By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
General Andres Centino has settled back in as Chief of Staff and the Armed Forces of the Philippines has already denied destabilization plot rumors that swirled the other weekend.
This past week, we saw Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri saying his co-senators are “hell-bent” on working double-time to amend the law that set a fixed three-year term for ranking military officials to repair problematic seniority and tenure issues in the future.
And from the House of Representatives, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel announced over the weekend that Congress is increasing the AFP Modernization Program budget by P6 billion this year.
Hmmm… are we all sure there really were no grumblings in the military? For an organization of men and women with nerves of steel on the battlefield, how did its generals get to be so onion-skinned up the ladder?
* * *
Speaking of destabilization and onions, I believe the President was alerted as early as August last year that prices of the spice may destabilize because of a shortage. But, unfortunately, our government did not import then.
Prices have skyrocketed to as high as 800 percent, clearly unprecedented, following inflationary increases in the prices of sugar, oil, and other basic necessities.
Now that we’re at the cusp of the harvest season, he has approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons (MT) of onions, much to the imminent detriment of our farmers.
Who thinks Bongbong Marcos is confused? I bet he doesn’t know whether he’ll take the blame as the President or as the Agriculture Secretary.
* * *
The Philippines’ Miss Universe candidate is Celeste Cortesi, a foreign-looking beauty.
The winner is USA’s bet, R’Bonney Gabriel, a Filipino-American who appears to be more native Pinoy than American.
The irony of it.
* * *
The airspace outage in Manila on New Year’s Day that caused international embarrassment and economic losses is being blamed on a P10,000 device.
Ouch! Even the guy who owes me a bet at the bar could donate one of those.
* * *
What has yet to leave the minds of our security experts, though, is the possibility that our air traffic control system has been compromised and exposed to external threats.
The timing was suspicious, and people like me who earn out of thinking maliciously keep looking back at a similar instance in September, although brief, as probably a dry-run.
If you want a bigger picture, more than 10,000 flights are delayed and over 1,300 canceled in the United States in its own systems glitch 10 days after our New Year’s episode.
All a coincidence or one thing’s a practice to the other? Perhaps, nothing, or maybe these faulty devices were made in China.
* * *
SHORTBURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com