Migration and Freedom 9: Immigration bureaucracy

Last July 6, Atty. Gregorio "Goyo" Larrazabal (@GoYoLarrazabal), a former COMELEC Commissioner, tweeted the following:

Did I hear it right that immigration officials will start profiling OUTGOING Filipinos, presumably to help curb human trafficking? And the immigration official may prevent the Filipino traveller from leaving the Philippines.

The point is d prevention of free movement. So if d immigration does't like ur answer and prevents you from flying what do YOU do?

A few minutes before I saw his tweet, I also saw this from philoquotes' tweet:
Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost. ~ Rousseau

I replied to Atty. Goyo that most government agencies can actually profile us citizens anytime they want to because they centralize many information about us -- the SSS, LTO, BIR, DFA, etc. That there is danger when government bureaucrats will use their power of prohibition, like prohibiting us from travelling, etc. And that government bureaucracies' profiling of citizens is idiotic and unfair if they themselves are not transparent. I went to the Bureau of Immigration website, there are no names or pictures of officials and other personnel. It is sort of a secret club with a website because it has to have one.

I also saw this report, Philippine Justice Secretary Sacked 18 Bureau of Immigration Personnel

Meanwhile, I have a friend who is going as a UN volunteer in one of the poorer countries in Asia. I asked him why he has not flown yet, he said that he and his batch of other Filipino volunteers are still waiting for the go-signal of the Bureau of Immigration.

I asked further why the Philippines' immigration office will hold them and not the immigration office of their destination country. The latter will decide if they are good and desirable aliens.

It turns out that BI made a wholesale suspicion of volunteers going abroad. BI caught 1 (or more?) Filipina/s who was posing as nun and UN volunteer, gave questionable papers, and BI presumed that many volunteers are now part of the human trafficking racket, even including UN Volunteers.

My friend said that some of his fellow UN volunteers were already about to board a plane, then they were prevented by the BI, not once but twice. They have to unload their baggage from the plane, got out of the departure lounge in embarrassment, and the flight of the remaining passengers was delayed.

Since those were legitimate UN volunteers, did the BI give an apology, or reimburse their unused plane ticket? I heard that BI gave neither. The organization/s that finance the trip of those Filipino volunteers has to spend extra for the flight re-booking of the volunteers.

There is a supposed memorandum of agreement (MOA) among BI, NEDA and the Philippine National Volunteer Service Agency (PNVSA) after that fake nun incident. But as of this week, the MOA has not been signed yet as the BI Chair is on leave.

The fake nun incident and the "profiling of outgoing Filipinos" that Atty. Goyo mentioned above could be related. It is a dangerous risk if BI personnel will prevent someone with legitimate trip abroad to be prevented from flying because of mere suspicion of something.

BI or other government agencies that will cause such unpleasant and unnecessary prevention of flying should get some penalty if their "intelligence" is wrong. Like suspending or sacking a whole team of officials who made the false accusation.
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See also Migration and Freedom 7: Restrictions to OFWs, April 13, 2011

Fiscal irresponsibility 11: US debt default talks

(This is my article yesterday in thelobbyist.biz with original title, Fiscal irresponsibility and debt default)

The term “debt default” suddenly has become a common term in public discourse in the US. The biggest economy in the world, the strongest military power in the world, and among the beacons of the “rule of law” in the world, is entertaining the idea of violating the rule of law, by defaulting on its huge public debt payment. What happened?

It is actually common sense and will not take a degree in astrophysics or financial economics to understand that living beyond one’s means will bring someone to big trouble someday. By spending larger than one’s income or revenue, regularly and consistently, then one’s debt will simply pile up year after year. And that is what has happened to the US and so many other countries in the world now, rich and poor alike.

I will limit my words and show these charts and a table below to speak for themselves. These will help readers make their own conclusions too.

source: The Economist, Buy now, pay later, April 13th 2011 issue.

The US’ budget deficit (expenditures larger than revenues) from 2010 to 2012 is projected to average around 9 percent of GDP. This is a very high figure. The ballpark “sustainable” level is 3 percent of GDP or lower. I discussed this chart earlier in ATR and the soul of limited government.

Fiscal irresponsibility, of public spending larger than taxes and other revenues, has been around since the 70s or earlier. There was a short period of fiscal surplus in the last decade (mainly during Pres. Bill Clinton’s term) but were erased immediately. Source of this chart and below is The Economist, I just forgot to note the issue date.

While the US war in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, then the huge corporate bail-outs in 2009-2010 have contributed a large part for the big jump in public spending in recent years, it will be the expensive welfare and entitlement programs plus high interest payment that will tear down the American taxpayers’ and government’s pockets in the coming years and decades.

Recently, it was Ireland and Greece that experienced deep fiscal crisis. Soon, Portugal, Spain, Italy, UK and other European countries, and the US, will follow suit. Note the 14 countries above which have gross debt of 77 percent of GDP or higher in 2010.

The US, or any other highly indebted economies around the world, should NOT default on their debt payment. The current high debt payment is penalty for past wastes and excesses. It should be a painful reminder that fiscal irresponsibility is wrong.

What the US and other highly indebted countries should DO, is to cut spending, from the size of their bureaucracy to military spending to expensive entitlements to foreign aid. If revenues are not sufficient to cover whatever bleeding heart programs, then that’s it. Governments should learn to live within their means.
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Five years ago, I wrote this:

How Bloated is the US Government?

MAY 08, 2006

The US has the largest economy in the world.
But it also is the most indebted country in the world.
And it has the biggest government spending, the biggest bureaucracy, in the world.
Just how big are the spending, and the taxes and borrowings to keep those huge expenditures?

Lucky that I checked the Mackinac website, and I saw Mr. Mark Brandly's article, "How big is Bush' big government?". For brevity purposes, I removed certain paragraphs; if interested to see the whole paper, please see http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=7689

Below are the relevant numbers from Mr. Brandly's paper:

* Federal spending alone in fiscal year 2006 is expected to be over $2.7 trillion, which means the federal government spends $7.4 billion a day or $5.1 million in every minute of the year. This is 815 times the level of federal spending in 1930.

* This $2.7 trillion in federal spending breaks down to $9,000 per capita or more than $36,000 for the average family of four. If we add in all state and local spending, then total government depredations (a term Murray Rothbard used to describe the greater of government spending and government receipts) are currently over $4.4 trillion or about $14,700 per person annually.
* A significant portion of this spending is being financed with government borrowing. In 1930, the per capita debt load was $140 per person. The current federal total debt level is $8.4 trillion, which works out to around $28,000 per person. In short, the per capita debt load is 200 times larger than it was in 1930. Adjusting for inflation, the real debt per capita is still over 16 times more than it was in 1930.

* Federal government debt increased $553 billion in fiscal year 2005 alone. That's more than $1.5 billion of additional debt per day and over $1 million of borrowing per minute for every minute of the year. The interest on the debt in 2005 was $352 billion or more than $1,100 for every man, woman and child in the country. These interest payments are roughly equal to 37 percent of federal income tax revenues.

* Much of this debt is owed to the Federal Reserve. U.S. taxpayers are on the hook for $758 billion of government securities that are held by the Fed. So, on average, every person in the country owes the Fed about $2,500.

* One way to see the harm of government intervention is to realize its effects on our standard of living. The depredations of the state reduce the incentives to be productive, destroy our capital base and have a negative effect on economic growth. From 1959 to 2005, adjusting the numbers using the implicit price deflator, real Gross Domestic Product increased an average of 3.37 percent annually.

* Consider the possibility that government interventions reduced real economic growth 1 percent annually during this time. If there had been an additional 1 percent per year economic growth since 1959, then real GDP would currently be 55 percent higher than it is. The 2005 GDP of $12.5 billion would have been $19.3 billion. The median family income is estimated to be $44,389. A proportionate increase in this statistic results in a median income of $68,800.

* In this scenario, a worker with a salary of $44,389 who is losing 35 percent of his salary to taxes has a tax liability of $15,536. After paying the various types of taxes he gets to keep only $28,853 of his salary. With the extra 1 percent growth per year since 1959, if that worker represented the average, his gross salary would be $68,800 and he would get to keep all of it.

* It is conceivable that the $4.4 trillion of annual depredations could have caused more than 1 percent annual damage to our economic growth since 1959. What are the implications of a 2 percent negative impact on GDP? If the absence of interventions had added an additional 2 percent annual growth, this would have resulted in 141 percent more output today. The 2005 GDP would have been over $30 trillion and the median family income would now be $107,000. The worker described above with the $44,389 gross salary and the $28,850 of after tax pay, would have an income of $107,000. The depredations have reduced his net income by 73 percent.

* Those of us making the case for liberty have logic, history and morality on our side. Government intervention is immoral and should be stopped for that reason alone. However, the economic costs of the intervention are also important. Part of the appeal of freedom is that it leads to tremendously higher standards of living and these numbers show that government interventions that cause seemingly small amounts of harm, over time, impoverish a society.
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See also:
Part 10, Rich countries' public debt, April 27, 2011
Part 9, ATR and the soul of limited government, April 26, 2011

Business Bureaucracy 3: Their Rules and Life

I tweeted these "bureaucracy rules". Now I will elaborate or give examples on them. Bureaucracy here means government bureaucracy.

1. Once a bureaucracy is created, its 1st act is to perpetuate itself. It has no allowance for self-destruction someday.

2. When one coalition of governments and bureaucracies don't work to one's advantage or agenda, create a new one.

3. If threatened w/ abolition, bureaucracy's main defense is counting d no. of bureaucrats who'll lose job, social tension.

4. Before the main mandate is accomplished, create new functions, prgrams and "needs" to perpetuate itself forever.

5. Create one admin or regulations order, monitor how ineffective it is, create a revised regulations order, monitor...
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On #1, this is a universal rule of the bureaucracy in possibly all countries and governments. And this largely explains why many bureaucracies, from local to national governments, to multilateral and inter-governmental bodies, keep expanding.

On #2, good examples are the new US government initiatives, the Partnership for Growth (PFG) and the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP). Many if not all countries invited for this new economic coalition are also members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Since the US does not get all its demands and economic agenda from APEC, then it created a new coalition where member-countries and governments will be indebted to it for such new "initiative" and thus, agree to a number of US government demands and political-economic agenda.

On #3, many agencies, departments and bureaus whose mandate has been outdated or irrelevant, cannot be abolished because they have already packed those offices with many employees and directors. Abolishing the office would means several dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of bureaucrats who will be displaced.

On #4, one option for the bureaucracies whose original mandate has become outdated, is to expand its mandate so that it will remain "relevant and needed." One good example is the Department of Agrarian Reform. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform (CARP) was enacted in 1988 and was given 10 years to be implemented. DAR is supposed to evaporate once CARP has been fully implemented. Then CARP was not fully implemented for various reasons, so it was extended for another 10 years, to end in 2008. Then it was not fully implemented again, extended again for another 5 years, until 2013. It is safe to assume that there will be another 5 years (or longer) extension as DAR has created more programs like "urban land reform" and there is no limit to those urban land redistribution.

On #5, this is how various Administrative Orders (AOs), Executive Orders (EOs), Republic Acts (RAs) and other laws and regulations keep expanding. The previous regulations allow certain loopholes for the regulated sectors and businesses, so the next administration and officials create new regulations and orders to amend and revised the previous ones. And another change of administration and officials would mean new changes and revisions to recent revisions.
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I wrote this last December 16, 2009:

Unemployment and Statism

The National Statistics Office (NSO) released yesterday its October 2009 Labor Force Survey (LFS), http://census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2009/lf0904tx.html.

One ugly result is this: Out of 45.08 million Filipinos in the labor force, 2.72 million were unemployed, and 6.88 million were underemployed (have jobs but need additional work, mainly to augment current small income).

That's a total of 9.6 million Filipinos were either jobless and poor, or have jobs but feel poor enough and look for additional work and additional income. They constituted 21.3 percent of those in the labor force.

Now, there are also people who can be economically productive, but are not looking for a job, mainly because they think they can't find a job anyway. Or they may find a job but not at a salary that they wish to receive. So either they become idle ("tambay"), or pursue new studies to acquire new skills. Say an engineering graduate who cannot be hired as an engineer, so he studied BS Nursing to be hired as a nurse abroad someday, where expected income is a lot higher than local jobs.

For this group of people, they are not part of the labor force at the time of the survey. And this has the tendency of not worsening the already bad unemployment situation.

Who hire workers? The entrepreneurs, the investors, the capitalists. Local or foreign, corporations or single proprietors (or partnerships). They are the main job creators.

"Wait, wait, we are also job creators!" Say government. Oh Yes, thousands of government agencies and bureaucracies, national and local, also hire people. My estimate is that there are almost 4 million Filipinos who are working in government, both national and local government units.

But government hire people not as food producers or transporter of people, food, and other commodities. But mainly as politicians and their staff; as regulators and tax inspectors and collectors. The people who oftentimes give the entrepreneurs and private sector job creators a hard time.

So in a period of high unemployment and high underemployment, the best policy tool is to relax or abolish certain regulations and taxes that discourage the entrepreneurs, the capitalists and job creators. More job creation by private entrepreneurs in exchange for less bureaucracies and less taxes. But this is not happening. Rather, there is more bureaucratism, more regulation, more taxation.

Statism and heavy State intervention in business is a scourge. It drives millions of people to poverty and hopelessness.

I hope more people and voters will realize it in this coming national and local elections on May 2010. Then they will demand for a team of less interventionist candidates who will minimize and reduce the scourge of statism.

* See also:
Business Bureaucracy 1: Avoiding government: Egyptian experience, March 12, 2007
Business Bureaucracy 2: We don't need a new DICT bureaucracy, July 13, 2010
Welfarism 11: Bureaucratizing Entrepreneurs, April 11, 2011

Twitter Notes, July 2011 (c)

Here are my tweets and retweets from July 11 up to this morning :-)
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@dost_pagasa Do you have an archive or table of past Phil. temp., say the past week, past month, past year? If No, why? You sell the data?

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
The only advantage to Alzheimer's is that you have new friends and family every day.

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!" - Peter Senge

@ruffybiazon Legislators need to learn to live within their means. It's not just spend-spend, borrow-borrow, tax-tax later.

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
Life is but a journey; death is returning home. ~ Chinese Proverb

@Montberte "Get the facts first. You can distort them later" Haha, true. Or you can ignore them, anticipate what d other party will present.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
A noun and a verb were dating but they broke up because the noun was too possessive. #stevec

WhoIsMikeGordon Mike Gordon by Noysky
One good thing about apathy is you don't have to be an exert yourself to show you are sincere about it.

@WhoIsMikeGordon What is ignorance and apathy? I dont know and I dont care :-)

@charievilla @ABSCBNNews 2.9M unemployed + 7.1M underemployed (April 2011 labor force data), local jobs suddenly highly available? where?

@Howieseverino MMDA cant even remove debris that blog drainage that cause heavy street flooding, turning its eyes on billboards. Petty mind.

@Howieseverino I mean debris that clog (not blog) drainage. Billboards, smoking, car coding, all prohibitions. Govt business is prohibition

AncientProverbs Motivational Quotes by Noysky
If you do not study hard when young you'll end up bewailing your failures as you grow up. -Chinese Proverbs

@tonylavs "Man-made climate change" remains a convenient alibi for various racket. Earth in global cooling period, still calling it warming

@Karen_DaviLa @govph Perhaps part of Saudi protest of RP govt's wrong policy of imposing min wage law on foregn employrsbit.ly/pkV6Ds

@gmanews Business of govt is prohibition. Smoking, sexy billboards, car coding, speed above 60kph. We pay taxes to get lots of prohibitions

@Karen_DaviLa @a_abella MMDA can't clean clogged drainage that cause heavy street flooding, deflects pub attention to billboards, petty mind

@ruffybiazon People will expect too much of politicians if d latter promised too much subsidies during campaign. Deception creates dependenc

@kikopangilinan Yes, Peace by all means. All armed groups, rebels or govt armies, shd realize they contribute zero or little to actual prodn

@JonAtPhRMA @KateAtPhRMA When govt imposes drug price control, or mandatory discounts, affected players (manufactrs or drugstores) shed jobs

@cesdrilon Bakit hindi mga clogged drainage unahin ng MMDA, madalas baha, until Oct or Dec rainy season. Billboards, smoking, atbp kababawan

@Karen_DaviLa How many accidents happened bec of billboards, vs. no. of accidents and damaged cars due to street flooding? MMDA too shallow.

@Karen_DaviLa @tgguingona Charity means voluntary. Leave charity work & gambling to private sec. Govt shd focus enforcing d rule of law.

@Karen_DaviLa @tgguingona Not abolition but privatization - PCSO, PAGCOR, lotto. Govt ofcials too focused on gambling, taxation & corruptn

@Karen_DaviLa @tgguingona If u think PCSO helped many poor patients, send 1 of ur staff, queue as ord folk, ask later if PCSO helped them.

@karadavid My friend donated solar panel + batt to a remote barrio Sierra Madre, P60k all in, lighted a brgy hall, brgy school, few st lyts

philoquotes PhiloQuotes by Noysky
I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it. ~ Machiavelli http://bit.ly/philq

@gpph Warming racket and climate stupidity says global cooling is caused by global warming, wattsupwiththat.com/reference-page…

@gpph @guardian "ice-free Arctic", among the endless alarmism by the warming racket and climate rent-seekers,wattsupwiththat.com/reference-page…

See how climate alarmists fight each other over billions of $ climate fund, bit.ly/n60cRn. They want d WB to get out handling d money.

@levenezu P500 per truck per year per LGU is indeed a big racket by some Cavite LGUs. Since done by LGU councils, then it's legal extortion

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment." - Lao Tsu

Nitrates: Cheaper than day rates... I understand math, I just can't do proofs... debut, de part of d body u must park to be seated - SteveC.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. #stevec

@Karen_DaviLa @teddycasino So many Bayan Muna activists harassed & killed during GMA's 9 yrs term, BM may soon file murder charges agnst her

@GoYoLarrazabal @charievilla car drivers more accommodating to cyclists than motorcycle drivers. Many of the latter are road jerks.

acopatunru Aco Patunru by Noysky
The List of World's Most Expensive Cities May Surprise You [Lists]http://tinyurl.com/5t6lq5d

@gpph Does Greenpeace, WWF, or other big environmental NGOs want to handle billions of $ of climate money? bit.ly/n60cRn

AncientProverbs Motivational Quotes by Noysky
By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart. -Confucius

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." - Albert Einstein.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
Everyone leaves the world a little better - some by leaving.

MercerMobility MercerMobility by Noysky
Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Seoul, Beijing, & Shanghai among most expensive expat destinations in Asia.bit.ly/qUnQCd

philo_quotes Philosophers quotes by Noysky
To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate some one else's type of thinking. ~ William James http://bit.ly/philq

GroverNorquist Grover Norquist by Noysky
Bar;ak Obama demands higher taxes. He would rather close down the gov than begin to reduce his overspending and bailout spree.

GroverNorquist Grover Norquist by Noysky
Greedy people want money they didn't earn......other people's money. Obama, Reid and Pelosi are very greedy.

philo_quotes Philosophers quotes by Noysky
Man is fully responsible for his nature and his choices. ~ Sartre

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong." - Warren Buffett

@Howieseverino Pajeros as bribe for bishops' silence vs. GMA corruption, bishops double talk too, oppose gambling but accept gambling money

@teddycasino Why do you call her PGMA? You mean P stands for "Putragis"? Im no fan of d left but I support you in filing plunder case vs GMA

@TgGuingona Bishops are called "His Excellency"? maybe His Eminence? If bishops oppose gambling, they shd not accept ANY gambling money.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
Bacteria - the only culture some people have.

@TgGuingona Why not just privatize PCSO, also PAGCOR? Many govt officials are fixated with gambling, taxation & corruption.

@Karen_DaviLa @profharryroque Rule of law, rule of law, rule of law, not rule of men. When will this be really promulgated in this country?

Inspire_Us Inspirational Quotes by Noysky
One day, you'll be just a memory for some people. Do your best to be a good one.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
Sign on the lawn at a drug re-hab center 'Keep off the Grass'. #stevec

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
Each of my lectures contains one lie. Your job as students is to find the lie. ~ Peter Kai Chang http://www.zenmoments.org/my-favorite-liar

philo_quotes Philosophers quotes by Noysky
The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste time in order to save it. ~ Rousseau http://bit.ly/philq

wansaiful Wan Saiful Wan Jan by Noysky
RT @Heritage: Remember when cell phones were GIANT and cost a bundle? Thankfully, capitalism saved the day. http://herit.ag/lNg

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte #fb

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop. Mark Twain

GroverNorquist Grover Norquist by Noysky
"We tax work, savings and investment--and get less of it. Perhaps we should tax politicians." - Grover Norquist... http://fb.me/FV3rnMSs

PAGASA Bureaucracy 1: On Temperature Data

I'm following PAGASA, the Philippine government's weather bureau, on twitter. This morning, I was commenting to their tweets:

(Around 10am, July 14, 2011)

dost_pagasa PAGASA-DOST
FYI: Ma-On means horse saddle..this name came from the Hong Kong

Noysky Nonoy Oplas
@dost_pagasa Why does PAGASA keep a diff. local name for storms w/ intl name already? They add to confusion, espec when analyzng past storms

dost_pagasa PAGASA-DOST
we use local names if the tropical cyclone is inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

Noysky Nonoy Oplas
@dost_pagasa What's the reason for having 2 names, int'l & local, for storms or cyclones that enter PAR? Why not just adopt the intl name?

(After about 30 minutes...)

dost_pagasa PAGASA-DOST
Ma-On is still outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibilty (PAR). if this typhoon enters the PAR on Sunday, we call it "Hanna"

Noysky Nonoy Oplas
@dost_pagasa Lesson: keep asking PAGASA why they give 2nd name to cyclones that enter PAR, they wont answer. They give u d local name. cool.

Noysky Nonoy Oplas
@dost_pagasa Next question to PAGASA: Why are past temp data, say past week, months or yrs not available in your website? You sell the data?

(after about 10 minutes...)

dost_pagasa PAGASA-DOST
Typhoon "Ma-On" is still far away from the country and around 2400 km east of Extreme Northern Luzon.

Just like many govequrnment bureaucracies, if they do not like your questions, you get zero response from them. Tney just want your tax money perhaps. Now, if we want some data that they are paid by our tax money to generate, they say, "Sorry, data not freely available. You pay per sector, per year."

PAGASA, sikat Pag Uso ang bagyo. Yeebah!
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Last April 10, 2011, I wrote this:

Average monthly temperatures, Philippines

Yesterday, it rained here in Manila and surrounding areas. It has been cloudy since last month and, well, since the past few months even after the regular rainy season is supposed to have ended last October or November. I like it when it rains these months. April-May are the hottest months of the year, so if we have cloudy sky almost everyday, and even rains in April, it's cool.

I wanted to know what's the average monthly temperature for some Philippines cities like Manila. The government agency that has the mandate to keep and give such data is PAGASA. If you go to their website, this is what they will give you.

No historical data, like average temprature last month or monthly or yearly; only the temperature range today. Why? Because PAGASA is selling those information to the public. Something like P36 per sector per year. So if you want to know what was the maximum temperature per month, minimum temperate per month, average temperature per month, that's 3 sectors (max, min, and average temps) or P36 x 3 = P108 per year. If you want to get data for the past 10 years, that would set you back P1,080.

But such data are available in other websites for free, and those websites do not get a single centavo from us Philippine taxpayers. PAGASA gets several hundred million pesos per year of taxpayers' money.

Here's average monthly temperature data for Manila from Euroweather. Data is very simple, showing April-May having the highest average temperatures at 29 and 30 C, respectively.

And this one's from Students of the world. It shows the average monthly temperatures (in red) and rainfall (in blue) in Manila. The basic source of data is not shown though.

This one is from World Weather and Climate Information. The charts are easy to read, showing the maximum and minimum temperatures per month in Manila, also the average monthly precipitation.

This one may look complicated, but it shows all the important monthly data -- maximum, minimum, average temperatures, rainfall, wind speed, and so on. Cool!

It's from the Climatetemp info.

Finally, another good table showing max, min and mean or average temperatures per month. Coldest months are December-January with average temp of 26C, hottest months are April-May with average temp of 29 C. Also the figures for average precipitation per month.

Data is from the Weather Channel.

PAGASA is getting money from the public twice -- from the regular annual budgetary appropriations, and for each data given and sold to the public. Other government agencies and offices of course, get those data for free.

PAGASA is also part of the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) camp. The past century's warming was "man-made." Natural climate cycles are also called "man-made climate change". It is easy to peddle these fictions and imaginary stories if one does not show objective climate data of warming-cooling-warming-cooling cycles in the past.

In the case of PAGASA, it does not even give data of average temperature range for the past few months and years. One has to write to them to request for the info, go to their office in Quezon City to pay a fee, then wait for several days before they send you the data. It is bureaucratic, it is costly, it is time-consuming. Simply inefficient.
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See related articles here,

Deregulate weather forecasting, privatize PAGASA

Privatize PAGASA, part 2

Twitter notes, July 2011 (b)

My tweets and retweets from July 7 to 11, 2011 :-)
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@DreiToledo Yes, children are parents' source of joy and inspiration. More parental responsibility, not more govt responsib, for our kids.

To speak kindly does not hurt the tongue... I am not a hard drinker. I actually find it very easy. - Montberte/ Steve Cushing

@RicoHizon @juLiusbabao Usually mga nagre-reklamo ng korupsyon, corrupt din. Like politicians, some media, NGO and church leaders.

Congress is where a man gets up to speak says nothing no one listens and everyone disagrees....Calamity is the test of integrity - Montberte

@GoYoLarrazabal Thus it is impt to encourage entrepreneurship. Employees to become employers someday to pursue their dreams.

@karadavid Pero target talaga nila magnakaw, kaya gusto nila mataas na pwesto sa gobyerno. Mas marami ninakaw, mas mahimbing na tulog.

Blessed are the deaf for they will miss much idle gossip... Computer programmers don't byte, they nibble a bit. - Montberte/ SteveC

People who think they know everything are annoyance to those of us who do... A simple quote that help in any situation: "Have fun" - Unknown

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
Some people think they have art open mind when it is really only their mouth that is open.

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
All I'm gonna do is just go on and do what I feel. Jimi Hendrix

Old economists never die. They just shrink their production possibility frontier... Or their comparative advantage is diminished.

Old economists never die. They just become more scarce... Or their opportunity costs go higher.

Blessed are the deaf for they will miss much idle gossip... Computer programmers don't byte, they nibble a bit. - Montberte/ SteveC

People who think they know everything are annoyance to those of us who do... A simple quote that help in any situation: "Have fun" - Unknown

@charievilla We are now in a global cooling period, bit.ly/rrHkEJ. It could be a long one, similar to the Dalton Minimum..

Warning at a big department store: Do not shoplift or steal. The government hates competition.

Sign at the back of a septic tank truck: CAUTION: this truck is full of political promises.

@ruffybiazon Hi, how many legislative oversight committees are existing? Do we need to create new ones? Can't existing comms improve work?

@ruffybiazon To remove fixers at LTO, they just have to quicken their work so people will not wait too long and look for fixers.

@ruffybiazon Yes, bureaucracies like to slow down things. That way, people will be forced to bribe them so they will just quicken their work

@ruffybiazon If you create a new legislative oversight comm for intelligence, it will investigate intel funds of ALL govt agencies?

@Jimparedes In the Phils., to start a business, 15 diff. procedures, 38 working days, costing 30% of average per capita income.

@Jimparedes Yes, one problem of a nanny state, permit for almost everything. To repair your own kitchen or garage, you stl need govt permit

TaoQuotes LaoTzu by Noysky
It is not wise to rush about. If too much energy is used, exhaustion follows. This is not the way of Tao. Lao Tzu #quotes

@philo_quotes "Democracy passes into despotism ~ Plato" Correct. If majority want free healthcare, free food, etc., society turns socialist

Bureaucracies never die. Once created, they expand themselves. When threatened w/ abolition, main def is big no. of bureaucrats to lose job.

@gpph Challenge govts, but many govts already follow your climate alarmism scare and renewable energy propaganda and racket.

Old economists never die. Their demand curve simply shifts to the left while their supply curve of econ papers become inelastic :-)

In wine there is wisdom, In beer there is freedom, In water there is bacteria. - Ben Franklin

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
If you're not using your smile, you're like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no checkbook. ~ Les Giblin

CRU (UK) is now a candidate for publication in the Journal of Irreproducible Results - wattsupwiththat

@philo_quotes "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in shackles ~ Rousseau" Correct somehow. Shackled by various coercion - govt, religion

@JonAtPhRMA @NYTimes "Extremely expensive cancer drugs", but there are also cheaper anti-cancer drugs, off patent. Patients have choices.

There is no truth whatsoever, that Google+ is related, by blood or kinship or affinity, to Nonoy O+.

TehminaZaman Tehmina Zaman by Noysky
Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. ~Francesca Reigler

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
If you are really great, you will lets others discover this fract from your actions. ~ Napoleon Hill

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
"Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong." #quote tiny.ly/4dK1

@philoquotes "The hottest love has the coldest end. - Socrates" Like global warming 'causing global cooling' :-)

Having a min wage law at home is bad. Imposing a min wage law for foreign employers hiring Filipinos abroad is worse, bit.ly/pkV6Ds

@Zen_Moments "The golden rule is that there are no golden rules. - George B. Shaw" The golden rule, he who has gold makes the rule - Anonym

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
Good judgment comes from experience and experience from poor judgment.

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them . A desire, a dream, a vision." - Muhammed Ali

AncientProverbs Motivational Quotes by Noysky
The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world & the world at large. -Confucius

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs and that is the risk of doing nothing. ~ D.Waitley

I saw a woman wearing a shirt with "Guess" on it so I said, Implants?... A clear conscience is usually d sign of a bad memory.- futureupdate

futureupdate Futuretainment inc. by Noysky
My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too.

Quotes4Writers Quotes4Writers by Noysky
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Benjamin Franklin

@PhRMA "drug devt process is one of incremental advances" and innovator drug bashing is one of geometric expansion by media and NGOs.

That is never too often repeated, which is never sufficiently learned.... The mind unlearns with difficulty what it has long learned- Seneca

Old bureaucrats never die. Their body are just wrapped in mountains of paper work.

Old politicians never die. Their political power is simply devolved from authoritarianism to nepotism or democratism.

Old physicists never die. Their matter simply disintegrate into a kinetic motion in spacetime.

Old economists never die. They just evaporate into perfectly competitive souls.

Give me ambiguity or give me something else... Tablet, a small table... Editing, a rewording activity. -- Montberte

Montberte Steve Cushing by Noysky
In a world without walls and fences who needs Windows and Gates?

@Montberte "The mistakes are all waiting to be made." haha, true. And too often, blame somebody else except oneself.

Old chemists never die. Their material composition simply undergo chemical changes and reactions.

Old economists never die. Their taste and preference are simply shrank into a budget constraint.

Old biologists never die. Their organisms and cells just evolve into taxonomy.

Old molecular biologists never die. Their genes, DNA and body chemistry just evolve into a biosynthesis.

Zen_Moments Zen Moments by Noysky
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~ Anais Nin

GreatestQuotes Great Minds Quotes by Noysky
"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought." - Jonathan Swift

SiteForWriters The Writing Corner by Noysky
There are many rules of good writing, but the best way to find them is to be a good reader. Stephen Ambros

New US govt initiatives: Partnership for Growth (PFG) & Trans-Pacific Strategic Econ Partnership (TPP). Is the US running away from APEC?

IPR and Medicines 10: Innovator Drugs and Generics Complementation

There was an interesting but controversial article yesterday in the Washington Post written by a physician, Dr. Ranit Mishori, Some doctors insist on brand-name drugs even when cheaper generics are available.

Dr. Mishori quoted the American Journal of Medicine article where "researcher doctors noted that out of a sample of 5.6 million prescriptions written for more than 2 million patients, nearly 5 percent “were designated as dispense as written by physicians and patients.”"

So Dr. Mishori in effect is questioning the nearly 5 percent of physicians (in the US) why they do not allow drug switching anytime anywhere for all patient cases. Not a big number then. But let us pursue her points. She wrote further,

So why do some doctors prescribe a brand-name drug when a generic is available? Researchers report that many doctors still don’t trust generics. In one recent survey, published in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy, nearly 50 percent of the doctors participating acknowledged holding some negative perceptions about the quality of generic medications.

It is also habit. Brand names are the names doctors most easily remember. Drug samples left in physicians’ offices — seemingly a free gift for doctors to dispense and patients to receive — make them more memorable. Often, sales representatives will treat a physician and his staff to lunch, and leave behind an array of pens, coffee mugs and USB memory sticks branded with the name of their drugs....

On the first paragraph, I think Dr. Mishori did not mention some considerations by physicians, pharmacists and pharmacologists before they would recommend drug switching to any generics equivalent -- bioequivalence, pharmaequivalence, cGMP, etc. The same drug, patented or generic, branded or non-branded, by the same manufacturer given to two patients with the same disease may produce different results. This is because although they have the same disease, the two patients have different biological and physical conditions (one is older than the other, or one has diabetes or hypertension while the other has none, and so on).

On the second paragraph, both innovator and generic manufacturers are doing those things -- giving free drug samples, mugs/pens/USB/bags with the name of the drug or manufacturer. In the Philippines for instance, the biggest advertiser of drugs are not any of the multinational innovator companies. It is Unilab, the biggest pharma company here, it is a local and generic manufacturer firm. One can see Unilab's products on tv, newspapers, billboards, pens, and so on; hear it on radio, etc.

A short rebuttal to the WaPo article was made by Ms. Kate Connors in her blog post, Setting the Record Straight: Patients Need Innovation, Not Just Generics. She wrote,

I reiterate that we do not discount the importance of generic drugs to patients and to the healthcare system as a whole. However, let’s not forget that without innovative brand medicines, there would be no generics.

Our CEO John Castellani has a great line: “We love generics. They’re our grandchildren. We created every single one of them.”

Today’s groundbreaking medicines will likely someday find their way to patients as generic options, as well.

But at the end of the day, if we rely solely on generics, innovation will stagnate. The future of medical progress lies not just in generic drugs, but in brand-name medicines.

I agree with her observations there. Both innovator and generic drugs are important, they have their uses to patients and their physicians. Where drug switching is allowed by our physicians, then let us go for generics, they are cheaper and safe at the same time.

But some patients are more impatient than others, they want to get well soon; not next month or next week, but the next 2 or 3 days. They want more powerful, more disease killer drugs, even if these are more expensive than those currently available. And that is the role of continuing drug innovation.

Well, at least Dr. Mishori did not advocate in her article the abolition of patent and IPR system in drugs, unlike what the socialists and some libertarian anarchists would suggest.

* On a related note, here is a recent article by the Executive Director of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP, www.phap.org.ph) on the importance of medicines innovation.
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Medicine Cabinet — Reiner W. Gloor


Innovations in health

BusinessWorld, June 30, 2011
(also posted in PIDS, http://www2.pids.gov.ph/seminars/?p=4201)

Innovation, which came from the Latin word innovatio, means “to renew or change.” It is an important concept in design, technology, business, engineering, politics and sociology.

For the pharmaceutical industry, innovation means continuous research and development to produce more efficacious and better targeted medicines for patients around the world.

Pharmaceutical innovation has become more challenging, risky, time-consuming and expensive in recent years. But the fruits of the labor are worth it. Breakthrough medicines are being discovered to address serious diseases such as cancer, heart ailments, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and HIV-AIDS among several others. The results are more than encouraging with more people living longer and healthier these days.

Innovation to strengthen health systems around the world is an equally complex and challenging task but that which yields positive results.

Recently, the Philippine Institute of Development Studies and the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI) launched a search for outstanding health market innovations in the Philippines. The innovations under consideration are programs by both public and private sectors that aim to address quality, affordability, equity and availability of health care. The project intends to recognize innovative practices that reduce or eliminate the barriers to poor’s access to health care.

For a health market innovation program to qualify, it must have used appropriate technology that was able to overcome institutional problems of the health sector. The program must be able to demonstrate that it reduced fragmentation in service delivery, addressed capital constraints in investments and increased efficiency in operations.

The health innovation must have likewise created an impact by achieving sustainability or would have prospects for replicability or scalability. For example, the program must not be limited by geography, cultural practice, charisma of the leader or any other non-replicable characteristics.

The project must also be pro-poor. The health innovation must be able to increase access to health care for people who are financially constrained, socially excluded or geographically limited.

Finally, the health innovation project must be innovative. This means that it must be “interesting, exciting, pioneering, path-breaking, trailblazing and bold.” The project must also have a ripple effect if it gets to be known more.

Once a master list of health innovations in the country has been compiled, CHMI will add them to their growing database that contains other model projects from several other countries. All the programs that are in the database will serve as a global resource that will showcase programs that actually improve the quality and affordability of health care for the poor in countries with many private providers.

Nominated as a health market innovation was the Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices, also known as the Code of Ethics, which was developed by the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP). The nomination of the Code as a health innovation is both a milestone as well as a recognition that PHAP members who all strictly abide by the guidelines are on the right track.

In a highly competitive business environment, PHAP has long established the Code of Ethics which aims to require its members to adhere to a set of guidelines. The Code of Ethics ensures that all pharmaceutical companies belonging to PHAP are aiming to preserve the independence of health care professionals in prescribing medicines to patients. It is being monitored and implemented by a committee composed of non-industry members who are highly respected experts in the fields of ethics and governance.

Apart from the Code of Ethics, a number of programs were also deliberated on by a panel health experts. Among the programs which received high marks were insurance programs under the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. including its Kalusugang Sigurado at Abot Kaya sa PhilHealth Insurance (KaSAPI) Program which aims to increase enrolment among informal economy employees, a group critical to achieving universal health care.

Another program was that of the University of Philippines Telehealth Center which has hatched several innovative programs to bring quality health advice and services to people in remote areas, such as the Community Health Information Tracking System, the Tarlac Wireless Access for Health, and BuddyWorks.

Another health innovation which figured during the deliberations is the one introduced by The Generics Pharmacy, a PHAP member. According to members of the expert review panel, the scheme has captured the low income group and enabled the establishment of profitable rural pharmacies with low capitalizations.

Innovations that protect the health of the poor are truly important in a country which as one report indicated, has 32% of its people living below the poverty line. Innovations particularly in health care are becoming important tools in achieving better health for Filipinos.

For more information, consult your doctor or you may log on to www.phap.org.ph orwww.phapcares.org.ph. Join us on www.facebook.com/people/Pharma-Phap/. E-mail the author at reiner.gloor@gmail.com.
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See also IPR and medicines, Part 9, June 8, 2011

Climate stupidity 15: Fight among alarmists over climate money

Before, the fight was between the pro-AGW (anthropogenic global warming) camps and those who reject AGW as a scam. Now, the fight is between and among the pro-AGW groups themselves. Particularly, between the environmental NGOs and the World Bank and other multilaterals, of who should handle the multi-billion dollars Green Climate Fund (GCF).

There is a new group (or is it an old one, am not sure) called World Bank Out of Climate Finance!. They refer this climate money as

Climate finance is needed urgently by the people of the South to enable them to deal with the impacts of climate change and pursue an alternative development pathway for equitable and sustainable societies. It is part of the reparations for the climate debt that northern countries owe the South for causing the climate crisis. It is also an obligation of northern countries under the UNFCCC. Climate justice movements have been advancing demands regarding 1) the scale and nature of climate finance, 2) sources, 3) a global climate fund, 4) allocation and use....

In its Climate Finance action alert number 1, it declared

Send Messages To the Transitional Committee of the UNFCCC:
No to World Bank Role in the Green Climate Fund!

A new global climate fund that will be responsible for managing and disbursing climate finance for the South is vital and has been the subject of climate justice campaigns and of international climate negotiations. A key demand of climate justice campaigners as well many South countries (“developing countries”) is that the World Bank not be given a role in this new global climate fund given its track record in harmful projects and policies, undemocratic structures and operations, its neoliberal development paradigm, and its involvement in dirty energy.

One of the “decisions” of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC last December 2010 in Cancun was to set up the “Green Climate Fund” or GCF. A “Transitional Committee” was formed with the task of drafting a proposed design for the GCF and submitting it for action at the next COP in Durban, South Africa in December 2011. Further, the World Bank was appointed as “trustee” of the Fund for the “interim period.”

The Transitional Committee had its first meeting last April 28 to 29, and a major issue that sparked debate was the role of the World Bank in the Technical Support Unit (TSU) of the Transitional Committee. A number of developing country members of the TC clearly stated their position that the World Bank not be given an influential role in the TSU and in the regular structures and operations of the Green Climate Fund itself. This position has been strongly articulated by many movements and civil society groups in various statements addressed to the UNFCCC and the Transitional Committee.

I was a bit surprised that many environmental and activist NGOs that love big government can despise one big institution that actually supports big government, the WB. Whaahappened? :-)

So if these NGOs dislike the WB to manage the fund, who will? The Asian Development Bank (ADB)? EU/EC? UNEP? UNDP? Other multilateral bodies?

Wait... In the draft email to members of the Transitional Committee, the last paragraph says,

"We urge you to keep the World Bank and other multilateral development banks out of the Green Climate Fund."

This means that even the ADB, another institution dispensing billions of dollars of loans for "climate adaptation" and "climate mitigation" of poorer countries, will be disbarred by this big group of environmental and activist NGOs.

So, who will handle that huge amount of tax money from rich countries? Greenpeace? The World Wildlife Fund (WWF)? Oxfam?

These three big international NGOs are in the frontline of climate alarmism, along with the UN IPCC, FCCC, UNEP, GISS-NASA, Al Gore, among others. I notice that none of them are in the list of the lobbying NGOs.

Hmmmm, tens (or hundreds?) of billions of dollars of tax money as "climate finance" to save the poor, save the planet, to be handled by some big international environmental NGOs. I smell a rat.

No wonder why they are fighting now. Money-money-money. Tax-tax-tax. The AGW scam must continue. Or many of these guys will be exposed as charlatans and will lose jobs.
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Meanwhile, there's this weird news in Manila today. WUWT made fun of this news in its blog article, So, if you get divorced, can you chop them down?

From national to local governments, the extent of coercion and regulations keep expanding -- to "save the planet."

And those "ice free Arctic" and "ice free Antarctica" fiction-projection repeatedly announced by the alarmists, here's the latest satellite pictures of the polar regions as of two days ago.

Sea ice extent as of this week in the Arctic is around 8 million sq.kms. In Antarctica, it's around 14.5 million sq. kms.

The lowest sea ice extent that occurs in the Arctic is around 4.4 million sq. kms., happening sometime around mid- or late-September each year. That's the lowest or the "worst" scenario that can happen each year.

Just how "small" is 4.4 million sq. kms.? Well, the Philippines' total land area is 0.3 million sq. kms. That's for the whole 7,100+ islands and islets that currently contains 95 million people, the 12th biggest population in the world. So even the "worst" and lowest sea ice record in the Arctic will still be 14.7x larger than the total land area of the Philippines.

The maximum sea ice extent in the Arctic is around 14.4 million sq. kms., happening sometime in mid-March each year. That's 48x the total land area of the Philippines.

So if you listen to the climate alarmists, it's really scary that Arctic will have a totally "ice free" summer in the next few years. The extent of their lies is directly proportional to the amount of money they get -- from governments, the UN, and the public they have fooled for so many years now.