Is NFA’s boss Aquino a hypocrite?

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

“If National Food Authority's Administrator Jason Aquino signed the approval of the three import permits of rice while he fought for the suspension of its importation through the private sector as they prejudice the price of palay in the middle of the harvest season, was Aquino a hypocrite? My poser to anti-smuggling Samahang Industriya Agrikultura (SINAG) chair when he guested recently my radio program.

EX-ARMY MAN. NFA Administrator Jason Aquino used to be
an Army man. A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy's
Class of 1991.

Rosendo So told me Aquino has a problem.

“Iyon ang isang problema. Kung hinde mo na aprubahan lahat, huwag mo aprubahan,” he stressed.

In his squabble with a cabinet Secretary Leoncio “Jun” Evasco Jr. and Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez, Aquino, a PMYer and recommendee of Paulo Duterte, argued as reported by the media that the importation of rice could pull down the price of palay in the middle of a bumper harvest season in March and April this year.

Because of that rift, an angry President Rodrigo Duterte unceremoniously sacked Valdez last April 5 because she threatened the livelihood of poor Filipino farmers.

“Why only sacked Valdez, why not the principal too Evasco?” I asked myself then.

But many were jolted by Aquino’s double speaks when we learned that he had approved last March 10 three import permits of 5,400 metric tons (MT) of the staple  while these cargo ships were sailing to Cebu City and Davao City.

***

Aquino is pushing for government-to-government (G-to-G) importation of one million metric tons of rice to prepare for the supposed rice supply shortage the NFA foresees in the coming months.

Mr. So said he learned in his March 7 Vietnam visits that the Philippine government plans to import 3 Million MT from that country in the next two years.

3 million MT if multiplied to 20 equals to 60 million cavans of 50 a kilo bag of rice.

“Bakit inspite na nangyari me bagong statement na naman ang Vietnam na ang gusto pala ng Pilipinas for two years is three million metric tons or sixty million cavans na bigas. Nawala na ang 35% tariff pag pasok nito alam natin ang NFA rice, pero walang NFA price. Ang nangyari napupunta sa traders iyon,” So, a licensed engineer, cited.

Ortiz to replace Miro as Dagupan's police chief

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – This city will have another chief of police (COP) in another reshuffle conducted by the regional police office in San Fernando City, La Union.

A source closed to Urdaneta City Mayor Amadeo Gregorio Perez IV quoted the latter to say that outgoing Officer-In-Charge's COP of this city Superintendent Neil Miro will replace Urdaneta City’s OIC chief of police Superintendent Jackie Candelario while Miro will be succeeded by Supt. Frank Ortiz.

NEW CHIEF. New Dagupan City's Chief of Police Supt. Frank Ortiz (extreme left)
poses with Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez.Ortiz is a member of the Philippine
National Police Academy’s Class of 2003. He hailed from Barangay
Apugan-Loakan, Baguio City.

According to Ortiz he is not certain when will be the date of his turn-over with Miro. He said he was just reassigned from the Intelligence Group at Camp Crame in Quezon City  to the police regional office in San Fernando City and the police provincial office (PPO) in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

“I’m in a floating position at the PPO  now and did not yet know when I will be assigned in Dagupan City,” Ortiz, 40, told Northern Watch. 
But according to a source the turn-over will be on April 10. The early change of command was due to a car accident that figured Supt. Candelario who suffered, according to a press release from the PPO, a dislocated right hip when his Toyota Vios bumped a mango tree in Barangay Maticmatic in Sta. Barbara.The accident ensued at 4:36 in the morning of April 7.
Ortiz is a member of the Philippine National Police Academy’s Class of 2003. He hailed from Barangay Apugan-Loakan, Baguio City.

Before his assignment in Camp Crame he was assigned in a regional intelligence unit in Cebu City.

Source who asked not to be identified said that Ortiz was a protege of Chief Superintendent  Charlo Collado, the new OIC Police Regional Director of Region 1, in an Intelligence Group in Camp Crame.

“He was part of a few selected men brought by Collado when he replaced Chief Superintendent Gregorio Pimentel who was plucked to the Directorial for Intelligence at Camp Crame in a two-star position there”.

This Cabinet Sec resigned after 24 days

 Move out Sueno, Laviña!

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

If disgraced former Secretary Mike Sueno of the Department of Interior & Local Government and ex Administrator Peter Tiu Laviña of the National Irrigation Administration unceremoniously left office for nine months and eight months’ stints respectively from President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration this powerful, Yes Virginia very powerful, government executive left office for just a tenure of 24 days after his president asked him to tender his resignation.

If Sueno was suspected to abet the conclusion of the controversial purchased of an overpriced fire trucks in Austria where he and his family travelled there to make sure the delivery ensue despite a pending case on them in the Supreme Court and his grandson, a police official in Camp Crame, was allegedly reported to be his bagman from tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos in illegal gambling monies, Lavina, according to my source at the NIA, allegedly fleece a percentage of financial share from private contractors who transacted  tens if not hundreds of millions of pesos of projects in the Agency.

So who is this head of an Agency who was sacked, er, asked to resign because his stay in office could embarrass his president? What was his fault?

---

To quench your curiosity, here’s a brief background of the man I took from Wikipidia:

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science major in management in 1981 and was a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps , yes My dear Procopio that old ROTC and not PMA. He also earned a Master of Business Administration in Telecommunications , a Master of Military Art and Science from the  Command and General Staff College , and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

In September 2011, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and assigned to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On April 17, 2012, the president appointed him to be the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

On April 30, 2014, he announced his retirement. He was reportedly yanked out of the DIA after clashing with superiors over his allegedly chaotic management style and vision for the agency. In a private e-mail that was leaked online, the Defense Secretary said that he had heard in the DIA that he got fired because he was "abusive with staff, didn't listen, worked against policy, bad management, others".

On November 18, 2016, he accepted the offer of the newly elected president to head the position of National Security Advisor. Even prior to his appointment as national security advisor, he had already drawn criticism for what sources, from the media, have described as his close relations with Russia, his promotion and popularization of conspiracy theories, and fake news stories during the 2016 presidential election.

On February 1, 2017, ranking members of the six committees of House of Representatives sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense, requesting a Department of Defense investigation into his connection to Russian Today (RT) – a daily in Russia. The legislators expressed concern that he had violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting money from RT. A 2017 report by the Intelligence Community characterized RT as "The Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.

On December 29, 2016, he spoke with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The phone conversation was reportedly viewed by outgoing government who had been briefed on its content by the national investigation agency with suspicion as possibly hatching a secret deal between the incoming president and Russia, which could have violated the dormant (Logan Act) the law that bars unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign powers in disputes with his country. On January 13, 2017, the next day after the story was broken by a media man.

On January 22, 2017, a national daily reported that he was under investigation by government’s counterintelligence agents for his communications with Russian officials. On February 8, 2017, he flatly denied having spoken to the Russian ambassador in December 2016 about the sanctions placed on Russia by his government; however, the next day, government intelligence officials shared an account indicating that such discussions did in fact take place. Following this revelation, his spokesman released a statement that he "indicated that while he had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up".

In addition to the government's investigation, A national daily reported that, according to two defense officials, the Army is separately investigating whether he"received money from the Russian government during a trip he took to Moscow in 2015". According to the officials, there was no record that he has "filed the required paperwork for the trip". If he received money without the consent of Congress, he might have violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

On February 13, 2017, he resigned as National Security Advisor, following reports on his communications with the Russian ambassador and his misleading of the Vice President about it

Probably after how he was “shabbily” treated by his president, On March 30, a national daily reported that he had offered to testify to the national investigation agency or the Senate and House Intelligence committees in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

In case his expose’ would pinpoint to his president to be part of the conspiracy with the Russian to influence the last presidential election, the president could be sued with impeachment by his enemies in Congress.
Finally to quench your curiosity, the name of the man (trumpets’ sounds) was retired Army General Michael Flynn and the president who was seen protecting him and possibly flirting with Russia, who had sex videos of the prexy as claimed by the CIA, BBC, others, just like Senator Leila de Lima, was Donald Trump of the United States of America.

NOTE: LOOK AT HIS PHOTO BELOW

 (You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

SC decides if appointment of barangay officials illegal

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I just learned that many congressmen in the Philippines are Korean.

Ombudsman should look on this so these lawmakers could be sued because of their “citizenship” and dismiss them from office.

As you know, just like the president and those senators, a congressman should be natural born when he filled his certificate of candidacy.

Two private contractors who make public roads, bridges, and buildings told me the same story every time they asked the solons (tongressmen) to sign the approval of the projects in their district:

These members of Congress would ask them:  “Magkano Korean?”

***

Barangay chairmen submitted urine samples to the personnel of the City Office
 for Substance Prevention in Cebu City . PHOTO CREDIT: Sun Star 

Different opinions permeate the air nowadays on the legality and illegality of the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to postpone anew the October 23, 2017 election. But this time all barangay (village) officials would be appointed by the president through a committee.

The rai·son d'ê·tre of the appointment is to avoid narcotics monies from drug personalities to influence the outcome of the poll.

Report corruption at BIR, I will act on it – Dulay

Q & A: Northern Watch’s political columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza and some media men interviewed Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay of the Bureau of Internal Revenue during the 2017 Regional Tax Campaign Kick-Off of the BIR  in Lingayen, Pangasinan. The Questions and Answers mostly zero on the corruption perpetrated by BIR's top officials that undermine tens if not hundreds of billions of pesos of government revenues that should have gone to the public coffer to fund government projects.

Interviewer (right) posed with Commissioner Caesar R.
Dulay after his interview with him.

NORTHERN WATCH: You suspended iyong Letter of Authority (L.A) iyong sources ng corruption sa BIR kasi ang enterprising taxpayers nalalagyan iyong Examiners and other high BIR officials. Nayayari ang collection natin. Sir, meron kayong safety net kung paano natin masiwata iyan (You suspended the Letter of Authority one of the major sources of corruption in the BIR because enterprising taxpayers bribe the Examiners and other high BIR officials. It prejudiced our national collection.  Sir, do you have a safety net how we can ged rid of it)?

COMMISSIONER DULAY: Ang safety net diyan, may number of days sila to finish iyong Letter of Authority. If they don’t finish that then we call their attention. That’s what we did the first time. Itong bagay na L.A we will be issuing an order to give an update kung ano na ang nangyayari. Kasi ibig sabihin kung walang update inuupuan lang, nakikiapag usap lang (On the L.A I will be issuing an order to give an update and see what will happen because if there is no update, they sat on the L.A and negotiate on it).

 Is this task daunting?

Fear of Ridicule and Hurdling the KBP Exam

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

When I was asked to do radio commentary, I relished it because I was a radio bug on selected Filipino political broadcasters especially during the time of the perceptive Louie Beltran, the humorous Rod Navarro and everything hilarious and vulgar about what U.S No. 1 shock jock Howard Stern dishes on Sirius Radio and YouTube.

Man, I loved to talk especially the way former five-time House Speaker Joe de Venecia and Civil Rights Activist Al Sharpton rabble roused. Their ding-dong gift of gab I imitated and polished on air with my belief that they could help proselytize by playing with the emotions of the listeners here and abroad, thanks to free Face Book Live Feed video where listeners overseas could listen to my antics.

Even during my early days in broadcast last July, I saw to it that once in while I browse on the internet’s manual how broadcasters were governed by their police body Kapisanan ng Brodkaster ng Pilipinas( KBP).

When Jay Mendoza, then manager of DZRD Sonshine Radio-Dagupan City who I worked with asked me last December if I want to take the KBP accreditation examination, I did not only tell him affirmatively but told him I was too willing to shell out the seven hundred  fifty pesos examination fee when he told me there was a charge for it.

Son of a gun, that’s beer money compared to the prestige and benefit I could derive to be a full-pledge radio broadcaster, I told myself.

Several days before the D-Day in January 28, I read diligently, twice or thrice, the 40 pages KBP’s Broadcast Code of the Philippines given to me by the manager.

Why my sheer determination to master the Code and the complicity of the rules a broadcaster should master in doing his craft? Geez, it was my sheer fear to botch and be the butt of ridicules and jokes especially by those who hated my guts on air.

“Kayabang yabang kasi, bagsak naman sa KBP!” one of the dilemmas or even nightmares I was imagining he he.

Some lady reporters teased me what will I do if I failed the examination while Atong Remogat, Dennis Mojares, and other radio reporters who were my favorite punch lines on the air had already hurdled the accreditation examination.

“Siyempre nakakahiya iyong kinakantiyawan mo pumasa tapos iyong nangangantiyaw bumagsak,” I told them that caused them to guffaw.

When I and 61 of radio and TV workers who hailed as far as Abra, Ilocos Norte, and Baguio City took the test held at the function room of the Bureau of Fisheries & Aquatic Resource (BFAR) in Barangay Bonuan Binloc my first impression was the more than 200 item questions was tough if one did not diligently read the posers and get the best answer in a multiple or four options anwers where some seem to be coined to be tricky.

“Halos magkapareho ang mga sagot naglalaban lang sa isang word thus deceptive,” I told my self while I was shading the first ten of the more than 200 questions with my No. 1 Mongol Pencil.

I looked at the cameramen and technicians of the national television who were on my side and in front of me wondering even if they read the Code and how they dealt with the questions that were analytically challenging like “Will the station or its personnel communicate by any means, whether on-air or off-air, with the perpetrator of say hostage taking or victim without coordinating with the police officer in charge of the crime situation?”.

Some of the questions there I even used as source when I, as resource speaker lately, told members of the City Council in Dagupan City who conducted a public hearing on their pet bill’s Anti –Fake News that they should not harass radio anchor or reporter airing an unconfirmed news like “bombing” if it is a “Clear and Present Danger” on the safety of the people. They acquisced on my proposal on Section 5 that says “Unconfirmed reports shall not be aired unless there is an immediate and urgent need for the public to know about them, such as when the public needs to be warned of the possibility of an imminent danger. When such reports are aired, it must be emphasized that they are unconfirmed. 5.b. An unconfirmed report must be verified as soon as possible. If an unconfirmed report is found to be false, an announcement saying so must be made.”

I was smiling as I shaded my answers because the short preparation I had been was rewarding.

But I panicked when questions filled with words like “cowcatcher” and a “hitch-hikers” “What is the minute’s limit of a commercial load for FM in Metro Manila and the province? “ Channel, source, gesture?” were asked in the middle and later part of the questionairres.

Son of a gun, wala ito sa manual na binigay sa akin,” the eyes of this non journalism or mass communication graduate widened. Pssst, I finished my B.A and M.A on government a far cry about the nuances of a microphone and stinger button.

As the proctor told us that we have 20 minutes left for the examination that started at 2 pm and ended at 5pm, I looked at my left side and saw four of us left whose faces were still glued at the questionnaire.

I was left behind because I returned to those questions that I did not have privilege to have the manual like “In case there is a brownout at your radio station and the power returned after three hours, where would you get your official time. Answers could either be: A) KBP, B) Pag-Asa, C) Station’s wallclock D) None of the answer. At first I chose KBP, but I erased my pencil shade on its box when I analyzed, yes Virginia I did common sense evaluation, that it should be “B) Pag Asa” because I saw everyday on TV that Pag-Asa announced what time the sunlight strikes.

But other questions like “compensating spot”, “primary and secondary signals, I did not  know them from Adam.
 I left the room like an idiot and downed.

With the more than 200 questions and with 35 items I believed I answered incorrectly, I felt threatened about my passing chances despite one has to pass it by getting only 60 percent of the correct answers.

 My boast to my wife and kids that I would top the test went awry, I told myself.

“How was the examination?” radio collegues at 981kHz DZRD Sonshine Radio asked me.

“I fear I failed it, I did not have the manual on many questions there that asked about FM stations, the terminologies, the number of advertisement allowed by FM in Manila and the province, and Whatchamacallit,” I told them.

Many were surprised about my humility. They missed the patent braggadocio they saw on me as my funny trademark.

“Pa humble ka Mortz, baka bumagsak ka at least alam nila na ikaw mismo nag sabi na babagsak,” I told my self on that defense mechanism whenever other media men posed the same question.

Two Fridays ago I saw at Face Book some newbie lady radio reporters crowing they passed the KBP with posts like” Full pledge radio reporter na kami” below the document that came from KBP.

I called one of them and asked if she saw my name. The answer was negative.

When I entered the radio station last Monday, those who teased me if in case I would not pass, had naughty look at their faces telling me “blow out ka na!”

“Walang problema diyan, naka ready na iyong pera na pambayad ni misis sa kuryente gastusin natin sa blow out,” I told them and asked to show me the copy of the result. They told me it was still with the KBP Chairman Mark Gemson Espinosa.

“I felt I failed the examination,” I told them again.

“You should be positive, tell that you felt you could pass the test,” my tandem Harold Barcelona, that I used to tease and who laughed on my antics on air just like the laughing stinger button.

I just told everydbody I failed because I detested Harold and his taunt if I really failed the examination.

The following Tuesday morning, Ilet Breguera entered the radio booth during our commercial break and told me to treat the radio staff because I passed.

I felt relief and even imagining that I would be happy even if I could get the 60 percent passing score.

“Anyway, all of us who passed including the No. 1 and the cellar dweller have the same identical I.D cards as KBP passer,” I told myself.

I told Ilet again to produce the paper as evidence I hurdled so I could shell out the treat monies I supposed to pay for the electric bill.

After our one hour commentary program, Benjie, a reporter there, told me I landed on the Top Ten of the test.

Roger Codnita the manager furnished me a photocopy of the result from top to bottom of all the examinees.

I saw my name on the No. 10 and told the people there that I felt bad that I have no manual to read on those 35 questions I squandered otherwise I dominated the examination he he.

“Nagyayabang ka na naman Mortz!” Ilet cried while Harold and other shook their heads because the distinct bragadacio of Mortz Ortigoza had been awakened.

 (You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

Appointment by Duterte of barangay officials lawful – Solon

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY – The appointment of new sets of barangay chairmen and council members by President Rodrigo Duterte will be lawful because they will be backed up by a law crafted by Congress, according to a solon.

From left to right: Representatives Ashley Acedillo, Samuel Pagdilao,
Romeo Acop, and  Leopoldo Bataoil. PHOTO CREDIT: RAPPLER

This was the reaction of Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil when asked if the appointment by the president of the village violates the right of suffrage of the Filipinos.

He explained that he and fellow members of the House of Representatives comes May 2 this year will resume session and will discuss how to amend the law that will empower the president to postpone the election of village chiefs and council members.

“Yes, in case we argue (for the amendment) it will go to the process (of legislation),”he said.