Downside of modern technology

They may not be aware of it, although they should be, but some of the country’s biggest advertisers are unwittingly supporting Web pornography.

According to to Pampanga solon Francis Nepomuceno, Yehey.com is offering porno sites in the Internet. Among the hundreds of sponsored pornography links of Yehey.com are Live XXX Adult Porn which claims to have two millions users, Free Porn, Pabo.Com Sex Shop Online, Hardcore Porn Sites, among others. Three-day membership to have access to these porn sites goes for as low as $1.27 and $19.74 for a month while lifetime membership costs $100.

Among the advertisers of Yehey.Com, Nepomuceno revealed, are Nike, Globe, Smart, Talk N‚ Text, Sun Cellular, Equitable PCI and other bank-members of Payplus ATM. Without advertising support, pornographic sites will be paralyzed.

Nepomuceno has also asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to penalize WS Fiesta Online Corp. which owns Yehey.Com.

By the way, thanks to Rep. Nepomuceno, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas or KBP will be investigating FM radio stations (including Love Radio) which are allowing the airing of sexual innuendos as if it meant nothing.

Maybe, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) may also try to put some sense into these broadcasting companies, who although they have their own Code of Ethics seem to have lost sense of what is moral and what is not.

As if the stench of moral decay is not yet enough, Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago has revealed that as many as 100,000 Filipino women are being lured into marriage by Internet matchmaking sites. In the Philippines, it is a criminal offense to carry on a business that matches Filipino women for marriage to foreigners. We have the Anti-Mail-Order Bride Act of 1990 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

The problem however is that many of these Internet site operators are foreign entities based overseas, with their servers also physically located outside the Philippines, Santiago points out.

Santiago, a former chief of the NTC, is now asking the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking or (IACAT) to put in check these possible abuses committed by operators of Internet matchmaking sites. For one, the IACAT can enlist the cooperation of legitimate Internet matchmakers and get them to post in their sites a forceful warning that Philippine laws penalize those engaged in the business of matching Filipino women for marriage to foreigners, and then link users to another site containing the full text of applicable Philippine laws.

Recipe For Success

I’m glad to hear that Dr. Roger Paglomutan, an economics professor of mine at the UP Graduate School of Business, is now doing well as chief financial officer of Brass Chile. Dr. Paglomutan was formerly deputy national treasurer at the Bureau of Treasury and assistant secretary at the DENR.

He sent me some of his insights as to why our country has been left behind by its Asian neighbors, forcing many professionals like him to migrate to other countries.

First, is the peace and order problem, which all of us are aware of. Second is the decline in the level of honesty in society from top to bottom. What how many have been penalized for dishonesty, especially in government? Several Christian and Muslim countries have put into action their death penalty provisions so as to have fear of the law, and what have we done?

Secondly, work ethics is another problem area. In Chile, Dr. Paglomutan says they have a nine-hour work day. Why is it that Filipinos are more productive working abroad than here? Because their foreign employers will not tolerate laziness in the workplace. But of course, better compensation should be considered as a factor.

A third critical factor for any country’s success is the commitment of the elite for the common good. Elite universities in Metro Manila, he says, are partly to blame for this social malaise since they are cheering their students and alumni to aspire for high positions in society instead of seeing them to be of true service to society (not lip service), particularly in the countryside.

The fourth factor is taxation. Empirical studies have shown that countries with low tax rates are generally more progressive. But instead our legislators have recently increased the corporate income tax from 32 to 35 percent which dampens foreign and local corporate interests/ investments. Dr. Paglomutan says legislators and their advisers seem to have not learned the Laffer curve in economics, where higher tax rates results to lower total taxes. The corporate income tax rate in Chile is 17 percent; and no wonder it is attracting more foreign investments worldwide, and it is the most competitive economy in South America.

He adds that the VAT system is not appropriate for the country given the level of honesty and tax evasion. The Philippine government should instead consider the simple sales tax system similar to Quebec, Canada and Florida. Moreover, the Philippines, is the only country in the world with two departments/ministries managing the fiscal sector, the Department of Finance and the Department of Budget and Management, not consistent with the one household concept and the strategy-structure paradigm; and this is one of the main reasons for the unending yearly budgetary deficits.

Lastly, Dr. Paglomutan pointed out that those who are opposing the development of mining in the Philippines should visit Chile, Canada and Australia, so that they may keep their mouth shut.

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