Punchline
Who cares about Mr. Angeles?
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
NOT a few are wondering who Mr. Leo Angeles is, the guy who dared file complaints against former Mayor Benjie Lim and everyone who dipped his/her fingers in the sale and disposal of MC Adore properties.
The person of Mr. Angeles is for and intents and purposes really immaterial. What should matter is whether his allegations are with basis or none. And, from where I sit, his series of complaints have basis. I managed to get a copy of the complaint filed and as I perused the supporting documents which were mostly official documents, I sense that and the only way these can be refuted is to submit that the signatures that appeared were all forgeries.
What should be of interest to all and sundry therefore is to learn how all the respondents explained themselves to refute the charges.
For instance, Mayor Belen Fernandez is one of the 13 impleaded allegedly for not acting with dispatch to reclaim the properties for the city.
Then there’s the main character in the middle of its all, former Mayor Benjie Lim. Questions abound his personal situation. No one still seems to know where he is and how he is which leads many to that big question: Will he face the charges? Or will the court simply be told finally of his state of illness (?) if he fails to respond to the court directives? Will the court issue a warrant against him, notwithstanding?
How will the members of the Awards committee explain themselves except perhaps to maintain that they were guided merely by the documents submitted by Mr. Lim?
And how will the city hall department heads: City Treasurer Romelita Alcantara, City Accountant Teresita Manaois, former head of General Services Office Eduardo Magno, City Auditor Virgil Tangco acquit themselves? Just following orders?
Councilors Jess Canto and Alvin Coquia have been named as among those that approved the resolution authorizing Mr. Lim to sell the properties. Will they disown knowing more than they really know?
My heart goes out to Ricardo Victoria of the Christian Evangelical Ministries Foundation and Lelia Chua-Sy in her capacity as head of the Dagupan chapter of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, both of whom are not in government service. They cannot easily absolve themselves even if they participated only as representatives of the private sector unless, of course, they turn witnesses to name the culprits that brought the house down.
Mr. Antonio Cabangon Chua’s Amb ALC Holdings and Management Corp. can take care of itself. For Mr. ALCC , it’s simply all about money so he’s response is predictable. The only questions that remain are: Will he seek to settle and cut his losses or will he allow the property to be mothballed until the case is settled? Or will he choose to spill the beans on how the deal was crafted that led to his dilemma?
Ah, questions…questions…and more questions later. So who’s Mr. Angeles? What’s his motivation? Really, who cares!
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PROTECTING FARMERS. Here’s a news item that I hope our elected officials will digest.
The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) recently completed a study-research on the impact of the climate change , “Improving the Corn Insurance Program to Enhance Resilience to Climate Change,”.
The study covered the country’s top three corn-producing provinces – Isabela, Pangasinan, and Bukidnon. During the period 1982-2012, according to the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), many catastrophic typhoons, floods, droughts, plant diseases and pests wreaked havoc on food crops, resulting in cumulative losses of P7 billion for corn farmers, yes nearly as much as the fund lost to PDAF, or funds used by Malacañang to spur economic development through DAP albeit decreed as illegal.
The SEARCA research said it is not enough to impart good agricultural practices (GAP) to farmers. The methodology should be complemented with the promotion of government’s agricultural insurance program.
The study concluded that only the government’s crop insurance program has evolved into a strong shield protecting farmers from the impact of climate change.
It considered “crop insurance, a risk management tool, a key to the farmers’ financial stability, enabling them to continue production despite severe weather and other challenges that impact their business,” SEARCA found.
SEARCA said researchers interviewed 426 corn farmers, half of them covered by crop insurance.
Next to rice, corn is the country’s most important crop.
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WOE TO THE UNINSURED. Unfortunately in this country, the losses suffered by farmers remain merely as statistics. Nobody talks about the financial dilemma of rice and corn farmers each time a calamity strikes a region. Just statistics. The famers drove to straits in serious financial debts are invisible. They suddenly only come into being when government planners talk about level of poverty in the country. Only then are farmers described as victims of poverty and nothing else.
Providing them benefits of land reform, drying facilities, irrigation, cheaper fertilizer, higher buying prices, improved farm to market roads can be wiped out in a matter of hours by a storm surge, monsoon rains. When it hits, the poor farmer is left to fend for himself to pay a loan shark for the advances he made when he decided to take advantage of the “improved” support system provided by government. At that point in time, he suddenly becomes a mere member again of the statistics society.
As the SEARCA study has determined, only the farmers who had crop insurance managed to sustain their financial stability. Woe to the farmers who had none.
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NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN. The PDAF of congressmen would have benefitted farmers three-fold if their funds were used to cover premiums of their farmer-constituents’ crop insurance which could have been paltry if the expected payoff for a one hectare farm is only P10,000 max.
But that’s crying over spilled mild today. The billions are gone and so is PDAF. So how can Pangasinan officials hope to provide the cover for the premium?
Each town has a development budget, and though a poor cousin of the congressman’s PDAF, the budget needed for crop insurance cannot be much bigger than what the towns and cities allocate for PhilHealth membership.
The incumbents can exploit the situation today while the wannabes in 2016 can begin to describe how they can help the farmers when the going gets rough and rougher.
Most farmers have little knowledge of the workings of crop insurance but a payoff from a legitimate claim from his losses is enough for him to appreciate how he has been helped. That payoff will never be forgotten, particularly the politician who made it possible.
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