Plunder Charge vs. Vicente Dongkoy Emano, et. al. Part 6

February 20, 2010

60. THAT the P252 million Redevelopment Cogon Public Market BOT Agreement entered by respondents placed the City Government and its constituents at a gross disadvantage;

61. THAT In 2004, COA in its Annual Audit Report 2004 said to quote:

“5. The City General Services Office failed to completely and promptly submit to the Office of the Auditor the contracts for Build-Operate-Transfer Agreement for the Redevelopment of Carmen and Cogon Markets x x x contrary to COA Circular No. 76-34.”

“As of Dec. 31, 2004, the redeveloped Carmen Market is already operational while the REDEVELOPMENT OF COGON MARKET IS ALMOST DONE, but until this date the subject contracts were NOT YET SUBMITTED for review to the Office of the City Auditor.” (emphasis ours) (See ANNEX V-1)

62. THAT in 2005, COA in its Annual Audit Report 2005 under Finding No. 2 said the City Government only PARTIALLY complied with its request;

“Reasonableness of the REPAYMENT SCHEMES on the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) projects x x x could not be determined DUE TO THE ABSENCE OF COMPLETE DOCUMENTATIONS NECESSARY for the review of the total investment on the project and the absence of formula in the determination of the margin of profit.” (emphasis ours) (See Annex W-1)

COA found, similar to that of the Carmen Public Market BOT contract with UKC Builders, Inc., the City Government of Cagayan de Oro is also taking in so much risk. There were provisions in the 25-year Cogon Public Market BOT contract that the repayment scheme be as follows –

1) It will be the City Government who will collect the monthly rentals from the stall holders — regardless of whether the entire number of market stalls were rented out or not or that whether the stall holder paid rent that month or not — the City Government will still pay based on the PROJECTED 80% monthly rental and not on the ACTUAL 80% rental collection; and

2) The City Government will pay 2% every month should the City Government fail to turn over the 80% PROJECTED rental collections.

COA showed a table whereby it stated that the City Government has been paying the accumulated difference of (P3,728,022.84) or (P3.73 million) for the months of June 2005 to Nov. 2005 alone.

63. THAT still in the 2005 COA Annual Audit Report, COA under Finding No. 6 found out that:

“Demolished structures representing the two (2) Public Market structures and Slaughterhouse as a result of the implementation of its redevelopment through Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement with a total value of P20,640,262.09 or P21 million were not dropped from the book of accounts in accordance with the provisions of COA 92-386 or otherwise known as the Rules and Regulation on Supply and Property Management in the Local Government.” (See Annex X-1)

64. THAT under this COA Circular, Respondent Emano should have first filed an application for the disposal of any materials left after the fire gutted down the Carmen Public Market. COA said this would have then prompted the City Auditor to inspect and determine the whether the “subject property is with or without value.”;

65. THAT after the inspection, the committee on awards shall appraise the same and proceed with the disposal in the mode provided by COA 92-386. It will only be at this time that the Cogon Market building property should have been dropped from the Book of Accounts.

66. THAT in 2006, in the COA Annual Audit Report 2006, the COA found out that the respondent Emano and his co-conspirators have approved some amendments to the BOT contract it has with UKC Builders, Inc. yet the amendments were again found to be “DISADVANTAGEOUS TO THE CITY GOVERNMENT’S COFFERS.” To quote:

“The amendment from facility usage fee stated in the original contract to revenue sharing of 80% to 20% of the gross monthly income or projected revenue is disadvantageous to the city government’s coffers, because the LGU was compelled to remit the uncollected projected income from the excess between the projected gross monthly income versus the actual collection collected monthly.” (emphasis ours) (See ANNEX Y-1)

67. THAT COA pointed this out in a table whereby it showed that the City Government paying the excess from the Actual Collections paid from the General Funds of the City Government to the tune of P29,121,435.88 or P29.1 million.

Conclusion

68. THAT all respondents deliberately and intentionally conspired and connived together to use all schemes from misappropriation, conversion, misuse or even malversation of public funds or raids on the public treasury;

69. THAT all respondents deliberately and intentionally conspired and even patently used all means to orchestrate the establishment of ONE MONOLOPOLY in the commercial and construction industries by passing ordinances and orders as intended to benefit ONE PARTICULAR juridical person, UKC Builders, Inc. to the exclusion and prejudice of all other firms in the same industries;

70. THAT all respondents deliberately and intentionally took undue advantage of each of their respective positions, authorities, relationships, connections and influences to unjustly enrich himself personally and themselves as one under the PaDayon Pilipino political party at the expense and to the damage and prejudice of the Filipino People and the Republic of the Philippines.

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Plunder Charge vs. Emano, et. al. Part 6

February 20, 2010

60. THAT the P252 million Redevelopment Cogon Public Market BOT Agreement entered by respondents placed the City Government and its constituents at a gross disadvantage;

61. THAT In 2004, COA in its Annual Audit Report 2004 said to quote:

62. THAT in 2005, COA in its Annual Audit Report 2005 under Finding No. 2 said the City Government only PARTIALLY complied with its request;

2) The City Government will pay 2% every month should the City Government fail to turn over the 80% PROJECTED rental collections.

COA showed a table whereby it stated that the City Government has been paying the accumulated difference of (P3,728,022.84) or (P3.73 million) for the months of June 2005 to Nov. 2005 alone.

63. THAT still in the 2005 COA Annual Audit Report, COA under Finding No. 6 found out that:

Conclusion

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ON DEBTOR’S OPTIONS

February 20, 2010

LAW AND BUSINESS: By Atty. Maricar N. San Jose Read more

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Time flies…

February 20, 2010

COMMENTARY: By URIEL C. QUILINGUING

Not too long ago, the late Roger Muñez thought of venturing into the newspaper business. That was sometime in May 1988. His buddies then were his fellow salesmen who also took a crack in publishing local papers—Danny Masiba and Primo Montebon.

The maiden issue came out on May 16, 1988.

The editorial and business offices then was at the Muñez residence at Luna-Tiano streets. After three issues, Roger together with Danny approached this writer to assume as the editor since Gerry was then planning to put up his own paper, the defunct Morning Sun.

This writer was then connected with the Mindanao Extension Office of Senator Aquilino Pimentel at the ground-floor of Pelaez Sports Center.

Danny and Primo knew I had extensive experience in journalistic writings since I was admitted in as a regular member of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club in 1983.

By then, Golden Chronicle assumed a more presentable look, and this writer suggested the adoption of the slogan—Supremacy of Public Interest. We then rented a space at Carrasco building along Pabayo-Cruz Taal streets. From then on, Golden Chronicle emerged as the number one weekly paper in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao. There was no daily then.

The weeklies, aside from Ang Bagong Katarungan were the Cagayan de Oro News Express of the late Noli Olarte, Business Journal of Manny Quisumbing, Mindanao Post of Lorrie de la Serna, Mindanao Star of Bienvenido Cruz, and Mindanao Herald of Cynthia de Leon.

After six months, Golden Chronicle was coming out in at least 12 pages and as much as 16 pages. It had a circulation of over 2,000 copies and was all over Northern Mindanao, including the areas now within the Caraga region.

And guess who were with the Golden Chronicle at that time?

Perhaps unknown to the younger crop of media practitioners that Golden Chronicle had served as the training ground, if not the springboard of some successful journalists today. This includes those who had reaped successes—in their own right—who took time out in sharing their talents and experiences to the growth of Cagayan de Oro’s and Northern Mindanao Number 1 weekly newspaper.

Golden Chronicle’s phenomenal growth may have, in the past 10 years, have been overshadowed by the resurgence of local dailies. In fact, those, who organized the dailies saw to it that the dailies could survive by mentoring self-anointed publishers, were once with the Golden Chronicle.

The months and years that followed saw the changing of the guards as far as the editorial work is concerned, without them there would no newspaper at all.

Just imagine a newspaper full of ads and public notices, and if ever there are stories these come from press releases published in toto and would appear the same—including the heading, typographical errors and of varied journalistic styles, if there is any—as other newspapers. Just imagine a newspaper without photographs of major events, except of mug-shots of personalities whose photo files may have been taken 10 or 20 years ago. Just imagine a newspaper without any standard format and all materials are placed on paper’s spaces without due regard to the basic principles of lay-outing of the prescribed sectioning of the paper.

When Golden Chronicle started in May 1988, there were only four of us—Roger (publisher and manager), myself (editor), Al Balite (marketing head) and Flora Balistoy (office secretary).

Before we reached one year, the organization grew to more than 30 and from covering and circulating in Cagayan de Oro to the entire Northern Mindanao region, then including the provinces in the Caraga region.

Those who joined us later included Ms. Dolly Ilogon, who left then popular 99.9 RK FM, to handle the advertising work for the paper while Al Balite focused on circulation; Joe Felicilda, former station manager of RPN-DxKO, who contributed stories; Emil Corrales, who had just retired as regional director of then Office of Media Affairs (now Philippine Information Agency, who wrote off-and-on columns; Jay Valleser also contributed stories until he served as secretary of Mayor Pablo Magtajas and then to RMN TV 8; Froilan Gallardo, a student of Xavier University, who wrote entertainment columns; Bel Olano and Contante Cariaga of Bukidnon, who ran the editorial and business bureau in the province; Casiano Matela, head of our Surigao Bureau; Catalino “Butch’ Chan IV as head of the Camiguin Bureau. There were also representatives from Misamis Oriental based in Balingasag, Camiguin, Ozamis, Iligan, Butuan, Tandag (Surigao del Sur) and Prosperidad (Agusan del Sur. Several others who worked with Golden Chronicle as reporters and advertising representatives.

While we were doing well in terms of coverage, circulation and advertising, returns were not much since our production went to pay for printing cost at the Mindanao Editorial and Printing Services.

Golden Chronicle had its highs and lows the past 17 years but despite these, it continues to survive and maintain what it has been known for all these years—being the top weekly newspaper in Northern Mindanao.

Proof to that is its being the regional winner and finalist in annual Philippine Press Institute-Konrad Adenauer Foundation Community Press Awards since 2002.

Golden Chronicle is the undisputed Number One weekly newspaper in Northern Mindanao and one of the top four weekly newspapers nationwide.

In 2002, Golden Chronicle was regional winner and finalist, with two other weeklies, for Best in Business and Economics Reporting. The following year, it was finalist in three award categories—Best Edited Newspaper (together with two other finalists), Best Opinion Page (with another weekly), and Best in Business and Economics Reporting (with two other weeklies).

Finally, in April this year, Golden Chronicle won its first-ever national award—Best in Business and Economics Reporting—from the Annual Community Newspaper Awards given jointly by the Philippine Press Institute and Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Inc.

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Climbing the Lord’s Mountain

February 20, 2010

Pastoral Companion: By Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ

LAST week I was in Cambodia as part of the Philippine delegation to the “Phnom Penh Dialogue 2008 on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace and Harmony.” Along with some government officials, we were religious leaders representing several faith traditions—two Protestant bishops, a Muslim scholar from the Ulama League of the Philippines, a Muslim woman officer of the provincial government of Sulu, and myself as a Catholic archbishop. We were all there to share our experiences on interreligious dialogue for peace and development in Mindanao and other parts of the country.
This was part of a larger effort started four years ago to engage the 15 countries in the Southeast Asia–Pacific region in interfaith dialogue and cooperation. The convening countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand have by now each hosted a conference–the first in Jogjakarta in 2004, followed by Cebu in 2006, Waitangi in 2007, and the most recent one, with the support of Australia, in Phnom Penh.
The cultural and historical setting of Cambodia for this fourth dialogue-conference was to me a highly significant choice. For perhaps nowhere else in this part of the world can we find such stark contrast between the lowest depths and the sublimest heights that the human spirit can reach.

Genocide Museum
While in Phnom Penh, a number of us, delegates, had a chance to visit the Genocide Museum, named Tuol Sleng, which was the most secretive prison of the Khmer Rouge regime during its reign of terror in 1975-78. This was located ironically in the downtown area of the city. The prison compound was the original site of a high school. Its four three-story buildings with their classrooms were converted into a high-security detention and interrogation center, complete with barbed wire fencing and torture chambers. The classrooms were partitioned into individual cells or dormitories where detainees were chained and isolated for two to four months before being executed.
From accounts of a few survivors, everything was taken away from the prisoners. They were stripped to their underwear and slept directly on the cement floors without any mat, blanket or mosquito net. There was little food, less water, and no medicine. Among the ten regulations posted on each cell were instructions like:
“Do not try to hide the facts by making pretexts of this or that. You are strictly prohibited to contest me.” “While getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all.” “Do nothing. Sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order, keep quiet.”
A distinctive feature of Tuol Sleng prison was its documentation office which photographed all prisoners and kept detailed biographies of each one from childhood to the date of arrest. It is these ID photos that have now been enlarged and displayed on the walls – blank faces of men and women, including some children, who for the most part were innocent of any crime except for their protests against the excesses of an abusive regime. Interviews and confessions of some of the prison staff, with pictures of their family background, only reinforce the horror of how the spiral of evil can reach down to the humblest of rural households.
At any time, the prison held from 1,200 to 1,500 prisoners. During the three years of its existence, records indicate that there were about 10,500 prisoners, not including another 2,000 children, who were killed in the same place. The numbers themselves are but a microcosm of the estimated one to two million Cambodians—a fourth of the population—who lost their lives under the harsh conditions of the Pol Pot regime. The Khmer Rouge cadres targeted the educated and bourgeois class and “anyone with eyeglasses.” They forced all city residents, young and elderly, to go out and work in the countryside. This was the case of an ideologically-blinded regime that wanted to turn the clock back to an idyllic past where everyone was treated equally—but without human rights nor the freedom of the human spirit.

Symbols of religious faith
In contrast, this idyllic past and the achievements of the human spirit were perhaps best enshrined in the northwestern region of Cambodia. Instead of a third day of conference proceedings, all the delegates traveled to Siem Reap, 300 kilometers away from Phnom Penh. Upon arrival, we visited and walked through the largest outdoor religious monument in the world—Angkor Wat and its surrounding complex of temples constructed from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Built by a successive line of Hindu and Buddhist kings over five centuries, Angkor Wat and the nearby temples of Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom represented sacred space and the symbolisms of religious faith.
With its awe-inspiring landscape, Angkor Wat itself is a microcosm of the Hindu universe. Its surrounding moat and outer walls lead inwards onto three levels of concentric galleries and towers. The towers represent the mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. The pilgrim’s upward climb over the massive laterite and sandstone blocks and brick walls is virtually an ascent to the sacred mountain.
In all, Angkor Wat with its intricately-carved figures of gods, warrior-kings, apsaras, and Buddha statues evokes an atmosphere of contemplative prayer, detachment from worldly pursuits, and longing of the human spirit for the divine. These are perhaps best portrayed in the four faces of the Buddha pointed towards the cardinal directions of the compass, and carved repeatedly on the towers of the nearby Bayon temple. These represent the human-divine qualities of Charity, Compassion, Sympathy, and Equanimity.

Multifaith dialogue and cooperation
In many ways, these are the same qualities that our interfaith dialogue hoped to evoke for the Asia-Pacific region. For our troubled world today, the final statement of the Phnom Penh Dialogue stressed the urgency of multifaith dialogue and cooperation, peace as a sacred priority, increased participation of women and youth, and interfaith cooperation addressing community concerns in our region—such as poverty, human rights, and environmental issues.
For the political prisoners of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Sleng literally meant a “poisonous mound.” But for the builders of Angkor Wat, the temple-mountain represented man’s ascent to God. And for all of us today, pilgrims in interfaith dialogue for peace and harmony, the same invitation to climb the Lord’s mountain is perhaps best echoed in the prophet Isaiah’s summons:
“In days to come,
The mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established as the highest mountain
And raised above the hills.

“Many peoples shall come and say:
‘Come, let us climb the Lord’s mountain,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
And we may walk in his paths.’

“He shall judge between the nations,
And impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
Nor shall they train for war again.”
(Isaiah 2:2-4)

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J.R. Borja Hospital Scam (last of 2 series)

February 20, 2010

BATIN’S BANTERS: By Atty. Manuel Ravanera Read more

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The Blurring Lines Between Media and Politics

February 20, 2010

sHEsPEAk: by eldred d. cole Read more

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Fronts Must Reflect On OIC Call For Peace

February 20, 2010

ON THE SIDE OF PEACE: Rina de Jesus Read more

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Cagayan de Oro, Alas, Oka and the Rubberstamp

February 20, 2010

SCINTILLA : By Butch Z. Bagabuyo Read more

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Taxes, Marriage and Singlehood

February 20, 2010

Okay, so I’m one of those singularly single. But I am not stating that I am commitment-challenged. I am commitment, I commit, and in fact I am “committee”! (sHEsPEAk dictionary means commit to something, a cause, a project, etc., but not to someone). There may be several reasons why a person chooses to be unhitched, but is it a crime to opt to stay solo?

Other people and even the government believe so. People who take upon themselves to correct someone else’s status tend to look at single people as a bacterium under a microscope, weighed and found wanting. When they ask me if I am already married, and I say no, haven’t thought about it, they look at me as if I committed a mortal sin. Worst, they would ask: “What’s wrong with you?”

The government likewise considers singlehood as a crime. They make us single persons pay more taxes than the married ones, and for me personally, it’s punishment for a crime I haven’t committed. You see, as a government worker with fixed monthly income, I have to have my income tax withheld per month and it has to be zero by April 15. Since I am single, I don’t have tax exemptions (like dependents, being head of the family, etc.) to my name except my premium with the GSIS. So, I ended up paying taxes which if computed will amount to three months of my annual income including my bonus. So, all in all, in twelve months a year I only get to have ten months salary actually received, and without bonus.

Why does it have to be that way? The married ones with children require more services from the government than us single people, why do we have to pay more than what we are getting from the government? It is so unfair. They choose to have a family and I choose to have none, and I get to pay more.

The family, who requires more services from the government like health benefits, farm-to-market roads, legal services, utility services like electric, water, etc., is paying less than I. Plus, I do not contribute to the government’s over-flowing problems like spawning spoiled brats or having progenies who will become the criminals or worst, politicians in the future.

Look, we have a huge problem with population, right? The more Filipinos are born everyday, the poorer we become, the poorer we become, the more sick the country is going to get. But here’s the thing, why not tax more every couple (married or not) with children more than two, than reward them like we do now by giving them exemptions per dependent? If a family has two children, one child or none at all, they get tax rebates or credits or tax refunds and get more benefits from the government, like dental, rice allowance, free medical or legal services, and subsidized utility bills. I tell you, people will scramble to the nearest PopCom office for advice what’s the best family planning method to use rather than pay a higher tax.

Caution though. Let us leave it to the couples to decide what type of family planning method they would use: natural or artificial. The government and the Church should not interfere in the choices of the couples; they just have to make available all the resources to them. Because I know, there will be arguments that a backlash following this notion will be that couples will result to artificial family planning like pills, ligation or vasectomy. So? Artificial and natural family planning methods have one common goal: and we all know what that is. So what is the difference between the two? Why is it that the other is considered wrong and the other is right? Who gets to decide the wrongness and rightness of either? Well, let’s discuss that in another time.

Let us admit that the single population is growing. Whether they are singled or single people, by choice or by circumstance, they are multiplying by the minute. Ten years from now, there might be more than single people than the married ones, so why punish them by making them take the brunt of keeping the country fiscally sound? The gall of those married people to suggest that in order for me to avoid paying more taxes is to get married. Hah, exchange one problem with another? Just the same I would still be paying taxes even if I am married. So instead of lamenting having to pay higher taxes now, I will be bawling because I have to pay taxes still and have a family to tend to. Gosh, that would be like jumping into the fire after I got out of the frying pan.

To curb our ever growing population problem, why not do it in taxes, rather than have an open war between the government and the Church regarding the type of family planning method to use? Single people unite! We deserve to be heard, and heard shall we be. Enough making us pay for the choices we make. (For comments and/or violent reactions e-mail me at coi_416@hotmail.com).

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