Category: politics

cheap meds – gma vs. mar

ano ba talaga?   kahapon ito ang balita:  Arroyo to sign cheap meds EO

MANILA, Philippines-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will finally sign next week the executive order placing a price ceiling on 22 essential drugs sold in the country.

Malacañang made the announcement Tuesday amid allegations that Pfizer Phil. had tried to bribe the President with some P100 million worth of discount cards for distribution to indigent patients around the country.

pero today iba na:  Palace backtracks on issuing cheap meds EO!

Malacañang on Wednesday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would first take into account keeping foreign investors and ensuring public access to cheaper drugs before ordering a price ceiling for essential medicines.

“Theimplications for economic health go beyond just the issue of cheaper medicines at hand,” Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesperson, told reporters Wednesday.

The Palace was apparently backtracking on its tough position on Tuesday that Ms Arroyo was set to sign the executive order imposing maximum retail prices (MRP) by next week.

ano ba ‘yan?   what implications for “economic health”???    it won’t be healthy for the economy if the president signs the e.o. because it might drive away foreign investors, such as multinational drug companies who are making a killing, selling us meds at three times the price in other countries???    come on!   does she really think these drug companies will stop selling us their drugs if she signs the e.o.?    in the end, they will settle for a small cut in profits dahil hefty pa rin surely, than no profits at all.

so why really is gloria making urong-sulong when signing the e.o. would be very good if not for the books then for her public image and approval rating, lalo na’t swak ang timing for the SONA?   aha.   kung si ellen tordesillas ang tatanungin, it’s pure and simple inggit.   inggit si gloria kay senator mar roxas because roxas, who steered the law through congress, will get the credit for it and might even get elected president in 2010 because of it.

Ang ugat ng kontrobersya sa executive order na magpapatupad ng Maximum Retail Price (MRP) na nakasaad sa 2008 Cheaper Medicines Act ay inggit. Inggit ni Gloria Arroyo na makalamang si Senador Mar Roxas sa isyung ito.

Sabi ng isang source namin sa Malacañang inis raw si Arroyo na ang pipirmahan niyang executive order ay magagamit ni Roxas sa kanyang kampanya para presidente sa 2010. Kaya pinulong niya ang mga hepe ng pharmaceuticals nuong Hulyo 8 at sinabing ibaba nila ang presyon ng 50 na gamot para siya ang sikat at masasabi niya na mas magaling siya kasi 22 lang ang gamot na nasa listahan ng MRP.

Ang kapalit siyempre ng kooperasyon ng mga pharmaceutical firms ay hindi pipirmahan ang MRP.

hm, naisip ko rin yan, but not in terms of inggit, rather of just not doing the presidentiable senator any favors. i’m still hoping that gma would could be big enough to allow credit where credit is due, never mind the politics of it.   after all cheaper meds would mean more money to spend, more money going around, for other essential goods and services, which would be very good for the economy’s ever failing health di ba?

as for the criticism laid at mar roxas’ door that the power to implement the cheaper meds law should have been given not to the president but to a price regulatory board, hmm, i tend to agree with mar:

(mar) said it is difficult to pinpoint responsibility in a board that he predicted to be the dumping ground of “election losers and relatives of powerful politicians…”

sa totoo lang, i like it that the cheaper meds law puts the president on a spot.   it’s time she showed some real statesmanship.   something we can remember her fondly for, unlike the “hello garci” tapes, and the infamous if unfortunate boob job (ang dagdag ang dagdag)!

showdown 2010

grabe.   sa halip na mapaghandaan natin nang maayos ang 2010 elections, lalo tayong nagaaway-away over issues that could have been put off naman, sa totoo lang, until after we would have elected na a new president with a clear mandate.    manolo quezon is right, gma is Outflanking her enemies.

… we are seeing a dizzying number of possibilities raised, knocked down, revived, shelved, or what have you; the essentials, however, have been identified -primarily, an election in 2010- while everyone is still kept guessing, so that the resources of the enemy are dissipated while that of the administration is more cohesive; the military and police have been kept fat and well-groomed, the hierarchy remains divided, and everything is geared for resolution in the Supreme Court.

I know many people, both among her admirers and her critics, strongly believe the President’s bottom line is simple: she does not want to be disgraced by going to jail, and she wants to complete her term. I do believe that her stay in office has also convinced her that God put her in power to kick the country into shape. Therefore to be convinced of failure when it comes to the former, will only inspire her to pursue staying in power, as her self-preservation, to her mind, becomes a case of national survival, too.

So all options must remain on the table for the duration, if only to keep everyone guessing. It helps distract her leading opponents, but also, helps keep her supporters tractable.

and even if, in the end, gma gives  it up, and by some stroke of luck the opposition unites behind one presidential candidate, things can still go wrong in 2010.

JPE warns of chaos in 2010
Next president to find govt coffers empty
By Rhaydz B. Barcia, Manila Times Correspondent

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay: Failure of the computerized elections in 2010 would cause “chaos” but, if the polls succeeded, the winner would find the government coffers “empty,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said over the weekend.

“I would like to urge the people through the [people of Legazpi City] to be very, very careful in this coming election of the leaders who will handle the Philippines in 2010 and beyond,” he said.

“I would like to tell you that we’re facing a critical period in our history. The elections in 2010 are very critical because, for the first time in our political history, we are going to change the manner of [conducting the] elections,” Enrile added, referring to the fully automated polls next year. He spoke during a program here marking the 50th anniversary of the city.

Enrile expressed fears that the electronic voting could go haywire.

“We’re going to use machines to record and count the votes, [when in the past] we were using human beings or teachers,” he said. “What will happen if the machines break down? What do you think will happen to our country? This country will be in a total chaos, there will be no government or leaders, no soldiers, no policemen, no Supreme Court. What will happen to our country? It will be the rule of the strongest among us. I hope that will not happen.”

Empty coffers

Enrile added that the successor of President Gloria Arroyo would discover that the government was broke.

“If President Arroyo, an economist, a very intelligent woman and a very determined person [has been able to] run the government despite the opposition and the obstacles that have been placed before her [but still] could not manage the nation as we want it to be, how much more the next President [who] will be confronted with so many problems and [who will be expected to] unify a fragmented force? How could he or she do it when the country’s coffers are empty?” he said.

and he goes on:

“So, if we want clean governance, it should begin at the kitchen of Malacañang because one of the [problems] in the country is corruption and if you clean up your backyard, the rest [stamping out of the other problems] will follow,” Enrile added.

what does enrile mean?   that there is time to oust gma and her corrupt ways before 2010?   is he advocating extra-constitutional action a la EDSA?    is ping lacson’s call for civil disobedience, for a tax revolt, vs charter change a meaningless coincidence?   because in february ’86 it was cory’s civil disobedience campaign and economic boycott which coryistas took up that paved the way for EDSA.   is it possible that enrile and lacson are on the same page these days?   can honasan and lacson, former classmates, batchmates, pma ’71, finally be on the same page too?   nakakaintriga.

or is enrile just saying that we need to elect a president in 2010 who is without a taint of corruption?   but wait, here’s more from him, about drawing inspiration from the china experience.

According to him, China used to be the doormat of the world but later became an emerging superpower through the will of the government and the people.

Enrile said that the Chinese had told him that their determination and that of their leaders brought about a modern China free from domination of other countries. The same resolve, he added, could see China outshining the United States.

“I will tell you, in this decade [China] will overtake America. China will become the superpower of the world, because [it has] prepared [itself for that role],” Enrile said.

He allowed, though, that China’s ascendancy entailed economic and political costs. Still, Enrile said, the price the Chinese people paid went to “freedom.”

“True enough, [the Chinese] government is a little bit rigid compared to our government, and I’m not trying to say [that we] adapt the [Chinese] system but, nonetheless, we must work together as a people in order to bring progress and to make our country really free,” he added.

Enrile’s visit to Legazpi City coincided with celebrations there commemorating the 111th anniversary of the proclamation of independence.

He said that his wish for the occasion was to see the country attain economic freedom and freedom from poverty.

hmm.   will of the government and the people.   determination.   resolve.   progress.   freedom from poverty.   freedom from domination of other countries.   but with economic and political costs.   paying the price for “freedom” . . . . sounds like a political platform.   who’s the candidate kaya.   siya mismo?    sana hindi.

erap is right, there’s no hope of beating gma’s annointed in 2010 unless the opposition gets behind a single ticket.   maybe enrile can be a uniting force.    maybe the presidentiables will listen to him.   sana he can inspire them to rise above self-interests for the sake of the country.   sana together they can arrive at a consensus, agree on a platform and a ticket that would have a fighting chance against gma’s money and machinery.   then 2010 might be worth dying for.

matt defensor asks, “bakit magkakagulo?”

caught the the dzmm teleradyo program of henry omaga diaz and nina corpuz with political analyst joel rocamora and congressmen teofisto guingona 3 and matt defensor yesterday. they were talking of course about hr 1109’s con-ass and how upset people are, how it’s truly a sensitive issue pala, and defensor agreed, dapat ay tantanan na muna ng kongreso, as in, it’s not worth it if it causes instabilityand discord…

but towards the end of the show, after gracefully enduring, when notdodging, the anti-gma brickbats thrown his way by rocamora and guingona, who refused to believe defensor when he said that gma had absolutely nothing to do with the railroading of hr 1109, defensor suddenly raised the question:

what’s wrong, if we go through the process of electing gma again, and she wins.   it means gustosiya ng taong bayan.   so bakit magkakagulo?

rocamora quickly pointed out that for that to happen, the constitution would have to be amended first nga; guingona brought up the problem of cheating, as in 2004, and the question of gma’s legitimacy.

and then it was time to wrap up, nag-overtime na nga, which left me bitin and intrigued by defensor’s question that’s obviously a reflection of the kind of thinking that gma’s gang indulges in.

it tells me that hr 1109 was a case of congress testing the waters, testing the people’s limits, baka makalusot, maybe not enough people would be bothered to raise a hue and cry, or maybe people have realized that gma’s doing a good job pala, whatever the illusion, 1109 was worth a try, nothing to lose but credibility, and gma’s majority in congress lost that a long time ago…

so now they know better.   the people say no to con-ass until after gma’s gone forever.   and maybe the people would rather have a con-con, kung talagang kailangan.

on to plan b, i suppose.   maybe start making ligaw , making gapang, the senators, under the table, one by one, until there are enough who will go for joint voting, or until there are enough to win in separate voting, depending on how the supreme court rules or doesn’t rule on con-ass.

clearly, okay lang kay defensor and his ilk the idea of amending the constitution to accommodate gma’s desire to stay in power beyond 2010, whatever her reasons, because, correct me if i’m wrong, they actually want to stay in power too, and, ilusyonado ones, they actually believe that the best of gma is yet to come.   and if she can win in pampanga and win a future parliament’s votes to become prime minister, ibig sabihin noon she has the mandate of the people, so bakit magkakagulo?

bakit magkakagulo?   because it’s a lie that gma is good for the country.   gma is part of the problem.   she’s been forever and will be forever on status-quo oligarchic mode, with all that it implies for our basket-case of an economy, agrarian non-reform, population non-control, graft and corruption, the debt cycle, inadequate educational services, no health care, high cost of basic necessities, low wages, environmental exploitation and degradation, and so on and so forth.   the worst would be yet to come.

bakit magkakagulo?   meaning, hindi magkakagulo?   that can only mean na bawal na kasing magprotesta at magdemo.   ibig lang sabihin, martial law na uli.   nangangarap sila.

trying times for villar

seems to me that manny villar is in a lose-lose situation.   damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t, attend the senate trial of the ethics case filed against him by jamby madrigal over the c-5 scandal.

says armida siguion-reyna in the tribune:

The presidential election of 2010 is literally around the corner. The public has the right to know if Villar, one of the top contenders, is guilty of using his office to insert in the national budget another P200 million to enable the C-5 road extension project to pass through his properties for such properties to increase in value.

I must admit I’m puzzled by the good senator’s refusal to face his accuser Sen. Jamby Madrigal and instead chose to trade low-brow barbs with her. She called him “Corruption King,” and he shot back with “Sinungaling Queen,” when he could have used the time for tit-for-tat to demolish her allegations. He publicly cast aspersion on the entire Senate and tagged it a “kangaroo court” ready to pre-judge him without benefit of a proper hearing – a charge that so incensed my brother Senate President Juan Ponce- Enrile into reacting with “That is bullshit.”

Villar apologized to the Senate president, the apology was accepted. Still Villar maintained his position, explaining he did not mean to include Senator Enrile in his sweeping statement, just especially the presidentiables of the lot. Meaning: Lacson, Legarda, Roxas, Gordon and Escudero.

And I am once more puzzled. There are 22 senators,  23 including Senator Trillanes, whose right to vote still hangs in the balance. Of the 22, six are known to be interested in running for the highest office, including Villar himself. Of the remaining 16, at least five are known Villar allies: Joker Arroyo, Kiko Pangilinan, Nene Pimentel, the siblings Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano. E di 11 na lang ang natira: Enrile, Angara, Aquino, Biazon, Estrada, Santiago, Honasan, Lapid, Madrigal, Revilla and Zubiri – and Villar distrusts them as well?

This is nothing personal against him, as he’s always been polite, even invited me once to a small dinner in his house. It’s just that I really can’t understand why he’d rather talk to the media and show them this and that of the ongoing C-5 construction when really, the easiest way out is for him to simply present his side of the case to his colleagues, ‘yun lang.

Now, if it’s true he’s milking sympathy from the public and trying his darndest to appear as the underdog, naku. It’s going to be very, very hard to convince people that a multi-billionaire is kawawa – all his achievements could be for naught. Sayang.

says winnie monsod in the inquirer:

One cannot help but comment on the intransigence of Sen. Manuel Villar and other members of the opposition who, from where I sit, have treated their institution shamefully (and contributed to its already deteriorating image). He insists he is being singled out and persecuted  by his peers because he is a presidential aspirant. Nonsense. Wasn’t he elected Senate president by the same people, or at least by a majority of the chamber? It looks more like he is hiding behind, or maybe even exploiting this “persecution” theme, for partisan political purposes. What’s wrong with answering the charges formally? He either used his position for personal (business) gain or not. If he can show the media-which doesn’t seem to be buying his line-that he did not, why can’t he show his peers in a more formal setting? Does he really think that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who has been on both the receiving and giving ends of real political persecution, or for that matter, the Filipino people, will allow this to happen? Come on.

even more unbelievable is the way joker arroyo has taken villar’s side when back in 1998 in the house of representatives arroyo himself raised the very same issues against villar.   says manolo quezon:

The case, basically, was this: Congressmen and senators are required to inform their respective chambers of their financial and business interests. If there’s a chance any legislation they propose might represent a conflict of interest with their financial interests, they’re supposed to inform their peers. This, Arroyo said, is a disclosure Villar never made.

Arroyo then detailed what he maintained was Villar’s modus operandi, in using his political office to further his private commercial gain. Arroyo mentioned loans from government financial institutions; the development of properties despite a lack of environmental clearances; and he subsequently expressed interest in allegations of land-grabbing.

…Arroyo built the foundation for future cases, in which Villar is accused of maneuvering government projects, such as roads, to ensure they pass through his properties, even if the route of the roads have to be changed, wasting the funds already paid for right-of-way along the old, discarded path. The time and trouble to literally redraw the path of a road is worth it because it allegedly ate up portions of his properties, enabling him to seek compensation for right-of-way and saved Villar the expense of building roads to improve access to his developments.

Most interesting of all, is the allegation that his high office may have made possible his being paid at a rate higher than others, and collected these payments even when related to properties put up as collateral for government loans, and foreclosed.

Since I do not think Arroyo insincere, or senile, or corrupt, I can only suggest that Arroyo defends Villar today out of an insistence on the equality of House and Senate. If he failed in the House, no one should succeed with the same case in the Senate.

what a joker.   buti na lang enrile is no pushover.   villar should just forget about running for president.   maybe heshould slide down to vice, no pun intended.