THE TRAGEDY OF OUR ‘CHINA FIRST’
POLICY
By: Richard Heydarian - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:06 AM February 04, 2020
…Almost four years later, China is yet to build any major
infrastructure project in the Philippines. For years, I warned that China could
take Mr. Duterte for a ride with empty infrastructure promises in exchange for
major geopolitical concessions. I called this the “Chinese chimera” phenomenon.
Instead, what we have gotten is the influx of Chinese online casino
workers, and more recently, prostitutes, who have upended the socioeconomic
landscape in major cities. The Pogos and such types of shady, low-quality
investments have created hundreds of thousands of jobs for the Chinese, but not
much for Filipinos.
…Unable to boast of any big-ticket Chinese infrastructure investments,
Mr. Duterte has instead resorted to the bogus claim that if we resist China in
the West Philippine Sea, there will be war.
…The hollow nature of Mr. Duterte’s “independent” foreign policy has
been on full display in recent months. When a suspected Chinese militia boat
rammed a Filipino fishing boat within our exclusive economic zone last year,
the President chose a combination of prolonged silence and perplexing meekness
to downplay the situation as “a little maritime incident.” It exactly mimicked
the Chinese talking points, which dismissed it as an “ordinary maritime
accident.
Even more shockingly, when neighbors and major countries began
shuttering their borders to China amid the new coronavirus epidemic, the
Duterte administration worried about the “political and diplomatic
repercussions” of any serious countermeasure against inbound travel from China.
As Beijing began to lock down Wuhan and surrounding areas following a
weeks-long cover up, the administration still welcomed more than 100 Chinese
from the area.
Time and again, the President
has seemingly prioritized diplomacy
with China over the protection of his own people. What we desperately need
today is an end to this “China first” diplomacy in favor of a more balanced,
self-respecting and truly mutually beneficial relationship with Beijing
[rheydarian@inquirer.com.ph]
RIGGED FOR CHINA?
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:08 AM February 04, 2020
An exclusive report in this paper on Jan. 30 raised questions about the
selection process for a flagship project of the Duterte administration that,
according to sources quoted in the report, appears to show that a Chinese firm
had been “favored from the beginning.”
The project is the $10-billion Sangley Point International Airport in
Cavite, a new gateway seen to help decongest the country’s main international
airport.
A look at the documents showed, first of all, that the feasibility
study and the draft joint venture agreement issued to potential bidders for the
project already seemed to make clear that the project would involve China.
“There were many direct references to the Chinese government’s planned
involvement in the project from its feasibility study dated July 2019 to the
draft joint venture and development agreement issued to potential bidders
starting Oct. 11 last year,” noted the report.
The Cavite provincial government directly mentions China in the draft
agreement, a section of which reads: “…The province has initiated discussions
on the provision of debt financing for Phase 1 with the development financial
institutions and policy banks of the People’s Republic of China.”
The Sangley project, according to the feasibility study, will be funded
mainly through borrowings, with about 98 percent of the debt to be provided by
the Chinese—specifically the state-owned China Development Bank, which will
finance 75 percent or P413.25 billion of the estimated project cost of P550
billion.
The remaining 23 percent will be underwritten by other state-owned
Chinese enterprises, and 2 percent by the Cavite government.
Taken together, “There are traces all over that it’s intended for the
Chinese,” said one of this paper’s sources, and that, as the report noted,
“Reading all the documents together implied that a potential Chinese lender
might not favor a non-China aligned partner.”
The “subjective criteria” was not the only red flag; potential bidders
also backed out because of an “unrealistic” deadline of two months to prepare
the proposals, instead of at least six months to a year, which indicated that
the selection process was deliberately rushed for the favored bidder.
“It was clear to us that the
project is really for China,” one of the proponents told the Inquirer.
…When the deadline to submit proposals ended on Dec. 17, only one
bidder came forward — the Lucio Tan-owned MacroAsia, in partnership with China
Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC), a China state-run infrastructure
company.
With no other bidders, the MacroAsia-CCCC consortium is expected to be
formally awarded the joint venture public-private partnership project with the
Cavite government
…In 2009, for instance, MacroAsia’s
partner CCCC, China’s biggest firm, was blacklisted by the World Bank due to alleged fraudulent practices.
And one of CCCC’s companies that will work on the Sangley project, CCCC Dredging (Group) Co. Ltd., built
China’s illegal military installations on islands seized from the Philippines
in the West Philippine Sea.
Alarmed observers have also warned about the national-security implications of giving Chinese companies owned or
controlled by the Chinese government access to strategic defense installations
such as the Sangley airport, which was developed by the Americans as a military
base vital to the protection of Manila, the country’s capital.
While the Duterte administration
is busy undoing, or trying to undo, supposedly “onerous” contracts with local
companies, it visibly relaxes its stern gaze when it comes to China and
Chinese deals.
To date, Chinese companies have been allowed to set up
telecommunications equipment right inside Philippine military camps, bag
critical infrastructure projects such as dams and bridges, provide CCTV
coverage to parts of Metro Manila, and virtually run the country’s power grid.
Soon, Beijing is likely to add the Sangley airport project to its list of
no-sweat acquisitions.
Dear Mr. President: No. China’s gov’t has not been kind to us. It was
not kind when they basically starved our fishermen, charged us high interest
rates, stole our territory, poached our corals, took our land and used it to
build their islands. It’s been kind to you, not us.
@kipoebanda
Philippine Daily Inquirer (February 5, 2020)
MOTHER OF ONEROUS CONTRACTS
By: Antonio T. Carpio - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:08 AM February 06, 2020
President Duterte has ordered the review
of all government contracts that are onerous
to the Filipino people. He should begin
with the mother of onerous contracts under his own administration — the procurement protocol for the China-funded projects for his flagship
“Build, build, build” program.
In exchange for putting aside the arbitral ruling on the West
Philippine Sea, President Duterte secured a $9-billion loan from China to fund
infrastructure projects in the Philippines. Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez
explained the procurement protocol for this multipurpose loan: “Our protocol
with the Chinese for the tied financing portions is for the Chinese government
to propose three qualified bidders to us from whom we will conduct the
bidding.”
…In the Kaliwa Dam bidding, China submitted three Chinese contractors,
namely: (1) the Consortium of Guangdong Foreign Construction Company and
Yuantian Engineering Company (Consortium), (2) Power Construction Corporation
of China (PCCC), and (3) China Energy Engineering Corporation (CEEC). The
Manila Waterworks & Sewerage System (MWSS), which conducted the bidding,
limited the bidding to these three Chinese contractors.
The first bidder, the Consortium, was disqualified because it did not
submit the required documents, despite the clear instruction to bidders that
failure to submit the required documents would result in disqualification. One
of the two members of the Consortium is a state-owned company of China, while
the other, whose ownership is not clear, has undertaken many projects for the
Chinese government.
The second bidder, PCCC, a state-owned company of China, was also
disqualified because it submitted a bid beyond the Approved Budget for the
Contract (ABC). The instruction to bidders clearly stated that “Bids received
in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at the bid opening.”
The third bidder, CEEC, a state-owned company of China, submitted a bid
just 0.08 percent below the ABC, or a bid of P12,189,893,798.70. Thus, the MWSS
issued the Notice of Award to CEEC as the winning bidder.
The Commission on Audit (COA),
in its Audit Observation Memorandum of the Kaliwa Dam bidding, stated: “In
summary, it can be deduced that the two bidders/contractors were included
merely to comply with the ‘at least three bidders’ requirement as stated under
the Procurement Law. Likewise, the procurement of the project is with the semblance of a competitive bidding when
in reality, it is a negotiated contract
from the inception of the bidding process.”
In short, the COA saw the “reality”—that the bidding was a sham, which of course was obvious to everyone. The
CPC, which controls the three bidders, already chose from the very start CEEC
as the winning bidder and instructed the other two bidders to simply disqualify
themselves. The bidding was lutong macau.
Our Procurement Law requires
public bidding for all government infrastructure projects. This rule is
subject to narrow exceptions, like in emergency cases, not applicable to the
Kaliwa Dam bidding.
…The procurement protocol for the China-funded infrastructure projects
has spawned the sham bidding of the Kaliwa
Dam project, whose cost is naturally
overpriced in the absence of a fair
public bidding. Other China-funded projects procured under the same
protocol would also be overpriced.
President Duterte should order a review of this procurement protocol to
protect the interest of the Filipino people. This procurement protocol is precisely the transaction characterized
under the Anti-Graft Law as “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous” to
the government and the Filipino people.
[acarpio@inquirer.com.ph]
AUDIT
THE NGCP
Philippine
Daily Inquirer / 04:07 AM February 11, 2020
If
there is one franchise this administration ought to turn upside down, it is the
franchise that has allowed the Chinese
to control the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), the entity
that operates the lone power grid supplying electricity to a large part of the
country.
For
some time now, senators looking at the peculiar situation in the NGCP have
found increasingly convincing evidence
that something sinister is happening in the NGCP right under the noses of
Filipino executives and government officials who were supposed to safeguard the
country’s national security interest in the vital public utility.
That
China, through its state-owned State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC), ended up
owning 40 percent of the NGCP seems to be not an accident. The SGCC was
supposed to be only a “technical partner” of the Filipino consortium composed
of the Monte Oro Grid Resources Corp. owned by Henry Sy Jr., and the Calaca
High Power Corp. led by Robert Coyiuto Jr.
Back
in November last year, Sen. Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution calling for a
national security audit of the NGCP following information that only Chinese engineers are now able to
operate and troubleshoot the transmission facilities and that China can remotely shut down the power grid
from a monitoring system located in Nanjing.
National
Transmission Corp. (Transco) president Melvin Matibag confirmed that disturbing
possibility before the Senate energy committee during a budget hearing.
“Given
the technological advancement right now in the telecommunications as well as in
software, that is possible,” he said.
Matibag
added that while Transco owns the transmission facilities and has oversight
over the NGCP, its access to the system was limited.
…Hontiveros
framed the issue succinctly: “Mr. President, the (NGCP) chair is Chinese,
almost all the contractors are Chinese, the systems software was made in China,
and the training is in China. But we have to trust and believe that this is
Filipino-run?”
…The
NGCP is not explaining in any adequate way until now. In fact, in a brazen
display of defiance, it continues to refuse submitting to a government audit.
The NGCP has prevented Transco and the Department of Energy from conducting an
audit of its operating system, according to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who
said the NGCP even questioned the DOE’s authority.
It’s
a wonder how a private corporation operating such an important public utility
can be this adamant about preventing outside scrutiny. What the dickens is
going on in there, and what is the NGCP so desperate to hide?
Gatchalian
warned the company to allow the DOE and Transco to conduct the audit or face
revocation of its 50-year congressional franchise. “I have a very simple deal
for NGCP: You allow the inspection, or else we would proceed to review your
franchise because there was clearly a violation of the Constitution.”
It’s
an ultimatum the Senate should stand by. As “onerous contracts” go, here is a glaring example of an enterprise whose suspicious behavior and murky state of
affairs have become inimical to the public interest.
NOT JUST PRO-CHINA, BUT
ANTI-FILIPINO POLICIES
By: Solita Collas-Monsod - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:06 AM February 15, 2020
For the record, I, Solita Collas-Monsod, Filipino, do register my
vehement protest at the turn this government has taken, showing total
subservience (brown-nosing is more like it) toward China, thus going against
the express desires of the Filipino people and our national interest.
I cite three cases to prove my point.
Case # 1. The West Philippine
Sea (WPS). The Philippines won an outstanding victory in the case against China
in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Netherlands. Remember,
Reader, that China, using its nine-dash-line demarcation, claims (1) 80 percent
of the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea—381,000
square kilometers of maritime space, and (2) 100 percent of our extended
continental shelf (ECS)—over 150,000 sq km of maritime space.
The PCA ruled that there was no legal basis for China’s nine-dash line.
But China does not accept the ruling, and the Duterte administration is
tiptoeing around it for fear of displeasing China.
How much is the WPS worth?
Crude expert estimates: $1-$1.5 trillion; for oil—$378 billion-$7 trillion; for
natural gas (900 trillion cubic feet)—$2.07 trillion. For a total of $3.4 trillion-$10.6 trillion.
To give perspective: Philippine GDP in 2018 was $330 billion.
The above estimates do not
include the value of fisheries
estimated at 7.9 million m.t. annually, or something like $15.8 billion. That is, in effect, what
China steals from us because our fishermen are prevented from fishing there.
The above estimates also do not
include the value of the methanol,
which Justice Antonio Carpio estimates could fuel the Chinese economy for 130
years.
This is what is at stake in the WPS, which from appearances is being
“shared” with China. That’s what this and future generations of Filipinos are
losing. In contrast, President Duterte is grateful to China for its aid to us.
His Beijing trip brought in a pledge of $9 billion in soft loans (including a
$3 billion credit line). Over the Duterte regime, that would be $1.5 billion a
year. Compare that with the $15.8 billion a year that China is stealing from us
in fishing alone.
Case #2: The Visiting Forces
Agreement termination. This agreement with the United States, ratified by
the Philippine Senate, has been unilaterally terminated by the Duterte
administration, and will end 180 days after the United States got the notice.
The effect of this is that the Philippines is weakened further, and China is
strengthened further. Our joint military exercises with the United States in the
WPS will cease. Whatever impediment this imposed on China’s forays into
Philippine territory will disappear.
Case #3: Banning travel to and
from Taiwan as part of COVID-19. This is the most egregious example of Mr.
Duterte’s brown-nosing China. This is a very sensitive issue between China and
Taiwan, with China insisting on a one-country-two-systems policy and Taiwan not
wanting any of it (they saw what happened and is happening to Macau and Hong
Kong). Mr. Duterte’s banning travel to and from Taiwan (because he claims it is
part of China) is wrong on every count except one: He just earned brownie
points from China.
Understand, Reader, we are the only country that has banned travel to
and from Taiwan. Moreover, as of 2:33 p.m. yesterday, China accounted for 99.1 percent of all COVID-19 cases. Taiwan accounts
for 0.03 percent (Singapore, Japan, Thailand have more cases).
Furthermore, there are 154,000
Filipinos in Taiwan, most of them earning at least P38,000 a month. Why
hurt our Filipinos who are working there? They probably get better care there
than they will be able to get here.
The President has never given us
a rational explanation for these moves. Not that I expect rationality from
him, given his mental and physical state. But his underlings, who should know
better, accept his decisions at face value, with the excuse that the President
has more sources of information than they have, so they cannot possibly
question his judgment. They, too, are irrational. And they do a disservice not
only to him, but to the country as well.
These policies are not just pro-China, they are anti-Filipino. I
protest.
Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/127388/not-just-pro-china-but-anti-filipino-policies#ixzz6iopD6Wna
THE PEOPLE REJECT THE PIVOT TO CHINA
By: Mahar Mangahas - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:05 AM February 15, 2020
Last Wednesday’s SWS 2020 Survey Review-Diliman Edition showed, among
many other things, that the Filipino people continue to strongly reject the
Duterte administration’s policy pivot toward China, and prefer to continue
traditional relations with the United States.
The review covered the four quarterly nationwide Social Weather Surveys
of 2019. Its presentation slides are at https://www.sws.org.ph/swsmain/artcldisppage/?artcsyscode=ART-20200204102720.
Its closing topic, Foreign Relations, covers today’s piece.
The antipathy of Filipinos toward China has been clear for a very long
time. The rise of China’s trust rating from -33 in 2016Q3 to +9 in 2016Q4 was
prodigious, but short-lived (“Filipinos don’t pivot,” Opinion, 5/27/17). The
deep distrust in China returned, and persists up to now.
The West Philippine Sea (WPS). The people resent China’s bullying in
the WPS, and are disappointed by the administration’s meek response to it.
Eighty-seven percent of
adult Filipinos want the government
to assert its right to the WPS as stipulated in the 2016 decision of
the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Ninety-three percent say it is important
to recover what China has occupied in the WPS.
Eighty-nine percent say it
is wrong to leave China alone with its
infrastructures and military presence in the WPS. Eighty-four percent say
the government should form alliances
with other countries that are ready to help us in defending our security in
the WPS.
The invasion of foreign Chinese
workers. Filipinos are worried about the growing presence of foreign
Chinese workers in their midst. Thirty-one percent say there are already many,
if not very many, foreign Chinese workers in their own localities; 52 percent consider the rising number
of such workers a threat to the
country’s overall security.
The suspicious intentions of the
Chinese government. Forty-four percent disagree that “most of what the Chinese government wants to happen in the Philippines
is good for the Filipinos.” Only 27 percent agree, implying a net -17 confidence that China has good
intentions for us.
This compares to the continuously positive confidence that the US
government has good intentions for the Filipino people, in 20 consecutive SWS
surveys in 1985-2005. SWS will repeat this item for both the United States and
China in future surveys.
Filipinos strongly prefer to
associate with the United States. The country that Filipinos trust most has always been the United States (net +72 in 2019Q3); the
one they trust least is China (net -33). Only two of the first
12 trust ratings of China during the Duterte period have been positive.
Seventy-eight percent say
that relations with the United States
are more important than relations with China. Only 12 percent say that
relations with China are more important.
Sixty-one percent believe that the United States will defend the
Philippines in case of invasion by another country; only 9 percent do not
believe it.
The administration’s latest move, to terminate the Visiting Forces
Agreement, is totally out of sync with the desires of the Filipino people. …
Contact mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph
Our Communist China foreign policy does not serve the interest and
welfare of the Philippine people but rather that of the constituency of one, our
pathologically narcissistic, spectacularly self-aggrandizing president, who in order to
maintain his position abuses his power even to the point of serving the rapaciously domineering
interests of our giant predatory neighbor to the gross disadvantage and harm of
the very nation he is bound to serve and protect.
Image courtesy of Zuanzuanfuwa
ReplyDeleteImage link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:China_Philippines_Locator.svg
Gonzalinho