There were events last week which I was not able to attend because it was raining a lot and I was not feeling well.
One was the birth anniversary of the late Antonio Cabangon Chua, former ambassador to Laos and chairman of the group of companies that is into insurance, banking, hotels, property development, media, health, pre-need, cemeteries and automotive dealership.
Tony was my good friend. His life was an inspiring saga of rags to riches. He was a cigaret vendor when he was young. Fortunately, he has children to take over his business empire.
The second event was the solemn investiture of Dr. Emmanuel Angeles as chairman emeritus of the Angeles University Foundation. The guest of honor was House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Manny Angeles as head of the biggest Catholic university north of Metro Manila conferred on me in March 2008 a doctorate honoris causa because of my decades in journalism.
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It’s actually a double whammy for the Philippines. The inflation rate is getting higher, pushing up the prices of everything. And then the rice crisis is making like difficult for Filipinos. We do not see a solution anytime soon.
There is no mystery to increasing inflation. According to the Bangko Sentral, it could have hit 6.1 percent this August.
Like other commodities, the value of money is determined by the law of supply and demand. When the supply of money is constant or when it increases at a slow and steady rate, the purchasing power of money will be relatively stable. In contrast, when the supply of money expands rapidly compared to the supply of goods and services, the value of money declines and prices rise.
This is what is called inflation. It occurs when the liquidity of money goes up suddenly and money supply increases rapidly. The BSP may print too much money to enable the government to borrow so it can pay its bills. Money supply also increases through savings in banks.
That is why, my gulay, when the inflation rate goes to 20 percent of 25 percent beyond, the prices of goods and services will hit the ceiling. What is unfortunate is that politicians often blame greedy businessmen, the tax reform program, and the Build Build Build program of the administration for higher prices.
The BSP and our economic managers need to rein in the rapid supply of money because it is outpacing the supply of goods and services.
On the rice crisis now prevailing nationwide, the National Food Authority and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol must be blamed. Their duty is to see to it that the price of rice and other agricultural products are stable.
Why didn’t Piñol and the NFA anticipate the shortage of imported rice? Why did the NFA divert these funds to pay its debts? That’s criminal, to say the least.
Thus, when Piñol suggested that rice smuggling in Mindanao should be legalized, it was a desperate move to save his skin —even through a ridiculous idea.
It’s Piñol’s responsibility to ensure we have enough rice supply. Rice is a staple. Lack of rice can cause revolutions, does he not realize that?
The country has had a rice crisis before, but other presidents were able to address the problem. We may blame the NFA and Pinol for this situation, but ultimately the responsibility falls on President Duterte.
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I have known many press secretaries and information ministers, since the time of President Elpidio Quirino.
Santa Banana, I must say that President Duterte’s press office—called the Presidential Communications Operations Office—is populated by incompetent minions.
I will no longer cite the many gaffes of the PCOO under Secretary Martin Andanar. People know them too well. What I cannot understand is why the President treats them with kid’s gloves.
He may be grateful to them for what they did for him in the past. Still he should do something about their incompetence. They are doing him a great disservice.
If the President is thinking about firing people, he should start with the PCOO.
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Makati Mayor Abigail Binay should be wary about the government’s intervention in the plan of the city government to build a $3.7-billion subway project around Makati. This is the proposal of a private-sector consortium that includes IRC Properties and China Harbour Engineering Construction Ltd.
The inter-city project is supposed to start at the end of this year and be completed in 2025.
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade wants the Makati subway project to be integrated with the DOTr’s own plan for a 35-kilometer subway from Quezon City, through Bonifacio Global City to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Mayor Binay should be forewarned about the intention of the government to intervene. We know only too well that the moment gets into a private-sector project, it gets murky. Tugade may even claim that the subway project is a national project!
The city project is viable as it is.
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Last week, after President Duterte scuttled the lease agreement between the Nayong Pilipino Foundation with Landing International Development Ltd. of Hong Kong for a theme park, and after he fired officials and members of the board of trustees of the foundation, NPF chairwoman Patricia Yvette Ocampo came out with a full-page advertisement explaining their side in the controversy.
The ad says the NPF’s side was not heard and denied that there was graft and corruption in the transaction.
That should have been the end of it. But the Palace said it was in open defiance of the President.
Should every citizen in pursuit of human and civil rights have the opportunity to air their side?
It seems that from the point of view of Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, people commit open defiance just by disagreeing with the President. But last we heard, Mr. Duterte is not a dictator, right?
They have the right to be heard, and the public should be the judge.
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