Reflections on the Bangsa Moro

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 4^th 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?

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 See

LEO SAN MIGUEL CONTRADICTS LOZADA, DE VENECIA AND MADRIAGA

DANTE MADRIAGA’S EXPLOSIVE EXPOSÉ and GAITE’S SORRY TALE

 

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.

 

 

When many Filipinos were calling for the ouster of then President Ferdinand Marcos, his supporters’ main retort was, ‘Who shall replace Marcos?’. To answer that question, the first Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino (KOMPIL) chose 50 Filipinos who could replace Marcos. The one who eventually replaced him was not even among the 50.

 

Now, the supporters or apologists of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) are asking the same question: ‘Who shall replace GMA?’.

 

In both cases, the questions are misleading and even immaterial. The question should not be ‘Who shall replace the President?’ but ‘Should the President be replaced?’

 

If the manager or president of your company is found to have committed or caused somebody to commit a crime, would you ask, ‘But who shall replace him/her?’ Wouldn’t you want that person to be removed from your company?

 

The President is a public servant. She needs to retain the public trust. If the public does not trust her anymore, shouldn’t the public / people be correct if they demand her ouster?

 

If you have a maidservant whom you had lost confidence in because of some bad things she had done, would you ask ‘Who shall replace her?’ or would you rather she goes first and you deal with the replacement afterwards?

 

CRIME DOES NOT PAY

 

Any person who commits a crime or an illegal act must be punished. That is the law. And no one, not even the President or Head of State, should be above the law.

 

There is also the principle of Command Responsibility.  This doctrine of hierarchical accountability was established by the Hague Conventions IV (1907) and X (1907).

 

This is also called the Yamashita standard. Japanese General Yamashita was found guilty of crimes done by his men in the Philippines during World War II. Yamashita was charged with "unlawfully disregarding and failing to discharge his duty as a commander to control the acts of members of his command by permitting them to commit war crimes."

 

As President of the Republic, she has command responsibility over her Cabinet, military and police.

 

In a republic, “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” This is clearly stated in the Philippine Constitution (Article II, Section 1). If the people believe that the President is guilty of crimes, either by commission or omission, or even under the Command Responsibility doctrine, then the people have the inherent right to replace that president – by whatever means. This is what People Power means.

 

IS GMA GUILTY?

 

She was part of the cheating in 2004 elections as proven by the Hello Garci Tapes. She asked a COMELEC Commissioner to cheat for her.

 

The Jose Pidal investigation uncovered more corruption directly linking her husband. The brother-in-law’s claim that he is Jose Pidal is unbelievable and does not absolve the President and her husband of wrongdoing.

 

The ZTE-NBN Senate investigation has opened a can of worms. There were massive kick backs for her husband and political allies – up to US$ 200 million worth from a US$ 329 Million project. 

 

She was told by Sec. Neri of the bribe offer yet she still ordered that the project be approved. Bribery is a crime.

 

There was abduction and an obvious rub-out attempt of Jun Lozada.

 

There are probably more corruption from CyberEd, Northrail and Southrail projects.

 

The China and PNOC agreement over Spratly Islands might be unconstitutional. It is linked with the massive loans for the Philippines from China – to the tune of US 8 Billion in 5 years.

 

PP 1017, EO 464 were struck down by the Supreme Court. Yet her Cabinet officials still invoke EO 464 and still implement 1017 powers or even beyond such as the imposition of a dusk to dawn curfew.

 

Journalists were arrested without cause, without warrant and without being apprised of their Miranda rights.

 

Opposition congressmen were threatened with arrests. One was arrested and jailed while the others had to seek sanctuary in the halls of Congress.

 

There are countless extrajudicial killings including the late Jose Burgos’s son, Jonas. Even the UN special rapporteur reported on the dismal situation of the country’s extra-judicial killings.

 

New York-based Freedom House has downgraded the Philippines from a free and democratic country to a ‘partly-free’ country.

 

Et cetera et cetera…

 

 

THE QUESTION

 

SHOULD GMA BE REPLACED? That is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler for Filipinos to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous mis-governance and untrammeled corruption of the Arroyo administration or to rise up in People Power against a sea of troubles and by opposing, end them.   

 

                                 

 

 

NERI’S POLITICAL ECONOMY

 

 

Former Secretary Lito Banayo and Jun Lozada explained former NEDA Director-General Romulo Neri’s ideas on the Philippine political economy to the Senate committees hearing the ZTE-NBN deal.

 

In the center of the country’s political economy is the President – Madame Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The big problem, according to Neri’s scenario is that the President’s main concern is her POLITICAL SURVIVAL. Therefore, all her policies and program implementation are geared towards her chief concern.

 

THREE PILLARS

 

In order to maintain power, the President relies on the support of the Military and the Police, the Congressmen (Representatives) and the Local Government Units’ officials. The LGU officials are the governors, the mayors, and the various boards or councils of the LGUs.

 

According to Neri’s thesis, the congressmen are “in the President’s pockets”. Presumably, the carrots used to control these congressmen are the pork barrel funds.

 

LGU officials, the military and the police are presumably controlled through the budget and for the uniformed officers, the promise of promotion after retirement.

 

NATIONAL OLIGARCHS

 

According to Neri’s thesis, the national oligarchs were the ones who funded Arroyo’s election campaign, including those of her allies’. In return, Arroyo gave these oligarchs control over national industries. These oligarchs have “regulatory capture”, according to Neri.

 

The airline industry is under Lucio Tan and Gokongwei.

 

The ports are under Ricky Razon.

 

Shipping and Power are under the Aboitizes.

 

Oil (or Smuggling of Oil) is under Tomas Alcantara.

 

These are the people who control the country’s economy and the president’s policy programs and program implementation.

 

Manny Pangilinan of PLDT is “not really close to the President and merely tows the line”, according to Neri’s thesis.

 

The media moguls – the Lopezes – are “not necessarily power players.”

 

The Church is mainly concerned with Anti-Birth Control policies and the Mining Act. According to Neri, “many bishops are with the President.”

 

OFWs AS THE SAFETY VALVE

 

According to Neri, the Business Class (meaning, the rich Filipinos) are concerned only with STABILITY.

 

As for the low and middle classes, they have foreign jobs. Without foreign jobs, there will be economic crisis in the country. The OFW phenomenon is the government’s “safety valve”. Overseas work not only gives jobs to lower and middle class people, it also brings in HUGE amounts of money (dollars) to the country.

 

CHINA

 

China has US$ 2 TRILLION in reserves. Since it is awash in money, it needs to lend to other countries. Philippines have signed so many agreements, mostly loan agreements with China. The Arroyo administration has more agreements and loans from China than all the other previous administrations (from Marcos to Estrada) put together.

 

According to  the supposed Neri’s "lecture", China has agreed to give US$ 8 BILLION worth of loans to the Philippines over a 5-year period. The first tranche of Chinese loans amount to US $ 1 BILLION. The Philippines never borrowed this much from China even if all the borrowings from China of the past administrations (from Marcos to Estrada) are combined.

 

The apparent generosity of China has allegedly something to do with the Spratly Islands, which is claimed by the Philippines and China as well as other nearby countries.

 

IN A NUTSHELL

 

This, in a nutshell, is the Philippine political economy according to former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Romulo Neri as explained by Lito Banayo and Jun Lozada to the Senate committees investigating the ZTE-NBN project.

 

This scenario may be simplistic or incomplete. But this is according the top economic adviser of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. 

The calls for President Arroyo to resign are mounting. In behalf of all my inarticulate friends, relatives and lovers, I call on Madame President to heed the call of the people. It is time to go.

 

She has destroyed any semblance of fair play in the Philippine electoral process. This was revealed to the people through the ‘Hello Garci’ tapes; and now, through the huge kick backs allegedly for then Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chair Ben Abalos.

 

She has destroyed whatever semblance of normal electoral process in Muslim Mindanao. The ‘Hello Garci’ tapes showed to all and sundry that Mindanao elections are controlled by Manila politicians, military and government officials. The tapes even presented how top government officials planned the cheating — including kidnapping Moro civilians. 

 

She has destroyed any semblance of independence of the House of Representatives through her overthrowing of the supposedly powerful House Speaker Jose de Venecia. She also had thwarted three impeachments attempts against her.

 

She has destroyed whatever credibility the Civil Service has. The outgoing Civil Service Commission Chair Karina Davd revealed that she (PGMA) stuffed the bureaucracy with retired military and police officials as well as other unqualified political appointees. Jun Lozada revealed that a hundred million dollar or so project study was based on figures taken from a tabloid. And the Director-General of the highest economic planning body of the government (NEDA) said that his staff tried to verify a 300 million dollar project by going to the Internet and came up with nothing.

 

If 300 million dollar project studies are based on tabloid figures and verifed by our technocrats through Internet research alone, then how can we even hope to progress as a nation?

 

She has destroyed the people’s perception of supposedly pro-people, pro-freedom political icons like Senators Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago. These senators had to defend her presidency despite the mounting evidence of corruption.

 

She has destroyed the people’s trust in the security forces in the country. People like Jonas Burgos, son of Press Freedom icon, Jose Burgos, can simply disappear while his alleged police / military abductors and probable killers remain at large. And people like Jun Lozada could easily be picked up from a very public place like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and be driven around Southern Luzon while the powers that be mull his fate.

 

She tried to destroy again the image of the Moro people as head-hunting savages through the Beheading of Marines episode in Basilan. In spite of the gravity of the alleged offenses, the official findings were never published or disseminated to the public except to say that they were done by the government’s favorite bogeymen, the Abu Sayyaf. There was so much sound and fury but ended up with nothing. About a dozen Marines were beheaded but the public was not told of the whys and wherefores and no one was punished.

 

She has destroyed the country’s image as having the freest press in Asia by having the journalists handcuffed and arrested without warrant. And she then tried to intimidate the media people by issuing guidelines and practically threatening to revoke media organizations’ franchises if they don’t tow the line.

 

She has destroyed the reputation of the country as a democratic state. International organizations like the New York-bsed FREEDOM HOUSE has downgraded the category of the Philippines to a ‘partly-free’ country. 

 

She has put restraints on the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution such as the freedom to assemble to seek redress and even the freedom of the Press.

 

And finally, she has destroyed the concept of people power.

 

When the people gathered at EDSA to topple the regime of then President Joseph Estrada, they wanted Mr. Estrada to answer for the crimes he commited against the people. The court (Sandiganbayan) found Mr. Estrada guilty of plunder. But after a few days, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pardoned Mr. Estrada. So what was EDSA 2 all about then?

 

Together with the Filipinos, the world rejoiced when the Filipino people toppled the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 through ‘People Power’ at EDSA. The world was quite surprised when the Filipinos again used ‘People Power’ at EDSA to topple a populist president who was impeached by the House of Representatives. Because of the perceived bias of the majority of the senators, the people thought that the senators would not give a fair verdict and so the people went to EDSA to deliver the verdict themselves.

 

But the person put into power by the second EDSA People Power revolt, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, turned out to be allegedly even more corrupt than Mr. Estrada. Thus, many Filipinos have lost their faith in People Power. They are afraid that the next people power might bring in an even more corrupt president.

 

Madame President, please help restore the people’s faith in the government and its agencies back. Please help restore the people’s faith in People Power back by graciuosly resigning.You have already served more than 7 years, longer than a presidential term. Be kind to your country and to your people. Madame Glo, it is time to go.

 

                       

 

 

The newest witness, Dante Madriaga in the Senate investigation of the ZTE-NBN scandal is the exact opposite of Jun Lozada. Both are electrical / electronics engineers. While Jun is Chinese white, small, fragile-looking, crybaby, soft-spoken and very respectful, Dante is Filipino dark, big, tough-looking, tough-talking and very confident.

 

Filipinos love underdogs. Most Filipinos’ instinct is to shield the small crybaby from the “dark forces”. But with the tough-talking roughneck, the natural instinct of most Filipinos is to let him be. He looks strong enough to fight his own battles.

 

This is quite unfortunate. One should never judge a book by its cover. From both their testimonies, as well as the others’ testimonies, I infer that Jun Lozada was Romulo Neri’s hitman or henchman. On the other hand, Dante Madriaga, looked to me like a no nonsense technical man who could be Leo San Miguel’s errand boy.

 

But before going to Madriaga’s fearless exposé, let us first look at Gaite’s nose-lengthening tale.

 

GAITE

 

Deputy Executive Manny Gaite appeared once again at the Senate. But this time, it is doubtful if anybody believed his testimony at all. Senator Joker Arroyo asked everyone to have an open mind concerning Gaite. He said that Gaite’s brother is a priest and his sister is a nun. And like Jun Lozada, there are also priests and nuns praying for Gaite. Really!!?!

 

Gaite was Senator Arroyo’s Executive Assistant when he was President Cory Aquino’s Executive Secretary. Gaite has been working for the government since President Marcos’s time. He is not a career bureaucrat. He is a career political appointee.

 

Manny Gaite wants people to believe that he gave Jun Lozada, practically a stranger to him, half a million pesos out of his own pocket because he pitied Lozada. Lozada texted him that he was running out of money abroad and had no winter clothes. Being a Good Samaritan, he immediately gave P 500,000.00 to Jun’s brother to be sent to him abroad.

 

First, Jun did not ask money from him. Even if he insinuated, Jun never gave a specific amount. So why did he give half a million pesos (US $ 12,500.00)  instead of 50,000 pesos like what Mike Defensor did or even P 200,000.00 ?

 

Second, he gets a salary of P35,000 to 40,000 as Deputy Executive Secretary. So where did he get his money?

 

He claimed that he got it from a fund he borrowed from his uncle, which would be used for the renovation of his in-law’s house. Ooops, that does not seem to be a typical human action. Nobody would give away a huge amount of money to a stranger, especially if that money is meant for other people’s use.

 

Senator Arroyo explained that even though he is a senator, the Gaites (the Gaite clan) are richer than him. They come from the same province in Bicol.

 

Perhaps in 1986, the Gaites were richer than the Arroyos. But now, that would be impossible. Joker Arroyo has been in power – from Executive Secretary to Congressman to Senator – since 1986. The money spent by Arroyo just for his TV ads in the last senatorial elections is already proof that he is a very rich man.

 

Besides, Manny Gaite’s declared worth amounts to only a few million pesos.

 

Third, the piece of paper which Jun’s brother signed indicating that he received the money did not even indicate Gaite’s name. Why would anybody lend a big amount to anyone without even indicating his, the lender’s, name? It only means that the money was not a loan but a gift.

 

I am sure that Gaite does not think that the Senators are gullible. It takes either courage or total lack of self-respect to lie, under oath, in front of senators, the media people, and the millions of people watching TV and listening to the radio.

 

Before this happened, practically everyone in the government – all administrations from Marcos to GMA – have nothing but good words to say about Gaite. If this is the kind of person that government people are proud of, then the Filipinos are really doomed.

 

Come to think of it, how could the supposedly human rights and anti-Marcos activist, Joker Arroyo get Gaite as his E.A. when Gaite was working with the Marcos administration? And how did Gaite smoothly transfer from a very lucrative post in the Erap administration (as undersecretary of Presidential Committee on Flagship Projects and Programs under Aventajado) to a very sensitive post in Gloria’s administration. Gaite must be one smooth operator.

 

MADRIAGA – the ZTE Bomb

 

Lozada revealed to us the corruption involved from the point of view of NEDA’s head (Sec. Neri). Madriaga gave us a more comprehensive picture as it is viewed from the source itself – ZTE, the Chinese firm involved in this scandal.

 

Dante Madriaga is an Electrical Engineering graduate of UP (Class ’66) and attended Texas A&M University. He did not say whether he got what degree from Texas A&M. He said he was the head of the Design Team of the ZTE-NBN project and was the liaison officer to NEDA, CICT AND TELOF.

 

FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE

 

According to Mr. Madriaga, the Filipino group in the Fil-Chinese consortium was composed of Ruben Reyes, Gen. Quirino de la Torre, Benjamin Abalos and Leo San Miguel. San Miguel was his immediate superior. Reyes was the leader of the group. Gen. de la Torre was the Financier.

 

According to Sen. Lacson, de la Torre was formerly Comptroller of PNP.

 

A very important and revealing fact that he said was that the initial true cost (excluding profits) of the project was US $ 50 MILLION. This is FIRST HAND knowledge since he was the Head of the Design Team.

 

According to Madriaga, the Consortium added US $ 80 million to the cost. This information is still FIRST HAND knowledge because he has to be told how much cost he would present it to CICT or whatever group. He told the Senate that it was important to see profit margins from the beginning to appreciate the “exponential” rise of the profits.

 

The SECOND HAND knowledge is the information allegedly told to him by his boss, Leo San Miguel that half of the amount would go to the Chinese group while the other half would go to the Filipino group.

 

Then he said that to “match ARESCOM coverage”, they had to redesign the project. The new cost was US $ 109 Million but would be presented as US $ 189 Million. This is still FIRST HAND knowledge.

 

Later, they had to redesign the project again because the government did not want any satellites. So the new project was peddled at around US $ 269 (or US $ 262) Million. The overprice (profits plus commissions) was US $ 140 Million.  This is still FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE.

 

This (260 plus million dollars) was the price they presented to CICT and TelOf. This is corroborated by Jun Lozada who testified that the initial price was around US $ 260 Million with “commissions” amounting to US $ 130 Million.

(See my post Jun Lozada, Police And Senate Play Hide And Seek )

 

Mr. Madriaga then said that later, they had to redesign the project again so that it will have 100 % coverage. The new “selling price” was US $ 329 Million Dollars. The “profits” for both groups amount to US $ 199 MILLION. This is still FIRST HAND knowledge.

 

The new selling price was corroborated by Mr. Lozada’s and Mr. Formoso’s testimonies.

 

The above information alone is already very telling. It gives a fuller picture. In the Jun Lozada testimony, it appears that all the commission goes to Mr. Abalos. Somehow, the Chinese partners appeared clean businessmen who just agreed to whatever commissions Mr. Abalos wanted. Mr. Madriaga made it very clear that the Chinese were just as greedy as the Filipino counterparts. In fact, whatever amount the Filipino group wanted, they wanted exactly the same for themselves.

 

And Mr. Madriaga pointed out that he believes that the Chinese are even getting higher. Of course, the Chinese can get the supplies at a discount. And they would not need to divulge the discount to the Filipinos. This also explains why there is no problem from the Chinese side (the bank, the government, etc.)

 

Mr. Madriaga’s scenario is more logical and more comprehensive than Mr. Lozada’s.

 

Aside from the above, Mr. Madriaga also had very interesting information, based on first hand knowledge.

 

He said that Asst. Secretary Frank Perez, son of former Sec. Nani Perez objected to the costs and design of the project. Madriaga was told not to worry because “protektado tayo dito” (We are protected here). And so, Perez was immediately replaced by Formoso as the government officer-in-charge for the project.

 

This partly explains Formoso’s staunch defense of the project. It also gives the Senate the chance to call Perez to testify. And quite importantly, this tells the people that there are good people in government but they are immediately silenced if they don’t tow the line.

 

SECOND HAND KNOWLEDGE

 

Mr. Madriaga’s testimony on how the commission pie would have been shared and the various advances made is hearsay because it is second hand knowledge. But first, he has two sources – Mr. Leo San Miguel and Ms. Fan Yang, the comptroller of ZTE.

 

Second, the information provided to him must be given the benefit of the doubt until the sources categorically deny them and that these sources are proven more credible than Mr. Madriaga.

 

Third, this gives the Senate the reason to call on the sources – Mr. San Miguel and Ms. Fan Yang.

The information provided by Mr. Madriaga based on what Mr. San Miguel and Ms. Fan Yang told him are:

– The First Couple are in on the kickbacks

– Advances to the Filipino group totaled US $ 41 MILLION

– US $ 30 MILLION was given to the First Couple “in aid of elections”

– Payments were made in Hong Kong through Cayman Islands

– The President was forced to go to China to sign because that was the Chinese condition in order to release  the P 30 M advance money.

– The ZTE-NBN contract was not lost. ASEC Formoso was forced to say it was lost because he was afraid to show the contract to telecom people and other businessmen in that particular affair. Madriaga said that if the telecom people saw the contract, they would immediately see the huge overprice.

 

 
Mr. Madriaga’s testimony completes the picture of the ZTE-NBN Scandal. Mr. Neri could not possibly add to this except if he will say that the President herself knew about the anomalies, other than the P200 Million bribe offer of Mr. Abalos.

 

MADRIAGA’S CREDIBILITY

 

There are news reports that say Madriaga could be a Trojan horse or a pakawala (roughly a loose cannon or a pawn) of the government. I simply fail to see any logic in that. Madriaga revealed a lot more damaging information than Lozada. How could he be a pawn of Malacanang? If he would recant later, then that could only mean that he received great incentives from some party. That is why the Senate should give Madriaga ample security protection.

 

PEOPLE AS THE JUDGE

 

The Senate hearings are there merely in aid of legislation. They can recommend other actions like asking the Ombudsman or the Justice Department to file charges against some people. 

 

But, to me, the most important function of the Senate hearings is to conduct impartial and thorough investigation of alleged anomalies in full view of the public through the broadcast and even online and print media. The ultimate judge of the culpability of the accused is the Filipino people as a whole. It thus behooves the Filipino people to follow the Senate investigation carefully, analyze the various evidences provided, and assess the credibility of the witnesses.  And each one of us should decide the guilt or innocence of everyone concerned. Sovereignty resides with the people.

 

Like many Filipinos of my generation and older, I memorized the Gettyburg Address in school. I was around 12 years old then, but I still remember what the good Abe Lincoln said: …" the government (is) of the people, by the people and for the people."  We, as citizens, must never forget that.

 

More Power to the Filipino people!

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AS THE COOKIE CRUMBLES

 
 

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is feeling the heat. She finally admitted that she knew of the anomalies regarding the ZTE-NBN deal. But she said she was told about it only on the eve of the signing of the agreement in China. And that she couldn’t possibly back off at the last minute since it is a contract with another country. Her own words were: “Someone told me about it the night before the signing of the supply contract… But how can you cancel it the night before, considering that you are dealing with another country?”

               

 

 

I don’t know what Ms. Arroyo think of the Filipino people. In the Garci Tapes scandal, she admitted that she spoke with an Elections commissioner during the election period of 2004. She passed it off as a mere “lapse of judgment”. It was a small miracle that she weathered that political storm. Perhaps she believes she can survive this one as well by using the same technique.

 

As the great Abe Lincoln once said, “You can fool all the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time.” This time, nobody in the Philippines is getting fooled.

 

LYING G-MEN

 

If Ms. Arroyo knew that the project was anomalous and still signed the bilateral agreement, isn’t she guilty of graft?

 

And how about all the Government’s men who keep on defending the viability of the project, especially DOTC Sec. Mendoza, Asst. Sec. Formoso and even Romulo Neri. They are guilty of perjuring themselves in the Senate, to say the least.

 

But the stakes are getting higher.

 

Jun Lozada filed charges against Sec. Lito Atienza and Police Chief Razon, among others, for Attempted Murder! It’s about time to call a spade a spade. Most of the media had been calling Lozada’s experience with the airport and police escorts as abduction or kidnapping. In my previous posts, I called it “attempted rub-out”.

 

AMATEUR HIT MEN

 

The government boys really botched it up. The first mistake they did was to assume that Lozada was only in touch with government men. They did not know that Lozada was constantly in touch with friends and family while in Hong Kong. And these people were in touch with the Senate, with people’s organizations and with the media. Secretary Atienza kept on saying that he thought Lozada was speaking only to him with regards to his coming home.

 

The next big mistake they did was not to have the passport stamped at the Immigration. They should have done that in the evening after Gen, Razon already admitted that they had custody of Lozada. That unstamped passport is evidence of bad intention on the part of Lozada’s escorts.

 

Then there are the La Salle brothers and Catholic nuns who could testify that even in La Salle, Lozada was not free. As La Salle University President Brother Armin Luistro said, “I felt that the brothers are hostages in our own house.”

 

ARROYO’S INCREASING NUMBER OF ENEMIES

 

Arroyo is now faced with an array of oligarchic families starting from Cory Aquino’s clan. Making an outright enemy out of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia was a very bad move on Arroyo’s part. She is now being backed up by only a handful of business tycoons. They may have some money, but hardly any political and military clout.

 

Trying to take the Lakas party for herself not only angered de Venecia but even the “spiritual” Lakas head, former President Fidel V. Ramos.

 

It has also been rumored that Arroyo was set on removing Ramos’s men from her Cabinet, beginning with Executive Secretary Ermita. But for now, she could not remove anyone as it would be seen as resignation and withdrawal of support for her government and not as sacking of an official.

 

EDSA SPIRIT

 

Arroyo’s opponents are hoping that the EDSA Spirit will come to the people as we are celebrating the 22^nd anniversary of the so-called EDSA revolution. Well, miracles do happen. Arroyo became president in an almost miraculous manner.

 

Tomorrow will be a gauge on how all of these events are going to turn out.