Last Monday, the Inquirer editorial tackled the question of whether “they are all the same, anyway.” Recent news, economics-wise, brings to mind a recent column by Tony Abaya.
First, the economics-related news: we’re seeing Won, peso slide on equities rout, risk aversion as Stock rout deepens; the panicked flee to bonds, with this, shall we say, being the money quote:
“I am sure we are in a bear market, because the mood is very negative. People no longer believe that stocks are the road to riches,” Cannae Capital Partners managing director Hugh Giddy.
“This may be a long slow grind down because earnings expectations will start to fall.”
See also Stocks mark 7th day bloodbath (in light of the above, it will be interesting to see what bloggers like stuart santiago, who’s been keeping tabs not only on the implications of the appreciating peso, but also, what economists think should be done, will have to say about this). Now I’ve heard it said, that goings-on in America are less relevant to us, than they used to be, because our economy is now more closely aligned to China’s than the USA. But even in China, all doesn’t seem to be well. See A Recipe for Disharmony:
An Asia Times article by Martin Hutchinson paints a very sobering picture about China’s bad debt situation. The latest estimate is reported to be between US$1.2 trillion and US$1.3 trillion, which would make the often touted sovereign wealth fund of US$200 billion look almost paltry, not to mention that one-third of this fund is slated for the purchase of bad loans from Chinese banks and another third to recapitalize China Agricultural Bank and China Development Bank which are destined for privatization. What is even scarier is that, according to Hutchinson, all of China’s foreign exchange reserves, to the tune of US$1.4 trillion, might be needed to plug holes in the banking system when the inevitable liquidity crisis occurs. The article also says that China’s banking system bad debts account for about 40 percent of her GDP and are in real terms about five times those of the United States, given her economy is around one-fifth the size of the latter’s.
The article then goes on to draw parallels between Latin America and China in terms of very high inequality, persistently high inflation and rampant corruption, highlighting the fact that China’s government lacks any genuine understanding of the free market and her economy is increasingly dominated by special interests, with a small entrenched elite gorging themselves (immorally and illegally) with the fruits of economic growth at the expense of the disfranchised masses.
Which brings us back to the Inquirer editorial and Tony Abaya. In his column, GMA’s Successes, he writes:
Under Cory, the Philippine GDP grew 3.5 percent in 1986. 4.3 in 1987, 6.8 in 1988, 6.2 in 1989. The coup attempt in December 1989 by then Col. Gringo Honasan and then Capt. Danilo Lim dragged the GDP down to 4.4 in 1990, and subsequently to negative 0.6 in 1991. The average GDP under Cory was 4.1 percent.
Under President Fidel Ramos, GDP grew 0.3 percent in 1992, 2.1 in 1993, 4.4 in 1994, 4.7 in 1995, 5.8 in 1996, and 5.2 in 1997. The Asian Financial Crisis that started in July 1997 dragged the GDP down to negative 0.6 in 1998 as it devastated economies all over the world. The average GDP under President Ramos was 3.1.
It should be mentioned that the low GDPs in 1992 and 1993 were due, not just to the coup attempts of Honasan-Lim in December 1989, but also to the daily power outages of up to 8-hours that plagued the economy.
And the power outages were due largely to the mothballing by President Aquino of the 620 mw Bataan nuclear power plant just before it was to be commissioned, a concession to the anti-US bases and anti-nuclear agitation of the Communist movement. The slack would have been taken up by the 300 mw Calaca plant and the 300 mw Masinloc plant, both coal-fired, but the commissioning of these plants was blocked by environmentalists.
The net effect was that thousands of businesses and industries, and tens of thousands of families were forced to buy and operate their own generators, thus creating as much pollution as, or even more than, Calaca and Masinloc put together. There is a lesson to be learned here, but I doubt if Filipinos have learned it. But I digress.
Under President Joseph Estrada, GDP grew 3.4 percent in 1999 and 4.0 in 2000, until he was deposed from office in January 2001 by a military coup d’etat pretending to be people power. The average GDP under President Estrada was 3.7 percent.
Under President Arroyo, GDP grew 1.8 percent in 2001, 4.3 in 2002, 4.7 in 2003, 6.0 in 2004, 5.1 in 2005, 5.6 in 2006 and 7.1 in 2007. The average GDP under President Arroyo was 4.94 percent. Forecasts for 2008 range from 5.0 to 6.7 percent.
(It takes GDP growth rate of at least 8 percent per annum for 20 years for an economy to reach First World status. This is the level of the achievement of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, from the 1970s to the 1990s.)
Having compared the economic performance of recent administrations, he goes on to point out that,
Under President Arroyo, the economy has developed an upward momentum. And the biggest element in this upward momentum is the remittances from overseas contract workers, which will reach $14 to !5 billion in 2007, compared to practically zero in the 1970s..
The corollary is that if Presidents Aquino, Ramos and Estrada enjoyed a $10 to $15 billion annual OCW windfall during their watch, the GDP during their presidencies would have been substantially higher. (If any reader has the annual figures for OCW remittances staring in 1980, I would appreciate receiving them.)
The other corollary is that if President Arroyo did not have this $10 to $15 billion annual OCW windfall, the Philippine economy under her management would not have grown as much as it has in the past five years.
Which is not to say, as Abaya points out, the President’s taking credit for things not entirely of her own making:
Whis is not to say that President Arroyo did not make any substantial contribution to economic growth from her own initiatives. Far from it. Her biggest success, in my opinion, is the growth of the call center-business outsourcing industry, which now employs more than 200,000 young, urban middle-class Filipinos, and is still growing fast.
If one were to revisit her Mid-term Development Plan, which was drafted at the start of her presidency in 2001, one would note that it had three major foci: agriculture, tourism and information technology or IT. So the call-center phenomenon was an Arroyo initiative and it is a major success, for which she deserves full credit.
The passage and implementation of the EVAT. is also an Arroyo success, which substantially increased government revenues, enabling it — theoretically at least — to invest more in infrastructure and social services…
….President Arroyo has also achieved moderate success in tourism, one of the three foci in her Midterm Development Plan. Tourist arrivals topped three million in 2007, for the first time ever. I say ‘moderate’ because Thailand drew 13 million tourists, Malaysia 16 million, in the same period.
In 1991, Indonesia and the Philippines drew more or less the same number of tourists: one million. Since then, Indonesia’s tourist arrivals have reached five million, despite the Bali and Jakarta bombings, while we are celebrating only three million. Don’t look now, but tiny Cambodia just topped two million in 2007, and Vietnam is investing heavily to develop its entire South China Sea coast into a tourist magnet..
President Arroyo’s third economic focus: agriculture is, in my opinion, a mixed bag. Even assuming that production has increased in some sectors, the stark fact remains that we are not self sufficient in such staples as rice, corn, sugar, poultry, etc and must import several billion dollars worth every year to meet domestic demand.
This by the country that set up the UP College of Agriculture in Los Banos (when the Americans were running this place), and hosts the International Rice Research Institute (also established by the Americans), both of which trained the agriculturists of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia etc, which ironically now surpass us in agricultural production.
Perhaps the weakness of our agriculture is not a paucity of modern technology, but an oversupply of people, because of a galloping population growth rate. In the 1970s, the Philippines and Thailand had more or less the same population size: 45 million.
Because it had a population management program all these years, in 2007 Thailand had only 65 million people, while the Philippines had 89 million. By any yardstick of commonsense, it is easier to feed, clothe, house, educate and find jobs for 65 million people than 89 million.
For this, President Arroyo must share the blame with Presidents Marcos, Aquino and Estrada, for their wishy-washy attitude towards population management and their fear of offending the Roman Catholic bishops. (Only the Protestant President Ramos dared to defy the bishops on this issue.)
But, Abaya argues, the policies for which the President deserves credit have reached their own limits:
But this has its limits, which may have been reached already, judging from the frantic efforts to sell government assets, such as those in the power sector. Without the sale of government assets, the government seems to be running out of money. Economists tell us that a government’s tax collection efforts should amount to at least 16 percent of GDP.
Even with his dictatorial powers, President Marcos could manage only 9 to 12 percent. Presidents Aquino and Ramos were able to raise it to 13 to 14 percent. President Arroyo may have been the first president to raise that percentage to 15-16 percent, but apparently not much more than that, which suggest unresolved problems from chronic tax evasion and smuggling.
And so, his conclusion?
In summary, it can be said that President Arroyo’s relative success in managing the economy can be credited largely to the $10-$15 billion windfall from OCW remittances.
Therefore it is not accurate to claim that there is no alternative to or substitute for her. In fact it can be said that the increase in workers deployed abroad — about one million a year — is due to her failure, and the failure of her predecessors, to create enough jobs in the domestic economy, forcing millions of Filipinos to seek employment abroad.
This means that she can be replaced by such reasonably qualified wannabes as Mar Roxas, Manuel Villar, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, or Panfilo Lacson — even by Governor Fr. Ed Among Panlilio or Antonio Meloto — and the economy would still chug along at least at the same pace as it does today, as long as whoever succeeds her enjoys the $10-$15 billion windfall from workers’ remittances.
The consequences of a recession in the USA at the start of an election year, are tackled in Economic crisis, political rebirth? in History Unfolding:
The week’s economic news makes clear that a new flock of chickens–not perhaps as large as the one that appeared in 1929, but large enough–is finally coming home to roost. The credit collapse that has begun in the housing market (and, the papers tell me, threatens to spread through unpayable credit card debt) is lowering employment, and it may get much worse. Like the two previous crises in our national life (1860-8 and 1929-45), it has been largely brought about by the unbridled ideological or economic excesses of a Prophet generation–the Transcendentals (b. 1792-1821), the Missionaries (about 1863-1884), and now, the Boomers (1943-1960.) Born into as secure an environment has humankind has been able to create, such generations begin disrupting it in young adulthood, have eaten away the foundations by mid-life, and, as they reach elderhood, have to try to find a few surviving members who can help build a new order with the help of the younger generations.
His generational approach to American politics is one that I find very attractive, since I’ve taken a similar (though far from as highly developed) one concerning our own. This is how he connects the past to the American present:
We should keep in mind that this relentless drive by people who are already rich by any standard to gain yet more money is behind our present predicament–and that it will be harder to climb out of it because the mass of people who really need more money have been getting less and less of it. The Boom generation of managers has also avenged their missionary grandparents by finding new weapons against organized labor–most notably, the weapon of outsourcing.
It is not clear that the political process is ready to deal with the crisis. Last week, Boomer Mitt Romney, who fallaciously claimed that he would bring manufacturing jobs back to Michigan, defeated Silent John McCain, who courageously recognized that those jobs are not coming back. On the Democratic side, as John Edwards fades, identity politics have taken the place of any serious discussion of issues. The question I have been pondering is whether Barack Obama, who will turn 47 this year, is really the counterpart of Abraham Lincoln (who was 51 in 1860 when he was elected), or of John Charles Fremont, the 43-year old Republican candidate in 1856, who was defeated by Compromiser James Buchanan. (If McCain should beat Obama, the parallel would be exact.)
On to other things…
Tonyo Cruz once again takes exception to my response to his comment/entry: see The difference between discreet and central. Let me work backwards and answer his question, what do I mean by “public acceptance” of the Left? Very simply: public acceptance is the refusal to condone the killing of a civilian, simply on the basis of the person being accused (and not even self-proclaimed) by the authorities of being a Leftist.
The constituency of the Left is large, indeed, per official party-list election figures for winning parties (the inclusion of Akbayan won’t go down well with some groups, so the total without it is in parenthesis, for comparison):
Bayan Muna 976,699
Gabriela Women’s Party 621,086
Anak Pawis 369,366
Akbayan ! Citizens’ Action Party 466,019
Total: 2,433,170 (1,967,151)
Comparable national election figures (NASSA-NAMFREL quick count):
Left > Gomez, Richard Independent 2,308,620
Left < Singson, Luis Lakas-CMD 3,468,039
If you use Comelec figures (PDSP is the party of Norberto Gonzales et al., you could argue also technically part of the Left):
Left = Sultan Jamalul D. Kiram III TEAM Unity – PDSP 2,488,553
Let’s argue the Left had only 1 out of every 4 votes cast for it actually counted, a potential constituency of 9,732,680. That puts it on parity with: Prospero A. Pichay, Jr. TEAM Unity – Lakas-CMD 9,798,355
The dictionary says,
dogmatism |’dôg-ma-ti-zem|
noun
the tendency to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true, without consideration of evidence or the opinions of others : a culture of dogmatism and fanaticism.
DERIVATIVES
dogmatist noun
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: via French from medieval Latin dogmatismus, from Latin dogma (see dogma ).
Which suggests that even if contrary evidence were presented, the assertions of the incontrovertibly trueness of essential principles, would continue, anyway.
Let me just point out that “revisionism” is not just any word, but a word rich in meaning for the like-minded:
revisionism |ri-‘vi-zhe-ni-zem|
noun often derogatory
a policy of revision or modification, esp. of Marxism on evolutionary socialist (rather than revolutionary) or pluralist principles.
‘ the theory or practice of revising one’s attitude to a previously accepted situation or point of view.
DERIVATIVES
revisionist noun & adjective
The Master Storyteller and thus, the living magisterium of the Left, demonstrates ther rigorous use of such words in intramural Left debates (and more) and extramural debates with those who aren’t affiliated in the party.
Essentially this is arguing apples and oranges but this is one statement that, again, belongs to the Q.E.D. department:
Public intellectuals should also take note that attempts to airbrush the Left out of Edsa 2 and the body politic has resulted in an ongoing massacre (nearly 900 extrajudicially executed, and another 200 involuntarily disappeared), in the arrest and detention of Satur Ocampo and Crispin Beltran, and in the filing of spurious charges against the legal Left which Arroyo considers a considerable threat. In the official script, the airbrushing is most intense. As if no legal movement exists, and as if Arroyo did not work with, sat with, conferred with, cooperated with the same movement she now wishes to kill after airbrushing operations.
Now that is revisionism. From culpability fully belonging to the administration, now even those opposed to it but who aren’t part of the Left, are assigned responsibility for the murders of members of the Left (or those merely suspected of belonging to the Left, particularly as the state definition is broader than some Leftists would admit the Left to be). It ignores the non-Left voices raised in indignation and protest over the killings, the efforts of those who tried to bring the situation to the attention of the world, since Filipinos were proving pretty much unmoved.
And this is what I mean by dogmatism. Tactical considerations aside, much as the Left will criticize those it considers non-Leftists for branding them with certain names, it is something they do so, all the time: distinctions are only to be made by the Left but non-Left-originating distinctions on the other hand, are simply unacceptable. the underlying message is pretty much the same as the administration’s: same-same (and I won’t go into the public support given by some members of the Left for Joker Arroyo’s senatorial reelection in 2007).
Now what did I mean when I said, “Since 2001, however, the Left has found itself unable to really find a place for itself in legitimate politics”? First, legitimate politics for me are obviously non-revolutionary politics, that is, participation, without molestation, in electoral politics; and as for not really finding a place, by this I mean that the government has, with some success, mobilized public opposition to the Left by calling all Leftists communists, and by generally showing itself unmoved by local opinion in contrast to the way it’s been disturbed by foreign concern over the liquidation of Leftists. And again, in the absence of a nationwide poll specifically asking people how they feel about the Left, one can only go by what one hears and reads, and that has been on the whole unsympathetic to the Left.
What is my factual basis? The murders. The indifference far too many, and outright delight far too many, have shown; the concern far too few have demonstrated. the support, tacit or overt, for the “all-out war” policy.
Again, this is a question of interpretation, not of “truth.” The truth is obvious. Civilians are being killed, on the pretext that it is justifiable to kill them based on their ideological beliefs. This is wrong; those who justify it, are wrong.
Tonyo ends with,
I hope Manolo will be kind enough to recognize the advances made by the Left not just in mobilizing “warm bodies” for elite-led mobilizations, but also in public discourse, in reframing the public debate, in offering the public some alternatives to the status quo, among others.
This is not mine to recognize, out of the kindness of my heart; it’s to be assumed. My criticism of where we are, now, is that we’re far off from assuming what Tonyo wants recognized. But it is a wonderful thing that he takes the time to painstakingly point out where my assertions may be too sweeping, or demanding that they be clarified. It is an exercise not only in public debate, but in fraternal correction; certainly, our exchange is something the administration, for one, would rather not happen at all, and most certainly wouldn’t want repeated by members of the public.
In his blog entry Death of a cycling companion (and the latest activist killing), Howie Severino describes how a statistic for officialdom is a tragedy, for him. And points to what separates Tonyo from those he disagrees with: it is his comrades who are being killed.
Philippine Politics 04 reiterates his disagreement with my views concerning the victory of Joseph Estrada in 1998.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Edsa, ideas, people power, philippines, politics
Devils, i think your definition is more accurate but i’ve seen more generous classification schemes which i subscribe to for understandable reasons. One thing i wouldn’t do is to resort to metaphor like Benign0 since that would be a dead giveaway.
“I take it you’re over forty”
Maybe I am and maybe I am not. But I do get flattered whenever your energies get directed towards speculating about my personal circumstances. 😀
“Tough luck Benigno, that part of hell is reserved for those who are trecherous to kin and trecherous to country.”
Is it now.
I’ll take my chances, dude.
Meanwhile, I will wait for a better argument befitting the abundant but questionable claims that Filipinos do indeed use their head for things other than superstitious nonsense.
Benny: But I do get flattered whenever your energies get directed towards speculating about my personal circumstances.
Allow me to flatter you some more. I have youthful energy to spare. Here goes: I think youre single and you dont have a girlfriend. 😀
When we use the term, “Left” – who are we referring to?I’m just curious because in Philippine history studies in high school, we would refer to communists as leftists and vice versa. Is this still true? Or perhaps my understanding of the term is wrong or maybe “the Left” is now comprised of other socio-civic groups in RP. Please enlighten 🙂
Allow me to flatter you some more…
Sorry about that, benny ole pal. That lacked class. But you have to admit, you walked right into that one.
Cheers, mate.
Lester, as far as i know, it is common to equate ‘left’ with ‘communists’ although such sweeping and coarse-grained characterization was never true even in the 80’s. I’d like to invite you to take this test:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/index
You’ll get an indication of your position in the political spectrum.
MLQ3,
I don’t think it is a high order mystery why the Public has been largely unsympathetic on the extrajudicial killings issue. Everybody knows there is an armed insurgency (with crypto partisans supporting them). And since neither side has declared victory nor admitted defeat, people have to assume that there is still a “protracted revolutionary war” going on and that people are getting killed on both sides.
Forty years ago the CPP NPA declared war on the Philippine Republic and have tried to overthrow every single government since then using violent, immoral, cunning and terrible means. Their invariant goal is to establish a totalitarian state in place of democracy on the pretext of curing “root causes.”
Today there are said to be about six thousand armed extortionist thugs (“NPA regulars”) blowing up cell phone towers for a living and being revolutionary tax collectors mouthing Maoist slogans. These soldati, (mostly university dropouts and their sweethearts) need 5 to 10 times as many others to support them in one way or another with guns, food, cash, cellphone load and the other accoutrements of their petit bourgeois origins. That seems to be a rule of thumb in guerilla warfare.
But over time, as “Revolution” becomes more like having a job with the Mafia, it often happens that some of the comrades “wake up” and decide to go straight. Maybe they get pangs of conscience, or can’t stand the mosquitoes and bad grub. Maybe they miss Jollibees and aircon buses and see how fat Joma’s gotten , and want out, Comrade!
Unfortunately that cannot be easily done without compromising others “still asleep”. Often enough, it has been claimed by credible law enforcers, what happens is such “counter revolutionaries” have to be silenced if they can’t be re-educated or persuaded to stay put. If they should foolishly disobey and later happen to be meted out revolutionary justice, why, who will local NPA Commander or Party branch blame it on through their channels and outlets in the Mass Media but the Cops?? Since the govt can hardly be expected to know who is NPA and who is NGO only, the Public naturally gives the Cops the benefit of the doubt.
This scenario may only apply to a fraction of those killed, but it seems it is a significant fraction.
Now for some reason, that never seems to happen with the Cops. There are no killing fields full of cops suspected in fits of paranoia of going over to the NPA.
But for good and bad reasons, “cops and robbers”, they kill each other. The toll taken by communist and Moro insurgents is not much mentioned but the numbers are roughly comparable I would say. Now as far as most Filipinos are concerned the protests of the Left over “extrajudicial killings” of Leftists are really like the criminal mafia gangs protesting the growing jail population. It’s a Cops and Robbers situation and everyone knows that both Cops and Robbers are getting killed.
You can’t expect the Pubic to grieve for or sympathize with the “Robbers.” And in forty years the Public has never given the communist movement any reason to suspect that they could ever rule over Filipinos and sleep peacefully at night dreaming of Lenin doing Stalin.
So I think there ought to be a “Statute of Limitations” on the right to revolution. If you can’t rouse the masses to your cause and withdraw their consent to be governed, in say a quarter of a century of ardent trying, you really need to give up and go into peaceful retirement in Utrecht.
Lester:
When we say “Left†nowadays, we mean it’s not the “Right†which is composed of the conservatives, the elite, the religious, or generally speaking people who prefer the status quo. Hence, running the thread that composes the Left you will find a common denominator: opposition to the current order. Communism neatly falls under the Left because of its intrinsic opposition to the heirarchical structure composed of the elite at the top. Groups devoted to the cause of marginalized sectors also challenge the current order by bringing the concerns of these marginalized groups to public attention and hopefully government action. Examples of groups and their advocacy representing the marginalized include Gabriela for women, AnakPawis for the urban poor, Piston for jeepney drivers, Akbayan for human rights victims, gays and lesbians (among others). Note also the spirit of militancy common in all these groups.
Bayan Muna and groups sympathetic of the communist cause, though not necessarily their armed components, dispute that Akbayan belongs to the Left because of Akbayan’s very vocal criticism of the NPA’s record in human rights. Accounts of the NPA torturing, intimidating and murdering their comrades suspected of collusion with the military used to be muted until recently when accounts of former comrades that survived the purging began to emerge.
Btw, Lester are you still teaching? Or have you gone abroad? Or both?
dear manolo,
the left, indeed, has a big constituency. it can even elect a senator — or senators already — in 2010.
also, please include my weblog, http://www.dantonremoto2010.blogspot.com in your links.
super thanks for your intelligent site. it is so refreshing.
“When we say “Left†nowadays, we mean it’s not the “Right†which is composed of the conservatives, the elite, the religious, or generally speaking people who prefer the status quo.”
Afraid that’s not how clear cut it is in Europe.
Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Ségolène Royal and her ex concubine, François Holland, Angela Merkel are all from the left and identify themselves with the LEFT but they too, if you examine their stance deeply, are ‘conservatives’ and definitely prefer the status quo.
What sets them apart from the Philippine definition of the left is that they don’t have Gloria Arroyo to battle with.
In modern times and in my perspective, the line between the Left and the Right in Terms of Politics is not that Wide..the Right is more of Conservatives, espouses Less Taxes, Less Government (not so true in most cases)do not like welfare very much, (but our conservative govt. here just give another $1200 per child anually)and like to go to war…
Left, like to pander to the Poor, best example was Douglas; more social programs, love the environment so much, that willing to bike to work or parliament to prove their point (NNP leader and wife did it before they became MPs) and always the Opposition, because the Public is still not convince of their overall programs in the Federal Politics, but very successful in Provincials Government of Two Provinces…The Liberals playing it safe call themselves the Centrist. I have no Idea what that means…anyone??
‘Stocks mark 7th day bloodbath’
Keep on counting. This bloodbath may continue for the rest of the week. DOW just nose dive another 400 points even with the FED funds rate cut of .75%. GMA’s enchanted kingdom might be under siege for the next few days.
I do understand why the Philippines has a clear cut political notion of LEFT, that’s because you still have the running NPA insurgency/rebellion whose ultimate aim is to bring down the Republic by violence and not just the government that governs the country.
That said, I don’t think that those who oppose Gloria, no matter how virulently, deserve to be systematically tagged LEFTists based on the Philippine meaning/interpration/definition. Just won’t wash.
Supremo, the TSX lost $90B for yesterday’s alone, that’s 4.75% of its value..including last week around 7%..and that’s mostly mutual funds and pensions but the Finance Minister assures the public that the economy is sound and most believe him.
Manila Bay Watch:
By “status quoâ€Â, I meant the contemporary order of things that has resulted from or characterized by a society’s culture and history. By Philippine experience, this order is characterized by a cacique type of democracy in our political life, the pervasiveness of the Catholic belief in our morals, the role of men in our family and expectations of women, gender expectations, our concept of liberty and nationhood, among others. This is as opposed to a concept of the status quo which refer to something temporal like the current government administration.
hey 90 (NINETY) people left with arroyo to switzerland today.
this includes luli arroyo. what is her official function and will she be signing bilateral treaties for us in davos?
and why does gma need a platoon of security, she’s going to to frigging switzerland, not rwanda!
leche, there goes my tax (to some congressman’s frequent flier miles). what is the point of having THREE ambassadors to Switzerland if we have to send tongressman from third class municipality to make usisero?
In that case, I take it that those who oppose Gloria and her government but who adhere to the “status quo” as per your definition don’t necessarily belong to LEFT given that most Filipino believe in the contemporary order of things that you outlined…and if at all, given those characterizations, most Filipinos should belong to the RIGHT of the political spectrum.
That should basically narrow down membership, i.e., hardline communists and their armed wingers, the NPAs, and the MILF/MNLF/Abu Sayyaffs and their ilks (they being non-Catholics).
dear god, you mean to say Tony Blair considers himself a leftist? whatever happened to clear cut identification of right-wing warmongerers such as him?
Devils,
Blair? But of course he has too — that’s what the Labour Party is all about!
But between you and me, he rightly belongs to the right of Genghis Khan — more hypocritical left than Tony? Impossible!
With the elitist mindset of Europe’s modern hardline LEFT, i.e., Royal and her ex-concubine, Tony Blair and his nice, close to Pope Benedict, supremely Catholic wife Cherrie, Gordon Brown and other Scottish left wingers, Angela Merkel and her husband, we are finding it hard to understand why they all want to remain and be branded LEFT.
(OK, Tony Blair’s case is simple: he had to frig around with union bosses who were decidedly left as in the Philippine definition of LEFT to be PM…)
That’s why poor David Cameron is having a problem!
para sa simpleng tao, depinisyon ng mga makakaliwa: basta nagra-rally, kaliwa yan. tapos.
taking that definition further, the govt says that not only are all rallyists leftists, all leftists are NPAs.
but basing from the political compass, im a left-leaning liberal. but the simplistic definition of rallyist=left is wrong in my case, and so is the govt’s left=NPA.
not only am i not an NPA, i am agst everything the NPA stands for. yet i consider myself part of the left more than the center or the right.
i identify more with Akbayan. the party-list i voted for last election. the fact that some of the LEFT don’t consider Akbayan to be part of the LEFT only means that the LEFT in the Phils. as a political group has splintered. we have the hardline leftists (BayanMuna, Anakpawis) and the moderates (Akbayan, Gabriela)
Re: “whatever happened to clear cut identification of right-wing warmongerers such as him?”
And devils, just look around, Tony Blair, founder of UK’s new Labour (kuno) is so admired by our very own DJB that he had wished Blair could run for president in the US. Would that make our own neo-con, a LEFTIST?
Goes to show, unless you fall in the Philippine commie or NPA category, difficult to say unequivocally that so and so belongs to the left. The right won most of them over when they tore down the Berlin Wall…
mbw,
perfectly understandable then why guys like Blair like to be identified with the LEFT. bec UK voters are predominantly pro-LEFT.
Hahahahahahahah! “para sa simpleng tao, depinisyon ng mga makakaliwa: basta nagra-rally, kaliwa yan. tapos.”
Shit! If we go by that Philippine definition, all those rallyists here in Europe (even those who are rallying against the rallyists) are LEFTISTS! Hahah! Jean Marie Le Pen would have a heart attack coz his group was one of those who rallied against the transport rallyists. Heheheh!
Here in the Philippines, tagging someone as ‘Leftist’ is an effective way to marginalize a person or organization. Back in the 80’s, i was a fan of Tony Abaya because just like him, i was a rabid anti-communist. I remembered him mentioning that Randy David was a leftist which resulted in me not watching the latter’s show (Truth Forum and then Public Forum). Looking back i recognized that it was a wrong move on my part because i missed out on a lot of David’s insights as a Sociologist.
cvj,
Personally, have always been suspicious of people who once were rabid leftists then turned around to become extreme right wing.
oo nga, bakit kaya in the usa and philippines ‘left’ and ‘liberal’ take on a different meaning. add to that the word ‘socialist’, although one is hard pressed to name a country in the eu that is not intrinsically socialist.
but i remember my catholic nursery teacher who said we shouldn’t learn to write left handed because right=god, left=evil.
Anna, what i find hard to understand is that Abaya and company seem to be stuck in the late 80’s, as if the Berlin Wall never fell.
Vic,
Re: Centrist “I have no Idea what that means…anyone??
In my view, centrists are those who have problems with leaders who belong to either the left and the right; they are so muddled up that they are finding it hard to articulate their political position. And because of that they almost always never can produce a prime minister — difficult when your party’s leader can’t make a determined stand.)
(Winston Churchill had to disavow his allegiance to the Liberal Party which in my view represented then what is known today as Centrist and went back to the Tories, otherwise he wouldn’t have made it as PM …)
Chuck,
Re: “Anna, what i find hard to understand is that Abaya and company seem to be stuck in the late 80’s, as if the Berlin Wall never fell.”
Maybe they were asleep when it happened… seriously, you know some people find comfort and security or feel less threatened in an unchanged environment; maybe Abaya is one of these people.
vic,
The US market is really terrible. My wife, who is fil-canadian, wants to go back to Canada because it’s stable. I just don’t like seeing snow measured in feet rather than inches.
Abaya judges tourism growth moderate with “Tourist arrivals topped three million in 2007,”
Holy frigging cow… he calls that moderate, I call that EXCECRABLE compared to Thailand and fun-less Malaysia!
Moderate would have been at least half the tourism intake that are tsunami threatened Thailand’s and definitely fun-less (by Western standards) Malaysia’s or a minimum of 6 million tourists — that is what he should term MODERATE. Less than that? Excecrable would be the more appropriate term.
Continuing this writer’s logic, one can effectively argue that politics and governance are irrelevant in determining the economic outcome as long as the OFW windfall is there. Hardly the case, right?
Economic results are driven by a complex system composed of drivers, among them is the economic agenda and policies which are set through the exercise of politics. This exercise of power influence not only the results of the system but other drivers as well. Abaya’s conclusion is so simplistic that I’m surprised no one has yet pounced on it.
‘I call that EXCECRABLE compared to Thailand and fun-less Malaysia!’
I agree.
Filipinos do not really know how to attract tourist. Tourism sites are not interconnected. Don’t expect a tourist to stay in Subic and then spend several hours on the road to go to Baguio. Tourism related infrastructure is also lacking in several places. Why fly to Manila or Cebu when your destination is Boracay or Palawan. Why not have an international airport in Panay and Palawan. Manila is also a mess. Did you know that it is virtually impossible to walk from Manila Hotel to Intramuros?
@ Rom
“Because GK provides the rush of instant gratification. You sweat it out for an hour, you already get bragging rights. You build a house, you see it right there in front of you. It’s gratifying. You’re ego swells up because you were able to make a tangible good appear right before your very eyes. But the work of building and defending democracy – like kicking out a hated president – that doesn’t offer instant gratification. But it requires more conviction than picking up a hammer and pounding in a few nails. And it is not necessarily a mark of maturity that kids go to GK. For many, It’s just a new way of being cool. And if you think that that is proof that you’re not apathetic … well, then you’re just pathetic.”
-Um… I agree with you that going to GK isn’t a mark of maturity, but… It really not a new way of being cool. Its a way of tackling the problem of poverty, corruption and all the other stuff from the grassroots. I used to be a volunteer, starting it in my own campus, believing that doing something, is better than doing nothing at all and taking an apathetic stance.
I resent the statement that the youth today are a bunch of Starbucks-sipping, Mobile Phone-totting, apathetic fashionistas. I mean, the youth of two generations tried to do something they thought as relevant and that could change the country, but the youth failed even with the passion to change the country. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Regretting the decision of placing Madam Vertically-Challenged in the highest position in the land, isn’t really the answer to all our woes. Lets not rely on the trapos to make our problems go away, this time. Its what got us in this mess in the first place.
Maybe working in your own little way to change the world is what “Voluntourism” is all about. You’d be surprised how amazed the Voluntourists are at the achievement of individualistic work.
[Note: No GK Bashing, unless you really, really, R-E-A-L-L-Y know the concepts behind the history and the work GK is centered and founded on. Its been working on its own, in a micro-scale. And I don’t see why people make a mockery of gradual change]
@The blog entry
-I guess I don’t see the logic on how the OFW thing is an achievement? Yes, they send in the much needed dollars, but its still a slap to the government for not creating jobs. (Time for the individuals to act for themselves and get out of the burning abyss their own way.)
(If all rallyists are leftist, then all Pilipino Politicans are Trapos. And writing is only a tool for the Society’s power grab struggle.)
@CVJ
Exactly my feeling. Our communist have their heads too high up their asses to think with any originality. They’re the communist equivalent of Bible-toting fundamentalist Christians.
@nash
That’s why the conservatives and the trapos are winning. They’ve managed to relegate Left-wing politics to extremist groups. Why oh why do Filipinos have to give up all – traditional family, religion, democracy – just to fight back against the elite?
Palagay ko, mga komunista binayaran nang mga hacendero. Some people thing Al Qaeda is a CIA organization. I think Philippine commies (the leaders) are paid agents of the elite.
@nash
That’s why the conservatives and the trapos are winning. They’ve managed to relegate Left-wing politics to extremist groups. Why oh why do Filipinos have to give up all – traditional family, religion, democracy – just to fight back against the elite?
I think Philippine commies (the leaders) are paid agents of the elite.
huh
@Nash
I don’t know why I’m being moderated.
Conservatives are winning because Philippine communism has managed to keep itself pure. Filipinos probably feel that in order to fight back against the established order, they have to give up everything – religion, the traditional family and democracy. So sad that we still don’t know hotw to think for ourselves. If we’re not thinking like Americans, we’re thinking like Cubans.
And this may sound like more conspiracy theories but I believe some top-level communists are paid agents by the establishment, to polarize the masses and the middle class just as some people believe that the CIA formed Al Qaeda to bring US troops to more territories in the Arab region.
Abaya: “President Arroyo has also achieved moderate success in tourism, one of the three foci in her Midterm Development Plan. Tourist arrivals topped three million in 2007, for the first time ever.”
3 million tourists compared to Thailand and Malaysia,
moderate? Everybody knows that the govt also encourages locals to tour around, with such policies as making long weekends and re-calendared holidays. If that number includes them, then it means – what else, NADA!
More so when you consider the 89 million people who should benefit, at least by trickle down theory. (Hawaii comes to mind as example, with 1.2 million population and 7 million tourists coming yearly. Hawaii’s economy is, for the most part, chained to tourism.)
Re- his conclusion on the OFW remittances. I think Abaya delivers a subtle message not on its importance, but on the impotence and mindless leader who hangs on it, as if it works economic miracle. And why is the govt so focused on OFW, from Marcos to FVR, esp. Arroyo?
Consider these: Remittances are at least eight times the value of yearly foreign direct investments (FDI), more than twice the national yearly budget, and about equal to the combined value of top 5 exports. By and large, the allure of “progress” suggested by remittances is what truly drives this govt, hoodwinked by the tantalizing, globalizing world to deploy millions of Filipinos overseas.
No wonder RP is now the world’s biggest exporter of labor, outranked only by Mexico.
Meanwhile, the local health industry is suffering from slack, deterioration of facilities, closure of clinics, and diminishing numbers of qualified practitioners (therapists, doctors, caregivers, etc.). Math and science teachers are prodded to join their seaman (simian?) brothers, and yes, even priests and nuns are now into the stream of migrants. (Just an observation: in Hawaii and some parts of California, almost every parish has a Filipino priest ministering to the faithful.)
‘almost every parish has a Filipino priest ministering to the faithful.’
It just started in NJ. NY has a lot of Filipino priest. Even our only saint is going global. There will be a San Lorenzo Ruiz church in Little Italy.
Renittances might start to decline in 5 years. That’s when Filipino nurses start applying for US citizenship. They would probably petition their parents. No need then to send money to the Philippines.
The Bank of all Banks unleashed their mighty sword and the lesser Gods all bowed before them. Three quarters of a percentage point and the markets stopped to take notice.
The greatest deflationary force since the 1929 crisis has been somewhat stalled. Now the state will move to create a larger deficit to bury money for people to dig them up.
When the masters of universe fuck up guess who will be there to bail them out. The people who are not yet born.
In the Philippine scenario the rush to cash and guaranteed government paper is ongoing.
It is smarter to lend to Big Mike and GMA then to anyone else. The more they steal the higher the rates of interest the people pay in taxes anyway. God Bless them for that. Big Mike and GMA that is. Interest rates between emerging markets and the U.S. are widening. They are in trouble but they lower their rates when they fuck up. Here we will have to raise rates to keep peoples money in pesos.
There is a short term silver lining to all this weak institutions and corruption. Interest rate arbitrage. It is forecast that by the end of the first quarter interest rates in the U.S. (Overnite) will be less than 3%.
Stay away from stocks and the dollar but the emerging market sovereign paper will be a good short term bet. The riskiest bet is Zimbabwe followed by North Korea.
Thank heavens for corrupt governments like Big Mike and GMA’s.
This year it will help pay for half a years tuition at a elite university here in the States.
@brianb,
I don’t know what you mean by ‘pure’ communism, i haven’t immersed myself on brother joma sison’s interpretation of tito karl marx’s ideology in the filipino context. 😀 (kasi naman, why would you be drawn to a leader who does not lead by example? let’s do communism in the jungles while I live off Dutch welfare checks? )
I however support COMMUNALISM, which is probably why I’m Socialist and proud. (let’s just say that it helps to be indoctrinated by pretty swedes)
And incidentally, there is NO way that Norberto Gonzales and his PDSP party are socialists! If you put Royal, Zapatero, etc and Gonzales on a straight line, Gonzales will be far into the right.
manuelbuencamino, supremo,
OFWs will now get breathing space as the peso dips to P42:$1 level from several weeks of hovering in the mid-40s. The BSP will also celebrate, even if only for this development, as its futile attempt at slowing the Pesos’s rise by buying high in the end dumped an additional $10B to the reserves, flaunted by PHD-economist GMA as another proof of her achievements.
If one actually does the math, the “achievement” is virtually meaningless (or falsehood even) as Habito explains it, as we are accumulating an asset that is fast losing its value. (values: Reserves up to $43B from $33B; Exchange from P55 to $40 to the dollar).
Go figure.
“If one actually does the math, the “achievement†is virtually meaningless (or falsehood even) as Habito explains it, as we are accumulating an asset that is fast losing its value”
For that matter, this idea of OFW-ism as an “achievement” is utterly meaningless because the OFW, her place in Pinoy society, and her role in the economy are, together, what stand for EVERYTHING that is wrong with Philippine society.
Go figure (if we can).
The US market is really terrible. My wife, who is fil-canadian, wants to go back to Canada because it’s stable. I just don’t like seeing snow measured in feet rather than inches.
Supremo, True, the only Province with a red-hot economy is Alberta and the snow there is deeper than most provinces and colder than anywhere. But even internal migrants don’t mind, the youngs are moving west where the Black Gold is…OIL…