Puzzlements

Presidential Envoy to the Gulf States Coordinating Council Amable Aguiluz V is hurting. He bewails what he feels is an orchestrated effort to denigrate his record and performance. Recently, some items have come out, lambasting him for the recommendations he made in the recently-concluded bilateral air talks between the Philippine government and Bahrain Air.

The ambassador stresses that he was primarily concerned with the welfare of the millions of Filipino overseas workers in the Middle East, the very reason why the Office of Special Envoy to the Gulf Coordinating Council was established by President Macapagal-Arroyo. Aguiluz had expressed support for the request of Gulf Air for a no-cosharing accords as this would amount to considerable savings on the air fare of the over 40,000 OFWs in the Kingdom of Bahrain who contribute some $10 billion yearly to our economy – an amount not to be sneezed at, given our present economic woes.

At the same time, Mr. Aguiluz pointed out that his interest is also to further strengthen our ties with Bahrain which has been helpful and supportive of our country. In concrete terms, this is reflected in his work to get the kingdom to extend financial support (over $2 million for development projects, and recently, $500,000 for those affected by the Leyte tragedy) and to play a major role in securing the release of OFWs Angelo de la Cruz and Robert Tarongoy. Even now, Bahrain is working hard to get the royal family of Saudi Arabia to grant clemency to OFW Sarah Jane Demetera, and the royal family of Kuwait for clemency to OFW Marilou Ranario.

What is interesting in all this is the fact that Ambassador Aguiluz has been performing his official functions without any cost to the government, a condition he indicated before accepting the post in 2003. And for this, he feels he is being pilloried.

Should he merely echo what Anna’s King of Siam exclaimed, "It’s a puzzlement!" and leave it at that? Unearthing the identities and motive of those behind the move may be more enlightening, but of course, that’s easier said than done.

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ALSO A PUZZLEMENT is the reported move to oust Optical Media Board head Edu Manzano, whose vigorous efforts to halt piracy helped remove the country just last week, from the United States’ "Priority Watchlist" of intellectual property rights (IPR) violators.

Albeit lost in the spate of tragic news the past few days, a statement from the US Trade Representative (USTR) cited "the raids by Philippine authorities on pirated optical disc production facilities and on retail stores selling pirated and counterfeit goods" as instrumental in the country’s status upgrade from "priority" to "ordinary." We have been on that ignominious "Priority Watchlist" since 2001, meaning that we were this close from being slapped with trade sanctions by the US government, and it was only in 2005 that "the Philippines bolstered implementation of its special legislation" against pirated audio and video disks.

Is this, in yet another stupefying non-sequitur of the kind that belongs in the ever-lengthening list of only-in-da-Pilipins, Edu’s reward for a job well done?

It is no secret that it has become Edu’s personal mission to expunge this country from that list. His dedication to curb piracy has been prodigious, tireless and – Praise the Lord! – productive. Against near insurmountable odds and with the sorry paucity of OMB resources of P26 million per annum since three years ago and 19 operatives, he has delivered, time and again, on his promise. The penultimate sting operation that led to the arrest of syndicate members Gabriel and Christopher Golez and the uncovering of the identity of the ring leader (and which, along with the reallocation of Metro Manila Festival Funds to the OMB, may or may not have precipitated that infamous row with film Academy of the Philippines Secretary General Leo Martinez) was underwritten by him, P200,000 fished from his own pockets.

(A pathetic aside to this episode is that those operatives’ lives and the safety of their families have been sorely compromised, and the scrounging for tickets for their hasty transfer to parts remote was also left to Edu.)

In a briefing on the day of USTR’s announcement, Director General of the Intellectual Property Office, Adrian Cristobal Jr. opined, "If we sustain our efforts, I think in one to two years we will be dropped from the list of IPR violators," after admitting that 85 percent of counterfeit goods seized were in the form of CD’s and DVD’s. In January, his office reported that various government agencies seized P104 billion worth of contraband, P700 million of which were optical media products.

Edu knows he has his work cut out for him, but he can be heartened by commendations from two respected international organizations representing the film distribution and recording industries worldwide: the Singapore-based Motion Pictures Association and the International Federation of Phonographic Industry, who recognize OMB’s endeavors as having been pivotal in driving piracy down by at lest 6 percent, the only country in all of Asia that has seen an actual decrease and the holder of the world’s largest single haul record of pirated discs totaling more than P100 million – unprecedented in the world.

In an even more bizarre twist, it is Sen. Bong Revilla who has been whispered about as the one lobbying relentlessly with the palace to replace Edu with former actor and defeated Caloocan mayoral candidate Rey Malonzo. Being a kabalen himself, Rey is identified as a staunch political ally of the president, but seriously, his non-performance as three-term mayor of Caloocan City does not inspire enthusiasm, much less confidence.

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AND STILL another puzzlement: What’s this we hear about the Philippine Ambassador to Romania’s having been replaced without his knowledge? We were told by a reliable source that Ambassador Noel Cabrera, who is currently confined at the Kidney Center in Quezon City was surprised to learn from a staff member of his embassy by mobile phone that an advance party had arrived in the embassy in preparation for the arrival of newly-appointed Ambassador Ruth Pardo. Noel, a former media man, had no inkling, whatsoever, that he was going to be replaced. Who is responsible for such an undiplomatic move? The President should look into this and find out who or what committee in Malacañang is responsible for this unkind cut.

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DONORS to the Leyte landslide victims are enjoined to send medical doctors, goods and equipment through the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Sister Rosean Malilim, who can be contacted through telephones 5274163/5274148. The CBCP’s address is 470 Gen. Luna St., Intramuros Manila (look for Ann).

Former Masbate Representative Luz Bakunawa has made it known that the Leyte survivors are in need of medical doctors, bloodletting equipment, adult diapers, bedsheets, and blankets.

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