News:

Having problems registering or logging in?
Contact us here.

Main Menu

P-Noy

Started by carpediem, July 18, 2010, 06:32:58 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

judE_Law

another article....

Get Real
P-Noy's first foreign trip: cost and benefits


By Solita Collas-Monsod
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:35:00 10/01/2010

Filed Under: Benigno Aquino III, Government


IF ONE were to rate presidential trips on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the least necessary (or most frivolous) and 10 being the most essential to take, the trip of P-Noy to New York would have to be given a score of 10, along with say, meetings of the Asean heads of state or the Apec (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). The rule being that the more heads of state or government there are in the equation, the more necessary the President's attendance becomes. Nothing like building personal relations with them, particularly since Filipinos are all over the world.

Thus, the trip was a must for President Aquino. First, he would have the opportunity to meet, at least on an informal basis, with many heads of state or government, because aside from the yearly meeting of the UN General Assembly that was taking place, there was also the Millennium Development Goals Summit, last held in 2005. We have been given to understand that more than 150 heads of government were there (what a nightmare for NY traffic; I also hope none of the visitors got bitten by bedbugs, which is currently the major, major problem facing the Big Apple). Although P-Noy (unfortunately) chose not to personally address the Summit (US President Barack Obama addressed both), it was a golden opportunity to get on nodding acquaintance with some of his counterparts, and get some exposure to the international community, government as well as private.

Second, he had to strike while the iron was hot. He is the new President, still enjoying a lot of popularity, although the honeymoon period with the Filipino people has been marred by an unusually large number of misunderstandings and dropping of the ball, so to speak. So this was an opportune time to touch base not only with foreign leaders, but with US businessmen (apparently more than 100 of them attended the main meeting) who were curious about him and what his administration could be like. It pays to take advantage while he still enjoys a lot of sympathy.

So even if he did not "bring home the bacon," as it were, this trip was worth it. Making contact with as many potential partners (for public-private partnerships), and generally giving them an opportunity to give the new kid on the block a once-over, was more than enough additional benefits to attach to the almost compulsory attendance at the UN meetings.

But the President claims he did bring home a lot of bacon, there having been reportedly 54 meetings with businessmen representing several sectors, i.e., power generation, consumer products, health care, business and knowledge processing, garments, (that certainly does not sound like the schedule of a lazy person, a reputation that has been slowly building around him). He reports very proudly that his trip generated $2.4 billion worth of investment pledges, aside from the $434 million Millennium Challenge Corporation grant, funded by the United States, which the Philippines has been trying these last five years or more to qualify for.

So let us examine the bacon. It consists of, according to his communications group: (1) $1 billion from Coca-Cola International, for upgrading their facilities here and introducing new products; (2) $1 billion from AES, to double the capacity of the Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Pangasinan, by adding another 600 megawatts; and (3) $400 million, the sum of pledges made, purposes not given in the reports, by Pfizer (pharmaceuticals—it sued the Philippine government here regarding the cheaper/generic medicines law), Hewlett Packard (computers), and JP Morgan Chase (commercial, consumer and investment banking—it never posted a quarterly loss during the global financial crisis, and was praised by Obama for doing a good job during this period).

In the interests of transparency and full disclosure, the following should be noted:

First, all the above companies are already operating in the Philippines. No "new" companies, meaning, those that have never done business here before, have come in. Second, while Coca-Cola's investment, as clarified by the company, is additional to the amount announced during Gloria Arroyo's trip last year, the AES $1 billion is a different matter altogether. It must be recalled that AES announced, as early as September 2007, that it was investing $1 billion to double Masinloc's capacity, work to be started in 2011. Third, the investments aren't going to be pumped in next year, but spread over a five-year period.

And finally, with respect to the MDG grant, the Philippines had already actually qualified early this year, but the US decided to wait until the new administration before releasing it. In other words, it would have been released to whoever succeeded Arroyo, and was not released as a result of Aquino's victory.

Let us turn to what I consider a major, major "accomplishment" of President Aquino during his trip: His entire seven-day trip cost Filipino taxpayers exactly P25 million, which comes out to P3.6 million a day. Compare that to the P9.6 million, P13.3 million and P10 million a day spent by his predecessor in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively.

How did he do it so cheaply? A combination of three things: cheaper hotel (Sofitel's regular room rate is about 30 percent less than Waldorf's, the hangout for previous Presidents); cheaper food (hot dogs, pizzas); and commercial flights rather than chartered flights.

In sum: P-Noy, at least as far as this foreign trip is concerned, was very careful about how he spent the people's money. That augurs very well for us, and for him.



***********************


lumilinaw na ba sayo Brusk? ;D

pinoybrusko

wow kumpleto. clear na Jude. so galit ka kay Pnoy kasi hinde naman siya ang nagtrabaho dun kundi pumirma lang siya?  ;D

ako, galit ako kay PGMA kasi galit ako sa corrupt at kunsintidora (kunsintidora kasi hinayaan lang niya ang mga kamag-anak niya at mga tauhan niya sa gobyerno na maging corrupt din). bale wala yung mga ginawa niya sa Pinas na maganda dahil corrupt siya. At ganun din ang aabutin ni Pnoy pag naging corrupt din siya. so in the future, post mo dito ung mga articles na corrupt si Pnoy para magalit din ako sa kanya  ;D pero hinde mo na mababago pa ang isip ko na wag magalit sa idol mong si PGMA hehehe

@ ctan: di ako nahuhumaling kay Pnoy, I'm just hopeful for big changes for better Philippines. As I have said, I give him the benefit of the doubt since kauupo lang niya. 3 years before I give my judgment. Masyado lang akong lenient  ;D

ctan

Hopefully, ganun na nga sana ang mangyari brusko. Wala naman na magagawa eh, andyan na siya. BUt really, I'm not expecting much from him. So kung may magandang mangyayari, eh di palakpakan. He's not just the competent leader that I want our president to be. :-)

judE_Law

haha.. aminin mo man o hindi rusk.. malinaw na malinaw... fan ka ni Noy..
hindi na mahalaga sayo ang mainam na ginawa ng nakaraang administrasyon.. mas matimbang sa'yo ang mga walang basehang akusayon.
mas gugustuhin ko na yung (take note) inaakusahan na wala namang basehan kesa sa malinis kuno na wala namang napatunayan.
haha..

pinoybrusko

Quote from: judE_Law on October 04, 2010, 06:56:16 PM
haha.. aminin mo man o hindi rusk.. malinaw na malinaw... fan ka ni Noy..
hindi na mahalaga sayo ang mainam na ginawa ng nakaraang administrasyon.. mas matimbang sa'yo ang mga walang basehang akusayon.
mas gugustuhin ko na yung (take note) inaakusahan na wala namang basehan kesa sa malinis kuno na wala namang napatunayan.
haha..


fan ka dyan di ako noynoyan  ;D

angelo

Quote from: ctan on October 03, 2010, 12:41:19 PM
Read on this blog:

SAME BANANA: http://donavictorina.blogspot.com/2010/09/same-banana-aquino-administration-is.html

OT: fan ka ni MOjo ah. haha

well hindi nga malayong mangyari. sistema na ang pulitika. once pumasok ka, instantly marumi ka na. (sadly, kahit gaano ka-ganda ang iyong mga intensyon)

ctan

OT: @angelo, medyo chinecheck ko lang naman ang blog niya. hehehe.

carpediem

@brusko and jude - lol you are making false accusations on each other

Reports say people are giving "just passing" grade to P-Noy on his first 100 days. This includes Sen. Joker Arroyo.

May nagsabi bagsak daw si P-Noy sa kanya dahil nangongopya lang si P-Noy ng programs ni GMA.  ;D

pinoybrusko

Pnoy 75 ang grade  ;D

ram013

I think grading an administration for 100 days is ridiculous, sa laki ng bansa natin at sa dami ng populasyon at problema, napaka imposible nman na ma gauge mo na ang performance ng isang public official.

Im not defending the current president but this applies to all those who have been there and will be there, let's give them enough time to set their plans and put it into action

If we are judging them now we are just setting them up for failure in our standards.

PNoy or GMA or Erap or FVR, it doesn't matter, kalokohan ang 100 days grading system na yan

and note, kinopya lng natin to sa US.

angelo

its a benchmark. 100 days or 500 days, does not matter.

yes, id be giving him a passing grade too. there were improvements seen, especially in revenue generating government agencies.

nawala rin yung wang-wang. thank you.

judE_Law

Quote from: carpediem on October 06, 2010, 01:57:29 AM

May nagsabi bagsak daw si P-Noy sa kanya dahil nangongopya lang si P-Noy ng programs ni GMA.  ;D

ano pa nga ba?? hahaha...

nyway, kamusta naman ang mga estudyanteng nag-rally sa dayalogo ni pnoy... i think... there's more to come.. lol! ;D

carpediem

^ PNoy is unpopular among the teachers and students because he cut the budget for health and education and diverted these to his own pork barrel. Of course we know that the port barrel is one of the primary sources of corruption, and ironically, fighting corruption is the whole campaign platform of PNoy.

judE_Law

Quote from: carpediem on October 09, 2010, 01:37:44 AM
^ PNoy is unpopular among the teachers and students because he cut the budget for health and education and diverted these to his own pork barrel. Of course we know that the port barrel is one of the primary sources of corruption, and ironically, fighting corruption is the whole campaign platform of PNoy.

kawawa ang kabataan at mga guro..