PMA Alumni Association Malacañang Chapter

Malacañang Palace is now called the strongest chapter of the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association. Why not? Considering that Malacañang Palace has been overrun by retired military and police officials who are all graduates of PMA. It only goes to show how good the academy’s leadership and tactical training is.

First they took over the leadership of the AFP. Then they trespassed into civilian domain by ruling over Philippine National Police. Then they meddled in the leadership of the country and in the removal of duly elected officials, which earned them posts as Cabinet members, who then parlayed their political interference by securing directorships in government for their brothers in arms.

From directors, they moved on by gunning for diplomatic posts and boxed-out many career foreign service officials lined up to become ambassadors. Since then no real civil servant can claim to be secure in his or her career. All it takes is a retired colonel, superintendent, general to call on their batch mates or “Mistahs” for a civil servant to be displaced by an active member of the PMA-AA.

The art of war

When the de facto head of the Malacanang chapter recently announced the upcoming and latest R&R as in Replacement and Repositioning of government officials by February, a very interesting incident took place. One of the country’s cable stations announced that DOTC Undersecretary and chief of the LTO Bert Suansing would be replaced by Gen. (Ret.) Art Lomibao.

Readers may recall that a similar news item was also aired when the last reshuffle took place and we all heard as well as read that then Usec. and LTO Chief Rey Berroya was going to be replaced by Art Lomibao. In both cases, the “news” was branded as “RAW” information and unsubstantiated.

In other words, someone is trying to attract attention or “nagpapapansin”, or some people are trying to destabilize the current LTO chief for millions of reasons!

In the hands of the wrong people, the position can earn millions of pesos in ill-gotten wealth. A cooperative and corrupt lackey can coerce thousands of people in the transport sector to “donate” millions of pesos for campaign funds for the administration for 2010.

LTO Chief Bert Suansing is being targeted because he has ruined the profitable business between real car smugglers and corrupt LTO insiders, spoiled the lifestyle of the rich and show-off who don’t pay taxes on high end cars.

Suansing is being targeted because the LTO clamped down on Congressmen who have abused and illegally extended the privilege of number “8” car plates beyond their office.

So once again the same scenario is being played out. We can all be sure that names will start floating around; attacks, criticisms and intrigues will fill the pages and air waves, all in the interest of political appointments.

Each and every appointment, repositioning or reassignment must be viewed with caution bordering on suspicion. Our greatest concerns should be the potential to use an office to generate “election funds” by coercion or realignment, the use of a position to influence the selection, assignment, and control of election related processes, the use of an office to influence judicial process or matters, or even the simple act of displacing the worthy civil servant just to give employment to the latest members of the PMA Alumni Association.     

‘Losing’ money on credit cards

Our Lipa neighbor recently visited, but not necessarily for social purposes. She particularly wanted to bring to people’s attention how much money credit card companies are raking in from high interest charges.

I managed to ask BSP Governor Tetangco, what could be done? Sadly he said the industry is not as regulated as it should be considering the thousands of people who go into financial ruin, so at the end of the day, it’s every person’s responsibility.

Convenience has become the mantra of plastic money. It’s so convenient to get as many credit cards as you want but it’s NOT FREE. You actually pay P2,000 every year on the average. Since many Filipinos now have two cards on the average, that’s P4,000 a year, or one month salary of your maid, etc.

Most people only read the TOTAL on their billing statements, but don’t really study their credit activities and costs. Thanks to computers and tracking, my wife and I realized that even though we only use one credit card each, and try to pay our bills as quickly as possible, we somehow ended up having to pay P25,000 on top of what we purchased over a 12-month period.

You may be a good payer but every transaction that enters and rolls over to the next period will add X percent to next month’s bill and so on and so forth. You may be paying as you spend but if you are not wiping out the final total, you will add on to your interest payments. The problem is you only see the monthly figures, half of which you probably don’t understand nor care to know.

Once you dissect the numbers and what they stand for, then add up all six or 12 months you paid for them, you then understand why companies are desperately trying to give you a credit card that is not really free.

By simply accepting the card, they already “earned” P2,000. Once you start using the card, you actually start sharing your salary with them because they made it a lot easier and dangerous for you to spend money before you earn it. 

We are now obsessed with wiping the card clean, hoping to establish a “pay with cheques” arrangements with our “sukis” or regular suppliers, or pay in cash. We have eliminated ATM cards and have gone back to the “paper trail”. The more you know the real costs, the more power you have over your wealth.