Antiquated NSO system blamed for huge trade deficit

The country’s trade deficit figures for the last three years were drastically revised, with the National Statistics Office (NSO) changing the previous 2004 figures of $713 million to $4.36 billion. The 2003 trade deficit of $1.27 billion was adjusted to $4.24 billion, while 2002’s changed from $218 million to $4.03 billion. According to an insider formerly connected with a multi-cargo port operator and who used to deal with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), the NSO and the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the glaring discrepancy should be blamed on the NSO’s antiquated data-gathering system and its inability to properly use the data given to the agency. The insider explained that inward forwarding manifests or IFMs were previously submitted by shipping lines to the BOC using a simple data base file that could be read by Dbase III or even Foxbase computer programs, which the NSO uses so it could read the cargo information. After 1998, however, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) implemented the ASYCUDA or Automated System for Customs Data as the format that should be used in submitting these IFMs. That’s where the problem began, because apparently NSO could not read the manifests submitted under the new format. According to the insider, the NSO must have resorted to guesswork on the data by extrapolating from past submissions by the shipping lines using the old system. The decision of the BOC to use still yet another system has compounded the problem, as the NSO will need another year or so to adjust its computer systems again. No wonder our economy is not taking off, the insider said, because NSO and government statisticians are probably not getting the real picture and are, thus, just making guesswork on the country’s trade deficits – to the detriment of the economy and the people.

Cybersex operators luring Pinoys

Filipinos – men, women and even children – from Abra to Zamboanga are reportedly being lured by cybersex operators through a website claiming to be "the world’s largest sex and swingers personal site, where real people meet online for casual sex." According to the website – whose address we will not print lest we add to its number of subscribers – some 212,000 of its alleged 19.6 million active members come from the Philippines, giving this country the dubious honor of having the 15th largest list of sexual partners worldwide. The claims by the website has alarmed legislators like Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes who has been pushing for the approval of a bill that would give stiffer sanctions on cybersex operators. Last month, the Abra provincial prosecutor recommended the filing of criminal charges against an Australian and his Filipino wife for allegedly forcing children to work in a cybersex den in the capital town of Bangued. Last May, two Dutch nationals were killed in a shootout with government agents who were serving them arrest warrants in Quezon City.

Heart-less Center

A Spybiz reader wrote about her unfortunate experience with the Philippine Heart Center. She brought her mother to the hospital for a procedure to aspirate the water from the old lady’s lungs, and she was asked to cough up P30,000 as hospital deposit. Fortunately, the reader had the required amount and not wishing to engage in a long discussion and just wanting her mother to be admitted, the reader obliged. As it turned out, the procedure would require a very big needle and thus would be very traumatic for the old lady who was already in her mid-eighties, so they decided to bring her home. Imagine the consternation of the reader, therefore, when the hospital refused to give her the unused amount from the P30,000 deposit. The hospital said it would only refund the amount after at least one week and in the form of a check. After a heated discussion, the reader had no recourse but to relent, at the same time fuming and apprehensive because they also need the money in case another emergency would arise. As if to add insult to injury, the hospital even demanded for payment for the attending physician’s fees, to which the very frustrated reader retorted that the hospital should pay the doctor himself because they have her deposit money which they refuse to refund. The place should be called the Philippine Heart-less Center, the reader commented.

Napocor, PNOC slammed for dumping energy projects

The incessant rise in the cost of oil and oil products is prompting a lot of people to take a second look at possible alternative sources of fuel and energy. However, two energy deals are reportedly being threatened because of improprieties by Napocor and PNOC officials, Agusan Congressman Rodolfo Plaza said. The implementation of the two projects – the development and supply of renewable "senergy biomass synthesis gas" for Napocor and the promotion of compressed natural gas or CNG for the transport sector – are now in limbo after Napocor and PNOC allegedly junked their business deals with a private energy partner in favor of a third party. According to Plaza, a group of investors from the US had already committed an initial $70 million in investment for the two projects. "This really comes at a very bad time, considering (that) we are facing a potentially crippling energy crunch on account of the surge in world crude prices," Plaza said. He warned that such bureaucratic follies as displayed by Napocor and PNOC in rescinding the said agreements will turn off foreign investors.

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