed that eight percent
of the medical drugs sold in Philippine drugstores "are fake, with little
or non-active ingredients."
The
fake drugs were found by BFAD to contain mostly flour, sugar, and other
substances that could be dangerous to people.
Recto
said drug counterfeiters are the kind of "white collar criminals who
should be paraded by the police before President Arroyo."///camille p.
balagtas
STORY NO. 2
-------------------
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
August 13, 2002
PAGCOR'S SLOT MACHINE EXPANSION IS IMMORAL...Senators
======================================================
Senator
Robert S. Jaworski (Ind.) yesterday branded as immoral the plan of the
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to expand its slot machine
operations in the country.
Jaworski
once chaired the Senate games, amusement and sports committee, deplored
PAGCOR's plan as ill-advised since the proliferation of slot machines "at
every corner" will encourage even the youth to engage in gambling.
"This
(plan) is totally immoral and should be scrapped immediately. I believe it would be best for PAGCOR to
come out, instead, with morally and socially accepted programs that will boost
its revenue generating capability," he said in a statement.
Jaworski
issued the statement even as PAGCOR chair Efraim Genuino had already denied
reports that "PAGCOR will flood the country with slot machines"
clarifying that the slot machine program is no more than an attempt to keep the
country updated with the fast developing global technology in the
gaming-entertainment business.
PAGCOR
was earlier reported as planning to install 2,000 additional slot machines in
at least 11 non-casino based locations in Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao in the
next few months.
Jaworski
warned that this would reiterate the false notion that "gambling is
good" because no less than the government is promoting it.
"Opening
up ideas like this to our people at a time of economic difficulty will enhance
the wrong notion and justification that gambling is a sure and easy and cheap
bailout because in a slot machine, your last P5 can win you hundreds of
thousands of pesos," he said.
Jaworski
even noted that such plan is not in consonance with the drive of the government
against illegal gambling since the proliferation of slot machines will promote
and nurture a gambling culture in the country, which the drive actually tries
to snap.
"I
cant see the logic behind PAGCOR's plan because while we are trying to stamp
out illegal gambling all over the country, here comes an agency trying to lure
the people to engage in betting under the guise of modern technology in
gaming-entertainment business. What is
immoral, is immoral, we have to be consistent," he stressed.
On
August 31, 2000, Jaworski, as chair of the Senate games, amusement and sports
committee, petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the nullity of the grant of
authority by PAGCOR in favor of Sports and Games Entertainment Corp. (SAGE) to
operate and conduct gambling activities on the internet.
In
the petition, Jaworski said PAGCOR has no authority under its charter,
Presidential Decree No. 1869, to operate gambling on the Internet. However, the High Court is yet to rule on the
petition to date.
On
a related development Senator Edgardo Angara support Jaworski's call
against the controversial slot
machines.
Angara said the Arroyo administration should stop
the planned proliferation of slot machines in shopping malls and other public
places, as this constitutes "pure gambling" that needs regulation.
Angara
said that instead of a strong republic of solid economic and political
foundations, the Arroyo administration is now starting to lay the foundation
for a "casino republic."
The
approval of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) scheme to
put up slot machines in shopping malls, LRT stations, hotels, and other
identified "casino outlets" reflects the "moral decay and
confusion of the Arroyo administration,"
Angara said.
Angara
said that even in gambling capitals of the world, access to slot machines is
regulated to make sure that young people have no access to the gambling
machines. Playing with slot machines is
"pure gambling" not a game or recreation, he added.
"It
is like alcohol. Not anybody who wants
alcohol can be served alcohol in public places," Angara said.. ///camille
p. balagtas