Ducky Paredes

Malaya (07.27.09)

“Which of the two agencies operating under the Office of the President goofed? The two point at each other. Are they both to blame, then?”

by Ducky Paredes

For what will hopefully be her last ever State of the Nation Address (SONA), expect more of the same nonsense that she has been dishing out from the day she assumed office – massive lies about her so-called accomplishments. The truth is that this country has been very poorly managed. What few successes she has had have been mostly unplanned. We have an economy that is dependent on the remittances of Pinoys who can find no jobs in their own country and are forced to accept any work as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).
Our economy grows at a slower pace than our population and we have also become identified (during her watch) as among the most corrupt countries of this world.
Among her great failures as a manger is something that she vowed to fix when on her way home from another of her usual expensive trips to points abroad is the worsening dispute between two agencies that report to the Office of the President.
When the quarrel between the Optical Media Board (OMB) and the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) broke out in the newspapers, she promised that she would call in the heads of these agencies – Edu Manzano for OMB Finance Undersecretary Antonio Villar, Jr. to get to the bottom of an embarrassing tale.
In brief, the OMB and PASG raided a house in Quezon City that was being used for the illegal production of pirated CDs and DVDs. The machine and other items, costing about P100 million were confiscated, and three people were arrested.
Since then, the P100 million machine has mysteriously vanished, and the three people who were arrested managed to post bail and are now most probably back in the operation their illegal enterprise probably in a more secure hideout.
Which of the two agencies operating under the Office of the President goofed? The two point at each other. Are they both to blame, then? The PASG says unequivocally that it was Edu Manzano and the OMB. Edu, on the other hand, points out that Usec Villar’s PASG was the one that goofed.  The machine was inside the house that was padlocked and guarded by PASG people when it disappeared, with only a hole in the wall as witness to its disappearance. And, the three suspects managed to post bail because the PASG man failed to show up at the court hearing.
If we had a President who knew what he was doing as well as having the political will to do the right thing, that President would have met with the two to get their stories; then, a better president than the present one would have had one of her own people check out the stories. And, whoever was lying (and probably took a sizable bribe, too) would have been fired and shamed out of the government service.
Unfortunately, after making the announcement that she would get to the bottom of this mess, Gloria Arroyo proceeded (in her own inimitable way) to do absolutely nothing.
As for the agencies involved, each has been trying to look better than the other. For instance, Villar announced that the 19 PASG personnel involved in the case have been grounded. He also asked for a congressional investigation. Could he be chaffing at the bit from Gloria’s inaction?
However, Villar has yet to disclose the names of the operatives and their status/designation in the agency.
But, because the PASG has come under suspicion because the two agencies under the Office of the President have been allowed to quarrel in public over this issue, we have e-mails from the Chinese community about extortion activities of the PASG in Chinatown. There are also e-mails from supposed disgruntled OMB personnel who characterize Edu as corrupt and greedy. (In reality, since the email is unsigned and no names are used, who is to say that this is not the work of the PASG?)
A more real situation is that Customs brokers, truckers, importers and other port users have announced that they will stage a strike tomorrow, Tuesday at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) area to protest what they claim to be the indiscriminate and illegal withholdings of cargoes by the PASG outside the premises of the BOC. They claim that hundreds of imported containerized cargoes coming from the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port are impounded by the PASG and brought to private compounds in Dagat-dagatan, Navotas, San Marcelino in Ermita, and Luneta Park, Manila.
Eight organizations are leading the strike which is projected to have a paralyzing effect in all ports of the country. Bad news, coming as it does after the State of the Nation Address by President Arroyo. Villar is said to be a GMA favorite because he did her a few favors during the 2004 elections.  Were those favors so huge that they will continue to protect him in the face of so many complaints about the PASG?
The PASG chief argues that the seizure of the containers is for “random verification” because of reports that the cargoes were grossly and fraudulently released by the BOC. This he said in no uncertain terms last week over the PASG’s weekly radio program where he referred to Honorato Colico and Agapito Mendez, chairman and president respectively, of the Professional Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines as “smugglers”, an accusation that, understandably, got the two businessmen all heated up. They fired off a letter to the station manager denouncing Villar’s statements and other remarks said in “kanto boy” language. Unfortunately for them, the PASG owns its own time slot.
So now, together with five other organizations, all they can do is to cite the PASG’s action as extremely illegal and in gross violation of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines as amended, and other revenue laws which have discouraged both local and foreign investors in the country.
This is the truer picture of what is going on in this country.
The country is not taking great economic leaps forward. We are stuck where we have always been because those who are in a position to bring about reforms are afraid to step on toes and anger even those their  own political appointees.
If a President who cannot even get to the bottom of a quarrel between two of the agencies reporting to the Office of the President, how can we expect her to actually do the great things with which she has been regaling us year on year. It’s time for a reality check. The truth is that this country is in a bad, bad way and our condition may actually be incurable – as long as things remain as they are and politicians who will do the popular over what is the right thing continue to be in charge.

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hvp 07.26.09)