PROSECUTION, OMBUDSMAN, AND SANDIGANBAYAN

May 20, 2005

You are a litigant, an accused, or the complainant, or the lawyer, are you wondering why your case at the Sandiganbayan is moving slowly. Supposedly there are two thousand (2000) cases handled by only five(5) divisions in the Sandiganbayan.
The ombudsman (prosecutor) has only 88 prosecutors, he used to have 37.
It is good Congress gave the ombudsman an additional funding of 140 million pesos, so they can hire more lawyers and investigators.

You the public and the citizen can help a lot. You have the evidence of criminal activity, give the ombudsman leads to investigate and prosecute the cases.
We should put a bigger budget for the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan if we want to serve justice.

The President should bite the bullet and divert the needed funds from debt-servicing to these vital agencies.

She calls for revenue, likewise strengthen the budgetary support of the Customs and Internal Revenue, then she does not have to increase tax rates. Right now customs tariff is an average of 5.5 percent. But income tax rates will go up to 35 percent,
this will discourage investors. Look at the lower rates of neighboring countries.
Strengthen tax administration and lower the allocation for debt servicing, then justice will speed up, then our society will benefit.

Private lawyers can volunteer to help the ombudsman prosecute cases, write to the
ombudsman in quezon city with your resume.

INVESTING IN THE PHILIPPINES

THERE’S A LOT OF GOOD THINGS TO BE PROUD OF THAT MEDIA DOESN’T TALK
ABOUT—Read and pass on!

INTEL General Manager Robin Martin about Philippines!!!

TO ALL FILIPINOS AND FRIENDS OF THE PHILIPPINE PEOPLE …
HERE’S SOME POSITIVE NEWS….

In the last PMAP conference, Dinky Soliman aptly said that our perception
of reality (in the Philippines) is based on the continuous dose of
negatives from media. It’s about time we hear of the positives. Read on.

——————–

Buti pa ang ibang lahi nakakapansin ng pag-unlad ng ating bayan.
Next time, be proud of our country!

This was written by INTEL General Manager Robin Martin about the
Philippines:

Filipinos (including the press, business people and myself) tend to dwell
too much on the negative side and this affects the perception of
foreigners, even the ones who have lived here for a while.

The negative perception of the Philippines is way disproportionate to
reality when compared to countries like Colombia, Egypt, Middle East,
Africa, etc.

Let us all help our country by balancing the negative with the positive
especially when we talk to foreigners, whether based here or abroad.
Looking back and comparing the Philippines today and 1995 (the year I came
back), I was struck by how much our country has progressed physically.

Consider the following:
1. The great telecom infrastructure that we have now did not exist in
1995.
1995 was the year the telecom industry was deregulated. Since then
billions of dollars have been invested in both fixed line and cellular
networks producing a system with over 5,000 kms of fiber optic backbone
at a world competitive cost. From a fixed line capacity of about 900,000
in 1995 we now have over 7 million. Cellular phones practically did not
exist in 1995; now we have over 11 million line capacity.

2. The MRT, many of the EDSA flyovers (including the Ayala Avenue
flyover), the SKYWAY, Rockwell and Glorietta 4, the Fort, NAIA terminal 2
and most of the new skyscrapers were not yet built in 1995.

3. If you drive to the provinces, you will notice that national roads
are now of good quality (international quality asphalt roads). I just
went to Iba, Zambales last week and I was impressed that even a not so
frequently travelled road was of very good quality.

4. Philippine exports have increased by 600% over the past eight years.
There are many, many more examples of progress over the last eight years.
Philippine mangoes are now exported to the US and Europe.

Additional tidbits to make our people prouder:

1. INTEL has been in the Philippines for 28 years. The Philippine plant
is where Intel’s most advanced products are launched, including the
Pentium IV. By the end of 2002, Philippine operations are expected to be
Intel’s biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide.

2. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS has been operating in Baguio for over 20 years.
The Baguio plant is the largest producer of DSP chips in the world. DSP
chips are the brains behind cellphones. TI’s Baguio plant produces the
chip that powers 100% of all NOKIA cellphones and 80% of Erickson
cellphones in the world.

3. TOSHIBA laptops are produced in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

4. If you drive a BENZ, BMW, or a VOLVO, there is a good chance that the
ABS system in your car was made in the Philippines.

5. TREND-MICRO, makers of one of the top anti-virus software PC-Cillin
(I may have mispelled this) develops its “cures” for viruses right here in
Eastwood Libis, Quezon City. When a virus breaks in any computer system in
the world, they try to find a solution within 45 minutes of finding the
virus.

6. By the end of this year, it is expected that a majority of the top
ten U.S. Call Center firms in the U.S. will have set up operations in the
Philippines. This is one area in which I believe we are the best in the
world in terms of value for money. (my comment: One is InterContinental
Hotel’s Group headed (& corp hand-picked) by a Filipino expat.)

7. America Online (AOL) has 1,000 people in Clark answering 90% of
AOL’s global e-mail inquiries.

8. PROCTER & GAMBLE has over 400 people right here in Makati (average
age 23 years) doing back-up office work to their Asian operations
including finance accounting, Human Resources and payments processing.

9. Among many other things it does for its regional operations network
in the Asia-Pacific region here in Manila, CITIBANK also does its global
ATM programming locally.

10. This is the first year ever that the Philippines will be exporting
cars in quantity courtesy of FORD Philippines.

——————–

Next time you travel abroad and meet business associates, tell them the
good news.

A big part of our problem is perception and one of the biggest battles can
be won simply by believing and by making others believe.

This message is shared by good citizens of the Philippines who persevere
to hope and work for our country. AND YOU PROBABLY HAVE A FEW ITEMS TO ADD
TO THIS LIST YOURSELF