Pinoy ‘TNTs’ and the $1,200 stimulus check

“Every time I hear a politician mention the word 'stimulus,' my mind flashes back to high school biology class, when I touched battery wires to a dead frog to make it twitch.”

—Robert Kiyosaki

By Alex P. Vidal

BACK in 2008, we helped encourage some kababayans who have overstayed their temporary visitor’s visa and who have worked “under the table” in California to file their income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Those who file an income tax return are issued with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).

In the absence of a Social Security Number (SSN), an ITIN can be used to open a bank account on a case to case basis, among other documentary purposes and financial transactions within the United States.   

Fearing that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “might monitor them” as overstaying aliens and with a TNT (tago ng tago) status, some of them ignored our suggestions and backtracked.

No transaction with the IRS, no monitoring of our movements and whereabouts, some of them argued.  

The IRS does not discriminate against those who file income tax, we emphasized to them. 

It does not determine whether certain tax payers are TNTs and illegal aliens as long as the transaction is valid, we insisted. 

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The IRS, actually, performs only three main functions—tax return processing, taxpayer service, and enforcement. 

The USCIS and the DHS might have access to IRS data, as well as other federal agencies, but they would never use the act by any TNT or illegal alien of paying an income tax to the IRS as reason to arrest and deport him—unless he commits a crime.

The only thing to fear is fear itself, as they always say.

The advantages of filing an income tax return with the IRS far outweigh the disadvantages, which are sometimes only in their minds.

In fact, it never crossed our imagination that 12 years later, an ITIN can play a big and decisive role to help “bail out” TNTs and illegal aliens caught in the financial quagmire. 

The ITIN they acquired and have been using to religiously pay their income tax annually have become their saving graces.

Twelve years later, or in the year 2020, coronavirus butchered the United States, which resulted in the declaration of a mind-blowing home quarantine to slow down cases of infections and deaths.

Job losses followed suit as the lockdown prolonged.

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This compelled congress to pass a law that would give the Americans stimulus packages—1. The CARES Act; 2. HEROES Act— to cushion the economic impact.

Under the proposed $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, another batch of stimulus payments for most households would be authorized.

In the first round of stimulus checks directed by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES Act in March, only taxpayers with Social Security Number were included in the $1,200 stimulus check. 

ITIN-issued taxpayers weren’t qualified.

Under the HEROES Act, taxpayers with ITIN are expected to also get a stimulus check worth $1,200. 

The exclusion of some Americans in the CARES Act was severely criticized by advocacy groups and taxpayers alike.

Most Americans would get more money in a second stimulus under the HEROES Act, according to the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute. 

Its analysis found that the average household would receive $2,170 in the HEROES Act, compared with $1,729 for the first stimulus checks in the CARES Act.

Unless they have children or dependents who qualify for a $1,200 payment, wealthier Americans would be excluded in the HEROES Act. Like the first stimulus round, the cutoff would be $98,000 for single taxpayers and $199,000 for married couples. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Can we bring America to the Philippines?

“It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance.”

—Simone Weil

By Alex P. Vidal

BECAUSE of the Internet, we can monitor what is happening in the Philippines and in other parts of the globe on a regular basis even if we’re now living in a faraway place.

We are very much aware that our kababayans, our fellow Ilonggos, are among the hardest hit and now wallowing in abject economic difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 mayhem.

It’s also disheartening to learn that some public utility drivers had been arrested and jailed for begging in the streets.

Since this is a worldwide pandemic, our imagination conjures up a mirror or events that illuminate a similar scenario in other places with coronavirus commotion.   

Including the United States.

Like the Filipinos and other nationalities, many Americans also lost their employment and livelihood, aside from registering a staggering number of cases and deaths, especially in New York.

They also suffered enormously from appalling economic conditions as a result of COVID-19 lockdown, and their emotional and mental anguish sometimes has led to suicide and nervous breakdown.

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The only difference is the Americans aren’t poor.

Their grief and melancholy is short-lived. Their depression is temporary—and gone as soon as Uncle Sam flexes his muscles and come to his children’s succor.

America is so vast and its resources—food and otherwise—are  abundant they can take care of its 350 million population in any circumstance.

They can quickly rebound from the pit of desolation and despondency and move on to the next chapter of their lives without the need to curse the government.

The federal government’s stimulus checks, passed through a bipartisan legislation, were readily available as soon as the law that created it took effect. 

No red tape and corruption. No politics involved. 

Emergency food supply and other social assistance in kind and in cash are accessible and always available.   

Unlike in the Philippines. 

Even the opportunity for many Filipinos to work again in many essential jobs had been forestalled.

No work means no income and no sufficient food on the table and in the stockroom.   

Some jobs disappeared after only three months since the quarantine or lockdown took effect. 

We furthered learned that many construction workers who, after completing the lockdown in La Paz, Jaro, Arevalo, Mandurriao, and the City Proper, have been given termination notices “for lack of budget” even before they could resume their work. 

Employment opportunities or the chance to hack out a “boundary” for those in the transportation sector were reportedly scarce during the initial lifting of lockdown.

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Because the government social amelioration funds are not enough, many Filipino households can hardly prepare a budget meal even for a small family.

There’s also an uptick of cases on violence against women and children even as nasty altercations had sparked between suspicious residents and defensive village officials.  

To complete the somber situation, a flustered President Rodrigo Roa Duterte whined about the deficit of stimulus money (where to get the next trance is his biggest headache).

The president had also decried some sneaky village officials who made a pile from the social amelioration program (SAP) intended for the poor residents. Heads were nonetheless expected to roll as proper charges have been readied.

If only the Philippines is a state of America, the Filipinos can also avail of the head-turning stimulus check worth $1,200 each, plus the pandemic unemployment fund of $600 a week.

The next coronavirus stimulus package in the United States could see Americans receive as much as $4,000 as part of a tax-credit scheme aimed at boosting tourism in the country, it was reported.

No need anymore for the elderly drivers to beg in the streets and be arrested and jailed like ordinary criminals. 

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

  

A Babel once again

“If it had been possible to build the Tower of Babel without climbing it, it would have been permitted.”

—Franz Kafka

By Alex P. Vidal

WE have now become a Babel, or a story about a city in Shinar where the building of a tower is held in Genesis to have been halted by the confusion of tongues.

What’s happening in the Philippines is actually like a scene of noise or confusion.

While things are apparently quite in the local front, the country is on the brink of chaos once again what with so many opinions clashing whether the anti-terror bill will violate the human rights of the Filipinos, or save them from home-grown terrorists like those who authored the mayhem in Marawi City three years ago. 

It’s now up for President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to turn it into law. 

There are strong indications the proponents will have the last laugh on the furor.

Hardly had the duel of opinions on anti-terror bill simmered down in the streets and in the media fora, another wave of controversy distracted the nation from its uproarious battle against the COVID-19.

The conviction of Rappler’s Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr. by the trial court for “cyberlibel” on June 16 has placed the Philippines in the global radar once more.

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This double whammy came in quick succession as the President was worrying where to get the next stimulus fund for the families sidelined and “impoverished” by the pandemic-initiated lockdown.

People were again divided whether the Manila court verdict was “a portent of things to come” for the freedom of the press and expression or “it should serve as a wake up call” for journalists to be more responsible and accountable when criticizing people who don’t belong in government.

Others have condemned the verdict as setting “an extraordinarily damaging precedent.”

The ruling was issued by a court in Manila, where attendance was limited due to coronavirus prevention measures. The news website Rappler, Ressa, its executive editor, and former researcher and writer  Santos Jr were accused of cyberlibel over a story that alleged links between a businessman and a top judge.

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Rappler was found to have no liability, but both Ressa and Santos were found guilty. 

The court ruled that they are entitled to post-conviction bail, and can appeal against the verdict. The convicted journalists have been ordered to pay P200,000 in moral damages and another P200,000 in exemplary damages.

Rappler and its officers and staff have faced at least 11 investigations and court cases even as press freedom advocates decry that media freedom in the Philippines has deteriorated severely under the Duterte administration.

Out of 180 countries, the Philippines now ranks 136th on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index. 

It was reported that journalists have been targeted through judicial harassment, online campaigns waged by pro-Duterte troll armies, and violence. 

Local politicians, it warned, “can have reporters silenced with complete impunity”.

Earlier in May, ABS-CBN, was forced off air by a cease-and-desist order that press freedom advocates condemned as a brazen attempt to silence the press. 

Soon after, the new anti-terrorism act has been passed in congress that allows warrantless arrests, weeks of detention without charge and other powers that rights groups fear could be used against government critics.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

      

   

Herbert Vego: A quality journalist on board

“No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods.”
—Socrates

By Alex P. Vidal

IF I were a newspaper or magazine publisher, I would take good care of Herbert L. Vego in whatever means and in whatever capacity and circumstance.
With his experience and solid reputation, he is not only an institution in the media industry in Western Visayas, Mr. Vego is also a quality community journalist and one of the most credible and highly respected media godfathers alive today.
Having him on board in any media outlet is like having a LeBron James in the basketball team; it’s like playing alongside David Beckham in the World Cup; or hobnobbing with Kofi Annan in the United Nations.
In this lifetime, there can be no one else like Mr. Vego in as far as being a paragon in community journalism is concerned.
In terms of character, decency, intellect, values, and gracefulness, seasoned journalist Herbert Vego is notches higher and a cut above the rest. 
In this generation when the “young ones” in the media almost have a shortage of role models to look up to among the “young once”, soft-spoken Mr. Vego fills the vacuum.   

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Seventy-year-old Vego spent his early years in journalism in showbiz even before the Martial Law in the early 70s, and has been writing for nearly 50 years now; yet, he isn’t rich.
He has broken bread with the who’s who in the world of entertainment, business, diplomacy, religion, sports, and politics, yet his name is not there on the elite list of media’s “Forbes” for the rich and famous. 
He still regularly attends in the regular press conferences and other news-gathering events, an imagery that can be likened to “jurassic” Juan Ponce Enrile in the company of grandchildren Julienne Baronda, Mike Gorriceta, Raul Tupas, Braden John Biron, and Lorenz Defensor.
Had Mr. Vego practiced in Metro Manila, or if he had chosen another lucrative profession when he was 50 years younger, he would now be living in a posh Manny Villar-model gated subdivision if he didn’t own a pricey condo unit in Pasig.
If he didn’t stick to local journalism and became a real estate broker, a government appointee, a diplomat, or an STL franchisee, Mr. Vego would now be driving a Cadillac and jet-setting across Macau to Munich, Hanoi to Cologne, and Zaire to Karachi vice versa for his regular vacation trips.
But his brand of existentialism, his towering love for journalism, and passion for writing had brought him to a life in the Coliboaia Cave, so to speak, instead of the kind of lifestyle where he could saunter in the glamour of paradise and the glitzy world of luxury.

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Even when he was making a name in Metro Manila jockeying for some arcane magazines and periodicals, Mr. Vego was aware there’s no money in journalism. 
Unless he engaged in a pyramid scam, purchased his way for a slot in the House of Representatives party-list, became a gambling lord, or dabbled in trafficking of illegal drugs, he knew journalism would only give him peanuts, crumbs and tears, not pelfs and privileges, not a Ford Expedition, an investment in the stock market, or a Tagaytay rest house like the ones being enjoyed by some of his contemporaries in Metro Manila who had shifted to other profitable careers. 
Despite a looming economic uncertainty, Mr. Vego decided to return from Manila to Iloilo 40 years ago and opted to stay for good to embrace his first love: journalism.  
He has written dozens of articles detailing why sticking to journalism as a career is equivalent to a vow of poverty like monks and hermits.
In those articles, he empathetically gave his readers a front seat view why journalists like him can never gain some inroads in the pursuit of material wealth. 
Despite struggling for decades eking out a decent living in the world of letters, the formula of success could only give Mr. Vego citations and certificates, praises, respect from politicians and fellow media workers, and inner satisfaction, but not financial rewards enough to provide for himself and give his family a comfortable and secure life.  

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Mr. Vego epitomizes the predicament of an enterprising journalist in the Philippines with no security of tenure, no regular employment benefits, and who now faces the grim prospect of retiring a pauper and leaving only a pair of sandals for his loved ones.
Journalists also need a healthcare and regular medical checkups just like other laborers.
We have heard depressing stories before about other senior colleagues who had to grapple as indigents during their last days on earth because they didn’t have enough funds during rainy season.  
Mr. Vego can now be actually considered as semi-retired, but journalists, grizzled column writers in Mr. Vego’s caliber, don’t have a retirement. 
We write as long as we have the capacity to think and can still hit the keyboard.
Sickness and old age can’t cripple and obliterate our passion to write and remain in the mainstream.
There have been scores of never-say-quit journalists in sickbed who continued to pound the keys of their typewriters and computers until they could no longer resist death.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Quo vadis, IBC station?

“No solution can ever be found by running in three different directions.”
—Deepak Chopra

By Alex P. Vidal

SOME of them have already died, and some have retired “but they have never enjoyed the fruits of their labor and loyalty to the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC).”
Also, their dreams of seeing the once-splendid IBC managed by a private sector and no longer treated as a second class citizen by the government, have remained in limbo. 
One of them was Eduardo “Eddie” Laczi, who had served as Iloilo City councilor after his retirement as area manager of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC-TV12) in Western Visayas.
Laczi died a pauper at 63 in New Haven, Connecticut on October 28, 2013 and reportedly wasn’t able to collect all the benefits due him from the post-EDSA state-sequestered TV station.
The 60-year-old station officially known as IBC-13, now under the management of the Philippine Communications Office, also reportedly owes more than a million pesos in unpaid benefits to former Capiz-based DyJJ station manager Edgardo “Jun” Arbolado, among other former employees and executives.
Arbolado, 52, who had also served as IBC-TV12 area manager before relocating to Virginia, USA in 2008, blamed certain “organic officials” in the management “who did not have the courtesy to officially tell me of the status of my freaking retirement benefit.” 

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Arbolado bewailed that he never received a single letter or even a text message on the inquiries he made regarding his unpaid benefits.
Some “neglected” regular employees are also reportedly still hopeful that only IBC’s privatization can lift them from dire straits and solve the TV station’s apparent lackluster state.
But what are the chances that in the remaining two and a half years of the Duterte administration, the IBC-13 will finally be privatized?
It almost reportedly happened, at least during the brief stint of hitherto
president and CEO Kathe­rine Chloe de Castro, who was appointed to the position in August 2018.
“I’m also hoping to bring IBC-13 to the age of streaming which is where everyone in entertainment and broadcast is headed these days, and all these are ultimately geared toward the goal of making the network an attractive investment for privatization,” declared de Castro, as quoted by The Manila Times’ Tessa Mauricio-Arriola in an article on March 8, 2019.
“I find it very challenging to be part of the group that will oversee this crucial phase in IBC-13’s history.”
The “problem” is, “Kath de Castro had been ‘promoted’ to PTV-4 and the optimism she started with IBC-13 had been put to waste,” lamented Arbolado.
“Like the previous administrations since Cory's, PRRD's is no different unfortunately, in failing to make things work for IBC-13, despite the high expectations that privatization of the network will take place during Digong's term. Including myself, many retirees (some have died painfully without enjoying the fruits of their toils and loyalty) have been waiting for decades our retirement benefits. IBC-13 management had been marred by incompetencies and corruption and while many Filipinos over-dramatized the demise of ABS-CBN, the plight of IBC-13 'The Orginal No. 1' and its employees and retirees have been totally ignored.”

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Back in January 2016, then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III approved the planned privatization of IBC through the Governance Commission for Government-owned and-controlled corporation (GCG).
According to plans, the privatization would undergo a public bidding with an estimated floor price of 10 billion.
Proceeds of the bidding would be reportedly for the increase of state-owned PTV-4's capital to upgrade and modernize their broadcast capabilities.
The Development Bank of the Philippines had been designated as the privatization’s financial sentinel. 
Under the Duterte administration, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, which would coordinate with the GCG, reportedly submitted the privatization plan to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. 
IBC’s privatization process had supposedly started in October 2016.
Five groups reportedly showed interest to join the bidding process as of December 2016. They were: Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and the groups of former IBC president and current RMN president/CEO Eric Canoy and former Ilocos Sur governor Chavit Singson, energy tycoon and Udenna Corporation chairman Dennis Uy (who recently recent acquired the ISM Communications Corporation) and Davao trader William Lima.
There seems to be “no movement” since then.
It looks like de Castro’s “departure” from the IBC, the apparent lack of interest of some officials who fear they might become “irrelevant” once the IBC has been privatized, and the COVID-19, have conspired to again derail the privatization process.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Don’t exploit Sec. Jun Yasay’s name

“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”
—George Eliot

By Alex P. Vidal

NOW that former Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Perfecto “Jun” Yasay Jr. has died at the age of 73 as confirmed by his wife, Cecile, during the 122nd Philippine Independence Day on June 12, many people were now coming out in the open and calling him as “friend”, saying “he was a big loss”, etcetera.
These eager-beaver stunts exploited Atty. Yasay’s name and rode on his popularity now that the nation mourned his passing.
“Rest in peace, my friend…”, “he was my good friend…”, “my friend Jun Yasay and I were together during…”, “he was a true statesman…,” etcetera.
Except for his family, true friends and associates who really loved and cared for the great former chair of the board of the Central Philippine University (CPU), some of these so-called “friends” actually didn’t really love him.
They wouldn’t and didn’t give a damn when he was down, or when he ran out of luck as DFA secretary on March 8, 2017; and when he was arrested on August 21, 2019 in connection with a long-running bank fraud case.
In those twin setbacks of his checkered career as a national leader, some of these “friends” turned their backs from Secretary Yasay.

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In those dark moments of his sterling life as a public servant and former finance executive, some of these “friends” suddenly became deaf and mute, nowhere to be found and “couldn’t be reached” like cell site dead spots.
It was not the noise of Atty. Yasay’s enemies that hurt him; it was the eerie silence of some of these “friends” who distanced themselves from the beleaguered Ilonggo leader.
He actually would not seek solace from them in his hour of sadness as he was a courageous and upright person, known for his brilliancy, calmness, and grace even in difficulties.
Atty. Yasay’s appointment was rejected by a unanimous vote of 15–0 by the Commission on Appointments (CA) due to questions about his Philippine citizenship status after a period of United States citizenship on March 8, 2017 
When Atty. Yasay departed from the Duterte cabinet after his CA rejection, Philippine banking regulator pursued the criminal charges it had earlier filed in 2011 against him and nine others for “repeatedly violating” the banking laws.
In a 2011 news release posted on its website, the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that directors and senior officers of the Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgages Bank “approved an excessive number of weak and self-serving loans to its directors, officers, stockholders and related interests (DOSRI loans), equivalent to 2.192 billion pesos or 53.5 per cent of total loans”.

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President Rodrigo Roa Duterte nevertheless appointed Atty. Yasya as the first DFA secretary despite being implicated in criminal charges filed before the Department of Justice by the BSP in 2011.
In her Facebook post, Mrs. Yasay described the good former DFA chief as, “My husband, my partner, my best friend – (who) left us today (June 12) at 7:26 a.m.”
She added: “Jun Yasay, you are loved. We will miss you lots.” 
Her husband, who had also served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), died of pneumonia “due to the recurrence of his cancer,” not novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Jun Yasay has donned the garment of immortality,” the text said. More important it makes him finally impervious to pain,” current Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin posted on his Twitter.
Secretary Locsin credited Atty Yasay for having played a role in him getting a job in the United Nations before Locsin bagged the DFA top post.
Secretary Locsin said: “He recommended me for my UN job. He hurt no one and helped everyone he could. He did what many fighting tyranny had to: shield themselves with US law.”
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

Arum first endorses Pacquiao for president in 2008

“Remember, it is not about voting for the perfect candidate-there is no such thing. Presidents are human.”
—Michelle Obama

By Alex P. Vidal

THE exact date when Top Rank CEO Bob Arum first endorsed Sen. Manny Pacquiao to run for Philippine president was on December 4, 2008, during our press conference at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was also in that press conference when then Ilocos Gov. Chavit Singson “gate-crashed” in the presidential table and was reprimanded by Arum.
“I don’t care who he is,” Arum quickly replied when someone told him the person who just arrived and sat directly in the long table’s furthermost right was a governor from the Philippines.
That incident exposed Singson as someone who had been wanting to always tag along with the Team Pacquiao even if he had no official business being there whatsoever.
“Pacquiao will be the next Philippine president. I will be there (in the Philippines) to help campaign for him,” Arum declared, saying his basis was the then No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world’s popularity in his native land.
Two days later on December 6, 2008, Pacquiao sent to permanent retirement the aging Oscar De La Hoya via 8th round technical knockout (TKO), when the American former Olympic gold medalist decided not to continue with the brawl before the start of the 9th round in a 12-round duel dubbed “The Dream Match.”

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Four years later on June 9, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino also in Las Vegas after Pacquiao lost a controversial 12-round split decision to Timothy Bradley for WBO welterweight title billed as “Perfect Storm”, I asked Arum during our “live” post-fight press conference if he was still interested to support Pacquiao’s purported presidential bid. 
Arum, who was not in good mood, went ballistic: “I don’t care about your politics in the Philippines.”
Other sports journalists who asked questions thereafter also got the same cold-shoulder treatment. 
He was so upset with the verdict and insisted Pacquiao “had been robbed”; he was fuming mad even before the start of the rowdy press conference, which was highlighted by the hilarious entry of wheelchair-bound Bradley.
News about Pacquiao’s presidential ambition resurfaced recently when Arum, in an undated video, claimed: "(He) told me, once again, I did a Zoom telephone call with him, 'Bob, I'm gonna run in 2022, and when I win, I want you there at my inauguration." 

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Pacquiao, 41, however, denied he talked to Arum about his next political plans other than the proposed “super fight” between himself and WBO welterweight champion Terence “Bud” Crawford. 
"Nag-usap kami about Crawford, pero hindi naman namin pinag-usapan 'yung politics," Pacquiao was quoted as saying by ABS-CBN.
It was possible that Pacquiao had mentioned to Arum his presidential plans, but the senator from Mindanao was only probably ashamed to admit it, at least not yet.   
President Rodrigo Duterte predicted in a speech during Pacquiao’s 40th birthday on December 17, 2018 that the former eight-division world boxing champion “would someday also become president.” 
Most pundits, however, believe President Duterte will most likely endorse his own daughter, Sara, the mayor of Davao City, not Pacquiao, for president in 2022.
Blood, of course, is thicker than water.
With recent developments in Philippine politics, observers think Mr. Duterte will prefer his former assistant, Sen. Bong Go, than the former boxing champion, in the event daughter Sara will not run for the highest position of the land.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)