March 22, 2008
China, Vietnam and the Philippines have signed “joint seismic monitoring agreements” where they agreed to undertake “pre-exploration study” of the area, which contains most of the islands in the Spratly Islands Group but also includes a wide swathe of Philippine territorial waters – 24,000 square kilometers of Philippine maritime territory.
EXPLORATION / PRE-EXPLORATION
The Philippine Constitution states: "the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State."
The Philippine government officials, again resorting to their ridiculous sophisms, argued that the agreements were merely for “pre-exploration” studies and not for exploration.
I am a Petroleum Engineer and I find the government sophistry terribly funny. In 2005, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla told journalist Ellen Tordesillas that “It’s really a pre-exploratory activity that is taking place.” When lawyers head our energy agencies and institutions, we cannot really expect much from them, except if these agencies become embroiled in legal entanglements.
First of all, one either explores or not explore. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers like Ferdinand Magellan went out to sea to seek their fortunes, they did not tell their sponsors (usually the monarchs), “Your Majesty, I will first pre-explore so I need just one ship.”
When the first oil explorers went to the desert to find oil, they did not bring with them sophisticated instruments. All they needed were their eyes, brain and instinct. They went out looking for outcrops or geological formations like synclines or anticlines. These pioneering oilmen discovered the vast oil reservoirs in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
The sophistry of government officials reminds me of the stories about the oil pioneers in the Middle East. To get the support of the local sheikhs, the Europeans told the Arabs that they were looking for water. The locals, who regarded water as more precious than oil, gave their all-out support.
Fortunately, the Filipino people today know better than the Arab sheikhs of old. Even when the Chinese and their Filipino counterparts tell us that they are not looking for oil, we know that oil (and gas) is exactly what they are looking for.
March 20, 2008
When I was a kid, all TV programs and movies in the Philippine were all related to the story of Jesus Christ or the Bible. Because of this, I saw The Ten Commandments, The Bible, Ben Hur, Samson and Delilah, David and Bathsheba, The Robe, and films like these more than ten times at least. There was no choice because there was nothing else to see. Besides, when I was a kid, I just wanted to go to the movies with my mother so I could gorge on chocolates and popcorn. We never watched a movie without anything to munch on.
The kids today are so lucky. TV and movies are showing regular fare.
For those who want to ponder upon religious thoughts, below is an article I wrote for Mr.& Ms. Magazine -July 2006. It is about the Da Vinci Code and the topicts surrounding it — Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, Judas Iscariot, the Jews, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson, Dan Brown, etc.:
Deconstructing the Da Vinci Code
Film adaptation of literary works started with no less than the inventors of the film apparatus – the Lumière brothers. The book was the all-time best seller – The Bible. The film was La Vie et Passion de Jésus Christ. In Film Studies, the adaptation of classical literature is usually given more attention than those of contemporary books. Contemporary film adaptations are generally studied for their portrayal of current political culture.
Da Vinci Code, the movie, is an adaptation of a very contemporary novel but the structure of the story rests firmly on the New Testament and the early Christian Gnostic writings.
While the novel/film is ostensibly a thriller beginning with a murder and the consequential cops-and-suspects chase, what are foregrounded are the alleged marriage of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene and the existence of their descendants.
The text of the film calls on so many other texts and subtexts. A proper critical analysis of the film would require so many pages.
MEDIOCRE BOOK
Dan Brown’s novel cannot compare to the classics. In terms of artistic value, it has practically none. It contains no new information. The non-fiction best-seller The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail already profited from the Jesus – Magdalene royal dynastic love story almost 25 years ago.
It is interesting to note that Dan Brown’s first three novels – Digital Fortress (1998), Angels and Demons (2000) and Deception Point (2001) – each had less than 10,000 copies printed. All of a sudden, Brown’s fourth novel, the Da Vinci Code, sold more than 60,000,000 (sixty million) hardcover copies. Can a badly written novel become an overnight sensation merely because of its subject matter?
Because of the overwhelming success of his fourth novel, his other novels got a big boost in sales, too. Do people buy books because of the novel’s inherent qualities or because of something else?
In analyzing the movie The Da Vinci Code, the current political culture / political economy surrounding the film takes precedence over aesthetic values.
AGENDA-SETTING
Scholars have acknowledged the big role of Media in the creation of social reality. Media Studies scholars define agenda-setting as the practice, whether intentional or not, of Media to structure public debate and awareness. The Media do not tell people what to think but they tell people what to think about. In the case at hand, for example, the Media do not tell the people to believe the Da Vinci Code’s premises, but they prod people to at least think about Dan Brown’s allegations.
How can they do that? In this case, the novel was given tremendous media hype. Even before publication, the New York Times already endorsed the book.
The novel debuted at No. 1 in the New York Times Best Seller List. By the following year, all of Brown’s novels were already in the New York Times Best Seller List.
Practically all major publications wrote about the book. Brown was listed by TIME magazine as one of the top 100 most influential person of the year 2005 and chosen by Forbes magazine as the No. 12 Top Celebrity of 2005.
Other similar media products like the documentary Origins of the Da Vinci Code were produced. Related materials like the Gospel of Judas were given much media time. In the run-up to the opening of the movie, National Geographic Channel showed several times the Gospel of Judas documentary and had a series called the Secret Bible Week which featured stories on early Christian (Gnostic) writings – those that were prominently featured in the Da Vinci Code novel and film.
JEWISH HOLLYWOOD
The Jews – Metro, Goldwyn, Meyer, Hecht, the Warners, Cecil B. De Mille, etc. - created Hollywood. Biblical stories like the Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah, The Bible, etc. produced by Hollywood featured mostly the Jewish Bible – the Old Testament. In stories of Jesus, the guilt for killing Jesus is put squarely on the Romans. And Jesus was always portrayed as cool and calm and his suffering (called the Passion) was mellowed down.
Lately, Jewish domination of Hollywood has been watered down by the coming of the Japanese (Sony) and the Australians. The Japanese agenda however seems to be purely financial. But the Australian Connection gave the Jews reason to be afraid when top Australian actor/ director made The Passion of the Christ in 2004.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
Unknown to many people, the 1999 Life of Jesus Mini Series was censored. CBS cut out the nail scene and the screams of Jesus among others because CBS wanted to portray “a more traditional Jesus.” (to see the censored scenes visit http://hollywoodjesus.com/jesus_series3a.htm)
But Australian Mel Gibson wanted to show the great suffering of Jesus as depicted in the Lenten season’s Passion Play re-enacted in many places in the world, including the Philippines. In 2004, Gibson co-wrote and directed The Passion of the Christ. The Jews cried foul. The movie’s stark portrayal of Jesus’s passion could make the viewers react harshly to Jesus’s enemies, they averred.
Hollywood and other media products have been selling the idea that the Romans - not the Jews - killed Jesus. But in Gibson’s movies, the killers appeared to be Jews. This was somehow emphasized by Gibson’s insistence that the characters speak in Hebrew and Latin. While the Jews protested, Gibson made sure that he got the backing of the Christian churches before the movie’s premiere showing
The movie became a blockbuster and made Gibson many millions richer. The Jews immediately re-issued the Jesus Mini Series and claimed that the series had “Less Passion but More Compassion.” But the harm was done. A sign outside one church in America read “Jews- Christ Killers”. This was one of the more palpable effects of the movie. The Jews needed to do some damage control. As a minority, even a powerful one, they could not afford to antagonize the Christian majority.
DAN BROWN’S NOVEL
It may be a coincidence that Brown’s editor is Jason Kaufman, presumably a Jew. But it is safe to presume that a Jewish editor, upon reading Da Vinci Code, would immediately realize that the answer to Gibson had come. In fact, it would not be far-fetched to presume that the editor himself gave the struggling Christian writer, whose previous book concerned Angels and Demons, some advice on what story to write.
With the agenda set, the Jewish media moguls could easily create a best-seller. And of course, the Hollywood Jews could then make a blockbuster film. An American superstar (Tom Hanks) and famous director (Ron Howard) plus European big stars for supporting roles and a big budget for promotion and PR equal a top grossing film.
For good measure, the Gospel of Judas was hailed as finally transforming Judas Iscariot from evil to good. In the documentaries, Jews claimed that Judas was regarded by the Christians as the representative Jew in the New Testament. The Jews interviewed in documentaries claimed that the New Testament was anti-Semitic. This is quite astounding. How could it be anti-Semitic when ALL the characters in the New Testament, except for the Romans, were Jews? Even Jesus and the Virgin Mary were Jews.
In the Bible Secrets documentaries, it was alleged again that the Romans, not the Jews, killed Jesus. The reasoning however was historically baseless.
With the great media hype on Dan Brown’s novel plus the documentaries on “Bible Secrets”, the stage was set for the box office success of the movie.
Just as the Jews protested over Gibson’s movie, various Catholic groups from different countries protested over the film The Da Vinci Code. .The title of an editorial in the New Jersey Jewish News perhaps encapsulates the Jews’ feeling of sweet revenge – “Mel Gibson, Meet Dan Brown.”
AESTHETICS
Cultural politics aside, the film is just as mediocre as the novel. The film tried not to be too gung-ho over the Jesus-Magdalene dynastic line. Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) did not agree fully with Brown’s or Teabing’s (Ian McKellen’s) suppositions. The filmmakers tried to make some characters more credible like Fache (Jean Reno) whose motivation for his obsessive desire to catch Langdon and Neveau (Audrey Tautou) and his connection with Aringarosa (Alfred Molina) were not explained well in the book. However, they made other changes which made things even murkier.
In the novel, Aringarosa was the head of Opus Dei who wanted to secure the secret documents to obtain more power in the Catholic Church. In the film, it was not clear if Aringarosa was with the Opus Dei. And yet, police detective Fache was made an Opus Dei member. Who and what was Silas’s (Paul Bettany’s) motivation then? Like the novel, Akiva Goldsman’s (another Jew?) screenplay was sloppy.
The value of novels and films depends mainly on the narrative’s coherence. At the end of the story, all dilemmas should be resolved, all questions should be answered, and there ought to be no loose ends. Unfortunately, in both the Da Vinci Code book and film, dilemmas were unresolved, questions were unanswered and there were quite a number of loose ends.
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Published in the Mr. & Ms. Magazine Supermonthly of the Body, Mind & Spirit, July 2006
March 17, 2008
Pacquiao wins by split decision over Marquez | # |
Current events, Miscellaneous — jamalashley @ 2:10 am
Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao almost lost his fight against WBC super featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez despite knocking him down in the third round because of bad boxing strategy. Pacquiao won by a split decision..
For the full text, go to my other blog, The Setting Sun (includes a video clip)
March 15, 2008
Ashmore Group, a London-based investment fund is offering to buy 40 % of Petron shares held by Saudi Aramco.
PNOC, which owns the other 40%, holds the right of first refusal. And it should exercise that right.
With rising oil prices, this is the best opportunity for the country to take back its only oil company.
It is very important for an emerging economy like the Philippines to have some control over its oil downstream industry. Malaysia has PETRONAS, Thailand has PTT. Both are huge factors in their countries’ progress.
SOCIAL ISSUE
Ashmore is an investment group and is only interested in profits. The country cannot expect to get anything from it, save for taxes, perhaps.
With Saudi Aramco, the country could ask for a supply guarranty. And being state-owned, there is room for diplomatic negotiations.
CASH COW
Petron is a cash cow. And the government needs a cash cow. If it own 80% of it, then there will be more cash.
GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT DEALS
If Petron will become Government-controlled, it could negotiate for better oil deals with oil-producing countries. Then, it could even give greater competition to the two oil majors in the country as well as the so-called new players.
For those clamoring for a repeal of the de-regulation law, the buy-back of Petron will be just as good, if not better.
Regulation is ALWAYS bad in a corrupt regime. De-regulation gives the market forces a chance. Although the Philippine style de-regulation is actually only a semi-deregulation or even an anti-deregulation. It merely strengthens the status quo; i.e., maintains the power of the majors.
If the government buys back Petron, there will still be room for the private oil companies and at the same time, the government can act through Petron in ways that would best serve the needs of the Filipinos.
SEE:
TECHNICAL MEN, COMPUTERS, THE INTERNET and ME | # |
Uncategorized, Miscellaneous, Personal — jamalashley @ 12:11 am
(This is a personal essay and only tangentially connected to the ZTE-NBN hearings. If you are looking for the ZTE-NBN essays, go to my other posts.)
I transferred the contents of this essay to my other blog, The Setting Sun.
March 12, 2008
GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO FOUND HER ANGEL – SAN MIGUEL | # |
Current events, Socio-Political, ZTE-NBN — jamalashley @ 11:48 pm
If GMA was praying for an angel to help her in the on-going ZTE-NBN Senate hearings, a lion of an angel (St. Michael) came to her rescue – Leo San Miguel. San Miguel suffered almost 12 hours of interrogation by the Senate panel sitting side by side with his detractors – Dante Madriaga, Joey de Venecia and Jun Lozada.
The very formal San Miguel immediately laid down his premises. He is a “Technical Man”, he said, and was only concerned with the technical aspects of the NBN project. He had neither the inclination nor the opportunity to know anything about overpricing, commissions, kick-backs or advances. In all the meetings he attended, he was there only as the technical resource person.
His position was easy to defend – if there were only one opposing voice. It would be a case of He said / He said. But there were at least three opposing voices. So it was a case of He said / They said.
TECHNICAL MAN
As Mr. Madriaga said, a person of the caliber or stature of Mr. San Miguel could not possibly be just a “Technical Man.” Mr. Madriaga repeated his assertion that all technical matters were handed out to him and his team by San Miguel. They were the Technical Men.
San Miguel, who was the Founder of HOME Cable TV, is a multi-millionaire. He looks and speaks like a well-educated man. He admitted to have bought and recently sold a 40 million peso house in McKinley (Road, I presume). He appears to me as richer than Jun Lozada, former President and CEO of state-owned Philippine Forest Corporation and who hobnobs with Cabinet members and even the First Gentleman although he claims to be a mere Probinsyanong Intsik (Chinese provincial).
San Miguel and Lozada may have started as technical men but they have since graduated to a different level – the wheeling-dealing men.
For those who know the workings of government-business relations, technical men do not socialize with CEOs and Cabinet officials.
In the case of the ZTE-NBN deal, Mr. Madriaga is a Technical Man. He studied at UP and graduated from Texas A&M University. Engineering-wise, he is better educated than Lozada and San Miguel. He can be considered a "successful man" and one the country’s top people in his line of business. He claims to be the "chief designer/consultant of ZTE Project" and has a "Scope of Work" document with his signature as well as Leo San Miguel’s and ZTE Manager Wang Feng. But he was never a part in the meetings among ZTE, the "Filipino Group", Joey de Venecia, Sec. Neri, Sec. Mendoza and COMELEC Chair Abalos.
Even in the meeting where the First Gentleman allegedly told Joey de Venecia to back off, Madriaga testified that he was brought along to Wack Wack by San Miguel but was not part of the meeting.
TECHNICAL MAN’S JOB
San Miguel said at least twice that “it was his job to make his clients happy.” For that reason, he let his clients use his car and he accompanies them to wherever they want to go. It was in that capacity that he met Mr. Abalos and all the others involved in the deal.
A technical man’s job is to make sure the project is technically feasible. It is not his job to drive his clients around or “to make his clients happy.”
San Miguel said that being a technical man, he was unconcerned with commissions. He has no knowledge whatsoever about commissions. Technical men usually do not want any surprises. When they design their project or study, they need to know everything about it, especially how it should be presented to the clients and how it should be tailored to the needs of everyone.
And in any technical study, COSTS are always taken into consideration. If one designs a system or does a project study, costs inevitably comes in because in the end, the project will be judged on its costs and prices. The best system design — railway, pipeline, broadband network, etc. — is worth nothing if no one will buy it.
TECHNICAL MAN’S CELLPHONE
One way to know exactly who is the technical man and who is the wheeler-dealer or skilled entrepreneur or entrprising broker or agent is to know how many cell phones he has and how frequently he uses it / them. Technical men, although tech savvy, needs only one cellphone and at most, two SIM cards.
Wheeler-dealers live through their phones. Once, I met a guy who invited me to his apartment and showed off his dozen or so phones in the living room. There were no cell phones then but he could have just got a PABX with 12 lines.
Wheeler-dealers usually have several cellphones, extra batteries and chargers.
Senator Lacson said that San Miguel has several cellphones and throws away his SIM cards every so often. I don’t understand why.
NOTHING TECHNICAL
Jun Lozada belied San Miguel’s claim that he (San Miguel) knew nothing about kickbacks or commissions. He said that he met with COMELEC Chair Ben Abalos and San Miguel at least five times and in all those occasions, they did not talk about anything technical.
Lozada specifically recounted the time when he met with Mr. Abalos and Mr. San Miguel at the Wack Wack Club President’s office where they talked mostly about the huge commissions.
Mr. Joey de Venecia categorically stated that Mr. San Miguel knew about the US$130 Million commissions and the advances because that was the agenda of their Dec. 27, 2006 meeting. In that particular meeting, De Venecia said that Ms. Fan Yang stood up and asked about the advances.
De Venecia also said that San Miguel was in the meeting with the China Ex-Im Bank people at Sec. Neri’s office at NEDA. The agenda there was financial and nothing technical.
FULL OF HOLES
Lozada told ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel) that San Miguel’s testimony is Puro Butas or Full of Holes.
San Miguel was asked if he had ever met with Mike Arroyo, the First Gentleman. He said no. When asked if he was in the meeting at Wack Wack when the FG allegedly told de Venecia to “Back off”, he said he was “in the vicinity.”
When De Venecia said that San Miguel was in the room, San Miguel said that he was there only for technical things. At this point the gallery let out a sound of disbelief.
Later, he denied he was in that meeting.
In the previous hearing, Madriaga said that he was in Wack Wack together with San Miguel, who was in the room with FG, Joey and company.
Lozada also belied San Miguel’s statement that he (San Miguel) met with Secretary Mendoza and Jun Lozada together twice. Lozada claimed that he had never been in a meeting where Secretary Mendoza and San Miguel were both there.
For Joey de Venecia, “walang totoong sinabi" si San Miguel. He said that Abalos wanted to see him and sent San Miguel to his house. His father, JDV then called him to say that Abalos had been looking for him for two weeks and asked him to meet Abalos in his (the father’s) house.
This was to counter San Miguel’s statement that at the meeting in the Speaker’s house, the Speaker told the people there “Let’s not forget my son. Let’s work together.”
Madriaga said that it was “incredible” that San Miguel doesn’t know about the “tongpats”. He said that that very word came from him (San Miguel) as evidenced by the email allegedly sent by San Miguel to Madriaga.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL
San Miguel was repeatedly asked by the senators if he met a government official just before coming to the Senate hearing. He kept on saying he did not.
Then Senator Madrigal asked about Mr. Agana. At first San Miguel pretended not to know any Agana. The Senator said, “Yacqui?” (I am not sure how the name is spelled but it was pronounced by them as YA-KI). Then, San Miguel remembered. He was an old friend he met in the morning before the Senate hearing.
When asked if he knew what Agana’s position was, he said he did not know but then, on second thought, he said he heard it mentioned in previous Senate hearings. “Agana is with USEC Manny Gaite,” he said.
Senator Madrigal said that Agana is the PLLO (Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer). “Isn’t Agana a government official and that San Miguel met with him just before the Senate hearing?,” the Senator asked.
Marcelino Agana IV is one of the many people charged by Senator Jamby Madrigal for obstruction of justice.
Once again, San Miguel was caught lying – in full view of millions of TV viewers.
One wonders if Mr. Gaite sent his assistant to deliver another big envelope full of money to help a distressed stranger.
ABALOS
At first, San Miguel denied any knowledge of Abalos’s connection with the ZTE-NBN deal. Then he admitted to meeting Abalos five to six times. When asked by Sen. Estrada if he traveled with Abalos, he answered, “I don’t remember”.
Senator Estrada asked if he remembers traveling with Abalos to Hong Kong. San Miguel said he couldn’t recall doing so.
Senator Cayetano helped San Miguel remember by asking if he remembered staying in the same hotel with Abalos.
Finally, San Miguel’s memory was working again and he recalled staying in the same hotel with Abalos and the other Filipinos in the group. He admitted that the hotel accommodation was paid with the credit card of Gen. de la Torre.
San Miguel’s memory was a bit awaken when Senator Estrada showed everyone a list of all the overseas travels of San Miguel and others and Senator Cayetano mentioned about the hotel and credit card.
When it was time for administration senator Ponce-Enrile’s turn to ask, San Miguel suddenly recovered some of his memory. He readily admitted meeting Abalos 5 to 6 times. He was asked to recount each meeting. He did say the circumstance of the meetings but he maintained that he heard nothing, spoke nothing and probably even saw nothing.
In the 4th meeting with Abalos, San Miguel suddenly regained his full memory. The meeting was held at Speaker JDV’s house, he said. Abalos was there and so were Jimmy Paz, Ruben Reyes, Joey and the ZTE people.
To explain what the meeting was about, he introduced his answer with “The way it was transmitted to me by ZTE…” Why, wasn’t he there at the meeting? Was he a moron that ZTE people had to explain what the meeting was all about? Even if the ZTE people explained to him before hand what the meeting was about, by then he already knew what it was all about because he was there. He was not asked what the ZTE people told him about it.
But then, he suddenly became talkative. He wanted to give more information. He narrated that Speaker De Venecia said, “Let’s not forget my son. Let’s work together.”
For the very first and only time, San Miguel remembered what another person said in a meeting! It just so happened that it was an indirect attack on the De Venecias.
He said that he also met with Abalos in China together with Joey, the Filipino Group and ZTE officials.
For whatever it is worth, San Miguel’s testimony effectively confirmed that Mr. Abalos was truly a part of the project and not just a disinterested observer as Mr. Abalos claims.
EMAIL ATTACHMENTS
For me, the greatest surprise of the hearing was the supposed computer expert Leo San Miguel accusing Madriaga of tampering the email attachments and asserting that anybody who knows computer and the Internet can edit an attachment and still make it appear as if it was the original attachment sent by another party.
This got the ire of Senator Lacson who warned San Miguel not test his patience or he would ask that San Miguel be cited for contempt.
I have no idea where where San Miguel got this notion about editing email attachments.
Take a look at this tip from AppSynthesis
Technical Tips from our Help Desk
Q. I received an Excel document via email, made a few changes, and sent it back to the originator. They claim my edits are not in the document. I know I saved the document, so what is the problem?
A. When you receive a file attachment through email and open the attachment from the email message, a copy of the attachment is created in your Windows/Temp directory. You can edit, save, and even reopen the document (through the Recent Files option under File), but the file you are working with is no longer the file included in the email. The email attachment remains separate and unchanged.
As this tip from the website of a digital fim says, you can do whatever you want to do with an attachment but BUT THE FILE YOU ARE WORKING WITH IS NO LONGER THE FILE INCLUDED IN THE EMAIL. THE EMAIL ATTACHMENT REMAINS SEPARATE AND UNCHANGED.
So who said Leo San Miguel was a Technical Man? He is not even computer savvy.
PERJURY
From Wikipedia:
Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. Perjury is a crime because the witness has sworn to tell the truth and, for the credibility of the court, witness testimony must be relied on as being truthful. Perjury is considered a serious offense as it can be used to usurp the power of the courts, resulting in miscarriages of justice.
It is quite obvious that Mr. San Miguel was guilty of perjury during the last Senate hearing. First, his answers contradicted the testimonies of three other people. Second, his answers were simply not logical and do not conform to all the known rules of human behavior. Third, on at least one occasion, he was proven to have lied. This was the case when he said he never met a government official prior to attending the hearing. Upon further questioning, he admitted he did meet a government official during the said period.
Should the Senate let San Miguel perjure himself and get away with it?
===================
See
March 11, 2008
LEO SAN MIGUEL CONTRADICTS LOZADA, DE VENECIA AND MADRIAGA | # |
Current events, ZTE-NBN — jamalashley @ 2:21 pm
The Senate’s ZTE-NBN hearing is now is now recessed for lunch. The committees are in the process of interviewing Mr. Leo San Miguel, Technical Consultant of ZTE and boss of Dante Madriaga.
The “surprise” witness turned out a surprise even to the senators. Leo San Miguel, instead of corroborating the others’ testimonies, contradicted them. Despite some of the senator’s (mainly Jinggoy’s) confusing questions, the testimony of San Miguel, so far, is at best suspicious, and most probably is false.
San Miguel claims that he was the Technical Adviser or Consultant of ZTE for the NBN project. He is not paid a monthly retainer but only reimbursed for “out of pocket” expenses and a success fee of one-half percent (0.5 %) of the project cost (in this case, around US$ 1.6 Million).
For his “out-of-pocket expenses”, he claims that he had got 3-4 million pesos reimbursements while others were paid directly by ZTE. Wow, with ‘expenses’ like that, who needs a retainer fee?
And despite the big amounts involved, San Miguel claims that there was NO CONTRACT of services involved. My, my!! He said that that is normal in his line of business. What line of business is that? Monkey business?
And there were no receipts. San Miguel said he was usually paid in dollars in China. He admitted he never declared the money he was bringing in upon re-entering the country,
PINOCCHIO
Instead of behaving like a St. Michael, Leo San Miguel was more like Pinocchio with his bagful of lies. He denied any knowledge of commissions or kickbacks whatsoever.
Yet Mr. de Venecia III testified again that San Miguel was in the Dec. 27 meeting in China with Ben Abalos, and himself (Joey). Joey said that Abalos mentioned about the 130 million dollar commission and that San Miguel was there. San Miguel denied he heard anything to that effect.
He even denied he was in the meeting where the Mike Arroyo, First Gentleman told Joey to back off. Messrs. De Venecia III, Lozada and Madriaga all testified that San Miguel was there.
TECHNICAL MAN
San Miguel kept on reiterating that he was just a technical man and was never interested in “commissions.” Technical men do not work without a contract. And technical men do not travel internationally so much – more than twice a month. When businessmen men talk about business, the technical matters are usually taken cared of in the offices.
ABALOS
San Miguel claims that his conversations with Abalos were limited to the “hi, hello” variety yet it was shown that he was with Abalos in several meetings here and in China, even staying in the same hotel and paid for by General de la Torre.
Despite San Miguel’s denials, Abalos’s participation in the deal was clearly verified and corroborated by San Miguel’s testimony. Why would Abalos be present in several meetings here and abroad if he was not involved in the deal?
MYSTERIOUS SIGNATURE
Mr. San Miguel even denied his signature in the Scope of Work he signed with Madriaga and a ZTE official. It was just a Scope of Work. It is not an important document at all. He had already admitted to hiring Madriaga and paying him 150,000 pesos a month. (Madraiga earlier testified he was paid only 100,000 pesos a month).
He immediately asked the committee to hire experts to verify his signature. It seems that he already has it planned to deny his signature in whatever document would be produced. He produced a Credit Card to verify his signature. But credit cards can be re-issued any time. When asked for his Driver’s License, he showed his license, which was WITHOUT a signature. How is that possible?
When he was asked if the signature on the document was similar to his, he immediately said that it was not because the N was written wrongly and there was a g in the end or something of the sort. In a word, it was REHEARSED. He knew exactly what to say.
TONGPATS
There’s a new word in town – TONGPATS. Madriaga submitted email letters alleged from San Miguel where he talked of “tongpats” (patong said backwards) or “commissions” or kick backs.
MY THEORY
When Mr. Madriaga surfaced, I had a pet theory. It goes like this: Because the NBN deal will not push through anymore, San Miguel thought up of a ploy. Madriaga was the bait for Malacanang. Because of Madriaga’s testimony, Malacanang people would want to get their hands on San Miguel at whatever cost. San Miguel then can negotiate for a good price. If the price is right, San Miguel would go to the Senate and deny everything. It was easy to do so because there were no paper or money trails.
Madriaga might or might not be in on the scheme.
But even if this theory is correct, good investigation and questioning from the Senate panel can still eke out the truth and disprove San Miguel’s testimony.
And more importantly, the people can discern for themselves what is true and what is false.
