Breaking news--NORTHRAIL PROJECT TO GO AHEAD!

After all the hoopla and the drama, the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) is pushing thru with the very controversial and very overpriced Northrail project. Yes, Noemi, it is definitely pushing thru. And the people must be made to understand that they must be ready to pay more than US$700 million for this huge monstrosity.

Imagine, this project and that of the ZTE cost the head of former Speaker (and alleged “Global Filipino”) Joe de Venecia Jr. No, I stand corrected—this controversy actually put an end to the decades-old political ascendancy of JDV. It has lead, providentially in fact, to a succession, which we will see in 2010.

So, if the Northrail project is pushing thru, are we then seeing the revival of the mothballed ZTE project? Or, the project is actually now on-going in a different name? We will never know.
Ultimately, it was only the activists who got hoarse shouting to high heavens how fucked things are. Eventually, those close to the Palace got their millions, plain and simple.

What can you say to this, Joey de Venecia? After all your revelations in the Senate, you failed to prevent these grafters from getting what they want.

Being schemed at yet doing nothing

Ed Pamintuan, Gloria’s trusty lieutenant and former campaign operator, is now in a bind. Interviewed over at News at 8 by Ricky Carandang (ANC, 8am, Mon-Fridays), he found it difficult to explain the current mess government is in the Northrail project. The Chinese side is asking for US$ 200 million more for the project; otherwise they’ll pull themselves out. They are asking for more though they have’nt even started constructing just one bit of rail of that 27 kilometer stretch from Caloocan to Malolos Bulacan. And we are paying 1 million pesos every day for it since 2004! Former Senate President Frank Drilon said we should scrap the project, since it’s costing taxpayers that much for a project which have’nt even started yet.

Logical.

Yet, before we scrap this project, let’s hear what project proponent former speaker Joe de Venecia Jr. wants to say. De Venecia has been saying that he’s ready to spill everything before the Senate. Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico hinted that De Venecia might go to the Senate next week. But that’s because of the ZTE-NBN deal. Though Suplico got a rebuke from the Supreme Court for his bid to declare that anomalous deal null and void, the former Spice boy is still hoping for a miracle thru the Senate. Suplico aired some petty government official’s view that the deal is being given a new lease of life thru a new name. ZTE officials already gave a downpayment to some government functionaries and it’s hard to kill a deal like that.

If the ZTE-NBN deal is being revived, surely, the Northrail project might just suffer a different fate given that it’s already a done deal and taxpayers are spending money for it. Will Joe DV talk about the Northrail project also? Joe DV should get this over with. He’s been making all these threats and alibis that the public is tired hearing him beat two old horses down. And for what?

All of these political activities are geared towards an impeachment complaint by October 11. An impeachment just meant to embarrass Gloria and debilitate her come 2010. It’s actually good to support such initiatives but it should instead lead to a genuine ouster instead of just being used as a vehicle for political embarrassment.

If Joe’s procrastinating, waiting for that miracle deal from heaven, protesters are not backing out from a fight. In the last few days, militants have been storming the oil company offices, demanding a rollback of oil prices. Ibon Foundation just found out that we’re being fooled by these companies possibly charging us 12 pesos per liter more than they should. As expected, oil companies defended themselves, saying that Ibon Foundation did’nt have enough data to support their claims. I seriously don’t know who’s in the right at this point, but if an oil company can lower their prices by 1 peso per liter for gasoline, it shows to me that the price of that precious commodity is actually even lower not just by one peso but by at least 5 pesos per liter.

What all these things mean is simple–we, the People, are being schemed at by those in power. We are paying more than 80 billion pesos worth of VAT from buying an overpriced oil that government encourage because they are getting more money from us.

We are paying millions for projects which does’nt see the light of day and we are grateful for one of them for indicating a willingness to snitch his old colleagues. Our government has turned into a big operator’s paradise that oppresses us rather than help us in these times of distress.