ILLUMINATI: FRATERNITY OF MALEVOLENT OLIGARCHS

ILLUMINATI: FRATERNITY OF MALEVOLENT OLIGARCHS

Erle Frayne Argonza

[Excerpts. Originally titled “The Fraternity of Malevolent Oligarchs & the Iraq War.” Delivered as a speech at the Earthlite, Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Oct. 2003.]

One of the most shocking knowledge that had reached me, through 25 years of inquiry, is the existence of a malevolent secret society whose Initiates have been conspiring for world domination ever since its founding in 1776. I am referring particularly to the Illuminati, established by the Bavarian Joseph Weishaupf, a Jesuit and Freemason, which supposedly uses rituals of the fire element for its initiation rites. Due to its dubious objectives and suspicious activities, the fraternity was ordered abolished by the German princes around 1786. It was forced to go underground, with the promise that one day it shall control the world's governments, oligarchs, wealth and natural resources, through a tightly hierarchical, totalitarian power arrangement.

It had since recruited fellows from among the nobles, aristocrats, and financial-commercial oligarchs. Likewise did the society recruit scientists, philosophers, artists and professors, who have served as its articulators in the open sphere. With the great amounts of wealth at their possession, the Illuminate oligarchs were able to extend their tentacles gradually through the past centuries. Today they are able to control governments and international institutions by installing directly their fellows, called Illuminates, or by designating people from their organizational vehicles, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, Tri-Lateral Commission, and Freemasonry. They control minds through various doctrines, and by controlling the main media corporations of the North. They control business through the same means, and by a new vehicle, the Bilderberger group. They won't stop thinking of nasty means just to ensure their steady and stable positioning over the globe.

To note, while it is true that the Illuminates represent the capitalist `Who is Who' in the northern oligarchy (Europe, North America, Japan), it is likewise true that they supported anti-capitalist revolutions to be able to (a) install totalitarian regimes under their favor, (b) who can in due time permit entry of the grand capitalists' business interests in their backyards, and whose totalitarian regimes can serve as rationale for sending an invasion force from outside under the guise of advancing the interests of the free world. The intervention of the Illuminates, together with another secret fraternity the Priory of Sion, in the Soviet revolution, through the summoning of Vladimir Lenin with monetary support of $20 million, is classic. The American Illluminates likewise did their job, by donating millions of money to the purse of Leon Trotsky and subordinate cadres, with the order of a rendezvous with Lenin. The specific task was to exterminate the Russian Czar and family members, as a matter of revenge against a past Russian monarch's refusal to join in a conspiracy to declare the Hapsburg as the ruling house of a United Europe, with Austria as capital (the plan failed to materialize due to the Czar's non-committal inaction). Note that Lenin himself had exposure to the Ordo Templi Orientii, another secret society, and was personally initiated by the most dreaded black magician of the 20th century, Alesteir Crowley.

Saddam Hussein by the way is a high degree freemason. Likewise all the presidents of the U.S.A. are high-degree freemasons, plus the current president of the Palestinian Authority, Y. Arafat, and past Premiers of Israel such as Rabin. It was the British and Americans who actually installed Hitler, an initiate of a satanical fraternity called the Germanenorden, to power. By the same token they installed Hussein to power, with the object of putting a counter-check on the possible excesses of Islamic Iran. Note that the European Illuminates likewise assisted the Ayatollah Khomeini in the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, which eventually saw the rise of a militant version of Islam.

Freemasonry, which used to be a vehicle of the "Goodly Company"--the Great White Brotherhood, the cosmic fraternity of all spiritual masters and their under-study assistants--was captured by the Illuminati through the penetration of the fraternity by American Illuminate Albert Pike and his brethrens in the mid-19th century. The said American Illuminates, so bigoted and racist as they were, were the ones behind the cabal that desired for a separate Confederate States of America, which when materialized will actually be subordinated to the British empire. Failing in their avowed goal, they managed to constitute the Ku Klux Klan to continue to harass the blacks and the true libertarians of America….So now, back to Saddam, it seems that his time is up--as it appears to us--as he has already done his assignment well, with no further purpose for the global oligarchy.

Prior to this decade, to recall, the secret government (Illuminati) was able to reverse public policies all over the world from dirigiste to free market ones. They began by first hatching the neo-liberal ideology, through the University of Chicago economists Friedman and Hayek, which later was popularized by professors of the same institute. The same doctrine became the basis for an experiment conducted through the IMF's top guinea pig, the Philippines, of a free floating exchange rate beginning in 1969, aimed eventually at terminating the gold standard and the institutionalization of free markets of currencies all over the world. The gold standard was eventually killed by 1971, after the successful Philippine experiment, and by then the hyper-conservatives in the North began hatching the idea of expanding the doctrine to all areas of economic life. By 1979, privatization became sacrosanct through Britain's Thatcher. By 1980, Reagan of America extended the doctrine to deregulation, trade liberalization, and decentralization. In the 3rd world the policies came to be called `structural adjustments,' which included tax reforms, devaluation of currencies, government downsizing, and decreased budgets for social & economic services ("no to fiscal stimulation"). The national economies then became integrated into a globalized order, as the term globalization was to be popularized by the Japanese subalterns of the oligarchs such as Ohmae and Fukuyama.

The objective is of course to empower Big Business all the more, so that the entire planet will be a maneuverable backyard for heightened operations. Eventually, the secret government wants national borders erased, as this is now happening, and a world government installed--under their auspices, of course. The events leading to the rise of the world order will see, among other things, the rise of fascistic movements and regimes, inclusive of ones that go under new names such as Islamic fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, neo-realism and new utopianism. Likewise the rise of new academic doctrines such as the `clash of civilization' and the `strong state' theory. Through series of violent events world-wide, which will lead to increased panic and terror, the doctrines will increasingly rationalize the need to recede the rule of law, rule of restraint, rule of dialogue, and civil liberties, and, consequently, the legitimation of fascist totalitarian regimes.

Let us take a cursory glance at some of the sordid operations of this cabal of sinister plotters. Through a liberalized currency market throughout the world, the financier Illuminates, through the front man George Soros, are able to effectively attack the currencies of various nations. George Soros' financial assets alone can affect transactions worth $100 billion per day. Compare this to the dollar reserves of the Philippines of $15 billion. Combining their assets, the financial oligarchs can actually whack combinations of nations including the U.S.A. through financial meltdowns alone. This they first experimented on Britain in the early 1990s. Why Britain? one may ask. Note that Britain, or England, had long lost its sovereignty, over 200 years back yet, so that the devastation of the British economy will not hurt cold-blooded evil conspirers among the British oligarchs. As mentioned earlier, the Illuminates don't know national loyalties, and will take no second thought to destroy the economies of their own countries of origin.

Through Bin Laden and his contemporaries, the Illuminates, via the British and American intelligence agents serving as couriers, can pass on money. The money can then be forwarded to various terrorist groups in the planet, who naively believe that Bin Laden, paymaster of the oligarchical cabal, is amessiah. Note that the Bin Laden family has investments in the Bush oil companies in America. On June of 2001, according to counter-intelligence reports, Bin Laden was actually cited with CIA agents somewhere in the Middle East, a clear 3 months prior to the Sept. 11 terror attack in the USA. The role of terrorist groups is to create maximum organized chaos, as they actually receive instructions from British & American espionage handlers. Every time terrorist trouble occurs in one hot spot in the planet, massive funds transfers occur in that area due to financial panic. The British oligarchs control 36%of the world's financial flows, and the Americans 15%, or a total 51% controlled by just two groups of oligarchs who will benefit the most from such funds transfers. Thus, the terrorists supplement the worksof aboveground speculators and fund managers represented by George Soros. Aside from this, the terrorist champions also serve as assassins for the oligarchs and intelligence agencies, as this task was already perfected in the 1960s yet, to recall the likes of Italy's Red Army and Carlos "The Jackal." Through the espionage rings, the Illuminates are able to penetrate and control mafia rings all over the world. It is through these rings that drugs and armaments transactions can be done, to be able to salt foreign currencies, earn and spend money beyond the oversight functions of accounting government agencies. Should a criminal lord know too much information, given that organized crime circles are not the best people to be trusted with information, then he can be easily terminated with dispatch. This was what befell the drug lord Escobar of Colombia, a country that only has a paper government today, where actual power resides in the hands of drug lords. In Colombia, whenever big bankers and investors from the North seek permission to establish or diversify business, they would report directly to the drug lords rather then the official government.

In the case of the control for the Presidency of the U.S.A., the classic case of Illuminati intervention was the attempted coup d'etat on President Clinton Bill Clinton, who refused to further allow speculators to raid the pension and health funds, and whose wife Hilary was a militant advocate of health and pension welfare, was greatly weakened through the sexual offender case filed against him, a case that was clearly masterminded by Rightwing elements and the Illuminati. The American presidency, already weakened by past machinations of American Illuminates whom the late Pres. Eisenhower refers to as the "Military-Industrial Complex" and which he fought tooth and nail behind the scenes, was weakened all the more, and remains to be a lame duck institution till this day.

Going back to the 2nd World War, a British Illuminate, Bertrand Russell, a white supremacist who masqueraded as a peace and human rights advocate, was among those who pressed the American authorities to drop The Bomb on Japan. As Gen. McArthur correctly assessed then, Japan was already so weak as to surrender officially, and that, per report from an American spy deployed in Italy, the Japanese Emperor was in fact already negotiating for the surrender. No less than the Pope enthusiastically volunteered to intercede for the Allies, and was willing to transact with the Japanese Emperor. But behind the scene, Russell and his ilk worked ignominiously, by summoning their creations Szilard and Oppenheimer to finalize the prototype of The Bomb and convince cold-blooded hawks in the Establishment to drop Bombs on Japan. To the shock and consternation of both McArthur and Eisenhower, two Bombs were dropped on Japan, which burned innocent women, old folks and children to death.

Back to the 90s, to recall, the then Princess of the U.K., Dianne, married to Windsor, was sincerely campaigning for the prohibition of mines, land mines or whatever, as instruments of warfare. She badly hurt the Illuminates who had billions of dollars staked in the mine business, and was embarrassing the Queen of England, a mega-investor in Illuminati network corporations added to the scandalous insult Dianne's extra-marital affairs were causing on Windsor. At the peak of her campaign, which won her international accolades, she was ordered for termination by the Illuminati, with the possible collusion of the Queen of England herself, the world's richest woman. Of course, it was made to appear that the assassination was an accident.

Here at home, we are witness to the flourishing of NGOs, which appear to be so valiantly audacious in clashing with Establishment, and sincerely philanthropic by their nature. But behind some NGOs, more so those coming from abroad to establish branches here, are British and American spies, gathering information about the grassroots. Those environmental NGOs, such as the Greenpeace, by propagandizing against manufactures in the 3rd world through toxic labels as `smoke stack' industry, are actually working for the interests of financial and commercial oligarchs who want to kill 3rd world industrialization and further subordinate them through debt burdens and IMF prescriptions. These same NGOs, through works among Indigenous Peoples, have been gathering information about natural resource endowments in various ecosystems, as well as keeping stock of militants among the host populations. Human rights groups are not spared, such as the Amnesty International, that actually work for the British intelligence SAS that reports directly to the Prince of England. Some other NGOs, inclusive of inconspicuous yoga groups originating from India, are used as transit clubs for drug deals, illegal merchandise, hot money, and information by British spies.

The Illuminates surely have working committees in Asia, comprising of notable politicians and local intelligence assets, who, while not necessarily Illuminates, are willing tools for the grip effect aim of the Illuminati in our backyard. I am sure that Fidel Ramos, Lee Kuan Yew and Anwar Ibrahim are among the chief articulators of Illuminati-sponsored laissez faire public policies. The monarchy of Brunei works directly for the British and American intelligence community, ensuring an observation post in the region. When the Philippines 2000 (Medium Term Philippine Development Plan 1992-98) was drafted and disseminated, I received information from the local guru F.F., an advertising man whose firm was among those contracted by government for a public relations blitz, that globalist diabolical fraternities are happy over the pursuit of their policy initiatives in this country… With possibly hundreds of CIA agents planted in government hierarcy (both Congress & Executive), military & police, business sector, NGOs, church, media, and rebel organizations, added to the assets of the British Intelligence, the colonizing, balkanizing, and terrorizing schemes of the evil cabal will proceed to ensure control over the islands and its vast reserves of untapped energy and mineral resources, as well as to divisively control the ASEAN region. Today, they wish to destroy the autonomous ASEAN and build a military union under their control, while continuing to balkanize Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Burma, and every other country that must tow their line.

The latest scheme of the Illuminates concerning Southeast Asia is to encourage the growth of nationalist movements under their tight grip, or which they will initiate and lead. The objective is to isolate China, which is too late for the British and Americans to destroy whether economically or militarily. Witness the rise of new nationalist movements in the Philippines that have begun to make ripples in the media. New movements are now being hatched in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia. The use of these forces differ from the Islamic terrorists, whose role is chiefly to distract and show semblance of invincibility through coordinated bombing runs across wide territories. The nationalist movements are legal, with counterparts being organized in the officers' corps of the national armies, and are coherent a collective force as to possibly lead national governments by the years 2004 through 2010. These preparations are being done with haste today, as hardline nationalists are rising to power inside the Chinese Communist Party. So, preparations are under way, as former anti-nationalist & anti-communist local spies are planted everywhere to begin `patriotic organizing.'

Let's now go back to Saddam. As one can read in the media, the plan is to fragment Iraq, with the main Sunni portion to be integrated into Jordan whose king reports to the Illuminati through the CIA and the British MI groups. It is too bad for Saddam's Ba'ath party, for failing to accelerate the production of nerve gas at the minimum. The said weapons, possessed by such countries as Iran and North Korea, could have been used as a leverage, now that the northern sponsors have appeared bellicose towards Iraq. That is, with nerve gas at least, Saddam could say "let us get down and talk or else I'll bomb a million people in Israel and another 2 million in Saudi Arabia," a line that can zipper the mouths of Bush and Blair. Such is the situation for North Korea, which the Bush-Blair clowns cannot just touch due to its developed weaponry, or else a million people in South Korea and another 2-3 million in Japan can be marched to the cemeteries soon. Irony of all ironies, the U.S.A. is even building nuclear reactor breeders in North Korea worth $4 billion plus! Saddam just doesn't have his luck enough, and so he is as expendable as others before him such as the Shah of Iran. As one can see, pan-Arab nationalism--advocated by Saddam and the Ba'ath Party--used to be an effective ally of the northern oligarchs in checking the southern advance of the Soviet Union and the possible disloyalties of conservative Arab states. The era of Arab nationalism had already receded, and with its gradual withdrawal came the rise of Islam. It seems that in the new arrangement, the oligarchy is prepared to drop militant Arab nationalism in favor of militant Islam, though in appearance it seems to display some modicum of sympathy for the Palestinian state. Having lost control over Illuminati assets such as Saddam and Arafat, the global oligarchs would want the British and Americans to exercise direct control of the area itself through military presence, as they have successfully done in Afghanistan. The plan is to eventually destroy the Arab states, with the collusion of the Opus Dei forces who have been salivating for a re-conduct of the ancient Crusades to once and for all exact revenge on all Moslems. A later phase of the plan would be to destroy Iran and its client states in Central Asia, possibly with the use of satellite-guided Neutron Bombs that have been installed up in space since the Reagan era yet. Meanwhile, as the Iraq warfare scheme is being finalized in the work desks, the populations of Africa are massively decimated by famines, wars, and biological warfare experiments hatched by the evil…

NAZI HEALTHCARE AGENDA RISING IN AMERICA

NAZI HEALTHCARE AGENDA RISING IN AMERICA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

It is night time as I write this note. The easterly winds have been blowing, seemingly reminding us here of the coming hot days. While this happens, winter has been bringing storms in America, storms that accompanied the torpedoing of the new health bill, the torpedo ‘storm troopers’ being the neo-fascistic ‘Tea Party’ of the Republican Party.

The world is watching the unfolding events in America concerning health care. This analyst is among those keenly interested, as the matter of making health care accessible to everyone in my own country has been a mind-boggling challenge for the development experts. We have been scouting around for models of health care accessibility, and the concept of ‘universal healthcare’ that some experts are espousing in the USA is worth examining.

A question that arises from the unfolding events is this: is health care headed for a new summer in America, or is it moving towards a long winter? The enthused readers can go ahead and choose to discuss the matter, and generate their own opinions about it.

My own reflection about the matter makes me conclude preliminarily that America’s health care is heading towards a parallelism with the Nazi health care of the Hitler’s heydays in Germany. Nazi policy in health means a dichotomous delivery of access to health: make those strongest physically and mentally have access to state-sponsored health care, while close the access to those who are the weakest.

To reduce the cost of sustaining a state-sponsored health care program, eliminate those who are the weakest. Round up those with lingering ailments, the lame and blind, the ‘subhuman’ or below-normal intelligence, and so on, line them up on the wall and machine gun them to death.  

My own reading of the events in America makes me see, among other things, the increasing closure of health care to the impoverished families and individuals there. Poverty now exceeds 40 Millions of Americans, with the Blacks and Latinos comprising the greatest percentage of ethnicities below poverty line.

It seems, as of now, that no one single political force has a monopoly of Nazi-type health policies there. True, the fascist wing of the Republicans, coming under the names of ‘Tea Party’ and ‘neo-conservatives’, have deep, elitist, condescending scorn for poor folks and colored peoples who are receiving too much state attention via welfare subsidies for health. But that is belaboring the obvious.

There are forces within the Democrat Party—masquerading in the mantle of liberalism—who would have none of the drift of America towards a Welfare State akin to what befell Europe. They know that America’s coffers don’t cough up enough funds for subsidies, so what they do is pretend to be pro-people by voting for bills that allocate greater state subsidies for health care.

Such forces are making use of political parties as Trojan Horses to wage a sadistic attack against the poor people of America. They will brook no quarters in excluding the poorer folks, including immigrants, from mainstream health care, and they commit the heinous act through rigmaroles of legislative fiats.

While such new Nazis, and real Nazis to stress the point, fiddle their superficial policy agenda and do backroom maneuvers that concern health care, hundreds of thousands of poor folks die yearly of every kind of ailment there. By dilly-dallying on the galvanization of the ‘universal health care’ idea alone, numerous dying folks are already being sacrificed in the altar of Evil there.  

Let us all watch closely the events concerning health care, and see what happens after another year will elapse. If it will be so easy to forecast that more Americans are being kept out of the health care circuits, then rest assured a Nazi killer agenda is in place to satisfy the sadistic lust for blood by demoniacs in the Establishment.

That being so, the rest of the world, more so the emerging markets, will add another reason to their rising list of rationales for ignoring America as a recognized leading state by showing leadership through example. The year 2012 will be a clear turning point, when nations will decide whether there is still an iota of leadership that America can demonstrate.

Health is wealth, and a nation that closes health care access to its people is a nation without soul and conscience. Other nations should move on in life without that soul-less state to reckon with.

[Philippines, 17 February 2011]

PORK BARREL SCAMS’ ADDRESSING IS POSITIVE SIGN FOR GOVERNANCE

PORK BARREL SCAMS’ ADDRESSING IS POSITIVE SIGN FOR GOVERNANCE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Pork Barrel talk has become outlandishly stylish a gibberish of sorts for all stakeholders in the Philippines. Public outrage has been relentless since the scam involving a certain Janet Napoles’ and her politician beneficiaries’ plunders via the pork barrel were exposed to the light of day.

I may have been silent about the matter in my own blogs, as I preferred to write more positive developments about the sciences and technologies over the last two (2) years. My acquiescence however shouldn’t be equated to being apathetic about public issues concerning good governance. On the contrary, I was ever a social activist since my youth days, and I do silently support the tax payers’ crusade to ax those found criminally liable for diverting tax monies to their own pockets.

First of all, the Philippines is blessed with a Strong Civil Society. Social activism and dynamism for nigh three decades past already have been coming forth from civil society. The constant, sustained engagement of civil society with the Philippine state has in fact been a hallmark of good governance measures. Many economic and social reforms of a national character did spring off from civil society formations, and those reforming tasks continue till these days in order to solve problems of marginalization and mass poverty.

Contrasted to the Strong Civil Society, which renders it among the exemplars for studies internationally in political science and sociology, is a Weak State. Patrimonial interests of diverse natures continue to wield power and influence over the Philippine state and its purses which continues the history of ‘bureaucrat capitalism’ or ‘crony capitalism’ in the Philippine context.   

Albeit, in fairness to state players, reforms of governance institutions have been ongoing for over a decade already. For instance, the tax bureau, audit commission, justice system, and public works department have undergone reforms. The results of such reforms paid off as the Philippines’ credit standing, global competitiveness, and related indicators zoomed up very significantly as of late.

Now here comes the pork barrel scam centering on this obnoxious evil figure Napoles, even as another brewing scam investigation involves a shadowy ‘Madam Arlene’. Napoles engaged legislators and local government officials, while Ma’am Arlene engaged the Supreme Court and justice system. The Napoles-centered scam is now being addressed, while state bureaucrats search the Earth for the shadowy Arlene.

As of this writing, the Supreme Court already decided 14-0, declaring henceforth that the Philippine Development Assistance Fund or PDAF, pork barrel in layman’s term, is unconstitutional. This is truly a landmark decision, thanks to the civil society groups that lobbied the Supreme Court to rethink its earlier decision on the matter. So even the judicial branch of state is addressing the pork barrel issue, brooking no quarters with its added declaration that those state officials who personally benefited from pork barrel over the last 20 years are liable for criminal offense and should be penalized thereof.

Which brings us to the conclusion: the Pork Barrel Scam is a positive thing for good governance. The scams are being properly addressed, and it doesn’t need a sophistical mind to see that any social problem that is appropriately addressed is a positive thing. A social problem that remains un-addressed is a negative thing, such as many crime cases that remain unreported or unresolved.

Being a positive thing, the moment that the criminal cases will begin to show progress, as one by one the involved politicians will be incarcerated for their indubitable evil, the rating of the Philippines in the global competitiveness indicators will move up again. I have no doubt about this development. Napoles is in jail, and before her there was the corrupt former president Erap Estrada who spent 7 years in jail, so it should be clear to intelligent observers that it is a different time in the Philippines today as big fishes are getting criminalized and jailed for their heinous or sordid crimes, therefore the competitiveness of PH will go up along the way.

Eradicating graft in itself takes a long time to execute, and nothing can eradicate graft completely. The sociologist Emile Durkheim said in his classic books over a century ago that there shall always be criminals, as there shall always be deviants in society, for we are not a people who are complete saints but rather ones who have to deal with our own ‘insatiable desires’ that propel us to commit deviations (‘sins’ in church language) such as crimes.

Society and its institutions can only progress step by step towards desired ends. So will it be for instituting reforms towards good governance that will hopefully lead to a Strong State in the future. Civil Society is really strong in the Philippines, while the business community is nearly a Strong Market as corporate governance reforms were instituted over the last 2 decades. Witnessing the transformation of the Philippine state into a strong one isn’t far-fetched, but this will proceed on parri passu basis and not as an overnight phenomenon.

[Manila, 20 October 2013]

MANILA: ASIA’S FASHION & SHOPPING CAPITAL, GRADUATES TO DESIGN CAPITAL

MANILA: ASIA’S FASHION & SHOPPING CAPITAL, GRADUATES TO DESIGN CAPITAL

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good Day to you fellow global citizens!

In 2011, I published an article titled “FILIPINO FASHION DESIGNERS IN HOLLYWOOD: SHOWCASING MANILA AS ASIA’S FASHION CAPITAL” (See: http://erleargonza.blogspot.com/2011/02/filipino-fashion-designers-in-hollywood.html). In that article, I highlighted the maturity of Filipino fashion design, so much that it had reached a level of continental and global acclaim.

Manila has been the fashion and shopping capital of Asia for over a decade already. It once enjoyed that status alongside another ASEAN city, Bangkok. Unfortunately, or tragically, a huge flood beset Bangkok fairly recently, which caused the pull out by many global industrial investors based in it. Bangkok’s own fashion designers left on a diaspora, which took Bangkok off the list of very important cities in the global fashion circuits.

Manila henceforth enjoys a celebrity status for being the sole Fashion Capital. In the latter part of the 20^th century, that envious status belonged to both Tokyo and Hongkong. But as the Bob Dylan poetic line “the times they are a-changing” hauntingly reminds the big players in all fields, so did Manila move up to overtake both Hongkong and Tokyo in the fashion field.

As the title suggests, Manila is also the Shopping Capital of all Asia. That means from East to West, North to South of the continent, Manila is THE SHOPPING CAPITAL. Shopping malls in Manila have the best mall architectures in the whole continent and count among the world’s best, e.g. Gateway Mall’s winning the World’s 11 Best Mall Architectures couples of years ago, which enhanced the power of Filipino fashion and Manila’s shopping magnetism.

That title of Shopping Capital used to belong to both Hongkong and Tokyo as well. So you could just imagine the slide of both cities to 2^nd fiddle as Manila and Bangkok zoomed up meteorically to take that crown, though sadly Bangkok did slide down (God forbids that it will lost the crown that it enjoyed for a short 10 years).

 

Today, there’s another milestone event that is shaping up: Manila’s graduation to a Design Center for the whole of the ASEAN at least. That’s just a minimalist statement coming from the industrialists of ASEAN. Come to think of it, a country or city that had reached Fashion & Shopping Capital continent-wide will likewise get the crown of Design Capital for the whole of Asia.

Filipino consumers might be wondering where are all those Filipino fashion designs being bandied by the tri-media and cyberspace. Well, fellow Filipinos, you only see fashion via the RTWs viewed by your focals every week in the shopping malls, and RTW fashion constitutes only 16% or 1/7^th of the totality of work by fashion designers in the Philippines.

84% of all Filipino fashion designs are generated for the couture business. Many fashion designers in fact do sub-contracting for some bigger fashion design firms whose very own end-users are individual couture fashionistas and corporate retail outlets. With all the great fashion designs going around in Manila and Cebu, all that a Filipino needs to do is get ideas from them, design their own clothes, and look for good cutter and ‘sastre’ (tailor or dress maker) in the wet market to finish the product.

By being a Design Capital means that Filipino fashion designers will  train fashion designers from across Asia and the oceans and also welcome those emerging designers from other countries to do sub-contracting for the big players in Manila. Hopefully fashion institutes will catch up for installation and training of the young designers across the world.

In my own honest opinion, the top universities in Manila—University of the Philippines, Ateneo De Manila University, De La Salle University—should launch fashion departments within their own backyards. It is now time to do so. Pitoy Moreno, top fashion designer, already won his National Artist award, so that recognition should translate into the university’s adopting of the fashion as a line of the arts.

Let’s all expect exciting developments to come regarding the fashion world and it’s partner institution the mall retail business. If generating great fashion sustains the enticement of retailers to ever build majestic mall architectures, then shall there’s joy and fun indeed in visiting Manila and the Philippines by enthused tourists both domestically and internationally.

[Manila, 08 November 2013]

FILIPINO BEAUTIES CHARM THE WORLD

FILIPINO BEAUTIES CHARM THE WORLD

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day to all ye global citizens!

Megan Young, who hails from the city of Olongapo, recently won the Ms World pageant. It is precedent setting for the Philippines that won the pageant for the first time. The victory looks like the last step in  the great pyramid of Cheops, as all the previous steps mark the victories of Filipino young women in the other pageants.

Filipinos are definitely in ecstatic awe for the victories of their compatriot beauties. A gladdening news such as the win by Megan Young is enough to trample the fiery news about sickening events such as plunder of tax money by politicians & dirty business operators, and the rampaging Misuari bandit forces in Zamboanga that almost torched a city.

The list of majestic beauties is getting longer by the year, as year in and year out Filipino women win pageants across the globe. Venus Raj and Shamcey Supsup, aside form names that my short term memory could hardly recall (gigabyte limits!), were among the top marvelous divas that walked the planet prior to Megan Young.

What makes the Filipino beauties stand out is that they’re not only physically beautiful or walk with superb elegance, they also are intelligent. Go back to the television presentations of Megan Young’s performance during the Q&A, and you can affirm for yourself the smartness of the beauty. Shamcey Supsup was an honors graduate of the topgun University of the Philippines, and was among the board topnochers in architecture.

Such marvelous divas are exquisite ambassadors of goodwill for which they are naturally fit for. Their body beauties also make them perfect models for wellness, which should push women across the country and planet for more efforts to stay fit and go the wellness path to perfect health.

The Filipino beauties of late have shown much more sophistication than the beauties of the previous decades, if I’m not mistaken. Many of the latter beauties fell prey to the deceitful tongues of lotharios, besides many lack the culture savvy of the present generation of younger beauties.

Filipino women are among the prettiest in Asia. As per my own assessment, the women of the Philippines and Thailand are Asia’s most beautiful. While there may be subjectivity to my judgement, I’d say look at the beauty contests and see the performances of the Filipino and Thai women.

For all the majestic pageant beauties of the Philippines, mabuhay!

[Manila, 04 November 2013]

PHILIPPINE ECONOMY TOPS ASIAN GROWTH, FIREWALL AMIDST POLITICAL TURMOILS

PHILIPPINE ECONOMY TOPS ASIAN GROWTH, FIREWALL AMIDST POLITICAL TURMOILS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

For this particular note, I will go back to my reflections on the Philippine economy, while I look forward to expand to ASEAN concerns as ASEAN integration nears by 2015. Philippine economic growth tops ASEAN, which makes it the leading ‘tiger’ of the region today.

For a recall, Philippine economic performance showed past 7% growth for the last four (4) quarters already. As of middle of 2013, PH growth was at par with China’s which seems to show some sputtering after past two (2) decades of double digit growth. China’s very own growth pattern may decline even more in the years ahead, thus permitting the PH economy to be on top if it shows a sustained trend over the next couples of years.

Economic performance can only be as good as the economy players themselves. While economic policy environment, which is the terrain of politicians and bureaucrats, plays a very vital role in stimulating economic development, in the last instance it is the performance of economic players that counts most.

As a matter of fact, it is on the side of the state—with poor expenditures for infrastructures during the first two years of the Aquino administration—that produced a lackluster economic growth. Bad governance stalks the Philippine state, which ends in an overall Weak State, though governance reforms are in order.

Incidentally, across the decades, the Philippine economy built a ‘firewall’ that protects it from political caldrons here and abroad. Along with other Asian economies, the Philippines also built a ‘firewall’ against turmoils in the global economy that are caused by the economic weaknesses of the North (Japan, USA, EU).

As economists put it, the Philippine economy just entered a ‘virtual cycle’ of growth, thus ending a long arduous history of ‘boom & bust’ cycle. Much of the growth comes largely from the domestic demand itself, showing the great purchasing power of domestic institutions, households, and individuals when combined. Income from international trade plays only a secondary role in the country, which enables it to outsmart the vagaries of the unstable global economy.

In the past decades, so much of ‘organization re-engineering’ and corporate governance were infused into the Philippine business structures and processes. Business culture was also properly addressed by internal stakeholders, chambers of commerce, and management professional societies. The result, of course, is better adaptive capacity thru better competitiveness and higher productivity.

The trend in Philippine manufacturing had so far shown a consistent generation of high value-added by its labor force, followed by services. The two sectors have shown dynamism so far, thus making them the big drivers of the domestic economy. Agriculture is very sluggish in this respect, which challenges food producers to make up and move up their labor force’s value-added capacities.

Note also the trend of consistently high Net Factor Income from Abroad, which will continue to grow in absolute terms over the next decades. Remittances from overseas Filipinos (workers/professionals) continue to grow, contributing past $20 billions annually to the national income. Furthermore, overseas Filipino investments are growing by the year, in highly diversified concerns, so let’s anticipate the repatriations of profits from such business concerns to surpass remittances from overseas workers in the foreseeable future.

So far the credit standing of the Philippine economy has been moving up. Fitch’s, Moody’s, Standard & Poors’, and other institutions have been optimistic about the Philippine economic performance and good governance measures, which made them shore up the credit ratings nearer and nearer to the triple A mark.

The Philippine economy is still a Middle Income economy as of this moment. It if grows consistently at 7% per annum for succeeding years, then it can double its size in every 6 years. By 2025, PH economy will be 4 times its present size. At the end of that year, PH economy will have entered a ‘mature’ developed economy, and joins the club of 1^st world nations.

[Manila, 28 October 2013]

PHILIPPINES’ CAMPOS GROUP BUYS U.S. DEL MONTE CORP, NEW INVESTING HISTORY BEGINS

PHILIPPINES’ CAMPOS GROUP BUYS U.S. DEL MONTE CORP, NEW INVESTING HISTORY BEGINS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good day to you, global citizens!

For the good news coming from Asia: the Philippines’ Campos group, majority owner of NutriAsia, just bought the Del Monte Pacific Ltd., a US-based company that has been operating a large subsidiary in the Philippines. This is a milestone event for Filipino business investments in the USA, which could be followed up by other Philippine-based conglomerates buying into other American-owned big businesses inside the USA.

This experience isn’t exactly precedent setting. Couples of years ago, the San Miguel Corporation, PH’s largest Food & Beverage conglomerate, bought the NatFood of Australia. NatFood is Australia’s biggest F&B firm by the way, so that negotiation marks a precedence to show the maturity and advanced systems of economic enterprises constituted in the Philippines.

Though it isn’t precedent-setting on a regional-global setting, it is milestone for U.S. engagements by Filipino businessmen & entrepreneurs. Since F&B companies in the Philippines have attained a maturity and advanced development, expect the purchase by other Filipino F&B giants, such as Jollibee Group, of large F&B companies owned by American business tycoons.

It may not be long when the big realty mall-makers of the Philippines will set foot in the USA. SM Group, Gokongwei Group, and Ayala Group are the top players so far, besides being recognized as among Asia’s topguns in the terrain of mall-making. Not only do these conglomerates make big malls, they also produce architectural marvels that are among the world’s top mall architectural wonders.

I would credit the maturation of the Filipino companies to good measures of corporate governance, update organizational culture, and best practices put into place across the decades. Re-engineered to pass the test of time and resilience, the same Filipino firms have become global and have invested in other regions and continents as well.

It is merely the ‘planting season’ for Filipino investments overseas as of the moment. At a certain juncture in the foreseeable future, when the pattern attains maturity, the repatriation of profits from such business concerns to the Philippines will exceed those of remittances from overseas workers. I’ve been forecasting this trend since the start of the new millennium yet, and I’m optimistic of its coming to fruition timed with the maturation of the Philippine economy to a 1^st world rich economy by the latter part of next decade.

[Manila, 19 October 2013]

Source: http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/10/12/1244140/campos-firm-buys-del-monte-us-1.7-b

Campos firm buys Del Monte US for $1.7 B

By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated October 12, 2013 - 12:00am

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MANILA, Philippines - Del Monte Pacific Ltd. (DMPL), majority owned by the NutriAsia Group of Campos family, is buying the consumer food business of US-based Del Monte Foods (DMF) for nearly $1.7 billion.
The move will give DMPL access to the profitable US and South American markets while boosting its net sales by around $1.8 billion, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The Singapore and Philippine-listed DMPL said it entered into a definitive agreement for subsidiary Del Monte Foods Consumer Products Inc. to acquire privately-owned DMF for $1.675 billion.
“This landmark transaction offers DMPL greater access to a well-established, attractive and profitable branded consumer food business in the world’s biggest market,” said DMPL chairman Rolando Gapud.
“Prior to this acquisition, the US was one of few key markets where our company did not have a direct presence nor have its own brands,” Gapud said.
Shares of DMPL in the local bourse surged to as much as P39.50 yesterday before closing 11.11 percent higher at P30 apiece from P27 on Thursday.

Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

DMF owns the Del Monte brand rights for processed food products in the US and South America. Its consumer business has a strong portfolio of leading brands, with seasoned employees, healthy cash flows and $1.8 billion in sales in the fiscal year that ended last April.
DMF owns the iconic Del Monte brand, along with Contadina, S&W and College Inn brands. The company claims to  be number one in major canned fruit and vegetable categories in th US and top two in canned tomato and broth categories.
“This leading branded market position in the canned fruit and vegetable segments provides DMPL with significant scale and reach and, the company believes, an opportunity to unlock meaningful potential synergies,” the firm said.
Under the agreement, DMPL will buy the brands and certain assets and liabilities of DMF, including equity interests in certain South American subsidiaries.
DMPL said it will finance the acquisition through a combination of $745 million of equity in the new acquisition subsidiary as well as $390 million in long-term debt financing from BDO Capital and Investment Corp. and Bank of the Philippine Islands.
“As part of the equity financing, the company plans to issue common and preferred shares in the market,” DMPL said, adding that the acquisition will be finalized not later than the first quarter next year.
Moving forward, DMPL plans to launch new product offerings to the US catering to the growing Hispanic and AsianAmerican markets.
“The company expects to generate significant value creation opportunities in the US market through the expansion of DMF’s current product offering to include beverage and culinary products,” Gapud said. 
DMF’s consumer food business is also an attractive platform to offer certain products appealing to the large Hispanic and Asian American population in the US, he added.
DMPL’s 23,000-hectare plantation in Mindanao is the world’s largest fully integrated pineapple operation with a 750,000-metric ton processing capacity. It was set up in 1926 by the US government because of the widespread pineapple disease in Hawaii.
DMPL produces, markets and distributes food, beverages and related products in the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian subcontinent, and has supply deals with Del Monte Pacific trademark owners and licensees around the world.
In the first half, DMPL’s sales gained 14 percent to $208.4 million while net income inched up two percent to $10.6 million.

DMPL’s principal shareholder NutriAsia leads the Philippine market for condiments (Datu Puti and UFC), specialty sauces (Jufran and Mang Tomas) and cooking oil (Golden Fiesta).

IS DEGLOBALIZATION POSSIBLE?

IS DEGLOBALIZATION POSSIBLE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Globalization has traversed a historic track that is considerably long and expansive in impact at this juncture. Curiously, certain forces are working hard to de-globalize the world, so let me raise the question: is deglobalization possible?

Before anything else, a reflection on the meaning of the ‘globalization’ term. Globalization is delimited to the integration of national economies into a seamless planet-wide borderless economy, as this was the original meaning of the term.

There are so many insurgent voices around the globe today that are agitated by their own painful experiences in the aftermath of the official effectuation of the 1994-signed treaty called the GATT-UR. That fiat was largely binding on the states that forged and signed it, binding thereof on the economic life of member nations of the World Trade Organization that the treaty created.

The core principle behind globalization is free trade which in turn is based on laissez faire doctrine. Already rotting in the dustbins of archives for some time, as an obsolete stinking doctrine, laissez faire was suddenly revived and revved up globally to forge free trade. Largely British in origin (recall the Scottish physiocrats), free trade soon caught the obsessive attention of predatory financiers and technocratic subalterns who then transformed it into a global phenomenon.

Japanese technocrats then picked up the free trade resonance and concocted the term globalization. Kenichi Ohmae is the topgun Japanese thinker of globalization, which was then copycat by other Japanese thinkers. By the 1980s, the Japanese economic diplomacy corps then convinced their Americans and Western counterparts to accept the term and build up on the core principles of global free trade in order to forge a seamless, borderless planetary economy.

I’ve writ too many articles already about the subject, and spoke in many occasions about globalization and free trade from the 1990s to the past decade. I was among the insurgent voices then, being among nationalist ideological blocs in Manila that opposed the PH Senate’s signing of the GATT-Uruguay Rounds. I kept on drumming up the threat side of globalization till last decade.

Beginning this decade though, I shifted mode to a silent observer. I witnessed the win/win impact of globalization on developing economies. Fact is, the very world powers that arm-twisted small countries to sign open up their economic borders to free trade, and later to arm-twist small nations to sign the globalization treaty, were hit so badly by depression (i.e. Great Recession), which I did forecast to happen using a long-wave Kondratieff model.

Now my very own country, the “sick man of Asia” in the years ’83 through ’86, is the ‘economic wellness’ model of Asia today. Should I still care to yield to the herd trend of insurgent voices and declare “down with globalization?”… Philippine economy had developed a ‘firewall’ against globalization’s harsh effects, and so had our neighbors in Asia, amazing grace! See how we in Ph swim along the globalization ocean?

Not only that, my very own country’s domestic economy had forged a ‘firewall’ against the damaging effects of political crises and fall-outs. I remember well, in my studies on international political economy, that Italy was among the first to build such a firewall, if my analysis serves me right, whereby its economy kept on running amidst the perpetual political squabbles in the legislature and constant changes of prime minister and cabinet composition. So the Philippines has become the “Italy of Asia” (smile!).

Well, folks out there, I am not going to advance my own answers to the ‘deglobalization thesis’ or challenge. What I can say is this: I am getting more at home with globalization today. It had even spread to other areas of life: culture, society, civil society, and so on, such as the ‘globalization of Christmas’ which I find as a very positive event.

[Manila, 14 October 2013]  

CAN THE WORLD’S PEOPLES BE FED IN THE LONG RUN?

CAN THE WORLD’S PEOPLES BE FED IN THE LONG RUN?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

“In the long run, we shall all be dead!” – John Maynard Keynes

Good day to you fellow global citizens!

By the year 2050, the world’s present human population will breach the 10 billion mark. That’s what the forecasts are saying so far, although it is always possible that assumptions done in the forecast may not work in the future.

At any rate, yielding a population figure that is based on zero population growth or ZPG is all wishful thinking. World population is now growing at 80 millions annually, and there is no indicating a reversal or decline of the number of babies born and survived annually (less the numbers of death).

There just aren’t enough land to treat as frontier lands anymore, sufficient to yield greater harvests. Human food production is still based largely on land cultivation, though hydroponics was already perfected in the late 1980s yet, which can considerably shift production stress away from land. So we will still be stuck up with land-based cultivation + land- based fish farming + land-based livestock production.

As studies show, the sub-Saharan (desert largely) has the potential for feeding an additional 4 billions of warm bodies. This is quite some good news so far, though it only is a palliative. Unless that population growth will taper down slowly across the coming decades, till it possibly gets nearer ZPG, the feeding problem will be a headache for humanity in the long run.

Below is a very interesting report about the feeding forecasts and problems anticipated in food production in the long run.

[Manila, 10 October 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/farming/analysis-blog/focus-on-poverty-how-can-we-feed-ten-billion-people.html

Focus on Poverty: How can we feed ten billion people?

Speed read

·         Demand for food is set to outstrip supply and there is little spare land for crops

·         But Sub-Saharan Africa has great potential to increase production

·         As well as science, inequality and consumption patterns must be considered

It will be even harder to feed the world in 2050, but African farmers could be key, says Roger Williamson.

An alarming study has found that major crop yields are increasing too slowly to meet future food demands. With the latest UN projections suggesting a world population of 9.6 billion by 2050 [1] and the population rising by more than 80 million a year — with the fastest rates in some of the most populous African countries — how will the human race feed itself?

In future, will we be talking about three to four billion people in extreme poverty rather than the current 'bottom billion'?

A recent, timely book, 10 Billion by Stephen Emmott [2], paints a bleak picture. Emmott examines technological fixes or changes in behaviour or political will as potential solutions, but says  these are likely to fail.

This conclusion must be taken seriously. A key part of his narrative is that there is simply not enough land to feed the growing population — more importantly, one with growing food needs. What's left are cities, where you buy food (not grow it); oceans, which are largely being overfished; forests; and desert. Thus there are only two real possibilities: somehow finding more land to cultivate or improving yields from existing cropland.

A video posted online earlier this month by the ReCom programme — which aims to research and communicate what works in foreign aid — of the UN University-World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), based in Finland, provides a more hopeful scenario for Africa.

In it, Ephraim Nkonya, a Tanzanian land management specialist at the International Food Policy Research Institute, makes the surprising statement that Africa could become the world's breadbasket.

His argument hinges around two interlinked opportunities — that the yield gap for current and maximum potential production for crops is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that there is potential for radically expanding food production through increasing the area of land under production. According to Nkonya, 90 per cent of all land that could be brought under cultivation is in Africa or Latin America.

Akio Hosono, of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Research Institute, recently presented positive examples of the latter at a UNU-WIDER conference. He highlighted the use of Brazil's vast Cerrado region for soya production. [3] JICA and the Brazilians are exploring this model's applicability to Mozambique. [4]

However, increasing crop yields by expanding the area under cultivation often means deforestation. Intensification of yield is the key.

Forecasts of having three to four billion people living in absolute poverty, and strategies for eradicating this problem, are questions for science, but they are also more than that. Social and economic issues of extreme inequality (for example around access to land) and consumption patterns (for example ensuring that resources for food production are distributed equally) are also vital elements to the mix.

Roger Williamson is an independent consultant and visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Previous positions include organising nearly 80 international policy conferences for the UK Foreign Office and being head of policy and campaigns at Christian Aid. 

References

[1] Worldwatch Institute Fertility Surprises Portend a More Populous Future (Worldwatch Institute, 10 July 2013)
[2] Emmott, S. 10 Billion (Penguin, 2013)
[3] Hosono, A. Industrial Strategy and Economic Transformation (ReCom, accessed 26 July 2013)
[4] Hosono, A. South-South/Triangular Cooperation and Capacity Development. In K. Hiroshi (ed) Scaling Up South-South and Triangular Cooperation (JICA Research Institute, November 2012)

WITCH HUNTING NANOTECHNOLOGY? QUE SERA SERA BRAZIL!

WITCH HUNTING NANOTECHNOLOGY? QUE SERA SERA BRAZIL!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Magandang araw! Good day!

It seems that Brazilians have among them a new crop of superstitious punks whose noxious superstition discovered their enemy whom they need to stake to death in public: nanotechnology practitioners. By practitioners we mean those who practice the research & development of nanotech into usable byproducts.

The superstitious witch hunters have found allies among legislators who are proposing to ban nanotech items in food & beverage or F&B labels. If these Inquisitors have their way, they may end up heaping up public hysteria on the nanotech practitioners who may get lynched or stoned to death.

Fortunately, there are more sane minds than madmen among the legislators in the noblesse federal republic. Of course, it need not be stressed that the sane legislators struck down as impertinent and dismissed the inquisitional stone age superstitionists.

You can find the reportage about the rather ubiquitous inquisition below.

[Manila, 06 October 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/technology/feature/brazil-struggles-to-regulate-emerging-nanotechnology.html

Brazil struggles to regulate emerging nanotechnology

Speed read

·         Congress has rejected a bill to label food and drugs containing nanotech

·         Yet a US$186 million nanotechnology initiative was launched last month

·         A new bill is pending, which may introduce what some see as badly needed regulation

[RIO DE JANEIRO] The Brazilian Congress has rejected a bill that aimed to introduce labelling on all food, drugs and cosmetics containing nanostructures, arguing that it was alarmist and that there was no scientific basis for warning people about nanotechnology in products.

The move is the latest rebuff to such regulation, even as the country spearheads multimillion-dollar nanotechnology programmes and experts argue that better oversight of this new technology could benefit both industry and consumers.

A Senate report on the rejected bill said that the proposed labelling could have been interpreted as a "warning" even on products improved by nanotechnology, potentially causing losses to companies that have invested in improving their products through this technology.

Consequently, there could be a fall in research and development investment in the sector, which would undermine national investment into nanotechnology such as the National Nanotechnology Programme, a multimillion-dollar initiative launched in 2005, and its extension the Brazilian Nanotechnology Initiative launched last month (19 August) that is worth 440 million reals (approximately US$186 million) by the end of 2014.

The bill's demise marks the second failure to regulate the fast-growing sector: in 2005, a more ambitious bill, with provisions for a national policy on nanotechnology, including labelling, risk assessment and other decisions, was evaluated by the industry, science, and finance committees  from Congress's Chamber of Deputies, which found the field to be at too early a stage for legislation.

The benefits of legislation

Meanwhile, some experts argue that regulation would make nanotechnology and its industrial applications more transparent, providing a good basis for advancing research and public support for it.

It would also help guide research and define, evaluate and minimise potential risks to human health and the environment, they say.

The most recently rejected bill was less ambitious than its predecessor, aiming primarily to introduce product labelling.

“Regulation ... would bring only benefits to industry, trade, scientists and society.”

Edson Duarte, former
member of the Chamber of Deputies

First presented to Congress's Senate in May 2010, the bill proposed changing existing laws to incorporate products made using nanotechnology, based on the argument that consumers have the right to know exactly what is in things they buy.

Just as genetically modified foods have to be labelled in some countries, the bill would have forced firms to label any foods, drugs and cosmetics containing nanotech.

But two of the Senate's commissions — for social affairs and for the environment and consumer protection — that reviewed the proposal said there was no scientific basis for imposing "warnings" over nanotechnology's use.

The senators added that the labels were not sufficient to inform consumers, who could be confused and then avoid what could actually be "improved products".

This "alarmism" would harm companies that have invested in nanotechnology and halt plans for the sector's development in the country, they said.

But the author of 2005 bill, which was rejected for similar reasons, says this reasoning is misguided.

"My bill was rejected on the grounds that it could inhibit research and development of new products. It is an absolutely misguided justification," says Edson Duarte, former member of the Chamber of Deputies. "Regulation would serve to establish a minimum level of control over the sector and would bring only benefits to industry, trade, scientists and society."

Further legislation

The Senate may soon have another stab at legislating on the issue: a new bill, proposing the creation of a labelling law for all nanotech products, including imports and exports, is pending in the Chamber of Deputies.

Instead of changing existing laws on foods and drugs to include the labelling of anything made using nanotechnology, as the recently rejected bill attempted, the new proposal would encompass labelling all products containing nanotech, without requiring other laws to change.

"We are confident that our proposal will be approved," says José Sarney Filho, the new bill's author and a representative in the Chamber.

In his view, the business sector is becoming more aware of growing consumer pressure for information and is less resistant to labelling regulations, both of which may help convince senators to approve the bill. The bill was favourably reviewed by the Committee for Economic Development, Industry and Trade, in the Chamber of Deputies, last month.

But Duarte says that a remaining obstacle for nanotech regulation in Brazil is opposition by free-market groups. "These are the ones who can hamper regulation and press [Congress] not to create laws for industry," he says.

Duarte is worried about nanotechnology advancing rapidly with no regulation.

Yet Oswaldo Luiz Alves, a nanotech expert at the State University of Campinas and a member of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation's Advisory Committee on Nanotechnology, says the time lag between big investment in a new technology and its regulation is not unique to the nanotech sector.

"This situation has been happening with many technologies. Even in developed countries, regulation came in second," he says.

Despite the setback of the bill's rejection, Alves believes the situation is now favourable to advancing nanotechnology regulation in Brazil, especially as the nation's new nanotechnology initiative gets under way.

"But we need to consistently move forward with the right steps and, above all, in harmony with the international context so that we do not create situations that prevent us from participating, as effective actors, in the trillion-dollar economic activity of nanotechnology," says Alves.

Link to the senators' report on the rejected bill (in Portuguese)

Link to the newly proposed labelling bill (in Portuguese)

Link to the 2005 rejected bill (in Portuguese) 

HAS MONSANTO INVADED CHILE’S SMALL PLANTERS?

HAS MONSANTO INVADED CHILE’S SMALL PLANTERS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

“God must be angry on Chilean peasants, He’s sending Monsanto here!” could be an apt idiom by angry Chileans over the passing of the Monsanto Bill in their legislature. I am very much in sync with the protesting farmers and concerned Chileans, as I know the dire implications of getting Monsanto to invade their country.

I was among the social activists in the Philippines who opposed the signing of the GATT-Uruguay Rounds in the mid-90s, and spoke in many venues to expose the social costs that the treaty would spawn. The rise of gigantic trusts or monopolies has been on the agenda plate of the global oligarchs in the the 90s when the treaty was signed, and, as an adroit observer of international political economy, I was among those who forecast the rise of such global monopolies that will control certain sectors of agriculture such as seed production.

That monopolization is taking place in steel and mining. Ditto for agriculture, with Monsanto as the flagship trust. I am no professional basher of genetic modification of organisms, as I myself witnessed the great benefits brought forth by genetic engineering on many varieties of veggies, fruits, and grains in my backyard country. However, the likes of Monsanto gobbling up grains, which effectively prohibits small farmers to own seeds for re-cultivation later, is pure EVIL.

The Monsanto Bill had raised blood pressures in Chile that is rising fast as a developing country in South America. Details of the issues raised are reflected in the reportage below.

[Manila, 30 September 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/bioprospecting/news/farmers-rights-at-stake-in-chile-s-monsanto-law-bill.html

Farmers' rights 'at stake in Chile's Monsanto law bill'

Speed read

·         Campaigners say the bill suits big firms rather than ordinary farmers

·         But biotech companies deny claims that it would unfairly restrict seed use

·         Strong intellectual property rights could also aid agricultural exports, say the bill's supporters

[SANTIAGO] Campaigners who last month marched through more than a dozen Chilean cities against a bill dubbed the 'Monsanto law' after the giant US biotech firm, plan to protest again if the bill progresses through the country's Senate.

Meanwhile, the bill's supporters — mainly associations of large-scale farmers — are lobbying senators to back it.

At issue is the legal implementation in Chile of the latest version of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 91).

As a signatory to the 1978 version, Chile already protects plant breeders' rights, but campaigners claim that the new version of the convention suits commercial rather than conventional breeders.

"UPOV 91 extends the intellectual property rights of companies that produce seeds, thus increasing their monopoly over seed production and exchange," Iván Santandreu, co-founder of the NGO Chile without GMOs (genetically modified organisms), tells SciDev.Net.

"If UPOV 91 becomes law, it will become illegal for farmers to save and exchange seeds," he adds.

But Miguel Sánchez, executive director of ChileBIO, an association that represents agricultural biotechnology companies, says: "UPOV 91 allows a seed developer to charge a farmer for using any intellectually protected seed, even retroactively.

"But nobody forces this farmer to buy and use intellectually protected plant varieties. If he does, it is because he believes the protected seed will increase his yields."

Sánchez adds that campaigners' fears that UPOV 91 will not stop large firms from appropriating native vegetable species and varieties or their agricultural or medicinal uses are misplaced.

"A seed developer cannot claim intellectual property rights for a vegetable species such as maize. He can only do so if he has bred a maize variety that is new and distinct," Sánchez tells SciDev.Net.
 

“If UPOV 91 becomes law, it will become illegal for farmers to save and exchange seeds.”

Iván Santandreu,
Chile without GMOs

Another of the campaigners' concerns is that the proposed law would introduce GMOs into the country through the backdoor by allowing companies to register GM seeds (GMOs are banned in Chile).

"This allegation is wrong: UPOV 91 does not mention GMOs," Patricio Parodi, scientific advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile, tells SciDev.Net.

"Campaigners are conflating it with the bill on genetically modified plants, which has been stagnating in the National Congress since 2006. Only this law would make way for the general use of GMOs in Chile," he adds.

Santandreu replies that, while UPOV 91 may not mention GMOs by name, it refers to genetic improvement and defines this process as ranging from hybridisation to genetic engineering.

But the politicians, large farm owners and agricultural companies backing the bill argue that an agricultural exporter such as Chile needs solid intellectual property rights.

"We cannot be seen as a country that practises intellectual property piracy. Chile has signed many free trade agreements, including with the US and Japan, on the basis of reciprocal intellectual property rights," says Parodi.

José Antonio Poblete, commercial manager of the Fruit Nurseries Association of Chile, told the Constitutional Court last year: "If Chile does not adhere to UPOV 91, there will be no reward for all the efforts made by 12 new, state-backed genetic programmes that are developing new fruit varieties".

But anti-GMO campaigners remain unconvinced.

"We are waiting for the next significant development in Congress before we march again," Santandreu says.

Link to International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants