Category: politics

gloria should go

… to the wake, i mean.   and she knows it.   not so much for the nation — we can take or leave protocol, i find — but for the international community.     the whole world is watching.   she has to handle this right, or lose face.

the news is that she’s arriving at 5 a.m. which gives her a few hours to get to the cathedral before the 9 a.m. show.   the question is, what time should she go.   soon after she gets back, habang kokonti ang tao, habang wala pa ang mga aquino?   or should she wait until the aquinos are there so she can personally extend her sympathies as well?   or her flight could be delayed, haha.   we’ll know soon enough.

nakarma naman talaga si gloria.   what rotten luck that the obama summons came when it did.  if she had been here when cory died, she could have simply appeared at the la salle wake the moment cory was ready and gotten it over with, before it became an issue.

shecould also have accepted graciously the aquino family’s preference for a private funeral, sabay pakiusap for even just half a day’s lying-in-state in congress and / or malacanang.   tama rin naman yung mga nagsasabing cory deserves a state funeral.   i would not have minded seeing legislators as well as the executive paying homage to cory and promising to keep the cory spirit alive.

as for cory’s post-garci demand that gloria resign, which the aquinos may well refuse to ease up on, well, in the spirit of the times gloria could offer them an ex-deal.   instead of resigning she’d stop all con-ass attempts during the remainder of her term, and she’d admit her mistakes re the national artist awards and the jbc list.   wouldn’t that be fantastic?

i know, i know, i’m dreaming, haha.   si cory kasi.

mean and nasty

i wondered who was responsible for the friday rumor that had cory passing away and people bursting into tears.   mabuti at napasinungalingan agad, though not quick enough to spare us a taste of the great grief coming, sooner or later.

i wondered who could be so mean and nasty.   who could be so unkind as to play with our emotions like that.   malacanang, maybe?

STATE OF WAR
Conrado de Quiros

The rumor I’ve heard is that Malacañang started the rumor. That rumor was that Cory died last Friday, a rumor that spread faster than Hayden Kho’s videos that day.

Even the British Embassy was duped into believing it and issuing a statement condoling with the family and the Filipino nation. Which sparked some idiotic reactions, not least from Dante Jimenez, the fellow who once proclaimed himself anti-crime only to end up being party to it, who demanded that whoever was responsible for the statement be made persona non grata.

For what? For being victimized in the same way as Cory’s former chief legal adviser, Adolph Azcuna? For spontaneously combusting into lamentation and commiserating with the host nation for its immeasurable loss? That is to unduly hasten people to their graves? If so, then we should condole every day with Arroyo’s family. Maybe that will do the trick. Some people ought to recover from their sicknesses, others ought to be shot.

But to go back: The rumor I heard is that Malacañang sparked the rumor to see how the public would react to Cory’s demise. Is it believable? I don’t know, though stranger things have happened in this country. But whether true or not, I believe how the public will react to Cory’s demise is not farthest from their minds. I believe it is the one thing that terrifies them. I believe it is the one thing that drives them out of their freaking minds.

The one thing Arroyo has never allowed since she took power, and especially since she wrested it by telling Garci she wanted to win by a million votes over her nearest rival, is people massing in the streets in numbers that could turn into another Edsa. Cops and soldiers have variously: prevented groups from gathering at the Edsa Shrine, headed off leftists groups to prevent them from swelling the ranks of those gathered at the Ninoy statue (easy enough in light of those groups advertising themselves with sanguine flags and even more sanguine slogans while marching down Edsa), scuttled rallies, imposed curfews on them (7 p.m. or thereabouts), floated rumors about bombings and other acts of violence in the rallies, and intimidated by coming out in the streets in full combat gear.

The ploy has been successful enough thus far. No rally has ever reached the proportion of Edsa I and II. Not the rallies in 2005 in the wake of “Hello, Garci” (which Malacañang met with “calibrated preemptive response”), not Danny Lim’s “withdrawal of support” (which gave Malacañang the excuse to experiment with a state-of-emergency declaration), not the huge rally to protest NBN, which never snowballed, thanks to the ploys above.

But what happens if, heaven forbid, something should happen to Cory?

If the vigil is held at the Manila Cathedral, the headaches for Malacañang will be epic. In the first place that is Alfredo Lim territory. Lim, of course, is the tough-as-nails mayor of Manila, the former tough-as-nails NBI director, and the former tough-as-nails chief of the Western Police District, who was known to shed a tear at the (false) news of Cory’s passing. He is also a tough-as-nails follower of Cory, whose loyalty has never wavered, who indeed went out to fight off Enrile’s and Honasan’s legions when they tried to grab power from her in 1989. Lim got a commendation for it.

A vigil in the Manila Cathedral will be impregnable. A vigil in the Manila Cathedral will be unassailable.

Quite apart from that, there is Filipino Culture standing like the Frown of God in the way. Few things are sacred to us, Filipinos, but one of them is the gathering of kin and friends to extol the virtues of a loved one who has gone ahead of us. Cory may have only a tribe of kin, but she has the whole nation for friends-and I do not mean Facebook. If the country turns out to commiserate with the kin of someone who has done so much for it, what can you do? If all of us decide to keep physical vigil with someone who kept spiritual vigil with us in the hour of our death, what can Malacañang do?

You cannot prevent people from attending a vigil, certainly not one for what the country considers even now a living hero. Not even people who do not believe in God, or who do not know whether there is one or not. They too can always believe in the power of good and the reprehensibility of evil, and recognize the embodiments of one and the other.

You cannot trot out cops and police in battle gear to meet people who are making their way to the Manila Cathedral carrying candles to light their way in lieu of cursing the darkness. You cannot scuttle a vigil, you cannot dictate limits to how many people may wish to personally express their overpowering sense of bereavement, you cannot prevent people from lifting their voices to heaven asking God have mercy on someone who has brought heaven’s light to the world, have mercy on a nation that has not always bathed in it.

You cannot impose a curfew on a vigil.

That is not to speak of what would happen if–pray heaven it is yet a long way off–Cory is finally reunited with her husband in the resting place of heroes. I have little doubt the crowds that will see her off, tears welling in their eyes, their hearts bursting with the magma of grief, will be bigger and more volcanic than the one that did so Ninoy. I have little doubt the men in barong and the women in dresses will be joined by the men in bare feet and the women with infants sucking on bare breasts, businessman and farmer, executive and laborer, priest and soldier, equestrian and plebeian, rich and poor, nun and whore, saint and sinner, chorusing, like Job, in anger and despair, “Please lang God, tama na, sobra na tigilan na.”

I don’t know that Malacañang began the rumor. I do know Malacañang will be the end of it.

cheap meds – gma vs. mar

ano ba talaga?   kahapon ito ang balita:  Arroyo to sign cheap meds EO

MANILA, Philippines-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will finally sign next week the executive order placing a price ceiling on 22 essential drugs sold in the country.

Malacañang made the announcement Tuesday amid allegations that Pfizer Phil. had tried to bribe the President with some P100 million worth of discount cards for distribution to indigent patients around the country.

pero today iba na:  Palace backtracks on issuing cheap meds EO!

Malacañang on Wednesday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would first take into account keeping foreign investors and ensuring public access to cheaper drugs before ordering a price ceiling for essential medicines.

“Theimplications for economic health go beyond just the issue of cheaper medicines at hand,” Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesperson, told reporters Wednesday.

The Palace was apparently backtracking on its tough position on Tuesday that Ms Arroyo was set to sign the executive order imposing maximum retail prices (MRP) by next week.

ano ba ‘yan?   what implications for “economic health”???    it won’t be healthy for the economy if the president signs the e.o. because it might drive away foreign investors, such as multinational drug companies who are making a killing, selling us meds at three times the price in other countries???    come on!   does she really think these drug companies will stop selling us their drugs if she signs the e.o.?    in the end, they will settle for a small cut in profits dahil hefty pa rin surely, than no profits at all.

so why really is gloria making urong-sulong when signing the e.o. would be very good if not for the books then for her public image and approval rating, lalo na’t swak ang timing for the SONA?   aha.   kung si ellen tordesillas ang tatanungin, it’s pure and simple inggit.   inggit si gloria kay senator mar roxas because roxas, who steered the law through congress, will get the credit for it and might even get elected president in 2010 because of it.

Ang ugat ng kontrobersya sa executive order na magpapatupad ng Maximum Retail Price (MRP) na nakasaad sa 2008 Cheaper Medicines Act ay inggit. Inggit ni Gloria Arroyo na makalamang si Senador Mar Roxas sa isyung ito.

Sabi ng isang source namin sa Malacañang inis raw si Arroyo na ang pipirmahan niyang executive order ay magagamit ni Roxas sa kanyang kampanya para presidente sa 2010. Kaya pinulong niya ang mga hepe ng pharmaceuticals nuong Hulyo 8 at sinabing ibaba nila ang presyon ng 50 na gamot para siya ang sikat at masasabi niya na mas magaling siya kasi 22 lang ang gamot na nasa listahan ng MRP.

Ang kapalit siyempre ng kooperasyon ng mga pharmaceutical firms ay hindi pipirmahan ang MRP.

hm, naisip ko rin yan, but not in terms of inggit, rather of just not doing the presidentiable senator any favors. i’m still hoping that gma would could be big enough to allow credit where credit is due, never mind the politics of it.   after all cheaper meds would mean more money to spend, more money going around, for other essential goods and services, which would be very good for the economy’s ever failing health di ba?

as for the criticism laid at mar roxas’ door that the power to implement the cheaper meds law should have been given not to the president but to a price regulatory board, hmm, i tend to agree with mar:

(mar) said it is difficult to pinpoint responsibility in a board that he predicted to be the dumping ground of “election losers and relatives of powerful politicians…”

sa totoo lang, i like it that the cheaper meds law puts the president on a spot.   it’s time she showed some real statesmanship.   something we can remember her fondly for, unlike the “hello garci” tapes, and the infamous if unfortunate boob job (ang dagdag ang dagdag)!

showdown 2010

grabe.   sa halip na mapaghandaan natin nang maayos ang 2010 elections, lalo tayong nagaaway-away over issues that could have been put off naman, sa totoo lang, until after we would have elected na a new president with a clear mandate.    manolo quezon is right, gma is Outflanking her enemies.

… we are seeing a dizzying number of possibilities raised, knocked down, revived, shelved, or what have you; the essentials, however, have been identified -primarily, an election in 2010- while everyone is still kept guessing, so that the resources of the enemy are dissipated while that of the administration is more cohesive; the military and police have been kept fat and well-groomed, the hierarchy remains divided, and everything is geared for resolution in the Supreme Court.

I know many people, both among her admirers and her critics, strongly believe the President’s bottom line is simple: she does not want to be disgraced by going to jail, and she wants to complete her term. I do believe that her stay in office has also convinced her that God put her in power to kick the country into shape. Therefore to be convinced of failure when it comes to the former, will only inspire her to pursue staying in power, as her self-preservation, to her mind, becomes a case of national survival, too.

So all options must remain on the table for the duration, if only to keep everyone guessing. It helps distract her leading opponents, but also, helps keep her supporters tractable.

and even if, in the end, gma gives  it up, and by some stroke of luck the opposition unites behind one presidential candidate, things can still go wrong in 2010.

JPE warns of chaos in 2010
Next president to find govt coffers empty
By Rhaydz B. Barcia, Manila Times Correspondent

LEGAZPI CITY, Albay: Failure of the computerized elections in 2010 would cause “chaos” but, if the polls succeeded, the winner would find the government coffers “empty,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said over the weekend.

“I would like to urge the people through the [people of Legazpi City] to be very, very careful in this coming election of the leaders who will handle the Philippines in 2010 and beyond,” he said.

“I would like to tell you that we’re facing a critical period in our history. The elections in 2010 are very critical because, for the first time in our political history, we are going to change the manner of [conducting the] elections,” Enrile added, referring to the fully automated polls next year. He spoke during a program here marking the 50th anniversary of the city.

Enrile expressed fears that the electronic voting could go haywire.

“We’re going to use machines to record and count the votes, [when in the past] we were using human beings or teachers,” he said. “What will happen if the machines break down? What do you think will happen to our country? This country will be in a total chaos, there will be no government or leaders, no soldiers, no policemen, no Supreme Court. What will happen to our country? It will be the rule of the strongest among us. I hope that will not happen.”

Empty coffers

Enrile added that the successor of President Gloria Arroyo would discover that the government was broke.

“If President Arroyo, an economist, a very intelligent woman and a very determined person [has been able to] run the government despite the opposition and the obstacles that have been placed before her [but still] could not manage the nation as we want it to be, how much more the next President [who] will be confronted with so many problems and [who will be expected to] unify a fragmented force? How could he or she do it when the country’s coffers are empty?” he said.

and he goes on:

“So, if we want clean governance, it should begin at the kitchen of Malacañang because one of the [problems] in the country is corruption and if you clean up your backyard, the rest [stamping out of the other problems] will follow,” Enrile added.

what does enrile mean?   that there is time to oust gma and her corrupt ways before 2010?   is he advocating extra-constitutional action a la EDSA?    is ping lacson’s call for civil disobedience, for a tax revolt, vs charter change a meaningless coincidence?   because in february ’86 it was cory’s civil disobedience campaign and economic boycott which coryistas took up that paved the way for EDSA.   is it possible that enrile and lacson are on the same page these days?   can honasan and lacson, former classmates, batchmates, pma ’71, finally be on the same page too?   nakakaintriga.

or is enrile just saying that we need to elect a president in 2010 who is without a taint of corruption?   but wait, here’s more from him, about drawing inspiration from the china experience.

According to him, China used to be the doormat of the world but later became an emerging superpower through the will of the government and the people.

Enrile said that the Chinese had told him that their determination and that of their leaders brought about a modern China free from domination of other countries. The same resolve, he added, could see China outshining the United States.

“I will tell you, in this decade [China] will overtake America. China will become the superpower of the world, because [it has] prepared [itself for that role],” Enrile said.

He allowed, though, that China’s ascendancy entailed economic and political costs. Still, Enrile said, the price the Chinese people paid went to “freedom.”

“True enough, [the Chinese] government is a little bit rigid compared to our government, and I’m not trying to say [that we] adapt the [Chinese] system but, nonetheless, we must work together as a people in order to bring progress and to make our country really free,” he added.

Enrile’s visit to Legazpi City coincided with celebrations there commemorating the 111th anniversary of the proclamation of independence.

He said that his wish for the occasion was to see the country attain economic freedom and freedom from poverty.

hmm.   will of the government and the people.   determination.   resolve.   progress.   freedom from poverty.   freedom from domination of other countries.   but with economic and political costs.   paying the price for “freedom” . . . . sounds like a political platform.   who’s the candidate kaya.   siya mismo?    sana hindi.

erap is right, there’s no hope of beating gma’s annointed in 2010 unless the opposition gets behind a single ticket.   maybe enrile can be a uniting force.    maybe the presidentiables will listen to him.   sana he can inspire them to rise above self-interests for the sake of the country.   sana together they can arrive at a consensus, agree on a platform and a ticket that would have a fighting chance against gma’s money and machinery.   then 2010 might be worth dying for.