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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Gauleiter Puno�s Overkill
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Jan. 21, 2007 For the Standard Today, January 22 issue From the start, let me say that I have no sympathy for local officials � whether mayors or governors or whatever � who disobey court orders to vacate their offices, after they have been found to be liable for some administrative or criminal infraction. Too often have we seen on our TV screens scenes of anarchy and chaos in some provincial capitol or municipal hall, as the beleaguered governor or mayor or whatever, having heard the news that he or she must vacate his or her offices until the charges against him or her have been investigated, proceeds instead to barricade himself or herself in the premises and calls on his/her followers to surround the building to prevent the court order from being enforced. On the other hand, I have no sympathy either for overzealous SWAT teams descending on the erring local official like some avenging angels out to right some outrageous wrong that cannot be corrected with more benign tactics. Such was the scene at the Iloilo provincial capitol last January 17 when 200 policemen directly under the command of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) stormed the building like, well, storm-troopers out to flush out some hold-out Jews from the Warsaw ghetto, to enforce an order from the Ombudsman suspending Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. for alleged malversation of funds amounting to the princely sums of P20,000 and P65,000. This should have been a simple case of serving the written order and giving the governor x-minutes or x-hours to vacate his office. A function that could well have been easily performed by a tubercular factotum with a broken leg. But, no. The DILG had to send 200 policemen armed with M-16 automatic rifles, who proceeded to smash, not one, but several glass partitions when they could not gain entry into the building, and then point their high-powered long arms at obviously unarmed civilians, including women, forcing them to lie flat on the floor on their stomachs like some hapless Jews being herded for Auschwitz.. The rationale was that 1,500 supporters of Gov. Tupas had jammed the building to prevent the suspension order from being served. Even assuming that to be true, didn�t the storm-troopers of DILG Secretary and Gauleiter Ronaldo Puno even think for a moment of using less drastic but more effective means of crowd-management? They could, for example, have sealed off the entire building and prevented more people from going in. Then, they could have used bullhorns to warn those inside that unless they exit in, say, 30 minutes, they would be considered in violation of certain laws (illegal assembly, sedition, civil disorder, public scandal, disturbing the peace etc � what do we have 40,000 lawyers for?) and would be charged accordingly. The few who persist could then be flushed out by isolating them. Water, telephone and power connections can easily be cut off; cell-phone and computer messages jammed, any food deliveries stopped. The fracas would have settled down, allowing for cooler heads to intervene, and, yes, for the tubercular factotum with a broken leg to perform his function, and for the other side�s TRO to be delivered and served in relative quiet. There would have been no need to smash tens of thousands of pesos worth of glass panes and other public property, certainly no need for hundreds of innocent people to be subjected to the indignities of storm-troopers pointing their high-powered guns at their heads for no more serious an offense than expressing support for their governor. It is amazing that even with such a public display of police overkill, seen by millions of TV viewers nationwide, Gauleiter Puno had the nerve to say �The policemen�.should not be condemned. They should even be commended. I did not see any deployment of unnecessary force. There were no serious injuries. No shots were fired.� (Inquirer, January 19). His fellow Nazis undoubtedly said the same thing in the early days of the Final Solution, as Ernst Roehm and his brown-shirted Sturmabteilung or SA, the paramilitary arm of the Nazional Socialismus Partei (Nazi Party), harassed and rounded up Jews in Germany before the gas ovens were built. No serious injuries. No shots fired. Just some glass windows of Jewish-owned businesses broken here and there. Much has been made of the fact that the besieged governor is an ally of Sen. Franklin Drilon, who had broken away from President Arroyo�s coalition in July 2005 and had apparently joined the Hyatt 10 in their bid to force Arroyo to resign, by choreographing their mass resignation from her Cabinet. The ploy did not prosper, and Drilon, who as Senate President then had hoped to ascend to the vice-presidency if VP Noli de Castro had succeeded the (hopefully) resigned Gloria, was left holding the (empty) bag. The Iloilo fracas has to be seen as payback for Drilon�s ill-fated maneuver, as the political season opens towards the midterm elections in May 2007. As head of President Arroyo�s miniscule KAMPI party, Gauleiter Puno had vowed during their party congress in February 2005 to make KAMPI the biggest political party in the country after the 2007 elections. (See my articles Prime Minister Gloria and GMA Forever?, of May 17, 2005 and March 28, 2006 .) In his plans to make KAMPI the dominant political party after 2007, Puno was aiming to draw to his side all or most of the mayors and governors in the country, plus most of the congressmen in the Lower House. He has been eminently successful in this endeavor. The Iloilo governor, as well as any other like-minded local official, is just an inconvenient bumpkin who had to be frightened into submission. Hence the overkill. In my 2005 article, I asked �why would President Arroyo, halfway through her putative nine-year stay in Malacanang, plan at all to make her miniscule KAMPI party the �dominant party after 2007� only three years before her constitutional non-extendable term as president expires in 2010?� �There seems to be only one logical explanation: she plans to remain in power even after 2010, and she can do this legally only if the constitution were amended to allow a shift to the parliamentary system of government.� It should be noted that in 1933 the Nazi Party had become the biggest party in the Reichstag (parliament), and Adolf Hitler was appointed kanzler or chancellor (prime minister), legally and constitutionally, under Germany �s parliamentary system, and thus began the thousand-year Third Reich. Sieg, heil! ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Gauleiter Puno�s Overkill� Hi, Tony! I enjoyed this piece immensely! Keep on hitting! God bless! Ed Dames, [email protected], Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, I love reading your articles on my email. They're intelligently written, very informative and also highly entertaining. I especially liked this article. .Just wanted to let you know. Keep up the good work. Marc Ilagan, [email protected], Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Achtung, bitte! Gauleiter Puno (kulang pala hinde puno) seems influenced by many class-B war movies of yore - or perhaps by class-C flicks of cowboys and Indians thinking he was the senior officer of the cavalry leading the "charge" trumpet, egging the galloping blue-coated horde to pursue the redskins and rescue the civilians besieged behind the surrounded wagons! John Puno Wayne! Of all the Puno brothers, Dong, I believe, has the most substance (we served in Makati Rotary together). I wonder how their pater familiae Dick, our former Ateneo teacher, views from his place above this son Ronaldo's stunts. He might vie for a Famas award courtesy of his mother-in-law Boots Anson Roa. Tony Joaquin, [email protected], Daly City , CA , Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Like you, I never have had sympathy for local government officials who refuse to vacate their positions when told to by the appropriate government institution. The phrase that rings through my head in these instances is �kill them all and let god sort em out�. But that�s just me. With regards to the Iloilo piece I think I have some bones to pick; 1. It is unfair to relate the Jews with the supporters in the city hall. The Jews were innocent citizens being harassed while those in city hall were there in direct defiance of the law (or at least an official looking document bearing similar hallmarks). The Jews deserve better than that. (I was drawing a parallel between the tactics used, rather than the object of the tactics. ACA) 2. Policemen act under orders. That is the nature of their job. Thinking is confined within defined parameters of orders versus judgment calls versus emotions versus training. When all is said and done, if any excessive force was used ( think Rodney King) then the proper process of prosecution must be followed. (Which is why I laid the blame on the over-all commander, Gauleiter Puno, who, not surprisingly, found nothing wrong with the behavior of his men. ACA) 3. As a rule I do not trust a critic who comments on occupations of which he knows nothing about and unless one is versed in tactics then I would hesitate to judge the whole thing. It also bothers me when armchair critics second guess officers whose lives are on the line. (As a rule, I also would not trust a critic of a critic who knows nothing about the subject. ACA) 4. The sarcasm in your statement about the theft of �funds amounting to the princely sums of P20,000 and P65,000.� is typical of a Pinoy who thinks that returning stolen money (eh di ibalik ang swerti) is tantamount to erasing the crime. Should corruptors be excused if they give back the money? How much is �konti lang naman�? Your ill toned statement will haunt you. (I never said or implied that returning stolen money is tantamount to erasing the crime. You are projecting your own sense of values. My point was that the amount involved was so insignificant, compared to the, for example, P738 million in fertilizer funds, said to have been distributed by Joc Joc Bolante as aid in the election of GMA, - which the GMA government has prevented from being investigated by the Senate � that the action taken against Gov. Tupas must have been for something more than the P20,000 and P65,000 that are being used to justify it. ACA) I must say that of all the articles of yours that I have read, this is one of the shallowest and poorly thought out. That said, keep on trucking. Jaime Garchitorena, [email protected], Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Is Gloria the only one who can turn the economy around? It looks like we are finally on the right track but Gloria's unpopularity seems to be always shadowing whatever accomplishment she achieves for the country. I don't mind Gloria forever if the economy is good and has the potential of even getting better under her regime. If you have other candidates in mind, let me know please. Joyce Rigoroso, [email protected], Jan. 23, 2007 MY REPLY. Actually, Philippine GDP climbed from negative 4% in 1985 to 6.95% in 1989, under President Aquino, the highest ever up to the present, even without 8 million OFWs sending home dollars from abroad then. It was ruined by the coup attempt of Gringo Honasan in December of that year, which pushed our GDP down to 3% in 1990 and zero in 1991. President Ramos was also able to raise our GDP from zero in 1991 to about 5% in 1996, when something beyond his control � the Asian financial crisis of 1997 � sent it spiraling down again. So, Gloria is not �the only one who can turn the economy around.� GMA is just more manipulative, more scheming, more power-mad, more duplicitous than anyone else since Ferdinand Marcos. She is also guilty of making the patently false claim that she can make the Philippines a First World country by the year 2020. As a trained economist, she knows this would require a GDP growth rate of more than 15% per annum for the next 13 years, a physically impossible feat which not even China or Vietnam has ever achieved. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir Abaya, I respect your analysis on this incident, and the way you think it should have been handled. On the other hand, I bet you are aware too how these "kapit-tuko" politicians have mastered "crowd manipulation" versus "crowd dispersal". Only in PI, think of any type of political situation and both sides of the fence have their own version and tactic to sway public sentiments into their side, please don't forget the media factor. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, those 40K lawyers or so. I beg your pardon, but actually, that count is misleading, PI has millions of lawyers or acting as one, whatever. I just wonder how the story would end if it happened the way you suggested. Say, the SWAT did all that and those people were isolated for a week, no phone, no water, etc, and still holed up(remember, they are what they are). Would the "kapit-tuko" and supporters ended up as heroes depending the capitol, or as villains holding the capitol and seat of government hostage? Wouldn't other "crocs/reptiles" duplicate it when they see it works? (An impasse must be resolved within 24 hours, not allowed to drag on �for a week.� ACA) Again, the media and "lawyers" have their say on this. Why can't Pinoys just follow the law and be more civilized? Ooops, I forgot again, ...the media, the lawyers, the law makers and the bishops who assumed to lead these poor people to salvation. Finally and honestly, with the way the Philippine economy is moving right now after years and years of stagnation, I would prefer a status quo with GMA. I am a software engineer here in USA and I believe, "if ain't broke, don't fix it". First make it run, later, make it run faster. Good Luck! (With all due respect, a system that sustains itself through lying, stealing and cheating is indeed �broke� and should be fixed. See my reply to Ms. Rigoroso above. ACA) Ador Ramoso, [email protected], Atlanta , Georgia , Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww �...served by a tubercular factotum with a broken leg�, LOL ! That certainly made my day. But you are right, Puno is giving them the muscle as a warning that you just can't betray GMA and get away with it. Tupas� bad luck was caused by his alliance with Drilon. Auggie Surtida, [email protected], Tigbauan, Iloilo, Jan. 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thanks for that information Tony. Abuse of power political or military, with or without uniforms, is uncalled for. The Philipine Scouts of 19 forgoten were a respected group that did theirjobs in accordance to the Constitution. Then came the Time of the Philippine Constabulary, Army, Police, etc., who did their jobs in accordance to the mandates of their organizations. Shortly after 'Martial Law' was declared the Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines were absorbed and/or were grouped together and used as a Political Force, under their Commander in Chief, President of the Philippines . You will recall when all the weapons were confiscated an put into the Armory of the Philippine Constabulary, then under the Command of General Fidel Ramos. What happened to those weapons? It looks like they disappeared into thin air? Any reports, accountability about them? After Corazon Aquino became President. The joined forces of the Military with the Police Force remaind as one law enforcing Unit. It is time that this is corrected and that the Police be reverted to their former status before Martial Law. Then the tulong tulong system of said organizations of the politicl, police and military will hopefully one day return to normality. A lot has to be said about our present Judical System and the same goes for the Law enforcing agencies. More power to you and best wishes for a better Philippines, Jaime Calero, [email protected], Sydney , Australia , Jan. 24, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, This is one of the political lessons all the Filipino learned from Dirty Politicians who tried to make pool of the laws of the land. There are so many political reforms really needed serving as the legal framework for future actions of Officials in government- so the need to revise, amend or change our present constitution. If the present constitution provides the legal basis for our legislature to make laws that will correct this malady in the execution of the rules promulgated by the Ombudsman, the DOJ or the DILG, why did our legislature not provide, or make laws to address such? Maybe they themselves would use it the moment they are in power? My suggestion : 1. Every case involving national and local officials, elected or appointed should be decided in accordance to due process, prudently and within the specified timetable, the most is ninety (90) days, upon submissions of all required documents, investigation, and hearing that should take within sixty (60) days maximum. 2. Case duly processed within the period specified above should be decided either favoring the accuser or the accused When convicted, specific punishment as may be provided by law should be executed within the time framed as provided by law without delay, question, and protest. However, this does not bar them from filing an appeal. As government officials they should be model of peacefully abiding law and order. if they resist, surely convicts will suffer the consequences, and this should not become an issue. ANG PROBLEMA, PAG SUMALUNGAT TAYO SA UTOS NG BATAS. TIYAK NA MAGKAKAGULO, PAG NAGKAGULO, TYAK ME MASASAKTAN! DAPAT SISIHIN AY YAONG SA UNA PA MAN AY LUMALABAN SA PAGPAPATUPAD NG BATAS. KUNG SUMUNOD LAMANG SILA, WALANG GULO, WALANG NASAKTAN, AT NAKAUPO MULI SILA NG MATIWASAY! HINDI DAPAT GINAMIT ANG EMOSYON, FALSE SYMPATHY TEKNIK (tapos na eleksyon tuloy tuloy pa rin ang pagagamit sa mga tao-kawawa naman sila bibigyan lamang ng ilang daang piso at sang supot na bigas), AT POLITICAL DRAMA NA antik na KASANGAKAPAN NG MGA TRAPO! HINDI LAHAT, NGUNIT MARAMI SA MGA PULITIKO MARAMING SEKRETO, HULI NA HINDI AYAW PA UMAMIN, AT WALANG KONSENYSA! AT BASTA ME PERA, PALAGING BIDA! This is the reason why more advanced countries has not viewed our country reaching economic and political maturity! Our politicians looks funny and gain more mistrust day by day not only with other Politicians of the world but with our fellow Filipinos according to the most recent survey! Now, whom should we favor, those who promulagate law and order or those who go against the law? We are lucky we are not yet victims of criminals roaming around elsewhere, for if this happen what would you do when a law enforcer is not around? Rodolfo Cada, [email protected], Jan. 24, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir Tony, Let me just react on the statement made by Hon Raul Gonzales that the Mistahs of Mayor Raul Tupas were brought by a c-130 to Iloilo perhaps to comfort him. Raul Tupas is a member of PMA "Bantay-Laya" Class 1994. He was a former Class President and is treated with high regards by most if not all of his classmates. This is perhaps due to his mild mannerism and witty Ilongo jokes which always comes handy during class meetings. Mayor Tupas served with the Army, he was assigned with the Special Forces Airborne, Special Operations Command, PA were he served for six (6) years. He has also distinguished himself as a good combat officer being assigned with such a special unit. Needless to say members of PMA Class of 1994 are very proud of him. The PMA class of 1994 are composed of junior to middle rank officers in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and the Coast Guard. There is also a significant number of the class who have already resigned and pursued diverse business interests. Some have jumped ship and tried their luck outside the country. How can it be physically possible for the Mistahs of Raul Tupas to be brought to Iloilo via C-130? Believe it or not the Philippine Air-Force only has three (3) c-130 Hercules that are in good condition and these planes are used for logistics and admin run. If you want to avail of a C-130 flight going from Villamor to any parts of southern Philippines you need to signify with the Joint Operation Center GHQ under the Deputy Chief of Staff AFP who is a Lt. General. And believe me, you need to wait for days to get yourself included in the passengers' manifest. Is It Possible therefore for the 240 members of PMA Class 1994 go to Iloilo using a PAF C-130? To further boost our argument, the members of PMA Class 1994 are currently serving as members of the personal staffs, coordinating staffs, branch chiefs, etc. of various units of the AFP. This would mean that they are all serving under their bosses whose rank ranges from Col to the Commander and Chief and are ALL on call any time. The answer whether the PMA Class of 1994 can go to Iloilo to aid and comfort their Mistah is a DEFINITE NO. We beg, those who are involving the PMA class of 1994 to refrain from dragging the name of the class in any political issue. The PMA class of 1994 supports Raul Tupas as a brother and a colleague and not as a MAYOR of Iloilo . The PMA Class of 1994 has remained loyal to the chain of command of the AFP and will remain to do so. The PMA Class of 1994 will continue to be servants of God, Country and People. Thank you, sir, at mabuhay po kayo. Vonne Villanueva, [email protected], Jan. 24, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Antonio, I refer to your excellent article which ends with: - �It should be noted that in 1933 the Nazi Party had become the biggest party in the Reichstag (parliament), and Adolf Hitler was appointed kanzler or chancellor (prime minister), legally and constitutionally, under Germany �s parliamentary system, and thus began the thousand-year Third Reich. Sieg, heil! Whatever are the pros and cons of a Parliamentary system for the Philippines may I say it is drawing a long bow to imply that it was a Parliament system that brought Hitler to power, many would say it was the abandonment of the German Parliamentary system that led to the rise of Fascism. (I never said or implied that it was the parliamentary system that brought Hitler to power. That is your inference. ACA) May I respectfully draw your attention to the follow site: - < http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0403a.asp> from which the following excerpts are drawn:- Quote; In the presidential election held on March 13, 1932 , there were four candidates: the incumbent, Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, Hitler, and two minor candidates, Ernst Thaelmann and Theodore Duesterberg. The results were: Hindenburg 49.6 percent Hitler 30.1 percent Thaelmann 13.2 percent Duesterberg 6.8 percent At the risk of belaboring the obvious, almost 70 percent of the German people voted against Hitler, causing his supporter Joseph Goebbels, who would later become Hitler�s minister of propaganda, to lament in his journal, �We�re beaten; terrible outlook. Party circles became badly depressed and dejected.� On January 30, 1933, President Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany. Although the National Socialists never captured more than 37 percent of the national vote, and even though they still held a minority of cabinet posts and fewer than 50 percent of the seats in the Reichstag, Hitler and the Nazis set out to consolidate their power. With Hitler as chancellor, that proved to be a fairly easy task. On February 27, Hitler was enjoying supper at the Goebbels home when the telephone rang with an emergency message: �The Reichstag is on fire!� Hitler and Goebbels rushed to the fire, where they encountered Hermann Goering, who would later become Hitler�s air minister. Goering was shouting at the top of his lungs, �This is the beginning of the Communist revolution! We must not wait a minute. We will show no mercy. Every Communist official must be shot, where he is found. Every Communist deputy must this very day be strung up.� ON MARCH 23, 1933, WHAT HAS GONE DOWN IN GERMAN HISTORY AS THE �ENABLING ACT� MADE HITLER DICTATOR OF GERMANY, FREED OF ALL LEGISLATIVE AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS. From the above excerpts from �The Future of Freedom Foundation� two parallels can be drawn. First The consequences of 9/11 were similar to the effect of the Reichstag fire. Second. George Bush�s �Patriot Act� is very similar in wording to Hitler�s �Enabling Act� As a guest in your country, can I say that no form of government is immune from coup d�etat, not least the present system of government in the Philippines? (You can certainly say that, and make sure you can be heard by Speaker Jose de Venecia and his ChaCha advocates, one of whose fatuous claims is that the parliamentary system would make the Philippine government immune from coups d�etat, even as the Thai military staged a coup against the Bangkok government last December, the 19th coup since Thailand adopted the parliamentary system more than 70 years ago. Snake oil salesmen sometimes believe their own sales pitch. What did Joseph Goebbels once say? �If you repeat a Big Lie often enough, people will eventually believe it.� ACA) Warmest regards Doug Adam, [email protected], Jan. 25, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You have to give it to GMA. She has her way of making her soldiers over zealous with their jobs. Just look at the hubris of DOJ Gonzales, the consistent lying of Mike Defensor, other liars like Gonzales of the Venable contract and so on and so on. Come election time, these people will be remembered. Chavit for senator, YAIKS!!! Mike Delgado, [email protected], Jan. 26, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww On Political (will not) Dienasties Election time is just around the corner (the trapos, the moneyed, and the popular are hoping). Happy days are here again for political dynasties, too! the Arroyos, Singsons, Villafuertes, Lapids, Pimentels, Defensors, Estradas, Binays, etc.! Meanwhile, no member of Congress (Senator or Representative) has dared touch and define what is political dynasty as called for in the 1987 Constitution. And for the past 20 years, Congress, in the likes of Mona Lisa, simply didn't care that the provision on political dynasty will just lie there and just die there in the Constitution. I was in Dong Puno's talk-show past the middle of 1994 with Senator Tolentino and Representative Espinosa, both Committee Chairman on Constitutional Amendments of their respective Houses. I was then the Chairman of the Government Panel negotiating with the military rebels (RAM and ALTAS) at that time deliberating on electoral reforms, and one of the topics under discussion was about political dynasty. When asked during the talk-show why political dynasty remained undefined by law, their (Tolentino and Espinosa) common answer was they (their personal / political interests) were affected. The response of these two legislators shows that the Constitutional mandate for Congress to define political dynasty will continue to be ignored if only to perpetuate their political and personal interests . For the national interest to level the political electoral playing field, political dynasty has to be defined specifically in the Constitution to prohibit those related to incumbents or to each other within a defined civil degree of consanguinity or affinity from running for an elective position within a certain political geographic entity (local or national). Fortunato U. Abat, [email protected], Jan. 25, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Why Recommend Movies? Interesting website. I stumbled upon it looking for [email protected]. I also was a civilian internee in Santo Tomas during the Japanese occupation. I do hope your endeavors have fruition. I did not realize there is such unrest. Of course the Manila Hotel was nice but it was also a symbol of American Occupation. Perhaps it should be rebuilt in the Island style with Philippine decor and native cuisine. Just a thought. One last thing-why do you recommend movies? It seems that movies are responsible for much unrest in developing nations because they often show oppulence not available and ideas which lead people away from their native morality. Sheilah Hockman, [email protected], Jan 24, 2007 MY REPLY. Why recommend movies? Why not? Movies are THE art form of the 20th and 21st centuries. Have you seen any movies since 1946? How many have you seen of the 300 plus movies in my list? There�s much more to films than Bing Crosby and Deanna Durbin. And what �native morality� are you talking about? You seem to think of Filipinos as �noble savages� who must be protected by the Big White Father from evil outside influences. That kind of thinking should have disappeared with the calesa.. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I need to sit back and be as objective as possible and just simplify it. You seem to really really hate Gloria, Tony (I tell you, it has to be her mole. She needs to have it lasered to oblivion) (Laser will not help. Its swelling is caused by a rare disease called Garcicorruptus abgloria, and, like Pinnochio�s nose, can be cured only by admitting the truth. ACA) You wrote - "GMA is just more manipulative, more scheming, more power-mad, more duplicitous than anyone else since Ferdinand Marcos. She is also guilty of making the patently false claim that she can make the Philippines a First World country by the year 2020". Was Erap any better? (You obviously think I�m an Erap fan. Please know that as chairman of Tapatt I was one of the 23 NGO signatories in the House resolution calling for his impeachment. ACA) Let's try to look back and hope to find a past president who never got involved in any scandal or scandals. Marcos - Martial Law, political killings, Dictador Ramos - Bataan Nuclear, IPP contracts.. Cory - Hacienda Luisita Erap - Jueteng, plunder Gloria - Cheating, Mike Arroyo, Jocjoc Bolante..and probably many more to come. I would like to remember their positive accomplishments though if any. I believe they started with good intentions for the country. Sadly, you can't expect to play inside a pigsty (which is our political system) and not get mud all over for how can you "arf" when everyone else is "oinking" (So? Does that mean we should be content to live forever in a pigsty? By the way, I was one of the few columnists who wrote that Gloria won the 2004 elections, but by a slim margin {of about 200.000 to 300,000 votes}. The cheating was in enlarging that slim margin to 1.2 million votes. By a weird coincidence, the 900,000 padding was almost exactly the same as �my one M� that a voice that sounded like Gloria�s asked Garci about, to which Garci replied �Pipilitin ko po.� My column of May 13, three days after the elections, was titled �GMA by a Hair.� You can access it in my website www.tapatt.org. ACA) . What you can do Tony is to help us find a leader who is potentially scandal-free ALL THROUGH OUT HIS/HER TERM. Anyone in mind..? How about Joker Arroyo, Bayani Fernando, Rodrigo Duterte..anyone? I bet despite their good potential they already have a negative label attached to them. WE seem to always thrive in things scandalous. (Our group sat down late last year with nine bishops, including Bishop Lagdameo, president of the CBCP, to discuss a process for allowing new potential leaders to emerge, but the bishops did not accept our proposal, even though they had no clue as to what to do. I have one non-politician in mind, but he does not want to go into politics. Not yet, anyway. Abangan ang susunod na kabanata. ACA) P.S. Try not to sound antagonistic to your readers reacting to your articles when they do not agree with you You wrote - "You seem to think of Filipinos as �noble savages� who must be protected by the Big White Father from evil outside influences. That kind of thinking should have disappeared with the calesa..". (If you will bother to re-read the writer�s original letter, she wrote: �Why do you recommend movies? It seems that movies are responsible for much unrest in developing nations because they often show oppulence (sic) not available and ideas which lead people away from their native morality.� Would you really have let that pass without a reply? At any rate, the American letter-writer has apologized. ACA. See below.) (You also wrote:) "As a rule, I also would not trust a critic of a critic who knows nothing about the subject. ACA)" (Again, if you will re-read the writer�s original letter, he wrote: �As a rule, I do not trust a critic who comments on occupations of which he knows nothing about�� My reply was just my tit for his tat. ACA) I recall William Esposo who brands readers "pathetic" when they express their views contrary to his line of thinking. Very unprofessional and rude..tsk, tsk. Lighten up Tony, least you become bitter to the point of no return. Have coffee or tea, spend a day without a newspaper and TV. Try gardening..singing? Wish you the best always. (I do not get to read William Esposo, so I cannot comment if he is �very unprofessional� or not. But if you will go through the hundreds of reaction letters in my website, www.tapatt.org, you will see that I do not reply to most of those who disagree with me. But when the letter-writer is arrogant, insolent or rude, then I reply, and I am also arrogant, insolent or rude. I don�t believe in playing doormat for anyone. (By the way, you started your first post by asking, rhetorically, �Is Gloria the only one who can turn the economy around,� obviously expecting a �Yes� answer. I replied that President Aquino and President Ramos �turned the economy around� during their watch, without any help from 8 million OCWs sending $14 billion to their families here, and I gave the appropriate GDP stats. (Instead of acknowledging that your rhetorical question was flawed, you went off on a tangent about all presidents being involved in scandals and about how I should not antagonize readers who disagree with me. (As for your suggestions, I do work in my garden, and I listen to classical music from my 1,000-CD music library, and I watch movies from my 2,000-DVD film library, and I also read books. I spend about six hours a day on my computer and the Internet, versus the less than two hours that I spend reading the two Manila newspapers that I buy. So, contrary to your belief, I am not totally immersed in the depressing world of Philippine politics. However, I do not sing. ACA) Joyce Rigoroso, [email protected], Jan. 29, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I am sorry I sounded so patronizing. I did not mean it the way it sounded. I meant that some of the movies are not inspiring and do not contribute to the uplift of culture or spirituality. Many have contributed to the relativity of morals we experience today, To improve a culture, like the Philippines , you should strengthen Christianity with which many have lived for generations. In addition, capitalize on the culture which surrounds them Sheilah Hockman, [email protected], Jan. 29, 2007 MY REPLY. Explanation duly noted. It is true that films, as the dominant influence in our era, are both a mirror to, as well as a major generator of, the moral values in our society. But it is probably futile trying to stop this progression. Everything, including morals and the parameters of religious experience, evolve over time and space, for better or for worse. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |