trinokim
12th Nov '07 Mon, 17:34
:ranting:
nakalungkot isipin na ang milyun milyong pera natin ay bibibigay sa mga banyagang intsik dahil lamang sa proyektong hindi natin nagagamit at puro basura lang... Kung ibinigay na lang sana natin ito sa mga pamilya na nakatira sa mga Smokey mountain, mga squatters, mga street childrens, etc., sino bah ang aasenso?? diba ang kapwa natin pilipino rin.. sana naman ay magising na ang ating mga opisyal...:rant::slap:
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RP paying China P17M monthly in loan interest for NorthRail
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- The North Luzon Railways Corp. has been paying an average of $400,000 (P17.118 million) monthly in interest payments since January 2005 for the NorthRail, a modern railway that its Chinese contractor has yet to build from Caloocan City to Malolos, Bulacan.
"Yes, that's true," Georgina Jota, NLRC executive vice president, said of the interest payments that the government has been paying for a $400-million loan that the Department of Finance got on NLRC's behalf from the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of China.
Jota spoke to the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday on behalf of NLRC president Arsenio Bartolome III.
"That's part of the loan," Jota said when asked to confirm reports by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile that the NLRC has been paying interest fees for the Section 1 of the NorthRail project's Phase 1.
The total track length of Section 1 is 64.4 kilometers, with six stations in Caloocan, Valenzuela, Marilao, Bocaue, Guiguinto and Malolos, an NLRC report in December 2005 showed.
By that time, the NLRC said the "total project estimated cost" ran to $503.04 million.
Jota said interest payments had to be paid after the Philippine government made the initial drawdown (disbursement of loan funds) on September 29, 2004. This amounted to $105 million, Jota said.
The Philippine government obtained the $400-million loan after the DoF, through then Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong, and the Ex-Im Bank of China, through its chair and president, Yang Zilin, signed the Buyer Credit Loan Agreement No. BLA 04555 on Feb. 26, 2004, according to the Senate Committee Report No. 30.
Both parties signed the memorandum of understanding for the loan on Aug. 20, 2003. The February 2004 agreement appointed the China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. (CNMEG) as the "prime contractor" of Section 1, Phase I, the Senate report said.
In its 2006 annual report, the Bases Conversion Development Authority, which created the NLRC as a subsidiary in 1995, identified the NorthRail contractor as the China National Machinery Industry Corp. (Sinomach). This was formerly the CNMEG, the BCDA report said.
Jota said the loan contract came with an annual interest rate of three percent and repayment period covering 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
Jota described the contract to be between the two governments, with the DoF having responsibility for the loan.
"The NLRC was not a party to the loan contract. We have no direct relationship with the Ex-Im Bank," she said.
The loan, she said, was covered by a sovereign guarantee. She said the DoF could best explain this term.
Since last week, Enrile has been reviving public attention to NorthRail-related controversies to bare the alleged private interest of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in the project.
Enrile also vowed to pin down De Venecia as the main backer of his son, Jose de Venecia III, whose company, Amsterdam Holdings Inc., lost its bid to bag the $329-million National Broadband Network contract, which was awarded to ZTE Corp. of China.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has cancelled the contract due to the controversy sparked by the exposé of De Venecia's son on alleged bribes that attended the contract.
Jota said it was the "PROC [People's Republic of China] that appointed CNMEG as prime contractor of the project."
She said CNMEG's first progress billing amounted to $7 million. This represented cost for "site investigation and preliminaries including schematic design."
William Go, a contractor, was "not connected with the CNMEG or NLRC," she said.
An Inquirer source described Go as a Hong Kong-based business broker for Chinese investors. Go is the supposed "contact" of De Venecia and other Filipino politicians.
The source said Go's local office went by the name of Jibsen, which has been operating from the Tektite Building in Ortigas Center.
SOURCE (http://http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=100426)
nakalungkot isipin na ang milyun milyong pera natin ay bibibigay sa mga banyagang intsik dahil lamang sa proyektong hindi natin nagagamit at puro basura lang... Kung ibinigay na lang sana natin ito sa mga pamilya na nakatira sa mga Smokey mountain, mga squatters, mga street childrens, etc., sino bah ang aasenso?? diba ang kapwa natin pilipino rin.. sana naman ay magising na ang ating mga opisyal...:rant::slap:
__________________________________________________ _________________________________
RP paying China P17M monthly in loan interest for NorthRail
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- The North Luzon Railways Corp. has been paying an average of $400,000 (P17.118 million) monthly in interest payments since January 2005 for the NorthRail, a modern railway that its Chinese contractor has yet to build from Caloocan City to Malolos, Bulacan.
"Yes, that's true," Georgina Jota, NLRC executive vice president, said of the interest payments that the government has been paying for a $400-million loan that the Department of Finance got on NLRC's behalf from the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of China.
Jota spoke to the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday on behalf of NLRC president Arsenio Bartolome III.
"That's part of the loan," Jota said when asked to confirm reports by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile that the NLRC has been paying interest fees for the Section 1 of the NorthRail project's Phase 1.
The total track length of Section 1 is 64.4 kilometers, with six stations in Caloocan, Valenzuela, Marilao, Bocaue, Guiguinto and Malolos, an NLRC report in December 2005 showed.
By that time, the NLRC said the "total project estimated cost" ran to $503.04 million.
Jota said interest payments had to be paid after the Philippine government made the initial drawdown (disbursement of loan funds) on September 29, 2004. This amounted to $105 million, Jota said.
The Philippine government obtained the $400-million loan after the DoF, through then Finance Secretary Juanita Amatong, and the Ex-Im Bank of China, through its chair and president, Yang Zilin, signed the Buyer Credit Loan Agreement No. BLA 04555 on Feb. 26, 2004, according to the Senate Committee Report No. 30.
Both parties signed the memorandum of understanding for the loan on Aug. 20, 2003. The February 2004 agreement appointed the China National Machinery and Equipment Corp. (CNMEG) as the "prime contractor" of Section 1, Phase I, the Senate report said.
In its 2006 annual report, the Bases Conversion Development Authority, which created the NLRC as a subsidiary in 1995, identified the NorthRail contractor as the China National Machinery Industry Corp. (Sinomach). This was formerly the CNMEG, the BCDA report said.
Jota said the loan contract came with an annual interest rate of three percent and repayment period covering 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
Jota described the contract to be between the two governments, with the DoF having responsibility for the loan.
"The NLRC was not a party to the loan contract. We have no direct relationship with the Ex-Im Bank," she said.
The loan, she said, was covered by a sovereign guarantee. She said the DoF could best explain this term.
Since last week, Enrile has been reviving public attention to NorthRail-related controversies to bare the alleged private interest of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in the project.
Enrile also vowed to pin down De Venecia as the main backer of his son, Jose de Venecia III, whose company, Amsterdam Holdings Inc., lost its bid to bag the $329-million National Broadband Network contract, which was awarded to ZTE Corp. of China.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has cancelled the contract due to the controversy sparked by the exposé of De Venecia's son on alleged bribes that attended the contract.
Jota said it was the "PROC [People's Republic of China] that appointed CNMEG as prime contractor of the project."
She said CNMEG's first progress billing amounted to $7 million. This represented cost for "site investigation and preliminaries including schematic design."
William Go, a contractor, was "not connected with the CNMEG or NLRC," she said.
An Inquirer source described Go as a Hong Kong-based business broker for Chinese investors. Go is the supposed "contact" of De Venecia and other Filipino politicians.
The source said Go's local office went by the name of Jibsen, which has been operating from the Tektite Building in Ortigas Center.
SOURCE (http://http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=100426)