"The Chinese have taken over."
"The Chinese have taken over."
Authorities continue to tell us that we Filipinos should not be alarmed by the continuing influx of Chinese and that the government still has everything under control.
Not worry, Santa Banana?
The Chinese have practically taken over entire floors of condominium buildings and gated villages south of Manila! Now there are reports that they have invaded even Cavite City, renting homes at twice or thrice the usual price.
I am also told that the “escort service” provided by corrupt Immigration and Customs officials at the international airports continues. Chinese come illegally to the Philippines, arranged by Chinese syndicates.
Not be alarmed?
The Chinese are coming in and taking over jobs that we Filipinos should be getting.
These foreigners are supposed to be working for some 50 POGOs—but I am told the number goes as high as more than a hundred!
In Merville Park Subdivision where my wife and I now live (we now live with my daughter), the village association is also alarmed that Chinese tenants are renting houses way beyond reasonable fees, and making advances of up to two years. The homeowners’ association has sent a memorandum to residents to report alien takeovers because they are contrary to rules. It also said it wished the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and the local government unit would step in.
But it seems these agencies refuse to act.
Perhaps it is because the Chinese have a predilection for gambling. Everything they do and live for is luck. Their culture also makes them dependent on luck.
This has made the rural folks of China the biggest gamblers in the world.
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The Philippines is not the only place where there is an influx of Chinese. They are all over Southeast Asia, reports say.
What bothers most of the homeowners is that rural Chinese have brought with them their disposition, manners and habits.
Along with the influx is the emergence of “Chinese only” eating establishments.
The irony of it all is that President Duterte does not seem bothered by this phenomenon. Is this part of his pivot to China?
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I have been told that continued infighting among directors, managers and executives of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is just a symptom of the massive corruption at that agency. President Duterte has banned all forms of gaming like Lotto, Small-Town Lottery, Peryahan ng Bayan and Keno.
Some directors of the agency want control of this or that outlet, even the chairman. Other executives also want to have a say running the outlets ,contrary to the rules and regulations of the charity agency. Everybody seems to want a piece of the action. If all these are proven true, then PCSO may just be more corrupt than the Bureau of Customs!
As I have said, a system where human discretion and intervention is present breeds government corruption. This is why, even while the President’s move is drastic, I believe he was right in doing this.
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The earthquakes in Batanes bring to fore the need for a permanent body like the proposed Department of Disaster Resiliency more urgent.
Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez pushed for it in the House of Representatives, but it failed to pass the Senate. Now it is being refined—a priority bill after Mr. Duterte mentioned it in his Sona.
The country may have the ad hoc body National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management under the Office of Civil Defense of the Department of National Defense, but we need a body that can strategize and focus on disaster.
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I still cannot understand by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go continues to accompany the President wherever he goes.
He was a presidential aide before, sure, but now he is senator of the Republic! In continuing to act at the president’s “alalay,” Go demeans not only himself but the office, the Senate as an institution!
And please, Senator Go, don’t act like you are the Department of Social Welfare and Development that you are present where there is fire. You are a senator now so you must always be at the Senate where you are expected to do your job. You are not campaigning anymore.
* * *
Newly elected senators need to know what they should and should not do during Senate sessions.
I was listening to the privilege speech of Senator Panfilo Lacson the other day and I saw Senator Bato dela Rosa smirking. Will somebody please tell the former police chief to refrain from acting the way he did?
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The Commission on Audit says Solicitor General Jose Calida has a backlog of over a million cases. He says they are “pending.”
However he calls them, they are still backlog. The question is, what’s he doing about them?
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