Blame game at the Palace ‘snake pit’

The well-known Palace “snake pit” is crawling with certain “forked-tongued creatures” trying to slither away from the controversy surrounding the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which was declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, our inside Malacañang source told Spy Bits.

Obviously, the President’s official family is feeling the division more deeply than before, with reports alleging that Budget Secretary Butch Abad had “bypassed” some quarters to get the DAP scheme approved and implemented by the president. After all, the existence of two factions in the Palace – the so-called Balay and Samar groups – is an open secret and one that is being “tolerated” by the president to keep everyone on their toes, our spy source disclosed.

Abad – a Liberal Party stalwart who is identified with the Balay group of DILG Secretary Mar Roxas – reportedly did not consult the President’s legal team when the DAP scheme was being implemented in 2011. Instead of going through the usual route where normally Executive Secretary Jojo Ochoa gets to vet presidential concerns that need the attention of the President, it seems Abad went straight to PNoy himself regarding the DAP. No wonder Ochoa and the former chief presidential legal counsel (both of whom belong to the Samar faction) are clearly distancing themselves from the DAP scheme, the Palace source said.

Ironically, no one is coming forward to protect the president by “owning up” to the responsibility regarding the controversial DAP scheme. Instead, it seems the president is the one who’s sticking his neck out to protect his men when under normal circumstances it should be the other way around. With the Palace blame game now apparent over the DAP controversy, observers are waiting to see if a major Cabinet shakeup will take place.

“Game over” for oil smugglers?

The Memorandum Circular issued last June by Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares will soon spell game over for petroleum smugglers, a BIR insider informed Spy Bits. Specifically, revenue memo circular No. 50-2014 requiring all gasoline and petroleum product haulers to secure and carry a Withdrawal Certificate (WC) from the excise tax division is seen as an effective way to monitor the movement of petroleum movers and can go a long way in helping curb oil smuggling, which is costing the government around P32-35 billion a year from lost tax revenues.

Commissioner Kim’s circular is all encompassing – covering all petroleum withdrawals from refineries to depots, from depots to depots and from depots to gas service stations whether transported by land or by sea – and will track thousands of deliveries every day which will help the government agency determine whether petroleum products have been tax paid or not. The memo also strictly stipulates that all fuel cargo must carry the WC (along with requisite sales and delivery invoices and other transfer documentation) or else they will be seized, whether tax paid or not.

This is certainly unwelcome news to smugglers because it will make their illegal activities too risky and too expensive to undertake. But as usual, the weak link would be the human factor once again – in the form of conniving government employees such as bribery prone Revenue Officer on Premise or ROOPs, who sign the WC which is the primary document for the mandatory reporting.

There are suggestions to counteract the “human factor” by installing an automated parallel measuring system commonly used inside storage tanks of depots and gas stations. Known as Automated Tank Gauging (ATG) equipment, this device basically functions to monitor the gas level in the tank and can report the volume of replenishment and withdrawals from large or small tanks in real time. The information can then be transmitted directly to the BIR through the Internet and automatically uploaded in the BIR server. The tax agency can then cross reference the manual reports submitted by the ROOP with that of the real time ATG report and see if the details or figures match.

By mandating all tanks in depots to install ATGs as a requirement prior to granting a license to operate, the BIR central office will be able to monitor the movement of products in real time, the source explained, adding that the system is not really new since it has been used by other governments such as Turkey that requires not only depots but gasoline service stations to have ATGs in tanks. As a result, Turkey is able to monitor petroleum movement in an accurate and timely manner – with smuggling effectively curbed.  With the ATG and the Withdrawal Certificates being made mandatory, happy days will soon be over for oil smugglers, the source predicted.

All’s well that ends well

Israeli Ambassador Menashe Bar-On and his lovely wife Eti are undoubtedly one of the most popular couples in the diplomatic circle, judging from the number of farewell parties being thrown almost everyday in their honor. The Israeli Ambassador was at the forefront of his government’s relief efforts for the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

One of those who hosted a despedida for the Bar-Ons is former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson at his residence in a tony subdivision around Ortigas.

  Chavit’s erstwhile bosom buddy, former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada dropped by the party. Everyone knows the two had buried the hatchet some time ago, with Singson even supporting the Erap-led opposition during the 2013 elections.

So all’s well that ends well for Ambassador Menashe Bar-On ending his diplomatic career with his last post in the Philippines and of course – Erap Estrada and Chavit Singson back to being bosom buddies.

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