The Manila Times


A 2


news FRIDAY D e cember 10, 2010


Manila, Beijing want peace in Spratlys A


BY BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON REPORTER


TERRITORIAL dispute in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea should be resolved


only through peaceful means, top officials of the Philippine government and Chinese military said on Thursday.


In a report to the Department of


Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Em- bassy in Beijing said that this con- sensus was reaffirmed when the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, Gen. Ricardo David Jr., met with China’s Defense Minister Liang Guanglie on December 7 and People’s Liberation Army Gen. Chen


■ STANDARDS FROM A1


Builders welcome new standards


revenue recognition, by January 1, 2012, which could likely post a tough challenge for property developers. “This will change the landscape of Philippine


real estate industry,” Mañalac told an exclusive roundtable with reporters and editors of The Manila Times on Thursday. “Property developers will be now looking at a


project that needs to be completed in a year,” he said. Under the new accounting standards, revenues will


only be recognized once the unit is completed and delivered to the buyer. Currently, revenues from selling real estate


products are realized on a percentage-of-completion basis as construction progresses. The new standard of revenue recognition was supposed to be implemented in 2009 but it was deferred by three years to give real estate players enough time to prepare for the changes. Mañalac said that the new accounting


interpretation would most likely push companies to shift to mid-rise projects, which would be faster to construct and turn over. The change in accounting standards will come at a time when the real estate sector is enjoying a boom, buoyed by a low interest-rate environment. “But you cannot build mid-rise in central business


districts because the lot is very expensive, how will you get returns for your investments?” Mañalac said. Most companies have shifted to building high-rise


condominiums amid a tight supply of land ideal for medium-rise communities. The average turnover for a high-rise project is


three years, compared to a year for mid-rise developments, the NREA official said. The Lucio Tan-led Eton Properties Philippines Inc.


has taken into account the proposed changes in accounting standards in its planned project launches. The three-year-old property developer has


sacrificed sales to ensure its customers that they will be able to afford the financing terms of its residential products. “If ever we offer a payment term of P10,000 a


month, rest assured your next payment will be somewhere in that area,” said Mañalac, also the vice president for sales of Eton City, the developer’s 1,000- hectare township project in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Since entering the real estate scene in 2007,


Eton Properties has launched 30 projects, encompassing residential, commercial, office projects and township developments. The outlook for the real estate sector is expected to


remain rosy next year as the industry is expected to more than double its growth because of the strength of the residential, office and tourism markets. “This puts the pressure on [overseas Filipinos] to


invest now because of the strengthening of peso,” Mañalac said. While the recent national elections should have


provided uncertainty in the market, property firms remained aggressive with their launches, he added. The property sector is expected to


continuously grow in the next three years, driven by the middle-income segment of the residential condominium sector, consultancy firm Jones Lang Lasalle Leechiu said. The country has a 3.8-million housing backlog, 40


percent of which are in the middle-income segment, which is defined as condominium units priced from P1.5 million up to P10 million.


REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES


COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS PASAY CITY


ANNOUNCEMENT President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III has submitted to the Commission on


Appointments (C.A.) for confirmation the ad interim appointments of the following officials:


Cabinet Secretary


Hon. Corazon Juliano-Soliman - Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development


Armed Forces of the Philippines


Arturo B. Ortiz – Lieutenant General; Lauro Catalino G. Dela Cruz and Nestor R. Sadiarin – Major General; Juanito H. Dalmas, Jorge E. De Jesus, Restituto L. Aguilar and Lorenzo R. Sumicad – Brigadier General; Raymundo M. Lomboy (PA), Loreto C. Magundayao, Jr. (PA), Benedicto A. Llera (PA), Salvador B. Calanoy, IV (PA), Noel P. Mislang (PA), Francis D. Alaurin (PA), Jacinto R. Bareng (PA), Victor J. Tan (PA), Jose P. Cabanban (PN-M), Krestofel A. Kiamco (PA), Natalio A. Jayson (PA), Pedro A. Sumayo, Jr. (PA), Lope C. Dagoy (PA), Raylindo S. Aninon (PA), Mariano Antonio S. Perez (PA), Jesse A. Alvarez (PA), – Colonel


The public may submit any information, written report or sworn complaints or oppositions in forty (40) copies on the above appointments to the CA Secretariat, 6th Floor, PNB Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Metro Manila.


For the schedule of the public hearings, the CA Secretariat can be reached through


telephone numbers 551-7532, 831-0893, 831-1824, 834-2706, 831-1566 and 834- 2713.


09 December 2010. MT – Dec. 10, 2010


ARTURO L. TIU Secretary


Bingde on December 8 in Beijing. “We must maintain peace and unhampered tranquility in the South China Sea. The Philippines is committed to resolve disputes in the South China Sea in the most peace- ful way together with China and Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries,” David


■ CORRUPT FROM A1 Politicians most corrupt


TI is a global civil-society organization leading the fight against corruption. In its Global Corruption Barometer 2010 released on Thursday marking Interna- tional Anti-Corruption Day, the organiza- tion said that 69 percent of Filipinos be- lieved that the level of corruption in the country increased over the past three years. Only 6 percent said that corruption in the Philippines decreased and 25 percent said that it stayed the same. In terms of the Aquino administration’s action in the fight against corruption, the TI survey showed that 48 percent of Filipi- nos believed it was “ineffective,” 28 per- cent, “effective,” and 24 percent, “neither.” The survey said that the most corrupt in the country were political parties, 3.6 per- cent; police, 3.6 percent; parliament/legis- lature, 3.5 percent; public officials, 3.5 per- cent; judiciary, 3.1 percent; military, 2.9 percent; business/private sector, 2.9 per- cent; education system, 2.7 percent; and nongovernment agencies, 2.4 percent. The least corrupt were media, 2 percent and religious bodies, 1.9 percent. The 2010 Global Corruption Barometer


surveyed more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories. Focusing on petty bribery, perceptions of public institutions and views of whom people trust to combat corruption, it was


■ RECOVERY FROM A1 Ex-PCGG chief to ready recovery plans


(EO) 1 and the options available to Malacañang after the High Court declared unconstitutional the order that had created the Truth Commission. The High Tribunal decision caused sup- posed moves to impeach Chief Justice Renato Corona and the other Supreme Court justices, prompting three lawmak- ers also on Thursday to tell colleagues in the House of Representatives to take it easy. Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo, also the chairman of the House Committee on Jus- tice, however, confirmed that “forces” were pushing for the impeachment of all High Tribunal magistrates. But Tupas said that he “distanced” him- self from these forces, “some [of which] are new, some had been involved in im- peachment cases, some disappointed by how things are being handled.” Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada 3rd also confirmed a clamor for the removal of the justices. Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo of Ang Galing


Pinoy party-list cautioned against the im- peachment moves, which he described as “quite scary.” “Why is it that if someone does not fol-


low the bidding of Malacañang, he gets punished for that? This is not a revolution- ary government. This is a democratic [one],” Rep. Arroyo said during a chance interview in Taguig City (Metro Manila). A son of former President Arroyo, the party-list lawmaker said that the Palace should just follow the rule of law and look out for other options within the legal framework. Mrs. Arroyo’s camp has claimed that EO 1 targets her alone for alleged wrongdo- ing during her watch.


Elma, also a former chief legal adviser ■ MEDIA FROM A1


House to probe spat


during the arrest of suspects Anthony Musso, Edward Gutierrez and Nora Llaniguez, who allegedly were using Pacquiao’s name to receive donations and who had been using the website www.stampout-malaria.com to ask for such donations.


During the media coverage of the arrest, Pacquiao’s unnamed bodyguard elbowed and berated three cameramen of different tel- evision stations to prevent them from getting close to and having a good shot of the lawmaker.


to Malacañang, was appointed by President Aquino as presidential assistant for special concerns with the rank of Secretary. He took his oath of office on November 22. The President said that Elma was one of the persons whom he was considering from the start to help in his administration. “[But] the person has a very significant


[law] practice. Nagsakripisyo noong panahon ng nanay ko at nahiya naman akong hiritan na pwede ka bang magsak- ripisyo ulit? [He sacrificed during the ad- ministration of my mother and I was embarrassed to ask him if he could make sacrifices again?]” he added. Mr. Aquino is the only son of late Presi- dent Corazon “Cory” Aquino, who had cre- ated the PCGG to flush out the allegedly hidden wealth of strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his family. On Wednesday, he said that he will hire consultants to help the Palace legal team to analyze the Supreme Court ruling on EO 1 and to plan the government’s next moves in the wake of the latest setback to its war against graft. The Truth Commission will have probe corruption scandals during the term of then President Gloria Arroyo, now a law- maker representing her home province of Pampanga.


During an interview, the President said that his team was still reviewing the High Court decision and the opinions dissent- ing with it. “I understand they have been studying [them] right now. I have yet to see their recommendations,” he added. The President denied that


Malacañang was being confrontational with the High Tribunal when he issued his statements on Wednesday, saying


Llavanes and the two camera- men, who are used to shoving and other rough treatment of journal- ists during coverage of news events, said “being pushed is al- right, but being berated by a no- body in front of so many people is unacceptable.” Llavanes claimed that he was certain that the incident was wit- nessed by lawyer Jeng Gacal, Pacquiao’s chief of staff, and the National Bureau of Investigation agents, led by Eric Nuqui, who ar- rested the suspects.


He said that the unnamed


Pacquiao security aide even threatened to “wait” for Añonu- evo and Escala at the ground floor of the South Wing annex build- ing of the complex where the law- maker holds office.


what he did was just a reiteration of the objectives of the commission. “Again, the solutions have to float from a correct identification of the problem. If we do not understand what exactly transpired, then we are still perpetuating the state of limbo that had existed in the past years, starting perhaps from 2005 when the ‘Hello, Garci’ scandal first erupted,” he said. The “Hello, Garci” controversy linked then President Arroyo to vote-rigging dur- ing the 2004 elections, where she ran and won the race for president against her top rival, opposition candidate Fernando Poe Jr. Malacañang, meanwhile, should respect the decision of the High Tribunal on the unconstitutionality of EO 1, Sen. Edgardo Angara said also on Thursday. “The Supreme Court made a sound, logi- cal argument on the EO’s unconstitutionality, so I believe that Malacañang should respect the decision,” he added.


Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez agreed, saying that the Supreme Court rul- ing “must be respected.” According to Angara, if the Aquino ad- ministration is bent on creating the Truth Commission, “the only constitutional, legal and practical approach” is by way of Congress. “The way I understand it, the Supreme


Court’s principal ground for declaring the Truth Commission’s unconstitutionality is its legality. This kind of investigative body should originate from Congress, not from the executive,” he explained.


Angara said that allowing Congress to correct the constitutional flaws of EO 1 would also show unity among the differ- ent branches of government under the new administration.


»In The Manila Times December 10, 1987


Bombing blamed on Cabauatan men REBEL Maj. Reynaldo Cabauatan’s group might have been responsible for the powerful bomb blast the other night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and on Pasay Road in Makati. Military intelligence sources said the explosives used could have been part of the cache “stolen by Cabauatan’s group from military arsenals.”


December 10, 1967 Crisologo says Roxas bribe story ‘a lie’ REP. Floro Crisologo of Ilocos Sur tossed back to Sen. Gerardo Roxas the charge of bribing a witness in a pending case of falsification of election returns from the Mountain Province. Crisologo called the bribery story exposed by Roxas is a lie, and it is used to cover up the truth of the statement signed by witness Herkindo Bayle before Municipal Judge Jose Villanueva of Tabuk, Kalinga-Apayao.


December 10, 1947 Roxas to name police chief BAGUIO CITY: President Manuel Roxas revealed today that he would appoint acting police chief Manuel de la Fuente mayor of Manila if Mayor Valeriano Fugoso insists on resigning by the end of the year.


Sen. Francis Escudero also on Thursday cautioned the Malacañang legal team against issuing sweeping statements against the Supreme Court for striking down the creation of the Truth Commission. Escudero was to statements separately


made by Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on the ruling of the High Tribunal. Cadiz told a press conference that the decision was a payment of gratitude to Mrs. Arroyo, who appointed 14 of the 15 sitting justices of the Supreme Court. De Lima said that the High Court rul-


ing showed characteristics of a politi- cal decision.


Escudero, the Senate representative to the Judicial and Bar Council, said that statements branding the decision as po- litically motivated was uncalled for, espe- cially coming from the highest legal offi- cials of the Palace. “As officers of the court and members of the official legal team, more respect should be accorded to the High Tribunal whether the decision penned is favorable to any party,” he added.


Escudero urged the legal team to be


“more circumspect” when issuing state- ments or personal opinions that might undermine some entities that actually did their job right.


He said that should Malacañang decide to amend the executive order based on the opinion of the Supreme Court, the Palace legal team could just add the letter “s” to the phrase “past administration” to widen the scope of the investigation to be con- ducted by the Truth Commission and for the order not to be misconstrued as a class legislation.


CRIS G. ODRONIA, EFREN L. DANAO, RUBEN D. MANAHAN 4TH, LLANESCA T. PANTI AND


JOHN CONSTANTINE CORDON


carried out between June 1, 2010 and Sep- tember 30, 2010.


Gallup International conducted the survey. The 2010 Barometer also explored who people trust the most to fight corruption in their countries.


In the Philippines, 1,000 were surveyed


between June 21 and July 7 this year, rep- resenting a population of 65.37 million. In other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, 43 percent believed that the level of corruption in the last three years increased; Malaysia, 46 percent; Thailand, 29 percent; and Vietnam, 63 percent. According to the TI survey, almost half of all respondents said that they paid bribes to avoid problems with the authori- ties and a quarter said that it was to speed up processes.


The police were named as the most fre- quent recipients of bribes, according to those surveyed, with 29 percent of those who had contact with the police reporting that they paid a bribe. “Most worrying is the fact that bribes to the police have almost doubled since 2006, and more people report paying bribes to the judiciary and for registry and permit services than they did so five years ago,” TI said.


Huguette Labelle, the TI chairman, said that the message from the 2010 Barometer


told both Liang and Chen. He stressed that the Philippines is deeply committed to the princi- ples embodied in the 2002 Decla- ration of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.


The doctrine called specifically


for “cooperation and peaceful ne- gotiations” between members of the Asean and China in the dis- puted area.


Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malay- sia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.


Code of Conduct Liang said that China “has strictly


implemented the declaration of conduct, stressing that all involved


parties should guarantee peace and stability in the South China Sea and to handle [disputes] appropriately.” “They also agreed to continue dis- cussions to strengthen cooperation between the Philippines and China through exchange of high-level vis- its between defense officials and the militaries of both countries,” the statement from the Foreign Affairs department said. David is in China as guest of the


People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese government.


It is his first visit to China since becoming Armed Forces chief of staff, and his second foreign visit after South Korea.


The meeting between Manila and Beijing’s government officials came


on the heels of recent reports that said China has constructed a light- house on Subi Reef in a disputed area in the South China Sea. The reports said that Chinese troops are occupying the area be- ing claimed by both the Philip- pines and Vietnam.


But officials of the Department of National Defense have downplayed the reports, saying that the light- house had been constructed even before the declaration of conduct was signed in 2002.


They added that the structure


was probably old, built about eight years ago.


The Subi Reef is currently being occupied by Chinese forces, but is being claimed by the Philippines.


is that corruption is “insidious. It makes people lose faith. The good news is that people are ready to act.” “It is heartening that so many people are ready to take a stand against corrup- tion. This willingness must be mobilized,” she added.


Labelle said that better whistleblower protection and greater access to informa- tion are crucial. “Public engagement in the fight against corruption will force those in authority to act, and will give people further courage to speak out and stand up for a cleaner, more transparent world,” she added. Labelle said that corruption is a regres-


sive tax. “This injustice must be addressed. The marginalized and poor remain the most vulnerable to extortion. Governments should do more to identify corruption risks in basic services and to protect their citi- zens,” she added. In its earlier 2010 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Report, TI said that the Philip- pines was ranked 134th with a score of 2.4 among 178th countries, better than its 139th ranking in 2009. In 2008, the country was ranked 141st with a score of 2.3.


Worldwide survey Meanwhile, TI reported that on a global


scale, one person in four paid a bribe dur- ing the past year.


In the past 12 months, one in four paid a bribe to one of nine institutions, such as health,


The 2002 declaration of conduct prohibits any claimant country from constructing any structure in the area.


Besides China and the Philip-


pines, the other nations claiming the Spratlys in part or in whole are Tai- wan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. The chain of islands, islets, reefs and atolls is believed to be rich in oil and minerals. But Malacañang on Thursday said that it is not keen on filing a diplomatic protest over the light- house issue, and has ordered the Foreign Affairs and National Defense departments to closely monitor the situation in the con- tested islands, which the Chinese call the Nansha islands.


education or tax authorities, according to the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer. Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying that they had made such payments to officials in the past 12 months. The Middle East and North Africa were the next most corrupt regions with 36 percent of people there reporting having paid a bribe.


This compared to 32 percent in the former Soviet republics, 23 percent in South America, 19 percent in the Balkans and Turkey, 11 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, and 5 percent in the European Union and North America.


Countries topping the list for reported bribe payments over the year were Af- ghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, the Palestinian ter- ritories, Senegal, Sierre Leone and Uganda, where more than one person out of two said that they had handed out fi- nancial sweeteners to officials. Lower-income earners reported paying more bribes than the better paid. The study, the seventh on the matter by TI since 2003, this time involved a greater number of countries, including for the first time China, Bangladesh and the Palestin- ian territories.


The United Nations established Inter- national Anti-Corruption Day in 2003 to raise awareness on graft and promote the global fight against it.


WITH REPORT FROM AFP


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