It seems that tomorrow, or at the very latest, within this week, the Legion will formally file their petition for a plebiscite with the Commission on Elections. The strategy seems to be that they can afford to try to get it through, since attention’s focused on the impeachment complaints. The President’s people want their pound of flesh. She has to pay her pipers.
It seems Rep. Antonino has it in for the Bishop Businessmen’s Conference (BBC)
For the record, this is the One Voice position on the matter: “we have answered Antonino’s question already and will not engage in a media debate on the matter. Whatever taxes are due on ads or donations to One Voice are paid by funders or donors. However, they asked that information be kept private for fear of retribution and we in One Voice respect that. All are private funds, One Voice does not use public funds, and any additional issues on the matter will be addressed in the proper forum.”
Send in the judge: President to appoint extraordinary prosecutor against political killings. If it’s a retired judge like Hilario Davide, then all the better to prepare a report she can block from being released to the public.
Police reshuffle in metropolis.
50:1 by September?
Supreme Court upholds government decisions to dispose of National Government Center properties.
A tense calm begins in Lebanon.
In the punditocracy, Conrado de Quiros wants a signature campaign for snap elections.
Connie Veneracion says a mobocracy is as fatal as the rule of a highly skilled but amoral, few.
The Inquirer editorial on philanthropy.
In the blogosphere, Comelec AKO reminds us eight months to go before elections (and sooner for a plebiscite!). RG Cruz has scuttlebutt on potential senatorial candidates and possible prime ministers.
Iloilo City Boy casts his lot with parliamentary government (though it seems to me his previous entry contradicts his reasons for doing so).
Torn & Frayed: How cheap is Manila?
New Economist: Apparently, this month marks the 15h anniversary of the World Wide Web, and so, 15 websites that changed the world.
Never Trust a Hippy on the blogosphere and mainstream media.
Technorati Tags: constitution, impeachment, lebanon, Middle East, One Voice, people’s initiative, philippines, politics, president
In the interest of fairness, is Sigaw ng Bayan paying taxes? Just asking…
It sure is cheaper in Manila. But one thing I noticed is that on food stuff, the servings are smaller! Also, Big Macs are smaller, anybody else noticed that?
Last month, I was enjoying my meal at Bacolod Inasal when the blue marlin order came in late. It costs about 150 pesos but what I saw was all of 2 by 2 inces of the poor fish!
Jon,
i guess that’s what happens when you want to maintain your prices amidst rising costs. something has to give, and if you do not raise prices to offset the rising costs of the ingredients, you then reduce the serving quantity/quality.
but compared to other cities, things are REALLY cheap in Manila. when my friends here ask me what I miss about the Philippines, i always answer: the food, and the PRICES!
hehehe.
Jumper, you are so right. Even with the rant on the size of servings, the prices in Manila are still cheaper.
But as an OFW, I can’t possibly sustain that luxury of enjoying the best food and services in Manila. When work is gone in Hong Kong, my reality is to be prudent and retire back to my humble beginnings.
not a bad idea to include the presidential election in 2007. Conrado de Quiros is quite right when he said that if we can’t clean the election of 2004, then all the next elections are not going to be clean. I am for snap election. If we need to include the presidential election in 2007 election, then we should. where would i sign?
I would like to sign too. I say that even if I believe that Gloria Arroyo would never listen to any calls shortening(or ending?) her regime! She’s learned her lessons well, and she’s done the right steps to stay in power. But then again, you never know and as they say, more strange things have happened before. So signing is better than doing nothing!
catch-22 yan. you can’t trust elections, but you are staking future reforms on an electoral exercise? and do you really believe that getting arroyo out is some sort of panacea to the country’s ills? asus. gloria is just the tip of the iceberg. When she’s gone, whoever’s gonna step up to lead us will probably be just as bad? I say strengthen the institutions of democracy so that when elections come around, they can’t cheat despite their best efforts. If you short-circuit democracy with abortions called snap-elections, you are just weakening the fabric of democracy. Think about this: if we are able to stampede the government into a snap election and succeed in replacing gloria, what will stop gloria’s confrere’s from doing the same thing to the new administration? where will it end?
antonio, by removing Gloria, i am not under any illusion that the country’s ills will go away, but i believe it’s the step in the right direction. GMA is like a virus who has attached herself to the system. She is bad for the system as she weakens our institutions because of her original act of cheating as well as because of the compromises she makes to stay in power. To solve our country’s ills, we need the system more than we need Gloria.
Where will it end? In an absolute sense, it never will. However, if and when the issue of legitimacy is resolved, the citizenry can then concentrate its full efforts on ensuring good governance – an improvement from the situation now where we are fighting on two fronts.
antonio,
first things first. we will never get anywhere as long as we remain a divided nation. gloria is the reason why this country is divided. inamin niya ito. so first we remove the divisive element in our society. After that we can work on the other things. but the first thing is for us to unite as a people.
let’s see what happens once we remove that thorn on the nation’s ass.
please cvj, let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that we private citizens have anything to do with the power struggles going on over our heads. sure we all have our opinions, and we can even get real passionate about it, but who dictates the agenda?
its the politicians, man. Would you have gotten a whiff of the garci scandal if the politicians hadn’t started the ball rolling? would we have gotten so pissed off at bolante if his recalcitrance had not been played up by politicians? The bottom line, my friend, is that it isn’t really up to the citizenry. Even now, many of our countrymen would rather “concentrate our full efforts on good governance,” but how can they effectively do that when the politicians do everything to undermine public confidence in government?
Do you honestly think it’ll be different without gloria? Believe me, the viciousness with which the opposition is working for her ouster now will be matched by her allies when they find themselves on the wrong side of the political fence. Then will it be our turn to defend the government that we believe we helped win power? Will it be our turn to be called administration dogs? Will it be our turn to look like patsies?
If we could just break that cycle by focusing our efforts on fixing our institutions … ah. but what am i saying? Didn’t I just pontificate that our opinions ultimately will never shake the counsels of the great and mighty?
forgive me, my friend. for quite possibly wasting your time.
ah. that i can accept, manuel.
ALL THE PROBLEMS we live with everyday are caused by the system and people that created it. So why don’t we just eliminate them both and try to SIMPLIFY?
Here are some that make the current system complicated:
1. NO CONTINUITY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. Every administration has its own “[day]dreams and [am]visions, eg. Phillipines2000, SuperMegaRegions via SuperMaids,etc.]
2. CONGRESS PERPETUALLY MAKING/REVISING LAWS AND ANNUAL BUDGET.
3. POLITICAL APPOINTEES, UNINDEPENDENT INSTITUTIONS (church & media included)
Here’s how to simplify:
CONTINUITY OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS thru predetermined / fixed percentage budget vs. annual national income, say …
20% Education
20% Science Research & Development
20% Food & Agriculture
20% Infrastructures
10% Defense
10% Automated Government Maintenance
Defense & Automated Bureaucracy have lower budget for these would surely benefit from SRD.
AUTOMATED BUREAUCRACY means…
PERPETUAL CONSTITUTION with precisely predetermined socio-economic direction and no ambiguity and NO MORE COSTLY CONGRESS;
ELIMINATING CONGRESS. Why can’t we just make ONE GOLDEN RULE that will govern the conduct of men for all eternity? The original Confusian rule of: “Don’t do unto others what you don’t wan’t to be done unto you†says it all, and it’s simple and easy to understand. It means something like, if you’re an employer and does not want to go hungry, then don’t let your employees go hungry by a P25.00 wage increase!
AUTONOMOUS INSTITUTIONS – automated personnel hiring thru preprogrammed qualification thus eliminating “Political Appointees†from all levels of the bureaucracy. Chairmanships must come from the ranks of the institution concerned. I’m even contemplating that to eliminate an Esperonized AFP in the future, the AFP Chief must be chosen by lower ranking Generals and Colonels, which in turn would be chosen those below them. This should be done using the same Automated Election System below. Self-budgeted from the predetermined allocation above.
AUTOMATED BIR COLLECTION SYSTEM – It pains me to see people in long cues to pay their government bills while Meralco bills are accepted at any SM Customer Service Centers.
FULL AUTOMATED ELECTIONS, not just automated counting machines, but Automated Election Registry /Voting /Counting /Proclamation System. THERE MUST BE AN END TO THE DEBATE OF WHO WILL GOVERN, HOW WE ARE TO BE GOVERNED, AND WHERE WE ARE GOING. THESE RULES MUST BE WRITTEN ONCE AND CARVED IN STONE – AND BY ALL MEANS, LET’S MOVE FORWARD!!!
In the current situation, we all have seen the truth, we experience these everyday – political killings, hunger, graft & corruption, etc. We know whose lying. So why are we still debating? Just for the fun of it?
EDUCATION. We need not just rooms and qualified teachers but above all we need to BURN 99% of the books currently being used! I’m talking most specifically on the scientific front. Most of our engineers are only good with theoretical computations [if they are good at all!] and not on Experimental Engineering. Experimental Results sometimes violate Theoretical Assumptions – and there’s where the Solution lies.
The solution to economic and political woes we have today is “THINKABLE”, therefore it must be doable. My own science research would eliminate the use of bullets for defense. Another previous research would eliminate the use of oil to run industries. These technologies and resources are available here and now.
We just would need to get our acts together INSPITE of persistent external interference.
Our country has been divided for some time. During the ’80’s it was between pro and anti-Marcos elements. There was a divide between North, Center and South of the country. In the late ’80’s and early ’90’s, it was between the Marcos loyalists, RAM and the Cory elements. There was a relative lull during FVR’s term, although he kept things simmering underneath (by design, I think, given his penchant to divide and rule). After Erap was elected, the divisions again became more distinct. In hindsight, I think it was unfortunate that Erap wasn’t allowed to finish his term because it caused the divisions to become even deeper and the jockeying for power to be even more frenzied.
having the presidential election to be included next year would legitimize our government. let the people decide who will lead us. if we have a legitimate leader truly elected by the people, then we can move on…again, please tell me where would i sign up…?
antonio, so it boils down to faith in ourselves. it’s good you brought up the question of ‘who dictates the agenda. As ordinary Filipino citizens, you and i each have 1/80 millionth share in political power. that’s not much, but give and take a couple of hundred thousand of us with a common agenda, it becomes something the politicians can’t ignore.
Re “A Tense Calm in Lebanon”, award-winning journalist Seymour Hersh thinks it’s just the calm before the storm, if Dick Cheney and his armchair generals have their way.
Hersh’ article “Watching Lebanon” appears in the Aug. 14th issue of the New Yorker. You can link to the article here:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060821fa_fact
dead link na itong kay iloilo boy
iloilocityboy.blogspot.com/2006/08/myth-of-omnicompetent-citizen.html
sayang, hindi ko pa nabasa. bakit kaya binura?
It seems that sassy is always complaining about being misunderstood. But I think most people understand her perfectly.
Singaw ng Baho este ng Bayan is hell bent on oushing for a people’s initiative to practically REVISE, not amend the 1987 Charter. This despite the obvious fact that there is no ENABLING LAW on people’s initiative on the Constitution.
Looks like the DEMONS simply refuse to give up.
Funny. Singaw’s TV ads never attempted to discuss or at least feature its proposed “amendments”. The ads merely promise what politicians have been promising since time immemorial.
Haha. Political bullshit Philippine style.
I went to the barangay hall to sign up for singaw ni bangaw. the barangay captain told me I didn’t have to sign up because they already did it for me. I asked him if I had to come back to vote in 2007. He saod don;t worry we’ve also done that or you.
By the way, is it true that Isagani Cruz has began a movement for changing the spelling of barangay to baranguy?
john marzan,
I think sassy has a slight problem understanding criticism.
jm and mb,
how are your grapes?
Congressman Antonino is after the bishops for donating to One Voice? This chimp of a Congressman is good for a few laughs. In an ANC interview in yesterday’s Impeachment debate in Congress, Antonino argued that they will not yet allow the pro-impeachment Congressmen to present evidence against Gloria at this stage because they are still determining the sufficiency of substance of the complaints. Presentation of evidence, he says can come later. But in the same breath he says the impeachment complaints are weak because the complainants did not annex any evidence to the complaint. Huh?? Duh…
Send in the Judge or is that send in another “clown”? And what’s wrong with the present prosecutors and police authorities? Are they not capable of solving anyone of these Political Killings? Well, another ‘clown’ we’ll just make us more funnier than we are already were. Bring in the Clown.
Connie Veneracion:
ganyan naman talaga ang mga organized religion eh. buti na lang hindi mga Taliban ang nagpapatakbo sa ating bansa.
pero bakit sa CBCP nagagalit si Sassy? Dapat mas magalit siya sa kanyang presidenteng Arroyo, dahil binibigyan ni GMA ng veto powers ang simbahan on some issues, probably to buy the support of the CBCP and bishops like mr. capalla, quevedo and arguelles:
Uhhh… excuse me, but why does the DepEd need the Catholic Church’s permission on sex education? Hindi ba yung mga apologist ni arroyo recently made an issue out of “separation of church and state”? So why is the Dep Ed secretary saying na kailangan pa nila ng “approval” sa Catholic Church?
I may disagree with the church on family planning etc, pero I don’t blame the Church, or any group, for pushing their agendas. The priest and bishops, just like most citizens, can complain about the way the gov’t is being run.
The gov’t OTOH has no obligation to seek the Church’s permission on any issues, or vice versa (unless we’re already under a theocracy, LOL.)