Sison must come home and lead NPA in battle

•The vocabulary of graft-watchers, and grafters themselves, keeps growing.

The latest addition to the colorful lingo is "substantial compliance." When

an official with whom you’re following up a contract tells you he wants "substantial compliance," you should be smart enough to sense what he means.

•Communist leader Jose Ma. Sison would be more credible in his warmongering if he left the safety and comfort of his haven in The Hague to join the foot soldiers of the New People’s Army. His issuing orders from far-away Netherlands for NPA fighters to destroy power lines serving their innocent countrymen is a cowardly act.

• Malacanang’s clearing former President Ramos on IPP/PPA issues is premature. Can you imagine the Chief Justice clearing an accused while the case is still being investigated by the fiscal? Why can’t President Arroyo wait for the final report on the investigation that she had ordered? Maybe she wants to be crucified together with FVR on the cross of high electricity rates?

• President Arroyo’s being placed in embarrassing situations by wrong info feeds on ongoing anti-crime operations is no longer funny. The high-voltage talents of the NBI and Palace press officials responsible for the spate of "kuryente" (bum steer) on GMA may be put to better use at the National Power Corp.

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SURVIVOR TYPE: Hey, what’s this "you can’t put a bad man down" talk at the National Power Corp.?

Napocor insiders told us of A. L. Pangcog, a vice president whose services as general counsel were terminated in September 1997 after the board raised doubts on his "sense of prudence and responsibility."

Well, at the Napocor "you can’t put a bad man down" daw. Pangcog is back with a vengeance he has been installed as corporate secretary!

The hardy panero was dressed down in a 1997 memo by then Napocor president Guido Delgado who minced no words about the lawyer’s alleged fumbling on the job. He told Pangcog that the board "found your performance not at par with the standards it expects of the legal counsel of the country’s biggest corporation."

He said that despite reminders to improve management of the general counsel’s office, it "is still characterized by factionalism, reliability problem and demoralization."

In view of his "inability to meet the board’s expectations," he was given only till yearend 1997 to serve as legal counsel. But he has managed to worm his way back to the circles of succeeding presidents and has reincarnated as corporate secretary.

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INCIDENTS CITED: These were some of the particularly irritating, if not scandalous, actions of the lawyer cited by Delgado:

1. Pangcog sat on the papers on the release of Alcatel’s retention money. When he finally acted, the peso had significantly devalued in relation to the US dollar, inflicting on Napocor substantial losses.

2. He was absent from a critical meeting between Napocor and Batangas officials threatening action on power barges. He went to Batangas all right, but first proceeded to inspect a property he was planning to buy. He arrived at the meeting (set for 11 a.m.) at 4 p.m. By that time, the officials who must have gotten tired waiting had left.

3. Pangcog chose to go abroad at a time when Napocor officials were "worried and harassed" by almost weekly investigations at the Senate and the House.

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OWWA IN THE RED: At the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, there are still times when Administrator Wilhelm Soriano can act swiftly.

When Postscript commented on OWWA’s being saddled with more than P1-billion in unredeemed investments and continually rising expenses, Soriano immediately sent a 20-page explanation to Bulacan Rep. Willie Villanueva, who had told us of the problem.

He cited as an example of a major investment with "dubious prospects of cost recoveries" the Smokey Mountain Project Participation Certificates amounting to P906 million as of Oct. 11, 2000. This amounts to some P1.021 billion as of today, he said.

In another case of failed investment, OWWA funds advanced to Landoil Resources Corp. and Greater Manila Land Corp. in 1983 amounting to P200 million have not been recovered. Yet OWWA has not initiated foreclosure proceedings on the mortgaged properties.

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SORIANO REACTIONS: In the explanation of Soriano sent to Villarama, he said that:

1. His investment of half a billion pesos was "safe and guaranteed." (Villarama: If they are indeed safe and guaranteed, how came OWWA cannot redeem them when their value hasmore than doubled because of unremitted interest and unreturned principal?

2. He did not need approval of the OWWA board of trustees to place half a billion pesos of worker’s money in Smokey Mountain. (Villarama: Even the brightest financial wizards need approval from their boards if they are not investing their own money. Besides, Soriano should read PD 1809 which states that all OWWA financial transactions should be approved by its board of trustees. An administrator cannot give himself more powers than the law allows.)

3. OWWA is a government-owned and controlled corporation and allowed some flexibility in its operations. (Villarama: Wrong again! OWWA is not listed as a government-owned or controlled corporation by the Department of Finance or the Department of Budget and Management. It is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment and must follow its program and policies.)

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SILVER SWAN NOT LISTED: Public awareness on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food is quite low. In a national survey of Pulse Asia in March 2001 commissioned by the envi-ronmentalist group Greenpeace, it was revealed that only 11 out of every 100 respondents knew something about GMOs.

Yet, we continue to eat genetically engineered food without adequate testing and a guarantee of safety. Government action on the matter has not been satisfactory.

Greenpeace informed us, meanwhile, that Silver Swan Soy Sauce was not on its original list of food products sent to Hong Kong for testing and found positive for GMO presence. We’re tracing how the sauce got into the list.

The group sent us a longer list of products that it has tested so far and found, it said, positive for genetically engineered ingredients. The list:

Nestle Cerelac Wheat Infant Cereal with Milk, Hong Chi Foods Yung Ho Soybean Drink, Nestle Nesvita Natural Cereal Drink, Pokka Soya Bean Drink, Abbott Ensure Complete, Balanced Nutrition Vanilla Flavor, Kellogg’s Chocos Chex, Pilmico-Mauri Farina Quick Cooking Hot Wheat Cereal, Isomil Soy Infant Formula, Wyeth Nursoy Milk-Free formula for infants and children, Shoemart Bonus Vienna Franks, Swift Rica Protina Hotdog, Swift Meat Loaf Embotido Style, Swift Cheesy Hotdogs, Holiday Corned Beef, Purefoods Hormel Vienna Sausage, Purefoods Chorizos Bilbao Style, Purefoods Chicken Nuggets Classic with Honey Barbecue Sauce, Purefoods Beefies Hotdog, Gusto Sausage, Purefoods Liver Spread, Campo Carne Chicken Vienna Sausage, Campo Carne Chinese Luncheon Meat, San Miguel Campo Carne Chicken Hotdog, San Miguel Campo Carne Moby Hotdogs, Magnolia Chicken Chunks in brine, Foodsphere CDO Corned Beef, JAKA Quality Foods Budget Franks, Quality Foods Big ‘n Tastee Hotdogs, Argentina Corned Beef, Argentina Beef Loaf, CDO Karne Norte Pinoy Style Guisado, Foodmark Enterprises Kani Kizami Age Crab Cake, Nestle Maggi Cup Sarap Chicken Arroz Caldo, Zesto Corporation Quick Chow Instant Pancit Palabok, Doritos Smokey Red Barbecue, Universal Robina Jack n’ Jill Tostillas Smoky Barbecue Flavored Tortilla chips, General Milling Granny Goose Kornets Natural Flavor, General Milling Granny Goose Tortillos, Granny Goose Tortillos Chili Flavor, Granny Goose Kornets Barbecue Flavor, Bocaditos Tortilla Chips Shashlik Flavor, Knorr Cream of Corn Soup, Knorr Crab and Corn Real Chinese Soup, Campbell’s Condensed Soup Chicken with Rice, Prime Corn Starch, Food Fair Quality Cornstarch, and Nestle’s Butterfinger.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: By sharing the Greenpeace list, we’re not saying that it is correct, or that we confirm the presence of GMOs, or if the listed items contain GMOs that these pose health hazards. Neither are we advocating a boycott of the products on the list.

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ePOSTSCRIPT: You can read Postscript in advance, even before it sees print, simply by going to our personal website www.manilamail.com. While at our ManilaMail.com site, you can also peruse back issues of our column and review past discussions on certain subjects. E-mail can be sent to us at [email protected].