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Philippines, 09 May 2024 |
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Philboxing.com Writer Named Political Columnist of The Manila Times PhilBoxing.com Sun, 24 Jul 2011  Manny Pi?ol. Long-time www.philboxing.com columnist and boxing writer Manny Pi?ol has been tasked by the editorial board of The Manila Times to write a socio-political column for the country's oldest newspaper. Pi?ol's column, Intrepidity, will appear once a week starting Monday and will be one of the main features in the Opinion Page of The Manila Times. The Manila Times editor in chief Rene Bas said the editorial decision to tap the former North Cotabato governor as one of its socio-political opinion writers was made after publisher Dante A. Ang noted that Pi?ol's sports columns which appear three times a week in the same paper have generated a considerable following. Among writers, the opportunity to write a socio-political column in the Opinion Page of a national newspaper is deemed a recognition of credibility and respectability. His weekly political column will be in addition to the sports column "Braveheart" which Pi?ol writes three times a week also in The Manila Times. To give his readers in www.philboxing.com an insight on the quality of his political write ups, the editors of philboxing.com have decided to share Pi?ol's first column that will appear in The Manila Times on Monday, July 25. The readers could go to www.manilatimes.net to follow Pi?ol's columns. (Editor's Note: Former North Cotabato Gov. Manny Pi?ol will write a weekly political column for The Manila Times starting Monday. He is a former national editor of the Philippine News Agency and senior copy editor of Tempo newspaper before he joined politics in 1995 up to 2010. A valedictorian in both elementary and high school, Pi?ol holds a bachelor's degree in development communication, a master's degree in rural economic development and is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in the same field. He also writes a sports column for The Manila Times three times a week.) Intrepidity By Manny Pi?ol Malacanang's House of Horror and Magic A few months before the end of my term as Governor of North Cotabato in 2007, I and the other governors of Central Mindanao were invited by the Presidential Management Staff to join President Arroyo in a dinner in General Santos City, the last leg of her quick swing to the South which she always did during her presidency. Seated in the table with the President were Sultan Kudarat Gov. Datu Pax Mangudadatu, South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Fuentes, Saranggani Gov. Miguel Dominguez and myself. She was lighthearted as she recounted to us the details of her trip to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao or ARMM where she had a meeting with the Muslim officials earlier that the day. "Sabi ko sa mga taga-ARMM kanina, kapag dumating dito ang mga auditors, i-liquidate ninyo ang inyong mga cash advance. Huwag ninyong i-liquidate ang mga auditors," she told us laughing. (I told the officials of the ARMM earlier today that if the auditors would come, liquidate your cash advances. Do not liquidate the auditors.) We all had a big laugh over the joke. But it was a joke that I will always remember because it reflected Malacanang's view on the role of the autonomous Muslim region in Philippine politics. Established following the signing of the Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1996, the ARMM was a virtual playground for Malacanang where the rule of the game was "everything goes." Money, billions by all accounts, was poured into the region but it has remained the poorest in the whole country with the over 60% of its people living below the poverty threshold of P16,000 annual income. Rural villages are without roads and water while the power service is concentrated mainly in areas where people actually pay their bills or are tough enough to terrorize the electric bill collectors. In many areas, especially around Lake Lanao, people never pay a single centavo to the power coop as they brazenly use jumpers hooked to the main lines and enjoy the use of electricity 24/7 for free. Teachers' salaries were delayed and their contributions to the government insurance system were pocketed by officials running the regional departments. Among us who lived outside of the ARMM, the answer to the question of where the billions went was very clear. We saw it in the lifestyle of the regional officials and later the flashy cars of the Ampatuans as they roared through the highways of North Cotabato en route to Davao in a convoy of about 30 to 40 vehicles escorted by a battalion of army soldiers and militias. We saw it in the mansions built not only by the Ampatuans but also their underlings who, following the example of their bosses and with the tacit approval of Malacanang, also helped themselves to the funds. I personally saw how the old man, Datu Andal Ampatuan and a coterie of local officials, shopped like crazy in the expensive boutiques of MGM Grand during one of Manny Pacquiao's fights in Las Vegas. Accounts of how Datu Andal would bet millions in the casino's big tables both here and in Las Vegas and play mahjong with boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Chavit Singson for an incredible bet of 1-2-3 (that's P1 million for simple win, P2 million for tepok and P3 million for bunot) are openly talked about. Of course, people in Malacanang knew about the misuse of the funds. The money came from them. The funds were transferred to the ARMM and Maguindanao province under a scheme called "downloading" or transfer of funds purportedly to be used for projects to be implemented in the area. The projecs were non-existent, of course. They were the ghosts in the House of Horror and Magic. The funds were in the hundreds of millions and the suppliers were the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Agrarian Reform, the Department of Public Works and Highways and even Malacanang itself through the Department of Budget and Management. The condition was simple: return 30 to 40 % of the funds to the sources or the facilitators and do whatever you want to do with the rest of the money provided documents that would justify the use of the funds, also known as "liquidation," were submitted. The other condition of course was: Deliver the votes for Malacanang's candidates every election. It went well for years. Money flowed, there was liquidation of the funds (including of auditors from time to time) because nobody questioned the documents, votes were delivered through the help of people like Lintang Bedol and everybody was happy. That was until greed bred the evil desire to hang on to power that led to the massacre of over 50 people, including journalists, in Maguindanao province that fateful day of November 23, 2009. With the Ampatuans in jail, the former President hounded by endless suits, the election cheaters coming out in the open now and former Regional Governor Zaldy Ampatuan confirming what we have long known to be true, the curtain call seems certain for Malacanang's House of Horror and Magic.  |
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