DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

It is right to honor the martyred hero senator Ninoy Aquino because he started the First of Three Trilogies in Bravery. It is right to honor Ninoy Aquino because he is the prime torch bearer in the Oddysey of the Aquinos as they intertwine with the political destiny of the nation.

The First Trilogy happened on August 21, 1983 when Ninoy was believed shot down by AVSECOM soldiers while going down a China Airline airplane at the Manila international airport - as he was coming in from exile in Boston, USA.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

The turbo engine of the aspiring “tiger economy” called the Philippines will be fueled by the Real Estate and Tourism industries. This is the appreciation of private and public sector leaders as President Noynoy Aquino warms his seat on his throne at the Palace by the river.

These two industries will redeem themselves after years of benign neglect and contentious political scrimmage in the country for decades now. Note that, there is now an identified housing backlog of between 3.7 to 6 million homes in the country. With only 3.8 million (2009) tourists to show, the Philippines is the least visited country among the major Asean nations, including the lowly Vietnam. People are seriously talking about a forthcoming “real estate boom” in the nation since this time it is, according to business pundits,being fueled by real demand. The “fake boom” in the 90’s which collapsed with the Asian Financial crisis was prodded by speculation and cheap borrowed foreign money.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

The acrimonious debate in the country whether “Sex Education” should become part of a mandated curriculum must revert back to realism. Saber-rattling and demonizing efforts between the moral purists and the worldly realistic should stop and give way to reason. What are the facts?

One, we know that a 2% RP population growth rate, one of the world’s highest, can result in poverty. Poverty can sometimes lead people to the roads of criminality (against life and property) or the girls to the Oldest Profession.

In the 70s in a popular university in Cebu, girls who displayed their leggy wares at the school lobby were hankering for “tuition money”. Sometimes, they were derisively but appropriately called “mid-term bitches” - naming the nature of the exams.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

Gloria M. Arroyo, former Economics teacher of President Benigno Aquino III at the Ateneo, herself postulated during her term that the poor will only feel being lifted from poverty if the Philippine economy scores a 7% GDP growth rate for 7 consecutive years.

Per IMF (International Monetary Fund) records, GMA’s GDP real growth record from 2001- 2009 only averaged 4.4% p.a., below that of the Asean 3 (Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand) of 4.5%.

Only once did the economy hit a 7% GDP growth rate, so that at 4.4% average, GMA knew (at the end of her term) that the poor’s economic state did not therefore improve, in fact worsened a bit in her wake, her workaholicism notwithstanding. In fairness, GMA’s 4.4 % GDP growth rate is better than her predecessors: Cory Aquino (1986-1991) 3.9%, Fidel Ramos (1992-1997) 3.8%, Joseph Estrada (1998- 200) at 2.9% average GDP growth rates.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

President Benigno Aquino found out in less than 30 days - that the road to his Promised Land is littered with bombs and mine fields. This he described in his 30 minute SONA (State of the Nation Address) ,which many agree was more Ninoy rather than Cory Aquino speaking. Long in facts and figures and a bit short on vision as Teddyboy Locsin so correctly described it.

But the hidden bombs are no excuse for Pnoy, bearer of the highest majority vote under a presidential multi-party system (42%) and inheritor of an 88% trust rating before the inaugural, not to succeed. Filipinos are not about to accept failure-after nine years of the corrupt and vile GMA regime. It may be blind hope but hope nonetheless- and in the land of the blind, the one-eyed is King. The statistics simply mean that while 4 of 10 Filipinos voted for Aquino- when he sat on the throne,9 of the 10 Filipinos were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. That is an outstanding mandate -perhaps unmatched in Philippine political history that a sitting president gets on his first 100 days of office. That is one great pressure to deliver.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

“The Doctors for the Barrios” program was once initiated by then secretary of Health Juan Flavier who realized that thousands of Filipinos die -without taking medicine - much less see a doctor in their lives.

Years after that today, many Filipinos still suffer the same fate. Health indeed is wealth.

Even the great America is torn in a national debate on the coverage of the national health care insurance program for the richest people on earth. President Obama, in fact, used Health Care as one of his electoral campaign pillars.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

“Lorenzo’s Road to Damascus” may sound like a title of a movie but it is not. Lorenzo is Cito Lorenzo, a rich man and former Secretary of Agriculture; Damascus is the place where lightning struck the sinful, hedonist Saul from his horse and led to his conversion to become the renowned, revered St Paul.

Cito Lorenzo was then DA Secretary in 2004 when his Undersecretary Jocjoc Bolante allegedly siphoned P723 million in Fertilizer Funds for farmers into the campaign chest of GMA who was fighting for the presidency versus popular movie-actor Fernando Poe Jr. Bolante was reportedly under the direct supervision of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, known as GMA’s chief campaign operator, bypassing the office of Cito Lorenzo.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

There is a monumental reason to rejoice in that the feared Great Depression II never came to pass. Despite doomsday soothsayers, saying it will. Thank the gods for our economy is no longer export-dependent (sugar, coconut, copper etc.) as in the American Parity times - so the recent global financial contagion did not really break our backs. We have, instead, a buoyant domestic economy that keeps the spokes of the economic wheels sturdy.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

In the first 100 Days, President-elect Noynoy Aquino must play Good Father and Promise Keeper. He must repair the broken ramparts of the presidency and restore the Filipinos’ faith in the institution.

Noynoy can portray a Good Father role by putting the nation’s fiscal house in order. The prospective P400-billion year-end budget deficit is frightening. Principles are good but government does operate in terms of pesos and centavos. It is true that “man does not live by bread alone” but neither can he live without it. That’s naked reality. There are too few tax payers in the nation and many of the big-time corporates who do - avoid or pay short of their obligated taxes. The country needs a brave Elliot Ness who will throw both the book and the bullets against the big-time tax defaulters and the guys who run Customs to the ground with threats and bribery against personnel. In truth, former NEDA Chief Romy Neri says that in the Customs and BIR alone - the nation’s biggest revenue generators - the country loses about P200 billion there. That’s half of the entire budget deficit.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

Let us objectively grade the performance of Gloria M. Arroyo in her performance as President of the Republic based on her own measurement standards.

It is easier to rate GMA because she had set goals for herself in the 2004 election which she registered under the”Beat the Odds” acronym. How did GMA fare?

BUDGET REFORM - while GMA targeted for a balanced budget by 2009, RP now faces one of the largest budget deficits in history at P400-Billion. Philippine debt also doubled to P4.5 Trillion. The “shady aspects” of budgeting as Lump Sum and Unprogrammed Funds - manipulable by a wily president remain in the Budget Process.. (X) EDUCATION FOR ALL -
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

At least one of every four human beings on Earth is a Chinese. He is also mostly living in China, the most populated nation on earth. If a Filipino is able to sell P20 worth of toothpicks to every Chinese, he will have generated a sales of at least P20 billion. That’s how big the “Yuan” Economy is.

Now that the once straitlaced communist country has adopted a capitalist economy, it has become a major world business player.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

June 12, Saturday, is “National Heroes Day” - sadly converted as GMA’s last informal SONA Day. Will GMA proclaim herself a hero that day - in laying the pillars of economic growth for RP?

There are heroes and there are heroes. One can trivialize heroism and say hero is James “King” Yap who scores a winning basket, Popeye for rescuing Olive from brutish Brutus and Dustin Hoffman for saving VIPs in a flaming airplane in “The Accidental Hero”.

There is, however, a kind of heroism that dwells beyond self, family, friends, and vested interests. It is the kind that makes one give up his life for strangers or for the nation at large.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

The latest 2010 Poll Gospel is according to whistle-blower “Robin”, the Koala Bear as described by Rep. Teddyboy Locsin of Makati.

Does the man who prefers to hide behind the fur of the big black-nosed Australian bear who sleeps 18 hours a day - deserve his day in court?

Robin Koala claims he was part of the team that did electronic vote padding and voteshaving to make certain named candidates win - against the will of the people.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

The famous Pepsi advertisement years ago said “We are a product of the choices that we make.” Translating that to today’s polls: We deserve the kind of government that we elect.

The right to determine one’s destiny - by participating in free elections is a right not determined by the generosity of the State but by the grace of the Almighty. Freedom of choice is one of man’s inalienable rights which would found expression in people making a democratic choice on the May 10, 2010 polls.
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DATELINE MANILA
by: BINGO P. DEJARESCO

Believers in surveys, we humbly opine, that Senator Noynoy Aquino will be the next Philippine president.

In fact, we forecast that his victory will be as dramatic as Joseph Estrada’s 1998 victory of 38% majority vote over the machinery of Jose de Venecia.

The latest April surveys show it. Pulse Asia had it Aquino 0(38%), Villar (20%) Estrada (20%) and Teodoro (- 10%). This confirmed an earlier Aquino victory postulated by SWS, Pulse Asia’s rival firm. Doubting Thomases say that Pulse Asia is owned by Tony Boy Cojuangco, a cousin of Noynoy Aquino - and, therefore, may be biased. But two even more recent surveys cannot belie the trend.
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