Voters Price Depend on Another Rival’s Capacity to Give

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The amount that a rich candidate will give to voters as election approaches depend on the price his rival shelled out to each of the electorates, according to a barangay (village) chairman tasked by a mayoralty bet in this town to do his bidding.
“Depende iyan sa kalaban. Pag nagbigay siya ng P1000 sa botante, iyong boss ko magbibigay siya ng P1,500,” the village chief in Pangasinan, who asked for anonymity, told this writer.

This conversation ensued when he was asked if vote buying can breach the P2,500 mark for each electorate comes election time.
“Puwede pag nagbigay ang kalaban ng P2000. Pero I doubt kung kaya ng rival kasi limitado ang pera niya”.

VOTE FOR SALE: A leader (R) of a political candidate in the Philippines shell-out sums to buy the vote of an electorate.

 When asked how much his patron spent on the truckloads of voters who were ferried in a warehouse to receive P500 each two weeks before the May 13, 2019 election, this what he retorted:
“My estimate was P1.5 million. P500 multiplied by 3,000 of these voters  who were brought there to attend some pep talks with the mayoralty bet and some councilors”.

Stunts Done by Politicos to Win Poll

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

With roughly 3,000 lead votes by Dagupan City Mayor Belen T. Fernandez against mayoral rival and Vice Mayor Brian Lim in the recent scientific poll, the former and her supporters should guard themselves on the surprises the latter can pull as the May 13, 2019 election approaches.

Then re-elective Bonuan Gueset Barangay Chairman Angel Gumarang lost to challenger and come backing kapitan candidate Rico Mejia when then Dagupan City Mayor Benjie S. Lim struck out a drama that saw the reelective village chief, with all the resources of the huge village at his disposal, lost to Mejia.

Gumarang told us media men then that he could not do his hustings effectively to the various sitios of the biggest village in the city, mind you guys its population bigger than those fourth class towns, because the police through the order of Lim watched him and his men closely.

 

He even suspected that his driver was bribed by the other camp to incriminate him and change the momentum of his campaign strategies.

 “Kap, pagasulinahan natin ito mamaya. Problema pa natin iyan baka maubusan tayo ng gasolina pag umikot tayo,” the driver told him in the eve of the October 25, 2010 barangay election.

He said another two of his unwitting aides accompanied the driver.

Firearms "Planted" by the Police

After the clock hit midnight, the car was cruising to the gasoline station in the village but was immediately flagged down by policemen manning a newly installed check point.

How Other Mayors Create Economics Opportunities to People

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Major news magazines and newspapers printed in Imperial Manila have news about the newly acknowledged Guinness World Record’s tallest steel framed and engineered bamboo panels’ Saint Vincent Ferrer statue in Bayambang, Pangasinan.

Their news features jibe with the Holy Week as Filipinos went to their provinces and spend the long religious holidays and weekends there.

I will not talk about religion here since I’m not competent about it. The only verses in the Bible I could memorize is John 3:16 and the other one whenever I quaffed a half  glass alcohol contained 80 proof 750 ml Tanduay and White Castle in high school and college's “Verseculo Baso Kapitulo E.S.Q“.

E.S.Q is Extra Smooth Quality as come - on by Tanduay to young but poor drinkers like me.

I’m going to talk about the economics opportunity for the people created by local government units like the town of Bayambang to attract tourists to visit the historic town. The town was  5th Capital of the Revolutionary Philippine Republic during the Filipino – American War in 1899.

Last week I wrote about Bayambang under the administration of business tycoon and Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao as one of the top four richest first class towns in the 44 towns and four cities’ Pangasinan.

“We have PhP506 million budget this year where some come from the disposal of assets in Magsaysay,” he told the crowd from the public and private sectors who witnessed the inauguration of the proposed LGU housing project to be given to municipal hall’s employees in Barangay Bical Sur of the burgeoning town.

Quiambao told reporters that every year his family controlled corporations like Stradcom and other businesses like a mall pay more than PhP 80 million of their taxes  in the municipality.

Even the PhP250 million price tagged of the 50.23-meter statue to commemorate the 400th year of the establishment of Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish in Bayambang and the 600th death anniversary of the saint on April 5, 2019 was personally paid by Quiambao and his gorgeous wife actress Mary Clare Judith Phyllis “Niña” Jose-Quiambao, the multiplier effects that can be created by the mammoth statute could be incomparable.

“Attention: there is NO entrance fee to go inside and around the Prayer Park. FYI. Thank you, God bless you all,” I saw the post of Mrs. Jose- Quiambao at her Facebook account.

 The surge of people who motor to the pilgrims’ town like those vacationers who will make side trip in Bayambang from their Manila to Baguio City’s rendezvous, will be a spark plugged for more franchisees to own Jollibee, McDonald, Mang Inasal, Starbucks, Dunkin Donut, Yellow Cab Taxi, hotels, banks, gas stations, malls, and others to put shop there. That could spike employment in the town and even the province of Pangasinan and more business and real property taxes for the LGU.

Surveys at Facebook, Radio not Credible

Who is Stupid Between Me and This Ex-Solon, Radioman?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Angelo Palmones is an average if not a mediocre broadcaster and a former Agham Partylist congressman, he did not know economics as based on my recent  squabbles with him at Facebook.

His ignorance was exacerbated by his gall to call me “stupid” after I wrote last week on my blog cum column that North Cotabato is one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. 

Excerpts:

ANGELO PALMONES: Whoever invited this stupid blogger is insulting the people of North Cotabato. He tossed up his sponsors with flowery piece by pulling down the efforts of all people of NCot. Better research will guide you boy on how many products of my beloved province are now sold abroad. Violence is more prevalent in Metro Manila, check your stat before making generalization. North Cotabato is not M’lang!"

(When a common friend at Facebook Luvin Candari, an Ilonggo, tagged me on Angelo’s attack, here was my answer)

MARK MACHEVELLI ORTIGOZA (MY OTHER NAME AT FB): Sabton ta na’ kung sino mas stupid sa amon ni Angelo (I’m going to rebut him and show who is stupid between me and Angelo) . The son of a gun was shooting from the hips. I only need to cite a NEDA report in my column. Luvin Candari is smarter than this congressional has- been. Im going to school him he he he.

PALMONES: That NEDA report has been disputed. The most recent and relevant basis of North Cotabato’s standing, including some of the well-performing towns and Kidapawan City, is DILG’s SEAL OF GOOD GOVERNANCE. You can Google it for better understanding.

ORTIGOZA: My arguments will be anchored on the number of poor Filipinos to buttress my argument that your province is one of the Top 10 Poorest Provinces in the Phillippines. SEAL is primordially on management level. I will talk in my column about economic threshold in peso term as based on the data of the Philippines Statistics Authority, National Anti- Poverty Commission, and NEDA.

PALMONES: Good luck for that piece. I hope it will improve rustic Mlang.

My argument on my blog that got the goat of Palmones was not new to me since I used, for example the Annual Per Capita Poverty Threshold (APCPT) on my radio and newspaper commentaries in Luzon whenever I compared the provincial and municipal local government units in the northern part of the country.

Now let’s go to the jugular.

 You readers decide whom between me and Angelo is stupid after I cite and explain here why North Cotabato Province  is the seventh (7) province with more poorest families in the Philippines according to the Public Statistics Authority (PSA) in 2015. The next survey results of the PSA will be in 2019.

Here’s table:

As what the table above illustrates North Cotabato is No. 7 with the most number of households, composed by five members each, classified as poor. Cebu Province was No. 1 due to its 2.93 million (exclude its three highly urbanized cities) biggest population outside Metro Manila. It's ironic that the almost one million populated Cebu City burgeoned while its province deteriorated.

Brahmos Hopes AFP will Buy its Deadliest, Fastest Cruise Missiles

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

PASAY CITY – A representative of the deadliest and fastest medium sized supersonic cruise missile in the world market today was optimistic that his company and the Armed Forces of the Philippines  will have a rapport after India failed to sell her cheapest priced frigates to the Philippines. 
 Colonel JP Uniyal, Director of Business Development & Product Support, told this writer that Brahmos Weapon System, a Russian-Indian’s consortium, sells cruise missile from land to sea, ship to land, land to land, and land to ship.

Cruise missile, according to Collins Dictionary, is a long range, jet propelled winged missile that can be launched from an airplane, submarine, ship, others, and guided to a target by a remote control.

The brochure given to this writer showed Brahmos’ missiles can be launched from a  jet fighter to hit an enemy’s ship and troop on the sea and the ground.

“I am not aware what happened earlier. But now we are in good coordination with the authorities. Hopefully now we will be able to cooperate with the Philippines especially the Brahmos Weapon System is concerned whether it is for ships or for the land,” Pathak stressed.

The general characteristics of the missile for the navy and the army are the following: Maximum Range; 290 kilometers: Maximum Velocity; Mach 2.5 to 2.8: Altitude Cruise; 15 kilometers: Altitude Terminal; 10 to 15 Kilometers: Warhead Mass; 200-300 kilograms: Dimensions; 9000 millimeter (Length); 700 milliliter (Diameter): Weight; 3000 kilogram.

For the airforce, it has the same features with that of the navy but it has only a lesser weight of 2,550 kilograms.

Brahmos missile replaced by multiple times the most popular subsonic missiles in the world.

It has 3 times in velocity, 2.5 to 3 times in flight range, 3 to 4 times in seeker range, and  9 times in kill energy.

According to Wikipidea, one Brahmos cruise missile cost U.S $2.6 million or P109 million.

Earlier, Gripen Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson told this writer that the Sweden based multiple role fighter (MRF) jet manufacturer said it has been a cut above the rest of the fourth generation rivals because of its RBS15 anti ship guided smart missile.

“What you’re looking is the Saab missile known as RBS15. This is one of the things that really set apart the Gripen with its competitors. In fact, almost no other modern fighter has a modern anti ship missile integrated. None of them have a weapon attached. The latest version of this missile which we unveiled in the Farnborough Airshow”.

Colonel JP Uniyal, the representative of the deadliest and fastest cruise missile's maker Brahmos Weapon System. Brahmos is a Russian-Indian's consortium.

The distinctive RBS15 missile that even the United States made F-16 Viper lacks is a game changer.

The Maryland, USA made Viper is the closest rival of the Gripen in the more than sixty billion pesos procurement of the Philippines for a multi-role fighter (MRF) combat jet.

The smaller than Brahmos cruise missile’s RBS-15 (Robot System 15) is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface, anti-ship missile. The later version Mk. III has the ability to attack land targets as well. The missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics (Wikipidea).

According to Uniyal , the brand name BrahMos is "coined from Brahmaputra  River of India and Moskva River of Russia”.

It is the world's fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation.

READ MY OTHER ARTICLE:

Daunting defense systems of Japan, Ph in case China attacks

The Saga of Leopoldo Bataoil Continues

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

From chasing hardened Moro commanders in Mindanao and Basilan, this battle experienced military and police officer went back to his alma mater the Philippine Military Academy to mentor the cadets of what he learned in the skirmishes and warfare at the battle fronts.

“Ang first assignment ko was Mindanao 54^th PC Ranger Batallion kaso po ang inihanda talaga ng PMA upang maging effective front line leaders, platoon leaders po kami noong second lieutenant sa isang PC Ranger battalion kaagad-agad dinala doon sa Mindanao kaagad - agad dinala kami sa Basilan. At doon namin hinahabol si Chairman Nur Misuari at Chairman Gerry Salapudin. Ito ang mga leaders ng mga MNLF noong araw wala pa iyong MILF noong araw so MNLF ang kalaban ng gobyerno,” cited in Filipino by former three-  star police general and congressman Leopoldo Bataoil, PMA Class of 1976, to this writer.

Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, rendered his snappiest salute to an old war veteran during a war anniversary.

He said as a Constabulary Ranger he idolized his commanders at the First and Second Ranger Battalions who even joined him and his men in the battle fields against the fiery Moro insurgents in the two islands in the Southern Philippines.

Bataoil was a trained member of the British inspired commando’s the elite Special Action Force.

“There were really true leaders and they were really very inspiring leaders na ang feeling namin they are the best example of.  I remember General Dictador Alquiza my First Battalion's commander . I remember Agerico Cagaoan my Second Battalion's commander in another battalion. They were really leaders na very inspiring na they talk to you the very critical area iyong mga battle area. They will die for you. Ang iyong feeling  namin he will die for our country and people all together we will die for our country and people”.

He cited one officer’s conspicuous bravery and extraordinary courage awed him. Glyxe Sua, Bataoil recounted, even asked his men to locate the sniper concealed behind the coconuts and the tree’s leaves  above sniping them.