PRESIDENT Duterte rued his remarks on the Holocaust, “profoundly” apologizing to the Jewish community for comparing his bloody war on illegal drugs to Adolf Hitler’s killing of six-million Jews.
He also apologized for mistakenly including a former Pangasinan governor, now a member of Congress, and other provincial officials because of “negligence.”
Doesn’t the President realize that he can’t be apologizing for negative reactions to his pronouncements? That would erode his credibility. People should believe whatever their leader says or does.
The worst part is having his spokesmen scramble all over the place explaining what he supposedly really meant. They accuse the media of giving the wrong spin to the President’s words.
The result is the impression that Mr. Duterte does not mean what he says, and even that he is lying.
The less he talks—rambles, really—the less mistakes he can commit. President Duterte already has two spokesmen, Ernesto Abella and Martin Andanar. Let them talk and earn their pay.
What did the President say exactly?
“Kung ikaw kaya nandito, bakit ka hindi magmumura? (If you were in my place, why wouldn’t you curse?)
“You are portrayed or pictured to be one… a cousin of Hitler and yet do not even bother to investigate this. Imagine that I will be facing and even the International Court for genocide. Kayong US, EU you can call me anything. But, I was never into or I am never into hypocrisy like you. Close your doors, it’s wintertime, there are migrants, escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you are worried about the death of 1,000, 2,000, 3,000?
“Hitler massacred three-million Jews. Now there are three-million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them. At least if Germany had Hitler… the Philippines would have what, you know [pointing to himself]… my victims. I would like to be—all criminals—to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”
Duterte’s English may not be perfect, but what he meant was there. For Palace officials to say that media quoted him out of context shows they are all liars.
At least, President Duterte apologizes for his mistakes. Former President BS Aquino never did.
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People at the Bureau of Customs are abuzz. The Iglesia Ni Cristo, or at least one of its top officials, is intensely lobbying for the appointment of four protégés to key positions in the agency.
Supposedly, those who are being pushed by the influential religious group for key positions are Deputy Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno as Customs Commissioner, lawyer Teddy Raval as head of the Intelligence Group, lawyer Vincent Maronilla as District Collector of the Port of Manila, and lawyer Vener Baquiran as District Collector of the Manila International Container Port.
My sources at Customs tell me that the INC wants payback for its support for a Duterte-Marcos team during the May 9, 2016 presidential elections. Recall that for supporting politicians, Iglesia has always been given positions at Customs for its protégés. These are mainly sensitive positions—District Collector for Naia and District Collectors for the Port of Manila, the MICP, Batangas Port, Subic, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga City.
To be sure, these four I mentioned earlier are not really outsiders. They have been with the BoC for several years. And I am not questioning their competence or fitness for the positions. The point is that the appointing authority should subject them to a rigid vetting process to make sure that they are the most qualified and the most trustworthy among all possible candidates for these positions.
There is also the question of integrity. The positions involved direct supervision over the collection of billions of pesos every year. This is most important in the light of continuing complaints about what is known as “tara” that reportedly ranges from P3,000 to P50,000 per container, depending on the nature and value of the contents, and the size of the container.
“Tara” refers to bribes or grease money given to corrupt Customs people by those seeking release of their cargoes, or for the exemption from physical inspection of their shipment. “Tara” comes unto play in the smuggling of such items as cars, electronic goods, petroleum, or agricultural goods and products like rice, onions, garlic and fruits.
The release of “tara” goes on every Friday on Remedios Street in Malate along the many restaurants there. This is an open secret in the agency and the practice has long been embedded in the culture of corruption at Customs. My gulay, with some 5,000 containers passing through Customs every day, the “tara” must be in the millions of pesos every Friday.
There are syndicates in Customs that specialize in these deals that rob the government of billions of pesos a year in lost revenues. Members of these syndicates act as conduits to smugglers at Customs. This should compel the President to make sure that absolutely none of these who are named to these sensitive posts have ties with these syndicates.
One significant consideration in making such appointments is that these positions will have substantial impact in meeting the BoC collection targets for 2016. The target has been set at P409 billion, but that target has already been reduced by 19.3 percent from the original target of P498.67 billion. This is supposedly because of lower import volume and falling prices of oil. Significantly, Customs failed to meet its P238.32-billion collection goal for the first half of this year, netting only P190.27 billion for a shortfall of P48.9 billion.
Yet, Santa Banana, I am told that one member of a syndicate was telling his friends that he used to deliver up to P20 million a week to a BoC bagman. And that’s just one of the many collection districts.
Only last month, Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon reportedly relieved a certain captain as head of Customs Operations Office for allegedly receiving P100 million to P220 million in monthly “tara” since 2012.
And how true is the talk that since 2010 up to this year, a top official of the INC has been getting 50 percent of this “tara?” Is this tolerated by the INC? My gulay, it is bad enough that our people have to put up with patronage politics as an institutionalized evil in governance. But do we have to suffer the interference of a religious sect in the appointment of key people to sensitive positions in government? So much for the Constitutional provision on separation of Church and state.
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I am wearing hearing aids which I acquired from Dr. Eduardo Go of the Hi-Tech Hearing Center Inc. in Makati. It has been there for the past 20 years or so. I find the hearing aids comfortable; I use them every day like a necessity.
I was pleasantly surprised in one of my visits to Go when he showed me one of his gadgets —the Remote Multi-Microphone. Go is very well versed with its specifications. He showed me how patients will find it useful, such as speech clarity in a noisy environment, and the like.
In venues, like churches, conference halls, auditorium, parties, even in the car where extreme car noise will have drowned the conversation, this gadget is also useful. One can even use it as television transmitter up to 15 feet away. It automatically switches from directional reception in roundtable meetings with its built-in accelerator.