by Bernie Lopez
There are two types of highway robbery - stealing from highway travellers or stealing the highway itself. Rene Santiago, transport planning expert, referring to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, says. "The Japanese consultants tend to bloat and justify projects so they qualify for funding from JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation)."
Rene, former President of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines, is further quoted by Roel Landingin of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), "Once it gets funded by JBIC, a lot of Japanese construction companies are happy."
The $315 million phase one of the Expressway in question was funded by the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), which has a new meaning these days - assistance to the Japanese. The Filipinos are mere victims of 'development assistance'. And the Japan Bank for International Cooperation is a ‘cooperation’ among Japanese multinationals.
Rene claims the traffic forecasts for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway Phase One were based on doubtful methods and assumptions. The Japanese study projected that the number of passenger car units (PCUs) would grow by 12.5% per year for the Subic-Clark section and 9% per year for the Clark-Tarlac section, all in a ten year period from 2005 to 2015. Rene argues that these growth rates are about twice the actual annual growth in traffic from 1996 to 2002 along the Olongapo‑Gapan road and McArthur Highway, which runs parallel to the expressway, and whose goal is to decongest it. The study, Rene adds, does not explain why the traffic growth rate would suddenly just be a double of historical data. Rene pursues his point. Makati took almost 20 years to develop into a central business district. Clark is an industrial zone, not a central business district, which means Clark would have less PCUs.
He argues, "Traffic usually grows by 3% to 5% a year which is based on the growth in vehicle volume. It may grow faster if there is a major property development but these developments take 15‑20 years to pan out."
Anticipating perhaps juicier projects in the future, the Japanese consultants quoted government figures that airports and seaports in the vicinity will also grow by leaps and bounds. The PCIJ article cited BCDA data reveal that Clark International Airport would have an increase of 300,000 to 40 million passengers and 50,000 to 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. Subic Seaport would have an increase in cargo container volume from 25,000 'twenty-foot equivalent units' (TEUs) to 100,000.
The Japanese consultants had wrongly predicted that Taiwan would revert back to China by 2007. Landingin wrote that they seemed to be well versed not only in traffic volume but also in geopolitics.
My friends in the Japanese media tell me infrastructure in Japan is the largest source of corruption, in the billions of dollars per year, a partnership of Japanese Inc. and the Japanese government. They say it is an open secret and everybody just looks away because it is a necessary factor in national development.
THE BEAR STEARNS AFFAIR
An article appeared in the BBC website reporting that the controlling shares of the Bear Stearn insiders were sold to JP Morgan Chase at $2.00 per share when the rest of the shares were trading at $36. <>
Also, the Bernanke boys assured JP Morgan of a $30 billion credit line. Why was the credit line not given to Bear Stearns? Finally, there is a lawsuit against Bear Stearns officials charged with misinformation for claiming a few days earlier that they had a liquid fund of $17 billion.
So a financial analyst says we should not feel bad that Filipinos are number one in corruption. At least, we deal with peanuts compared to the billions of dollars in the US where the media is portraying a triumvirate of giants in a corruption case - JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, and the Fed itself.
The US government feels that if it does not rescue Bear Stearns, it will lead to a deepening of recession. Recession, says the US experts, is not on its way. It is here with us now. The victims in events like the Bear Stearns Affair are ordinary investors, such as a British citizen who lost $1 billion. What is one man compared to an entire national economy?
AFTER RICE, NOW FISH
The shortage in rice is but the tip of the food iceberg. A fish shortage is expected to also emerge soon, says Kilusang Mangingisda, a nationwide conglomeration of 14 fishing federation. Chair Ruperto Aleroza cites the Comprehensive National Fishery Industry Development Plan (CNFIDP) showing forecast in food fish demand from 2.6 to 4.2 million metric tons by 2025. The CNFIDP is a strategic fisheries development plan of the government in partnership with the local fishery sector. Aleroza attributes this growing shortage to over-fishing. The CNFIDP study reveals that part of the food fish shortage is due to competition from the lucrative export-driven seaweed production.
To address the food fish deficit, Kilusang Mangingisda proposes tying up production to the maximum sustainable yield of 1.9 million metric tons, diverting commercial fishing into the Exclusive Economic Zone which is relatively unexploited and where Taiwanese and Chinese poachers proliferate, mandating environment-friendly aquaculture practices, and providing for adequate post‑harvest facilities to minimize spoilage.
I would add two more. One is plentiful easy-to-get credits for small fishermen who comprise 70% of fish production nationwide. Two is incentives to prioritize fish over seaweed production.
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