Q&A: PH Presidential frontrunner Grace Poe on EDCA and her Citizenship

Political columnist Mortz C. Ortigoza asked this afternoon Philippine presidential front runner  and  Senator Mary Grace Poe on whether she will vote for a military treaty’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States in case the Supreme Court strikes it out as unconstitutional since it fails to have the Senate’s concurrence. Ortigoza inquired too Poe if her re-acquisition of her Philippine Citizenship through Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003  (Republic Act 9225) is the all encompassing act that shroud her being a natural citizenship and makes her qualified to run as presidential candidate of the Philippines as required by the Constitution. Excerpts:

Interviewer Ortigoza poses with Senator Grace Poe in one of the latter
visits at San Carlos City, the city, of her late father actor Fernando
Poe, Jr.

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA (MCO): Sa Resolution po ng Senado karamihan gusto nila ang Senado ratify the EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement).

GRACE POE (GP): (Pause)

MCO: Iyong executive military agreement between the United States and the Philippine Government sa Resolution ni Senator (Merriam) Santiago that there could be no EDCA without the concurrence of the Senate.

GP: Opo

MCO: Maam, anytime from now ang Supreme Court kasi magde-decision sa Constitutionality ng EDCA.

GP: Opo

MCO: In case i-sustain ng Supreme Court ang petition (by Harry Roque, Former Senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tanada, et al) na unconstitutional the EDCA, pag nilagay sa Senado, are you in favour for EDCA (as we face the incessant Chinese incursion in our territories)?

GP: Para sa amin po kasi kailangan ang Senado na magkaroon ng pagkakataon na i-review ito. Kasama po ito sa trabaho ng Senado - responsibilidad. Ngayon, at ang Senado  rin ang magde-determine kung kailangan talaga ito. O bago itong kasundu-an o ito ba ang karagdagan lang sa dati.

Sa tanung  ninyo, importante na magkaroon ng mga maitutulong sa ating siguridad. Pero kailangan natin rebyuhin iyong proposal bago magbigay ng commitment dito. Kaya nga hinihingi natin iyong sa Senado.

MCO: Former U.E Dean Amado Valdez discussed about three talking points about your citizenship in 2006, 2010, and 2011 when he filed recently at the Comelec for your disqualification in the presidential race.

PH election is for the rich only

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Because of my tight schedules last Monday I failed to join the media interview in my city with administration presidential bet Mar Roxas when he whistled stops in the cities of Dagupan and San Carlos and Rosales, Pangasinan.

STUMP.Administration presidential candidate Mar Roxas exhorts last Monday
 the market goers at his ala-town hall meeting at the market place of Dagupan City.
After Dagupan City, Roxas and party whistled stops in San Carlos City and
Rosales, Pangasinan. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

I should be asking him if he is open for the United States to have bases in the Philippines amid the active incursions of China on our islets and reefs at the Spratlys and Scarborough Shoals.
I should be asking him why he was no longer aggressive these days on his TV ads at GMA-7 and ABS-CBN unlike last August 15 to September 15 where he had a daily average of nine infomercials in each of the two giant TV stations where he paid, according to media reports, P257 million to double his pathetic survey numbers from 10% last June to 20% in September 2 to 5 that landed him in No. 2 at Pulse Asia’s poll.
I should be asking him where did he get that huge amount on TV ads and the alleged P100 million billboards his supporters erected all over the country.
Roxas' Statement of Assets & Liabilities (SALN) last year was a net worth of P202, 080, 452. 71. It does not mean that he poured it all in August's TV ads because he had donors too from other sources. I hope Roxas submit to the Comelec those tens of millions of pesos of donations after the election as mandated by the Omnibus Election Code.
I should be asking him that in the 210 KIA utility vehicles bought by the Department of Interior & Local Government, he used to head, for the Philippine National Police, each of the cars cost the government P1.9 million but in reality, according to car experts, the price should be P1, 160,000 only.
“Where did the P740,000 for each cars or P155 million overpriced for the entirety of the purchased go? Why there was no significant discount since the government bought them by bulk?” my posers would be coined like that.
***
At the ala town hall meeting at the Malimgas  Market I bumped into a Bombo Reporter whose station interviewed earlier Roxas for 30 minutes.
“Magkano singil ninyo kada minute, P2000 or P60,000 sa kabu-unan ng trenta minutos?”
He told me Roxas paid P50, 000 for that 30 minutes media exposure on the No.1 provincial radio station.
"You should be asking him the tough questions I should be asking him ," I told him.
 But the reporter told me since it was a paid broadcast, the posers have been fed to them by the P.R of the presidential candidate.
I was curious about the P50 thousand for 30 minutes price since early this year, two gubernatorial wannabe in my province have been paying P1000 per minute or P30,000 a day in a 30 minutes bloc time program to promote their candidacy.
With all these huge monies I mentioned, who says Philippine presidential election is for those who have met the following qualifications like: 1. Natural born citizen of the Philippines;2. Registered voter; 3. Able to read and write; 4. At least 40 years of age on the day of election; 5. Resident of the Philippines for at least 10 years immediately preceding the election as what the Philippine Constitution provides?
If you cannot show a respectable sum before the eyes of the Commission on Election to launch an effective campaign nationwide, those basic Constitutional requirements are nothing because the Comelec has the power to strike you out in the race because you are a nuisance candidate as based on your financial capacity.

Historical Photo versus Historical Puta

By PROCOPIO MATULIS

HISTORICAL PHOTO VS HISTORICAL PUTA. ‘I shook up the world!!!’ Cassius Clay (later named Muhammad Ali) famously screamed after knocking out a world heavy weight champ and KO artist Sonny Liston 51 years from now.
Half a century from the night a brash loquacious kid name Clay beat a terrifying brute of a man for the world heavyweight title and in so doing challenged America to confront its own dark reality

SCREAMED, TOO. PH wannabe boxing commentator Mortz Baby did an Ali famous
scream after an effeminate "nota" hungry Aswang (witch) poised to eat him.

Mortz Baby known as Mortz Ortigoza, a Flip, er, a Filipino, was probably the only Filipino boxing scribe and radio commentator who boldly predicted, against the consternation of his compatriots who thought he was an obnoxious "puta (bitch)", that Floyd Mayweather would defeat Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao in their mega fight last  May 2014. That deplorable tussle saw many fans and bettors walking without their shirts, cursing, and suing Pacquiao for the damage and swindling he had done to them in the sin city called Las Vegas, USA.
Ortigoza did not only predict in his TV and radio interviews from stations all over the Philippines two weeks before the slam bang but challenged everybody to bet against him and Mayweather.
Since he could not find reputable bettors in the educated sectors who can "Walk the Talk" but just content themselves to "Talk the Walk" that Pacquiao would kick the ass of Mayweather, Mortz look for those people, the formidable bobotantes (idiotic voters) and those with the I.Q level of Pacquiao for a wager.
 He criss crossed the "bagsakan (entrepot)" market of Urdaneta City and challenged those Igorot vegetable suppliers and bet against those bangus (milk fish) whole sellers at the wet market of Dagupan City for a six - figure break or make bet.
Mortz, unknown to his wife Miles, brought all the family savings and tuition fees of their kids just to bet for Mayweather that he confidently predicted would school Pacquiao, the senatorial wannabe, in the over hyped fight.
"More than one year after those Fraud, er, Fight of the Century, those Igorots and Bangus merchants have not recovered  until now with their seed monies thanks to their gullibility and ignorance where they believed that the Filipino Superman except Superman's handsome face would be invincible against the scientific and slick American boxing phenomenon," he said shaking his head.
But Mortz baby has another challenged for everybody for a wager. Pacquiao, because of the bobotantes who root for Alma Moreno, Bong Revilla, and Lito Lapid in public office, will win the senatorial race in 2016 in spite of his pathetic four attendance as congressman in the  last year's 16th Congress and his failure, on the rumours I heard, to identify John and Jane Does during his rare congressional debate whether both are siblings or cousins, or just a police character, or whether he would help defend a person sued with Anti-Fencing Law in spite the absence of a destroyed fence.

Here's  Mortz ballyhooed column, a month before the Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight, that bankrupt those simpleton mountain and fish pond people:

ANALYSIS: Pacquiao will lose to Mayweather
By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Many boxing aficionados predicted that Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao’s haymakers would dominate Welterweight pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, Jr. on May 2 (U.S dateline) mega tussle of the century.

Since a boxer is as good as his last six fights, let’s dissect if Pacquiao whirling dervish southpaw attack has still the superiority or pop to deck out Mayweather.

When Pacquiao fought the “Walking Punching Bag” Brandon Rios and the “Run Away Bride”, er, Boxer Cris Algieri compobox bared Pacquiao unleashes a total punch rates of 790 for Rios and 669 for Algieri in the entire 12 Rounds.

In these two lopsided match ups, Pacquiao looks superb as based on his total punches  just like during those exploding years where he TKO’d (technical knocked out) and KO’d (knocked out) the bigger but dehydrated or struggling in weight Oscar dela Hoya, Antonio Margarito, and Miguel Cotto.

When Manny however fought Juan Manuel Marquez in 2011 and 2012, he unleashes only a total punch of 578

and 256 (before he was knocked out cold at the 6th Round) or an average punches of 48 and 42 per round on their 2011 and 2013  tussles, respectively.

Why the bone lazy punches from the Filipino to the Mexican compared to his bunches of punches on Rios and Algieri?

Why PH dawdles on her defense versus China

By MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

In the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Modernization Act (RAFPMA) or what is known as Republic Act 10349,  I saw that after we completed procuring a squadron  or 12 South Korean made F/A-50 Lead-In-Fighter-Trainer (LIFT) supersonic jets next year as part of RAFPMA’s Horizon-1 (2013 to 2017, P75 billion to P90 billion for 33 items), we will be procuring on Horizon II (2018-2022) multiple roles jets like the 4.5 Generation American made F-16s, Jas 39 Swedish made Gripens, French Mirage Rafaeles, or Euro fighter Typhoons that would make us at par if not better than the air forces of our South East Asian Region’s neighbors. Delivery of these multiple role jets would be in 2019 or 2020 if we will be gearing for a brand new. Why on that year? Since Congress will debate and appropriate the budget for them on 2017. The order will be on 2018 and delivery could be in the 2019 or 2020.

U.S made F-22 Stealth Jet Raptors

 Bakit masyadong malayo? Why our government procrastinate in buying those lethal jets as  deterrence to the Chinese intruders of our islands and reefs at the West Philippines Sea (WPS)?
Just take a look at the 33 projects intended for the Horizon 1, aside from the F/A-50 jets and the Bell Helicopters Bell 412EP from the Canadian Commercial Corporation those shopping lists in the Navy and Marine Corp mandated by RA 10349 are still pipe dreams.
They are the Anti Submarine Warfare capable Naval Helicopter; Frigate; Multi-Purpose Attack Craft Mk.3;  Amphibious Assault Vehicle;  Marine Forces Imagery and Targeting Support System; Base Support and Logistics;  Jacinto-class Patrol Vessel Combat System Alignment Phase 3;  Jacinto, class Patrol Vessel Marine Engineering Upgrade for PS-37; 7.62mm Designated Marksman Rifle;  5.56mm Standard Weapons System and those in the Philippine Air force like the 7.62mm Design1 Air Surveillance Radar; Close Air Support Aircraft; F/SAA/LIFT Munitions; Long Range Patrol Aircraft;  Full Motion Flight Simulators; C-130T; Basing Support System for F/SAA/LIFT; Basing Support System for Air Surveillance Radar; Basing Support System for Long Range Patrol Aircraft ted Marksman Rifle; 5.56mm Standard Weapons System need to be bided and purchased one year before the end of Horizon 1 in 2017 while Horizon 2 (from 2018 to 2023 worth from P140 billion to P500 billion shopping list) is just around the corner.
What’s the delay under the exiting Aquino Administration? The Chinese have been streaking into land and sea grabbing frenzy of our properties in the WPS and Scarborough Shoals.
 As what Latin author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus says “Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (If You Want Peace, Prepare for War)
 Is it because we rely so much on the United States superior fire powers that we slacken in our defence in case a shooting war between us and the chink eyed trespassers break at the WPS?
***

Probably Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, who got rid of his video games addiction with nephew Josh, and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin have seen how superior the Yanks against the Chinese that they neglected our Armed Forces to modernize.

Russian Made Sukhoi 30 Flanker Multi-Role Jets. Russia's answer
 to American made F-15 Eagles

Probably they saw at YouTube-History Channel documentary video’s “Dog Fights of the Future - Combat for Fifth-Generation Jet Fighter”.
For those who were glued to the AlDub’s make- believe- love story phenomenon at noon time show GMA-7 TV, the video’s synopsis was about the simulation war between the U.S using its four Generation 5 F-22 stealth jet’s Raptors versus the enemy’s 14 Mikoyan Mig-29 Fulcrum Generation 4 fighter jets.
In 2016, the voice over of the video said, a commercial jet was shot down by a heat seeking missile somewhere at the WPS.
A U.S Navy’s  Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk helicopter probably from the guided missiles destroyer USS Lassen (that just mocked the Chinese on their self proclaimed 12 nautical miles territorial water at the Spratlys) came to the succor of the plane’s survivors but was shot down from one of the 14 Russian Fulcrums (Russian advanced version of the American F-16 jet fighter) heat seeking rocket .
But unknown to the bad guys, four F-22s , probably from Clark Philippines or Okinawa, Japan, were coming after them.
Would the engagement be a lopsided bout because of 4 U.S jets versus 14 Chinese fighter jets?
The host of the program says that in the future air war, the U.S will prefer quality and not quantity in fire powers.
As the four stealth U.S fighters came ablazing, the pilot of the Mig 29s did not see them on their radars.
 When the F-22s unleashed their AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles from the jets’ bay area it was too late for the pilots of the Fulcrum to release the chaffs and flares to deceive the missiles locked - in as they exploded in thin air.
 AMRAAM is a modern beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) or fire-and-forget missiles that replaced the previous generation Sparrow missiles. They are all-weather day-and-night operations. Designed with 7" diameter instead of 8" diameter form-and-fit factors, and employing active transmit-receive radar guidance instead of semi-active receive-only radar guidance.
While the enemy pilots could not see the Grim Reapers that would chop their heads off in an ambush 120 miles away, the Russians and the Chinese try their best to be at par with the U.S on the Generation 5 technology 20 years from now.
I heard the Russian and the Chinese have stealth jets in T-50 and Chengdu J-20 (or Shenyang J-31), respectively.
But their reliability is still under scrutiny unlike with their U.S counterpart whose super cruise and pitch-axis thrust vectoring nozzles are state-of-art technology that could hardly be beaten.
Super Cruise, according to Wikipidea, means compared to other fourth and fifth generation jets of other countries, the F-22 is among only a few aircraft that can sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners; targets can be intercepted which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach.

Q & A: Vice Presidential Candidate Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

Political columnist Mortz Ortigoza interviewed recently vice presidential candidate and Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr on foreign direct investment (FDI), nuclear power plants in the Philippines, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, and Presidential bet and tandem Senator Merriam Santiago and her keeping off to the public her Stage -4 lung cancer’s medical report. Excerpts of the interviews mostly done in Filipino:

  

COJUANGCO MEETS MARCOS. From left: Former Congressman Mark Cojuangco in a tete-a-tete with Vice Presidential Candidate and Senator Bong Bong Marcos. At extreme right is Calasiao Mayor Mark Roy Macanlalay who runs as vice gubernatorial bet of Cojuangco who runs for the governorship of the vote rich province's Pangasinan. Marcos graces the 12th Congress of the Barangay Health Workers in the 5th Congressional District of Pangasinan.

MORTZ: Last year ang Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) invested  in Vietnam, $9.2 billion, Indonesia $22,580 billion, Mainland China $128.5 billion sa Pilipinas kulelat ang FDI, $6.201 billion lang. Sabi nila ayaw pumunta ng investors dito kasi dahil sa 60-40% business sharing sa business that favoured the Filipino sa foreigner. Are you amenable for the amendment of the 60-40% provision sa Constitution?

MARCOS: Unang una I don’t think that’s the problem kasi ang sinasabi sa atin ng ating mga kaibigan na gusto nila mag invest dito. Ang problema ay iyong kuryente masyadong mahal, masyadong unreliable. Pangalawa, iyong ating batas ang pabago-bago hinde sila stable sa financial market.  Iyong mga financial institution natin naman iba, nagbabago ang kanilang polisiya bawat pagpapalit ng bawat pangulo kaya kailangan iyan ang mga tinitingnan natin. Kaya bukod pa roon ang infrastructure natin kulang. Mahirap sa investors na pumunta sa Pilipinas. Pasyalan nila ang airport natin ay congested. Ang mga Puerto natin congested.

Iyong nangyayari nga sa ibang negosyante kung maalaala niyo iyong tatlong buwan ang delay mapilitan silang magbabayad ng malaking multa dahil mag aantay nga ng ilang buwan bago makapag unload ang mga barko. Itong mga bagay bagay na ito ay dapat siguro tingnan kahit na palitan mo ang Constitution.

MORTZ: Sabi ninyo kuryente mahal. Nuclear power plant mura, ang coal (power plant) madumi, are you amenable for nuclear power plant to help buttress our power deficit?

MARCOS: I am amenable to any solution that is environmentally sound. Pinakamalaking driver ng industrialized and developed (country) are the production of plants. So ang kailangan, kung basta magpakita safe, halimbawa iyong nuclear hangang ngayon marami pa ang nagpapatayo ng nuclear sa France, sa Europe, sa U.S at Italy kailangan nila iyong kuryente. Iyong coal gumaganda na dahil, sinabi dating madumi, totoo naman pero nagbago na ang tecnolohiya parang mas mura na rin ang coal fired na planta. Iyan ang dapat nating pag aralan para naman unang una mga support ng power supply. Pangalawa, ang maibaba natin ang presyo.

Columnist Ortigoza (right) meets Senator Marcos

MORTZ: Sir, curious lang ako. Kasi noong bago kayo mag file ng CoC (Certificate of Candidacy) you went to Davao (City) and talked with Duterte . Peter Cayetano went there, too. Sabi ng iba, ideal daw Duterte-Marcos kasi Ilocos- Davao City, Samar and Leyte – Davao City ang combination.

Bakit hindi nangyari iyong ganoong tandem?

MARCOS: Bakit mo itatanung sa akin? Ha, ha, ha. Tanung mo kay Mayor Digong (Crowd around laughed). May bago na namang balita! Bago, mag substitute siya!

Tubong Lugaw: How contractor profits from gov't project

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

I had a chat recently with a government contractor. Every time we crossed path we talked about my usual curiosity how the State monies changed hand to the contractor and government officials.

The profitable re-graveling project

We discussed about re-graveling and riprap where incomes for the contractor have been a windfall.

Riprap is those loose stones used to buttress banks for breakwater that connect the two edges of the concrete bridge) while re-gravelling is putting of sand and gravel to the road in the villages so it would not be muddy for vehicles.

This police station hosts VIPs

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

MANAOAG – Being assigned as chief of police (COP) in this police station entails a big responsibility.

This pilgrimage town’s station is host to luminaries like the president of the Republic, senators, congressmen, cabinet members, to name a few.

VIPS. Manaoag Chief of Police Senior Inspector Eric Gonzales (extreme left)
posterity poses with Congressman Pol Bataoil and Police Regional Director
Chief Supt. Ericson T. Velasques in front of the visitor's lounge of the station. MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

                        

The personages come here because of the world’s famous Minore Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag where they attend mass.

According to the newly installed COP Senior Inspector Roderick Ylan Gonzales, while just barely warming his seat he had already been a host to Senator JV Ejercito Estrada, Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil (2nd District, Pangasinan), Governor Amado Espino, Jr., Vice Governor Ferdinand Calimlim, businessman Edward Aguilar, Regional Director Police Chief Supt. Ericson T. Velasques, Chief Supt. General Diosdado Valeroso, to name a few, at the world class multi-million pesos two-storey visitor’s lounge of the police the national government funded to boost up the Philippine National Police’s station here.

Since September when he took the reign of the police here from Chief Inspector Edison Revita, Gonzales expedited the procurements of needed equipments like the two P15 thousand worth Epson F-20 printers and P16 thousand high resolution cameras.

He said he bought them through solicitations with friends when he was just two weeks in office.

“We will be using them on the police civil relation, tactical operation centre. We have been printing a lot of documents here, and we need these equipments badly. Sira –sira na kasi ang printers namin dito”.

The other solicited gadgets he chalked up from businessmen's friends are the 15 brand new hand held two-way radios his police would be using in their patrol and operation.

Gonzales said he relied on asking donations because he could not use the P49 thousand a month Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) because it is only appropriated, as ordered by higher headquarter, on gasoline, office supplies, and others of his station.