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It has
been an open secret that the national government is
losing hundreds of million in taxes every year due to
spurious claims against tax-credit certificates (TCCs)
granted to oil companies in order to cushion the high
cost of oil importations, and to protect oil companies
and importers/exporters who use oil substantially in
their manufacturing process.
People
just shrugged this off as just another one of those
things that are almost impossible to prove anyway
because of the collusion of the parties involved.
Now
comes an exasperated businessman who was fed up with the
whole scheme. He filed plunder cases against his own kin
who are his co-stockholders, and also filed cases of
graft, estafa and falsification of public documents
against a former finance undersecretary, executives of a
private firm, and particularly officials of Petron and
Shell for defrauding the government of some P288.3
million worth of taxes from 1994 to 1996 alone.
Believe
me, this is only a drop in the bucket and barely
scratching the surface.
****
A
setback in the country’s fight against terrorism, a
European court was reported to have deleted the name of
Jose Maria Sison from the EU’s list of known terrorists
because of technicalities. The court said that the
European Union violated the right of Sison to defense,
the obligation to state reasons, and the right to
effective judicial protection, as reported in a major
broadsheet on Friday.
****
A big
day for terrorists as their comrades in
Mindanao ruthlessly beheaded 10 Philippine Marines who were on
a mission to locate and rescue kidnapped Italian priest
Fr. Giancarlo Bossi.
At the
end of the day, we ask ourselves for some sanity. What
can we say to the families of these Marines? Did they
die in vain, or were their lives rendered useless in the
face of man’s brutal inhumanity?
****
Mr.
Sison is still not out of the woods despite the EU court
decision to unlist him as his assets and bank accounts
remain frozen. It appears from the EU Charter that the
decisions of the EU Council prevails when faced with a
contrary decision by its court to unfreeze Sison’s
assets.
It has
been pointed out that the court did not question the
terror tag but simply a reminder to the authorities to
abide by the process.
The
inclusion of Sison as a terrorist was a result of the
inclusion of the Community Party of the Philippines-New
People’s Army as a terror group with Sison as its
leader. His insistence in rejecting a cease-fire
agreement between the NPA and the government belies his
claim that he no longer heads the communist group.
Filipinos do not believe him and the Europeans do not
believe him. To believe him is to bite your tongue.
****
It seems
to be an awful week for a shower of tragedies. A ferry
boat carrying 256 passengers plying the Lucena City-Masbate
route sank in turbulent waters off the coast of Quezon
province in the chilly early morning of Thursday leaving
behind at least nine confirmed dead and more than a
hundred still missing.
The sea
was rough although there was no rain when the boat hit a
reef in the Sibuyan Sea. According to its captain, the
boat tried to seek shelter some 500 meters from shore
due to strong waves brought on by Typhoon Bebeng but it
hit a rock and sunk.
****
Another
ferry in the area of Surigao was stranded and was towed
to safety. It carried 41 passengers and a lot of cargo
and was seen drifting in the high seas after its engine
failed.
These
are some of the tragedies that we experience every year,
repeat—every year. The country, composed of more than
7,100 islands, is highly dependent on marine
transportation for its economic exchanges. And every
year we undergo so much pain and humiliation,
sacrificing so much lives for an industry that don’t
give a damn but for profits alone.
There
are many laws already enacted that can provide
safeguards and guarantees—because assurances are not
enough—to our travelers and shippers.
On the
other hand, there are dozens of pending bills in the
House and the Senate which seek to guarantee some more,
but which are left to the termites while hundreds of
lives are imperiled because of inaction.
****
On
another plane, Mayor Alfredo Lim was strongly criticized
by his colleagues in the opposition for extending
courtesy to the President when the latter held an
informal consultation with some residents of Manila.
As the
city mayor, he was on hand to welcome and escort the
President and brushed aside criticisms by saying that he
will support the policies of the President as long as
these policies are good for Manila and Manilans.
He is
the mayor, and the guest is the President. How can he be
accused of betraying the opposition to which he belongs
by extending official courtesy to the President’s visit?
Make Lim’s day!
****
Here we
go again. Dozens of disappointed investors watched their
hard-earned cash go down the tube in the wake of the
FrancSwiss pyramiding scam. Known personalities in the
film industry, from prominent families, even some
members of media are said to be victims of online
pyramid scammers.
After
the Balajay scandal, I thought we have learned our
lesson. Right after the FrancSwiss exposé, now comes the
bogus SM.Fund.com juicy come-on, and investors swallowed
it whole.
As we
said before, hold on to your money and check your
investment plan a dozen times while consulting
legitimate investment houses before you make the final
plunge. Like you, the scammers are also out to make a
fast buck.
****
By this
time, the Human Security Act, or the antiterror law,
will be implemented. Only the Supreme Court has the
power to stop its application through a number of legal
courses that are available to all oppositionists.
As we
have said earlier, it is a law that is designed to
ensure that the state has the ammunition to defend
itself. No one should feel threatened by the law except
the terrorists. |
