More poverty on the horizon

BizNews Asia, in its latest issue, had this on the cover: “Under President Aquino, the Philippines’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranking dropped in 2013 by 20 rungs, from 97th to 117th out of 187 countries, 43 percent of the total drop in 14 years.”

A HDI was designed to determine the ranking of countries in terms of human development, the lower the number of its rank, the higher is the degree of a country’s human development, the better is the living standard of its people.

In 2001, the Philippine ranking was 70th, Thailand was 89th while Indonesia was 108th.

“In effect compared to other nationals in the world, the quality of life of the Filipino deteriorated by 43 percent under Aquino’s watch.”

“This year, out of a possible 8 perfect score in the Millenium Development Goals (MDG), the Philippines scored only 1. That’s only a 15% achievement. How could that happen to one of the largest nations on earth, to the 39th richest nation in the world?” Only one answer: Bad governance.

Our leaders steal taxpayers’ money intended to improve the  Filipino human condition. Think of Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) which is P25 billion yearly or the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which per one admission, is P149 billion.

According to documents as well as sources from the Budget department, President Aquino acted like the dictator Marcos in handling the DAP money, allocating billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money to whatever use he decided solely on his own. He just used it to bribe senators to remove a sitting chief justice, bribe enemies of the state, bribe Congress, and bribe even the Commission on Audit (COA).

“For the whole country, the situation is worsening. While economic growth is rising, growth in employment is declining,” BNA  editor Tony Lopez observed.

Forbes 16th to 25th richest

Alfredo Yao, 16th ($1 billion); Andrew Gotianun, 17th ($955 million); Vivian Que Azcona, 18th  ($935 million); Eduardo Cojuangco, 19th ($870 million); Beatrice Campos, 20th ($825 million); Po family, 21st ($770 million); Oscar Lopez, 22nd ($700 million); Alfonso Yuchengco, 23rd ($685 million); Roberto Ongpin, 24th ($680 million); and Betty Ang, 25th ($670 million).

MVP for Vice President?

Another daily headlined the story that Vice President Jejomar Binay is seriously considering Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.(PLDT) President Manuel V. Pangilinan as his running mate in 2016 as he preferred a non-politician as his vice president.

VP Binay cited Pangilinan’s track record as a “successful businessman” as a factor, saying that “if you have a successful businessman with a track record in raising revenue in the business side of it, then that’s good. That’s his talent.”

The daily, however, reported that Pangilinan told them that he is not interested in running for public office.

Others mentioned as VP candidates with Binay are former Senator Manny Villar, Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Grace Poe and Chiz Escudero.

There have been mixed reactions to the proposed Binay-Pangilinan team-up.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. called the team “formidable.” Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said he would campaign  against the team-up.

Most big businessmen are against the team up as Pangilinan has too many businesses to protect.

House Deputy Speaker Georgidi Aggabao agreed with Speaker Belmonte that a Binay-Pangilinan team-up is “formidable.”

With about a year to go before the candidacies are finalized in October 2015, there is no certainty yet about team-ups.

The Liberal Party (LP) is still looking for a team to field in 2016 elections. At the moment, a Roxas-Kiko Pangilinan team-up is possible. A Roxas-Recto (Ralph or Vilma) will be considered.

A dark horse team would be a Chiz Escudero-Grace Poe Tandem.

MRT breakdowns and Traffic jam

After series of Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-3 breakdowns, now comes horrendous traffic jams taking 5 to 6 hours to solve.

In both cases, all Malacañang said was to apologize and said that the President is too busy with other problems to take time to ride the MRT.

Senator Chiz Escudero has suggested that the President take charge personally of the traffic problem, implying Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Abaya is not doing his job.

“It’s not that there are no other major problems that the President has to face, but this is a big problem and if his people are a failure, he has to take over,” Escudero said in a radio interview.

Escudero said the traffic problem was due to a confluence of factors. He asked the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), port operators and the private sector to sit down and iron out kinks in the system.

It’s unacceptable that the national government cannot solve a simple traffic problem.

Navotas Representative and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general Toby Tiangco issued a statement that the MRT-3 woes are a product of the botched Inekon deal, which the Aquino administration did not investigate, for fear that it could implicate ranking party leaders and government officials who are allies.

Tiangco said that the problem facing the MRT has become a multi-dimensional issue, from the $30-million Inekon extortion, attempt, awarding of billion peso contracts without public bidding, the unused P4.5 billion MRT appropriation transferred to the DAP.

Tidbits

Condolence to Dr. Pacita Gonzales and the family of former Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales who passed away.