Sept 4, 2002
***Three (3) STORIES***
1. Sultanate of Sulu should be consulted
2. RECTO COMMENDS GMA IN JUNKING SUPERCOP ROLE
3. Amicable settlement for NAIA 3, more productive---Solon urge;
CLIMACO DENIES CHARGES
=======================================================================================
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT story no. 1
September 4, 2002
Sultanate of Sulu should be consulted
=====================================
Senator Edgardo Angara today said that the Sultanate of Sulu and
prominent leader of Mindanao should be consulted before the
government decides on a proposal to claim Sabah.
"There should be extensive consultations and a serious study
of the issue. This is a very sensitive area," said Angara.
Angara said that the Sultanate of Sulu and the leader of Mindanao
are in a better position to advise the Philippine government on
the claim.
At the House of Representatives, a formal resolution asking the
executive branch to bring the Sabah issue before the
International Court of Justice has been filed.
Right now, two things have to be done with urgency, said Angara.
First is the transport of food and medicine for the Filipinos in
the navy and coast guard ships, most of whom are hungry and sick.
Food, water and medicine supply was reported running dry and the
Philippine authorities tasked to look after the deportees have
run out of funds.
Angara also proposed the fielding of a top-level delegation to
discuss the labor and deportation problems with Malaysia and the
initiative from some members of Congress to revive the claim to
Sabah.
"The nine-member delegation led by Nur Jafaar is tasked with
ensuring the safety and the health of the Filipinos in
deportation camps. A top-level government delegation is needed to
discuss the more contentious issue such as labor and deportation
and Sabah," he said.
Angara said that a sober and top-level discussion of the
sensitive issues affecting the Philippine and Malaysian
relationship is needed to prevent things from getting out of
control.
"There is no need for trouble within the ASEAN and both
countries are founding members of the association," said
Angara.
Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta on her part accused Kuala Lumpur of
committing blatant violations of the United Nations convention on
the rights of the child following the death of 13 Filipino
children due to inhumane tratment they received during the mass
deportation carried out by Malaysian authorities in Sabah.
Oreta noted that Art. III of the International convention states
that in each decision affecting the child, the various possible
solutions must be considered and due weight given to the child's
best interest.
Oreta also urged the DFA to mobilize all resources and utilize
legitimate means at their disposal to save Filipino women from
further harassment and abuse while awaiting deportation to
Sabah.///Camille p. balagtas
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT Story no. 2
Sept. 4, 2002
RECTO COMMENDS GMA IN JUNKING SUPERCOP ROLE
===========================================
Junking supercop role and grabbing reins of economic management
from wall street boys is the right job for Superma'am.
These was the exact words of Senator Ralph Recto as he praised
the decision of President Arroyo , a trained economist to refocus
her attention on the economy after playing supercop for a month.
"Its good that she had realized that the management of the
economy cannot be put on auto-pilot always," he said.
"She has to place herself back on the pilot's seat because
the economy is in the midst of a long rough ride," Recto
said.
Recto said President Arroyo did the right thing in grabbing back
the wheel of "economic comptrollership" from her
finance team composed of "ex-walled street boys" to
arrest tepid economic growth.
Foreign investments re on a nose-dive, tax collection is on a
tailspin, the peso is about to be attacked by speculators while
the deficit is ballooning and unemployment is zooming up,"
the senator from Batangas said.
Recto said the Chief Executive need "all our help and
prayers" in the "Herculean task of attracting
investments, creating jobs, collecting taxes, taming the deficit
and creating an atmosphere conducive to business.
Among the President's biggest challenges is to reverse jobless
growth wherein hikes in GDP are not accompanied by employment
genration. Almost one-third of the labor force are either
unemployed or underemployed," he added.
Another challenge is to attract foreign direct equity investments
which have plunged to $858 million in 2001 from $ 1.4 billion in
2000 and $2.1 billion in 1999, Recto said.
Tax leakage is another problem are with P358 billion escaping the
tax net this year, Recto said.
"And there's the budget deficit, the albatross on the
government's neck" he said./// Camille p. balagtas
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
September 4, 2002 SENATE HEARING-Story no. 3
Amicable settlement for NAIA 3, more productive---Solon urge
-- CLIMACO DENIES CHARGES
============================================================
To enable a productive operation which will be beneficial to
everyone, Senate probers said an amicable settlement is more
productive and realistic .
Fearing that unless the warring factions immediately forge an
amicable settlement allowing it to open for full operation as
scheduled on Nov. 26, 2002, the supposed fruitful project might
just turn into waste.
Sen. Joker Arroyo, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee,
said it will be in the nation's best interest if the shareholders
of the project sit down and resolve their differences.
The government has threatened to buy out the contract at a price
that it deems advantageous to the public and the parties
involved.
"I think it is better to get all parties together for the
benefit of the Filipino people to make sure that the airport is
operated," Senator Arroyo said before wrapping up
yesterday's Senate hearing, as he and Gloria Tan Climaco,
presidential adviser on strategic projects, admitted with sadness
that the Senate inquiry has gone out of hand.
Climaco lamented that she has been the subject of character
assassination by those against the government's position on the
issue.
Arroyo also asked the Philippine International Airport Terminal
Co. (PIATCO) to reconsider its opposition against the proposal by
Fraport, the German partner of PIATCO, of an amicable settlement
selling the contract at $400 million.
The human rights advocate from Makati City clarified news reports
criticizing Climaco, saying that there is nothing wrong with the
government's proposed take over of the $400million project as the
amount represents the total expenditure for the project borne by
the German and Filipino shareholders.
There is no $100 million pocketed or going to one's pocket as
this represents the difference in the $400 million total project
cost and the $300 million figure cited by Fraport because the
$300 million represents the cost shouldered by the Germans alone.
PIATCO counsel, Eduardo de los Angeles, told Senate probers that
the $400 million price, as proposed by Fraport, is
"unfair" to PIATCO.
"The best solution is for all to sit down together and
resolve the problems and make the airport open and
operational," De los Angeles said.
It may be recalled that President Arroyo had formed a five-man
Cabinet committee headed by Justice Secretary Hernando Perez to
evaluate Fraport's proposal after the government found at least
seven alleged onerous provisions contained in the NAIA 3
contract.
Arroyo urged PIATCO officials to attend the next Senate hearing
of Friday morning in order for the three Senate committees - Blue
Ribbon, constitutional amendments, and public works - to complete
their probe.
He hinted that they could already conclude violations of the
Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Law based on documentary evidence
they have gathered.
Among PIATCO officials being summoned in the hearing of the
Senate committees on public accountability and on constitutional
amendments were its president, Cheng Yong; its former president,
Henry Go; and its project consultant, Alfredo Liongson, who is
being paid $200,000 a month by the project builders.
Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., a member of the Senate Blue Ribbon
committee, said the controversy surrounding the project has
caused undue delay in completion, saying it may even be
mothballed unless a mutually acceptable settlement is reached.
"I'm afraid that this might become a white elephant,"
he said, adding that the NAIA 3, which will be receiving all
international flights once it becomes fully operational, might
suffer a similar fate as the mothballed Battan Nuclear Power
Plant (BNPP) where the government pays more than $1 million a day
for interest alone on its principal loan.
Arroyo also said his committee is close to reaching a conclusion,
based on documentary evidence, of possible violations of the BOT
Law and the Anti-Dummy Law but will wait until PIATCO officials
have duly testified before his committee.
"Even on the basis of documentary evidence, we could already
make (a decision) but we have to wait for other (witnesses) to
make it complete," he said.
"There are so many companies involved here. When you have so
much layering, sometimes that is the lawyer's technique of
concealing the real ownership. All of these are on documentary
evidence," he said.
Senate President Franklin M. Drilon has questioned PIATCO's
financial capability to bid for the NAIA 3 project despite a
capitalization of only $150 million.
"I noticed interlocking directors, interlocking
stockholders, a layering of corporations. I want to see whether
our Anti-Dummy laws have been violated, whether the constitional
provision limiting foreign equity to 40 percent has been
violated," he said.
Sen. Edgardo J. Angara, chairman of the Senate constitutional
amendments committee, also questioned the government's shifting
stance on the PIATCO deal, raising public suspicion that the
government is bent on selling out the project to powerful people.
He noted that the NAIA 3 project was first approved by then
Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez and
Socio-Economic and Development Secretary Dante Canlas but was
later on pronounced as "an onerous deal" by Climaco.
"Suspicions of an unseen, strong hand arose because of this
ambiguity in the government's position regarding this
(project)," he said. ///camille p. balagtas