Frank Wenceslao is president of LA-based Philippine Anticorruption Movement USA, Inc. (Pamusa) authorized by the U.S. Department of Justice to work with and submit evidence of corruption against current and former Philippine public officials and people that have colluded with them in conjunction with the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
Many overseas Filipinos are asking if Sen. and Mrs. Manuel Villar (nee Cong. Cynthia Villar) and close associates aren’t guilty of some crimes in their rush to build up a real estate development empire and incredible personal net worth of P46 billion ($940 million) at the end of 2008 after 16 years when the couple were members of Congress?
An important aspect of crime investigation is modus operandi. It’s evident that Villar’s MO in several housing projects is to acquire and develop raw lands where DPWH plans a road project or can be realigned to traverse. He’s used his positions as House Speaker, then Senate President to use his pork barrel funds or make budget insertions to hasten road construction, inflate the property’s collateral value and borrow housing development funds from government lending institutions.
Up to now Villar maintains he’s from a poor Tondo family. Using as baseline his 1992 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth when first elected to Congress his said net worth even under the most favorable conditions is beyond the realm of statistical probability.
That’s why overseas Filipinos through emails to me suspect Villar’s candidacy is to make the presidency a “safe harbor” to escape prosecution. To this end he’d buy the office with his ill-gotten wealth. Consider that Villar’s campaign spending is as though money’s getting out of fashion like the wartime notes issued by the Japanese during WW II.
Although Pamusa isn’t allowed to get involved in partisan politics, we can investigate Villar’s wrongdoings in furtherance of our anticorruption efforts. We will run an information campaign in March through April up to election to ask the following questions, to wit:
Villar claims to have come from a poor family, how’s he able to amass billions of pesos of personal net worth?
What’s Villar defense to former Senate President Franklin Drilon’s charge that Villar’s company, Crown Communities Iloilo, bought 12.7 hectares in Jibao-an, Pavia, Iloilo from farmer CARP beneficiaries and converted this first-class irrigated rice land into a residential enclave, Savannah Subdivision?
Under the law it’s illegal to convert first-class irrigated agricultural land into a subdivision exactly what Villar did in developing the Savannah Subdivision. Hence, Drilon’s charged Villar of the crime based on tax declarations and other documents obtained from the Iloilo provincial government.
How come Villar only obtained the Department of Agrarian Reform’s approval to convert the agriculture land into a residential area in 2007 seven years after construction of the subdivision started in 2000? Hence, multiple counts of criminal acts were committed for five years before the conversion was approved. DAR should’ve filed court action against Villar and other officers of the company owning Savannah Subdivision unless, of course, he had fixed it.
Drilon added that Villar used P4 million of his pork barrel funds to build a 585-meter national road that led right into the entrance of Savannah. “This is the only public works project of Villar in the province,” said Drilon at the Iloilo press conference.
Drilon said that Villar, not content with the 12-hectare Savannah property, bought the adjoining rice lands almost surely covered by CARP and expanded the residential community to a total of 250 hectares. The farmers had no choice but to sell their property, said Drilon, because their irrigation supply had been cut off with Villar’s conversion of the Savannah property which was the primary source of water in the area.
Villar’s workers back-filled the canals to classify them as non-serviceable, another crime, with the value of Villar’s Pavia property in Iloilo shooting up to P3,500.00 per square meter from less than P150.00 per square meter.
The destruction of Iloilo irrigation canals whose costs should be charged to Villar the same way the Senate is asking him to reimburse the government of close to P7 billion for the feasibility studies, engineering design and plans, and other preparatory work wasted when Villar’s pressured DPWH officials to change the C-5 road extension alignment to “snake” through and provide ingress and egress for 23 Villar-owned or controlled housing subdivisions.
Drilon said that the access road to Iloilo’s Savannah Subdivision was paid with Villar’s pork barrel and is jokingly called C-5 and a half. Regardless if it’s only half a kilometer, it shows the lack of decency on Villar’s part to set aside the interest of CARP beneficiaries to be able to pursue his profit motives.
This is a sample of Villar’s social conscience he’d bring to the presidency, which all decent Filipinos should stop by all means.
The C-5 controversy is a tip of the iceberg. As objective people dig deeper they’ll see Villar’s MO similar to Mafia’s criminal enterprise has also been perpetrated in other subdivisions owned or controlled by Villar’s group of companies.
Another example of Villar’s criminal MO involved a property bought by Northwinds Prime Properties Inc. (a Villar company) for over P120 million from Sta. Lucia Realty and Development Corp. then mortgaged to Capitol Development Bank (a Villar-owned thrift bank) under the name of ADR Farms in the amount of P150 million (Northwinds making P30M profit) on July 4, 1996. The property was used as collateral for a P1.5 billion emergency loan from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and eventually sold to RCBC Savings Bank by Capitol Bank and finally bought back by Palmera Homes Inc. (another Villar company) for development.
This is clearly a criminal act of Capitol’s officers led by Mrs. Villar that involved the BSP accepting an over-valued collateral more than ten times its acquisition price in a highly questionable private business transaction whose benefits solely accrued to Villar’s owned Capitol Bank, Palmera Homes Inc. and, of course, himself.
As usual, Villar dismissed the charges the same way he did the Senate Committee Report No. 780 on the C-5 road extension scandal which, according to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a Harvard-trained lawyer, presents a strong case against Villar and if the issue was brought to court and handled by a good prosecutor, the presidential aspirant “will end up in jail.”
Filipinos supporting Villar should ask themselves if he won’t be worse than Marcos or GMA if, God forbid, he’s elected President of the Philippines.
For comments fcwenceslao1034@ gmail.com.
*Frank Wenceslao is president of LA-based Philippine Anticorruption Movement USA, Inc. (Pamusa) authorized by the U.S. Department of Justice to work with and submit evidence of corruption against current and former Philippine public officials and people that have colluded with them in conjunction with the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
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“You have come empty-handed and shall go empty-handed. What is yours today was somebody else’s in the past and will be somebody else’s in the future. You think it is yours and are deeply engrossed in it. This attachment is the cause of all your sorrow.”
Men and women are totally different creatures. Because of that, there have been so many debates and arguments and jokes about who’s better. But the truth is both men and women have their fair share of endearing and irritating-to-the-point-of-pulling-your-hair-out traits, and both men and women have things they’re better at than the other. We can’t really compare. Nonetheless, it would be fun to take the light side of things and humor ourselves. And for the sake of this article (and since I’m a dude), I’ll stick with ‘men are better than women’.
First of all, men are better than women because we don’t have Tourette’s. Most, if not all women have this syndrome: on their tongues. Seemingly, their tongues twitch the whole day, causing them to say three times more words than the average man. An average woman chalks up about 20,000 words in a day. That’s 13,000 more words than what an average man says. Women also speak more quickly than men, devote more brain activity to chit chat and they actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices. Due to this, the world of women is chaotic. Our world population is 6,602,224,175 and 3,301,112,087 are women. Multiply that to the number of words they say a day and you will arrive at 6,602,224,175 raised to the 13th power words a day. With that much words, chaos is bound to be present.
The next reason is because men are more creative. Heck, we’re so creative we can create art while urinating. Women can never dream of doing that. Men piss standing up and our piss is linear, so it has direction unlike women whose are, well…random. Because of this men can draw Doraemon and relieve themselves at the same time. ART ON THE GO; it’s incredible! To top it off, the world is our urinal. Oh, I mean canvass (haa haa).
Plus, men are better than women because women think too much. Women make trivial stuff into big deals and they dwell on them. Unlike a man who can watch a ball game silently and in peace with his buddy without thinking ‘I wonder if he’s mad at me’, women think and think and think. After, they talk and talk and talk. They assume things and get themselves so worked up and eventually cause trouble. A woman would think ‘my boyfriend is fifteen minutes late. I wonder if he’s cheating on me…Oh, he is cheating on me! I remember seeing him flirt with that cute waitress at McDonald’s. I bet she’s with him right now!’ when in reality her boyfriend is late because he he could not decide between meeting her on time or buying her the dozen red roses she demanded from him. Then she’d tell her girl friends and expect sympathy. Then her girlfriends would tell their other girl friends and it just goes on and on and on. Men don’t just assume stuff about their bros. Like the code said: bros befoe hoes.
Finally my favorite reason. Men are better than women because men are straight forward and women are too complicated. The worst part is that they don’t come with an instruction manual. Instead they drop hints and all that other jargon and expect men to get them. They beat around the bush instead of just saying what’s on their mind. ‘We need to talk (You’re so dead)’, ‘Do you love me? (I’m going to ask you to buy me those fabulous ear rings I saw earlier)’, ‘Am I fat? (Tell me I’m beautiful)’, I’m not upset (DUH. Of course I’m upset you moron)’, ‘I need a new dress (I WANT A NEW DRESS!)’. See what I mean?
(Hi Five dudes!) So ladies, a comeback perhaps? :)
If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first? The dog, of course. He’ll shut up once you let him in.
Politics is everywhere in the Philippines. Well, that can’t be helped because the 2010 elections are just around the corner. In the coming months, nauseating political ads by the presidential candidates will dominate the radio, television, the walls of buildings and not to mention, electric posts. This is what normally happens when the campaign season kicks into full gear. These ads play a big role in the elections because the more the candidate has, the more familiar he becomes with the masses and the more likely he is to win (does this mean Manny Villiar will win?!). But then again, voters have the accountability and responsibility to vote wisely. So I was just wondering what I should be looking for in a presidential candidate.
Well, if you ask me, there are several traits a presidential candidate should have, but naming them all would be quite pointless because I believe it’s impossible for one of them to have them all. So I’ll just share a few. We should know being president of a nation is not just a job that gives the person authority, power and control; it is a calling to serve. This said, the first attribute I’d seek in a candidate is his willingness to serve his nation and countrymen and his sincerity in doing so (I guess that’s two traits). Like many have quoted, those who ought to shoot are those who are willing to be shot, and those who ought to to be masters are those who are first servants. To be a good leader, one must first be a good servant.
However, my scrutiny does not end with just that. All presidential candidates have said, do say and will say that they wish to serve the people, so the next trait I’d seek is the candidate’s capability to efficiently serve his country and people. Will he be able to serve his nation best? Is he capable of shouldering the burden(s) of his country and push forward to the brilliant future? If he seriously is, then he’d probably be a good leader.
A third, or fourth rather, quality I’d look for is his integrity and consistency (guess that’s two again). There have been a lot of presidents who were able to serve the nation and were able to push forward. But a lot of them succumbed to the temptation to fatten their bank accounts and some who just weren’t consistent and were later on additions to the list of failures.
Lastly, I’d make sure his family is in ‘good condition’. If one runs a dysfunctional family, or if he can’t can’t keep his family in harmony, then how can I expect him to do so for the whole country? If his OWN family is a mess then his GREATER family which is his nation will surely be one too. Well, at least I think so.
P.S.
To be honest, I haven’t really decided who to vote; the ads are really getting to me. It’s hard to follow your own advice!
This morning in front of the school campus a lady got hit by a speeding motorcycle. The lady wasn’t toppled over because the driver was able to brake adequately but she was obviously hurt. But despite the pain she held back her tears and cussed the driver. Who could blame her for it? I mean, it’s not her fault she was hit, right? This is where the buzzing ‘ENK!’ sound plays. It was totally her fault. The lady crossed the street without stopping, looking and listening. She just went straight and boom! It was too late. The worst part is that the pedestrian lane was only a few feet away from where she crossed. See?
So folks, don’t forget to cross at the designated area and don’t forget the basics of crossing the street.
You might be thinking that this post is some perverted thing about a woman without a bra. But it’s not. Now, you might be wondering why this post is entitled ‘No Bra’. If you are, then you’re basically on the right track.
To satisfy your curiosity, this post is about homosexuality, which is becoming a trend lately. Yes, you read right; I dare write about it. Well, since I’ve personally observed and had conversations with gay people, and since I’ve adequately researched about the issue (both secular and Christian), I think I have enough juice to write about it. Homosexuality – No Bra. I hope you get the connection by now. Oh, please note that I have no intentions to offend anybody.
From what I’ve gathered, there are the closet gays and the out gays. Heck, they even have going out parties for themselves. There are gays who don’t look gay, gays who look gay but still maintain a degree of masculinity, the cross dresser gays and the gays who have gone through complete body overhaul; the trannys.
Gay people today claim several things. To begin with, they say that since slavery has been abolished and women are now liberated, gay rights is long overdue. Recently, they’ve been receiving these so called rights; same sex marriage has been legalized in several places and homosexual couples are getting the same recognition as hetero sexual couples. Frankly, it’s quite poetic, the way all of this is going on.
According to my studies, gay people claim that they were made that way, so that they should be liberated. However,a particular (I can’t remember who exactly… sorry) Christian expert had quoted that “Gender, race and impairment all relate to what a person is, whereas homosexuality relates to what a person does.”
Further, gay people countered that scientific studies have shown the presence of a biological basis for homosexuality. Can you believe it? The three main studies cited by gay rights activists to back them up are the following:
Hamer’s X-chromosome research
LeVay’s study of the hypothalamus
Bailey and Pillard’s study of identical twins who were homosexuals
If you ask me, these studies are really biased. Why? Because the researchers of all three studies were homosexuals themselves. To add to that, the studies have not been thoroughly scrutinized by other researchers. I could go on and on about this but it will all boil down to one point: there is no reliable evidence to date that homosexuality and homosexual behavior are determined by a person’s genetic make up.
Next, gay people claim that homosexuality is harmful neither to the participant or anyone else. But is this fact? I fervently disagree. Andrew Lansdown points out that ‘homosexual activity is notoriously disease prone. In addition to diseases associated with heterosexual promiscuity, homosexual actions facilitate the transmission of anal herpes, hepatitis B, intestinal parasites, Kaposi’s Sarcoma and AIDS.’
Aside from those, they claim that its nobody else’s business, as long as it feels right for them. Activists argue that homosexual activities and behavior is nobody’s business other than those who are actually involved in the relationship. But I again have to disagree; it’s God’s business, since He has authority over all the aspects of our lives. He makes the rules, and last I checked, He specifically forbid homosexuality. Allow me to quote the Scriptures for you.
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22; see also Leviticus 20:13).
Quite crystal, no? So ignoring this is a denotation of the rejection of God’s authority.
According to God’s Word, homosexual behavior is not only detestable, it also calls for the punishment of the involved parties(Leviticus 20:13). Remember why God had to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25)? If God’s done it before, there’s no reason he won’t do it (punish) again today.
“…Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
Okay, so what now? Well, there is hope. God forgives and cleanses a person who repents and turns from their sin, including the sin of homosexual behavior (1 Corinthians 6:11). God’s grace brings with it the power to live a life that is pleasing to God (Romans 6:6-7).
Because of what I’ve been saying, select people might think I’m prejudiced towards gay people, but I’m not. Like I said earlier, I have no intention to offend anybody. All I’m trying to do is informing people of what I know is the truth. Yep, I want people to know the truth.
God really blessed humans with a great brain. Man is excellent at coming up with marvelous ideas for the benefit and convenience of his kind. It is amazing how creative and capable us humans can be, to come up with such genius contraptions such as this:
The Aquarium Toilet
Now you don’t have to worry about that expensive aquarium you originally planned to place in your living room. How neat!
P.S.
I wonder how it really works. I mean, wont the goldfishes be flushed out of the tank when you pull the lever?
L (Mr. Lontoc - Mr. L - L) says thanks for taking the time to drop by H☺☻lΩh☻☺ps™, and welcomes you to his sphere. Hopefully, you enjoy spinning around the loop and learn something worthwhile at the same time.
Since he was a kid with snot all over his face, L has enjoyed story telling and writing. He'd use to come up with fantastic stories on the spot that usually had his adult listeners roaring with laughter.
Because his loving parents recognized his passion for the art, they surrounded him with books and sent him to the University of the Philippines' Summer Arts Workshops where he studied creative writing under the supervision of Cristina Bejar. The workshop nurtured his love for writing, and sharpened his skill as a pen man.
L is a harmless guy who only hurts the mosquitoes that buzz around his head at night and other irritating pests, and he welcomes your feedback and comments. He is also willing to listen to your suggestions etc. However, L does not tolerate spammers. His spam detector makes sure of that. Oh, he also detests plagiarism.
So again, thanks for visiting, welcome, and enjoy! Cheers!
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