It’s all in the family

Television talk shows have of late taken to introducing the new congressmen, many of them young. Young enough not to be classified as "trapo", even if most of them are scions of retired or expired traditional politicians. Because papa’s term is over, anak gets to inherit. "Bimpo" they are instead called by Abante’s Rey Marfil, as in "batang itnulak ng magulang sa politika". And, as in the case of Camiguin’s Romualdo clan, son JJ inherits the governorship, while papa Loloy goes back to Congress, when his son JJ’s three-year stint expired. Loloy and JJ will continue this game of "puli-puli" as they say in Camiguin, until perhaps Loloy’s grandson is old enough to take over. All in the family.

In the Senate, we have a Senate president whose wife Cynthia is also the representative of Las Piñas. Figure it out in terms of the coveted pork barrel. Manny has 200 million pesos a year as senator, and Madam Cynthia has 70 million. That’s a total of 270 million pesos in a year, or 810 million in three years, not counting Manny Villar’s slush funds as Senate president, with only Kiko Pangilinan, his favorite Wednesday dinner guest, privileged to control the "accounts" of the Senate. And that does not include the usual last-minute "insertions" in the budget that’s usually rushed during the bicameral conference committee. But that’s another story. For another time.

Youngish Chiz is in similar fine fettle. He gets 200 million in pork, and his father Sonny gets a 70 million slab of bacon for his district in Sorsogon. Of course Chiz also heads the powerful ways and means committee, which has the power to go over taxes, and the more important power of recommending which taxes should not be imposed, or which taxes could be reduced. That’s the more important power as far as taipans and moguls are concerned, and Chiz now has the power to make them happy or disappointed. Ralph Recto made them happy, forgave them their "sins", but disappointed a lot more with his reformations on the VAT. How shall young Chiz comport himself? We will be watching.

The even younger Alan Peter Cayetano is in to bigger pork shares, along with his family. Ate Pia gets 200 million a year, Alan gets another 200 million, and wife Lani, the second youngest congresswoman, gets a 70 million "ambos". That’s almost half a billion smackeroos in a year. That’s almost 1.5 billion in the next three years of GMA’s unelected term. For Alan and Pia together, that’s 2.4 billion in the six years that the public has gifted them with a senatorial term.

Now I understand why Iggy of Jose Pidal fame isn’t perturbed by his tormentor’s ascent to the Blue Ribbon. All he has to do is ask Doña Glo or Hermano Mike to order Rolly Andaya of DBM to tighten the screws on the release of the humongous pork which Alan and Pia and Lani are entitled to. Sige ka, Alan, balik ka sa tag-gutom.

Recall how Alan when he was a staunch oppositionist in his last term in the lower House, would publicly rue the "sacrifices" he and his kind would undergo because they dared fight GMA and her family. Ginutom ang mga distrito nila sa taba ng baboy. While guys like Joey Salceda were getting billions to sink into washed-out projects in Bicol, Taguig-Pateros got nothing even for its balut industry. And so his local adversary, Mayor Freddie Tinga of Taguig could always tell their common constituents – "ano ang napala ninyo sa inyong congressman?" Alan was indeed deprived of pork for two of his last years in Congress. But not in the 11th Congress, when he was one of Erap’s "bright boys" in the lower House. Neither in the 12th, when he was still supporting GMA to the hilt. Likely, the young Alan found the last two years of his three-term stint in the House such cruel punishment that now he will not be deprived again.

With Manny Villar as his "guarantor," Alan and his Ate Pia, along with Lani, should not suffer from a hunger for pork much longer. That must be why Iggy and Mikey are unperturbed. Alan has the power to make noise, but if it gets to hurt their eardrums, there’s always Malacañang to tighten the strings. To make basso crescendo transmogrify into a pipsqueak. Will Alan make "tiis" once more, and like his avowed "idol," Ping Lacson, declare his abhorrence of, and abnegation from – pork and more pork? Vamos a ver.

Still into pairings, octogenarian Juan Ponce-Enrile gets 200 million in regular pork, just as his daughter-in-law gets seventy for their northern Cagayan fiefdom. On top of which, the "minority" senator whose "solid bloc" of pro-Gloria senators supported Villar, gets to be chair of the most powerful Finance Committee. Watch those cabinet members pale and tremble when confronted by the thunder of the gentleman from Aparri and Gonzaga. Then after the bicam, look into the usual "insertions" in every line department’s budget, if you can.

Ditto for Senadora Miriam, whose 200 million will be augmented by 70 million from her son’s seat as party list congressman. All in the family likewise.

Of course there’s that fiefdom upon the high Sierras that gaze upon the roaring Pacific, that hamlet once closeted by forests primeval – Aurora, fiefdom of the Angaras. Papa Ed is senator with 200 million, anak Sonny is congressman with 70 million, sister Bella is governor, and brother Juan is mayor of the capital in Baler. If only all that pork could nurture more trees in Dingalan, and Casiguran, and other parts of the Sierra Madre.

Senador Tocayo’s son Mark has lost the quarries of Pampanga to Among Ed. But there’s still enough "comfort food" for the next three years from his 200 million in pork. Senador Pong gets his usual 200 million slab, as well as his son Ruffy for his Muntinglupa. Queer though that a day after the fire that razed part of City Hall, the Lady would sashay into her press secretary’s former fiefdom, and woo opposition mayor Aldrin San Pedro, the Biazons’ ally, with 50 million to repair his partially-burned castle. And forthwith declare a state of "calamity" in the suburban city. Nasunog lang ang City Hall, calamity na? Wow! Do we see another "convert" to Kampi? Or is it because the national penitentiary, which sits on a hundred hectares of precious Muntinglupa land, is up for sale?

Did I miss any other families who have 200 million in Senate pork and 70 million in House pork?

In any case, it’s worth mentioning that Speaker Jose de Venecia has neither wife nor son occupying any seat in Senate or House. Even when every sipsip in this country was telling Manay Gina the Senate needed her, Manong Joe put his foot down. One of his sons got snowed under by the Boao railroad that got the country the ZTE broadband deal, thanks to Leandro Mendoza of the DOTC, whose son Mark is now the gentleman from the 4th district of Batangas, and it is said, the chair of the Commission on Electoral Cheating. Again, that’s another story which Dr. Raul Fabella and the UP School of Economics have rightly concluded to be another backbone too costly and unnecessary.

They said, quite eloquently, that the nation needs no government-owned broadband to serve as its communications backbone, and what it needs is to have "moral backbone".

I know that backbones are organically fortified by calcium. Pork in a barrel is all cholesterol, and in the history of our solons’ insatiable cravings, it certainly has not been good cholesterol for the country.

Malaya, Ausgust 10, 2008

Genes and poverty

Last July 24, we wrote here an article entitled "Moro moro in the works." Look at what's happening in Mindanao now, two weeks after. And all because one illegitimate leader will do everything and anything just to remain in power, even beyond 2010. If it weren't such a painful thing, we'd like to say, haven't we been telling you since whenever in this space, that Doña Gloria will not relinquish power? Unless we altogether force her out.

But for now, let me give you another reason why.

I could not believe my ears. Ted Failon and Korina Sanchez, over their morning program on DZMM, read a text message from our friend Butch Valdes (how he has a sister Nena, who toadies to her fellow Assumptionista Gloria Macapagal Arroyo I still cannot comprehend), which said: "In a recent talk show, GMA's favorite economic adviser, Gov. Joey Salceda, observed that the Filipino nation-state is genetically structured to fail."

Genes. As a race, we must possess the wrong ones, if Joey Salceda's postulates are to be believed. Which is one reason I parenthetically mentioned Fatima "Nena" Valdes, who along with Remedios "Medy" Poblador, are Doña Gloria's ambassadors of goodwill to the bishops, with Ephraim Genuino and Serge Valencia as ministers of the booty. Because Butch Valdes has the right heart, and even if many do not necessarily agree with his views, the right mind. Some other genes stray into one's family, I guess.

Frankly though, I sometimes ask myself, how can a race which has produced a genius like Rizal, a nationalist like Claro M. Recto, a man of courage like Bonifacio, sit in quiet sufferance a curse like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?

And oftentimes I wonder, what sin have we committed as a race to be condemned to the wretched state we find ourselves in? Unlike Hitler's Germany, we did not exterminate any other race. Unlike Hirohito's Japan, we did not invade any other country and have not committed atrocities other than those we sometimes inflict upon our own. Unlike McKinley's America, we did not raze Balangiga to the ground, used 45 cal. pistols against the Moros, or even, in another time and under Lyndon Johnson, pillage and rape My Lai. Neither has this race unleashed an Osama bin Laden, or helped him terrorize the world.

We have not committed any crimes against humanity, but we are accursed to suffer. Maybe Joey Salceda is right about defective genes, I mused.

And then I remembered a YouTube video that I recently watched. It was a special report of GMA-7's Sine Totoo, hosted by Howie Severino and narrated by Arnold Clavio. The report was entitled "Pagpag." Now what in heaven's name is "pagpag"? It is what males do with their organ after releasing liquid body wastes. Down to the last drop.

Well, "pagpag" is also the new vocabulary for scraps and left-overs from restaurants, organic garbage really, that scavengers collect each night from their garbage bins, and then sell to poor men's neighborhood sidewalk eateries. The enterprising carinderia owners then wash the left-overs (mostly chicken parts) in hot water (not running hot water, but inside dingy plastic pails), shake off the water after two washings, and voila! They have recycled "pagpag".

The pagpag is then re-fried in hot oil, or made into adobo or afritada, seasoned with some salt, some pepper, some atsuete, sometimes tomato sauce, and loads of - you guessed it, MSG or vetsin. Then a plastic bowl-sized serving is sold at ten pesos for the adobo or afritada, and 15 pesos for the re-fried Jollibee or KFC "spare parts" (mahal kasi ang mantika).

And wow, is it a big seller among Gloria's lumpen, for whom she "cares" a lot. But retch you probably would at the video shots. The "pagpag" are sorted out from used styrofoam, plastic and paper napkins inside huge garbage bins in the wee hours of the morning. Placed in huge plastic scavenger bags, they are transported by kariton or padyak-cab to the slum area where the pagpag dealers live. Then, the scavengers sleep for a few hours to rest weary bodies. When they awake, they then place the scraps in filthy, used corrugated cartons and then sell this to the carinderia owner for 50 pesos. One such scavenger collects three to four boxes each day, which means 150 to 200 pesos.

The video footage shows men, women and children lapping up the re-fried or braised pagpag, stripping each bone of every tiny morsel of flesh or bit of cartilage, and wolfed down with NFA rice. It provides their daily sustenance. Asked whether they have not gotten sick with salmonella, e coli infestation, or some other gastric disease, one woman even proudly proclaims how strong and healthy she and her baby are, thanks to pagpag.

The scenes are enough to make a grown-up cry. So when I heard about Joey Salceda's comment about Filipinos being "genetically structured to fail," images of that slum lady proudly proclaiming before television cameras how pagpag made her strong, raced across my mind. Does Joey Salceda know the "real" Filipino and Filipina, more than we hopeless guys could?

If you want to add to your depression, these days when the Republic is willfully being dismembered by a former chief of staff of all our armed forces who once led our fighting men as they shed blood in defense of one nation and one flag, later to lend his honor to a cheating enterprise in order to serve a false commander-in-chief, do view the Sine Totoo documentary on "Pagpag." See for yourself the true, the real, the un-varnished state of the poor, which in surveys and even government statistics grow by legions each day.

Think of them the next time a convoy of huge, darkly-tinted cars led by a mobile patrol or two motorcycle cops suffering in the rain, pass you by. And curse the occupant to the highest heavens, likely a cabinet member or, if it's an armada of vehicles followed by an ambulance to boot, why, your favorite Doña Gloria, misma! And if you only could, why, perhaps you'd be minded to throw a rock.

Poverty truly sucks, and it sucks exceedingly a race that could not be so "genetically structured to fail" were it not for gross mismanagement of the national economy, corruption so endemic and so excessive, and governance so bad, and never before in the breathtaking scale to which the likes of Joey Salceda and his Doña Gloria have made this nation-state experience.

But then again, perhaps Salceda is correct. For how come this nation-state, unlike Moroland a-borning, cannot summon up the courage to defy, the will to fight a liar, a cheat and a thief? Why is most everyone, from congressmen to mayors to governors like Salceda, perennially and perhaps habitually, "sucking" up to their illegitimate Boss Woman?

Malaya, August 7, 2008

Pagpag

Kamakailan ay may ipinalabas ang Sine Totoo ng GMA 7. Ito’y isang dokumentaryo na pinamagatang “Pagpag”. Mapapanood ito ngayon sa pamamagitan ng Youtube. Siguro’y dapat na ipakita ito kay Donya Gloria ni Arnold Clavio at ni Howie Severino, o ng kanilang big boss na si Henry Gozon, na malapit kay Donya. (Ang ama ni Gozon ay nanil­bihang kalihim ng Agrikultura noong kapanahunan ng ama ni Donya Gloria, si Diosdadong mahirap).

Mga sampung minuto lang ang dokumentaryong ito. Dito’y ipinakita kung paano sadyang pinagkakakitaan ang basura. “May pera sa basura,” wika nga. Ngunit ang kahindik-hindik na kaalamang pinakikita ng Sine Totoo ay kung paanong pagkain na ang basura ngayon. Ito ang “pagpag”.

Sa tuwing madaling-araw, may mga “scavenger” na nanglilimas ng mga basurahan ng mga malalaking fastfood na kainan, tulad ng Max’s, McDo, Jollibee at KFC. Ang hanap ay hindi papel na pinagbabalutan, o karton, o styropor, kundi mga tira-tirang pagkain, gaya ng mga buto ng “fried chicken”, kung saan may nakakabit pang kaunting laman. Paminsan-minsan ay marami pang laman, lalo na siguro’t batang maselan o busog na ang siyang pumapak ng order ng ama’t ina.

Lulan ng mga de-padyak na tricycle o ‘di kaya’y kariton, ang saku-sako ng basura ay dinadalang pauwi sa kanilang bahay sa squatters’ area.

Matutulog nang ilang oras, at pagkagising, katulong ang asawa’t mga anak, ay ihihiwalay ang mga tira-tirang piyesa ng manok na pinagkainan ng iba, at ilalagay sa karton. Pagkatapos, dadalhin ang mga karton sa carinderia, at ibebenta sa may-ari ng tig-singkwenta pesos bawat karton.

Huhugasan ito sa mainit na tubig (hindi pakukuluan dahil magkakalasug-lasog), at papagpagin ang pinaghugasan. Tapos, lulutuin na. Ipipritong muli, o ‘di kaya’y sasahugan ng bawang at paminta, toyo at suka, para maging adobo, o ‘di kaya’y gagawing apritadang “pagpag”.

Maya-maya, ibebenta na ito. Sampung piso ang maliit na mangkok ng apritada, kinse pesos ang pinirito (saksakan ng mahal yata ang mantika!), saka isang pinggan ng kaning NFA. Solve na solve na ang gutom ng mga kapitbahay.

Tinanong ng mga taga-media kung hindi ba sila natatakot na ma-food poisoning, ma-salmonella kaya, ngunit ang sagot ay “eto lang ang kaya namin,” o ‘di kaya’y “laman-tiyan din ito, napakuluan naman sa pagluluto,” at meron pang ibang buong pagmamalaking sinasabing, “pagpag ang siyang nagpapalakas sa akin.” Ipinakita pa ang isang sanggol na sumisipsip din ng pagpag. At sabi ng ina, “okay naman, hindi naman nagkakasakit, hiyang sa pagpag.”

Maski na matanda ka na, mahirap na hindi ka maiyak sa mga eksenang ito. Ito ang tunay na kalagayan ng maralitang taga-lungsod, ang mga dukha na “kinakalinga” ni Donya Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, ang mga masang “minamahal” ni Erap.

Abante, Agosto 6, 2008

The real state of the nation

The story of the two year old boy who fell down the stairs of their house in Sagay, Negros Occidental, describes more poignantly than Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her bevy of speechwriters could ever attempt, the real state of the nation.

We are indebted to Carla Gomez of the Inquirer Visayas for this true story. The boy, Wilfredo Labajo Jr. was brought to a district hospital, later transferred to a regional hospital where he was diagnosed to have suffered from head trauma as a result of the fall. Many of us fell from trees or stairs in our childhood days, and suffered fractured legs or arms, even a gaping wound in the head perhaps, the result of mischief and boundless energy.

But Jun-Jun Labajo fell because he got dizzy after a meal of boiled rice laced with monosodium glutamate. His mother, Jonelyn, who is pregnant, had to leave her youngest son in the care of four other siblings because she and her husband had to sell ice buko candy in the poblacion. She explained to doctors that her children are usually fed boiled rice with salt because that was all they could afford. Their supply of salt though ran out, so her 9-year old daughter used some monosodium glutamate instead, vetsin to the poor and unschooled. She mixed this with the rice and water before boiling and simmering. The toddler Jun-Jun felt dizzy after his vetsin-laced lunch, and fell from the stairs.

Joneyln and her husband, Wilfredo Sr. have five children, the eldest being 12 years old, and the youngest, two-year old Jun-Jun. Together, they earn about 60 pesos a day selling ice buko.

"With rice now costing us more than 30 pesos per kilo, there is almost never enough to buy any viand, so we just add salt to the rice to give it some taste," recounted a tearful Jonelyn.

Now think of the Labajos of Sagay as typical of millions of Filipino families pushed to extreme poverty and hunger, where underemployment and marginal livelihood are elevated by government statistics into employment. Think of similar households with five or six, even eight or ten children, subsisting day-in and day-out on vetsin-laced instant noodles wolfed down slowly poisoned throats and into hungry bellies with rice. In Samar and Bicol, even rice has ceased to be staple. Balinghoy or cassava, and boiled green bananas, foraged in countrysides, have become substitutes for rice. At least these are more nutritious than what the urban kids in Isla Puting Bato, Parola, Magsaysay, Payatas, Maricaban, and God knows wherever else, whose daily staple are instant noodles, and count themselves lucky when their father or elder brother is able to forage some scraps and leavings from some fast food table.

With our dear bishops of the church telling us, the poor especially, to "go forth and multiply" and forbidding the use of "artificial" family planning methods, even as they could only sing hallelujahs to the illegitimate leadership that is upon the land a curse, has God truly forsaken this country?

Such, Dona Gloria, is the true state of our nation, a nation you have led, without our collective choice, for the past seven years and seven months.

Meanwhile, executives, both in government and the private sector, including a former chief executive of the benighted land, trooped to hear a lecture from New York's Rudy Giuliani, and paid some 25,000 pesos each for the event, only to be told that especially in periods of crisis, "transparency" is the hallmark of good leadership.

"No one wants to do business in a place with a great deal of corruption," Giuliani said.

Well, a group of foreigners who have decided to retire in the country are complaining that for the "privilege" of staying in this accursed land, they are milked periodically by persons at the behest, kuno, of Philippine Retirement Authority officials.

Said one who wrote us, "It seems that these days only the scum of the earth, the corrupt and the powerful have the right to survive in this forsaken country." And then concludes, "With these on-goings (sic), with thieves and crooks running the government, God help the Philippines."

Now our friend Susan Ople, who heads an NGO named after her late father of deeply respected memory, the Blas F. Ople Policy Center which addresses labor concerns, reports about the sad plight of undocumented Filipino workers in Sabah who are now being repatriated to the benighted country. Toots Ople worries about the tedious work that a "caring" government should be doing to give these unfortunate Filipinos a fresh start in life.

"There should be a holistic plan that would service these Filipinos even after the massive crackdown done by the Malaysian government," says Ople, a former Labor undersecretary in the Arroyo government. Filipinos troop to Sabah to work in construction sites and palm plantations because of the lack of job opportunities in the homeland. Nowadays though, the Malaysian government intensified its crackdown against the illegal workers as the latter are being blamed for crime and other social problems. Undocumented Filipino workers in Malaysia normally fall under two groups: those who already have established a family in Sabah; and those who opted to stay in the Philippines after being victimized by illegal recruiters or have fallen prey to drug trafficking.

"Those who have families in Sabah should be helped in securing proper documentation to resume work there, but providing a living for those who will stay here is more challenging," she added. Ople recognized the fact that the Social Welfare and Labor departments have been taking measures to assist the deported Filipinos through counseling, training sessions and shouldering fare expenses, but a lot more must be done. And as far as these agencies or the local governments in the South are concerned, there are not enough funds available. Can they too apply for "Katas ng VAT"?

***

A Filipino from the East Coast writes in reaction to our Saturday column on the feeling of hopelessness that disturbs many in the country:

"I could not but agree with the sentiments you described in your column of August 2. I migrated to the US in 1980, to wait it out until the Marcos regime would end. But family obligations kept me in the US even after 1986. Later, my own professional career played a major role in keeping me here. I took early retirement some three years back as a vice-president and chief audit officer of a bank and started making plans, off and on, to return.

"All through the years since I migrated, I did not lose the desire to spend my remaining years in the Philippines. I made it a point to visit the country at least once every two or three years, on average. I remained a Filipino citizen through those years hoping to come home as a proud Filipino.

"Until last year. The constant reports of corruption of ever increasing magnitude and the virtual involvement by members of the First Family in practically all government contracts (contract size seemed not to matter) and the constant lying and cheating took their toll on me. That corruption has permeated through all levels of government and, as some reports say, even the private sector, contributed to my disillusion. But the biggest factor, I believe, is the open and gross disregard for the rule of law by this administration. It has become like a spoiled child (isn't she?) throwing tantrums to get her way, as if she owned the country herself. And I do not foresee a positive change, however slight with the prevailing system, and with the current crop of politicians, national and local, who run the country.

"I have given up on remaining a Filipino citizen. This year, I became a US citizen and do not intend to apply for dual citizenship. I will continue to visit (after all I still have close family there) but that would be the extent of what I would do -- visit. I am quite excited that I will be able to participate in the next US presidential elections, albeit as a voter only. And I am certain that my vote will be counted by those computers that Philippine politicians seem to hate with a passion, because that just might prevent their perpetuation in public office."

Truly, the state of the nation.

Malaya, August 5, 2008

Wasak na bansa

Sadya na yatang wina­wasak ng pamahalaang Arroyo ang integridad ng ating bansa, at sadya nang ipinamimigay ang ating teritoryo ng ganun-ganun lang. Sa araw na ito, mali­ban kung mapigil, lalagda ng kasulatan ang ating pamahalaan at ang humihiwalay na Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), na ang layunin diumano ay pangmatagalang kapa­yapaan sa Mindanao.

Upang makamit ang sinasabing “kapayapaan”, magkakaroon na ng isang Bangsamoro homeland, na tinaguriang Bangsamoro Juridical Entity, at papa­yagan ng pamahalaang Arroyo na angkinin ng mga ito ang kasalukuyang ARMM, at karagdagang mga bayan at barangay sa mga lalawigan ng Lanao del Norte, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga at Palawan. Kasama rito ang ilang mga bayan na ang karamihan ng residente ay Kristiyano, tulad ng parte ng Iligan, ng Zamboanga (pati nga munisipyo at katedral ng mga Romano Katoliko), mga bayan sa North Cotabato at Sultan Kudarat na tatlo o apat na henerasyon na ng mga Kristiyano ang nagmamay-ari. Maging ang pinakamalaking minahan ng nickel sa bansa, sa bayan ng Bataraza sa Palawan, ay sakop, at ang malalaking taniman ng niyog sa Brooke’s Point.

Ang bagong Bangsa­moro homeland ay magkakaroon ng sariling sistema ng pananalapi, sariling burokrasya, sistema ng edukasyon, sariling kapulisan at sandatahang lakas, sariling pamamaraan ng eleksyon, at sariling sali­gang batas. Sa madaling salita, isang panibagong bansa na inihihiwalay ang sarili sa ating Republika ng Piaagbibigay ng karapatang bungkalin ang mga minahan, kagubatan, maging ang karagatang nakapalibot sa kanilang tinaguriang “ancestral domain”. Baka ang pampalubag-loob sa atin ay isasabit pa rin ang ating watawat, katabi ng sa kanila.

Sa anumang pananaw, lumalabas na winawasak na ng pamahalaang Arroyo ang ating nag-iisang bansa. Ito ba ay pinagbili? Meron bang mayayamang bansang Islam na nagbayad, o magbabayad, para magkaroon ng sariling bansa ang mga Moro? Mayroon bang mga dayuhang kapangyarihan na nagdikta ng ganitong pagtaksil sa bansa at pag­yurak sa ating kasarinlan?

Samantala’y inililihim ang mga pinagkasunduan, at naipupuslit lamang ang “tentative agreement” na balak na isakatuparan sa araw na ito. Anong kahibangan ito?

Tiyak na sisiklab ang gulo sa mga lugar na ito. Lalo na nga at wala man lamang konsultasyon na ginanap sa mga nasabing lugar, at hindi naman papayag na magsipaglikas ang mga naninirahan ditong mga Kristiyano, dahil sa ipasasakop na ni Donya Gloria sa mga Muslim ang kanilang mga bayan at lungsod.

O baka naman sinasadyang magkagulo? Matatandaang nagbabala tayo rito may mga dalawang linggo na ang nagdaan, na may maitim na balaking amyendahan ang ating Saligang Batas upang magkaroon ng isang fede­ral, parliamentary system, at ang gagamiting dahilan ay itong kasunduan sa MILF. Sa isa nga namang bansang pederal, maaaring magkaroon ng ganitong malawakang kapangyarihan at awtoridad ang bawat estadong pederal.

Ngunit dahil pinipilit na magkalagdaan nga­yong araw na ito, at dahil sa parang binagsakan ng langit at lupa ang mga residente ng mga lugar na ito, e mala­mang na magkagulo at magkaroon ng ‘di kanais-nais na digmaan at labanan sa nasabing mga lugar. Napakalaking krisis, na maaari namang magbadya ng “martial law”.

Naglalaro sa apoy ang pamahalaan natin. Mala­king kataksilan ito kung totoo ang ating mga hinala, na base naman sa kasulatang kanilang sinang-ayunan sa Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Huwag naman sana.

Abante, Agosto 5, 2008

Twice robbed

Twice the Filipino people have been robbed, and in both cases, it had to do with the May elections. A senator elected by eleven million Filipinos was denied his right to attend sessions of the chamber by a judge who sports the same surname as one who was robbed by the "people" of Maguindanao and the Commission on Electoral Cheating.

The DOJ prosecutors whose position was sustained by Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati RTC said that if Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV were allowed to perform his functions as mandated by the electorate, it would be like upholding the voice of a mere 11 million over 85 million. That is a quaint political theory that has now been elevated into the jurisprudence of the land. Last time I heard, democracy is the rule of the majority. Which means that even a majority of one represents a constituency of all.

By the same quaint political theory, the gentleman from Maguindanao should be simply that – he represents Maguindanao, and not the entire republic whose votes have been credited to him as Numero Doce by the Commission on Electoral Cheating.

And so have we been twice robbed, by a court, the prosecutors of Raul Gonzalez, and Hermogenes Esperon, in tandem, and by Lintang Bedol and the Ampatuan sultanate, as sanctioned by the Commission on Electoral Cheating, in tandem likewise.

Welcome to the Philippines, the land we love, where we are "robbed" always.

***

If you are a foreign visitor watching TV Patrol or 24 Oras and you see footages of "double-dead" meat on their way to the markets apprehended by law enforcers, you would be asking yourself, "What kind of people are these?"

In any other country where people have some sense of community, no one would ever sell something that is unfit for human consumption to his neighbor. In this country, "it’s me and my family", and who the hell cares about the others?

That is why greatness, let alone progress, eludes this benighted land. No sense of community. No national purpose. No national discipline. Worse, no love of country.

***

I should be happy with the recently-proclaimed "holiday economics" law. In Erap’s time, I proposed it, and caused a similar bill being introduced as an administration measure. I was then both the general manager of the Philippine Tourism Authority and the Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs. I believed then and now that moving our holidays to the nearest weekend would promote domestic tourism as much as it would increase the productivity of our workplaces.

But my proposal then did not include Araw ng Kalayaan among the holidays whose date of commemoration could be moved. In fact, I believe it the duty of all government employees, civilian or military, to be present at every public plaza in every municipality of the country, to commemorate that one day which memorializes our national persona.

This is perhaps one of very few countries, in the undistinguished company of likely the sub-Saharan nations, where the people and its government treat National Day in so cavalier a fashion. Hey, you guys are paid by the Republic. The least you could do is to give reverence to its National Day.

And Gloria Macapagal Arroyo makes it a moveable holiday, so people, government leaders and employees included, could go to the beaches or to the malls instead of being inspired by the memory of our nationhood. Talagang walang redeeming value.

***

The guy who claims to be "Jose Pidal" has been named chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. May minang huhukayin, may trosong puputulin, maraming mga lupang pwede pang angkinin.

The gentleman from Lubao, the capital of jueteng and the center of gravel-mining, has been named chair of the House Committee on Energy.

Big-ticket. Wow!

The Lady by the River in her SONAta of last, preened in beaming pride about how lucky her successor to the presidency would be. She laid the groundwork, the foundations, for his "easy" rule, said she.

Scorched earth is more likely what awaits him or her. In Tagalog, "sisimutin lahat".

The late Sen. Raul Roco of respected memory once told a reporter in the campaign of 2004, "sa totoo lang, wala nang mananakaw sa gobyerno after these elections – ubos na!"

Now the "smart" are proving him wrong. There’s the ZTE Broadband mega-deal, there are power contracts all over, there’s mining, there’s land yet to grab, and computerization of Customs, the LTO, DECS, and not to forget, there’s yet another computerization deal at the Commission on Electoral Cheating. Oh how Raul would toss in his grave at realizing how they will scorch whatever is left. Walang kabusog-busog, as the old folks say.

***

Mea culpa. I am sorry.

There were 24 senators in the Senate prior to martial law. While it started as a Senate of 16 members, elections every two years where senators were elected by the entire nation to a term of six years each, without term limits, gave us 24 honorable men and women. And there were just over a hundred congressmen with four-year terms, also without term limits. Now we have 236 and counting in the Lower House, and save for a few dozens, the prefix "honorable" before their names leaves us cold. Ditto for some senators.

Readers Antonio Figueroa and Atty. Pete Santizo, and my friend Paquito Lirio, the former mayor of great Tanauan in Batangas, took time to write and correct our previous column. Atty. Santizo further corrects our line that party inspectors and not teachers manned the precincts prior to martial law. The chairman of the precinct board and the designated poll clerk were teachers, and with them, the eagle-eyed NP and LP inspectors, all of them given allowances by the government, through the Commission on Elections. Nowadays, candidates have to pay their poll watchers, while the Commission on Electoral Cheating pays the teachers who are the poll inspectors. The new set-up makes it much, much more expensive for political candidates, and much, much more conducive to vote manipulation.

Mea maxima culpa.

Malaya, August 3, 2008

Feeling hopeless, helpless?

The rain last Thursday afternoon fell in torrents. The traffic after was truly horrible. A friend who was to have dinner with me that night took all of four hours and a half to travel from Alabang to Manila. He had dinner at almost ten.

My ordeal wasn't as bad. Taking a round-about route at four in the afternoon from Makati to avoid notoriously flood-prone areas, I reached the vicinity of our dinner date at about six in the evening. I decided to kill time in a nearby coffee shop, as the dinner meeting was supposed to be at half past seven.

An old friend and his companion were inside, also killing time, because they did not want to hurdle the heavy traffic. For more than an hour, he and his companion wondered aloud, "What is happening to this country?" and it wasn't just the horrible gridlock on the streets.

"Wala na bang good news sa bansang ito?" he began. "I listened to the SONA, expecting the usual lies, but jaded as I already was, I became aghast at the brazenness of GMA's lying. As you keep writing in your columns, she is beyond redemption. Recidivist, kung baga," he wailed. I wanted to laugh, except that his observation was too painfully true.

And then came a litany of problems without solutions. From Hello Garci to the earlier Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard to his own allegations of gross larceny at DPWH (he used to be a pretty established contractor until he decided to call it quits and sold his company, hoping to retire in comfort) to the malodorous ZTE-NBN mega-deal to why Joe de Venecia is as scarce nowadays and as silent as an Egyptian sphinx to the untold wealth of politician this and cabinet member that.

But I will not bore you with that stuff. I myself am tired of writing about such stuff... well, almost. And in varying degrees, with SWS and Pulse Asia and even radio surveys giving ample evidence, hardly any Filipino believes that their leader, unelected as she is, has been honest or upright or sincere or caring or sensitive, those qualities that we dream of and hope for, but always get disenchanted about.

What I'd like to describe is the anguish that both gentlemen expressed over the hopelessness of the country's situation. And they were not talking of the "global" externalities that Doña Gloria bandies around as excuse everywhere she goes, whether before the downtrodden waiting in line for their "katas ng VAT" or astonished foreign audiences who know the truth, but are too polite to tell her to her face.

As polite as Rudy Giuliani, who told an audience which paid fantastic mega-bucks for the privilege of learning from him, all the qualities of leadership that their president and her government has not. But would not want to "meddle in local politics". Right though he was, his audience probably felt they need not have paid 300,000 pesos per table just to be told that the secret to good government is transparency, and the secret to good leadership is having trust and credibility. Jojo Binay and the other organizers imported somebody just to be told what they themselves keep hearing from Liling Briones or Oscar Cruz or Vince Lazatin in television talk shows.

"Look at our judiciary, from RTC to the Court of Appeals, even some justices in the Supreme Court...the Ombudsman...the fiscals. It's no longer about legal arguments, or basic justice. It's all about money, how much per decision," lamented my friend's companion. "All our institutions are destroyed," he adjudged.

"Wala na yata talagang pag-asa...elections don't serve the purposes of democratic choice," said my friend. "Kung sino ang maraming pera, 'yun ang nananalo...walang kalaban-laban ang magaling at hindi magnanakaw", he added, as we went into the expensive details of running a campaign, and even before that, the pre-campaign.

"Even here in Metro Manila, vote-buying is already rampant...plus of course, the Comelec operators, the cheating mechanics...the electoral system will not produce good men and women, only smart-alecky guys who would use money sourced from corruption or big business to ensure their victory," they chorused. "People are mesmerized by false leadership claims that engender false hopes and end up being cheated," one of them rued.

"Kung bata-bata lang ako, I would head for the nearest exit, and migrate elsewhere," said one. Both of them have children who have migrated in sheer despair. Like millions of other Filipinos who feel hopeless and believe they are helpless to set things right anyway.

It was a sad conversation, which got me recollecting how another friend, in a much earlier conversation, ruefully declared, "nothing less than system change, by force rather than constitutional or legal means is what this country needs."

I wanted to agree with that observation, but do not know if that is at all possible, given the mercenary predilection of our generals (or some of them, anyway). Where, one wonders, is patriotism, or is there any sense of nationhood at all among us, to begin with?

And then, yesterday morning, I happened to pass by Nagtahan Bridge. Astride garish lampposts which ablaze at night look like some cheap fairyland, were rows of flags, tattered, faded, decaying. Truly they symbolize the state of the nation.

What kind of government, local or national, could countenance such desecration? And to think that a stone's throw away was Malacañang, and beside the bridge is the headquarters of the Presidential Security Group, the praetorian guards who secure her illegitimate majesty.

Hopeless na nga ba? And are we as a people so helpless to do anything about this abomination upon us?

Malaya, August 2, 2008

Transcendental

The last SONA of Doña Gloria was interrupted a hundred or so times (according to the broadcast stations) by coaxed applause. The applause was tepid, likely coaxed by two very apparent observations. First, the speaker on the dais stopped after almost every sentence, and looked as if she was waiting for the applause. After a few seconds of embarrassing silence, the polite applause came. Naghihintay ng palakpak!

The second was the usual presence of starters-Senadora Miriam in pink paler than her Boss Woman's, giving her every ounce of strength to raising the decibels of coaxed approval. Plus the Arroyo brothers, one positioned to the front left of Doña Mama, the other at the rear right. And of course, the ubiquitous Senora Girlie Villarosa.

ANC's Pia Hontiveros sounded truly aghast when she observed that the longest and strongest applause came when the Dona said that "because texting has become a way of life", she (misma!) talked to the "telecoms", and got them to lower the price of text messaging to 50 centavos!

Transcendental!

Without need of any coaxing from Senadora Miriam or Senora Girlie, the hall thundered in wild applause. Had Joker Arroyo deigned to dignify his Boss Woman with his "august" attendance, he would have described the cacophony similar to "jumping chimpanzees". The most transcendental event in the history of the seven years and seven months of Gloria had transpired, mirabile dictu! Ah, such great significance to the life of this miserably benighted land, such earth-shaking announcement from the lips of La Doña, misma! How could she be so beneficent that at such a great hour that comes but once in every year, she had thought of her "pobrecitos y pobrecitas," particularmente los jovenes, a quien este...text..."had become a way of life".

Ang babaw talaga ng kaligayahan, and to think that in that Great Hall of the Benighted sat in transfixed attention and coaxed applause the crème de la crème of this nation's body politic!

That message about text messaging cost being cut, by "diktat" from her imperial highness, was the high point of her-one hour address. People will long remember her for her hated VAT, and will remember how obstinately she called its juice, more appropriately, the blood, sweat and tears of los pobrecitos y pobrecitas, as "el salvador de la patria". (Pardon the profane usage of your name, Tito Doy.) Just as they would remember how the Bugkalot chieftain and mayor of Natipunan in Quirino upended all the multi-millions spent for the haute couture, les parfums et les coiffures (not to mention prior treatments with Belo or Calayan or a botox visit to Bangkok) by simply being himself, even if he must have chafed painfully inside his heart at being used as a prop for all that lying. But miserable people will always certainly appreciate the small and tender mercy of a cut on the cost of text.

And then came the morning after. My God, the telcos were still charging a peso per text! What happened to the diktat of the "queen"? How dare these telcos defy Canuta, and would dirty her feet, er, word, as so marvellously pronounced in the "great hall" of the benighted land?

'Yun pala, promo lang!

Due to the competition for the thinning purchasing power of "estos pobrecitos y pobrecitas," they asked the National Telecommunications Commission if they could cut their rates for their short messaging services by half, for a period of ninety days. Of course the NTC agreed.

Nai-kwento sa Donya, inangkin naman. "Inutos ko" later tempered to "pinakiusapan ko sila". He, he, he.

With faces as red as beet the day after, the embarrassed NTC officials had to say they would try to make the fifty percent discount permanent, but that, they cautioned, would require hearings.

So man-on-the-street interviews the day after the SONA, and such transcendental message from the "queen" suddenly turned into angry chants of "Nambobola na naman pala!"

But to the succor came the new toady at NEDA, the author of VAT, mismo, who likely would out-nerify Romulo in the post, and intones, as if he would do what his Doña failed to immediately deliver because it was once more lying and cheating and stealing (credit): "I think the government wants that to be permanent, the President wants it to be permanent, so that people will have savings and possibly that can augment their income". Wow! Such transcendental economic theory from Senor Recto, esposo de La Vilma.

Kawawang mga telcos. Ginamit lang na props, na-kotongan pa! As Panfilo Lacson, the perpetual bête noire of Doña Gloria y Don Miguel, rued, "pati credit sa kotong, ninakaw!" "Nawala na ang kotong noon (during his stint as PNP chief), bumalik pa nga nung naupo siya." And every driver in the land, whether that guy who was made to stand up from the gallery in attestation to the virtual reality of the Boss Woman's fatuous claim, or any jeepney, taxi, bus, FX and what-have-you would chorus, "nambobola na naman."

Meanwhile, Indonesia lowered its VAT from 7.5 to 3 percent. Thailand is following suit, if it has not yet announced the cut at the time of this writing. But the Doña will "stay the course" because "leadership is not about doing the first easy thing that comes to mind; it is about doing the necessary, however hard."

Vintage Teddyboy Locsin wordsmithing, if I may surmise. I wonder if my friend Teddy also taught her to lie about text messages.

Malaya, August 1, 2008

Ano ba talaga, Ka Erap?

Magulo ang umpisa ng taong ito. Kay aga ay pulitika na ng 2010 ang siyang pinagkakaabalahan, at nag-umpisa ito noong binulalas ni dating Pangulong Erap Estrada ang kanyang balaking tumakbo muli para pangulo.

Ang dami na kasing mga nakalinya sa oposisyon na nais tumakbo sa pagka-pa­ngulo. Nakalinya sa oposisyon, hindi tiyak kung tunay na oposisyon. Kasi noong 2001, si Manny Villar, si Mar Roxas, maging si Loren Legarda ay kakampi ng kasalukuyang administrasyon ni Donya Gloria. Matatandaang si Villar ang siyang nag-impeach kay Pangulong Erap noong Nobyembre 2000. Si Roxas naman ay naging Kalihim ng Pangangalakal ni Donya Gloria mula 2001-hanggang 2004, kung kailan tumakbo siyang senador sa tiket nito. Hindi rin nakisama sa hiling ng bayan na magbitiw si Donya Gloria bagama’t nabistong nandaya noong halalan ng 2004 ang dalawang ito. Mabuti pa si Loren, sapagkat noon pang 2004 ay humanay na sa oposisyon at naging katambal pa nga ni FPJ, dangan nga lamang at na-Garci at na-Esperon/Ebdane/Lomibao atbp. ang kanilang kandidatura.

Ngunit dahil mapagpatawad at makakalimutin si Ka Erap, tinangkilik niya maging sina Villar at Roxas bilang “oposisyon”. Kasama sina Ping Lacson, na simula’t simula pa ng maupo si Donya Gloria ay minarkahan nang kaaway ng administrasyon, at si Jojo Binay na makailang beses na tinangkang alisin sa pwesto bilang alkalde ng Makati, ang limang ito ang siyang mga binabanggit ni Ka Erap na pagpipilian para magkaroon ng iisang kandidato ang oposisyon.

Ngayon pa lamang ay kitang-kita na’ng mahirap mapag-isa ang mga lider na ito. Malamang sa hindi, sina Roxas at Villar ay kasado na, wika nga. Gayundin si Lacson. Baka sina Loren at Jojo ay hindi pa buo ang loob, at hihintayin ang mangyayari pa sa senaryo ng pulitika sa taong ito. Kaya nakapagtataka, nag-uumapaw na nga ang “oposisyon” sa tinaguriang mga “presidentiables”, e bakit nais pang tanggapin si Noli de Castro nitong mag-amang Estrada? Tila hinihikayat pang sumama sa oposisyon. Mas marami, mas masaya, gaya ng sinulat natin kahapon, pero mas magulo rin.

At bakit naman ikukonsidera si Noli de Castro sa oposisyon? Noong 2001, habang nasa piitan si Erap, tinangkilik pa siyang kandidato ng Pwersa ng Masa. Nagwagi siya, katunayan, Numero Uno. Pero matapos sumumpa, nakihanay na sa administrasyon ni Donya Gloria, bagama’t sinasabing siya raw ay “independente”, kuno. At naging bise-presidente pa nga ni Donya noong 2004. Nu’ng lumitaw ang Hello Garci, lumaban ba si Noli kay mandarayang Gloria? Hindi. Nakiramdam. Umiwas sa away. Tapos ngayon e ikukonsidera pa sa hanay ng “oposisyon”?

Talaga bang wala nang prinsipyo sa pamumulitika natin, maging sa oposisyon? Talaga bang kay kitid ng ating pananaw at kay daling makalimot? Trapung-trapo --- nakakasuka. Maski siguro si FPJ na nakahimlay na, bumabaligtad sa inis.

Hindi na nga magkandaugaga sa dami ng mga kandidatong nakalinya raw sa oposisyon, magdadagdag pa ng “imported” mula sa administrasyon? Kanya pala naman si Senadora Jamby Madrigal e matagal nang nawalan ng gana sa baligtaring posisyon ng pamumuno ni Ka Erap sa pulitika ng oposisyon.

Maaring sabihin ni Ka Erap na tinitiyak niyang mawawalan ng malakas-lakas na kandidato ang kampo ni Donya Gloria sa pagkupkop kay Noli, pero halimbawa mang kumagat si Noli, na tila hindi naman mangyayari, e di umimporta lang siya ng gulo sa hanay nila? Nagrarambol na nga, dinagdagan pa ang tagarambol.

Samantala, bagama’t malabong kumagat si Noli sa imbitasyon nina Ka Erap at Senador Jinggoy, nagiging pananaw lang ng sambayanan sa pulitika ng oposisyon at administrasyon ay --- pare-pareho lang kayo. Walang pinagkatandaan, walang prinsipyo. Hindi na ba kayo magbabago?

Abante, Agosto 1, 2008