Beijing’s bullying must stop

Earlier, in April, a CCG vessel cut off a Philippine patrol vessel carrying journalists, causing a near-collision.

could have grown if government did not earn more revenues to push through with its infrastructure and social projects.

Two weeks ago, Recto warned about the impending rice crisis due to a “quadruple whammy” of the India export ban, Vietnam’s export limits, the Russian decision to interdict grain shipments from Ukrainian ports, and the last typhoons, with more forthcoming.

Time and again, this writer has been warning about the mismanagement of our rice inventory. Recto himself warned of the “sound of empty pots clanging.”

Rice after all is not just an economic problem; it is a political commodity.

While I agree the NFA should not engage itself in commercial rice trading as the RTL proscribed, government should be allowed to import as exigencies arise.

Leaving the entire market to the private sector now poses food security problems because they will not import when the price is high.

Which is exactly what we are witnessing today.

BPI gave out 1.9 million tons worth of import permits, but many cannot import because the market has constricted.

Speaker Martin Romualdez took it upon himself to engage with his counterparts in Vietnam for assurance of continued supply of the staple.

We hope the assurances given will be able to stem the tide of a looming shortage and price spiral, just as the president must find ways and means to engage Vietnam in a government-to-government transaction.

In the latest incident in the South China Sea, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel fired water cannons at Philippine Coast Guard ships escorting boats carrying food, water, fuel and other supplies for military personnel stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal that is part of our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

We are therefore well within our right to protest this incident. There’s the Philippine Coast Guard, which strongly condemned the CCG’s “dangerous maneuvers and illegal use of water cannons against the PCG vessels escorting the indigenous boats chartered by the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

It also called on the Chinese Coast Guard to restrain its forces, respect the sovereign rights of the Philippines in its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, refrain from hampering freedom of navigation, and take appropriate actions against those involved in the incident.”

The Armed Forces of the Philippines also called CCG’s actions “excessive and offensive.”

It said a second boat was unable to unload supplies and could not complete the rotation and resupply mission following the incident. It

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea on the basis of a mythical ‘nine-dash line’ bereft of any historical nor legal basis likewise urged the China Coast Guard and the Central Military Commission “to act with prudence and be responsible in their actions to prevent miscalculations and accidents that will endanger peoples’ lives.”

Both the PCG and the AFP pointed out that China’s latest aggressive maneuvers violated the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 Arbitral Award that favored the country’s sovereignty over its 200-mile EEZ.

This is by no means an isolated incident. In July, the PCG reported that Chinese ships shadowed and obstructed its vessels in a support mission.

Ample proof that we stand on solid ground in condemning China’s recent actions in the South China Sea is that the United States and other countries such as Australia, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom as well as the European Union also released statements calling out China’s “unacceptable” and “destabilizing” maneuvers in waters within our EEZ. They agreed that the CCG’s unsafe blocking movements had “interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and jeopardized the safety of the Philippine vessels and crew.” Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea on the basis of a mythical “nine-dash line” bereft of any historical nor legal basis.

It also continues to ignore the international ruling that invalidated its expansive maritime claims.

The Senate has taken the right step in adopting a resolution strongly condemning the continued harassment of Filipino fishermen in the West Philippine Sea by the Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels, as well as the persistent incursions of China into Philippine territory.

We reiterate our clear and unequivocal stand that China should recognize our sovereignty over our EEZ as defined by UNCLOS and stop harassment of our Coast Guard vessels protecting what is rightfully ours according to international law.

In stealth, the Philippine Reclamation Authority rushed the approval of the project proponents which also got the local governments of Manila, Pasay, Paranaque, Navotas and Cavite getting into the new “gold rush.”

The Americans squawked only when they found out that one of the projects would be constructed by a Chinese company. If it were an American or Australian company, they would likely have kept quiet.

Which is why Sen. Chiz Escudero called their complaint interventionist, without necessarily supporting the reclamation projects.

One of the projects approved by a previous LGU chief was so hastily passed even if it overlapped with another reclamation project already given by the PRA.

Another overlapped territorial boundaries, between two local governments.

All done in haste, and in the last days of the Duterte administration, the “developers” rushed to pile sand into the bay.

Now belatedly, the DENR wants to review, after so much work has been done, and hardly any full view of the bay and its fabulous sunset can be seen.

Of course, we have a new DENR leadership, one with a more scientific rather than militaristic mind.

We trust she will do what is right, not only for the present but more so for future generations of our people.

The senators had best go to the Supreme Court to stop the projects via a Writ of Kalikasan.

The tribunal after all issued a writ of mandamus to save the bay more than a decade ago, so the chances of an injunction is quite high.

Still, one wonders, “nakasayad ba sa lupa and paa ng ating mga lider?” ***

Trust Deputy Speaker and Batangas representative Ralph Recto to point out the major problems of our economy as lucidly as possible.

One should credit Recto and PGMA for straightening out government finances through pushing for the expanded VAT law, even if it was quite unpopular at the time.

It even cost him his re-election to the Senate, yet imagine how our economy

Lately too, Recto warns about the unsustainability of our huge national debt, its service, and the fiscal deficit.

He has rightly calculated that with an optimistic revenue target of P11.7 trillion, there will be a deficit of P4 trillion in 2024, which must perforce be financed by debt.

We wrote last week the expected national debt by the end of next year will be some P15.7 trillion, which Recto has now calculated at “15.84 trillion after Congress received the national expenditure program.

Unless new taxes are legislated together with a great leap in our GDP, those trillions of pesos in debt will keep growing to nightmarish proportions.

Translating those mind-boggling figures to daily numbers, Recto said the P5.767 trillion means an average daily expenditure of P15.8 billion of which only P11.7 billion can be supported by revenues, leaving a P4 billion hole which represents the daily incremental debt government will incur.

But that is only the fiscal deficit that needs to be financed.

There are also interest and principal payments on present indebtedness that are automatically appropriated in the budget.

These are king-sized headaches the present administration will have to grapple with amidst a global economic slowdown that would limit our export growth while making our imports more expensive.

Things are not looking good, despite the assurances of our economic managers.

We have to thank Ralph Recto for the reality checks, with the hope he and other well-meaning legislators can find solutions, even if Congress itself needs to indulge in self-abnegation.

Legislating new taxes will produce only small increments to the revenue versus expenditure gap, and our inefficient collection machinery will not be up to speed.

Cutting the pork barrel already made part of the President’s budget as proposed by DBM, on top of more that our legislators will push for as they deliberate on the GAA all the way to the bicameral conference committee, is the immediate stop-gap measure to bridge that deficit to more manageable proportions.

As a whistleblower in a past Congress clearly exhorted—“moderate the greed.”

CRISPULO Baylon was in his mid-90s when his grandson Hercules saw him raising his eyes with each rising sun with a coconut shell of ”basi,” a fermented alcoholic beverage from sugar cane popular in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley.

Northeast of their hometown of Pinili, men in their 20s gather during a weekend wedding in Lagawe and bountiful harvest in Bontoc and enjoy the rice wine, popularly known as “tapuy,” a traditional beverage which originated from Banaue and Mountain Province.

In Atimonan, Quezon, cousins Antonio and Pablo and their friends gather at twilight for a taste of their “lambanog” wine made from coconut they claim and the generations before them as potent with its 80 to 90 proof alcohol variations.

In Minglanilla, Cebu, south of the provincial capital, some homeowners at Vel Pal Estate take pride in their tuba they claim, following oral tradition, was tasted in the 16th century when Ferdinand Magellan and his men were guests during a local feast with tuba-filled earthen jars before them.

The drinkers of the different Philippine alcoholic wines—“basi, tapuy, lambanog” and “tuba,” to name some of the indigenous wines —raise their glasses,. cups or coconut shells for different reasons and at different occasions.

For the wines form part of the food they partake during simple or sumptuous dinners during special occasions like town fiestas, weddings, baptismal rituals and harvest seasons. According to Baylon, who has a straight spinal column despite his age and a great story teller to his grandchildren and great grandchildren, drinking “basi” helps him celebrate the blessings of the food he harvests from his own farm, planted to rice and vegetables as well as garlic, onions and the Virginia tobacco variety in summer.

A coconut shell of “basi” at breakfast and another at dinner, usually of “pinakbet” and some fisherman’s platter, which includes octopus and lobster, normally makes his day before he makes the sign of the Cross in bed.

Baylon likes to narrate to his audience the story of the 1807 Basi Revolt in Piddig, northeast of his hometown, also in Ilocos Norte, when the country’s Spanish rulers effectively banned private manufacture of the beverage.

In San Ildefonso town in Ilocos Sur, south of Pinili, as in other “basi”-producing towns of the Ilocos, sugar cane juice extracted through a wooden mill is boiled in vats and then stored in earthen jars. In Naguilian, La Union farther south, an annual Basi festival is held which has become a tourist come-on for the town.

Once the juice has cooled, flavorings made of ground glutinous rice and java plum bark or other fruits or barks are added. The jars are then sealed with banana leaves and allowed to ferment for several days. The resulting drink is pale red in color. If fermented longer, it turns into “suka (accent second syllable)” or vinegar. The rice wine “tapuy,” used for important occasions like weddings, rice harvesting ceremonies, fiestas and cultural fairs, is produced from either pure glutinous rice or a combination of glutinous and non-glutinous rice together with onuad roots, ginger extract, and a powdered starter culture locally known as “bubod.”

Guests to these important events, including writers from GUMIL Filipinas, the Ilocano writers national association, have been treated to this “tapuy” hospitality on various occasions—

There are wine connoisseurs who say wine drank in moderation can help the drinker lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost his immunity and help prevent bone loss with the writers going away in gratitude.

Considered as the ceremonial wine served during special occasions, residents can produce “tapuy” rice wine inside their homes – which means the local wine is also absorbed heavily by them daily. This local wine from fermented rice is also produced in the other Cordilleras, particularly in Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga, and Mountain Province. Other names for “tapuy” in these parts are “tapey” or “bayah.”

In Quezon province and other areas producing “lambanog,” hosts and guests have a taste of the production process, which involves collecting the sap from the coconut flower, similar to rubber tree tapping.

Hosts say the sap is then cooked and fermented to become “tuba,” a popular coconut toddy. The “tuba” is then distilled to make “lambanog.” ”Lambanog” was made an export product in 2001 and has attracted foreign markets. It is now marketed and sold in different flavors like cherry, jack fruit, apple, orange, four seasons, strawberry, bubble gum, and mint.

Some homeowners in Vel Pal Estate, echoing the tradition from other “tuna”-producing towns, say “tuba” is made through a process of extracting the sap of an unopened coconut bud, which has a stinging sweet and bittersweet taste.

The tip of the bud is lopped and the pale juice allowed to trickle into bamboo containers. A sturdy tree yields about a gallon of liquid daily.

Some wine sources say from the coconut water comes a syrup concentrate for tuba, a sweet, fresh or mildly fermented sap taken from tapping the young expanded flowers of the coconut.

Other sources say that in some barangays of Malolos, Bulacan, tuberculosis patients are advised to drink or even bathe in tuba as a cure while nursing babies in Bantayan, Cebu are fed with this beverage.

There are wine connoisseurs who say wine drank in moderation can help the drinker lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost his immunity and help prevent bone loss.

In the meantime, a familiar toast by “basi” drinkers in Pinili almost always echo during special occasions: “Paraiso koma ti pagtungpalan nagaramid basi a makaited rugso,/ Ngem impierno koma ti pakairusodan nagaramid bassit nga ungotko.” (May paradise be his who made this basi reason to celebrate, But may hell be his destiny who made this coconut shell inadequate).