Bank account ni Duterte by Rep. Gary C. Alejano

BANK ACCOUNT NI DUTERTE

Paano ba nagsimula ang issue ng bank account/s ni Duterte na umano ay bilyon ang laman? Ganito lang natin i-breakdown ang issue ng bank account niya sa pamagitan ng paglahad ng isang sequence:

1. Kampanya. NANGAKO si Duterte kasama ni Cayetano na dapat lahat na tumatakbo magsign ng bank waiver. Ibig sabihin i-waive mo ang rights mo sa ilalim ng Bank Secrecy Law. Diyan makikita ang lahat pati transaction history ng isang bank account.

2. Trillanes. Nilabas niya sa publiko na may BILYON si Duterte sa kanyang mga accounts taliwas sa kampanya ni Duterte na siya ay MAHIRAP na tao lang. In fact, sinabi pa niya na walang pang gamot ang nanay niya nang ito ay na ospital. Pinakita ni Trillanes ang photocopied bank records ni Duterte sa publiko.

3. DENIAL. Hindi raw totoo ang sinabi ni Trillanes. Non-existent daw ang bank account according sa spokesperson ni Duterte na si Peter La Viña.

4. UNANG HAMON. Pag hindi totoo ang sinasabi ni Trillanes siya ay magresign sa Senado at mag withdraw sa Vice Presidential race.

5. DEPOSIT. Some people deposited to the account presented by Trillanes and it was successful. So, that means totoo ang account.

6. ADMISSION. Napilitang umamin si Duterte na totoo nga na kanyang account yung pinakita ni Trillanes. Pero ang sabi niya na konti na lang ang laman dahil pinang-hapihapi niya.

7. PANGALAWANG HAMON. Si Duterte buksan ang bank account through a waiver at Trillanes sabihin kung saan niya nakuha ang impormasyon niya. Magkita sila sa BPI branch Ortigas.

8. RESULTA. Trillanes dumating dala ang affidavit niya. Duterte? Nada, awan, wala. Si Panelo ang sumipot. Ano ang dala? SPA o Special Power of Attorney at HINDI WAIVER. The SPA authorized Panelo by Duterte to ask two things from the bank; a) Balance of his account and b) certification from the bank that no point in time the account has contained P 211M (this means pag may piso lampas o kulang sa P 211M hindi mag certify ang bangko).

9. WHAT HAPPEND AFTER? Trillanes gave the affidavit to Panelo. Panelo gave the SPA to the bank. Trillanes requested for a copy, ayaw bigyan ni Panelo dahil di naman siya party to the SPA. Now, according to Panelo he could not give Trillanes the result of the request because he has to go back to his principal and it is up to his principal whether he would give Trillanes a copy or not. Again, nada, wala, awan ti copy. By the way, ang WAIVER ay hindi kapareha ng SPA.

10. CASE. Trillanes filed a plunder case against Duterte before the Ombudsman.

11. PANGATLONG HAMON. Presidente na si Duterte nang hinamon ulit ni Trillanes patungkol sa kanyang bank account. Ang sabi ni Trillanes na pag napatunayan na mali siya, siya ay agarang magresign sa Senado at mag walk-in sa piling kulungan ni Duterte.

12. ANG SAGOT? Denial lang si Duterte at yawyaw lang at iwas sa isyu ng waiver. Pagkakataon na sana ni Duterte na mawala si Trillanes sa landas niya bilang kritiko niya sa pamagitan ng pagpatunay na sinungaling si Trillanes. Waiver lang katapat. Awan pa rin si Duterte. Bakit kaya umiiwas? Nagtatago ba?

13. COUNTER MOVE. Ang ginawa na counter move ni Duterte ay nag imbento ng mga offshore bank accounts ni Trillanes para linlangin ang taumbayan na walang karapatan si Trillanes na magparatang na may bilyon siya at magdemand ng waiver sa kanya dahil si Trillanes ay meron ding mga tagong offshore bank accounts.

14. BOOMERANG. Bumalik kay Duterte ang kanyang taktika dahil agarang nag issue ng waivers si Trillanes sa lahat na accounts na kanyang nilabas. Si Trillanes ay pumunta pa sa Singapore kasama ang ilang media upang personal na i-verify ang nasabing account.

15. DBS ACCOUNT. Awan ti account! Halos di atupagin ng empleyado ng DBS si Trillanes dahil siya ay HINDI KLIYENTE. Ganun pa man, tinanong ni Trillanes ang teller ng bangko kung meron silang nakapangalan kay a) Antonio Trillanes o b) Antonio Trillanes IV whether SINGLE, JOINT, CLOSED OR CURRENT. Wala gyud ni isa nigawas sa computer ng teller.

16. NAPILITAN. Dahil dito napilitan si Duterte na aminin sa publiko na gawa gawa niya lang ang mga accounts ni Trillanes para hulihin niya ito. Tsk tsk. Di ko makita ano ang logic nito.

17. NAGSINUNGALING ULIT. Di na nadala sa pagkasunog dahil sa offshore bank accounts ni Trillanes, nagsinungaling ulit sa pagsabi na sinara ni Trillanes ang bank account niya bago pumunta Singapore. Yan daw ang dahilan bakit wala na siyang account sa DBS. Ang tanong, paano mo isara ang inimbento mo lang na account. Tsk tsk. Kahit isanlibo pa na accounts yan wala pa rin yan dahil hindi nga kliyente si Trillanes ng DBS.

18. FAKE NEWS PA MORE. By this time alam na ni Duterte na peke ang mga accounts mula sa impormante na kanilang binilhan ng impormasyon ngunit pilit pa ring sinabi sa publiko na totoo at nagpakita pa ng matrix ng deposits at withdrawals. Ano pa ba ang paniwalaan mo sa sinasabi ng pangulo kung ganito na ang estado ng kanyang pag-iisip?

19. MORE WAIVERS. Ang sabi ni Trillanes kahit ilang accounts pa ang ilabas ni Duterte ay isyuhan niya ito ng waivers para buksan ng AMLC para makalkal nila kung totoo o hindi. Si Duterte? Todo iwas sa sign pen. Ayaw humawak ng pen. Takot pumirma ng anumang waiver sa kanyang bank accounts.

20. OMBUDSMAN. Natanong ng media kamakailan lang ang Ombudsman patungkol sa kaso ni Duterte. Ang sabi ay ang hawak nilang bank transaction records ni Duterte ay "more or less" kapareha ang contents sa hawak ni Trillanes. The BANK TRANSACTION RECORDS were TRANSMITTED by AMLC to OMBUDSMAN.

21. AMLC. Ang sinabi nito ay hindi pa ito nagsumite ng REPORT sa Ombudsman. Tama naman ito dahil ang kanilang sinumite sa Ombudsman ay BANK TRANSACTION RECORDS at HINDI REPORT.

22. ANG TUGON NI DUTERTE? Nagwala!Tinakot ang ombudsman na paaresto kung di dadalo sa komisyon na kanyang itatayo. Fabricated daw ang hawak ng ombudsman. Sige pa Dong, magsinungaling ka pa sa publiko. Hinay hinay ka lang sa bulyaw mo sa publiko at nahahalata ka nang nasa angry panic mode ka na.

Mining some poverty statistics

Often local, issues on mining include its destructive nature to local assets such as land and water, divisive feature to local communities, and contribution to local development. But GIna Lopez has made these local issues national. People now talk about environment as essential part of national patrimony. Locals travel to Manila to protest or support mining projects. Citizens question the contributions of mining to development. Worse, they even claim that mining contributes to poverty.  

How could that be when mining has catalyzed economic activities through jobs, infrastructure works and businesses in economically stagnating localities? For these reasons, government officials and business people tend to favor and endorse mining projects in their localities.

Based on the data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in 2010, there were PhP13.41 billions of pesos in taxes, fees and royalties and 197,000 employed personnel in mining operations. Given these data, it is justified to think that mining areas would be economically better-off than non-mining areas. However, this is not supported by poverty statistics. In a 2011 paper by Balisacan, What has really happened to poverty in the Philippines: New measures, evidence, and policy implications, which presents various economic sectors and their contributions, the highest contributor to poverty incidence among economic sectors in 2009 was mining at 48.7 percent. In Balisacan paper, from 1988 to 2009, mining was the only sector of the economy that had an increasing contribution to poverty incidence from 27.8 to 48.7 percent. To illustrate this at a regional level using 2009 poverty data from the National Statistical Coordination Board and citing Christian Monsod’s Mining a social justice issue, regions with large mining areas had high poverty incidences, such as the Caraga region (47.5 percent), Bicol region (44.9 percent) and Zamboanga Peninsula region (42.7 percent), higher than the national average of 26 percent. In provincial levels, poverty incidences in mining areas, such as Masbate (54.2 percent) in Bicol region, Agusan del Sur (58.1 percent) in Caraga region, Zamboanga Sibugay (49.8 percent) on Zamboanga Peninsula, were higher than their regional averages.

Poverty statistics in these areas may not show a causal relationship between poverty and mining, but it does point to a correlation that challenges claims that mining reduces poverty and improves standards of living. An international report in 2001 by Oxfam-America found a strong correlation between extractive sectors (including mining) and poverty. In a local study in Rapu-Rapu Island by Emerlina Regis in 2004, mining was seen as the cause of poverty in Rapu-Rapu which remained to be one of the poorest municipality in Albay in spite of hosting a large polymetallic mining project.

While capital and technology in mining sector and their multipliers may have poverty-alleviating effects, issues of equity along with associated social and environmental costs may offset these effects. This creates two divides: the pro-mining side highlighting the advantages, such as revenue generation and development projects, whereas the anti-mining side pointing out environmental damages and a wide-range of issues related to governance, corruption, health and safety, thus contributing to poverty.  

A 1983 study, The impact of corporate mining on local Philippine communities, by John McAndrew in Toledo City in Cebu described the positive impacts of mining that brought “enclaves of development within predominantly backward and stagnant areas,” as if two separate economies had co-existed in the city. In my own fieldwork in Rapu-Rapu, Albay in 2004-2005, barangays covered by mining operations exhibited considerable improvements in infrastructures and quality of life compared to other barangays. However, within those “improved” barangays, mining benefits were unevenly distributed to locals. This inequality sparked division within communities between those who earned their living directly or indirectly from mining and those who were displaced from their traditional livelihoods.

Lack of job opportunities and unstable income from traditional livelihoods characterize the prevailing conditions of local communities that host mining projects. Undermined by poverty, locals pin their hopes on mining which has its own rent-seeking intention. 

Now is the time to know the man in Malacanang

In over eight months, so many things have happened in the Philippines. Good and bad, depending on the news you read, fake or real. I'd say, generally bad. This view is supported by reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, US Department of State and resolution by the European Union Parliament. The negative views on the Philippines are attributed to the policies and pronouncements of the man in Malacanang who assumed office on June 30, 2016.

Who is this man in Malacanang? What do we know about him?

He used to be a mayor of Davao City for decades. Since the Philippines has term limits for government elected officials, what the man in Malacanang did was typical of dynastic political clans in the Philippines - to alternate with family members. He put his daughter as his replacement as mayor, and then he returned to the City Hall to begin another three-term stint. In 2016, the mayor of the city is her daughter and the vice-mayor is his son. That's how dynastic his hold to power in the city is. In short, he owns the city.

In his long stay as mayor, there were COA reports that indicated irregularities and anomalies in the way the city had used its money. The latest anomaly was the hiring of approximately 11,000 ghost employees costing the city hall 720 million pesos in losses. If the city lost this much, then the money must be somewhere. In the days leading to the May election last year, a joint bank account was discovered containing billions of pesos in transactions. This led to the filing of plunder case against the man in Malacanang. A senator challenged the man in Malacanang to divulge the said bank account in Julia Vargas branch of the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) if he is indeed clean of corruption. Unexplained wealth is prima facie presumed to be proceeds from corrupt practices, specifically if the amount is beyond the proportion of his legitimate income. Up until now, the man in Malacanang who brandishes his courageous exploits suddenly has metaphorically put his tail between his legs. He used to exhort that his life is open and he has nothing to hide. All of this has backfired when he refuses to open his individual and joint bank accounts containing billions of pesos in transactions.

During his rule in Davao City, there were hundreds of unsolved incidents of killings. Police officers were suspended for their unexplained inutility and ineptitude towards stopping these killings in their jurisdiction. Political critics were also killed to tighten his grip on the city.

One police officer, now retired, Arturo Lascanas publicly confessed his involvement in over 200 killings in Davao City on orders of then the mayor, now the man in Malacanang. Another hitman, Edgar Matobato, earlier pointed to the man in Malacanang as the brain of the killings in Davao City. Both used to be a member of the dreaded Davao Death Squad (DDS). Both men needed more than two decades to break their loyalty to the man in Malacanang.

In fairness to the man, I considered him in the early campaign to be a good candidate. But when it became apparent that his lack of preparation for the job and his utterly simplistic solutions (e.g. riding a jetski to the shoal to establish sovereignty) to complex problems, I became unconvinced that he is the person fit to hold office in Malacanang for six years. When he won handily, I was one of the 90 percent of Filipinos who trusted him in the beginning of his term. Then, I only needed two months to see the egotistic tendencies for violence of the man in Malacanang. Often, the man would preach the necessity of killing to establish national order. He used words, such as kill and slaughter, to rouse his supporters. When thousands were killed without due process and without due diligence of the police to investigate, I saw a reign of terror of vigilante groups and some police. In horror, I see the DDS turning into a national death squad. The patterns of DDS are obviously adopted by the vigilante groups. With so many killings, funeral parlors even complained that they could not cope with the numbers of dead bodies being brought to them.

Here is the man who made his most vocal critic, a woman, the top drug lord of the country without reliable shreds of evidence. Before he assumed office, the woman did not figure in any drug list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and police. Only to this man's eyes and his ardent supporters', the woman is the top drug lord of the country.

I know that eight months may be premature for others to know this man in Malacanang. It took two decades for Lascanas and Matobato. It took me two months. But the lies, deception, and violence being perpetuated by the man in Malacanang are grossly intolerable that his supporters will soon see what Matobato, Lascanas, and I saw in the man in Malacanang. May God bless the Philippines if these supporters refuse to see how the man in Malacanang is mainstreaming violence, cursing, corrupt practices, patronage politics, political persecution, and incompetence in public office! Five years and three months more under this man if we fail to get to know this man in Malacanang now.

Facts: Duterte facing plunder, murder, and kidnapping cases at the Ombudsman

Unlike the Leaks filled with innuendos, let me give you two facts that truly exist:
1) Plunder case against the sitting president due to hiring of ghost employees costing Davao PhP 708 million in losses. Where did the money go? There is a BPI account that has transactions of billions of pesos. Until now, the sitting president refuses to open the account.

2) Murder and kidnapping cases due to hundreds of killings and disappearances in Davao between 1988 and 2013. Sadly, what he did in Davao has now gone nationwide with over 8,000 killings in 8 months. He even stresses that there will be more killings as long as he is in power.

Both cases are tied because the latest witness, a former police in Davao, has revealed that the Mayor would then give 20k or 50k or 100k or even a million pesos to kill.
There will be more factual information on Monday, 6 March, when this witness will give his testimony in the Senate.

I don't want this country to be run by a plunderer and killer. That's why I demand the sitting president to sign a bank waiver. As for the killings, he even takes pride in doing the killings himself. Who am I to say he is not a killer if he himself is admitting it?

These are the two facts that the sitting president are currently facing at the Ombudsman.