It’s just a dream MR. EXPOSE Amb. Ernesto Maceda 07/28/2010

It’s just a dream MR. EXPOSE Amb. Ernesto Maceda 07/28/2010 President Benigno Simeon Aquino’s first State of the Nation (Sona) message was in the opinion of majority of listeners disappointing to say the least. All sectors of society were expecting specific solutions to their problems. The five instances of corruption cited did not achieve a shock and awe effect because they were not big enough nor detailed enough. In the matter of the NFA rice importations, he cited an importation of 900,000 metric tons in 2004 that had a 117,000/MT shortage and in 2007 an importation of 1.8 million MT when the reported shortage was only 588,000. He could have said that in nine years, the amount of importation in quantity and price paid kept increasing to a grand total of more than 12 million metric tons in eight years and bought at prices 50-100 percent above the prices reported by Bloomberg or the New York/Chicago Commodities Exchange. In the matter of the Motor Vehicles Fund, he mentioned the misuse of more than 200 projects worth about P480 million. He did not mention the bigger Road Users tax of P54 billion. He did not mention the billions allocated for road guards and road signs. He could have cited the P1.5 billion of road guards for Nueva Ecija alone.... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100728com4.html