Belgica papers 3, Kingdom mindset and limited governments

Some theological basis of limited government as discussed by Atty. Belgica, reposting here.
Meanwhile, good quote from Ronald Reagan. This image from https://www.geckoandfly.com/19878/35-ronald-reagan-quotes-on-welfare-liberalism-government-and-politics/
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Kingdom mindset and limited governments
MY LAW.IQ
By Jeremiah Belgica, March 16, 2023
https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/03/16/opinion/columns/kingdom-mindset-and-limited-governments/1882965

IT has been a common notion by secular thinkers that faith and government should not mix. Last week, I pointed out that people's misapplication of the concept of the "separation of church and state" is the usual reason for the attempt to bar anything that has any trace of religious inclination from the sphere of political discourse. However, separating one's religious belief is practically impossible for any policymaker as religion is simply one's system of belief and comprehensive worldview of life's purpose, values, origin, destiny, or lack thereof. It is his worldview or religion that a policymaker uses as a measure and standard to ascertain what is right or wrong, good or bad for society. Everyone uses a measure of standard whether he believes or not in an immaterial, intelligent, all-good and all-powerful being....

It is in these general views and assumptions that one must perceive the idea and concept of government if one desires to have an accurate understanding of biblical government and its functions or limitations. It is so, simply because the biblical understanding of government should be perceived through the lens of the comprehensive sovereignty and authority of God in all affairs of life and of the entire creation...

It is here that the concept of "governments" comes in. Take note that it is governments with an "s" and not just government. The early Christian scholars who studied and developed the teaching on the principles of government understood that there ought to be not just one "super government" but various "limited governments" that God instituted to govern His creation...

Man has to ensure these governments function and cooperate within their given spheres because the misuse of one can lead to the detriment and oppression of the other. In other words, it is important for us to understand the limits and jurisdictions of these governments since the non-functioning of one is a detriment to the other and the entire community. The over-extension of one government creates an imbalance of powers and functions and is a violation of God's design and mandate.

Kingdom mindset and limited governments
MY LAW.IQ
By Jeremiah Belgica, March 23, 2023 80
https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/03/23/opinion/columns/kingdom-mindset-and-limited-governments/1883936

IN my previous column, I discussed the "kingdom mindset," or how theistic religions believe that God is not only a religious figure, but the king and ruler of everything. I also discussed how man was created and assigned by God to be the enforcer of His will over all His creation. Man fulfills this through the application and fulfillment of God's Law as manifested in His Word (Law-Will-Word).

In order for man to ably enforce the Law-Will of God over the entire creation, God created "governments" or institutions wherein tasks and responsibilities are divided among them. Each institution has the exact dimensions of their tasks and jurisdictions within which man is expected to fulfill his call of applying the Law-Will of God within that specific sphere of creation.

As man's duty is to keep or enforce God's commands for himself and the world under him, he now has to ensure that these governments function and cooperate within its given spheres because the misuse of one can lead to the detriment and oppression of the other....

A self-governed or spirit-led man is then called to enforce God's law through the three God-ordained institutions, namely, family, church and civil government. Take note that while man is the enforcer of God's law, God remains to be the head of each governmental institution.

The government of the family is the basic community that provides care, welfare, education and training (discipleship) over the person. Christ is the head of the family, husband and wife are one as Christ and church are one. The loving husband is the head of the wife, and the children are to obey and honor their parents....

Finally, the least of all governments is the civil government which holds the sword, and functions to protect society and the people from the works of the sinful nature. It likewise protects to ensure that man in all other institutions is free to pursue his God-given rights and calling. Christ is the head of the civil government as Governor and King of all nations....

All of these governments — self, family, church and civil government — are a ministry unto God and those who serve within them are considered ministers of God. Remember that the goal of each institution is the implementation and enforcement of the Will of God in their respective spheres as manifested in His Law-Word. Without God's Will and Law-Word being implemented through these governments, God's creation cannot be sustained and protected.

In sum, it is important for us to understand the limits and jurisdictions of these governments since the non-functioning of one would be detrimental to the other and the entire community. The over-extension of one government creates an imbalance of powers and functions and is a violation of God's design and mandate.

Promoting liberty, freedom and the proper functioning of society requires an understanding of the different governments and its jurisdictions. If we truly desire for a society where God's kingdom mindset prevails, each government must function responsibly and effectively in accordance with their design. And everything starts with the government of self.

As we used to always say as youth organizers back then, "Ang pagbabago sa lipunan, sa sarili simulan."
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See also:
Belgica papers 1, The responsibility of life, liberty and property, March 04, 2023
Belgica papers 2, The unalienable rights of man and the govt's protection of life, liberty and property, March 24, 2023.

BWorld 591, Devolution and rightsizing the bureaucracy

* BusinessWorld March 27, 2023.
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Among the good news in public finance so far this year is that the government has generated a budget surplus of P45.75 billion in January vs. a budget deficit of P23.38 in January last year. The key was the big jump in revenues, from only P278.08 billion in January 2022 to P348.17 billion in January 2023, an increase of P70 billion even without any tax hike, just through the opening up of the economy from the horrible authoritarian lockdown of the previous administration.

The bad news is that financing or new borrowings remain high — from P437.2 billion in January 2022 to P366 billion in January 2023. There is a need to control National Government spending while revenues must continue rising via continued economic opening and better tax administration.

Recently, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced a postponement in full devolution of certain functions to local government units (LGUs), from 2024 to a later period as a result of the implementation of the Mandanas ruling by the Supreme Court (which gives LGUs a bigger share of the tax collections of the National Government). See these reports last week in BusinessWorld: “NEDA ordered to conduct study on delayed devolution timeline” (March 21) and “Marcos calls for flexibility in devolving functions to LGUs” (March 22).

The President’s concern and that of his economic team to allow weaker LGUs recover faster via continued high involvement of National Government agencies (NGAs) is understandable. But the bigger picture perhaps would be the huge annual deficit, huge annual borrowings, and huge public debt stock, and all of which should significantly decrease in a short period of time to allow more resources to be spent on productive expenditures.

Interest payment alone has been rising fast — from P361 billion in 2019 to P429 billion in 2021 and P503 billion in 2022.

The Philippines’ grants to other government units (GOGU), the LGUs, was 21-23% of expenses in 2019-2020 (IMF data), comparable to those of Indonesia and Thailand, and higher than Malaysia (see Table 1).

This implies that with the Mandanas ruling, the Philippines will have a higher percentage of grants to LGUs than its three neighbors in the ASEAN. It is only right that some of the NGAs’ budgets should decrease, again to help control overall spending and borrowings, while LGUs with bigger budgets must have more functions. The key is to encourage more competition among LGUs — peace and order competition, tax and ease of business competition, energy and infrastructure competition, etc.

In a presentation, “Rethinking the LGU Share. Devolution Ready: Gearing Up for Full Devolution” (July 8, 2021), by House Deputy Secretary General and Director General of Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) Romulo E.M. “Jun” Miral, Jr., he proposed, among others, that: 1.) from the national tax share of LGUs, at least 15% should go to health services, 10% to agriculture and/or fisheries, and, 2.) LGUs should provide a set of minimum standards of public services by addressing the fiscal gap, computed as expenditure needs minus revenue capacities.

If proposals like this are implemented, then the budgets of the departments of Health, Agriculture, and others must decrease as LGUs provide more local health services and agriculture modernization.

I checked the receipts by LGU, and saw that municipalities and provinces are heavily dependent on their share from National Tax Collection (NTC) while cities are less dependent on NTC and mobilize their own local revenues, like local business taxes and fees.

Devolution of functions by certain NGAs is related to the administration’s National Government Rightsizing Program (NGRP) that envisions creating an agile and efficient government. The President will have the authority to make changes in functions, organizational actions, and provide safety nets for affected employees of the agencies, without affecting overall service delivery to the public.

These recent reports in BusinessWorld track and update the status of the bill: “House approves rightsizing bill on 2nd reading” (March 9), “Government restructuring bill clears House on third reading” (March 14). Fast and good development.

There is one anomaly in the health sector. While the NGRP intends to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, a bill that passed in the lower House and its counterpart Senate Bill 1869 expands the bureaucracy by creating the Philippine Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). This new bureaucracy will be an addition to the Health department structures and it will have national and regional offices.

The COVID lockdowns in the Philippines for over two years plus mandatory vaccination (and otherwise mandatory PCR test results) show that a centralized, one-size-fits-all policy is wrong and destructive. Provinces and municipalities achieved natural herd immunity at different rates but all provinces were treated the same when it came to mobility restrictions. This resulted in a GDP contraction of -9.5% in 2020, the worst in Asia and the worst in Philippine records since the post World War II period. The 5.7% growth in 2021 was far from a recovery to the 2019 level.

The Senate should not rush that new centralized, one-size-fits-all bureaucracy. The Senate should instead review what happened regarding post-vax injuries and deaths of many people.
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See also:
BWorld 588, Addressing high inflation and tax leakage, March 25, 2023
BWorld 589, Sustained growth via stable and ample electricity, March 26, 2023
BWorld 590, No energy transition happening, only RE addition to fossil fuels, April 03, 2023.

Bank failures in the US, Europe partly due to DIE and ESG

Bank failures were partly or largely due to diversion of focus by banks to fetish for diversity, inclusivity, equality (DIE) plus environment and social governance (ESG). 

1. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). It claims it has assets of $212 B, deposits $399 B, $5 B sustainable finance commitment, $11 B community benefits plan, 45% of board are women,...

https://www.svb.com/globalassets/library/uploadedfiles/svb_environmental_social_governance_report_2022.pdf

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/12/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-caused-by-managerial-esg-climate-activism/

Also, SVB has been following all the WEF s Stakeholder capitalism metrics (SCM), even reporting to WEF, https://alt-market.us/get-woke-go-broke-its-time-to-talk-about-svbs-ties-to-the-world-economic-forum/.

2. Signature Bank. It claims $88 B in deposits, $110 B in assets.

https://summit.news/2023/03/14/try-not-to-cringe-as-you-watch-this-woke-signature-bank-videos-go-viral-after-fed-shut-down/

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2023/03/11/pinkerton-green-woke-and-now-broke-how-svb-became-the-2nd-biggest-bank-failure-in-u-s-history/

Because They are focused on env scam garbage (ESG) and DIE. Not real banking. So they die.

3. Europe banks. 

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/03/bankruptcies-surge-across-eu-as-companies-hit-wall-at-fastest-rate-since-records-began.html

https://www.brusselstimes.com/374152/breaking-point-bankruptcies-in-eu-reach-historic-highs

https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/news/insolvency-figures-soar-by-50-in-france/

https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/12163038/02/23/Espana-lidera-el-alza-de-quiebras-de-empresas-en-la-UE-con-un-163-mas.html

https://tradingeconomics.com/spain/bankruptcies#:~:text=Bankruptcies%20in%20Spain%20averaged%201162.82,Companies%20in%20September%20of%201988.

Meanwhile, an article from The Statist, aka The Economist last month argued, 

"The right conclusion to draw from svb’s failure is that the regulation of banks which were large but not enormous has been inadequate given the threat they pose to the economy. The job of policymakers now is to remedy that oversight."

Typical argument by The Statist. Existing (bank) regulations are not enough. There should be more government and Fed regulations.

Fed and govts have already added climate related regulations to bank lending, right? See SVB, they have $5B lending for RE, zero for fossil fuel. SVB following those regulations, still not enough?

Most media, most economists, like government agencies have that tendency or disease. No crisis situation, there should be more regulations to "prevent" a future crisis. And business crisis and bankruptcy happens, they call for more regulations. Instead of calling for pulling out of some regulations 

And the WEF, aka as World economic fascism, their "Stakeholder capitalism"  means corporations and banks should invest/focus more in DIE, ESG, climate related money pits that produce questionable returns. 

PH and Asian corporations and banks should distance themselves from stakeholder capitalism drama of the WEF. Stay the course of classical capitalism.

BWorld 590, No energy transition happening, only RE addition to fossil fuels

* BusinessWorld March 22, 2023. 
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The Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum (PEPIF 2023) held this week on March 20 and 21 at the Diamond Hotel — sponsored by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) — was a great success. All the invited speakers came on stage, a few delivered virtual messages, there was a big audience and corporate sponsorships.

BusinessWorld, as media partner of PEPIF 2023, came out with a number of stories. See these four reports by Ashley Erika Jose: “Green energy auction 2nd round due in June” (March 20), “Meralco moves to partly replace lost 670 MW,” “DoE has authority to accelerate charging station rollout — senator” (March 21), and “PSALM says qualified bidders for Casecnan now down to seven” (March 22).

I attended the two-day conference and among the topics that frequently came up or were mentioned by many speakers was “energy transition” from fossil fuels to renewable energy (RE). It was mentioned by Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina L. Guevarra, by Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson and CEO Monalisa C. Dimalanta, by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren B. Legarda, and by Senate Committee on Energy Vice-Chairman Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian, other speakers.

Mr. Gatchalian has filed Senate Bill 157 or the “Energy Transition Act” with a specific goal of “net zero emissions by 2050.” This column will try to answer two questions: Is energy transition technologically feasible and happening? and, Is energy transition economically viable and rational?

To help answer the first question, I construct a table covering three decades, 1992-2021. Germany has an energiewende or energy transition program with a specific goal of “a carbon- and nuclear-free energy system by 2045.”

The numbers show the following:

One, all the four European countries in the G7 — Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy — have had deliberate, consistent declines in the consumption of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal) and increases in the share of wind, solar, hydro and other RE over the past three decades.

Two, Japan has had a consistent decline in oil use but increased consumption of gas, coal, and RE. The US has seesawed in oil but continued to rise in the use of gas and coal, plus RE. Canada has had a consistent marginal increase in all three fossil fuels and RE.

Three, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and the ASEAN-6 have had consistent increases in use of all three fossil fuels, especially coal, also increased RE use. The world total has been on a similar trend. Singapore has zero coal consumption. (See Table 1).

Next question — Is forced energy transition economically viable and rational?

I built another table covering the same countries over the same three-decade period on their economic growth and price stabilization. The numbers show the following:

One, all the G7 countries have had anemic GDP growth of 2.1% or lower in the last two decades and this is the period when the fast rollout of RE happened. Their inflation rates were no different, if not higher in the last two decades than in the 1990s when RE levels were low.

Two, all the Asian economies listed have had growth of 2.3% to 10.7% in the last two decades when they jacked up their fossil fuel use. Their inflation rates were generally lower in the last two decades compared with rates in the 1990s (See Table 2).

So, looking at two decades worth of data, the answers to the two questions are as follows.

1. Technologically, there is NO energy transition happening in Asia and North America. It does not seem technologically feasible. There is only RE addition on top of high fossil fuel use even among G7 countries. For instance, Germany and the UK’s coal consumption in the last decade were 15 times and seven times larger than the Philippines’. Their respective natural gas consumption were 28 times and 21 times larger than the Philippines’.

2. Economically, energy transition as experienced by the G7 countries is not advisable and rational. It contributed to economic distortion, with low, anemic growth while the prices of commodities remained relatively high.

So, Sen. Win, please drop your bill on energy transition in the Senate. The same move should apply at the House of Representatives, the Department of Energy (DoE), ERC, other government agencies and energy business groups and associations. We should focus on fast, sustained growth. Create more businesses and jobs for Filipinos via the availability of stable and ample electricity, from fossil fuels and RE combined, not restricting one and favoring the other.

A compromise for many people who dislike fossil fuels and yet continue to use lots of fossil fuels is to consider nuclear power.

I attended the breakout session on “Relaunching the nuclear energy program in the Philippines.” Former DoE Undersecretary and now Ateneo Law Professor Cyril del Callar made a really fantastic and objective discussion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) which was built in 1976 and should have been running by 1985-86. I support his assessment that what killed BNPP was pure politics and unfounded fear of the technology when it could have been a useful, stable, cheap and safe energy source for the country.

DoE Undersecretary Sharon Garin and Philippine Nuclear Research Institute Deputy Director Vallerie Ann Samson also gave good, objective assessments on the potential contribution of nuclear power.

Federation of Philippine Industries Chairman Jesus L. Arranza gave a consumer point of view on energy issues. At the sideline, I asked him if he had big resources as a genco, what would he do. He replied that he would prioritize the island provinces, build more power plants there to attract more investments, businesses, and jobs. I support his simple but rational assessment.
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See also:
BWorld 587, Inflation, government spending and borrowings, March 24, 2023
BWorld 588, Addressing high inflation and tax leakage, March 25, 2023
BWorld 589, Sustained growth via stable and ample electricity, March 26, 2023.

"Self rated poverty" as mediocre measurement

A paper last weekend by Dr. Mahar Mangahas, President of SWS.

Dismal science, dismal research?
By: Mahar Mangahas - April 01, 2023
https://opinion.inquirer.net/162115/dismal-science-dismal-research

The "Dismal science" here should refer to Economics, not Political Science, not Natural Dcience, etc. 

"Dismal research" here should imply economic poverty research. He wrote,

"When first surveyed nationally in 1983, Self-Rated Poverty was 55 percent of households. Now, as of the Fourth Quarter of 2022, it is 51 percent, or only 4 points less than four decades ago...

Economic growth is hardly helpful to the poor....

Self-Rated Poverty is much more realistic than official poverty."

I find this funny. So the poor who rode bicycles and cows in the 80s and 90s still ride bicycles and cows today? They don't ride motorcycles or 2nd hand cars? The poor who used slow mail and doves to send and receive mails in the 80s and 90s still use these until today? They don't use cell phones with messenger, viber, twitted, IG?

Self-rated poverty is likely driven by people who receive free public education, free healthcare, free monthly cash transfer, free condoms, free ayuda on top of cash transfer, etc. If they say that things have improved in their lives, some or most of these freebies might be gone. Sayang naman. So even if their lives have improved, many will say they are still poor horrible hungry desperate etc. So subjective.

So, far out that "self-rated poverty is more realistic than official poverty." Far out.

His article has implicit attack on Economics as a "dismal science", and explicit attack on economic measurement of poverty as "dismal research" and implying "less realistic" than self-rated poverty. 

Many corruptos in Congress, some Departments will be very happy to use this SWS survey. Four decades of growth and only 4% gain in self-rated poverty. It will give them alibi to demand "send us hundreds billions pesos yearly increases and we will fight self-rated poverty." Meaning hundreds billions pesos yearly of new borrowings, new taxes, new wastes.

"Economic growth is hardly helpful to the poor." Awww, pathetic. Sorry, Mahar.

Growth has allowed the poor to graduate from riding bicycles to riding motorcycles or 2nd hand cars. Growth has allowed the farmers to graduate from using cow de carabao in tilling 1 hectare ricefield for 2 weeks straight or more, to using modern tractors that can till 1 hectare for only 2 hours. Growth is helpful to the poor.

BWorld 589, Sustained growth via stable and ample electricity

* BusinessWorld March 20, 2023.
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The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) is holding a big conference, the Philippine Electric Power Industry Forum (PEPIF) 2023, with the theme “Partnering to Achieve a Secure and Reliable Supply of Electricity for the Country,” on March 20 and 21 at Diamond Hotel, Manila. It is in partnership with the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). BusinessWorld is a media partner of this important event.

Among the important parts of the two days program are the overview of policies and programs of the DoE and ERC, Keynote speeches are by the Senate President Pro Tempore, and the Chairpersons of the Senate and House Committee on Energy.

Then the discussions will tackle the challenges and opportunities in the generation sector, the distribution and retail electricity supply, the transmission development program, the privatization program by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), and the relaunching of nuclear energy program in the Philippines.

Electricity security and reliability is very important when it comes to attaining fast and sustained growth. To help illustrate this point, I construct this table (See Table 1). The numbers show many important points.

One, compared to our neighbors in the ASEAN-6 (Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore), the Philippines had the lowest electricity generation in the region until 2021, with only 108 terawatt-hours (TWH). This level was attained by Vietnam in 2012, by Malaysia in 2007, by Indonesia and Thailand in 2002, by Taiwan in 1992, and by South Korea in 1989 or more than three decades ago.

Two, in kilowatt-hour (KWH) per capita generation, ours is also among the lowest in the region.

These two indicators suggest that the Philippines does not have sufficient electricity security and reliability. When the power supply is low, it means yellow-red alerts are not far behind, and potential blackouts will continue to harass businesses and households.

Three, fast growth in power generation leads to fast GDP growth. A good fit and experience in this trend are China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and the ASEAN-6.

Four, slow growth in power generation leads to slow GDP growth. Good examples are the G7 countries — the US, Canada, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Japan — especially from 2006 to 2021 (See Table 1).

That the Philippines has thin power reserve margins coupled with supply withholding by big gencos is not good. Last week I attended Kamuning Bakery Café’s Pandesal Forum, hosted by Wilson Lee Flores, where ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta spoke on “Philippine energy security and affordability.”

One question that was asked of Ms. Dimalanta was how the ERC would go about enforcing contracts, particularly the power supply agreement (PSA) between Meralco and units of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. Ms. Dimalanta said that the ERC has to implement and assert the PSA as it relates to prices and continuous power supply to consumers, including requiring the utility to enforce the contract. I like this lady — she really practices the rule of law. The law and contract apply equally to unequal people and circumstances. The fixed-price contract was voluntarily signed and not coerced.

Related stories recently reported in BusinessWorld are: “Mindanao-Visayas grid connection seen completed by June” (March 13), “ERC to review Meralco-GNPD power deal” (March 13), and, “ERC sees new missionary charge taking effect in May at earliest” (March 16).

On relaunching nuclear power in the Philippines — tackled in Day 1 of the IEMOP conference — there were two related reports in BusinessWorld: “Meralco chairman says plan to go nuclear may take 10 years for PHL” (March 6), and, “Health impact added to nuclear plant objections” (March 12).

Nuclear power has been used to generate power since the 1960s, with some 2,800 TWH generated in 2021. Big users with generation of at least 150 TWH are the US, China, France, Russia, and South Korea. Thousands of hospitals and healthcare facilities worldwide have benefited from having ample electricity contributed to by nuclear power, more than offsetting the hypothetical health dangers of this technology.

The Philippines’ Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has 620 MW in installed capacity. If the average capacity factor is 85%, then its dependable capacity is 527 MW. So, in one day, or 24 hours, it can generate 12,648 megawatt-hours (MWH) of electricity; in one year, or 365 days, it can generate 4.62 million MWH or 4.62 TWH.

If the BNPP was allowed to operate in 1985 or 1986, then it could have contributed or added 20% of total generation in 1985, and 4.2% in 2021 (See Table 2).

There are important lessons from all this in planning for electricity security, stability, and reliability are the following.

One, we should measure power addition and security in MWH or TWH, not MW. Coal, gas, and oil plants, plus nuclear have higher energy density and capacity factor than intermittent and unstable sources like wind and solar.

Two, electricity price control should go. The most expensive electricity is no electricity — blackouts. Using candles or gensets are dangerous and more costly. When power supply and reserves are high, prices generally decline due to competition.

Three, since the Philippines targets to have sustained GDP growth of 6-8% a year, power generation must also increase 6-8% a year. That means from 108 TWH in 2021, we should have 116 TWH in 2022, 124 TWH in 2023, 133 TWH in 2024, 142 TWH in 2025, 152 TWH in 2026, 163 TWH in 2017, and 174 TWH in 2028. There should be an annual increase of 9-11 TWH a year.
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See also:
BWorld 586, Crisis narratives as hindrance to growth and freedom, March 03, 2023
BWorld 587, Inflation, government spending and borrowings, March 24, 2023
BWorld 588, Addressing high inflation and tax leakage, March 25, 2023.

Covid 80, 3rd anniversary of lockdown

Belated post, but last March 16 was the 3rd anniversary of "two weeks to flatten the curve" in the Philippines and many countries. That day, all flights and boat trips, domestic and international were cancelled; all buses, jeeps, taxi, Grab etc were halted; all malls, many restos and shops were closed, etc. Even mobility of people on their cars were limited and restricted. Anyway, "only 2 weeks to stop the virus spread" of heavy draconian lockdown.

Two weeks passed, wrong mistake palpak. The bright infectious disease "experts" said "two more weeks" of lockdown,... Became two months, became two years. Now three years and several restrictions remain like mandatory facemask in many areas, inside planes, even requiring vaccination cards in some hotels and restos. Or requiring antigen test for all guests like what they do at the Senate and House of Reps.

The experts from WHO, DOH, FDA, PMA, PSMID, UPCM, OCTA, etc even added or didn't oppose the mandatory face shield in public. All bright moves and restrictions.

Three years now the same guys who invented the draconian lockdown dictatorship, mandatory vaccination, etc. are still in their places advising the new administration to continue the scaremongering as much as possible. 

We look back at how authoritarian and lockdown-loving dictators many physicians, other professionals and media can be. 

Some basic rights below -- human rights, inalienable rights not given or granted by government -- were trampled by governments and their bright "experts".

Some vax-related injuries.

Both materials prepared by the Concerned Doctors and Citizens of the Philippines (CDC PH), Covid Call to Humanity (CCH), Juan Dakila (lawyers' group), and Legal Lightworkers for Life and Liberty (4L), and Post Pandemic Medical Help Advocates for Vaccine Injured (PPMH AFVI).

Moving on, we wait for another scary Frankenstein virus that will be announced so that another round of lockdown dictatorship will be imposed. That horrible prolonged lockdown has no precedent yet it happened. Now that it is a precedent already, we can expect the same or worse forms of lockdown dicatorship. Maybe new strains of Marburg virus, Ebola virus, others to scare the public again.

Meanwhile, a good article:

Bonfire of the Covid Vanities
By Gabrielle Bauer,  MARCH 15, 2023 
https://brownstone.org/articles/bonfire-of-the-covid-vanities/

...With three years of pandemic history behind us, it’s high time to put these clunkers to bed. I’ve collected a baker’s dozen of the slogans that have dogged us for the past three years, and explain why they deserve to be torched and thrown into an unmarked grave. 

Two weeks to flatten the curve.

Stay home, save lives.

Follow the science. 

We’re all in this together.

Muh freedumb. 

Mask it or casket.

The virus doesn’t discriminate. 

Can’t do X if you’re dead.

Listen to the experts. 

My mask protects you, your mask protects me. 

Pandemic of the unvaccinated. 

You may be done with Covid, but Covid isn’t done with you. 

Stay safe.
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See also:
Covid 77, Twitter censorship and Elon Musk's TW Files, December 28, 2022
Covid 78, The dishonest narratives, WEF volatility report, January 14, 2023 
Covid 79, Lockdown, news reports of vax injuries, March 01, 2023.

BWorld 588, Addressing high inflation and tax leakage

* BusinessWorld, March 13, 2023.
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In East Asia, only the Philippines and Japan sustained high inflation until January-February this year. Indonesia, Singapore, and Vietnam have generally trended flat while Thailand, Malaysia, China, South Korea, and Taiwan have declining trends.

This suggests that internal or domestic factors affect our commodities market more than external factors. The main contributors of high inflation in the Philippines, from the fourth quarter 2022 until February 2023 are transport, electricity and fuels, food, and alcohol-tobacco. (See Table 1.)

So, despite the series of interest rate hikes by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from only 2% in May 2022 to 5.5% last December, this demand restriction scheme did not work as expected because the commodities that experience high inflation until today are basic necessities like food and electricity.

The non-monetary measures needed both in short- and long-term would include: 1.) more food production preferably via corporate farming; 2.) more food imports as they are cheaper now — rice, corn, wheat, cooking oil, beef, hogs, etc.; 3.) ending or limiting hyper taxation of alcohol and tobacco as people consume either legal products with high taxes, or smuggled products with zero revenue for the government, and, 4.) more power generation, reducing or cutting taxes on fossil fuels because about 80% of power generation is from coal, gas and oil.

The creation of the Inter-Agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) is justified. The Department of Finance (DoF) may have to bend over backwards on energy taxes in order to tame inflation.

Recall that when the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law of 2017 (RA 10963) was implemented in 2018 — a series of tax hikes on diesel, gasoline, LPG, coal, sugary drinks, etc. — the added costs were immediately passed on to the consumers, as was the inflation expectation for 2019. In 2018, only the Philippines experienced a big jump in inflation, from 2.9% in 2017 to 5.3% in 2018, while most of our neighbors had flat or declining inflation trends. The inflation rates from 2017 to 2018 were as follows: Malaysia 3.8% and 1%, Singapore 0.6% and 0.4%, Indonesia 3.8% and 3.3%.

When diesel taxes and prices go up, the cost of operation of tractors, harvesters, threshers, trucks, irrigation pumps, buses, boats, gensets for off-grid islands, etc. rise 100%. And this cost is passed on to the prices of agriculture and food products, contributing to higher food inflation.

World oil, gas, and coal prices have been declining — they are now lower than they were pre-Russia invasion. Domestic food production will be aided by lower fertilizer prices, supplementary food importation will be aided by cheaper food prices abroad, and electricity generation will be aided by lower coal prices. (See Table 2.)

Non-monetary tools and opportunities to significantly reduce inflation are currently available. Government, especially the economic team, should optimize this window of opportunity.

Aside from high inflation, government must also grapple with high public debt resulting from the huge budget deficit and borrowings yearly from 2020 to 2022. The major policy tools and options should include: 1.) a drastic cut in spending and subsidies, 2.) the large-scale privatization of some government assets and corporations, 3.) imposing tax hikes in some sectors, and avoiding giving tax exemptions (like the lousy but successful lobby to impose zero taxes on electric vehicles), and, 4.) have better tax administration, stronger rule of law, and minimize leakage via smuggling and illicit trade.

On Point 1, key measures should include the Government Rightsizing plan and military and uniformed personnel (MUP) pension reform. On Point 2, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (better known as PAGCOR) and other government enterprises are good candidates because there is no market failure when it comes to running casino and gambling enterprises.

On Point 3, special privileges for renewable energy must be curtailed — they have lots of legalized ways of evading taxes: zero VAT on sales, zero income tax for seven years of operation and after that only 10% corporate income tax, zero income tax for carbon credits, plus Nolco (net operating loss carry-over deduction), and zero VAT on imports of equipment. Plus, there is feed-in tariff (FIT) or a guaranteed high price for 20 years, and priority dispatch in the grid even if its price is higher than that of conventional power sources.

On Point 4, when looking at estimates of smuggling nationwide and non-payment of excise tax, estimates for VAT alone range from P250 billion to P500 billion yearly. Among the biggest illicit trade is that of tobacco products, with estimates of government tax losses ranging from P25 billion to P100 billion yearly. (See Table 3.)

Aiming for a 50% reduction in smuggling will give the government some P13 billion to P50 billion more yearly already. The rule of law should be stronger when it comes to tax enforcement.
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See also:
BWorld 585, Bureaucratic rightsizing a big part of fiscal reform push, March 02, 2023
BWorld 586, Crisis narratives as hindrance to growth and freedom, March 03, 2023
BWorld 587, Inflation, government spending and borrowings, March 24, 2023.