Aquino government moro-moro

The zarzuela continues. This supposedly “good-intentioned” Senate Hearing, in aid of Demolition, succeeds as a major public relations campaign of world wide magnitude. As a play, the entire production does not rate even a low D grade. It was too transparent to be stage managed, with Madam Janet Lim Napoles talking to her friend-senators as if they were long-lost friends. She does not even use the respectful address of Your Honor and never leads her statements with Mr. Chairman of the Committee.

Madam Napoles was in the Senate at her best element. She even complained that she must be given her free lunch time.

Led by Senators TG Guingona, a known substance abuser and Peter Alan Cayetano, a man insanely driven by the ambition to rise above the person who fed his young models-loving father from the palm of his hand (called Tanda by Sen. Miriam Santiago, ex Judge and former Cory appointee as well as collector of about a half-million pesos bribe per head now ensconced in Switzerland from the lion’s share of undocumented 4 million chinese in the Philippines during the 1986 installed revolutionary regime), the drama goes on attempting to be the best Pitong Komikera-Komikerong Itlog show in this part of the globe.

The lady from Lima was also present, hubnubbing with Sen. Santiago during recess with Sens. Cayetano and Trillanes trading ideas from time to time during the interregnum when the Great Madam money giver to presidents, politicians and bureaucrats and money grubber, in the league of Mr. Zaldy Co and Mr. Edwin Gardiola said Time Out, I Have To Eat Lunch. Missing the action was the real lawyer of Madam, Atty. Fred Villamor, for whom the lady of Lima lawyered for Madam Napoles, being an obedient , willing partner with or without her underwear.

The useless debates centered on the scripted silence of Ms. Napoles and the supposedly honest, “credibility of the truth” statements of Benhur Luy, as well as other Napoles underlings. Even President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino the 3rd did not bother to listen to any of the burdensome, inane and previously scripted talk flying freely at Senate. The turd had prepared speeches to media about the bagyo – super typhoon Yolanda. The Madam continuously denied everything while Brain dead Miriam Santiago became her tutor in how to deny everything in the most decent, legalistic manner: “I refuse to answer, I invoke my right against self-incrimination.”

On occasion, at least once or twice, it was mentioned that the famous NGO (non-government organization) and PO (people’s organization) community organizer, Madam Napoles, even used the dead to populate her NGOs and POs. From her probably great gratitude to the dead, she possibly bought beautiful Heritage Park lots for her benefactors – Senators, Presidents, Congresspersons, the President’s top men and women, local officials and national budget bigwigs.

A multi-million several days’ partying and catering marks the visit of Ms. Janet Lim Napoles to the Heritage Park in Global City aka The Fort. The Inquirer reports that the Heritage Park mausoleum dedicated to Ms. Napoles’ mother even became a tourist spot recently after this same newspaper broke the news on the Napoles fund scam:

Napoles Mausoleum in upscale Taguig now a tourist spot 

The luxurious two-story Lim-Napoles mausoleum at Heritage Park in Taguig City has become a “tourist spot” after the Inquirer broke the exclusive stories on Janet Lim-Napoles as the alleged mastermind behind the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Those laid to rest in the upscale memorial park must be turning in their graves.

Janet Lim-Napoles, alleged pork barrel scam mastermind, owns around 280 square meters of “lawn and estate lots” at Heritage Park in progressive Taguig City, according to an insider privy to the sale of the lots.

It was at Heritage Park that Napoles made her voluntary surrender to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda on Aug. 28.

“The lots were under different names, but it was Ms. Napoles who paid for 200 lawn lots and eight family estate lots,” where the mausoleum now stands, said the source who spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity.

“She bought all the adjacent lots of her mother’s mausoleum because she said she wants space for catering and tents when they celebrate All Souls’ Day as well as the death anniversary and birthday of her mother,” the source said.

The source said the Lim mausoleum is the burial site of Magdalena Luy Lim, the mother of Napoles, who is now detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna province.

“It is complete with amenities and furnishings of a high-end condominium unit,” she said.

‘Tourist spot’

The two-story dark grey mausoleum adorned with Halloween trimmings on the ground became a “tourist spot” after the Inquirer broke the exclusive series on Napoles’ illegal transactions using public funds, according to the source.

“Madami nagpapicture (A lot of people are having their pictures taken at the grave site), especially now,” the source said.

The lowest value for a lawn lot based on Heritage Park’s latest price list is P95,000 at 1.2 sq m and a family estate lawn cost around P4.6 million at 4.9 sq m.

“The worth of Napoles’ lots alone could reach around P30 million, but the cost of the construction of the mausoleum we do not know,” she said.

She added that government people who claimed they were with the Commission on Audit had also visited the mausoleum.

Said the source: “For the past four years, at least three times a year, they held a party complete with 24-hour catering and air-conditioned tents.

“Usually, the party preparation began on Oct. 30 and the party lasted three days, until Nov. 1. It was a festive costume party and the kids were given chocolates and candies.

“There were nuns and lots of people arriving and going during the celebration. Plenty of cars.”

Party’s over

Emy, a dirty ice cream vendor who claimed she supplies the ice cream for Napoles every Nov. 1, showed up yesterday at the mausoleum, but was turned away by a man named Marco, because “there was no party today (walang party ngayon)”.

Emy said she saw the developments of Napoles’ case unfold on TV but she took the chance and brought ice cream to the mausoleum but was told that no party guests were coming over.

“Madame Jenny (as Napoles preferred to be called), who was good to us, paid us P6,000 for the ice cream and gave a P1,000 tip,” Emy told the Inquirer.

Another family who had relatives buried near the mausoleum told the Inquirer that they “kind of missed the fanfare, because they even had a stage there once and some concert, plus free food.”

“We did not know who she was. We were told when we asked that the owner was a Chinese businesswoman very close to Erap,” the neighbor said, referring to former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada. Read More >>

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The administration is making the people of the Philippines look stupid and tickling the entire nation to emotional highs using a badly written script played by a drug addict, a highly ambitious imbalanced person, a mental retard called the turd, a brain damaged collector of undocumented chinese bribe money, a fat frog looking principal actor, among a coterie of what Madam Senator Brenda calls cockroaches and assholes (public relations experts and specialists).

At the same time, a super typhoon waits to ravage the entire country with storm surges and possible numerous deaths, damage to crops, property and countless losses and sorrows for millions of people in the land. Still the people are being occupied with the stupid spin of media doctors and drug addicts, brain damaged solons and a turd also using drugs to pacify his reported Asperger’s Syndrome. God bless the Philippines that is growing stupider everyday while the fatted cows in government and in their plush business offices keep laughing at all of us.

If the awful drama continues, a crippled duck might soon get kicked out of the duck pen.

Resolving an Invisible Crisis

It is not bandied about, but there is a hidden crisis that has been lingering for a long, long time concerning the set policy and general behavior of the Philippine banking community to entrepreneurs in the country.
Right photo: Credit cards. Source: www.theguardian.com

Selective servicing is done by the banking industry, allowing only a meager few to avail of decent credit, while a lot of loose change is happily spread over a wide base by banks through the credit card system. The banks promote their credit cards and special incentives by making the card holder salivate at gifts and rewards to be obtained freely if and when the holder increases purchases.

A large number of law firms and collection agencies all over the country have benefited up to 45% commissions share for recovering long lost debts for credit card companies and banks. 

The question is, when all over the world especially in the US Army, people start shying away from using credit cards because it buries one in serious perpetuating debt burdens, more if you are not scion or heir to the tycoons in Forbes’ List, Philippine banks are obsessed with selling that product: the plastic money. 

And 99% of members of the Bankers’ Association of the Philippines are racing against each other in selling insurance and pension plans without letting the enterpreneur class to succeed. ( Please see source article here. )

However when it comes to slightly bigger credit, the bank will sit on the application of the borrower and not grant the loan if and when a small justification can be found. If the depositor and borrower is a billionaire or a drug lord, criminal with a sack of money and roomful of funds still waiting to be counted at his hideout, the response is quick and the banker can even cite the Holy Bible at Matthew 13:12: “They who have, therefore they shall be given more.”

Not necessarily a good way to do business but the banks have kept the policy close to their hearts and will never part with this ruthless way of dishing out rejection after rejection. Even the simple opening of a checking account is a complete hurdle if one is not rich or a criminal.

For eons the proliferation of fixers, in many banking institutions similar to those circulating among government offices and officials like Janet Napoles, Edwin Gardiola, Zaldy Co, have been victimizing bank clients or prospective clients. These fixers are a sick sight in banks and a horrible bane to Philippine banking.

A large number of these fixers will give their victims a line such as: “I am only teaching bank executive/bank officer the ropes. I know more banking than he/she does.” Many are stupid enough to fall for fixers, but what can the victims do?

Bank requirements are too restrictive and the length of time to process the transaction with a client is rationalized as “the least possible time to extend and release a loan is 30-45 days.” That is one dampener, and if it does not discourage businessmen right away the poor client will realize that 30-45 days processing can even go up to 365 days or more, if the constricting policy to take as many credentials and other documentary bona fides is not complied at soonest possible time.

To make things worse, bankers can essentially also be inutile especially if they don’t have the adequate stock knowledge with which to perform their jobs. So the client is placed on a hanger and awaits to be ironed when the plate gets hot, which it might never ever when there is no intelligence to power the device. Furthermore, according to Quest for Change:

In a world where there is no plus side to very small revenue or cash accumulation, bankers are inclined to accommodate rich clientele and Alvin Toffler’s dark characters who form the other side of the coin of that phenomenon in modern times that he calls rapid wealth creation: criminals, underworld, terrorists, drug kingpins and the like.

Extraordinary is a bank manager from Antipolo who declares, “from our subsidiary bank, if you have a transaction to settle with our mother bank, I can endorse you all the way so they will provide you all the assistance you need.” In the case of a bank manager of a large bank at V.A. Rufino St., Makati City, the lady manager says it is impossible to endorse a transaction or provide suggestion to the manager of another branch of the same bank. This Makati bank branch manager wants that all transactions must emanate only from her branch.

What will keep a bank manager from endorsing a client? And what will prevent the bank manager from Antipolo to continue to give positive, constructive aid to clients in linking up with other branches of his bank?

The manager from Antipolo is the epitome of the banker’s public service ethic. The manager from V.A. Rufino in Makati is distinctly the portrait of the imbecile banker.

More than 70% to 80% of bankers in the Philippines suffer from a dearth of knowledge and are extremely poor in intelligence as well as wanting in intellect. No one is to blame except their headquarters office and the kind of education bankers get from the Philippine educational system that cannot afford to teach the correct nuances and shades of meaning of banking jargon.

On the part of bank headquarters, the governing policy of their banking corporations are bereft of the desire to promote broader credit to the entrepreneur population. The hard and fast rules of KYC – Know Your Customer, is extremely distorted and warped so much so that even knowing the potential depositors are thieves, murderers, drug lords, gambling lords, possibly as well terrorists fronted for by their relatives and associates, the bank manager will happily endorse the opening of banking relationship with the criminal and proceed to service that enemy of the public.

Effectively, this makes banks Public Enemy, by association, as launderers of the funds of these members of the underworld. 

Indeed, the benefit of the bank accepting as much cash and other valuables from these shady characters is tremendous, at least there should be balancing acts on the part of bank management to add a redeeming value to their inclination to accommodate and protect criminal figures. 

Compounding the situation of refusal to give away assistance to clients, is the inability of bankers to fulfill their ultimate obligation to service the customer. In many foreign-to-local transactions, if the scheme utilized is new to the Philippine banker, the transaction becomes bogged down not be the absence of interest of the banker but by the lack of fingertip knowledge and second nature skill to attend to the needs of the client.

The Middle Ages Europe, the Wild Wild West all had bankers, but not as cold and unsympathetic to the public that they served. There was a time when bankers followed a strict oath to be as efficient and kind to patrons for they are the ones that keep them in business.

That oath did not specify to service only billionaires and criminals if that will yield the most profit; in fact, many old school bankers will not touch criminal money even with a 100-foot pole. But look at Janet Napoles, Zaldy Co, Edwin Gardiola, the thieving Senators and Congressmen, the bureaucrats who stash billions of money stolen from taxpayers, all have the best service from their bankers.

Ultimately, meaningful change should happen in the banking industry. While it is all right to keep taking deposits from and giving away loans to the likes of billionaires like Sy, Ayala, Tan, Gokongwei, among others, taking the deposits of criminals needs to be done with a conscience. And plowing back dirty money as in the case of major public funds thief like Edwin Gardiola, as loans to the Gardiola shell companies and the conglomerates of his protectors, is a mortal sin. Dirty money for big loans, while at the other side of the equation nothing is for the honest or the least criminally inclined small and medium scale entrepreneurs.

If there will be a law to accuse and indict third party individuals or institutions in the commission as well as the concealing of a crime, banks will be included in the indictments and many bankers will go to jail.

That is the extent of an unseen, invisible crisis, but the public will hardly be concerned, because it is difficult to discern with just the naked eye. Yet, the entrepreneur class is a class awaiting to be empowered. If the time comes when the lowly and middling business people form groups and lobby organizations, a lot of banks will be given a difficult time surviving in an increasingly cruel environment.

Seat of power and corruption

Malacanang (Wikipedia photo)

By whatever rationalization or justification, the current brouhaha over the PDAF, DAP, Malampaya, the Napoles scam expose, all lead to the role of Malacanang. At this time, the slogan by which the current administration artificially propelled itself into power is already dead.

Source: http://shepherdlions.blogspot.com

October 12, 2013

Reforms in procurement

Among the most corrupt modus operandi in public sector procurement is the purchase of textbooks and medicines.

There is a call for the abolition of the pork barrel in the entire archipelago. It is believed that now is also the occasion to stop the graft and corruption rampant in the acquisition of books and medicines, from the national to sub-national agencies (Regional offices), down to the local government units.

Related articles:

Advocacy for health legislation

Need for new procedures and law on government medical supply contracts

Corruption harmful to Philippine health

Anti-corruption health sector agenda

World Health Organization Good Governance for Medicines Programme

Coalition Against Corruption Cebu City