Monday, January 27, 2020

The Influence Of Money In Philippine Elections

The Influence Of Money In Philippine Elections Election campaigns are now on the roll. Politicians are getting busy thinking of many ways to ensure their victory in the coming elections. Different strategies and techniques are being used by these candidates in order to win the votes of the people. Aside from the techniques and strategies, money plays a huge role in every Philippine elections. The ability to win of the candidate lies on how much money he or she is going to spend for this coming election. The aspiring candidates will definitely spend a large amount of money to catch the hearts of the voters even if it means performing an illegal act. A single vote is very precious and essential for the win a candidate. And in order to possess this single sure vote, candidates resort to buying the votes of the people. Vote buying is overt in the Philippines. It is a disease that continuously rots our political and electoral system. It has already become institutionalized in our system and remains constant despite the condemnation of many Filipinos. Before, vote buying is usually the last recourse of a rich but unpopular candidate to hold a position in office. But today, even popular ones are engaging themselves to this kind of activity because popularity per se is not enough to assure the vote of the electorate especially in local politics. Vote buying reflects a powerful image of graft and corruption. It is just the stepping stone for doing a more fraudulent act. The vicious cycle of vote buying and vote selling in the Philippines is becoming more and more alarming. This paper aims to answer the nature of vote buying, strategies of vote buying in the Philippines, the reasons for doing vote buying and vote selling and to trace the history of vote buying in the Philippines. WHAT IS VOTE BUYING? Vote buying, according to Hicken (2006), includes the individual, immediate and private exchange of goods, services or cash for electoral support, usually in violation of legal norms. It simply means giving out or handing out money to leaders and voters. It also means getting the vote of the people to ensure winning. Vote buying is also a form of economic exchange (Schaffer, 2002) because there is money involve. TYPES OF VOTE BUYING Vote buying can be categorized into two types: direct vote buying and indirect vote buying. Both types are widely used in the case of the Philippines although the idea of direct vote buying serves as the more popular act. DIRECT VOTE BUYING It is the most common type of vote buying where direct payments, in many forms, are given to the voter. It may be in the form of cash donations, shares of stock or a promise of a particular plan of action or payment in exchange for a promise of vote (Dekel, E., et. al., 2004). INDIRECT VOTE BUYING It is a kind of vote buying done in a non obvious and straightforward approach. This type of vote buying uses campaign strategies that target the weaknesses of the electorate. Here in the Philippines, the strategy of the candidates is to use and take advantage of the different Filipino traits. Example of these traits are our values of utang na loob, pakikisama, our close family and kinship ties, our religiousness, and other social values like loyalty, support and trust. They effectively use the various traits to influence and temp us to follow their selfish plans. Bava (1998) gave a concrete example on how this character capitalization happens. Different parties and candidates hire poll watchers and workers who are tasked to distribute sample ballots for their party. Each poll watchers and ballot distributors are given 1500 pesos and 500 pesos respectively, per day of work from 7 am to 3 pm. A poll watcher only needs 4 things in order to land the job: 1) a ball pen 2) a tally sheet 3) at least 18 years of age and 4) a registered vote (Bava, 1998). The last requirement is the most important and advantageous in the part of the candidates. If the hired person is a registered voter, the employer will be sure that the employers vote will go to him or her. A person offered with this kind of job will definitely take the opportunity given all the privileges and comfort that it can give. They can earn almost 1500 pesos a day by just distributing pamphlets and sample ballots. Adding to the convenience is the free meals given to them by their employer. A nd if the candidate won in the elections, most of them are given permanent jobs in various government offices. This is where indirect vote buying takes place. This act, according to Bava (1998), displays the Filipino trait of utang na loob. If a person has done something good to us, we would do anything and everything to return that goodness. In this case, the poll watchers and other employees will feel obligated to vote the candidate/employer because of the job that was given to them. FORMS OF VOTE BUYING Money is the common type of material that the candidates use in order to buy votes. But vote buying not only takes the form of money. It can be other forms of material offers. Schedler (2002) and Schaffer (2002) made a list that summarizes the different kinds of offers into three categories. The first and the most common form is payment. A payment is an amount of money paid. Schedler (2002, p.4) described it as a commercial relationship in which partners trade equivalent values. The citizen trades his vote in exchange of money. The act of accepting money denotes that there is an indirect agreement between the giver and the receiver of the payment. The second kind of material offer takes the form of gifts. A gift is something that is given out of free will without paying something in return. In the context of vote buying, accepting a gift does not give you the responsibility and obligation of voting the giver. The last kind is in the form of wage. A wage is an amount of money paid in exchange of services rendered. Like gifts, it does not require any obligation to the candidate. FACTORS AFFECTING VOTE BUYING According to Schaffer (2002), there are three factors that affect the strategies of the candidates and the perception of the voters toward vote buying. These are socioeconomic, institutional and political factors. The first factor both affects the candidates strategies and the voters perception while the last two factors affect mainly the strategies of the candidates. SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS One of the socioeconomic factors is the social class (Hicken, 2006). The formulation of the different strategies is influenced by social classes existing in society. The candidate must make a strategy that can produce strong and favorable impressions on people from different walks of life. It should cater to the needs of the entire high, middle and low class population. But it is impossible to come up with such strategies given that there is a massive gap and conflicting interests present among these social classes. Different social classes connote different needs and expectations. A strategy that might work to the lower class might be ineffective to the middle and higher class or a strategy that may be good to the higher class might harm those belonging in the lower class. Adding to the problem is the unequal number of population belonging to a certain social class. In the Philippines, the population of the lower class is greater than the population of the middle and higher class co mbined. The solution to these is to focus the strategy to those who constitute the majority. The easiest and most effective strategy to garner votes is to buy the votes of those who are included in this majority (which is the lower class). It will be very effective since those who belong in this class are financially unable who need money to sustain their everyday living. This scenario is very prevalent in the Philippines since many are members of the lower class. Almost all politicians who are running in office are focusing their campaign on the less fortunate because to them, greater number of voters means more number of votes and more number of votes means greater chances of winning. The second socioeconomic factor is education (Hicken, 2006) which affects the voters view about vote buying. For the high and some middle class voters, vote buying is a deviant and somehow an immoral behavior. Those in the higher and middle class are strong attackers of this practice. They are advocates of different anti-vote buying campaigns and they are known for organizing movements that educate the people about this kind of campaign strategies. They have this kind of opinion because education teaches them about these kinds of things. But for some middle class and most in the lower class (who cannot afford to have a higher education), they accepted vote buying because they perceive it as the time when they can receive free money that they can use to buy their necessities. INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS Hicken (2006, p. 48), stated that the rules and institutions under which candidates must operate can influence their incentives to purchase electoral support. Different institutional factors may encourage or discourage the use of vote buying. One institutional factor is the electoral system itself (Hicken, 2006). Under this factor is the district magnitude. It affects the strategy of the candidate because large constituency means larger amount of money needed to buy votes. Large district also has influence on the manner of distribution of the money. The strategy will be more expensive and costly since the distribution of money will take much longer and there should be an increase in the number of employees to properly accomplish the strategy. As a result, candidates will lessen the amount of money to be distributed to the people in order to prioritize other campaign strategies. POLITICAL FACTORS Political factors are different conditions and circumstances in society that affect the creation of various policies political choices. One of the variables under this factor is the election laws, particularly the anti-vote buying laws (Hicken, 2006). The degree of execution of different anti-vote buying laws affect how candidates device their strategy and distribution plans. In the Philippines, vote buying is illegal yet it continues to occur probably because of inefficiency of the laws and the law enforcers and the light punishments that will be given to the law breaker. There is no strict regulation of such laws in our country that is why the practice of vote buying is still a widespread act. More often than not, the law enforcers themselves are the protector of this scheme. BUDGET SOURCES The first thing that comes into our minds when we talk about vote buying is money. Money is the vital element of vote buying. It is the foundation of any vote buying scheme. We usually think that all vote buying funds are coming from the pockets of the candidates since most of them are members of the elite. But I think that the candidates are smart enough not to make use of their own wealth and to think of other alternative ways of budget sources. Some candidates most likely get their vote buying budget from their own political parties. Others accept donations from different business sectors given the condition that if they win the elections, they will repay them by giving them economic benefits and government protection. For example, the candidate accepted the donation from a construction company. If the candidate won the elections and plans to carry out road projects, he or she will be obliged to make the company the contractor of the said projects. Other candidates resort in getting illegal funds. Candidates who seek re-election have the advantage when it comes to money resources because they can easily tap pork barrel and other government funds. Some ask the help of drug syndicates, smugglers, kidnappers, gamblers and robbers to provide them with untraceable funds. It is true because we can observe that many crimes and illegal acts are happening during the election season. In return, the candidates give them financial support and protection. DIFFERENT STRATEGIES OF VOTE BUYING A carefully devised plan of action is needed to successfully carry out acts, especially if it is illegal. Candidates and politicians are wise in strategizing the effective way to buy the votes of the people. Usually, they even hire experts and professionals who are knowledgeable in fields concerning illegal campaign scheming. One specific strategy to ensure that the money given was translated into vote is what Bionat (1998) called Lanzadera system. In this strategy, the watchers give the voters an already completed ballot which will be dropped by the voters in the ballot box. After dropping the already completed ballot, the voter, then, takes with him or her the blank ballot and give it to the watcher. The watcher will complete that ballot and give it to the next paid voter. In this system, the money is given only if the voter returns with a blank ballot. I interviewed people from our barangay in Bulakan, Bulacan about the chronic vote buying in our place. They had first hand experiences on how vote buying takes place in our town. Based from that interview, I was able to learn other strategies and series of actions on how the scheme of vote buying happens. According to them, vote buying is usually conducted a night or two before the election day, usually around eight in the evening until midnight. Each politician has their own leader per community who is responsible for the identification of supporters and potential vote buying targets. They are also responsible in delivering the money to the house of the identified voters, at times in the appearance of paying the watcher. The intense vote buying is very evident and common in our place that the people are the ones coming and lining up in front of the politicians headquarters to ask for the money. Another strategy done by the candidates is getting the trust of barangay officials and other community leaders. In this way, the candidate can almost assume his or her hold in the community. The local leaders, then, are given large amount of money in exchange of buying the votes of their constituencies on behalf of the politician or the candidate. One more strategy that was mentioned by my neighbors is buying non-supporters. Candidates will offer those non-supporters with huge amount money. If they accept it, they will not be allowed to come out of their houses on the day of the election. There will be someone who will serve as a watchman that will ensure that the voter will abide to the agreement. Some politicians, in order to be extra sure, hire a bus that will take all the paid non-supporters to an out-of-town trip on the election day. Another strategy is the taking advantage of the politicians on our deep family and kinship ties. Some politicians use a relative or an influential member of a clan to convince members of the family and close friends to accept the money and to vote for that politician. Vote buying also happens during the election day itself as said by the interviewees. Buying may take the form of 100 pesos attached to the sample ballot. There are also ways in order to ensure that the paid voter will comply with the agreement. Before giving the money, they are required to give proofs that they voted that candidate. Usually, they bring with them a carbon paper or they are asked to take a picture of the ballot with a cell phone camera. Others asked the voters to make an agreed mark (a particular fold for example) on the ballot to serve as identification in the course of the counting of the votes. REASON WHY POLITICIANS BUY VOTES The primary reason why politicians buy votes is the hunger for power. Vote buying is a form of desperation to remain in power. Many politicians fight for the privilege of power because it implies influence and control over other individuals. They see power as the easiest way to achieve fame and fortune. Candidates want to purchase the vote of the people to obtain domination on different public organizations and mechanisms. They are not afraid to spend a big amount of money because once they are elected in office; they can easily recover the money that was used to pay those individuals. REASONS WHY PEOPLE SELL THEIR VOTES According to the April 2007 of the Social Weather Station (SWS), one in two of the registered voters think that there is nothing bad in accepting the money offers from the candidates (refer to Figure 1). Others may not see this from of money-giving as an attempt to buy their votes. They accept the money but it does not necessarily mean that they will vote for that candidate. Another reason is the offer seems as an opportunity to get the money, which was stolen by the politicians, back to the people. They might as well accept the offered money since it came from the taxes of the people. The April 2007 SWS survey also found that those in the rural areas were more probable in accepting money compared to those who live in urban areas (refer to Table 1). This shows that the primary reason for the selling of votes is poverty. Those who live in or below the poverty line mostly are unemployed individuals. They take the money because they needed it. For the poor, payment for a vote can mean a week without hunger. They just accept the offer because for them, dignity and pride cannot create food and money. Some may see elections as the only chance to obtain something from the government. They have this view that it is an obligation of a candidate to give money and other material things to their supporters. There are some reasons that we can consider negative in the part of the voters. People accept payments because they are being threatened. Most of the times, material offers are accompanied with terror, making them very difficult to refuse. Figure 1. In an election, it is not bad to accept money provided one votes according to ones conscience. Source: http://www.sws.org.ph/pr070503.htm Table 1. Rural areas approved accepting money compared to those in the urban areas. Source: http://www.sws.org.ph/pr070503.htm IS REFORM POSSIBLE? For the past few years, many have attempted to stop and eliminate the practice of vote buying in the Philippines. They even formed different organizations that promote the values of an honest election. But none of them actually succeeded. The effectiveness of efforts depends on how organizers or developers predicted the intensity of vote buying strategies as well as the various reasons why people accept the offers. A reform aims to change the behavior of the candidates and the voters. Reforms for givers usually take the form of strengthened laws. Example includes strengthened vote secrecy, tightened campaign finance rules and many others that aim to prevent anyone from buying votes. But these reforms led only to a limited success. Vote buyers, instead of stopping, have adapt themselves to the new environment. To escape punishments, they devised new ways on how to carry out vote buying like increasing the instances of indirect vote buying rather than direct vote buying. It became more uncontrollable even though new laws strained it to become more subtle. On the other hand, reform has always taken the form of voter education. Probably the most successful technique that was done to eradicate vote buying is the campaign against vote buying through different public service posters (see Illustration 1, Illustration 2 and Illustration 3). Successful in the sense that it enables the public to gain information about the wrongness of vote buying. But it did not really help in the removal of this unacceptable practice. None of the attempts to completely stop vote buying became successful. Law enforcers and reformists continue to devise stricter policies and laws against vote buying despite the fact that none of these actually really worked. Instead of wasting the time in just making stricter policies, they should consider focusing their attention on real roots of this act. Government should focus their attention more on improving economic development and education. By doing so, people will not have the reason to accept money in exchange of their votes. At this point in time, I can say that reform is really impossible. Reform will only be possible once our political and economic system become stable. Illustration 2: 3M public service ad, May 2001. blinded by money. Vote with your conscience. Source: Schaffer, 2005 Illustration 1: Namfrel Public Service Ad, May 2001. Your vote is valuable, it doesnt have a price. Your character is priceless. So, in this election, dont sell your character, dont sell you vote. Source: Schaffer, 2005 Illustration 3: Red Horse Beer public service ad, May 2001. A little pocket change wont put you ahead. Dont ask for a bribe. Vote for a good candidate. Source: Schaffer, 2005 HISTORY OF VOTE BUYING IN THE PHILIPPINES Vote buying is not just a recent development in Philippine elections. Its existence started with the coming of foreign colonizers and continued to flourish and evolve with the advancement of new technologies and the development of new ideas. Pre-colonial elections in the Philippines did not have vote buying because the leadership was assumed not through election but through succession. The same thing goes probably with the elections during the early Spanish period (17th to 18th century). I did not find any account stating that there was vote buying but I assume that there was none because there was no elections and the leaders were only appointed by the Spaniards. In the late Spanish period (19th century), Spanish colonial control in the Philippines declined as the Philippine revolution started. The revolution led to the development of a government established by Aguinaldo. Under this government, most officials were selected individuals from the principalia class and elections were only held for higher positions. There was no large scale elections during that time so vote buying was not an option. The coming of the American period started vote buying in the Philippines. The Americans gave all Filipinos the right to rule and the right to vote. Act No. 60, which became the organic law for all municipal governments, started the elite rule in the Philippines (Tangcangco, 1988). The Act provided a requirement that only allowed the elites to vote and participate in elections. The elites became powerful and they may have realized the advantage that the position can give them. They became accustomed to the power that was once denied by the Spaniards. From then on, in order to sustain this power, they did whatever means and costs to be elected in office. Here are some of the documented instances of vote buying from the American period until the present period. In the 1929 Elections (during the American period), money was very essential in the campaign period. Money was used to pay-off rivals to withdraw their candidacy, to buy the votes of the people, to threaten the people, and to bribe campaign leaders of the rival candidate. (Banlaoi Carlos, 1996). In 1940 Local elections (Commonwealth period), Money was again a very important tool. Specific example for this one is the case of Pedro Abad Santos of the Socialist Party. He was predicted as the winner of the gubernatorial race in the province of Pampanga because of his massive popularity to his constituents but his wealthy opponent won the election by almost 7000 votes. There was no evidence of the strategies his opponent had used but the Abad Santos camp was really sure that his opponent used his money to buy the votes of the people. Another example was the electoral protest of Dr. Hilario Moncado against Tomas Cabili. They were fighting for a congressional seat in Lanoa province. Moncado accused Cabili of unlawful campaign by promising free legal services and employment for those who will vote for him. (Banlaoi Carlos, 1996) In the 1949 National Elections (during the post-independence period), all forms of fraud and manipulation were reportedly done by President Elpidio Quirino to ensure his position as president. Quirino and his other candidates used massive and whole-sale vote-buying in forms of money, jobs and pork barrel. It was reported that Quirino had used almost four million pesos during his election campaign. The three provinces where the massive vote buying occurred include Negros Occidental, Nueva Ecija and Lanao. (Banlaoi Carlos, 1996) The 1969 Presidential and Congressional Elections was between The Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party. This was considered as the bloodiest and dirtiest election (Banlaoi Carlos, 1996, p.111) prior to the Martial law period. Both parties reportedly used different techniques to ensure their victory. These included cheating, ballot stuffing and massive vote buying. It was stated in the reports that the Nacionalista Party and the Liberal Party spent around 700 million pesos and 300 million pesos respectively. That money came from the pork-barrel funds and was used as media fees and in buying votes. (Banlaoi Carlos, 1996). During the Martial law period, all kinds of wholesale fraud were committed including vote buying. In order to capture the loyalty of the rural people, Marcos personally distributed 4000 pesos to every barrio captain during his campaign. The barrio captains were tasked to divide the money among the inhabitants of the barrio. (Abueva, 1970). In the 1992 elections, there was a ban on media advertisements so the candidates had more cash to spend on their campaigns. Feliciano Belmonte, Quezon City congressional candidate at that time, was reported to have given cash and free tickets to Hongkong during his campaign. (Bionat, 1998) The media advertisement was also banned in the 1995 elections. According to Bionat (1998), mayors in Cebu received a bonus of 50,000 to 100,000 pesos for campaigning the 12 senatorial bets of the administration. Like what Marcos did, candidates also bought the votes of the grassroots leader. The difference is that the value of their support was more expensive. Barangay captains accepted a minimum of 500 pesos and a maximum of 20,000 pesos from the candidates. (Bionat, 1998) In the 2004 Presidential elections, Arroyo committed almost all kinds of fraud according to Tuazon (2006). One example is the Oplan Mercury that was exposed by Rudy Galang (one of the brains of this idea). The goals of this plan are to use public funds to the campaign, to provide money to local officials and to buy the support of those in the opposition. (Tuazon, 2006). Elections in the Philippines from pre-colonial era to the present show how we incorporate influences of colonial rule into our political system. The good and bad effects of these interventions became part of the changes in Philippine elections. History tells us that the face of Philippine elections has never really changed. We still continue to perform the practices of the past. The difference now is that it just assumes new shape and form. CONCLUSION In a poor country like ours, it is impossible to have a power because our politicians know our vulnerability to pressure and our hardships in life. Majority of our electorate are poor and have no means of livelihood, no education to back them up and they just resign themselves to taking alms and relief. The poorer the country the more prevalent vote buying is. They take advantage of our weaknesses but we cannot blame those who sell their votes. Filipinos minds are set for any answers that are immediate. That is why even when the act is illegal and unlawful, like selling votes, they instantly resort to it to easily come up with a solution to their problem, like poverty. People are quite fixated on short term solutions instead of long term ones. A 500 peso bill can buy you, lets say, a two days decent meal, but it cannot assure you economic stability in the future. For me, vote buying can be associated with surrendering ones right to vote and selling ones principle. I will definitely not sell my vote. Vote buying is based on morality. Money is good by itself but the act is evil because it violates my freedom, my dignity and my right as an individual. Vote buying is not a native Filipino idea. It was only a reflection of our colonial experience. But this experience manifest in us that it became a constant scenario in elections. History has an indirect effect on the start of vote buying in the Philippines. The desire for self-rule that was forbidden to the Filipinos for almost 300 years was suddenly bestowed to us that it might have created the idea of doing whatever it takes (may it be good or bad) to preserve and uphold this right.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

The Problem of Loneliness :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Problem of Loneliness In theology class, loneliness was defined as the experience of being disconnected, unrelated, or cut off from the Other. The Other is something that fulfills a dimension of the human person, that pushes one to enter into relationships, be it with God or another human. In core humanities we examined St. Augustine’s spiritual autobiography, The Confessions of St. Augustine, and credited him with defining the concept. However, many other writers since Augustine’s time have also worked with this notion of loneliness. Dante while writing his famous cantos about the afterlife and, more recently, Sr. Helen Prejean in her novel Dead Man Walking both eloquently elaborated on the idea that it is necessary for humans to enter into relationships. Humanity’s need for the Other becomes more and more apparent in Dante’s Inferno as Dante descends deeper into Hell. In the upper circles of Hell, Dante describes punishments that fit the various sins the sinners committed while they were alive. The sinners are punished with an overindulgence of their sin. For instance, the circle of the angry is filled with angry people who yell at each other for eternity just as the circle of the wrathful is filled with wrathful people who will, similarly, hit each other for eternity. While being placed in these circles is not desirable, it should be noted that the sinners do have contact with one another and, in a demented way, are happy because they are getting to do what they most wanted to do on Earth. When Dante crosses the wall of Dis, he begins to describe more severe punishments; what was described in class as "Little Mermaid Hell" disappears. Pain is now inflicted from a source outside the sinners. Actual physical pain becomes an issue. For instance, one group of sinners is described as being torn limb from limb by devils and then thrown back into a river of boiling blood. At this point the reader should notice that the sinners are no longer able to interact with each other. Dante illustrates this lack of contact even more clearly when he reaches the deepest regions of Hell. There, Dante describes how the sinners are kept completely isolated from one another in blocks of ice. Virgil, Dante’s guide, informs Dante that the worst sinners are punished in this fashion because their sins completely cut them off from the rest of humanity. And, just as in the rest of Dante’s Hell, these sinners are placed in Hell according to what their actions were on Earth.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Ia Math

IA Task I Introduction and purpose of task: The purpose of this task is to investigate the positions of points in intersecting circles and to discover the various relationships between said circles. Circle C1 has center O and radius r. Circle C2 has center P and radius OP. Let A be one of the points of intersection of C1 and C2. Circle C3 has center A and radius r (therefore circles C1 and C3 are the same size). The point P’ (written P prime) is the intersection of C3 with OP. This is shown in the diagram below.Analytically find OP’ using r=1 and OP=2, OP=3, and OP=4: First, I created a line (see the dashed line in the above figure) between AP’ that creates the ? AOP’. Because P’ is on the circumference of circle C3 and A is the center of circle C3, that means that AP’ is equal to the radius of C3, which is 1. We also know that because line AO connects the circumference of C1 with the center of C1 (O) and the circumference of C3 with the cent er of C3 (A), the radii of these circles is the same, which means that they are equivalent circles.Therefore, in the ? AOP’, AO=AP. When a triangle has two equivalent sides, it is an isosceles triangle. By that logic, ? O=? P’. Now, I looked at the triangle that is already drawn in the above figure, ? AOP. We know that this triangle is also isosceles because OP=AP. By that logic, ? A=? O. Using the law of cosines c^2=a^2+b^2-2abcos(C), which works for any triangle, I assigned ? to ? O and determined that cos(? )=1/(2*OP). Then, using the law of sines (insert law of sines here), sin(? )/1=sin(180-2? )/OP’ OP’=sin(180-2? /sin(? ) OP’=sin(2? )/sin(? ) OP’=2cos(? ) But because cos(? )=1/2OP as earlier discovered; OP’=1/OP By using this equation, I derived the following answers analytically using r=1 and OP=2, OP=3, and OP=4. OP234 OP'0. 50. 330. 25 Behavior of intersecting circles and general statement describing interaction that occurs w hen value of OP is changed: As OP changes, the resulting OP’ value decreases exponentially. This shows that ______________ BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH Analytically find OP’ using OP=2 and r=2, r=3, and r-4:Behavior of intersecting circles and general statement describing interaction that occurs when value of OP is changed: Comments on consistency of general statement #1 vs. general statement #2: Use technology to investigate other values of r and OP. Find the general statement for OP’: Test the validity of the most recent general statement by using different values of OP and r: Discussion of scope and/or limitations of the most recent general statement: Explanation of how general statement was arrived at: Further comments: Further investigation into relationships of intersecting circles:

Friday, January 3, 2020

Study On Shipping In Oil And Gas Sectors Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2391 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? The oil can is mightier than sword Anonymous The statement above rightly describes the value of oil and gas today globally. We were never so much dependent on oil and gas as we are today. If we talk about Indian oil and gas industry then we can trace its beginning when the oil was first struck at Makum near Margherita in Assam in 1867. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Study On Shipping In Oil And Gas Sectors Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Since then the industry has come a long way. For nearly fifty years after independence, the oil sector in India has seen the growth of national oil companies in a protected environment. Then a process of change of the sector began in the mid nineties, from a state of complete protection to the open competition. The move was considered necessary in order to attract funds and technology from abroad into the sector. Few important points to be noted here is that the sector in recent years has been characterized by rising consumption of oil products, declining crude production and low reserve. India remains one of the least-explored countries in the world, with a well density among the lowest in the world. The years since independence have however seen the rapid growth of the upstream and downstream oil sectors. There has been efficient use of resources for exploration activities and increasing refining capacity as well as the creation of a vast marketing infrastructure and a pool of h ighly trained and skilled manpower. Indigenous crude production has risen to 35 million tonnes per year, an addition of fourteen refineries, an installed capacity of 69 million tonnes per year and a network of 5000 km of pipelines. With so much development taking place in the oil and gas sector in India and with very little exploration activities our dependence has greatly increased on oil and gas. Today we are having 14 refineries with a total capacity of 184.40 MMTPA and still if we look at the imports for the year 2008-09 then we imported 128.16 MMT of oil and 8.06 MMT LNG. . Following was the situation of domestic crude oil production and consumption in India:- Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2007 The above table indicates the total demand and production situation in the country till 2006 and it is the reason that in order to fulfil this need one important source is required and that is shipping. In this paper we will be focussing on the shipping in oi l and gas sector, international practices in shipping of oil, different types of tankers used, chartering, etc Initially we will have a look at the world oil and gas shipping scene and various terms and methods related to it then move on to Indian scenario. International Domestic Practices in Crude Oil Petroleum Product Shipping In 1954  Shell Oil  developed the average freight rate assessment (AFRA) system which classifies tankers of different sizes. To make it an independent instrument, Shell consulted the  London Tanker Brokers Panel  (LTBP). At first, they divided the groups as  General Purpose  for tankers under 25,000  tons  deadweight  (DWT), Medium Range  for ships between 25,000 and 45,000  DWT  and  Large Range  for the then-enormous ships that were larger than 45,000  DWT. The ships became larger during the 1970s, which in turn required rescaling of the sizes. The system was developed for tax reasons as the tax authorities wanted evidence that the internal billing records were correct. Before the  New York Mercantile Exchange  started trading crude oil futures  in 1983, it was difficult to determine the exact price of oil which could change with every contract. Shell a nd BP, the first companies to use the system abandoned the AFRA system in 1983, later followed by the US oil companies. However, the system is still used today. Besides that, there is the flexible market scale, which takes typical routes and lots of 500,000 barrels. Merchant oil tankers carry a wide range of hydrocarbon liquids ranging from crude oil to refined petroleum products.  Their size is measured in  deadweight metric tons  (DWT). Crude carriers are among the largest, ranging from 55,000  DWT  Panamax-sized vessels to ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs) of over 440,000  DWT. Supertanker is an informal term used to describe the largest tankers. Today it is applied to very-large crude carriers (VLCC) and ULCCs with capacity over 250,000  DWT. These ships can transport two million barrels of oil. Because of their great size, supertankers often cannot enter port fully loaded.  These ships can take on their cargo at off -shore platforms and  single-point moorings.  On the other end of the journey, they often pump their cargo off to smaller tankers at designated  lightering points off-coast.  A supertankers routes are generally long, requiring it to stay at sea for extended periods, up to and beyond seventy days at a time. Smaller tankers, ranging from well under 10,000  DWT  to 80,000  DWT  Panamax vessels, generally carry refined petroleum products, and are known as product tankers.  The smallest tankers, with capacities under 10,000  DWT  generally work near-coastal and inland waterways. Although they were in the past, ships of the smaller  Aframax  and  Suezmax  classes are no longer regarded as supertankers. Chartering The process of hiring a ship to carry cargo is called chartering. There are four types of charter arrangements by which tankers are hired Voyage charter Time charter Bareboat charter Contract of affringement.   In a voyage charter, the charterer rents the vessel from the loading port to the discharge port. In a time charter, the vessel is hired for a set period of time, to perform voyages as the charterer directs.  In a bareboat charter, the charterer acts as the ships operator and manager, taking on responsibilities such as providing the crew and maintaining the vessel.  Finally, in a contract of affreigement, or COA, the charterer specifies a total volume of cargo to be carried in a specific time period and in specific sizes, for example a COA could be specified as one million barrels of JP-5 in a years time in 25,000 barrel shipments.  A completed chartering contract is known as a  charter party. One of the important f actors to be considered for any charter party is the  freight rate for carriage of cargo.  The freight rate of a tanker charter party is specified in one of four ways: 1) By a lump sum rate 2) By rate per ton 3) By a time charter equivalent rate 4) By  Worldscale  rate In a lump sum rate arrangement there is a fixed price which is negotiated for the delivery of a specified cargo, and the ships owner or operator is responsible to pay for all port costs and other voyage expenses.  Rate per ton arrangements are used mostly in chemical tanker chartering, and differ from lump sum rates in that port costs and voyage expenses are generally paid by the charterer.  Time charter arrangements specify a daily rate, and port costs and voyage expenses are also generally paid by the charterer. The Worldwide Tanker Normal Freight Scale, often referred to as Worldscale, is established and governed jointly by the Worldscale Associations of Lond on and New York.  Worldscale establishes a baseline price for carrying a metric ton of product between any two ports in the world.  In Worldscale negotiations, operators and charterers will determine a price based on a percentage of the Worldscale rate. The baseline rate is expressed as WS 100.  If a given charter party settled on 85% of the Worldscale rate, it would be expressed as WS 85.  Similarly, a charter party set at 125% of the Worldscale rate would be expressed as WS 125. Shipping of Oil Gas in India Shipping requirements; be it import/export or domestic coastal movement are handled by the chartering desk of respective oil company. All the three types of chartering; viz. Time Charter, Spot Charter and COA (Contract of Affreightment) are used to charter ships. The process of enquiry through which ships are chartered is as under: Process for Chartering Ship for crude oil/ product imports Floating of Enquiry Enquiry is floated to all the Indian Ship owners/ Indian Ship brokers registered with the importer. Copies of all enquiries would be sent to DG (Shipping) and Indian National Ship owners Association (INSA), for obtaining mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) / Licenses. Enquiries would be floated through e-mail / fax. Receipt of Offers Receipt of offers shall be through either of the following modes: Dedicated email box with password protection. Separate mailboxes shall be provided for receipt of offers against each enquiry. A dedicated fax in a l ocked room would also be available as an alternate mode. Offers received by either of the above modes will be considered. The offers will be printed / collated after the email box is opened at the designated time for receipt of offers specified in the enquiry or on the expiry of the extended time as provided in sub-clause (g) of this clause, as the case may be. Unsolicited / Mid way offers will not be considered. As a standard procedure, bidders will be required to submit hard copy of the offer and other related communications for records. Evaluation of Offers The offers will be ranked on the basis of freight. Demurrage rate and Other Terms and Conditions of the Charter Party (CP) will also be evaluated. Counter Offers / Negotiations The process of Counter Offers / Negotiation is as under: No Indian Ship Owner has quoted: Negotiation will be held with all the technically acceptable bidders indicating their respective ranking. Whereas a Firm Counter w ill be given to lowest (L1) bidder, the counter to all other bidders will be Open (i.e. Open 1, Open 2 etc.). During negotiations, original rankings of the bidders can change depending upon their response to the counter. Indian Ship Owner (s) has also quoted : If offer is received from Indian ship-owner, (Vessels belonging to Indian Ship Owner flying the Indian Flag), the Indian ship-owner will have the first right of refusal vis a vis the lowest offer received from Foreign ship owner, in compliance with government guidelines. Indian Ship Owner is L1 The counter shall be offered firm to the technically acceptable L1 Indian ship-owner. Open counters would be offered to other technically acceptable Indian ship-owners and all technically acceptable foreign ship-owners. The respective rankings of all the bidders shall be disclosed. If negotiations are successful with the foreign ship-owner, Indian ship-owner will be asked to match the rate, failing which the ship will be fixed with the foreign ship-owner. Indian ship-owner is not L1 The counter will be given firm to the technically acceptable L1 Indian ship-owner and open to other technically acceptable Indian and foreign ship-owners. The relative ranking of all ship-owners shall be disclosed. Fixtures on subjects Once negotiations are concluded, the ship fixture will be confirmed on subjects with a time schedule, while the ship fixture is on subjects following activities will be undertaken: Charterers management approval Terminal/Supplier Acceptance To arrange for license from DG (Shipping) in case of foreign ships Obtain record note of negotiations and Fixture Note from the broker / owner for record. Charter Party Agreement Following Charter Party Agreements apply: Voyage Charter Party (VC for Foreign Coastal) ASBATANKVOY with BPCL specific (Rider) Clauses. Time Charter Party (Foreign Voyages) SHELLTIME 4 / 3 (for LPG) Coastal and Time Charter Party. Charte r Party agreements developed by BPC and in use. Procedure for chartering out time charter vessels For Chartering out vessels by the importer, Oil Majors, Trading and Shipping companies and Empanelled Brokers registered with the importer, will be intimated on position list, trading area, cargo grade, laycan etc. Negotiations: Based on the offers received, the importer may carry out negotiation with best offer. On successful completion of the negotiations the vessel shall be given on subjects to the charterer for their approval. Charter Party Terms: Standard ASBATANKVOY Charter Party agreement shall be followed and finalized along with the rider clauses (after negotiations) with charterers. Major players in Indian shipping industry (oil and gas) The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. The Shipping Corporation of india is the largest Tanker owner in India. They have a well-diversified fleet of crude Tankers of all sizes: MR, LR-I, LR-II, Aframax, Suezmax and VLCC Tankers. The Shipping corporation of India has a Tanker Commercial Department which looks after scheduling and deployment of Tankers for feeding crude to various Indian oil refineries. Lighterage operations on the east and west coasts are also undertaken, to facilitate quick turnaround of Tankers, which otherwise cannot call on ports due to port restrictions/limitations.The department also ensures commercial deployment of in-chartered tonnage, to meet its obligations of lifting cargo under the Contract of Affreightment (COA). Varun Shipping Company Ltd. Varun shipping company has got its charters. Their charterers are comprise both domestic and international companies.  Their main domestic charterers  include Indian PSUs such as Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and private domestic sector conglomerates such as the Reliance Group and Essar Group. Few of the direct international charterers include Exmar Group and KS AS Hektorgas of Bergesen Worldwide Group.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€š They have got 3 crude oil tankers with dead weight tonne of 106004,107081,106597 respectively and 10 LPG carriers of different DWTs out of which they have two bare boat charter. Essar Group Essar group is also one of the important and big players in Indian oil and gas shipping industry. The company has got LCC and VLCC and is currently serving BPCL, HPCL, IOCL, etc. They have also got their business in core oil and gas sector such as refineries and retail outlets and the shipping segment of their business helps them in the process. Great eastern shipping Co. Ltd. They are Indias largest shipping service providers serving oil giants like Shell, Exxonmobil, etc. They have got a total fleet of 32 ships which include both oil and gas (LPG) tankers with 2.09 and0.02 MN DWT respectively. There are also other big players and many are government owned such as Vishakapatnam Port Trust, Kolkata Port Trust, etc and among private players there are Apeejay shipping Ltd., Five star marine services etc. Oil and gas industry would never have been so big and huge if there wouldnt have been such means of transportations available because in India that is the only means of transportation of oil from outside. Though we can explore the possibilities of inter country pipeline transportation but we still have to cover quite a distance in this case. We are progressively building much bigger and mightier crude oil vessels now time will only tell how far we can go in this field.