Business Circuit

Minola Refining Corp. and probably the four other oil companies under the Coconut Industry Investment Fund are the only sequestered companies that have continued to survive and make profits.

In spite of the mandate in Executive Order No. 1 that the purpose of sequestration is to prevent the dissipation of assets, practically all of the sequestered companies have turned belly up.

The officials appointed by the government to run these companies should be held accountable for the dissipation of the assets. But instead of being punished, they are given perks.

In the ABC class of cooking oil, Minola is said to account for close to 30 percent of total demand.

However, in the cooking oil industry as a whole, 50 percent of the demand is provided by palm oil imported from Malaysia.

Aside from lower tariffs, importers are encouraged by the fact that palm oil is at least $200 cheaper per ton, and safer to health than coconut oil.

Corner stores sell palm oil by the "takal."

Minola is fighting. Danilo Coronacion, president and chairman, makes sure that the company competes, survives and reports profits.

But Minola is a drop in the bucket in the entire coconut industry.

Previous administrations all but completely neglected the coconut industry. The proof is that the Philippines is now the third top exporter of coconut products behind Indonesia and Malaysia. And Vietnam is threatening the Philippine position.

Along with the neglect of the major agricultural products of rice, sugar and coconut, manufacturing is coming down, not only because of the recession, but also because it cannot compete with foreign producers due to the reduction of tariff rates to very low levels.

The purpose of joining the World Trade Organization was to get aboard the globalization train. But because we hardly took more efficient steps to improve local production, the country has become a net importer of many products that can be produced here.

Worse, the export sector has also practically succumbed.

A loyal member of the Methodist Church told me of a rehabilitation center for priests in a place he said I should not divulge.

At present there are more than 50 "inmates" in the center, including a monsignor. They are a mixture of drug and sex addicts. Some are both.

The Catholic Church keeps the center a tightly kept secret but more and more people are getting to know where it is.

The Catholic Church investigates offenses made by priests. It is very quietly done. Many are found guilty of siring children, some with several women.

How are they punished? The punishment is never announced. The erring priests are banished to the United States where they serve as aides of American Catholic priests. One of the more prominent offenders, a bishop, was assigned as a librarian.

That is a reward, not a punishment considering that Filipinos would do anything, like Dr. Faust hocked his soul to the devil, to go to the United States.

Offending Catholic priests are not punished. They are rewarded with "exile" to Mother America.

My wife and I spent about four hours last week at the US embassy waiting to be interviewed on our visa applications.

The consular system is efficient but there are just too many applicants.

Security at the US Embassy gate is tight. Cellular phones, lighters, matches and even cigarettes are not allowed in the consular premises.

Fingerprints are taken. I was told that copies are sent to every US diplomatic station.

I asked the consul who interviewed us how many Filipinos apply for visas everyday. I could not believe my ears: 1,200 every working day.

No wonder there are 12 windows. Five consuls are at work at any one time. No noon breaks.

The US embassy has changed the system. Visas are delivered to the house of the applicant by courier for a fee of P500. We applied on a Thursday. My and my wife’s visas were delivered to our house early Saturday.

Oppression

A few thoughts crossed my mind last Wednesday afternoon when policemen served a warrant of arrest on Jun Lozada at La Salle Greenhills where he is being "guarded" by nuns and priests.

The police arrested him on a perjury complaint field by Mike Defensor. It is strange that nobody in Malacañang, least of all Defensor, seems to remember how Lozada was sent P500,000 by an assistant executive secretary (Lozada returned the money which the Palace official said he raised from his personal funds, if you can believe that) and how he was literally taken for a ride by police officials upon arrival from Hong Kong to stop him from testifying on the corruption-tainted broadband deal in the Senate.

The benign Lozada never thought of filing a complaint against those who all but abducted him.

Mike Defensor is resuscitating an issue that is almost dead. He will make a hero of Lozada and people will be reminded of the bribery that attended the ZTE-NBN contract.

I can’t figure out what Mike Defensor will gain out of all this, except perhaps to stroke his ego by announcing to the world that he is a powerful man. Or has the "right connect."