Category: hacienda luisita

independence day blues in the time of duterte (kris rises and falls, yet again)

One hundred and twenty years ago, our ancestors raised the Philippine flag from a balcony in Kawit, Cavite to signify the beginning of our journey as a free nation. Hijacked by the United States of America right at the start, and interrupted by Japan during World War II, the quest for an independent Filipino nation has been an arduous process. It tested our fortitude and persistence as a people. It brought out the best, but also the worst in us.

read the rest of randy david’s The challenge of nationhood in our time.  what he says about our postwar leaders continues to apply to our leaders until today.

… if the revolutionary struggle had been painful and costly, the aftermath was perhaps even more so. The moral and political choices that had to be made under conditions of formal self-rule were less clear. In the immediate postwar years, our leaders found it hard to resist the easy path offered by those who sought to control the nation’s future. Political opportunism grew in the fertile ground of the popular thought that the country had suffered enough and badly needed relief.

… In the process, perhaps without realizing it, we gave up the opportunity to rebuild our people’s inner strength, tap their skills and talents, and create the basic foundation for a strong nation. The examples of Japan, South Korea and Vietnam demonstrate the truism that the rebuilding of a country destroyed by war begins with the rekindling of the people’s energy and belief in themselves.

… The quality of leadership, both at the national and local levels, has undoubtedly been at the core of this national inability to rebound from misery and soar into greatness. Lacking in vision and selflessness, our leaders have done well for themselves, using political power to bolster their own selfish interests.

But they have left the rest of the nation behind…

“they” are all of the elite, all of the oligarchy — pro- and anti-duterte, pro- and anti-marcos, pro-and anti-aquino, pro- and anti-america, pro- and anti-china — and their media arms and other enablers.  they are all complicit in the sad and worsening state of nation.

this was driven home hard by the kris aquino episode vs. mocha uson who dared liken duterte’s pucker-up kiss-muna moment in south korea to ninoy aquino being kissed by lady admirers moments before he deplaned and was assassinated in august 1983.  read rosario a. garcellano’s Kissing pictures:

But can parallel behavior be actually observed in the pictures of the President kissing a member of his audience and of Ninoy Aquino being kissed by admirers? I think not, if only in the fundamental terms of one being the kisser and the other the kissee. One solicited the occasion for the contact (to entertain and amuse, and also as part of “the culture of Filipinos,” according to his explainers); the other submitted to the act, with an awkward grin.

Kris Aquino was well within her rights to take loud umbrage, even if, as Uson claimed, “this is not about you.”

indeed.  that was uson at her most malicious and unthinking worst yet.  i was immensely pleased for ninoy when kris rose to the occasion, challenging uson to a debate, or sampalan and sabunutan, one-on-one, what fun!  alas, uson copped out, LOL, what a loser.

and then there’s kris, who pala, while making hamon uson to a real catfight, reached out to bong go, no less, na kaibigan pala niya.

krisaquino I took the courage to reach out to PRRD’s SA Bong Go (sorry sa initial post, nag auto correct to Gong-although cute yung Bong Gong)… thank you commissioner Aimee Neri for helping me reach him via text. I have known & liked him for 8 years. In this instance I am Ninoy’s daughter- he believed in the power of true & honest communication… SA Bong, thank you for your reply. Thank you for taking my feelings as a daughter into consideration & showing me EMPATHY. I am most grateful for a man as powerful as you are now for texting & vibering me the words “we are sorry for the incident.” You have my sincere gratitude.  We all have 1 goal, a nation we can be proud of, and the best possible prosperous lives for all Filipinos. I love our country as much as our president does. I pray for #PEACE & mutual respect for all of us. God bless you.

ito naman ang pinost ni bong go na pinost ni kris sa kanyang instagram.

Christopher Bong Go  Kanina po, dahil ipinag-utos ni Presidente Duterte sa akin, I relayed a sincere apology to Kris.  We apologized because nasaktan siya and we wish to reiterate that sincere apology once again.  Sabi nga ng pangulo, “respetuhin dapat natin ang patay.” Iyong po ang pinanggagalingan ng apology namin.

Nirerespeto din namin ang opinyon ng mga supporters ng pangulo na nasasaktan din sa patuloy na pagbatikos sa kanya sa kabila ng lahat ng nagawa niya para sa ating bayan.”

(huh? so kung buhay si ninoy, okay lang?)  at kinausap din daw ni bong go si uson.

Christopher Bong Go Nag-usap kami ni Mocha at nagkasundo na tapusin na ang isyung ito. We all agreed to put this issue to rest out of respect to all our fellow Filipinos. I believe that politics should not divide us. Magtulungan na lang tayo kaysa mag-away away, para sa ikabubuti ng bayan.

at heto uli si kris, grateful for the “olive branch” from the powerful bong go upon the orders of the most powerful man…

krisaquino  Alam kong damned if you, damned if you don’t ako… but i was brought up to recognize an “olive branch” when it is being offered. Alam ko yung mga natitirang LP will bash me & the DDS will never like me. Alam ko rin na sasabihan akong bakit ako nagpapauto. Pero ito ang pananaw ko- the most powerful man, President Duterte affirmed my pain. When all his supporters have called me the most hateful names- th man who doesn’t say SORRY- inutusan ang kanyang pinaka pinagkakatiwalaan na mag relay ng SINCERE apology sa kin. Anak akong nakipaglaban na bigyan ng respeto ang magulang kong patay na. Sa puso ko, naramdaman ko na yun. So #carebears na po sa lahat ng babatikusin alo. In my critics words- this “media whore” “bitch” and “kulang sa pansin” BINIGYAN ng panahon at importansya ng pangulo ng ating bansa. Pasensya na kung #BRAT ang tingin ninyo pero this was a #WIN for the memory of the 2 people i love-unfortunately for the HATERS i am here to stay.

needless to say, what a waste.  kris was in a position to demand, at the very least, that uson be fired and replaced with someone bright, smart, and competent.  then we could stop wasting time arguing over the false comparisons and flippantly facetious questions that uson specializes in to distract from her daddy digong’s every perversion.

but the real question is: why did kris fold so quickly?  basta na lang tumiklop, invoking nation yet, as does bong gong.  i was still wondering about that when i saw this on facebook.

Angelo Suarez

Pantabla kay Kris Aquino, ang alas ng mga maka-Duterte ay Hacienda Luisita.

Ang Central Azucarera de Tarlac sa loob ng Hacienda Luisita ay pag-aari ng mga Lorenzo, pamilya ng mga landlord na kakutsaba ng mga Cojuangco-Aquino sa panglalandgrab.

Sino ang abogado ng mga Lorenzo sa pangangamkam nito ng lupa sa pamamagitan ng Lapanday Foods Corporation sa Tagum?

Sino ang abogado ng mga Lorenzong nagbantang babarilin ang mga magsasakang papasok sa lupang dapat naman ay sa kanila?

Si Manases Carpio, asawa ni Sara Duterte.

connect the dots.  they who have left the nation behind, they are all in this together.  let us keep that in mind as we navigate the muddy waters of our national life and pursue our struggle for independence.

*

independence day blues (in the time of gloria)
the real rigodon 
june 12, what’s to celebrate (in the time of pNoy)
Is the Philippines a lost cause? by john nery
Nothing to celebrate? by rina jimenez-david
Independence Day? End of the Republic by jarius bondoc

year-end gripes, and a dream

parang not since the impeachment trial of erap 2000-2001 has the holiday break been so politically charged.

the outrageous hike in meralco bills continues to jolt especially because the supreme court’s 60-day TRO came too late for some customers who have already paid their december bills.  energy regulatory commission, sleeping on the job?  or just happy for the power industry that’s raking in such profits?  vested interests maybe?  bakit ngayon lang naisip yang bid price cap sa spot market?  what’s going on?  testing our limits?

and what about energy sec petilla’s resignation kuno for failing to fully restore electricity to yolanda-ravaged provinces…  for a while there ka-excite-excite the prospect of petilla taking up the cudgels for oppressed electricity consumers vs power oligarchs, but that fizzled out soon enough, pa-cute lang pala, knowing full well that the president would not let him go?  nakakainit ng ulo, nakakainis, to find that he’s just another traditional politico with a moist eye on the palace, or first the senate?

and what about the Tarlac Devt Corp, said to be the manager of Hacienda Luisita, bulldozing farmlands (that farmers have been farming for years), claiming that the land belongs to TADECO and not part of the Hacienda luisita area ordered distributed by the supreme court.  ganoon?  if it has long been farmed by the farmers who claim it, and they have papers showing no other claimants since, what claim does TADECO have on the land?  sino bang may-ari niyang TADECO na yan?  hindi ba ang mga cojuango rin na may-ari ng Hacienda Luisita?  whatever, whoever, it’s a case that should be settled in court, according to the agrarian reform law, and not with bulldozing strong-arm tactics.

and what about the binay brouhaha aka dasmagate…  as though the binays, like most politicos since forever, have not always behaved this way, what are they in power for, and all that jazz.  what was unusual was that the security guards said no, and yet not one in media has told us with certitude that it was because they did not recognize the mayor (and why not? hindi sila taga-makati?), or they recognized him but weren’t told the rules re VIPs until after the incident.  it would also help to know if this was the first time the mayor tried to exit through this gate before, or if he had done it countless times and never had a problem.  come on, media, level up naman.  and you might want to check out a rumor that dasma has opted to change security agencies anyway?  i’d love to hear that it’s not true.

and speaking of binay the mayor, what about the hate campaign crackling on social media vs binay the veep, patriarch of an entrenched dynasty, who would (intends to) be prez in 2016.  nakaka-freak out naman talaga the prospect of a binay presidency, with abigail in the lower house and nancy in the senate.  kulang na lang, mga alipores sa judiciary.  yari tayo, ika nga.  from the frying pan into the fire.

unless, of course, tamaan ng nakaliliwanag na kidlat si jejomar binay, ala saul sa damascus, at ma-convert siya back to human rights advocacy, as in the days of marcos (before cory made him officer-in-charge of makati, what a plum prize).  full circle.  abigail, junjun, and nancy would resign out of delicadeza, and in support of their father’s new politics, anti-poverty, anti-corruption, anti-patronage, anti-status quo, pro-environment, for a change.

a pipe dream, yes, but if there’s one who could make it happen, it’s binay, if he only cared enough for this bayang sawi of ours.

hacienda luisita: 1,527 hectares still owned by cojuangcos

everyone was expecting pained remarks from the aquino-cojuangco camp after the supreme court ruled that compensation is to be based on 1989 valuations.  but, nothing.  i wondered if maybe because they had read alex magno’s “Hacienda” where he says The price for the blood-soaked land is probably ridiculously low. That might be what social justice requires. 

Recall that the agreement in the fifties, in exchange for government financing acquisition of the hacienda, was for the landowners to distribute the land to the farmers by 1968. Since that time, the matter was tied up in litigation.

It will probably take at least a year for the land to be actually redistributed. That means that all of 45 years was lost to the farmers fighting this case in the courts.

Any day added to the waiting and any peso added to the price of the land will be an injustice. A more militant position on this issue might have pegged land prices at their 1968 levels — the year the land was supposed to have been redistributed.

In addition, a portion of Luisita land was sold earlier by its owners to a private company. The farmers, who have been stockholders in the meantime, demand a share of the proceeds from that sale. Hacienda Luisita claims the money made from the sale have all been expended. But if the farmers deserve a share of that, the amount due them might be discounted from what they have to amortize from here on.

or maybe they read solita collas-monsod’s “Screwed coming and going” where she points out that in 1989 the cojuangcos used that same 40,000 per hectare valuation which gave the family absolute control of the new corporation, Hacienda Luisita Inc., and the farmers only one-third ownership.

which is really some kind of poetic justice, no?  but wait.  tila unfinished, incomplete, ang justice, after all.  read mareng winnie’s punchline.

Remember: The total land area of Hacienda Luisita that should have been subjected to agrarian reform was 6,443 hectares, but the actual area reformed was 4,916 hectares. Which means that the owners of Tadeco, with the approval of the DAR, were allowed to keep for themselves 1,527 hectares of land.

That’s a heck of a lot of land. Even if one deducts 66 hectares that supposedly comprise the sugar mill land, 263 hectares supposedly unfit for agriculture, 266 hectares of roads and creeks, and 121 hectares “given” to the farmers for home lots, there would still be 811 hectares of land left for the owners of Tadeco.

Eight hundred eleven hectares of land is larger than most of the other sugar plantations in the country.

Which leads to the question: Shouldn’t the DAR reform that land, too? The original decision of the Supreme Court gives it the authority to do so. I sincerely hope that Agrarian Reform Secretary Gil de los Reyes is made of stern stuff.

wow.  ang coconut and rice lands, someone correct me if i’m wrong, 7 hectares lang ang puwedeng i-retain ng landowner.  ano ba yan, iba pang kaso?  talaga naman.  pahirapan.  state of the nation.

corona impeachment is to save hacienda luisita?

i thought the house of reps was working on impeaching supreme court justice mariano del castillo for plagiarism.  as it turns out, that was just a distraction.  behind the scenes, the reps (188! medyo o.a.)were working pala on the impeachment of bigger, nay, the biggest, fish, chief justice renato corona.  phnoy’s valte and rep. tupas et al can deny it all they want, but clearly the prez was behind it — i just heard him gloating on anc as he addressed house allies — and it’s quite believable, as edcel lagman claims, that many reps signed to make sure they get their pork barrel next year (ay, shades of gma) and, of course, marami sa kanila ay pumoposisyon for the basbas of phnoy sa 2013 elections.

blogs carlos conde:

According to this story from @moveph and the venerable @glendamgloria … President Aquino’s recent attacks against the Supreme Court were calculated, designed to prepare the public for the possible impeachment of the “last Arroyo holdout,” Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, whose court the Aquino administration has accused of being obstructionist in its fight against corruption.

The strategy is brilliant: to make Corona’s impeachment in Congress easier (given that Filipino politicians respond better to the supposed public pulse than the law and the Constitution), he must first be impeached from the public mind.

and like caloy i suspect that it’s not all just about gma but also about hacienda luisita:

But before I can believe that all of this is for good governance and against corruption and all that, let me make a simple challenge, one that will remove a huge doubt on the motives of the president:

The government should first implement the Supreme Court order on Hacienda Luisita and distribute the land to farmer-beneficiaries. (Distribute it, that is, as ordered by the high court. So none of that higher land valuation and more beneficiaries gambit by Hacienda Luisita Inc.) This time, actually distribute the land. Immediately. Before any Supreme Court impeachment happens.

The next Corona-less Supreme Court should no longer have to handle the Luisita case. Changing the composition of the Supreme Court and then letting this new court decide on the Luisita case is no different from packing the jury. No different, in fact, from Arroyo packing the Supreme Court with her own appointees.

If the government cannot or will not distribute the crown jewel of Aquino’s family before of all of this Corona contretemps comes to a head, all of this is suspect.

i hear the pressure is on for corona to resign a la merceditas and save us all the trouble of a senate trial.  i’m hoping corona doesn’t cave in.  i want to hear his defense.

the question of course is, who will phnoy appoint in his place.  pinoyexchange forum‘s fearless forecast: antonio carpio: “alam na ni Carpio ang gagawin niya”.  abangan.