Are We Quarrelsome?

Are we a quarrelsome nation? We killed Taiwanese in two incidents: the recent machine gun firing at a fishing boat and the previous Luneta bus hostage incident. We also quarrelled with China on the territorial disputes. We quarreled with Malaysia for the maltreatment of the Sultanate of Sulu people.

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MISHANDLING —The mishandling of some international diplomatic issues may be the reason. In the case of the Luneta bus hostaging incident, there was failure in its crisis management. In the recent case of the Taiwanese fisherman’s fatal shooting by our Coast Guard there are reports surfacing about the mishandling of Philippine apology . Wow, those bungling “bright boys or girls” responsible must be unmasked. Poor President Pnoy. He gets the undeserved flak simply because no one below would like to take the brunt of the mistake. The Presidency must be protected and insulated from these negative fallouts.

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COST CUTTING — I have been moving around Mindanao by road. And I can tell you that the highway improvement projects in many areas nowadays have been noticeable and impressive.

I talked with a contractor friend who told me that the costs have been considerably reduced by DPWH. (Congrats to Secretary Singson.) Project costs were slashed hence budgetary allocations go a long way. To some extent, big contractors who no longer get big windfalls or profits from government infra projects have no choice but to grab available projects even how low the margins are, just so they have some cash flow to amortize and maintain equipment and manpower. Better doing some work than remain idle.

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ON THE “TAKE ” —The problem is: in spite of the reforms, the “take” of some officials remain. Some congressmen and DPWH bureaucrats, my source told me, still expect some “SOPs”. I was told the contractor had to haggle for some reduction .

He said this malaise is endemic. It’s in the system.