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MABUHAY PRRD!

Friday, May 9, 2008

TOO HOT TO HANDLE!

The Hanjin investments in RP, too big not to be seen by Arroyo


Dear Editor,


Senator Pia Cayetano is right in seeking a congressional inquiry into the allegations of environmental violations, bribery and extortion in the shipyards project by the giant South Korean firm Hanjin Heavy Industries, Inc.

There may be some truth to the rumor that government officials from top to bottom have received bribes, have extorted grease money or have demanded humongous sums for the approval of the Hanjin projects in this country (the $1.68 billion and the $2 billion shipyards in Subic, Zambales and Misamis Oriental respectively) which when combined are almost ten times as big as the botched $329-million NBN-ZTE deal where the Arroyo couple are said to have figured prominently.

It is hard to believe that the palace does not have a hand in its approval. A foreign project of this magnitude could not have started construction work without Arroyo's imprimatur. The ruler of the nation who sits in imperial Malacanang may say that she preferred to be the "chieftain of a village than to be the second man of Manila," but that, in her opinion does not give him the right to defy her orders.

Tagoloan Mayor Paulino Emano may have wanted a piece of the cake so he ordered the work stoppage, apparently to force his demand for a P400-million work contract but which Hanjin alleged was being extorted from it by the local executive. In doing so he angered Arroyo who scolded and punished him with all those wicked tongue lashes that made him speechless and sad after the reprimand.

Emano have scratched the surface of what may prove to be a gargantuan scandal. Its disclosure would surely add more fire to the already burning issue of rampant corruption happening with apparent consent, approval or abetment of this government.

The indiscriminate commission of corrupt activities we believe the highest officials and their gang of cohorts commit have plunged our country into the abyssmal depths of infamy shame and have caused immeasurable damage to the country and its people that we sometimes think that it can no longer be saved.

Lito Banayo was damn right in writing that corruption in this country is all over, from top to bottom and has become a way of life. With "a proven failure, a proven liar, a proven cheat, and a proven thief at the helm of today's leadership....," Banayo continued, "who's to ensure she and her cohorts would fade quietly into the night after the constitutional term is over?"

Constitutional? How can we consider a stolen presidency constitutional? How can we call a proven cheat who cheated her opponent by a million votes (courtesy of Garci and those generals like Esperon, et al) a constitutionally elected president?

Gloria Arroyo is not a duly elected president of this country and she knows it. The majority of this benighted nation's population does not accept her as such. . And she punishes them for their defiance by staying in the position where they do not wanted her to be.


Ramon Mayuga
Essen, Germany

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