DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/30/2010
PeNoy’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) cued the mainstream, oligarchy-controlled media on the propaganda line that the National Power Corp. (Napocor)’s rate hike petition is due to the artificially low rates it charged upon instruction of Malacañang under Gloria Arroyo. By highlighting this, PeNoy created the impression that the massive debt incurred by Napocor had been due to incompetence and corruption. PeNoy’s Energy Secretary Jose Almendras, former executive of the energy conglomerate Aboitiz Group, even followed this up on radio every day.
What PeNoy omitted is the fact that Napocor’s dire situation today is a result of the distorted privatization program, which has saddled it with debts (accrued over the decades from its service expansion across the country) while giving away its profit-generating assets for a song to private power producers, as well as, transmission and distribution companies. In effect, Napocor was robbed of revenues that were supposed to service its debts.
Most of these independent power producers or IPPs started business by taking advantage of Napocor’s power generating assets that were privatized by government to them. The sale of these assets, in turn, assigned to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) Corp., was supposed to pay off Napocor’s debts; but a balance of at least P475 billion remains.
Government absorbs 35 percent (which we pay for as taxes) and we, the consumers, absorb 65 percent as “stranded contract costs” and “stranded debts,” which we will all pay under the so-called “universal charge.”
On the July 29 morning radio program of Noli de Castro with Almendras as guest, the Napocor tale was again thrashed about with the two lambasting the state-owned power corporation without explaining the history of its debts. Why, De Castro, in his infinite ignorance, even exclaimed, “Basta gobyerno ang may hawak lugi” when the truth is, his ABS-CBN bosses and their ilk are said to have gotten the biggest slice of the Napocor pie.
PeNoy, Almendras, De Castro will obviously not report the most enlightening Philippine energy news item of the past week: “Meralco income up 82 percent on 14 percent hike in volume sold,” as headlined by a business paper. In the first semester alone, Meralco profited by a whopping P5.8 billion from P3.18 billion in the same period last year. Such reports of gargantuan earnings hikes abound; yet little notice is taken.
Alas, the shenanigans of privatization know no bounds. In 2008, Meralco admitted that it charged consumers P13 billion in power that was never delivered because they have the “take-or-pay” purchased power agreement provisions courtesy of the power privatization law, Epira (Electric Power Reform Act), passed by the Edsa II Congress. And in 2009, Meralco reported a 119-percent increase in its net profit. Meanwhile, Aboitiz Power, Almendras’ mother company, reported its profit rising 143 percent in 2008, which it attributed to acquired government power assets.
PeNoy, Secretary Almendras and the likes of Noli de Castro, ABS-CBN, GMA7, and the mainstream newspapers are in cahoots with the power oligarchs in hiding these facts from the people.
The other fairy tale from the Sona is the much ballyhooed leasing out of the 30-hectare Naval HQ property. Considering that this is near the prime properties of Metro Manila, i.e. Forbes Park and Fort Bonifacio, the offer PeNoy was boasting of amounts to a “steal” as relayed to us by real estate experts. This is not only a fairy tale; we can smell a scam here and it would not surprise us if PeNoy’s campaign contributors (who are also big-time real estate moguls) put him up to it.
The expressway to the North that PeNoy said a foreign investor has offered to build, which would certainly entail the usual “sovereign guarantee,” will lead to exorbitant toll rates again.
It’s as if PeNoy is deaf to the pains and cries of commuters and traders using the present BOT expressways and skyways that are charging sky high toll fees that make the cost of things, such as tourism, vegetables, meats, poultry, and everything else that needs to traverse the expressways higher.
Hearing Secretary Sonny Coloma say that “Anyway, they (the pained commuters) can take the old highway” shows us how insensitive PeNoy’s people are and how ignorant they are of the economic impact their decisions make. PeNoy’s foreign-funded highway will be another highway to ruin.
Still, the same insensitivity plagues them on the MRT fare hike issue and the “cash transfer” plan of Dinky Soliman which will end up increasing hunger again, as inflation eats up the value of the “cash” for less rice as time goes by.
The final lie we spotted is PeNoy and Secretary Jesse Robredo’s spiel about the eradication of jueteng because the reports keep streaming in that not only is jueteng alive and well even in the province of Robredo but a new, more powerful gambling operation has spread all over the country called the “Meridien.” Operating alongside the “legalized” Small Town Lottery (STL), it definitely has the underside that really rakes in the money. The PNP big bosses are certainly not going to stop the P30-billion illegal gambling operations because, our informants aver, the top brass of the police allegedly split the P1-billion bounty per annum.
People should note how Robredo has softened his statements on these illegal gambling operations, as in his own home province, the political kingpins who also run jueteng have long overshadowed him.
In all, nothing has changed in this country: The looting by the oligarchs, criminal gangs, and corrupt bureaucrats continue. It’s a fairy tale that has no happy ending unless real revolutionary change intervenes.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Destiny Cable Channel 21, with the topic, “Stop Agus and Pulangui Privatization” and other power issues, with Mr. Louie Corral and PALAG; visit our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Today's commentary
Richard James Mendoza
July 26, 2010 (around 1200 hrs)
Pangilinan backs out. Senator Francis Pangilinan has backed out of the race for Senate President after failing to gather the needed thirteen (13) votes in order to be elected. At the same time, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile is expected to be the Senate President, with Senator Jinggoy Estrada retaining the position of Senate President pro tempore. I guess that the number thirteen (13) is not his lucky number. Anyway, it's good to hear that Mr. Noted backed off. That way, we can at least hope for an independent Senate.
No freedom from Trillanes. Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati RTC has denied the petition of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to attend the start of the 15th Congress. Although such was expected, I sense a sickening double standard. Why is it that while Trillanes is languishing in jail, real criminals like Chavit Singson, Nani Perez and the like roam the land as free men? And about the SC ruling of Trillanes, it's simply absurd. That's it.
The Arroyo-Singson HK charade. Congressman Ronald Singson, son of Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, was arrested by authorities in Hong Kong for possession of cocaine and diapezam, a sedative. On an another note, Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo along with his husband Mike Arroyo are going to Hong Kong for a supposed medical check-up of the latter. One cannot help but think the possibility of either of the two exerting their influences to free Chavit's son. After all, these two families conspired to remove a duly-elected leader. In any case, it is slowly coming to them. In other words, nakakarma na sila.
Water Crisis (?) Malacanang conceded a few days ago about the current water crisis that is being experienced by Metro Manila residents. However, are we really victims of a genuine water crisis or was this all part of a master plan so that the companies can have an excuse to raise water rates?
(Tong) Toll on the rise. It seems that there's no stopping the toll hike now. It was reported that the hike will take place on August 16. The toll fees are expected to raise by a whopping 250%. Sonny Coloma's idiotic remark of "Masasanay din sila" ("They'll get used to it") summarizes one of the objectives of these callous corpo-rats.
Dignifying EDSA Tres. Despite what the mainstream media says about EDSA Tres as "not a real people power", I believe otherwise. In my opinion, it embodied the essence of Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution. In doing my part to rectify history, I am going to write an analysis of EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, with emphasis on the latter. Let me tell you something.... The events surrounding EDSA Dos were anything but constitutional. It was in fact the start of the rape of the Constitution as well as the blatant disregard of rule of law. It was also the start of the attack of our much-valued democracy. If anyone remembers their experiences or memories of EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, do not hesitate to contact me.
July 26, 2010 (around 1200 hrs)
Pangilinan backs out. Senator Francis Pangilinan has backed out of the race for Senate President after failing to gather the needed thirteen (13) votes in order to be elected. At the same time, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile is expected to be the Senate President, with Senator Jinggoy Estrada retaining the position of Senate President pro tempore. I guess that the number thirteen (13) is not his lucky number. Anyway, it's good to hear that Mr. Noted backed off. That way, we can at least hope for an independent Senate.
No freedom from Trillanes. Judge Oscar Pimentel of the Makati RTC has denied the petition of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to attend the start of the 15th Congress. Although such was expected, I sense a sickening double standard. Why is it that while Trillanes is languishing in jail, real criminals like Chavit Singson, Nani Perez and the like roam the land as free men? And about the SC ruling of Trillanes, it's simply absurd. That's it.
The Arroyo-Singson HK charade. Congressman Ronald Singson, son of Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, was arrested by authorities in Hong Kong for possession of cocaine and diapezam, a sedative. On an another note, Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo along with his husband Mike Arroyo are going to Hong Kong for a supposed medical check-up of the latter. One cannot help but think the possibility of either of the two exerting their influences to free Chavit's son. After all, these two families conspired to remove a duly-elected leader. In any case, it is slowly coming to them. In other words, nakakarma na sila.
Water Crisis (?) Malacanang conceded a few days ago about the current water crisis that is being experienced by Metro Manila residents. However, are we really victims of a genuine water crisis or was this all part of a master plan so that the companies can have an excuse to raise water rates?
(Tong) Toll on the rise. It seems that there's no stopping the toll hike now. It was reported that the hike will take place on August 16. The toll fees are expected to raise by a whopping 250%. Sonny Coloma's idiotic remark of "Masasanay din sila" ("They'll get used to it") summarizes one of the objectives of these callous corpo-rats.
Dignifying EDSA Tres. Despite what the mainstream media says about EDSA Tres as "not a real people power", I believe otherwise. In my opinion, it embodied the essence of Article III, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution. In doing my part to rectify history, I am going to write an analysis of EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, with emphasis on the latter. Let me tell you something.... The events surrounding EDSA Dos were anything but constitutional. It was in fact the start of the rape of the Constitution as well as the blatant disregard of rule of law. It was also the start of the attack of our much-valued democracy. If anyone remembers their experiences or memories of EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, do not hesitate to contact me.
Sona 1986-2010
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/26/10
Families experiencing “involuntary” hunger, i.e., having nothing to eat at least once in three months, now make up over 21 percent of the population. Severe hunger rose to 4.2 percent, representing 780,000 families, from the previous 2.8 percent (or 530,000 families). Comparing this to the hunger average since 1998 of 13.6 percent, this dire situation precipitously aggravated in the past decade coincides with the inception of Edsa II and its acceleration of the economic privatization process, alongside the reinforcement of the fascist corporatist-bureaucratic governance of the country. The Edsa II political-economy transferred at least P3 trillion from the pockets of consumers to the top corporations through payments for power, water, telecoms, toll ways, and other privatized utilities, while the remainder went to increased taxes on consumer goods and payment of the national “debt.” This is the first point about the present state of the nation.
This “debt” and hunger are undoubtedly due to the net transfer of trillions from consumer pockets to corporate and bankers’ coffers. The 10 years of Gloria Arroyo incurred more debt than her three predecessors combined, expanding it to over P4 trillion. This was in keeping with the record of the “power grab” government of Corazon Aquino, which incurred over P400 billion ($16 billion) in domestic debt in seven years that rivaled all previous governments since Carlos Garcia, Dadong Macapagal, and 21 years of Marcos, which totaled $27 billion, as well as $3 billion in private sector debt.
PeNoy Aquino and his Budget Chief Butch Abad had initially promised to reverse this tradition by telling the nation that they can cut the Arroyo deficit of 36 percent of GDP down; but upon assumption into office, they increased the deficit ceiling to 39 percent of GDP, to be filled by borrowings on top of the P4.389 trillion ($83.809 billion) today.
More debt will mean even more increased hunger in the future. So is there no way out of this debt trap? Of course there is, but it is a course of action that isn’t anywhere in the mind — much less imagination — of the PeNoy administration. Even the basic minimum that we and other parties, such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition, have been clamoring for is not even being noted. That minimum: (1) a review and audit of the debt as it stands today, with the view of segregating those questionable debts for renegotiation; and (2) a review of the automatic appropriations law. The maximum, on the other hand: a debt moratorium, or even a debt default, would free up close to a trillion pesos for reconstruction and recovery. For many countries — from the US during FDR’s time to China in 1949 and Argentina in 2001 — a debt default has produced recovery and growth after a brief period of austerity.
Taxes are another indicator: Instead of cutting taxes to restore purchasing power to consumers and revive industry and agriculture, the PeNoy government is on a silent rampage to increase them. PeNoy may be keeping mum but his Cabinet gofers are the ones making noise. The VAT on toll ways IS a new tax, as any heretofore non-existent tax being imposed is always such, including a tax on any P25 transaction that will cover banana-Q and sampaguita vendors; and no legal gibberish by World Bank hatchet girl Kim Henares can change that. While these new taxes are being pushed (or floated) by PeNoy’s people, they are on a contradictory course in proposing the lowering of tariffs and royalties on oil products and Malampaya gas, which will cut revenues but not touch the profits of oil companies. Such muddle-headedness by the PeNoy Cabinet and other Liberal Party politicians is another malady that characterizes the state of the nation today.
Indeed, power, water, telecoms, and toll ways are the other indicators of the state of the nation: The higher the rates of services, the greater the negative impact on the national economy. Therefore, the rise in poverty and hunger correlates with the years of steeply climbing rates due to privatization. The PeNoy government, on the eve of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) to be delivered by its president, has given no indication of its policies on any of these vital utilities. Instead, it has dwelt on a “shock and awe” of more corruption exposés about the Arroyo regime and “truth telling.” What we should be getting but won’t expect to hear is a review of the Epira and the Performance Based Rating Mechanism (PBRM) for power pricing that is a built-in windfall for power companies and a burden to consumers, as well as, the Wesm spot market, which has been riddled with manipulations of power rates since its inception.
As for the AFP and PNP, an early indication of the total lack of management and direction is the recent “water crisis” incident where newspapers reported thousands of troops called into Metro Manila in anticipation of “water riots,” which call Malacañang a day later denied — a confusion that perhaps mirrors PeNoy’s appointment of his booze-loving nanny as Defense chief. While in the administration of democratic principles and justice that this Republic is supposed to be founded on, nothing typifies the state of hypocrisy and rot better than the way the legislature is treating one of its own and how the judiciary is handling the case of idealistic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s continued detention; this, while a whole gamut — from Nani Perez, Chavit Singson, Nur Misuari, to Gloria and Miriam — runs free.
It’s been an era of economic, political, social, and moral collapse ever since the Yellow power grab of 1986 until this last installation of the Yellow emperor by the global and local oligarchy. Only a nationalist-populist revolution can turn the dire state of the nation around. The only inspiration left for those aspiring for genuine change is the continuing struggle of Senator Trillanes. Join the November 29 Movement (N29M of the Manila Peninsula siege) in its press conference today, 11 a.m., at the Treehouse in Matalino Street, Quezon City.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., replay at 11 p.m., on Destiny Cable Channel 21, about “Miscarriage of Justice: The Trillanes Case” with lawyer Rey Robles and lawyer RG Guevarra of N29M; our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/26/10
Families experiencing “involuntary” hunger, i.e., having nothing to eat at least once in three months, now make up over 21 percent of the population. Severe hunger rose to 4.2 percent, representing 780,000 families, from the previous 2.8 percent (or 530,000 families). Comparing this to the hunger average since 1998 of 13.6 percent, this dire situation precipitously aggravated in the past decade coincides with the inception of Edsa II and its acceleration of the economic privatization process, alongside the reinforcement of the fascist corporatist-bureaucratic governance of the country. The Edsa II political-economy transferred at least P3 trillion from the pockets of consumers to the top corporations through payments for power, water, telecoms, toll ways, and other privatized utilities, while the remainder went to increased taxes on consumer goods and payment of the national “debt.” This is the first point about the present state of the nation.
This “debt” and hunger are undoubtedly due to the net transfer of trillions from consumer pockets to corporate and bankers’ coffers. The 10 years of Gloria Arroyo incurred more debt than her three predecessors combined, expanding it to over P4 trillion. This was in keeping with the record of the “power grab” government of Corazon Aquino, which incurred over P400 billion ($16 billion) in domestic debt in seven years that rivaled all previous governments since Carlos Garcia, Dadong Macapagal, and 21 years of Marcos, which totaled $27 billion, as well as $3 billion in private sector debt.
PeNoy Aquino and his Budget Chief Butch Abad had initially promised to reverse this tradition by telling the nation that they can cut the Arroyo deficit of 36 percent of GDP down; but upon assumption into office, they increased the deficit ceiling to 39 percent of GDP, to be filled by borrowings on top of the P4.389 trillion ($83.809 billion) today.
More debt will mean even more increased hunger in the future. So is there no way out of this debt trap? Of course there is, but it is a course of action that isn’t anywhere in the mind — much less imagination — of the PeNoy administration. Even the basic minimum that we and other parties, such as the Freedom from Debt Coalition, have been clamoring for is not even being noted. That minimum: (1) a review and audit of the debt as it stands today, with the view of segregating those questionable debts for renegotiation; and (2) a review of the automatic appropriations law. The maximum, on the other hand: a debt moratorium, or even a debt default, would free up close to a trillion pesos for reconstruction and recovery. For many countries — from the US during FDR’s time to China in 1949 and Argentina in 2001 — a debt default has produced recovery and growth after a brief period of austerity.
Taxes are another indicator: Instead of cutting taxes to restore purchasing power to consumers and revive industry and agriculture, the PeNoy government is on a silent rampage to increase them. PeNoy may be keeping mum but his Cabinet gofers are the ones making noise. The VAT on toll ways IS a new tax, as any heretofore non-existent tax being imposed is always such, including a tax on any P25 transaction that will cover banana-Q and sampaguita vendors; and no legal gibberish by World Bank hatchet girl Kim Henares can change that. While these new taxes are being pushed (or floated) by PeNoy’s people, they are on a contradictory course in proposing the lowering of tariffs and royalties on oil products and Malampaya gas, which will cut revenues but not touch the profits of oil companies. Such muddle-headedness by the PeNoy Cabinet and other Liberal Party politicians is another malady that characterizes the state of the nation today.
Indeed, power, water, telecoms, and toll ways are the other indicators of the state of the nation: The higher the rates of services, the greater the negative impact on the national economy. Therefore, the rise in poverty and hunger correlates with the years of steeply climbing rates due to privatization. The PeNoy government, on the eve of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) to be delivered by its president, has given no indication of its policies on any of these vital utilities. Instead, it has dwelt on a “shock and awe” of more corruption exposés about the Arroyo regime and “truth telling.” What we should be getting but won’t expect to hear is a review of the Epira and the Performance Based Rating Mechanism (PBRM) for power pricing that is a built-in windfall for power companies and a burden to consumers, as well as, the Wesm spot market, which has been riddled with manipulations of power rates since its inception.
As for the AFP and PNP, an early indication of the total lack of management and direction is the recent “water crisis” incident where newspapers reported thousands of troops called into Metro Manila in anticipation of “water riots,” which call Malacañang a day later denied — a confusion that perhaps mirrors PeNoy’s appointment of his booze-loving nanny as Defense chief. While in the administration of democratic principles and justice that this Republic is supposed to be founded on, nothing typifies the state of hypocrisy and rot better than the way the legislature is treating one of its own and how the judiciary is handling the case of idealistic Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s continued detention; this, while a whole gamut — from Nani Perez, Chavit Singson, Nur Misuari, to Gloria and Miriam — runs free.
It’s been an era of economic, political, social, and moral collapse ever since the Yellow power grab of 1986 until this last installation of the Yellow emperor by the global and local oligarchy. Only a nationalist-populist revolution can turn the dire state of the nation around. The only inspiration left for those aspiring for genuine change is the continuing struggle of Senator Trillanes. Join the November 29 Movement (N29M of the Manila Peninsula siege) in its press conference today, 11 a.m., at the Treehouse in Matalino Street, Quezon City.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., replay at 11 p.m., on Destiny Cable Channel 21, about “Miscarriage of Justice: The Trillanes Case” with lawyer Rey Robles and lawyer RG Guevarra of N29M; our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Friday, July 23, 2010
Today's commentary
Richard James Mendoza
07/23/2010
This July 26, 2010, the 15th Congress will open its regular session. On the same date, BSA III will deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). While Malacanan has said that the speech will focus on current problems, I think this will become another episode of the blame game where the yellows are good at. They will probably go on blaming GMA for the problems that we have today. But the problem is that they are the ones who started this whole mess. It all started after EDSA I. Government assets were practically given away for free. Rampant privatization took place. It was also at this period when Corazon Aquino started a borrowing binge. As a result, she accumulated more debt in her six years than in Marcos’ twenty-one years of rule. Because of these, it would be hypocritical of BSA III to blame GMA for this mess. He was one of the many who joined EDSA II that installed an illegitimate president.
XOXOXO
Police State? Reports indicate that about 10,000 policemen are about to be dispatched for BSA III’s SONA. Why does he need such a large amount of policemen? Can it be true that they are only protecting their own kind? Or can this be a sign of things to come?
XOXOXO
Right to rally. There are reports that the residence of BSA III in Times Street, Barangay West Triangle, Quezon City has been declared a “no-rally zone”. Why is this? He is the President (supposedly) and therefore he has to respect freedom of expression as written in the Constitution. In relation to this, does anyone know if the “no permit, no rally” policy is still in effect? Anyway, the Constitution is clear about this. At least I do not see the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response (CPR) being implemented now.
XOXOXO
Complaints against COMELEC. The Philippine Computer Society (PCS) has filed criminal charges to the Ombudsman against COMELEC officials for allegedly violating the provisions contained in the Automated Elections Act. On a similar note, Gov. Homobono Adaza filed a TRO to the Supreme Court a few weeks ago asking that the elections be declared null and void, citing violations of the Constitution. Let’s see if the COMELEC can answer these charges.
XOXOXO
Miscellanea. I just finished downloading all the parts of the MIGHT-e2010 video. However, it seems that the sixth part was “corrupted”, so to speak. It probably received a lot of “tongpats” during the download. Anyway, all I need to do is to download it again and buy some blank disks. You can ask for a copy, if you want. All you need to do is contact me. I will also burn “Moneymasters”, “Great Global Warming Swindle” and Alex Jones’ “Endgame”. Give me suggestions on what to burn.
07/23/2010
This July 26, 2010, the 15th Congress will open its regular session. On the same date, BSA III will deliver his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). While Malacanan has said that the speech will focus on current problems, I think this will become another episode of the blame game where the yellows are good at. They will probably go on blaming GMA for the problems that we have today. But the problem is that they are the ones who started this whole mess. It all started after EDSA I. Government assets were practically given away for free. Rampant privatization took place. It was also at this period when Corazon Aquino started a borrowing binge. As a result, she accumulated more debt in her six years than in Marcos’ twenty-one years of rule. Because of these, it would be hypocritical of BSA III to blame GMA for this mess. He was one of the many who joined EDSA II that installed an illegitimate president.
XOXOXO
Police State? Reports indicate that about 10,000 policemen are about to be dispatched for BSA III’s SONA. Why does he need such a large amount of policemen? Can it be true that they are only protecting their own kind? Or can this be a sign of things to come?
XOXOXO
Right to rally. There are reports that the residence of BSA III in Times Street, Barangay West Triangle, Quezon City has been declared a “no-rally zone”. Why is this? He is the President (supposedly) and therefore he has to respect freedom of expression as written in the Constitution. In relation to this, does anyone know if the “no permit, no rally” policy is still in effect? Anyway, the Constitution is clear about this. At least I do not see the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response (CPR) being implemented now.
XOXOXO
Complaints against COMELEC. The Philippine Computer Society (PCS) has filed criminal charges to the Ombudsman against COMELEC officials for allegedly violating the provisions contained in the Automated Elections Act. On a similar note, Gov. Homobono Adaza filed a TRO to the Supreme Court a few weeks ago asking that the elections be declared null and void, citing violations of the Constitution. Let’s see if the COMELEC can answer these charges.
XOXOXO
Miscellanea. I just finished downloading all the parts of the MIGHT-e2010 video. However, it seems that the sixth part was “corrupted”, so to speak. It probably received a lot of “tongpats” during the download. Anyway, all I need to do is to download it again and buy some blank disks. You can ask for a copy, if you want. All you need to do is contact me. I will also burn “Moneymasters”, “Great Global Warming Swindle” and Alex Jones’ “Endgame”. Give me suggestions on what to burn.
That 'coup' case charade
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/23/2010
In 2003, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV led a military protest that found itself in what used to be the Oakwood hotel grounds. There was never any attack on a center of power nor any use of violence according to the defined legal hallmarks of a “coup d’etat.” Even the Yellow Jesuit legal luminary Joaquin Bernas had to admit this. The validity of the plaints raised by Trillanes and his fellow young officers, the Bagong Katipuneros, had been confirmed in the course of the Feliciano Commission’s fact-finding hearings and by history’s subsequent conviction of the Gloria Arroyo regime, through a succession of elections that condemned it to massive defeats.
The corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the flaws in its grievance mechanism, the lack of housing for soldiers, their obsolete equipage, the much-needed action on the National Recovery Program, and the removal of Angie Reyes, Vic Corpus and Jun Ebdane on suspicion of “false flag” operations in Mindanao, among others, were issues brought to the fore.
Oakwood wasn’t Malacañang nor was it a military installation that could be the launching pad for a wider “swift attack.” The Claymore mines some of the young officers apparently installed around the hotel’s perimeter were more apparent that real. As one retired general I talked to, who was at the scene with others like Gen. Roy Cimatu to negotiate for a peaceful conclusion to the Oakwood situation, told me: “When I saw that the Claymore mines were not being connected to fuses and triggers, I knew the young officers were not really going to engage in a fight. It was more psy war.”
This is an important point to be made as some yakking radio anchors are still hammering at the “explosives-being-installed” issue as evidence of the soldiers’ so-called “violent” intent. What transpired was a dramatic airing of issues that changed a nation’s view of the illegal, corrupt, and oppressive regime.
One of the unspoken issues of the Oakwood protest was the seething disquiet among the ranks of the AFP over the illegal Edsa II power grab against a constitutionally, legally and democratically-elected president.
Edsa II constituted a real violation of the Constitution; and despite the Davide-led Supreme Court (SC)’s imaginative figment of “constructive resignation,” this never settled well with the intelligent officers’ corps. The whole Edsa II defiled the very essence of the Rule of Law that every officer and soldier swear with his life to defend. That is also why the military protests did not end with the suppression of the Oakwood protest. Since Arroyo was able to get away with Edsa II, she proceeded to use the AFP in L’affaire “Hello Garci” as she did in the false flag terror ops in Mindanao.
Thus, Oakwood was followed in 2006 by the aborted Gen. Danilo Lim protest march and the Fort Bonifacio stand-off starring Col. Ariel Querubin. It can be argued that with the massive electoral rejection of Arroyo’s candidates in May 2007, the stage would have been set for even more AFP protest moves in the years that followed. But since Arroyo had gradually been persuaded that it was for her own survival and long-term good to decompress and depressurize the situation, this led to the grant of clemency for Estrada.
Then came the Manila Peninsula siege on Nov. 29, 2007 — the protest that arose due to the injustice of the continued detention of Trillanes and the refusal to allow him to attend Senate sessions. All the praises being heaped on the Makati judge sitting on the case are thus without merit, as this is an injustice that continues to this day where the justice system is complicit.
Trillanes’ case highlights the farce that is our intertwined political and judicial system — a farce that persists from the SC down to the lower courts. If judged on merits, ethics, or morality alone, Trillanes and his comrades should have all been freed long ago. They didn’t steal, rob, corrupt or plunder the government. It is Gloria Arroyo, her FG Mike, Reyes, Corpus, Ebdane, Ben Abalos, Nani Perez, Chavit Singson, Hilario Davide, et al. who have been alleged to be demonstrably corrupt, anti-democratic and treasonous in their acts; yet they are scot free. Then there are the corporate and oligarchic plunderers enriching their coffers while impoverishing the nation.
All the quibbling and all the legal hair-splitting, aired through the obfuscating media, that delay Trillanes’ release to fulfill his duty to his 11 million voters are all just farcical stunts to distract from the real issue of the corruption of the entire system.
If our AFP were made of better stuff and prouder of their calling and oath to the nation, they would have long continued the Bagong Katipuneros’ quest for a better society, sprung Trillanes, and put the truly corrupt where they truly belong — in prison.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Destiny Cable Channel 21; our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/23/2010
In 2003, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV led a military protest that found itself in what used to be the Oakwood hotel grounds. There was never any attack on a center of power nor any use of violence according to the defined legal hallmarks of a “coup d’etat.” Even the Yellow Jesuit legal luminary Joaquin Bernas had to admit this. The validity of the plaints raised by Trillanes and his fellow young officers, the Bagong Katipuneros, had been confirmed in the course of the Feliciano Commission’s fact-finding hearings and by history’s subsequent conviction of the Gloria Arroyo regime, through a succession of elections that condemned it to massive defeats.
The corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the flaws in its grievance mechanism, the lack of housing for soldiers, their obsolete equipage, the much-needed action on the National Recovery Program, and the removal of Angie Reyes, Vic Corpus and Jun Ebdane on suspicion of “false flag” operations in Mindanao, among others, were issues brought to the fore.
Oakwood wasn’t Malacañang nor was it a military installation that could be the launching pad for a wider “swift attack.” The Claymore mines some of the young officers apparently installed around the hotel’s perimeter were more apparent that real. As one retired general I talked to, who was at the scene with others like Gen. Roy Cimatu to negotiate for a peaceful conclusion to the Oakwood situation, told me: “When I saw that the Claymore mines were not being connected to fuses and triggers, I knew the young officers were not really going to engage in a fight. It was more psy war.”
This is an important point to be made as some yakking radio anchors are still hammering at the “explosives-being-installed” issue as evidence of the soldiers’ so-called “violent” intent. What transpired was a dramatic airing of issues that changed a nation’s view of the illegal, corrupt, and oppressive regime.
One of the unspoken issues of the Oakwood protest was the seething disquiet among the ranks of the AFP over the illegal Edsa II power grab against a constitutionally, legally and democratically-elected president.
Edsa II constituted a real violation of the Constitution; and despite the Davide-led Supreme Court (SC)’s imaginative figment of “constructive resignation,” this never settled well with the intelligent officers’ corps. The whole Edsa II defiled the very essence of the Rule of Law that every officer and soldier swear with his life to defend. That is also why the military protests did not end with the suppression of the Oakwood protest. Since Arroyo was able to get away with Edsa II, she proceeded to use the AFP in L’affaire “Hello Garci” as she did in the false flag terror ops in Mindanao.
Thus, Oakwood was followed in 2006 by the aborted Gen. Danilo Lim protest march and the Fort Bonifacio stand-off starring Col. Ariel Querubin. It can be argued that with the massive electoral rejection of Arroyo’s candidates in May 2007, the stage would have been set for even more AFP protest moves in the years that followed. But since Arroyo had gradually been persuaded that it was for her own survival and long-term good to decompress and depressurize the situation, this led to the grant of clemency for Estrada.
Then came the Manila Peninsula siege on Nov. 29, 2007 — the protest that arose due to the injustice of the continued detention of Trillanes and the refusal to allow him to attend Senate sessions. All the praises being heaped on the Makati judge sitting on the case are thus without merit, as this is an injustice that continues to this day where the justice system is complicit.
Trillanes’ case highlights the farce that is our intertwined political and judicial system — a farce that persists from the SC down to the lower courts. If judged on merits, ethics, or morality alone, Trillanes and his comrades should have all been freed long ago. They didn’t steal, rob, corrupt or plunder the government. It is Gloria Arroyo, her FG Mike, Reyes, Corpus, Ebdane, Ben Abalos, Nani Perez, Chavit Singson, Hilario Davide, et al. who have been alleged to be demonstrably corrupt, anti-democratic and treasonous in their acts; yet they are scot free. Then there are the corporate and oligarchic plunderers enriching their coffers while impoverishing the nation.
All the quibbling and all the legal hair-splitting, aired through the obfuscating media, that delay Trillanes’ release to fulfill his duty to his 11 million voters are all just farcical stunts to distract from the real issue of the corruption of the entire system.
If our AFP were made of better stuff and prouder of their calling and oath to the nation, they would have long continued the Bagong Katipuneros’ quest for a better society, sprung Trillanes, and put the truly corrupt where they truly belong — in prison.
(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m. on Destiny Cable Channel 21; our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Bakit si Erap?
Arvin L. Valderrama
Tatlong hakbang ang maaaring gawin upang mapaayon mo ang tao. Una'y tukuyin mo ang mga positibong punto, pangalwa’y bigyan mong katuwiran ang mga nakikitang negatibong bahagi, at pangatlo’y pagsamasamahin ito upang matingnan ang mas malaking imahe na naayon sa kasalukuyang isyu. Sino nga ba si ERAP at bakit siya ang na-aakmang pangulo sa 2010?
Naging aktor, alkade, senador, at pangalawang pangulo - Ito ang dinaanan niya patungong palasyo. Mula rito masasabing nagamit niya ng husto ang kanyang kasikatan bilang isang artista. At hanggang ngayon, sa kabila ng kanyang pagkakakulong, nananatili paring makapangyarihan ang kanyang estado-politikal. Ito ay uri ng karismang kakaunting tao lamang ang may taglay.
Ayon kay Niccolo Machiavelli, ang imahe ng isang demokratikong pamunuan ang nagtatakda nang kahandaan ng mamamayang makilahok sa mga aksyon gobyerno. Sa koteksto ng Pilipinas kung saan mababa ang tiwala ng bayan sa may kapangayairhan at laganap ang siraan sa politika, kailangan natin di lamang ng isang pinunong may maipagmamalaking imahe, kundi ng isa ring karismatikong pinuno. Bakit? Dahil kahit gaano pa man kalinis ang imahe ng isang tao ay laging may kapintasang maibabato sa kanya. At upang magkaroon ng pangmatagalang seguridad sa pamumuno, higit sa kasalukuyang imahe ay ang kakayahang hatakin pabalik ang tiwala ng mamamayan sa gitna ng mga kontrobersya. Ito ay napatunayan na ni ERAP, sa kanyang pagkakakulong, naghimagsik ang taong bayan noong ika-isa ng Mayo taong dalawampu’t libo’t isa kung saan maraming tao ang nasugatan at napatay. Makikita na handang mamatay ang tao para sa kanyang kapakanan kahit na matapos siyang hatulan ng pandarambong sa bayan. Kung sakaling si GMA ang nakulong, makikita din kaya ang parehong tugon ng mamamayan?
Artista lamang ang kadalasan taguri kay ERAP: di inglesero at di nakapagtapos ng kolehiyo, mga katangiang ginagamit laban sa kanya sa politika. Ganon pa man pinatunayan niyang hindi iyon balakid nang nagsimula siyang maging alkalde ng San Juan. Gamit ang kanyang kakayahan, sinalba ni ERAP ang naghihingalong bayan.
Sa unang tatlong taon pa lamang ay natriple ni Estrada ang kita ng San Juan. Wala pa man sa batas ang libreng edukasyon sa mataas na paaralan, naibigay na niya ito sa kanyang nasasakupan. Murang serbisyo sa ospital para sa mahihirap ang kanyang pinatupad. Apat na ulit siyang na halal bilang alkalde sa labing-pitong taong panunungkulan. Binigyang tuon ni Robert Greene sa kanyang “Apatnapu’t Walong Batas ng Kapangyarihan” na may dalawang dahilan kung bakit nagtatagal ang isang pinuno: una'y dahil sa manipulasyon ng kapangyarihan at pang-gigipit sa mamamayan gamit ang diktatoryal na sistema, kung saan ang pinuno'y kinatatakutan at kinamumuhian. Ang pangalawa naman ay dahil may pinapatunguhan ang kanyang mga hakbang at nagtatapos naman siyang may magandang pangalan dahil minamahal siya ng kanyang nasasakupan. Sana'y natapos na noon ang kanyang karera sa politika kung hindi siya minahal ng tao, pero makailang ulit siyang pinarangalang pinakamahusay na alkalde sa bansa. Natapos ang kanyang pagiging alkade ng patalsikin ng bagong administrasyong Aquino ang lahat ng lokal na opisyal noong 1986. Pinigilan ito ng mga mamamayan ng San Juan sa kagustuhan nilang manatili ang kanilang alkalde. Pero iginalang ni Estrada ang sistema at bumaba.
1987 ay tumakbo siya sa Senado sa hanay ng oposisyon. At kahit dalawa lamang silang nanalo, pinatunayan niyang may boses ang masang nagluklok sa kanya. Ilan lamang sa mga batas na naipasa niya ay ang SB 6878 o Pambansang Programa sa Irigasyon, Pagpapamura ng gamot sa pamamagitan ng pag-alis ng “patent” at pakikipagugnayan sa mga katutubo ukol sa mga lupaing ibibigay ng pamahalaan para sa kanila.
Muli niyang ipinakita na hindi lamang siya puro salita ukol sa kanyang makabayan na layunin. At sa kanyang mga proyekto hindi lang mahihirap ang nakinabang kundi ang mas nakararami kung kaya’t tinanghal siyang isa sa tatlong pinakamahusay na senador sa kanyang termino. Sa dami ng kanyang mga nagawa, 1989 pa lamang ay siya na ang nangunguna sa “SWS Survey” para maging pangulo sa 1992. Ayon kay Dr. Zeus Salazar, kahit siya ay nagmula sa mga elit tinanggap siya ng bayan dahil sa likas niyang pagpapahalaga sa mahihirap
1992 ay umakyat na siya sa pagiging bise president kung saan mas mataas pa ang nakuha niyang boto kumpara sa naging presidente noon na si FVR. Tinanggal niya ang sistema ng padrino at nang nagsimula siyang pahawakin ng PAOCTF (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force) inayos niya ang sistema ng seguridad sa bansa, nabuwag ang iba’t ibang sindikato ng droga at “kidnapping”. Inaksyonan niya ang mga mapagsamantalang hukom at mga opisyal. Muli, naging positibo ang pananaw ng taong-bayan sa pulisya na noon ay sampung taon nang negatibo.
Sa unang taon lamang ng kanyang panunungkulan kinilala na siyang “Man of the Year” Binanggit ni Sun Tzu sa kanyang “Sining ng Digmaan” na ang dalawang sukatan ng husay sa pumunuan ay makikita sa bilis ng resulta ng kanyang mga proyekto at sa natamo nitong katanyagan; pareho itong nakuha ni ERAP.
Ang kanyang agresibong kampanya na pagsilbihan ang masa ay kumuha sa atensyon ng lipunang elit sa Pilipinas, at nang nagsimula na ang kampanya para sa pagkapangulo unti-unti na siyang hinatak ng mga elit pababa. Ito na rin ang punto kung saan naki-alam ang Simbahang Katoliko sa pagsambit ni Jaime Cardinal Sin sa mga katagang. “Kahit sino wag lang si ERAP”.
Sinabi ni John Perry Barlow na ang tiwala ng tao sa pamahalaan ay makikita sa paglipat ng pamunuan. Hindi magiging pangulo ang isang pangalawang pangulo hanggat di niya napapatunayan sa mga tao na may magagawa nga siya. Sa kaso ni ERAP, ‘di siya nakinabang sa makinarya ng administarsyon bagkos ay hinatak pa siya nito pababa. Ngunit tao ang nagluklok sa kanya at nahalal siya bilang pangulo na may pinakamalaking lamang sa kasaysayan ng eleksyon sa bansa.
Simula pa lamang ng kanyang pamumuno ay tinanggal na niya ang mga oportunistang proyekto na hindi naman na-aakma sa kalagayan ng bansa noon. Ito rin ang mga proyektong kumakain ng karamihan sa pera ng bayan. (halimbawa: Centennial Expo, PEA AMARI, AFP Modernization, RSBS Pension fund, IPP-PPA). Tinanggal niya ang mga tiwaling opisyal sa hanay ng militar at mga pulis. Ginawa niya ito sa pagnanais na ibalik ang tiwala ng bayan sa pamahalaan at hindi naman siya nabigo. Ngunit nagsimula nang umalma ang lipunang elit sa sunud-sunod niyang tagumpay.
Tinigil niya ang pag-angkat ng kuryente at mga patungan na nanggagaling sa labas upang bigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga lokal na “power producers”. Pinigilan niya ang pagtaas ng mga pasahe, pinamura ang mga bilihin gaya ng gamot. Binuhay ang iba’t ibang industriyang may potensyal upang makagawa ng trabaho gaya ng “dairy products processing”. Sinimulan ang malawakang pabahay para sa mahihirap at edukasyon para sa mga walang pambayad. Sa katahimikan nama’y natamo ang pinakamababang insidente ng krimen kumpara sa nakaraang sampung taon. Ipinagpatuloy din niya ang opensiba na nagpaatras sa mga MILF.
Ayon kay Corazon Aquino, namuno siya ayon sa mas ikabubuti ng mas nakararami. Ang kanyang mga polisiya ay nakatuon sa paghatak sa mahihirap dahil batid niya na narito ang problema. Isa sa kalakasan ni ERAP ay ang galing niya sa pakikisama. Ang pagpili niya sa tao na lalapitan ang isa sa kanyang mga bentahe - alam niya kung sino ang na-aakma para sa isang gawain. Habang unti-unti ng umaangat ang masa, ‘di natuwa ang mga malalaking negosyante. Ito ang mga kalabang kanyang nilikha kapalit ng taos puso niyang paglilingkod sa bayan.
Ang naging mitsa ng kanyang pagbagsak ay ang mga isyu sa Jueteng, isang sugal na parte ng malaking lagayan sa mga politiko noon pa man. Kahit na pinapakinabangan na ng ERAP Youth Foundation ang nakukuhang salapi mula rito, sa ilalim ng superbisyon ng mga abogado mula sa iba't ibang istitusyong akedemiko bilang “board of trustees” nakita parin ni ERAP ang pangangailangang buwagin ang nasabing sugal. Kaya sinumulan niyang isa-legal ang lahat sa pamamagitan ng “2-Number Game” ng PCSO.
Sa ganitong hakbang mapupunta ang mga sinasabing mga lagayan sa kaban ng bayan. Di makakapagsamantala ang mga maykapangayarihang tumatanggap ng payola dahil dadaan na ang lahat sa pagsusuri at pagkukwenta. Dito na nagalit ang mga tiwaling politiko at nagsimula ng bumaligtad sa kanya. Nauna sa Chavit Singson sa pagdawit sa kanya sa jueteng. Ito ay naging pagkakataon upang simulan ang pagsasabwatan ng mga elit at makapangyarihan na nagtuloy-tuloy sa kaso ng "impeachment" at hanggang sa pagnakaw ng kapangyarihan sa EDSA dos.
Naging malaking dagok sa pamahalaan ang pagnakaw ng kapangyarihan. Ayon kay Machiavelli, ang sumpa ng ganitong pangyayari ay napuputol ang mga proyekto at di nasusundan ng maayos ang takbo ng yaman dahil sa patong-patong na sisihan. Ano nga bang nangyari sa EDSA dos at legal ba ang mga naganap.
Nagbotohan noon ang mga senador kung bubuksan nga ba ang ikalawang sobre, nang nanalo ang aksyon na hindi ito buksan sa kadahilanang ito'y hindi kaugnay sa reklamo. Umalis sa Senado ang ilan sa mga senador at nagtungo sa lansangan, di natapos ang paglilitis ng impeachment. Nagtipon sila sa EDSA sa pagnanais patalsikin si ERAP. Ang mga mangangalakal, mga “text generation” na kabataan, at mga politiko ay magtutungo na noon sa Malacañang. Umalis si Estrada sa palasyo dahil sa pangambang dumanak pa ang dugo. At sa EDSA naman ay nanumpa si GMA bilang bagong pangulo.
Ayon kay Kgg. Cecila Muñoz Palma, pinuno ng lipon na gumawa ng Saligang Batas ng 1987.
“The 1987 Constitution suffered when the ongoing impeachment trial of ERAP was unceremoniously disrupted and discontinued. The issues on hand were brought to the parliament of the streets. The rule of law was set aside and the rule of force prevailed.”
Naging kabiguan sa proseso ng hustisya ang mga naganap. Ang punong ministro noon ng Singapura na si Lee Kuan Yew ay nabanggit na:
“The change of power in the Philippines was no boost for the democracy because it was done outside the constitution.”
Dala ng pangambang makasuhan ukol sa legalidad ng kanyang pamumuno, inalok ni GMA si ERAP na magbitiw bilang pangulo, walang ikakaso sa kanya at madadala niya lahat ng ari-arian niya kahit saang bansa niyang maibigan. Sa ganitong paraan magiging malinis ang pagnanakaw ng kapangyarihan na kanyang ginawa. Ngnunit tinanggihan ito ni ERAP.
“Yung milyong milyong bumoto sakin, di ko pwedeng talikuran, di ko sila maaring iwan. Kahit ikulong niyo ako, di ako aalis.”
Ito ang tugon ni ERAP sa alok ng pamahalaan. At sa pagtangging naganap labing walong kaso kagad ang ibinato sa kanya kasama na ang pandarambong. Nilitis siya sa isang binuong “special court” wangis ng korteng ginamit upang maipakulong si Ninoy Aquino. Walang matibay na ebidensya ang naipakita at ang batayan lamang ay ang sanaysay ni Singson. Pero anong magagawa niya kung ang mga taong nagpatalsik at numakaw ng kapangyarihan ang siyang tumayong mga taga-usig? Nang mahatulan siya at makulong, binuksan ang kontrobersyal na sobre. Ang laman nito ay ang kasulatang hindi kay ERAP ang “Jose Velarde Account” kundi kay Jaime Dichavez. Ngunit naging tikom ang media tungkol sa isyung ito at di nalaman ng karamihan ng mga mamamayan.
Sa pagkakakulong ni ERAP umusbong ang EDSA tres. Ibang imahe ang natunghayan ng bayan sa sumunod na rebolusyon – ang tugon ng bayan laban sa EDSA dos ni Arroyo. Mga manggagawa at mga maralita ang nagtipon. Naging madugo at biyolente ang mga pangyayari. Kung tunay ngang galit ang bayan kay ERAP nakakagulat na halos madoble nang EDSA tres ang dami ng tao sa EDSA dos.
Nanatili paring nakakulong si ERAP. Di dahil nasa panig ng mga nagpatalsik sa kanya ang katotohanan, kundi dahil sa dahas na pinakita ng administrasyong Arroyo sa masa. Limitado man ay patuloy pa rin siya sa pagtulong sa mga Pilipino. Sa Tanay, Rizal ay nagsimula si ERAP iba’t ibang programang nagbibigay pagkakataon sa mga mamayan gaya ng “livelihood program” at pamimigay ng mga binhi at alagang hayop.
Kung pambansang desisyon ngang kriminal si ERAP, hindi na dapat pinahintulutan ng bayan na maluklok pa sa kapangyarihan ang ibang Estrada. Pero anong nangyari? Pawang naging senadora at sendor ang kanyang asawa't anak. Mula rito makikita ang tiwala ng mas nakararami para sa napatalsik na pangulo. Matapos ang anim at kalahating taon na pagkakabilanggo, pinalaya si ERAP at ibinalik ang lahat ng karapatan niya bilang isang mamamayang Pilipino.
**Parte sa mga karapatang ito ay ang tumakbo muli sa eleksyon at hindi ko na tatalakayin ang tunkol sa legalidad ng kanyang pagtakbo dahil matagal na iyong napagpasiyahan.
Sa kanyang pagkawala naging pangalawa ang Pilipinas sa pinakatiwaling bansa sa mundo. Napuno ng kontrebersya ang pamahalaan. Batid niyang watak-watak na ang oposisyon dahil sa nasabing korapsyon, kung kaya’t naisipan niyang tumakbo muli bilang pangulo. Kinakailangang mapigilan ang patuloy na pagpapalawak ng makinarya ng rehimeng Arroyo na ngayon nama’y tatakbo bilang kongresista. Saan kaya tutungo ang mga susunod na pangyayari kung kaanib ng administrasyon ang magwawagi?
Sinabi ni Sun Tzu na sa pagpili nang magiging pinuno, mas mainam ang isang taong may dapat patunayan pagka’t di ka niya bibiguin, kumpara sa isang pinunong may mabuting pangalan dahil ang tanging landas na tatahakin niya ay ang kasiraan. Malinaw naman ang motibo ni Estrada sa pagtakbo at yun ay upang ituloy ang kanyang mga naudlot na makabayang programa. Magnanakaw ba siya para muling litisin? Sasayangin pa ba niya ang pagkakataong matupad ang kanyang mga pangako? Dagdag pa ni Prof. Leila Abarquez, ng Kolehiyo ng Ekonomika at Pamamahala ng UPLB: Pagdating sa pamamahala ng isang bansang tulad ng Pilipinas, di natin kailangan ng taong may natatanging larawan ng talino’t moralidad, hindi naman siya ang mag-isang lulutas ng lahat ng suliranin ng bayan; ang mahalaga’y nakakaugnay siya sa tao at alam niya kung sino ang tatakbuhan para sa isang problema.
Kung sasabihin ngang naging tiwali siya sa una niyang panunungkulan, bakit ni isa sa kanyang gabinete ay di nasangkot sa kahit anong anumalya? Kung nagpayaman nga lamang siya sa kanyang termino at naging sampung beses ang kanyang yaman mula 1969 ayon sa media, bakit walang maiharap na anumalya ang mula sa kanyang dalawampu’t tatlong taong karera sa politika bago siya naging pangulo? Isa pa’y gaano na nga ba ang ibinaba ng halaga ng Piso mula 1969 para ihambing ang salapi sa dalawang magkaibang panahon? Mula rito’y makikita kung paano pinagkakitaan ng media ang pagsira sa imahe ni ERAP. Binaggit ni Maluo Mangahas na para sa isang pangulong lilitisin, ang epekto nito sa tao ay para na rin siyang nahatulan. Natural, maghahanap ang tao ng impormasyon. At kung mas maraming impormasyon at mas matagal ang magiging isyu, mas makakabuti ito sa media. Kaya lumabas ang pagiging sugarol, babaero, at iba’t ibang kasiraan pa ni ERAP na kung tutuusin ay nalalayo naman sa kakayahan niyang mamuno.
Ukol sa kanyang mga babae, pinanagutan naman niya lahat ng kanya anak. Ang immoral ay kung hindi niya ito kinilala at hindi siya sa piling ng asawa niya tumitigil sa kasalukuyan o pinapangalandakan pa niyang mabuti ang pambababae. Ilang taon na ba si JV Ejercito na anak niya mula kay Guia Gomez, at gaano na katagal ang huling pambababae ni ERAP? “Nagkakaroon na lamang ng ugnayan sa iba’t ibang mga pamilya dahil sa mga anak at bukas naman kami sa isa’t isa, mambababae pa ba siya kung nakatingin sa kanya ang buong bansa?” - ito ang binanggit ni Loi Estrada sa isang panayam. Kung babanatan naman siya sa linya ng moralidad na ang isang taong nagkaroon ng maraming anak sa iba’t ibang babae ay di na-aakmang mamuno sa bayan dahil di siya magandang halimbawa, mawawala na ang puwang sa pagbabago ng isang tao at di sana’y lahat na ng nagkasala sa batayang moral ay di na-aakma para maging pinuno. Nakasaad sa “Republika” ni Plato na sa isang demokratikong sistema, kung gagamitin ang moralidad bilang saligan ng pagpili ng pinuno – magiging marupok ang pamahalaan, tataas ang tensyon at lalaki ang agwat sa mga tao sa lipunan; ito’y dahil ang pamahalaan ay binubuo lamang ng tao at ng kanyang mga kahinaan.
Ang saglit na “video” ni ERAP sa Casino Filipino ang paulit-ulit na pinalabas sa telebisyon upang palakasin ang akusasyon ng jueteng na binaggit ko na kanina; samantalang hindi naman siya naroon para habitwal na magsugal gamit ang pera ng bayan kundi kasama ng mga malalaking tao sa larangan ng komersyo bilang parte ng kanilang mga diskusyon ukol sa iba’t ibang proyekto. Ayon kay Sun Tzu, may iba’t ibang paraan upang maligawan ang mga kapangyarihan ng lipunan: kumain ka sa piling ng masa at di ka nila iiwan, makipaglaro ka ng sugal sa mga mangangalakal at makikinig sila sa iyo at makipaginom ka sa mga sundalo at ipaglalaban ka nila. Makikita din na matapos ang “video” na ito, hindi na nasundan ng "media" ng mas konkretong ebidensya ang pagiging sugarol ni ERAP at nagpatuloy na lamang sila sa paglakip ng salitang sugarol sa kanyang pangalan.
Kung magkakaron ng ebaluwasyon kay ERAP ayon sa pamantayang isinaad ng Bibliya, ito ang mga puntong matatagpuan:
Kakayahan (I Tim. 3:10) – Kung gagawing isyu ang kanya edad, paano na lamang sina Lee Kuan Yew at Ronald Reagan na pawang tiningala sa kanilang pamumuno. Pareho din silang mas matanda kay ERAP sa panahon ng kanilang panunungkulan at hindi naman ito naging balakid sa kanilang paglilingkod. Wala namang kapansanan sa utak si ERAP kaya di naakamang isyu ang kanyang edad. Mas dapat bigyang halaga ang kakayahan niyang makipag-ugnayan sa masa at kakayahang tanggihan ang alok ng mga elit.
Karanasan (I Tim. 3:10) – Siya lamang ang dumaan mula sa lokal, lehislatibo, at naging pinuno na ng ehekutibo sa lahat ng mga kandidato. Sa tagal ng pakikisalamuha ni ERAP sa iba’t ibang mukha ng kahirapan siya ang nakalalamang kumpara sa kanyang mga kalaban. Sa dami ng proyektong kanyang nagawa,batang napag-aral, batas na naipasa, at sindikatong napatumba. Siya lamang ang may maipagmamalaki. Hindi yung tipong nagpapalit lamang ng pangalan ng lansangan. Ang kanyang karanasan ay nagbigay din sa kanya ng karunungan kung paano gumagana ang sistema ng mga sangay ng pamahalaan. Alam niyang may tinatawag na “chain of command” na sinusunod ang sandatahang lakas at hindi niya diniktahan ang mga sundalo para umatras upang magpabango ng pangalan.
Karakter (I Tim. 3:4, 7) – Binaggit ng dating pangulo ng UP na si Dr. Emil Q. Javier na isa sa mga pangunahing bentahe ni ERAP ay ang mausisa nitong karakter. Pag di niya alam ang gagawin sa isang bagay di siya nagaatubiling lumapit sa mga eksperto. Alam niya ang kahalagahan ng pangmatagalang proyekto sa agrikultura at siya lamang ang pangulong makikita mong lumalapit sa iba’t ibang institusyong akademiko para magtanong ng maimumungkahi nilang proyekto. “Disregarding the pressure given by the elite media, characterwise ERAP is the best among the candidates. Palibhasa pag off-cam di nila alam kung paano gumalaw si ERAP, kung paano siya minamahal ng mga taong nakapaligid sa kanya” - dagdag ni Boots Anson Roa. Kailanman walang reklamong lumabas mula sa mga empleyado niya ukol sa problema sa ugali o dahil sa pikon siya, di tulad ng ibang kandidato.
Plataporma (Kawikaan 29:18) – kung paghahambingin ang mga plataporma ng mga kandidato si ERAP lamang ang may malaking bahagi na nito ang nasimulan na. Binaggit na rin ni Corazon Aquino na dahil sa agresibo niyang hakbang para isakatuparan ang plataporma niyang para sa mas nakakarami, umalma ang lipunang elit at inilaglag siya. Kung tuna’y ngang makamahirap ang ibang kandidato bakit may mga proyekto tulad ng “C-5 extension” na isang malaking patunay na pag-gamit ng kapangyarihan para sa pansariling interes ayon kay Prof. Winnie Monsod. Paano din malulutas ang kahirapang pambansa ng isang taong di magawan ng paraan ang naghihirap na mga magsasaka sa sarili niyang lupa?
at Koneksyon (I Corinto 15:33) – Binigyang punto ni Machiavelli na isa sa sukatan ng pamunuan ay ang samu’t saring ugnayang matatagpuang sa paligid ng kapangyarihan, sapagkat mula rito mauugat kung gaano kadaming yaman ang nawawala para gumana ng matahimik ang sistema. Ano nga ba ang masasabi sa mga taong nakapaligid kay ERAP? Mga gabineteng walang anumalyang natamo, mga eksperto’t siyentipiko sa iba’t ibang larangan, at ang masang Pilipinong nakakaunawa ng malaking pagbabagong naramdaman nila. Di ba nakakapagtakang magkaiba ang sinasabi ng "media" sa tugon ng taong sumasalubong kay ERAP?
At bilang pagbubuod, hayaan ninyong isa-isahin ko ang bawat puntong matatagpuan sa akda. Una ay ang pamantayan sa pagpili ng pinuno, hindi sapat ang galing o talino bilang batayan dahil hindi naman mag-isang gagawin ng pangulo ang lahat. Ang mahalaga’y may kakayahan siyang makipag-ugnayan at taos puso ang kanyang pagsisilbi dahil batid niyang mas mataas ang mamamayan sa kanya. Di rin matibay na batayan ang moralidad at kasalukuyang imahe; makikita sa panahon ni Charlemagne kung paano natamo ng Romano Katoliko ang kapangyarihan sa Europa. Ito'y hindi dahil sa pamantayang moral kundi sa ugnayang panlabas at dahas.
Pangalawa ay ang lumalawak na agwat ng bayan at ng lipunang elit. Idagdag pa ang mga aksyong ginawa ng elit upang labanan ang progresibong layunin ni Estrada para sa masa. Batid ng mga elit na malaki ang ma-aambag ng gitnang uri para sa pagpapaunlad ng masa kung kaya’t ginamit nila ang “mass media” upang magamit ang “middle class”. Resulta na lamang ay ang EDSA dos. Kailangan natin ng pinunong walang tatanawin ng utang na loob sa mga elit. Dahil kung ganoon, patuloy lamang lalawig ang mapaminsalang agwat, yayaman ang mayayaman at malulugmok ang sa kahirapan karamihan. Bakit di natin pagmasdan ang taga-suporta ng ibang kandidato? Sino ba ang kandidato ng mga negosyate't makapangyarihan?
Pangatlo ay ang oportunistang hakbang ng "mass media" at pagiging alipin nito ng mga elit. Nagamit ng husto ng mga maykaya ang “media” upang makuha ang kapangyarihan mula sa bayan gamit ang iba’t ibang lantaran at indirektang paninira kay Estrada. Ang simpleng pagsambit sa mga balita ng mga katagang "..the impeached president ERAP" ay isa nang malaking panlilinlang. Bakit? Una, di naman natapos ang kaso ng impeachment. Pangalawa, ito'y nagpapagulo sa isyu ng kanyang pagkakakulong, dahil di naman siya nakulong sa hatol ng "impeachment" at hindi rin siya napatalsik dahil sa "Jose Velarde Account". Iba pang halimbawa ay ang pag-gamit ng mga larawan ni ERAP na may langaw sa ilong, nakapitkit, at paglitaw ng samu’t saring ERAP jokes sa telebisyon. Hindi direkta ngunit anong aasahang implikasyon ng mga ito sa tao? Isa pa’y kakaunting tao lamang ang naglalaan ng oras para magsaliksik ng katotohanan; kadalasa’y telebisyon ang pinakmadaling napagkukunan ng impormasyon ng bayan kung kaya't tunay ngang makapangyarihan itong kasangkapan upang ma-manipula ang sikolohikal na estado ng mga manonood.
Pang-apat ay ang pagwasak na ginawa ng rehimeng Arroyo sa ating demokrasya. Simula pa lamang ay ninakaw na niya ang kapangyarihan. Sa siyam na taon ay lumala ang korapsyon at wala naman siyang nagawa sa jueteng. Lumayo ang puso ng mamamayan sa pamahalaan at inaasahang magpapalawig pa siya ng kapangyarihan sa kanyang pagtakbo sa kongreso pagkatapos ng kanya termino. Ito ang dapat nating mapigilan kung nais nating maagapan ang tuluyang pagkabulok ng sistema. Ang rehimeng Arroyo ay matibay sa piling ng mga elit at mga panginoong may lupa. At sa kasalukuyang eleksyon sino-sino ba ang may kaugnayan sa mga elit at panginoong may lupa? Nariyan ang mag-pinsang kandidato mula sa angkan ng mga panginoong may lupa sa gitnang Luzon at Mindanao. Sino-sino nga ba ang mga kasbawat sa pag-agaw ng kapangyarihan noong EDSA dos. At sa gitna ng samu’t saring panlilinlang na matatagpuan sa telebisyon, sino nga ba ang tunay na oposisyon? Ang oposisyon bang nakikipagsabwatan sa partidong komunista upang lumakas ang impluwensya o ang oposisyong inagawan ng kapangyarihan dahil sa tapat na paglilingkod at di pagtanaw ng utang na loob sa mga elit? Ang komunismo ay namumuhay lamang sa kahinaan ng demokrasya ayon sa panulat ni Gen. Jose Crisol, tagapayo ng dating pangulong Magsaysay. At kung mabibigyan ang magkasalungat na paksyon ng parehong kapangyarihan sa isang rehime walang katatagang aasahan mula rito ayon kay Sun Tzu.
At pang-lima ay ang katotohanang di nagtatapos ang obligasyon natin bilang isang Pilipino sa pagboto. Kailangan nating maging mapanuri upang di tayo magamit ng mga makapangyarihang tao. Dapat din nating mapangalagaan ang nalalabing demokrasyang meron tayo at pigilan ang mga tangkang mahaluan ito ng mga bagay na kamukha nito, gaya ng inaalok ng "elite media" sa tao. Ang ginhawa ay di matatamo sa pagpapalit ng isang buktot na pinuno lamang, kundi sa pagtulong ng mamamayan sa pagayos sa winasak na landas patungong kaularan. Sa paglalantad ng mga kahinaan ng bayan lamang mahahanapan ng lunas ang isang naghihingalong bansa ayon kay Dr. Jose Rizal.
Para sa mas komprehensibong pagsusuri ukol sa mga nabanggit na isyu:
Pagsusuri ni Prof. Winnie Monsod sa "C-5 extension"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUQDt-sXdlk
Isang Paglingon sa Hacienda Luisita Massacre
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=118935134783780&ref=mf
Mga hakbang na ginawa ni Gordon
http://propinoy.net/2010/02/19/red-cross-international-warns-gordon/
Bakit masaya ka noong EDSA dos? Kasi tanda ko ginataang alimango ulam namin noon. Eh bakit ganyan ang pagkakasulat mo? Dahil may nais akong kausapin na sektor ng lipunan, isa pa'y nakikita na ng mga taong nasa lupa ang mga paa ang katotohanan. Bakit naman mahaba? Madami kasing di binanggit ang media ukol sa naging kasaysayan at mahaba din ang pinagmulan kung uugatin mo. Ito last na...
Tatlong hakbang ang maaaring gawin upang mapaayon mo ang tao. Una'y tukuyin mo ang mga positibong punto, pangalwa’y bigyan mong katuwiran ang mga nakikitang negatibong bahagi, at pangatlo’y pagsamasamahin ito upang matingnan ang mas malaking imahe na naayon sa kasalukuyang isyu. Sino nga ba si ERAP at bakit siya ang na-aakmang pangulo sa 2010?
Naging aktor, alkade, senador, at pangalawang pangulo - Ito ang dinaanan niya patungong palasyo. Mula rito masasabing nagamit niya ng husto ang kanyang kasikatan bilang isang artista. At hanggang ngayon, sa kabila ng kanyang pagkakakulong, nananatili paring makapangyarihan ang kanyang estado-politikal. Ito ay uri ng karismang kakaunting tao lamang ang may taglay.
Ayon kay Niccolo Machiavelli, ang imahe ng isang demokratikong pamunuan ang nagtatakda nang kahandaan ng mamamayang makilahok sa mga aksyon gobyerno. Sa koteksto ng Pilipinas kung saan mababa ang tiwala ng bayan sa may kapangayairhan at laganap ang siraan sa politika, kailangan natin di lamang ng isang pinunong may maipagmamalaking imahe, kundi ng isa ring karismatikong pinuno. Bakit? Dahil kahit gaano pa man kalinis ang imahe ng isang tao ay laging may kapintasang maibabato sa kanya. At upang magkaroon ng pangmatagalang seguridad sa pamumuno, higit sa kasalukuyang imahe ay ang kakayahang hatakin pabalik ang tiwala ng mamamayan sa gitna ng mga kontrobersya. Ito ay napatunayan na ni ERAP, sa kanyang pagkakakulong, naghimagsik ang taong bayan noong ika-isa ng Mayo taong dalawampu’t libo’t isa kung saan maraming tao ang nasugatan at napatay. Makikita na handang mamatay ang tao para sa kanyang kapakanan kahit na matapos siyang hatulan ng pandarambong sa bayan. Kung sakaling si GMA ang nakulong, makikita din kaya ang parehong tugon ng mamamayan?
Artista lamang ang kadalasan taguri kay ERAP: di inglesero at di nakapagtapos ng kolehiyo, mga katangiang ginagamit laban sa kanya sa politika. Ganon pa man pinatunayan niyang hindi iyon balakid nang nagsimula siyang maging alkalde ng San Juan. Gamit ang kanyang kakayahan, sinalba ni ERAP ang naghihingalong bayan.
Sa unang tatlong taon pa lamang ay natriple ni Estrada ang kita ng San Juan. Wala pa man sa batas ang libreng edukasyon sa mataas na paaralan, naibigay na niya ito sa kanyang nasasakupan. Murang serbisyo sa ospital para sa mahihirap ang kanyang pinatupad. Apat na ulit siyang na halal bilang alkalde sa labing-pitong taong panunungkulan. Binigyang tuon ni Robert Greene sa kanyang “Apatnapu’t Walong Batas ng Kapangyarihan” na may dalawang dahilan kung bakit nagtatagal ang isang pinuno: una'y dahil sa manipulasyon ng kapangyarihan at pang-gigipit sa mamamayan gamit ang diktatoryal na sistema, kung saan ang pinuno'y kinatatakutan at kinamumuhian. Ang pangalawa naman ay dahil may pinapatunguhan ang kanyang mga hakbang at nagtatapos naman siyang may magandang pangalan dahil minamahal siya ng kanyang nasasakupan. Sana'y natapos na noon ang kanyang karera sa politika kung hindi siya minahal ng tao, pero makailang ulit siyang pinarangalang pinakamahusay na alkalde sa bansa. Natapos ang kanyang pagiging alkade ng patalsikin ng bagong administrasyong Aquino ang lahat ng lokal na opisyal noong 1986. Pinigilan ito ng mga mamamayan ng San Juan sa kagustuhan nilang manatili ang kanilang alkalde. Pero iginalang ni Estrada ang sistema at bumaba.
1987 ay tumakbo siya sa Senado sa hanay ng oposisyon. At kahit dalawa lamang silang nanalo, pinatunayan niyang may boses ang masang nagluklok sa kanya. Ilan lamang sa mga batas na naipasa niya ay ang SB 6878 o Pambansang Programa sa Irigasyon, Pagpapamura ng gamot sa pamamagitan ng pag-alis ng “patent” at pakikipagugnayan sa mga katutubo ukol sa mga lupaing ibibigay ng pamahalaan para sa kanila.
Muli niyang ipinakita na hindi lamang siya puro salita ukol sa kanyang makabayan na layunin. At sa kanyang mga proyekto hindi lang mahihirap ang nakinabang kundi ang mas nakararami kung kaya’t tinanghal siyang isa sa tatlong pinakamahusay na senador sa kanyang termino. Sa dami ng kanyang mga nagawa, 1989 pa lamang ay siya na ang nangunguna sa “SWS Survey” para maging pangulo sa 1992. Ayon kay Dr. Zeus Salazar, kahit siya ay nagmula sa mga elit tinanggap siya ng bayan dahil sa likas niyang pagpapahalaga sa mahihirap
1992 ay umakyat na siya sa pagiging bise president kung saan mas mataas pa ang nakuha niyang boto kumpara sa naging presidente noon na si FVR. Tinanggal niya ang sistema ng padrino at nang nagsimula siyang pahawakin ng PAOCTF (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force) inayos niya ang sistema ng seguridad sa bansa, nabuwag ang iba’t ibang sindikato ng droga at “kidnapping”. Inaksyonan niya ang mga mapagsamantalang hukom at mga opisyal. Muli, naging positibo ang pananaw ng taong-bayan sa pulisya na noon ay sampung taon nang negatibo.
Sa unang taon lamang ng kanyang panunungkulan kinilala na siyang “Man of the Year” Binanggit ni Sun Tzu sa kanyang “Sining ng Digmaan” na ang dalawang sukatan ng husay sa pumunuan ay makikita sa bilis ng resulta ng kanyang mga proyekto at sa natamo nitong katanyagan; pareho itong nakuha ni ERAP.
Ang kanyang agresibong kampanya na pagsilbihan ang masa ay kumuha sa atensyon ng lipunang elit sa Pilipinas, at nang nagsimula na ang kampanya para sa pagkapangulo unti-unti na siyang hinatak ng mga elit pababa. Ito na rin ang punto kung saan naki-alam ang Simbahang Katoliko sa pagsambit ni Jaime Cardinal Sin sa mga katagang. “Kahit sino wag lang si ERAP”.
Sinabi ni John Perry Barlow na ang tiwala ng tao sa pamahalaan ay makikita sa paglipat ng pamunuan. Hindi magiging pangulo ang isang pangalawang pangulo hanggat di niya napapatunayan sa mga tao na may magagawa nga siya. Sa kaso ni ERAP, ‘di siya nakinabang sa makinarya ng administarsyon bagkos ay hinatak pa siya nito pababa. Ngunit tao ang nagluklok sa kanya at nahalal siya bilang pangulo na may pinakamalaking lamang sa kasaysayan ng eleksyon sa bansa.
Simula pa lamang ng kanyang pamumuno ay tinanggal na niya ang mga oportunistang proyekto na hindi naman na-aakma sa kalagayan ng bansa noon. Ito rin ang mga proyektong kumakain ng karamihan sa pera ng bayan. (halimbawa: Centennial Expo, PEA AMARI, AFP Modernization, RSBS Pension fund, IPP-PPA). Tinanggal niya ang mga tiwaling opisyal sa hanay ng militar at mga pulis. Ginawa niya ito sa pagnanais na ibalik ang tiwala ng bayan sa pamahalaan at hindi naman siya nabigo. Ngunit nagsimula nang umalma ang lipunang elit sa sunud-sunod niyang tagumpay.
Tinigil niya ang pag-angkat ng kuryente at mga patungan na nanggagaling sa labas upang bigyan ng pagkakataon ang mga lokal na “power producers”. Pinigilan niya ang pagtaas ng mga pasahe, pinamura ang mga bilihin gaya ng gamot. Binuhay ang iba’t ibang industriyang may potensyal upang makagawa ng trabaho gaya ng “dairy products processing”. Sinimulan ang malawakang pabahay para sa mahihirap at edukasyon para sa mga walang pambayad. Sa katahimikan nama’y natamo ang pinakamababang insidente ng krimen kumpara sa nakaraang sampung taon. Ipinagpatuloy din niya ang opensiba na nagpaatras sa mga MILF.
Ayon kay Corazon Aquino, namuno siya ayon sa mas ikabubuti ng mas nakararami. Ang kanyang mga polisiya ay nakatuon sa paghatak sa mahihirap dahil batid niya na narito ang problema. Isa sa kalakasan ni ERAP ay ang galing niya sa pakikisama. Ang pagpili niya sa tao na lalapitan ang isa sa kanyang mga bentahe - alam niya kung sino ang na-aakma para sa isang gawain. Habang unti-unti ng umaangat ang masa, ‘di natuwa ang mga malalaking negosyante. Ito ang mga kalabang kanyang nilikha kapalit ng taos puso niyang paglilingkod sa bayan.
Ang naging mitsa ng kanyang pagbagsak ay ang mga isyu sa Jueteng, isang sugal na parte ng malaking lagayan sa mga politiko noon pa man. Kahit na pinapakinabangan na ng ERAP Youth Foundation ang nakukuhang salapi mula rito, sa ilalim ng superbisyon ng mga abogado mula sa iba't ibang istitusyong akedemiko bilang “board of trustees” nakita parin ni ERAP ang pangangailangang buwagin ang nasabing sugal. Kaya sinumulan niyang isa-legal ang lahat sa pamamagitan ng “2-Number Game” ng PCSO.
Sa ganitong hakbang mapupunta ang mga sinasabing mga lagayan sa kaban ng bayan. Di makakapagsamantala ang mga maykapangayarihang tumatanggap ng payola dahil dadaan na ang lahat sa pagsusuri at pagkukwenta. Dito na nagalit ang mga tiwaling politiko at nagsimula ng bumaligtad sa kanya. Nauna sa Chavit Singson sa pagdawit sa kanya sa jueteng. Ito ay naging pagkakataon upang simulan ang pagsasabwatan ng mga elit at makapangyarihan na nagtuloy-tuloy sa kaso ng "impeachment" at hanggang sa pagnakaw ng kapangyarihan sa EDSA dos.
Naging malaking dagok sa pamahalaan ang pagnakaw ng kapangyarihan. Ayon kay Machiavelli, ang sumpa ng ganitong pangyayari ay napuputol ang mga proyekto at di nasusundan ng maayos ang takbo ng yaman dahil sa patong-patong na sisihan. Ano nga bang nangyari sa EDSA dos at legal ba ang mga naganap.
Nagbotohan noon ang mga senador kung bubuksan nga ba ang ikalawang sobre, nang nanalo ang aksyon na hindi ito buksan sa kadahilanang ito'y hindi kaugnay sa reklamo. Umalis sa Senado ang ilan sa mga senador at nagtungo sa lansangan, di natapos ang paglilitis ng impeachment. Nagtipon sila sa EDSA sa pagnanais patalsikin si ERAP. Ang mga mangangalakal, mga “text generation” na kabataan, at mga politiko ay magtutungo na noon sa Malacañang. Umalis si Estrada sa palasyo dahil sa pangambang dumanak pa ang dugo. At sa EDSA naman ay nanumpa si GMA bilang bagong pangulo.
Ayon kay Kgg. Cecila Muñoz Palma, pinuno ng lipon na gumawa ng Saligang Batas ng 1987.
“The 1987 Constitution suffered when the ongoing impeachment trial of ERAP was unceremoniously disrupted and discontinued. The issues on hand were brought to the parliament of the streets. The rule of law was set aside and the rule of force prevailed.”
Naging kabiguan sa proseso ng hustisya ang mga naganap. Ang punong ministro noon ng Singapura na si Lee Kuan Yew ay nabanggit na:
“The change of power in the Philippines was no boost for the democracy because it was done outside the constitution.”
Dala ng pangambang makasuhan ukol sa legalidad ng kanyang pamumuno, inalok ni GMA si ERAP na magbitiw bilang pangulo, walang ikakaso sa kanya at madadala niya lahat ng ari-arian niya kahit saang bansa niyang maibigan. Sa ganitong paraan magiging malinis ang pagnanakaw ng kapangyarihan na kanyang ginawa. Ngnunit tinanggihan ito ni ERAP.
“Yung milyong milyong bumoto sakin, di ko pwedeng talikuran, di ko sila maaring iwan. Kahit ikulong niyo ako, di ako aalis.”
Ito ang tugon ni ERAP sa alok ng pamahalaan. At sa pagtangging naganap labing walong kaso kagad ang ibinato sa kanya kasama na ang pandarambong. Nilitis siya sa isang binuong “special court” wangis ng korteng ginamit upang maipakulong si Ninoy Aquino. Walang matibay na ebidensya ang naipakita at ang batayan lamang ay ang sanaysay ni Singson. Pero anong magagawa niya kung ang mga taong nagpatalsik at numakaw ng kapangyarihan ang siyang tumayong mga taga-usig? Nang mahatulan siya at makulong, binuksan ang kontrobersyal na sobre. Ang laman nito ay ang kasulatang hindi kay ERAP ang “Jose Velarde Account” kundi kay Jaime Dichavez. Ngunit naging tikom ang media tungkol sa isyung ito at di nalaman ng karamihan ng mga mamamayan.
Sa pagkakakulong ni ERAP umusbong ang EDSA tres. Ibang imahe ang natunghayan ng bayan sa sumunod na rebolusyon – ang tugon ng bayan laban sa EDSA dos ni Arroyo. Mga manggagawa at mga maralita ang nagtipon. Naging madugo at biyolente ang mga pangyayari. Kung tunay ngang galit ang bayan kay ERAP nakakagulat na halos madoble nang EDSA tres ang dami ng tao sa EDSA dos.
Nanatili paring nakakulong si ERAP. Di dahil nasa panig ng mga nagpatalsik sa kanya ang katotohanan, kundi dahil sa dahas na pinakita ng administrasyong Arroyo sa masa. Limitado man ay patuloy pa rin siya sa pagtulong sa mga Pilipino. Sa Tanay, Rizal ay nagsimula si ERAP iba’t ibang programang nagbibigay pagkakataon sa mga mamayan gaya ng “livelihood program” at pamimigay ng mga binhi at alagang hayop.
Kung pambansang desisyon ngang kriminal si ERAP, hindi na dapat pinahintulutan ng bayan na maluklok pa sa kapangyarihan ang ibang Estrada. Pero anong nangyari? Pawang naging senadora at sendor ang kanyang asawa't anak. Mula rito makikita ang tiwala ng mas nakararami para sa napatalsik na pangulo. Matapos ang anim at kalahating taon na pagkakabilanggo, pinalaya si ERAP at ibinalik ang lahat ng karapatan niya bilang isang mamamayang Pilipino.
**Parte sa mga karapatang ito ay ang tumakbo muli sa eleksyon at hindi ko na tatalakayin ang tunkol sa legalidad ng kanyang pagtakbo dahil matagal na iyong napagpasiyahan.
Sa kanyang pagkawala naging pangalawa ang Pilipinas sa pinakatiwaling bansa sa mundo. Napuno ng kontrebersya ang pamahalaan. Batid niyang watak-watak na ang oposisyon dahil sa nasabing korapsyon, kung kaya’t naisipan niyang tumakbo muli bilang pangulo. Kinakailangang mapigilan ang patuloy na pagpapalawak ng makinarya ng rehimeng Arroyo na ngayon nama’y tatakbo bilang kongresista. Saan kaya tutungo ang mga susunod na pangyayari kung kaanib ng administrasyon ang magwawagi?
Sinabi ni Sun Tzu na sa pagpili nang magiging pinuno, mas mainam ang isang taong may dapat patunayan pagka’t di ka niya bibiguin, kumpara sa isang pinunong may mabuting pangalan dahil ang tanging landas na tatahakin niya ay ang kasiraan. Malinaw naman ang motibo ni Estrada sa pagtakbo at yun ay upang ituloy ang kanyang mga naudlot na makabayang programa. Magnanakaw ba siya para muling litisin? Sasayangin pa ba niya ang pagkakataong matupad ang kanyang mga pangako? Dagdag pa ni Prof. Leila Abarquez, ng Kolehiyo ng Ekonomika at Pamamahala ng UPLB: Pagdating sa pamamahala ng isang bansang tulad ng Pilipinas, di natin kailangan ng taong may natatanging larawan ng talino’t moralidad, hindi naman siya ang mag-isang lulutas ng lahat ng suliranin ng bayan; ang mahalaga’y nakakaugnay siya sa tao at alam niya kung sino ang tatakbuhan para sa isang problema.
Kung sasabihin ngang naging tiwali siya sa una niyang panunungkulan, bakit ni isa sa kanyang gabinete ay di nasangkot sa kahit anong anumalya? Kung nagpayaman nga lamang siya sa kanyang termino at naging sampung beses ang kanyang yaman mula 1969 ayon sa media, bakit walang maiharap na anumalya ang mula sa kanyang dalawampu’t tatlong taong karera sa politika bago siya naging pangulo? Isa pa’y gaano na nga ba ang ibinaba ng halaga ng Piso mula 1969 para ihambing ang salapi sa dalawang magkaibang panahon? Mula rito’y makikita kung paano pinagkakitaan ng media ang pagsira sa imahe ni ERAP. Binaggit ni Maluo Mangahas na para sa isang pangulong lilitisin, ang epekto nito sa tao ay para na rin siyang nahatulan. Natural, maghahanap ang tao ng impormasyon. At kung mas maraming impormasyon at mas matagal ang magiging isyu, mas makakabuti ito sa media. Kaya lumabas ang pagiging sugarol, babaero, at iba’t ibang kasiraan pa ni ERAP na kung tutuusin ay nalalayo naman sa kakayahan niyang mamuno.
Ukol sa kanyang mga babae, pinanagutan naman niya lahat ng kanya anak. Ang immoral ay kung hindi niya ito kinilala at hindi siya sa piling ng asawa niya tumitigil sa kasalukuyan o pinapangalandakan pa niyang mabuti ang pambababae. Ilang taon na ba si JV Ejercito na anak niya mula kay Guia Gomez, at gaano na katagal ang huling pambababae ni ERAP? “Nagkakaroon na lamang ng ugnayan sa iba’t ibang mga pamilya dahil sa mga anak at bukas naman kami sa isa’t isa, mambababae pa ba siya kung nakatingin sa kanya ang buong bansa?” - ito ang binanggit ni Loi Estrada sa isang panayam. Kung babanatan naman siya sa linya ng moralidad na ang isang taong nagkaroon ng maraming anak sa iba’t ibang babae ay di na-aakmang mamuno sa bayan dahil di siya magandang halimbawa, mawawala na ang puwang sa pagbabago ng isang tao at di sana’y lahat na ng nagkasala sa batayang moral ay di na-aakma para maging pinuno. Nakasaad sa “Republika” ni Plato na sa isang demokratikong sistema, kung gagamitin ang moralidad bilang saligan ng pagpili ng pinuno – magiging marupok ang pamahalaan, tataas ang tensyon at lalaki ang agwat sa mga tao sa lipunan; ito’y dahil ang pamahalaan ay binubuo lamang ng tao at ng kanyang mga kahinaan.
Ang saglit na “video” ni ERAP sa Casino Filipino ang paulit-ulit na pinalabas sa telebisyon upang palakasin ang akusasyon ng jueteng na binaggit ko na kanina; samantalang hindi naman siya naroon para habitwal na magsugal gamit ang pera ng bayan kundi kasama ng mga malalaking tao sa larangan ng komersyo bilang parte ng kanilang mga diskusyon ukol sa iba’t ibang proyekto. Ayon kay Sun Tzu, may iba’t ibang paraan upang maligawan ang mga kapangyarihan ng lipunan: kumain ka sa piling ng masa at di ka nila iiwan, makipaglaro ka ng sugal sa mga mangangalakal at makikinig sila sa iyo at makipaginom ka sa mga sundalo at ipaglalaban ka nila. Makikita din na matapos ang “video” na ito, hindi na nasundan ng "media" ng mas konkretong ebidensya ang pagiging sugarol ni ERAP at nagpatuloy na lamang sila sa paglakip ng salitang sugarol sa kanyang pangalan.
Kung magkakaron ng ebaluwasyon kay ERAP ayon sa pamantayang isinaad ng Bibliya, ito ang mga puntong matatagpuan:
Kakayahan (I Tim. 3:10) – Kung gagawing isyu ang kanya edad, paano na lamang sina Lee Kuan Yew at Ronald Reagan na pawang tiningala sa kanilang pamumuno. Pareho din silang mas matanda kay ERAP sa panahon ng kanilang panunungkulan at hindi naman ito naging balakid sa kanilang paglilingkod. Wala namang kapansanan sa utak si ERAP kaya di naakamang isyu ang kanyang edad. Mas dapat bigyang halaga ang kakayahan niyang makipag-ugnayan sa masa at kakayahang tanggihan ang alok ng mga elit.
Karanasan (I Tim. 3:10) – Siya lamang ang dumaan mula sa lokal, lehislatibo, at naging pinuno na ng ehekutibo sa lahat ng mga kandidato. Sa tagal ng pakikisalamuha ni ERAP sa iba’t ibang mukha ng kahirapan siya ang nakalalamang kumpara sa kanyang mga kalaban. Sa dami ng proyektong kanyang nagawa,batang napag-aral, batas na naipasa, at sindikatong napatumba. Siya lamang ang may maipagmamalaki. Hindi yung tipong nagpapalit lamang ng pangalan ng lansangan. Ang kanyang karanasan ay nagbigay din sa kanya ng karunungan kung paano gumagana ang sistema ng mga sangay ng pamahalaan. Alam niyang may tinatawag na “chain of command” na sinusunod ang sandatahang lakas at hindi niya diniktahan ang mga sundalo para umatras upang magpabango ng pangalan.
Karakter (I Tim. 3:4, 7) – Binaggit ng dating pangulo ng UP na si Dr. Emil Q. Javier na isa sa mga pangunahing bentahe ni ERAP ay ang mausisa nitong karakter. Pag di niya alam ang gagawin sa isang bagay di siya nagaatubiling lumapit sa mga eksperto. Alam niya ang kahalagahan ng pangmatagalang proyekto sa agrikultura at siya lamang ang pangulong makikita mong lumalapit sa iba’t ibang institusyong akademiko para magtanong ng maimumungkahi nilang proyekto. “Disregarding the pressure given by the elite media, characterwise ERAP is the best among the candidates. Palibhasa pag off-cam di nila alam kung paano gumalaw si ERAP, kung paano siya minamahal ng mga taong nakapaligid sa kanya” - dagdag ni Boots Anson Roa. Kailanman walang reklamong lumabas mula sa mga empleyado niya ukol sa problema sa ugali o dahil sa pikon siya, di tulad ng ibang kandidato.
Plataporma (Kawikaan 29:18) – kung paghahambingin ang mga plataporma ng mga kandidato si ERAP lamang ang may malaking bahagi na nito ang nasimulan na. Binaggit na rin ni Corazon Aquino na dahil sa agresibo niyang hakbang para isakatuparan ang plataporma niyang para sa mas nakakarami, umalma ang lipunang elit at inilaglag siya. Kung tuna’y ngang makamahirap ang ibang kandidato bakit may mga proyekto tulad ng “C-5 extension” na isang malaking patunay na pag-gamit ng kapangyarihan para sa pansariling interes ayon kay Prof. Winnie Monsod. Paano din malulutas ang kahirapang pambansa ng isang taong di magawan ng paraan ang naghihirap na mga magsasaka sa sarili niyang lupa?
at Koneksyon (I Corinto 15:33) – Binigyang punto ni Machiavelli na isa sa sukatan ng pamunuan ay ang samu’t saring ugnayang matatagpuang sa paligid ng kapangyarihan, sapagkat mula rito mauugat kung gaano kadaming yaman ang nawawala para gumana ng matahimik ang sistema. Ano nga ba ang masasabi sa mga taong nakapaligid kay ERAP? Mga gabineteng walang anumalyang natamo, mga eksperto’t siyentipiko sa iba’t ibang larangan, at ang masang Pilipinong nakakaunawa ng malaking pagbabagong naramdaman nila. Di ba nakakapagtakang magkaiba ang sinasabi ng "media" sa tugon ng taong sumasalubong kay ERAP?
At bilang pagbubuod, hayaan ninyong isa-isahin ko ang bawat puntong matatagpuan sa akda. Una ay ang pamantayan sa pagpili ng pinuno, hindi sapat ang galing o talino bilang batayan dahil hindi naman mag-isang gagawin ng pangulo ang lahat. Ang mahalaga’y may kakayahan siyang makipag-ugnayan at taos puso ang kanyang pagsisilbi dahil batid niyang mas mataas ang mamamayan sa kanya. Di rin matibay na batayan ang moralidad at kasalukuyang imahe; makikita sa panahon ni Charlemagne kung paano natamo ng Romano Katoliko ang kapangyarihan sa Europa. Ito'y hindi dahil sa pamantayang moral kundi sa ugnayang panlabas at dahas.
Pangalawa ay ang lumalawak na agwat ng bayan at ng lipunang elit. Idagdag pa ang mga aksyong ginawa ng elit upang labanan ang progresibong layunin ni Estrada para sa masa. Batid ng mga elit na malaki ang ma-aambag ng gitnang uri para sa pagpapaunlad ng masa kung kaya’t ginamit nila ang “mass media” upang magamit ang “middle class”. Resulta na lamang ay ang EDSA dos. Kailangan natin ng pinunong walang tatanawin ng utang na loob sa mga elit. Dahil kung ganoon, patuloy lamang lalawig ang mapaminsalang agwat, yayaman ang mayayaman at malulugmok ang sa kahirapan karamihan. Bakit di natin pagmasdan ang taga-suporta ng ibang kandidato? Sino ba ang kandidato ng mga negosyate't makapangyarihan?
Pangatlo ay ang oportunistang hakbang ng "mass media" at pagiging alipin nito ng mga elit. Nagamit ng husto ng mga maykaya ang “media” upang makuha ang kapangyarihan mula sa bayan gamit ang iba’t ibang lantaran at indirektang paninira kay Estrada. Ang simpleng pagsambit sa mga balita ng mga katagang "..the impeached president ERAP" ay isa nang malaking panlilinlang. Bakit? Una, di naman natapos ang kaso ng impeachment. Pangalawa, ito'y nagpapagulo sa isyu ng kanyang pagkakakulong, dahil di naman siya nakulong sa hatol ng "impeachment" at hindi rin siya napatalsik dahil sa "Jose Velarde Account". Iba pang halimbawa ay ang pag-gamit ng mga larawan ni ERAP na may langaw sa ilong, nakapitkit, at paglitaw ng samu’t saring ERAP jokes sa telebisyon. Hindi direkta ngunit anong aasahang implikasyon ng mga ito sa tao? Isa pa’y kakaunting tao lamang ang naglalaan ng oras para magsaliksik ng katotohanan; kadalasa’y telebisyon ang pinakmadaling napagkukunan ng impormasyon ng bayan kung kaya't tunay ngang makapangyarihan itong kasangkapan upang ma-manipula ang sikolohikal na estado ng mga manonood.
Pang-apat ay ang pagwasak na ginawa ng rehimeng Arroyo sa ating demokrasya. Simula pa lamang ay ninakaw na niya ang kapangyarihan. Sa siyam na taon ay lumala ang korapsyon at wala naman siyang nagawa sa jueteng. Lumayo ang puso ng mamamayan sa pamahalaan at inaasahang magpapalawig pa siya ng kapangyarihan sa kanyang pagtakbo sa kongreso pagkatapos ng kanya termino. Ito ang dapat nating mapigilan kung nais nating maagapan ang tuluyang pagkabulok ng sistema. Ang rehimeng Arroyo ay matibay sa piling ng mga elit at mga panginoong may lupa. At sa kasalukuyang eleksyon sino-sino ba ang may kaugnayan sa mga elit at panginoong may lupa? Nariyan ang mag-pinsang kandidato mula sa angkan ng mga panginoong may lupa sa gitnang Luzon at Mindanao. Sino-sino nga ba ang mga kasbawat sa pag-agaw ng kapangyarihan noong EDSA dos. At sa gitna ng samu’t saring panlilinlang na matatagpuan sa telebisyon, sino nga ba ang tunay na oposisyon? Ang oposisyon bang nakikipagsabwatan sa partidong komunista upang lumakas ang impluwensya o ang oposisyong inagawan ng kapangyarihan dahil sa tapat na paglilingkod at di pagtanaw ng utang na loob sa mga elit? Ang komunismo ay namumuhay lamang sa kahinaan ng demokrasya ayon sa panulat ni Gen. Jose Crisol, tagapayo ng dating pangulong Magsaysay. At kung mabibigyan ang magkasalungat na paksyon ng parehong kapangyarihan sa isang rehime walang katatagang aasahan mula rito ayon kay Sun Tzu.
At pang-lima ay ang katotohanang di nagtatapos ang obligasyon natin bilang isang Pilipino sa pagboto. Kailangan nating maging mapanuri upang di tayo magamit ng mga makapangyarihang tao. Dapat din nating mapangalagaan ang nalalabing demokrasyang meron tayo at pigilan ang mga tangkang mahaluan ito ng mga bagay na kamukha nito, gaya ng inaalok ng "elite media" sa tao. Ang ginhawa ay di matatamo sa pagpapalit ng isang buktot na pinuno lamang, kundi sa pagtulong ng mamamayan sa pagayos sa winasak na landas patungong kaularan. Sa paglalantad ng mga kahinaan ng bayan lamang mahahanapan ng lunas ang isang naghihingalong bansa ayon kay Dr. Jose Rizal.
Para sa mas komprehensibong pagsusuri ukol sa mga nabanggit na isyu:
Pagsusuri ni Prof. Winnie Monsod sa "C-5 extension"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUQDt-sXdlk
Isang Paglingon sa Hacienda Luisita Massacre
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=118935134783780&ref=mf
Mga hakbang na ginawa ni Gordon
http://propinoy.net/2010/02/19/red-cross-international-warns-gordon/
Monday, July 19, 2010
Insidious illogic in Pagcor privatization
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/19/2010
Mainstream media have followed up PeNoy Aquino’s announce-ment of his Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) privatization plan with massive propaganda. Their argument is that since any game of chance is immoral and unproductive, and since Pagcor, the largest gambling operation run by government, is riddled with corruption, that state-owned enterprise needs to be privatized. However, if they truly believe gambling to be immoral and unproductive, shouldn’t they call for its abolition — whether it be in the form of lotteries such as the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) sweepstakes or the Malaysian-led lotto draws — then later Pagcor’s own dissolution?
To only call for privatization contradicts their sworn moral scruples and belies their position as hypocritical, if not insidious. For them to say “Pagcor is corrupt; therefore it must be privatized” is to admit that Aquino and his Pagcor Chairman Bong Naguiat are incapable of instituting any anti-corruption reform as far as gambling is concerned.
As the privatization of Pagcor means its gambling operations will continue, the only change will be to where the revenues will go. For sure, it will no longer benefit government and, in principle, the state’s charities and the President’s Social Fund. It will merely go to private corporate coffers and from thence may likely not be shared with government for its social spending programs at all.
From initial information disclosed to media, the privatized Pagcor being envisioned by PeNoy will be tax-exempt. We can only roll our eyes in amazement at the unbelievable stroke of luck that the favored private party or parties will enjoy. Pagcor’s income amounts to an average of P30 billion or over $600 million every year; and that’s supposed to be a much-needed resource for government to help the poor with.
But the other so-called “logic” for Pagcor’s privatization that trumps the previous one is the massive corruption pervading Pagcor. A top corruption charge that Naguiat has made concerns the 300 Pagcor consultants appointed by his predecessor Efraim Genuino to the tune of P5 million a month or P60 million a year. If such were indeed the case at Pagcor under Arroyo and Genuino (as it most likely was), the direct solution is to file corruption charges against those responsible; prosecute them to the hilt; and make an example of them in the long promised anti-corruption drive of the Aquino government. Refusing to clean up Pagcor, in terms of weeding out those in the career service who collaborate in various corrupt activities and then, cutting out resources that are being frittered away, is akin to throwing the precious baby with the bathwater.
Even doing so at any price is simply not acceptable. If the Aquino government tries to argue that it needs to let go of Pagcor because it is corrupt, then it has no right at all to sit a single minute more!
This illogic of privatization has ruled the country since the time of PeNoy’s mother 25 years ago. Look at what has happened today: All the government assets chosen to be privatized were those that proved productive and earned billions for the nation. Thus, only huge revenue losses for the government and the public (and obscene profits for the corporate oligarchs) ensued. Whether it’s power, oil, water or toll ways, just name it and its profits are now for the oligarchs’ satisfaction.
The Department of Finance’s Cesar Purisima is expectedly supporting Pagcor’s privatization. His finance and Big Business bosses will be getting their hands on the company’s revenues once it is privatized, with the foreign gambling and financial mafia getting their share of the pie. If anyone doesn’t know it yet, the global finance industry has always been tied to gambling — from Monte Carlo to Las Vegas to Macao.
The privatization of Pagcor will lead to an even greater control of the Philippines by gambling and finance syndicates, with narco-politics close behind, as exemplified by NYSE’s Richard Grasso embracing Colombian FARC narco-rebel Raul Reyes in 1999, as well as his part in the compensation controversies that foreshadowed the 2008 Wall Street financial crash.
Truth to tell, the past 25 years of liberalization has seen the country progressively sink into the gambling and narcotic quagmire never seen before.
The privatization of Pagcor is one of the last frontiers in the battle for complete control of RP’s resources which the global and local oligarchs are waging against the people. As each privatization proceeds, the nation only sinks deeper into poverty. Our hope is that the increasing impoverishment imposed through the oligarchy’s newest puppet government may finally rouse the middle class and the masa to awaken and fight back. All oppressed sectors — professionals, small-and-medium scale entrepreneurs, labor, soldiers, plus the ideologically-inspired opposition — must heed this call. Those who continue to turn a blind eye — including those who pose as opposition but kowtow to the Yellow movement — are collaborators to the ongoing plunder and oppression. This is the message the truly concerned, nationalistic forces must continually raise so the people may know.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m.; also visit our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/19/2010
Mainstream media have followed up PeNoy Aquino’s announce-ment of his Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) privatization plan with massive propaganda. Their argument is that since any game of chance is immoral and unproductive, and since Pagcor, the largest gambling operation run by government, is riddled with corruption, that state-owned enterprise needs to be privatized. However, if they truly believe gambling to be immoral and unproductive, shouldn’t they call for its abolition — whether it be in the form of lotteries such as the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) sweepstakes or the Malaysian-led lotto draws — then later Pagcor’s own dissolution?
To only call for privatization contradicts their sworn moral scruples and belies their position as hypocritical, if not insidious. For them to say “Pagcor is corrupt; therefore it must be privatized” is to admit that Aquino and his Pagcor Chairman Bong Naguiat are incapable of instituting any anti-corruption reform as far as gambling is concerned.
As the privatization of Pagcor means its gambling operations will continue, the only change will be to where the revenues will go. For sure, it will no longer benefit government and, in principle, the state’s charities and the President’s Social Fund. It will merely go to private corporate coffers and from thence may likely not be shared with government for its social spending programs at all.
From initial information disclosed to media, the privatized Pagcor being envisioned by PeNoy will be tax-exempt. We can only roll our eyes in amazement at the unbelievable stroke of luck that the favored private party or parties will enjoy. Pagcor’s income amounts to an average of P30 billion or over $600 million every year; and that’s supposed to be a much-needed resource for government to help the poor with.
But the other so-called “logic” for Pagcor’s privatization that trumps the previous one is the massive corruption pervading Pagcor. A top corruption charge that Naguiat has made concerns the 300 Pagcor consultants appointed by his predecessor Efraim Genuino to the tune of P5 million a month or P60 million a year. If such were indeed the case at Pagcor under Arroyo and Genuino (as it most likely was), the direct solution is to file corruption charges against those responsible; prosecute them to the hilt; and make an example of them in the long promised anti-corruption drive of the Aquino government. Refusing to clean up Pagcor, in terms of weeding out those in the career service who collaborate in various corrupt activities and then, cutting out resources that are being frittered away, is akin to throwing the precious baby with the bathwater.
Even doing so at any price is simply not acceptable. If the Aquino government tries to argue that it needs to let go of Pagcor because it is corrupt, then it has no right at all to sit a single minute more!
This illogic of privatization has ruled the country since the time of PeNoy’s mother 25 years ago. Look at what has happened today: All the government assets chosen to be privatized were those that proved productive and earned billions for the nation. Thus, only huge revenue losses for the government and the public (and obscene profits for the corporate oligarchs) ensued. Whether it’s power, oil, water or toll ways, just name it and its profits are now for the oligarchs’ satisfaction.
The Department of Finance’s Cesar Purisima is expectedly supporting Pagcor’s privatization. His finance and Big Business bosses will be getting their hands on the company’s revenues once it is privatized, with the foreign gambling and financial mafia getting their share of the pie. If anyone doesn’t know it yet, the global finance industry has always been tied to gambling — from Monte Carlo to Las Vegas to Macao.
The privatization of Pagcor will lead to an even greater control of the Philippines by gambling and finance syndicates, with narco-politics close behind, as exemplified by NYSE’s Richard Grasso embracing Colombian FARC narco-rebel Raul Reyes in 1999, as well as his part in the compensation controversies that foreshadowed the 2008 Wall Street financial crash.
Truth to tell, the past 25 years of liberalization has seen the country progressively sink into the gambling and narcotic quagmire never seen before.
The privatization of Pagcor is one of the last frontiers in the battle for complete control of RP’s resources which the global and local oligarchs are waging against the people. As each privatization proceeds, the nation only sinks deeper into poverty. Our hope is that the increasing impoverishment imposed through the oligarchy’s newest puppet government may finally rouse the middle class and the masa to awaken and fight back. All oppressed sectors — professionals, small-and-medium scale entrepreneurs, labor, soldiers, plus the ideologically-inspired opposition — must heed this call. Those who continue to turn a blind eye — including those who pose as opposition but kowtow to the Yellow movement — are collaborators to the ongoing plunder and oppression. This is the message the truly concerned, nationalistic forces must continually raise so the people may know.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m.; also visit our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Friday, July 16, 2010
From PeNoy to plunder?
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/16/10
Even to doubting Thomases on PeNoy’s abilities to lead the nation, my title for this piece might come as a shocker. They’ll think, “Incompetence, yes; hypocrisy, certainly; but plunder? Is he capable of that?” To PeNoy’s admirers from the Yellow army, such a suggested intent to plunder will most likely elicit remarks such as “Sobra na yang si Tiu Laurel; sobra na (He is going overboard)!’’
But as I have listed several of PeNoy’s 180 degree-turns on his campaign pledges the past two weeks, such as his reversals on the budget deficit and on cutting the “pork barrel,” as well as, his dilly-dallying on his anti-corruption and anti-jueteng drives, the July 14 report of a loyal PeNoy paper, The Philippine Star, rings all the plunder alarm bells. The following are its salient points:
“Privatization of Pagcor eyed, by Delon Porcalla... President Aquino yesterday hinted at turning over the Pagcor to the private sector, saying the government has apparently been shortchanged on the revenues generated by the state-owned gaming firm. Mr. Aquino said the privatization of Pagcor would possibly end corruption in the agency by some officials who make it a milking cow. Pagcor earns an estimated P30 billion a year in revenues for the government. ‘We have uncovered several anomalies in Pagcor amid allegations that the government is not really getting its share of the revenues,’ Mr. Aquino told reporters during a dinner late Tuesday. Mr. Aquino said it would be more practical to sell Pagcor and have it run by the private sector. He said private entities would be more professional in running the firm that would also translate to more profits for the government.”
Sure, sure: Privatize Pagcor so its P30 billion revenues go to private pockets. Privatize it to his uncle with whom he partnered for the security agency that cornered all government security contracts, or to the other uncle who set up the jueteng coalition called the Northern Alliance — all during his mother’s tenure. Or maybe privatize Pagcor to the Malaysians who have raked in billions from operating lotto in this country at the expense of the government-run sweepstakes lottery which has lost a sizable chunk of its market, thanks to the second Yellow government of Fidel Ramos.
If there has been corruption in Pagcor under the previous regime, then start prosecuting Gloria Arroyo and Efraim Genuino. Follow through by looking into the management systems and correcting the flaws that lead to corruption. PeNoy should also took into his own culpability for supporting Arroyo through five years of her illegal reign. But why privatize?
Too often have we heard these same old lame excuses for privatization and subsequently, the abject failure of most if not all privatization projects. These should help us all wise up to the malicious, duplicitous and larcenous intent of those proposing these privatizations.
Maybe that is why a close buddy and classmate, Bong Naguiat, is being appointed to Pagcor instead of someone more objective and beyond reproach as Erap did when he appointed the venerable Alice Reyes.
Pagcor is the crown jewel of all the government gaming operations that produce billions for government’s social projects and programs. The nation’s poor should not lose the Pagcor revenues as the PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office) beneficiaries did when the Malaysians’ lotto raided PCSO markets.
PeNoy’s statements on the corruption in Pagcor parallel his most recent pronouncements on jueteng — all bemuddling, hypocritical and insidious. As several earlier Tribune op-ed pieces have shown, underground jueteng is the root of corruption. Yet PeNoy is still hedging on the issue of its immediate eradication by giving instructions to the Department of Interior and Local Government and Philippine National Police to go after jueteng while at the same time declaring it as a “low priority” because (a) the PNP is preoccupied with peace and order and (b) he wants to prepare alternative livelihood for the many poor people who will be displaced by his drive.
PeNoy is thus admitting that Erap is correct. That jueteng is an important livelihood. Why not legalize it then rather than prevaricate?
As the 25 years of its practice in the Philippines shows, privatization is plunder. We have seen it fail to provide competition, lower rates, and satisfactory supply and service — whether in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, water, toll ways, or telecommunications. We have also seen it happen in the privatization of the election voting and counting operations in the Smartmatic AES (Automated Election System) where the country was gypped of at least P7.2 billion (some say up to P15 billion) with nothing left to show — not even the cog, screw or chip of a voting machine — except for a severely questioned election process.
The privatization of Pagcor will without doubt reduce benefits to government and its most needy recipients, and only fatten the rich corporate predators. The signs are there. The “P” in PeNoy could very well stand for plunder.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Filipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m.; also visit our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/16/10
Even to doubting Thomases on PeNoy’s abilities to lead the nation, my title for this piece might come as a shocker. They’ll think, “Incompetence, yes; hypocrisy, certainly; but plunder? Is he capable of that?” To PeNoy’s admirers from the Yellow army, such a suggested intent to plunder will most likely elicit remarks such as “Sobra na yang si Tiu Laurel; sobra na (He is going overboard)!’’
But as I have listed several of PeNoy’s 180 degree-turns on his campaign pledges the past two weeks, such as his reversals on the budget deficit and on cutting the “pork barrel,” as well as, his dilly-dallying on his anti-corruption and anti-jueteng drives, the July 14 report of a loyal PeNoy paper, The Philippine Star, rings all the plunder alarm bells. The following are its salient points:
“Privatization of Pagcor eyed, by Delon Porcalla... President Aquino yesterday hinted at turning over the Pagcor to the private sector, saying the government has apparently been shortchanged on the revenues generated by the state-owned gaming firm. Mr. Aquino said the privatization of Pagcor would possibly end corruption in the agency by some officials who make it a milking cow. Pagcor earns an estimated P30 billion a year in revenues for the government. ‘We have uncovered several anomalies in Pagcor amid allegations that the government is not really getting its share of the revenues,’ Mr. Aquino told reporters during a dinner late Tuesday. Mr. Aquino said it would be more practical to sell Pagcor and have it run by the private sector. He said private entities would be more professional in running the firm that would also translate to more profits for the government.”
Sure, sure: Privatize Pagcor so its P30 billion revenues go to private pockets. Privatize it to his uncle with whom he partnered for the security agency that cornered all government security contracts, or to the other uncle who set up the jueteng coalition called the Northern Alliance — all during his mother’s tenure. Or maybe privatize Pagcor to the Malaysians who have raked in billions from operating lotto in this country at the expense of the government-run sweepstakes lottery which has lost a sizable chunk of its market, thanks to the second Yellow government of Fidel Ramos.
If there has been corruption in Pagcor under the previous regime, then start prosecuting Gloria Arroyo and Efraim Genuino. Follow through by looking into the management systems and correcting the flaws that lead to corruption. PeNoy should also took into his own culpability for supporting Arroyo through five years of her illegal reign. But why privatize?
Too often have we heard these same old lame excuses for privatization and subsequently, the abject failure of most if not all privatization projects. These should help us all wise up to the malicious, duplicitous and larcenous intent of those proposing these privatizations.
Maybe that is why a close buddy and classmate, Bong Naguiat, is being appointed to Pagcor instead of someone more objective and beyond reproach as Erap did when he appointed the venerable Alice Reyes.
Pagcor is the crown jewel of all the government gaming operations that produce billions for government’s social projects and programs. The nation’s poor should not lose the Pagcor revenues as the PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office) beneficiaries did when the Malaysians’ lotto raided PCSO markets.
PeNoy’s statements on the corruption in Pagcor parallel his most recent pronouncements on jueteng — all bemuddling, hypocritical and insidious. As several earlier Tribune op-ed pieces have shown, underground jueteng is the root of corruption. Yet PeNoy is still hedging on the issue of its immediate eradication by giving instructions to the Department of Interior and Local Government and Philippine National Police to go after jueteng while at the same time declaring it as a “low priority” because (a) the PNP is preoccupied with peace and order and (b) he wants to prepare alternative livelihood for the many poor people who will be displaced by his drive.
PeNoy is thus admitting that Erap is correct. That jueteng is an important livelihood. Why not legalize it then rather than prevaricate?
As the 25 years of its practice in the Philippines shows, privatization is plunder. We have seen it fail to provide competition, lower rates, and satisfactory supply and service — whether in electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, water, toll ways, or telecommunications. We have also seen it happen in the privatization of the election voting and counting operations in the Smartmatic AES (Automated Election System) where the country was gypped of at least P7.2 billion (some say up to P15 billion) with nothing left to show — not even the cog, screw or chip of a voting machine — except for a severely questioned election process.
The privatization of Pagcor will without doubt reduce benefits to government and its most needy recipients, and only fatten the rich corporate predators. The signs are there. The “P” in PeNoy could very well stand for plunder.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Filipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Politics Today, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m.; also visit our new blog, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Ministro ng Dilawang Panlilinlang
Richard James Mendoza
Ika-12 ng Hulyo, 2010
Ang “Ministro ng Impormasyon” ay isang ministro sa isang parlyamentaryong pamahalaan na inatasan sa pagsusubaybay ng daloy ng impormasyon na ipinapakita sa publiko. Masasabi na kaparehas din ito ng ABS-CBN, GMA7, Inquirer at iba pang kaparehas na kompanya na pagmamay-ari ng mga oligarkyo. Itu-ito rin ang mga kompanya na isinara sa administrasyong Marcos pero ipinamigay ni Corazon Aquino nang siya’y naging pangulo.
Noong rehimen ng unang Aquino, maadalas na ipakita sa mga pahayagan mga papuri para sa nakaupo. Ang magkatunggaling pananaw ay halos hindi ipakita o iparinig. Matatandaan natin na sa panahon ni Corazon Aquino ay nagsara ang isang pahayagan na kilala bilang oposisyon. Matatandaan din natin na sa panahon niya ay naitanggal sa mga “bookstore” ang librong pinamagatang “Sainthood Postponed”. Kinasuhan ni Corazon Aquino ang isang mamahayag ng libelo dahil sa akusasyon niya sa kanya na “nagtatago sa ilalim ng kama” nang maganap ang kudeta.
Hindi ko masasabi na natatandaan ko ang pamamahayag ng mga dilawan sa administrasyong Ramos subalit hindi ko makakalimutan ang kanilang pamamahayag sa administrasyong Estrada. Imbes na iulat ang mga nagawa niya katulad ng paglago ng ekonomiya noong “Asian Financial Crisis” at ang mga bagay na may kinalaman sa pambansang interes ay pinagtuunan nila ng pansin ang kanyang personal na isyu na wala naming halaga. Isang halimbawa ay ang di-umano’y mga mansion niya, ang “Boracay Mansion” bilang pinakakilala sa mga ito. Isa pang halimbawa ay ang tinatawag na “Jose Velarde account” na di-umano’y pagmamay-ari ni Pangulong Estrada subalit ang totoong may-ari nito ay ang negosyanteng si Jaime Dichaves.
Katulad sa mga buwitre na pinagkakaguluhan ang nabubulok na bangkay, patuloy pa rin ang pangdedemonyo kay Pangulong Estrada pagkatapos ng “pagpapakitang-litis” sa Sandiganbayan. Masasabi ko ng buong katiyakan na isang pagpapakitang-tao lamang ang ginawang paglilitis kay Pangulong Estrada sa Sandiganbayan dahil alam ng lahat na hinatulan na siya na may-sala bago pa man pormal na ihain ito sa kanya. At patuloy parin ang kanilang paninira sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng pagbanggit ng hatol sa kanya ng Sandiganbayan sa halos lahat ng ulat tungkol sa kanya. Nang manumpa ng labag sa batas si Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bilang Pangulo, pinabanguhan ng midyang dilaw ang bastardong pangulo ng mga papuri pero kumambyo nang nagsilitawan ang iba’t-ibang iskandalo at iskam, ang “Hello Garci” bilang pinakatanyag na halimbawa. Kahit na kumambyo ang midya kay Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ay magaan pa rin ang kanilang pagbalita sa kaniya.
Nagsimulang kumalat ang baho ng mga dilawan noong ipalabas nila ang isang “music video” ni BSA III na isang halatang pagtatangka sa pangangampanya bago ang panahon ng halalan. Ito’y maituturi na mas malala sa mga ipinalabas na patalastas ni Manny Villar na dati pang ipinapalabas. Pinagtatakpan din nila ang mga pagkukulang at pagkakasala ng COMELEC at SMARTMATIC (na tinatawag ring “SMARTMAGIC”) nang magsilabasan na ang ebidensya. May kasabihan na ganito ang pagkakadating: “Walang mas bulag sa mga ayaw na tumingin”. At ganito na nga ang kanilang istilo pagdating sa panlilinlang ng halalan (electoral fraud). Sinasadya nilang hindi intindihin ito o binabaluktot ang katotohanan.
Ngayon at Pangulo na (raw) si BSA III, babalik sa dating gawi ang dilawang midya na ginawa nila noong panahon ni Corazon Aquino. Wiwisikan nila ng mumurahing pabango ang isang “drag queen” o sa kasong ito, isang PENOY. Ang bango ay mapapalitan din ng baho na kasama sa kanyang illegal na pagkapangulo.
Ang totoong giyera ay hindi ang pagpapalitan ng putok ng armas kundi ang sagupaan ng “mainstream” na impormasyon at ang alternatibong pananaw.
Ika-12 ng Hulyo, 2010
Ang “Ministro ng Impormasyon” ay isang ministro sa isang parlyamentaryong pamahalaan na inatasan sa pagsusubaybay ng daloy ng impormasyon na ipinapakita sa publiko. Masasabi na kaparehas din ito ng ABS-CBN, GMA7, Inquirer at iba pang kaparehas na kompanya na pagmamay-ari ng mga oligarkyo. Itu-ito rin ang mga kompanya na isinara sa administrasyong Marcos pero ipinamigay ni Corazon Aquino nang siya’y naging pangulo.
Noong rehimen ng unang Aquino, maadalas na ipakita sa mga pahayagan mga papuri para sa nakaupo. Ang magkatunggaling pananaw ay halos hindi ipakita o iparinig. Matatandaan natin na sa panahon ni Corazon Aquino ay nagsara ang isang pahayagan na kilala bilang oposisyon. Matatandaan din natin na sa panahon niya ay naitanggal sa mga “bookstore” ang librong pinamagatang “Sainthood Postponed”. Kinasuhan ni Corazon Aquino ang isang mamahayag ng libelo dahil sa akusasyon niya sa kanya na “nagtatago sa ilalim ng kama” nang maganap ang kudeta.
Hindi ko masasabi na natatandaan ko ang pamamahayag ng mga dilawan sa administrasyong Ramos subalit hindi ko makakalimutan ang kanilang pamamahayag sa administrasyong Estrada. Imbes na iulat ang mga nagawa niya katulad ng paglago ng ekonomiya noong “Asian Financial Crisis” at ang mga bagay na may kinalaman sa pambansang interes ay pinagtuunan nila ng pansin ang kanyang personal na isyu na wala naming halaga. Isang halimbawa ay ang di-umano’y mga mansion niya, ang “Boracay Mansion” bilang pinakakilala sa mga ito. Isa pang halimbawa ay ang tinatawag na “Jose Velarde account” na di-umano’y pagmamay-ari ni Pangulong Estrada subalit ang totoong may-ari nito ay ang negosyanteng si Jaime Dichaves.
Katulad sa mga buwitre na pinagkakaguluhan ang nabubulok na bangkay, patuloy pa rin ang pangdedemonyo kay Pangulong Estrada pagkatapos ng “pagpapakitang-litis” sa Sandiganbayan. Masasabi ko ng buong katiyakan na isang pagpapakitang-tao lamang ang ginawang paglilitis kay Pangulong Estrada sa Sandiganbayan dahil alam ng lahat na hinatulan na siya na may-sala bago pa man pormal na ihain ito sa kanya. At patuloy parin ang kanilang paninira sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng pagbanggit ng hatol sa kanya ng Sandiganbayan sa halos lahat ng ulat tungkol sa kanya. Nang manumpa ng labag sa batas si Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bilang Pangulo, pinabanguhan ng midyang dilaw ang bastardong pangulo ng mga papuri pero kumambyo nang nagsilitawan ang iba’t-ibang iskandalo at iskam, ang “Hello Garci” bilang pinakatanyag na halimbawa. Kahit na kumambyo ang midya kay Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ay magaan pa rin ang kanilang pagbalita sa kaniya.
Nagsimulang kumalat ang baho ng mga dilawan noong ipalabas nila ang isang “music video” ni BSA III na isang halatang pagtatangka sa pangangampanya bago ang panahon ng halalan. Ito’y maituturi na mas malala sa mga ipinalabas na patalastas ni Manny Villar na dati pang ipinapalabas. Pinagtatakpan din nila ang mga pagkukulang at pagkakasala ng COMELEC at SMARTMATIC (na tinatawag ring “SMARTMAGIC”) nang magsilabasan na ang ebidensya. May kasabihan na ganito ang pagkakadating: “Walang mas bulag sa mga ayaw na tumingin”. At ganito na nga ang kanilang istilo pagdating sa panlilinlang ng halalan (electoral fraud). Sinasadya nilang hindi intindihin ito o binabaluktot ang katotohanan.
Ngayon at Pangulo na (raw) si BSA III, babalik sa dating gawi ang dilawang midya na ginawa nila noong panahon ni Corazon Aquino. Wiwisikan nila ng mumurahing pabango ang isang “drag queen” o sa kasong ito, isang PENOY. Ang bango ay mapapalitan din ng baho na kasama sa kanyang illegal na pagkapangulo.
Ang totoong giyera ay hindi ang pagpapalitan ng putok ng armas kundi ang sagupaan ng “mainstream” na impormasyon at ang alternatibong pananaw.
The Yellow Ministry of DIS-Information
Richard James Mendoza
July 12, 2010
A “Ministry of Information” is a ministry in a parliamentarian government which is tasked to control the flow of information being shown to the public. The same can be said to ABS-CBN, GMA7, Inquirer and other similar entities that are owned by the oligarchy. These are also the same entities that were shut down during the Marcos administration but were practically given away from free when Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
During the first Aquino regime, most of these publications reported nothing but praises for the incumbent. Opposing views were almost unheard of. It can be remembered that during this period, an opposition broadsheet was shut down and a book entitled “Sainthood Postponed” was deshelved from bookstores. It is also on record that that a certain journalist was sued by Corazon Aquino for libel when he accused her of “hiding under the bed” during the coup.
I cannot claim to remember the coverage of the yellows during the Ramos administration but I cannot forget the coverage that they did during the Estrada administration. They were demonizing him up until his last minute of his short-lived term. Instead of reporting about his achievement of an economic turnaround during the Asian Financial Crisis and other items of national interest, they focused on his personal issues that did not really matter. An example is his reported mansions, the so-called “Boracay Mansion’ being the most famous. Another example is the so-called “Jose Velarde account” which is purportedly owned by President Estrada when it is in fact owned by businessman Jaime Dichaves.
Like vultures feasting on a rotting corpse, the yellow media kept on demonizing Estrada even after the Sandiganbayan show trials. I can say with certainty that the Sandiganbayan trials were nothing but show trials because it is well known that Estrada was already convicted even before the verdict was formally handed. And they continue to defame him by mentioning his verdict in the show trials in almost every item about President Estrada. When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was illegally sworn in as president, the yellow media perfumed the illegitimate president with nothing but praises but started backtracking when various scandals and scams started to show up, most notably the “Hello Garci” scandal. Although they backtracked, so to speak, they still treated her with a kid’s glove.
The yellow’s stench started to spread when they presented a music video of BSA III in an obvious attempt at pre-election campaigning. It can be considered as worse than Manny Villar’s ads shown sometime before. They were also covering up the faults of COMELEC and SMARTMATIC (or as they call it, SMARTMAGIC) when the evidences started to appear. There is a saying that goes around like this: “None are blind as those who do not want to see”. And they were just like that when it came to electoral fraud; either deliberately ignoring it or twisting the facts.
Now that BSA III is President (supposedly), the yellow media will go back to the same tactics that they used during the first Aquino regime. They are going to spray cheap perfume to a drag queen or in this case, an unhatched egg. Then the fragrance will eventually be worn off by the filth that has come with his illegal presidency.
The real war is not the exchange of gunfire but the battle between mainstream information and alternate viewpoints.
July 12, 2010
A “Ministry of Information” is a ministry in a parliamentarian government which is tasked to control the flow of information being shown to the public. The same can be said to ABS-CBN, GMA7, Inquirer and other similar entities that are owned by the oligarchy. These are also the same entities that were shut down during the Marcos administration but were practically given away from free when Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
During the first Aquino regime, most of these publications reported nothing but praises for the incumbent. Opposing views were almost unheard of. It can be remembered that during this period, an opposition broadsheet was shut down and a book entitled “Sainthood Postponed” was deshelved from bookstores. It is also on record that that a certain journalist was sued by Corazon Aquino for libel when he accused her of “hiding under the bed” during the coup.
I cannot claim to remember the coverage of the yellows during the Ramos administration but I cannot forget the coverage that they did during the Estrada administration. They were demonizing him up until his last minute of his short-lived term. Instead of reporting about his achievement of an economic turnaround during the Asian Financial Crisis and other items of national interest, they focused on his personal issues that did not really matter. An example is his reported mansions, the so-called “Boracay Mansion’ being the most famous. Another example is the so-called “Jose Velarde account” which is purportedly owned by President Estrada when it is in fact owned by businessman Jaime Dichaves.
Like vultures feasting on a rotting corpse, the yellow media kept on demonizing Estrada even after the Sandiganbayan show trials. I can say with certainty that the Sandiganbayan trials were nothing but show trials because it is well known that Estrada was already convicted even before the verdict was formally handed. And they continue to defame him by mentioning his verdict in the show trials in almost every item about President Estrada. When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was illegally sworn in as president, the yellow media perfumed the illegitimate president with nothing but praises but started backtracking when various scandals and scams started to show up, most notably the “Hello Garci” scandal. Although they backtracked, so to speak, they still treated her with a kid’s glove.
The yellow’s stench started to spread when they presented a music video of BSA III in an obvious attempt at pre-election campaigning. It can be considered as worse than Manny Villar’s ads shown sometime before. They were also covering up the faults of COMELEC and SMARTMATIC (or as they call it, SMARTMAGIC) when the evidences started to appear. There is a saying that goes around like this: “None are blind as those who do not want to see”. And they were just like that when it came to electoral fraud; either deliberately ignoring it or twisting the facts.
Now that BSA III is President (supposedly), the yellow media will go back to the same tactics that they used during the first Aquino regime. They are going to spray cheap perfume to a drag queen or in this case, an unhatched egg. Then the fragrance will eventually be worn off by the filth that has come with his illegal presidency.
The real war is not the exchange of gunfire but the battle between mainstream information and alternate viewpoints.
Behind the propaganda
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/12/10
If only the nation could see through the propaganda, it would be obvious to one and all that the kind of government we are seeing today is nothing but a continuation of the anti-people, pro-oligarchy, and pro-Western regimes of Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Gloria Arroyo. Just watch closely how a few days after the presidential inauguration, one of the key economic and financial managers of PeNoy Aquino, Budget and Management chief Butch Abad, already turned around and announced that the 2010 budget deficit will be increasing from Gloria’s 3.6 percent to PeNoy’s 3.9 percent! At the same time, even as the Arroyo-appointed board at the PNOC-EC, which owns 10 percent of Malampaya, had previously delayed the sale of those shares (which Joseph Estrada as president had acquired for government), PeNoy’s Cesar Purisima is now saying that such shares are also “on the table” (i.e. ready to be sold along with two other state assets).
The expected revenues from selling the 10 percent share of government would fetch up to P16 billion, an amount that is ridiculous considering that this natural gas asset remitted P13 billion in revenues from royalties and other incomes in 2008 alone. The pressure to sell these government shares invariably come from foreign energy companies. Like all previous government finance managers usually backed by international bankers and multilateral financial institutions, the issue of the national budget deficit is regularly invoked to press the sale. We are therefore not surprised that the Budget and Finance secretaries of PeNoy seem to be in a coordinated play to justify the sale of extremely profitable government assets again, including the Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig, as well as our nation's properties in Japan.
Shell Philippines Exploration BV, developer of the Malampaya natural gas wells, has by now fully recovered its investment of $4.5 billion after operating for the past decade. This is therefore the time that the Philippines should be negotiating for a substantially larger share of the project. It is certainly not the time to sell if government is thinking of the public good. If the Filipino people do not awake from the trance of “wang-wang” and “PNoy” which the mainstream print and broadcast media are feeding into the public’s subconscious, the vested interests moving in for the kill will finally succeed in this swindle of the century. PeNoy Aquino may also turn out to be the final villain in this Malampaya saga, with the ruling oligarchs behind Shell Philippines and their propaganda for him becoming instrumental in his infamy.
The propaganda to make PeNoy into the “humble, uncomplaining, incorruptible” PNoy is deliberately being generated to overshadow and drown out discussions on vital issues of strategic importance to the public. This is one way to “manufacture consent” as noted linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist and political activist Noam Chomsky has often written about. He explains: “I think there is a good reason the propaganda system works that way. It recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them.”
The same people behind Gloria Arroyo and, now, PeNoy Aquino are still doggedly after the total conquest, occupation, and usurpation of all the wealth of this nation. PeNoy’s Cabinet secretaries’ reversals on the budget deficit and full Malampaya privatization are just some of the glaring examples of the continuation of Arroyo’s disastrous policies. Another one has to do with recent pronouncements on the unconstitutional Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD).
The duplicity behind the MoA-AD’s near-consummation was a major issue against Gloria. PeNoy was supposed to offer a departure from that and a hope for a reversal of the previous regime's policy of appeasement. But in an interview with Ces Drilon on ANC’s The Rundown, PeNoy’s Peace Process chief Ging Quintos Deles even praised that piece of high treason as well-intentioned and designed to benefit the Mindanaoans, but which lacked only in transparency. When pressed for details, such as the US Embassy's undue interest on the matter, Deles could only say that in such sensitive issues she has learned not to open her mouth too much, which in itself is a denial of openness and transparency. Let me note that Deles and her husband have lived largely on foreign governments’ and foundations’ projects and funds, such as the Canadian International Development Agency. Ging Deles’ deliberate ambiguity is just a new approach to duplicity; thus, we can expect the PeNoy government to use his so-called “political capital” from his Hocus-PCOS “victory” plus the constant barrage of propaganda to finally consummate the MoA-AD.
There are more duplicities hiding behind ambiguities: The pursuit of evidence on Gloria Arroyo’s many alleged crimes, including the Fertilizer Fund scam, through a toothless Truth Commission led by a dubious chairman, defended and reaffirmed by PeNoy Aquino himself.
Another major issue is the wanton abandon with which the energy companies are raising power rates. The Philippine Electricity Market Corp., for starters, is already seeking a three-fold increase of its fees for “governance and market” operations in the energy market — an additional overhead in privatization that very few know about. Yet little, if any, public discussion initiated by government has come up about this major manipulation in the energy market. Why then is this policy of silence being continued by PeNoy Aquino?
It certainly feels like these are just a foretaste of more insidious propaganda from the PeNoy regime. Could this be why there was that compelling need to form a fortified propaganda war room in the guise of a presidential communications group?
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV — Infowars Edition, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on “Election Annulment” with Gov. Bono Adaza and Engr. H.R. Estrella; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/12/10
If only the nation could see through the propaganda, it would be obvious to one and all that the kind of government we are seeing today is nothing but a continuation of the anti-people, pro-oligarchy, and pro-Western regimes of Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Gloria Arroyo. Just watch closely how a few days after the presidential inauguration, one of the key economic and financial managers of PeNoy Aquino, Budget and Management chief Butch Abad, already turned around and announced that the 2010 budget deficit will be increasing from Gloria’s 3.6 percent to PeNoy’s 3.9 percent! At the same time, even as the Arroyo-appointed board at the PNOC-EC, which owns 10 percent of Malampaya, had previously delayed the sale of those shares (which Joseph Estrada as president had acquired for government), PeNoy’s Cesar Purisima is now saying that such shares are also “on the table” (i.e. ready to be sold along with two other state assets).
The expected revenues from selling the 10 percent share of government would fetch up to P16 billion, an amount that is ridiculous considering that this natural gas asset remitted P13 billion in revenues from royalties and other incomes in 2008 alone. The pressure to sell these government shares invariably come from foreign energy companies. Like all previous government finance managers usually backed by international bankers and multilateral financial institutions, the issue of the national budget deficit is regularly invoked to press the sale. We are therefore not surprised that the Budget and Finance secretaries of PeNoy seem to be in a coordinated play to justify the sale of extremely profitable government assets again, including the Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig, as well as our nation's properties in Japan.
Shell Philippines Exploration BV, developer of the Malampaya natural gas wells, has by now fully recovered its investment of $4.5 billion after operating for the past decade. This is therefore the time that the Philippines should be negotiating for a substantially larger share of the project. It is certainly not the time to sell if government is thinking of the public good. If the Filipino people do not awake from the trance of “wang-wang” and “PNoy” which the mainstream print and broadcast media are feeding into the public’s subconscious, the vested interests moving in for the kill will finally succeed in this swindle of the century. PeNoy Aquino may also turn out to be the final villain in this Malampaya saga, with the ruling oligarchs behind Shell Philippines and their propaganda for him becoming instrumental in his infamy.
The propaganda to make PeNoy into the “humble, uncomplaining, incorruptible” PNoy is deliberately being generated to overshadow and drown out discussions on vital issues of strategic importance to the public. This is one way to “manufacture consent” as noted linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist and political activist Noam Chomsky has often written about. He explains: “I think there is a good reason the propaganda system works that way. It recognizes that the public will not support the actual policies. Therefore it is important to prevent any knowledge or understanding of them.”
The same people behind Gloria Arroyo and, now, PeNoy Aquino are still doggedly after the total conquest, occupation, and usurpation of all the wealth of this nation. PeNoy’s Cabinet secretaries’ reversals on the budget deficit and full Malampaya privatization are just some of the glaring examples of the continuation of Arroyo’s disastrous policies. Another one has to do with recent pronouncements on the unconstitutional Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MoA-AD).
The duplicity behind the MoA-AD’s near-consummation was a major issue against Gloria. PeNoy was supposed to offer a departure from that and a hope for a reversal of the previous regime's policy of appeasement. But in an interview with Ces Drilon on ANC’s The Rundown, PeNoy’s Peace Process chief Ging Quintos Deles even praised that piece of high treason as well-intentioned and designed to benefit the Mindanaoans, but which lacked only in transparency. When pressed for details, such as the US Embassy's undue interest on the matter, Deles could only say that in such sensitive issues she has learned not to open her mouth too much, which in itself is a denial of openness and transparency. Let me note that Deles and her husband have lived largely on foreign governments’ and foundations’ projects and funds, such as the Canadian International Development Agency. Ging Deles’ deliberate ambiguity is just a new approach to duplicity; thus, we can expect the PeNoy government to use his so-called “political capital” from his Hocus-PCOS “victory” plus the constant barrage of propaganda to finally consummate the MoA-AD.
There are more duplicities hiding behind ambiguities: The pursuit of evidence on Gloria Arroyo’s many alleged crimes, including the Fertilizer Fund scam, through a toothless Truth Commission led by a dubious chairman, defended and reaffirmed by PeNoy Aquino himself.
Another major issue is the wanton abandon with which the energy companies are raising power rates. The Philippine Electricity Market Corp., for starters, is already seeking a three-fold increase of its fees for “governance and market” operations in the energy market — an additional overhead in privatization that very few know about. Yet little, if any, public discussion initiated by government has come up about this major manipulation in the energy market. Why then is this policy of silence being continued by PeNoy Aquino?
It certainly feels like these are just a foretaste of more insidious propaganda from the PeNoy regime. Could this be why there was that compelling need to form a fortified propaganda war room in the guise of a presidential communications group?
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV — Infowars Edition, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on “Election Annulment” with Gov. Bono Adaza and Engr. H.R. Estrella; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Saturday, July 10, 2010
The 'late' PeNoy Aquino
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/09/10
What is a “Red Mass?” I later found out that it is an annual mass of the Catholic Church for lawyers, judges, magistrates, and all those who seek and work for justice. I saw this item in a GNN regular news program and had to wait for it to reappear before I could clearly spell out the words “red mass.” But even before the whole news item read “P-Noy late for Red Mass at the Cathedral,” all I could blurt out was “Late again?!!”
This clearly is not just a “wang-wang” matter. It’s beginning to look more like an ingrained habit that is reflective of natural character. I hope this is not PeNoy’s way of reaffirming the truism of the much-derided “Pinoy time” (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?); but if that is his intention, then he’s doing it absolutely well. Now, the much-derided character of Pinoy time, likened to a presidential trait, or P-Noy time, even becomes a truly presidential — even national — virtue, as writers of mainstream media seem to want.
Thus, in honor of this highly-praised official presidential demeanor, I’m presenting a famous quote on the art of being late. From Marilyn Monroe: “I am invariably late for appointments — sometimes as much as two hours. I’ve tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.”
It seems that this fun habit is just “too strong and too pleasing,” like the luxury of time enjoyed by the hacenderos who never have to hurry with an army of alalays, bodyguards, and gofers waiting.
But wait, there was another Malacañang occupant who liked to be caught up in traffic. Remember Fidel Ramos and the long, unmoving lines of cars and vehicles on South Expressway coming from his home in Alabang? It circulated in the media that FVR actually enjoyed it because it was there that he could sleep. And PeNoy swears by FVR’s “efficiency?”
It is true that even from some non-admirers of PeNoy, there is a sense of obligatory kindness to him these days, as if it were totally impolite and improper to be other than deferring to the one who shuns the “wang-wang” and painstakingly projects himself to be (ahem) humble.
One of our TV crew said: “It’s true, his car is not tinted; I could him see through his car windows as he passed where we line up for our ride.” Well, I thought, if I rode in one of those limousines with frigid air-conditioning, I wouldn’t need tints either.
I suppose one can indeed look at an issue from many different angles, from the positive as those praising PeNoy for his P-Noy time for depriving himself of the “wang-wang” to those who see it as really corny and hypocritical as I do. PeNoy can streak in front of the Presidential Honor Guard tomorrow in full view of the press and the writers of mainstream media will still find something great to write about.
I have a sense of déjà vu from all these because this is the exactly the same treatment Gloria Arroyo got from print and broadcast media in her first two years following her Edsa II power grab. I have the same sense of outrage from watching all this foolishness of the Yellow media’s patent idolatry, and that’s why I must insist on using PeNoy as I used Gloria Labandera then.
Indeed, we can look at the matter from many sides. And from a US baseball legend, who some say inspired the birth of a cartoon character that PeNoy’s stride seems to mimic, Yogi Berra’s “It gets late early out there” could well be speaking for PeNoy, too.
The bottom line is that this issue is also about media and their foibles. For the Yellow media, that are especially sanctimonious about their intentions (as the whole Yellow movement is about itself), happier days are here again. Indeed, inasmuch as PeNoy is in the clutches of the financial and banking mafia, he is also very thankful to his loyal media.
But before you know it, one of the major pro-PeNoy columnists of the Inquirer already has his banker-sister appointed as chief of the GSIS. So why not appoint someone from the government employees’ sector (such as Land Bank, which needs to have the GSIS funds transferred to the Aboitiz’s Union Bank returned) who knows both financial and other non-financial concerns of the fund’s government employee-members? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
On a more positive note (no matter how difficult, given PeNoy’s first week of booboos), let’s raise some quotes on “lateness” that should be good advice to the dearly beloved president of the Yellows whom they will always see with their yellow rose-colored glasses.
From Jonathan Swift: “I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.”
Or maybe from Bill Gates: “In this business, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late to save yourself. Unless you’re running scared all the time, you’re gone.”
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV — Infowars Edition, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., featuring “Pro Bono: Adaza’s Struggle vs Hocus PCOS — The Final Chapter;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
PeNoy's moro-moros
DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
07/08/2010
This early, the real motives behind the PeNoy regime are starkly being exposed in some key appointments. The first is that of former Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Hilario Davide to head the newly-created “Truth Commission” that will supposedly look into the sins of the nine-and-a-half-year-long regime of Gloria Arroyo.
Davide is known for a few distinct (dis)honors: Failing to reconvene the impeachment hearings when anti-Estrada senators walked out, thus bringing the proceedings to the streets (and the Yellow mob); then conniving with other SC justices and Arroyo to legalize the coup d’ etat and illegally swearing the usurper in as “acting president” while using “his” court’s illegal participation in that partisan political exercise and all its resulting partisan decisions as immunity from his own impeachment in the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) scam, as well as, to finagle appointments from Arroyo.
With such a record of connivance with Gloria, how can Davide be expected to do justice to the assignment given him to dig into the venalities of his erstwhile master’s regime? This appointment of PeNoy was made clearly to assuage any fears of Arroyo that the Truth Commission will be taking its task seriously. Gloria Arroyo is privy to all the anomalies and venalities of Davide throughout her reign that have been swept under the rug by her power over Congress and the police agencies of this country. Even before the illegal swearing-in of Arroyo in January 2001, the conspiratorial relationship of the two was already established. Revelations in the book Reforming the Judiciary by Justice Art Panganiban, then Davide’s No. 2, prove this.
Panganiban recounted that on the early morning of Jan. 20, 2001 while President Joseph Estrada was still in Malacañang and continued to refuse to resign, Panganiban called up Davide and proposed to have Gloria Arroyo sworn in by noon. Davide agreed but they had a problem: There was no cause for the SC to act on this as no one had yet raised the issue to the court. Davide then communicated through a soon-to-be-appointed Arroyo Justice, Antonio Carpio of The Firm, for Gloria to fax a letter to the SC on the matter. Thus, Davide found his excuse to issue a formal response.
At first, Davide invoked the “permanent disability” ground, even when Estrada wasn’t just alive and kicking but fighting all the way. The nation thus saw Davide swearing-in Arroyo that noon (having Aquilino Pimentel as mic boy), with the justices of the SC illegally gracing Edsa II.
Two months later in March 2001, Davide together with his justices invoked a non-existent “constructive resignation” doctrine to justify the removal of Estrada, clearly admitting the dubiousness of their earlier justification while replacing it with a constitutionally-baseless theory that further exposed them as totally devoid of principle and integrity.
With all the favors he had done for Arroyo, Davide got to do anything he wanted and enjoyed the protection of the “almighty” he helped install in Malacañang. And enjoy it to the hilt he did when the shit of the JDF that was under his charge hit the fan. Aside from having assigned his son to be the contractor of the SC Justices’ palatial Baguio rest house, notwithstanding the fact that the fund was never earmarked for such, Davide also caused the multibillion-peso fund to be used for buying luxury cars and P120,000-swivel chairs, as well as, for dubious reconstruction projects for some SC buildings. And Congress couldn't even successfully impeach him for this blatant abuse of power courtesy of Arroyo.
Does PeNoy then expect Davide to go after Gloria and her minions with hammer and tongs? Of course not. (Or maybe he never thought about it, which would not surprise us one bit.) Although we have been told that the lobbying for Davide’s appointment came from Jovito Salonga, that doesn’t change the implications of his appointment: This is a cozy arrangement to soft-pedal on the cases against Gloria. It lends more credence now to our firm conviction that the whole election and transition from Gloria to PeNoy is a zarzuela, a wayang kulit, a kabuki play; and the hostility between them nothing but a moro-moro. If ever Davide has any thought of putting some real pressure on Gloria in the Truth Commission, she would have no trouble at all reminding him of their many crimes together — and dragging all these along on their road to hell.
Scrutinizing PeNoy’s other major appointments, the resulting non-change is very obvious. DoJ Secretary Leila de Lima, despite her plaudits, had a dubious pick for the Maguindanao Massacre case’s forensic medical examiner — the sister-in-law of the lawyer of the Ampatuans — when she was still at the helm of the Human Rights Commission. The new BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares has quickly picked up where Arroyo’s last BIR chief left off by giving the go-ahead for the collection of the VAT on toll ways, without batting an eyelash for the pain commuters and biyaheros will suffer. Meanwhile, DBM chief Butch Abad, after saying right after the elections that there was room to cut down the budget deficit, now turns around and says the P300-billion deficit is necessary in view of the “high expectations” of the people from PeNoy.
Alas, this text message adds: “Signs of things to come? The first day’s Executive Order No. 1 terminating all non-civil service eligibles revised due to error; PNoy late 30 mins. for installation of new AFP head due to stopping of his car before red traffic lights; and suddenly going for massage and therapy one day after start of term due to back pain.”
The only change we can therefore expect is a change from bad to worse for the nation’s justice system and the economic welfare of our people.
(Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV — Infowars Edition, Tuesday, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., “To Save the Nation: Financial and Economic Imperatives” with labor economist Dr. Rene Ofreneo; also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
Multo ng nakaraan
Richard James Mendoza
Ika-29 ng Hunyo, 2010
Sa ika-30 ng Hunyo, 2010 ay manunumpa ang bagong pangulo. Ang pangulo na kaduda-duda ang kanyang mandato, kuwestionable ang pag-iisip, at ang pangulo na pinaliligiran ng lumang “Kamag-Anak Inc.”. Ang paparating na rehimen ay isa lamang multo ng nakaraan na wala naging silbi kundi magpaka-alipin sa mga imperyalista.
Wala tayong maaasahang pagbabago sa papasok na administrasyon. Ipagpapatuloy lamang ni BSA III ang polisiya ng “globalization” at “liberalization” na pinasimuno ng mga dilawan mula noong EDSA I na naging mitsa sa patuloy na pagbagsak n gating bansa.
Sa mga bumoto kay BSA III, hindi lamang isang pangulo ang nakuha nila kundi apat na panggulo este pangulo. Isang panibagong yugto ng “Kamag-Anak Inc.” ang ipapalabas. Ang ibig sabihin lang niyan ay hindi siya ang may huling pasya kundi ang mga taong nakapalibot sa kanya.Kung sa bagay ay isa sa mga “Tatlong Maria” ay nakikialam sa isyu ng pagkapangulo sa Senado.
Sa tingin ko ay walang paparating na pagbabago. Kung mayroon man ay hindi ito sa ikabubuti kundi ito ay sa ikasasama ng ating bayan. May kasabihan si George Santayana na ganito ang pagkakasabi: “Ang sinuman ang hindi mabatid ang kasaysayan ay tiyak na mauulit ito”. At iyon na nga ang nangyari; naulit nanaman ang kasaysayan.
At nandiriyan din ang midya na pagmamay-ari ng malalaking negosyo. Nagsilbi rin sila bilang mga propagandista para kay BSA III noong kapanahunan ng kampanya at malamang ay sa susunod na anim na taon. Puro mga bulaklak lang ang ipinapakita sa kaniya pero halos mambato na sila ng putik sa ibang kandidato. Sila ang nagbibigay-kahulugan sa terminong “Yellow journalism”. Pagpasensyahan ninyo na lang po ang patudyong paggamit ng salita.
Ang kailangan natin ngayon ay ang pangkalahatang rebolusyon na magbabago sa kasalukuyang takbo ng pangyayari. Pero sa ngayon ay nililinlang ng midya ang mamamayan sa pamamagitan ng walang saysay na aliw.
A clone of the past
Richard James Mendoza
June 29, 2010
On June 30, 2010, a new president would be sworn; a president whose mandate is doubtful, whose mental capacity is questionable and a president who is surrounded by the old “Kamag-Anak Inc.”. The incoming regime will be nothing but a clone of the yellowish past; past administrations that have been nothing but subservient slaves to imperialist powers.
We can’t expect anything new from the incoming administration. BSA III will just continue the cycle of globalization and liberalization that the yellows have started since EDSA I that caused the continuous downfall of our country.
Those who voted for him didn’t get one but four presidents. A new installment of the “Kamag-Anak Inc.” will be soon in effect. That means the president won’t have the final verdict but the influential people around him. As early as now, one of the “Tres Marias” was reported to be interfering in the Senate Presidency affair.
I don’t think that there is an incoming change. If change indeed comes, then it will not be for the better but it will be for the worse. The incoming regime will be nothing but a ghost from the past. There is a saying by George Santayana that goes around like this: “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” And it has indeed happened; history has repeated itself.
And then there’s the media which is owned by Big Business. They have essentially served as propagandists for BSA III during the campaign and probably in the next six years as well. They sang praises for their yellow dummy but almost did mudslinging at the other candidates. They epitomized the definition of “Yellow journalism”, pun somewhat intended.
What we need today is a total revolution to turn things around. But until then, the media has continued to distract the people from the real issues through their diversionary tactics in the form of mindless entertainment.
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