Arroyo appoints more 2007 poll losers to gov’t posts including Mike Defensor

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has three more losers in the 2007 election to government positions. On Friday morning, the President swore in defeated San Fernando (Pampanga) mayoral bet Reynaldo Aquino as acting president and chief executive officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and defeated Manila vice mayoral bet Grepor Belgica as commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced late Thursday the appointments of defeated Pasay City mayor candidate Consuelo Dy as deputy director of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).
The three are the latest losers in the 2007 general election to be named to government posts after the one-year ban on appointments expired last June.

Given key posts earlier were President Arroyo’s losing senatorial candidates Ralph Recto, who was named economic planning secretary; Vicente Sotto II as head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA); and Michael Defensor as head of the Presidential Task Force on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) 3.

Defensor had resigned after the NAIA 3 opened its terminal to international flights in early August but is lending his expertise, on a private capacity, to the Northrail project. Former Surigao del Sur congressman Prospero Pichay Jr., who also failed to make it to the Senate’s “Magic 12" despite being the biggest spender among candidates, rejected his appointment as administrator of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) reportedly out of frustration that his name was pulled out from those being considered for the top post at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Pichay was originally touted to be the next OWWA head but Malacañang reportedly recalled his appointment due to vehement objections by overseas Filipino workers.Other appointees Ermita also announced the appointment of former Court of Appeals justice Nicolas Lapeña Jr. as acting chairman of the Professional Regulatory Commission and lawyer Villamor Ventura Plan as acting executive director of the Finance Department's One-Stop-Shop Interagency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center.

Plan, a managing partner in the Sorplan Shopper Plaza and legal officer of the Department of Health Center for Health Development for Cagayan Valley, was a member of the board of directors of Government Service Insurance System Mutual Fund Inc. and later as chairman of the Subic-Clark Alliance for Development Council Bids and Awards committee.
Lapeña, who assumed his post Tuesday, began his career at the Central Bank of the Philippines in 1954 but started teaching law at the Philippine Judicial Academy, UP, San Sebastian College, Ateneo de Manila University, and University of Manila 15 years later. He also taught law at the New Era University (NEU), where he became president from 1978 to 1983. He also served president of the Eagle Broadcasting Corporation (1973 to 1978) and concurrent chairman of the Philippine Postal Savings Bank (2002 to present).

Also sworn in by the President on Friday aside from Aquino and Belgica, were Ma. Victoria Cardona as commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights, William Merdano as acting commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education, and Bengno Ricafort as president and chief executive officer of the Clark Development Corporation. Cardona, who is a lawyer, would head the CHR's children rights and women's right division while Merdano is the former executive director of CHED prior to his promotion.

Ricafort, who replaced CDC president Liberato P. Laus, was a member of the CDC board in 1992 during the term then president Fidel Ramos. Ricafort, who earned his master's degree in Business Administration major in Economics holder from St. John's University in New York, is married to Higher Education commissioner Nona Ricafort.

2 solons want Mike Defensor probed for dubious mining deals

Two militant solons want former Presidential Chief of Staff Mike Defensor probed for the alleged dubious multi-million-dollar deals his two companies entered with a Chinese mining firm.

In filing House Resolution 736, Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño said the recent US$150-million nickel processing contract between Defensor’s NiHAO and Geograce and China's Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Co. may have violated provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

“The mining concessions may have violated Article 12 Section 2 which requires a financial or technical assistance agreement (FTAA) signed by the President for foreign companies to exploit our mineral resources,” Ocampo and Casiño said in the resolution.

The two also disclosed that two relatives of government officials are employed and are holding high positions in the companies owned by Defensor.

The two were NiHAO president Jerry Angping, brother of Special Envoy to China for Trade and Investments Harry Angping, and Geograce chairman Renato Puno, brother of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

The resolution was filed based on the report of environment group Kalikasan Peoples Network for the Environment, which insinuated that the Arroyo government and its cronies are “profiting from the country’s mineral resources without being mindful of their harsh effects on the community.”

Ocampo and Casiño said Kalikasan called it “baffling how a small mining company without a track record in the mining industry like Geograce and NiHAO could get multi-million mining deals with big foreign mining companies.”

Mike Defensor: 97 percent of forests gone on Mining projects

Environmentalist Lory Tan, in a recent paper, said that close to a century ago, the country had 22 million hectares of old-growth forest. By 2000, only 600,000 hectares were left. Fully 97 percent of forests have vanished.

However, government disagrees, declaring that the country still has 7 million hectares of forest cover.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines forest cover when 10 percent of an area is covered with trees. Ten percent of 7 million hectares is close to Tan's estimate.

"Mining and other extractive industries threaten farm life, coastal and marine resources, access to water, and spawn epidemics and pollution of all types," Cenpeg said. "Foreign mining firms have, since the 1970s, plundered as much as $30 billion worth of mineral resources from the Philippines. Moreover, some $2 billion is lost to environmental degradation every year."

The country has mineral reserves worth $840 billion and government hopes to attract $10 billion in investments, mainly Chinese and Australian, to get the wealth from the bowels of the earth but never to process the ore into finished products.

So strong is the government's interest in opening up the country to mining investments that no less than defeated administration senatorial candidate and former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Mike Defensor has partnered with a Chinese corporation to intensify the extraction of mineral ore in Zambales, currently the locus of the battle between Zambales Chromite and a number of small miners allegedly poaching on its concession, which is covered by a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA).

Defensor's colleague in the local company is Rene Puno, as brother of Secretary Ronaldo Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

Favila defends Defensor’s China deals

Trade Secretary Peter Favila has come to the defense of Michael Defensor, whose companies had signed a deal with two state-owned Chinese firms to explore the possibility of putting up a $150-million nickel processing plant in Zambales province.

Favila decried the criticism being hurled at Defensor, who had served as environment secretary and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s former chief of staff. He said Defensor was no longer with the government and could enter into business deals. “Cannot a person as a private citizen even get to conduct his own business?” Favila said the other day.

Nihao Mineral Resources International Inc. and Geograce Philippines Inc. chaired by Defensor, and China’s Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Co. signed in Chengdu in Sichuan province a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the mining project. Ms Arroyo witnessed the signing.

Some senators have questioned the deal and Ms Arroyo’s presence at the signing. The senators said it could go the way of other Philippine-China deals that were questioned for alleged irregularities. One senator said Ms Arroyo’s presence at a business deal of her former aide showed a lack of delicadeza (propriety).

Opposition senators are calling for a probe of the MOU. Under the MOU, the companies would collaborate on exploration activities in a 35,000-hectare area in Zambales owned by Nihao and Geograce. If the project proves successful, the companies would put up a nickel smelting plant to “upgrade” Philippine nickel products.

Favila, who accompanied Ms Arroyo on her four-day trip to China where she watched the opening of the 29th Olympic Games, also lamented that the Philippines seemed to be rejecting the offers of help coming from China.

He said the agreement between the Philippine-listed company was “substantial” and he himself had checked it before it was signed. “It seems we cannot do anything that is not criticized. I feel sad that a very substantive agreement ... which I thoroughly reviewed, had to be given a . . ., I don’t know what words to use,” he said.

Mike Defensor on Hindsight 20/20

Cabinet secretaries who are chosen for their field of expertise tend to return to where they are from and shine further, once out of office.

And so Angel C. Alcala returned to his favorite studies of the denizens of the deep, and Elisea "Betbet" Gozun was even recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme as one of the world's global environmental leaders while heading various organizations with environmental concerns, and Victor O. Ramos became the adviser of the

Philippine Environmental Governance Program (Ecogov) of the USAid.

On the contrary, former Environment Secretary Michael Defensor has just signed a multi-billion deal with a Chinese company to explore nickel in Zambales.

Hindsight is indeed 20/20. May that hindsight guide us and may we not forget who among our leaders had more foresight and sincerity.

A Call to Senators: Review and Investigate Mining Projects Approved by Mike Defensor

Our worst fear has been confirmed: that Mike Defensor all along had been the defender not of the environment but of mining interests when he was still Environment Secretary.

His current involvement with Geograce Resources and Nihao Mineral Resources International, securing juicy mining contracts, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth for mine-affected communities who are suffering because of mining projects he approved. Being a senior manager to two mining companies now, while not illegal, shows the height of callousness and betrays his supposedly impartial stance when he decided on mining conflicts when he was DENR Secretary.

Mindoreños can never forgive Defensor. He unceremoniously reinstated in 2005 the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) for Mindoro Nickel Project owned by Intex Resources, which was previously cancelled by former Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez in July 2001. Following an uproar from both civil society and local government officials, Alvarez ordered an investigation and later cancelled the project based on the following findings: 1) the area is an important watershed, 2) strong opposition by the Local Government Units and the people, 3) lack of valid written agreements with all groups of indigenous peoples, 4) not economically feasible, 5) there are two earthquake fault lines within the concession area, and 6) substantial breach of MPSA terms. In November 2001, President Gloria Arroyo upheld the MPSA cancellation.

But on March 16, 2004, following an appeal by Intex (formerly Crew Mineral Resources), at the height of the presidential election campaign, the Office of the President reversed itself and reinstated the cancelled MPSA, recommending “that the case be remanded to the DENR for the proper hearing and investigation, if appropriate.”

Secretary Defensor never conducted investigation and hearing, and never bothered to inform the various stakeholders of the decision despite widespread opposition to the project. Mindoreños only learned about the reinstatement after Intex/Crew released a press statement in London. And on Nov. 10, 2005, Defensor issued Intex/Crew a clearance to proceed citing alleged resolutions of endorsement by the municipal councils of three directly affected municipalities in Oriental Mindoro. The municipal councils of Victoria, Pola, and Socorro immediately passed respective resolutions denying Defensor’s claim that they issued such endorsement, and reiterated their strong opposition against the mining project. The protestation was never heard.

Unfortunately, Defensor’s successors in the DENR were no better than him. The call of civil society and the local government officials for a DENR investigation on the irregularity of the reinstatement of Mindoro Nickel Project remains unheeded.

We are therefore calling on the Senate, a more independent and credible government institution, to conduct an investigation on the irregularities in the granting and reinstatement of mining permits in this country. We, the mine-affected communities have nowhere else to go to ventilate our plight. We are now resigned that our predicament will never be heard by the Arroyo administration, which is gung-ho in selling our communities to mining companies including those with close ties to Malacañang. This administration has been bending rules to accommodate the interest of mining companies, and we the communities become the unwilling collateral victims of this impunity.

We ask the Senate to conduct an impartial investigation and provide necessary legislative intervention to put a stop on this blatant insensitivity to mine-affected communities. Mining permits issued by Defensor and other DENR Secretaries that are being held suspect of irregularities should be thoroughly investigated.

As the national government’s callousness and indifference persist, everyday our human rights are continuously being violated. All in the name of so-called “national interest” the much abused phrase which for the Arroyo administration seems to simply mean “patronage and greed.”

Mike Defensor says he’s off to troubleshoot Northrail woes

Comparing himself to a “transient passenger with an excess baggage,” Michael Defensor, who resigned Thursday as presidential task force head of the Ninoy Auquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3), said he will go to Central Luzon to fix the financial woes besetting the US$503-million Northrail project, which will connect Caloocan City to Bulacan province.

"I'm not saying goodbye. This is not the last of me," Defensor said Friday at a press conference in Malacañang after asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's permission to end his short-lived stint with the NAIA 3 task force.

"It has been done," said Defensor, admitting that he will now help convince the Chinese contractor to resume civil works on the railway project.

"My bags have always been packed, and I have always been ready to go. The longer I stay there (NAIA 3) the more that I feel like an excess baggage," he said.

Biography of Mike Defensor

Michael "Mike" Tan Defensor is a Filipino politician. He finished elementary, Bachelor of Arts in History, and Masters in Public Administration at the University of the Philippines. He finished his secondary education at Miles McKinley High School, Ohio, USA. he is married to Julie Rose Tactacan Defensor.

Information:

• Born: June 30, 1969
• Birth place: Manila, Philippines
• Nationality: Filipino
• Political party: Lakas-CMD (2007-), Liberal Party (1995-2007), Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (1992-1995)
• Spouse: Rose Tactacan-Defensor
• Religion: Roman Catholic

Political career

Quezon City councilor

Defensor was elected as a Quezon City councilor in the 1992 elections at the age of 23, making him the youngest member of that body.

Congressman

Defensor ran for congressman of the third district of Quezon City in the 1995 election, subsequently winning and making him the youngest congressman of the 10th Congress. He won reelection in 1998.

Defensor distinguished himself as a leading member of the group of young legislators in the House. He was named one of the top 10 Legislators, New Millennium's Most Outstanding Solons and Most Consistent Outstanding Congressman for three consecutive years by the Gladiators Magazine and Congress Watch Magazine. Reelected in 1998, Defensor was voted by his party-mates as assistant minority floor leader of the Eleventh Congress.

Estrada impeachment

Defensor was part of the Spice Boys of the House of Representatives that spearheaded the filing of the impeachment case against then-president Joseph Estrada.

Cabinet

After Edsa II,Defensor was appointed as Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He held that post until August 2004 when he was appointed Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In the 2004 presidential election, he served as the official campaign spokesperson of President Arroyo. After his tenure as DENR Secretary he was appointed Presidential Chief of Staff. He resigned that post on February 10, 2007 to campaign for a post in the senate.

Michael Defensor is the newly appointed (June 19, 2008) head of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport International Passenger Terminal 3 (NAIA-3) by virtue of the June 9, Executive Order No. 732 (creating the Presidential Task Force on the NAIA-3 that was "mandated to ensure the immediate opening and operation of Terminal III.") The order provides for the NAIA-3 opening based on decisions of the Supreme Court and applicable laws.

Senate candidacy

Defensor was among first to file for candidacy for the senate on February 12, 2007. He employed a popular gossip show host Boy Abunda as his campaign manager.

Reputation

Defensor is known to be one of President Arroyo's most vocal supporters. He lobbied the Liberal Party to support Arroyo in the 2004 elections.

After a wing of the Liberal Party (the Drilon bloc) broke ranks to support the call for Arroyo to step down, Defensor along with Manila mayor Lito Atienza threw their support for the president.

While in the executive branch of government, Defensor has a knack for ending up in key departments that end up being strongly promoted by the administration. He led HUDCC while the administration was very focused on housing. He also led DENR while the administration was pushing for mining projects.

While known to be a close Arroyo ally, he has somewhat shown "independence" among the President's circle, taking a different stand on some issues, like the Charter Change, saying that "Moves to amend the Constitution before the May 2007 elections would be courting disaster."

Controversy

Mike Defensor, on July 4, 2008 filed 6-page perjury lawsuit Friday versus Rodolfo Noel Lozada for "testifying under oath that he had paid Lozada P 50,000 to change his statement that he was not kidnapped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) when he arrived from Hong Kong at the height of the Philippine National Broadband Network controversy (ZTE Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited scandal)."

Laws authored by Mike Defensor

1. RA 8313, An Act upgrading the Quirino Memorial Medical Center
2. RA 8976, An Act Requiring the Fortification of Processed Foods with Essential Micronutrients
3. An Act Creating the Department of Housing and Urban Development (co-author)
4. Dangerous Drugs Act of 1998 (co-author)
5. Act Amending the Magna Carta of the Disabled Persons (co-author)
6. Act Mandating the Nationwide Rabies Vaccination Program (co-author)

Other positions held

1. Chairperson, Kabataang Liberal ng Pilipinas
2. Chairperson, National Movement of Young Legislators
3. Chairperson, National Union of Students in the Philippines
4. Lord Chancellor, Alpha Sigma Fraternity
5. Program Director, Youth Council of the Philippines

Director, Petron Corporation

On December 4, 2007, Mike Defensor quietly joined / was nominted to the board of directors of Petron Corporation (with former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin). Defensor had been frequenting Macau. Boncodin stated that Mike was invited to the board by Nicasio Alcantara, government’s team head / Chair, Petron. Membership in the Petron board is a lucrative job, as Defensor was offered a board seat in sequestered United Coconut Planters Bank. Defeated administration candidate, former senator Ralph Recto joined the board of Union Bank, controlled by the Aboitiz family.

Mike Defensor's $150M mining deal with Chinese firm hit

Former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor's ties to two mining companies that recently bagged a multimillion-dollar exploration deal with a Chinese firm was slammed by administration critics and activist groups Friday, questioning whether he used his government connections in securing the contract.

Black and White Movement (BWM), a critic of the Arroyo administration, said the government has no "delicadeza" (sense of propriety) when it gave the go-signal for the signing of the deal between China's Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group and Filipino companies NiHAO Mineral Resources Inc. and Geograce Resources Philippines.

Defensor's links to NiHAO and Geograce were revealed during the signing Thursday of the $150-million joint venture agreement for mineral exploration in Botolan, Zambales between the two companies and Jiangxi.

Defensor is chairman of NiHAO and a director in Geograce.

President Arroyo witnessed the signing of the deal in Chengdu in Sichuan province.

BWM spokesman Vicente Romano said the deal also showed the lack of propriety on the part of Rene Puno, brother of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who also has links to the two firms.

Romano said that even if Defensor would argue that he has no government post at the moment, he already knew that the signing would take place long before. The BWM spokesman added that Defensor should not have accepted the post of task force chief to oversee the opening of Ninoy Aquino International Airport's Terminal 3.

After handling the task force, Defensor is now overseeing the Northrail project for the government.

Romano also said that the deal is also a conflict of interest, and he suspectd that ithe deal is also part of the government's investments deal with the Chinese government like Northrail, Southrail, and the NBN projects.

He also lamented the fact that foreigners would be exploiting the country's natural resources, and that he would not be surprised if there is also a sort of "tongpats" or share in the earnings in the deal.