By Ellen Tordesillas,VERA Files
Ramos also stressed that almost two weeks after the incident, the results of the Philippine investigation “should already have come out by this time.”
Speaking to Filipino journalists on the sidelines of the Second General Assembly of the Centrist Asia Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI), Ramos drew from lessons in the 1995 Flor Contemplacion crisis and recommended that a “neutral country or group do a second investigation” in case Taiwan rejects the results of an investigation by the Philippine authorities even if he said it’s “a very valid honest, according to law, upright, and credible investigation.”
Contemplacion was a Filipino domestic helper in Singapore convicted for the murder of a fellow OFW Delia Maga. Raging public sentiments accused the Ramos government of failing to convince the Singapore government to stop her hanging. It took a while for the strained diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Philippines to return to normal.
“What is necessary is for authorities to come out with their initial investigation right away and pinpoint if there was indeed a shooting by the Philippine Coast Guard. Let them come out with it. If the Taiwanese say we want a joint investigation and the Department of Justice says, ‘No,’ let the Philippines finish their probe first and then later on, because Taiwan here is the aggrieved party, let a neutral party do the investigation as maybe agreed to by the Taiwanese and the Philippine governments,” the former president said.
Ramos, a former military general, said it is important that “the government of the Philippines …not delay action on the investigation.”
“After all,” he said, “it’s not so complicated.” He added that it’s not like an investigation of a series of slaughter in the jungle where platoons of soldiers are involved.
Ramos noted that the incident, which happened where the 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones of the Philippines and Taiwan overlap, involved one vessel manned by the Philippine Coast Guard, which is under the Department of Transportation and Communication. The ship is owed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
“No, those guards were there on patrol by orders of a superior officer. That superior officer must be taken also into the investigation to find out what were his orders,” Ramos said adding that’s the rule in the uniform services, which include the Coast Guard.
“You don’t you just shoot without asking for instruction from above unless your life is in danger,” he said.
The Coast Guard chief is Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena. The DOTC secretary is Joseph “Jun” Abaya, a former Philippine Navy officer and a graduate of the US Naval Academy.
The Philippines and Taiwan agreed on Monday to cooperate in each other’s investigation as the DOJ rejected a joint probe because of diplomatic complications.
The Philippines adopts a One-China policy that recognizes Beijing as the sole representative of the Chinese people and considers Taiwan a province.
Former diplomat and congressman Apolinario Lozada suggested that President Aquino tap Ramos as his personal emissary because of the latter’s stature as former president and connections in Taiwan.
FVR’s father, the late Narciso Ramos, a diplomat, was the first head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan when the Philippines adopted the One-China policy in 1974.
Ramos said Taiwanese and Filipinos are the best of friends since 1946 when the Philippines provided sanctuary to more than 30,000 Chinese under Chiang Kai Shek who were driven out of the mainland by Communist forces. “They grew up and became prosperous. They are the parents of the present Taiwanese many of them are quite prosperous.”
Ramos said he has not been approached by Malacanang nor is he offering himself to be Aquino’s emissary to Taiwan. “I’m just giving out answers and advice through my writings in the Manila Bulletin. It’s a take it or leave it proposition.”
He said he feels it’s his duty to give out advice as an older Filipino, taxpaying citizen.
In the Lahad Datu,Sabah crisis last February where 30 Filipinos Filipinos were killed, Ramos advised the Aquino government to convene a national security council meeting. Aquino advised the former president to “write him a memo” on the issue.
Taiwan has suspended the hiring of Filipino workers and warned their citizens against going to the Filipinos. There are some 85, 000 Filipino workers in Taiwan and many are reporting hostilities against them.
Earlier Tuesday, President Benigno S. Aquino III said Philippine government officials are coordinating with their Taiwanese counterparts to resolve the issue regarding the reported harassment and assaults against Filipinos in Taiwan in the wake of the tension caused by the death of a Taiwanese fisherman last May 9 off Batanes group of islands.
In an interview after attending the 115th Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Navy held at the Commodore Posadas Wharf Headquarters, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Station Pascual Ledesma, Fort San Felipe in Cavite City, the Chief Executive said the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) representatives are holding dialogues with their counterparts to address the concerns of the Filipinos residing and working in Taiwan.
“At ang balita natin ay naglabas ang Prime Minister ng Taiwan at saka ‘yung kanilang Ministry of Foreign Affairs na dapat hindi imaltrato ang ating mga kababayan doon, at magkakaroon ng kaukulang parusa kung sino man ang mapatunayan na magmamaltrato sa ating mga kababayan—nagpapasalamat tayo doon,” he Aquino said.
The MECO has organized a team that will document reports of harassment and assaults against Filipinos in Taiwan and relay it to Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
The Philippine government is calling on the Taiwanese people not to harass the Filipinos there because they have nothing to do with the shooting death of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shi-chen.
President Aquino directed the NBI to conduct a thorough, exhaustive, impartial and expeditious investigation of the incident. The NBI has given this case the highest priority
He said he wants the issue regarding the Taiwanese fisherman’s death to be resolved first before initiating a dialogue with Taiwan and other countries to come up with a fisheries agreement
“Tapusin na muna natin itong kasalukuyang na isyu, merong mga unang dayalogo tungkol diyan. Pero ‘yung sa fisheries ay ating pinaaaral ang mga limitasyon natin,” he said.
“Yung guarding the national patrimony provisions of the Constitution will come into play. So, after we finish this issue, we will talk to every neighbor that we have to ensure peaceful and equally prosperous relations with everybody,” he said.
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)
1. “Ramos also stressed that almost two weeks after the incident, the results of the Philippine investigation “should already have come out by this time.”
Eh kailangan muna inspecksyunin ng NBI yun barko na nasa Taiwan bago nila ma conclude ang kanilang imbestugasyon. Tinapos nila muna ang imbestigasyon dito bago pumunta doon.
2. “Ramos drew from lessons in the 1995 Flor Contemplacion crisis and recommended that a “neutral country or group do a second investigation” in case Taiwan rejects the results of an investigation by the Philippine authorities..”
The lesson fron Contemplacion is that the FVR failed to convey first, that the government had done all it could, that it had hired competent lawyers to defend Contemplacion and second FVR panicked, even fired his foreign secretary, when the public did not accept the court’s verdict and sentence and went on a rampage. Consequently, the issue became highly emotional instead of one that could have been discussed with reason and sobriety if FVR had kept his cool.
Besides inviting a neutral country or group to do a second investigation does not resolve anything. If at all it will bring up more complications. What if the neutral investigation was not acceptable to Singapore, what would FVR have done then?
Ginawa kasing career yun pagka ex-president niya nung nakaraang millenium.
“Ramos said Taiwanese and Filipinos are the best of friends since 1946 when the Philippines provided sanctuary to more than 30,000 Chinese under Chiang Kai Shek who were driven out of the mainland by Communist forces. “They grew up and became PROSPEROUS. They are the parents of the present Taiwanese many of them are quite PROSPEROUS.””
i remember a lot of kidnappings of chinese descent under the ramos administration, and it never stopped until erap replaced him.
a good advice from a former president (who can be) considered a contributor in “what the philippines enjoys” today from the treatment of its neighbors and the world that was once beholden to our country. he must be thinking that filipinos have forgotten about his being a turista president hopping from one country after the other who always flaunted achievements whenever he and his battalion of entourage comes home. kaya nga idol siya ni ngongoyang, eh.
what was the economic status of the philippines after his term? from an economic tiger of asia to a more gusgusing daga of the world, a beggar for menial jobs for its citizens? very nice, di ba?
anyway, FVR is just one of those who made the philippines of what it is as seen by the eyes of the world these days, along with him are our rich politicians whose family members take turns holding to power purposely to protect their wealth.
I read that the family of the Taiwanese fisherman does not know of PH apology. What? Talagang si Ma ginamit to the max ang kawawang fisherman para itaas ang naghihingalong political career.
As to FVR, ang layo ng emotional response ng pinoy sa Contemplacion case vis a vis ‘napagkamalang’ intruder na fisherman kasi magkaiba ang sitwasyon.
In fairness to FVR, it was during his term that businessmen were most friendly to government. And vice versa. He espoused that government should level the playing field and maintained predictability of the business environment and saw to it that the regulators of commerce and trade (and government itself!) should not meddle in business. This saw monopolies in utilities being crushed and distributed to more players. New entrants in
Telecoms, Oil, Transport, Water, Energy were having the time of their lives especially when gov’t privatized all its businesses that competed with its citizens. Money was flowing inward from everywhere.
In fact during the 6-year run of FVR, money was abundant yet the earnings of OFWs were not hinged against a downfall in forex unlike today when repatriated earnings have been tremendously reduced due to lack of gov’t spending. Forex demand was highest then because all businesses were scrounging for available cash and the supply cannot keep in pace.
The banks were abuzz with activity, so much that we constructed new high rise building to house the HQs of 98% of all the biggest banks in the country. In 1995-1998 alone, 8 out of 10 skyscrapers built in Makati were bank HQs.
But the timing of history did not favor Ramos, in his last year, the Asian financial crisis hit us hard though we came out unscathed yet all previous gains under his regime were almost wiped out. He tried to save the day, but his chacha was seen vastly as a means to prolong his reign than saving all those years of promising growth, all those were for naught.
This is one aspect of Ramos many of us businessmen miss very much. All the other presidents – from Marcos to Gloria – all fed their own cronies, to the detriment of business environment in general. Noynoy’s reign, though it boasts of tremendous gains in the equities market, do not trickle down to the bottom of society.
Though I will reserve judgement on his performance after he steps down in 2016, the prospects do not look good. Not by a long shot.
MPR, I covered Malacanang during the Ramos presidency. In fairness, even when he loved foreign visits, he really worked hard.
These days,in what is called globalized governance, summit meetings (meetings of heads of state or governments) are common. ASEAN, APEC, ASEM – the country has to be represented at the highest level.
It also has an advantage if you develop personal rapport with other leaders. You can call them personally if there’s a problem.
Foreign relations, it seems, is one of the weaknesses of PNoy.
As to FVR, ang layo ng emotional response ng pinoy sa Contemplacion case vis a vis ‘napagkamalang’ intruder na fisherman kasi magkaiba ang sitwasyon. -Chi.
The emotional response of Filipinos in the Contemplacion case was misplaced. So misplaced and media had a big role in that misplaced reactions. Para lang maka-rating, sinulsulan na sinulsulan ang publiko.
It is also being done here in Taiwan.
Take note that De lima said they are reluctant to share with Taiwan the video because it’s “very revealing”.
Sources said, it shows, mali ang Coast Guard. They overreacted. They violated rules of engagement. That’s the reason why delay tayo ng delay.It’s almost three weeks and we still haven’t finished the investigation kuno.
Yung tama lang sana.
It won’t do good for us as a nation to countenance what is wrong.
granted, ellen, tongue. subalit paano ninyo ipapaliwanag ang mga eskandalong kinasasangkutan ng kanyang administrasyon?
sa aking palagay, naging daan ang administrasyon ni tabako upang lalong maghikahos ang sambayanang pilipino sapagkat sa kanyang panahon isinapribado ang maraming assets ng gobyerno. huwag nating kalimutang walang pinatunguhan ang bases conversion act sapagkat sa bulsa la’ang ng iilan napunta ang limpak limpak na salaping pinagbilhan sa libo libong ektrayang lupang pag-aari ng estado.
Tingin ko nga’y ginagaya ni PeNoy ang Tabako template pagdating sa ekonomiya.
TonGuE, di ba’t pinaboran ni Tabako ang MBC (i.e. Kastilaloy types) nung panunungkulan niya?
Ellen, paano na-sensationalize ng local media ang Flor Contemplacion case? May gatas pa kasi ako sa labi noon eh 😉
Magno, yung hindi ma-account na pera , yung sinabi ni Angelo Reyes na “you may not see it but it’s there” is around FOUR BILLION PESOS pesos which should have gone to the AFP’s Modernization Fund. But we all know, after Rabusa’s expose how all the AFP Generals stole all of it from FVR’s time (or even much earlier) until the time of Putot.
After the privatization, look what we have in the Fort now. Maybe ten times Four Billion Pesos based on the flourishing business community in the old camp.
Yung mga eskandalo kamo like yung Amari, privatization of Napocor, Centennial? Aside from Centennial Expo which I’m not familiar with, the rest have provided areas of exceptional growth. Like I said, yung sa Fort, yung reclamation sa Pasay-Paranaque – isang small modern city in the rise, ganun din yung Alabang Stock Farm – isa nang commeercial district like Makati, ang palso lang e yung sa electricity, 25 years tayong nagdusa sa mahal na kuryente. But what do you know, matatapos na ang lifetime nung mga BOT power plants, di pa rin bumababa presyo. Dapat bantayan diyan yung papalit kay Kalbo.
Sa 2017 ita-transfer na sa gobyerno yang mga assets na yan. Dapat bantayan ng gobyerno ni Kalbo na hindi junk ang iiwan ng mga IPPs para biglang bagsak ang presyo ng kuryente.
Swerte naman ng papalit kay Noynoy.
LCSiao, yung grupong kasa-kasama ni FVR sa mga biyahe, sila yung tipo na high-tech, high standard, basta yung upper crust of out-of-the-box businessmen, not the usual, rich families na rent-seekers. Naexpose niya lahat yung mga yon sa modern capitals ng mundo and the mindset and attitude he inculcated in them is quite obvous when you look where those businessmen are now.
Kasama diyan yung dati kong boss na lasenggo. In a few years time, he will be included in the country’s list of dollar billionaires, if alcohol doesn’t get him listed in the obituary first.
On the other hand, you have Ramon Jacinto, Lisandro Abadia, Ed Espiritu, Jose Panlilio, many others, whose asses were rescued by Tabako’s goverment, even if they suffered maJor business setbacks. Not the conyo boys from Makati.
TonGuE, hindi mapapasakamay ng Estado ang mga power plants na yan hangga’t may EPIRA.
The “emergency” IPPs started in 1992 and ended in 1994. So under the BOT Law, those who built the plants under this program, have to transfer ownership starting 2017. Although there were some circumvention allowed, most were upgrades/repairs that cannot be independent of the original equipment. So if Calaca-I for example, expanded into a second turbine genset years after the BOT, the first turbine will have to be transferred and wait for the second set’s 25-year life to expire.
While it’s common to hear that EPIRA is to blame for the high electricity rates, that is not totally true. In fact, one of the major features of EPIRA is the “open-access” regime where the industry will be market driven instead of the prevailing monopolies/oligopolies. This will definitely stimulate competition and therefore, push prices lower.
Those buyers of the privatized assets – mainly cronies of Arroyo and Aquino – will play temporary roles for now and eventually sell those assets to new players and keep a few for themselves. The Aboitizes, Lopezes, Cojuangcos, Razon, Brown and Pangilinan have captured the supply and distribution side and unless open-access is pushed, they will just divide the spoils among themselves.
Gov’t should be serious about bringing energy costs down because it has been proven time and again that no matter what GDP growth you can achieve, as long as energy rates are almost triple that of Asian neighbors Indonesia and Thailand ( about $0.07 per KW compared to our $0.18) we can never attract investors in industries that provide mass employment, and our citizens remain poor just the same. We might be the leaders in GDP growth but in reality we are laggards in FDI (only about $2B last year) while our neighbors are in double figures.
nobody is saying the philippine economy is not flourishing after one privatization after the other, eh.
the only question is – who really enjoyed the fruits gathered from that economic growth?
were the common pinoys given the means to feed themselves long time?
Kumbaga, MPRivera, pati ang pandurukot ng mga dambuhalang power pirates sa ating mga bulsa ay kasama sa tinuturing na economic growth na yan.