This is the big bonanza that makes everything worthwhile for supporting the president: the transformation of telecoms from a public utility to something else: allowing foreign ownership but giving Congress the delightful duty of approving franchises for operations to be allowed.
I've been following this story, literally, for years, in the context of China Telecoms and its bid to be the Third Player. 11/22/2017, 2/14/2018, 7/17/2019 just for the saga of Uy.
Two follow-ups after the Uy matter was (temporarily, it now seems) settled: 4/14/2021 and 7/28/2021
Again the importance of this scheme, which has been pushed from the earliest days of the present administration, is that the law which states telecoms are a public utility, is being amended to declare they are not. This means the Constitutional requirements then as now, of...
Filipino ownership of public utilities no longer applies. This means telecoms can now be 100% foreign-owned. But what Congress intends to do, while removing telecoms from the list of public utilities, is to retain the requirement of a congressional franchise which means telecoms
as their franchises expire, have to lobby Congress for a new one. In a corrupt Congress this is a vastly lucrative requirement. But what the amendment of the law accomplishes in any case is sidestepping the previously-insurmountable problem of amending the Constitution and in
that manner allows the project of allowing China Telecoms to come in, to proceed. This would allow at the very least Dennis Uy to reduce his stake in Dito Telecoms or the Zobels to reduce their stake in Globe: it would also allow PLDT to drop its pretenses of being Filipino-owned
and reduce the risk of these corporations to a predictable one arising whenever its franchise is up for renewal.
Indeed, the scope of the amendment of the law which serves to essentially render inoperative the Constitutional mandate on ownership, is quite wide as it turns out:
FYI, the Public Service Act, as amended (but prior to ongoing amendments). region7.ntc.gov.ph/images/LawsRul…

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More from @mlq3

15 Dec
@PinoyAkoBlog Tama ka. Sa tingin ko ganito eh. Binubuhos ng mga volunteers ang kanilang panahon, pagod, pera, emosyon, pananampalataya, sa mahirap pero kailangan na kampanyang tao-sa-tao; kumbaga, retail, one-on-one. Kung may macoconvince, powerful ang conversion na yun. Pero kailangan din may
@PinoyAkoBlog kasabay na kampanya sa airwaves, yung wholesale kumbaga, dahil malawak ang disinformation, at dahil kaunti lang tayo (sa ngayon) mabagal ang one-on-one; kailangan ipaabot, at ipakilala, si Leni sa madla. Wala pa ring tatalong paraan kundi commercials. Pero, kung titingnan natin
@PinoyAkoBlog very disappointing ang mga commercial mula nung filing of candidacy. "Let Leni Lead" ang nagbuo at nagdulot ng pink movement; pero after that, parang naging malabnaw o malabo ano ba ang gustong sabihin ng ads. Unfair ito sa mga volunteers dahil kung kailan bakbakan na ng husto,
Read 19 tweets
15 Dec
A thread of photos, just so you get to know them a little more as real people. Josefa Llanes Escoda, Vicente Lim, and Jose Abad Santos.
Josefa Llanes Escoda's personality shines through even in black and white photos; her being suffragette, and organizer for women's groups and the Girl Scouts points to her being a charismatic leader. She's in the terno with the sunburst pattern.
One can't help but be amazed with the wide range of causes Josefa Llanes Escoda was remarkable in, from the campaign to secure women the vote, to founding the Girl Scouts, to working for poor children as in this Tondo event in 1938. She's left most in the 1st photo.
Read 10 tweets
15 Dec
My column today looks at opening snapshots of the campaign (surveys) and the manner in which Marcos Jr. claimed the image of change and hope and how, a month or two months into the campaign (however you measure it) Robredo is still cannot define herself. opinion.inquirer.net/147564/lost-op…
Here are the supposed Laylo slides going around:
Here are the publicly-released Pulse and SWS Surveys we have so far.
Read 6 tweets
28 Nov
I first noticed this, touring some school teachers around a museum in the 1990s, that some of the fiercest loyalists are public school teachers.
I once talked to a lady whose work for many years was in values education and support for public school teachers. She said this was a tremendous shortcoming of schoolteachers. I asked her, since when? Teachers used to be pillars of their communities. She replied, "martial law"...
And I asked, why? She replied: because with the dictatorship the regular change over of management ended; people overstayed and any promotion was strictly on the basis of not just toeing the party line, but expressing enthusiasm for the dictatorship. The corrosive effect of this
Read 6 tweets
28 Nov
A thread on one of the most intriguing but which will probably remain unexplored, factors in the 2022 campaign. Federalism. Interesting FM Jr. pick the Partido Federal instead of the KBL or NP to whom his family has had long-standing affiliations.
KBL is out because it brings back too many bad memories and NP is out because since the Laurels conveyed it to the Villars, it isn't wholly-owned by the Marcoses (and brings up the KBL, with thew Laurels keeping it alive).
FM Jr. has blown hot and cold on Federalism but this article quotes him accurately on his father: "Federalism was not new to the country, Marcos said, because it was adopted by his father,.. when the Interim Batasang Pambansa was created." newsinfo.inquirer.net/929263/federal…
Read 14 tweets
26 Nov
Along thread with a Friday reflection on family, power, change, and country. With a lot of readings. It begins with something I heard Paulynn Paredes Sicam say in a peace advocates’ forum close to 20 years ago: for change to become permanent, she said, you need ten years…
In a fundamental way I think shortening Marcos’ rule to “20 years” is misleading; it was 7 years of democratic rule and 13 of dictatorship. The distinction is important and requires a bit of explanation. The 1st phase was within the confines of institutions and precedents;
The 2nd phase was without limits and even more fundamentally, without the possibility of establishing a succession because despots cannot risk it; if democracies are about succession, dictatorship is about elimination.
Read 39 tweets

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