Category: politics

drama ni mayor romualdez

nakaka-distract itong drama ni tacloban mayor romualdez vs. the aquino admin.  how much of it is true?  is any of it true?  i wish the pnoy camp would say something, i-deny kung hindi totoo, i-explain kung medyo totoo — after all, we might even agree that this is the way to handle the mayor who has been, after all, quite derelict in his duties and responsibilities to taclobanons.

kung maniniwala kasi tayo sa mga sabi-sabi, the insinuation is that taclobanons could be getting more help in relief, rescue, and rehab if only the mayor would surrender all authority to the dilg sec.  if true, that would be like saying, sorry na lang ang mga taclobanon, never mind that they were the worst hit and deserve all the help and love and care that the nation can give them in this time of great grief and devastation.

say it isn’t so, mr. president.  this is no way to win in 2016.

calling out mar roxas

former investigative journalist jp fenix shares his reflections post-yolanda and a friend’s urgent missive on retribution and political ambition.  it’s the first i’ve read na malinaw ang allegation of political considerations in relief ops.  say it isn’t so, mar roxas.

DAY 6 since Yolanda/ Haiyan
November 13, 2013

… I wake up to BBC’s report that “people have been increasingly abandoned” in Leyte. Switching to CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN… and the theme is much the same: Relief has been pouring in from all over the world, but they have been stuck and piling up in airport warehouses in Manila and Cebu.

In local TV and radio, the reports have cabinet secretaries like Dinky Soliman and Mar Roxas saying that they are still “studying how they will release relief goods.” Their concern is how action can be done in the most efficient and equitable way.

In the Palace, President Benigno S. Aquino III is still arguing with CNN’s Christian Amanpour over inaccurate casualty counts, and insists that they are still gathering data.

In the midst of it all I get this urgent email from my lawyer – a trusted friend. It has a document attached and it reads:

RETRIBUTION AND POLITICAL AMBITION – Deadly combination for Yolanda Victims

Read on…

In the Philippines, clouds of a different colour

… It’s often said that Filipinos habitually elect bad leaders because of our short memories of the past. But as temperatures and sea levels rise, resources grow more scarce and population increases, the effects of corruption and irresponsible planning promise a difficult future. It seems unlikely that our present politicians can lead us against such inevitabilities.

When the news cycle moves on from Haiyan and returns to the Senate investigation, the spotlight will again fall on familiar faces: Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was once the lap-bulldog of dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Senator Jinggoy Estrada is the son of former president Joseph Estrada, who was ousted and convicted of plunder. Senator Bong Revilla, a popular actor, is the son of a former senator and movie legend. They, along with dozens of other politicians and officials, must now answer to accusations that they plundered public funds earmarked for reconstruction and development.

Alas, for Filipinos, this is an old, familiar story. Just as deadly typhoons are an annual reality.

To the international community, I urge you to donate what you can through reputable channels. And to the millions of Filipinos at home and abroad, let’s use this tragedy as a reminder to take our leaders to task. What’s at stake is nothing less than our future.

— Miguel Syjuco

nothing brilliant about brillantes

so brillantes promises to resign, yet again ( the fourth time by sunstar‘s account), this time over last night’s partial proclamation of the top six winning senators.

There is no way the six candidates who were proclaimed as senators on Thursday night will be removed from the top 12 once the full results are in, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes said Friday.

“I will fight for it. I will resign if any of the six (winners) will be bumped off the (top) 12,” he told reporters, adding the six candidates have already netted enough votes to ensure election.

no doubt that those six are in the “magic” 12.  hindi naman iyon ang problema.  ang problema is the rush to formally proclaim them when the numbers are not all in.  you wonder why nga ba  brilliantes is so nagmamadali to proclaim anyone when the count has stalled, slowed down, with no clear and credible explanations.  it’s not as if these piecemeal proclamations render the automated system more credible.  the cloud of doubt only grows grayer and heavier.  it would seem that brilliantes is as much the problem as the pcos and cf cards.