Rain-related news: Despite heavy rains, water supply remains a concern.Put another way, 3 days of rain cooled Metro, but still not enough. Meanwhile, Palace wants P500m released for drought. News like this aimed at justifying such requests: Dry spell impacts on poverty; cost to rice up to P1B.
On the economic front, 38 Cebu firms close, lay off 13,000 (effect of the appreciation of the Peso). Inflation rate inched up to 2.6% in July, the World Bank to double loans to RP, and our Forex reserves hit $27.9b.
The Rich getting richer faster than the poor. A ray of hope is this: Migrant philanthropy slowly transforming provinces, study shows. In his column, Tony Lopez says the auto industry is almost back to 1997 levels.
As Palace keeps hands off on ZTE deal, the buck merrily gets passed along: Ermita: Broadband deal is Mendoza’s baby.
Palace goings-on: Palace bares new gov’t appointments, including Senator Santiago’s husband joins Arroyo Cabinet. Moves include Palace replaces insurance chief. More executive tinkering: GMA transfers Toll Body to DPWH.
New DND head bares plans: speaks in tough terms about the Abu Sayaff, and says he’ll continue Nonong Cruz’s reforms. Meanwhile, Three rebels, 1 soldier dead in fighting. Read Patricio Diaz’s suggestion that there’s confusion in Basilan.
As for the continuing investigation of the massacre of the Marines: Esperon debunks ‘miscom’ report. So what happened? And now, pilots get blame for not firing a shot in Basilan.
In the Senate, Villar faces yet another sticky issue.
The Speaker soothes his erstwhile foes: Garcia, other solons assigned House committees: Cynthia Villar, for one, is officially out of the doghouse, returning as chairman of the committee (education) she’d be deprived of when she signed on to the impeachment complaints against the President.
Speaking of the Speaker, he reminds everyone that his party doesn’t intend to die (to quote Marcos): De Venecia to LP, NP: It’s romantic but get real. John Nery had pointed to an embargoed survey on who the public really considers the presidential frontrunners. The results are still embargoed, but this might be a sign of news concerning that survey, to come: Legarda leads 2010 hopefuls in survey . The Speaker may be on to something.
UNO: Impeach poll execs but Bedol offers help to reform polls. Comelec seems more interested in punishing those that exposed its goings-on: Comelec eyes electoral sabotage raps vs 2 media personalities. Much speculation who the two are. Everyone assumes Ricky Carandang is one. He says he isn’t one of those mentioned.
Newsbreak explains why the Estrada camp has lost its oomph.
Wacky news: ‘Bangungot’ linked to Asian skull shape. Not wacky, but well…. Continue with your ministry, Pope tells Rosales.
Overseas: why hasn’t the US Attorney-General not been impeached yet? Dahlia Lithwick takes a look. Roger Simon ponders the weaknesses of debating as a means of figuring out if a candidate will be a good president or not. In History Unfolding, an update and analysis of the situation in Iraq:
The experience of Anbar province suggests something very important: that an American withdrawal will not, as the Administration argues, mean the ascendancy of Al Queda, whom Iraqi tribesmen have no reason to love. But meanwhile, there has been no rapprochement between Sunnis and Shi’ites. Our strategy appears to be to try to fight the extremists among both groups while supporting the moderates, and it is angering the Shi’ite government while failing to please the Sunnis, who just withdrew their ministers. The need for some kind of partition seems to get more obvious every day, but we are not moving in that direction yet.
An interesting article: Japan’s Democracy Comes of Age:
Last week the opposition Democratic Party of Japan returned the favor, handing the LDP an historic defeat in the election for half of the House of Councilors, Japan’s senate.
To understand what has happened, it is necessary to look back to the situation that prevailed from the founding of the LDP in 1955 to the 1990s. Japan’s Diet was essentially gerrymandered to ensure that the LDP maintained a firm grip on government. Parliamentarians were chosen from large, multi-member districts. That meant that successful candidates often won with only about 10 per cent of the vote, or less. This system put a premium on local connections and pork barrel politics. Issues? Who needs issues?
In Indonesia, the public proves the pollsters wrong, by enthusiastically participating in the country’s first-ever direct gubernatorial elections. In Asia has Jeremy Gross saying the Indonesians are proving to have a strong civic sense. And, is there a Malay malaise? Rot and More Rot in Malaysia’s Judicial System. The Thais are engaged in debating the pros and cons of their new constitution: August 19 referendum: key issue is ‘legitimacy’.
My column for today is Sandbagged opposition (unedifying headlines like this don’t help: Cayetano-Lacson feud erupts over Blue Ribbon). The move by Francis Pangilinan to block Adel Tamano’s designation as counsel for the Blue Ribbon committee’s reported here: Tamano blocked in Senate, tapped for PLM presidency. Incidentally, this makes for interesting reading: Senators of 13th Congress: Far too many hearings, very few reports. I agree that at the very least, the public is owed a report after hearings have been concluded.
An interesting column by Emil Jurado on “Operation Big Bird.” Jurado refers to a recent interview on Ricky Carandang’s show: the original’s disappeared, but the interview’s been cached. Fascinating reading:
Carandang: And how many accounts did you manage to release?
Almonte: I think at that time initial I think eight or ten with a total of 213 million US dollars.
Carandang: Was there more?
Almonte: Yes.
Carandang: How do you know?
Almonte: Because at that time there were already so much cooperation from the people there. I hope I’ll just say it this way because I don’t want to jeopardize them.
Carandang: So you had informants in the Swiss banking system?
Almonte: Of course and they are the ones who know.
Carandang: So they were feeding you this information?
Almonte: Yes.
Carandang: And in effect, the Swiss government was confirming it by releasing the money.
Almonte: yes. They release it if they confirmed that what we are saying is in their document.
Carandang: So why did you stop at $213 million?
Almonte: We did not stop, that was the initial release. After that, because we have to present the other accounts that we like to release, we have to present it when we already have the complete documentation. Now we don’t have the documentation of all the accounts. That is why after this $213 million what came in later was about $3.8 billion and this we have the documentation.
Carandang: So you had the knowledge of an additional $3.8 billion in the Swiss bank accounts.
Almonte: Yes after the $213 million…and after that we had more information and our people there were working on another $4 billion. That is why by that time we had about all in all 3.8 plus 4 plus 3 we had about 8 billion immediately although of course the 4 billion is identification is being… The documentation it means is being worked on.
Carandang: But this whole time Marcos and Mrs. Marcos still thought that the money was being transferred to another account of theirs?
Almonte: Ah no more. By this time I cannot recall anymore. But I think it was July, it’s in the records. But the following day, because I think it was Friday. Saturday…Sunday…Monday is supposed to be the release of the $213 million nothing happen, Ordoñez disappeared. We cannot locate him. Later we’re able to confirm that he left Manila by himself.
Carandang: This was before you actually had the money released?
Almonte: No, after the money was released, the 213 million was released by the Swiss government but they transfer actually to export is what we were waiting for. Before they transfer there, Ordoñez disappeared and he is the only one according to the arrangement and the Swiss law as a constitutional officer who can receive this money in behalf of the Philippine government not me or anybody else.
Carandang: So without Ordoñez’ signature the money could be transferred out of Marcoses account but could not be transferred to the Philippine government.
Almonte: Without the signature of Ordoñez.
Carandang: And Ordoñez signed for the $213 million but he disappeared after that.
Almonte: No he did not sign yet. He just left without receiving the $213 million because what happened was this, when the$213 million must release and this is in the record, Ordoñez and of course Salvione and for Salonga that this going to be released, in fact we didn’t know because they kept it from us already. Anyway what happened is when Ordoñez disappeared we came home. I decided to leave immediately for manila.
Carandang: And what the money was left in an escrow account?
Almonte: Not yet. The money was.. You know the order was there but there is no execution. There was a decision but the actual execution of the decision was held.
Carandang: Pending the signature…
Almonte: Well pending the receipt…because what happened was this, Salvione and Salonga approved it and this in the annex, in the document… That he believed, Salvione, this money will be lost to the Philippine government. The implication is that Mike and myself will run away with the money, that’s the implication.
So he was telling Salonga that they should not be transferred to the export financier’s bank but it should remain in Credit Suisse and the fellow who suppose to take care of this…ironically was the man of Marcos but anyway it’s under their control. Now because of this the Credit Suisse informed Marcos that they have…they are helpless that this money, his money in the bank will be returned to the Philippine government. Because of his authority to de Guzman to withdraw his money…
Carandang: And that is when Marcos knew that he had been scammed.
Almonte: Yes that was the time. Soon after they decide to release this money, so Marcos claimed that “I don’t know of any de Guzman,” “I did not give anybody authority to withdraw the money” and he did not have any account in Switzerland this is Marcos letter to the Swiss. However if there is a money under his name and there is such I think as de Guzman who is withdrawing on his authority, he is revoking all of that.
Carandang: In other words Marcos was trying to tell the banks that he had revoke the authority of Mike de Guzman to withdraw the money but he is also trying to say that you cannot claim that I own the money.
Almonte: That’s what he’s trying to say.
Carandang: In other words Mike can’t withdraw but I don’t own it.
Almonte: Yes, that’s what his trying to say. “I don’t have anything but in the event there is something there in my name I am in control, Mike has no authority.”
Carandang ends by pointing out Almonte & Co. managed to get $213 million which was duly given to the government. By 2001, the money had grown to $680 million:
Under the law, all money recovered from the Marcos family is to be spent on agrarian reform.
In September 2005, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported that a portion of that $680 million was diverted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s 2004 presidential campaign.
In March 2006, a Joint Senate Committee concluded that President Arroyo “be held accountable in the mismanagement of the fertilizer fund.”
Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, who authorized the release of the fertilizer funds, is seeking political asylum in the United States.
(Brief backgrounder on Operation Big Bird, courtesy of the Manila Times). See Juan Mercado’s column today, which places the efforts of the Marcoses to recover their assets, in perspective.
In Inquirer Current, John Nery “impeaches” Francis Escudero. Gets a swarm of replies!
Words of wisdom, as he reminds us in a recent blog entry, from David Llorito, circa 2005:
All those who want to reform the Philippine politics and economy should therefore strive to remove the nexus between politics and the economy. This policy reform objective could be achieved through measures including low and neutral tariff rates (to discourage smuggling as well as the incentive to make deals with Customs officials), the removal of the pork barrel system, opening up entry and exit of all businesses including utilities and telecommunications without having to acquire franchise from Congress, and lowering of corporate taxes coupled with the removal of fiscal incentives, among many others. The central idea is to prevent political motivations to encroach in people’s economic decisions, subject to certain limited criteria such as environmental regulations and national security.
We should adopt the concept that doing business or engaging in entrepreneurship is an inalienable right on par with our freedom of assembly and speech as well as of pursuit of happiness. That way mayors, governors, and bureaucrats will not have any power to put barriers against people’s entrepreneurial energies. You remove political intervention in economic decisions and you can see that “public service” will only attract two types of persons, either statesmen or masochists, and that will be for the good of the country.
Agree? Disagree?
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also, inherited memories aren’t prone to breakdown in traditional ways of knowledge transfer. when either the educational system is hijacked by selfish interests, or its standards decreased in a vicious cycle.
Jeg, i too subscribe to your idea of increasing the purchasing power of the masses. a look of other countries’ history would show us that they got their economic ball rolling by “pump-priming” their economy. what exactly does that mean? simply put, it jz means that the sitting presidents of those time (US after the depression)realized that to drive growth, they have to give people the power to purchase in order to create a market for products. new markets create jobs and opportunities, which in turn translates into more purchasing power, which of course completes the cycle.
“I agree ‘she has to be respected’ (Fake respect nga lang din)â€Â. – Bokyo, i must emphatically, violently disagree. mainly bec it will simply delude GMA into thinking people do respect her (she has not the sense to differentiate bet real and fake). if anything, we must push for a spit campaign. since there’s a lot of lawyers here, it’d be useful to ask them if there is anything criminal abt spitting on somebody. would that constitute assault and battery? well, if there is no legal impediment, i highly suggest that we do spit on her person any chance we get.
“Wars, no matter what intention, tend to bring out the animal in us and that persists even during peace time.”
cvj, well if that is the case, what’s the difference? kahit pala peace time the animal in us comes out eh.
“It’s a breeding ground for new ‘viruses’”.
only if the wrong people won. in which case, it won’t matter to the vanquished. they’d all be dead anyway. or at least id wage my revolution that way. to the death.
“I guess we differ on how much is worth preserving and how much needs to be destroyed.”
Yes, you’re quite right. the only thing i see worth preserving is the Filipino heart and our history’s lessons, and id much have everything else destroyed.
“Having a simple mind is different from being small-minded.”
Oh, yes, of course, benignO, I’m sorry, definitely there’s a diffirence.
Ah, those small-minded Japanese making all those fuel-efficient small cars and earning those $4-billion profits! Why can’t they be like the big-minded Americans and produce those big gas-guzzlers and turn in a neat $9-billion loss?
An observation: In the US of A, people from there have respect for their institutions (like the Presidency, the Courts, Congress, and of course, the Constitution and the Thanksgiving) so people there demand strict accountability from people sitting in those intitutions; In Japan or Korea, they also have respect for their institutions but secondary only to their names, if not their ancestors, so people sitting in those in institutions kill themselves in case any impropriety on their part is exposed; in the Philippines, people sitting in its institutions demand respect by virtue of their being in those institutions, resulting in a distorted sense of accountability, with people being made accountable only when the next in power or the more powerful deems it so.
The difference, I guess, is in the sense of right and wrong. Foreigners have it even if they are the ones involved. Filipinos have it only when others are involved.
So, please do not confuse respect for the institution with respect for the person, and invoke the mantra of moving on and rule of law when the concepts of moving on and the rule of law depend, in this country at least, on who holds the power to make them work.
And that analogy of the race between the Americans and the Japanese, it may be interpreted as supportive of the moving on argument, of the respect for the leader and let us all do what we can to help otherwise you are just an obstructionist-terrorist-good-for-nothing critic. Well, we have had more than 10 years of that during the Martial Law years and where did that lead us? Maybe we should have moved on and endured 20 years more?
Beancurd,
Thanks for those bean-curdling thoughts. I fully agree with them, except for that part on respecting the leader that left me a little confused. I wish you could be more nuanced. Do you mean we should respect the leader, good or bad, and do everything we can to help him/her, otherwise we would just be “obstructionist-terrorist-good-for-nothing” critics? Sounds to me like the “moving on” variety. Kindly de-confuse me.
By the way, I love taho.
Jeg, on my confusion between balik probinsiya and agri development, point taken. I’m not against developing the agricultural sector and hardly anyone is against the principle of increasing aggregate purchasing power. However, the economic takeoff of our neighbors was a result of them being able to export their industrial products to overseas markets (e.g. cars & microwaves for Korea and bicycles for Taiwan), particularly the richer countries. They did not rely on local purchasing power alone.
If we can get away with widthrawing from the WTO without losing access to those markets, then fine, but i’m not betting that such a move will not have repercussions. These things usually operate on the basis of the perception of reciprocity (unequal power relations nothwidthstanding).
Devilsadvc8, the difference between civil war and no civil war is in the degree in which animal behavior takes over. The ‘new viruses’ would apply to all as war opens up all sorts of opportunities to commit unspeakable acts, especially when one believes that he/she engages in those acts in the name of righeousness. We have seen this in the way many of those in the winning side of World War 2 rationalize the nuking of Hirsohima and Nagasaki, something that wouldn’t have been condoned during peacetime.
shaman and inodoro, the “numbers game” is the essence of democracy. not all the people will have the same sense of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust. democracy works because of the willingness of the minority to accept the will of the majority.
one serious problem of filipinos is the apparent inability to accept a loss. so much discussion have been made on this subject, its nothing new. losers don’t stop whining that they are cheated. they just cannot yield when they are defeated. worst, they refuse to “move on”, equating it to “surrender of principles”. no wonder, we are what we are – losers – in the world we live in.
By the way, Bencard, reading your post again, this statement struck me like a bolt:
“i would say to you again that the rule of law prevents these charges from seeing the light of day.”
Last I looked, the rule of law was supposed to shed light on charges, not prevent them from seeing the light of day. Last I looked, the rule of law was supposed to enable the charges to be ventilated so that if they are proved true, justice can be meted out to the guilty, not to be suppressed in some dark, airless Pandora’s box.
You continued:
“he who makes a charge has the burden of proving it, not the other way around. we have an adversarial system of justice wherein an accuser cannot, and should not, force the person he is accusing, to supply the evidence to prove his guilt.”
Sure. But the problem with the Gloria case was that the accusers were not given the proper forum to prove their charges. And the proper forum could only be the impeachment trial. But your rule of law, that quaint variety that prevents charges from seeing the light of day, suppressed the charges on the way to the forum, by playing a funny little numbers game.
Nobody asked Gloria to supply the evidence against her. What was asked was for her to submit herself to an impeachment trial so that the charges against her could be ventilated, and guilt or innocence could be established.
Then, you moved on:
“in a country where false witnesses and fabricated evidence are a dime a dozen, prosecutors ought to be extra careful in bringing up cases that have no leg to stand on lest they be serving not justice but injustice.”
Now, donning the robes of a judge but without the benefit of a trial, you have ruled that the case against Gloria has no leg to stand on and the evidence are all fabricated and the witnesses false.
Then, you really made me doubt the efficacy of the rule of law. The rule of law should be able to render justice even if a case without a leg to stand on were brought up. I would have thought that it would be fairly easy for the rule of law to strike down a case without a leg to stand on. I would have thought that the rule of law would say: “Bring it up, leg or no leg. You can be assured that justice will be rendered.”
Further sayeth thou:
“again and again, we have stated in this forum that perception is not fact and accusation is not tantamount to guilt.”
So, as a result of the rule of law’s effective role of preventing the charges from seeing the light of day, perceptions remained as perceptions, and accusations remained as accusations. No wonder Malacanang and the House of Representatives declared it a thriumph of the rule of law.
Wait, there’s more:
“are you advocating that our president should cease functioning until she proves she is innocent of all the gossips, calumny, speculations of wrongdoing, trump-up charges, and unsubstantiated accusations made by cowards hiding behind a cloak of immunity or privilege, and believed by some gullible “simple minds†or people with selfish personal or political agenda?”
I advocate that your president be impeached and tried so it could be proven that worngdoings were really speculations, that charges were really trumped up, and accusations were really unsubstantiated, not only on the say-so of Judge-without-trial Bencard.
No, Bencard, the Filipino people are not gullible “simple minds”. They are decent citizens hungering for justice that your rule of law cannot deliver.
Thank you, Atty. Bencard, for shedding light on your rule of law. But I wonder whether you are an attorney-at-law or an attorney-out-law.
Devils,
Oks lang,personal opinion ko dapat dun din sya nakalibing.
CVJ,Jeg..
I too pointed out the balik probinsya,and I wish agri sector to be developed too.Ok so lets put a stop to alis probinsya instead by making the usual promises of candidates to develop farm to market roads and Romulo Neri’s brainchild the roro Happen, so that Food from Mindanao would be cheaper than food from China.Yung factor na pricing ng dealers at middlemen to follow na yan.
With all the proposals around, it all depends on who has the power over the purse.
Proposals and lobbying have been going around,maybe its time for a paradigm shift and let us have a say,as to how….again I could not say and I would not know.
“Proposals and lobbying have been going around,maybe its time for a paradigm shift and let us have a say,as to how….again I could not say and I would not know.”
Karl, this is nice. i’ve suggested this here before, and i understand Benigno has a working site of his that utilizes the same idea.
headline reads: Online Legislation, Anyone?
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=82835
dahil aminin na natin, di natin maasahan mga legislators natin na magtrabaho para sa ATIN at di para sa KANILA. tingnan nyo na lng last congress. inubos ang panahon sa midnight Cha-cha tapos dinerail ang Cheaper Medicines Act. isn’t there a mechanism where we can force them to tackle the issues that we wanna tackle instead of them choosing it themselves? (and lobbying is not very effective. not to mention u need money to lobby) tingnan nyo ngayon at uubusin na naman yan sa Cha-cha at maghahabol ipasa ang mga pampabangong bills pag gahol na oras, para magmukha naman silang guwapo. mga gago!
S O M
Thanks so much , I was not that young then grade 6 ata ako nung time of death ni Ninoy. Thanks about the opinion that the family wants it to stay that way and forget about my conjectures of: so that the Marcos family would not demand Marcos to be transferred there.(as far as I know they are still demanding or asking until now,anyways)
Many thanks SOM,
About Rego,madadaan naman yan sa usapan minsan…pero I was surprised to hear from him asking our nasty conversations to stop ,from his comments he is so brutally frank.(not to say that brutally frank = nasty)
Sa ilang comment threads na palitan natin dito and there would be more ….we should find a formula to coexist,ako din minsan nadadala at napipikon,since sabi nga ni tagakotta to take care of my hypertension and life is short.Medyo alalay na sa term na nakuha ko sa isang commenter somewhere in the blogosphere sa:bakbakan blogging and as to Mr. Abe’s viewpoint:originative street fighting.
Shaman, shaman, shanamagan….
You are just so good and muddling your assertions.
Maybe it would help much if you give your self enough time and sober up to really think before you point finger to any one or even just before you write something in a forum like this.
You demand help from the so called “move on” but you are not really sure what you wanted to do your self! You even can not decide if its impeachment, revolution etc etc. You just wanted to really yak out and yak out, take a high moral stand and cloth your self with a holier than thou cloak to make your self really look good.
I m not taking it personally. I just wanted you to really clarify your sweeping statement. I seriously wanted to listen to you so I will understand better your hatred towards certain group of people But it seems to me that you just wanted to really point fingerit without basis at all. Just a product of you small minded ness?
Paradigm shift shaman”. Do you really know what what is this all about? How sure are you that the people you are finding fault of and not you who needed it so badly. Did it ever occur to you that they may have already undergone that process after two EDSAs? Are you aware of taking reponsibility, Shaman? That when your strategy towards a misbehaving president failed you have the responsibility to revisit and review such strategy a for any defects? And make correction so that next tiem you are faced with the same situation you know better? That when you want your advocay to suceed you just cannot alienate certain group of peoepl becuas eyou actually need them.
And how about a paradigm shift on how you behave in this forum? That this is not just a place for posturing, grandstanding.
And now you are saying its too late, Rego? I hope you are not saying this out of lack of nothing better to say. Dont you think you are in a dire need for paradigm shift on this one too? The problem is still there!Didn’t you just claim that you have a better solution in your rebuttal to Benigno’s frame work. Didnt you just said in you rebuttal of bencard that you just dont want people to just sit there….? So think and act! If you really care to solve the problem you just cannot quit. Because if you quit, how is that better than the “move on” crowds you so despised. Oh I hope this doesn’t mean that the moved on crowd should be rolling red carpet for you to welcome you to their club…
Oh so now you feel that the move on crowd won.Do they really? Or you re small minded ness just put you in a losing position and a losing strategy from the very start? Or really is such a LOSER and you are in need for something and some one to blame . Of except yourself of course.
Mag pakatoo ka kaya, sister. Or sabi nga ni Benigno, GET REAL.
Magpakatoo ka kaya, sister. Sabi na ni Benigno , GET REAL!
Get off from that moral throne, throw away you holier than thou cloak, shake the crabs in your head, at. Umapak SA lupa sa ng nakapaa . That way you well have a real feel of the real world. Then you will reali that in the end you are really is no better than the move on crowds you so despise. And just like them you too are at a loss on what to do really with the the mess thatis plaguing the country. That the best way to do in this forum is just to really exchange ideas hoping that in the end we can and come up with something that will shake out the country problems.
O sya mag muni muni ka ngayong week end huh. BE SOBER AND REALLY THINK! At please lang wag ng pakialam ang problem ng America. Dahil dahil ang problem nga ng sariling mong bansa di na maatupag eh. Hayaan muna ang mag merkano sa kanilang problem. Focus on on your advocy of accountbility. Dont be a loser! Go for the effective startegy and realizingyour goal.
And next time you cry out for help. Please just make sure you really know well what help you really need. Or you maybe you just have to help yourself first??????!
Alrighty????????????
call me plastik, a diplomat wannabe but I reiterate my request on how we coexist in this beloved forum.No one has to be friends with everyone,that is not even a minimum requirement.
Daananin na naman natin sa sibling rivalry,o away mag asawa na hanggang kainan nagbabangayan in the end kanino tatakbo pag me trobol.
Less than three years 2010 na, so the next strategy could be or would be or may be is to stop anyone from building a king or queen .
Natauhan ako dun sa Roco all the way and to hell with practical voting ni Devils
Di natin iboboto dahil matatalo,ano ba election sabong o pustahan.
In another blog post one questioned that is it all about the money and the numbers, and the host replied Sad but true.
***********************************
In the talk shows as of late:
Gloria might endorse or trash Noli,Lacsom night run
and the NP and LP might try to renew their rivalry through Roxas and Villar,and a wildcard in Gordon.
As that talk show said Noli might continue with his masa approach,Lacsonm must incrase his support base.
Gordon must solve a national issue.
As to LP and NP.bigla nga naman sumulpot na naman si seabntor Mar all of a sudden,about Villar…maabilidad na tao(no need to explain,it is obvious)
As they say..Strictly Politics.
************************************
As to empowerment and involvement of stakeholders,maybe if the re is such a thing as bloggers/commenters unite movement! Post elections our voice could be heard!
Plus the usual channels of the media of course.And the yahoo groups,like Rego mentioned.
Revolution?
Although, I am researching about revolutions, I don’t agree.Although I do keep an open mind when I am researching.
But we do need a lot of nation building to happen without annihilation.
Hope it is not just a wishful thinking!
While researching on the edsas,this time edsa II, I again encountered the website of get real philippines.
http://www.geocities.com/benign0/agr-disagr/12-3-nyt.html
Expecting Praise, Filipinos are Criticized for Ouster
by Seth Mydans
MANILA, Feb. 2(NYT)
…….
No further comment!
Scratch my comment waiting for moderation:
Sorry bout that.
no shaman, the rule of law works both ways. what you need is proof of what you allege presented in a proper forum. absent that, you allegation will not see the light of day. the rule of law does not impose a duty to shed light on any wild assertion. i said, let him who makes the charge CONVINCE the appropriate authority that there is merit to the accusation.
the reason there is voting in any forum, be it congress, senate, court of appeals, supreme court, or in the boardroom of a private business enterprise, etc., is that issues can only be resolved by “numbers”. that is democracy, not totalitarianism. the same law that protects pgma from arbitrary prosecution or impeachment safeguards you and me and everyone in this beloved country of ours from arbitrary prosecution by people who hates us.
sorry, shaman, but your point by point rebuttal fails. nice try, though.
“Sure. But the problem with the Gloria case was that the accusers were not given the proper forum to prove their charges.”
beat the red light, that’s what she’s doing shaman. balasubas pa rin ang driver.
btw, i don’t need to remind you that congress, in the performance of its constitutional duty, twice voted by overwhelming majority that there was no “substance” to both impeachment charges lodged against pgma. that’s why it didn’t see the light of day. why can’t you and like-minded individuals accept that in the same spirit that pgma accepted that eo 1017 was not constitutional, as found by an almost evenly divided sc?
inodoro, you cannot win an argument just by using the word “balasubas”. c’mon, prove that your’s is not a “simple mind” by doing better than that.
cvj: However, the economic takeoff of our neighbors was a result of them being able to export their industrial products to overseas markets (e.g. cars & microwaves for Korea and bicycles for Taiwan), particularly the richer countries.
That’s true. They were able to do this precisely because they took care of their agri sector first. That’s what I was advocating. Let’s not skip a step. The Philippines seems so willing to transform farm lands to industrial lands, willing to turn farmers into factory workers. Historically, advances in civilization followed the development of agriculture. Im willing to bet economic development follows agri development too. Nick Joaquin wants us to think big. Im all for that. Export cars to rich countries and all that. But before you can think big, you have to think smart, think ‘appropriate’: intermediate technology, as EF Schumacher proposed in his book Small Is Beautiful.
Maybe it’s not too late to develop the agri sector, and maybe we can form a block of third world agricultural countries in the WTO that protects our interests like when they stood up to the Biggies regarding third world fisheries exports.
“About Rego,madadaan naman yan sa usapan minsan…pero I was surprised to hear from him asking our nasty conversations to stop ,from his comments he is so brutally frank.(not to say that brutally frank = nasty)”
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Karl,
He he he… , Di ko naman yata kayo pinatigil. It was actually in question mark? Nagtatanong lang po if that kind of exchanges is not really necesary. Dont be shocked just keep going. Brutally frank, well siguro. I m just not used to beating around the bush anymore. Impluwensy na rin siguro ng lugar na kinaroronan ko. Im not being nasty he he he
Abe, effective transitional arrangements assume that wisdom is concentrated on a subset of the Filipino population and that power is best wielded by this subset. It also assumes that such wisdom will not leave them once this select group attains power. In Philippine Society, while the former assumption is debatable, the latter is untenable. – cvj
cvj, I’m sorry but I didn’t see right away the above very important observation/comment of yours.
Anyway, to be legitimate, Rostow’s “transitional coalition†should not be equated to Justice Laurel’s “moral and intellectual aristocracy.â€Â
If you recall I have mentioned three difficult challenges to Laurel’s proposition:
FIRST, should such a regime be created now, who would constitute the first anointed ones? SECOND, if the aristocracy pretends to be not sovereign, who is, and who would set the boundaries of powers and then anoint the next in line and under what objective criteria other than such vague and intangible “moral and intellectual endowments� FINALLY, what happens if the chosen ones turn out to be amoral and unwise, who will tell the fun is over so that the time has come to cut?
I have actually tinkered with the idea of a revolutionary government upon realizing that the “real political, social and economic challenges of GMA’s administration . . . would be how to balance the market prescriptions with social justice on the one hand, and, on the other, how to marshal and factor democracy, expressed in people power through consultation and consensus, in bureaucratic efficiency†and fearing that “GMA was about to lose one great window of opportunity by balking to fully legitimize People Power II and to venture into a fresh start, preferring to look backwards to the status quo ante, a situation her predecessor ousted by the revolt has continued to exploit.†Thus the urging then for GMA “to welcome and take the path of adventure, of being a visionary and a revolutionary, not just a ‘good president.’â€Â
The revolutionary path is not really what normally many of us would have in mind but only something of the Randy David’s scheme, as follows:
“First, a large and articulate constituency for reform must assemble itself from the countless fragmented voices and social movements that are already making themselves heard in our society today. Its first task is to draw and agree on a realistic roadmap to national recovery [adopting the Dani Rodrik thesis is one], carefully marking out the main obstacles and dangers and indicating the immediate priorities to be tackled. Second, the document must be explained and debated in public fora all over the country, refined, and then presented to the President and Congress for action. And third, depending on the response of the present political leadership, the reform movement may either call for new elections or a constitutional convention or both.â€Â
It is therefore revolutionary simply because it assumes the system in place, the metizo/taipan political economy (which to me is no less an extension of Friar system couched in “Madisonian democracy,†one the American founding fathers designed against the so-called tyranny of the majority) after more than a century has in Noam Chomsky’s terms failed to justify itself. A system that cannot be justified after that long period of time must go. The systemic failure once acknowledged, it is time to go through another experiment, our own experiment, where every member of the body politic could be committed to an open inquiry of the system. The transitional coalition, which I’d hope to come out of the Randy David scheme above, is just one proposition towards an enduring vision of an independent modern Philippine state.
Yes, according to KG, let’s keep an open mind because indeed “we do need a lot of nation building to happen without annihilation.”
“inodoro, you cannot win an argument just by using the word “balasubasâ€Â. c’mon, prove that your’s is not a “simple mind†by doing better than that.”
prove it to you? what for? don’t you know your metaphor? oh, okay, i get your point. balasubas is not appropriate. let me rephrase that for you: mandurugas pa rin ang balasubas na driver.
simple mind bencard is the myopic take of anything as everything in legal terms. which you–i admit–are good at. which very much reflects the stance of the balasubas driver i am metaphorically talking about.
you say democracy is a numbers game. bah, i wish you said that during the aborted impeachment of erap, which i was already resigned to accepting his acquittal because the opposition just did not have the numbers. what i could not accept is the legal manuevering to install a bogus president. you see, your driver learned so much from this experience, so much so that when she was put in the spotlight, she managed to kill the charges headon on the basis of technicality. democracy is by the people, for the people, from the people. not by her people, for her people, and from her people. you know who these eeky ilk are.
what would you want to call a driver who repeatedly tries to beat the red light, if not balasubas then what–conscientious?
Rego, rego, rego, rage! (just to counterpoint your “Shaman, shaman, shanamagan…”)
First off. I’m very much a “he”. So, you may call me brother.
Calm down. I was challenging a mindset, an attitude, a point of view, not your person. No need to get upset. Don’t take it too personally. I also mentioned Bencard but by the looks of it, he didn’t mind. Thanks, Bencard.
To help you calm down, I’m not going to say anything further. Let me just say that I stand by what I have already said. How’s that for restraint?
I’ll leave you for now and take your advice to make “muni-muni”
Rego,
hehe, yeah,if I recall you live in New York medyo kailangan tough and straight to the point ang dating nga.
or was that in jersey….ah basta.
Mr. Abe, your comments here are really helping the analysis part of my researxch, though i loved reading Guerreros translation of Mabini linked here in this blog as well.I need to know what I am researching and tidbits help a lot. Time to do back reading on your blog too!
Yung sinasasbi kong scratch the coment awaiting moderation ay tungkol sa wikipedia entry about edsaII na muntik na naman akong maging tactless,na pinakaiiwasan ko nga.
Just click on wikipedia re:EDSAII and what is cited on EDSA II are two artcles posted by our man Benigo,read the one done by him ,not the NYT article na nakakapikon pag pikon ka. Title pa lang napikon na ako,which is admittedly wrong.
Alright brother Shaman, peace and enjoy your week end then.
Karl, its both I shutle between two homes,in nyc and in NJ. At parehong libre lang.In short nakikitira lang….
“In the talk shows as of late:
Gloria might endorse or trash Noli,Lacsom night run
and the NP and LP might try to renew their rivalry through Roxas and Villar,and a wildcard in Gordon”
So sad at wild card lang pala si Gordon. Para sa aking siya ang pinaka-QUALIFIED para sa 2010 presidential election. Naba-vibrate ko kasi na sya ang makakatulong para i-solve ang small-minded issue sa blog na ‘to.
Bencard,
Ganito na lang, p’re. Why do you keep on saying that the charges against Gloria are “wild”, “no leg to stand on”, “unsubstantiated”, etc. etc. I would have thought that, for someone who is steeped in the concept of “probable cause”, at least you would see some “reason to believe” that cheating may have been committed in the “Hello, Garci” tapes and stealing may have been perpetrated in the Senate investigation of the fertilizer fund, just to take two of the many charges. Do we need proof beyond reasonable doubt to at least make Gloria stand trial?
Okay, perhaps the rule of law does not mandate that light be shed on charges, but shouldn’t justice cry out to be served? Oh, how I wish the American “…and justice for all” were in our Pledge of Allegiance, too.
Sure, numbers are inescapable in a democracy, but shouldn’t something be said about the “how” in arriving at those numbers? That it should not only be a game with hundreds of millions of the people’s money at stake for the taking by the “winners”, regardless of whether or not the ends of justice have been served? Are we going to be simply reduced to paraphrasing Madame Roland and crying out, “Oh Justice, how many crimes have been committed in thy name!”?
Is the rule of law just all about the stale letters of the constitution and the statutes? I remember that Marcos (whom you must have despised so much that you had to flee your beloved country) never failed to drape the letters of the law (by presidential decrees and letters of instructions) even on the most morally unconscionable acts of his and his cohorts’ and call it the rule of law. If that is the case, now I can understand why someone (I’ve learned not to mention his name) berated me for “tak(ing) a high moral stand”. Now, I understand why it is “gullible” of me to join those who demand that a President must be morally above reproach in the conduct of his/her duties. Now, it is clear why it is “simple-minded” of me to expect that a President must be made to account for betraying public trust.
Now, I understand.
Thanks, brother Rego. Have a nice weekend, too.
KG,
Thanks for your kind words.
I guess we just have to accept that there are people who are passionate about everything in daily life. So, things do really go over the brim. I think we just have to understand them. As for me, I simply try to limit my passion within the bedroom.
SOM,
Hope your talking about one of the advices of tagakotta of enjoying ___ life.what else!
Rego,
Enjoy your weekend,ingat dyan sa East Coast!
That goes to all of you,
bencard and benigno too!
Me nakapansin ba ke MLQ3 sa explainer nung tuesday?di ko napanood kahit replay.MLQ3 magparamdam ka naman.
Nasan na nga ba si MLQ3? Di kaya umuwi muna siya sa Baler para ipagdiwang ang Linggo ng Wika?
KG,
Have a pleasant and safe long weekend, too. Walang pasok sa Monday. RA 9492 moved the celebration of Ninoy Aquino Day to the Monday nearest August 21.
The wife has just called (no, not from the bedroom) urging me to go home early. I might just do that. Masarap sigurong mag-out-of-town later, away from the world-wide web.
Jeg,baka nga!
S.O.M
bagyo (bed weather)dito sa Luzon,dyan siguro hindi, so enjoy the long weekend!
inodoro, just to put to rest your simple-minded argument about red light. a red light is a predictable sequence of a device. a supreme court decision is unpredictable as it could get – depends on the individual opinion of the justices who cast votes to determine what the whole collegial body’s decision would be. pgma’s acts are VALID until sc decides, as a body. that it is not. now where does your “running the red light” analogy come in?
One of the main reason why Toyota surpassing GM as the Big Daddy of them all, is the cost to build them vehicles, more than anything else. U.S. autos can make just about any car they want, but paying hundred of thousands of already retired workers health care cost and all other benefits eats up a lot of cost that is added to the price per unit of car. While Japanese autos started assembling their cars in North American (toyota notably in Cambridge, ontario) it is also for their own advantage to qualify for NA contents for tax purposes and still the Japanese Autos don’t have a pool of thousands of retired workers to pay for health care (the reason why they prefer to build their assy. plants in Canada, if they can get away with it, is the lower cost of Health care)yet so they still get that advantage. And it’s a whopping $2000 per car average. Think about how much it will cost Ford and the other Big Two to underwrite the cost of Health Care of aging hundred of thousands retired workers, some retired at age 55. While in Japan the govt. take care of those.
drat. you still don’t know your metaphor. ah, what semantics can do to a highly literal linear brain.
who’s talking about s.c. beating the red light. indeed the red light is a predictable sequence of a device. who’s using her driving skill to her advantage, with or without risking the issuance of a ticket? indeed beating the red light is nothing illegal. but this does not diminish the recklessness of the act–it’s joy ride fun isn’t it?
and cut the crap about this simple-mind mentality. your parroting benigs only reinforces benigs theory about pinoy’s lack of originality.
inodoro, see you are even confused with your own “metaphor”. aren’t you comparing sc to a red light and pgma the driver in connection with her e.o’s that were declared unconstitutional? (not sc beating the red light that you now are accusing me of talking about.) see how your mind works?
the crap is what you see in your environment. you are not inodoro for nothing. if i was parroting benigno, he was parroting nick joaquin, who was parroting jose rizal.
drat again.
who issues the ticket: the red light?
“if i was parroting benigno, he was parroting nick joaquin, who was parroting jose rizal.”
you taking that as a compliment then? diminishing trickles of returns you have there. you build on the shoulders of the giant, not merely parrot them. ever wonder if a parrot even thinks what it is saying?
ride not build. too many speed driving here.
bencard,
let me spell this out (drat: spelling it out kills the metaphor) without literally spelling it out:
we agree who this reckless driver is. you just don’t agree that we call her “balasubas”.
whenever traffic rules are violated, IF the violater is FORTUNATELY caught, an attending traffic officer issues a ticket.
hint: the red light is a symbolic object that CANNOT hand in the violation ticket. so who could that entity be?
context: beating the red light is not illegal. a repeated act of driving recklessness, however, demands, at the very least, that a reprimand be lashed out at this balasubas driver.
hint: the red light cannot talk.
question: what then is the stop light–this device that tries to put order in the street? certainly not the issuing officer.
hint, hint, bencard: it’s your mantra!
devils,
Thanks for agreeing.
i like that online legislation thing,kahit na medyo suntok sa bwan.
We will never know,before they thought the world was flat and the earth is in the middle of the solar system.
Just waiting for the olumbusses and the Copernicusses of today.Baka ikaw yun Devils?
Abe, thanks i needed that clarification.
KG, i also like Devils’ idea of online legislation. As much as possible, let’s make political representatives redundant. Anyway, the technology for this is already available and would only become cheaper with time.
cjv, while you guys at it, also add on-line income tax file on, application for pensions, all renewals, including vehicles registrations, hunting licenses, even voting registrations. we have been doing it now, with an attached signature and that’s about it, for driver’s we still need to have a picture taking every five years, paspost just send in the forms, with an attached pics signed by your doc, dentist or pharmacist, no need to get out the comfort of your home and a little grease money to those lazy civil servants lest you will be on the bottom of the file…
inodoro, i cannot agree about anything with your “metaphor” if i want to. it just doesn’t compute. enough of this simple-minded “debate”.