Are Actors like Edu Manzano Competent in the Senate?

ARE ACTORS COMPETENT ENOUGH FOR THE SENATE? 

Watch the video below after I quizzed Edu Manzano who runs for the 2016 Philippine Senate Race. But before you click the video, here were the texts of my posers to Manzano - an llonggo like me.

Q: I’m Mortz Ortigoza, political columnist of http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com/ The intellectual class in the Philippines looked down on actors and actresses like Manny Pacquiao, Alma Moreno, Amay Bisaya running for the Senate. They looked at them as an aberration and a big joke that only undermines the integrity of the August Chamber. 

ACTOR. Actor Edu Manzano (blue shirt) with reporters after the press
conference in Dagupan City he and presidential front runner
Grace Poe attended.

My questions, our country faces high employment rate and the solution is to amend the economic provision of the constitution, are you amenable for it? Our country has the highest cost of electricity per kilowatt, are you in favour for the constructions of Nuclear Power Plants to lessen the prices of power? Filipinos breed like rabbits that cause for their penury or kahirapan, are you amenable for a strong population control like aggressive distribution of free contraceptives in the barangays?

Why Grace Poe regains No. 1 slot

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I had an animated conversation recently with a private contractor of a mayor. He told me that when he gambled at the Casino at Clark in Pampanga he saw three town mayors. He said the two mayors, who moonlighted as contractors, too, told him to join them on their table because they lost already P700 thousand.

Photo Credit: CNN

“Nasaan si Mayor X (one of the mayors that benefited on illegal gambling Jueteng)?” I asked the private contractor.

“Nasa private room sa itaas kasama iyong kabit niya na bata, nagpapalipas ng malas,” he answered.

He told me on that night, Mayor X gambled and lost P2 million in that casino.

***

I told friends last week at social media that presidential bet Grace Poe could recover after rival Jojo Binay eclipsed her led in the two surveys in December last year.

Today, the Pulse Asia’s Pulso ng Bayan Pre-Electoral Survey conducted from January 24 to 28 with 1,800 respondents revealed that 33 percent of the respondents would vote for Poe.

Vice President Jejomar Binay who got 23 percent,  Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte  who both garnered 20 percent shared the third spot.

***

Here were my arguments last week at my blog and my prescience:

“Watching the evening news, the foundling issue sympathetically raised by Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno had been played again not only by TV 5 but by the two other major TV stations ABS and GMA-7. Poe also has a TV ad that talks about her father, famous actor Fernando Poe, Jr., being harassed by court cases but at the end was upheld by the Supreme Court as Filipino citizen. "Parang pelikula iyon, bugbog muna si Fernando pero sa huli siya rin ang mananalo," a man quipped at the ads. Then, Comelec included Grace’s name at the official ballot for the presidential race in May 9. The foundling issue argued by well meaning people, effective TV advertisement, and inclusion of Grace at the Comelec's ballot would be the factors she could catapult herself to No.1.

What I'm driving here is I crossed my fingers waiting for the next surveys from Pulse Asia and Social Weather Station if Poe can overtake Binay who became No. 1 in the two polls”.
Tapos na iyong acrimony and brouhaha ng mga kalaban sa disqualification issues. Gasgas na kaya tumataas na ang poll stocks ni Ate Grace Poe, Am I right Atty. Gary Jimenez and Boss Sendong So?

In that January’s poll, Pulse Asia’s President Ronald Holmes said only Poe and Binay experienced “marked movements in their presidential voter preferences between December 2015 and January 2016.”

According to a poll  last December 2015, Poe got a 9-percent increase while Binay had a 10-percent decline.

Roxas spiked by 3 percent while Duterte’s numbers decline by three percentage points.

Poe’s vice presidential tandem Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero maintained his lead having 33 percent voter preference while Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. placed second with 23 percent.

Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano both landed in the third place with 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Henares rebuffs “Dunkin’ Donuts” protector’s tag

Uncollected P1.56B taxes

By Mortz C.Ortigoza

URDANETA CITY – Despite the expose’ of a disgruntled former Examiner that the Commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue protects alleged big time tax evader, the latter argued that her omission to collect P1.56 billion was correct and dismissed tag as coddler of “Dunkin’Donuts”.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares cuddles in this cartoon Ms
Marixi Prieto, Secretary of Dunkin Donuts' franchise and
 Chairperson of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“Tatlong reinvestigation na kami sinasabi mali po siya. Papaano mo pipilitin ang isang mali sa isang taxpayer assuming natin na ma-assess ko iyan. Gagawin ng taxpayer pupunta siya sa Court of Tax Appeal ku-kwestionin niya,” stressed by Commissioner Kim Henares after the inauguration of the new revenue district office here.

Othello Dalanon, the resigned BIR Examiner, cited he discovered in his assessment that Golden Donuts, Inc.(GBI), the exclusive Philippine franchisee of the global brand “Dunkin’ Donuts” was liable to pay P1.56 billion after it did not protest the Formal Letter of Demand and Assessment Notice (FAN) of the tax agency.

Dalanon personally reported GDI’s omission to Henares and recommended to her criminal prosecution for tax evasion of GBI under the much vaunted “Run After Tax Evaders” program of the Bureau; but she intentionally did not pursue the fraud case against the company because its secretary – Marixi Prieto who is also the chairperson of the Philippine Daily Inquirer – is President Aquino’s friend, according to Deputy Commissioner Estela Sales.

The former Examiner cited the deficiency tax assessment done by the BIR obtained finality because GDI failed to file a valid protest against the FAN.

Ms. Prieto, Dalanon added, talked to Henares and then BIR Regional and the incumbent Assistant Commissioner Nestor Valeroso on different occasions who both gave leniency to GDI.

Henares intentionally did not collect it, because representatives of GDI complained to her that Dalanon’s assessment was faulty. She, according to Dalanon, ordered two re-investigation.

Dalanon said however that there is no law that authorizes the commissioner to order two re-investigation of a final, executory, and demandable assessment.

Henares assailed Dalanon’s insistence, he reported in the mass media, for her to collect the P1.56 billion.

“Siguro tinanong muna siya bakit siya pursigidong ganito. Ano ba ang nawala sa kanya? So, ano ba ang para sa akin?”

She said how could she insist to collect the sum when what she will be doing is illegal.

Top General coddles Chinese Drug Lords

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

My posed last Tuesday at the Stadia in Dagupan City to Liberal Party’s vice presidential bet and Sorsogon Congresswoman Leni Robredo: “Bong Bong Marcos in the latest survey of Social Weather Station breathed behind the neck of Senator Chiz Escudero for the vice presidential race. Kayo No. 3. Weeks ago tinanong namin si Chiz Escudero na si Senator Alan Cayetano spent almost 400 million sa TV ads, Bong Bong P103,429,000 kayo P92 million. Si Chiz, P30 thousand pa lang. Sabi ni Chiz ‘di pa daw siya nag papa TV ads kaya hinde siya alarmed sa latest polls. Paano ngayon iyan pag gumastos na si Sen. Chiz sa ads at dadalhin niya si (wife and actress) Heart Evangelista sa sorties all over the country, ‘di ba kayo threatened diyan sa ka province mate ninyo?

Philippines police officials promoted to general rank. Photo Credit: PNP

One of the answers of Robredo, a widow and pretty faced lawyer, was she runs scared in this election.
After the press conference, I bumped into former 5-time Speaker Joe de Venecia.

“Did you like my question to Congresswoman Robredo”

 After he nodded, I told him in a serious demeanour:

 "Wala iyong tanong na iyon Speaker, mas matinde ang tanong ko kay Congressman Manny Pacquiao sa Manila".

 "What did you ask him?" he curiously posed

 I told him when I asked Pacquiao about the status of the Peace and Order situation in Mindanao he told me: "Many Fish like tuna but No Order".

 Old and gasgas na joke iyon, pero first time ata ni Speaker madinig, he had a good laugh.

 Sabi ng mga media men around, first time nilang nakita si Speaker Joe na tuwang-tuwa sa joke na iyon.

Here the second jab to the boxing icon that I told the five times House of Representatives’ top man.

"I told Pacquiao that what I asked was not the Fish but the Violence in Mindanao".

 "What did he tell you?"

"Grabe sir, he said he could not even play the piano and lyre what more of the violin," I said.

The Speaker had a guffaw.

Sammy Losala, broadcaster of DWPR, said we only saw Speaker Joe serious and preoccupied shepherding members of the rambunctious Congress when he was building the Rainbow Coalition to expedite the urgent bills of President Fidel V. Ramos on liberalization of the transportation and telecommunication industries so every Filipinos avail of cheap telephone and air and sea fares, and others but not at this moment that he saw de Venecia heartily enjoying my antics.

War between U.S, China will destroy humanity – FVR

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A graduate of the elite United States Military Academy and former Philippine president did not believe that the brinkmanship between the United States and China at the Spratly Islands will  result to war.

CAVEAT. Author giving a hardbound book by former U.S State Secretary
Alexander Haig titled "Caveat" to former Philippine President Fidel V.Ramos
 at the Department of Foreign Affairs' satellite office in Pangasinan. Haig
and Ramos are alumni of the United States Military Academy at
West Point in New York.

Former President Fidel V. Ramos said the U.S and China need not plunge themselves to war because it would be mutually assured destruction for them and to the U.S allies in the East Asia Region.

“You visit your homework. I wrote about this since 12 years ago. In the 21^st Century you don’t talked about the 19^th or 20^th Century. Nobody wants war especially World War III because of the massive destruction and the thermal radiation wave of modern weapons,” he stressed to Northern Watch when he graced the inauguration of the satellite office of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Calasiao, Pangasinan.

Ramos cited an instance that the latest hydrogen bomb is 5000 times more lethal than the atom bomb dropped by the B-29 Super Fortress bombers at Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan on August 1945.

“You don’t need a B-29, you just pressed the button. But the U.S study says counter-strike. Somebody has to push the button with the coordination of the 38^th Parallel. With the strike and counter strike all of a sudden all that will disappear,” Ramos, who is known as FVR, said last Sunday.

Grace Poe: Amend Constitution for more jobs

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

POZORRUBIO  - At last a presidential bet courageously acknowledged that amending the Constitution for 100% foreign ownership just like in Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore would generate more jobs among Filipinos.

VIDEO where Philippines Presidential Bet Grace Poe acknowledges to political columnist Mortz Ortigoza's perennial proposal that she is open to amend the economic provision of the Constitution so more foreign investors come to the country and generate more jobs.

Senator Mary Grace Poe told reporters here that how can Filipinos find a job when there are fewer investors that could provide employment in the Philippines.
“Tama ang sinabi ninyo. Bakit? Walang namumuhunan sa atin sapagkat ang ating infrastructure. Paano sila makakarating sa lugar sa tamang oras kung walang utilities (like airport) (You hit the nail on its head on amendment. Why? No one wants to invest in the Philippines because of the lack of infrastructures. How can they punctually arrived on their destination when there are no facilities like airport),” she answered to the pose by Northern Watch how pathetic the country was when it got only U.S$ 6.2 billion 2014 foreign direct investment (FDI) while FDI poured $ 9.2 billion in Vietnam, $ 22.6 billion in Indonesia, $12.6 Thailand, and S67.5 billion in Singapore in the same year according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) had already eclipsed the country.
Elected candidates and those running for national office national office shy in giving their unequivocal statement that they are for the amendment of the constitution lest they be accused of perpetuating their stay in public office. 
Poe cited why foreign investors were lukewarm to pour their capitals in the country.
“Una, ang taas ng ating personal and corporate taxes. So bakit tayo mamumuhunan dito ang dami mong babayaran na buwis, doon na tayo mamuhunan sa ibang bayan sa China at sa Vietnam (First, we have a prohibitive personal and corporate taxes. So why they would invest here where they would be burdened with heavy taxes when they could go to China or Vietnam that offer them better incentives),” she said.
She declared that she is open for the amendment of the xenophobic 60-40 percent economic provision of the Philippine Constitution so foreign investors can own 100 percent of the business capitals in the country and not be relegated to the 40 percent as minority stock owners.
“Ngayon, doon sa sinabi mong amendment, ako ay bukas (To your pose to amend the economic provision of the Constitution, I am open for it”), she said.

What now China?

 Philippines offers U.S 8 bases to host weapons

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

At last the Supreme Court just decided on the urgently needed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). I've been interviewing incessantly Senators like Grace Poe, TJ Guingona, Peter Cayetano, Bong Bong Marcos, others by posing to them we need EDCA like crazy at the height of the encroachment of China on our islets and reefs at the Spratlys and the threats she has on us and our honor.

CHINESE HEADACHE. Hundreds of American made Lockheed Martin F-16 Super Falcon jets. The U.S military
superiority in air and water would be a big problem with China especially many of these assets
would be located at Palawan Islands of the Philippines for immediate action against the
Chinese armed forces in the Spratly Islets and Scarborough Shoals that they encroached from the
Philippines in the past years.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer’s headline today said: PH offers 8 bases to U.S: Facilities include Clark, Basa, Lumbia, Magsaysay”.
Col. Restituto Padilla, spokesperson for the Armed Forces of the Philippines,
said the  facilities offered to the Americans were Basa Air Base in Pampanga province, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija province, Camp Antonio Bautista and a naval base in Palawan province, Camp Benito Ebuen and the naval base in Cebu province, Clark Air Base in Pampanga and Lumbia air field in Cagayan de Oro.

 Son of a gun, these bases where American Lockheed Martin F-35 Stealth multiple role jets they called also as Lightning II  would be launched and would be a  game changer (click text and video here)  in case those chink eyed interlopers, whose economy now is in a tailspin, started to fire their surface – air- missiles (SAM) at those American Lockheed Martin F-16 Super Falcon jets and  FA-18 Super Hornet jets or the “spy jet” two jet engines’ P-8 Poseidon  or the Philippine Air Force mini version of a multiple jet trainers cum fighter-bomber-reconnaissance F/A-50 Golden Eagle (we just bought from South Korea) making fly-by at the disputed Spratly islets where lately two huge commercial jets of the Chinese had just landed.

***

A news article I read says: “The Philippines lags behind its neighbours in total international tourism receipts, according to the 2014 Annual Report of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Despite a new high of 4.8 million international tourist arrivals, the country still trailed Malaysia (27.4 million tourist arrivals), Singapore (11.8 million), Indonesia (9.4 million) and Vietnam (7.9 million)”.

My comment:

 The problems in the Philippines, investors for hotels and other tourism related infrastructures like airport, etc are confined to 60% Filipino ownership because the Constitution provides for that xenophobic 60-40 percent arrangement at the expense of the foreigners.  That law discourages  these deep pocketed foreign investors because they are relegated to 40 percent minority control in corporate boards in the country.  These capitalists, who were responsible for the economic leap of Mainland China, Vietnam, Thailand, others are hesitant to pour their monies to develop our tourism industry and lessen the prices or better off the standard of our hotels and airports where they can be constructed on BOT (Build Operate & Transfer) or PPP (Public Private Partnership) basis.