In today’s Inquirer editorial, the paper thinks the government’s trying to politicize the price of gas; this reflects the attitude of people like Norwegian Would who think we’ve moved forward since the days of subsidized oil:
It is now close to a decade since we finally smashed the old illusion that oil price subsidies were pro-poor, perpetuated for a long time by the middle and upper class leaders of so-called ‘people’s organizations.’ Note that at that time nominal prices were below 20 dollars per barrel. Now the high is about five times. But we don’t hear of any outrageous manifestos that the increase is caused by the local ruling class in conspiracy with foreign capitalists, do we?
Despite its moderate optimism, the Inquirer’s Sunday editorial proved prophetic, in a sense, as it warned of the consequences if politicking intruded into the Batasan bombing investigation too early. The news reported Ermita clears Salapuddin on Batasan blast which led to backpedaling on his part, today: Palace executive says he did not clear Salapuddin. But the damage has been done: as Senator Genaro Magsaysay famously said, “less talk, less mistake.” The dangers of higher-ups saying something were obvious to begin with.
Last Thursday I had a chance to run into Rep. Roilo Golez whose observations, however, made sense to me. He said that if assassination was the aim, then the opportunity presents itself in two places: where the target lives, and where the target works (incidentally, on Wahab Akbar, see Torn and Frayed and Sidetrip with Howie Severino).
Add to this, he said, the fact that we don’t have a suicide bomber culture, and that includes killers intent on killing themselves, too. So an assassin would make saving his own hide a high priority. This limits the opportunities, Golez said. Between home and work, the target’s convoy would make assassination difficult. You’d expect home to be well secured. But work -well, in the case of Akbar, the opportunity was there, particularly as he seemed to have suffered from a false sense of security while at the House, leaving by the same entrance like clockwork. An assassin, Golez observed, would run the risk of being gunned down after shooting his target, unless he was capable of making the 300 meter dash to the main entrance before anyone noticed what had happened. This means, if a getaway is important to the assassin, a bomb would be best. The other possibility, that the bombing was undertaken by a rogue element within the military, is a possibility Golez’s very uncomfortable with. No such inhibitions from Inner Sanctum.
Still, Amando Doronila says Blaming Abus was convenient for probers while Uniffors remains puzzled by the use of a bomb to do something small arms fire could have accomplished.
Scriptorium says the bombing raises three questions (read the whole entry, particularly his belief our society isn’t about to fall apart, just yet):
First, how could they think to do it? For while the legislators are not deemed epitomes of integrity–and in recent years, in fact, the Lower House has seemed lower still, a very expensive rubber stamp fit for a Queen–, they are legislators nonetheless, anointed with the ill-used but still real dignity of representing the nation in its districts and sectors; and an attack on them remains, by constitutional fiction, an attack on us. The bombing was therefore not only an attempt at mass murder–or perhaps at simple murder with multiple collateral casualties–but a national lese majeste, an brazen act of political sacrilege that makes us shudder for its confidence and contempt.
This takes us to the 2nd concern: Who then is safe? If our legislators with their security force and phalanxes of bodyguards can be attacked at the very center of their power, then what of us–who, when we ride the trains and enter the malls, have only private guards to keep us unharmed, searching our bags for bombs they would hardly recognize, shielding us more from comfort than from danger? The Glorietta “gas explosion” was bad enough; and even as we continue our daily routines, we know that we’ve gone back to the second lowest step of Maslow’s hierarchy (if, that is, we ever left it, or ever ascended from the first). One can hardly blame the tourists and investors for staying away, for they have a choice. We have none, and must go as before, though perhaps adding a prayer for safety to our morning rituals.
The 3rd concern proceeds from the foregoing: What next? Was this but the first ledge of a descending cascade of violence, unleashed by maybe Maoists, Islamists, Arroyoists, or random thugs? Will our government seize on it as an excuse to formally impose martial law, which it has proven all-too-willing to do for the most intangible reasons? In this light, though the intentions behind the attack are still uncertain, and its economic and social results remain to be seen, the needed policy response is already clear: For the sake of the nation and its people, the violence must be halted now, and its real perpetrators must be identified and prosecuted as soon as possible–but the means used must not, through excess, threaten to destroy the very ideals they seek to protect. More anon, perhaps, when more facts come to light.
More questions are raised by Postcard Headlines. But Mon Casiple asks the real question on everyone’s mind: are they Coincidences or real political moves? He’s a bit ambiguous on this score:
At the moment, the political situation points to the imperative on the president to make a decisive decision soon on which path she will take to ensure her own survival beyond 2010. The name of the game right now is called “transition management.”
She does not have much time left for her to decide (and make this public) since all the options require long and difficult preparations. All the interested political actors–within and outside her ruling coalition, local as well as foreign–know this. All are exerting pressure to push their own agenda and–the jackpot–to be the one to manage the transition.
Of course, GMA may not really leave the scene–witness her pronouncements on a charter change initiative. There are some in her coalition who wants to use the charter change to extend her term in power (and their own) and they are moving heaven and civil society to make this happen.
However, the chances for this are slim, unless her administration scatters the opposition and unleashes white terror on civil society. The desperate temptation to declare martial law or a state of emergency stem from the reality of a people’s resistance to charter change under GMA’s tutelage.
It is a coincidence that dramatic events such as the Batasan bombing, the Dalaig assassination, or the Glorietta incident occur one after the other in this moment of political conjuncture. Still-unfolding events will show whether these are real coincidences or planned moves in a game of political strategy.
Meanwhile, bureaucratic intramurals: Battle looms over control of Justice.
Overseas, see Malaysia Demos: Sound and Fury, Signifying Little in Asia Sentinel.
My column for today is The future’s bright (and thanks to the San Jose-Recoletos student publications editor-in-chief, who blogs at ~~peAceOuS viCioUs~~ for her kind words). On a Visayas-related note, see Boljoon Dig part 1 and Boljoon Dig part 2, in CAFFiend, on some remarkable archeological diggings there. Interesting entries, on provincial history, in Kanlaon and A Nagueño in the Blogosphere. Interesting notes, too, in The Magnificent Atty. Perez, referring to the Iloilo-Cebu connection.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, I failed to read Blackshama’s Blog’s reaction to my columns on Marcos. But now that I have, you know, I’m working on a theory. Marcos established a New Society as the dominant discourse: it justified the scrapping of the liberal-democratic order created in 1935; and it was,actually, the justification for Edsa 1 and even Edsa Dos -and explains the refusal of what was once Marcos’ strongest constituency, the middle and upper classes frightened by Communism, to be politically engaged since 2005. Neither Edsa created a New Society, so why bother?
Think of it. Sift through all the reasons people give for not being politically active since 2005 (never mind examples of extreme social alienation, as shown in , or of guilt, as expressed by Hello Tiger Kitty), sift through the things people enumerate as everything wrong with this country (oligarchy, etc.) and then sift through what they want -basically, a Year Zero- and where it might be headed (a swing to the Right, suggests Ren’s Public Notebook) what do you have?
Ang Bagong Lipunan!
Another idea to explore is described in History Unfolding’s entry on Politics and Fourth Turnings:
William Strauss and Neil Howe, who wrote Generations and The Fourth Turning, divided American history into periods of approximately 80 years, called saeculums (Latin for a long human life.) In turn they divided each such period into four “turnings,” a High, an Awakening, an Unraveling and a Crisis. After the civil war crisis, the High lasted approximately from 1867 to 1885, the Awakening from about 1885 to 1905, the Unraveling until 1929 or so, and the crisis through 1945. In our own time the High ran from 1945 to 1965, the Awakening from then until the mid-1980s, the Unraveling from about 1985 until. . .sometime in the last 8 years.
This is a concept that resonates with me, because I approached recent events along similar (though not as intricate) lines in.
The Marocharim Experiment on the sociology of dance moves. It’s sad to note Patsada Karajaw has vanished from the blogosphere.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, books, constitution, economy, Edsa, history, House of Representatives, Marcos, media, military, mindanao, philippines, politics, society
HOW CALLOUS CAN SHE BE!!!
Gloria Arroyo said: “As I was recalling the 75th birthday of Ninoy in my own introspection today, I remembered that I recently pardoned one of those convicted of killing Ninoy.â€Â
Arroyo said the pardon granted to former sergeant Pablo Martinez was based on the same policy that guided her in freeing convicted plunderer former president Joseph Estrada. “Both the soldier and the former president were convicted according to the rule of law and pardoned according to the rule of law. The rule of law has prevailed and proved that no person is above the law.â€Â
on the pardon of sergeant martinez (due to old age), for once i would dare to criticize mrs. aquino and family. why should they cry foul when nothing was heard from them about estrada’s pardon? they say there was no remorse and justice. after 24 years in jail? erap did not admit any guilt and did not stay even for 1 second inside muntinlupa. they even congratulated him after his release. what does it says about the kind of justice that mrs aquino and family want? if they want true justice, they have to be consistent. justice for all and not just for the rich.
Yes, equal justice for all.
Put both of them in Muntinglupa and speed up all the hearings for corruption cases.
Take note that Martinez was sentence for 2 life terms. He only completed one. He should go back to jail to serve the other one.
Our current socio-political situation has remained the same in the past 25 years. This realization came about while I watching DOGEATERS, the highly acclaimed theater play based on Jessica Hagedorn’s best selling novel. This is one play that should not be missed by Filipinos interested in history, politics and literature. Its limited run ends this weekend. (For those interested, you may get in touch with Atlantis Productions or e-mail [email protected].)
Juan Mercado outdoes himself in his column today:
cvj,
i suspect that with more data points you can muster, your fit will turn out to be more downward parabolic than linear [q3 and q4]. which means, those in the first quadrant will turn out to be outliers–more exceptions to the rule.
btw, here’s mine: [-5.51, -0.72]
i.n.e., looking at the scatterplot for the NZ blogosphere http://www.norightturn.blogspot.com/2003/11/graphing-nz-blogosphere.html, which i linked to, it does look that way. However, for the American blogosphere http://www.the-zoo.blogspot.com/2004/06/blogosphere-political-compass-project_30.html, there are also enough data points in the first quadrant. Thanks for your scores!
sorry, here are the proper links:
the NZ blogosphere:
http://www.norightturn.blogspot.com/2003/11/graphing-nz-blogosphere.html
the American blogosphere:
http://www.the-zoo.blogspot.com/2004/06/blogosphere-political-compass-project_30.html
Former President Fidel V. Ramos expects President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to cling to power and survive until her second and final term expires in 2010 because the country has “no better options.â€Â
“My support for her is only so incidental and secondary to my protection and enhancement of the national interest,†Ramos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net, in an interview here Wednesday.
Asked why, he quipped: “So tell me, what are the options? Wala, lalong gugulo (None, everything will be messed up).â€Â
Yeah ,right…
10 Questions I would Really Like To Ask Mar Roxas
* Define honesty
* Is there anything you disagree with Gloria Arroyo on?
* Is the Liberal party an opposition party?
* Who do you want to be your running mate?
* What makes you different from President Arroyo?
* Is the presidency worth it?
* Do you plan to ever get married?
* What do you plan to do if elected in 2010?
* Do you read blogs?
* Most importantly, do you want the endorsement of Gloria Arroyo???
Kilos na mga kapatid! Oust Gloria Arroyo!!!
mar roxas in my opinion is just a scion of an old rich/political dynasty like jamby madrigal — well-intentioned probably but so removed from the realities of the philippines. he plays safe all the time. he’s an opportunist — well, a nice opportunist at that. whoa, just in time, he’ll announce his wedding plans with the korina — perfect timing for the 2010 elections — and the K factor will work so well for him in getting the masa votes. already his mr. palengke cliked with the masa when he got elected to the senate.
i prefer manuel villar over him. at least this guy is self-made and his track record speaks well for him.
Live blogging needed.
schumey is running some updates…
jon, links pls..
i think Trillanes, Lim and company will be killed. rumor is an order of shoot to kill. high powered fire arms and bombs will be planted and the admin and AFP will make it look like that Trillanes’ group is out to do violence.
in one shot, all the anti-GMA hardliners will be wiped out. be very observant media men and watchers out there. it will be very swift. una, tear gas lang. but it will be over before we will even realize it.
firing has commenced.
after this, spin begins.
the news is now showing at all major international news channels. cnn, bbc, news asia…
schumey dot blogspot dot com
stupid. They just made GMA even more powerful.
got it jon. much, much tnx.
Really now, DevilsAdvc8? That is the course of action that would only make things worse. The reaction of the military may be over-the-top, but I don’t think they’ll do something like that.
well, it would seem Trillanes’ group blinked first.
but i was betting that if they stood firm, the govt would go hard down on them.
the question is: when all the civilian witnesses and media cameras are gone, will the AFP still kill Trillanes and his group?
The insistence of the AFP to remove all media (they are now arresting everyone refusing to leave and insisting on covering the event) begs the question that they are planning something dark when the media eyes are gone.
It looks like the rebels counted on “something” that didn’t come. It was a case of miscalculation. Given the situation, the SWAT just did their job.
Trillanes and company were counting on the people’s support. it didn’t come. Cardinal Sin is long dead.
the action is too unripe. i’ve said this before. the people are not ready. you cannot force a revolution.
my countdown still continues…
Media men were only asked not to show anything related to their operations. This is understandable.
They were asked to leave the premises or they will only get caught in the crossfire. They can stay if they want to, but would they have stood up to the tear gas?
what operations? Trillanes and company were ready to surrender. you mean they were still going on with an offensive operation?
and if you mean by ONLY ASKED is being handcuffed and threatened with arrests, then by golly, i hope you receive the same medicine!
i’m seeing on the news, the media men’s equipments, cameras, TVs and laptops are being confiscated. how nice of the AFP to “ask.”
let’s wait until Esperon says they were only “borrowing” these things. to check if there’s a “gas of shit” waiting to explode inside.
Of course there are operations. Dapat lang. People who decide to do what is outside the law’s boundaries must be punished. Ang hirap kasi sa mga GMA haters, they don’t want to follow the law. Granted, it has been difficult to remove her through legal means but then that should encourage them to work harder to figure out how to take her out legally, NOT do illegal things.
I can just imagine when these people take over, they will say the same things, we have to follow the rule of law, etc etc. Napaka-ipokrita naman. Weather weather lang naman yan talaga.
hi all, i was on the sidewalk earlier this week when a motorcycle was speeding on it. was pretty banged up so i haven’t been able to do anything.
so, they put down trillanes. tordesillas just made the evening news.
the administration is preparing to gloat.
oh well.
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”Martin Luther King Jr.
Draconian measures are handiworks of a totalitarian government.Mass Arrest of media men are serious threats to Press Freedom!
So it seems that the people didn’t come (well, only a few did.) Why? Where were prominent civil society leaders (B&W Movement, did you come?) Where were opposition members? The Left? The Church? Scared? Undecided? Wait-and-see?
Why the disconnect between GMA’s consistent negative net satisfaction ratings (-11 as of SWS Sep 2007 survey) and high distrust ratings (-46 as of Pulse Asia Oct survey) on one hand, and on the other hand, the seeming lack of concrete, solid support for anti-GMA actions?
By the way, will the big rally still push through tomorrow?
Oh well.
Mahal naman magpa-press conference ni Trillanes and company. Who foots the bill on losses incurred and to be incurred by the hotel and its concessionaires? I suppose it would be their contribution to Magdalo’s and Black and White’s drive for reform in government.
Was actually waiting for a portal to open somewhere in Makati where their alleged “supporters” will come out from. Or Scotty will just beam them up. Of course, Aragorn’s ghost army was just waiting in the wings.
Asus, natear gas lang, nangayaw na. Talo pa nung mga nagrarally sa kalye na na-tear gas na, hinahataw pa ng rattan. Kinabukasan, nasa picket line uli.
When asked what he was going to do after the incident, Trillanes said, “Like soldiers, we’re going to face this.” Coming from a man who just walked out of his own trial. Gee, I wonder what he meant by that? Dead soldiers might be turning in their graves.
“I can just imagine when these people take over, they will say the same things, we have to follow the rule of law, etc etc. Napaka-ipokrita naman. Weather weather lang naman yan talaga.”
sinabi mo pa Silent Waters!
napaka ipokrita talaga ni Gloria. she took over, said the same things, follow the rule of law, etc etc…
produkto rin sya ng rebelyon di ba?
sabihin mo na kasi. winners are always right. until someone else makes them lose.
curfew has been implemented. from 12mn – 5am.
i tell you now, the phrase “martial law” will never be spoken by this admin in the same breath as “is now being implemented.” but you can bet, the things it is doing now, all fall under martial law activities.
i have a prediction and a timeline. if people heed it, it will be self-defeating.
but when has the Filipino people ever been wise?
Everyone in the Philippines paid a price today…we are all losers; our individual situations got worse, our national situation got worse.
I guess the only winner is the Magdalo Group…because their situation didn’t get worse; it just stayed lousy.
What a waste.
The media is making today’s story to be about the media. This is now a martial law regime, supposedly. How childish.
An attempted coup…by taking over a 5 star hotel…is the story. The media, though given a chance to protect itself, put itself IN-BETWEEN the lawmen and the law-breakers. That was stupid and counter-productive.
And self-serving.
And now the media is crying foul.
The most free and most irresponsible media in Asia, ladies and gentlemen. This is when we are supposed to applaud for them (roll eyes).
Devils
I was never also for GMA…I am for the rule of law…if the argument then is that we should just keep on changing whoever is sitting there because we’re dissatisfied, we will then really be a banana republic.
Knwo why there aren’t enough supporters out there? Because, even if they don’t agree with her policies and corrupt practices, they don’t want to open the door anymore to extrajudicial processes as it never got them anywhere in the first place. Look for the smoking gun and make sure it will stick. Hindi yung puro innuendoes and conjectures. Make sure to find the loophole one can go through to stick it to her. Grandstanding will get you nowhere.
Nassaan na ang nagsulat na ready na ang Pilipinas `sa isang coup. Was it some kind of a clueless assessement from a self-serving poll that he conducted in his website or it is some kind of a weird message of this coup plot.
Whatever it is, sana tumigil na ang mga destabilizers na ito and wait for 2010. Ayaw pa kasing maniwalang hindi maalis si GMA.
Leah Navarro of Black and White “was golfing when she heard the news”. Great, another elitist to bring the government down? She claimed it was spontaneous.
Ow? How come there were fifty media people in the area? They were informed beforehand what’s going to happen.
Siguro, yong mga grupong gustong ibagsak si GMA, nainis dahil inuunahan sila.
Unahan ang game ngayon kung sino ang makicredit na nagpabagsak kay GMA.
Impeachment o coup di sila manalo cause they are not united kasi kanya-kanya silang ambition o agenda na sila ang next Power broker.
Sheesh.
Media people should begin to ask themselves where should they draw the line between covering the news and being part of the news. Some people have the distinction down pat. Our media people don’t, I suppose.
It was quite surprising really to see media in the standoff. In other countries, they would have been forced out. A government will always have a right to defend itself. If you want to be in the midst of the crossfire, then don’t cry when you get caught in the process.
Again, for people who are GMA haters, I don’t like her either. It doesn’t mean I will countenance extrajudicial stupidities as exemplified by Trillanes. For somebody who is reputed to be smart, he is one of the most stupid folks I have ever seen.
Eh, di ba, kayo rin naman ang naglagay sa kanya diyan because you so much believe in this extrajudicial process. What is to stop the same thing from happening again. Isn’t it better to expend one’s energies in making sure that people will not elect someone like Marcos, Erap and GMA again instead of rallying all over the place till their face gets blue, knowing fully well that people aren’t listening anyway??? Even Erap can’t get enough bodies because wala na talaga.
Meanwhile, we have just set back the Philippines in the eyes of the community. We will again be seen as a very troublesome country to invest money in. Jobs that SHOULD have been created to help alleviate, even if little by little, our poor will certainly be gone. That is what this so called brand of democracy is all about. Di na bale magutom ang lahat, basta may demokrasya.
I am really surprised to read the anti-media comments above — especially after hearing Maria Ressa’s excellent defence of the media’s duty to cover events like the Peninsula siege. The media in the Philippines are not perfect, but time and again they have shown themself to be more “responsible” and concerned with the public welfare than self-seeking politicians (on any side). I just cannot see what the government thinks it has to gain by arresting and handcuffing journalists and carting them off to Bicutan. That seems to me to be blatant intimidation.
“If you want to be in the midst of the crossfire, then don’t cry when you get caught in the process.”
Yeah, that is part of the risks that mediamen take in doing their job. What stood out was the way the 50 mediamen were manhandled after Trillanes and co surrendered. I mean, that didn’t happen after the Oakwood mutiny. That didn’t happen to journalists covering the 2001 urban poor assault on Malacañang. It was an anticlimactic overkill against press freedom and a public relations blunder that government could have been avoided.
I believe they were manhandled because the press were not willing to leave the premises so that the army can do THEIR job. Tapos, nagtataka kayo bakit ganun na lang ang reaction ng authorities?
The journalists could have easily covered the event from outside the PEN but they didn’t.
Torn, completely agree.
It wasn’t like the media was crying harassment when they were caught in the teargas “crossfire” (at least I haven’t heard anyone say something like that.) They knew the risks. What they are protesting is being unjustly arrested. And arrested for what? For doing their jobs and covering the event bravely? And their video footage were even taken forcibly from them. According to a couple of lawyers I heard speak, that was illegal. The government has a right to defend itself? Why, did the media take up arms and threatened the government? They were simply covering the event. Ano gusto nung iba, walang coverage na lang? Tangahin na lang tayo kung ano ang nangyayari?
Covering the event from the INSIDE???? If anyone of them were killed, you guys would’ve screamed bloddy murder….jeeezzz
It was explained that some of the renegade soldiers disguised as media people.
During the Oakwood mutiny, there was no media inside except for someone claiming to be one na planted them naman.
Trillanes saw to it that they are shielded by the presence of the media and the bishops.
Sino ang coward. Hiding under the skirts of the churchmen and the cameras of the media people. Sheesh.
Ginagaya niya sa Ramos, foreign media ang ginamit noon.
Ay yong media sa Manila Pen. Mga GMA critics din yon.
SO the CAT is out of the bag…..sobrang planado ito for them to have people disguised as media….wonder of wonders…..what is good for the goose should be good sfor the gander di ba????
Yes, covering the event from the inside, since they were able to get in. Bakit illegal ba yun? As a viewer, I appreciated knowing what was happening inside.
If they were hurt/killed in the crossfire, I wouldn’t have screamed murder, please don’t be presumptuous, jeeezzz. It’s a risk they know they were taking.