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Tax reform will be go-signal for ‘serious’ infra upgrades — DoF

THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT said that it accepts the changes introduced to the tax reform program, for which it drafted the legislation, with the proceeds expected to be sufficient for the government’s infrastructure program.

The bicameral conference committee approved a number of other provisions of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) first package which were not originally proposed by the DoF, including the raising of the excise taxes on coal, minerals, and tobacco, while imposing a new tax on cosmetic surgery. Congress also increased the tax on documentary stamps, foreign currency deposit units, and capital gains on sales of unlisted stock.

“We did not propose it in package one. However, we respect the right of legislature to introduce taxes as they see fit, it’s part of the law and we accept that,” Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III told reporters yesterday as the department conducted a ceremonial burning of Mighty Corp. cigarettes in Bulacan.

He said some of the measures inserted in package one were actually planned by the DoF for later tax reform packages.

The adjustments to capital gains were scheduled for package four, while the increase in tobacco and coal taxes were scheduled for the fifth package.

Finance Assistant Secretary Mark Dennis Y.C. Joven of the Revenue Operations Group said “some changes” are thus warranted in future tax reform packages.

Mr. Dominguez meanwhile welcomed the additional revenue in the first year of tax reform, which he estimated at P130 billion.

“The P130 billion that we expect from TRAIN, the net revenue effect is certainly very close to the bill, that was passed in the House. So we are very pleased that the legislature has given us the wherewithal to begin a really serious infrastructure program,” Mr. Dominguez said.

Some 70% of the program’s additional revenues are earmarked for the government’s infrastructure drive — on which it plans to spend some P8.4 trillion over the medium term.

“We are now ready for the TRAIN to leave the station,” Mr. Dominguez said.

Mr. Joven said that the tax agencies are ready to implement the TRAIN measures by Jan. 1 through revenue regulations.

“They are being prepared right now, and it will be implemented on time,” Mr. Joven said. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Rejuvenated Real Madrid eye fifth prize of 2017

MADRID — Real Madrid can round off the most successful year in the club’s already glorious history by claiming a fifth trophy in 2017 at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi this week.

They won La Liga, the Champions League, UEFA and Spanish Super Cup in a thrilling fashion after hitting top form in a four-month spell between April and August, but since then the European champions have faded, understandably fatigued by a heavy schedule.

Madrid trail Barca by eight points at the top of La Liga and finished second to Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League group, which proved costly as they were paired with free-spending Paris Saint-Germain in a blockbuster last 16 tie on Monday.

However, traces of the Madrid that swept aside the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Barcelona in the spring and summer were back as Real hit five past Sevilla before half-time in a 5-0 rout on Saturday.

Until then Madrid had lacked the same killer instinct as last season with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scoring a combined total of just six times in La Liga, while Gareth Bale has made just one brief appearance as a substitute since September.

“We are improving in every sense,” said Zidane after thrashing Sevilla. “If you play well, you will create more chances. We created plenty of chances.”

Ronaldo scored twice at the weekend to celebrate picking up his fifth Ballon d’Or in style and his return to form is timely, as Madrid face Barcelona in their final game of the year on Dec. 23 once their work in the Middle East this week is done.

“It is a reward just to be here,” said Madrid captain Sergio Ramos. “We have the opportunity to defend our title.

“We are preparing with plenty of desire and excitement. After a great game against Sevilla we are very motivated and our confidence is very high.”

TACTICAL SWITCH
Real’s return to form coincided with a change of tactics from Zidane as the pace of Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez on the wings produced an instant impact.

However, if the Spanish duo are to keep their places then the French coach has to bench two of his preferred midfield diamond of Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Isco.

After missing out at the weekend, Casemiro and Isco are expected to feature on Wednesday when Real take on local side Al Jazira, who have already dealt with Oceania’s Auckland City and Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds to reach the last four.

“We don’t just play as Jazira now, we play for the UAE,” Al Jazira coach Ali Mabkhout told FIFA.com.

“We know Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world and this is incentive for all the players.”

Yet, after the scare of falling behind to Kashima Antlers in last year’s final before a Ronaldo hat trick won the competition in extra time, Zidane warned against complacency and thinking ahead to a potential final with Brazilian giants Gremio on Saturday.

The newly crowned South American champions take on Mexican side Pachuca in the other semifinal on Friday.

“Everyone thinks the game on Wednesday will be easy, but it won’t,” added Zidane.

“We need to think about Wednesday and doing things right to try and win this trophy once again.” — AFP

Nissan readies road tests of ‘robo-taxis’ in Japan

NISSAN Motors said last week it would begin road tests in Yokohama, Japan, of driverless “robot taxis” early next year as its rivals around the world step up self-driving technologies.

The car maker and Japanese mobile game company DeNA have jointly developed the new driverless vehicle services, dubbed Easy Ride. They plan to carry out the test with public participation for two weeks in March in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, using two electric autonomous vehicles based on its Leaf, a Nissan spokesman said, with an aim of rolling out the service by 2020.

Under their plan, customers can use a mobile app to call the robo-vehicle, set the required destination and pay the fare.

The companies also plan to support multiple languages and use a remote monitoring system to ensure passenger safety.

Automakers are racing to get autonomous vehicles in gear, and their competition includes Silicon Valley innovators Apple, Google, Tesla and Uber. Major car companies promised to bring out self-driving models as early as 2020.

Recently, General Motors said it was aiming to overtake its rivals by launching a large-scale fleet of self-driving taxis by 2019. — AFP

NCAA: Lyceum held Arellano

ARELLANO UNIVERSITY (AU) bungled a two-goal edge, a chance of snaring a victory and the solo lead after it was held to a 2-2 draw by Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) in the seniors’ division of the 93rd NCAA football competition at the Rizal Memorial Complex grounds Monday night.

The Chiefs struck hard early as they zoomed to a 2-0 lead on goals by national junior standout Roberto Corsame, Jr. and Randy Guinabang on the 38th and 56th minute, respectively, but floundered in the end after Levi Malihan and Dan Paul Alegre answered back with goals of their own on the 69th and 88th to salvage a draw.

The draw gave AU a point to improve to 10 match points for a share of the top spot with College of St. Benilde Blazers.

The Blazers, however, had better goal differential, 21-6, to hang on to the no. 1 spot.

A victory though would have catapulted the Chiefs to the top and would have been a fitting follow up to their stunning 2-1 win over the San Beda Red Booters, the reigning titlists, Thursday.

San Beda sprung back to life and steamrolled Perpetual Help, 9-0, to remain just a point off the pace with nine.

Nimrod Balabat fired a hat trick, scoring on the seventh, 71st and 72nd while James Pagsanjan chipped in a brace on the 48th and 61st.

Aljo Paul Zabala, Adolfo Abada, Eric Manlapas and James Michael Eje accounted for the Red Booters’ other goals.

LPU kept its grip of the no. 4 spot with five points.

In the only other game, Mapua posted its first win by turning back Emilio Aguinaldo, 2-1.

With Mapua’s Rosstel Mallare (15th) and EAC’s Marvin Lianza (33rd) exchanging goals, Antonnie Gal Cabra entered the fray and blasted away with turned out the match-clinching rocket seconds before stoppage time.

Global vs national tax reforms

“The problem is not that the people are taxed too little. The problem is that government spends too much.”

— former US President
Ronald Reagan

Until 1980, much of the world’s countries and governments were socialistic in their taxation and spending policies. For instance, the top marginal income tax rates that year were 60% in Malaysia and Thailand, 70% in the Philippines, 75% in Japan, 89% in South Korea, 70-75% in the US, and 83% in UK.

Global v National

Then the Reagan-Thatcher era in the ’80s changed this, they cut their respective tax rates by half. Both were advocates of limited government and free market as indicated by Reagan’s statement above. He also once described role of many governments as “if it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; if it stops moving, subsidize it.” Ms. Thatcher on the other hand once said that “the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

In the Philippines, former President Cory Aquino and other world leaders in the ’80s also joined to institute drastic income tax cut.

Fast forward today. The Duterte administration initiated drastic personal income tax cut, which is a good thing. The problem is that it also increased taxes elsewhere as it expanded public spending big time. The average increase in the national government budget of the previous administration was around P250-300 billion/year. Dutertenomics easily doubled this level: P670B increase in the first year (from 2016’s P2.68 trillion to 2017’s P3.35 trillion), another P420B increase next year with 2018 budget of P3.77 trillion.

Among the global NGOs that fight high and multiple taxes, big and wasteful public spending, is the World Taxpayers Association (WTA).

Formed in 1998 as Taxpayers Associations International, it was renamed as WTA IN 2000. It has many members from over 60 countries promoting lower tax rates, limited government, and more individual freedom.

The WTA held its regional forum and meeting last week, Dec. 9-10 at Rembrandt Hotel Bangkok, Thailand. I went there and I was the only participant with an institute from ASEAN countries. Other participants were from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, India, Nepal, Australia, UK, Sweden, US and Canada. Former WTA Sec. Gen. Bjorn Tarras-Wahlberg, current WTA Chairman Troy Lanigan who is also the president of Canadian Taxpayers Foundation (CTF), and current WTA Sec. Gen. Cristina Berechet were there.

Among the biggest members of WTA and represented in the Bangkok meeting are the Korea Taxpayers Association (KTA) with 1.2M dues-paying members, CTF with 117,000+ members, Taxpayers Alliance (UK) with 75,000+ members, others.

The Philippine government seems to be the most tax-hungry among the 10 members of the ASEAN as reflected in the total tax rate (TTR) as % of commercial profit. This is reported by the Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) in its “Paying Taxes” annual reports. TTR is the sum of corporate taxes + labor taxes (mandatory contributions for employees’ SSS, health, housing insurance, etc) + other taxes and fees (by other national and local government agencies).

On the country list, I chose members of the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), composed of ASEAN 10 countries + 6 regular dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand; then the two tiger economies in the region, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Also included are the biggest economies in North America (US and Canada) and Europe (Germany and UK). Of the 22 countries covered, only four (indicated by *) have experienced increase or deterioration in TTR (see table).

Global vs national tax reforms

The good news is that over the past five years, many countries and governments have learned to cut their various taxes and fees collected from corporate job creators. The bad news is that after such decrease, the level of TTR remains high.

Take the Philippines.

Its TTR has declined from 46.4% of firms’ commercial profit in 2012 to 42.9% in 2017, that’s the good news. The bad news is that this 42.9% is the highest in the ASEAN, even higher than socialist Vietnam.

So can the Duterte TRAIN help remove this dubious image of the Philippines having the most tax-hungry policies in the ASEAN and other neighboring countries?

With new tax hikes affecting the prices of cars, oil, electricity, and sweetened beverages; high VAT affecting many goods and services, the answer seems to be an ugly NO.

Dutertenomics could have improved this situation by cutting the VAT from 12% to 8% or lower with zero exemption except raw agri and fishery products. But Dutertenomics is focused on spend-spend-spend with little regard for the inflationary pressure of its tax-tax-tax policies.

 

Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is President of Minimal Government Thinkers, a member-institute of Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia.

minimalgovernment@gmail.com.

Looking for Intramuros’ lost soul

ANYBODY old enough to have witnessed the heyday of Manila, especially Intramuros, always has something to share about it. For Manileño and National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin, no amount of familiarity with the city could ever dull his awe of what he called the “secret soul of my city.” “Soulful” is one of the best words to describe Intramuros, which, unfortunately, seems to have lost its grandeur and vibrancy over time. But there is a group that has high hopes of reviving what the wall city was once famed for through one month worth of activities that center on art.

The Manila Biennale, inspired by the famous Venice Biennale, will be held from Feb. 3 to March 5, 2018. The Manila version — which revolves around the theme “OpenCity” — aims to transform the walled city into a big public art exposition where activities like exhibitions, fashion shows, spoken word poetry sessions, performance arts, and design and architecture event will be held during the month long celebration.

“Nothing is for sale, but your experience,” said tour guide, cultural activist, performance artist, and one of the event’s organizers Carlos Celdran.

The Manila Biennale is divided into two components: collaborative and curated programs. Under the collaborative programs are festivities with their own managements that will also use Intramuros as their venue. The festivals include the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ annual Pasinaya festival, the Fringe Festival, the Anthology Festival of Design and Architecture, and the Pink Shorts LGBT Festival.

The curated programs, meanwhile, will include festivals of performance arts and exhibitions on visual arts and design.

INTRAMUROS AND ITS RICH HISTORY
The goal of the festival is to celebrate art in Intramuros. The wall city has a long history, said Mr. Celdran. “Intramuros was originally made from bamboo, because it is the oldest architecture the Philippines has,” he said during the media launch on Nov. 29.

Unlike Indonesia which has its Borobodur or Cambodia and its Angkor Wat, Mr. Celdran said the Philippines does not have this sort of grand ancient architecture because it lacks the proper building materials. Since most of the archipelago is volcanic, “the only thing we have here is adobe, which is pretty much like building a city out of Chocnut because it’s easily crumbled,” he said.

When the Spaniards came, they introduced the use of volcanic ash mixed with seashells to strengthen walls, and roofs made out of clay and hard wood, which were used to make our churches.

At the heart of Spanish-era Intramuros were seven churches: San Agustin and Manila Cathedral (which still exist), and San Ignacio, Lourdes, Recoletos, Santo Domingo, and San Franciso which were destroyed during World War II.

Manila’s development begun organically, and was a merry mixture of East and West thanks to the Galleon Trade.

“Because of us being seated as the gateway to the East and West, Manila become one of the most beautiful cities in Asia. We’re the Paris and New York of Southeast Asia during the American period,” said Mr. Celdran, riffing off his famous Walk This Way tour of Intramuros.

When the Americans came in 1889 they brought with them the English language, a system of government, ice cream, trams, and Art Deco architecture. Mr. Celdran said Manila began to change drastically. The city was vibrant, everyone was well-dressed, and the city was progressive.

“But Manila’s soul changed during… World War II, which happened 72 years ago in February,” he said referring to the intense bombing of Manila near the end of the war.

“Americans fucked up the city,” he said, saying that with the near-total destruction of the city our soul disappeared into thin air.

“In February, all of us remember Kris Aquino’s birthday or Valentine’s Day,” said Mr. Celdran, not the churches or the 100,000 civilians who died during the month-long battle between the Japanese occupiers and the Americans.

There were efforts to bring back the lost soul of the city and Manila was rebuilt after the war, but then people expanded out into Makati City and Quezon City, and the rest of what is now Metro Manila,

“We started building our own Intramuroses in Dasmariñas Village, in Forbes Park, in Mall of Asia, and in Fort Bonifacio. Where is the soul of the city? No longer is there a city where all of us can go out, but now we are trapping ourselves inside malls, villages, and the idea of an open city is gone,” said Mr. Celdran.

Manila Biennale and its “OpenCity” theme hopes to help us regain our urban sensibilities.

To this end, one of the main exhibition venues will be the reconstructed San Ignacio Church, which was the original chapel of the Ateneo de Manila.

MANILA BIENNALE DETAILS
To experience the month-long festival in the old city, people are required to have an “Art Passport” which can be bought via e-mail (opencity@manilabiennale.ph) which will give them access to all the events. There will also be day passes for P880 and student day passes for P380 — these will be available starting on Jan. 2, 2018.

The events to be held during the festival include:

• Feb. 1- 4: the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s Pasinaya Art Festival

• Feb 2: the vernissage of the OPENCITY exhibition and a Design Center of the Philippines exhibition

• Feb. 3 to March 5: OPENCITY exhibition and Design Center of the Philippines exhibition

• Feb. 8-25: Fringe Manila, an arts festival that showcases fresh, daring, and groundbreaking material by emerging and established artists across all genres including, but not limited to, theater, poetry, music, dance and the visual arts.

• Feb. 9-11: Anthology Architecture and Design Festival, an annual event which is on it’s 3rd year that provides a platform for the showcase of architecture and design in the Philippines. With this year’s theme “Social Architecture,” The festival will feature guest speakers, dialogue panels, designer interviews, and an exhibit.

• Feb. 17-18: Short + Sweet International Pink Shorts LGBT Weekend

• Feb. 21–25: OPENCITY Festival of Performance Art

• Feb. 21: The Intramuros OPENCITY Artist Ball

• Feb. 25: Manila Transitio Memorial Concert

Artists’ works will be on view throughout the walled city from Feb. 3 to March 5. Participating local artists include: Agnes Arellano, Felix Bacolor, Vic Balanon, Renz Baluyot, Zeus Bascon, Roberto Chabet, Lena Cobangbang, Maria Cruz, Mideo Cruz, Patrick Cruz, Kiri Dalena, Kawayan de Guia, Jason Dy, SJ, Elnora Ebillo, Tad Ermitaño, Carina Evangelista, Pete Jimenez, Boni Juan, Kitty Kaburo, Kolown, Jet Melencio, Wawi Navarroza, Arvin Nogueras, Gary-Ross Pastrana, Teodulo Protomartir, Alwin Reamillo, Juni Salvador, Mark Salvatus, Jose Luis Singson, Gerardo Tan, John Torres, Gail Vicente, Marija Vicente, Tanya Villanueva, Oca Villamiel, Cathy Young, and Mm Yu. International artists will also be participating, namely: Aigars Bikse from Latvia, Hikaru Fujii of Japan, Nicolas Combarro from Spain, Angel Shaw from the USA and the Philippines, and Henri van Noordenburg from the Netherlands.

Among the artists who will be performing from Feb. 21 to 25 are: Annatha Lilo (Philippines/Germany), BT4A (Australia), Caroline Garcia (Australia), Henri Lamy (France), Hamish Lang (Australia), Jack Mernin (USA), Jota (Bolivia), Julie Tolentino, Stosh, and Cirile Domine (USA), Khan Oral (Germany), Miguel and Jessica Aquilizan (Australia/Philippines), Maylee Todd (Canada), M.O.B. (USA/Philippines), MODELAB (Mexico), Reza Daanesh Souzan (Iran), Wena Tevena and Tina Stevens (Australia), TOQA: Isabel Sicat and Aiala Aiala (USA/Philippines), and, from the Philippines, Denis Lagdameo, Ian Madrigal, Jef Carnay, Jeona Zoleta, Kenny Tai, Mars Bugaoan, Martin de Mesa and Maan Loyola, Mich Dulce, Mitch Garcia and Clint Catalan, Neo-Angono, Raquel de Loyola, Sipat Lawin, Tence Ruiz, TOYM Imao, Vim Nadera, WTA Design, WSK and Joiee Mejias. — Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman

Mitsubishi Mirage GLS CVT

AFTER introducing the Mirage in emerging Southeast Asian countries in 2012, Mitsubishi Motors brought the car to North America, where it was promptly savaged by an automotive press used to more affluent offerings. This isn’t actually surprising given the Mirage did lack the refinement — or even the styling — expected in modern cars. Earlier this year Mitsubishi upgraded the Mirage, raising it to standards that set the bar for the budget mini class.

• Outdated styling was one shortcoming of the Mirage. The present version fixes this with sharper HID head lights, more surface contouring on the hood, a trendier fascia, a more detailed grille, reshaped tail lamps and an edgier rear bumper. The top-spec GLS variant even gets LED daytime running lamps and a prominent spoiler over the rear hatch. Put together on a conservative but well-proportioned silhouette, the changes have made the car look more upscale, articulating better its competent mechanical components underneath.

• The car’s cabin has been markedly improved as well. Gone are the sparse and nasty plastic surfaces of the dashboard, upper door cards and other panels. In their place come, well, plastic surfaces, but these are higher-quality material that’s a lot more pleasing to touch and look at.

• Gauges are now lit by modern LED, and so are significantly more legible. Updated graphics help in this regard, too.

• The center console and gearshift pad look more premium with their piano black finish while metal trim accents on the air-conditioning vents, gearshift pad and steering wheel brighten up the predominantly black interior.

• Also changed is the touch screen multimedia system, which now has better and still easy-to-decipher graphics. Accessing its various functions thankfully remains a straightforward affair.

• Inch-larger wheels not only fill up the Mirage’s wheel arches better but also stiffen up, in a positive way, the car’s ride. Where the previous 14-inch alloys always seemed inadequate in handling even just moderate speed, the larger wheels return more steering “feel,” thanks to their added heft. The car is simply more composed and controlled when switching directions — it’s actually fun to drive.

• Improved insulation means the Mirage’s whiny engine note — typical of a three-cylinder mill — has been significantly hushed. Vibrations coming from the engine, as well as those produced by the car’s contact with pavement, are also quelled. The result is a level of refinement the car should have possessed from the beginning.

• Driving position, despite the multi-way adjustable driver’s seat, is unmistakably that of a budget car; the seat is too high off the floor, so it always feels like you’re on top of the car rather than in the car. The long reach to the steering wheel (this cannot be pulled closer to the driver) becomes a discomfort after a while. Conversely, sliding the seat closer toward the steering wheel means cramping legroom, which is not a comfortable position, too.

• Locking the doors is an act scored by a loud catcall — so very millennium. It can be disabled, surely, but the soundtrack is the default setting.

• Given it’s a budget car there’s very little to complain about in the Mirage. That said, in GLS spec the car is at the top end of the mini class pricing scale, breaching into the territory of models one class above (subcompacts). Though only marginally less equipped (no LED jewelry, for instance), the entry-level variants of such subcompacts nonetheless have more refined and capable four-cylinder engines, as well as slightly beefier underpinnings. The choice, then, boils down to getting the best in the lower class, or settling for the cheapest in the class above.

Opting for the former isn’t a bad call at all. — Brian M. Afuang

BLUFFER’S BOX

Mitsubishi Mirage GLS CVT

Price: P730,000

Engine: 1.2-liter, inline-three, Euro4-compliant gasoline; 77 hp @ 6,000 rpm, 100 Nm @ 4,000 rpm

Transmission: CVT

Drivetrain: Front-wheel drive

Wheels/Tires: 15 inches, 175/55

Key features: Bi-Xenon LED head lamps with daytime running lights; LED tail lamps; smart entry with push-button start/stop; multimedia with 6.75-inch touch screen and USB, aux-in and Bluetooth connectivity; leather steering wheel; automatic climate control

Maynilad completes pipe replacement in Parañaque

MAYNILAD WATER Services, Inc. has completed the replacement of 20 kilometers of old, leaky pipelines in Parañaque City for P136 million, the concessionaire for Metro Manila’s west zone said on Tuesday.

“To date, we have already replaced about 49% of the distribution system in the West Zone. We intend to sustain these water infrastructure enhancements so that we can recover more water and bring it to the areas that need it most,” said Ramoncito S. Fernandez, Maynilad president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

Maynilad said the pipe replacement project addresses the problem of leaks and breakages in the 30-year-old distribution system of the Merville area.

The company said replacing the old secondary and tertiary pipelines allowed it to recover around 1.36 million liters of water per day (MLD) that was previously lost to leaks.

“Moreover, the project will enable Maynilad to maintain a strong water pressure of 16 pounds per square inch (psi) for the more than 5,000 households in Merville Subdivision, Camella Homes, South Admiral 1 & 2 Subdivisions, Molave Park Subdivision, Inland Subdivision, Cubic Homes, Bella Villa Homes, Buena Vida Homes, Greenville Subdivision, and Jade Manor Townhomes,” Maynilad said.

This year, the company said it had spent P2.79 billion for pipe replacement projects in different areas of its concession area, particularly in Quezon City, Navotas, Valenzuela, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite.

Maynilad, the country’s largest water concessionaire in terms of customers, is an agent and contractor of the government agency Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon

Alvarez backs SC justices’ testimony vs Sereno

By Andrea Louise E. San Juan

House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez yesterday, Dec. 12, has emphasized that he believes that the testimony of four Supreme Court (SC) justices were ‘damning’ enough to establish probable cause against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno.

“Sa tingin ko sobra-sobra [I believe it’s more than enough],” Mr. Alvarez said during a press briefing.

On Monday, incumbent SC justices Noel G. Tijam, Francis H. Jardeleza and Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, as well as retired justice Arturo D. Brion, testified in the proceedings of the justice committee on the impeachment complaint against Ms. Sereno.

In their testimony, the four SC justices said Ms. Sereno had shown disrespect for the entire court and her colleagues and violated the collegial nature of the court through unilateral actions without the approval or contrary to the decision of the court en banc.

“Mabigat yung mga testimonies nung mga justices saka mga employees ng Supreme Court dahil papano mo papasinungalingan yan? First-hand information yan, sila talaga yung nakakaalam doon (The testimonies of the judges and the Supreme Court employees were substantial because how can you disprove those?. These are first-hand information. These people know the truth),” Mr. Alvarez stressed.

However, a statement released by Ms. Sereno’s camp yesterday afternoon read in part: “The testimonies of Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Noel Tijam and Francis Jardeleza, as well as that of retired Associate Justice Arturo Brion, were purely personal opinions and were not grounds to remove Sereno from office.”

The Chief Justice’s camp pointed out that there was no ‘bombshell’ in the testimonies of the sitting and former Supreme Court justices, who appeared in the impeachment proceedings of the House committee on justice on Monday, Dec. 11.

“Their testimonies reflected personal opinions of the justices on matters already decided by the Supreme Court en banc,” one of Ms. Sereno’s spokespersons, lawyer Jojo Lacanilao said.

“Their statements did not prove that the allegations against the chief justice were impeachable offenses,” he added.

Mr. Lacanilao, however, expressed alarm over the seeming “misrepresentations” meant to mislead the general public and the justice committee hearing on the impeachment case.

He lamented: “It is unfortunate that their (justices) perspectives were colored by their personal sentiments.”

Mr. Jardeleza accused Ms. Sereno of committing treason for divulging his confidential position on the Itu Aba, the largest feature in the disputed Spratly group of islands, in the arbitration case filed by the Philippines against China over the issue on the West Philippine Sea.

However, Mr. Lacanilao said it was absurd to accuse Ms. Sereno of treason for doing her constitutional duty as ex-officio chair of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

“The Chief Justice did not commit treason. What constitutes acts of treason are defined in the Revised Penal Code, and none of the actions of the Chief Justice, as alleged by Justice Jardeleza, fall under these acts. When Senior Justice Carpio brought to her attention the Itu Aba case, as member of the JBC, she was duty bound to raise the matter and she did,” he explained.

With respect to the transfer of the Maute cases, Mr. Lacanilao said the facts of the case would contradict Mr. Tijam’s claims that the Chief Justice did not consult the en banc.

Mr. Lacanilao pointed out that Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II did not file a petition as he merely wrote a letter addressed to Ms. Sereno that was received on May 29.

On the same day, the letter was referred to Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez and Assistant Court Administrator Theodore O. Te for recommendations.

On June 5, all justices — including Mr. Tijam and Ms. De Castro — received Mr. Aguirre’s letter, recommendations and a draft resolution.

The next day, the en banc issued the resolution.

“Notably, Justice Tijam affirmed that the Chief Justice was the member-in-charge of the Maute cases, contrary to Gadon’s perjurious claims. If the Chief Justice did not consult the en banc, then why did no one question the June 6 Resolution?” Mr. Lacanilao pointed out.

He also noted that Ms. De Castro, as head of the Raffle Committee, signed the minutes of the committee where the Maute case was assigned to the Chief Justice.

“Why they would raise a settled matter to which they assented to reflects on the intentions behind their belated complaints,” Mr. Lacanilao concluded.

Amid the allegations against Ms. Sereno, Mr. Alvarez for his part said: “Pero yung binanggit ni Justice Jardeleza para sa akin swak na swak yun sa betrayal of public trust (What Justice Jardeleza mentioned, for me, was outright betrayal of public trust),” Mr. Alvarez stressed.

Mr. Alvarez even pointed out that the SC justices and several court officials willingly came to testify before the justice committee under oath, unlike Ms. Sereno who turned down invitations to appear in the proceedings.

As a result, Mr. Alvarez said their testimony would likely be given the presumption of credibility.

“May presumption talaga ng credibility dahil hindi takot humarap. Hindi kagaya ni Chief Justice na takot siyang humarap. Ibig sabihin she is afraid to face the truth (There really is presumption of credibility because they are not scared to appear [before the House Committee on Justice]. Unlike the Chief Justice who’s scared to present herself. It only means that she is afraid to face the truth),” Mr. Alvarez said.

Meanwhile, he dismissed as ‘baseless allegations’ that the House impeachment proceedings are meant to shame Ms. Sereno and force her to step down from her post.

“That is most unfair,” he emphasized. “Kasi dapat nating tandaan hindi naman namin inutusan si Atty. (Lorenzo)  Gadon. Pinagagalitan nga namin minsan dahil hindi handa. Ginagawa lang namin yung tungkulin namin (We should remember, we did not order Atty. Gadon. Sometimes we even berate him because he was always unprepared. We were just doing our job),” Mr. Alvarez also said.

Mr. Alvarez added that several other resource persons are ready to testify against Ms. Sereno.

He also said that the Justice Committee may be able to complete its hearings on the impeachment case against Ms. Sereno by January next year.

More seized Mighty cigarettes destroyed

THE SECOND batch of seized Mighty Corp. cigarettes were destroyed yesterday, Dec. 12, and used as alternative fuel in producing cement.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III witnessed the burning of cigarettes worth P3.316 billion yesterday at Holcim Philippines’ cement plant in Norzagaray, Bulacan.

Mr. Dominguez said the destruction of the illicit cigarettes would ensure that it wouldn’t be sold to the market. ​

“​We are destroying this stock of tobacco products to ensure none of them leaks back into the open market,” he said.

“​More important, we want to deliver the message that evasion does not pay. Our revenue agencies are alert, adept and empowered to ensure that taxes due, especially sin taxes, are properly collected.”

The cigarettes were used as alternative heating agents to coal, Holcim’s main source of fuel in producing cement.

The “co-processing” method pioneered by Holcim Geocycle ensures the total thermal destruction of waste materials, while reducing toxic gas emissions and land and groundwater pollution.

“We have chosen to partner with Holcim Geocycle. Holcim pioneered a co-processing method that ensures total destruction of waste materials with vastly reduced toxic gas emissions and avoids land and groundwater pollution. I want to thank Holcim for helping us out with this task. A few weeks ago, the Holcim facility in Davao disposed cigarette stocks also confiscated in Mindanao,” the Finance chief said. ​

This was the second time the government held such an event, with the first conducted in Holcim’s Davao plant last month.

Fake excise tax stamps were found affixed in Mighty’s cigarettes, leading the government to file tax evasion charges against the company. Mighty Corp. agreed to a P25-billion compromise settlement as it sold its business to Japan Tobacco. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

TransCo firming up titles of land hosting transmission facilities

NATIONAL Transmission Corp. (TransCo) has sought the services of the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to secure legal title to all the real estate assets on which transmission facilities from Luzon to Mindanao are built, its president said.

“All [real estate] that we have expropriated, we will have them titled,” said Melvin A. Matibag, TransCo president and chief executive officer, adding that a formal signing was scheduled on Tuesday.

He said the move is aimed at giving the TransCo a “complete set of proof” that it owns the properties on which transmission lines, substations and towers are standing on, including the improvements made by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

TransCo is presenting itself as a potential third player in the telecommunications industry, making the right-of-way it has gained for transmission assets potentially valuable for firms it may seek to partner with.

NGCP looks after transmission assets spanning up 20,000 kilometers. In Mindanao alone, 7,000 transmission lines have been built, mostly towers, steel and wooden poles, and other support structures. The government owns the assets, which the privately owned company operates under a congressional franchise.

Mr. Matibag said the survey to be made by LRA will determine the properties that have been expropriated and paid for by the government, as well as those that remain to be expropriated, for which TransCo will decide on how they will be paid.

Asked about the value of the real estate, he said: “I’ve been hearing around P200 billion.”

He said no accurate valuation is available as titling of all the properties has not been done since grid operation was transferred to the private sector. He added that around 1,000 properties have been titled while at least 4,000 more need titling.

NGCP’s franchise stems from Republic Act 9136 in 2001 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA), which paved the way for the sale of government energy assets.

The law separated the various components of the sector, including power transmission, which was spun off to state agency TransCo ahead of its turnover to the private sector through concession.

Unlike in an outright sale, the concession agreement allowed the government to keep ownership of the transmission assets through TransCo. NGCP marked its official start of operation as electricity transmission service provider in 2009.

Mr. Matibag said TransCo has a yearly budget to justly compensate owners of land on which transmission lines are built. He said the company’s utilization of these funds has increased to 30% from 5% because more right-of-way disputes have been settled, paid or closed in court. — Victor V. Saulon

Of pushers, politicians, and presidents

A few weeks ago, I posted on Facebook two anti-drug abuse ads that I created back in 1972. The headline of one read, “Is a pusher paying more attention to your child than you are?” The other ad showed a father swigging a bottle of gin, while his son smoked marijuana. The headline bluntly stated, “One dope deserves another. If you want your kid to stop doing his thing, you can begin by stopping yours.”

I felt that, in today’s permissive environment, the importance of parental responsibility and parental example needed to be brought front and center.

Some readers have pointed out that pushers and parents are not the only culprits in the deterioration of moral values. According to them, politicians and presidents bear the onus, as well.

Indeed, pushers, politicians and presidents may be today’s “reverse role models” — and not just in the Philippines. It’s happening just as blatantly in America.

The Philippines has President Rodrigo Duterte and the US has President Donald Trump. Additionally, the Philippines has a kennel of legislative puppy dogs, while America has unabashed transactional politicians.

Sadly, there’s nowhere well-meaning parents can turn to spare their children from the criminal influence of drug pushers and the morally debilitating influence of politicians and presidents.

By the time this piece comes out, the results of the special senatorial election in Alabama will have been determined. The special election has been due to the vacancy created by the appointment of erstwhile Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to Attorney General (the US equivalent of the Philippines’ Secretary of Justice).

As of this writing, pollsters have said that the contest between Democratic candidate Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore is too close to call.

There’s more to this special election than being a toss-up between candidates of opposing parties in a predominantly Republican state, where President Donald Trump convincingly trounced Hillary Clinton in the 2016 elections.

Moore, 70, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has been accused by several women of being a sexual predator. He is said to have had sex with a 14-year-old girl, a criminal act. He also reportedly forced himself on a 16-year-old. These he did when he was in his early 30s and an assistant district attorney.

In the wake of the allegations against Moore, other instances of sexual harassment committed by prominent US politicians have hit the headlines. One senator and two congressmen have been forced to resign following public disclosure by the victims of their sexual misconduct.

However, in spite of the accusations against Moore, as well as a threat by some Republican senate leaders to subject Moore to an ethics gauntlet should he win, he enjoys a slight edge in the public opinion polls vs. the Democratic contender. Moore, who has denied the accusations, also has the support of the evangelicals in the state. This brings into question the moral values of the evangelicals, as well as that of the hardcore supporters of Moore.

What is even more eyebrow-raising is the fact that President Donald Trump has expressed his full support for Moore.

Trump himself has been accused by several women of being a sexual predator. While he has flatly denied the allegations, there are video and audio proof of his misconduct, including Trump’s recorded voice bragging about grabbing women on their private parts.

The accusations against Trump were made during the presidential campaign. He won anyway. Does this say something about the moral values of Trump’s supporters? Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.

If all these were happening in Philippine politics, that would hardly be hot news — or the stories would be very quickly suppressed (a tactic known as “suppress relations”).

Sadly, in our country, politicians and the public don’t give a damn about immorality. In fact, President Rodrigo Duterte and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez have been flaunting their extra-marital affairs.

Pundits attribute the situation in both the Philippines and the US to realpolitik. The decisions and choices of politicians are made based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.

Trump’s decision to throw his support behind Moore is obviously self-serving. Condemning Moore for sexual misconduct would boomerang on Trump. But the other reason is the fact that the Republicans cannot afford to lose a seat in the Senate where they hold a 54 to 44 edge over the Democrats, with two independent senators tending to side with the Dems. Some Republicans, like Senator John McCain, also tend to be mavericks.

The vow of Trump and the Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare — the controversial health care legislation passed during President Barack Obama’s administration — was stymied by the nay vote of McCain, in addition to the negative votes of some Republican senators.

The recent close vote in the US Senate on the sweeping tax reform bill (51 yeas and 49 nays) illustrate just how valuable every single vote is for each of the political parties. In other words, Moore may be the devil incarnate but, as far as Trump is concerned, he will be an ally and to hell with moral values.

If that sounds too much like Philippine politics, remember that Pinoy politicians learned their tricks and tactics from the Americans.

What, in fact, could be pointed out is that the Americans can now learn a few tricks and tactics from Malacañang and the Philippine Senate and House.

Such incentives as pork barrel funds to motivate solons to dance to the music of the President and such tricks as bribing senator judges to impeach a sitting chief justice may still be unheard of in Washington DC and Capitol Hill — but politicians of whatever race, nationality, or ideology are quick learners.

In the face of all these, I’m inclined to create a variation on the ad with the headline, “One dope deserves another.”

The subhead will read: “If you have a Duterte or Trump as your President, it’s all your fault.”

 

Greg B. Macabenta is an advertising and communications man shuttling between San Francisco and Manila and providing unique insights on issues from both perspectives.

gregmacabenta@hotmail.com

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