Motherhood promises
All the presidential candidates who attended the forum hosted by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) recently gave motherhood statements on how to improve the economy if they get elected.
Some of the promises were made on the spot to please their audience composed of business leaders.
None of them touched on how to deal with crime and drugs which are crucial to a better business climate.
Had Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte been invited as a guest at the forum (even if he has not registered as a presidential candidate—for now), he would have said that minimizing the incidence of crime and drug abuse will lead to a better economy.
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PCCI president Alfredo M. Yao stressed at the forum the need for political will to carry the necessary reforms for the country.
“I am looking for a leader who has the political will, and can make decisions whether popular or unpopular. When you say it, you do it,” Yao said.
Then the PCCI head must be referring to Duterte.
The Davao City mayor has made decisions which at first were not popular among his constituents but which now redound to the benefit of the city’s population.
Duterte is not afraid to make hard decisions; he’s not the typical politician whose decisions are based on re-election.
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The captains of industry among the audience know that Vice President Jojo Binay has never been friendly to business because of his alleged shakedowns on big commercial establishments when he was mayor of Makati, the country’s business center.
So, Binay’s promise that he will reduce corporate income taxes, among others, sounds hollow.
Although the audience was sympathetic to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago at first, she incurred their displeasure when she snapped back at someone when asked why she refuses to release her medical records.
“Can’t you see me? Can’t you see I can stand straight? What else do you want from me? Why are you so nasty?” said Miriam to the audience.
Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, on the other hand, sounded like he was campaigning for the reelection of his boss, President Noynoy, when he touched on the latter’s anticorruption and public service record.
Everybody knows P-Noy is clean and honest but most of his subordinates are not. Just like his mother, former President Cory Aquino, he remains clueless on the hanky panky going on among his subordinates and relatives.
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When the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal of Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay for graft, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) immediately implemented the Ombudsman’s order.
But when the Ombudsman ordered the dismissal recently of Capiz Gov. Victor Tanco Sr. also for graft, the DILG has been slow in carrying out the order.
Tanco is a close ally of President Noynoy and former Interior Secretary and now administration presidential candidate Mar Roxas.
So, to P-Noy and Roxas, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
The harshness of the law applies only to P-Noy’s political enemies and not to his allies.
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A Customs examiner at South Harbor’s Section 9 is always seen at the casinos and cockfight arenas.
Section 9 is an office which handles the assessment and collection of duties on metal and steel products.
High Customs duties and taxes are imposed on metal and steel products.
A fellow Bureau of Customs employee says this metal and steel products examiner lost P60 million in one sitting at a cockfight derby.
Holy smoke! Where did he get all that money?
