 |
 |
| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Semper Fidel By Antonio C. Abaya Written Jan. 08, 2006 For the Standard Today, January 10 issue President Arroyo was no doubt certain, - or, at least, hopeful - that with the strong showing of the peso and the upswing in the stock market, the new year would spell the end of the political crisis that has shaken her government to the point of near-collapse, and that from now on she has nowhere else to go but up. But, alas, it looks like her political fortunes have not yet reached rock bottom and that her government is going to face even more rough sailing in the coming weeks and months. Can she hang on? Should she? And for how long? What was the significance of the January 2 meeting that former President Fidel V. Ramos had with Senate President Franklin Drilon and former senator Tito Sotto in his (FVR�s) office atop the Union Bank building in Makati? Did this mean an impending alliance between the three former presidents � Ramos, Cory Aquino, represented by Drilon, and Joseph Estrada, represented by Sotto � in a more concerted effort to force President Arroyo to step down? FVR, as usual, was tight lipped and non-committal. But Drilon smiled the smile of a cat who had just swallowed the goldfish, but teasingly led the media on that the three of them merely appreciated the French red wine that was served. But why was that meeting immortalized with a color photo of the three doing Ramos� signature thumbs-up gesture, and framed by the florid matting of RPDEV or Ramos Peace and Development Foundation Inc., and its slogans of �Caring Sharing Daring� and �People Empowerment and Global Competitiveness.� In the context of the times, it rather looked like a photo of Emperor Hirohito with Admiral Yamamoto and Admiral Nagano toasting their final naval operational plans for attacking Pearl Harbor, framed with Kampai! and Banzai! and emblazoned with �East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere!� But why does Malacanang insist that Ramos was only seeking a dialogue, not an alliance, with the President Arroyo�s major critics, and that Ramos has expressed his �unequivocal support� for PGMA and has dropped his demands that President Arroyo state her position on the no-election-in-2007 proposal of the Consultative Commission. Why is Boy Morales, Erap�s chief political lieutenant, talking about a �transitory council,� made up Ramos, Cory and Erap, to backstop or advise his insistent concept of a �caretaker, transition government.� And is there a significance in the plan of the Palace to convene the Council of State on January 25, just five days after the fifth anniversary of EDSA 2, with at least two former presidents (Cory and FVR) in attendance? Pinky Webb wanted answers to these and other questions when she interviewed me on ANC last Jan. 6. But I could not give categorical answers to some of the questions because I cannot always guess what Ramos means when he says or does something. The guy is deliberately evasive. He obviously follows the dictum � attributed to either Sun Tzu or Machiavelli or Bart Simpson � that if you want to have and keep the upper hand in any situation, you must remain a mystery to your enemies and friends, or to your lover. Fidel Ramos has perfected the art of talking from both corners of his mouth, so that he appears to mean everything that everyone wants to make of his utterances. He thus projects himself as a friend and ally to everyone who wants to be his friend or ally, but keeps the option of taking a diametrically opposite tack if and when the situation and self-interest demand. Ask the ghost of his cousin, Ferdinand Marcos. If this were ancient Rome and we were watching the maneuvers on the floor of the Roman Senate during the Ides of March, we would almost hear Julius Caesar complain, �Semper Fidel mihi mysterium est.� For you peasants who never took up Latin in school, that means �Fidel is always a mystery to me.� And would remain a mystery to him until he felt Fidel�s dagger pierce his back, if Fidel felt the situation called for it. This is not necessarily a condemnation of such an act. Ramos is a practitioner of situational ethics, as are Gloria Arroyo and many other trapos, whereby the morality or immorality of an act is dictated by the situation of the moment. When the US Marine Corps adopted the motto Semper Fidelis (�Always Faithful�), they obviously did not have anyone like Fidel Ramos in mind. Like Sotto and Drilon, I too was invited by FVR to his office on the 26th floor of the Union Bank building on Pasong Tamo. Not once, but twice. On both occasions, last July and October, on a Saturday morning when the office was empty of its staff, and there were only his driver, his bodyguard and a male factotum whom he called by rapping on the glass partition, to retrieve a speech or column of his that he wanted me to read. But since I am a nobody, he did not serve red wine, only tea and two cookies, and there was no photographer to record our meeting with our thumbs up or in our mouths. The impression I got from both meetings was that FVR was deadly serious about the �Total Approach� that he had proffered last July to the drowning Gloria Arroyo. Under this proposal, all elected national officials � president, vice-president, senators and congressmen � would resign their positions by February 14, 2006 to make way for parliamentary elections in May and a formal shift to the parliamentary system by end of June 2006. Many observers agree that this would have given GMA a �graceful exit.� That schedule is obviously not going to be met, and so, by common consent, the timetable was moved to 2007. But the recommendation of Gloria�s hand-picked Consultative Commission, that the scheduled 2007 elections be scrapped altogether, has alarmed many observers, including and especially Fidel Ramos, who called it a �monumental blunder.� To them, it can only mean that President Arroyo was and is not planning to exit gracefully by 2006 or 2007, but wants to stay in Malacanang until her presidential term ends in 2010, after which she would likely exercise the option of running for a seat in parliament and maneuver to be elected prime minister by a compliant parliament in which her current miniscule party, Kampi, as it boldly stated during its party congress in February 2005, is planning to become the biggest political party by 2007. In such a situation, Fidel Ramos may play the US card. I wrote last week that the Americans are looking for a New Magsaysay. If they cannot find one soon, they may settle, even temporarily, for Old Faithful. Semper Fidel becomes Semper Fidelis. ***** Reactions to [email protected] or fax 824-7642. Other articles in www.tapatt.org. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |
| Reactions to �Semper Fidel� Of course since you used those three Japanese as an analogy, then perhaps in six months after Fidel, Tito and Frank did their act, the Arroyo government will do its own version of Midway and reverse the tide of war. Jose Custodio, [email protected] Jan. 11, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Sir: I do not believe the Americans can find a new Magsaysay soon, simply because there isn't anyone in the horizon. Our present crop of politicians and leaders are a pathetic lot. That is why Gloria Arroyo manages to hang on to power. In the end, the U.S. may have to resort to over-the-hill politicians like Fidel Ramos, who's patience and sense of timing were once impeccable. But those were FVR's glory days, when he patiently licked ass throughout his cousin, Ferdinand Marcos', regime. Only to shaft the ailing dictator when his administration was already crumbling due to the economic holocaust wrought by the IMF moratorium and Ninoy Aquino's murder. After that, there were the heady days when FVR held the clueless Cory Aquino in a Stockholm syndrome situation, rescuing Cory at the last minute from several coup attempts and meting out 50 push-ups as punishment for the plotters. An exceedingly grateful Cory Aquino rewarded FVR with an anointment in the 1992 Presidential elections, making the difference between winning and losing that election. But ever since Pirma, when FVR clumsily tried to lengthen his term of office, and the disastrous endorsement of Joe De Venecia for the 1998 presidential elections, FVR has been stumbling. Has the old warhorse seen better days? So far, the old fox looks to have been outsmarted by a wily and nimble GMA, who seems to thrive best when she is cornered and seems to have latently discovered tremendous inner fortitude and political skills. But backing from the U.S. could mean a lot in a poor country like the Philippines. The U.S. has considerable might and resources which could make a big difference in any undertaking. Being dealt the U.S. card can change anyone's fortunes for the better. It may grant FVR a second wind into his old, tired sails. Ping Lacson would only be so envious. And while the Americans make do with recycled warhorses and politicians, the rest of the country waits for a new Magsaysay. He may be waiting in the wings, perhaps in the business sector or among the young military officers. Or perhaps within the academe. Or perhaps he or she may be one of those New Filipinos, born in exile, a child of the Filipino diaspora. Who knows? Carl Cid S.M. Inting, [email protected] Cebu City, Jan. 11, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Kuya Tony! Happy New Year to you and to your family circle...I watched your previous TV guestings and, as always expected, you really inject wisdom and sound solutions to every topic. I believe that Mr. Ramos thinks that he's still the President of our country. He needs to retire as most seniors do...get a Caribbean cruise while smoking a premium Cuban cigar, tour Europe, go to Jerusalem for reflection, or simply just play golf on a nice sunny day... Let the new breed, if there's any, run the show... he's like how old? 200 yrs old? even Americans retire at 65 or seek early retirement before 60! It's high tie that we seat true leaders with new vision and one who has True Love for country...Only then that we could start competing, at least with bangldesh... Bong Sempio, [email protected] Jan. 11, 2006 Hope to meet you in person in March as I will be going home for some leisure and business... It would be a privilege to come face to face with you after almost 3 yrs of following your witty insights and very patriotic style of writing... wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mang Tony, Didn�t Mang Fidel serve Noli tea and cookies too? He he. - Geeko, Ernesto Pilapil Jr., [email protected] Jan. 12, 2006 MY REPLY. Maybe FVR thinks Noli is a nobody, too. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Good morning Tony. Interesting stuff----but you know, Tony, I read all of your mails and forward them to about 10 others, mostly in the Philippines and also the US. For a long time now I have felt that you are getting closer and closer to what could or what should be the outcome---of the Political situation in the Philippines. I feel that GMA can not really go on---too many stones around her neck. Your latest edition-----Semper Fidel----seems to me to be getting very close to a final outcome. As you mention Ramos speaks from both sides of his mouth---too true----but I guess you survive as a politician by not indicating or stating the obvious. Don�t give too much warning to the opposition---and I think ---everyone is the opposition. The Chinese very rarely signal their intentions ahead. As George Bush says---he will not set a deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq----why tell your opponents. Anyhow Tony----you are doing a great job---keep it up. I look forward to future episodes but I do believe that Cory, Fidel and Erap will play a part---however I think it would be great if they all declared an anti corruption policy and to cleanse the military---maybe transfer them all to Mindanao or Iraq. What do you see as the future role for the Church---if any. Kind regards, mate. John Craige in well fed Malaysia, [email protected] Jan. 12, 2006 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The following article was emailed to us by the author The wonders of creation lead us to God By: Father Shay Cullen, [email protected] January 12, 2006 (Published in the UK & Ireland, Sunday Examiner HK The Sunday Times, Philippines and Worldwide by Internet Archives www.preda.org) Blind faith is not necessarily a good thing. For anyone to ignore the knowledge discovered by science that shows us the magnificence and integrity of creation is to turn away from the truth and lose contact with the power of infinite goodness. If we think and meditate about the creation of the universe, the formation of planet earth and the evolutionary emergence of life, we can�t but look for deeper and more significant meanings. The innate desire to know and understand makes us ask how the universe can be infinite. From where and how did matter come to be, and will it ever cease to exist? The great thing about being an intelligent human is that, we can contemplate our own self-consciousness; we can be astonished to know that we know and that we think about ourselves and the universe from whence we came. The more we see the magnificent photographs of deep space taken by giant telescopes (wonders of human ingenuity in themselves) and see the galaxies and formation of new stars billions of times bigger than our tiny sun we cannot but be overawed by such magnificence and ask why does it exist at all. For those with Internet access such mind boggling pictures are instantly available at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ When we see the wonders of the natural world on this planet, what greater awe and respect can we have. We must see how all species evolved through the urge to survive and the power of natural selection and adaptation. None of this conflicts with a mature informed and educated faith. The �how� is a matter of science, the �why� can be a matter of faith. These natural truths and wonders and the unfolding of life have led countless people, scientists included, to think deeply on the complexity and the purpose of life. They have led many to believe in the existence of a supreme intelligent being of infinite goodness present in us and all creation. The goal and purpose of human life for some, is to continue to create the ideal environment in which the human spirit will evolve sufficiently to be one with this infinite power and energy of goodness and by supernatural selection survive beyond death. Our Spiritual maturity and survival depends on our ability to preserve the natural world. Sadly, most humans fail to mediate, think and understand their natural origins and dependence on all of creation. Considering that we are an intimate part of the natural world and have emerged from it. We need to have greater respect for living organisms, their habitats and environment that allows them to survive. We, too, need them to survive ourselves. Human intelligence and ingenuity has led us to be the dominant species on planet but a destructive one too. In destroying and damaging the corals, forests, rivers and atmosphere we are endangering all our fellow species and threatening our own well being and health. Here in the Philippines, the humble sea snail has given us a new pain killing drug a thousand times more powerful and effective than morphine. Its venom is a deadly toxin used to paralyse the nervous system of its prey and make it an easy meal. The chemical composition of the venom is now copied and we have Prialt, a drug that will spare humans unbearable pain. The deep-Sea sponge found in New Zealand has given up it secret, a compound that has an impressive record so far destroying tumours in humans. Had the Philippine Sea snail or deep-sea sponge been driven to extinction by human neglect and destructiveness, like so many more species these rare discoveries would have been lost for eternity. Had the United States Senate voted to open the Alaskan wilderness to the oil industry for drilling and exploitation, terrible destruction would soon follow. Thanks to the forces of infinite goodness prevailed. Scientists are relying more on natural processes and products as the source of new drugs to help us survive and live happier and healthier lives. We need to humbly accept our dependence on the natural world and protect it as we would ourselves. After all we �can�t live without it. ***** wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The following article was emailed to us by Bert M. Drona. NOTE: This posting also appears in my blogsites, Just Click: http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/ or http://thefilipinomindy2006.blogspot.com/ Appreciate forwarding the postings to relatives and friends , especially in the homeland. Please share your Comments/Responses through my blogsite. Malaysian Nationalism: The making of a nation Zawiah Yahya WHAT WE FILIPINOS SHOULD KNOW: It seems that there is less appreciation of Filipino nationalism among the younger generations, i.e. born during the Marcos Dictatorship and later. It is understandable, but not comforting, since the so-called leadership in business and government does not exemplify nationalism, as it has been dominated by Filipinos with foreign minds. It is understandable, but disastrous for the country in the long run, since this same leadership has been remaking the educational system to reflect this mendicacy and subservience to foreign interests. It is understandable, but destructive to our own heritage, since the foreign cultural influences by the West (mainly American in our case) which have molded us for decades continue unquestioned; and now by new though minor distractions, i.e. Korean. All are further bolstered and facilitated by globalized media. We Filipinos have always bought and thought that "being westernized is being modernized", when in reality the latter we are not yet; in contrast to the Chinese in China or the Japanese for example, who are quickly modernizing or modernized respectively, but without allowing to be overwhelmingly westernized. The lack of character and integrity, as demonstrated by the systemic corruption (among many others) in business and government attest to and are symptoms of the absence of Filipino nationalism, which simply translates into a lack of honest concern and action for the benefit of the present majority and our future generations. Hereunder is an article written by a Malaysian professor on the "why, what and how" to instill and promote (Malaysian) nationalism within its borders. It is a good reminder and a good source for eclectically borrowing some thoughts for instilling Filipino nationalism among our young. "We shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know..." � SOCRATES "In the long-run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their WISDOM and UNWISDOM; we have to say, Like People like Government. " - Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish Philosopher, Author "Nations, whose NATIONALISM is destroyed, are subject to ruin." - Colonel Muhammar Qaddafi, 1942-, Libyan Political and Military Leader "Upang maitindig natin ang bantayog ng ating lipunan, kailangang radikal nating baguhin hindi lamang ang ating mga institusyon kundi maging ang ating pag-iisip at pamumuhay. Kailangan ang rebolusyon, hindi lamang sa panlabas, kundi lalo na sa panloob!" --Apolinario Mabini, La Revolucion Filipina (1898) See also: http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2005/12/impediments-to-filipino-nationalism.html http://thefilipinomind.blogspot.com/2005/06/ang-sistema-ng-edukasyon-sa-pilipinas.html ************************************************************** Malaysian Nationalism: The making of a nation Zawiah Yahya A NATION is built, not born. Nationalism is man-made and national identity is an imaginary construction. It is important for us to understand this premise before we can begin to talk of the kind of human intervention we call nation-building. Nation-building is a process of becoming, not a state of being; and so in order for a nation to become, it cannot be a stable, unchangeable, God-given category. It can best be understood by looking at what has happened in history to see how nations were created where before none existed. The French Revolution of the 18th century precipitated what has since been called in learned circles as nation-states. This was done by skilfully transforming several dynasties into national look-alikes, sharing the same government, the same code of laws, the same class interests, more or less the same cultural system and more or less the same economic conditions. The French model then became the template for other nation-states across Europe. The same thing happened to us here. We were once sultanates until we were federated under the British and almost became a Malayan nation through a unitary state project called the Malayan Union, if not for the intervention of Malay nationalists who wanted, instead, a federalist concept of a united Malay government officially known as Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Now after four decades of Independence, we are back with another unitary state project for a united Malaysian nation, Bangsa Malaysia . The other side of the changing face of nationhood is, of course, the break-up of once-upon-a-time solid nations under the weight of separatist struggles by ethnic groups within their national boundaries. The map of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe has changed as a result of this. So has the map of Indonesia when East Timor recently ceased to be part of Bangsa Indonesia. The Philippines is still struggling to keep a chunk of nationhood in the South from breaking away. As you can see, nations change as boundaries are drawn, redrawn or withdrawn. But even within finite boundaries, the concept of the nation can still be quite unstable. The American nation within the boundaries of the United States of America, for instance, is not an uncontested category. Proponents of Western civilisation and Eurocentrism say that USA is a branch of European civilisation because they claim it accords with the facts of history. On the other hand, afrocentric theorists argue for pan-ethnic unity of all black people of the diaspora, pointing to the origins of African people in what they call the special reality of Africa. What about nations without boundaries which are now in the process of becoming, according to upholders of the one-world thesis and believers of universal civilisation. In fact, it is the prophecy of Marx, Weber and Durkheim that globalisation tendencies of capitalism and modernisation will transform the diverse form of human culture eventually into a homogeneous population living in what Marshall McLuhan is later to call global village. Instant communication and the simultaneous direct transmission of media events have virtually thrown all the media consumers of this shrinking planet into global sameness. We need to remind ourselves of the instability of the concept of nation and nationhood and the danger of treating social groups as stable or homogenous entities. These groups have their own dynamics which are subject to change, contradiction, variability and revision within historically specific and determinate contexts. That is why there are many definitions but no consensus on what constitutes a nation. The political definition sees the nation as a convenient functional mechanism for creating social and economic space required by modern industrialisation. The cultural definition is less concerned with state-formation and more with social formation. It relates the concept of nationhood to the psychological need to define oneself in terms of membership to a given community. This includes a sharing of tradition, language, literature, common meanings and memories, and common friends and enemies. The postcolonial definition links nationalism to imperialism and to the response of the colonised to colonial misrepresentation of the natives. Part of nation-building is all about pulling down the structures of these misrepresentations, rewriting the nation's own history and reconstructing its own identity . It is very interesting to note that whether it is political or cultural or postcolonial. The political definition talks about the nation as an instrument of development; the cultural talks about it as the product of print capitalism, and the postcolonial talks about colonial and postcolonial constructs of identities. However, though the nation may be imagined, it is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship which has the ability to rouse unlikely peoples in dramatically unlikely conditions in an impassioned chorus of voluntary co-operation and sacrifice. Ultimately it is this fraternity that made it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such imaginings. That is why I don't agree with people who say nationalism is passe, or worse, a lot of hot air. Nationalism has different effects and meanings in a peripheral postcolonial nation compared to a world power although American freedom fries can still make patriotism fashionable again. For Third World and developing countries, nation-states are still the best sites for progress and modernity. Nation-building especially in the post independence context is an important process in the quest for progress and development. National policies and programmes can be directed towards national integration. Many things can be done to forge nations out of diverse human material. You could institute a national language as a powerful symbol of cultural unity where there is linguistic diversity. You could plan a homogenisation programme through mass education and the print -media because the printed word can disseminate identical information to a potentially unlimited audience.You could use the electronic media to standardise representations and language so that it could play a crucial role in the reproduction and consolidation of nationalist sentiments. To build an imagined community you need a structure capable of maintaining cohesion and loyalty among citizens in an abstract and anonymous manner. National symbols can be set to work in mysterious ways on our psyche. For instance, the Tugu Negara, the national monument for the country's fallen heroes, has the power to inspire patriotic national imaginings. The map of the country on the classroom wall tells your students that their nation is simultaneously a bounded observable thing and an abstraction of something which has physical reality. Other symbols that work this way are the national anthem, national heroes, the national flag, the national flower and the national car, among others. All these are symbols you can construct to create organic solidarity. Language and literature, the mother of all symbols, can likewise help build a nation, by working on the landscape of the mind. The genre of fiction, in particular, as an instrument of representation could help define the nation by imitating its structure and objectifying the unity in diversity of national life. And because it tells the common story of the common people in the common language, this genre usually carries populist undercurrents of national thought. Vision 2020 is another structure for a united Malaysian nation. Bangsa Malaysia can be constructed in discourse over time using such identity-markers that will set us apart from the rest of the world. Or we can choose to simply evolve. In which case, we are no longer masters of our own destiny. * Zawiah Yahya is chairman of SoLLs.INTEC.03 and professor of Postcolonial Studies and Critical Theory at the School of Language Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. [email protected] Source: http://www.multiworld.org/m_versity/articles/nation.htm ***************************** Background Malaysia's strategic position between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea has long been a meeting and transitional place for traders and travellers from West to East and vice versa. As a result of that, Malaysia's history is one of continual interaction with foreign powers and influences. Hindu-Buddhist influence was strong in the centuries before the coming of Islam as evident in Kedah's Bujang Valley. By 1400, when the Malacca Malay Kingdom was at the height of its power, Islam had become a major influence. By 1511, however, Malacca had fallen to the Portuguese. Meanwhile the Dutch had been establishing their influence and presence in Java. By 1641, the Dutch had also taken over Malacca but they in turn lost it to the British who had been slowly consolidating their hold on the Malay states, following Francis Light's arrival in Penang in 1786. By 1815 Malacca was in British hands and in 1819, Stamford Raffles founded Singapore. Thereafter, through treaties, relentless political pressure and diplomacy, the British slowly extended their control over all the states of the Malay peninsula. Sarawak, once part of the Sultan of Brunei's Empire, had been ruled since 1841 by a British adventurer named James Brooke and his descendants. In 1888, Sarawak and North Borneo (Sabah) became British protectorates. By the 1920s, all the states that eventually comprised Malaysia were under British control. The first stirrings of Malaysian nationalism were felt in the 1930s and following the end of World War II, the momentum of nationalism picked up again, culminating in independence for the Federation of Malaya in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia in 1963. Source: http://www.geovision.com.my/malaysia/ wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The following article was emailed to us by the office of Sen. Ralph Recto Hire more teachers, cops, before we create 'super-sized' parliament By Sen. Ralph Recto January 12, 2006 The country needs more teachers and cops, not more legislators. Sen. Ralph Recto said government should put more teachers in schools and policemen on the streets before it creates a "super-sized "legislature. Among the Charter change proposals being pushed by some political parties is the creation of a single-chamber national parliament whose membership exceeds that of the present House and Senate combined. But Recto said "the areas that cry for personnel augmentation is not in lawmaking, but in teaching and peacekeeping." He urged President Arroyo to send a bill to Congress that would authorize the hiring of 50,000 teachers and 50,000 policemen over the next five years. Recto called his plan the "50/50 initiative". "Its goal is to wipeout the manpower lack in the National Police and in the Education department in five years. The countdown should begin now," Recto said. As of last year, teacher shortage in public schools stood at 12,131, "a somewhat deflated number as it was based on a 1:60 teacher-pupil ratio, when ideally it should be one teacher for every 40 students," Recto said. Yearly, the public school enrollment grows by 300,000, which in turn requires the recruitment of 7,500 teachers. While the 10,000 teachers which he recommends to be hired every year is higher than the projected yearly requirement of 7,500, Recto explained that the 2,500 "extra teachers" will be for government preschools. This is needed because President Arroyo, he said, had issued an order making preschool education universal by 2010, "entailing big investments in this area if this vision is to be achieved." On his proposal to hire 50,000 cops over the next five years, Recto said the current "uniformed strength" of the PNP of 119,893 translates to a one policeman per 724 citizens ratio. It should at least be one officer for every 500 persons, he said. With the country's population of 86.7 million growing by two million a year, the number of policemen that should be hired every year should be 4,000, but funding difficulties have made it impossible for the PNP to expand its personnel by this number annually. Recto explained "the number of 119,893 cops on the roll is what appears on paper but everyday reality would show that only a fraction of this force is on duty at any given time." "You have to divide this number by three shifts, then deduct those tied to administrative duties, those who are sick, in schooling, or suspended, plus those who are fired or retired every year, and you will arrive at a policeman-to-population ratio that is very alarming" he said. "The attrition rate in the PNP is high. The police rookies we induct every year into the force merely replace those who have retired, been suspended or fired," Recto said. Recto said salaries of 10,000 policemen and 10,000 teachers would amount to P2.4 billion a year, "which can easily be covered by the projected higher tax collections." Entry-level positions Teacher 1 and Police Officer 1 earn P120,000 per annum. ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |