$1-B maritime float and floating coffins

We’re borrowing again despite repeated promises from the government to trim down its expenses.

This time, it’s going to be a $1-billion package for the modernization of the Philippines’ maritime industry. The source of financing will come from Japan.

Which reminds me of the $800-million reparation Japan gave the Philippines immediately after World War II.

Much of the money from reparation was spent by the Philippines to buy second-hand vessels from Japan itself. A lot of Filipinos made a killing because they hardly paid back the loans they acquired from state financing institutions.

You know what happened after that. Despite the $800-million reparation, the Philippines failed to progress. Instead, it retrogressed from being the second-strongest economy in Asia to being one of the weakest not only in Asia but also in the whole world.

The contents of the recent proposed package are yet to be divulged, but you cannot avoid the nasty feeling that it will fall in the wrong hands again.

The proposal, if approved and implemented, will make the Philippines a maritime power in the region, according to Romulo Neri, director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

If the plans do not miscarry, it will be the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) which will implement the lending side of the package.

The DBP might become a conduit and, at the same time, a primary co-lender as $1 billion is not that easy to syndicate. Some say the old syndicate is still there just waiting for a chance to grab power.

No worry, the DBP is now in good hands, if we are talking about the two hands of Rey David, DBP president.

Yet, you cannot escape the thought that during the reparation and rehabilitations years, it was the old DBP and its predecessors that were perceived to be the most corrupt agency in the Philippines, edging out the notorious Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

The $1-billion proposal is too big to handle that other financial lenders might be asked to join the syndication.

Already, Neri is floating the idea of a bond offering. My worry is that the $1-billion maritime package may just end up like floating coffins with a lot of offerings in churches.

Why are many government officials so obsessed with bond floats and offerings like another guy from another planet we knew who said he didn’t care because he was not pocketing money from other people.

It must be good money, this syndicate business, but we should also give them the benefit of the doubt, but not with full benefits. They have to pay dearly for sinking the ship deeper should they mishandle the proposed $1 billion worth of maritime package.

Nothing new, really. The first ship we had came from Commodore Dewey who loaned it to Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo to establish a beachhead in Cavite in World War I.

There is no record whether Aguinaldo returned the ship to the US government or just kept it within the vicinity of Manila Bay for the tahong and talaba gatherers.  

raulbvalino@yahoo.com 

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We’re borrowing again despite repeated promises from the government to trim down its expenses.

As the “circus” comes to town in time for the May election fiesta, one cannot help but realize that perhaps God has truly blessed the Philippines. For how else can one explain the character, temperament and resiliency of its people. The bamboo is Filipino and the Filipino is bamboo, indeed.

In the Old Testament, the source of moral guidelines for every faithful is the Decalogue more commonly known as the 10 Commandments. In the New Testament, the source of moral guidelines of how we should witness life in all its fullness is the challenge of the Beatitudes.