TRUST FACTOR: Not a few readers have concluded, rather facilely, that former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani had President Gloria Arroyo in mind when he said in answer to questions that Filipinos should install only leaders they could trust.

In choosing their next leader, Giuliani said in a leadership conference in Makati the other day, Filipinos must “figure out which one you can trust… (the one) you think is closest to what you want for the future of your country.”

His comments were apparently read in the context of recent surveys showing a sharp fall in the trust and approval rating of President Arroyo.

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POPULARITY: In fairness, the mayor who gained prominence with his deft managing of his city’s response to the 9/11 (Sept. 11, 2001) terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington, DC, stressed that he was not intruding into local politics.

He also said in his keynote statement at the conference series co-sponsored by the Philippine STAR that a leader with vision sometimes has to make unpopular decisions to be able to carry out beneficial long-term programs.

By coincidence, this remark jibed with the declaration of President Arroyo in her State of the Nation Address the day before that she had made painful, sometimes unpopular, major decisions that have reaped benefits for the greater number.

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VAT SHOWDOWN: The President cited as example her insistence on the continued application of the extended Value-Added Tax on goods and services in lieu of the old sales and other applicable taxes.

She said that some P80 billion in VAT revenues are being plowed back to the poorer sectors of the population. This includes P500 subsidies to small users of electricity and loans to students.

But many sectors want VAT on power and oil products lifted or at least suspended to bring relief to consumers reeling from rising prices and utility rates.

That anti-VAT advocacy could ripen into a showdown in the Congress, the streets and the media. In anticipation, Malacañang has announced a massive information drive.

The continued raising by the oil giants of the price of their products, including diesel used by public utilities, despite their yearly profits running into billions and the dropping of the price of crude oil in the world market, is not helping the President any.

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PINOYS LAUDED: Another participant in the leadership round table, Procter and Gamble (Phils.) president James Lafferty reaped applause when he put in some good word for Filipino workers and youths with whom he has had contact.

Lafferty said that in his numerous travels and assignments abroad, he has not encountered one OFW (overseas Filipino worker), however well-placed, who has not said that he or she wanted to go back to his home country.

He also said that his Filipino students in the classes he has been handling in some local universities could stand their ground against their foreign counterparts here or abroad.

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NEGATIVE NEWS: In California, meanwhile, four Filipinos have been indicted in connection with a $20-million mortgage-fraud scheme involving bogus loans used to control care-homes for the elderly in Contra Costa and San Mateo counties.

The ContraCosta Times identified the suspects as Edith and Ronald Nelson; Nelda Asuncion; and Criseta Lagarejos. Arrested Monday, they have appeared in federal court in Oakland. They will appear again on Aug. 5.

Edith Nelson posted a $1-million bond for her provisional release. Each of the others posted $750,000 bonds. Conviction means long prison terms and fines running into millions.

The Nelsons own and operate a referral service in Pleasant Hill placing elderly people in residential-care facilities. The Department of Social Services barred them in 1998 from involvement in such facilities owing to violations, including deficient care of their wards.

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BOGUS LOANS: The indictment said that between December 2002 and January 2007, the accused used straw buyers to get at least 63 mortgage loans totaling more than $20 million.

They allegedly used the loans to buy residential-care home facilities and other properties controlled by the Nelsons. The loan applications were based on false data such as overstated monthly income, the indictment said.

The straw buyers said they were told that properties would be bought in their names and then sold after about a year, and that all expenses would be repaid by Edith Nelson. In exchange, Nelson reportedly paid the buyers $5,000 or $10,000 per purchase when the properties were sold.

The Nelsons were also charged with 12 counts of harboring illegal aliens. Warrant affidavits said they illegally hired caregivers, mostly Filipinos, for facilities bought with the bogus loans. The employees allegedly worked long hours at less than minimum wage.

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SABAH ISSUE: In all dealings with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and other groups that impinge, even remotely or indirectly, on the fate of Sabah, the government should always PUT IN WRITING A RESERVATION on the Philippine claim on that Borneo territory.

It seems from reports filtering to the public, the government has neglected this important detail, thereby putting in jeopardy the Sabah claim initiated by President Arroyo’s father, then President Diosdado Macapagal.

Because of ignorance, naiveté and possibly — God forbid! — commercial considerations — the Philippines appears to have slowly but surely lost that claim.

With a dubious “peace process” being rushed with a secessionist gang, President Arroyo is duty-bound to inform the people the status of the claim and the government’s official stand — before further appeasement moves are taken.

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