calling out peachy and jim (or, why not on EDSA?) #ScrapPork

in the time of EDSA Uno, lines were clearly drawn; the parliament of the streets was united behind cory from the snap election campaign to the victory rally in luneta to the four days in EDSA.  in Dos, however, the people who wanted erap ousted after the second-envelope fiasco, didn’t agree at first on who to replace him with — the elite wanted gma, the left wanted a council of state of sorts, and yet others wanted davide — but they all came together at the EDSA shrine anyway, and, in the process and over time, rose above their differences, united behind gma, and that was the end of erap.

amazingly (and then, again, maybe not), the “non-organizer” of the aug 26 luneta rally, who has chosen to “disengage” from the movement isn’t really disengaging pala, she can’t seem to let go, or why else does she now explicitly discourage moving the action to EDSA?  i sincerely hope that the gaffe is unwitting, political naif that she is, rather than witting, which would mean she is not above helping the palace prevent an EDSA crowd of any kind from gathering against pork.

Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña
31 August near Manila • Edited
Just to clarify, the EDSA call is NOT from me and not the same as the #MillionPeopleMarch. #ScrapPork has nothing to do with Marcos’ bday or martial law. And besides, anything on EDSA is too disruptive to our economy and the daily lives of the ordinary taxpayer like us who eke out a living. We want to make an impact yes, but an impact that works within the system and doesn’t throw us back to the bottom of the pit again. Thus the #100days to Justice. I am quite sure there will be those who will get angry at me for saying this but I just want people to be more aware of whatever they’re getting into.
Please repost and share if you feel the same way.

“work within the system?”  was that what she thought the luneta rally was about, working within the system?  that’s almost like playing into the palace spin that we’re all on the same side as the president on the pork barrel issue, which is far from true.  “100 days to justice?”  does she really think there’s a chance that government peeps will fall all over themselves to deliver all culprits for punishment in a hundred days if we don’t level up from unorganized disorganized luneta picnics and unite behind clearly articulated and non-negotiable demands?

she says “EDSA is too disruptive to our economy.”  hmm. i hope she means only in the sense of traffic problems — thus the aversion to a rally in EDSA — and not because she’s against any kind of EDSA action, even prayer rallies and townhall style discussions aimed at information exchange and eventually coming to a consensus on abolition, hopefully (rather than mere reform na tila tuloy tuloy ang kickbacks).

if the former, it would be a simple matter of engaging with the organizers and suggesting that they hold the rally on a weekend, less traffic, kahit paano; not that there’s any guarantee the organizers would listen, of course, but at least she tried.  if the latter, then it might be connected with her fear of militants taking over the movement, not seeing the fact that the militants are but a small sector of the huge silent coalition who went to luneta that Monday, and that these more numerous unorganized and unaffiliated citizens are intellectually capable of facing up to the challenge of sifting the grain from the chaff in pursuit of the common good.

she’s right, #scrapPork has nothing to do with marcos’s birthday or martial law, but if those days fell on weekends, okay na rin. If we don’t want the unrepentant marcoses and marcosistas gatecrashing, we could make it a day too of national reflection on how, and why, ferdinand marcos failed us. time for history lessons.

weekends would be good just because more people are likely to come than on a workday, but if that’s just me, okay lang.  maybe we have to hold one on a workday to see for ourselves what works and what doesn’t.  it’s like starting from scratch, but again that’s okay, as long as learning happens.

not surprisingly, self-styled guru jim paredes who was part of the luneta rally, as volunteer or something, reposted peachy’s no-to-EDSA facebook status.

Jim Paredes shared Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña’s status. 1 September

Yes Peachy!.. YES. I too will not go to any rally that falls on the day of Marcos Birthday. And yes, EDSA is too disruptive a place. With too many operators now moving in the shadows, I am very skeptical specially since some people associated with the past regime are suddenly calling for mass action.

“too many operators now moving in the shadows,” hmm.  i hope paredes realizes that he seems as much an operator as any of the ones he’s referring to, gven his continuing unflinching unwavering support for the incumbent. what did he say at the rally? something like, government is listening.  yeah, right.  but government is also hoping the noise dies down asap so they can get back to business as usual.

read And Just Like That, the Concept of “Social Media Revolution” Dies Choking on the Astroturf.  ben kritz is spot on:

There was already some evidence of an effort by the Administration to ‘hijack’ the protest last Monday with the appearance (appropriately given an abundance of attention by the government-backing media) of well-known Aquino apologists such as Jim Paredes and Mae Paner (delete mine), the catcalls and jeers directed at former Chief Justice Renato Corona which were apparently instigated by Administration supporters planted in the crowd, and this simpering paean to Aquino posted in the hours before the demonstration by “social media expert” Cocoy Dayao, which was seized upon by both of Malacañang’s Designated Talking Persons as evidence of genuine support from the public. Whatever else can be said about the Aquino Machine, their grasp of the importance and potential of social media as a propaganda tool is formidable, and well it should be: Social media management is the responsibility of the unctuous, ethically-challenged, but extremely intelligent Manuel L. Quezon III, the third and clearly the most adept of the three Cerberus heads of the Palace Comm Group.

… Social media as a means to effect the change this country needs had an incredibly short life-span, and is now dead. It may have gotten the ball rolling, but its primary use now is to simply telegraph every idea and planned move of protestors to a hostile government desperate to stay in power and more than capable of using the public’s own technological tools against them.

peachy is reported to have tweeted that it’s “too soon for an EDSA gathering.”  i hope she means it’s too soon IF the objective is the ouster of the prez.  but, as far as i know, this is NOT the objective.  the objective is to exchange information, raise questions, find ways of reconciling differences, the better to present a united front for Freedom Of Information and against the pork barrel system and all its evils, especially the ghost NGOs and contractors, and the kickbacks to the honourables.

and to those who say that EDSA Uno was a failure anyway, i say, EDSA Uno was a huge success, the million people stopped tanks and ousted a deeply entrenched dictator without bloodshed.  no.mean.feat.  it was post-EDSA that was the failure, and that’s where and why we need to level-up.

if you don’t get it, or you’re happy enough with the response of the aquino admin, or your priorities simply lie elsewhere, fine.  just, please, don’t stand naman in the way.

Comments

  1. Angie,
    EDSA or Rizal Park doesnt matter.The clarion call for the unwanted fat of corruption be cleansed/eradicated from the political system must continue be trumpeted both in and out of social media. It seems 9/11/13 is not a good fungsui, and since you are a student of Astrology, would you suggest a date/time and place,rallying point so the convergence of people will likely be more a major major event ?

  2. i love how these aquino diehards are playing the “inconvenience” card. how times have changed, indeed. what did those pre-edsa rallies in ayala and other pro-cory places do, if not inconvenience other people who didn’t share their own, now-forgotten enthusiasm? they say not edsa. i say why the hell not? cheers, stuartsantiago, a true voice of reason in a sea of palace-generated spin.

  3. […] Ironic that many Filipinos take their cue from all these bozos. Are these rallies really fueled by “people power”? Or are they all about celebrity power. Seems to me it is the latter. Otherwise what grand ol’ Apo Jim Paredes has to say about these protest rallies shouldn’t matter to the average Pinoy schmoe at all. Of course, that does not stop Mr Tear-up-my-Green-Card himself from having his celebrity stamp of approval or disapproval. Commenting on Apo Jim’s conspiracy theories concerning shadowy “operators” behind this and that rally, Angela Stuart-Santiago observes… […]

  4. “There was already some evidence of an effort by the Administration to ‘hijack’ the protest last Monday with the appearance (appropriately given an abundance of attention by the government-backing media) of well-known Aquino apologists such as Jim Paredes and Mae Paner (delete mine), the catcalls and jeers directed at former Chief Justice Renato Corona which were apparently instigated by Administration supporters planted in the crowd, and this simpering paean to Aquino posted in the hours before the demonstration by “social media expert” Cocoy Dayao,”

    so, this is “evidence”?

    if the left attends, we shouldnt say the protest is hijacked right? eh, kung may magattend na isang tao, na “hi jack” na?

    serious?

    what is the point of all of these dire OA statments, death of this, etc… can’t we just accept that we have different ideas? and we skip the name calling?

  5. troydeleon

    Each one has principles which guide their decision making, principles which may seem weird and inexplicable to some but clear and logical to others.

    Aug 26 was always about the “cause” and how each person there felt. Wanting to make clear she/he is not associated with EDSA tayo doesnt lessen their support for the “cause”, it only reminds us and proves to others that we are not paid zombies out to get the current administration but a real diverse group working together to to demand decency from our public servants.

    Reading the other comments, I beg to differ calling Peachy, Mae or even Jim as Aquino diehards. They are as transparent as we want the government to be. They are also enraged by the corruption but have different ideas, like us, on how to solve it. They are also telling us their limits which is good to know. I too would not go to EDSA if it was to bring down the current admin for the simple reason that my experience in EDSA 2 has soured my taste for putting in power mob-backed moneyed personalities who cant win honest presidential elections. I need a more concrete plan for a replacement in place to convince me otherwise.

    And for those who were not at the command tent that day, shame on you for generalizing that those who heckled Corona at Luneta were Pro-Aquino. Based on most people’s assessment of senate trial, Corona is a thief and a bully who got ousted because of a mistake in his SALN. He needs to be prosecuted soonest in a real court for real justice (at least for their relatives) to be done.

    The 100 days to justice campaign will be actually be a good way for people to realize if “Tuwid na daan” is just a campaign slogan or a real policy. For how can they still doubt what it is after a 100 days of inaction.

      • troydeleon

        With all due respect, i believe the sentimentality that EDSA 1 provokes often overrides the true worth of its actual results. If EDSA 1 had followed the Kitchenware Revolution of Iceland then it would have been a more resounding success. But then, there was no Icelandic model to follow at the time and hindsight is always 20/20.

        EDSA 1 started to fail as soon as building strong institutions was made secondary to consolidating power and the newly emboldened elite strengthening their commercial interests without regard to the true victims of martial law, the poor. Though it brought us back media freedom, the lack of institutional transparency and accountability made it an unfinished revolution that has time and again threatened to re-erupt like Mayon but has kept simmering after 3 decades.

        • you’re right. didn’t keep track of the kitchenware revo after the noise barrage, but something like that is what we should have done, post-EDSA. our problem then and now is lack of information. we don’t know enough about the economic landscape, we don’t really know what’s going on. yet… i assure you though, it is not sentimentality that moves me to ask people to take a deeper look at EDSA UNO. yes, by day three, with the takeover of channel 4, the old elite and the old policies were back… but the six days of the crony boycott, day one of the defection, and day two when people stopped tanks — offer many lessons in non-violent change and the dynamics of people power.

          • troydeleon

            Agree, it was a glorious 8 days while it lasted.

            As an article i read said, EDSA was about reclaiming our voice and Aug 26 was finally using it to reclaim our rights.

          • In hindsight, the post EDSA UNO revolution turned into an idolatry and failed its mission when they erected the statue of the Virgin Mary. My biased infusion knowledge on religion taught me that even on death throes of Cruxifixion Jesus never addressed the Blessed Mary as my mother, Inang saklolo but “woman behold thy son”. Until we read our Bible correctly, we will be the laughing stock of other sectors who calls our way of behaviour as a “damage culture”.

        • manuel buencamino

          What do you mean by “the true victims of martial law, the poor.” ? What do you consider the rest of the country that was not party to martial law, hila na victims? It’s unfair to dismiss the injustice suffered by millions of other Filipinos just because they were not poor.

    • John Riingen

      I suspect there seems to be some undercurrent competition among the leadership of the different anti-admin groups. Why? Can’t they see the bigger picture why they are doing the rallies? I hope I’m wrong.

      • it shouldn’t matter who is leading a rally. what matters is clarifying what their stand is — abolish all pork ba, o congressional pork lang, o reform lang — upon learning which one decides if one is going or not.

        • manuel buencamino

          It matters who is leading the rally because knowing who is leading it will tell me where the crowd is being led. Because civil society, UNA, GMA loyalists, CPP/NDF, and every angry person on the street may agree on what they don’t like but each group has its own idea of what it likes. A common appreciation of a problem does not necessarily mean everyone will agree on a particular solution.

          • troydeleon

            Not necessarily, it will only matter if the people who come have no idea what they want in the first place.

            There is no one hero in this fight and you dont have to belong to one particular sector to be outraged by the utter lack of decency they display.

        • troydeleon

          well said Ms Angela, and to be clear, except for certain people – its ALL PORK. Those swines in government need to be leaner to be able to perform their real duty and finally pass laws such as the FOI as well as junk that awful cybercrime bill.

  6. andrew lim

    It’s my first time to comment here.

    I think Ms Stuart’s frustrations and the emotions that go with it are getting the better of her.

    Indication of that is when you start seeing the world as divided into Aquino diehards and those who are not. That’s when she ends up on the same bed as Jojo Robles and Mr Kritz, even if under normal circumstances she wouldn’t.

    When I read her statements, I can almost picture an enraged person holding a can of gasoline and matches, ready to burn the house down just to roast the pig.

    I wonder if her penchant for astrology has any bearing on her capacity to analyze things objectively, though.

    • i don’t always agree with ben kritz and jojo robles but on the pork barrel issue and how it is being handled by the palace and social media, i do. i don’t always disagree with peachy and jim, but on their no-to-EDSA, i do.

  7. “Social media management is the responsibility of the unctuous, ethically-challenged, but extremely intelligent Manuel L. Quezon III, the third and clearly the most adept of the three Cerberus heads of the Palace Comm Group.”

    why is he ethically challenged?