Category: media

enrile, inquirer, surrender

watching the surrender of enrile on tv was kind of surreal, as in, really?  it’s happening?  now na?  wow!

for a while there, when jinggoy’s arrest was not quickly followed by enrile’s, i remarked on facebook that his lawyer estelito mendoza was probably trying out every legal gimmick, every trick in the book, to stop the sandiganbayan from ruling on probable cause.  i could imagine all the wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes, favors being called even, all to no avail, it now would seem, except for a few days’ delay.  wow!

this is nothing like the arrests for “rebellion” in 1990 and 2001 that, in both cases, alleged enrile to be on power-grab mode; both times he was out in a matter of days.  this one is for plunder, some 172 million in alleged PDAF kickbacks 2007 to 2009, which he denies, of course, he will prove his innocence in court, and maybe he will, but meanwhile he is under arrest and detention.

in fairness, it was a relief that his surrender was without the showbiz dramatics that attended the last hurrahs of estrada jr. and revilla jr., two clowns who quite likely entertained the illusion that the millions who voted for them would gather in protest as erap’s masses did when he was arrested in 2001.  enrile, it would seem, had no such illusion, even if he was the original EDSA hero.  no presscon, no statement, hardly any photos or video of him, and no mugshots released.

nakakapagpaisip.  i’m sorry it’s happening now, when he’s old and ailing, but, again, wow, quite a big fish he is, and i have been backtracking: paano na nga nangyari ito?  let’s give credit where credit is due.  o nasabit lang ba kay napoles at sa inquirer scoop of benhur luy’s records?

but wait, speaking of the inquirer, suddenly i remember someone saying something about the broadsheet in connection with enrile’s case, and i google it, and, hey hey hey, straight from an official statement by gigi reyes, issued from the states in sept 2013.

The PDI evidently has an ax to grind against me. I say so because in a private dinner in Rockwell a few months back where I accompanied my former boss, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, PDI Editor-in-Chief Mrs. Letty Jimenez Magsanoc openly told us about her deep personal hurt over the Senator’s published “Memoirs” which recounted the beginnings of the PDI and what she called the “unfair” portrayal of Ms. Eugenia “Eggie” Apostol.

it was just a few months after the corona impeachment trial when enrile launched A Memoir (september 2012).  at totoo naman na grabe ang ginawang panlalait ni enrile kay eggie.  i thought she could have taken him to court for libel atbp. and oh what an alta siyudad media scandal that would have been, who might the rest of media have sided with kaya, ano?  magsanoc was smarter than that, of course.  maaaring the inquirer had inside info on the nbi’s or coa’s investigations of napoles, maaring they got wind of benhur luy’s records, and it would be interesting to know if benhur’s parents offered the inquirer the info out of the blue, or if it was the inquirer that initiated the contact by sending feelers.  how powerful can media get?

whatever, is that cackling i hear from the eggie side of makati?  enrile’s editor and publisher should have warned him about women scorned: hell hath no fury, and all that jazz.

usaping tsina

painit nang painit ang usapin.  patindi nang patindi ang mga banat ng tsina sa west philippine sea; itinataboy ang ating mga mangingisda (tinira ng watercannon noong enero) at nanghaharang ng supply boats to ph outposts like the sierra madre wreck sa ayungin shoal.

recently, mula nang i-file ng DFA ang ating 4,000-page memo sa arbitration tribunal, sa media naman tayo binabanatan, panay ang press release ng mga intsik, ipinipilit, idinidiin, iginigiit, na pag-aari ng tsina ang ayungin atbp., as if saying it over and over like a mantra would make it come true.  pinapalabas na tayo pa ang wala sa lugar, tayo pa ang naghahanap ng away, hindi sila.  *sarcastic lol*

nakakagalit at nakakabahala, and yet parang hirap na hirap tayo na i-articulate ang ating niloloob at aminin na nakakabuwisit na (sobra na, ano ba) ang pambubully ng tsina.  baka kasi magalit ang mga intsik at balikan tayo – bigyan tayo ng problema sa koryente, pauwiin ang pinoy OFWs, magtampo ang mga tsinoy nating bossing, o kapamilya o kabarkada?  na oo naman, nakaka-tense, but it’s not as if tayo lang ang mawawalan; ang china rin, mawawalan.  maraming hassle for both sides, at the level of nation and individual both, kung sakaling magkagulo.  i suppose it seems wiser to not say anything, huwag nang dumagdag sa balitaktakan, huwag nang gatungan pa, let’s just leave it to the prez, united we stand divided we fall and all that.

ang problema, not saying anything means consenting to the deal that the prez is working out with the americans behind the scenes, a deal that is said to provide for u.s. jurisdiction pa rin over criminally erring american soldiers (as in, let’s forget the nicole-smith rape case ever happened), a deal that is also said to provide for enhanced american-troop presence practically everywhere, including metro manila and metro cebu.  argh.  what’s going on.  O.A. naman, kahit pa magkaroon ng automatic retailiation clause, eh wala pa rin naman,

samantala, sagutin natin ang mga patutsada ng tsina.  sa kanilang kultura daw, bringing someone to court is an assault?  eh sa ating kultura, bullying is an assault, bullying is harassment.  so quits-quits na lang, as far as that goes.  and what about those alleged promises made by erap and gloria, what’s our official version of the story, what was going on at the time?  what exactly did they promise, in exchange for what?  may dokumento ba?

or is this statement of DFA sec del rosario now the official policy:

“Countries should be judged by their actions, not by their words.”

by our actions, like filing the memo with the arbitral tribunal, that met with the international community’s approval.  actions, like negotiating the parameters of an enhanced u.s. military presence, that meets with the ASEAN community’s approval (wise guys, better us than them).  and not by our words.  hmm, especially those spoken by previous presidents, unless written down and properly signed and witnessed and notarized?  but really?  forget palabra de honor?  um, kung sabagay, sa pulitika, matagal nang nangingibabaw ang  spin at propaganda.

does the same statement explain too why there is no reaction, as in dedma, deadma, patay malisya, to this recent gem from the US state department?

“As a treaty ally of the Republic of the Philippines, the United States urges China to refrain from further provocative behavior by allowing the Philippines to continue to maintain its presence at Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal),” she said. State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters.

the u.s. asks china to ALLOW us to maintain our presence in ayungin.  ALLOW.  as in, PAYAGAN.  as if it were settled already, and we were needing china’s permission to stay in ayungin, never mind that it’s ours, it’s always been ours, and well within our territorial boundaries.  it would seem that the u.s. concedes, or gives weight, to china’s claim over ayungin.  ALLOW the philippines.  as if to humor us, sige na, hayaan na natin, it’s just for show anyway?  and this is okay with us?  judge america not by its words but by its actions?

and now lee kuan yew, no less, has weighed in, and he thinks china is seriously wanting to change the rules of the seas.

A resurgent China isn’t going to allow its sea boundaries to once again be decided by external parties. Therefore, I don’t believe the Chinese will submit their claims, which are based primarily on China’s historical presence in these waters, to be decided by rules that were defined at a time when China was weak. And China has judged that the U.S. won’t risk its present good relations with China over a dispute between the Philippines and China.

historical presence, all the way back to ancient times.  and lee kuan yew seems to think it has merit, sort of.  something to look into.  let’s compare historical presences, or something like that.  meanwhile, via facebook i asked china expert chito sta. romana what he thought of lee kuan yew’s take.  this is what he said.

Lee is a veteran in reading & interpreting China’s thinking. Hopefully the arbitral tribunal can provide legal clarity on the validity (or lack of it) of China’s so-called “historical rights” in light of UNCLOS.

do you think china is close to, if not yet at, a point of no return… yung hindi na aatras kasi it would mean losing face… is face still a factor at all, or is it a different concept of face na, globalized na?

I don’t think China is at a point of no return if you mean all-out war. China faces the bigger task of developing from a middle-income to a high-income economy, a war will only upset their economic plan. But China will not yield on what it considers as its “core issue” of sovereignty & territorial integrity. Unfortunately that is how they look at the Spratly & Scarborough issues (rightly or wrongly). Face partly explains why China is opposed to int’l arbitration, it wants quiet diplomacy to arrive (at) a negotiated settlement. But there is still a struggle going on within China between its Confucian face & its globalized face, and everyone hopes China will take the path of a responsible regional & global power.

sana nga.

but these are testy times astrologically (cardinal grand cross, mid- to late april), signifying dynamic changes for both the collective and the individual.  there’ll be an excess of energy all around that would need to be constructively channeled, in our case perhaps by engaging the nation, especially the media, mainstream and online, in a national conversation.  pagusapan natin sa tagalog, sa bisaya, sa ilokano, atbp. itong ginagawa sa atin ng china sa west ph sea.  pagusapan natin sa tv, sa radyo, sa dyaryo, sa internet, over lunch or dinner, sa opisina kahit over the watercooler or coffee man lang, sa mga pabrika kahit pabulong lang, at  sa mga tagayan sa kanto at tunggaan sa beergarden, sabay cheers to our fishermen and soldiers in our fishing grounds and outposts in the west ph sea.

dapat makarating sa ordinaryong mamamayan na sa dramang nagaganap between china and the philippines, hindi tayo ang nambubully, hindi tayo ang nagmamalaki, hindi tayo ang nagkakalat.

pag-usapan natin.  alamin natin kung ano talaga ang nangyayari at bakit.  only when we understand the matter fully, or even just adequately, can we creatively contribute to the discourse.  only when we can discuss it openly and credibly can we hope to participate in policy- and decision-making.  and who knows, once we have a handle on the situation, we might come up with media campaigns reaching out to the chinese, people to people, convincing them that bullying and reef-shoal-island-grabbing is just soooo uncool and uncivilized.

EDSA myths 2014

“Ang nag-udyok sa atin sa Edsa, ang nag-uudyok sa tuwing may sakunang tumulong sa isa’t isa, hindi dahil gusto nating lumamang o may pakinabang tayo dito…Sa nakakaraming Pilipino po, and pinakamalakas na naguudyok sa ating kumilos ay pagmamahal,” Aquino said in his nationwide televised speech.

(What led us to Edsa, what prompts us to help each other during times of disaster, is not because we want to get ahead or because it will benefit us…For many Filipinos, they were prompted to act because of love.)

The President, ditching his original speech, recalled how Filipinos united and succeeded in staging a peaceful Edsa People Power.

He also explained why it is appropriate to celebrate the restoration of democracy in Cebu.

“Kung ang huling yugto o huling kabanata sa Edsa, pwede nating masabi ang unang yugto nagsimula sa Cebu,” he said.

i beg to disagree.  what moved the people to EDSA 28 years ago was not the spirit of bayanihan or love-thy-neighbor in a season of natural disaster.  what moved the people to EDSA was the spirit of non-violent change in a season of political awareness and political change.

it was just 8 days since the batasan pambansa declared marcos the winner (despite serious and widespread allegations of cheating) in the snap election, 7 days since cory declared herself the rightful winner, mounted a giant protest, and called for the boycott of crony goods and services that by the 6th day, friday 21 feb, was seeing the economy reeling and the cronies freaking out.  cory was in cebu to spread the word, marcos’s days were numbered, next stop davao.

when ramos and enrile defected, the people were already in the throes of non-violent revolution, changing consumption habits, changing banks, changing newspapers, to bring down the crony economy and force marcos to step down.  what moved the people to go to EDSA, wearing and waving cory’s colors, was the prospect of furthering the split in the marcos military, perhaps winning the rebel military over to cory’s camp, and together pushing for an end to dictatorship and corruption and censorship.

i get it naman, the notion of taking EDSA celebrations to the visayas and mindanao.  what i don’t get is why it meant no celebrations in metromanila.  puwede namang ipagdiwang dito kahit wala ang presidente.

and yes, i get it, too, the nation is restive enough, things are in such a mess, everywhere you look there’s something terribly wrong that’s taking forever to make right, wiser to veer away from people power and revolution talk.

pero napakalungkot for nation that the president himself, whose family was, is, the biggest beneficiary of EDSA, has only added to the misinformation floating around for the last 28 years.  and, of course, certain opinion columnists have been quick to pounce, na okay lang naman if only these columnists were pushing facts and not myths.

Amando Doronila : … It was only after the bulk of the military establishment had defected to join the rebel forces in Camp Crame that Cory returned to Manila to reestablish her presence while the Marcos regime was crumbling swiftly. At this stage, Cory declared support for the Enrile-Ramos mutiny.

cory returned to manila the very next day after the enrile-ramos defection.  she was back by the time the people stopped the tanks in ortigas on EDSA sunday. [EDSA UNO…page 130]  defections started pouring into the rebel camps only on EDSA monday. [210]  cory declared support for the enrile-ramos mutiny even while she was in cebu, at a presscon in magellan hotel late sunday morning before she left for manila.

Bobit Avila : … We later learned over Radyo Bandido that it was the time when the Comelec computer programmers walked out of the PICC and Butz Aquino echoed the call of Jaime Cardinal Sin to march to EDSA to protect then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile and Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos who were holed out in Camp Crame.

the walkout of the computer programmers took place on the 9th of february [40], a whole week before cory launched her non-violent civil disobedience and crony boycott campaign.  also, it was jaime cardinal sin who echoed the call of butz aquino, not the other way around.  butz issued his first call from camp aguinaldo at around 10:20 saturday night, asking the people to join him “to try and prevent bloodshed.” [86]  the cardinal made his first call at 10:40, ten minutes into the marcos presscon where the dictator accused the rebels of an aborted coup plot; the cardinal only said that it was all right to help the rebels with food and support IF the people wished, and asked them to pray with him that not a drop of blood be shed. [88-89]  it was at midnight, when butz and the tens of thousands of coryistas who had responded to his call were already marching from isetann toward the camps, that the cardinal went on the air again and categorically asked the people to go to the camps and support the rebels: “let us help them with our presence.” [101]  also, saturday night enrile and RAM were holed up in camp aguinaldo, ramos in camp crame, until they joined forces in crame sunday afternoon.

Kit Tatad : … the military mutiny, which drew entire families to Edsa following Cardinal Jaime Sin’s call for citizen support, had nothing to do with the results of the Feb. 7, 1986 snap presidential election, which Cory lost to Marcos. She had no part in the Edsa “revolt” and had in fact gone to Cebu to stay with some religious sisters and avoid getting sucked into the event.

Tony Lopez :… Corazon Cojuangco Aquino didn’t win the snap election of February 1986. It was won by strongman Ferdinand Marcos by a margin of 800,000 votes. In the Comelec-sanctioned official count, the legal and official winner was Marcos, by a margin of 1.7 million votes.

ah so, 800,000 votes lang ang winning margin ni marcos over cory.  minus the 350,000 that enrile said was the extent of the cheating in cagayan [74] leaves 450,000.  surely cagayan was not the only place where massive cheating took place, apart from the countless reports of vote-buying, terrorism, snatching of ballot boxes, inaccuracies in counting and tabulation, and the thousands of disenfranchised metro manila voters. [39]  in an honest and clean election, cory would no doubt have won.

Tony Lopez: … Initially, Cory Aquino didn’t have any participation in the four-day People Power revolt of Feb. 22-25, 1986 or EDSA I. She hid in a Cebu convent the first night. Enrile wanted to take over as President. But the RAM wanted a more acceptable political figure, Cory.

Emil Jurado : … For the record, Mrs. Aquino was never seen on Edsa even as she later became its beneficiary. Fidel Ramos, Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan simply decided to hand over power to her.

Kit Tatad : … when GTV-4 asked Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile whether he and his military associates would take the power after Marcos, he hastily (and imprudently, some believe) said no, they would give it to Cory.

for the record, u.s.t. history professor evelyn a. songco, whom i met at an EDSA symposium last feb 21, said she saw cory in EDSA on the afternoon of day 3, monday, confirming news reports of business day and manila bulletin back in feb 1986.  but even if cory had not gone to EDSA, i daresay it didn’t matter to the coryistas.  cory had done her part, EDSA was all about the people doing theirs, i.e., wooing the rebel military to cory’s side.

and yes, enrile wanted to take over as president — that’s what the aborted coup plot was all about (and the post-EDSA coup attempts) – but no, he didn’t give up the ambition easily or “simply,” and neither did RAM, thinking that the people would accept enrile as replacement to marcos yet not daring to go public with the offer.  until day 3, monday, they were pushing for a civilian-military junta that enrile would head along with cory.  but cory would not hear of it, and by monday night the enrile-RAM faction was reduced to demanding that the inauguration be held in camp crame for security reasons.  it got so bad that cory was not even expecting them to attend the club filipino affair, and seats had to be added to the presidential table when they arrived.

Kit Tatad : … Did Marcos fall and Cory Aquino take over, solely because of “people power” or because of Washington? Is it conceivable for a Filipino president to fall without US participation or consent?

u.s. president ronald reagan’s troubleshooter philip habib was in manila feb 15 to noon of the 22nd, and he could tell that something was about to break but wasn’t sure what.  the ramos-enrile defection caught the americans napping, people power knocked them out.  it was already day 3, the people had stopped tanks the day before, sotelo had defected that morning, and defections were finally pouring into the rebel camp, when the americans intervened in earnest, and only in the matter of marcos’s escape.  intelligence reports from the CIA re movements in and out of malacanang palace may have helped the rebel camp during the four days, but if the americans had stayed out of it, EDSA would have happened anyway, and it could have ended more decisively.

Efren Danao : … I believe that February 22 has a stronger claim to be named EDSA Day despite Cory’s absence. It was on February 22, 1986 that JPE, FVR and a small group of reformist groups withdrew their support for Marcos and made Camp Aguinaldo their base. They were all ready to die in the face of superior forces of the dictatorship. They refused to cower in fright in a safe sanctuary. It was also the first day that Jaime Cardinal Sin called on all freedom-loving Filipinos to go to Camp Aguinaldo. Definitely, danger was greatest and greater strength of conviction was needed on the very first day, February 22.

i believe that february 23 has the strongest claim to EDSA Day despite cory’s absence.  it was on feb 23 EDSA sunday, that the people marched to EDSA in huge numbers and discovered their awesome power to effect non-violent change when united by a common goal.  if not for the people’s courage and that awesome demonstration in ortigas sunday afternoon, cory and enrile would not have been compelled to rise above their differences and bow to the people’s will, even if only for those crucial days when the dictator was still around.

Ninez Cacho Olivares : … Edsa was started, not in Cebu, but in Edsa, the day before Enrile resigned as Marcos’ defense minister. The records prove it. Malaya, the then opposition newspaper, carried the story of Enrile’s resignation on the day Enrile and his RAMboys closeted themselves in Camp Crame and began the revolt agaisnt Marcos and his dictatorship.

ano daw?  EDSA started when the news came out in malaya that enrile had resigned and he and RAM closeted themselves in camp crame???  that’s camp aguinaldo ha.  and, really, who cared, who knew, if enrile resigned friday.  the people were already in revolt, it was the 7th day of the crony boycott.  people only started caring about enrile during the evening presscon when he admitted that they cheated cory in cagayan and that the 1972 ambush was staged.

Charlie Manalo :… the people’s discontent was already at boiling point then, the Marcos dictatorship was ready to be toppled anytime, the ruling class had to maneuver everything to bring the situation to its advantage. It had to hijack the people’s movement to ensure they would still be in control of the situation. And that resulted in the failed coup by Enrile. … Hence, Enrile’s failed act is an action totally separate from the growing people’s movement. In fact, had the coup succeeded, it was not meant to benefit Cory. But as the Church and other organization started to extend support to Enrile’s beleaguered forces, a compromise has to be made and Enrile had to relinquish any plan to grab power and offer the presidency to someone who wasn’t even there.

how convoluted and obfuscatory naman.  in fact, the ruling class maneuvering to hijack the people’s movement was exactly what enrile and RAM were up to when they planned the coup, and failing that, when they defected and tried to win the support of the people.  if the RAM coup had pushed through and succeeded in deposing marcos, enrile would have been in a position to publicly challenge cory for the presidency.  but i imagine that cory would have been unfazed, gone on to davao from cebu, continued adding to the list of crony companies to boycott, and the people would have been happy to oblige.  in the end, enrile would have had to step aside anyway.

Conrado de Quiros : .. Maybe the relocation of Edsa to Fuente Osmeña reinterpreted Edsa, rewrote Edsa, revised Edsa—but what of it? Maybe it wasn’t just time that Edsa was relocated elsewhere, maybe it was time Edsa itself was retold. Because what we’ve had over the last 28 years was really pretty much a reinterpreted Edsa, a rewritten Edsa, a revised Edsa. Maybe it was time we reinterpreted the reinterpretation, rewrote what had already been rewritten, revised the revised version. To correct it, to rectify it, to stand it on its feet and not on its head.

what of it ?!?!?

if the politicos with the help of the media had not reinterpreted, rewrote, revised EDSA…  if they had not dignified false claims that it was the handiwork of the americans, of the rebel military, even of the virgin mary, effectively diminishing the role of the people …  if the people had had a better sense of what happpened behind the scenes and how it was their non-violent actions on EDSA that compelled, nay, forced, cory and enrile to join forces against the dictator…  then the people might have remained vigilant post-EDSA rather than de-activating, rather than trusting that cory and her cabinet would right all wrongs and we could live happily ever after…  then that could have been a truly revolutionary government and we would now be in a different space and time.

“Anderson Cooper, I Also Saw What You Saw . . .”

Posted by Geraldine Uy Wong on Facebook
15 Nov 9 am

Mr. Anderson Cooper, I want to thank you for reporting on the miserable conditions that you saw when you covered the Tacloban calamity scene 5 days after the typhoon. Your report came out on Tuesday, the day I was herding our relatives to the airport to finally get out of Tacloban. A day before, I was able to board the relief cargo plane of Air 21 Express from Manila to Tacloban when I was given the chance, getting there on Monday noon, and immediately I set out looking for my family members. On the way to the city, I saw what you saw, countless dead bodies strewn on the ground in various stages of decomposition, extensive destruction everywhere I looked, injured people walking on the streets looking like zombies – hungry, confused, desperate. The stench of death permeated all around us and sent chills down my spine. Countless times as our vehicle moved down the road, we were stopped by people in the streets begging for food. The roads were only passable by one lane, and along the way, I saw officers of the BFP (Bureau of Fire Protection) manually remove the dead bodies, along with the unbelievably massive amount of debris scattered all around. Because of this, what would normally take 40 minutes or less to traverse became an agonizing 2 hour ride. I saw what you saw, Anderson, and it angered me as much as it did you. I was also heartbroken, for this is the place where I spent some of the most wonderful summers of my childhood. I vowed to myself that I would speak up about the government’s incompetence as soon as I got out. If I ever get out. . .

I arrived at the city hall tent as was part of my plan, because when I was still in Manila, I did hear that there was a command post of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) where we can get celphone signals and internet connection. From there, I was supposed to make some inquiries before I would set out on foot to look for my relatives’ houses. It was while I was there that I saw with my own eyes how this government agency led by its head, Secretary Dinky Soliman, tirelessly and heroically worked almost 24/7 to immediately bring relief not only to the city of Tacloban but also to the outlying municipalities and towns that were affected by this calamity. I could not even begin to grasp the massive amount of work that needed to be done. I wanted to know why the government action seemed to be excruciatingly slow, but I couldn’t stay around long enough because my mission there was to find my relatives, and I did not want to be distracted. Thankfully, thankfully, I found them in two separate locations. They were cooped up in their houses, whispering in the dark, afraid to attract criminal elements that were reported to be going around looting. They could not believe I was there right before their eyes, and it was the first time in so long that they had a glimmer of hope that they would be rescued. We hastily fled their houses in the middle of the night, I placed all of them in one location, and then I went back to the city hall because it was a strategic point where I could get the proper celphone signals and stay connected to the outside world. I made some frenzied phone calls to my family in Manila, and it was from them that I found out that Cebu Pacific Air was offering humanitarian flights beginning Tuesday morning! All systems were in place for our eventual escape, and all I could do was pray to God that my plan would go on smoothly. After I instructed my cousin to look for 2 vehicles that could transport all 16 of us the next day to the airport, I decided to stay in the city hall overnight so that I could still keep in touch with my family in Manila. It was critical that I get all the assistance from the outside world so I could strategize better. Oh, how I proved now more than ever that communication or the lack of it could be one of the determinants for life and death!

As much as I was staying around for the rest of the night, I started going around to ask the officials why things are what they are. These are what I found out:

1. After the typhoon struck on the first day (Friday), the whole world lost track of the areas hit by the calamity. ZERO COMMUNICATION! It was even said that satellites could not locate Tacloban, Leyte, and Samar from the map, as if they were totally erased from the face of the earth. Unlike the tsunami event that hit Japan, where they were still connected to the outside world, Tacloban, Leyte, and Samar were shut out. How can we even begin to help them? And so, even as the magnitude of this calamity is being identified as similar to Japan’s tsunami event, circumstances were totally different. It was only the next day that we heard from Ted Failon of ABS-CBN what happened, and as the world watched in shock, it was then that we began to realize the massive destruction that hit this part of the country. This generalized cut of link to the outside world was to continue for the next 3 days, until Globe Telecoms was able to slowly bring back some of the signals on the 4th day.

2. Unlike the tsunami that happened in Japan where their airport was not affected, supertyphoon Yolanda destroyed the airport, which was just beside a big body of water. I need not say more, for CNN did cover the airport scene. All equipment, radar, watch tower destroyed. Absolutely no electricity. With that, Tacloban was even more cut off from the outside world. Nobody could either come in or go out. No relief to be brought in, no means of transportation for the national leaders to arrive with, no means of escape for the suffering people . It was only on Sunday, or the 3rd day since the typhoon hit, that the airport had a generator to make it operational, because Air 21, a Philippine cargo company, took it upon themselves to bring some much needed generators to make the airport operational. And that is how the airplane of the Philippine president and the first few government C130’s was able to land in the airport. 3rd day served as the first day when things just started to move. And lest I be taken to task for mentioning the benevolence of Air 21, yes, I admit that this was the same cargo plane that I took to be able to get to Tacloban on Monday, but it is precisely because I heard that the company was one of the first to offer humanitarian help gratis to the government that made me act to get quickly hooked up with the owners of the company and be able to hitch a ride.

3. The super typhoon decimated a big part of the population that so many people are still missing and unaccounted for to this day, and the rest who survived were either maimed and injured, were grieving for the loss of a loved one, struggling to cope with the tragedy that befell upon them, or simply looking for ways to take care of what remained of their family. In other words, everyone was a victim. And who are these people? These were the soldiers, police, red cross staff, social welfare staff, airport staff, bureau of fire protection (BFP) people, nurses, doctors, even the officials like the mayor and vice-mayor! And so if we look at things in this perspective, we begin to realize why there were no military and police to protect the people in the first few days, no staffers to repack or distribute relief goods, no BFP personnel to take care of clearing up the roads filled with dead people; in other words, there was hardly anyone there to put order into things as they were all victims themselves. I found out from one of the officials I spoke with that the people who came in much later to fill those places were flown in from Manila or pulled out from the other nearby towns that were not as badly affected. And so, those BFP people I saw clearing the road on Monday, the soldiers who were helping to slowly put order into the place, the red cross staffers who tried to address the health concerns of the victims, and even the DSWD staffers who were being deployed to evacuation centers and relief centers to distribute food and water, were mostly imports and volunteers from other places, and they were only able to start streaming in on the 3rd or 4th day! Therefore, the lack of manpower was not due to a lack of preparation but because of the unexpected loss or absence of these people who were supposed to be the government’s frontrunners!

4. And of course, let’s not forget that logistics is the lifestream of relief operations, but how could logistics have been tapped properly this time around when all roads were practically closed, nearly all means of transportation were destroyed, and if there were any remaining vehicle to move around with, either the key could not be found or there was not enough fuel! Even the ships could not dock on Tacloban shores, because the Coast Guard could not risk inviting another naval disaster seeing that the bodies of water were littered with debris. Is all this due to an ill-planned disaster preparation? I don’t think so. For after all, we have heard that the warehouses filled with food and rice in preparation for the typhoon were all soaked with water, the fuel depots were flooded, and even the evacuation centers where the residents were filled into, precisely to prepare for the coming supertyphoon, practically served as the death chamber of these same people. In our language, the fact that these people were properly evacuated and the government had food stocks stored is enough proof that the government prepared for this. But then again, this was no ordinary typhoon. In fact supertyphoon Yolanda is now being called the worst typhoon in the WORLD’S history.

These are only a few of the major points – not to justify, but rather to rationalize and logically explain why things happened as they did. To put things into their proper perspective. If America, which was hit by Hurricane Katrina, a far tamer weather disturbance in comparison to Supertyphoon Yolanda, struggled as well for several days and weeks to cope with the disaster, with then Pres. Bush earning the ire of your countrymen, how in the world could we expect that the Philippines, a much poorer country with very meager resources compared to the massive resources of a superpower country like yours, be able to miraculously stand up on its feet just a few days after this magnitude of a disaster? Even the spokesperson of the United Nations admits that they are really struggling to cope with the efforts to distribute help in this present situation.

And so I write you, Anderson, to let you know that at this time, when our country is at its darkest moment, Filipinos need to rally for each and every one of our countrymen as well as for our leaders. We hear that our government officials like Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, Mar Roxas, and Dinky Soliman arrived at Tacloban a day before the supertyphoon was to hit the place, meeting it head-on. And even as they struggle with their work and commit lapses along the way, we see that our leaders are doing the best that they could under the present circumstances. I still hope that you do your part to report on the truth and cry out in disgust if you find the conditions detestable. We appreciate what you and Andrew Stevens and the rest of the media are doing, because it keeps our leaders on their toes as they know that the whole world is watching them.

And even as we grieve, we are immensely grateful and overwhelmed with the help, support, and love that the whole world has sent our way. As I write this, it is the 7th day since the disaster struck, and now we see more and more people able to escape out of Tacloban. We did our own escape on Tuesday through Cebu Pacific Air, the airline that was the first to offer humanitarian flights for evacuees, with absolutely no charge! More and more roads are opened up for transportation, buses and trucks are filing in to bring relief, as well as to bring the people out. Same goes for the military ships which can now dock on ports. More and more people are given relief distributions, and doctors and paramedics from all over the world are able to come in to set up their medical missions. The ten choppers brought in by the USS warship was an immense boost to ease the logistical nightmare we have initially encountered, with just 3 government C130’s for use in the first few days. The UK, Australia, Japan, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Hungary, Singapore, UAE, and many other countries sent in valuable equipment and transportation aside from aid. And I’m sure it’s hard not to notice, but practically all the citizens of this country contributed in his or her own way to ease the pain of our fellow Filipinos. Corporations readily offered their products, services, and facilities for use in this whole national operation. Our bayanihan (helping each other) spirit is a source of great pride! All told, we expect the sufferings to ease up a little, but it would be ignorant to say that we expect all things to be well. Tacloban, Samar, and Leyte will never be the same again. Our country will never be the same again. But if there is one thing that we have learned, it is this: we need to bring back the lost trust of the people with our government. For the longest time, we have been ruled with corruption and greed. Even to this day, we continue to suffer the effects of these evil thieves in our government. I wish they had been the ones swept up by the storm surge and thrown back into the seas. But not all are rotten tomatoes. I hope that Filipinos will now learn how to choose their leaders. It is time for the Filipino to stand as a nation and be strong again.

Anderson Cooper, after all this is done, please do not forget our country. If you have the time, I invite you to go around the other parts of the country which you will find to be extremely good-looking, and you will also find out that the Filipinos are some of the most wonderful and kind-hearted people in the world. Aside from this, I would also request that you and your colleagues do the following:

1. Please please please do whatever you can to make sure that the immense aid in CASH that we have been receiving and continue to receive, rightfully go to the rehabilitation of the devastated areas and not to the pockets of the corrupt few. Along the way, you might want to do a prize-winning documentary on the corruption problems of our country. On this, you will do well to be introduced to Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to get most of your resource materials. With her by your side, your job will be half-done and I assure you an immensely enjoyable experience in her company.

2. Because you are Anderson Cooper, a well-respected veteran journalist who the world listens to, we ask you to please help the cause of our Philippine Climate Change Commission negotiator Naderev Sano for concrete steps to halt global warming. It is global warming and climate change that cause these disasters to happen, and the Philippines is said to be one of the countries most greatly impacted by this. We have suffered for so long, how long will we suffer more?

3. Anderson, can I also ask you to commend and show the pictures of our brave men and women as they perform their tasks, just as you show the ineptness and slow response of our officials to the current situation? Just to be fair to both sides and create an equal balance into the picture. The last thing we want is to see our dedicated volunteers lose their morale.

4. Lastly, I ask that someday, when the time is right, and the country has hopefully risen up from this fall, please come back and show the world that this time we did right. If that day does not come, I will be the first to get out of the Philippines and declare it a banana republic forever.

Anderson Cooper, for all that you and your colleagues do, we salute you! Please help our country as we struggle to be a strong nation at last. Thank you.