Pathetic—Arroyo chasing after Obama Neal Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer
February 09, 2009
PATHETIC. That’s President Macapagal-Arroyo chasing US President Barack Obama like a lovesick woman chasing a man who doesn’t want her. GMA obviously wants a photo-op with Obama to show off to her countrymen back home and boast that she has the support of the American president. She cut a visit to the Middle East to make an unscheduled trip to the United States to attend a prayer breakfast where Obama was the guest speaker, thinking that Obama would speak to her. (Our Department of Foreign Affairs probably broke protocol to wangle an invitation for her. Invitations are sent many months in advance. Sen. Chiz Escudero got his in July last year.)
But can’t she take a hint? Obama doesn’t want to be seen with her. He already rebuffed her three times. The fourth time was when he left the prayer meeting so quickly to avoid talking to GMA. Isn’t that clear enough? Who would want to be seen with a lame duck despised by her own countrymen and accused of so much wrongdoing, including corruption and dishonesty?
Pathetic. That’s Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in trying to avoid being revamped out of the Cabinet, telling the Malacañang press that Obama would learn a lot from GMA. To which many Filipinos countered: No doubt, but all the wrong and shameful things.
Had GMA succeeded in having a photo-op with Obama, her mouthpieces in Malacañang would probably exaggerate the meeting by saying that GMA taught Obama how to successfully run a government. (The Malacañang press release on that consuelo de bobo photograph with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was probably exaggerated, too.) No wonder Obama doesn’t want to be photographed with GMA.
Pathetic. That’s former Press Secretary Jesus Dureza praying before a Malacañang Cabinet meeting that God extend the term of his President—also probably so he would not be revamped out of the Cabinet. But he was reorganized out, nevertheless. And faster than usual. Because he was very obviously making sipsip. And GMA, thick-skinned as she may be, thought that was too much. Her policy seems to be: Make sipsip if you want, but don’t make it too obvious. Diyahe eh.
In fact, the whole Arroyo administration has been pathetic since it started. The Philippines got from bad to worse since she assumed the presidency under questionable circumstances. GMA probably had the most number of press secretaries of all Filipino presidents, but all of them were not able to lie fast enough to make her look good.
The moral of the whole story is this: Don’t pretend to be what you are not. Accept what you are but try to be better.
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Planholders of the defunct Pacific Plan, Inc. (PPI) who are members of PEP Coalition are protesting the sale of PPI. Alfonso Yuchengco had dumped the ailing PPI on the lap of erstwhile Air Spirit owner Noel Onate to escape his liabilities. Onate, in a meeting with planholders, assured them that his company, Abundance Providers Investment Inc. (APIC), would honor all the commitments to all the planholders. They would not lose anything. He even offered to return all the payments made by planholders, plus interest, to those who wanted them.
But first, what happened to Yuchengco’s original PPI that it was unable to pay the school fees of the traditional educational planholders?
Pre-need companies are like insurance companies. They accept early payments for future needs. The companies guarantee that you get what you need when you need it. They compute what they would need to pay in the future through actuarial studies.
All went well while there was a law limiting tuition fee increases to 20 percent. But when the government lifted the limits and tuition fees rose sky-high, everything went haywire. The actuarial computations were no longer correct and the pre-need companies ran out of money to pay the claims. According to PPI, they have enough assets but part of them were locked up in dollar trust funds that would mature in 2010. They would be able to pay all the claims in 2010.
That’s not good enough for the PEP Coalition. Members want their claims paid now as their plans guaranteed. The coalition castigated the Yuchengco group for non-compliance with its obligations to traditional education planholders, or those to whom PPI obliged itself to pay the value of tuition fees of their beneficiaries at the time of availment, regardless of cost. It said it would question in court the sale of PPI to APIC.
Documents show, however, that some PEP Coalition members have already collected more than what they had paid. Let’s take the case of one planholder, a high-ranking officer of PEP but who shall remain nameless, as an example.
This mother of three children purchased nine different traditional plans from PPI for her children, three each for elementary, high school and college. She paid premiums in the total amount of P397,800 for the nine plans. However, she already received availments totaling a whopping P1,201,171.81, including full tuition fees for her children’s elementary, high school and tuition support for college. In addition, she is also entitled to $10,161.04 in 2010 pursuant to PPI’s Modified Rehabilitation Plan.
In short, she has already received P1,201,171.80 and is entitled to $10,161.04 (that’s in US dollars, whose exchange rate with the Philippine peso is expected to rise) for paying just P397,800. The payments she received are already 301.95 percent of her premiums, or a 16.78 percent annual return since her purchase of the plans in 1990. This is four times higher than any bank interest and is even larger than any investment instrument in the country. What is more, she would receive an additional amount in US dollars in 2010. Assuming that it is converted at P47.50 to $1, the $10,161.04 that she will receive amounts to P482,549.40.
