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Posted in The Long View
The Long View: Social justice
Manuel L. Quezon III March 8, 2010 32 Comments on The Long View: Social justice
First Posted 00:22:00 03/08/2010
SOCIAL justice, a President once said, "Is far more beneficial when applied as a matter of sentiment and not of law." Point XI in the Nacionalista Coalition platform in 1935 was, "When the resources of the country so permit, we shall begin the expropriation of great estates, so that they may be divided into lots and sold to private citizens, preferably their actual occupants. We shall encourage the formation of small land-ownership, which is the bulwark of democracy, the guarantee of public order, and a stabilizing force. It is our desire that every Filipino shall own his own land, the house in which he lives, and the farm which he tills."
But the devil, as they say, is in the details. On the one hand, there was the active hostility of landlords to state expropriation; in the middle was the state itself, far more dependent in those days on the income generated by the sugar industry than it is now; and on the other, the conservatism of the peasantry itself even as radicalism made inroads among the peasantry. In his classic book, "The Huk Rebellion," Benedict Kerkvliet says the problem arose when traditional expectations among farmers clashed with the businesslike attitudes of a new generation of landlords: "To the modern landlords, their relationship to their tenants was a business proposition – the peasants were laborers who would be employed as long as they helped turn land into profits."
However, Kerkvliet continued, "The peasantry, meanwhile, wanted traditional patronage more than ever, lest they succumb not only to such usual hazards as poor harvests and sickness, but also [because] – Progress' had not brought even modest economic gains to the peasantry, while at the same time severing numerous ties with their landlords that peasants wanted to retain and to which they felt entitled. The traditional landlord-tenant relationship included far more than a simple exchange of labor for money, so peasants wanted to keep it. They wanted the landed elites to acknowledge those ties and the obligations entailed. The stage was thus set for a conflict."
In the first State of the Nation Address in 1936, a modification of the Coalition Platform was announced. In brief, land would be opened up for settlement in Mindanao and other relatively underpopulated areas, while the redistribution of land would be limited to "the expropriation of those portions of the large – haciendas' which are urban in character and are occupied by the houses of the tenants. With the opportunity to own their own homes thus assured, the settlement of the present difficulties of the tenants relative to their farm lands might no longer be of urgent necessity."
This did not turn out to be the case. The same President told an American communist, Sol Auerbach, in 1937, that he had warned landlords, "I tell them, if you know what's good for you better improve the conditions of your tenants. You do not have enough sons for the army, so we must conscript our soldiers from the poor. We put guns in their hands and teach them how to use them. If you are not careful they will use those guns against you. If you want to save what you have, give them 10 percent of it or they will take it all."
By the late 1960s, agrarian unrest, effectively crushed in the early 1950s, resumed on a large scale, as population growth closed off the social safety valve of resettlement (and sparked new problems in Mindanao between Christians and Muslims). Macapagal attempted land reform but was foiled by the landlords; Benigno Aquino Jr. proposed corporate collectivization as a middle path: preserve economies of scale for sugar while transferring ownership to farmers and landlords proportionally by means of shares of stock.
President Marcos aimed to score propaganda points at the onset of the New Society when he proclaimed the entire country under land reform. But he decreed the redistribution of rice and corn lands and left the sugar estates alone, focusing, instead, on creating a state sugar cartel which led to the collapse of the sugar industry in 1984.
After Edsa, radicals demanded the immediate expropriation of estates while landlords threatened civil war if this was done. President Aquino in her last days of full lawmaking powers issued two executive issuances, the first placing all lands under land reform (thus removing the Marcos-era exemption for sugar land); the second, giving 10 years for redistribution to take place: but the details were left to the incoming Congress. Civil war was prevented by giving landlords a seat at the bargaining table, but rebellion was perpetuated by giving radicals a justification for confrontation.
From 1987 to 1992 a total of 898,420 landless tenants and farm workers became legitimate recipients of either land titles or free patents and support services. Under President Aquino, 2.6 million hectares or 33.3 percent of the total CARP scope of 7.8 million hectares were redistributed. But Hacienda Luisita submitted, instead, to another kind of redistribution, which was the Stock Distribution Option or SDO.
Overlooked in the debate over this scheme is that it represented one alternative to outright redistribution among tenant-farmers of hacienda lands and, at the time it was proposed, a possible way forward to preserve economies of scale while attending to Social Justice concerns. Other landlords such as the Arroyos were more clever: they promised to redistribute but bogged down the process in legal red tape, ensuring neither stock option schemes nor redistribution. For the middle path, the situation finally came to a head when both radicals and the government clashed on Luisita, eliminating SDO as a viable option in terms of public opinion for what is now "sunset industry."
See also my entries, Planters and Millers (2006) and The Return of the Sugar Bloc (2007) and my 2007 Arab News column, Philippine Economy: A Cautionary Tale.
Tagged Benedict Kerkvliet, Congress, constitution, Elpidio Quirino, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, land reform, Manuel L. Quezon, Philippines, presidency, Quezoniana, Social Justice, society, tenancy, The Long View
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32 thoughts on "The Long View: Social justice"
SoP says:
Re: Sunset Industry
I wonder how much knee dip in debts shit Luisita Corp is given their reluctance to just take the government deal and redistribute the estate in exchange for a certain amount per hectarage.
This lump sum of X amount of hectares times X peso amount per hectare(to be paid by us tax payers by the way) – minus their debts to the bank, certainly must mean their net balance is somewhere between negative and a few million pesos to be divided by the 40 or so Aquinos and Cojuangco brood. Meaning Noynoy will end up somewhere between owing the bank or being some peso amount richer if CARP is pursued.
I sense Noynoy is waiting for the reigns of presidency and use the seat to get the government to pay for the debts as well.
If anyone can give me details of which banks are owed by Luisita please post a reply.
There are no takers for a sale proposal for Luisitia Corp. The estate was hit by a trifecta of:
1. Successful CPP AstroTurf campaign in the noughties which resulted in burned fields, destroyed machinery, radicalization of pliant sugar workers, the end result of which is lower sugar output when dollar per kilo of sugar was historically high (really bad timing for them and a good "operational success" by the CPP). And worst of all, bad PR for the family.
2. Rising socialized medical costs due to the aging of the hacienda workers and fraudulent use of medical privileges.
3. Unpaid debts from farmers who take their personal loan repayments lightly.
Although most of the blame would be on the CPP for getting Luisita in a negative balance sheet position, it's the public who will do in "society" in general. The public's insistence on implementing CARP will mean we're gonna have to take on the debts eventually, paid for by our taxes, when a "private solution" should prove more effective (given sugar prices are projected to still be high in the next few years) if we just give it a few years.
mlq3 says:
aquino himself has said passing the problem to government would actually be easier for them financially, with debts in mind. so this early on he has staked a private sector solution and not access to the reins of the presidency.
Carlos V Jugo says:
Kerkvliet (in his book 'Everyday Politics) is the one who chronicled how the Vietnamese peasants resisted collectivization in favor of family farms. When the Communist government of Vietnam finally acceeded to this aspiration, it paved the way for the economic boom in Vietnam. Collectivization (whether 'corporate' or by the State) is more akin to the ways of Stalin/Lenin/Mao.
Brian Brotarlo says:
Manolo, if this is another justification for Luisita, you should know that the hacienda is different from the others because of a contract. The money that paid for the 6,000+ hectares came from the tax payers.
I heard somewhere the CIA funded the CPP for two reasons:
1. hijack genuine armed revolt, control the damage of CPP revolt to mere collateral
2. Justify the presence of the bases
The NPA even now is a very ineffective insurgency. All the dead bodies for absolutely nothing. The HUK made their point plain and clear and brought fear to the landlords.
Anyone all these points are usually as the conversation is being watered-down by middle men, the paid media owned by the landlords.
Civil war? You honestly think the hacendados of Negros capable of civil war? Besides, where are they going to go when they lose? Abroad where we can easily get them? One thing I know about these people, they made their fortunes by bluffing.
Give up the land first, then we'll discuss the historical consequences. Ito ang mali sa mga discussion na ito. How do we tell genuine thought from mere rationalizations?
So much BS. You mean for 3 decades, they were thinking of the farmers?
i think what is fair to say is that is how he sees it. it is closer to how the older generation, both landlords and farmers, saw it, too.
the money was a loan and one made possible by a government guarantee; but there was no default.
Erineo says:
First of all, the Cojuangcos of Central Azucarera de Tarlac and Hacienda Luisita are abysmal managers. Unlike the Roxases of Central Azucarera Don Pedro or the Chans of Central Azucarera de San Antonio and Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar, Jose Cojuangco and Sons milked the business for what it was worth and drove it down to the ground.
The Cojuangco family charged huge "management fees", supposedly for running the farms and the mill and lived high on the hog, with estates in Manila and the U.S. Typical of landed oligarchs of this country.
Aside from the management fees, the Cojuangcos also had a central purchasing company which took in commissions from the enterprise's procurements of equipment, fertilizers and other inputs to keep the business running.
Yes, the Cojuangcos have left banks, creditors and minority stockholders holding the bag, as they squeezed every drop from the business. At this time, family members already set aside their own fortunes, derived from milking Luisita, and have little at stake in the business anymore.
Review the history of Luisita, and one will see why this is a classic case of Filipino oligarchs practicing booty capitalism. Luisita was purchased by the Cojuangcos via political connections, after the Spanish firm Tabacalera wanted out due to harassment from the Huks and what would later be the core of the NPA (not incidentally, fomented by Ninoy Aquino who was a politician in nearby Concepcion, Tarlac). The tale of Luisita is a sordid one, typical of how our oligarchy has brought down our country via their greed and short-sightedness.
Incidentally, the concept of consolidation of land among land reform beneficiaries was carried out with great success by Malaysia. Malaysian land reform has been highly organized and development oriented. It tries to promote social and economic objectives by emphasizing productivity. Unlike the Philippines, where land would be haphazardly distributed, Malaysia made sure that factors of production were in place. Roads, bridges, equipment, irrigation facilities, seeds, fertilizers, markets.
If Mr. Quezon would like to cite the number of hectares Corazon Aquino's administration had directed for distribution, they are meaningless statistics in the face of the severe lack of infrastructure, and support services. That goes to the heart of the controversy over CARL. Is it redistribution of land simply to score political points and to placate some sectors, including the American big brothers who were demanding some kind of reform as a return for ousting Ferdinand Marcos? Being so superficial, this would not classify as reform. It is a phony. A sham.
Manolo, your rationalizing and "his" rationalizing of cojuangcos' continued "ownership" of Luisita demeans the suffering of the people there. The deaths by salvage and by massacre are the biggest proof against Noynoy.
Hacienda heirs in general are brainwashed to protect their property. It is in their upbringing. The failures and obstacles you cited above might as well have been invented by the landlords themselves, so embedded they are in our business and political sectors they can fabricate just about anything.
At this time land reform is a convoluted mess, meant more for lawyers than for simple farmers. Who made it so convoluted, who complicated the issues? They own the media, the academics, the legislative, executive and even the judiciary. They own the military. You criticize the poor for voting for Erap, Villar, et al? Why, these men, though corrupt, are the only ones capable of standing against the oligarchy.
Villar may not be an 'oligarch' but he is a rent-seeker nonetheless.
Malaysia created The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) in order to form land reform beneficiaries into a cooperative that would own, not just the land where agricultural crops would be grown, but the factories, transport facilities and the downstream enterprises as well. Today, FELDA is a huge enterprise with annual turnover of over RM 15 Billion (about 200 Billion Philippine Pesos!) and 19,000 employees. It operates about 800,000 hectares of productive farmland and owns interests in some major banks. It has greatly helped to uplift the standard of living in the Malaysian rural countryside and to make poor Malaysians stakeholders in the economy.
Besides, FELDA, there is the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA) as well. FELCRA also helps to consolidate lands of small landholders and to provide financial, managerial and infrastructural assistance. Together, these institutions have managed to raise the standards of the Malaysian countryside. Unlike the Philippines, where only lip service is given to land reform and social justice, Malaysia has taken concrete steps to advance the plight of the rural masses.
And it is mainly because of the apathy and greed of our oligarchy that the poor in our country have fewer and fewer options, while the upper classes are presented with all kinds of opportunities. Including becoming President.
What amazes me about this whole Luisita debable is that we're willing to overturn a relatively efficient operation inside out for the benefit of a mere 5,000 farmers, whose lives may or may not improve by being granted a few hectares of land.
Compare this figure with the 10 million OFWs overseas, a majority of whom are living an isolated, lonely existence away from their families. And not in comfortable, "monied" circumstances too. A lot of OFW are getting subsistence pay for dumb occupations.
You may argue that the 5000 farmers have it a lot worse, what with figures like 18 pesos a day wage being bandied about (mostly by leftist bloggers, media, and organizations). But what are less disputed are the medical and housing benefits they receive as well as the personal loan privileges they get.
Compare this with your typical urban poor numbering in the tens of millions (way more than the 20-30,000 Luisita farmers which includes their children and spouses) who have it a lot worse, living in squalid conditions in makeshift homes (if you can call a cardboard box a home) near dirty rivers, under bridges, in mountains of garbage, literally eating out of garbage.
Gee, those farmers and their commie brainwashers should take a break once in a while and smell the fresh air of the country side and appreciate the edible food to be had in the homely bahay kubo.
Is it really worth changing the lives of 5000 farmers in exchange for the uncertainty of overturning an efficient operation which affords our country sugar dollar receipts on top of other ancillary benefits such as jobs for non-farm workers (who certainly number more than 5000 farm workers) who work in Luisita Industrial Park?
You have an entire issue that includes massacres and salvaging and you point out business efficiency? You forget Luisita wasn't the only monster size hacienda in RP. You have the Ayalas in batnggas, Roxases in Capiz, etc.
Besides, your point is highly debatable. The dead bodies aren't, the contract for Luisita principals to distribute the land isn't.
The communists are actually in the way of true mass revolt. Landlords frequently use them as alibi. With the commies as alibi, landlords can hold their head high. I think communism blurs the real issue and the real issue is modern slavery.
Manolo, stop putting forward Aunt Sallies. You're turning out to be one of those intellectuals.
"And it is mainly because of the apathy and greed of our oligarchy that the poor in our country have fewer and fewer options, while the upper classes are presented with all kinds of opportunities. Including becoming President"
That's why good ideas don't get anywhere here. The oligarchy will try to sabotage it every inch of the way.
taxj says:
Benigno Aquino Jr. proposed corporate collectivization as a middle path: preserve economies of scale for sugar while transferring ownership to farmers and landlords proportionally by means of shares of stock.
– A bright idea gone to waste. Reason? Leadership, or lack of it. Is this the man whom we are asked to entrust the problems of our country?
I am not blaming him for his failure to rise to the occasion
though. It's a big job really. Too big for him.
First NameJuancho says:
How does one arbitrate the political economy of a landlord-tenant farmer power relationship to to Noynoy's credentials as having taken up macro- economics.
The reality of the social format is a totally different universe to what he was trained for.
We have a landlord/merchant class elite now joined by a criminal elite (gambling/ illegal drug based) that are all competing for power to run the state.
Manny Villar is an outsider who brought his business skills and undoubtedly used the system to propel his interests forward.
Villar is an outsider to the landlord/merchant class as he learned to use asset inflation and the financial markets (capital gains) to his advantage.
The financial markets rewarded him for his efforts. Raising Php 20 billion in the equity markets was a tried and tested election system. Institutions and individuals voted with their money. He concentrated on the lower and middle class niches in the real estate market. Now all the rest of the developers have followed his business model. He set the stage for the establishment of a secondary market securitization for mortgages for financing home purchases in a country that is still in the midst of capital market development.
Pag-Ibig, developers and other banks originate mortgages that are later packaged into securities and sold in the wholesale financial markets. The embryo of mortgage financing. No sub-prime there. There are strict parameters for mortgage financing today after the Asian crisis.
No doubts the running of the Philippine State is a more complex matter.
Looking at the rest of the pack – Noynoy, Erap, Gibo what have they accomplished?
Noynoy and Gibo are charter members of as someone once put it the "Lucky Sperm Club."
There are three items that put forward a different view to the one you put forward.
The first is by Tony Hidalgo:
From: Antonio Hidalgo
Subject: On Villar
Tong,
Whatever the merits of your abstract argument about the presumption of innocence, let me assure you and the brods that Manny Villar is far from innocent. He is as crooked and greedy as they come.
Winnie Monsod has made a very good case about his crookedness in the Paranaque road projects that passed through his properties at his behest as a lawmaker, enabling him to sell some of his land to the government at much more than market prices and to reap many millions in property appreciation from the government roads.
He is also guilty of making billions out of government funds for socialized housing through a questionable, unsustainable scheme that nearly destroyed our financial system in the 90's.
It's a bit complicated, but I was right there, trying to stop what was essentially Villar's scheme as Secretary General of HUDCC (housing). Fortunately, we succeeded (Dept. of Finance, Pag-Ibig Fund, SSS, GSIS, HUDCC, HIGC-I was head of the multi-agency Task Force that did this) and avoided a financial disaster in the Philippines that would have preceded the similar one that recently hit the US and hurt the world economy.
It started when Cory became president. Villar, through the CREBA he controlled, drafted a socialized housing law to spur low-cost housing in the country. Cory approved it with her emergency powers, not seeing through Villar's scheme.
To oversimplify, the law required the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig Fund to put billions of pesos of their funds each year into a fund for mortgages for low-cost housing (defined initially as 150T max, later going up to 250T through the years). This fund would be managed by the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC – an agency of HUDCC). The NHMFC then established quotas for allocating the annual common funds of SSS, Pag-Ibig, and GSIS based on the building capacities of registered developers. The largest quotas every year were for the Camelia and Palmera (C & P) company of Villar which got a very large chunk of the funds for their home mortgages.
Within the annual quotas under the law, builders could submit completed mortgages and NHMFC would promptly buy them at their face amounts and pay the builder. It was the builders actively sold mortgages in the malls and everywhere else, approved the papers, and submitted them to NHMFC. NHMFC only checked to see that the amounts of mortgages submitted by the builders were within their annual quotas before paying, it did not check the credit-worthiness of the borrower or even if the papers were genuine in that the stated borrower was a real person and the house being mortgaged actually existed.
The situation the law created was unique in the entire world. The pooled funds of SSS, Pag-Ibig, and GSIS were effectively put into the hands of developers, who built the houses, found buyers willing to take out mortgages, approved the mortgages, submitted them to the NHMFC, and got the money in a few months. In effect, the builder controlled the credit funds and approved the loans using funds that were not theirs but were funds of SSS, Pag-Ibig, and GSIS.
This was a clear conflict of interest, for the builder would maximize his profits from easy credit and would not bear the cost of mortgage defaults. Naturally, lots of problems arose in just a few years — fake mortgages to ficititious borrowers, nonexistent houses sold to noexistent buyers, and the more common case: real, but substandard, houses, hastily sold to buyers who clearly did not have the capacity to pay back the loan during the agreed loan period. By the time HUDCC took action to correct the anomalous situation in 1996 under my coordination, some 42 billion had been disbursed in mortgages under the Villar scheme. Only a little more than 20 percent of the loans were being repaid by borrowers, more than 70 percent of the mortgages had been defaulted or were in serious arrears.
This drew the attention of the World Bank and the Dept. of Finance, for the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig Funds are retirement funds. The funds are commtted to future returement obligations to the contributing members. If the housing mess continued, the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig would default on its retirement obligations, creating a financial crisis for the country.
All of us who changed the housing program to give the control over their housing funds back to the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig, who would be more careful in screening mortgages to make sure they would be paid for they would bear the penalties of mortgage defaults — we were all harrassed by Villar and his minions in the CREBA who slapped law suits on us and attacked us in the radio, TV, newspapers, etc.
The Makati regional trial court found in our favor and threw out the CREBA-Villar law suit. For a long while, we lost in the media wars and were painted as anti-poor bureaucrats. But the furor eventually died down and the reformed housing program we fashioned has stood the test of time. Since 1997, the repayment rates of socialized and low-cost housing mortgages have high enough to make the program sustainable. The looming financial crisis was averted and we are now in better shape than the US, which did nothing to reform its own defective housing mortgage system.
Of course, the share prices of C & P homes of Villar collapsed, for everyone knew that the company was profitable only for as long as it could bilk government funds. But then Villar found other rackets and the rest, as they say, is history.
Tony Hidalgo
Another e-mail of his:
To: [email protected] com
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 9:06 AM
Subject: Villlar and low-cost housing
Dear Tong,
To believe in Manny Villar's "cause", whatever that may be, is certainly your prerogative, brod. But it does not allow you to distort the facts—to say that black is white or that greed is good.
Winnie Monsod's writings on Villar's anomalies on the Paranaque road projects are pretty clear. I don't need to comment further on them.
But I will answer as briefly as I can the downright false and sometimes outrageous claims you make concerning Villar's "heroic" role in the government's low-cost housing program.
True, Villar built many thousands of low-cost houses over more than a decade under the Unified Home Lending Scheme (UHLP) of the socialized housing law (E.O. 90) that he and his CREBA minions drafted and got Cory to sign in 1986, during her emergency government when she had legislative powers, by promising the pie in the sky of solving homelessness in the Philippines once and for all. But he did this to rake in billions in profits at the expense of the government, not out of a concern for the homeless poor.
Look at the results of Villar's thousands of houses under the UHLP from 1986 to 1997 (when we reformed the UHLP to prevent Villar from bankrupting the country). Villar became a billionaire. NHMFC, the financial coordinator of the program, was bankrupted. The funders (SSS, GSIS, Pag-Ibig) were stuck with billions in bad home mortgages covering Villar's houses and flirted with bankruptcy for a while. Eventually, these bad mortgages had to be covered by the national government using its tax revenues (including your taxes and mine) because the funders were covered by a sovereign guarantee. Subsequently (beginning 2003 or 2004), the losses on the bad mortgages had to be written off by selling them through special purpose asset vehicles (SPAVS) at a fraction of their face value.
Meanwhile, look around you. Nearly half of the residents of Metro Manila still live in squatter areas!
I repeat: Villar became a billionaire while the funders and the national government suffered many billions in losses and the housing problem is still there, as intractable as ever. Consequently, I strongly disagree with your admiration of Villar's record in low-cost housing. It was motivated by greed and, in the end, enriched only himself and his cohorts at the expense of the government and, ultimately, the taxpayers.
These outcomes were inevitable because of how Villar and his buddies designed the UHLP. The roles of lenders, builders, and financing agencies were jumbled up on purpose to benefit only the developers. Billions were taken annually from the SSS, GSIS, and Pag-Ibig and given to the NHMFC to disburse. The owners of the funds lost all control over how they were lent out. But this control was not given to the NHMFC, which just allocated mortgage quotas to developers (the Villar companies had the biggest quotas) from the annual funds of the lenders and automatically released the face amount of mortgages to the lenders upon submission of the mortgage papers. No one checked the creditworthiness of the home buyers. The developers were "originators" of mortgages—meaning that they went around the malls with blank mortgage papers, waylaid passersby and enticed them to sign the papers, and then went to the NHMFC to cash in.
This diabolical system without any financial controls was designed by developers like Villar to rake in the profits. It resulted in default rates of more than 70% in the mortgages and nearly caused a Philippine economic crisis. It required the coordinated intervention of HUDCC, the Dept. of Finance, SSS, GSIS, Pag-Ibig, and HIGC to prevent a financial collapse. This was a very real danger then: we need only look at the recent US financial crisis to see how bad home mortgages can drive even the world's largest economy to its knees.
Naging bilyonaryo si Villar sa low-cost housing at the expense of Filipino taxpayers. Kumita na siya, Tong. Huwag mo nang bigyan ng medalya.
Finally, you imply that I am inconsistent in my position on Villar's role in this program because you say that HUDCC had "boasted" of its production of low-cost houses thanks to Villar's "vision."
This is not true. I was always critical of Villar's profiteering in low-cost housing and never claimed credit for the houses his companies built. I was appointed HUDCC Secretary General by President Ramos in June, 1995. I spent a few months going through the documentation of the housing program and holding intensive discussions with the developers' organizations, lenders, the Dept. of Finance, and the HUDCC financial agencies. Then I wrote a series of memos to President Ramos that explained the hopelessly flawed nature of the program, the extent of the financial problems it had created, and what needed to be done to prevent financial collapse. After getting the President's instructions to proceed in 1996, I set up the inter-agency task force to reform the UHLP and we completed our work and stopped the profiteering of the developers in 1997.
Your brod,
The third is this item from a book, Rohan Douglas, Credit Derivative Strategies: New Thinking on Managing Risk and Return, ( Villar's cited on page 30):
One example was C&P Homes (C&P), a Philippine corporate property developer of low-end housing. The company owned a substantial amount of land around Manila and had issued dollar-denominated debt to finance its land purchases and to develop the land. However, when the Asia crisis occurred, land values collapsed and the company ran out of cash. The company suggested a restructuring under which creditors would have taken a large haircut. Creditors explored legal avenues to foreclose on C&P's holdings. However, despite spending substantial time and legal fees on these efforts, creditors were unable to gain control of company property or force liquidation because of the lack of reliable bankruptcy laws in the Philippines. C&P's controlling shareholder was Senator Manuel Villar who was able to use his position to further stymie creditor efforts to force a restructuring or foreclose on C&P properties. It was an example of the downside of investing in corporations in countries without reliable bankruptcy laws. Creditors were powerless to enforce their rights and were left with nearly valueless securities.
ejoven, Benigno Aquino Jr. was the father of Benigno Aquino III.
Sorry. So it's Pa's idea after all! Has the son any?
Tony Hidalgo practically told us that Villar will win. The latter knows what we wants, goes for it and gets it. Noynoy was never in want, not even the presidency. It was forced on him by the outpourings of emotion at Cory's death, a fleeting thing.
Gold rules. No money, no honey. Honesty and sincerity do not a winner make. Nakakasuka, pero ito ang totoo.
Hacienda Luisita was not an "efficient operation". It was milked by the Cojuangcos for personal gain. Creditors and minority stockholders lost money on it. Employees did not prosper or get rich from it. However, the Cojuangcos did enrich themselves from it. And gained tremendous political clout as well.
Compare Luisita to efficient operations like Central Azucarera Don Pedro, and it is obvious that the Cojuangcos exploited Luisita for nobody's gain but their own. The proof of the pudding is in the eating: Don Pedro continues to thrive and is even listed in the PSE. Luisita is virtually bankrupt. It's shares are worth nothing. Don Pedro has won awards from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center for contributions to corporate responsibility and measures against global epidemics and diseases, won awards for its environmental, safety and health standards, and for measures to mitigate the impact of climate change and addressing poverty in their areas of responsibility. Luisita, on the other hand, has been accused of human rights violations and for exploiting and oppressing its workers.
The yard stick Hidalgo use to measure Villar is way too high in comparison with the yard stick you are using with Noynoy and family. Are you saying that using government appropriation to provide good access to Camella home owners (lower middle class home owners) is worse than Hacienda Luisita?
Villar's corruption is high Third World (in the level with Malaysian and Thai corruption) while the Luisita corruption is comparable to cotton slavery.
That's not even the point I'm making. As Jugo pointed out wrongly, Villar is also a rent-seeker. But the kind of rent-seeker that doesn't kill or fill the poorer populace with dread. Imagine yourself as a sakada in Luisita, Manolo. Tell me if it isn't worth all the economics and common sense to relieve those people from the shadow cast by Noynoy's family.
Pambihira talaga. Hindi mo ba naiintindihan sinasabi ko?
Brian Brotarlo on Wed, 10th Mar 2010 1:31 am
You have an entire issue that includes massacres and salvaging and you point out business efficiency?
…Besides, your point is highly debatable. The dead bodies aren't, the contract for Luisita principals to distribute the land isn't…I think communism blurs the real issue and the real issue is modern slavery.
Your points are as debatable as mine. First, massacres and salvaging-wasn't the 2004 massacre a component of the overall military strategy of Palparan in the 2000's? It's propaganda to fault Luisita Inc. for those deaths. The Melo commission clearly stated that anti-commie murders, of which the Luisita deaths were a part of, were instigated as an overall military strategy of GMAs army against communists. It's not a corporate strategy of the Cojuangco clan, so it's hysterical on your part to frown on debate on business efficiency just because of a law and order issue.
Regarding your comparison to cotton slavery—slavery is the ownership of human beings, like chattel. The Philippines never had a tradition of western slavery, nor do we have now. Slavery does exist in some pockets of the world now and before, but not in Luisita or the Philippines. Those "slaves" there are free to come and go as they please, so technically they're not slaves. They may be exploited workers, but hardly slaves.
And if they are slaves, somebody ought to file anti-slavery charges against Luisita Inc. There's no law for this I think, but even if there was, no judge in the Philippines would define the conditions of Luisita farmers as slaves. Real slaves are owned, traded, and sold by slave owners. Luisita farmers can leave that Hacienda if they wish.
If anything, the best suit that can be made against Luisita Inc is for violation of the minimum wage law. If indeed those farmers are being paid 18 pesos per hour, organizations that sympathize with their situation should use the proper channels, ie the minimum wage board and the courts, to file suit against HLI.
…Besides, your point is highly debatable…the contract for Luisita principals to distribute the land isn't.
I don't know if that sale and loan contract in the 1950s was of a commercial or social nature, but either way, you're talking 50 years that has lapsed since a violation of that agreement (if there was such) to handover the land to the farmers has occurred. In commercial law, a court could very well void that contract if parties don't bring a suit to contract breaches. Social contracts are different. I feel that it is stubborn and stupid to stick by a social contract that was made in very different circumstances.
CARL was made when our national budgets could afford landlord compensation and our dollar deficits were not anemic and when the population is lower and land more plentiful.
Now, we have a situation where our oil expenditure outpace our agricultural exports receipts, perennial budget deficits and huge debt repayments characterize our government finances, and our population of farmers dwarf the millions of urban poor.
It's folly to stick by a social contract that says compensate landlords for land redistribution and overhaul a business model which contributes significantly to our already paltry dollar exports. We shouldn't be too inflexible and devoid of imagination-let's be open to compromises that are more suited to our current circumstances than just by bullheadedly hammering a dogma. Land redistribution is a archaic dogma that doesn't suit our times. Let's debate on a new social contract.
Erineo on Tue, 9th Mar 2010 7:59 pm
Just to bring a opposing balance to accusation of poor management, HLI was able to mechanize sugar cane farming so much so that they were letting go of 2500 of the 5000 farmers because machines of mechanization. That's not poor management by any standard. Even Maoists are for farm mechanization. Funny, when mechanization is achieved by "oligarchs", you don't hear praises by the lefties.
Regarding driving the company down to the ground, weren't the financial woes of the estate exacerbated by political externalities only in the early 2000s? The successful astroturf campaign by CPP that burned crops and destroyed machinery put a big dent to their cash flow position. All businesses borrows money to invest in their business, but HLI is no ordinary company. Why is it that people don't mention good investment strategies like land use diversification via business parks and mixed residential and industrial and mechanization but keep hammering the debt situation, while conveniently censoring the fact that it was the commie astroturf campaign that bankrupted the company?
Dread happens to be what's felt by those who've surfaced with regards to land cases such as Paradise Park, Laguna. due to Villat's corporate security types. On the ther hand some months ago there were comments here by someone who said they didn't participate n the strikes and went to work because they preferred working with management to the radical unins. Consider the half a century of peace in the community including the period of martial law when the landowners were not only in bad odor with the government but disarmed, and only in recent years when on one hand the radical unions insts unions flexed their muscle and the government went in and pursued its palparan policy, that matters got bloody. blood having been spilled, it's accomplished on one hand, the radical objective of finishing off SDO as any sort of alternative to outright rdistribution; but it does not dissolve the problems inherent in dismantling SDO, which seemsto be where the situation is. the shadow you speak of could be the kind cast by any prominent family but isn't likely to be the aggressively maintained and patrolled armed clout verging on terrorism practiced by other hacenderos; if that were the case the cojuangcos would never have lost elections based on the kind of massive fear you assume exists.
It still begs the question: Was Hacienda Luisita really a model of good corporate governance? Its track record definitely points to extremely poor corporate and social responsibility. It was poorly managed. And it was a model of booty capitalism at its worst. In contrast to exemplary sugar mills, it has an abysmal record.
My reading on this is limited, Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society for the quota days and and Barons, brokers, and buyers: the institutions and cultures of Philippine sugar for the more recent past as well as some discussions. Overall I don't know how you can make the assertion above.
In the first place you are dealing not with a mill but an integrated operation, knowing the great divide in attitude and methods between planters and millers and with a third factor being the traders actively disliked by both.
Even if one assumes (as I do) that the years of fat quota profits made the sugar industry uninnovative and this was made worse by the attempt to create a national sugar monopoly that foundered on speculation during the marcos years (pp. 242-243 in Larkin) , there would still be a hierarchy of competence among the sugar planters and millers. In one sense Luisita was increasingly an anomaly in being a large plantation (p. 78 in Billig's book) becuse of "natural land reform" as estates became subdivided among heirs and the effects of corporate taxes. On p. 121 Billig says that a consolidation of the industry -closing the divide between planters and millers- has been small, localized, and not generally succesful, "the one major exception" being Luisita, "the most integrated operation in the nation," composed of farm, mill, refinery, and trading operation and on p. 222 the author again mentions that within the industry the benefits of consolidation were pointed out in terms of the example of Luisita:
And yet, for years planters have argued that industry consolidation would be a positive step toward the rationalization of the industry. Many cite the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac as a shining example of a succesful, rationalized, integrated operation. But of course the planters always assumed that it would be the planters who would be doing the consolidating, and that has become a purely quixotic possibility now that they cannot afford to purchase mills. Thus planters have come to regard consolidation with fear and loathing. It seems even less likely that consolidation might come from the mills, some of which had in the past purchased large tracts of sugar land. The mills have largely had to stop buying land because of CARP and their own liquidity problems.
So the book then looks into the demise of the old sugar barons and the rise of more efficient Chinese traders and how a more "modern" attitude is increasingly attractive to some in the industry. All this ignores the people actually farming the land, the Social Justice concern, and how there is a tug of war going on between radicals and moderates to find a tipping point one way or another with Social Justice in mind.
thecusponline says:
Contrary to what the opening narration implies, the purchase and redistribution of estates was first attempted by the Americans along with the establishment of a formal system of land titles and a homestead program for public lands during the first two decades of colonial rule (which also invalidates the claim that it is a communist inspired program).
In fact the US used the lessons learned in the Philippines 40 years earlier when it successfully implemented land reform in Taiwan, Korea and Japan after the War. In the RP, the high cost of establishing property rights and acquiring Spanish friar lands for redistribution made it difficult for farmers to pay it off. This led to an uneven distribution of land, which was fully exploited by the caciques who were the subject of a policy of attraction away from the revolutionary forces.
Social equality in East Asia was important for the establishment of corrupt-free governance through an autonomous bureaucracy in which in turn brought about developmental policies producing economic growth which was felt by the wider populace.
This debate just highlights the complexity of dealing with problems created by those initial conditions a century ago. Should we just let the past go, cut our losses and forge some other way to bring about inclusive growth? Or should we try and find "closure" through some just settlement as well?
Who defaulted home mortgages or on home loans of Pagibig, SSS and GSIS.
The buyers or the developers?
Today Pag-Ibig gives out less than market rates for its home loans to its members. These are in turn converted to asset backed securities and sold in the financial markets as bonds with government guarantees. Is that illegal or improper? That is part and parcel of the financial business.
What do you think is driving the demand of mid-price and low priced housing and creating millions of jobs? Credit and the secondary markets creating long term funds for housing.
SECURITIZATION. The state cannot survive if it does securitize its future tax income in the form of T-bills and notes.
No real estate industry without it.
Creating a secondary mortgage market in the Philippines should be considered a crime?
In case of default
The government through the NHMC gets the collateral and they have been reselling these homes.
Look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the U.S. They do not originate loans but they buy them in the secondary market.
Was there any charge that Villar sold to bogus buyers or sold the government fake mortgages?
Mortgage rates are higher in the Philippines as it is the BSP that keeps the cost of money higher here in the country as a policy measure as a draw for financial investors. (Higher rates of interest)
The Asian crisis in 1997 created a huge hole in financial markets in Asia and when you have a sudden withdrawal of liquidity in the market you have collapse.
Villar got hit where it hurt. There is no doubt that in the Philippines debtor in possession rules do help debtors more than they do creditors.
Are you gonna blame the structure and system in laws on Villar. The Lopezes, Copuangcos including the Gokongwies all prospered after the crisis.
Villar was smart enough to use the system to restructure. For the love of God the BSP suspended mark to market rules to enable our local banks to survive (most especially the universal banks) like RCBS who was saved by the DBS of Lee Kwan Yew. RCBC took over the bank owned by the Villars.
The boom you are witnessing today in the real estate markets are all these properties held by universal banks that are now being developed purely with buyer financing. Villar was one of the prime instigators of this development.
Post 1997 unofficially all domestic banks including BPI were technically insolvent as if they had to mark to market their collaterals on their books the state would have had to nationalize the banks. The BSP on advice of the multilaterals moved to forced consolidation of banks and the SPAV law.
Today through the BSP the requirements for credit for construction loans and mortgage loans have been toughened. We have had our real estate crisis post 1997. The U.S. has just had theirs.
All those realty assets sitting on banks books today have healthy valuations. Look at how the cycle has turned. In 1997 everyone was looking at Php60-Php100 to the dollar. Today some sectors are screaming at the BSP for allowing the peso to move towards Php 40 to $1.
How dumb can people get???


This was a late season removal so I bought them a box of Honey Super Cell (fully drawn box of plastic frames). Then I heavily feed them sugar water and most of their honey I got from the removal. Well they made it right on threw winter. Spring they built up very strong and I didn't check them as often as I should have so they swarmed ( so they gave nature another wild Hive of Honey Bees). After the swarm they went queenless so I ordered 2 queens from Kelley Bees and I split the remaining hive into two hives so Thanks to Brian Lockhart and the Forestry Service for hiring me were there was one hive now there is 3 and God willing next year it will be 6 hives.
Honey Bee Swarm Removal In a Greenwood, MS Park.
Bee Tree Removal In Greenville, MS.


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text:
TEARGAS CLEANUP
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Pottawatomie County
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The first railroad in Dickinson County was built through that territory in 1866.
In 1887, Mr. Herington successfully got the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway to build through Herington. He gave the land and right-of-way for Herington to become a division point with shops, two round houses, freight house, bridge yards, telegraph office and many other buildings.
As of the 2000 census, there were 19,344 people, 7,903 households, and 5,421 families residing in the county. The population density was 23 people per square mile (9/km²). There were 8,686 housing units at an average density of 10 per square mile (4/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 96.44% White, 0.58% Black or African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.30% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.82% from other races, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.30% of the population.
There were 7,903 households out of which 31.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were married couples living together, 7.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.40% were non-families. 28.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.94.
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text:
The Press III
After a short stay in Canada with her family, Lára moves back to Iceland with her daughter Alda to be closer to her ill father. It doesn't take long for Lára to get involved in a new case. A Philippine woman dies in an arson attack at a restaurant. Tied to an anti-immigrant group soon emerge. At home Lára has to deal with her daughter who, through Isak her new boyfriend, has started hanging out with local youth gang. The pace picks up as a bomb explodes outside a school for immigrants and the group responsible declares war against non-Icelanders. The unrest escalates and before long Lára finds herself investigating the murder of an immigrant shop-owner. As she gets closer to the truth she has to deal with her daughter's rebellious behavior, her father's illness, press deadlines and a tough editor in need of a scoop.
Óskar Jónasson
Sigurjón Kjartansson, Óskar Jónasson, Jóhann Ævar Grímsson, Margrét Örnólfsdóttir
Arnar Þórisson
Guðni Halldórsson, Jakob Halldórsson
Barði Jóhannsson, Eberg
Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir, Kjartan Þór Þórðarson, Kristinn Þórðarson
Sigurjón Kjartansson, Óskar Jónasson
Drama, Detective
English, Icelandic
Pressa 3
Premiere TV Channel
http://www.sagafilm.is
Sara Dögg Ásgeirsdóttir, Kjartan Guðjónsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir, Annalísa Hermannsdóttir, Björn Thors
Atli Óskar Fjalarsson, Hafsteinn Vilhelmsson
Saga Film
Icelandic Film Centre, Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Nordisk Film & TV Fond
PRIX Europa - Award: Nominated for best European drama series.


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Jenna expertly handled every aspect of a project I was in charge of for the Sigma Delta Tau sorority at the University of Maryland. She made all of the decorative selections for the remodel including flooring, paint, lighting, and bathroom tile. She also took a lot of stress away by being the designated liaison to the contractor whenever he had a question; it was such a relief not to have to make split second decisions that I wasn't comfortable making. Jenna not only listened to our needs, but also came up with creative ideas I hadn't even considered and she instinctively knew what would really "wow" the girls. The overall result is a gorgeous house finished from head to toe that meets all of the needs we require. She handled every detail and met our deadline to get this all done before the girls moved back in after winter break. The best part was the "big reveal" for when the girls moved back in; they were so excited. There was a lot of buzz about our house during recruitment from all of the prospective members! I couldn't be any happier.
I had painted my dining room a year earlier and with little time to devote to it afterwards, I had not made any headway with the rest of the redecoration. Jenna came over to meet me and see the space, and my sense was that she quickly understood my needs, style and budget. She returned with options (not too many, thankfully) that were on spot on and then managed the project in a way that kept it moving. Jenna was exceptionally professional, super responsive and went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable each step of the way. The outcome is perfect – we love the space she designed and it has been nice to receive compliments from our friends and family who have spent time with us in the room. However, the aspect I most appreciate was that Jenna's positive attitude, trustworthiness and impeccable taste made the process a pleasure instead of a source of stress. Working with Jenna Steckler Interiors was the best decision I made and recommend her without any reservations!


Founded in 2000, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute (SBGI) offers the world's first graduate degrees in prenatal and perinatal psychology and the first doctoral degrees in somatic psychology.
These distinct yet related disciplines center on the premise that our minds and our bodies are inextricably linked and that we must therefore consider the whole person (body, mind, and spirit) if we are to effect deep and lasting change in people's lives. This holistic perspective often requires practitioners to integrate the best of traditional treatment methodologies and established clinical practice with the best of alternative approaches to health and healing-a pioneering, integrative approach for which SBGI has become known.
Our picturesque campus in the historic Riviera District of Santa Barbara offers the ideal venue for on-campus residencies that are so integral to our programs. Nestled between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, our grounds include inviting outdoor spaces-dotted with gardens, fountains and picnic tables-and handsome Spanish-contemporary architecture that comfortably houses our interactive, engaged style of learning. At SBGI, you will be "at home," surrounded by a network of professionals, learners, and mentors who speak your language and share your desire to make life-altering differences in the lives of others.
It appears that your browser does not support IFRAMES; please follow this link to view the Santa Barbara form.


text:
Modern beer yeast emerged from mix of European grape wine, Asian rice wine yeast
For thousands of years brewers made beer using specialized strains of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The historical origins of brewer's yeast are not well understood, however, as brewing predates the discovery of microbes. A new study publishing March 5 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, led by Justin Fay at the University of Rochester, shows that modern brewing strains were derived from a mixture of European grape wine and Asian rice wine strains. This finding points to the emergence of beer yeast from a historical East-West transfer of fermentation technology, similar to the transfer of domesticated plants and animals by way of the Silk Route.
The historical origins of any domesticated organism are often clouded by recent migration, gene flow and mixing with other groups. While analysis of ancient DNA has been a boon to reconstructing many historical events, ancient fermented beverages and the microbes used to produce them are not available. However, many beer strains are known to be polyploid--having more than two copies of their genome--which allows them to remain isolated from other populations and provides researchers with a living relic of their ancestors.
To reconstruct the history of beer strains, the researchers sequenced and compared the genomes of beer strains to a panel of reference strains from around the world. The beer strains formed four related groups: two ale, one lager and one group containing both beer and baking strains. All of these groups show mixed ancestry from both European grape wine strains and Asian rice wine strains. The strains also contain novel gene variants not present in any other population. The origin of these novel variants is less clear, but their abundance suggests they were derived from an uncharacterized or extinct population. A complete reconstruction of the order and timing of events during the evolution of beer strains is difficult since their polyploid genome is not static. Changes in their polyploid genome have occurred during cell divisions, generating beer strain diversity and likely playing an important role in specialization to various brewing styles.
Peer-reviewed / Experimental Study / Cells
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS Biology: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000147
Citation: Fay JC, Liu P, Ong GT, Dunham MJ, Cromie GA, Jeffery EW, et al. (2019) A polyploid admixed origin of beer yeasts derived from European and Asian wine populations. PLoS Biol 17(3): e3000147. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000147
Funding: This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health grant (GM080669) to J. Fay, the Rita Allen Foundation, a gift from Karl Handelsman, and a National Science Foundation grant (1516330) to M. Dunham. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Justin C. Fay
justin.fay@rochester.edu
http://www.plos.org
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION/ECONOMICS
BIOMEDICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL/CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
FOOD/FOOD SCIENCE
NUTRITION/NUTRIENTS
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000147


text:
What is the lowest 15 year mortgage rate ever?
The lowest average annual mortgage rate on 15-year fixed mortgages since 1991 was 2.66%. This occurred in both late 2012 and in April 2013.
What is the lowest ping ever recorded?
Climate • 1 Answer
What is the lowest temperature ever recorded in history?
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SANTA CRUZ (11-18) – UC Santa Cruz took part in its first dual match of the season as they took on Colorado College in Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs had a strong performance from both teams and won 130-85.
In the men's competition, the Banana Slugs had competitors finish in the top ten in ten of the thirteen events that took place and finished in the top ten in all ten of those events. Individually, Eli Cirino (one meter and three-meter diving) won two events and six men (Alex Chenkovich (50-yard freestyle), Mason Emery (100-yard freestyle), John Lupu (200 yard butterfly), Spencer Reed (1,000 yard freestyle relay), Kyle Rovira (100 yard individual medley) and Jason Williams (200 yard freestyle relay)) won one event apiece. As a team, the Banana Slugs' best finish was in the 200-yard medley relay as they won the event.
The women's team had participants finish in the top five in all thirteen events that took place. Individually, three women (Kiara Calayag (100 yard individual medley and 200 yard backstroke), Krystal Feri (200 yard backstroke and 1,000 yard freestyle relay) and Ryan Springer-Carter (50 and 100 yard freestyle) each won two individual events. As a team, the best finish for the Banana Slugs was first in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The next time the Banana Slugs will hit the pool will be tomorrow as they take on NCAA Division II member Azusa Pacific University at UCSC Aquatics Center in Santa Cruz.


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New Release, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance
New Release! Under a Ravening Moon Box Set
Under a Ravening Moon, the Halloween Love series box set, follows the Lupire, a race of elite protectors with both werewolf and vampire in their bloodlines, and the beautiful black females of the Lupa Guardian pack. These two elite groups share a common goal…to protect the magical and human worlds from evil. What they don't realize…yet…is that their destinies are also intertwined under mating magic…the most powerful force any of them will ever encounter.
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Kidren Bell wiped sweat from his brow and forced himself to keep moving forward through the dense wood. He could almost feel the moon pulsing against his skin, driving every cell in his body into hyper drive, so that his skin jumped with it and his senses throbbed under its pull.
His fangs ached with the desire to drop, his mouth watered with anticipation of the blood his body craved. When he lifted a hand to push moisture laden leaves from his path his hand was shaking.
Kidren was in a bad way.
He'd always had trouble under a full moon. But a Blue Moon was more than twice as powerful. And to make matters worse, the air was thick with the scent and call of the mating heat. He knew he was getting close to the core of Lupa Guardian territory. He could feel the pack's excitement in the air.
They'd formed a wide ranging circle around him the moment he'd stepped into the wood. Staying well out of sight, but close enough to quickly surround him if they felt he meant them harm, the powerful pack wasn't taking any chances with a dominant predator in their midst.
Even if he was there to help.
He smelled the blood well before he reached pack Headquarters. It wasn't an appetizing scent, despite the tang of fear attached to it. A reluctant aphrodisiac to those of his kind.
It was old blood. Cold blood. A chilling reminder of a violent death rather than the hot enticement of vibrant life.
Kidren became aware of another scent as he stepped into the wide clearing. It was a much more enticing scent. In fact, it made his fangs drop and his groin tighten immediately.
She stepped in front of him almost before he knew she was there. She stood with her legs spread and her hands on softly rounded hips, looking like a warrior.
She'd been waiting for him.
He growled his surprise, showing her his fangs before he could stop himself. Amazingly, her answering growl didn't fill him with aggression.
It made his cock tighten with need.
She was very tall, very lean, with rounded hips and full breasts. Her legs were impossibly long and shapely, with the highly toned musculature of a creature who spends an inordinate amount of her time running and leaping.
Her small, heart shaped face was framed by a short afro, which was the perfect counterpoint to her features.
Her golden eyes were almond shaped and turned up slightly at the outside corners, giving her an exotic look. Her nose was long and straight, flaring slightly at the bottom as she scented him. Her mouth was a burgundy tinted cupid's bow, which was currently pursed with disapproval.
Her skin was the color of rich earth, frosted with morning dew.
She made his fangs pulse.
Lanna Sato clenched her muscles and held her breath in an attempt to retain control. The male standing before her was blasting pheromones like a window air conditioning unit set on high.
With the blue moon and the mating heat already upon her, Lanna could barely function as it was. Now she had a brutal murder to deal with, and a strange male intruding on her world. It was the last thing she needed at that moment. Especially when the new male looked to be nearly seven feet tall and weighed around two fifty, most of it muscle. The man stretched the bounds of a soft, charcoal gray t-shirt and tested the seams on a fashionably tattered pair of jeans. His arms arced away from his lean torso, too laden with muscle to rest against his body, and the fists that were clenched at his sides were the size of snack plates.
He had longish, curly, light brown hair that rested against the thick column of his neck and fell across a wide brow in a charmingly unruly fashion. His eyes were a deep, turquoise blue, like the Mediterranean Sea.
Lanna's mouth watered as she took in his wide mouth. His lips looked full enough to nibble and soft enough to suck.
She bit back a sigh and glared at him. "I presume you're the elite protector sent by the Vampire Commission?"
The Commission was the ruling body for all things paranormal in the States. When something went awry in the supernatural world, the Commission sent out a Lupire, one of their top cops, to deal with it.
"I am." He lifted one of the snack plates toward her. "Name's Kidren…Kidren Bell."
"As in ring my?"She ignored the offered hand, afraid to touch him for fear that she might yank him in for a taste if she did.
He dropped the hand. His chuckle was a husky promise in the magic saturated air. "If you insist."
Lanna shook her head. "That's just the mating heat talkin', Kidren. I don't want you to get the wrong idea or anything."
His narrow, sea blue gaze skimmed her from head to toe, lingering noticeably on the in between parts. "I don't think that's possible."
Lanna felt herself sliding under a thick fog of pure lust.
"And your name is?"
She jumped a little. For a moment she'd succumbed to the blood boiling effects of his open, appreciative appraisal. "Uh…sorry. Lanna Sato, I'm the Regulator for the Lupa Guardian pack."
"Regulator huh?" She watched a spark of new interest light his eyes. Lanna grinned. A man who wasn't threatened by a powerful female. Interesting.
She jerked her head toward the log building across the clearing. "She's over here."
USA Today Bestselling Author Sam Cheever writes romantic paranormal/fantasy and mystery/suspense, creating stories that celebrate the joy of love in all its forms. Known for writing great characters, snappy dialogue, and unique and exhilarating stories, Sam is the award-winning author of 50+ books and has been writing for over a decade under several noms de plume.
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BWWM
dark paranormal romance
Deep Dark Desire
Halloween Love Series
IR Romance
Moon Burn
Under a Ravening Moon
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