WHAT?? AN AMERICAN AT THE NATIONAL FOOD AUTHORITY??

TARANTADO PALA ITONG SINA ALCALA!

 Quezon mafia’ at DA!

Published : Monday, October 28, 2013 00:00

Article Views : 199

Written by : Paul M. Gutierrez

ACTIVIST lawyer Argee Guevarra yesterday criticized Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala’s “dubious choice of appointees,” including an “American” who has been chosen to head the National Food Authority (NFA), the country’s lead food security agency. 

In a statement, Guevarra accused Alcala of “turning the DA into his own personal playground, appointing members of his ‘Quezon mafia’ into the department, including Orlan Calayag, an American citizen, as NFA administrator.”
“These very same people have been repeatedly accused of involvement in various acts of corruption including the Napoles pork barrel fund scam, yet they seem to continue to enjoy the confidence of Alcala, their political benefactor,” said Guevarra.
“Calayag is an American citizen leading the charge for national food security. Since when did our laws, including the NFA Charter, allow for the appointment of someone who has renounced his Filipino citizenship in order to acquire a foreign one?”
Calayag, former aide of then-congressman Alcala, flew from the United States back to the Philippines on December 19, 2012 bearing US Passport No. 462971672. He has since acquired dual citizenship as American and Filipino more than a year later on  January 7, 2013 -- six months after his appointment as NFA administrator effective  July 1, 2012.
“How was Alcala able to dupe the President into signing Calayag’s appointment in the first place? Even assuming he has regained dual citizenship, still, that does not qualify him for appointment in our bureaucracy,” explained Guevarra, a UP-trained lawyer.
Citing jurisprudence in Maquiling vs. Comelec (G.R. No. 195649, 16 April 2013) and Mercado vs. Manzano (G.R. No. 135083, 26 May 1999), Guevarra argued: “first, one who renounces his Philippine citizenship when he became an American citizen is no longer a natural-born citizen of the Philippines; second, even when he became a dual citizen under RA No. 9225, he does not automatically re-acquire his status as a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.”
The NFA Charter states that its administrator must be a natural-born Filipino.
Calayag’s appointment into the NFA, “absent the vetting process required under the Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC) Reform Law 1,” according to Guevarra, also made him chairman of the Food Terminals Inc. and director of the Philippine Fisheries Development Corp.
“This is precisely the kind of mindset that breeds corruption in the DA. When, with impunity, its officials think that they are above the law and can circumvent around it at will,” said Guevarra who first exposed the alleged P457- million overpricing in the DA and NFA’s government-to-government rice importation transaction in April. The said transaction is currently under investigation by both the Senate and House of Representatives.
This week, congressional representatives, COOP NATCCO partylist Rep. Anthony Bravo and Laguna 3rd district Rep. Sol Aragones appealed for “wiser government spending” in the agriculture sector, while Agri-Agra Reporma Para sa Magsasakang Pilipinas (AGRI) partylist Rep. Delph Gan Lee filed House Bill (HB) No. 2936 seeking to end the “NFA’s monopoly on rice importation” as it has supposedly “adversely contributed to the price of the staple grain.”
Rice prices in September hit all-time highs even as the NFA invested heavily in government-led importations, spending US$94.5 million or more than P4 billion to import 205,700 MT of rice from Vietnam in April of 2013, and some P1.7 billion in importation duties and taxes.

Aside from Calayag, farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) earlier named the following as members of Alcala’s “Quezon mafia”: DA Undersecretary for Administration and Finance Antonio Fleta; Arnulfo Mañalac who served as Alcala’s administrator for the Sariaya Bagsakan Center in 2007; DA Assistant Secretary Ed de Luna; Philippine Coconut Authority Administrator and Alcala legal consultant Euclides G. Forbes; Claro Maranan of the National Irrigation Administration; Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director Asis Perez; Bureau of Plant Industry Director Lito Baron; Philippine Fishing Development Authority Director Rodrigo Jimenez and Agri Technical Insititute director Nicomedes Eleazar.
Fleta, along with DA assistant secretaries Ophelia Agawin and Salvador Salacup, all Alcala appointees, were also implicated in the Napoles pork barrel fund controversy.

ITO ANG DAANG MATUWID!!!

                                             YES WE LOVE IT!!!

                                                        EEEEEHAA!!

                                                         MEEEOWW!!!

MR BENIGNO ABNOY AQUINO, YOU HAVE NO SHAME!!!

SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!

NAKAKAHIYA KA! NAKAKASUKA KA!

WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENT, A LEADER AT THAT, WHO IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZES TO A FOREIGN SOVEREIGN OVER A VERY IMPORTANT TERRITORIAL ISSUE???

MY GOD! PNOY, MATAGAL NA TAYONG PINAGNANAKAWAN NG MGA INSTIK SA NATURAL RESOURCES NATIN. HINDI MO BA ALAM IYON??

THE TONS AND TONS OF FISHES AND OTHER MARINE RESOURCES THAT THEY STEAL COULD VIRTUALLY FEED MILLIONS OF HUNGRY FILIPINO PEOPLE. 

AND YOU LET TAIWAN GET AWAY WITH IT BY SAYING,"SORRY PO?" 

BOTH CHINESE AND TAIWANESE FISHING VESSELS HAVE BEEN (SINCE TIME IMMEMORIAL) VIOLATING OUR TERRITORIAL WATERS WITH IMPUNITY, TAPOS THIS IS THE WAY YOU RESPOND TO THESE "ALIEN INTRUDERS?"

TO FUCKING APOLOGIZE? 

TO CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION WITHIN THE COAST GUARD?

AND TO SUSPEND COAST GUARD OFFICERS WHO WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROTECTING THE PHILIPPINE WATERS, OUR SOVEREIGNTY, OUR TERRITORY, AND OUR NATION??????

PUTANG INA KA, MAMATAY KA SANA!!!!!! 

WALA KANG UTANG NG LOOB SA MGA COAST GUARD NATING NAGPAPAKABAYANI SA BANSANG ITO. 

YOU HAVE NO FUCKING RESPECT FOR THE VERY PEOPLE THAT PROTECT US!

PUTANG INA KA AT ANG NANAY MO!!!!

SANA PATAYIN KAYO NG SAMBAYANANG PILIPINO!!!!

    

IBA ANG SINASABI NIYA SA GINAGAWA NIYA

IKAW, MANINIWALA KA PA BA SA KANYA? 

MAG-ONLINE KA NA RIN! 

LET'S CAMPAIGN FOR A NATIONWIDE CYBER-PROTEST AND SOCIAL "DISOBEDIENCE"!

 Noynoy hies off to Tarlac on Labor Day

• Written by  Tribune
• Thursday, 02 May 2013 00:00

Labor groups were busy protesting on their day, but President Aquino conveniently hied himself off to Tarlac, with the Palace claiming that Aquino spent the morning of Labor Day to get some rest and for him to recuperate from colds and his bout with coughing.
Aquino was said to have traveled to Tarlac City Tuesday afternoon, immediately after his dialog with labor group representatives in the Palace, to witness a job fair in the area.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said this rest day for Aquino is “an opportunity for him to rest. You know he is suffering from coughs and colds, He is taking medications for them,” adding that Aquino is is not trying to evade Labor Day protests in Manila.
“Yesterday, after the event, then later , he also had an event . He now has a chance to rest, So today is a good day for him to rest lang before his event at 4 o’clock,” he said.
The President will have an event with the local community in Victoria, Tarlac this (Wednesday) afternoon.
Lacierda also said the President spearheaded the Labor Day activities on Tuesday based on the advice by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and it was not the President’s decision for him to take a rest today.
The labor department wanted the Labor Day activities on April 30 so as not to crowd the labor groups’ activities for May 1, Lacierda said.
“But this was suggested, I think if I’m not mistaken, weeks ago or a month ago. You know how it is with the schedule of the President. Thats’ planned in advance,” he said.
Meanwhile, in celebration of the 127th International Workers’ Day and its 110th year in the Philippines, a militant labor group staged a nationwide protest condemning the rabidly anti-worker and pro-capitalist regime of Aquino.
Aquino has again rejected workers’ calls for a significant wage hike, the junking of contractual employment and a stop to trade-union repression. He has bragged about non-wage benefits and his government’s efforts at creating jobs.
“The Aquino regime has been using the technicality that is the one-year ban on hiking wages to try to obscure the fact that it is insensitive toward the long-standing hunger and poverty being experienced by the country’s workers,” an official statement said.
“We condemn Aquino’s use of non-wage benefits, which come from workers’ taxes and premium contributions, to try to cover up his strong opposition to a wage hike. Unlike a significant wage hike, non-wage benefits will not directly and immediately give workers any relief from the soaring prices of goods and services.”
“We condemn Aquino for taking advantage of chronic unemployment to try to blackmail workers into accepting starvation wages, contractual employment, and violations of trade-union rights. The truth is that wages in the country have been pressed down for too long yet jobs available to Filipinos remain dismally scarce.”
The problem lies in the government’s refusal to implement land reform and national industrialization and generate decent employment through these policies. It has instead relied on foreign investments to create jobs in the country, and has offered cheap and repressed labor to attract foreign investors into the country statement further.
On his third Labor Day and almost three years in office, Aquino has thoroughly exposed himself as anti-worker and pro-capitalist. His statements leading to this Labor Day are merely footnotes to his already long record of implementing policies that are favorable to capitalists, especially the big and foreign ones, and detrimental to workers.
For almost three years, Aquino has consistently rejected calls for a significant wage hike, is attempting to impose wage cuts and wage freezes through the Two-Tiered Wage System, has legalized contractual employment, and is continuing policies that are repressive of workers’ right to unionize, collectively bargain and strike.
Today, our protests against the anti-worker and pro-capitalist Aquino regime will ignite. We vow to launch bigger protests in the coming weeks and months in order to push forward our just demands for our wages, job security and trade-union rights statement ended.
With Pat C. Santos and PNA

Published in Headlines

1 comment

• 
  Wow, mukhang iba ang mga pinagsasabi sa pinaggagawa.
  Nasaan ang pinagsasabi at pinagyayabang nilang ito kung ganoon? Hanggang yabang lang ba ito?
  Sabi nila, " No one is allowed to relax – not even President Aquino – as the homestretch of the campaign begins." Pagkatapos, sabi naman ni Lacierda, this rest day for Aquino is “an opportunity for him to rest." Alin ba talaga ang totoo sa mga pinagsasabi nila?
  Punong puno talaga ng pagkukunwari, pagbabalatkayo at kaplastikan at saka kapalpakan.
  Ito basahin niyo.
  Noy, administration bets won’t relax until end of campaign
  By Aurea Calica, The Philippine Star, May 1, 2013
  MANILA, Philippines - No one is allowed to relax – not even President Aquino – as the homestretch of the campaign begins.
  Team PNoy campaign strategists vowed to work harder to raise the ratings of their senatorial candidates who are at the bottom of the poll surveys, a team spokesman said.
  The President told reporters after a dialogue with labor groups in Malacañang yesterday that he gave “marching orders” for all the administration candidates to give their best shot.
  “I tell all candidates that nobody should relax at this point in time. I think I am leading also by example. We believe we are espousing a certain ideology. Regardless of my physical condition, I will endeavor to maximize delivering the message to our people,” he said.
  Cita Wednesday, 01 May 2013 18:26 Comment Link

Of Kamag-anaks and Brain Disorders

It’s a brain disorder

• Written by  Tribune Editorial
• Tuesday, 30 April 2013 00:00

It must have been the sun plus his nature of blaming whatever problems his administration encounters to Gloria, his scapegoat, that had triggered Noynoy’s flight to absurdity.
It has been close to three years of his administration and he still incessantly blames Gloria on almost anything that hits him, maybe the sizzling heat the past few days included.
The Mindanao power crisis happened during his term. Noynoy was saying that Gloria did not care enough to put up power plants in anticipation of growth in the region.
He said to himself that it takes three years to put up a power plant, which is a span that fits within his administration. Noynoy was talking as if he took over from Gloria yesterday.
It was clear during discussions on the power situation in Mindanao that the crisis was largely the result of the failure to realize what was spelled out in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), primarily the privatization thrust on the power sector.
There were certain levels of the power network that should be in the hands of private business before actual free market sets in or competition that would allow low-cost but steady supply of electricity.
That would have required contracting new projects or the sale of existing power plants in the hands of the government, which is the National Power Corp. (Napocor), to private firms.
The basic question to be asked is: How many power plants under Noynoy have been sold to the private sector and did any investor with foreign capital come into the power sector for the past three years?
Foreign capital is crucial because of the huge investments required for power projects and the long waiting period before power plants start making revenues.
Two facts that would point to Noynoy being the culprit of the Mindanao power crisis are the failure of his flagship private-public partnership (PPP) program and the foreign investment tally last year of a negligible $1.5 billion.
These point to policy deficiencies in his administration, the reason for investors to avoid the country despite the so-called improved climate that Noynoy has been peddling.
The fact that only two groups, the Alcantaras and the Aboitizes, who are long-time associates of the Aquinos, are cornering power projects in Mindanao may also be the reason for the snail-paced build up of available electricity supply in the region.
The Aboitizes are also major suppliers of generator sets that raise questions on the scheme that Noynoy had introduced to use government funds through loans for electric cooperatives to acquire diesel generator sets as a stop gap measure for the Mindanao power problem.
Noynoy told the crowd that he inherited the problem from Gloria whom he called thick-skinned for neglecting Mindanao.
Subliminally it seems, Noynoy is describing himself. His thick political skin is making him oblivious to blame and everything wrong that happens in his administration is the fault of his predecessor.
Had Gloria put up the power plants under contracts during her term? It would surely still be an evil deed of Gloria. Noynoy would have been all over the contracts and would have had it reviewed and rebid for awarding to his own cronies.
The vindictiveness within Noynoy may have reached a point to warp time and reality for him.
Somebody should shake up Noynoy and tell him that he has been using the blame Gloria line for the past three years.
Three full years of buck passing is autistic.

NTC BUDGET KINU-KURIPOT NG MALACANANG, ANTI-EMPLOYEE NGA TALAGA

NTC wants freedom from Malacañang

• Written by  Ed Velasco
• Sunday, 28 April 2013 00:00

A ranking official of the National Telecommunications Commission wants to liberate the agency from the Office of the President (OP), noting that NTC’s massive average P3-billion yearly income is not enjoyed by its employees.
In an exclusive interview with the Tribune, the official said liberation from OP is seen as the best solution to its long-time woes that range from miniscule salary, decrepit apparatus, very little budget and lack of communications competent workers. 

“It’s best time for our commission to be reorganized so that we can enjoy the fruits of our hefty income. We can’t feel the blessings of the money we’ve been generating for the national government. Where is that money going? We can’t feel it as far as our salary is concerned,” a ranking NTC official, who refused to be named, said.
The official said when they were removed from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC), they thought their lives will be better. But the result of the turnover from DoTC to OP was a mistake because they feel that they are now deserted by Malacañang.
“Our counterpart in the US is the Federal Communication Commission. That is a very powerful agency but here we cannot even punish any telco (telecommunications company) because our organizational structure is old, especially our apparatus,” he said.
He added modernization alone cannot solve the miseries of the people in NTC because its problem is deeply rooted to its organizational flaws.
The official said the current set-up doesn’t allow the NTC to shoulder any skill-enhancing course of its officials whether locally or abroad, thus forcing them to rely on government and private sector-sponsored schooling for their workers to have advanced schooling on telecommunications.
“How often does USAID sponsor scholarship grants? That’s the only time that we can send our employee abroad to get free crash course?” he asked. Also needed to be restructured is the setting of fixed term for their commissioners so that there will be security of tenure and continuity in the programs of NTC.
NTC’s annual budget is only P300 million, just one-tenth of the yearly income it turns over to the national government.