SONAkakadismaya

aint enough to expose gma’s overspending and then to tell us how he’s going to streamline the system so public funds aren’t wasted or lost to corruption.   aint enough to expose how much money goes into perks for lowly-paid high-government official appointees just to shame them into resigning.  aint enough to run after smugglers and tax evaders.

not all the anti-corruption campaigns and the most judicious kind of public spending are going to make much difference, whether in the short run or the long term.   there still won’t be enough money to address the food, education, health needs of the masses if nothing is done about our increasing population, growing by leaps and bounds, and about our economic policies that are tailored more to foreign interests than national interests.   and what about our debt & payment policies, are we never going to renegotiate?   are we forever prioritizing debt payments over the the well-being of millions of disenfranchised and marginalized filipinos?

prof. clarita carlos (gma7) is right. it’s not enough to choose a straight road over a crooked one.   question is, where does the road lead?   if his message to the cpp-npa-ndf is any indication it”s like the same road every president before him has taken: rightist road, status quo.   uncle sam must so love him.

Tungkol naman po sa CPP-NPA-NDF: handa na ba kayong maglaan ng kongkretong mungkahi, sa halip na pawang batikos lamang?

batikos lang ba ang call for agrarian reform?   and better pay for teachers?   fair trade vs. free trade?   an end to oligarchic rule?

Mahirap magsimula ang usapan habang mayroon pang amoy ng pulbura sa hangin. Nananawagan ako: huwag po natin hayaang masayang ang napakagandang pagkakataong ito upang magtipon sa ilalim ng iisang adhikain.

pulbura issues from the right too, as in the hacienda luisita massacre atbp.

Kapayapaan at katahimikan po ang pundasyon ng kaunlaran. Habang nagpapatuloy ang barilan, patuloy din ang pagkakagapos natin sa kahirapan.

it’s not as if the left rose out of nothing, and then there was kahirapan.   the kahirapan was there to begin with, thanks to oligarchic rule, kaya nga dumami at lumakas ang hanay ng kaliwa.

Dapat din po nating mabatid: ito ay panahon ng sakripisyo. At ang sakripisyong ito ay magiging puhunan para sa ating kinabukasan. Kaakibat ng ating mga karapatan at kalayaan ay ang tungkulin natin sa kapwa at sa bayan.

sakripisyo nino?   ng mahihirap pa rin?   puro sakripisyo na nga sila.   those are words better addressed to his own class, his fellow elites and landowners atbp. who refuse to share the nation’s resources.

say ni teddyboy (anc) re the speech and the new prez:

“it was an indictment. When he was talking, it was Ninoy Aquino. I was with Ninoy when he was at his most flamboyant. It was like bullets flying out of a machine gun…There was no vision, but facts.”

sorry, i don’t see the resemblance.   ninoy before martial law was hot.   noynoy is cold.   at his wisest, after seven years seven months in jail, ninoy had a vision for the country that included the left, whom he never brushed off as a “noisy minority.”   a pity that the son either seems to have no idea of it or the son chooses to ignore it.   SONAkakapanghinayang.

supreme court should let trillanes go

… to the inaugural session of the senate of which he is a member, elected into office by more than 11 mllion voters in 2007.   i mean, you know, if he was not going to be allowedpala to BE a senator and take part in the legislative process, why was he allowed to run in the first place?   and kung hindi pala siya pauupuin, when he won, why was he proclaimed at all?   i don’t get it.

and i don’t buy the argument that he’s a security risk.   if in the past he was able to walk out of a court hearing unimpeded, that must have been because his guards allowed him to, perhaps they were sympathizers, perhaps they thought his anti-corruption-in-the-military anti-gma cause a valid one.   and even if it will cost to secure him more tightly should he be allowed to attend senate sessions, i say, hey, sa ibang bagay kaya magtipid.   o kaya kunin sa pork barrel ni trillanes mismo ang panggastos, whatever.   but let him go.

as for the supreme court ruling that has already denied trillanes permission to attend senate sessions, well, the supremes have been known to reverse their own decisions, even, to break their own rules, even, to defy the constitution.    and anyway this particular appeal is just for the inaugural session na nga lang, ano ba.   if it means kiko pangilinan gets to bag the senate presidency, why not.   if he can swing it, he deserves it, maiba naman.

besides why is it taking so long to resolve his case?   seven years na siya in jail, susmaryosep.   are the powers behind-the-supremes, i mean, behind-the-scenes, waiting till his term as senator is up so he never gets to sit?   in my book that’s a crime against the more than 11 million citizens who voted for him.

abad trip

A bad idea
Jojo Robles

One is enough. Two is probably a bad sign, three is definitely a bad precedent and four just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Fourpeople from a single family—all surnamed Abad—are in key government positions in the new Aquino administration. And by “key,” we mean exactly that, because all four are involved in government finance, both in the executive branch and in Congress.

There’s the dad, Florencio “Butch” Abad, the former manager of the campaign of candidate Noynoy Aquino, now budget secretary-designate. This Abad was also a former Batanes congressman, former agrarian reform and formereducation secretary of the previous Arroyo administration, who joined other officials of that government in the figurative burning of their Cabinet cards that signaled their joining the so-called “Hyatt 10.”

Butch Abad attended high school, college and law school at Ateneo de Manila, the school du jour. He is the son of a five-time Liberal Party congressman from Batanes, the late Jorge Abad, and is president of the party that once counted his father as one of its members.

Butch’s father was also the Arroyo connection, having served as public works, transportation and communications secretary during the term of President Diosdado Macapagal in the early sixties. His mother, Aurora, also served as officer-in-charge governor and representative of Batanes.

Butch is married to the former Henedina Razon, who is currently the congressman of Batanes. Henedina was a former dean of the Ateneo School of Government (that school, again) who worked as a community organizer and NGO advocate; she had also served once before (2004-2007) as Batanes representative.

But Henedina, who defeated the incumbent Batanes congressman by a mere 35 votes in the elections last May, is not going to be just another backbencher in the soon-to-be-convened Congress. She is reportedly also set to become the vice chairman of the powerful House appropriations committee, which scrutinizes, approves or disapproves the national budget that her husband will submit in behalf of the entire executive branch.

Will the Abads’ pillow talk, once Mrs. Abad becomes the second-highest lawmaker on the appropriations panel, include budget matters and the executive’s need for Congress to approve Malacañang’s, the various departments’ and other state agencies’ proposed outlays? No one, except the parties involved, will know for certain.

If that’s not scary enough a situation, let’s move on to the Abads’ first-born, daughter Julia Andrea. Julia has been named, to the raising of many eyebrows, head of the Presidential Management Staff, which carries the rank of Cabinet secretary.

This means that Julia and his dad meet regularly, not over dinner as is the case in most families, but across the wide table with the mircophones where Cabinet meetings are held. The new administration has defended Julia’s appointment, saying she is a trusted and loyal aide, the same one who served for all the three years that Aquino stayed in the Senate.

Prior to that Senate gig, Julia worked at the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Now, as head of PMS, she will get to direct, among other duties, the disbursement of the President’s Social Fund, a stash of cash that has also been called the President’s very own pork barrel.

Will Julia be asking her dad’s advice on PSF disbursements, since he’s the budget secretary and also probably her mentor in public service? And will her mom be inclined to ask Julia about how the fund is disbursed, not only as part of her motherly responsibilities but also as a member of the branch of government that has oversight functions over the executive?

And will Luis Andres, the third child of the Abad couple, call to tell his parents that he will be late for the weekend family gathering because his boss still needs him at work? No matter, they will probably understand that the job of the chief of staff to the finance secretary will be very, very time-consuming.

He can always catch up with dad and sis at the next Cabinet meeting anyway. And as for mom, he will probably be able to squeeze in some quality time with her when the finance secretary presents his program for finding the money to fund the Aquino government’s programs.

* * *

The December 2003 submission of Butch Abad, when he was still serving the Arroyo administration, includes a list of relatives in government. The list shows that two siblings, four cousin and an in-law of the LP head were also serving in the government that year as mayor, district engineer, fiscal and employees of holding various positions in agencies as diverse as the municipal government of Ivana, Batanes, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Quezon City prosecutor’s office, Congress and the weather bureau.

Working in the government, it seems, is the career of choice for many Abads and their kin, in much the same way that some families are “into” music or journalism. And there is really nothing wrong with that, especially since many families have distinguished themselves by excelling in the field of civil service for generations.

But, as the leftist party-list group Bayan Muna pointed out, it is certainly “uncomfortable” to have four members of one single family in powerful positions that have to do with government finance. “I hope President Aquino broadens his field of candidates because there are other individuals who could do the job as well or even better,’’ said Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

Pere Abad sees nothing wrong with this situation, even if almost everyone else does. And the presidential spokesman dismissed in lawyer-like fashion the concerns about having too many Abads in the Aquino administration as “speculative”—whether he means that their appointments are speculative or the concerns are, we can’t really tell.

The defense used by the President’s spokesman is that the Abads’ competence and qualifications “speak for themselves.” Unfortunately, what President Aquino’s mouthpiece fails to understand is that, despite the loud volume of this family’s achievements, their work hasn’t been asked to speak in this case.

What’s really at issue here is the propriety of having three Abads in sensitive positions involving government finance in the executive department and a fourth in Congress’ appropriations committee, which should oversee the work of the first three. And that has nothing to do with the abilities, competence or even the integrity and honesty of these members of a prominent Batanes family.

Even the President’s absolute faith in the family is not an issue, when one delves into the matter of the propriety of their various appointments. No President can force anyone to serve in his official family, after all, despite his vast powers.

The only people who can really do something to remedy this situation are the Abads themselves, unless they truly find nothing wrong with what is surely an unusual and record-breaking situation. The family certainly knows what to do—unless they think that all four of them in high government office isn’t such a bad idea.

the big abad wolf

no doubt butch and julia and luis abad are all qualified for their new jobs.   but what keeps coming back to me is a campaign promise — can’t remember now if it was butch a. himself who said it or somebody else — that noynoy’s would be a different kind of presidency, supporters would not be expecting any payback in terms of juicy positions in government.   so talaga, i am so with juana change a.k.a. mae paner on the abad appointments.   one is enough, two is too much, three is over, as in grabe naman, wala na bang iba, lalo na’t the wife is also in the lower house?   ano ba yan, daig pa ang mga marcos at mga arroyo, na at least ay puro elected by the people.   or is that the point?   is this a different kind of dynasty building?   there are other ways of skinning a cat?   karirin na lang ang pagsipsip sa presidente?   okay lang ba ito sa sisters?   love na love lang talaga nila ang mga abad?   bad bad bad.   so nakakaalibadbad.