a tax in any other name is still a tax!

from bworld.com.ph today, Friday, August 5, 2005
Finance department admitted VAT (value-added tax) on communication tax, overseas calls and text messages maybe double taxation!
President Arroyo and the Philippine Congress must cut taxes to increase BIR collections! As President Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 showed, the less you tax businesses and consumers, the more taxes are paid in the coffers! As Adam Smith wrote in 'The Wealth of Nations' in 1776,- the natural effort of every individual is to better his own condition - applies to all generation of all nations. Filipinos left alone, will spend money that belong to them to begin with, in ways to better their lives.

No for Parliamentary Philippines!!!

Parliamentary is Not good for the Philippines because Parliamentary lacks the check and balance of governance. Executive & Legislative representing the government are one party or coalition in a Parliamentary. There must be 'Separation of Power' between Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches for check and balance. Sometimes there's gridlock but 'Sovereignty of the People' as mandated in the Constitution is better serve. Local governments must be independent as mandated by the Constitution by enforcing Federalism and statehood of Regions presently divided by COMELEC. Federalism will strengthen the national government. Local Independence and self governance are incentives for creativity. To strengthen 'Sovereignty of the People' add peoples voices in the Judiciary branch through enactment of 'Jury Trials for all Crimes' either by petition in local and national government, to Congress, to Rules of Court of the Supreme Court or to President Arroyo. 23 Filipinos on the Grand Jury, 12 in Criminal and Civil Trial have front seat view of how judges and lawyers think critically to arrive at their conclusions and opinions. Incrementally through Jury Trial, 23 Filipinos on the Grand Jury, 12 in Criminal and Civil Trials every day, 5 days a week, in every court house in every town, city and province in the theater of a court room. That's a good thing for all Filipinos.

too many holidays in the Philippines!

There's too many holidays in the Philippines. This is not good for the 'Power of Productivity'. There should be only one official holiday a month or twelve a year. Business owners should be given the flexibility to give their employees extra time off accordingly.
Business manufacturers in today's headline of Business World - (http://www.bworld.com.ph ) want all Official Holidays listed at least six months in advance of the coming calendar year so they can plan ahead. Businesses should not be mandated to pay Overtime on holiday not listed in advance.
The 'Power of Productivity' affects us all - manufacturers, employees of business and manufacturers, consumers and in betweens.

Federalist States, Yes but No Parliamentary for Filipinos!

Federalism will strengthen the local governments of towns, poblacions, cities and provinces. Independence and self-governance will extract local creative juices for the governed. Then, during the Constitutional assembly, amend the Rules of Court, enact by petition or legislative action of congress or President Arroyo recommends 'Jury Trial for All Crimes' to serve as a curb for corruptive activities.

Strengthen the Sovereignty of the People

'Sovereignty of the People' constitutional mandate is in several Articles of 1987 Constitution of the Philippines:
1. Preamble, Article ll, Sec 1 - The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.
2. Bill of Rights, Article lll, Sec 1 - No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.
Sec 16 - All persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies will be true in all branches of the government.
3. Accountability of Public Officers, Article XI, Sec 1 - Public officers and employees must be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, efficiency and justice.

For 'Sovereignty of the People' to be strong, Filipino voices in the three branches of government - Executive, Legislative and Judiciary- must be equal. Filipinos must have equal representation in the three branches of the government. Filipinos have no direct representation, that's protected by the Constitution, to the Judiciary Department. Only indirect representation through Article V (Suffrage). Filipinos vote for the President, who appoints the Judiciary. Filipinos vote for people in Congress, who have the power to define, prescribe, and apportion the judiciary. Judiciaries are appointments of the Executive branch, mandated by Article Vlll, Section 9 - Judges of the Supreme Court and lower courts appointed by the President.
Article XI, Accountability of Public Officers, has no Articles, Sections or Acts to connect law abiding Filipinos to the business of public trust, accountability, responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency of Public officials.

Filipinos direct connection to the Judiciary branch are only as defendants or plaintiffs in a court case.

The Constitution provides check and balance through Article XVII - Amendments or Revisions. To strengthen the 'Sovereignty of Filipino People' we must include 'Jury Trial for all Crimes except Impeachment' in the Constitution of the Philippines.

'Jury Trial for all Crimes except Impeachment' will strengthen Sovereignty of the People if implemented by constitutionally.
Jury Trial for all Crimes except Impeachment will strengthen Sovereignty of the People through law and justice education participating in the Jury System.

In a Jury System, 12 Jurors in Civil and Criminal courts or 23 Jurors in a Grand Jury can observe, listens and follow the judge's instructions, observe, listens to prosecutors and defense attorneys argue the case instead of one defendant and one plaintiff in one court case. How many defendants or plaintiffs are there in a court case? Only a few. Filipinos in barangays, poblacions, cities and provinces directly interacts with Judges, Prosecutors and Defense attorneys as law abiding citizens in the conduct of law and justice. These raises the level of awareness of jurors' civic responsibility. Outcome of the prosecution and defense of a case not only depend on the judge, prosecuting and defense attorney but also on the jury - the twelve people on the jury - that's people power in a micro level. Determination whether there's enough evidence to prosecute a case depends on the 23 people on the Grand Jury, the judge and the attorneys - that's people power at a micro level.

Learning through experience is the best teacher of the law. Learning law and justice, as a law abiding juror removes the bias anger or satisfaction of a defendant or a plaintiff.

'Jury Trial for all Crimes except Impeachment' can be constitutionally Initiated by:
1. Article XVII, Section 1 - Any amendment or revision Constitution may be proposed by three-fourths of all Members of Congress or constitutional convention.
2. Article XVII, Section 2 - Amendments may be proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least 12 % of the total number of registered voters, every legislative district represented by at least 3 % of the registered voters . Amendment allowed once every five years since ratification in 1987.
3. Article VIII, Section 5 - Supreme Court have the powers to Promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights, pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the Integrated Bar, and legal assistance to the underprivileged. Such rules shall provide a simplified and inexpensive procedure for the speedy disposition of cases, shall be uniform for all courts of the same grade, and shall not diminish, increase, or modify substantive rights. Rules of procedure of special courts and quasi-judicial bodies shall remain effective unless disapproved by the Supreme Court.
4. Article X, Section 14 - The President shall provide for purposes of administrative decentralization to strengthen the autonomy, to accelerate the economic, social growth and development of local governments.

Constitutional initiation of 'Jury Trial for all Crimes except Impeachment' is a lengthy and creative process.

'Sovereignty of the People’

The principle of ‘Sovereignty of the People’ has been sowed and planted in the Philippines.
To sprout and grow the 'Sovereignty of the People', cultivate the residents in towns and barangay by Enacting, Adding or Amending the Judicial Department of the Constitution of the Philippines.
Add a Section, Article or Provision for Trial by Jury for all Crimes – Criminal or Civil except Impeachment.
Even China use jury trial system to reform its judiciary, make trials fair and accountable according to a recent news item. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/China_introduces_new_jury_trial_system

Article II - Declaration of Principles and State Policies Principles Section 5 states:
The maintenance of peace and order, the protection of life, liberty, and property, and the promotion of the general welfare are essential for the enjoyment by all the people of the blessings of democracy.
Article VIII - Judicial Department Section 2 states:
The Congress shall have the power to define, prescribe, and apportion the jurisdiction of various courts but may not deprive the Supreme Court of its jurisdiction over cases enumerated in Section 5 hereof.
No law shall be passed reorganizing the Judiciary when it undermines the security of tenure of its Members.
For more information on 1983 Constitution of the Philippines link to:
http://www.gov.ph/aboutphil/constitution.asp

Constitution of the United States, Article lll, Section 2, paragraph 3 says:
‘The Trial of all Crimes except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.’
There are three juries in the US - grand jury, criminal petit jury and civil petit jury. Twelve people, chosen at random, given the power to decide for the people, whether a person or enterprise is guilty or not. That’s people power at micro level.
http://www.crfc.org/americanjury/introduction.html
This simple but complicated system if adopted will strengthen the Sovereignty of People. We already have a Judiciary Department in the Constitution but no Trial by Jury.

It has advantages and disadvantages.
(Excerpt of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, on 'The Jury in the United States Considered as a Political Institution' is in another post)
1. It is much harder to instill fear, corrupt or bribe twelve people than one judge on the bench. Cost of set up and administration is cheaper than one corrupt judge in one town. Drug cartel and organized crime tried a few times with low level of success in a Jury system. Just too many people to threaten, to bribe or to get acquainted with in order to threaten or to bribe.
2. It is easier to find a driven, overzealous and upright prosecutor or defense attorney because their performance and reward depend on the outcome of the case. Examples: Guiliani vs organized crimes years ago and today’s conviction of the CEO of Worldcom. Guiliani became Mayor Rudy and will see who will run for governor of New York next election.
3. Trial by Jury influences all judicial cases, even those that don’t go to trial. Since the Trial by Jury will be held in the town the crime is committed, the jury pool or the chosen jury has imaginary or real connection to the trial. Ask a US politician who have been indicted (before conviction) for any crime, criminal or civil, if his/her chances to win in the next election are good? If convicted, his/her chances are gone? Example: Sen. Torricelli.
However, Trial by Jury must be added to the Constitution of the Philippines first.

But it is still better to give the power to change the people’s constitution to men who, however imperfectly, represent the people’s will, than to others who represent nobody but themselves.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (1833)

Trial by Jury add to the Constitution of the Philippines

Trial by Jury must be added to the Constitution of the Philippines
Trial by Jury, is one form of sovereignty of the people.
Jury is part of the nation responsible for the execution of the laws.
Juries instill the habits of judicial mind into every citizen, and those habits prepare people to be free.
Juries spreads respect for the courts’ decisions and for the idea of right to all.
Juries teach people equity in practice. Each person, when judging a neighbor, thinks that he/she may be judged, especially in civil suits; only a few will ever face criminal trial, but anybody can be sued or have a lawsuit.
Juries teach each individual not to shirk responsibility for his own acts, and without that manly characteristics no political virtue is possible.
Juries invest each citizen with a sort of magisterial office; they make all men feel that they have duties toward society and that they take a share in its government. By making men pay attention to things other than their own affairs, they combat that individual selfishness which is like rust in society.
Juries are effective in shaping a nation’s judgment and increasing its natural rights, its greatest advantage. It is free school, always open and each juror learns his rights, comes into contact with the best educated, most enlightened members of the upper classes, given practical lessons in the law, the advocate’s efforts, the judge’s advice, and the passions of the litigants within his mental grasp. The main reason for the practical intelligence and political good sense of Americans is their long experience with juries in civil cases.
Jury may not be useful to litigants, but it is good for those who have to decide the case. It is the most effective means of popular education at society’s disposal.
In democracies, lawyers and judges are the only aristocratic body that can check the people’s movements. This aristocracy has no physical power but exercises its influence over men’s minds. It follows that civil juries are the main source of its power. In criminal trials, when society is fighting a single man, the jury is apt to look on the judge as the passive instrument of social authority and to mistrust his advice. Criminal cases turn entirely on simple facts easily within the range of common sense. On such ground judge and jury are equals.
In civil suits, the judge appears as a disinterested arbitrator between the litigants’ passions. The jurors feel confidence in him and listen to him with respect, for here his intelligence completely dominates theirs. It is he who unravels the various arguments they find hard to remember and takes them by the hand to guide them through procedural intricacies; it is he who limits their task to the question of fact and tells them what answer to give on questions of law.
Jury in civil cases enables the American bench to make the legal spirit penetrate right down into the lowest ranks of society.
Jury is the most effective way of establishing the people’s rule and most efficient way of teaching them how to rule.
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, (1833), 1969 ed., Ch 8 – WHAT TEMPERS THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY IN THE UNITED STATES, pg 273-276

Law & Order here we come, Judge Judy go away!!!

Filipino lawmakers here's a sample of cutting income tax

The wealth of the Philippines can be achieved only by and with the creative minds and activity of each and every Filipino in the Philippines.

To stimulate the economy and create revenues, Philippine lawmakers must cut taxes, reduce tariffs, reduce regulations, open trade and strive to make transactions by all government officials transparent, to curb corruption.

Cut taxes so the massa has money to spend and save after all necessities, entrepreneur has more money to expand their business and pay more taxes for the government coffers. Maximum income tax for all Filipinos should be 12%.

Economic statistics in other countries successfully improve their economies in a couple of years by cutting taxes, opening trade and curbing corruption.

Government officials do not create wealth and do not create jobs. Lawmakers do not forget what pork barrel your salary came from. To remind you, it came from taxing the people and maybe (shame to all Filipinos) from foreign aid and remittances of Filipinos abroad.

Law makers of the Philippine the tax table below must be cut in half and incomes below P13,000 exempted from taxes!

Below is the Individual Income Tax Table for Filipinos. Personal comments and computation in italics if taxes are cut in half, maximum tax of 12% and exemption of income below P13000.

TAX TABLE

If Taxable Income is: Not over P10,000 Tax Due is: 5% (that's P500. extra to spend or save if exempted)
Taxable Income >P10,000 but not > P30,000 Tax - P500+10% of excess >P10,000 (P1650. more to spend or save if taxed @ 5%)
Over P30,000 but not over P70,000 P2,500+15% of the excess over P30,000 (7% tax is P3650, not P8500. P4850. more to spend or save)
Over P70,000 but not over P140,000 P8,500+20% of the excess over P70,000 (10% tax is P10,650. not P22500, P11,850. more to start or expand a business)
Over P140,000 but not over P250,000 P22,500+25% of the excess over P140,000 (max. tax 12%, P23850 not P50,000, P26150. individual Filipinos can spend or save not for government coffers)
Over P250,000 but not over P500,000 P50,000+30% of the excess over P250,000 (and so on, and so on)
Over 500,000 P125,000+34% of the excess over P500,000 (individuals who make this much are smart enough to find ways not to pay this excessive payola)

source: http://www.boi.gov.ph/codbusiness.html

foreign exchange dealers, money changers, and remittance agents to register with BSP.

Foreign exchange dealers, dollar remittance agents, and money changers must register with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Foreign exchange dealers, dollar remittance agents, and money changers must report suspicious transactions, keep and maintain records for transparency of transaction.
Philippines has been removed from Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of noncompliant country on money laundering.
200 Foreign exchange dealers, dollar remittance agents, and money changers are incorporated, 20 influential in peso-dollar exchange rate.
Foreign exchange dealers, money changers, and remittance agents must submit reports and bookkeeping regulations.
Previously, money changers need only Securities and Exchange Commission incorporation papers and a permit from the municipality or city of operation.
Supervision over the industry was removed from the central bank by the New Central Bank Act of 1993, as well as the liberalization of the country's foreign exchange market.

the price of corruption

1.8% - 4% of business revenues are paid to corrupt government official. P1.8 - P4. for every P100.
For a corrupt person to collect an economic rent equivalent to minimum weekly wage in the Philippines, a corrupt employee collects for every transaction of P6250. - P13,889. That's P250. more money the corrupt person can spend on goods and services that would have been P250. cheaper for every consumer had corrupt employees not been corruptible.

Abundant money without the equivalent goods and services cause inflation.

More money in circulation than available goods and services increases the price of goods and services.
Corrupt behavior is an expensive reward for every one.

te mely

Filipino Financial literacy

Investing in stocks & bonds are starting points of compassionate capitalism both to investors and business owners.
The financial market are source of capital to expand and improve their business.
To participate in the market, a business must open not only its books but its operation to outside auditors and management consultants.
To be publicly traded, business owners must accept the fact that owners/shareholders self-interest is price of their shares, earnings and dividends.
A business owner who does not understand the market does not invest and has no intention of listing the business in the market.
Open competition is a tool to prevent corrupt, fight corruption and a major tool for prosperity.
te mely 55.

Critical Thinking a tool to fight corruption & dictators!

How to think critically and reason systematically.

Critical thinking and systematic reasoning must be taught from infancy by methods specific for the age.
A baby and a toddler must be allowed to experience, hear, see and touch for each new word and activity.

Corruption not the cause of poverty

Corruption is poverty of one's soul.
We are all corrupt, just as we are all sinners! Me, you and the Catholic church hierarchy! The Catholic church cathedrals and monasteries are run dogmatically by individuals with the same self-interest as you and me - financial and spritual survival.

Solution must come from the bottom - us, you, me & the Catholic ministers not from the top down. The masa must demand from the Philppine government officials - Pres. Arroyo and law makers in each barangay, poblacion, provincia and congress to lower taxes, remove barriers to trade and exchange of goods and services, reduce regulations to start and run a business. Business, small, medium or large are the ones who creates jobs. Jobs reduce poverty.

All Filipinos, you, me & the Catholic ministers, must not practice and support corruptive behavior in our daily interaction with each other, family or non-family, co-workers or employers, private or government officials, Pres. Arroyo or Mayor Lim.

Corruption is when you bribe your children with gifts before they do something. Rewards should be for good behavior not before a behavior.

Corruption is when you bargain down to last centavo someone's tienda. Open pricing of someone's tienda should be the norm to force the tiendera/o to calculate what price is profitable and what price is a loss. Price should NOT be determine by the bargaining skill of the buyer. A sale must be a win-win transaction for the tiendera to make a profit and the buyer to get the best price for the goods or service. If someone wants to sell at a losing price to recover his/her capital, it is her/his loss, not the bargaining skills of the buyer. If the tiendera/o makes a profit, well, that's what they are in business for - to make a profit.

Corruption starts in small things from the very beginning of our Filipino culture. It will only stop if all of us will start on small things - you, me and the ministers of the Catholic church.

Corruption is really common whether you live in the Philippines or the United States. The difference is in the Philippines, it is chaotic corruption clearly dramatized in Filipinos non-compliance with traffic signs, lanes and rules of the road, pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers alike. That my friends is corruption, a clear disregard of the law of the road.
Dogmatic Catholic church supports chaotic corruption, income distribution, dogmatic constitution, discourage dissent, individualism and self-reliance.

A business person in the Philippines do not know who, how many and how much to bribe in order to start or get the business going. Not knowing means an inflated price margin for his/her goods and services to cover those bribes, in order to make a profit at the end of the day. Profit is business main goal.

A corrupt person really has no guilt in his/her behavior. A recipient of a bribe considers it Economic Rent. The corrupt person the landlord, the briber the tenant. The corrupt person thinks of him/herself as a place holder of that position. When the briber's time comes to be the place holder, he/she will do the same, collects economic rent. That cycle can be terminated only if the chain is broken by shame or legally.
To make corruption well organized, the rent must be open and transparent. Rent depends on supply and demand. That's what free market does.
When people and drivers in the Philippines takes the time to cross only at the pedestrian lane, drive within the boundaries of a lane and acknowledges first come, first serve service even if there's no rope line will corruption be manageble enough not to hinder the prosperity of Filipinos.
Individualism and self-reliance are necessary component to practice freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of fear and pursuit of happiness.
Critical thinking must be taught in Philippine schools from grade school to college.

Dollar remittances & Inflation correlation!

Dollar remittances can spur economic growth only if consumer spending equals the quantity of goods & services available. More dollars than goods & services means greater rate of inflation. Inflation means higher prices. Inflation is a monetary phenomena. More goods & services causes deflation, an 'never happen' factor in the Philippine economy. The Philppine government - Pres. Arroyo and lawmakers must lower taxes, reduce tariffs, remove constricting regulations to start businessess -small, medium or big. It is the only way to prosperity.

Philippines' inflation of 7.9% is not acceptable!

Inflation is cause by Filipinos having too much money on hand to buy few goods and services!
Where did that money mostly come from? From outside the Philippines!
The Philippine government must use the dollar surplus from money remittances inflow to increase the quantity of goods and services available for purchase by all Filipinos by free trade, remove constricting regulations to start a business of buying and selling goods, starting a service & knowledge business, remove government barriers to competition.
Filipinos have the physical and mental capacity to increase output of Philippine goods and services.

Pres Arroyo, men & women of the Philippine congress!!!

Four years ago, the United States ranked fourth as the freest economy in the world. But "the rest of the world has begun to catch on to the dividends that freedom pays," Mr. Ed Feulner, Heritage Foundation president. said. Looking at the global picture, however, the good news is many more countries are freeing, deregulating and privatizing their economies and becoming much more prosperous as a result.
In case after case, countries that reduced taxes, dropped trade barriers, eliminated regulations and took other steps to free their economies saw their standards of living and per capita incomes rise. Among the 155 countries analyzed by the Index, 86 turned in better scores this year than last.
Iceland, for example, now in the top 10 "most free" economies in the world, has been doing steadily better since cutting taxes and deregulating its banks, turning in a compound growth rate of 31/2 percent.Lithuania, the second-freest country in the former Soviet bloc, now boasts a private sector producing about 80 percent of its economic growth.
The 10 freest economies: Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland and Australia. Index of Economic Freedom, published annually by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, which rates the world's economies on a broad range of fiscal, regulatory and free enterprise measurements.

When is the Philippine economy going to catch up?
Reduced taxes, dropped trade barriers, eliminated regulations and take other steps to free the Philippine economy to improve the standards of living and per capita incomes of all Filipinos. It is the only way to prosperity!

Zero-Sum Process...

Capitalism, says Economist Thomas Sowell, is not a Zero-Sum Process (one gains only if others loses). Capitalism works in economies that follow the pattern of allocation of scarce resources which have altenative uses.

What are bonds?

Company Bonds are legal agreements between an investor to lend a fixed amount of money today and a company to use in the business at an agreed fixed rate at a fixed date in the future. Investor is the creditor, company is the debtor. For example, a company issues a bond of $10,000. for 4% interest per year for 1 year. The company must pay the investor the agreed upon amount plus the interest at the agreed date even if the company is not profitable at that agreed date. If the company is profitable, the company will only pay the agreed upon amount and interest. Investors risk limited to the company going belly up.

Peso at five-month high on good economic data

Leave the market alone, it will correct itself!
The currency market is the purest market of all. It is all transaction and no goods. History of Money by J. Weatherford. [p.256]

Exchange rates links a country and the rest of the world, both in goods/services and financial/capital markets. The Marketing of Nations [p.265]

legal protection of BSP officers???

MANILA, PHILIPPINES |Thursday, January 13, 2005
BSP: three key changes to charter to boost bank supervision
'Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas push for three priority changes to strengthen banking supervision, focused on consolidated supervision, a graduated scale of penalties for violators and increased legal protection for its officers.'

Why were BSP officers sued in the first place before? Is it the perception by private companies & business community that they are weak, corrupt and powerless? Or are individual companies & business individuals themselves weak, corrupt and powerless that they expect BSP officers are too?
We need a few strong willed, independent thinking, self-reliant, self-confident BSP officers as well as few strong willed, independent thinking, self-reliant, self-confident business leaders to make Capitalism work! Balance, balance, balance. Economist Thomas Sewell says Capitalism does not work in a Zero-Sum Process.