Category: cha-cha

do not delete 2

as promised, three essays on why deleting the economic provisions of the constitution is a bad bad bad idea.   the first is a malaya editorial.   the second is by economist alejandro lichauco for the daily tribune.   and the third by william esposo for the philippine star.

Nograles’ Trojan Horse

Should foreigners be allowed to own land? It is a good topic for a college debate, but hardly an issue that should be forcibly thrust into the top of the national agenda when the country is confronted with a war in the South, unabated corruption and a hostile economic environment not seen since the foreign exchange crisis of 1983.

Speaker Prospero Nograles’ Resolution 737 is exactly that, a proposal to allow foreigners to own land. For that purpose, he is pressing for an amendment to the 1987 Constitution, a process that could potentially inflame violence in the land given widespread public opposition to it.

But let’s give the devil a run for his money. Let’s humor Nograles and tackle his proposed constitutional change on its own merit.

Proponents argue that lifting constitutional limitation on foreign land ownership will make the country more attractive to investors. Possibly. The truth is foreigners can do good business here without owning land. They can lease land for 50 years, extendable for another 25 years. Seventy-five years is beyond most businessmen’s planning horizon.

Manufacturers, in fact, tend to base their operations in export processing zones. Business process outsourcing companies – the call centers – rent office spaces. Those in other services, most importantly financial, are just tenants in those high-rises carrying their corporate logos and names.

In the light of the current global economic crisis, owning a piece of Philippine real estate is the least of foreign investors’ considerations. The decision for many of them with exposure in the Philippines is whether to stay put or pull out stakes and pour all their resources and attention into keeping their home operations afloat.

We have the Philamlife as an example. Philamlife is a fully owned subsidiary of the world’s biggest insurance company, AIG. Philamlife, the biggest in the local insurance industry in terms of assets and profits, does not own a single patch of Philippine real estate.

AIG is now selling Philamlife, not because the latter is losing but because the proceeds from the sale are earmarked for helping bail out the floundering mother company in the United States.

That’s the kind of problem with foreign investors the Philippines is facing, not the issue of land ownership.

It is now generally recognized that the economic slowdown in the United States – along with the rest of the developed world – will take its full toll next year and the recovery will be slow and painful after that. So why prepare for something that won’t happen – foreign investors taking renewed interest in developing markets – in the next three years?

Land ownership is a Cha-Cha Trojan Horse. If itis allowed to breach the wall, Gloria Arroyo’s term will be extended. Or she will end up as prime minister under a parliamentary form of government. Our democratic institutions will see the equivalent to the sacking of Troy.”

Cha-cha offers entire RP to foreign ownership by Alejandro Lichauco

Pass Charter change (Cha-cha) and forget all about Filipinos owning the Philippines, or whatever remains of it to Filipinos.

For the principal objective of Cha-cha is to throw open the entire national territory to foreign ownership. This on the theory that only by doing so can the nation prosper and get out of the poverty trap.

That, of course, was the theory of the political dumbbells in 1946 when they forced what is known as the Parity Amendment down the throat of Filipinos. We were then a people laid waste by war and the dumbbells thought that the only way we could recover and rise was to eliminate the provision in the Constitution limiting foreign ownership of the country’s land and natural resources to 40 percent. The Constitution then allowed foreigners only 40 percent ownership of enterprises having to do with natural resources and land ownership. On the theory that the said constitutional restriction was discouraging national development – a theory espoused by Washington and accepted by Filipino political dumbbells – the incumbent administration then engineered the so-called Parity Amendment which lifted the constitutional restriction for the benefit of US investors and citizens, thereby placing US citizens and corporations at par or in parity with Filipinos insofar as land ownership and ownership of natural resources was concerned. The proponents of the Parity Amendment promised progress and immeasurable prosperity.

What this nation got instead was the Huk rebellion and outright civil war between those who favored Parity and those who saw in it a fundamental breach of the original intent of the founding fathers of the Constitution. That intention was to ensure that the Philippines shall at all times and forever be owned by Filipinos and by nobody else.

Four years after passage of the Parity Amendment, this nation was in full-blown crisis. The country had gone bankrupt and what we had instead of prosperity were poverty and a full-blown civil war.

That and much more is what the proponents of Cha-cha intend. They intend to open up the entire national territory to every type of foreign investor – Americans, Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans, Malaysians and you name them. And you don’t have to be a grade school graduate to figure out what happens to the Philippines and the Filipinos. The entire Philippines will eventually end up under the ownership of foreigners and Filipinos will end up like the original Indian inhabitants of America: Deprived of their land by strangers and forced into what is known as “Indian reservations.” Only, unlike the Indians, there won’t be any “reservation” reserved for Filipinos.

If you don’t believe that the primary objective of the Cha-cha proponents in the House is to offer the Philippines for sale to all and every specie of foreign investor then read what Speaker Prospero Nograles had to say. He said, according to a story carried by the Dec. 5 issue of the Inquirer that: “Amending the Constitution’s economic provisions was the most urgent demand of the times in light of a possible global recession.”

So there you have it. From the Speaker himself, we are informed that offering the entire Philippines to foreign ownership is the administration’s answer to the global crisis.

But Cha-cha for the purpose of eliminating the restriction on foreign ownership of the Philippines had been a long time project of certain powerful elements in this country who had pushed for Cha-cha long before the global recession descended on us. We had a movement for Cha-cha during the administrations of FVR and Joseph Estrada. That movement continues to this day under the administration of GMA.

But are you as a Filipino prepared to see this country turned over to foreigners, lock stock and barrel? Are you as a Filipino prepared to see the Filipino treated eventually as the American Indians were treated by the White colonizers?

Are you as a Filipino prepared to see the price of land, already sky-high driven up way beyond the sky? Because that’s what will happen when Cha-cha passes. Every foreign investor in the world – from Japan and China to the US, Europe, Latin America and even Africa will be free to bid for every piece and comer of land in this country.

And do you think that will settle the problem of poverty?”

Why the biggest crooks are pushing for Cha cha economic reform by William M. Esposo

The ambassador of an important European country shared with me this observation about our country: “More than anywhere else, over here the obvious is not what it seems to be.”

Ambassadors should be the most knowledgeable when it comes to seeing through diplomatic facades. Behind the smiles and polite answers they receive, they are trained to spot the truth and recognize the real situation prevailing in the country where they are assigned.

The layers of deception that one has to wade through here could well apply to the so-called economic reform being peddled with Charter change (Cha cha) in the light of this alarming piece of information that was shared with me recently by a national security and intelligence local expert.

Essentially, what this national security and intelligence expert told me was this – some of the country’s biggest plunderers, very possibly in league with jueteng and drug lords, are pushing for the proposed economic reform in the planned Charter change which pertains to allowing foreigners to own land in the Philippines.

The source said that many of the legislators as well as the other persons representing various sectors who are pushing for the proposed economic reform are not even aware of the insidious agenda and the cast of police characters in this play.

At first, I thought that the idea was preposterous. That is because I failed to see the connection between plunderers, jueteng and drug lords and foreigners or foreign firms being allowed to own land here.

However, when the information source started elaborating – it did strike a live wire and started to make sense. What follows is what the national security and intelligence expert outlined.

1. The recent collapse of Lehman Brothers and the other big financial institutions panicked those with big hoards being stashed abroad. In fact, several opinion writers have mentioned (though this remains to be confirmed) that a favorite usual suspect lost over P20 billion in the Lehman Brothers collapse.

2. The financial team of a big plunderer felt that their hoard was perhaps better placed here in the Philippines through front companies organized and registered overseas. They are more familiar with the terrain here compared to the prevailing situation overseas where they do not know anymore which financial institution is still stable and won’t collapse.

3. Their plan also calls for taking advantage of the negative effects of the global financial crisis and buy blue chip Philippine companies that may be sold at a bargain price. They will follow the dictum that the best time to invest is when there is blood on the streets.

4. Furthermore, their hoard, if invested here under front companies that have been organized and registered overseas, will be welcomed and even extended the usual incentives that are offered to foreign investors.

5. Having been organized and registered overseas, these front companies will not be accessible to local graft and corruption crusaders.

6. Owning some of the best blue chip firms in the Philippines will give them respectability and economic clout which they can translate to political muscle.

Now that explanation got your Chair Wrecker really thinking. If you try to see things as these plunderers, jueteng and drug lords would likely see it from their point of need under the prevailing global financial turmoil – the plan would seem very logical and appealing.

In a previous column, I disagreed with the proposal to open land ownership to foreigners. I felt that with their wealth the Chinese and South Koreans can end up buying the bulk of choice real estate here and raise the price to a level few Filipinos can afford. Already we’ve been getting reports that front companies are buying a lot of land through Filipino dummies – tolerated by the government.

Besides, what will attract foreigners to invest here is not the privilege to own Philippine land. It is good governance, the rule of law, a predictable judiciary, peace and order, a climate of industrial peace, infrastructure that is at par with ASEAN competitors, affordable energy and political stability. None of these will be delivered by the proposed Cha cha economic reform. All these can be delivered under the present Constitution if the present Constitution is followed by a competent and honest government.

Allowing foreigners to own land here will not make them overlook that we do not have good governance, the rule of law, a predictable judiciary, peace and order, a climate of industrial peace, infrastructure that is at par with ASEAN competitors, affordable energy and political stability. Offering foreign investors the privilege to own land is like offering to donate your liver to one who needs a kidney transplant.

China and Vietnam do not allow foreign investors to own land but they get the bulk of foreign investors in Asia. There is a good lesson to learn there – something our policy makers have not yet figured out.

The greatest tragedy that can hit Filipinos now is to expect salvation with that proposed economic reform – only to end up with our economy being controlled by those who plundered and pillaged our country and those who operated jueteng and sold our children illegal drugs.

Beware the Greeks giving gifts warned Cassandra when the Trojan Horse was offered. The Trojans did not heed their princess-seer and became an extinct nation.

Filipinos should beware when the greedy offer us economic reform.

If all there is to solving poverty is to put up entire impoverished nations for sale, then why haven’t countries as poor and even poorer than the Philippines offered themselves for sale they say our Cha-cha proponents are offering the Philippines for sale?

Vietnam has a poverty problem and so do the Indonesians. But any government in those countries which proposes opening up their countries to foreigners the way our Cha-cha proponents do will wind up in the garbage can either for their stupidity or high treason.

The first Cha-cha, to repeat, was the Parity Amendment of 1946. And that Cha-cha didn’t only fail to solve the poverty problem but in fact made it worse and paved the way to the communist-led civil war, which would torment the country for an entire decade.”

do not delete (economic provisions)

verrrry interesting that it took that angry (complete with expletives) december 12 multisectoral anti-chacha rally to provoke former leftist now gma apologist-loyalist alex magno into revealing the real score behind the arroyo administration’s kulit campaign for charter change.   apparently, suko na siya (sila), sort of.

Yesterday’s march was an event of bigotry. It was undertaken in the spirit of rejecting even a mere discussion of proposals for Charter change. It is act trapped in the presumption of malice. It does not enrich our democratic culture.

I did say, in one televised interview, that I have lost hope constitutional reform will ever happen in my lifetime. A freshly-elected administration has no incentive to surrender its electoral victory to Charter change. A sunset administration, when it does initiate a constitutional reform process, will always be suspect.

We saw that in the case of Pirma at the end of the Ramos period. We see that today.”

so.   ang solusyon ni propesor magno?   kalimutan na ang change from presidential to parliamentary, kalimutan na ang ambisyon ni gma na maging prime minister, gayon din ang ambisyon ng mga representatante na maging members of a unicameral parliament.    pero, wow, huwag na huwag kakalimutan ang economic provisions na dapat daw i-delete na from the constitution.

In one recent public forum organized by civic groups sympathetic to constitutional reform, I suggested that if there is anything that is politically feasible it has to be narrowing down the debate to only the economic provisions in the 1987 Charter.

Forget about reforming our institutional arrangement. That will always be divisive because there will always be vested interests finding themselves on opposite sides of any political question. The Senate will always oppose any shift to a unicameral assembly. Oligarchic interests will always oppose a shift away from the presidential system because any other option will be a lot harder for them to control.

The only possible aspect of the constitutional reform agenda where some amount of consensus may be forged is that section that “constitutionalizes” our nation’s economic policy.

That section is anomalous to begin with. A constitution should never prescribe economic policy. Economic policy ought to be an evolving thing, shaped by the continuing process of legislation and policy-making.

In the scenario I propose, the House majority could simply pass a resolution deleting the provisions in the 1987 Constitution that preempt economic policy-making. With a limited scope, the Senate has to agree with the revision. No one, except the ideologically blinded, wants our economic policy to be fixed like religious dogma.

I call this the “Delete Option.”

Because the provisions to be removed will not be replaced, there is no need to debate wording. The debate on economic policy, henceforth, will occur where it must: in both chambers of Congress.

It is a simply, surgical operation that will not disturb the institutional arrangement. It will not endanger the political ambitions of those who now so vociferously oppose constitutional reform.

One might call it Constitutional Appendectomy.

The necessary reform of our economic architecture has been delayed because deleting the economic provisions has been tied up with the other messy political issues in the Charter change agenda. There is an immediate benefit in liberalizing the economic architecture the soonest to help us cope with the global recession.”

it’s a whole lot of crap, the assertion that deleting the economic provisions will help us cope with the global recession.   hindi totoo.   it will only open us up completely and absolutely to the free-market kind of speculative capitalism that brought down wall street and the american economy with it, and we are expected to lie back and enjoy it.

and who really stands to benefit from magno’s delete option?   why, the arroyos of course.   check out patricio mangubat’s “The fiefdom of A“:

Sources within the palace told me that the real reason behind the lifting of these economic provisions is not to really grow the economy. No. In fact, if we think about it, the reverse would happen. If we allow foreign ownership of land and property in the Philippines, the profit that they will be getting from using these lands would definitely be taken outside the country anyway. The local economy would not benefit from it. It would just be like what Mike Defensor did when his Chinese-owned mining company bagged that multi-billion contract to mine a mountain full of gold in Zambales.

The real story is the purpose of the establishment of a Hongkong-based holding company. Allegedly, this holding company which is named after a reputable historical figure “Ashmore” is owned by the First Golfer and his associates. Ashmore is an off-shore investment firm which was built solely to be the conduit between foreign companies wanting to own lands in the Philippines and a real estate firm called “Alphaland”, which, again, is owned by a hotelier associate of the First Golfer.

The insider said that what the First Golfer and his associates intend to do is, make profit selling Philippineproperty to these foreigners using Ashmore and that Alphaland will be the authorized seller of these properties. They intend to get billions out of this.

What the First Golfer and his associates intend to do is monopolize the selling of prime Philippine property (including agricultural lands) and make a quick buck from it. Bad? Not entirely except that this smucks of bad odor and immoral since most of those behind this scheme are living inside the palace.

And you know who is helping the First Golfer and his associates build a veritable fiefdom in the Philippines? Reportedly, that person is Roberto Ongpin. (Ongpin used to be an associate of the late Ferdinand Marcos. His brother, that Ongpin during Cory’s term, reportedly committed suicide because he’s ashamed of what his brother did).”

so please, utang na loob, kalimutan na for good yang pagbabago ng economic provisions ng saligang batas.   the restrictions have been there since quezon’s time at least.   even marcos did not have the heart to delete them, knowing that to do so would not bode well for the country.

besides, foreigners are already doing good business here.   they can lease land for 50 years, extendable for another 25.   but why are we still poor?   among other things, because foreigners are allowed to repatriate all profits home.   nothing is plowed back into the economy, which says a lot about our economic fundamentals.    i’ve said this before in a letter to the inquirer editor published back in july 2005 and i’m saying it again:

There’s nothing sound about our economic fundamentals.  Nothing sound about the endless borrowing.   OFW remittances are the only thing that’s been keeping the economy afloat for many many years now, at such cost to our families, marriages, the children.  That’s fundamentally sound?  What would be sound would be if the elite, the rich, who invest their millions in China, Vietnam, the U.S., start investing here at home.  What would be sound would be if the elite were to start plowing back business profits into the local economy instead of piling it up in foreign banks or behaving like foreign investors quick to pull out their money at the first sign of unrest.”

professor benjamin diokno agrees.    invest heavily here, he urges big business.

FILIPINO businessmen should invest heavily in the country in order to generate jobs and not wait for the government to shield the country against the ill effects of the global economic meltdown, economist Benjamin Diokno said over the weekend….

He said many Filipino businessmen have invested heavily in neighboring countries and even deposited their money in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

Instead of letting their money sleep in the banks, Diokno said they can use at least the interest of their money to put up business in the country and help fellow Filipinos to get a decent job as well as keep the economy working.”

only when the rich-who-say-they-love-their-country start putting their money where their mouths are will this country have a hope of making it through the global slump.

unsettling times

believe in astrology or not, it should be impossible to ignore the co-incidence of pluto’s transit from sagittarius (where it was for the last 12 years) into (the next sign) capricorn at 9:03 a.m. thursday morning and the bloody mumbai terrorist attack that started wednesday night and blasted on for some 60 hours, killing almost two hundred and wounding more.

. . . the city was taken just as Pluto was in the last arc minute of Sagittarius; literally hours before it entered Capricorn. . . . Whoever orchestrated this attack, reasonably described in today’s Daily News as an invasion of the city, fancies himself a master of the universe. If the psychological warfare implication of staging the attack the day before Thanksgiving is not apparent, take a look; because we are all connected by the nervous system known as the media, this is a worldwide event, and it will weigh on the mind of everyone taking a day with their family today.”

the planet pluto has always been associated with upheaval and transformation, and the sign capricorn with hierarchies and structures including governments and business corporations as well as religious institutions.

When it was discovered as a pinpoint of light on a photographic plate on February 18th 1930 , the world was in upheaval – financially because of the Wall Street crash, and politically because of the rise of fascism in Europe . Scientifically, early work on splitting the atom led to the development of the atomic bomb, ultimately threatening the survival of humanity. Psychologically, demons that had been conveniently projected onto the devil and all his non-Christian works were unearthed within our own psychology as a part of our nature.”

Pluto orbits the sun about every 250 years, so a quarter of a millennium elapses between its passes through Capricorn. The last time it was there was from 1762 to 1778, during the American Revolution. The time before that, 1516-1533, Martin Luther’s Protestant revolt created a religious and political crisis for Emperor Charles V and the Catholic Church. No matter how far back we go in recorded history, Pluto in Capricorn periods correspond with revolutionary changes to the existing world order.

The powers that be, however, never go down without a fight. Pluto and Capricorn do have some things in common – they both love being in control, for example – and so we can expect more of the “Big Brother” style surveillance and invasion of privacy that are already spreading through the United States and other countries such as Great Britain. . . . Government will seem to believe that, in order for freedom to be kept safe, it must be locked away.”

Capricorn energy is about creating a solid foundation for all endeavors. Anything lasting and worthwhile requires dedication and effort. Pluto in this sign will destroy anything failing to meet these standards, in order to birth something better. Gone is the instant gratification era of Pluto in Sagittarius (1995-2008). Capricorn rules all hierarchies and structures. Pluto in Capricorn will lift the veil of secrecy, exposing what’s really going on in government and corporations. The bigger and more bureaucratic the entity, the greater the need to transform – or die.”

Pluto in Capricorn will test the durability and regenerative resources of leaders and governments across the globe, as well as business and the corporate world. Old or staid structures will collapse or come apart at the seams if they cannot redefine their nature and cope with changing conditions and needs. The renewal or discarding of traditional practices or beliefs will play a part in this for Capricorn draws from inherited wisdom and practice. Those traditions that find new life will serve to guide modern leadership while those that are uprooted or outmoded will pass into oblivion. . . . No doubt, Pluto in Capricorn will bring us a new breed of leaders and administrators, noted for determination, practicality and organizational ability. Some of these will offer useful service where others will be ruthlessly ambitious and materialistic.”

Pluto transiting Capricorn thus promises radical changes in social and political organization, financial management and social perspective on finances, ideas about fame, celebrity and social strata, and a stern look at our management of collectively owned resources.

We might learn how to manifest more gracefully, to end world hunger, to share resources wisely. On the other hand, we may see an even sharper split between the haves and have-nots. There will be substantial changes in the ways we organize money – financial institutions we thought were solid will falter, prices and exchange values will be all over the place, and both personal, corporate and national wealth will change, both up and down. The ways we relate to resources of all kinds will be questioned, changed, and reorganized.

. . . During this phase we may discover something that will make life on earth more abundant. We may also have something we thought was deeply necessary taken away.”

dito sa atin, walang patayan tulad ng sa mumbai, at wala ring matinding protesta laban sa gobyerno tulad ng sa bangkok, subalit di dapat isipin na porke’t walang malawakang manifest outrage ay hindi iniinda ng bayan ang nagaganap na mga drama ng gobyerno — lalo na sa executive and legislative branches — na malinaw namang selfish and vested interests of the few ang namamayani instead of the interests and wellbeing of the many.

di dapat isipin na balewala sa taongbayan ang nagaganap na pagbasura sa impeachment complaint sa mababang kapulungan (how baba the pigs).  dahil ikaapat na ito in as many years, paulit-ulit lang naman daw, say ng isang representante ni gma, so therefore ay walang katuturan.  say ko naman, nadadagdagan ang impeachable offenses ni gma every year, so therefore it’s never been just same-old same-old.  everytime it’s something old, something new, something buried, something true.

di rin dapat isipin na balewala sa taongbayan ang testimonya ni joe de venecia, kahit too-late-the-hero, tungkol sa personal involvement ng arroyo couple sa nbn-zte deal, gayon din ang lagayan blues to kill last year’s impeachment complaint.  di rin balewala ang bolante hearings sa senado dahil palinaw na nang palinaw ang pasikot-sikot ng fertilizer scam.  lalo nang di balewala ang pagtulak ng charter change by hook or by crook, at ang pagpigil ng simbahan sa reproductive health bill kahit ano pang pananakot ng mga obispong nakapalda, gayon din ang walang katapusang jet-setting ni gma, at kung anuano pa niyang kapabayaan at kasalanan sa taongbayan.

sa palagay ko the collective mind of the pinoy is neither asleep nor overcome by apathy.  who knows, it may be quietly absorbing and assimilating lessons learned over the years since edsa ’86 and gearing up, slowly but surely, for an issues-oriented electoral show of people power in 2010.

for those of us who were part of edsa ’86, indeed nakaka-nostalgia the current bangkok version flying yellow colors and featuring massive throngs of people (rather than politicans a la edsa dos).  and then, again, tapos na tayo diyan — we’re done with picnic-type revolutions and short-term cosmetic changes.  time to move on to a higher level of mind and action for deep-seated change, if not at the polls, then in another improved edsa.  trapos, beware!

7 of 10 pinoys favor, but gma will veto, RH bill

on the philippine daily inquirer’s “second front page” is a report on the latest social weather stations’ survey re the reproductive health (RH) bill.

Majority of Filipinos across all areas and classes were in favor of the RH bill. Seventy-eight percent in Metro Manila, 72 % in Mindanao, 69 % in Balance Luzon, and 68 % in the Visayas supported the bill, as did 77 % in Class ABC, and 70 % each in both class D and class E.

While prior awareness of the RH bill is slightly higher among women (50 %) than men (42), support for it was equally high among both sexes (70 among men, 71 among women), regardless of marital status.”

ang punchline, sa right bottom corner of the second front page:

But GMA is set to veto measure

Saying her faith as a Roman Catholic influenced her policy decision, President Macapagal-Arroyo virtually indicated that she was set to veto the controversial reproductive health bill currently under consideration at the House of Representatives.

…”I’m pro-life as far as population is concerned,” she said. “I’m pushing for birth spacing, not birth control.”

wow.  she’s going to defy public sentiment?  really?  so it doesn’t matter what happens, pass or fail, in the lower house, it’s doomed?  or is this her way of telling the lower house to get it out of the way na para maka-chacha na.

ano kaya ang ex-deal ni gma with the catholic church?  considering that a veto would lose her plentyof pogi points all around, it must be a mega-ex-deal.  hmmm.  perhaps the church will support, nay, campaign for, charter change?  support the milf and the moa-ad?  agree to u.s. bases in mindanao?  support mikey arroyo for speaker?  gilbert teodoro forpresident?  ano nga kaya.

o baka naman she’s just asking for a lot of prayers and indulgences to pay for her sins and buy her a ticket to heaven, as in the time of noli and fili.  back to the dark ages talaga.  what a drag.