Filipino Political Scheme Proposed for Economically Developing Country (EDC) Wealth Fund
The content below was originally paywalled.
NOTE: This story first appeared on my webpage at donnListon.co. It recently appeared on my new Substack website for free subscribers in the Tagalog Language. Paid subscribers will receive future stories from Philippines in English Language.
Many Alaskans remember the idealism generated by Gov,Jay Hammond,and real legislative leaders like House Speaker,Hugh Malone, and Senate PresidentJohn Rader,who passed legislation during the10thAlaska Legislatureto provide equitable payment for our oil in an agreement with companies developingPrudhoe Bayon state lands.We the Peoplehad witnessed construction of the engineering marvelTrans-Alaska PipelinefromPrudhoe Bayto Valdez, and recognized we were partners with the Goose that Laid Golden Eggs.[1]
We The Peopledefined:
Alaska Constitution
Section 2. Source of Government
All political power is inherent in the people. All government originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the people as a whole.
Hence,We The Peopleare supposed to be in charge of our government, not some strawman put into place to do the bidding of Outside interests, as is exactly what happened in Philippines when PresidentFerdinand Marcoswas facilitated into office by theUnited States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).PresidentLyndon Johnsonnurtured and empowered Marcos as an puppet ally to justify theWar in Vietnam.
Marcos ultimately became a dictator, together with his wifeImelda Marcosrunning the country with an iron fist. They plundered the Philippine economy before being harbored in Hawaii where Ferdinand died September 28, 1989 at age 72.
As early as 1969, the CIA determined that Marcos had already stolen several hundred million dollars, and, by 1972, other American officials had become aware that Marcos was raiding the national treasury. Nothing was said, however, to avoid embarrassing an ally. Estimates of how much the Marcoses had stolen from the government ranged from $5 billion to $10 billion.
Sponsored:Vision of the AK Roundtable: Impact the Future of Alaska!
[2]A history of the Philippines, Luis H. Francia, Abrams Press, New York, NY, 2019 p 265
Alaskan Babes in the Woods
Beginning in 1982 Alaskans receive annual Dividends (PFDs) from theAlaska Permanent Fundbecause public officials with vision recognized our always inflated economy can best be addressed by distribution of earned dividends to the designated owners of our natural resources–as also clearly stated in theAlaska Constitution.
Article VIII Natural Resources
Section 1. Statement of Policy
It is the policy of the State to encourage the settlement of its land and the development of its resources by making them available for maximum use consistent with the public interest.
Sponsored:Shiloh Community Housing Has Big Plans: A Quality Resource Center in Mt View
One argument at the time was all Alaskans have an ownership interest in the Oil Resource in the same way a retiree in Chicago has an ownership interest in any oil company stocks they might own. OurPFDis compensation for living and contributing to make Alaska a better place for current and future Alaskans.
The PFD is NOT a Give-Away, Nor Charity
One popularly stated goal of this Wealth Fund during its inception was to keep from allowing anticipated abundant resource bounty from being pissed away on State/Local government. These same Honorable Alaskans believed we had an obligation to future generations to share in this bounty–not as government serfs but as independent thinkers–who could best provide for ourselves and our families through a direct payment of a dividend. Operation of State Government would also receive 50 percent fromPermanent Fundearnings. This plan has worked and even served as inspiration for many other proposed Wealth Plans.
But Alaska Politicians now Deny We The PeopleOur Due
Some 38-years after establishment of the deal between theState of Alaskaand Oil Companies producing our oil, Gov.Sarah Palinand theAlaska Legislaturearbitrarily changed the deal to what they initially calledAlaska’s Clear and Equitable Share(ACES), increasing the tax to 75 percent, causing the goose to wonder if an ax was hidden in Palin’s bloomers.
We The PeopleDid Not Ask for this.
Grandstanding Palin abandoned her hotseat asGovernor of Alaskato joinJohn McCainon an ill-fated run for vice president of theUnited States of America. It was a laughable spectacle. Her Lt. Gov.Sean Parnellwas left to pick up the pieces of her also laughable and ill-fated oil policy.
From a national press account:On Tuesday, (November 4, 2014) Alaskans will have to decide which tax will result in more revenue for the state. It’s a big question in a state that derives most of its budget from oil revenue – and a tricky one, because as oil production has boomed in other states, thanks to hydraulic fracturing (or fracking), it has dwindled to one-quarter of its 1988 peak in Alaska.
We The People Rejected Gov. Palin’s scheme.
Alaska still has among the nation’s highest tax rates on the oil industry,saysBarry Rabe, a professor of public policy at theUniversity of Michigan,in a telephone interview.Rates are far higher than any other state has ever tried.
Residents receive a dividend from the oil revenue the state collects. In its relationship to oil development,Mr. Rabe adds,Alaska has really functioned more like a foreign country.
This is not the first time Alaskans have been calledBlue-Eyed Arabs.
[3]On Alaska’s oil tax referendum, Palin joins with liberals, Jared Gilmour, Wall Street Journal, 08/18/2014.((https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2014/0818/On-Alaska-s-oil-tax-referendum-Palin-joins-with-liberals))
In 2014 Another Absurd Alaska Politician Took the Stage
In the 2014 General ElectionBill Walker/Byron Mallott134658 votes (48.10%) would beatSean Parnell/Dan Sullivan128435 votes (45.88%)
[4]AK Division of Election Results1
Walker would go on to also embarrass Alaska on the world stage.
In 2016 Gov.Bill Walkerand theAlaska Legislaturedecided to arbitrarily change the statutory formula for payment of the annual PFD to Alaskans who had lived here at least one year. The continual call for return to the statutory formula has since fallen on deaf ears as what used to be a 50/50 split of earnings has become a government entitlement and variable fund handout as a budget item for the PFD.
Alaska is a model of what can happen when politicians elected in district go to Backwater Juneau to enact laws that care less aboutWe The Peoplethan they do for special interests. They know nothing will happen as a result of their duplicity.
We The PeopleDid Not Ask for this.
Philippine Proposal for a Wealth Fund
JC Punongbayan, PhD, produces the #NeverForget Diary on Substack.com. Recently he posted the following:
This is the#NeverForget Diary, a weekly summary of what’s happening in the Philippines under Marcos II.
Week 23: November 28-December 4, 2022
National scam in the making?
A new bill filed by PresidentFerdinand Marcos Jr.’sson and cousin (SpeakerMartin Romualdezand presidential son Senior Deputy Majority LeaderSandro Marcos) seeks to create a new sovereign wealth fund called theMaharlika Investments Fund.
But the name itself is a fraud, according to Punongbayan:Maharlikais a nod to guerrila group that Marcos Sr. supposedly belong to during WWII. But thismythhas been debunked by historians.
As proposed, theMaharlika Investments Fundwill be initially sourced from the social insurance programs of GSIS and SSS (pitching in a combined P175 billion), and also gov’t banks such as Landbank and DBP, and even the Treasury. The total seed fund will be P275 billion. These are the country’s pension funds which are incurring huge deficits at the moment.
Don’t Tell the Biden Administration or this plan could be ours, funding Green New Deal infrastructure from Social Security Accounts.
[5]National Scam in the Making
Another Filipino writer explains further:
The bill passed by the House, just yesterday (December 16, 2022) and apparently in haste, creates the Makarlika Wealth Fund –maharlikais Filipino for royalty,according toVergel O. Santos, who writes a blog on Filipino politics.
Economists have come forward in force, in one voice, and in no uncertain terms against a sovereign wealth fund for us,stated Santos.It’s a plainly bad idea, they say, for the state to put up a fund for investment using people’s money and have presidential appointees manage it; it makes for a fertile ground for corruption. And to do that in these times will make things even worse, they add.
Santos continued:Indeed, we’ve never been in a worse economic shape since PresidentFerdinand Marcos, Martial-Law dictator for 14 years (1972-1986), plundered the nation and bankrupted it. A couple of present-day realities should give us enough fright: We’ve never seen prices rise so fast and so high (8%) and gone into debt so deep (P13 trillion) – we have borrowed more than we can cover, and international credit analysts say it will take 10 years of decent governance, definitely not our strong suit, for us to regain our standing as a viable borrower.
And to think that, as a rule, sovereign wealth funds are built from surpluses!
Before we start our sovereign wealth fund, we must first answer the big question: where do we get the money from?
According to theWorld Bank, most sovereign wealth funds are financed using the excess funds of their governments, such as in the case of Norway, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. This surplus often comes from natural resource extraction. Recognizing that the profits from oil will one day run dry, these countries have invested the money in long-term funds for sustainability.
This was exactly the basis for formation of ourAlaska Permanent Fund, but as in Philippines “decent governance is definitely not our strong suit,” in Alaska.
Santos concludes:The Philippines has neither a budget surplus nor low public debt levels. Experts warn that this places us in a bad situation to start such a fund.
[6]A Bad Idea All Around, Vergel O. Santos,3
Governor Dunleavy’s Permanent Fund Cabal
What assurances do Alaskans have of safety for our goose if long-standingState of Alaskanegotiated agreements, tax policy and even a statutory PFD Payment formula can be changed arbitrarily with just one or two goofy governors? We could also be facing economic challenges in the near future. How do we know corruption is not happening now in our wealth fund–with a board largely controlled by any governor–who can influence investment policy and annually send dividend payments, the amounts of which are determined by legislative whim, to people who claim to live here?
This writer has asked these questions before.
[7]Why the Permanent Fund Corp Turmoil? April 28,2022
From that story:
The APFC board is subject to much political influence. Any new Alaska governor would appoint half of the trustees (the two department heads and one public member) during his or her first year and a clear majority (with the second public member) by the second year. One-third of the trustees, the department heads, report to and serve at the pleasure of the governor. In comparison, a new U.S. president would not have appointed a majority to most federal independent commissions until the third or fourth year of his or her first term. Finally, for similar federal independent commissions, approval by the U.S. Senate provides a check on presidential authority and also involves a confirmation process whereby appointee qualifications are publicly reviewed.
But the United States is not a 3rdWorld Nation, right?
An effort to require legislative approval ofPermanent Fund Boardappointments was made during the lastAlaska Legislature(HB 412) but it failed to get out of committee.
HB 412 Sponsor Statement
https://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=32&docid=92589
The longest serving current member of the BoardBill Moranretired earlier this year.
[8]APOC Reports, Bill Moran wealth Accumulation as PF Board Member 2011 and 2022
Gov. Dunleavy appointedGabrielle “Ellie” Rubensteinas Moran’s replacement.
Some will remember the Rubenstein/Rogoff team that purchased theAnchorage Daily Newsfor $32 million, changed the name toAlaska Dispatch News, hosted PresidentBarack Obamafor a State Dinner, and sold ADN to the Binkleys of Fairbanks in bankruptsy for $1 million.Ellie Rubenstinenever had to worry about missing a meal during that public fiasco and now has the entitlement chops to cause Dunleavy to bless her with this honor.
[9]Unsupervised Youth in Anchorage/ADN on the Brink
AsWe The Peoplereflect on where we have come since smart and idealistic Alaskans proposed a Wealth Fund from resource bounty, with stable agreements with the goose laying golden eggs, we can easily see how the idea inspires politicians eager to exploit our innocence and good will as is being proposed now in Philippines. Legislators and Gov. Dunleavy will soon be assuring us all of their commitment to theBest Interests of Alaskansas our public institutions continue to serve special interest public employee unions who elect these political opportunists so Union Bullys can negotiate salary and benefits from both sides of the table.
Why would they want independent thinking Alaskans paying their own way and not dependent upon ever expanding public services?
We The PeopleDid Not Ask for this.
References:
[1]The Goose & the Golden Egg
https://read.gov/aesop/091.html
[2]A history of the Phiippines, Luis H. Francia, Abrams Press, New York, NY, 2019 p 265
[3]On Alaska’s oil tax referendum, Palin joins with liberals, Jared Gilmour, Wall Street Journal, 08/18/2014. ((https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2014/0818/On-Alaska-s-oil-tax-referendum-Palin-joins-with-liberals))
[4]Division of Election Results
https://www.elections.alaska.gov/results/14GENR/data/results.pdf
[5] National Scam in the Making
[6] A Bad Idea All Around, Vergel O. Santos,
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/newspoint-maharlika-fund-bad-idea-all-around/
[7]Why the Permanent Fund Corp Turmoil? April 28,2022
https://donnliston.co/2022/04/why-the-permanent-fund-corp-turmoil/
[8]Bill Moran wealth Accumulation as PF Board Member and banker who resides in the North Seattle suburb of Ketchikan
Alaska Public Offices Commission Report 2011
Alaska Public Offices Commission Report 2022
[9]Unsupervised Youth in Anchorage/ADN on the Brink
https://donnliston.co/2017/09/unsupervised-youth-in-anchorage-anchorage-daily-news-on-the-brink/
