Agrarian chief orders segregation of Negros hacienda

By TJ Burgonio
Inquirer
Last updated 10:56pm (Mla time) 06/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines — After months of delay, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has ordered regional officials to conduct a segregation survey of a Negros Occidental sugar estate in a fresh step to put an end to the bitter land dispute there.

 

The order came a few days after security guards of landowner Roberto Cuenca opened fire on a group of land reform beneficiaries at the Hacienda Velez-Malaga in La Castellana town, killing two farmers and wounding six others.

 

“They’re conducting the survey now. I’ve given orders for them to complete the survey as soon as possible,” said Pangandaman.

 

The delay in the survey is being partly blamed for the violence. Because of the repeated postponement, the farmers last Monday entered the disputed 56-hectare portion of the estate in a move to start tilling the land, provoking the guards to shoot at them.

 

The violence came more than two months after Pangandaman installed 57 farmers inside a 56-hectare portion of the sprawling sugar plantation on March 22 in the face of stiff opposition by farmers loyal to Cuenca.

 

According to Pangandaman, once the survey is completed, the farmer-beneficiaries will be issued individual certificates of land ownership award (Cloa), which is equivalent to a land title.

 

“As of yesterday, the security personnel were there, and the farmers have started tilling the land. One of these days, I will visit the place,” Pangandaman said in an interview.

 

The Department of Agrarian Reform has requested more military and police troops to be deployed in the area where the farmers were installed, which has become a virtual flash point for violence.

 

The case of Hacienda Velez Malaga and other contentious landholdings across the country are to be discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

 

The violence in the sugar plantation has revived criticisms that the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) has failed to achieve its goal after 19 years.

 

The program marks its 19th anniversary on Sunday.

Filipino recounts surviving in Harvard on leftover food

By Volt Contreras
Inquirer
Last updated 10:23pm (Mla time) 06/08/2007

MANILA, Philippines — Before Oscar Franklin Tan drew raves for his commencement address at the elite Harvard Law School the other day, this young Filipino lawyer had his share of silent, awkward moments when basic things like meals became ”an issue.”

 

In a candid, light-hearted exchange with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Tan shared how campus life could be tough even for excelling foreign students like him in one of the world’s premier institutions.

 

He managed to stretch his limited food budget, for example, by improvising his menu and even collecting ”leftovers” at school functions.

 

He also took advantage of his professor’s habit of bringing two baskets of apples to class each Friday. Tan saw an opportunity when he noticed that most of his classmates, especially the Americans, ”just ignored” the treat.

 

”There was usually at least one basket left. I would bring an extra backpack every Friday and waited until everyone left and had free fruit half the year, thanks to Professor Lawrence Tribe,” he said.

 

Tan fondly recalled all these ”embarrassing” episodes in his e-mail to the Inquirer on Thursday, the day before he stood proud and tall as the commencement speaker at the 2007 HLS graduation rites, an honor bestowed upon him by his class.

 

The 27-year-old bachelor and 2005 law alumnus of the University of the Philippines completed his master’s degree at the premier institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was chosen to speak at the ceremony in behalf of some 700 American and foreign graduates.

 

”Food was really an issue because I was on a tight budget, having entered Harvard Law practically a fresh graduate,” said Tan, whose studies were shouldered in part by the HLS, the Ayala Scholarship Fund, his law firm (Angara, Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz law office) where he is an associate, and with a little help from his father, fellow lawyer Edmund Tan.

 

”Some of the Asian and African students have become notorious for trying to save on food, and looking for free food. I became one of them after I learned that Harvard threw away uneaten food from all the functions and talks (which shocked the Africans in particular), and I just brought the food back to the dorm.”

 

Chow time in his fourth-floor unit at the Gropius dormitories, ”the ugliest but cheapest” lodging on campus, often had him ”experimenting with many combinations to save food, such as making sandwiches and buying microwaveable chicken strips.” He also stocked up on canned soup and tuna whenever there was a sale.

 

But while his cupboard was almost bare, Tan apparently had in abundance memorable campus experiences, especially with classmates of diverse cultural backgrounds.

 

Being Filipino with Chinese lineage gave him a ready affinity with East and Southeast Asians. Coming from a former Spanish and then US colony like the Philippines made it easy for him to relate to Americans, Latinos and Europeans, he noted.

 

”That leaves the Africans. I also had a ready affinity with them because I was from a developing country with postcolonial issues. I’d like to think that each of my classmates identified with me one way or another,” he said.

 

A Thai classmate was kind enough to help carry Tan’s refrigerator to his fourth-floor unit, since the dormitory had no elevator. A Saudi classmate, apparently familiar with the many Filipino workers in his oil-rich state, could understand most of Tan’s sentences in Filipino.

 

But his international relations were not always that smooth.

 

”There was one embarrassing moment where a French classmate and I almost had a fight until we sat down and compared our cultures. Our Nigerian classmate had lost a close relative and was feeling very sad, so I e-mailed the class requesting the religious students to pray for him and console him.”

 

The French classmate then sent Tan an e-mail, expressing “shock that I would violate someone’s privacy in such a public manner.”

 

”We discussed it, and he realized that grief is treated as a community issue in the Philippines (and in other developing countries), where public wakes are held and everyone tries to pass by to pay their respects. It was very new to him,” Tan recalled.

Vibal Publishing House: What cartel?

Vibal Publishing House: What cartel?
By Michael Lim Ubac
Inquirer
Last updated 01:55am (Mla time) 06/09/2007

MANILA, Philippines—Amid a controversy over the Department of Education’s recent textbook projects, the country’s biggest publishing house yesterday admitted having links with another printing company but denied it was the leader of a so-called cartel.

 

In an interview, lawyer Rufino “Penny” Policarpio said his client, Vibal Publishing House Inc., had “interlocking ownership” with an “affiliate,” the LG and M Corp.

 

But Policarpio rejected reports that Vibal was the leader of a cartel which had cornered the lion’s share of textbook contracts since the Estrada administration.

 

Policarpio stressed bidders in a consortium cannot bid against each other for a similar lot. “So what cartel?” he said.

 

According to him, Vibal specializes in publishing and printing, while LG and M is only a printer.

 

Nothing wrong with consortium

 

“Vibal and LG and M formed a consortium among themselves. That’s not wrong. Everything has been declared to the (bids and awards) committee,” Policarpio said, admitting that the two jointly bidded for Lots 1 and 2 for the publication and delivery of elementary textbooks.

 

He was referring to the 17.5 million textbooks and teaching manuals for public elementary and high schools that were intended to be used last school year and were funded from an P800-million loan from the World Bank.

 

Losing bidders charged the bidding process was rigged and plagued with conflict of interests among the major bidders and several of their supposed “dummy” companies.

Petition pending at SC

 

Contracts were eventually awarded in September 2006 to Vibal, Watana Phanit, among others, despite a pending petition before the Supreme Court lodged by two bidders that felt they had been cheated.

 

The new textbooks and manuals were crucial to addressing the worsening textbooks’ backlog in primary and secondary schools, and central to efforts in arresting the rapidly declining quality of education.

 

One of the lowest complying bidders, Kolonwel, originally won Lot 3 (Hekasi for Grades 4-6) worth P386 million but was booted out of the bidding in the end. Kolonwel had passed the content evaluation conducted by the Instructional Materials Committee Secretariat of DepEd.

 

The bidding was divided into three lots, Sibika for Grades 1-3, Hekasi for Grades 4-6 and Araling Panlipunan for Years 1-4. But Kolonwel mysteriously failed in a post-test conducted on sample cover and body stocks of the textbooks by Instructional Development Institute of the Department of Science and Technology.

 

Kolonwel declined to be interviewed pending resolution of a petition with the high court.

 

Copyright provider

 

Policarpio stressed that Vibal was being unfairly lumped with Watana Phanit.

 

“But legally and factually speaking, there is no relationship between Vibal and Watana,” he said, pointing out that Vibal was “only copyright provider” of Watana.

 

“Watana bought the copyright of one book. Aside from that, we’re not related. Watana is based in Thailand, so therefore it’s incorrect to say that we have interlocking directors or stockholders,” Policarpio said.

 

Interestingly, Watana got the biggest bulk of the project worth P277.9 million, while the Vibal consortium only bagged P208.8 million, followed by Daewoo International Corp. with P55.6 million.

 

All three bidded for Lots 1 and 2 covering textbooks for Grades 1-6. The rest of the P800 million has yet to be awarded but was already bidded out, said the lawyer.

 

The DepEd obtained the loan from the World Bank to finance the procurement of elementary and high school textbooks and teachers manuals in Sibika Grades 1-3, Heograpiya, Kasaysayan at Sibika Grades 4-6 and Araling Panlipunan High School Years 1-4.

 

Joint ventures

 

Upon DepEd’s request, the Inter-Agency Bids and Awards Committee (IABAC) of the Department of Budget and Management called for an international competitive bidding on Oct. 27, 2005.

 

The 11 of the 18 bidders who submitted financial bids were Vibal Publishing, Lex Media Digital Corp., Ibon Foundation, Grand C. Graphics Inc., Kolonwel Trading, Ningbo Binbin, Rex Bookstore, Anvil Publishing, Alkem Co., Watana Phanit and Daewoo International Corp.

 

PDI disclosures

 

Documents submitted to IABAC showed joint venture agreements and common shareholders between several bidders, to wit: Vibal, LG & M Corp., JTW and Lamco; Watana and Advance Agro (and also with Alkem); Ibon, Bookman and Tri-Media; and Lex Media, SD Publications and FEP Printing.

 

(DISCLOSURE: LEX MEDIA AND FEP PRINTING ARE SISTER COMPANIES OF THE INQUIRER.)

 

The four suppliers, Vibal, Watana, LG & M and SD Publication, have interlocking and common controlling shareholders based on their general information sheets.

 

The common shareholders of Vibal, SD and LG & M are Jean Fernandez, Aida Gutierrez, Stella Lawson, Nila Mampa and Gaspar Vibal. Fernandez is corporate secretary while Mapa is vice president for all three bidders. Lawson is treasurer of both SD and Vibal.

 

Except for Fernandez, all four have 24.9 percent of subscribed shares in all three companies.

 

A technical working group formed by the DBM said in a report to the IABAC that it was clear the controlling shareholders of Vibal, SD and LG & M “are common and the same.”

 

It said that LG & M, a joint venture partner of Vibal, was the copyright-owner of the book submitted by Watana Phanit, a competitor.

 

In Lots 1 & 3, LG & M submitted two different bids, first, by itself in partnership with Vibal, JTW and Lamco, and second, through its agent Watana, which also offered books published by LG & M.

 

For Lot 3, SD, in partnership with Lex Media and FEP, submitted a bid against Watana which is basically an agent of LG & M. Thus, bidders SD and Watana were bidders that have the same officers, directors and controlling shareholders, according to the report to IABAC.

 

Interlocking interests

 

As an agent of LG & M, Watana offered books published by the former while SD offered books published by Vibal, said the TWG memo dated Feb. 20, 2006.

 

“These interlocking interests put the four firms in a position to have access to information about the bids, or influence each other’s bids,” said the memo. “Their acts created the appearance of a competition to establish bid prices that were artificial and noncompetitive.”

 

Thus, this “deprived the government of the Republic of the Philippines of the benefit of free and open competition.”

 

Policarpio told the Inquirer that SD had formed a consortium with another printer.

 

He admitted that SD and Vibal also had “common directors and stockholders, but it formed a consortium with Lex Media and bidded for high school textbooks … which eventually failed in the content evaluation. Vibal and Watana submitted only one bid.”

 

World Bank guidelines

 

The World Bank Procurement Guidelines define collusive practice as “a scheme or arrangement between two or more bidders, with or without the knowledge of the borrower, designed to establish bid prices at artificial and noncompetitive level.”

 

The government Procurement Reform Act, Republic Act No. 9184, says collusion exists “when a bidder maliciously submits different bids through two or more persons, corporations, partnerships or any other business entity in which he has interest to create the appearance of a competition.”

 

The TWG then strongly recommended the disqualification of the Vibal group, prompting the IABAC to concur.

 

It then wrote a letter to the World Bank which, however, intervened and upheld Vibal and Watana’s right to join the bidding.

‘Iglesia votes made Shaddai party-list win’

‘Iglesia votes made Shaddai party-list win’
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
Last updated 01:56am (Mla time) 06/09/2007

MANILA, Philippines—Who really delivered the votes for Buhay?

 

Two warring factions of the pro-life party-list group, identified with the El Shaddai Catholic charismatic cult, are grabbing credit for Buhay’s strong showing in the May party-list elections.

 

Of the 10 party-list organizations claiming victory, only Buhay is assured of getting three seats in the next 14th Congress.

 

Buhay Rep. Hans Christian Señeres yesterday said it was a misconception that evangelist Mike Velarde and his legion of El Shaddai believers had generated the votes for the party-list group.

 

“It’s not true. There’s so much trickery, so much deception going on,” he said.

 

“I was the one who climbed mountains and crossed rivers while they were out dancing on TV,” he said.

 

Señeres claimed it was his family, backed by the solid Iglesia Ni Cristo vote, that helped propel Buhay into the front ranks of party-list groups qualified to seat their representatives in Congress.

 

No El Shaddai vote

 

At most, he said the Velarde-led El Shaddai may have delivered only 300,000 of Buhay’s more than one million votes.

 

“We should remember that in 1998 when El Shaddai supported two party-list groups, each of them got only 1,000 to 2,000 votes from El Shaddai,” Señeres said.

 

“So there’s really no such thing as an El Shaddai command vote,” he said.

 

Mel Robles, an El Shaddai leader who heads the Light Rail Transit Authority, countered: “You don’t exaggerate the obvious. Everybody knows who delivered the votes for Buhay.”

 

Señeres, 30, is in a bitter struggle with the Robles faction over who has the right to assign Buhay’s nominees for Congress. The case is now with the Commission on Elections.

 

Insulted

 

Robles, who headed Buhay before being appointed to the LRTA, earlier submitted a list of five nominees, that initially included Señeres at the tail end.

 

Feeling “insulted,” Señeres, being secretary general and “acting” president of the group, countered with a list of his own.

 

Señeres said Robles’ move was “treacherous.” He said he was never informed of the Robles list until he was told of it by an employee who had seen a copy.

 

“I was out campaigning all over Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Hong Kong not knowing that I had been removed from the list,” he said.

 

To Señeres’ claim of campaigning all over, Robles said: “Perhaps he campaigned in the mountains where nobody could see him. But anyway, we have a list of all those who voted and we’ll know how many came from the mountains.”

 

Against Buhay spirit

 

Señeres also questioned Robles’ choice of nominees to join incumbent Buhay Rep. Rene Velarde, the son of the El Shaddai leader. They are Maria Coscolluela, Irwin Tieng, Melchor Monsod and Tessie Villarama.

 

Señeres said Coscolluela used to work for the Population Commission, a bitter enemy of pro-life groups, before joining Sen. Richard Gordon’s staff.

 

He said Villarama was the wife of Wilfrido Villarama, a former congressman who was among the authors of the Reproductive Health Bill, or HB 4110.

 

Señeres said the bill, which provides for P20-million government funding for contraceptives like condoms and intra-uterine devices, was “against the spirit of Buhay.”

 

Señeres’ father, Roy Señeres, who used to head the National Labor Relations Commission, said Tieng was the son of a very wealthy Chinese friend of Mike Velarde.

 

Robles said his choice of nominees was “okay. We’re just happy that by topping the [party-list] elections, Buhay has proven that the Philippines is still pro-life.”

Trillanes victory has grave implications

Trillanes victory has grave implications
By Ramon Tulfo
Inquirer
Last updated 03:28am (Mla time) 06/09/2007

MANILA, Philippines — “Voters love revolutionaries or rebels, wherever they are,” said political analyst Antonio Gatmaitan when asked about the surprising turnout of voters for mutineer and senator-elect Antonio Trillanes IV.

 

I wonder how the voters feel, now that it’s been exposed that their faith in Trillanes was massaged by Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Pilipinas (KPMP), a militant labor group allied with the leftist organization Kilusang Mayo Uno, among other groups.

 

If reports are true, Trillanes—who shot to national prominence with the failed Oakwood Mutiny in 2003—allegedly sought the endorsement of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and communist front organizations for his senatorial candidacy.

 

When Trillanes filed his certificate of candidacy, Laban ng Masa, whose affiliate organizations include Sanlakas, Akbayan, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino and the Partido Manggagawa, was among his most active supporters.

 

When Trillanes’ position became stable at No. 11 in the Magic 12, he suddenly recalled his military roots and demanded that the detained military officers who attempted a coup during the 20th anniversary of Edsa I, be freed.

 

The implication of his action is that he’s not averse to using both his military connections and ties with the NPA that were supposed to have been established by some people in his group, in order to further his ambitions.

 

On the left side of his brain, there’s nothing right.

 

On the right side of his brain, there’s nothing left.

 

Could this be an appropriate term for the incoming senator’s grey matter?

 

* * *

 

The election of Trillanes has grave implications.

 

In the future, any Tomas, Juan and Pablo in the military can stage a mutiny or rebellion and get elected to a high position.

 

So now, disobedience to legal authority pays huge dividends.

 

* * *

 

One of the Team Unity candidates whom I rooted for, Migz Zubiri, is hanging on for dear life between the last slot of the Magic 12 and No. 13.

 

It would be a pity and a loss to the country if he doesn’t make it to the Senate.

 

I know Migz very well. He is a disciplined martial arts student, a world-class arnis and kickboxing expert. He was twice a world arnis champion in his division and represented the country in the Wushu competition in Malaysia in the 1990s.

 

Migz brought his brand of martial discipline to the House of Representatives where he has never missed a session.

 

He introduced many bills that became laws of the land, among them the Clean Air Act and the Bio-Fuel Substitute Law.

MMDA to take billboard case to SC

MMDA to take billboard case to SC
By Kristine L. Alave
Inquirer
Last updated 04:44am (Mla time) 06/09/2007
MANILA, Philippines – Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chair Bayani F. Fernando said they would appeal the Court of Appeals ruling banning the agency from removing billboards on the structures of the Metro Rail Transit System, insisting that the MMDA has the power to take down commercial posters.

In an interview yesterday, Fernando said the MMDA is preparing to appeal the matter before the Supreme Court.

“We are going to appeal the CA’s decision. We think it is the government’s right,” he said.

Fernando said he is confident the MMDA would get a favorable ruling from the high court. “There is a law that prohibits commercial billboards in the roads,” he said.

Earlier, Judge Luis Tongco of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 155 directed the removal of MMDA banners on MRT structures prohibiting private firms from posting billboards and advertisements on the rail system along the Edsa highway, which is under the jurisdiction of the MMDA.

Trackworks said the MMDA’s actions violated an October 2005 decision by the court prohibiting it from installing its own posters or dismantling the ad firm’s banners. In its May decision, the CA ordered the MMDA to dismantle its banners since it said the agency does not have the power to remove the ads nor the authority to install its own banners.

‘Uncooperative’ Leviste employees charged

‘Uncooperative’ Leviste employees charged
By Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 03:57am (Mla time) 06/09/2007

MANILA, Philippines – Ten employees of former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste are now facing charges of obstruction of justice for failing to appear in the investigation of the murder case against their boss.

 

In the information filed before the Metropolitan Trial Court in Manila, Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco said the employees were not helping any in the investigation of the death of Rafael de las Alas. Leviste claimed he shot his long-time aide in self-defense.

 

The probe is being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation.

 

Charged were Remedios Patigas, Elsa Alma Lopez-Barredo, Prescilla Abinal, Cecille Tumamak, Alejo Damayan, Cherrie Yuson, Marietta Moncog, Salvador Capitin, Catalino Agojo and Lorenzo Ubungen-Nisperos Jr.

 

Velasco said the employees’ refusal to cooperate “concealed or facilitated the escape of any other person or persons they knew, or has reasonable ground to believe or suspect, had participated in the killing of said Rafael de las Alas.”

 

An 11th employee, Levie Panganiban, would also be charged, said Velasco. Recommended bail was P12,000 each.

 

Velasco said the employees should not have invoked their right to silence when they refused to appear at the NBI office in Manila.

 

“It is well to stress here that they were summoned not as accused or even as respondents with regard to the killing of De las Alas,” he said. The NBI wanted to ask the employees to help identify other suspects, since they were at the crime scene at the LPL Tower in Makati, based on the building’s logbook, Velasco added.

Prime Minister

PABLO GARCIA: Cha-cha is just a ploy for De Venecia to become prime minister. It will plunge the country into another wave of instability and divisiveness. JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN inquirer.net

US envoy escort

THE Philippine tricolor appears to fly from the barrel of a gun of a security escort of American envoy Kristie Kenney who was in Jolo, Sulu, to turn cash rewards to four informants, all ex-Abu Sayyaf members. In fact, the flag is in front of the Sulu capitol building. EDWIN BACASMAS