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[av_heading heading=’And the nincompoop strikes again…’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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Wednesday, February 8, 2017
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JUST because of the sheer arrogance and stupidity of Noynoy Aquino the Philippines, including the natives, will lose nearly P1 billion in exchange for nothing.
On Jan. 23, the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled that former President Benigno Aquino III’s unilateral cancellation in 2011 of a Belgian firm’s P18-billion flood control venture, the Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project, was illegal and unfair.
ICSID ordered the Philippine government to pay back the Belgian dredging firm Baagerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDZ) the P800 million, it has already invested in the country plus interest since 2011 up to the time the decision was made which is January of this year. Then President Aquino ordered the project cancelled in November 2010, just a few months after he assumed the Presidency.
According to Manila Times columnist Bobi Tiglao: “Aquino’s cancellation of the Belgian project represents the height of his arrogance and stupidity.
“The project would have required little cash outlay from the Philippine government, since BNP Paribas Bank would have provided the bulk of the financing at nearly concessional rates, while the Brussels government would have donated to the Philippines P7 billion for the project.
“The project was mainly intended to dredge the Laguna de Bay and the Napindan Channel so floodwaters in Metropolitan Manila would have flowed out through the existing waterways faster and easier.
“If Aquino had not cancelled the project, it would have reduced flooding in Manila by 2012, the scheduled completion of the project, or four years ago. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made it a priority of her administration after Typhoon Milenyo brought massive flooding in Luzon and Metro Manila.”
Noynoy Aquino even claimed that it was a “big joke” since it would “just move silt to another portion of the lake, just like his comments “why build windmills, what if the wind stops or why solar panels what if it rains and there is no sun.” These “flashes of brilliance” from that nincompoop just confirms he is not only incompetent but an arrogant idiot as well.
And speaking of “big jokes”, can Sen. Franklin Drilon be far behind? The “good senator” also claimed that “dredging is a rich source of corruption.” I wonder whose priority project is the dredging of the Iloilo River. But then again, according to Ilonggo lawyer Hector Teodosio: “The expertise of Senator Drilon is dealing with contractors about multimillion pesos projects.” And the dredging and rehabilitation of the Iloilo River is one, so I suppose Senator Drilon knows what he is claiming.
Now why on earth would then President Noynoy Aquino scuttle such an important project that would affect not only the nation’s capital but millions of lives as well?
Still from Manila Times columnist Bobi Tiglao:
“Because of his irrational, apoplectic bias that everything his predecessor President Arroyo, did or planned was corrupt. Just a few months after he assumed office, Mr. Aquino claimed that the project was a “midnight” corrupt deal of the Arroyo administration.
“After five years in which Aquino’s operatives went over the project’s files with a fine-toothcomb, and even tried bribing and coercing purported whistleblowers, not a single iota of evidence has been unearthed to support the claim that the Laguna de Bay dredging project was riddled with corruption. No wonder the government lost the case at the ICSID.”
So people, if you happen to live in Metro Manila and every time there’s a typhoon in the neighborhood or heavy rains and eventually your house gets flooded or you get stranded wet, cold and hungry because of the floods, please don’t lay the blame on God, blame that arrogant nincompoop Noynoy Aquino./PN
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