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Post by EXO on Apr 19, 2024 19:10:55 GMT 8
Damn, I am in such a mess with my google accounts, I can't get at it! But am sure Pres. B's recollections are sacrosanct gospel, and original paper-writings to the contrary are nothing but damn frauds, I mean c'mon!
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Post by EXO on Apr 17, 2024 12:27:59 GMT 8
Welcome to new member LTCRETAREJAYE, (Lt. Col. James Robideau) who is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel and very interested in the 1942 Philippines campaign, particularly the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor. He's a history buff of the Philippine-American War, as well as the Moro Rebellion and subsequent attempts to subdue the Mindanao region.
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Post by EXO on Apr 17, 2024 12:14:15 GMT 8
How's the Proboard forum been doing lately?
Well. frankly, I think it's been in the doldrums. How else can you explain the following traffic figures?
All signals involving our websites are routed through a Cloudflare server at some point in the delivery process, and as a consequence, they provide us with a snapshot of how our corregidor.org websites are delivering signal to our readers.
Have a look at these!
MAR 2024 - 23.96 GB - an 11% increase in traffic, with a 62% increase in firewall mitigated events. FEB 2024 -25.15 GB - up 9% traffic since January 2024 - 282 firewall mitigated events, Russia (123), US (65) & Germany (32). JAN 2024 - 20.99 GB - 29% up from the previous month - 312 firewall events mitigated, mostly from Russia. DEC 2023 - 14.69 GB - a significant drop of traffic - 26%. NOV 2023 - 20.4 GB - 22% up traffic since October - traffic up but participation of members is down. SEP 2023 - 22.2 GB - they say it's 17% up since august, but their math is dubious - it looks down to me. 634 firewall events. AUG 2023 - 23.14 GB - insignificant change in comparison with the previous month. JUL 2023 - 23.6 GB - down 2% traffic since June MAY 2023 - 22.91 GB - up 22% since April APR 2023 - 16.85 GB - down by 21% since March 2023. Firewall events are up 76%. MAR 2023 - 19.34 GB - down slightly; 620 firewall "events". 317 from the US, 179 from Russia. FEB 2023 - 20.69 GB - traffic is down by 5% - US traffic is eight times that of the Philippines JAN 2023 - 23.39 GB - up by 3% - with 524 Firewall mitigation events NOV 2022 - 20.94 GB OCT 2022 - 20.01 GB - down 7.3% since September JUL 2022 - 21.03 GB - up 10.7% since June MAY 2022 - 19.09 GB - down 11.4% since April FEB 2022 - 22.25 GB DEC 2021 - 24.5 GB NOV 2021 - 21.58 GB OCT 2021 - 18.74 GB SEP 2021 - 23.81 GB AUG 2021 - 22.99 GB JUL 2021 - 20.15 GB MAY 2021 - 21.63 GB APR 2021- 23.69 GB MAR 2021 - 27.92 GB FEB 2022 - 26.6 GB DEC 2021 - 28.42 GB NOV 2021 - 15.79 GB OCT 2021 - 9.48 GB (part month only)
This is not the fault of the people who are posting articles - it's the fault of those who haven't.
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Post by EXO on Apr 15, 2024 9:20:02 GMT 8
Our visit in February was ostensibly under the control of CFI, and I believe that the arrangements were being made through CFI employed people pretty-much on auto-pilot mode. I mean, no one is proposing to fire the grass-cutters!
There are a few tours being sold by independent operators, but unfortunately it's become a hit and miss thing, you have to find their adverts and pursue them.
Until the Corregidor Inn is reopened, the only overnight accommodation on the island is through the cafe.
Or you can bring a tent. (For the price of half a dozen Balikbayan boxes, you could ship an old army tent, a few cots etc to Manila - it's be cheaper than the Inn across a few days. (Last time I stayed at the Inn, it was MORE EXPENSIVE than the Manila Hotel.)
TIEZA will have to pull their finger out, as time's a wastin'. It's almost six months since CFI's former CEO resigned (bless her heart), and what's happened since? Sweet Fanny Adams. Six months is a long time for a resort to be "under maintenance". That came after the COVID lockdown, and the Philippines experienced one of the world's longest lockdowns.
I had heard from a reliable source that the Inn can be reopened if a designated number of rooms (5) are booked for a designated period (don't know) - as they were able to ship the staff there for the special arrangement.
None of the above is meant to detract from the excellent time we had in February, which was of exceeding hospitality, pleasantness and friendliness in every respect. Except that by the last eve, they'd run out of Red Horse.
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Post by EXO on Apr 14, 2024 18:21:44 GMT 8
The REAL story, of course, is written between the lines. EFECTIVE: 26 MARCH 2024
The Governance Commission having determined that CFI is not producing the desired outcomes, is no longer achieving the objectives and purposes for which it was originally designed and created, and is not cost efficient and does not generate the level of social, physical and economic returns vis-a-vis the resource inputs, CFI's functions or purposes duplicate or unnecessarily overlap with functions, programs, activities or projects already provided by other government agencies, and CFI's functions or purposes for which it was created are no longer relevant to the State or no longer consistent with the national development policy of the state. . .CFI is hereby deactivated. The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) shall take on the administration, operation and management of Corregidor Island from CFI, holding all CFI assets in trust until its final disposition.
All positions in CFI are considered abolished, provided, that the Board of Directors of CFI is authorized to retain a skeletal transition team to undertake residual tasks, such as maintenance of records and assistance in the settlement of legal issues and pending obligations with respect to CFI's contracts and other outstanding accounts. The deactivated CFI formally ceases to be a going concern and shall have no power or competence to enter into any contract or transaction which seeks to pursue its ordinary course of business.
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Post by EXO on Apr 5, 2024 18:54:56 GMT 8
CORREGIDOR FOUNDATION INC - ARE ITS DAYS NUMBERED? Business World published the following article in June 2023. Essentially it's the public release of information critical of CFI. I'm just reading between the lines here, but I suspect CFI is not going to be with us all that much longer. I just hope that the powers that be have a better arrangement up their sleeves. CoA flags Corregidor Foundation for unauthorized paymentsJune 19, 2023 | 7:58 pm THE COMMISSION on Audit (CoA) has flagged the Corregidor Foundation, Inc. (CFI) for not seeking appropriate approval for human resource payments worth P61.66 million as well as failing to remit taxes worth P3.30 million. In its 2022 audit report made available online on June 15, 2023, state auditors noted that the “payment of personnel services from 2018 to 2022 aggregating to P61.66 million is unauthorized due to the absence of Governance Commission for GOCCs-approved Total Compensation Framework of CFI.” The Governance Commission for government-owned and controlled corporations, as part of strengthening its monitoring work, requested the CFI in 2017 to submit a Total Compensation Framework, which will contain its salary structure and cash and non-monetary benefits and allowances. CoA said the CFI did not comply as the foundation maintains that it is a private corporation not covered by Republic Act No. 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act. The CFI has responded to CoA saying that it will seek the GCG’s post-facto approval of the standard salary rates from 2018 to 2022. The CFI was created in 1986 under the Philippine Tourism Authority, now the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), to develop the historic Corregidor and its neighboring islands as a major tourist attraction in the Philippines. CoA also said that the CFI has unremitted taxes withheld worth P3.30 million that “may incur penalties, interests and fines for late filing or remittance contrary to sections 248, 249 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997.” CFI used its cash sourced from withholding taxes due to lack of funds for operations. However, CoA said this may result to the piling up of unpaid taxes and depletion of the CFI’s resources. In response, the foundation said it will submit a request for a compromise agreement as the CFI is currently “not capable” of paying the full amount to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. State auditors also said that assets worth P2.71 million purchased from Sun Cruises, Inc. and not covered under a compromise agreement “may be considered as unnecessary expenditures,” citing its 2012 circular. Sun Cruises, which provided cruise and tour services to the Corregidor Island, closed down in 2020 due to the pandemic. CFI said that the assets purchased, particularly items inside the Corregidor Inn, are “necessary because the CFI has no choice but to continue to operate the hotel” after Sun Cruises closed. CoA still found the purchasing of assets “unnecessary considering the CFI’s unstable financial condition and lack of capability to run the hotel.” — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz ________________________ COMMENTARY: It's somewhat unfair of Commission on Audit to criticize CFI for the efforts it made to prevent Corregidor sinking even deeper into the mire after Sun Cruises closed down in 2020 due to the pandemic. But that's accountants for you. Government, in full knowledge that CFI's income was approaching NIL, should have taken special steps to provide funds to maintain Corregidor at a baseline level. Where did the Powers That Be think adequate funds to prevent the island's ruination would come from? CFI was put on a starvation diet, and then criticized for doing what they could to prevent things from getting worse. I'm not saying this as a friend of CFI, for I never was. But fair's fair, guys.
Perhaps a significant part of the problem was that CFI's CEO lost friends and goodwill, and that ultimately push came to shove, and the Powers That Be had the upper hand. The governance of trust property needs to be to the benefit of the owner of the property, not to the benefit of the trustee.
I think that the next news we're likely to be hearing will be the deactivation of CFI. What arrangements will follow that, will require an investment-sized crystal ball.
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Post by EXO on Mar 31, 2024 18:18:01 GMT 8
Welcome to new member IVYTAN who writes us: "I was born and raised in Cebu. I now live in central Texas. I attended a writing class a couple years ago and during one of our class exercises, I wrote about my grandparents during the ww2 in the Philippines and my teacher encouraged me to pursue the story so that’s how I got started on this journey which I became more passionate as I discover books and information. Right now, I’m working on a stage play about what happened to Cebu during the WW2 but I hope to expand it from there. I don’t know if I’ll be able to contribute much but I would like to ask questions every now and then."
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Post by EXO on Mar 12, 2024 7:30:01 GMT 8
Great post, Hounddog! Top work!
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Post by EXO on Feb 29, 2024 18:21:43 GMT 8
Welcome to new member, Cutsnake, an Aussie (a.k.a. Tim Beckensall.) Tim was one of our group on Corregidor commemorating the flag raising of 16 Feb.
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Post by EXO on Jan 31, 2024 8:57:35 GMT 8
G'day sports fans,
Battlefields are different. It's the sacrifices on them which makes them special.
Based on information received, and since confirmed, on Saturday 27 January 2024, there was a "drama of sorts" on Corregidor. Well, any visit by police, no matter how minor, is a drama, isn't it? I wasn't there.
But first, there are a number of contemporaneous issues going on involving Corregidor. Coincidences, perhaps. One is an ambitious plan for approx 380 Airsoft gamers to have a tournament on Corregidor in February. At 4,000 peso each player, that's good bucks. Many folk, including some prominent historians, thought this disrespectful, and set out to protest the idea.
This same week there had also been a group which erected a sign on Corregidor listing the names of a number of officials, that it is now a part of a named Barangay. Those who erected the sign were accompanied by police and naval personnel. As I have been of the view that Corregidor Island is a military owned island, and subject of special provisions for its governance (eg CFI), it came as a surprise that it might now be subject of a Barangay's authority. Not that it matters, it's not my island. It just seems to be becoming less and less of a battlefield of the brave each week.
Gentlemen, "no fighting in the war room!"
I did posts about both on Facebook. As a result, I received an irate letter, indirectly, taking me to task. I did not receive it directly from the person who wrote the letter (though he has my private email address and we have had lunches and beers together), but by reading it on a Facebook post of someone I had never heard of. The letter had been posted by someone who had only joined the Society's Facebook group hours earlier. I had no idea who she was. The writer had caused the letter to be signed as "Operations Consultant, CORREGIDOR ISLAND FOUNDATION." The letter contained corrections that the writer wanted to be known. Fine. He should have written me directly. He didn't.
I've since corrected the original posting. He's powerful, I'm not. he's connected, I'm not.
But noticing the similarity of his signing above the "CORREGIDOR ISLAND FOUNDATION" name, and not the "CORREGIDOR FOUNDATION, INC.", I was curious as to the new entity. Was it a new entity? I searched both names and their present government registrations.
CFI is duly registered, and is thus subject of Government audit, and the stability of aboard of directors, none of whom I know. Presently, it is registered as having the positions of President and Chairman both VACANT.
CIF is not, as of today, registered as a Foundation, and is thus not subject of a Government audit. Either it is a dumb typo, but maybe it's not.
You can't read the letter. The Moderator of the Facebook page (not me) was correct to remove it, for it raised a data privacy issue, which is of no concern here. It's over, its gone.
What are we to make of this? It's for the powers that be in Manila, whoever they may be, to sort the governance of Corregidor out between themselves, get a Memorandum of Agreement signed, and to get Corregidor back into what we all want - namely a robust, respectful, and international tourism business. How they do it is their business. I haven't got time for this unpaid nuts.
I want to make it quite clear. There are no allegations or suggestions of anything wrong on Corregidor. It's run down, not surprise after the covid closure. Everything is presumed to be well run, such as it can be, and operated by good people with their hearts in the right place. I am not saying this facetiously. We, all of us, want to have Corregidor back to a robust, respectful, and successful international tourism business, a proper reflection of its great significance to the Philippines, and to the brave men who died on its ramparts and battlefields.
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