After hearing the first few minutes of Alan Peter Cayetano's privilege speech before the Philippine Senate on September 16, 2008, I can't understand why the other senators (or senate-tors, as Benjamin Abalos would say) tried so hard to prevent him from doing so. Peter Cayetano rose on a matter of personal privilege... and proved that he is either an idiot or a liar.
Senator Lacson, in a previous privilege speech regarding the alleged insertion of an additional item amounting to some two hundred million pesos in the 2008 national budget, made an issue of Peter Cayetano's seemingly cavalier comment that the additional 200 million pesos tacked onto the bill was just loose change. Peter Cayetano took offense.
In his privilege speech, Peter Cayetano said that his off-the-record comment to the news media was taken out of context and given a sinister meaning. And so, he set forth to lay the proper context to his comment.
He claimed that Senator Manny Villar earned 20 billion pesos in the latter's company's went public via an initial public offering (IPO) some years ago. He further claimed that 200 million pesos, although a big amount in itself, is relatively very small to the twenty billion pesos that Senator Villar earned in a clean and honest manner. Therefore, according to Peter Cayetano, Senator Villar would not be interested in benefitting from a mere 200 million pesos in the national budget. In that way, 200 million pesos is just loose change.
Logicians call what Peter Cayetano laid out a syllogism. Syllogism is a method of proof in logic where two premises are established to reach a conclusion. In this case, the premises are: 1) Senator Villar earned a huge amount of money when his company went public—in other words, he is very rich; 2) Two hundred million pesos is not a lot of money—mere loose change—compared to the 20 billion pesos he earned when his company went public so he would not be interested at all in padding the national budget by that amount. The conclusion then, is that Senator Villar has nothing to do with the insertion of an additional line in the 2008 national budget
The thing is, both the premises are wrong. Consequently, the conclusion is a fallacy.
First, Senator Villar did not earn 20 billion pesos when his company went public. Apparently, Senator Villar's company raised that amount in the IPO. Generally, the proceeds of an IPO is additional capital for the corporation and not income for the owner of the company. In fact, doing an IPO is one of the popular ways by which a company raises additional capital that it can use to expand its business. Capital is not the same as income. Of course, some investors may cash out their investments in a company when it goes public via an IPO. Senator Villar may have cashed out some of his investment in his company during the IPO but surely, not the entire proceeds. Doing so could have violated several provisions of the Corporation Code as well as SEC rules, at the very least.
Peter Cayetano might have confused capital and income because his father, the late Rene Cayetano, admittedly earned millions from trading BW Resources stocks. That was income. Most if not all of the money raised in the Camella & Palmera Homes IPO was capital. A lawyer should know the difference.
Second, there is no such thing as being too rich. Martha Stewart who was worth at least a billion dollars at the time she traded on inside information regarding the biotech company ImClone served time in federal prison for what experts calculated as only about $70,000 difference in the sale price of ImClone stocks.
The conclusion is also wrong because one does not have to actually receive the 200 million pesos to gain unfair, and ultimately, financial advantage or benefit from it. A politician can take credit for the program where the additional funding was used, as they often do.
Now, Peter Cayetano should find himself in what logicians call the “horns of a dilemma.” That is just a fancy way of saying that one is between a rock and a hard place. One is left with only two options, both of which are bad. On one hand, he can admit that he did not know the difference between capital and income and come out a fool. On the other hand, he can say that he knew the difference between capital and income and admit that he lied about Senator Villar earning 20 billion pesos from the Camella & Palmera Homes IPO.
Maybe Peter Cayetano was thinking about an American politician when he made that flippant comment about 200 million pesos being just loose change—the politician whose comment went something like this: “A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon we're talking about real money.”
Peter Cayetano should probably emulate his fellow senator Lito Lapid who seems to have taken Mark Twain's words to heart. It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
Senator Lacson, in a previous privilege speech regarding the alleged insertion of an additional item amounting to some two hundred million pesos in the 2008 national budget, made an issue of Peter Cayetano's seemingly cavalier comment that the additional 200 million pesos tacked onto the bill was just loose change. Peter Cayetano took offense.
In his privilege speech, Peter Cayetano said that his off-the-record comment to the news media was taken out of context and given a sinister meaning. And so, he set forth to lay the proper context to his comment.
He claimed that Senator Manny Villar earned 20 billion pesos in the latter's company's went public via an initial public offering (IPO) some years ago. He further claimed that 200 million pesos, although a big amount in itself, is relatively very small to the twenty billion pesos that Senator Villar earned in a clean and honest manner. Therefore, according to Peter Cayetano, Senator Villar would not be interested in benefitting from a mere 200 million pesos in the national budget. In that way, 200 million pesos is just loose change.
Logicians call what Peter Cayetano laid out a syllogism. Syllogism is a method of proof in logic where two premises are established to reach a conclusion. In this case, the premises are: 1) Senator Villar earned a huge amount of money when his company went public—in other words, he is very rich; 2) Two hundred million pesos is not a lot of money—mere loose change—compared to the 20 billion pesos he earned when his company went public so he would not be interested at all in padding the national budget by that amount. The conclusion then, is that Senator Villar has nothing to do with the insertion of an additional line in the 2008 national budget
The thing is, both the premises are wrong. Consequently, the conclusion is a fallacy.
First, Senator Villar did not earn 20 billion pesos when his company went public. Apparently, Senator Villar's company raised that amount in the IPO. Generally, the proceeds of an IPO is additional capital for the corporation and not income for the owner of the company. In fact, doing an IPO is one of the popular ways by which a company raises additional capital that it can use to expand its business. Capital is not the same as income. Of course, some investors may cash out their investments in a company when it goes public via an IPO. Senator Villar may have cashed out some of his investment in his company during the IPO but surely, not the entire proceeds. Doing so could have violated several provisions of the Corporation Code as well as SEC rules, at the very least.
Peter Cayetano might have confused capital and income because his father, the late Rene Cayetano, admittedly earned millions from trading BW Resources stocks. That was income. Most if not all of the money raised in the Camella & Palmera Homes IPO was capital. A lawyer should know the difference.
Second, there is no such thing as being too rich. Martha Stewart who was worth at least a billion dollars at the time she traded on inside information regarding the biotech company ImClone served time in federal prison for what experts calculated as only about $70,000 difference in the sale price of ImClone stocks.
The conclusion is also wrong because one does not have to actually receive the 200 million pesos to gain unfair, and ultimately, financial advantage or benefit from it. A politician can take credit for the program where the additional funding was used, as they often do.
Now, Peter Cayetano should find himself in what logicians call the “horns of a dilemma.” That is just a fancy way of saying that one is between a rock and a hard place. One is left with only two options, both of which are bad. On one hand, he can admit that he did not know the difference between capital and income and come out a fool. On the other hand, he can say that he knew the difference between capital and income and admit that he lied about Senator Villar earning 20 billion pesos from the Camella & Palmera Homes IPO.
Maybe Peter Cayetano was thinking about an American politician when he made that flippant comment about 200 million pesos being just loose change—the politician whose comment went something like this: “A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon we're talking about real money.”
Peter Cayetano should probably emulate his fellow senator Lito Lapid who seems to have taken Mark Twain's words to heart. It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it.
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