Category: politics

elderly divide – lumbera vs. salonga & bernas

it wasn’t a face-off, just three of our elders one-on-one with korina sanchez: first former senate president jovito salonga, then the jesuit constitutional commissioner father joaquin bernas, and finally national artist for literature bienvenido lumbera.

no doubt natuwa ang palasyo kina salonga at bernas who together took up 45 minutes of the hour-long show. di bilib sa people power ang dalawa. salonga is against “mob rule.” bernas is against a quick fix. both recommend that the gloria-resign forces expend their energy on rallying for electoral reform instead so the 2010 elections will be clean and credible. shades of the bishops and christian monsod. status quo. go by the rules. don’t rock the boat.

mas interesante si lumbera, who recently endorsed the u.p. council statement calling for the resignation of gma. clearly unequivocally against the status quo and not beyond breaking rules, breaking out of patterns, for the common good, lumbera speaks also for a group of political analysts, public policy experts and academic scholars whose attitude is, “Arroyo was installed to the presidency by people power, people power may also unseat her.” and since neither a noli succession nor a military junta is desirable, a citizens’ transition council might be just the thing.

lumbera soundbites:

I belong to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, or CenPEG . . . [in our analysis] what could possibly be done is to set up a commission headed by the Chief Justice, and the task is to prepare for 2010, making sure that everything has been cleared up and every move has been taken to ensure real elections. How to get more people to support such a proposal, that’s the task of the movement right now.”

People should keep on demonstrating and expressing their will to get her out of power, and if she doesn’t resign, at least people learn how it is to participate in a group movement towards making her resign.”

Noli is part of the Gloria regime and therefore one can expect that his moves will be in line with what he got from associating with Gloria and her cabinet.”

It is possible that people right now behind Gloria’s decision to cling to power might begin to advice her to take cognizance of the demand of the people. Perhaps as the movement gathers more power, more support from people, then even provincial and local governments will begin to concede.”

This is the fruit of EDSA One and Two. We’re moving forward in the sense that now people are no longer personality oriented… People have a greater consciousness of the need for genuine change.”

I would not hazard a fearless prediction. All i can express is hope that there is going to take place certain realigments prior to 2010 which might involve people who will be give us hope for real change.”

Our political education has been moving in waves. First we were all convinced that the leaders we need are those America approved, then that our leaders should be those who are nationalist to a certain extent. When Cory took over, for a while there was real hope that the Philippines would find a new social order, but it was very disappointing; Cory proved to be a daughter, a child of her class. Then there was Fidel Ramos and we got to a point where the country was being dragged by the President to globalize. And then Erap; there was much hope that Erap, reputedly of the masses, would institute a government thats really for the masses. And then Gloria by accident was the one constitutionally installed; we were also bitterly disappointed that she did not live up to hopes of the people.”

I think the masses [are looking to] the politically educated to come up with moves that would bring about change. Our system of education has really distorted the minds/mentalities of our people. The colonial orientation of the educational system has made people think that only if we follow the Americans, then our country will be all right. There is a great hesitance to take a step that would depart from that mentality.”

I am full of hope that our country in a future time will achieve the kind of government that would give freedom and deomocracy to a greater number of people. How long is it going to take? It depends on the persistence and determination of those who are in the forefront of the Resign movement to get our population to realize that what needs to change is not simply the personalities in government but the system altogether.”

hmm, a two-year transition government to be headed by the chief justice. and who exactly would people the commission? excerpts from CenPEG’s issue analysis no. 5:

The trailblazing transition council will be composed of – and staffed by – representatives of people’s organizations, NGOs, and sectors that are struggling for the resignation or removal of Arroyo and are united by a concrete program of genuine social, economic, and political reform. These are the groups and sectors generally left out in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 where the victories of people’s struggles were hijacked by members of the elite and ruled the country in the old tyrannical and corrupt ways that people power had precisely struggled to demolish.

“The citizens’ transition council will address the public clamor for a non-traditional, pro-people political leadership that may likely draw support from other key players such as influential members of the interfaith, business, and the military. For this option to become feasible, however, the pressure that will force Arroyo to resign should be strong and insurmountable in a supreme act of sovereign power by the people allowing them – extra-constitutionally – to entrust powers to this caretaker body.

“The short-term and minimum agenda of the proposed citizens’ council is to initiate immediate reforms starting with the electoral system to ensure a clean and democratic election in 2010. So long as this is made clear – alongside with the fact that the council will exist only for a specific duration – then it will likely draw the support not only from the disparate political forces arrayed against the regime but also significant segments of the broad public. Elite and traditional politicians should admit that they have already lost their self-proclaimed right to dominate leadership while the people have begun to realize they should assert their sovereign power if comprehensive reform in governance is to be instituted. . . .

“The search for a political alternative is a communal work in progress. Its shape and configuration will evolve in the process of widening and increasing the momentum for replacing a widely-perceived corrupt and most despicable regime. But the answer for an alternative leadership must soon be cobbled together by all democratic and patriotic forces as it will serve as the bridge toward building the “critical mass” needed to put an end to a regime of greed and fear. The arduous and contentious process of political reconstruction should begin with the first step.”

interesting. possibly because i’m not sure about noli anymore. caught him being ugly, scolding media for being makulit. how unpresidential.

the gma-monsod-lopez connect

priceless this reply of manolo quezon to a comment on his blog that the lopezes of abs-cbn, which network put out the news that “noli is set to assume presidency,” seem to have a score to settle with the macapagals.

i actually think the lopezes are being extra prudent, because gma has them by the balls over meralco. ever wonder why christian monsod is so ardently pushing the keep her until 2010 movement?”

it’s like asking, ever wonder why solita a.k.a. mareng winnie monsod is so ardently saying no to gma’s ouster?

googled “christian monsod and meralco” and, yes, he’s been board director since december 1998. and i found this tribune column by herman tiu laurel “National calamity: GMA & Meralco” dated august 2007, posted in magdalo sa pagbabago.

…Meralco rates should be reduced by up to 50% to bring it in line with the average in Asian power rates. One issue is the “incremental cost of capital” Meralco uses to massively cheat 4.2-M captive consumers – constantly escalating equipment costs to inflate its capital investment that never increased at all.

“To perpetualize this fraud Meralco induces top legislators, regulators and court judges to justify its system and jack up allowable profit from 5% decades ago to the present 15.4% … A previous Meralco sequestration was due to Meralco’s accounting practice that swindles government and the public. The Lopezescontaminate everything, even religion: “donating” land to the Jesuits’ Ateneo (brainwash its students) paid for by Meralco consumers – the Ateneo, Rockwell law school and new Ateneo medical school land beside Medical City on Ortigas Ave.

“The media too: ask Meralco director Christian Monsod’s wife at the Inquirer who’s so pro-Edsa Dos, that event that brought the IPP-PPA bonanza to the Lopezes. Ask 90% of radio and print commentarists who defend or keeping silent about Meralco abuses. On the courts, see the Philippine First Holdings Corporation website: “Former SC Chief Justice Panganiban as new director Mr. Angel Ong has resigned.” Readers may ask what’s wrong with this? I suggest – go to the December 2006 newspaper items about a certain “midnight decision” at the Supreme Court.

“Every discussion on electricity rates threatens to drown the layman in a sea of confusing figures, rule and regulation. The public must ask Gloria, her legislators, regulators and business cohorts the simplest question: “Why is the Philippines’ power rates the highest in Asia since afer Edsa Dos until today, and getting worse. What are you doing to bring the Philippines’ power rates to the reasonable and average rate prevalent in Asia – to keep our industries and our standard of living competitive and comparable to the rest?”

“It is not the Filipino people’s obligation, nor electricity consumers, to suffer for the benefit of Gloria and the power companies. Gloria’s SONA obviously recognizes the electric power rates problem as a major one, thus she spoke of “amending” the EPIRA’s on “open access”- but treating it as a legislative issue is intended to exhaust the last two minutes with a long dribble. It will just allow continuation of Meralco and its stockholders 4,000% earnings in fifteen years using only its consumers’ monthly payments – blood, sweat and tears – for exorbitant power rates.

“In 2001 the Lopezes, with other oligarchs, launched Gloria’s coup against an elected president. Seven years of socio-economic-political calamity followed as privatization concentrated political power in the profit-seeking elite. Gloria, the Lopezes and Meralco are emblematic of the sources of our nation’s seven years of calamity since Edsa Dos: systematic abuse of our people for unappeasable, insatiable, ravenous, criminal profit at the people’s expense. Our solution? Emergency “people power” through a consumers’ cooperative, returning control of Meralco to the people.”

so really gma and the lopezes are oligarchs-in-cahoots. gma owes the lopezes bigtime for anc’s part in edsa dos. the lopezes owe gma bigtime for privatizing and deregulating the energy industry. but manolo’s “gma has them by the balls over meralco” tells us that gma has the upper hand, she has the power to compel meralco, for the good of the whole, to bring down electricity rates or else.

but now that gma’s in trouble over nbn-zte-fg, the lopezes must be in a tizzy. what to do? in case she manages to hold on till 2010, it would be wise of the lopezes to hold off on joining the oust-gma bandwagon. but in case she doesn’t manage to hold on, it would be wise of them to be lobbying for noli de castro behind the scenes (as maybe they are), di ba, since he, too, owes abs-cbn bigtime.

no wonder anc is so clearly neither here nor there. or should i say, no wonder anc is so clearly here, and there.

freudian slip of a bitch

just saw news video of governor joey salceda glibly saying: “she may be a bitch, but she’s the luckiest bitch around!” he wasn’t joking, oh no he wasn’t, because first he stopped, namutla, covered his mouth with one hand, ay, me tv coverage nga pala! (or something to that effect) – so kung walang tv coverage he would have said it anyway? then it would have gotten around anyway, and maybe he would have denied it a la neri, haha, as in, i don’t remember saying that.

now he’s saying it was a joke, a bad joke, calling her a bitch in an “intellectual discourse” with a group of economists and businessmen in ateneo. i heard laughter from the audience, i saw ciel habito et al grinning broadly, maybe even chuckling out loud, but surely not because nakakatawa yung sinabi ni salceda (nakakagimbal nga because it sorta corroborates “evil”) but because nakakatawa si salceda! akalain mo, NADULAS SIYA, mwahaha, i mean, L O L !

what it was certainly was a freudian slip of the tongue. how priceless! something he has been thinking, maybe even saying in private (again a la neri), but has been suppressing in public because, really, there’s conflict involved that puts his integrity, and his job, into question. why is he working for a bitch, even if she’s a lucky bitch, a bitch is a bitch, i.e., “an offensive woman, malicious, spiteful, domineering, intrusive, unpleasant.”

bakit siya nadulas? ah, his psychological well-being was at stake. the effort to suppress something significant that deserves to be shared, or bottling up emotions that deserve to be released, can be too much for the psyche. comes a time when the higher self takes over and moves one to speak one’s truth, no matter how radical, no matter how dangerous, no matter how bad the timing. lalo na’t the cat’s out of the bag about the economy. sabi nga ni ciel habito, the economy is “growing” not because of but in spite of gma. i’m sure kahit sinong ilagay natin diyan, the economy will “grow,” thanks to ofw remittances. (lucky bitch indeed.)

so is economic adviser salceda in hot water with the “evil” na “bitch” pa? there’s news that he has apologized not just once, but three times by text, and no reply. naku. if i were salceda, magre-resign na lang ako, be true to his higher self.

speaking of texts, the one re noli de castro and the girlfriend and dasma house is not true, sey ni lito banayo.

also got a text warning against fund-raising scams for jun lozada using the name of a mother superior, and another that shares lozada’s phone numbers so i can ask him the truth about the patriotic fund, how much did jamby pay him to lie? why did he ask gaite for money when binay contractor ernie canlas gave him P3 million before leaving for hongkong? at anong pinag-usapan nila ni joey de venecia nung sundan siya nito sa hongkong? at kung ano ano pa.

it’s up to lozada kung gusto niyang patulan ang walang patid na insinuations and accusations being hurled at him. as far as i’m concerned, none of it detracts from his testimony on the allegedly evil but lucky bitch.

noli in waiting?

i had been thinking along the same line as manila standard today columnist antonio c. abaya (no relation to the tony abaya who accompanied jun lozada to fely arroyo’s residence, and who is the husband of anabelle abaya, one-time presidential spokesperson in fvr’s time) regarding noli de castro as the constitutional alternative to ate glue should romy neri find the balls to tell all once and for all.

So, given the stark emptiness of the Philippine political landscape, is there any reason for Romulo Neri to break his silence and divulge all the sordid details he knows at first hand about corruption in high places, and thereby cause the House of Arroyo to come crashing down?

“We can only appeal to his patriotism. He can take some comfort from the fact that if President Arroyo is forced to step down, the constitutional successor is Vice President Noli de Castro, who is neither a “trapo” nor a communist nor a military mercenary, and has no known—to me, anyway—connections to any of the three.

“He lacks social pedigree and political kingdom, as Jun Lozada himself describes himself, and he definitely has no vision of a new order. But we have to make do with what we have. And who knows, given the right inputs from the right advisers, he may be able to craft and articulate that vision of that new order, between 2008 and 2010?

“At any rate, he couldn’t possibly do any worse than the pedigreed Arroyo or the self-styled king of the masa, Erap. If the middle class, the business and professional communities, civil society, the Churches and the idealistic elements of the military support this constitutional process, it would be a painless solution to our dilemma.

“The pedigreed presidential wannabes will certainly resist such a scenario since it would threaten their presidential ambitions in 2010 if De Castro turns out to be a good leader in the next two years. But what can these presidential wannabes say? They are either for or against the constitutional process. If they are against, then they have no business running for any office.”

but wait. manuel buencamino posted excerpts from raul gonzalez’s business mirror column “that man, noli” where ate glue’s justice secretary is all praise for the vice president and thinks he’s going to make a good president.

“The recent SWS survey has confirmed this perception because Vice President Noli topped the SWS survey, beating such declared presidentiables as Senate President Manny Villar, Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Mar Roxas II….

“I would like to impress upon the public that during Cabinet meetings, VP Noli is always in my radar screen, and I see that the Vice President has the intelligence, the clear grasp of the problems and is equipped with the stature of leadership, which a national leader must possess.”

oh no. totoo nga yata ang tsismis na nakikipag-negotiate na ang gma camp with noli, you know, in case the shit hits the fan, she’ll make way for him but he promises her and fg immunity from suit and all that jazz.

worse, a couple of reactions to mbuencamino raise warning flags. one says: “If you only knew/know what he did at the office of the vice president. He is one person who only thinks of himself. Ask the people who know him.”

another shares a text message that has been circulating: “If you think VP Noli de Castro is a good alternative, you should continue reading. The P200 MILLION house & lot bought by VP Noli de Castro 2 months ago was given to his girlfriend Lucille Ortille. He acquired the property from Lucille Carlos & the exact address is 2256 Paraiso St Dasmarinas Village Makati City.”

hay naku. paano na nga ba. since we want to do this the constitutional way (the world will call it mob rule, but at least it’s constitutional), we might not have a choice. but maybe the people could impose certain conditions? noli has to promise transparency in all transactions involving public monies? how about promising to take the arroyos to court a la erap? the people should draft / craft a “we, the people” kind of document for noli to sign. this way we take people power to a new level. i know, i’m dreaming . . .