MVP upheld by JoeV

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia appears to have upheld the move of Manuel Pangilinan, Philex Mining president, inviting a Chinese corporation into a joint venture for the exploration of the resources of the Philippine Sea.

De Venecia, founding chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, proposed to senior Chinese officials in Beijing a joint exploration and development of the claimant states of the disputed areas for drilling of oil gas, and mineral in the so-called Philippine Sea.

The designation of “fisheries corridors” that Philippine and Chinese fishing fleets may exploit in an orderly and sustainable manner could prevent tensions in the area.

The former House leader said his proposal of 1987 said that the phased withdrawal of army garrisons will demilitarize the area and convert the zone of conflict into a binding zone of peace, friendship, cooperation and development.

Anyway, so far, the De Venecia proposal seems to have earned the hearing of the ministers and vice ministers of the Communist Party of China, former senior officers of the People’s Liberation Army and leaders of the Chinese Parliament, former high ranking diplomats and academics.

We hope that soon there may be a response from the officials of both China and the Philippines to De Venecia’s recommendation.

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Another piece of good news for the sugar industry. The Sugar Regulatory Administration is reportedly eyeing the right of the Philippines to request for an evaluation of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement for the export of raw sugar to Japan.

The PJEPA is already on its fourth year of effectively as an agreement. In short, it is now on its fifth year.

“We should already have a review of the treaty. We can already export raw sugar to Japan at a lower tariff rate of just half the prevailing rate under PJEPA,” said Fernando H. Corpuz, SBA research manager.

Despite its 204,367 Mt export of raw sugar to the United States this year, the country still has enough volume for export. It consumes only about 70-80 percent of this year’s expected 2.4 million Mts.

Japan has permitted under the JJEPA the Philippines to export specialty sweeteners to that country, especially moscovado and molasses. It held off the export of raw sugar, while extends technical assistance to the country particularly for its raw sugar sector.

In an effort to upgrade the per hectare sugar yield, the SRA has embarked on consolidating small farms of ARBs into bigger and sustainable plantation sized farms.

So far, most of these consolidated farms are those of Batangas and in Negros Occidental where the bulk of the small farm owners are located, it is still forthcoming.

We hope that the SRA can convince Japan to allow our sugar export under the JJEPA.

That could buoy up the sugar industry.

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A Supreme Court stenographer has issued a written statement to the appeal by Pulupandan Mayor Magdaleno Peña certifying that she had seen and read a copy of a controversial agenda written by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide which the Supreme Court had earlier said was falsified.

Davide, himself, said that he owns the said copy of the supplemental agenda of the Nov. 13, 2002 session of the SC First Division dubbed as Annex B.

That certification is vital to Peña’s appeal for reconsideration of the SC decision for his disbarment.

Well, Peña is not one who willingly accepts defeat without putting up a vigorous defense. And he has, in the statement of the court stenographer, a chance to have the high tribunal review the decision. Peña had charged two justices of the SC of having granted undue favor to the Urban Bank. The two high court justices were now acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

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The Bacolod police should not waste time in trying to verify the identity of the Russian national arrested Saturday after he had allegedly duped a cellular phone store twice using fictitious credit cards.

The suspect identified himself as Oqil Oqilov, 24. He is now detained at Police Station 1, reports said.

Oqilov reportedly bought two cellular phones valued at P29,900 Thursday from Loida Aguero of PO’s Marketing using a Banco de Oro credit card. The credit card later turned out to be fake.

Two days later, Oqilov reportedly again went to PO’s Marketing and bought another cellular phone. This time he used a Metrobank credit card. This time, the store discovered that the card belonged to another customer. Promptly the police arrested Oqilov from whom they recovered several credit cards from different bank.

In short, the police should be able to trace Oqilov true identity through the Immigration Bureau and at the same time, hunt for his two companions from Antipolo, Rixal, who have disappeared.*

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