Democracy: Cycle of elect and regret
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-10-2014 MON)
The term "Responsive Authoritarianism" came to my attention via a
"Technology, Entertainment, Design" (TED) global talk forum that
brought together various thinkers, whose motto is to advance "Ideas
Worth Spreading."
The speaker, Eric Li, who cited that concept coined by Francis
Fukuyama, is a Berkeley-educated venture capitalist born in China at
the height of the Cultural Revolution. He started with two failed
"meta-narratives" about the world. The first was the great
communist-socialist view and, the second, democracy and elections from
the West in which "all societies... must progress from traditional... to
modern... (wanting only) one thing: the vote... (to) produce good
government and live happily ever after."
Li says, "This story also became a bestseller. According to Freedom
House, the number of democracies went from 45 in 1970 to 115 in 2010.
In the last 20 years, Western elites tirelessly trotted around the
globe selling this prospectus: Multiple parties fight for political
power and everyone voting on them is the only path to salvation...
Those who buy the prospectus are destined for success. Those who do
not are doomed to fail. But this time, the Chinese didn't buy it...
Fool me once... (laughter from the audience)... The rest is history. In
just 30 years, China went from one of the poorest agricultural
countries in the world to its second largest economy."
From thence Li explained China's system today, "Yes, China is a
one-party state run by the Chinese Communist Party ... They don't hold
elections ... Most political scientists will tell us that a one-party
system is inherently incapable of self-correction ... Now here are the
facts: In 64 years of running the largest country in the world... the
Party's policies have been wider than any other ... From radical land
collectivization to the Great Leap Forward, then privatization of
farmland, then the Cultural Revolution, then Deng Xiaoping's market
reform, then... the giant political step of opening up Party membership
to private businesspeople..."
On lifetime rule, "political leaders used to retain their positions
for life... (up to) the Party-instituted... mandatory retirement age of 68
to 70 ... (leading many to think that) 'political reforms have lagged
far behind economic reforms' ... (But) the truth is, political reforms
have never stopped. Compared with 30 years ago... every aspect of
Chinese society... (is) unrecognizable today ... (China) is one of the
most meritocratic political institutions in the world ... The
Politburo has 25 members ... Only five of them come from a background of
privilege, so-called princelings. The other 20... come from entirely
ordinary backgrounds." (Filipinos can compare this with the
Philippines' old families in Malacañang, the Senate, and Congress.)
Since many have asked how this is all possible in a one-party system,
Li explains: "The Party's Organization Department... like a giant human
resource engine that would be the envy of even some of the most
successful corporations... made up of... civil service, state-owned
enterprises, and social organizations like a university or a community
program.... recruit(s) college grads... and they start from the bottom ...
Then they could get promoted through four increasingly elite ranks ...
Once a year, the department reviews their performance. They interview
their superiors, their peers, their subordinates... conduct public
opinion surveys. Then they promote the winners..."
China's President Xi Jinping, though a "princeling," took 30 years to
get to his post; he started as a village manager then went up to
managing a total population of 150 million people and combined GDPs of
$1.5 trillion.
Li was then asked, "The Party wasn't voted in by election. Where is
the source of legitimacy?" to which he replied, "How about
competency?" citing a Pew Research poll showing 85 percent Chinese
satisfaction at the country's direction.
"In contrast, most electoral democracies around the world are
suffering," Li continues. "Governments get elected and then they fall
below 50 percent approval in a few months ... Democracy is becoming a
perpetual cycle of elect and regret."
On corruption, "Transparency International ranks China between 70 and
80 in recent years among 170 countries ... India, the largest
democracy in the world, (is) 94 and dropping. For the hundred or so
countries that are ranked below China, more than half of them are
electoral democracies ... How come these countries can't fix it?"
Li's ended by saying, "China's political model... doesn't pretend to be
universal ... The significance of China's example is not that it
provides an alternative, but the demonstration that alternatives exist
... Let us stop telling people and our children there's only one way to
govern ourselves and a singular future towards which all societies
must evolve. It is wrong. It is irresponsible. And worst of all, it
is boring."
I am nail-bitingly bored and restless over the Philippines' so-called
democracy of perpetual elect-and-regret-and-elect-and-regret without
end. Will some new groups rise and present us with our own roadmap of
"Responsive Authoritarianism"?
(Listen to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch
GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel
213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:15 p.m. and replay Sunday,
8:15 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and
visit http://newsulongpilipino.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Polarize: Binay's only way
Polarize: Binay's only way
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-05-2014 WED)
In an arrogant jab at his erstwhile "guardian" back when he, as an
Armalite-toting teenager, was on the lookout for coup plotters against
his sainted mother, BS Aquino retorted to a plaintive expression of
frustration from beleaguered Vice President Jejomar Binay with this
dare: "You are free to leave the Cabinet."
Bedeviled by charges of corruption and ownership of unimaginable
illicit wealth, the VP has seen his popularity ratings slide from the
unprecedented high of any potential candidate, amid threats of even
more lethal attacks as the 2016 election year nears. A subsequent
appeal to his "ward" apparently fell on deaf ears; hence, the present
falling out.
BS Aquino was reacting to what some press reports described as "a
barely veiled attack on (his) administration" by Vice President
Jejomar Binay two Saturdays ago at a Lions' district meeting at the
Manila Hotel, where the latter enumerated complaints of the public, to
wit: "There is a power crisis, (together with) the rising prices of
oil and other commodities, the rampant crimes plaguing the country,
the hellish traffic jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding
and the wrath of nature that we must all prepare for... But instead of
giving all their time and thoughts to achieve solutions to these
problems, they chose to advance their own interests by destroying my
name and those of my loved ones..."
At that speech the electrical charge that would have polarized the
nation's pressing problems into genuine people's issues against the
public utilities privatization price abuse, alongside national
government incompetence versus the triviality of the corruption issue,
flashed for a moment.
Having initiated that charge, it would have been ideal if Binay had
waged thereon an unrelenting, fight-to-the-finish polarization to
serve as a turning point in a long political war, where he has
suffered constant reversals due to very nature of the political system
he is in.
Binay's enemies are by no means the frontline political warriors or
soldiers in the phalanx. They are part of the same ilk who will be
called into account in the Yellows' Winter of Discontent--a fear that
compels them to want to ensure their perpetuation beyond the life span
of their self-generated People Power myth.
The people's cries embodied in the issues Binay lined up before the
Lions, if repeated with a growing lion's roar, would easily drown out
all the accusations hurled against him by the sheer fury a nation deep
in poverty, hunger, and hopelessness.
Just imagine the resounding impact on the people from Batanes to Jolo:
"Power crisis, the rising prices of oil and other commodities, the
rampant crimes plaguing the country... the wrath of nature." Just think
of the gut issues affecting the nation's capital: "The hellish traffic
jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding."
Unfortunately for Binay (though we hope it's not too late for him), he
decided to turn the other cheek by claiming, "I have the highest
respect for President Aquino and I will continue to be a team player."
And to think that it is the same team whom the VP accuses of choosing
"to advance their own interests" instead of looking for solutions.
Binay, it seems, chooses to still put his fate in the hands of the
very people who are skinning him alive. How then will half the
people, who had seen their faith in him as a champion of the poor and
downtrodden flounder, be restored in their faith now?
With the way the battle is being waged, we will see no great
turnaround for the besieged to become a victor, unless he charges on
as the Greeks at Marathon turned a lost cause into victory against an
enemy that outnumbered them 20 to one.
(Listen to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch
GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel
213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:15 p.m. and replay Sunday,
8:15 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and
visit http://newsulongpilipino.blogspot.com)
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-05-2014 WED)
In an arrogant jab at his erstwhile "guardian" back when he, as an
Armalite-toting teenager, was on the lookout for coup plotters against
his sainted mother, BS Aquino retorted to a plaintive expression of
frustration from beleaguered Vice President Jejomar Binay with this
dare: "You are free to leave the Cabinet."
Bedeviled by charges of corruption and ownership of unimaginable
illicit wealth, the VP has seen his popularity ratings slide from the
unprecedented high of any potential candidate, amid threats of even
more lethal attacks as the 2016 election year nears. A subsequent
appeal to his "ward" apparently fell on deaf ears; hence, the present
falling out.
BS Aquino was reacting to what some press reports described as "a
barely veiled attack on (his) administration" by Vice President
Jejomar Binay two Saturdays ago at a Lions' district meeting at the
Manila Hotel, where the latter enumerated complaints of the public, to
wit: "There is a power crisis, (together with) the rising prices of
oil and other commodities, the rampant crimes plaguing the country,
the hellish traffic jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding
and the wrath of nature that we must all prepare for... But instead of
giving all their time and thoughts to achieve solutions to these
problems, they chose to advance their own interests by destroying my
name and those of my loved ones..."
At that speech the electrical charge that would have polarized the
nation's pressing problems into genuine people's issues against the
public utilities privatization price abuse, alongside national
government incompetence versus the triviality of the corruption issue,
flashed for a moment.
Having initiated that charge, it would have been ideal if Binay had
waged thereon an unrelenting, fight-to-the-finish polarization to
serve as a turning point in a long political war, where he has
suffered constant reversals due to very nature of the political system
he is in.
Binay's enemies are by no means the frontline political warriors or
soldiers in the phalanx. They are part of the same ilk who will be
called into account in the Yellows' Winter of Discontent--a fear that
compels them to want to ensure their perpetuation beyond the life span
of their self-generated People Power myth.
The people's cries embodied in the issues Binay lined up before the
Lions, if repeated with a growing lion's roar, would easily drown out
all the accusations hurled against him by the sheer fury a nation deep
in poverty, hunger, and hopelessness.
Just imagine the resounding impact on the people from Batanes to Jolo:
"Power crisis, the rising prices of oil and other commodities, the
rampant crimes plaguing the country... the wrath of nature." Just think
of the gut issues affecting the nation's capital: "The hellish traffic
jams, unsafe MRT and LRT, the recurrent flooding."
Unfortunately for Binay (though we hope it's not too late for him), he
decided to turn the other cheek by claiming, "I have the highest
respect for President Aquino and I will continue to be a team player."
And to think that it is the same team whom the VP accuses of choosing
"to advance their own interests" instead of looking for solutions.
Binay, it seems, chooses to still put his fate in the hands of the
very people who are skinning him alive. How then will half the
people, who had seen their faith in him as a champion of the poor and
downtrodden flounder, be restored in their faith now?
With the way the battle is being waged, we will see no great
turnaround for the besieged to become a victor, unless he charges on
as the Greeks at Marathon turned a lost cause into victory against an
enemy that outnumbered them 20 to one.
(Listen to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch
GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel
213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:15 p.m. and replay Sunday,
8:15 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and
visit http://newsulongpilipino.blogspot.com)
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
The port scam
The port scam
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-03-2014 MON)
"Manila truck ban knocks Philippines nine notches down World Bank's
Doing Business rank," declared a GMA News Online on Oct. 29 shortly
before noon. Nine hours later, that same site declared, "Philippines
rises 13 spots on WB's revised Doing Business ranking." In between
the two contradictory headlines at midpoint, or at 4:22 in the
afternoon, this was the reaction: "Government downplays Philippines'
slip in WB Doing Business report."
What is evident in the twist and turns of these headlines is the
pliability of the World Bank's reports. Were these the result of
simple PR or other elaborate efforts to portray certain interests in a
better light?
Particularly but not exclusively in the Philippines, government and
business inordinately value image, and generally do cover up unsavory
truth. That's because government and business--Big Business in
particular--are engaged in the sordid abuse of their powers to take
advantage of the nation. But the so-called multilateral institutions,
such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are in on
it too. So to them, perception is all important.
The contradictions in the said news outfit's reportage exposes the WB
as an unreliable source of information because it is similarly subject
to the allures and lobbying of vested interests.
For example, the WB said the Philippines raised its business ranking
by "improvements in... (ease of) getting electricity..." But that is
hardly an issue in this age of countries providing full spectrum
services, especially of power at cheap rates, to get business
investments.
The Arangkada Philippines Project of the Joint Foreign Chambers of
Commerce stated in 2012 that "The very high cost of power remains a
common complaint of businesses ... and a very important negative factor
... In 2010 a factory in the Philippines could pay more than twice as
much for power than a factory in Indonesia and Vietnam and almost
twice as much as a factory in Malaysia and Thailand."
The unwillingness to define the electricity issue correctly becomes
understandable only when one recalls that in 2001 it was the WB that
inveigled the Philippines to pass the Electric Power Industry Reform
Act and its radical privatization program of the state's power assets,
which is the root cause of the "highest power cost in Asia" bedeviling
the Philippines today. High power costs are without doubt the most
fundamental obstacle in the "ease of doing business" in the
Philippines, but the WB can't be expected to expose its own perfidy in
its survey and report. It is the journalist's duty to expose such
duplicity of the WB.
Going back to the first headline: Just four days earlier on Oct. 24
this was presented in another newspaper, "'Port logjam still a
scourge' ... Despite the recent lifting of the truck ban in Manila, the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said port
congestion remains a major threat to the expansion of the country's
external trade..."
Correlating this with another headline of May 29, which said, "Cargo
traffic rose 4.7 percent in first quarter despite truck ban -- PPA
(Philippine Ports Authority)," it becomes clear that someone is lying
about the truck ban and port congestions connection.
I talked to two port users, both importers, and it became clear to me
that the port congestion problem does not have anything to do with the
Manila truck ban--but has everything to do with the operators in
cahoots with two ruling party leaders (both in the cabinet of BS
Aquino, with one preparing to run in the next presidential race), as
well as port managers sharing the loot from the overtime charges
imposed on shippers, traders, exporters, and importers. Let us wait
for concerned legislators to open a formal investigation.
The question I'd like the public to ask are: 1) who caused the WB
reportage to be "revised" from a "nine-notch" fall to a rise of "13
spots" within nine hours and 2) why the persistence in laying the
blame for port congestion to the truck ban despite official
pronouncements to the contrary.
It is obvious to me that only the well-connected giant players have
both the vested interest, money, and the political clout with the
media, government, and even the WB to get these perfidious results.
If there's any doubt about the WB's capacity to connive with
oligarchs, one should study the exposés of its former officer turned
whistle-blower Karen Hudes on the Internet.
(Listen to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch
GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel
213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:15 p.m. and replay Sunday,
8:15 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and
visit http://newsulongpilipino.blogspot.com)
(Herman Tiu Laurel / DieHard III / The Daily Tribune / 11-03-2014 MON)
"Manila truck ban knocks Philippines nine notches down World Bank's
Doing Business rank," declared a GMA News Online on Oct. 29 shortly
before noon. Nine hours later, that same site declared, "Philippines
rises 13 spots on WB's revised Doing Business ranking." In between
the two contradictory headlines at midpoint, or at 4:22 in the
afternoon, this was the reaction: "Government downplays Philippines'
slip in WB Doing Business report."
What is evident in the twist and turns of these headlines is the
pliability of the World Bank's reports. Were these the result of
simple PR or other elaborate efforts to portray certain interests in a
better light?
Particularly but not exclusively in the Philippines, government and
business inordinately value image, and generally do cover up unsavory
truth. That's because government and business--Big Business in
particular--are engaged in the sordid abuse of their powers to take
advantage of the nation. But the so-called multilateral institutions,
such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are in on
it too. So to them, perception is all important.
The contradictions in the said news outfit's reportage exposes the WB
as an unreliable source of information because it is similarly subject
to the allures and lobbying of vested interests.
For example, the WB said the Philippines raised its business ranking
by "improvements in... (ease of) getting electricity..." But that is
hardly an issue in this age of countries providing full spectrum
services, especially of power at cheap rates, to get business
investments.
The Arangkada Philippines Project of the Joint Foreign Chambers of
Commerce stated in 2012 that "The very high cost of power remains a
common complaint of businesses ... and a very important negative factor
... In 2010 a factory in the Philippines could pay more than twice as
much for power than a factory in Indonesia and Vietnam and almost
twice as much as a factory in Malaysia and Thailand."
The unwillingness to define the electricity issue correctly becomes
understandable only when one recalls that in 2001 it was the WB that
inveigled the Philippines to pass the Electric Power Industry Reform
Act and its radical privatization program of the state's power assets,
which is the root cause of the "highest power cost in Asia" bedeviling
the Philippines today. High power costs are without doubt the most
fundamental obstacle in the "ease of doing business" in the
Philippines, but the WB can't be expected to expose its own perfidy in
its survey and report. It is the journalist's duty to expose such
duplicity of the WB.
Going back to the first headline: Just four days earlier on Oct. 24
this was presented in another newspaper, "'Port logjam still a
scourge' ... Despite the recent lifting of the truck ban in Manila, the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said port
congestion remains a major threat to the expansion of the country's
external trade..."
Correlating this with another headline of May 29, which said, "Cargo
traffic rose 4.7 percent in first quarter despite truck ban -- PPA
(Philippine Ports Authority)," it becomes clear that someone is lying
about the truck ban and port congestions connection.
I talked to two port users, both importers, and it became clear to me
that the port congestion problem does not have anything to do with the
Manila truck ban--but has everything to do with the operators in
cahoots with two ruling party leaders (both in the cabinet of BS
Aquino, with one preparing to run in the next presidential race), as
well as port managers sharing the loot from the overtime charges
imposed on shippers, traders, exporters, and importers. Let us wait
for concerned legislators to open a formal investigation.
The question I'd like the public to ask are: 1) who caused the WB
reportage to be "revised" from a "nine-notch" fall to a rise of "13
spots" within nine hours and 2) why the persistence in laying the
blame for port congestion to the truck ban despite official
pronouncements to the contrary.
It is obvious to me that only the well-connected giant players have
both the vested interest, money, and the political clout with the
media, government, and even the WB to get these perfidious results.
If there's any doubt about the WB's capacity to connive with
oligarchs, one should study the exposés of its former officer turned
whistle-blower Karen Hudes on the Internet.
(Listen to 1098 AM, dwAD, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch
GNN Talk News TV with HTL on Destiny Cable Channel 8, SkyCable Channel
213, and www.gnntv-asia.com, Saturday, 8:15 p.m. and replay Sunday,
8:15 a.m.; search Talk News TV and date of showing on YouTube; and
visit http://newsulongpilipino.blogspot.com)
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