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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| The Looong Endgame
By Antonio C. Abaya Written May 27, 2007 For the Standard Today, May 29 issue As of this writing, Comelec has tabulated 87 out of 104 certificates of canvass (CoCs), leaving 17 more to be accounted for. Which CoCs? As far as I can make out, these include the CoCs of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu and, surprise! Quezon City and Manila . Why the election returns from Quezon City and Manila take more than 14 days to be canvassed is one of those bittersweet mysteries of life in the Philippines . At any rate, Comelec�s 83% tabulation of CoCs put the senatorial results at 7-3-2 in favor of the opposition, Juan Miguel Zubiri (TU) having dislodged Koko Pimentel (GO) from the 12th place. For its part, the citizens watchdog Namfrel, which bases its tabulations on election returns from the precincts, has accounted for about 76% of the precincts. Its incomplete results put the tentative senatorial winners at 8-2-2, also in favor of the opposition, with Koko Pimentel still hanging on to 12th place. We should all exert gentle pressure on Namfrel � and its partner, the Catholic Church�s PPCRV � to maintain their vigilance and tabulation until the last precinct is accounted for. In the past, Namfrel folded its tents before doing a 100% tabulation, giving the magicians, usually in the Muslim provinces, ample opportunities to finagle the final results in favor of the highest bidders.. In the snap presidential elections of 1986, Namfrel stopped its count after covering 72% of the precincts. At that point, Candidate Corazon Aquino was still leading Ferdinand Marcos, but her lead was shrinking as votes from the rural areas � the traditional stronghold of any government - started coming in. Perhaps Namfrel, which clearly favored Aquino, was afraid that her lead would be overtaken and even surpassed if and when the pre-fabricated votes from the Muslim provinces were inputted. So Namfrel quit while Cory was ahead. At any rate, Cory Aquino was not elevated to the presidency on the basis of the results of that election - Comelec actually officially proclaimed Marcos the winner � but through a revolutionary process triggered by a military mutiny and sustained by the Roman Catholic Church under Cardinal Sin, the business community and the middle class. I am not sure if Namfrel was accredited as a citizens� watchdog in the 1992 presidential elections, but a pattern similar to 1986 was discernible. Candidate Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was leading in most pre-election public opinion surveys, was ahead of her closest rival, Fidel Ramos � there were seven contenders - in the first week or so of the tabulation. But her lead was overtaken and eventually surpassed as votes from Mindanao kicked in. It would be interesting to find out, for purely historical reasons, the complexion of the Mindanao votes, especially those from the Muslim provinces, that did her in. Were they of the �12-0-0 Maguindanao� variety that many people today find too improbable to accept? Miriam, whom I supported, ran what could best be described as a Children�s Crusade, fueled by youthful enthusiasm � she was by far the most popular candidate in most campuses, as well as in military camps � but with little or no professional help or organizational networks. If ever there was a candidate who could be categorized as the easiest to cheat, it was she. To this day, she still believes, with reason, that she was cheated of the presidency. In the 1995 senatorial elections, the votes from Mindanao were also the last to be tabulated, leading to suspicions that this was deliberately programmed to give vote �wholesalers�, especially in the Muslim provinces, time to offer their �goods and services� to the highest bidders from Manila. No wonder the political lieutenants of some candidates were sighted in those areas even after the elections. Days after the tabulations had begun, these operators knew by how many votes their principals were lagging and so they went shopping in Muslim Mindanao to buy the difference and more.. In my column in The Philippine Star, I analyzed the statistical data released by Comelec and came to the conclusion that Candidate Juan Ponce Enrile benefited from fraud in at least eight provinces, the late (Candidate) Ramon Mitra in four. Losing candidate Nene Pimentel filed an electoral protest, accusing Enrile of fraud in 31 provinces, including the eight that I had mentioned. But there was no decision, for or against his protest, even after Enrile�s six-year term had lapsed. Welcome to Philippine democracy. It therefore did not surprise me that in 2004 the seven provinces mentioned in the Hello Garci tapes - where a voice that sounded like President Arroyo�s conversed with a voice that sounded like Virgilio Garcillano�s about the woman�s �my one M�� were all in the Muslim regions that figured prominently in earlier flawed elections. And where analyst Roberto Verzola found discrepancies of up to 396%, between the extrapolated Namfrel tally and the official Comelec tally. Namfrel � under Guillermo Luz � evidently favored Gloria Arroyo and did its best to trend the count in her favor by tabulating on the sixth day (May 16) of its tabulation the heavy pro-GMA votes from Pampanga and Cebu , giving the impression that GMA was ahead of FPJ by as much as 13.6 percent. But as the count dragged on for 24 more days, that 13.6 percent lead kept shrinking every day, until it was down to 2.08 percent on the 29th day of Namfrel�s tabulation (June 10), at which point Namfrel stopped its tabulation, with 79.21 percent of precincts covered. This was later increased to 83 percent. Observing their respective shares of the votes in the daily Namfrel count, I wrote in my article Namfrel Chickens Out (June 10, 2004) that if the downward slope of GMA and the upward slope of FPJ were plotted on an x-y graph, they would soon close the gap and might even cross, meaning FPJ and GMA would end in a dead heat or FPJ might even overtake GMA. My educated guess was that GMA won, but by about 250,000 to 300,000 votes, or less than one percent of total votes cast. Not by the 1.2 million votes, almost all certainly from Muslim Mindanao, that the Comelec claimed she led by. Curiously, the extra one million votes coincided with the �one M� that the caller and callee discussed in the Hello Garci tape. If Namfrel had done a 100 percent tabulation, the Comelec would have been hard put to claim the 1.2 million vote lead. It would not have been credible. That�s why it is important that Namfrel does a 100% count in 2007 and in all future elections. . And it does not surprise me that in the 2007 elections, the - so far - four problem provinces are also from the same regions, with the same problems: vote-buying, pre-fabricated ballots, elections that have results without even taking place, voter intimidation, statistically improbable results, the shooting of poll-watchers, suspicious electrical power failures, vote-padding and vote-shaving, as well as the usual chaos and disorder . Under the circumstances, the most we can do right now is to urge Namfrel under Banker Eddie Go and the PPCRV under former Ambassador Tita De Villa and Lawyer Howard Calleja � who have done a magnificent job of protecting the vote in the midst of chaos � to please keep their volunteers on station until the last precinct is accounted for. If La Salle Greenhills needs their auditorium for the start of classes in mid- June, I am sure a temporary arrangement can be worked out. This is a matter of extreme national importance, for which a disturbance of the school calendar is but a small price to pay. We should not allow the Loooong Endgame to be used again by the electoral saboteurs for their disgusting activities. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �The Looong Endgame� More Reactions to �GMA Lost� More Reactions to �Rule of Lawyers� More Reactions to �The Trillanes Tsunami� �Inferiority Complex: A Filipino Malady� Hi, Tony. Yes, I agree with you that Namfrel should finish counting or canvassing 100% of the precincts, no matter what. So we will have a counter check to Comelec's final tally. I wouldn't want the opposition to say that the last two slots were magically lost because of Comelec's magicians. And if indeed an 8-2-2 final tally comes up, then congratulations to the opposition for taking full advantage of media's support to them. Cheers! Bobby Tordesillas, (by email), May 31, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I am not a fan of Miriam Defensor-Santiago lately. But in the elections of 1992, I thought she won the presidential derby. Had it not been for the CIA intervention which dislodged national attention and media focus on the tight seesaw battle of returns and canvassing of votes. To borrow the words from feisty Lady Miriam - "Na 349 ako.� Now you connect why Pepsi is protected by the US CIA. Its a front for diversionary tactics in installing and manipulating election. That is why we my experience and diligence in the Pepsi 349 fiasco, I joined the Kontra Day. . Vic "349" del Fire Vic del Fierro, (by email), May 30, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Not to forget � LENTE, the Legal Network for Thruthful Elections� is still on the job. In Lanao del Sur (Marawi), Attorney Carlos Medina, co - convenor of Lente (the other co - convenor is IBP president Jose Vicente Salazar), together with Rose Setia - Reyes of the IBP, just left Marawi today. Attorney Pastor Trimor and his team, all from Cagayan de Oro, have replaced them there. Cheers, Joan (Orendain), (by email), May 31, 2007 P.S. And what of Maguindanao's CoCs? (If the magicians of Comelec had had their way, Maguindanao and the other Muslim provinces would have been made to appear to have voted 12-0-0 for Team Unity. And no one would have known any better if Namfrel, PPCRV, Halal, Bantay Boto and LENTE and other citizens groups and the media were not there to monitor the count. Comelec has had no choice but to give an honest count, not too far from Namfrel�s. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, What is good about this election is that many people in like mind as you came out boldly to expose manipulation of the Administration of GMA and even the COMELEC. We are thankful for the many simple but courageous heroes, that even endangered their life and livelihood but still came out to testify on the truth. Now we know what the Administration termed COMMAND VOTES. They are the same COMMAND VOTES that were used by Garciliano to make GMA appear the winner through cheating. It saddens us to have a president that cheats. Sad more for she was once a teacher. Is this her way to take power? Mahiya naman sana siya at ang kanyang mga alipores. Rex Rivera, (by email), May 31, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww "If Namfrel had done a 100 percent tabulation, the Comelec would have been hard put to claim the 1.2 million vote lead. It would not have been credible. That's why it is important that Namfrel does a 100% count in 2007 and in all future elections." What a pathetic situation!! If the country needs a Namfrel to assure an "honest" count -- what does it say about the integrity of Philippine Government institutions--and of our people in general? AND by the way-- who then check on Namfrel that it is not manipulating the "situation" to suit the agenda of the "power-behind-Namfrel" ? After all-- if (-- a big IF) it is finance by the CIA-- who can guarantee that Namfrel is not a just a "mean" to manipulate the political "athmosphere" of the country to follow dictates of Washington DC ????? Plaridel Joaquin Alexander Po, (by email), May 31, 2007 (You sound as if you accept as fact the Big IF that you presuppose. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir Tony, Yesterday afternoon, Secretary Defensor conceded defeat in his hunt for a seat in the Senate. A very admirable gentlemanly conduct. I remember the book "Noble Path for Warriors" under perilous circumstances never fail to consider your men and the people... It goes to say. However, does this action really manifest surrender for the purpose of lessening the political tension or does it merely hides an agenda like the Trojan horse in the Battle of Troy? What will happen if a senatorial candidate concedes defeat? Will the Polling Body not allow him to take his post as a new member of senate even if the final count would show that he made it to the magic 12 because he already conceded? If he does not take the post out of delicadeza, who will then replace him? (As far as I know, a conceding candidate still wins the seat he is contesting if the final count shows that he indeed he/she won it. ACA) The COMELEC is caught in a crossfire of allegations coming from both sides of the political spectrum. But the erring sound of the political environment will only end once the proclamation of winners is done. COMELEC has been telling that nobody has came up with any evidence to prove the election irregularities. However, ABS-CBN and GMA Networks have aired so many footages and testimonies to make the issue of cheating moot and academic. I do still have faith in the MEDIA that they are non-partisan and everything they do is for the furtherance of truth and freedom. Why is it too difficult for COMELEC to realize the situation and make decisions in favor of the electorate? Why are the COCs of Manila, QC, Muntinlupa, Caloocan , Taguig have not yet been canvassed? Arethere also irregularities involving these COCs? I believe that Manila votes were counted and canvassed better than how they did it in Maguindanao. COMELEC must end this environment of stale and stinking politics as soon as possible. The longer it takes, the more that it will be prone to infection. the longer it takes, the more that the COMELEC reputation will suffer. Magandang Araw po at Mabuhay po kayo! Vonne Villanueva, (by email), May 31, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, To end the "looong endgame", I earlier suggested the two-party-system. If this is difficult to swallow, how about an electoral college, similar to that practiced in the U. S. If a party candidate for president wins in New York , he gets the electoral votes of New York , etc. This could avoid delaying elections in a particular area so the votes can be given to the highest bidder. Fritz Maramba, (by email), May 31, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Perfect, Mr. Tony! Keep up the good work. Let us all help in spreading the Penicilin to put an end to this political virus in our country. Ruben Villas, (by email), Dubai , United Arab Emirates , May 31, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony: As I kept repeating to you, the rigging of the elections is a policy of this People's Power government. During the 1986 elections, although Cory claimed that she won the elections, yet she did not order a recount of the elections to determine who really won the elections. This recount was demanded by former Vice-President-elect Arturo M. Tolentino who ran under the Marcos ticket. Who really won the 1986 elections cannot be really officially determined since Cory did not order a recount of the votes. (And as I kept repeating to you, it does not matter who �won� in the 1986 elections because Cory Aquino was elevated to the presidency by a revolutionary process, not by the results of this election. Don�t you get it? ACA) This leads us in mind to the famous envelope which the Senate refused to open during the impeachment proceedings of Pres. Estrada. Although People's Power II was successful in ousting Pres. Estrada on grounds of corruption which the Senate was unable to deliberate during the impeachment proceedings, Pres. Arroyo blatantly refused to open that envelope to make the contents public. This is a simple case of our senators conniving with one another to publicly fool the people. The opening of the envelope was necessary to determine who was really the culprit in the famous impeachment proceedings against Pres. Estrada. Because of the refusal of the Arroyo administration to make the contents of the disputed envelope public, the Filipino people was denied their right to know who was really involved in the alleged case of corruption against Estrada. (The envelope WAS opened and its contents made public, which did not prove or disprove anything. It was the Erap camp that made a drama over not opening the envelope, and it proved to be nothing. ACA) According to the developments of the case of corruption against Estrada, Luis Chavit Singson was a collector of jueteng bribes of Estrada to allow the jueteng operators to continue on with business even though it is presumably illegal. Except for the public confession of Luis Chavit Singson that he was the collector of Estrada of the bribes collected from the jueteng operators, we do not know who else was collecting bribes for Estrada. Singson said that he was one of those who was authorized by Estrada to collect the bribes in his behalf. Who were the other members? We don't know really for sure who were the other collectors. Furthermore, the public does not know a hoot who were the real jueteng lords who actually paid the bribes to allow them to operate legally. Luis Chavit Singson did not mention even one jeuteng lord who gave him money for bribery. So this corruption case against Estrada was just a simple zarzuela concocted by our politicians to fool the people. The case against the Marcoses has been going on for more than 17 years and the case against Estrada has been going on for more than 6 years and yet the courts have not been able to convict neither the Marcoses nor the Estradas. All these cases against the Marcoses andthe Estrada are simple zarzuelas of our politicians. As a responsible newspaperman, you have failed to point this out together with other columnist in our dailies. By their silence, the press has decided to go along with the zarzuela concocted by our politicians. (Before you make your wild accusations, you should first check with me on which articles I have written in which I complained about the slow judicial process against the Marcoses and Estrada, and then maybe you will learn to keep your mouth shut, since you do not have the manners to apologize when you are shown to have made a mistake. ACA) Thanks to the peaceful protest of some of our politicians, the policy of rigging the elections by this People's Power government, seems to have stopped. We seemed to have now clean elections. (It was not the �peaceful protest of our politicians� but the unrelenting pressure everyday from Namfrel, the PPCRV, LENTE, Halal, Bantay Boto and media, including this columnist, that forced Comelec to keep their count not too far away from the Namfrel tabulations, unlike in 2004, 1995 and 1992. ACA) I do hope this clean elections will go on in the succeeding elections. Very truly yours, (It was not a clean election. There was cheating all over the place, and by both sides. But because of pressure from the above groups, much of the fraud was uncovered and corrected. ACA) Ramon del Gallego, (by email), May 321, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Election outcomes in the Philippines have always been predictable. Results are known before the votes are even cast and counted. The winning margin is already determined. In more advanced countries that employ voting machines, results are not known until 24 hours later, which makes the Philippine system the envy of the world for speed and accuracy! Dr. Nestor P. Baylan, (by email), New York City , June 01, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to �GMA Lost� (May 20, 2007) Hi Tony, How can any one claim that GMA lost in the election when the results of the election shows she has retained control of the House but not the Senate which was the status of the previous Congress vis a vis Malacanang before the election? Cesar M. de los Reyes, (by email;), June 02, 2007 (GMA has already conceded that her administration had been defeated in the senatorial elections. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, as long as our system of government doesn�t change, nothing will happen in our country. Why not let the people decide thru a referendum what type of government we want, give them all the information both negative and positive for them to decide, write it in a text or language that they can understand or broadcast in radio or TV in which ever language they can easily understand, Visayan for the Visayan, Tagalong for Tagalong, Bicol for Bicol, Kapampangan for Kapampangan etc, etc, etc, give ample time for both sidse to express their views and let the people decide. Let their be a representative in all places. Thanks. Mandy D. Chavez, (by email), Saudi Arabia , June 02.2007 (Give one example of a country that changed its system of government � except through coup d�etat or revolution � that suddenly became a success that it was not before. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww It's interesting how the GMA-virus had spread to contaminate the participants' thinking. Now, along with the Secretary of the Dept of Injustice, they have not only indicted but they have come out with a verdict that Lacson, Honasan, and Trillanes are guilty of treason? Those who want freedom and democracy seem to think they are more equal than others and want to ignore due process. It is unfortunate that GMA and her spokesmen have confused many into thinking GMA is the state/constitution. Those trying to uphold the constitution that GMA has been blatantly/flagrantly violating are adjudged and labeled "guilty of rebellion, treason, etc.," that GMA and her supporters should be charged with. I appreciate your inserts, even if I do not agree with some, but that's ok. More power to you. I think that with leadership like yours and many in the media, we will find a clearer path back to our becoming a real democracy. Aurora Riel, (by email), Murfreesboro , North Carolina , June 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, On the senatorial results: The senatorial result is a reaffirmation of the discontent of the voters on GMA's policies and definitely a clear sign of rejection of movie stars and other sports personalities claim that they want to serve the public. In fact, by making movie-goers laugh and sob, these movie personalities are already serving the public by entertaining them. As for Manny Pacquiao, it was a bad choice and bad advice. He could have used the money spent for campaigning and for buying votes to support schools and health clinics for General Santos residents. Dr. Nestor P. Baylan, (by email), New York City , June 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I am tired of everyone saying there's no better alternative to GMA. After all, who would have known Cory Aquino and FVR would turn out to be competent Presidents? Unfortunately for us, our choices for leaders have always been about who's the least evil. Are they saying no one's less evil than GMA? If so, heaven bless us all! Geejay Arriola, (by email), June 03, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hello Tony! I don't know why people say GMA lost the election. In the first place, she was not a candidate. GMA as candidate is not the same as GMA the supporter of candidates. GMA the candidate would do everything to win and does win! In this election, she appeared to be lackadaisical and even missed a big meeting de avance in Cebu . Anyway, she fared better than Bush who lost both Senate and the House of Representatives. (Like Bush, GMA did not have to be a candidate to �lose� in the midterm elections. As in the US , midterm elections here are seen as a referendum on the incumbent president. ACA) Nevertheless, I am glad the opposition will control the Senate for needed check and balance. In Singapore and Malaysia and in many other countries (How about Zimbabwe ?), oppositionists never had a chance. The present Senate, despite being nominally administration-controlled, has not been much an ally of GMA and has in fact been a monumental underachiever. One can cite the failure to enact national budgets for two (or was it three?) consecutive years and the paucity of legislations passed in that chamber. I am sure the incoming Senate will not be able to match the present one in its ineptitude. I am however doubtful if the opposition can provide as thoughtful and effective fiscalizing task as the one now being provided by the present Senate which has been very effective in thwarting the more onerous measures of Malacanang. Who do you think will replace Arroyo as Senate's legal representative to the Supreme Court? Cayetano? Koko Pimentel? Who among the opposition will have the guts (ala Recto) to push for unpopular but sound laws (ala EVAT)? After all has been said and done, we Filipinos should congratulate each other for successfully electing a set of officials who will govern our country for better or for worse. Sure there are flaws in our system but I can swear that this was the best election I've participated in so far. There's fewer deaths, if we believe the PNP, and the large-scale cheating alleged of 2004 and the Marcos years were either not in evidence (Think Cebu and Pampanga, the really big ones!) or foiled by vigilant watchers. Sure there are cheaters who won and losers who cry foul. Who ever said this is a perfect world? Nevertheless, 2007 showed that we are improving as a democracy Herminigildo Gutierrez, (by email), June 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Tony, if the result of this midterm election does not bring, among others, quality improvement in the lives of our people through education, health and other social services and by way of employment generation and poverty reduction, then it's time to birth a new nation. As you know, we have been operating under copied American political system. During the transition Commonwealth, corruption in government was farthest from the thoughts of Pres. Quezon's nationalist preference for hellish governance by Filipinos. But values changed after independence. Hell broke loose when Quezon's oft-quoted preference for a "government run like hell by Filipinos" was corrupted into a self-centered trapo system of "what are we in power for" and perpetuated by the politicos of the administration and the opposition that governed one after the other. This long experience of mis-governance manifested the ills of the system and spoiled our chance to NIChood, finding ourselves in the kangkungan of Asia . It's time to give birth to a new Filipino Nation. Paraphrasing Mabini, it' time to regenerate our society through a revolutionary transition by reforming not only our institutions but also our manner of behaving and thinking and installing a benevolent leadership to develop discipline among the governing and the governed. Fortunato. U. Abata, (by email), June 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to �Rule of Lawyers� (May 22, 2007) Hi Tony, What do you call a thousand Filipino lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean? Not enough. Cheers. Chito Salalac, (by email), Mississauga , Ontario , Canada , June 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww I am extremely disappointed with your comment, i.e. calling my opinion "Marxist". I'm not and never have been a Marxist. I don't even know what it means. My comment was sincere and personal. So was yours. But putting a label on an opinion expressed by a reader is contemptible. I never did label any of your opinion. So don't label mine. Alfredo Paredes, (by email), June 04, 2007 (But why are you so touchy about this? Many academics and intellectuals around the world openly espouse Marxist ideas, without necessarily being Communists. Even if you have never been a Marxist, you should know that your gem of wisdom � that laws are made by the rich to protect their own interests � is not original but is one of the cornerstones of Marxist thought. It underlines the futility of trying to reform society through legal and constitutional means, and justifies the need for Marxist-Leninist revolution. ACA) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Most of the responses and reactions to your comments are either pro or con. Those pro praise you and those who are con denounce or cry out their pain and disappointment at those you comment against. Aren't they just parrots or barking dogs? Rare are the constructive comments or those who search out the causes or the root of the problem(s). Rarer still are those who offer solutions to the problems. When we strike out at lawyers we forget that they too are looking for sources of like other professionals. They are poor because they have poor clients. I know this from my own law practice. And again I must return to the cause: We Filipinos were taught to become employees, serfs, servants, from an early age. So we became very dependent on jobs. With no jobs, we became deprived, and we all know that they deprived are often depraved, as the saying goes. The solution here is for us to change our system of education so our children may be taught business and finance and trade from an early age. This will give them a chance to become producers and employers. We can not last long as a nation of consumers. We cannot rely on remittances from abroad. Business is the true road to economic survival. England became an early ecomomic superpower and did it not start as a nation of shopkeepers. Trade and business were the start of economic progress. Industrialization powered its growth. If Hong Kong , Taiwan and Singapore were able to achieve this, why can't we? The business minded students/graduates can start their shops or small businesses with financial assistance from a Microlender, a bank like Grameen Bank of Bangladesh . As for our 56,000 registered lawyers, we can use them to help patriotic citizens or whistleblowers in prosecuting inept or corrupt public servants. They of course have to be paid their fees, and the whistleblowers themselves can be paid rewards. The money to finance the educational system and our lawyers and our whistleblowers can be paid out of a resource we have not tapped yet - our OFWs. There are 12 million of them If only 4 to 6 million of them buy shares at $10 each in a newspaper corporation (I suggest the revival of the La Solidaridad) that will oversee the campaign against corrupt officials and make these payments and microfinance small businesses and start-ups like the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh (which won the Nobel Prize). A good portion of the funding from OFWs shares can be diverted to finance to redirect our educational system, again to be overseen by La Solidaridad. The corporation La Solidaridad and its Board of Stewards I have suggested is described in the paper I emailed you before the elections. I hope you will consider the same. God bless, (The paper you emailed is too long � nine pages � to fit in the space we have. In addition, most people are too busy to read long dissertations. Please cut it down to about three or four pages. ACA) Lionel Tierra, (by email), Sacramento , California , June 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, How can we impose "Rule of Law" in our country if the ones implementing it are the ones violating? Take for example "urinating in public places." How come Pinoys are fond of doing it? I wonder WHY here in Sauudi Arabia, they have tougher laws which expatriates observe and abide?! How come Filipinos abroad could easily obey the laws of the host country and WHY Filipinos back home had difficulty in following our laws? There are crimes here "nowadays" but compare to Philippines we are certainly way ahead? (I�ve explained this before: Filipinos who go abroad tend to become law-abiding because they know there is a consequence for breaking the law in those countries. They either have to pay a fine, or go to jail, or are deported. But when they come back to their home country, they revert to their anti-social and anarchic habits because they know that there is little or no consequence for breaking the law here. It is all about the Rule of Law. ACA) And to senatorial and congressmen wannabes, maybe they could draft and pass a law with regards education before he/she could be considered to run to a certain post. Education is indeed a prerequisite! Good day to you and many thanks.... Only in the Philippines are the likes of Honasan and Trillanes, who were coup plotters and with pending cases against them, allowed to run for senator Mga Kababayan ko, dapat lang malaman nyo kayo'y naloloko nang mga taong 'to. Gilbert Menese, (by email), June 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. ...... Tony, the following are fitting comments to your �Rule of Lawyers� article. The sad thing is that while every thinking Filipino is aware of the problems brought about by our flawed justice system, there seems to be no resolute effort to correct them. The rule of law or due process is such a slow moving train in our country and it gets to be easily derailed when the �rule of lawyers� come into play. Que lastima! Best regards, Ed J. Tirona, (by email), Paranaque City , June 06, 2007 Fred, BRAVO. You said it all, to wit: here in the States (as in Japan, too) , no one is above the law. The Rule of Law is strictly kept and observed. Pierre Tierra That's the big difference. Here in America , even if you are a Senator, richest of the rich, Vice President or Top CEO's, you are not exempted from the law. Simple offense like DUI in Manila is a very big thing here, doesn't matter who you are, if the police caught you they don't care who you are. The bigger the fish the more they prosecute. Recently, Paris Hilton went to jail because of this, another Senator just had a similar problem and due for sentencing. Crimes done 15-20-or even 30 years ago, no matter who you are can be dug up and prosecuted. They have special units specializing in old cases and they really work on it. In Manila , if you are a big fish, you are mostly exempted from the law, and you can buy your way out most of the time or 99%. It's a double standard when it comes to crime and punishment. The best way to deal with this if you are in Manila is to be Rich and Famous so you can do what you want, but if you are not, stay away and be content in your own little hole. It's nice to fight for your ideals and people's rights, but to do this you are sacrificing not only your life but also your family's and friends We simple people, are happy we are here in America where we can enjoy life and be equal with anybody in most cases. That's the big difference....................... Fred Santos wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww More Reactions to �The Trillanes Tsunami� (May 17, 2007) Senator-elect detained Navy Lt (SG)Trillanes was just being consistent with his stand and platform when he launched his candidacy for Senator with his recent statement of pursuing for the removal of Gloria Arroyo as she is seen as an illigitimate president without the mandate of the Filipino people and I alsoI agree with him when he said that the impeach-ment proceeding is not a criminal trial but a political one. There is no doubt that Trillanes who had no agenda but for the ouster of Gloria Arroyo was elected by a vast majority of the electorate to show their support for his cause and was sending the message that they the Filipino people does not consider Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a legitimate leader and president of the Philippines. The lapdogs of this immoral and corrupt administration should not accuse Trillanes of destabilization just because he voiced out his desire for the ouster of their master. As far as I know the Philippines is still a democratic country. This man is just being sincere and honest on his intentions. not a hypocrite and full of deceit like Gloria Arroyo and her minions. Narciso Ner, (by email), Davao City , June 06, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww In reply to the above: KAUNTI LANG ANG ADVERTISEMENT NANALO PA KAUNTI LANG ANG GINASTOS NANALO PA THIS IS A REVOLUTIONARY VICTORY INDEED ONE THAT CAN BE ONLY ENVIED BY TEAM GLORIA CROOKED FOLLOWERS Medivic Lozada, (by email), June 09, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww . Inferiority Complex: A Filipino Malady? by Barth Suretsky The unedited article below was written below by an American friend, Barth Suretsky. This will still be edited but you will get the gist. I find his observations interesting. I hope this will make an impact on the Filipinos who read this article as I greatly lament the worsening situation of our country. - Frank Woolf My decision to move to Manila was not a precipitous one. I used to work in New York as an outside agent for PAL, and have been coming to the Philippines since August, 1982. I was so impressed with the country, and with the interesting people I met, some of which have become very close friends to this day, that I asked for and was granted a year's sabbatical from my teaching job in order to live in the Philippines. I arrived here on August 21, 1983, several hours after Ninoy Aquino was shot, and remained here until June of 1984. During that year I visited many parts of the country, from as far north as Laoag to as far south as Zamboanga, and including Palawan . I became deeply immersed in the history and culture of the archipelago, and an avid collector of tribal antiquities from both northern Luzon, and Mindanao . In subsequent years I visited the Philippines in 1985, 1987, and 1991, before deciding to move here permanently in 1998. I love this country, but not uncritically, and that is the purpose of this article. First, however, I will say that I would not consider living anywhere else in Asia , no matter how attractive certain aspects of other neighboring countries may be. To begin with, and this is most important, with all its faults, the Philippines is still a democracy, more so than any other nation in Southeast Asia . Despite gross corruption, the legal system generally works, and if ever confronted with having to employ it, I would feel much more safe trusting the courts here than in any other place in the surrounding area. The press here is unquestionably the most unfettered and freewheeling in Asia , and I do not believe that is hyperbole in any way! And if any one thing can be used as a yardstick to measure the extent of the democratic process in any given country in the world, it is the extent to which the press is free. But the Philippines is a flawed democracy nevertheless, and the flaws are deeply rooted in the Philippine psyche. I will elaborate. The basic problem seems to me, after many years of observation, to be a national inferiority complex, a disturbing lack of pride in being Filipino. Toward the end of April I spent eight days in Vietnam , visiting Hanoi , Hue , and Ho Chi Minh City . I am certainly no expert on Vietnam , but what I saw could not be denied: I saw a country ravaged as no other country has been in this century by thirty years of continuous and incredibly barbaric warfare. When the Vietnam War ended in April, 1975, the country was totally devastated. Yet in the past twenty-five years the nation has healed and rebuilt itself almost miraculously! The countryside has been replanted and reforested. Hanoi and HCMC have been beautifully restored. The opera house in Hanoi is a splended restoration of the original, modeled after the Opera in Paris, and the gorgeous Second Empire theater, on the main square of HCMC is as it was when built by the French a century ago. The streets are tree-lined, clean, and conducive for strolling. Cafes in the French style proliferate on the wide boulevards of HCMC. I am not praising the government of Vietnam , which still has a long way to travel on the road to democracy, but I do praise, and praise unstintingly, the pride of the Vietnamese people. It is due to this pride in being Vietnamese that has enabled its citizenry to undertake the miracle of restoration that I have described above. When I returned to Manila I became so depressed that I was actually physically ill for days thereafter. Why? Well, let's go back to a period when the Philippines resembled the Vietnam of 1975. It was 1945, the end of World War II, and Manila , as well as many other cities, lay in ruins. (As a matter of fact, it may not be generally known, but Manila was the second most destroyed city in the entire war; only Warsaw was more demolished!) But to compare Manila in 1970, twenty-five years after the end of the war, with HCMC, twenty-five years after the end of its war, is a sad exercise indeed. Far from restoring the city to its former glory, by 1970 Manila was well on its way to being the most tawdry city in Southeast Asia . And since that time the situation has deteriorated alarmingly. We have a city full of street people, beggars, and squatters. We have a city that floods sections whenever there is a rainstorm, and that loses electricity with every clap of thunder. We have a city full of potholes, and on these unrepaired roads we have a traffic situation second to none in the world for sheer unmanageability. We have rude drivers, taxis that routinely refuse to take passengers because of "many trappic!" The roads are also cursed with pollution-spewing buses in disreputable states of repair, and that ultimate anachronism, the jeepney! We have an educational system that allows children to attend schools without desks or books to accommodate them. Teachers, even college professors, are paid salaries so disgracefully low that it's a wonder that anyone would want to go into the teaching profession in the first place. We have a war in Mindanao that nobody seems to have a clue how to settle. The only policy to deal with the war seems to be to react to what happens daily, with no long range plan whatever. I could go on and on, but it is an endeavor so filled with futility that it hurts me to go on. It hurts me because, in spite of everything, I love the Philippines . Maybe it will sound simplistic, but to go back to what I said above, it is my unshakable belief that the fundamental thing wrong with this country is a lack of pride in being Filipino. A friend once remarked to me, laconically: "All Filipinos want to be something else. The poor ones want to be American, and the rich ones all want to be Spaniards. Nobody wants to be Filipino." That statement would appear to be a rather simplistic one, and perhaps it is. However, I know one Filipino who refuses to enter a theater until the national anthem has stopped being played because he doesn't want to honor his own country, and I know another one who thinks that history stopped dead in 1898 when the Spaniards departed! While it is certainly true that these represent extreme examples of national denial, the truth is not a pretty picture. Filipinos tend to worship, almost slavishly, everything foreign. If it comes from Italy or France it has to be better than anything made here. If the idea is American or German it has to be superior to anything that Filipinos can think up for themselves. Foreigners are looked up to and idolized. Foreigners can go anywhere without question. In my own personal experience I remember attending recently an affair at a major museum here. I had forgotten to bring my invitation. But while Filipinos entering the museum were checked for invitations, I was simply waived through. This sort of thing happens so often here that it just accepted routine. All of these things, the illogical respect given to foreigners simply because they are not Filipinos, the distrust and even disrespect shown to any homegrown merchandise, the neglect of anything Philippine, the rudeness of taxi drivers, the ill-manners shown by many Filipinos are all symptomatic of a lack of self-love, of respect for and love of the country in which they were born, and worst of all, a static mind-set in regard to finding ways to improve the situation. Most Filipinos, when confronted with evidence of governmental corruption, political chicanery, or gross exploitation on the part of the business community, simply shrug their shoulders, mutter "bahala na," and let it go at that. It is an oversimplification to say this, but it is not without a grain of truth to say that Filipinos feel downtrodden because they allow themselves to feel downtrodden. No pride. One of the most egregious examples of this lack of pride, this uncaring attitude to their own past or past culture, is the wretched state of surviving architectural landmarks in Manila and elsewhere. During the American period many beautiful and imposing buildings were built, in what we now call the "art deco" style (although, incidentally, that was not a contemporary term; it was coined only in the 1960s). These were beautiful edifices, mostly erected during, or just before, the Commonwealth period. Three, which are still standing, are the Jai Alai Building , the Metropolitan Theater, and the Rizal Stadium. Fortunately, due to the truly noble efforts of my friend John Silva, the Jai Alai Building will now be saved. But unless something is done to the most beautiful and original of these three masterpieces of pre-war Philippine architecture, the Metropolitan Theater, it will disintegrate. The Rizal Stadium is in equally wretched shape. When the wreckers' ball destroyed Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and New York City's most magnificent building, Pennsylvania Station, both in 1963, Ada Louise Huxtable, then the architectural critic of The New York Times, wrote: "A disposable culture loses the right to call itself a civilization at all!" How right she was! (Fortunately, the destruction of Pennsylvania Station proved to be the sacrificial catalyst that resulted in the creation of New York 's Landmark Commission. Would that such a commission be created for Manila ...) Are there historical reasons for this lack of national pride? We can say that until the arrival of the Spaniards there was no sense of a unified archipelago constituted as one country. True. We can also say that the high cultures of other nations in the region seemed, unfortunately, to have bypassed the Philippines ; there are no Angkors, no Ayuttayas, no Borobudurs.True. Centuries of contact with the "high cultures" of the Khmers and the Chinese had, except for the proliferation of Song dynasty pottery found throughout the archipelago, no noticeable effect. True. But all that aside, what was here? To begin with, the ancient rice terraces, now threatened with disintegration, incidentally, was an incredible feat of engineering for so-called "primitive" people. As a matter of fact, when I first saw them in 1984, I was almost as awe-stricken as I was when I first laid eyes on the astonishing Inca city of Machu Picchu , high in the Peruvian Andes . The degree of artistry exhibited by the various tribes of the cordillera of Luzon is testimony to a remarkable culture, second to none in the Southeast Asian region. As for Mindanao , at the other end of the archipelago, an equally high degree of artistry has been manifest for centuries in woodcarving, weaving and metalwork. However, the most shocking aspect of this lack of national pride, even identity, endemic in the average Filipino, is the appalling ignorance of the history of the archipelago since unified by Spain and named Filipinas. The remarkable stories concerning the Galleon de Manila, the courageous repulsion of Dutch and British invaders from the 16th through the 18th centuries, even the origins of the independence movement of the late 19th century, are hardly known by the average Filipino in any meaningful way. And thanks to fifty years of American brainwashing, it is few and far between the number of Filipinos who really know - or even care - about the duplicity employed by the Americans and Spaniards to sell out and make meaningless the very independent state that Aguinaldo declared on June 12, 1898. A people without a sense of history is a people doomed to be unaware of their own identity. It is sad to say, but true, that the vast majority of Filipinos fall into this lamentable category. Without a sense of who you are how can you possibly take any pride in who you are? These are not oversimplifications. On the contrary, these are the root problems of the Philippine inferiority complex referred to above. Until the Filipino takes pride in being Filipino these ills of the soul will never be cured. If what I have written here can help, even in the smallest way, to make the Filipino aware of just who he is, who he was, and who he can be, I will be one happy expat indeed! ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |