Re-asphalting good roads, not the bad ones

It’s my longest stay in Manila since the death of my mentor Max Soliven in 2006. That’s because the Cebu media had to go to Manila last Sunday (I went there last Monday) because of Globe Telecom’s annual stockholders meeting, which is usually a two-day event. However, I had to stay over until Friday because yesterday, I was bestowed the rare honor and distinction of being chosen for the print media category of the Rotary Club of Manila’s 9th Tourism Awards. Last year’s awardee was our Philippine Star/The Freeman President Miguel Belmonte… so as Sir Miguel texted me, it is a back-to-back for us.

I submit that this is my first ever award for journalism from Manila and since it comes from the Rotary Club of Manila, the oldest Rotary Club in the Philippines, it is indeed a great honor. I was already bestowed an award by the Province of Cebu in the Year 2006 as a Garbo sa Sugbo and after 27 years in the media, writing only the truth and nothing but the truth, I’m thankful first of all to God and the Holy Spirit for making me what I am today. Yes, if I had not met the late Max Soliven in 1986, I’d probably be just another businessman. Above all, I thank all my readers and televiewers for their patronage of which without you, I’d really be nothing. God bless you all.

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As I was going to the airport last Monday, you can’t help but notice that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was on an asphalting binge. Perhaps it is the Aquino Regime’s way of showing to us Cebuanos that we have not been left behind in infrastructure projects. But we read that news report that the City of Cebu found duplication in the work of the DPWH. I really didn’t have the time to read that news item, but were they referring to the way that the DPWH destroyed perfectly good asphalted roads so as to justify their re-asphalting these roads?

If you want me to name the roads that need asphalting, frankly speaking, I will ran out of space because there are just too many roads within Metro Cebu that needs to be repaved. But what gets my gut is when the DPWH breaks up a road that has no potholes in it so that they could pour new asphalt into these roads. In my book, or in anybody’s book for that matter, this is truly a waste of taxpayer’s money. If I had my way, we should overhaul the DPWH and break them down to only be a Regional DPWH, unlike today where all DPWH Regional Directors are answerable to Manila.

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It seems that the highly controversial Presidential sister TV host Kris Aquino has finally beat the business tycoons of this country as the top taxpayer of the Philippines, giving to the national coffers a whooping P49.87 million, besting our nation’s Zaibatsus or Shoguns in the likes of Henry Sy, Manuel V. Pangilinan of Metro Pacific, the Ayalas, the Lopezes and even the world’s no.2 boxing champ, the Pacman Paquiao, who earned millions of dollars for each fight, except his last one of course.

That report that was blared into the headlines of our nation’s newspapers was announced by no less than BIR Commissioner Kim Henares and it triggered the rumor mills into action in the coffee houses of Metro Manila questioning how could Kris Aquino even beat the gods of ABS-CBN, who are the big bosses of that media conglomerate, and therefore, should be paying more in taxes to the government?

Now the Filipino people would like to know how could Kris Aquino have topped the charts when she was not even in the radar screen last year or the previous years? I’m sure that there is a proper explanation for this… first of all, Kris is not a business entity or a corporation like ABS-CBN where she could get proper and legal deductions for the income she gets from her talent fees. But then the BIR merely blurted this report out without explaining to the Filipino why this is so?

At this point, we ought to ask the BIR for them to give the curious Filipino people a peek as to what slot was Kris Aquino in the last five years as far as the BIR records are concerned. We would certainly like to know why all of the sudden, Kris Aquino is now the number one taxpayer in this country. Of course pundits are having a field day, questioning Kris Aquino’s wishy-washiness where a month ago she was going to quit showbiz, then all of the sudden, she is just taking a leave of absence.

Indeed, if you are paying a whooping P49.87 million to the nation’s coffers, you must be getting tons of money into your bank account. When BIR Chief Kim Henares was asked… “How come some people on the Forbes’ billionaire list are not among the top income taxpayers?” Henares had this to say, “it should be the businessmen explaining this themselves as it might appear that she is defending them if I offer any justification.” She also added that being in the top taxpayer’s list doesn’t mean that the BIR won’t probe them anymore. Whatever it is, the BIR needs to give us more explaining to do.

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