HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WHO IS LYING?

All concerned,

Thesaurus defines lying thus...

A) (Noun) Lying - the deliberate act of deviating from the truth

B) Synonyms: prevarication, fabrication

C) Related Words: falsification, misrepresentation - a willful perversion of facts

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Quoted from the Letter of Sir Esguerra dated 08 Oct 2008, castigating Sir Rainer Weber, 12th Paragraph:

On Sir Rizal Victoria's mudslinging of some officers of the Supreme Council and Council of Elders. Sir Rizal Victoria has accused certain officers without basis, no single proof of evidence yet you believed in unsigned and fabricated e-mail. I think that the mudslinging of Sir Victoria is not unknown to you, yet you have not conducted any inquiry which you can do "motu propio" on your own investigation and disciplinary action.

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Quoted from the Letter of Sir Esguerra dated 21 Apr 2007, lecturing Sir Jun Zerrudo, 2nd Paragraph:

A free expression of ideas is welcome in our organization because it is through this medium that the group is cultivated, harnessed and strengthened. Matters of great importance are crystallized and solutions to problems are taken collectively. Of course we do not tolerate vulgar and indecent words in KOR.

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Emphasis on this one particular sentence because this is EVIDENCE Sir Esguerra and the 2007 Supreme Council (together with some in the Council of Elders, particularly Sir Quiambao?) not only tolerated, but even EXALTED Sir Alcoba to KGOR last July 2007, Paris, France, despite the latter's "vulgar and indecent words" days/weeks/months prior to said Paris International Assembly:

"Of course we do not tolerate vulgar and indecent words in KOR."

- quoting Sir Esguerra's 21 Apr 2007 lecture to Sir Jun Zerrudo

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Sir Esguerra if you have a reputation or name to protect (as Supreme Commander you do have), don't lie.

If you accuse Lazir, please ENUMERATE your complaints and give him fair chance/time to respond. Same way he does allow you also some days to respond.

If Lazir could be SPECIFIC with his charges, why can't you, Sir Esguerra? You have until 31 Dec 2008 to rebut his specific accusations or reply to his questions listed here.

Lazir is sending this e-mail to prove his accusations are correct, factual and truthful. On the other hand, you accuse Lazir yet you NEVER show nor present an iota of evidence or proof to back-up your accusations! Can you then blame Lazir if he calls you INCOMPETENT, Sir Esguerra? Where is your evidence please? Do you need more time? Lazir can give you more time, but NLT (no later than) end of calendar year 2008...

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After reading your letters dated 21 Apr 2007 and 08 Oct 2008 (both attached), can you answer Lazir's questions one-by-one please? They are:

1. Why was Lazir issued Memo 006, Series 2008 investigating him, even if there's no case against him? Even if said investigation is carried out by somebody, other than you, it still involves you because you are in command, aren't you? How come Lazir's UNWARRANTED investigation? What did Lazir do wrong? Elaborate and enumerate please because the illustrious KOR may not be involved in any WITCH-HUNT under whoever's watch!

2. You mentioned once that KGOR exaltations are not done only by you but together with the Supreme Council ICW (in compliance with) the By-Laws. Isn't Lazir then correct for accusing you Sir Esguerra and the Supreme Council (together with Sir Quiambao) for favoritism?, exalting Sir Alcoba to KGOR, despite his "vulgar and indecent words" weeks/months before? And exalting Sirs Paras (identified to be very close to Sir Quiambao), Guansing, Nollas, Alcoba even if UNDESERVING? What EXEMPLARY deed did these four Belgian Filipinos do to warrant their KGOR exaltation/s? Lazir asked for this nomination document or minutes of meeting deliberating on this specific exaltation/s. That was Oct or Nov 2007! That's twelve months ago, yet you never responded Sir Esguerra! Why? Aren't you PROUD of people you and the 2007 Supreme Council exalted to KGOR?

3. Among the 2007 Supreme Council members during the meeting/deliberations, who voted YES, who voted NO to, who ABSTAINED in the apparently UNDESERVING exaltations of Sirs Paras, Guansing, Nollas, Alcoba to KGOR? Were the By-Laws followed to the letter? Can Lazir see the evidence please?

4. As Supreme Commander, don't you think you should be BEYOND reproach? Isn't LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE one of your most, if not THE most important function/s? How come then you say "we do not tolerate" then a few weeks/months later exalt the "vulgar" e-mail writer to KGOR? Do you want to deny having anything to do with Sir Alcoba's exaltation last July 2007, Paris, France? Do you want to say it was not YOU in Paris? ...that it was somebody else conferring the sash & trinket? Should Lazir produce photographic evidence?

5. How valid is your claim to TRUE RIZALISM? True Rizalists do not lie. Could you please answer Lazir's above questions honestly, truthfully without reservations nor remorse? Can you look your children/grandchildren straight in the eye saying so?

6. Didn't you one time claim "NO KNOWLEDGE" of Sir Alcoba's "vulgar and indecent words in KOR"? Sir Lucien sent you those e-mails of Sir Alcoba very recently. Are you saying you still do not have them! Shall we re-send?

8. Having those racistic, "vulgar and indecent" e-mails, will you now order an investigation of Sir Alcoba? If found guilty, will you really expel him? Or will you just wait till your term ends (in 2010), without asking for Sir Alcoba's investigation, preferring to AVOID a confrontation with your Tanay neighbor Sir Paras?

Dr Jose Rizal never avoided confrontation, if he knew it would ferret out the Truth, advance Justice, and promote Democracy! He was no fake!

9. Under your "leadership watch" Lazir got Memo 006, Series of 2008 for generalized charges (in your words, "mudslinging of some officers of the Supreme Council and Council of Elders"). For fairness' sake, can you please be a bit more specific and also give Lazir a chance to respond? Are you afraid of lowly Lazir?

10. Sir Jun Zerrudo got "investigated and expelled" under your watch Sir Esguerra for doing things Dr Jose Rizal himself would have done: campaign for Reforms, write clarifying letters, submitting polite protest notes,...ultimately, after having been ignored many years by KOR "leadership" despite his VALID grievances, he helped organize the 1st truly RIZALIAN Conference that KOR could but NEVER did! Is that competent of KOR to claim authority on the national hero then organize worldwide assemblies hollow, empty of RIZALISM, yet full of Fun! Fun! Fun! Including exaltations of even the UNDESERVING?

As Supreme Commander, you practically WASTE KOR funds, paying for your worldwide trips, hotel bills! Rizalian in nature???

Not all Filipinos are corrupt! Many KOR members are not corrupt either! No one has the right to take such pride from anyone! We right-minded Knights want to salvage whatever is left of our illustrious KOR and our self-respect!

The days of corrupt practices and abuse in the country are over...!

Since Lazir above presented BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT evidence of his accusations, could you do something GOOD for the KOR and its Illustrious name and do one RIGHT thing, at least once since becoming Supreme Commander?

It's every right-thinking Knight's DUTY to bring the KOR to new heights!

For country and people!

:)
Lazir
Fear the Lord, no one/nothing else!


P.S. - Sorry to disappoint some readers, but Lazir won't ask about the MISSING Euro 5,000 this time!


"The arrogant one is he who wants to be worshipped, who misleads others, and who wants his will to prevail over reason and justice." - Dr Jose P. Rizal - Message to the women of Malolos, February 1889

"My ambition is not to win honors or hold positions, but to see what is just, exact and suitable, is done in political matters." - Dr Jose P. Rizal

"No one will be corrupt if we don't let them." - Tony Meloto in his speech before Davao University graduates, 2007

"...Dare to cross boundaries in your minds and hearts! In your strength and courage! In the space inside and around you! Dare to be different! Dare what you never dared before! The highest thing that obliges you is your conscience. Act whatever good forces dictate! Then you are closer to Rizal's ideals than any policy or philosophy could ever be. What he can teach you, you will not understand without Kant's lessons..." - An excerpt of the speech Christoph S. Eberle delivered on Rizal Day in Hamburg, Dec. 2006.

"Be the Change you want to see in the World!" - Mahatma Gandhi

"Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened, when we fail to speak up and speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice." - Robert F. Kennedy

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

HIMALA - 2008 CNN ASIA PACIFIC FILM AWARD WINNER

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Filipino film "Himala" has been awarded the CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of all Time.

Thousands of CNN viewers voted on "The Screening Room" Web site to honor Ishmael Bernal's 1982 film with the accolade, which is jointly awarded by CNN and the region's prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).

"The Screening Room's" Myleene Klass presented the award Tuesday in front of a crowd of over 700 film industry figures at a special ceremony on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Bernal's austere tale of a young woman who goes on a healing crusade after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary, which stars Filipino actress Nora Aunor, took the prize with 32 percent of the vote.

"Whatever the reason, I do feel we deserve this award," said "Himala" producer Bibsy Carballo, "If only as a tribute to our people who in once a great while decide to come together as one, forget their petty squabbles and divisiveness, and make a declaration of support for this troubled nation, and its tremendously talented and good-hearted if unfortunate population. Long live 'Himala!'"

www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/13/himala.asiapacificscreenawards

PUTANGINA, ANO BA ITO!?!

by Manuel Buencamino

Newspapers mishandled the high point of Senator Mar Roxas' speech at the recent inter-faith rally against Charter change.

The senator shouted, "Putangina, ano ba ito?!?" after he enumerated the scandals involving Mrs. Arroyo and her government.

Newspapers re-spelled "Putangina" as "P_____ina" and translated it to "SOB!" so the impact and import of the senator's rhetoric was lost.

Everybody knows s.o.b. in capital letters is an abbreviation for "son of a bitch!" so "Putangina!" is not the same as "SOB!" The Pilipino term refers to a certain type of mother while the English word refers to the male offspring of a bitch.

A "bitch," according to one definition, is a female "dog, wolf, fox or otter." In an informal and derogatory way, bitch is also "a woman whom one dislikes or considers to be malicious or unpleasant" as in: "she's the luckiest bitch around" to describe a malicious and unpleasant woman who gets away with high crimes. "Bitch" is also used for "a thing or situation that is unpleasant or difficult to deal with" as in: "Life's a bitch under this gangster regime."

The difficulty in finding an English expletive equivalent for "Putangina!" is understandable because none exists. The word is Tagalog for the Spanish exclamation, "Puta madre!" Translating it into English will produce a ridiculous oath, "whore mother" or "prostitute mother." Some words just don't translate well.

At any rate, "SOB" is the wrong term because it does not approximate what the good senator wanted to convey: his utter disgust with the Gloria Arroyo administration's crimes.

A better translation for the senator's outburst would have been "What the (your preferred curse word) is going on!?!" because it would make clear that he was not describing the mother of Charter change or characterizing Charter change as a male born of a bitch.

"Putangina, ano ba ito!?!" is actually the most logical reaction to just about anything this administration and its allies say or do.

Things have so gotten out of hand I wouldn't be surprised if some of Arroyo's most loyal henchmen are thinking what Senator Roxas said out loud.

Take the case of selective justice. An administration congressman, Bienvenido Abante, learned that National Police deputy chief for operations Geary Barias and several police superintendents went on an 11-day trip to Munich, Germany on the invitation of Rohde and Schwarz, an electronics specialist company.

Consequently, the congressman wants to know, "Was it an official trip? If it was, then the trip should have had an authorization from the Department of the Interior and Local Government and spent for by the government. If spent for by a private person, then who and for what purpose?" Abante believes the lawmen could be liable for graft if a private person or entity "with interest in the National Police" shouldered their travel expenses.

Abante also believes there was nothing wrong with Mrs. Arroyo accepting an invitation to golf and lunch with officials of ZTE, a Chinese company bidding for a huge government contract. Those poor unfortunate cops must be asking themselves, "Putangina, ano ba ito?"

Going back to Senator Roxas' speech… there is something there the Palace can legitimately bitch about: "Patayin ang Gloria-Forever Cha-cha! (Kill the Gloria-Forever Cha-cha!)"

That rallying cry is a personal attack, it goes beyond debating Charter change purely on its merits. It paints an unflattering portrait of those in the Charter change movement.

But in fairness to the senator, he has never said he is against the idea of improving the Constitution. All he said was he is against Gloria-Forever Cha-cha.

Well, who in his right mind would want Gloria to rule forever? And who would be crazy enough to entrust Charter amendments to a con-ass composed of, for lack of a polite term that does not sacrifice precision, SOBs?

"Putangina, ano ba ito!?!"

Perry Diaz

Visit www.PerryScope.org for more news, updates and to comment.

DAILY BREAD

&Daily Bread

Motto:

God appreciates it when you are humble. Your friends and co-workers don’t mind either…….

Leadership Lesson:

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant …….

“GOD don’t need your sacrifices of flesh and blood. What GOD want from us is our true thanks. He wants us to trust him in our times of trouble, so he can rescue us, and we can give him glory.…….”

Psalms 50: 13 to 15

ANG PASKO AY SUMAPIT

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE BANGKO SENTRAL?

First, a report came in about a Bicol "development" bank which turned belly-up, leaving thousands of small depositors gypped of their precious savings. The only thing that created a stir in the region was word that a big politician lost a hundred million of his publicly-purloined wealth (where else would he have gotten such a hoard, but from the abuse of his "profession"?) in the bank. Modus operandi of this small bank is simple---offer high interest rates that people would never get from the commercial banks, nor from the rural banks that are "straight". It's again a pyramid scheme, but people never learn, their "greed" always gets the better of them.

That was about six months ago. The character behind the bank was a certain Celso de los Angeles, who at one time (2004-2005) was even conscripted into the government service by no less than the Vice-President of the Republic, who brought his "genius" into the public housing sector. Looking back, that stint in government probably gave him the cachet to enter the banking industry, who knows, perhaps even impress the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Apparently though, the Bicol caper was not his last. In November, three so-called rural banks in Cebu also declared a bank holiday. Two of them are reportedly part of the guy's financial casbah. Then this week, the Rural Bank of Paranaque followed. Again part of the De los Angeles "Legacy" empire. (His flagship enterprise is called Legacy, which used to be in another racket---the pre-need plan, where giants like CAP and Yuchengco's Pacific Plans likewise got hundreds of thousands of educational futures stranded.)

And almost simultaneously, a rural bank in Bais, Negros Oriental, another in Bacolod City, capital of Negros Occidental. And another in San Jose, Batangas, also in Calatagan. And another in San Pablo City.

How many hundreds of millions, if not billions in small depositors' money had been lost in these banks? We will not know until the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which is tasked to supervise all banks in the benighted land, tells us, if they ever will.

It seems such a mystery that the bank which comes ever so quickly to the succor of the Philippine peso to keep it within "manageable float" in the foreign exchange market, and has been assiduously doing this every single banking day, has been hoodwinked by one smart operator who has become very big by putting up, or buying into, a string of "small" rural banks.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas was legislated into existence in the nineties after its predecessor, the Central Bank of the Philippines, had racked up so much liabilities that its existence had become "in extremis".

Those liabilities were sucked up by the Filipino taxpayer so that their government could pronounce the new entity, the Bangko Sentral, the new fiduciary trust of 90 million unfortunate souls, "clean" and well, trustworthy.

The Bangko Sentral, through the Monetary Board, also manages the state of the Philippine peso, using monetary tools, such as interest rate fixing and bank reserve requirements, in order to "stabilize" the currency as well as inflation. It seems to be doing that pretty well.

But if the string of failures exemplified by the recent bank holidays of these "small banks" is any indication, the Bangko Sentral has apparently been quite lax in the supervision of the banking industry, at the very least, in its protection of small depositors in "small" banks. How in the first place, has the Bank been unable to detect the interlocking interests of one character in a string of "development" and rural banks with such strombotic names as "Dynamic Bank"?

Sure a hundred thousand is insured with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, another taxpayer-owned facility that absorbs banking losses like a sponge, provided it soaks up no more than the limit provided by law for every single depositor. But what's a hundred thousand these days? The equivalent of a thousand pesos in the good old days, that's what. (In the days of Diosdado Macapagal, the minimum wage was a hundred twenty pesos a month. It is now ten thousand pesos a month, even more in the NCR, in the reign of his daughter Gloria).

Which brings me to another question---how much of the Bangko Sentral's financial base has been eaten up by its own bad loans, financial accommodations it extends to ailing banks, big or small, which have not been paid to date, or for which the BSP has been given collaterals too over-stated for the face value of their assistance?

Take one instance---the Capitol Development Bank, which has also gone under, a "victim" of the Asian recession of 1997, or so they say. The Bangko Sentral loaned out 1.5 billion pesos in an effort to "save" the said Capitol Bank in two successive tranches---1.17 billion on 22 April 1998, and two days after, another 332 million pesos. The president of the bank, a Mrs. Cynthia Villar, signed promissory notes good for six months or 180 days, at an interest rate of 14.957% per annum. The managing director in charge of the Department of Loans and Credit as well as the Asset Management Department, a certain Andres Rustia, signed for the Bangko Sentral. Upon its maturity, Capitol Development failed to pay Bangko Sentral.

Instead, they settled the loan through a dacion en pago (payment by surrender of property) of 483.97 hectares in Norzagaray, Bulacan. At the time of the dacion, the zonal value assigned by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is supposed to approximate actual market value, was 60 pesos per square meter or 600,000 pesos per hectare. That 484 hectares should therefore be worth 290 million pesos, but it was used to settle an account from the Bangko Sentral of 1.5 billion pesos! Can you beat that?

In fine, the fiduciary trustee of the people of the Republic of the Philippines, issuer of legal tender used by its benighted residents within the metes and bounds of the same Republic, now holds assets valued at 290 million, which"erased" liability of Capitol Development Bank worth one and a half billion, plus close to another hundred million in interest, or more than five times the value of the property now in its possession. In effect, the Bangko Sentral lost the people's money to some very, very wise guys, for and in behalf of a hopelessly bankrupt medium-sized, family-owned bank.

The deed of real estate mortgage was dated June 29, 2001 for the 483.973 hectares (484 has.) of agricultural land in Norzagaray, Bulacan which was used as payment for the P1.5 billion loan of CDB in April 1998. Funny coincidence this, but from the time the promissory notes became due and payable, Rep. Manuel B. Villar had become Speaker of the House of Representatives, by grace of newly-elected President Joseph Estrada, and then again, senator of the realm. And the main signatory for Capitol Bank, Mrs. Cynthia Aguilar Villar, had become the representative of the lone district of Las Pinas, an herencia from her husband the Speaker turned senator.

But wait, apparently, that's not the end of the story though, for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The land paid to the Bangko Sentral was occupied by farmers whose forebears had been continuously cultivating that huge patch of dirt, and who were granted titles to the same in 1960, after proving continuous occupation of what was then deemed public land. Now, when the BSP went to the register of lands in Malolos to transfer their newly acquired Norzagaray holdings, they presented the titles surrendered to them by Capitol Bank.

Lo and behold! The original certificate of title was issued on July 25, 1944, during the Japanese occupation, when there was no civil government in the Philippines. In fact, Commonwealth Act 141, as amended, maintained that "authorizing the issuance of sales patent was illegal and inoperative during the Japanese occupation."

Sa madaling salita, "mickey mouse" pala ang mga titulo ng lupa na ibinayad sa Bangko Sentral! Will wonders never cease? Breathtaking!

Pray ask---if the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had accepted as collateral for 1.5 billion in loans something that had a zonal valuation of less than 300 million pesos, why should it bother to exercise any due diligence in checking the bona-fides of the titles paid to it? Tutal, pera lang naman ng bayan iyan. Happy naman si Speaker, later Senate President, at si congresswoman, hindi ba?

So what will the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas do to that smaller "fat cat", a certain Celso de los Angeles, owner of this string of failed rural banks? E, di wala.

Some are smarter than others, truly. The story of our lives in the benighted land.

In the "bad old days" of Marcos, there were behest loans left and right, to those cronies described as "smarter than others" by this Manapat researcher whom Gloria made head of the National Archives. The taxpayers ended up paying more taxes to soak up these unpaid liabilities. Charge mo sa "bayan".

We thought that throwing the dictatorship was also the end of this criminal practice of using other people's money, this "charge mo sa bayan" syndrome.

But now we know that congressmen charge to the "bayan" the egregious tongpats they squeeze from contractors for their pork barrel. And local officials also charge the "bayan" their tongpats from garbage collection contracts, as well as "mababaw na kaligayahan" projects such as giant Christmas trees and street lamps galore, along with fireworks displays---all horrendously overpriced.

We know that the "bayan" always gets royally screwed in government projects and contracts, even those funded by overseas assistance, bilateral or multilateral, in this kleptocratic reign as in others before it.

Well folks, this is the system we survive in. We always end up footing the bill, for nothing. We'd like to f-k the system, if only we could, but those who are "smarter than others" want to perpetuate it. Ha.llelujah! Hallelujah.Hallelujah! Halle.lu.jaaaah!


http://litobanayo.blogspot.com/2008/12/whats-happening-at-bangko-sentral.ht
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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE